Whole & Natural food just did wonders for me...

Absolutely amazing and I'm not talking about the view above. What am I talking about? My blood test results. My company hosted a benefits health screen for the employees and their family members (no children). This was done to help alleviate the staggering increase of healthcare costs to the company and the employees. The last time I had some blood work was 6 years ago. I never bothered to re-test myself because I "felt" healthy, how naive of me. Back then I was overweight, had high cholesterol, high LDL (bad stuff), low HDL (good stuff), slightly higher than normal triglycerides, and pre-diabetic glucose levels(I loved candy).

Today was, by far, more than surprising. I'm normal weight for my height, finally! I have normal blood pressure; my total cholesterol was less than 100 mg/dL (meaning the machine can only detect 100 or greater, so basically my levels are undetectable), LDL was super low (also undetectable because of the sensitivity of the machine), HDL was normal within range (higher is better, but I'll take normal), triglycerides were well below normal (more like optimal), and my glucose levels are normal within range as well. So what does this tell me? According to my blood test, I'm healthier than I've ever been, OPTIMAL. My goodness, they can't even obtain a total cholesterol to HDL ratio because no exact number could be given it just stated less than the lowest value. FYI, normal cholesterol levels is for any value less than 200 mg/dL and I was less than 100 mg/dL. I'm ecstatic and who said eating eggs daily is bad for you because of the cholesterol? I don't think I'm alone when I say that I was nervous going into the screen because I didn't know what to expect. If results were not in my favor, then I'd have to rethink what I'm doing for health, but now I don't need to. What I need to do is continue on with my current lifestyle and keep monitor myself. Self-awareness is key and I'm ulitmately responsible for myself and that's it.

Thank you Canyon Crossfit, trainers and members, and Whole9Life for guidance. It was up to me to succeed and I'm headed that way.

Workout: 8+ mile Mountain bike ride to enjoy the so cal sun.

 

The after ride meal was just right. A salmon burger protein style with a side of sweet potatoes.

This "Paleo" thing works....but I don't like that word.

Paleo or Paleolithic diet has exploded upon the CrossFit scene. It's all crossfitters talk about when it comes to diet and fitness. It works quite well for me and I'll keep saying it until something changes. I've had more energy, amazing fitness performance, and my goodness...satiety. OK yes I'm human and I'll want to have some pizza, especially if it's from Porky's, but I feel the majority of what I eat is making me feel...well normal. I don't have aches and pains, unless it's from a crazy workout, don't get food coma, and don't have mid afternoon lulls where I just wanna curl up and sleep. I do my absolute best to avoid grains, added sugar, legumes, processed food and dairy. I eat when I'm hungry and until I'm full. I don't have to count calories, I just read ingredients. I limit the amount of process foods(ie. boxed food) and eating at restaurants isn't as hard as I once believed although it is on the pricier end. I won't even get into the details, but the Paleo recipes we've made are very very very DELICIOUS. So when people ask me, "are you on a diet?" My answer should be "YES, but it's not just a diet to lose weight." I'm really trying to make it a part of me because again it flat out works. Sure there's restrictions. but that's for everything and if there wasn't, then you or I would be another stat of America's obese. I'd rather pay now for whole and natural food than get bankrupt on medical expenses because I didn't take care myself. Trust me, chemotherapy and medicine is far more expensive than the quality of food you can buy.

So here's 10 reasons why I agree with this style of eating.

So why don't I like that word Paleo? Because the smart marketers will take it and run away with something so clever to make dollars and deepen their pockets. Quite simply: Paleolithic = old ways vs. Neolithic = New ways. Paleo = caveman vs. Neo = modern man. Therefore I'm a modern man trying to hone in on old ways by eating whole natural foods. This diet should now be considered Whole & Natural eating. No need for latin words, just plain english. Get it? Got it? Done.

Meals: Breakfast omelet, the amazing salmon meal from last night, and a taco-flavored chicken salad for tonight. Throw some fruit and nuts in between. Also started on some new fish oil.

Got home and a special something was waiting for me. New kicks baby, just in time for today's workout.


WOD: nine-oh!

Complete 5 Sets
90 seconds of:
5 Split Jerks
90 second of:
Max Double Unders

My results = 155(5), 155(5), 165(5), 165(5), 175(5) and 335 total double unders

So here's some websites I like reading and pulling information, aside from the dry science-y stuff.

Whole9Life - where it all started

Fitbomb - Normal guy, living a normal life.

Nom Nom Paleo - Fitbomb's wife who cooks amazing food

Paleomg - makes good paleo treats

Robb Wolf - a paleo nerd I like reading. why? because my background relates to his.

 

PNE - Day 1

I've decided to start this PNE on this Sunday just like how a normal week starts. I'm off to a good start with a filling breakfast of scrambled eggs, sweet peppers, onions, and spinach cooked with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. Then I was off with my family to visit my mom at Forest Lawn cemetery. On the way I had a "green monster" smoothie. It consist of tropical frozen fruit blend of papaya, mango, pineapple, strawberries, bananas, 2 handfuls of spinach, and water. (Paleo friendly) Since I'm addicted to coffee I stopped by a joint called Dripp, ordered black and it was darn good.
Lunch time.... here's where it gets tough because off running errands and choosing where to eat and ordering the right food will be a challenge, but I decided on some el pollo loco chicken. An 8 piece family meal with mixed veggies and sweet potato fries that quickly turned into 16 piece chicken meal at the checkout. Took the food home and went to town but kept PNE in mind by going skinless and no fries because I doubt it was fried I'm coconut oil, olive oil, or ghee. So another meal down and feeling good. After lunch we embarked on our game plan for meals for the week. Costco and Sprouts are now our default markets and we loaded up on some meat and boat loads of fruits and veggies. Now we're stocked, locked and loaded ready to go.
Dinner... After consulting with the wifey on what to cook we settled on some grilled marinated chicken and steamed broccoli. Once dinner was done we took a little more time to do some extra food prep for the week once we put the little one to bed. This will allow me to stay focused and on track. This will probably be a staple meal because it doesn't seem to fail. So at the end of 1 full day, I feel great and I believe because it wasn't as drastic of a change to what I normally eat. Looking forward to the remainder of this experience and my daily wods.