30 Day Paleo Challenge

Why just 30? Why not look for something that's sustainable?


It is sustainable. In the beginning it's best people do a 100% buy in. After 30 days people can then reintroduce some food that might of been problematic for them (dairy for example or eggs if one suspects autoimmune issues).

I am doing a 30 day challenge as a way for me to get my act together again nutrition wise and remind me why eating this way is beneficial to my performance. If you have been eating paleo for awhile but like goon have been running it 85/15 or similar, then doing a 30 day challenge is the equivalent to buckling down and going full force into a training program again. IMO
 
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@MilkTruckCoPilot, you are missing the point. Anything can be sustainable, but ThuderHorse has done it before and stopped, hence my comment.

I don't see the point in deciding for only 30 days if you know it's going to benefit you. Why wait until a certain day to start? That's like waiting until 1 January to make a resolution for the new year. Why not just start now? I don't really understand planning in cheat meals. It's like saying "I'll allow myself to fail every X days." If it happens it happens. If you visit friends and family on a holiday, just enjoy yourself. If you want to just pig out, you don't need to go off paleo to do it.
 
@MilkTruckCoPilot, you are missing the point. Anything can be sustainable, but ThuderHorse has done it before and stopped, hence my comment.

I don't see the point in deciding for only 30 days if you know it's going to benefit you. Why wait until a certain day to start? That's like waiting until 1 January to make a resolution for the new year. Why not just start now? I don't really understand planning in cheat meals. It's like saying "I'll allow myself to fail every X days." If it happens it happens. If you visit friends and family on a holiday, just enjoy yourself. If you want to just pig out, you don't need to go off paleo to do it.

I don't know man, for me, doing 30 days strict to kind of lean yourself out again and clean the ol' system real good is great. After that, there is only so much I am willing to trade health for happiness. I'm not going to give up getting beers with friends, I'm not going to give up the occasional root beer float, and I'm not going to give up chili with beans in it. If it's only once in a while, theres nothing wrong with it in my opinion. Somewhere between an 80/20 and 90/10 split is very sustainable and won't compromise the happiness from eating stuff that you just straight up enjoy, or grew up with.
 
@MilkTruckCoPilot, you are missing the point. Anything can be sustainable, but ThuderHorse has done it before and stopped, hence my comment.

I don't see the point in deciding for only 30 days if you know it's going to benefit you. Why wait until a certain day to start? That's like waiting until 1 January to make a resolution for the new year. Why not just start now? I don't really understand planning in cheat meals. It's like saying "I'll allow myself to fail every X days." If it happens it happens. If you visit friends and family on a holiday, just enjoy yourself. If you want to just pig out, you don't need to go off paleo to do it.
Trying to figure out how to respond. Re-written my response a few times. My plan is basically to be 100% strict for a long time. Knowing how I did it previously and now where I'm at giving myself some wiggle room. I wasn't in El Paso I'd probably be able to get my hands on some raw milk…but alas, there is not much grass around here.
 
@MilkTruckCoPilot, you are missing the point. Anything can be sustainable, but ThuderHorse has done it before and stopped, hence my comment.

I don't see the point in deciding for only 30 days if you know it's going to benefit you. Why wait until a certain day to start? That's like waiting until 1 January to make a resolution for the new year. Why not just start now? I don't really understand planning in cheat meals. It's like saying "I'll allow myself to fail every X days." If it happens it happens. If you visit friends and family on a holiday, just enjoy yourself. If you want to just pig out, you don't need to go off paleo to do it.


Because this way of eating isn't targeted towards JUST "industrial athletes". Many people with serious health issues (diabetes, autoimmune conditions ect) have been helped by this. For those with the issues I mentioned and more they require a pretty strict buy in. 30 days is just enough for a lot of people to turn a corner and see the benefit, others, mainly the one's with health issues I mentioned, will need to be more militant.

As for Goon, he makes a good point. It's about what is important to you. Battling a serious illness and know that if you slip up you are going to be in pain? Might want to be strict as a nun then. I don't agonize if I slip up, in fact the stress over it is probably worse to my health than whatever food I might of ate. This is a really easy way of eating though IMO.

I have seen some benefit from adding in a cheat "meal" every 1 to 2 weeks when getting to low levels of bodyfat. I can't explain it with any technical sense though but it does help. For others, it's a way to kick up their heels. It's all about "who are you and what are you goals" though.
 
I fell off the Paleo wagon at Thanksgiving and never looked back. The only goal I met was the one where I challenged myself to see how much beer I could drink and how many slices of pizza I could consume in one month.
Damn it anyway, 10 pounds came back REALLY fast! Gotta start all over again. For those of you who made it through...help me get back in the game again.

Sincerely,

Undisciplined and carb starved!
 
I fell off the Paleo wagon at Thanksgiving and never looked back. The only goal I met was the one where I challenged myself to see how much beer I could drink and how many slices of pizza I could consume in one month.
Damn it anyway, 10 pounds came back REALLY fast! Gotta start all over again. For those of you who made it through...help me get back in the game again.

Sincerely,

Undisciplined and carb starved!

Remember, the Paleo diet isn't "low carb". It's just choosing better quality food. That doesn't mean it MUST be grass fed. I haven't had grass fed beef in two years. High carb or low carb depends on the person and their individual needs, activity level ect.

There is a good series on youtube, "Shopping with Robb Wolf" He basically walks through a grocery store with a reporter and says what is legit or not. One thing that was nice to see, was that it gave you plenty of options "on the road".

 
Spreading the good word to my parents with a strict paleo Chile Verde and Cauli Rice supper. Round two of this recipe with some changes and I need a tortilla press to make the tortillas right next time.
 
Well, based on this http://southcharlottecrossfit.com/nutrition/, I guess I've been "on the diet" for about 10 days now but nowhere near as strict with the protein and fat (way less than 60% total: more like 20% for both). Doing ALOT of juicing but not at work and eating almost exclusively raw foods and a lot of green tea.

Completely kicked out HFCS and prepackaged foods (but never ate that shit anyway and have always been very low sugar).

Only real vice is two cups of black coffee per day.
 
Well, based on this http://southcharlottecrossfit.com/nutrition/, I guess I've been "on the diet" for about 10 days now but nowhere near as strict with the protein and fat (way less than 60% total: more like 20% for both). Doing ALOT of juicing but not at work and eating almost exclusively raw foods and a lot of green tea.

Completely kicked out HFCS and prepackaged foods (but never ate that shit anyway and have always been very low sugar).

Only real vice is two cups of black coffee per day.
,
Be careful with that boss, there is some literature pointing to an inability to absorb nutrients in a 100% raw food diet (no matter what we eat we don't absorb everything from food) and the damage it can do, women have lost their period from eating this way. Matt Lalonde (Organic Chemist from Harvard) has spoken about this some....
 
If I recall, Lalonde doesn't do much in the way of raw foods, heating (steaming, etc) releases nutrients. He's all about bang for your buck with food. He delved into this more in a podcast with Abel James in March 2013. It's worth a listen (find it here).
 
I'm good then! :-) Seriously, far so good. If you have not yet tried grass-fed chicken or beef: "dew it...dew IT!"

IMO, it's well worth the extra cost due to the intense ?natural? flavor.

I would just keep it at a mix of raw/cooked...ok off of my soapbox. I've had grass-fed beef and it's amazing! However some of us are Guard bums at the moment. We can't all live like Rockefellers! :thumbsup:
 
7 days in, down 7 lbs, at the pace I was going I thought it was going to be a 10lb week. Kind of glad I slowed down, but it will pick up next week because I'll be done with in processing and with my platoon.
 
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