Red wine?

I'm wondering how Paleo red wine is? I've been fairly strict on the Primal/Paleo diet this week. No grains all week, a little chocolate, but a lot of wine tonight after a busy few days at work. Yes, I don't "need" red wine, but there's a nice feeling to that "pop" as you open the bottle and sip that first taste from the glass! There's ongoing debate as to the health benefits of red wine, and I'm sure I've had more than is beneficial tonight, but I'm sure I'm could be indulging in worst things...

So yes, try to stick to the Paleo/Primal dietary advice, we all know it's good for us, but don't let that stop you from a little indulgence every so often! I find that a little bit of non-Paleo food soon sends me back to Paleo eating! Personally I feel awful after eating wheat, which seems to have some nasty effect on my mental state and adds a new "dark" dimension to my mental state. Anyone else get a feeling of depression after eating wheat?

Keep it Paleo/Primal people, you know it's good for you!

A slow transition or shock and awe?

Whenever I’ve started on a new diet/eating plan or fitness programme I’ve always dived in head first, but maybe this isn’t the best plan? There’s always lots of enthusiasm when turning over a new leaf and this gets you through the first few days of pain and cravings, but after those first few days I find that it’s too easy to fall off the wagon or miss a training slot.
So this time, I’m trying to ease myself back into a paleo/primal blueprint type eating and exercise lifestyle. After a couple of months of 50:50 paleo eating, the last few weeks I’ve been eating like a caveman for about 70-80% of the time; now it’s just the chocolate cravings after dinner that’s stopping my paleo halo from shining! I’m also using intermittent fasting as developed in Eat Stop Eat as a tool to try and improve my body composition. I’ve dabbled before but now I’ve completed two weeks of IF and find that Monday and Thursday suit me well, Monday to “clear up” after the weekend and Thurs as it’s almost the weekend but not quite party time yet! If I don’t eat breakfast I find it quite easy to not eat until 5:30pm, though my work colleagues seem convinced I have an eating disorder!
Training is difficult this time of the year as it’s dark and often wet outside, and temperatures can vary between quite mild to sub-zero on a daily basis. I think the key is making a plan and then sticking to it and trying to avoid winter colds and sniffles. Trying to balance my training and also see my family is another challenge, so I try to train in the early morning before my girls are awake, though I do try and have a more social run with others after work once a week. Mark Sissons at www.marksdailyapple.com isn’t keen on anyone doing a lot of cardio, but I think I’m remaining n the realms of primal training but really need to get some strength training done to build lean mass. Think I’ll start with body weight training and I’ve used this plan before from the vacation body plan from http://fitnessblackbook.com/. You’re supposed to do three rounds but after two I’ve been completely whacked and close to vomiting it’s so intense! It’s a good starting plan before I work up to doing some www.crossfit.com! Another plan is using http://www.simplefit.org/ that uses simple bodyweight exercises.

Belated update and a new start!

It's a long time since I blogged, and I don't really have any excuses! The good news is that I've tried to stick to a paleo/primal blueprint style of eating and have continued to lose weight. I've reached as low as 11st 2lb, but am at around 11st 8lb now, with the scales telling me I'm 18.5% body fat. I can't say it's been easy as I'm still very attracted to sugary chocolate! I've fallen off the wagon and eaten wheat during the summer but each time when I've stopped eating grains I feel a lot better so I'm determined to stay grain free, despite the constant temptation of biscuits, sandwiches etc!
Training in the spring and summer was easy relative to the autumn, and late summer was really difficult, just when I needed to up my game for the Cardiff half marathon! I finished the half marathon in 2hrs 7 mins, but it was really difficult and I should have done lots more training. I'm now training for a 10k race in December which I think will be easier to prepare for, and intend to follow a better structure of intervals, hill work as well as a weekly longer run, but trying to avoid chronic cardio! I'm also really interested in Crossfit, which seems to a brilliant way to get strong and fit. The trouble is finding a gym and the time to go crossfitting!

I promise weekly updates from now on!