The Paleo Diet

For those of you that don't know, I started Crossfit a couple of years ago. I have heard all of the jokes, you know the ones like, "The first rule of Fight Club is to never talk about Fight Club while the first rule of Crossfit is to talk all the f****n time about Crossfit." Well, I must admit that when you start feeling that you are getting results it is difficult not to talk about it.

In saying that I don't think that I have given it 100%. I still can't do a pull up. I still struggle with double unders and my burpees seem to have gotten worse over the last 100 weeks but I had a couple telling me that I look a lot more muscular and look better than before. That is really cool. Thank you.

One of the things that I have learnt is that despite how hard you work in the gym you are not going to get anywhere unless you really watch what you are putting into your body. There is no point in busting your gut at the gym and then going home and having pizza and french fries. (By the way, I am a New Zealander and that is how we eat pizzas with french fries.)

The Crossfit community follow something  call the Paleo Diet and I it is interesting. Lots of protein, lots of vegetables, some nuts, some eggs (I love eggs), and some fruit. Of course that isn't everything but it seems to be working for me.

At the moment, I am reading a book called the Paleo Diet mistakes and I was really happy this morning to read that kimchi is an accepted part of the Diet. I love kimchi although the first time I had it in Korea I got food poisoning. Of course it could have been the meat we had or anything but I blamed the kimchi. It is good though and I have forgiven it and it is a major part of my Paleo Diet. I like it mixed up with pork. MMMM, delicious.

I think with anything that you want in your eating regime you need to make sure that you can keep it going for life. It isn't a two week thing, it is a lifelong thing.

Give it a try and see if you can stick to it.

About three years ago I was watching the New Zealand version of 60 Minutes. One of the articles (is that the right word?) was made by Peter Fitzsimons. For New Zealanders you will probably remember him as a rugby player who played a few test matches for the Wallabies, the Australian national rugby team. He talked about sugar and how it was making him fat. It was while watching this I was introduced to the Sweet Poison book and David Gillespie, who wrote the book was interviewed for the piece.

Recently I read another one of David Gillespie's books, The Sweet Poison Quit Plan. This book had a lot of recipes without using sugar as the author believes that it is sugar that made him fat and sugar is the culprit for a great deal of our health problems today.

I must admit that I have a sweet tooth. I love my ice cream. I love chocolate. I love lollies (as we call them in New Zealand) and I love the cream puffs (choux cream) that they sell in Japan. I'm getting hungry just writing this. However after reading this I am determined to wean myself off the sugar. I have bought into the Paleo Diet. I have read that fat is actually good for you and sugar makes you fat. Judging from my research and my experience it seems that they are right. The more sugar you eat, the more you want and that gets you fat. While by eating healthy fats the body seems to know how much is enough and sends a message to your brain to say that you have had enough.

One of the interesting things from reading these books is that you should limit your fruit intake. We have been brought up with the idea that fruit is healthy, which is it but you need to have it in moderation.

Last year my friend suggested that I buy dark chocolate with a high cacao content. He said that whenever I felt like some sweet food to have that. It was a very good idea as I trained my body to not want sugar anymore. Unfortunately like most people, this wasn't sustainable. However after reading The Sweet Poison Quit Plan I can see how it is done and hopefully I will be successful this time, although I do like the odd Moscow Mule. I wonder if I can cheat. Wish me luck.

For people who are interested, here is David Gillespie's Amazon page and if you want to watch Peter Fitzsimons' piece, you can see it here.

Good luck with your weight loss. I will be back in a few months with a progress report. By the way, I am 97 kgs (214 pounds) today. My goal is 92 kgs. (203 pounds)