We are ending Day 11,10,or 9 . we didn’t all get to start the same day, but everyone is at least one week in. I wanted to check and see how everyone is doing, feeling etc. The gang that decided to join me is Karmen, Josh, Chris, Nikki, and I found out yesterday that  Val E has been doing it too! I am super excited that you guys took the challenge.  Karmen and I were talking on Saturday about the fact that we felt really tired…and we know that eating this way is supposed to increase performance and energy so why are we tired?  This is a normal feeling the first week or even two of eating Paleo, it is going to take your body a little time to get used to the new food, and to get all the sugar, chemicals etc out of your system. Val mentioned the same feeling this morning! Hang in there is will get better. I know that I feel better today than I did the end of last week.  For me the first few days of coffee with no “sweetness” were hard just from the taste bud side and the routine aspect. I know last Sunday was hard because I wasn’t really enjoying my coffee and it was snowy and cold and I would have loved to have a Skinny Vanilla Latte, but I made it through and I am actually starting to not hate my coffee in the morning. I am using coconut milk to get a little creaminess to it, and am learning to not need the sweetness. I also had some “lack of caffeine” headaches last week, since I cut out diet soda I am obviously not getting my midday caffeine. I admit I wasn’t so excited about that last week, but like everything is does pass, you just have to deal with it for a day or two. My advice when it gets hard is to focus on the prize, remind yourself why you are doing this, and for me remind myself that I REFUSE to be a quitter and let myself down or let my fellow Cavers down. I have been doing a lot of reading just to remind myself of all of the benefits of eating Paleo. We have some great resources listed here that I would encourage everyone to spend some time reading, the more educated you are the better, plus there are some really inspiring success stories! Check out Mark’s Daily Apple, and Rob Wolf’s page that are listed as links on the right our home page. I think you would probably all agree that the weekends are the hardest for most of us, I know Saturday night was the most challenging for me, but not because of the actual food, but more because of the social aspect/routine around Saturday. Brandon and I usually have our “treat” meal on Saturday which is normally sushi and later ice cream. We decided Saturday night to go to Bonefish Grill because I thought I would have more options there than most restaurants. I got the Mahi Mahi and steamed asparagus & dry salad. It was a good meal and I was fine without the bread appetizer. Brandon and I always laugh at the why the wait staff looks at us when we order…could be that we almost always end up ordering the same thing, but it’s like the think you are totally crazy when you don’t want butter, or dressing or desert, and what ….water to drink? It was nice to leave feeling great, satisfied, but not stuffed. Brandon did go on to have ice cream that night and I missed it some, but mostly because it is what we do together not so much the actual ice cream. It did get me thinking about the two aspects that food plays in our lives. The first is food as fuel, the second is food as a social vehicle.  From what I have seen in the past and what I know even about myself, is that when people are trying to make change in their diet is is normally the second aspect of food that causes the most problems, and seems to be the hardest for folks to overcome.  I do understand the social aspect and wanting to enjoy yourself and trust me I would have loved to have some ice cream with Brandon Saturday night, but when the night was over(we went to a movie after dinner), I didn’t feel that I would have had a better night had I been able to eat whatever I wanted. What  I want you all to think about the challenges you have with making changes to your diet? Are they really about the fuel or are they about changing your routine and your thoughts are the roll that food plays in our social lives?  If the answer is the later then decide what you can do to make those situations easier, or eliminate them all together. Now I am not saying that you should never indulge and that food should always be viewed as fuel but I do believe that if you can get to the point of eating 95% of the time for fuel and 5% of the time for social reasons you will be successful. That is why this challenge is so great, it’s only 30 days, and for me only 4 “treat” meals that I have to skip. So it is never too late to start your 30 days, why not start tomorrow? You are stronger than you think, and you CAN make change, all you need to do is MAKE THE DECISION!

If you are doing the challenge already please post your thoughts, struggles, success to comments, and if you are going to start this week please post to comments as well! Keep eating clean guys!