Day 31… Now What?

Today I complete the most recent PCF 30 day paleo challenge and I am faced with the most important question that anyone who has done one of these challenges will ever face… Now what?

Let’s back up some and give a brief intro to my paleo experience. This is my 3rd paleo challenge, the first was Summer 09, then I won the WSOP in Jan 10 (no big deal), and now another 30 days of good clean paleo food.  Each time was a completely different experience, the first time I basically ate the same thing every day, which led to me getting sick of it, then I wouldn’t eat anything because I didn’t know what else I could have so I ended up struggling through it, not losing much weight, and pretty much falling back off the paleo wagon at the end of 30 days.

So what did I do? First of all, I took Alison’s paleo and cooking seminar, which was wonderful. I not only learned a ton of new foods to eat, I learned how to prepare them in different ways to avoid wanting to shoot myself. I also started reading paleo food blogs and asking around for other paleo recipes etc. So I was ready in January for another shot at the 30 day clean, I had a full tool kit of paleo supplies. Anyway this challenge went great… I lost 31 lbs during the challenge, and was able to make it rain. After this challenge I maintained a ‘mostly’ paleo lifestyle, meaning that most of the time I would eat paleo, whenever it was convenient for me. So that meant any type of traveling be it for work, vacation, or whatever paleo mostly went out of the window. Any type of social setting I could be seen drinking beer and then most likely eating pizza or ice cream when the night was over. Now, I don’t go out nearly as much as I used to so this wasn’t a huge issue for me but what I found was that each time I would go out, it would take me a little bit longer to get back to paleo, at first the next day, then 2 days, then a whole week.  So, it got to be too much for me, I was starting to lose the results I had achieved in January and I wasn’t happy.  What I thought was ‘mostly paleo’ was really pretty far from it.

One day in June, I came into the box and saw Chris Wiz who also did the WSOP with me in Jan and I couldn’t believe what I saw, he was clearly down 30-40lbs and looked great. I talked to him and asked what he has been doing and he said just “eating paleo and drinking bourbon”. hmmmm seemed simple enough right? Yes and No.  The ideas are simple enough but in practice can become much more complicated. First of all anyone who says things like ‘Eating paleo and drinking bourbon’ is the man. Wiz really inspired me to get my act together and figure out what was holding me back from seeing the same type of results. We all have our own hurdles to overcome, for me the biggest hurdle was living paleo outside of a routine. I was doing great whenever I could plan and make my own meals, not go out or do anything social. It was great for paleo, but life as a hermit isn’t a great look for me.  I had to find a way to get over whatever was holding me back.

The two biggest issues for me are outlined below:

Why was your order so complicated? Why are you eating that without bread?
Whenever I’m out with a group who doesn’t know what paleo is, it can annoying and awkward when they ask me why I’m giving the waiter lots of instructions or ordering things without bread. At first I would start to explain the paleo diet, but that usually leads to whoever I am with saying things like,:
‘Oh that’s like atkins right?’- well, sort of…
‘Well I only eat whole grains’ – ok, good for you…
‘So you don’t ever eat carbs? ‘- well, I eat vegetables, some fruit, little starch….

In the end it always puts the other person(s) on the defensive and they start attacking me, then I get annoyed, and it never ends well. So what used to happen was that I would order bread or rice or pasta just to avoid that conversation. I am embarrassed to admit that, but it’s true.

Anyway, I have since discovered the best way around this problem. Whenever someone asks me a question about what I’m eating I tell people I can’t eat wheat/gluten because I am allergic.  First of all, this is likely true, but it has been wonderful because many people don’t understand paleo, but everyone has heard of gluten, and it is actually a little bit in style to have a gluten allergy. It is basically the new ‘west nile virus’ which I always had a lot of respect for. Anyway, this is much easier than trying to defend the paleo diet at every turn.

The other issue which was even bigger: “Why aren’t you drinking?”
-aaaaahhhhhhhh I hate this question! I hate it. I hate it. This is new age peer pressure at it’s finest.  Anyway, I had no response or defense to this question. A lot of times I was able to sneak by with club soda/lime because it looks like vodka soda, but not always. In those instances, this either resulted in a profanity laced tirade directed at the question asker, me leaving, or me giving in and drinking beer, lots of beer. I know that liquor is a much better option than beer, but beer is much easier for me to drink and the thought of liquor without mixing with coke/other soda wasn’t an appealing thought.  I had heard that the best thing for me was to drink tequilla but I just didn’t like it, it always gave me the worst hang overs, and I haven’t been able to touch it since my college sb trip to cancun.

One day I was talking to Ryan Powell and he gave me a new perspective on tequilla. He said something like: ‘Most people drink tequilla in the form of shots at 2am when they have already had 10 beers and a few other shots, then they blame their hangover on the one shot of tequilla they had.’ Which accurately described my thoughts on the matter. He explained to me that while tequila can be a little bit of an acquired taste, if you have a good tequila mixed with club soda and lime it is a good drink and you won’t be nearly as sick the next day. So I’ve given this a try on my last few nights out before the challenge started and I have to say he is right. I really started to come around on the taste and the feeling the next day is so much better than when I drink beer that it is enough to keep me coming back.  Plus I’ve found that drinking tequilla earns you a ton of street cred at a bar.

What I found was these were the 2 issues that were really holding me back from really making the transition from paleo as a 30 day challenge, to a lifestyle. As I went into this latest challenge, I wanted to make an effort to put everything together and realize that the next 60 days are just as important as the first 30. This was by far the easiest challenge I have done. Of course I had a couple of rough days in the first week, where I would have killed for some ice cream, but then I turned the corner and really have been doing great for the last 3 weeks.  I really have confidence that this time it is going to stick. One constant in the first 2 challenges was a little bit of fear of it to be over. I never wanted to cheat because I didn’t know how or if I was going to get back on track. Currently that fear is gone, and I really believe I am going to make the change from a challenge to a lifestyle.

So as for my original question: what now? I’d say more of the same, keep meals paleo, keep looking for new paleo ideas, and add in some drinking with tequila. When I cheat, I’ll cheat paleo with things like corn tortilla chips, coconut ice cream, paleo muffins, paleo pancakes. This isn’t to say that I won’t ever have a beer again, because I know that isn’t the case, as they say ‘life happens’. I just know that when I do I am going to pay for it by feeling so bad the next day I am going to get right back on track.

I’ve said before that to me paleo was like pushing over a soda machine, with each shove you get closer to knocking it over and I really think that this most recent challenge was my final push. Thanks to everyone for all of the help I know that I certainly couldn’t have got this far without a lot of help.