Got Sleep?

If you do not get enough sleep, you will:

1. Completely cock-block your fat loss.

2. Get fat, sick and diabetic.

3. Get old and wrinkled before your time.

When I was reading The Paleo Solution by Rob Wolfe, this really captured my attention. I don’t want to be fat, sick and have wrinkles! Because I am such a night owl, I constantly struggle with not getting enough sleep. Usually, the hardest part of my day is just getting out of bed. Before I read about the benefits of getting enough sleep, I didn’t know what an impact it can have on my health. For instance, it causes insulin resistance which causes fat storage around the waistline. So basically, it adds muffin to the muffin top. Also, your immune is compromised, you can be forgetful, moody and your protein collagen (what is responsible for youthful skin) is destabilized. We all work so hard to eat well (Paleo) and to work our bums off at each CF class. Not getting the right amount of sleep can actually negatively impact all that hard work we are doing. Now on to a couple of benefits of getting enough sleep: you will recover faster from exercise, better memory, less inflammation and you will be less grumpy in the am (or maybe the grumpy part is just me.)

Everyone should be getting 8+ hours of sleep. A good indication that you are getting enough sleep is that you wakeup with out the aid of an alarm clock. If you are not doing this, here are some tips:

1. Blackout your room* – Spend a little money on blackout curtains or you can even use black trash bags if you don’t mind how it looks from the outside. Remove any light source from tv’s, chargers and even the alarm clock. I actually just place something over my alarm clock that blocks the light.
2. Develop good habits. Try to go to bed about the same time each night.
3. Keep your room cool. As we sleep, our body temperature rises.
4. Don’t watch TV while lying in bed before you go to sleep.

Since I have started to get more sleep and blacked out my room, I really have noticed a difference. I don’t crave candy and salty food as much throughout the day. Also, I used to be able to take a quick nap at almost any time of the day. Now, I can’t nap. I don’t need to. And my coworkers don’t annoy me nearly as much in the am now. Ha! I hope they never see this.

* Straight from The Paleo Solution about why you should blackout your room. The porphyrin proteins that make up your red blood cells register light and carry this info of light exposure to your brain. This info blocks a very important antioxidant hormone/neurotransmitter called melatonin. This process is at the heart of your problem with cortisol.

Aaaaannnnd We're BACK!

Happy Monday!

I am back from my week-long road trip and it was so much fun but soooo bad. Like I said before, it's so hard eating Paleo on the road and on trips in general. It doesn't help that my friends are not Paleo so they just ate whatever pleased them. I must admit, I did cave in a couple times....

This trip was definitely a test for the upcoming holidays and I have to say, watch out kids- IT'S HARD to stay on track! As the holiday season rapidly approaches us, I would suggest practicing and preparing for all the temptations that are to come. Make sure you maintain your goals and stay strong. If you're going out of town, visit other CrossFit boxes. Surrounding yourself with other crossfitters will help you stay focused and keep up with your workouts too! Tell your friends and family what you're doing and make sure they understand so hopefully they'll remember not shove pumpkin pies and other goodies in your face. I think the main key is to not even give in ONCE because once you start, it's all downhill from there.

Those are just a few things I learned about Paleo on vacation and now that I've seen how easily you can fall off track, I will face the next break with much more of an effort. Will you be able to face those holiday temptations????

ALSO, DON'T FORGET!!

PALEO POT LUCK PARTY THIS SATURDAY!!!!

I HOPE YOU'RE STILL PLANNING ON COMING!!

Smorgasbord Sunday

So let me start off by apologizing for the weak post, I am swamped with work and leave for a Conference in Denver tomorrow. Yet, I do want to make a quick few points. First, with the clean eating some of us have been doing for the past couple of weeks and months for others, we now have a relatively clean box! Derek, John G, and Big Eric were at the box until 7p last evening cleaning our lovely hellhole (so you may want to thank 'em when you see 'em). While I felt like the dust and dirt was part of who we were at the WL and gave the box some character, I am anal-retentive at heart. Second, I wanted to touch on performance during metcons and strength exercises. Everyone has different goals with the paleo diet and their lifestyle, as Kelsey put it so grandiosely yesterday, but for me, one of the main reasons I went paleo was to increase my metcon performance. I was sick of my times being towards the lower end of all the classes I attended. Since I have gone paleo, my endurance has increased tremendously and although I am still one of the weaker gentlemen at the box in terms of weights I "throw around", I have seen large gains in all lifts. Obviously, the contribution my diet makes toward this progress cannot be separated from the contribution obtained from crossfitting 5 days/week, but it cannot go unnoticed that my gains began when I switched my eating habits in mid-July...just sayin'

Go away, cold!

Mmmm breakfast of champions lol

I was getting back from the Vitamin Shoppe yesterday and was thinking it would be a good idea to ask you guys what kind of supplements you're taking (or have taken) and how well they are working for you?

Quantity vs. quality and cost vs. quality always seem to be the big issues for me. I nixed a lot of brands that I loved, purely because they were way too expensive for what they were. Yesterday I dropped one of my favorite protein brands and jumped on board with a new one, just because it was the same price for 2 more lbs. I'm also running out of fish oil and I know that quality can be an issue with it - but I take so much it's really hard to justify spending a ton of money on it... I guess its back on the research bandwagon for me.

This is (some of) what I'm currently taking:

multi-vitamin (cheap, works great, and no 15 pills like the last kind I took)

Fish Oil (cheap shit I know, but there is a ton and it's really inexpensive. Looking into new stuff. Any suggestions?)

Whey protein (awesome, love this stuff and have been using it for years)

Whey protein isolate (awesome stuff too, just grabbed this yesterday)

... and there is more, but I suppose those are staples.

Log from yesterday Negative the couple beers Alex and friends caught me drinking at the bar! Hey, my car got nailed by some lady on my way to LP for class last night and I needed one haha - guess I shouldn't have cheated on the West Loop, huh?

My So-Called Social Life

Obvious temptations such as Halloween candy, office potluck parties or the bread basket at the dinner table are hurdles I can anticipate and prepare for.  One obstacle that I did not expect was the reactions I received from family, friends and oddly enough, strangers.  Something about voicing your intention to start making healthy choices, such as choosing a Paleo lifestyle, can bring out the best and worst in people.

Why is it that saying I have food allergies is easier and often more acceptable than explaining I CHOOSE not to eat certain foods?  My new healthy habit has prompted me to take a closer look at my social life.

For me, food and socializing go hand in hand.  In some cases, food has helped define my relationships and friendships – “let’s meet up for coffee” – “we can catch up over dinner” – “grab a drink after work”.  My choice to change my eating habits has not changed ME.  I am no longer the gal who will always be up for nachos and beer but I am still the gal who can laugh with you, talk about how terrible the Cubs are and jump at the chance to see a horror film.  People have an image of us, some may resist our changing, some may support it and some may be inspired and join us.

HUMP DAY!!!!!!

So this Paleo Challenge has been amazing for the most part. I have had mostly ups with only a few downs. The biggest down being this past weekend when I ate and drank everything that I could for my "cheat weekend". I really regret my overindulgence because I truly feel like it set me back. Oh well, it's over and done with...now it is time to move forward!

There are two things I think I could definitely improve upon with this challenge. Number one would be incorporating more vegetables into my diet. I eat a ri-effing-diculous amount of fruit every day, but I usually only have veggies when they are apart of the meal.....like sauteeded with some meat. However, when I snack I do not munch on veggies at all. So, today I made the change and brought carrots to work along with some fruit. Veggies are so boring to me, so I spiced up my carrots with a little balsalmic vinagerette and sea salt. What are some of your tricks for making veggie snacks more interesting?

The second thing I could improve upon is exercising outside of my 3 Crossfit days. Before Paleo I would run on almost every off day from Crossfit. Unfortunately, I began Paleo the same day week I began a new job with long hours, and my energy has just not been there. I am disappointed because I know if I re-incorporated my runs into my life I would see even better results!

So I have spilled the beans on where I have room for improvement with this challenge....how about my fellow Paleo-ers? What are some things that you know you could be doing better?

HAPPY HUMP DAY!!!!!

Getting back on track...

This weekend I went overboard with the cheating. Once Sat night rolled around and the drinking started, it was all downhill from there. All day Sunday was spent trying to sleep and eat off the crappy feeling that came from drinking too much and staying up too late. I even made a cinnamon crumb cake and justified it by thinking that my roommate and friends from out of town would eat most of it. Unfortunately, I was the one that nibbled on it all day. I also felt the need to do my part in eating the candy that was laying around for the trick or treaters. I gave myself a pass to eat whatever I wanted Sunday thinking once Monday came around, I would gladly trade in my bad eating habits and eat better because I know I feel better when I do. So Monday happened. And it was much harder than what I thought it would be to get back to eating healthy. Its like the junk stayed with me and I craved more of it! So once I got home, I again had to remove all temptation. The cinnamon crumb cake, chips, leftovers and candy all had to go. I love food and can't pass it up if it is laying around. So in order to keep me from sabotaging myself another day, it had to go.

I guess what I learned from this weekend is that it is ok to indulge a little, but I can't keep tempation around my place because I can't say no. I will eat it until it is gone or I am in a food coma. And not only was I already feeling bad from Sat night, but I made it worse with all the unhealthy food and then another night of tossing and turning and bad quality sleep. Since I have cleaned up diet on Monday and slept really well last night, I feel 100 times better.