Day 14 - How are you doing?

You’ve been at this a few days now, how are you feeling?

Have you noticed a reduction in afternoon fatigue or brain fog?

How much water are you drinking?

If you’re making your meals from scratch at home, don’t be afraid to salt them.

Here’s a great piece in Scientific American calling for a cease-fire in the war on salt.

I’m not suggesting that you bury your food in salt, just that you use it to enhance the flavor of what you cook.

Is there some type of food that was a crutch in your previous way of eating that is taunting and haunting you in your dreams?

Are you ready to throw in the towel and go buy a dozen Krispy Kreme Donuts?

Hang in there! I was going to say that it gets easier, but that’s not really accurate.

What really happens is that you become a different version of yourself.

You start becoming that balanced version of you.

All of the bullshit snack stuff that totally had your number before, it starts to lose its appeal.

Your taste and food preferences really do change.

It’s like when you start strength training. The weights don’t get lighter, you get stronger.

How are the walks going? Have you met new folks in your neighborhood or discovered new podcasts? Or are you using your walks for some uninterrupted “me” time?

Are you keeping a journal? How is that going? How might it support your journey to a Balanced You?

What feels like the biggest win so far? Take a few minutes to think about that one.

It’s important to stop and celebrate those milestones—no matter how big or little. Recognizing our wins can provide the impetus to keep going.

And don’t worry if the scale or the tape measure aren’t moving in the directions you want just yet. If you stick with this you’ll start seeing and feeling results.

Some of you will see results right away, some of you will swear that you’re going backward.

This is probably a good time to talk about nutritional bullshit in Paleo camouflage.

Art DeVany is one of the pioneers in the Paleo movement and he’s wicked smart and salty as hell. Some poor woman went up to him in the exhibit area of PaleoFX a few years ago and asked him if he wanted a Paleo muffin. I think he let her know that he wasn’t a fan.

Just because you slap a Paleo / Primal or Keto label on something doesn’t necessarily make it healthy.

Beware of the Paleofied deserts. Just because something doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup in it that doesn’t mean that it’s your friend.

Read the ingredients and pay attention to the trojan horses.

If it says syrup look-out. Cane syrup and brown rice syrup are a couple of them and we can’t forget about the “oses”. Sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose, dextrose, sucrose are a few of them. It’s all sugar.

Same with honey and maple syrup, it may be a whole food and have some additional minerals, but don’t get faked out into thwarting your progress because you’re overconsuming “healthy” snacks and desserts.

You’ve got the other folks in the program doing it with you, but what other support team do you have?

If you haven’t already, find a family member or friend to help cheer you on.

People who care about you will want to support you—give them that opportunity.

And don’t worry about the haters. They’re the ones that want to pull back into the rut with them. You can still love them, but you have to stay strong.

The secret to making this work is commitment to the journey. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being persistent and believing that you’re worth the effort.

You got this.

Today’s assignment with food is to either order takeout or eat out and to use your new food smarts to order food that will support what you’re doing.  Remember – your looking for food that doesn’t have an ad budget.  A steak and a salad would be great, grilled seafood and veggies or Chipotle, skip the beans and rice and have it over the greens.  

Let’s do another 7 minute push-up session and see how you’re doing. Remember – start the stopwatch, push-ups till you slow down and then rest for the rest of the minute and repeat that for 7 minutes.  Record your results.

Let’s up your recovery game by adding a little mindfulness to the mix.  There are a lot of meditation resources online, but I’m a big fan of Headspace.  Whichever one you choose.  Spend 10 minutes today meditating.  And as always – sleep like a badass.

Enjoy!