Challenge One

Challenge One

Paleo/primal is not one size fits all. The ancestors and modern people who we look to includes a wide variety. We are diverse, and we want different things out of life. From what I’ve seen people start a paleo diet with a goal in mind, such as weight loss, being able to perform better in some physical activity, improvement to markers relating to cardio-vascular disease, to help with such and such that is related to digestion. What is eaten is tailored to that goal, and that is one of the neat things about Paleo but there is no need to limit it to tweaking diet and exercise alone.

Although I stated in the first post that I hope we’re all healthier by the end of this in this challenge I am asking what this means to you and what you hope to gain?

Personally I am planning on:

1. Stablising my moods and being able to have “normal” mental health without the help of anti-depressants. This won’t just be as a result of these challenges, I’ve got other stuff that is going to help tip the balances in my favour. I want to work out ways to deal with the bad days better, and have them fewer and further between.
2. Gaining new experiences and learning more about ancestral health.
3. Become fitter, stronger and leaner.

Go on, work some out for yourself. Don’t make a huge long list, keep it simple but they can be a bit pie in the sky. Make them vaguely realistic but something that’s going to take some work. These are not resolutions, they are plans. Once you have them we’re going to look at breaking them down to make them achievable using mine as examples.

1. I am going to tighten up on my diet. Basically I’m going to stay paleo. I’m also going to experiment with various elements to try and find ways to both raise the bar on my mental health and to find ways to deal with the bad days. Selfishly some of those elements are going to end up as challenges but stress/bad mental health holds many of us back from true health. IIf mental health is an issue for you - do you know WHY you’re feeling like this? I do know, and I am addressing my issue with many life changes. You need to know the cause if you’re going to address it. One step at a time but your priority should be to work out your cause and then work out how you’re going to address it, and then address it, making changes as necessary. If this is too much of a challenge alone, it’s perhaps time to seek help from a professional.
2. I am going to do this by weekly coming up with a new challenge and doing the research that goes into it.
3. I am going to exercise regularly, focusing on lifting heavy stuff and generally moving more. Couple with a paleo diet this should cause me to become fitter, stronger and leaner. Sounds so simple on paper/screen.

Just like eating paleo - no one is going to tell you off if you fall off the living paleo wagon, but it is your responsibility to pick yourself up and get back on with us.

Please either write your goals down and save the piece of paper in a safe place or write it on the computer and save the file. You want to regularly review to see if you’re still on track. And if you’re not on track then ask yourself why and what you need to do to get there. I hope people reading this will share your goals in the comments. 

More active challenge coming next week.