To Paleo or not?

About two weeks ago I started reading a lot about the "Paleo" diet craze that seems to have taken over the dieting world.  The basic premise as I understand it is to focus on non-starchy vegetables (carbs), fats (good ones), and protein (organic, local meat).

I'm generally pretty good at eating vegetables and meat when I focus on them, and I do know that in the past I've felt a lot better when I do this.  I think it's because I don't eat nearly us much sugar (usually in the form of chocolate).  So I thought I would give this a shot again.

The past two weeks have been great.  I've felt good, slept well, and my workouts have been fantastic.  I haven't been snacking as much, and if I am I have tried to focus on vegetables and protein.  This may be too much information, but my digestion has definitely improved as well.  I've also been able to really notice when something doesn't "sit well" with my system.  For example, I can definitely tell that onions are not my friend as I become pretty gassy.  So, as much as I love onions I really need to make sure I eat them in moderation. I think the same thing goes for eggs, but this one requires a few more days without and then try it again.  As I didn't separate them from the onions for some meals.

This weekend I've fallen "off the Paleo" wagon a lot.  And by "a lot" I mean, I've eaten almost an entire container of Oreos (with chocolate icing I added to them), alcohol, nachos, and  homemade chocolate chip cookies.  I've definitely noticed a difference in how I feel.  It's made me feel slightly ill, and I actually feel the urge to eat vegetables just to see if that will make me feel better.  I've decided that I really need to make sure I remember this feeling the next time I want to over indulge in sweets and refined carbs.  This is definitely not the best feeling, and I much prefer how I was feeling earlier in the week to this.

Trying to focus on vegetables, good fats, and protein started out as an experiment to see how I would feel, not expecting to feel as good as I have and definitely not expecting to want to continue a diet based around those main types of foods.  The most surprising thing about this is that it hasn't been that hard, even when eating out I've been able to focus on vegetables and protein (and I expected they were cooked in some kind of fat).  I haven't "craved" sweets, but made the conscious decision to indulge.  My new goal will be to remember the icky feeling when I ended up over-indulging and make the conscious decision not to indulge or to do so in a more controlled and defined way.  Definitely a challenge during this month, but one that I'm definitely willing to try, as I think that if I can make it through this month - I can make it through any month.  No excuses!!

Habits

I recently finished reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, and I highly recommend it.  The book explores how habits are created, the impact they have on each individual, business, and society, and concludes with practical suggestions for becoming aware of your habits and changing them.

What I learned from the book that I can apply to my own development, was that every habit consists of three parts:

Cue
Something that triggers the habit.  It could be a time, a previous action, a person, location, or event (the cues are endless).

Action
The thing you do that in order to obtain the reward, and is probably the thing you become aware of when looking at your habits.  For example, biting nails, pressing snooze on the alarm, eating a snack/meal, watching a specific program, going to the gym (or not) et cetera.

Reward
What you get out from the habit.  This could be emotional, physical, psychological et cetera.

The first step in changing an action is to become aware of it.  We are surrounded by our habits and by their very nature don't realize we're doing them.  For example, I know in my morning routine I get up, go to the washroom (whether I need to or not), put in my contact lenses, brush my hair, get dress, pack lunch/snacks, have breakfast, brush my teeth, fix my hair, and leave for work.  The only change to this routine (aka "habit") is some mornings I go to the gym first.  What makes these actions habits?  I do them every morning without really thinking about it, and I rarely miss a step.

Now, if one of those habits was something I wanted to change, according to Duhigg I'd have to:

1. Identify the action (become aware of the habit)
2. Explore the cues (by process of elimination figure out what happens prior to the action that acts as the trigger)
3. Understand the reward I'm experiencing from the action
4. Determine a different action that will give me the same reward (this is assuming you want to change the habit of course)

What's my number one habit that I want to change?  Pressing the snooze button for 30 or 40 minutes.  I'm pretty sure I know the reward - more sleep!  But I haven't figured out the cue yet, and not sure what the replacement action will be (but something tells me it might be "go to sleep earlier" or "move the alarm clock across the room, so I have to get up to turn it off")

Do you have habits you'd like to change?

Market Day!

My plan this morning - 45 minute spin class followed by a quick trip to the market to pick up a couple dozen apples and three pie pumpkins before all the "Oktoberfesters" were awake and moving about the city.

Things don't always go as planned.  The spin class ended up being a 90 minute class, which I normally look forward to, but not this morning.  My legs were pretty tired from yesterday's class, I'm fighting a cold, and I still have a pulled muscle in my left leg.  Not ideal for a long class!

I made my shower super quick so I could head straight to the market before my poor legs seized up!  I was there by 10:00 which was perfect.  It was starting to get busy, but since I stuck to the veggies outside and didn't venture inside any of the buildings I was done in about 20 minutes.  I managed a few photos before my hands were too full to take any more.


 

There were peppers all over the place at the market.  I didn't buy any, but there were people buying bags of them.  Not sure what they are planning to do with them - I should have asked they guy carrying two large bags of red peppers!  Not quite sure how I resisted buying them.  They all looked so good.

My first purchase...brussel sprouts (oops!).  Not exactly on the list or the menu for this week, but they looked so green and fresh (and they roasted up nicely for dinner tonight and went well with my potato and leek soup).

My original plan was to purchase three pie pumpkins and at most two dozen apples, probably MacIntosh and Honey Crisp.  I did stick to the three pie pumpkins, but went a bit overboard on the apples.  I ended up with a bushel of MacIntosh apples, and about 24 Honey Crisp apples.




The unplanned definitely happened at the market...1 bushel of MacIntosh apples, 24 Honey Crisp apples, a basket of brussel sprouts, 3 pie pumpkins, and 2 butternut squashes that jumped in to my bag.

The rest of my day was spent roasting pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, and brussel sprouts.  Jamming apples in to every nook and cranny of my fridge, and hoping that I'll manage to eat them all before they start to go soft.

The plan for tomorrow is to make a pumpkin and pear loaf, wash all the dishes, and makes plans for some of those apples!

Getting Back on Track

A little fall colour in my garden.  A calendula plant that I'm hoping will re-seed itself in my garden and not all over my lawn!

I unofficially took the month of September off from intense workouts.  It wasn't really planned, but since I think I may have averaged one and a half trips to the gym a week, I'm saying it was a break.  (And I definitely haven't been running).  The break appears to have been good for me, and I'm really hoping that the muscle pull in my inner thigh is better because of it.  (Doesn't hurt to walk/run, but definitely notice it when doing weights/yoga).

October is definitely a good month to get back in to the routine of working out.
Here's the plan for this week:

• Today - 5K run on the roads around my parent's place (done, although it was a bit frosty, and there was a guy out hunting!)
• Tuesday - BodyPump
• Wednesday - RPM
• Thursday - BodyPump
• Friday - RPM
• Saturday - RPM
• Sunday - Rest and plan my own weight workouts for next week.

Usually I skip the BodyPump classes and do my own thing, but I think to get myself back in to the "wake up early, in the dark" routine I need to have something that starts at a specific time.  Next week I'm hoping that I can sub out one of the weight classes to do my own thing, but we'll see how the mornings are going.  I'm going to try building in a better cue, other than the alarm going off, as it doesn't really get me out of bed that fast.  I'm going to make sure the last thing I do before climbing in to bed to read at night is get out my workout gear.
I know in the past, this "cue" has worked for me, and of course I'll stick to my reward of amazing endorphins and feeling great for the rest of the day.  (Can you tell I'm reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg?  I'm only half way through, but I highly recommend it!)

Up Close and Personal

I've been looking back over the beginning of this blog and realized I've strayed from my original intention.  I had originally planned to blog about fitness, food, and photography.  I've definitely blogged about my running and my love of weights, but even that has been missing these past few weeks.

So I've decided - enough with my relationship woes - back to building a blog around three things I love!  (I'll keep the relationship stuff for my journal and discussions with my girl friends - I promise, from this day forward).

To start things off - a few photos.  Here are three from my trip to the Toronto Zoo at the beginning of June with  good friends, their spouses, and kids.

I love taking close up pictures, and really like seeing the details in the animals.

Their wrinkly, grey skin, and their wise looking eyes.











Their beautiful, colourful feathers.  My favourite shade of blue.

Their regal posture, and soft looking fur.

Muscle Soreness

I'm by no means an expert at working out, and this post is just going to reinforce this!

I haven't done any weight training in almost two months.  A combination of dating the indecisive guy, heat, and focusing on running my 5K didn't give me much time or desire to get in to the gym.  Lots of "reasons", but I have enjoyed the break and chance to do some different things with my time.

This week I got back to it, and while I only completed weights two times, my body is feeling it.  The biggest lesson I've learned this week - If you haven't done weights in almost two months, you will not be as strong as you were and if you decide to lift the same weight that you did before your break, it will be hard and you will be really, really sore!

This may be too much info, but the sorest muscles are my gluteus maximus (aka my bum).  Which is both good (if it lifts and rounds out my flat bum), and bad (I sit all day at work).

I decided to do a bit of research for some tips on reducing muscle soreness.  Here's what I've found (love Wikipedia!):

1. Muscle soreness should be gone within 72 hours
2. Increase blood flow to the muscles through low intensity work, massage (yes please!), hot baths, or sauna
3. Cool or icy water may help

I've always thought I felt better if I exercised again.  Apparently exercise increases your pain tolerance temporarily and suppresses the soreness.  This would definitely explain why I seem to be able to push through a second workout and then I'm super sore afterwards.

So, next time I'm super sore, I'll have to make sure I relax in the sauna for a bit, and maybe I can convince indecisive guy to give me a massage (maybe I should focus on my back muscles, rather than the gluteus maximus for that - Ha Ha).

Highland Yard 5K Recap

I finished the Highland Yard 5K on Sunday.  My goal was to run as much as possible and complete the race in under 30 minutes.  Drum roll.....I finished in 32:24.  So not under 30 minutes, but still a PR.
What did I learn from this race?

1. Some races have a lot of fast runners!  I was 12th out of 14 in my age/gender category.  People shot out of the starting and not many people took walking breaks.
2. I need to stick to my training plan, in spite of the ridiculous heat leading up to the race.  I'm sure my endurance would have been much better and I wouldn't have required so many walking breaks.
3. Eating and proper hydration the day before definitely helps with the side cramps.  I only had a minor one and I think that was more from pushing myself more than I was ready to be pushed.
4. You can't count on the weather!  No rain for weeks, and of course we have a major storm the night before the race.  Luckily the heavy rain stopped as we drove to the race.
5. Having my parent's there was great!  But my mom's photo skills need a bit of work (see the only picture of me actually racing below - but I love that she tried!)
6. Your spectators should really stop at Timmies pre-race start.  Dad drove to Timmies after I started running.  Not realizing that so would every other spectator!

I'm in the yellow top - and won't be wearing capris next time (too hot!)



Dad drove to Timmies after I started my run, but was back to see what a sweaty mess I was crossing the finish.