Dark Horse 2013

Dark Horse 2013

Monday, November 19, 2012

A New Chapter

The last time I posted, I was right smack in the middle of my Paleo challenge. Well, my Paleo challenge ended today! For a quick review of what Paleo is: Eating meats, nuts, veggies, seeds, and fruit consisting of 40% carbohydrates, 30% fat, and 30% protein. No grains, legumes, dairy, or processed foods are allowed.

I want to give you just a quick rundown on how the diet affected me. Coming from a 65% carbohydrate (mainly grains), 15% protien, and 20% fat (mainly unsaturated) ratio, I knew that I might run into some bumps along the road with this new makeup of percentages. However for the first month I felt really no changes. I felt energetic and excited about cooking new things and trying new recipes. But about 4 weeks ago this began to change, and I began to feel really tired. I felt really foggy actually. As if I could not respond quickly to what was going on. I found out recently that my ph balance was really alkaline, being almost an 11 on the scale, where humans should be between 6.5-7.5. I'm guessing this is because I took out grains and pasta, which were the only acidic things that I was really eating. However I am constantly learning more about the pH scale and am just going to experiment with implementing different foods into my diet until I find what will make me feel better (or what is making me feel worse).

I think coming out of this challenge I am going to eat a small amount of grains/starches to see if this "fog" goes away. I think that it will, but it may take a couple of weeks. What I like about this paleo challenge is that it has helped me kick my sweet habit! I have no real craving for frozen yogurt, candy, or chocolate anymore. Pretty cool actually. I also feel much better eating foods without high fructose corn syrup (which is in basically everything now, so shopping can get frustrating)

Even though I felt I was in a fog for the past few weeks, I have made some amazing progress! Not only did I get my first muscle up, but I can do three strict muscle ups in a row on gymnastic rings. I can also deadlift 280lbs! Below is a chart of my before and after measurements. Keep in mind that I stayed a consistent 139lbs throughout the entire challenge.

Moving on with crossfit and climbing, I am seeing significant changes in my strength and finger health. I competed in this past weekend's Dark Horse, placing 6th, and realized that my fingers are doing pretty well. Even though my grip strength and power endurance was significantly weak, I noticed that my fingers are healed enough for me to begin (very slowly) training these aspects of climbing again!

Going forward I am going to continue with a mainly Paleo diet, crossfit, and climbing and add in some slight climbing specific training. My hope is that I can be strong and healthy enough to compete in both climbing and crossfit competitions this coming year!

End of Paleo!