I know I’ve been neglecting my blog again, so it’s time for another update –
I’ve stayed strict Paleo with very few exceptions since the end of July when I began my Whole30 journey. I found that this kind of nutrition just “works” perfectly for me, and I don’t want to mess with a good thing! The only exceptions that I have made:
- I have made an absolutely “to-die-for” marinara sauce from scratch and used a little bit of red wine in the recipe. I wanted to see if I felt any ill-effects from it, and fortunately I did not – and the sauce was AMAZING!! I served it over some calamari, steamed shrimp, broccoli, and kelp noodles. . YUM! So I’m going to allow myself to use a little wine for cooking from time to time going forward. This isn’t going to be a daily thing, but more like a “once=or-twice-a-month” kind of thing. Of course this wouldn’t be condoned during a Whole 30 stint, but I’m in “maintenance mode” at this point 🙂
- A week or so after cooking with red wine, I decided to have one glass with dinner. I nice medium-rare grass fed steak paired perectly with a glass of Merlot. I had only one glass, and had no desire to go back for a second or third glass – it just served as a great complement to an awesome dinner. Again, I felt no ill-effects that evening or the next day, so I have decided to allow myself the occasional glass of red wine with dinner – but again, this will not be a regular thing – only once every month or so as a special treat.
- I competed in Oktoberfest Obliteration II at CrossFit Champions this last weekend. I had been perectly strict with no cheats whatsoever other then the wine mentioned above up to this point, so I decided a few weeks ago that I would treat myself to a frozen yogurt after the competition. They have an awesome Frozen Yogurt chain called “FreshBerry” in Houston, and a girlfriend and I swung in after a grueling day of competition. I ordered a regular size yogurt w/ shredded unsweetened coconut as a topping. . . and it was just what the Dr. ordered! My tummy was admittedly a little upset for the rest of the evening – no doubt due to the re-introduction of dairy. As a result I do not plan to indulge in frozen yogurt on a regular basis – maybe just once or twice a year as a special treat. . .
- Lastly – over the weekend, my hubby baked some sugar cookies. . . they smelled SO GOOD and I managed to resist them all weekend long. . but had a moment of weakness this morning and decided I would have just one. . . Oh My Goodness. . . NEVER AGAIN!!! Gluten is definitely something that I do not have any desire to re-introduce into my diet, even as an occasional treat. My stomach has been screaming at me ALL DAY LONG – I’ve literally been doubled over in agony several times. Lesson Learned though! And the good news is that I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to eat any more of those darn things, and now fully remember why I cut that stuff out of my diet in the first place!
So since I did a “Whole60” from July 29th – September 29th, with the exception of the Edamame slip-up around day 28. After 60 days of 100% compliance, I’ve “tested the waters” just a few times (listed above) to see what does and does not affect me negatively. I’ve found that I can cook with wine occasionally, or have a glass with dinner from time to time but don’t plan to make a habit of it – I’ll only splurge here occasionally as a special treat byt outside of this I plan to pretty much stick to Whole30 principles for my day-to-day life.
So how has the last 75-ish days of Paleolithic nutrition affected me?
Mentally, I feel clearer and more “in tune” than I have in ages. I’m leaner than I’ve been in a long time, and my performance has finally started to come back up in the gym. I did have the complicating factor of some thyroid issues that I’m still working to resolve, and this has affected my energy levels, stamina, and recovery ability however I feel like all of these would be even worse than they are if I hadn’t jumped back on the “Paleo Wagon” when I did.
I plan to continue to work to build my strength by focusing on the Strength Programming that Coach Wilkes has provided and limiting my MetCon. Once I have built up some more strength, I’ll gradually add a little more MetCon back in to my routine.