This blog is meant to be more of a cataloging journal for Jonathan and I as we continually attempt to be healthy and active in our lifestyle. We both have a strong desire to be healthy and active the older we get particularly as we watch friends and family who constantly struggle with their health.
Jonathan started crossfitting about a year and a half ago. He took almost a 6 month hiatus when we moved to California because there wasn't a conveniently located one in our new location and it was much pricier than in Utah. After those discouraging, weight gaining, muscle losing, crappy eating months we decided it was worth the cost for him to feel better about life and to help him get back on track with his exercise and health. He saw great results when we were living in Ogden and begged me to join him. After watching a few demo videos online though I was sure that it was much too intense for me and I used the excuse that I had just given birth to a baby only 6 months prior. However, after he restarted in California and got back into the swing of things I decided I would at least give it a try. (My baby was now well over 1 year old...) I LOVE CROSSFIT. I won't lie, it is intense, I feel like my butt gets kicked every time I workout, but I will crossfit for the rest of my life. I'm sad that I put off joining for so long. The more I learn about crossfit the more I realize that the workouts are so scalable that anyone who has a desire to do it definitely can. I am getting stronger and I feel accomplished as I increase my maxes and improve my core strength and my ability to do proper push-ups and pull-ups.
Also, something that was introduced to us in the Crossfit Community is the Paleo diet. To many, the diet is a pretty extreme and drastic change from the average American diet. I continue to learn about it, but from what I understand, essentially it is no dairy (unless you are a baby), no grains, no legumes, and no artificial sugar. Our gym has initiated several challenges of going 3 months Paleo and in our attempts I would say we live our life at about 75-90% consistent Paleo and have done so since January of this year (with the occasional epic fail of a day where we just indulge in the cravings we have). As we've gone through this attempt at following this diet we have decided that for the most part we really like the food. However, we've also decided that in the future we do not want to cut out 100% of dairy, grain, legumes...etc, but eat them much more sparingly and in moderation.
One very fortunate thing that has come about as we attempt to live this paleo approach to eating is that we have learned that Jonathan has a sensitivity to some grains. When we first got married he had terrible stomach and intestinal problems. And excuse me for getting overly graphic, but it seemed that regardless of what he ate, he would spend hours on the toilet with diarrhea each and every day. When we finally went to the doctor they told us he may have a whole list of medical issues including the possibility of cancer. After going through a series of tests, scans, and a colonoscopy, they couldn't figure out what was wrong and finally said he must just have "irritable bowel syndrome" which we have come to learn is an all encompassing label for people with stomach and bowel issues. He didn't even have some of the classic symptoms they said are common for people with irritable bowel syndrome. Anyway, we accepted it for what it was and we were just grateful that he didn't have cancer.
As we've strived to cut out grains we noticed that on days we "cheated" and had something with grains in it, Jonathan would really pay the price for it. For me, someone who apparently doesn't have a sensitive stomach at all--I would feel bloated or a little yucky after I ate it, but then after I had a bowel movement an hour or two later I was completely fine. Jonathan would experience diarrhea or constipation for a day or two to follow. I guess grains are extremely hard on your digestive system and have very little nutritional value. Who knew? Not me. Lucky for him rice doesn't seem to do much besides make him feel a bit bloated afterwards, so no hindrance to his love for Sushi.
We're still learning as we experiment and are unsure as to whether it is wheat or gluten or other grains or a combination thereof...so...for Jonathan's sake, we are doing our best to cut out unnecessary grains. We also limit our dairy because while he is not classified as "lactose intolerant" he knows if he overdoes the dairy intake he's asking for more potty time and stomach aches. I've researched all sorts of recipes and such and let me tell you there are a lot of very yummy foods out there that are dairy-free, grain-free, and processed sugar-free! The hardest part for me is that two of the biggest substitutes for flour in these kinds of recipes are nut based flours and coconut. This poses a problem because I don't like nuts or coconut...minor setback, don't you think? However, ground up nuts to the consistency of flour with no nutty chunks I've learned to accept and enjoy. I also love almond milk. I'm still working on acquiring the taste for coconut anything...
Well long explanation short, this blog is meant to help me keep track of our meal plans for the week as well as recipes we like/don't like, and to keep track of our progress with our fitness. Wish us luck!
