Jeremy and I are participating in a Whole Life Challenge at our crossfit gym today and it will last for 8 weeks. It is a strict diet and fitness program and we will be eating a very healthy diet with no sugar, grains, or dairy items. I am still trying to figure out how I will accomplish this being the sugar and dairy addict I am, and while running a 20 to 26 miler today in training for the Twin Cities marathon, which is now only 3 Sundays away. I am writing this while my watch recharges and enjoying my coffee. At least I can still drink my coffee and tea, and I am planning on drinking plain coconut water (unsweetened) and eating plain bits of fruit/oranges while on my long run. We did pretty well with our diets up till this past week before the challenge started. When the weather starts to turn cool I want to stay in the kitchen and bake things like homemade bread, cookies, etc., so we had plenty of that stuff to eat this week! Now I am switching to cooking a paleo diet and when I get that cozy, warm feeling to bake bread in my kitchen I am going to have to make other cozy food items instead, such as chili, beef stews, baked sweet potatoes or butternut squash. I'm going to include recipes as I go along. I take my cooking pretty seriously. The kiddos will have a few exceptions such as dairy, brown rice and pasta, but they actually eat plain meat and vegetables better than they eat grains. And they love to eat burger patties with their hands and other finger foods. It is much less mess to clean up after as well:)
Last week I was reading up on the ideas behind the paleo diet and how it is compatible with a Christian worldview of creationism and found a very well-written argument for how it is. Most of the time these arguments say that even in the Bible grains were not necessarily recommended as the best food choice for human consumption, and this is grains from Bible times. The grains grown these days are supposed to be far worse with genetic modification and cross-breeding. (I really don't know much about agriculture, but I do believe it is safe to say that neither of those things are going to lead to a quality food choice for us). This article also goes on to talk about cities and agriculture, and he somehow makes an assumption that agriculture and cities had a negative influence on people. I am not sure how that can be justified, especially being a person who loves cities and large civilizations of people groups and architecture in one place. There is a book written by a Harvard professor I'd like to read sometime about how great our world's cities are - Triumph of the City by Edward Glaeser - and maybe that will help me know more about where I stand on agriculture and how it relates to cities. I love cities and I couldn't imagine living in the country or like a nomad.
All I know is that I imagine I will feel lots better and be lots stronger on this diet. I always assumed that sugar was harmless and it doesn't really make me gain weight, but being strong is a whole different thing. I don't care about losing weight, but I do want to be stronger and faster. I am happy and proud to be married to a man who likes me the way I am now, who is also proud of having a wife who is strong and has some muscles!
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