So Michael and I have been doing a 30 day Paleo challenge with our Xfit gym River North Xfit (awesome gym btw).
What is Paleo you say? Basically a cave man diet. You can only eat unprocessed meats, veggies, eggs and fruit, just like the cavemen did. Only certain spices are allowed (garlic, salt, pepper, lime, lemon etc.) and you can only use olive oil, vinegar and coconut oil to cook. It’s pretty strict and we mainly eat a lot of salads. I will say this though, we sleep better, feel better and are never starving with our meals. I only eat three meals a day and I feel fantastic! Sometimes I have a Lars Bar after I work out as a snack (peanut butter and jelly are the best). How could I hate something that made me lose 7 pounds in less than 2 weeks? Honestly thought, it’s more about how it made me feel. Supplementing the diet with the working out just made me have more energy.
Don’t get me wrong, I miss some things: coffee, cheeseburgers, pasta, cheese, bread and pickles the most, and I had an awful beginning (I was lethargic and tired because my body was getting rid of all the toxins). I was a little grumpy too, but mainly because my body was trying to re-adjust to having natural things in it. In the beginning, we had to do a lot of recipe searches as we quickly got bored with our generic salads, and steamed veggies. Now we spice it up with new and different sides I never would have thought I would have enjoyed. Case in point, chopped apple, green bell pepper, red onion, salt/pepper and lime juice, delicious yet so simple!
Since you can’t have dairy on this diet, which for a cheese lover like me is hard, we discovered Almond milk (unsweetened) which is a milk with a very tiny natural taste of almond to it. It’s like licking an almond basically.
Overall, I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a change in their diet and lifestyle. We will not stay strict after the 3o days are up, but we will definitely keep a lot of the basics of it. At least 60-70% we are going to try to stay paleo. I still want my cheeseburgers!
I’ll let you know if we win! We get weighed in next weekend! 
Photo courtesy of River North Xfit
