Resolution Revolution

Today puts you at 85 food-points into CFR’s 2014 Be Strong Challenge.

The literal half way mark…80 food-points to go!

How’s it going? Noticing anything yet?

My bet is that all of you have started noticing some sort of change. Maybe the pants are a little looser. Perhaps that black coffee didn’t taste exactly like burnt tar this morning. Less congestion could be occurring for many of you since cutting out wheat and dairy. What to eat for lunch may no longer be a heart-wrenching, pain-inflicting decision process. Clearer heads and no mid-afternoon crashes, anyone? Better mood and sleep are likely an unexpected side effect for a few of you as well.

You can bet that your coaches already see a change in many of you. It is shocking how much body composition can change in just 85 points.

Shocking until you think about why this change is so marked. By completely cutting out grains, added sugars, and dairy from your food intake, each of you Challengers have eliminated a whole host of BAD NEWS from your body. Bad news you may not have even realize you were inundating yourself with. Boston cream donuts? Sure, you may have realized they weren’t the best dietary decision. But I bet many of you didn’t think that your wheat toast smeared in smart balance was inflicting the kind of inflammation in your system (from brain to bowels) that can set you up for a whole host of auto-immune issues; from allergies to IBS to heart disease. Dr. Loren Cordain, who is basically the Father Christmas of the Paleo Diet sums up the changes up very well:

I know that Paleo perks up mood and mental outlook in people who are seemingly normal without depression, or other mental disorders.  Robb Wolf and I have heard anecdotal success stories from people all over the world whose lives have been improved from the Paleo diet and have cured themselves from chronic depression, bipolar disorder, and other psychotic illnesses, including ADHD, autism and Asberger’s syndrome in their children.  I believe that multiple elements of the Paleo Diet operate in synchrony to normalize brain function.  The brain is no different than any other organ in the body, as all organs respond positively when their internal mileau/environment is returned to “normal” as dictated by our genes.  Besides it’s low glycemic and fructose load, the Paleo Diet is devoid of wheat which produces opiods in the gut upon digestion and which can bind brain opiod receptors.  Similarly, the digestion of casein in all milk products produces casomorphins which also influence brain opiod receptors.  The Paleo Diet is rich in long chain omega three fatty acids which also have been demonstrated clinically to reduce depression and improve mental health.  Finally, this lifelong way of eating is much more nutritionally dense in the micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals) required for optimal nervous system function than either the USDA My Plate diet, the Meditteranean Diet, vegan or vegetarian diets or any other popular diet people follow. (check out this link  for the fascinating post called ‘Grain and the Brain’ that this excerpt was pulled from)

While we at CFR know and love that each one of you are unique snowflakes, we also truly believe that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU will benefit in some way from doing the Be Strong Challenge. Why? Because it is true. Try this on for size:

In 2009, Dr. Frasetto and co-workers put nine inactive subjects on a Paleo diet for just 10 days.  In this experiment, the Paleo diet was exactly matched in calories with the subjects’ usual diet.  Anytime people eat diets that are calorically reduced, no matter what foods are involved, they exhibit beneficial health effects.  So the beauty of this experiment was that any therapeutic changes in the subjects’ health could not be credited to reductions in calories, but rather to changes in the types of food eaten.  While on the Paleo diet either eight or all nine participants  experienced improvements in blood pressure, arterial function, insulin, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.  What is striking about this experiment is how rapidly so many markers of health improved, and that they occurred in every single patient. ( Frassetto LA, Schloetter M, Mietus-Synder M, Morris RC, Jr., Sebastian A: Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet. Eur J Clin Nutr 2009)

This is the real deal. You Challengers have taken a huge leap of faith and tried something totally different. (Even if it is the second…or fifth time.) Maybe you did it for the money. Maybe because your WOD-buddy made you do it. Maybe because you can’t pass up a challenge thrown your way. Maybe your it was your New Year Resolution to lose weight or eat better.

Well guess what. The proof is in the pudding. And  sorry, Challengers, but you have (proverbial) pudding all over your faces.

res·o·lu·tion

a firm decision to do or not to do something.

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rev·o·lu·tion

a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.

You have 80 points left to think about what this 2014 Be Strong Challenge will be for you:

Resolution or Revolution?