My Experience With the “Whole30” Challenge: One Man’s Journey Into the Paleolithic

Recently, my fiancee and I decided that we wanted to try out the Whole30 challenge. (For those of you not familiar with it, it’s essentially a strict Paleo diet.) My fiancee had tried it by herself over the summer, but by day 17, she became so (admittedly) irritable that she quit (in her defense, she quit by drinking a beer, which is obviously best way to go). When she brought up the subject last month, I decided to tag along, because as we all know, misery loves company (and it’s probably good preparation for our upcoming marriage). Plus, she held so much animosity towards me last time for doing all the things she couldn’t that I couldn’t take that wrath again.

On February 17th, we purged our house of all items that would present temptations. Gone were all items with sugar; goodbye wheat, gluten and processed foods; so long milk, yogurt and cheese. What we were left with was a (mostly empty) fridge of raw meats, vegetables, a little fruit and cupboards with nuts, seeds, sweet potatoes and some dried fruit (as long as not dried with sugar or sulphites). As a guy that had one hell of a hangover*, I had officially reached the Seventh Circle of Hell.

Advertisement

Valentines Day – From My Perspective

Beer my Valentine

Gentleman!

Every year at this time I am very happy. The holidays are a great time, but it is also nice to get back into normalcy. The Christmas decorations have been up in the stores since late August, and so it is nice when they are down. Everyone is heading back to work and you can actually get replies from actual people, and not their Out of Office responses. January is a new beginning for everyone. It is a time to set resolutions for the year and to make new goals. My resolution for the year is to have Boise Bar Guide become the go-to source for information about the bars in the Boise Area. (Oh yeah, and I would also like to lose 5 or 10 more pounds) My other goal is to have the “Hour of Power” podcast be ranked on iTunes. (We do not need to be ranked number 1 or even 101, but it would be nice to have some good downloads.)

However, here is my problem with January. I have just thought about, shopped for, and bought presents for the ones that I love the most; especially my wife. I always make an effort to get her something unexpected, and something that she can use. (I am sorry honey, Diamonds are not that practical. Unless you are using them to cut through the glass windows of a warehouse where we are going to steal a box of iPad’s. If that is the plan then I will get you as many Diamonds that are necessary). Anyways, I spend a lot of time getting her something that I know she would like. However, lurking behind January like a predator waiting for its prey is February…and Valentine’s day. It is not that I do not like showing the ones I love that I love them, it is that I just spent the entire holiday season showing the ones I love that I love them. Seriously, who’s idea was it to put Valentine’s day in February. I say we move it to August. Then there will be a good 8 month gap from the last time I showed my wife that I loved her and by that time, I will probably have done something to warrant chocolate, flowers, and presents (The writing of this article will surely be one of them). I like buying presents and spending time with loved ones, but we just did that! Between Thanksgiving, Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Years I have had loved ones up my a$$ for the past two months. Let’s move Valentines to August. Then the world opens up. Everyone tries to go on a date for Valentine’s day.

Why Your Last Diet Failed

If you’re like 78% of Americans (according to a survey I made up for this article), you “failed” on your last diet. For objective purposes, we’ll label “failure” as not reaching the desired weight/body composition that you determined as your goal at the onset of the diet. You probably pushed hard for two weeks, found that your navel was still buried under the mezzanine and decided to call it quits, determining that you’re destined to be fat forever. To paraphrase the not-so-subtle Ron White, there’s sure a lot of quit in you. Well good news, Chubs, I’ve got some tips for you to stick to a diet and see the pounds (slowly, methodically) drip away.

Before we get into these tips, we must understand why diets last as long as a virgin’s first time. Most diets fail for one of three reasons: lack of quick success, uncontrollable cravings or difficulty following the guidelines of the diet. The first two will come down to your own willpower and the help of some in-house controls, while the last can be fixed by choosing the proper diet. Although willpower is primarily your responsibility, we can take some of the pressure off with placing supporting functions around you.

Weight: It Really Is Just A Number

There probably isn’t a single adult out there who hasn’t had the goal at one time to “just lose a couple pounds.” We’ve all experienced it, whether it be for bikini season, fitting into your tux for your daughter’s big day or just wanting to be a little slimmer to boost your confidence, everybody has put an extraordinary emphasis on their gravitational pull.

But why weight? Humans are complex beings. We’re made up of different mass structures featuring different densities. We’re not gold. Our value doesn’t come from how much we weigh, or don’t weigh. And contrary to popular belief, neither does our fitness or level. Does it offer guidance to assessing the level of our health? Yes, but it’s not the alpha and the omega of the equation.