Our first Paleo 30 Day Challenge starts next Monday (October 24th)! Sign-up is on the whiteboard for all those participating. Official rules will be handed out on Wednesday. Time to find your inner caveman!
Blog
Why live primal?
John Durant, the self proclaimed urban caveman over at www.hunter-gatherer.com, relates this topic better than anyone else I’ve followed in the blogosphere. “How do you keep a wild animal healthy?” The first thought that should come to mind is the zoo example. Zoos around the world house and display an array of wild animals. While many accommodations have been made to imitate the animal’s natural habitat, there have been a fair share problems with holding wild animals in captivity. The most current example occurred with the death of Knut, the polar bear in a German zoo this past year. Apparently it’s common for mother polar bears to reject their cubs in captivity but this little orphaned cub made it 4 more years before succumbing to a sudden death. Knut was special because he was the only cub in the past 30 years to survive past infancy at the Berlin Zoo (one of the world’s premier zoos). As it turns out, many zoo animals seem have difficulty reproducing, they express odd repetitive behaviors, and have signs of chronic disease (tooth decay, heart problems). They also think that Knut had some mental illness and, as a result, was bullied by other polar bears.
So before I get too off topic I’d like to bring up my main point; animals thrive in their natural habitat. This is the reason why zoos are making strides to replicate a wild animal’s habitat as closely as they can to what is natural for that particular animal. Where am I going with this and how does it transfer to humans?… Well if we look at the world around us, the world we are “comfortable” in; we have it all wrong. Our bodies weren’t designed to sit around 9-10 hours a day, sleep less than 7 hours a night, survive on high calorie processed foods, and rarely ever see sunlight. This is apparent in relation to the current trend of obesity and other related health issues (cardiovascular disease, stoke, type II diabetes, cancer, etc.) as well as rising rates of diseases like autism and Alzheimer’s. Why, in the last 20-30 years, have these issues developed into what is looking like an epidemic? It is because as a species, we are not replicating the habitat around us and our lifestyle as a whole into what our bodies were designed for. The human form didn’t evolve for 2-3 million years to sit and work all day and drive through McDonald’s for a cheeseburger on the way home. Simply put.
At a time well before the domestication of plants and animals, we were all hunter-gatherers. I’m talking about the same primitive man that you learned about in high school history or science classes. Primitive man had a simple life mostly driven by the most basic instinct: staying alive. He foraged the plains and forests for berries and leafy green plants as well as hunted wild game like rabbits, deer, and bison. He slept at nightfall and relied on his circadian rhythm to wake him up upon dawn so he could start a day filled with foraging, hunting, or migrating.
Recent research has showed that primitive man was extremely healthy. Yes, they did have shorter lifespans, but this was due to violence, infection, and other causes of death that do not afflict modern people. If a child made it through infancy and didn’t have too many run ins with sabre-tooth tigers or grizzly bears, then he or she was due for long and happy life. Oh yeah that’s another thing! Primitive man didn’t struggle with psychological disorders such as depression or schizophrenia or any of the “diseases of civilization” like we do today.
I adamantly believe that diet is the most important building block for healthy vitality. If we take a look at the history of the human diet, you’ll notice that grains, starches, and legumes were only introduced about 10,000 or some odd years ago. Proceeding this agricultural revolution was the paleo-style hunter-gatherer diet which primarily consisted of lean meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and berries. This does not include sugar, corn, beans, rice, or any grain or legume for that matter. Humans ate like this for at least 2.5 million years. So simple science shows you that our bodies are more equipped and accustomed through evolution to handle this paleolithic style of diet. Eating this way caused no spikes in blood sugar leading to a sustained energy level throughout the day (much like I feel now) or any unwanted fat storage (due to spikes in insulin levels). There was no hypertension, high cholesterol, and especially no obesity back then.
Another important building block is for healthy vitality is exercise. Now I can assure you that paleolithic man didn’t wake up and do 100 pushups or curl and bench press heavy rocks in hopes for that perfect beach bod. Any physical exertion he or she endured was completely functional. By functional I mean, for example, long migratory walks, short sprints away from danger, throwing spears, lifting rocks, climbing up trees, running down game over great distances (persistence hunting), etc. He woke up every day knowing that he had to work for that day’s meal and he was in great shape because of it. How does your exercise routine compare?
- Me at the Westlake CrossFit 300 Challenge
Everything I’ve discussed can be summed up in the old saying,”if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If there were relatively no problems or derived negative health conditions with how humans lived for millions of years, then what the hell are we doing with ourselves now? It is time for everyone to take a step back and realize how far we have strayed from what we were built for. Reconstructing our natural habitats in terms of diet, exercise, and sleep should be of top priority.Only then can we be completely happy and on the way to a healthier and more productive lifestyle.
Wodapalooza
CrossFit competitions, in my opinion, are THE best way to see what we do in action. Just the environment itself bleeds community and will install a new sense of respect for the up-and-coming sport. This year, OneMR Brand is putting on a competition in Belton on November 11th. This competition is unique in that it is only for beginning and intermediate CrossFitters. If we get enough people to make it worth it then we could all caravan on down there for the day. I urge you to consider this as the spots are filling up fast! Take a look at the website for more information.
FREE Saturday session at ED*CF: October 15th, 10am
30 Day Fall Paleo Challenge starts October 24th!!!
Congrats go out to Mason and Shawn for nailing their double unders this week!
Be Young, Feel Young, Redefine YOU
via YouTube
We are proud to offer one of the only CrossFit classes in the city catered to individuals over the age of 50. Our Master’s class is offered five days a week and never skips a beat. We focus on rehabilitation, flexibility, hormonal regularity through added strength and lean mass gains. These athletes might not be preparing for the 2012 CrossFit Games, but they are preparing to live life to the fullest.
Weekend Links
Lose your scale! Why you shouldn’t be so concerned with the numbers on your bathroom scale.
The plight of muscled Americans. Don’t be afraid of ‘the grunt’ at our box!
Think your running form needs some work? … How mother nature intended you to run.
um… what?
** FREE class this Saturday at 10am for all levels of fitness after the free 9am Master’s (50+) class. Bring friends!
Athlete of the Week: Jen H.
Jen Hardi, quite simply, is a fireball (in a good way). If you have ever had the pleasure of meeting or WODing with her, you can’t help but feel the positive vibes she gives off. She brings enthusiasm to each and every workout, even when she is coming off of being sick for 3 days straight (like today). Jen has quite the competitive edge and always gives an all-out effort. Given her background in gymnastics and cheerleading, she accelerates at almost all body weight movements and is on her way to completing her first muscle-up! If you ask her, she will say that she hates wall balls with a passion. I guess it was good then that she conveniently missed “Karen” earlier this week. Jen is a great addition to our team and we are glad to have her!
Congrats also goes out to Adam T. for nailing his first muscle-up this week!
Find Your Inner Caveman
A blog entry from an old blog of mine just after completing my first Paleo challenge earlier this year:
I recently, as of a week ago, completed the daunting task of the paleo 30 day challenge. For those of you foreign to this concept, eating ‘paleo’ is imitating the diet our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived on for over 2 million years. This means ditching all grains, dairy products, refined sugars, legumes, or anything processed… so basically what tastes good and makes up about 80% of the grocery store. Foods on the can-eat lists include lean meats, fish, veggies, fruits and most nuts.
Easy enough?You might be asking yourself “why the hell would you ever want to do something like this?” Well, for starters I’ve gotten on another one of my health kicks. I’ve been crossfitting for a while now and just joined a local crossfit gym here in Austin. It seemed to be the trend amongst crossfitters to try this 30 day challenge. So, truthfully, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into at first when I started and basically I was just doing it as a way to challenge myself and immerse myself deeper into the crossfit culture (something I’ll go more in depth into later on).
Here is more info on the paleo diet: www.thepaleodiet.com
Simply put week 1 was terrible. Now I had a pretty healthy diet coming into the challenge but I found myself craving all types of comfort foods for the sheer fact that it was prohibited to eat them. All I could think about was hamburgers, pizza and cookies and to make matters worse, I didn’t know what the hell to cook besides some plain ol’ chicken or fish with a side of sautéed veggies. The only support I had were that my two roommates who were along for the ride and decided to embark on the challenge with me (which didn’t last long at all, thanks guys). I had heard that the diet was a great way to “lean out” and lose unwanted fat mass. This was ideal for my roommates because they had some unwanted pounds to shed before lake season but I didn’t have any to spare. I was determined to keep weight which meant familiarizing myself more with the diet and coming up with new dishes to try. I also wanted to learn everything I could about the theories behind paleo so that when someone asked “why on earth would you torture yourself like this” I could give them somewhat of an intelligent answer and not just mumble out some asinine bullshit.
So I read, read, and read some more. I immersed myself in books, research articles, and blogs. Pretty soon I became infatuated with all things paleo and was willing to adopt the more primitive way of eating. I had my elevator pitch ready for anyone interested or willing to offer up a counter argument. I’m to the point where now I’m wondering why I ever took diet for granted as much as I did pre-paleo.
The cravings subsided, my face cleared up, and I started to experience a renewed sense of daily energy and focus. I am done with the after-lunch grogginess and self-diagnosed ADD pity parties. I feel more alive than ever. Most importantly I was starting to lean out and my confidence was building. I was starting to get more out of my high intensity morning workouts and longer evening endurance runs. I knew at once that I wanted to feel like this all the time.
This is how fellow blogger Karl Macphee comedically tells of his experiences. Karl writes:
Here are some of the terrible things I have noticed since falling into this Caveman style of eating and moving so far away from the recommendations of our Government’s Food Guide:
- I have so much energy every day that I am constantly getting things done around the house, and when it is time to go to bed at 9:00pm as I had done for so many years because I was exhausted, I still have too much energy and have to stay awake until at least 10:30 or 11:00opm.
- I can’t wake myself up with an alarm clock anymore! I wish I could still jolt myself out of bed with a loud buzzing noise that causes my heart rate to skyrocket, thus raising cortisol and waking me from my sleep cycle.
- While on the topic of sleep, I can’t nap anymore! I used to nap almost every day, especially on the weekends. If I was at work and thus couldn’t nap, I would become very tired and then begin falling to sleep about 7pm. I wish I could waste more of my life sleeping in the afternoon, and more often at night.
- I don’t get to workout as often. In fact, my weekly strength training routine has decreased from 5-6 hours a week to 60 -90 minutes a week at best. What am I supposed to do with my time now that I am not filling it with countless hours in the gym burning off those excess carbohydrates that I was eating while on my previous diets?
- I don”t get to run and bike for 5-7 hours a week anymore. I love to ride my bike and I enjoy trail running, but now I only do it on nice summer days instead of obsessivly in the past. Here is an example, I don’t have to bike to work to maintain my preferred body composition and fitness levels so now I drive to work while listening to educational podcasts…this is terrible.
- I still run my races in the same times as I did in the past, so that means that I wasted many, many hours training for races over the years and that is depressing!
- I don’t get to eat food every 2-3 hours! This sucks because now I only have to eat 2-3 times a day, and that means that I have even more time that I have to fill with things like reading, learning, going for nice walks, playing with my children and talking with my wife. Back then, I was able to eat every couple of hours and if I didn’t get to do so I would get shaky, irritable and even sick with headaches and an upset stomach, but now none of these things happen and I am forced to figure out other things to do.
- I don’t get to spend as much time on the toilet as well. In fact, I don’t even stink up the bathroom because my junk doesn’t stink anymore. Seriously, it comes out smooth, and only takes a couple seconds and I am done. This means that I don’t get to read while on the toilet with stomach pain and horrible gas anymore, now I have to help my wife clean, take the kids for walks, or just simply relax.
- I don’t have an excuse to leave boring social gatherings anymore. Back when I used to eat right, I was always so tired that I would have to leave by 9:30 or 10 in order to get enough sleep for the next day. When I didn’t I would be really tired for the next 48 hours, but now even if I stay up really late I still have lots of energy the next day so I have to stay at the social gatherings longer.
- I don’t have a reason to rush to Dairy Queen to get a blizzard anymore because my blood sugar is always balanced. This has significantly decreased my Blizzard consumption which is very bad for business.
- I have to buy new clothes which is quite costly. Before when I was on the food pyramid and the vegetarian plan my stomach was always bloated and my clothes fit, but now because I am eating an artery clogging diet, my waist is more narrow because the bloating has vanished and I had to buy new shorts.
- I don’t get to use soap when I shower, and I don’t get smelly like I used to. This is bad because people think I am weird now that I don’t use soap. I can use soap if I want to, but I noticed that if I use soap my skin gets really dry, and when I don’t use soap, it stays nice and smooth.
- I have to lift heavier weight in the gym because I have become much stronger. I think this has something to do with these really short workouts and the change in foods, but the doctors and fitness people say that I should be working out more often. I don’t want to hurt their feelings, but when I can achieve better results in much less time, wouldn’t it make sense to keep doing that?
Well the 30 days came and went, and here I am… a changed man. Since the challenge is officially over I haven’t strayed too far off the path to dietary enlightenment. I’ve added cheese to a couple meals and slurped down some beers (wheat beer is a guilty pleasure of mine) over the past week but not much more than that. Oh yeah.. how could I forget? I had just one tiny slice of pizza on saturday night. It was my first grainy or processed food in over a month. Worst decision ever. I woke up a few hours later feeling as if I had just swallowed a grenade. My stomach had never hurt so bad and I’ve always prided myself on having a gut of steel. Needless to say I was hovered over the toilet tossing up my cookies a few minutes later. I’m still feeling the effects a couple days later and my workout totally sucked a big one this morning. So yeah.. I’ve learned my lesson.
For any of those interested in learning more about the concepts behind paleo dieting, too lazy to google it themselves, or just want to tell me that I am stupid and they disagree, feel free to shoot me an email!!
2011 CrossFit Games tonight on ESPN2!
Check out the recap of the 2011 CrossFit Games tonight (Wednesday) on ESPN2! The action starts at 7 and ends at 9. The women’s events are first followed by the men’s. This is the final of four episodes and is one of the best to tune into because it will be recapping the final events where only the top athletes will be competing. Set your DVR now!