The Prep, The Purge and the Splurge

I have good news, and I have bad news.

First, the goods news. I was surprised to learn on Monday that we are not going cold turkey (pun intended) this week when it comes to following the Whole30 nutrition guidelines. Instead, this is our preparation and transition week (so much for last week's binge...), and we were given specific guidelines to follow as the week progresses. By Friday, no dairy and ensure all meals include both a protein and a fat. Beginning at midnight on Monday morning, no grains or alcohol. Learn to upload pictures of all of our meals onto Tumblr by Monday, and complete a few reading assignments from the creators of Whole30 and their book It Starts With Food.

Now for the bad news. The challenge does not end in time for St. Patrick's Day. It ends on Monday, March 23rd. So instead of green beer on my absolute favorite holiday of the year, I'll get my green on by putting a slice of lime in my iced club soda.

We had our first, hour-long nutrition call with our Fearless Nutrition Leader (a.k.a. Megan) on Tuesday night. Actually, it was not a call, it was my first official Google Hangout, which makes this forty-something gal feel super hip (yes, smarty pants, I do know that by just using the word "hip" I am in fact proving just how unhip I am). To take a stab at summarizing Fearless Nutrition Leader's rules for the program, I will paraphrase a quote from one of my favorite movies, Say Anything:

"You can't eat anything bought or processed, buy any food sold or processed, or drink anything sold, bought or processed."

Awesome. This should be fun.

To prep for the upcoming week, I spent a lot of time over the past few days flipping through my voluminous cookbook collection, picking out recipes to populate the meal plan I am creating for the upcoming week's meals. As someone with a self-professed cookbook problem, I own hundreds of recipe collections with most focusing on how to prepare healthy vegan or vegetarian fare that should be easily translatable into dishes that stick to the guidelines on the plant-based version provided to me by Megan.

I also invested in two amazing cookbooks that I highly recommend to anyone trying the Whole30 - Well Fed and Well Fed 2. The author and esteemed Paleo blogger Melissa Joulwan actually created the meal template for Whole30, and my relatively educated review of these cookbooks is that they are absolutely amazing. They include everything from specific meal-planning suggestions, including a description of the author's "Weekly Cook-up" (what I refer to as my "Sunday Ritual" thanks to my Precision Nutrition training), grocery lists, ideas for quick meals and snacks, a list of essential kitchen tools, and of course, numerous Whole30-approved recipes that are simple to make but full of flavor thanks to creative seasonings and plan-approved sauces.

While all of the protein recipes in these cookbooks are meat or seafood-based, I went through each recipe, marking down suggestions for which Whole30-approved vegetarian protein might be the best substitute for the meat or fish in a particular dish. Oven-Fried Salmon cakes will become Soaked and Smashed Chickpea Cakes. Chicken Nanking can easily transform into Tempeh Nanking. And who needs beef in chili when you can have sprouted lentils instead (don't answer this question, Meatatarians - or Texans...)?

I know. I know. The Paleo Police are about to come get me when they read I'll be eating soaked beans and organic tempeh as part of this program. All I can say is that I am following the guidelines from the vegetarian/vegan Whole30 plan provided to me by Fearless Nutrition Leader. I promise you, while I may bow down to the Legume Lucifer over the next 8 weeks, I will resist the temptation of the Grain Satan and avoid the wrath of the Alcohol Apocalypse at all costs.

I've always found that when it comes to healthy eating (or pretty much anything for that matter), planning and preparation are the keys to success, so my next task was to rid my kitchen of all of the ingredients I would not be able to partake in over the course of the program. I spent several hours sorting through the pantry and the refrigerator, carefully stashing away non-perishables in bags that I have stored in my guest room closet, where they will sit patiently (and out of sight, out of mind) until the end of the 8 weeks. As for the non-compliant items in the refrigerator, I graciously offered them up to the garbage gods, although I fortunately had far fewer foods to throw away than to store.

I finally set out to purchase ingredients for my weekly meal plan at the grocery store. As usual, I headed to 3 separate locations: (1) Trader Joe's for their great prices on items like nuts, seeds, read-to-eat/cook fresh fruits and vegetables, and my absolute favorite frozen berry/cherry mix; (2) Whole Foods, for some harder-to-find items, but really just because perusing the aisles makes me feel happy and as if all is right in the world; and (3) Mom's, a local health food store that has a smaller selection but better prices than Whole Foods. At the end of my supermarket tour, I ended up spending more than I would in a normal week, but I invested in a number of staples that I will not be purchasing weekly - coconut aminos (think soy sauce minus the soy but plus coconut), natto (a fermented bean product that was high on the Whole30 vegetarian protein list - I have no idea what it is, but how weird can a bean be?), sunflower seed and cashew butters (the raw version without sweeteners or sunflower oil was pricy, but I'm sure it will taste like food crack), etc. Here's a picture of some of the special items I put in my cart to prepare for Week 1:

(Do not fear, Fearless Nutrition Leader [of course, you are Fearless, so fear you do not]. I included the beer as a little comic relief, and it will most assuredly be consumed in advance of this Sunday's alcohol cut-off. Plus, it's local, so that should count for something...)

It Starts With Food recognizes that food is emotional - "it's comfort, it's celebration, it's punishment, and it's reward." The authors warn that the combination of the physical and the emotional ties to certain foods will likely mean during the first week we'll experience "'withdrawal'" symptoms like headaches, lethargy, and crankiness." So, if you happen to run into me this week, consider yourself forewarned.

With the kitchen organized and stocked and my meal plan in hand, I am ready to begin the program. As I embark on this adventure, I cling tightly to the words of author, motivational speaker and leadership expert Robin Sharma, having faith that he speaketh the truth: "As you move outside of your comfort zone, what was once the unknown and frightening becomes your new normal."

And so, I dive head first into my new normal.

Until next time,

Kathleen

My Paleotarian Experiment

I am half Irish and half German.

I thought I'd start by telling you this genealogical fact about myself because it may help to convey how difficult the 8-week experiment I am about to begin is truly going to be for me.

8 weeks without beer. Without potatoes. Without Black Forest cake.

Didn't a million of my people die because they couldn't get their hands on a tasty spud? My Guinness-and-German-potato-salad-loving ancestors are surely rolling in their graves. My only saving grace is that St. Patrick's Day falls the week after the full-blown challenge ends. Otherwise, I would most certainly be posthumously disowned.

I'm going to save for a future posting the genesis of my new obsession with CrossFit, but suffice it to say I joined the amazing CrossFit South Arlington a few months ago, and it has since become my home away from home, especially since The Man started a new job that has him out of town Monday through Thursday every week. I've officially "drunk the CrossFit Kool-aid," as CrossFitters like to say. And beginning next Monday, I'll be drinking the CrossFit dairy-free green smoothie, too.

As a nutritionist, one of the things I like about CrossFit is that there is not only an emphasis on exercise, but there is also an emphasis on nutrition. CrossFit boxes (the term "box" is CrossFit-ese for "gym") frequently hold Whole 30 challenges, in which members voluntarily agree to give up eating all things that are right and good in this world for a period of 30 days.

The program is based on the New York Times bestselling book It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. Without getting into too many details, the Whole 30 is a Paleo-based program that focuses on eating whole foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and lean animal protein, and eliminating processed foods, grains, legumes, alcohol, sugar, dairy and certain processed oils. The theory is that our genetically determined physiologies have not evolved since the Paleolithic period, and since the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry some 10,000 years ago, we are eating in a way that is inconsistent with our genetic makeup, resulting in the proliferation of so-called "man-made" diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Personally, I don't know anything about the health and longevity of cavemen (I imagine dinosaurs and other wild things played a role in truncating their lifespans), and the basis and benefits of the Paleo diet are not without significant scientific controversy. There is an interesting article on the Precision Nutrition website that challenges some of the foundational principles of Paleo, including evidence (think preserved stool samples and grain grinding tools) that suggests our cave-dwelling ancestors ate both grains and legumes.

As a nutritionist and plant-based eater (after all, cavewomen were gathers), I am also well versed in the research that links the consumption of animal protein to numerous diseases of modern society, as well as studies of the habits of some of the longest and healthiest living populations in the world, whose diets tend to focus on eating fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains and very limited animal protein. Oh, and wine. A primarily plant-based diet and daily wine/saki consumed in moderation seem to be keys to keeping folks in places like Sardinia (Italy), Okinawa (Japan) and Icaria (Greece) alive and kicking well into their hundreds. For more information on the 9 common characteristics of the lifestyles of the healthiest and longest living populations in the world, I highly recommend checking out the New York Times bestseller The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner, who was sent by National Geographic to study these communities.

I absolutely believe, however, that our society has created many of our own health problems by eating too many processed foods. Too much sugar. Too many refined grains. And yes, even too much wine and beer. And yet, despite the fact I have spent more than 20 years experimenting with various nutritional and fitness programs, there is basically no way I could give up all of these foods at the same time without the help of a supportive community. Misery loves company.

Enter CrossFit South Arlington's Back to Basics Program. This is a 12-week program that focuses on improving your nutrition and your strength, with an 8-week concentration in strictly eating like a cave person (the last 4 weeks of the 12 are dedicated to finding your new nutritional norm) by following a program similar to the Whole 30. The biggest difference is that the CFSA program lasts a total of 8 weeks - not 30 days - and if you cheat, you owe Megan, our fearless leader in this adventure, cold hard cash. This is definitely the stick rather than the carrot approach to motivation.

Or should I say the bone rather than the meat approach?

I am thankful to Megan for allowing me to join the challenge in the first place, since she was very hesitant having no experience with a Paleofied plant-based diet. Ultimately, she is trusting my nutritional knowledge and education, and we both agreed it would be an interesting experiment. It is clear that there are still a lot of misconceptions about the ability of vegetarians and vegans to perform optimally as athletes without eating meat, and one of the other coaches at CFSA even asked me how many vegans I knew who could do a pull-up when I indicated one of my goals for the program was to complete 3 pull-ups in a row. The question was asked in a way that suggested he would be shocked if someone who ate only "nuts and twigs" would ever be able to exhibit this sort of strength. I'm wondering if he ever noticed how swiftly and powerfully our plant-based monkey brethren pull themselves up over tree branches, or the powerful muscles of race horses, whose natural diet consists of just grass.

I'm just sayin'.

Searching online it is clear that there are other veggies who have tried similar programs, but the information is not extensive, so I will document my experience to help others who might choose to give this a try. I'm calling it the Paleotarian Experiment, which I guess makes me the Paleotarian Experimentarian. The only exception I'm going to make to the official protocol, as agreed to by Megan, is to include some legumes into the diet to serve as a protein source in place of meat and fish. When I cook at home, which will clearly have to be most of the time, I will choose dried beans that I soak, as soaking beans overnight makes them more easily digestible, and although I've never had an issue, digestibility is apparently one of the concerns of the Paleo folks when it comes to "the musical fruit."

I look forward to seeing how this eating plan impacts my energy, my sometimes sensitive stomach, and my overall wellness. The program officially begins on Monday, so this weekend I plan on going on a beer and potato binge, just to make my forefathers proud. I look forward to keeping you updated as the days and weeks progress. Wish me luck, and please understand if I ask for a rain check the next time you ask me out for margaritas and Mexican.

Until next time,

Kathleen