4 WEEK PALEO CHALLENGE

For 4 weeks you will eat from this phrase and nothing other than this phrase:

“Meat, and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch,  and no sugar!”

 Rules:

• •£5 entry fee (pot split between winners judged by the coaches)
• •Before and After Picture
• •Performance measurement – NAMED BENCHMARK WOD before and after
• •keeping a food/training/rest and recovery log/updating your daily scores       to the CrossFit Caerphilly Blog
• •Failure to eat Paleo (per -1 point of bad food choice) = a penalty of work post WOD
• •Failure to log daily scores by 4pm the following day = a penalty of work post WOD which can be accumulated and finished daily/weekly

Points will accrue for the following:

*Each Day of Eating PALEO and keeping a Food Diary

*Crossfitting a MAX of 6 days in a week with ½ rest days and mobilizing/foam rolling having active recovery on these days.

*Sleeping 8 hours per Night

Weekly Recipes and links will be posted on the Caerphilly CrossFit Site www.crossFitcaerphilly.co.uk

At the end of each week you will post your points If you do not post your points, you will get a ZERO!

Challenge dates:
 Weeks of January 7^th – February 4th (4 Week Challenge)

ENCORAGED FOODS

MEAT

• Fish
• steak/beef
• Lean pork
• Pork loin
• Lean poultry (white meat, skin removed)
• Chicken breast
• Turkey breast
• Any other lean meats
• Eggs
• Egg Whites

VEGETABLES

•  Asparagus
• Bell peppers
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Cucumber
• Aubergine
• Onions
• All types of Lettuce
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Peppers (all kinds)
• Seaweed
• Spinach
• Squash (all kinds)
• Tomato (not actually a veg’ i know!!)
• Sweet potato (only after a WOD and a sensible serving!)

NUTS AND SEEDS

• Almonds
• Hazelnuts
• Macadamia nuts
• Pecans
• Pine nuts
• Pistachios (unsalted)
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Walnuts
• Olive Oils
• Olives, avocado, walnut, flaxseed, and canola oils

FRUIT

(If fat loss is your goal limit fruit especially sweeter varieties to small amounts or Post Wod)

• Apple
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Melons
• Cherries
• Grapefruit
• Kiwi
• Orange
• Peaches
• Pears
• Strawberries
• Watermelon
• All types of fruits

POST WOD ONLY if possible

• Banana
• Mango
• Pineapple
• Grapes

Whey protein powder post WOD only if you have to.

Here’s a summary of foods that are NOT consistent with a paleolithic nutritional model (-1 POINT PER SERVING= EXTRA CHEAT WORK POST WOD):

• Dairy products, including milk, butter, cheese.
• Peanuts, peanut butter and cashews
• Cereal grains including things like, bread, oats, rice, corn.
• Beans, peas or other legumes.
• White Potatoes.
• Packaged “manufactured” foods.
• Sweets, Carbonated drinks, ‘diet’ drinks , nothing with refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated fats.  Check your labels!
• Alcohol….yes, its just 4 weeks, give your body a break (5 DRINKS = -5 POINTS FOR DAY!)

HEALTHY BREAKFAST IDEAS

• 1. Sausage (nitrate and wheat, rusk other crap free if possible 93% pork sausages at least!!), Pineapple, Almonds
• 2. Eggs (2-4), Bacon, Avocado, and one whole orange.
• 3. veggie scramble – (Saute in Olive Oil) Eggs scrambled with peppers, tomatoes, & onions and a side bowl of strawberries.
• 4. Eggs (olive oil), 2-4 strips of turkey bacon, 1 piece of fruit, & a handful of nuts.
• 5. smoked salmon, diced vegetables. 1 tsp olive oil. Saute veggies to taste.
• 6. 1 sirloin steak/sliced ham. 1 sliced tomato (cook as desired). 1 handful of nuts.
• 7. 1 bowl of chopped fruit, choose from the following – apples, strawberries, bananas, berries, oranges, etc. 1 large handful of nuts (I prefer walnuts). 4 strips of bacon, turkey bacon, or links of breakfast sausage.
• 8. Deli Turkey (also make a great snack), 1 piece fruit, 1 handful nuts.

In general you want to have some PROTEIN, CARBS(Fruits and veggies not processed shit carbohydrate), and a source of HEALTHY FAT with each snack and meal but there’s nothing wrong with eating an apple & handful of nuts as needed.

Easy guide-Meat that will fit in your palm, Nuts, avocado other good fat the same and the rest of your plate with colourfull vegetables

Be prepared don’t have all kinds of easy to grab poor food choices available to you stock up on PALEO FRIENDLY SNACKS make it easier for yourself

Google is your friend, all kinds of things come up under Paleo snacks. If you like to cook here are just a few ideas:

http://www.thepaleodiet.com/nutritional_tools/recipes.shtmlsnacks/.

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-diet-recipes/

http://everydaypaleo.com/2012/04/03/school-lunch-ideas/

http://www.healthhabits.ca/2010/02/23/lunch-ideas-for-paleo-newbies/

Trail mix for on the go:

1 cup raw or roasted almonds, 1 cup pumpkin seeds, ½ cup sunflower seeds, 1 cup blueberries, ½ cup raisins.

*fruit & nuts

*beef jerky, nuts, 1 piece of fruit.

*leftovers also make a great snack!

THINGS TO REMEMBER

• When FOOD shopping or eating out you want to insure that all of the ingredients are free of

• (1) grains,
• (2) legumes including peanuts, beans, peas, soybeans, tofu, soy milk and flour,
• (3) dairy products,
• (4) salt,
• (5) yeast including baked goods, pickled foods, vinegar, fermented foods and fermented beverages (all contain yeast),
• (6) processed sugars, (high fructose corn syrup)
• (7) excessive added fats (hydrogenated fats) except for permitted oils. You should try to choose the leanest cuts of domestic meats and trim away any visible fat.

Remember this phrase:

“Meats and Veggies, Nuts and Seeds, Some Fruit, Little Starch, NO SUGAR!”

 Keep it simple :

If its not in the phrase, don’t eat it!

WHAT TO EXPECT THIS MONTH

This is a healthy lifestyle change, not a diet! This is a challenge to raise awareness of how important  it is to combine quality nutrition with crossfitting! You will experience a lot of changes this month and learn to read your body in new ways. Please feel free to come to the coaches with any questions, concerns, suggestions and feedback!

Drink water, water and more water! Your body is going to be going through a week or so of DETOXING all the processed, junky, nasty foods that we eat! Admit it, we eat a lot of junk that controls our moods, attitudes, performance and ambition!

“Sugar is like CRACK!” When we eat a lot of processed breads, pastas, oats, crackers etc., our body breaks them down and stores them just like sugar! So by taking this out of your diet you might experience  strong cravings for these foods , crazy mood swings and all sorts of types of body changes that might try to talk you into quitting the challenge, but just remember, if you were trying to get off CRACK, you would feel the same way! Stick to it, you will get over that hump after a week or so and feel like a champion!

What better time then now to try this challenge! You have the whole gym backing you, encouraging you and doing it with you. Its only a 4 WEEK challenge, it could change your life forever…its time, jump on the band wagon and do it with us, you wont regret it in the end!

We as coaches require that you keep a strict record this month of all that you are eating, the workouts that you are doing and the amount of hours that you are sleeping. This way when you come to us with specific questions we have a reference to go by. If we don’t know what you are eating, we won’t be able to help you as much.