Sunday, February 13, 2011

30 day primal challenge day 30!!!!



Well, my friends, here it is.  Day 30.  The month flew past!

Lets get this out of the way right at the start.  I’m going to keep going.
I am just starting to see the benefits of living the primal lifestyle.  I am through the hardest part of the adjustment phase, why in the world would I stop now? 
I am going to do a few things different for the next 30 days, and I’ll mention those later.

But first, an honest assessment of my 30 day primal challenge.

Nutrition:
I had zero problem with nutrition.  I did not crave sugars or grains or fast food.  I completely dropped all soda (I used to be a total Mt Dew junkie drinking 5 cans a day).
I enjoyed cooking, and will continue to do so. 

I love spending time with my wife in the kitchen, working on meals.  Excellent bonding time.  I used to pick on my brother for doing kitchen work with his wife after he got home from a stressful day at work.  Now I admit that my baby brother had a good thing going, and I’ve missed out on a lot of quality time with my sweety.  That is a side benefit I had not thought of when I started.
Joy of cooking.
More time with my wife.

I did have one problem with my eating habits.
Beer.
Now this is a total honest report, my 1 reader…  I had not been a heavy drinker before.  Sure I would drink several pints at our BBQ’s and bonfires, but it was not an everyday thing.  

The Devil in a Can
 Halfway through this challenge I started craving Guinness stout something horrible.  Sometimes I managed to shrug it off.. Sometimes I didn’t.  I figure it must have been the liquid bread aspect of Guinness that my body craved.

So here is my weight outlook\
Starting weight: 192
Ending Weight: 185

7 pounds lost with very very little exercise. 

Am I disappointed? No, not at all.  This was a learning month, no doubt about that.  I have  been reading no less than 16 primal blogs a day.  Reading Mark Sisson’s book “The Primal Blueprint”  and Robb Wolf’s “The Paleo Solution”  Both books are a must for this lifestyle.  I have been listening to podcasts, and buying paleo/primal cookbooks.  Re-outfitting the kitchen, and just plain learning to cook something other than BBQ.  It has been a busy month!




Winter is a very difficult time to exercise.  There has been 3 blizzards here breaking all snowfall records.  I have spent a lot of time in front of my computer researching and reading.  However, the weather is changing and warming up.  I am setting up a new workout rotation with my coach Mike French (who is totally awesome). 




 I will continue to battle the evils of Guinness, and dial in my nutrition even further.
 The last few days I have just hit ketosis, so I know I am primed for weight loss.  With a goal of 170 lbs, it is totally doable.
What will I be doing different?  More exercise, less Guinness.  That aught to cover it.

I am excited to see what the next 30 days brings!
Poppabear.
           

Field trip day to CSA, Farmers Market, and Meat Market



Wow, Yesterday was a super busy busy busy day.  The entire family got up super early (for them) and we made the white knuckle drive to down town Kansas City for an open house meeting of our local CSA (Not cub scouts of America.. It’s Community Supported Agriculture).  Poppabear is a country bear and does not handle the stress of city driving well.  Especially with two little girls chattering in the back seat like monkeys fighting over a banana.
            We made it there, alive, and the first person I sought out was a good CSA for grass feed beef.  I met up with Tom and Paula Parker, from Parker Farms.  We spent over an hour talking the evils of feed lots, and various other things.  We had a lot of similar views on the important things.  In the end, we signed up and come April we’ll be getting plenty of grassfed beef, and lamb. I am very excited!
            My thanks go out to my sister Joyce for introducing me to CSA’s.

            




 Next, we piled back into the car and made the trip to the Kansas city river market.   






It was off season, so not a lot of the stalls were open.  But we bought spices!!!!  OOOOOOOoooOOOooh we bought spices! 

 






  I picked us a bunch of good curry powder, and cilantro.  My brother Joe pointed out some poblano  peppers we decided to pick up for the grill that night.





            After another white knuckle ride we arrived at McGonigle’s meat market.  The choices of meat were staggering, and we didn’t make it out of there without dropping a good amount of cash on stuff we couldn’t get closer to home.  Kansas City is known world wide for its BBQ.  McGonigle's is where the BBQ pro's buy their meat.  'Nuff Said!




I was happy to find some ox tail, and lamb stew meat.  I picked up some ruby trout fillets for later as well. 










 

We all picked out a steak for the grill, and headed back home.
            






 The plan was for the families to come back to the cave, grill up some food, and then walk around the property and discuss the multi family garden layout for the spring.  We all agreed it was too much work for the day we had just had, so we ate our steaks and called it a night.



It was a good day.

Poppabear.