IT'S (Paleo) GO TIME!

My CrossFit box is organizing a Nutritional Challenge, where those who have signed up are choosing between the Zone Diet and the Paleo diet, or some combination of the two.  We've all been assigned to teams of 5, where all team members will have access to a Google Spreadsheet to document their meals, snacks, workouts, the amount of water drank, the amount of sleep they got the night prior, and any additional comments.  Team members are encouraged to comment on each others entries, and one of the owners of the two boxes that make up Guerrilla Fitness is keeping a watchful eye and asking questions as well.  

I'm not too familiar with the Zone diet, so after reading The Paleo Solution and scouring the internet for resources on this way of eating, I chose to go Paleo for this challenge.  I've tried the Paleo diet months prior with some noted success, but I've found it increasingly difficult to stick with lately.  I'm not sure if it's the colder weather, my wonderful boyfriend who can eat whatever he wants, or just my extreme love of all things tasty, but I have basically no self-control when it comes to eating lately. 

For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Paleo diet basically means going back to eating like our Paleolithic ancestors.  No gluten or grains of any kind. No processed foods.  No dairy (I may be flexible with this one, as many Paleo experts are).  No legumes. There's an emphasis on eating pastured meat and eggs, and sustainable seafood, plus lots of healthy fats.  You'll get all the carbohydrates and fiber you need from the vegetables you eat.  You can learn a bit more about it in layman's terms here.

Seeing this challenge as an out, I've decided break up with food.  I'm sorry, food.  It's not you, it's me.  For too long, I've used you as a crutch, counting on you to comfort me during times of stress, and to make things even better during the happy times.  It's time to kick my emotional dependence on food, to stop associating it with feelings, and to end the sick cycle of being sad, binge eating to feel better, being sad about binge eating, and then eating some more for comfort.  From now on, food is fuel, not a security blanket.  My life is wonderful, and it's time to start treating my body accordingly, so that when life's not so wonderful, I'll be better equipped to properly deal with it.  This isn't a diet, it's going to be a lifestyle change.  Of course, before I could make this breakaway from diet, I had what would be considered the equivalent of break up sex, with food.  I completely gorged myself this weekend on everything I knew I would not be allowed to eat while Paleo.  Taylor Ham, egg and cheese on an everything bagel.  Greasy burgers and fries.  Bean-laden chili.  Milkshakes.  Beer.  It was glorious and terrible all at the same time...not unlike breakup sex.

I'll be using this blog as a means to document what I eat, and how I'm feeling throughout the entire process, and perhaps I'll continue with it after the challenge is done.  Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts or questions.