I’ve been going back and forth on my health issues for a while now. For some reason, I tend to stick with things better if I write about them as I progress. That usually applies to hobbies or trying to learn new skills, but I figured it’d be worth a shot to try it with my attempt to revamp my [eating/fitness] lifestyle, which will prove far more important than any of the other stuff.
So with a little encouragement from a friend or two, I’m starting June 2011 strong and will hopefully keep going strong.
To begin with, one of the aforementioned friends and I have a suicide-pact (minus the suicide) to make this month our Whole30 month. For those not familiar, the idea behind this is basically to cut out certain food groups from your diet and make smart eating choices (you know, the things we should already be doing all the time anyway) on a 30 day schedule. You can read all about it on the link.
We’ve been discussing health issues for a few months now and after much discussion, we have all fallen in (or near) the paleo/primal camp as far as our views on health and fitness, though some of us are a little uncomfortable with the current definition of these lifestyles and are continually searching for a more apt description. Regardless, we’ve all seen some good progress when switching over to some of these concepts, and I’ve finally decided to just go all out and do it right instead of half-assing everything, which causes slower progress that leads to frustration and eventually throwing in the towel.
There’s a number of things I could list that got me behind these ideas - which I’m sure I’ll mention them as the days go by - but for now I’ll go with the simpliest: it just made sense. All (well, most) of the health ‘facts’ I’ve learned over the years didn’t make a lot of sense to me but I never really questioned it because, hey, people had done the research, right? I forgot to factor in simple human error, not to mention the 100s of other potential things that might skew the information we receive. Human greed, anyone?
I’ve immersed myself in various literature, articles, websites, blogs, etc and am excited to jump into the deep end instead of slowly wading out into the depths as I had been doing.
I recently finished The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson after I got started on this kick from reading his blog, Mark’s Daily Apple. I have since moved on to Robb Wolf’s thus far excellent The Paleo Solution. I am enjoying his more scientific approach and have had hard time putting the book down, whereas usually I have to fight to make it through each page of such books. The early chapters when he talks about he and his family’s declining health could have been written by me. They seemed to suffer from the things I currently struggle with, and that made my ears perk up and I all the more wanted to board this train.
I have a list of ridiculous issues for someone my age (30). I’ve had several of them since I was a teen. Ulcers, gout, sleep apnea, bad knees, violent acid reflux, a stomach in such turmoil that even purified water upsets it. It’s gotten to the point where I am having trouble functioning during the day. Something has to change or I don’t think I’ll make it to 40. Hell, 35 might be a stretch.
I have no idea if any of this is going to help me in the long run. I’m optimistic (but that applies to me in most every aspect of my life) and I’ve seen some amazing testimonials over the months I’ve been researching all of this that fill me with increasing hope. Plus I’ve seen results from my close friends as they talk about the progress they’ve made in such a short time. And as I said, all of this just seems to click and make so much sense that I feel compelled to try it. So I’m going to hop on this train and see where it takes me.
