Halfway Mark

Today is the halfway mark of the paleo challenge and I am kicking ASS!!!. In all honesty I had doubts about my ability to make it this far. Maybe I didn't believe in myself and that could be attributed to the countless number of times I "went on a diet" or told myself I was going to eat better....only to find myslef in the line at starbucks getting a double mocha and a slice of iced lemon cake by the week's end...pretty much accepting my failure and justifying it by the stressfull week I had or the fact that I had missed lunch. Whatever the case may be I can say that this challenge has done a lot for me. It's really opened my eyes at how sugar and carb-y foods were affecting my life. Here's a prime example; One of the main changes (and probably the most significant to me) I've noticed is that during my normal workday I don't have to pee as much and I can also hold it for much longer. This has been crazy because before the challenge I would get these frequent and urgent needs  to urinate to the point where I would be in pain the longer I held it. Even if I went to the bathroom I'd have to go again within 20 minutes. This was making me MISERABLE. Today things were very different. I was on an assignment (I'm a news cameraman) and ended up in a place where there were no available bathrooms and I had to pee the moment I got there. Obvioulsy I couldn't and for over four hours I held it. Now this may be no big deal to some but for me this was huge. Honestly I was starting to watch those commercials for medication for people who pee to frequently and wondering if I was gonna need that stuff soon....this was not good. So I give up sugar for two weeks and already I'm noticing major changes for the positive...awesome!


When I was on the white poison (saw that name for it on the internet) I never knew how much it was screwing up my body....how could I know?? I've been eating sugar almost all my life so not having it was an unkown way of life to me. If I really want to be specific I can probably say that the last time I ate a true paleo regimen was when I was breastfeeding. Because I know for a fact once I started taking the bottle I started getting sweet drinks. And they weren't "organic" "good for kids" type sweet drinks (if such a thing even exists) it was probably Kool-Aid or sweetened fruit juices. I know this because I was a fat kid growing up. We ate a lot of sugar in our house. My parents justified it because it made us kids happy and we bugged them for it. Growing up we didn't have a lot of money so things like candy bars and soda were a prized treat. These were things that me and my brothers would fight over as kids and until I gave sugar up I never even thought about these things.

Day 15 and things are going great. I don't miss sweets. I don't crave them and to be honest I feel like I'm looking at things like that in a diferent light. I know what negative effect they have on my body that goes beyond weight gain. I believe I understand how my sugar addiction probably had me on a path to diabetes. No guarantee I won't become a diabetic someday, its pretty dominant in my family, but I at least know I can do something to work against it.

15 days of paleo and I feel amazing. I'm losing weight, sleeping better, waking up earlier and I've noticed an improved mental clarity and an increase in overall energy.


Who knew life without sugar was this good?


:D