Foodie Friday: ANOTHER Paleo Challenge begins

Lord help me, I'm doing it again.  I promise I didn't orchestrate this one but one of my fellow competitors from the last challenge has clearly gone off the deep end and started a 7-week Paleo challenge.  I was dumb enough to accept!

It starts today (rules below) and runs for 7 weeks.  If anyone out there is crazy enough to join our reindeer games, let me know ASAP.  These challenges are most successful when there is a whole collection of nincompoops doing it together.

Are you that nincompoop?

If so, we have a FB page devoted to this project and I can add you in.  Let's get crazy, caveman style!

Rules:

Do not consume added sugars of any kind. No Splenda, Nutrasweet, xylitol, agave nectar etc. Read labels carefully. For the purpose of this challenge Natural sugars such as honey and 100%maple syrup may be used in moderation.

Do Not consume sugary alcohol drinks like wine and sugar based cocktails. You MAY have simple cocktails with clear liquors (it's the holidays for God's sake). IE: vodka or tequila with lime and seltzer. No dark liquors like Rum - too sugary.

Do not eat grains. This includes but is not limited to wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgar, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains and all pseudo grains like quiona. Note: read labels, many unexpected products include grain.

Do not eat legumes. Legumes are beans and more... Black, red, kidney, lima, white, navy, kidney, peas, lentils, peanuts, peas, chickpeas, and all soy products ( edamame, soy beans, bean sprouts, soy sauce,miso, tofu, etc. Read Labels!)

Do not eat dairy. The strict paleo Gods say none, ever. This challenge, only grass-fed butter is allowed. No milk or cheese of any kind.

Root vegetables are good, white potatoes are bad. Although some articles say different for the sake of the cleanse we are going to ditch these too. Try subbing every potato recipe with sweet potatoes, and if your eating yams or sweet potatoes add more grass-fed butter!

Private message me your daily record with your name, date, and score, or post it on this group Wall.

Scoring:

When you wake up you have a fresh 15 points, you can win and loose points depending on your day. You gain points based on the quality food you eat, your sleep (yup, you GAIN points for sleeping), working out and mobility training. Here's the breakdown:

15 points-wake up every day with a fresh new day ahead of the game.

Add points

 +2 points for 60 minutes of working out (30min workout=1 point)

 +1 for 7+ hours of sleep

 +1 for 2 grams of quality fish oil (2 pills/day)

 +1 point for mobility training (stretching/yoga) outside of workout hours.

Max allowed points per day is 20 pts. Kudos to you for putting in a 3 hour workout, but you will only be awarded the 2 pts for that time.

Deducting Points

 -1 point for every serving of: deli meats, sausage (only if not fully meat/veg), legumes (ie: hummus, peanuts, peas) salad dressing, red wine, tequila, GF Beer or Cider

-2 points for every serving of dairy with the exception of grass-fed butter (milk, yogurt, cheese, soy products)

-3 points for every serving of cereal, oats, grains, corn, flour, rice, pasta, noodles, quinoa and all things derived from above

-4 points for every SERVING of soda, juice (not fresh squeezed or 100% juice), sports drinks, fried food, chips, pizza, cookies, ice cream, ketchup, processed foods, beer (and all alcoholic beverages other than "1 point beverages", sugar added sweets(cake, sorbet, pie, you get it, don't eat it!)

The lowest you can get for one day is zero (thinking Thanksgiving here people) and the highest is 20.

Wedding bells be ringin'

Despite the dreadfully boring nature of my everyday blog entry, this one just might prove to be spicier than usual. I have a story to tell. A story I anticipate having only this one chance to offer.

Before I can get into the juicy details of aforementioned story, a bit of background is needed. Before I can get into that, a disclaimer is necessary. This blog is loosely based on my life as a triathlete. This story has very little, if nothing, to do with that at all.  Read on anyway. It’s adorable.

10 years ago I was fortunate enough to meet the person with whom I plan to spend the remainder of my life. We met in a classy, if not intimate, setting full of intrigue and romantic undertones. That’s right, it was Match.com 

At least it wasn’t Craig’s list (not that there is anything shady about meeting someone there…)

We conversed at great length via email and got through those pesky first date questions.  “Where are you from?  What do you do?  What psychopathic tendencies bubble up during the holidays?” You know, normal stuff.

After a relatively epic match of email tennis, we decided to meet.  This is how an episode of Dateline usually begins. In a dramatic voice-over with haunting music underscoring, the announcer says something like, “stay tuned for how an innocent meeting turned diabolical. How online networking ended in amputation for this tragic couple.”

Sounds exciting, right?

Well luck for us, there has yet to be any amputations.  In fact, things have gone pretty darn well. But I mustn’t get ahead of myself.

We met. We sparked. We brunched. Terrifically When Harry Met Sally.

On the way back from brunch, I got an unexpected surprise. I was the unhappy victim of a pigeon bombing.  Yes indeed, I took a direct hit on the right pectoral muscle by a steamy blob of pigeon poo.  Romance of this magnitude knows no bounds.

We did what we could.  While he rushed off to a hot dog vendor to procure some napkins, I reasonably ran frantically in circles with arms flailing overhead whilst emitting a shockingly high-pitched squeal.  I drew attention.  Tourists took photos.  I am not proud of my performance, but at least I got some good exposure.

After an attempted clean up job street-side, we thought it best to go back to his apartment to properly clean my shirt.  I am still convinced he had this whole thing planned just to get me back to his apartment.  Like he needed a plan…

And that is when it happened.  Forgive the terrible sappiness I’m about to commit to this blog, but while we were cleaning the pigeon poo off of my shirt, we were overwhelmed by the romantic notes of the moment and shared our first kiss. Aside from the poo part, it was really quite romantic. And here is the sappy part: it was in that moment, that shared experience of ironic satire and ridiculous happenstance, that one moment would have the power over me to make time stand still. It was truly in that moment that I first felt the feeling of hope and companionship that I had so often craved. I felt at home; I felt at peace. Pigeon poo be damned, this was who I was meant to be with.

Take that, Nicholas Sparks!

Well, long story short (too late), we started dating immediately. I had moved into his place within 3 months and we had adopted a dog, our sweet lovable pup Mick, a few months after that.

We were the envy of all of our lesbian friends.  They only thought they moved fast.  We had set the bar.

At year 3, we moved to the lovely state of New Jersey that had just recently passed a law allowing Civil Unions to be recognized.  There were no sweeping or romantic gestures on this one.  We knew were committed to each other and so we did it. 

The only trouble was that Paul, mystery man of the story, was not at the time out to his family.  With them not knowing about this part of his life, we were unable to invite them to the civil union. The celebration was fierce and our love was unquestionable, but it was a sad occurrence that his family was unable to attend and share such a special moment with us. We have since met, concerned reader, and we couldn’t get along more merrily than if we were drawn by Walt Disney himself.

Let’s breeze over the next 7 years, shall we?  We adopted another pup, princess Maggie, and are proud to say we are still the boastful Dad’s of an ever-youthful Mick.  I managed to get a doctorate degree and open my own business, and Paul managed to save the world a few times over.  Not bad for 7 years.

Now to the juicy part.  Your patience is appreciated.

With our impending 10^th anniversary looming, we decided to book ourselves a celebratory cruise to commemorate such a milestone.  But not only did we want to celebrate, we also wanted both sides of our families to celebrate at our sides.  At the delight of Celebrity Cruises and American Express, we booked a 7-night cruise for the 2 of us, along with both sides of our family.  Let’s not forget the 4 friends who also were able to join bringing the total to 14 folks.

The plans were made.  The flights were booked.  We were finally getting the opportunity to include Paul’s family in the beautiful celebration that is our life together.

And then, as fate would have it, a dramatic event took place that would change the course of this story quite significantly.

Paying heed to the ever-changing sentiment of our country, New Jersey made into law that unions between two people of the same gender would be recognized as a legal marriage. This news came on the heels of the US Supreme Court revolutionizing how the national government would define marriage. 

After 10 years of a committed and loving relationship, we were finally given the opportunity to stand in front of our friends and family and legally declare our union as a married couple.

And that, dear readers, is exactly what we just did!

As of January 5, 2014, I am legally someone’s husband.  On this date, the government of both my state and my country have recognized the loving relationship I have been fortunate enough to help build over the last decade. I wish I had the vocabulary to express what this means to me.  As a substitute, my kick-ass new platinum with diamond accent ring will have to suffice.

But here is the best part: our families didn’t know!  According to them they were flying to Puerto Rico for an anniversary cruise, not a wedding cruise!

To have had the opportunity to share this incredible event with both sides of our family is damn near more that I could have ever hoped for.  So much so that I don’t even care that I ended the previous sentence with a preposition. 

There were tears of joy and photos of the surprised faces upon learning of the true intentions of this trip.  There were moments of jubilation and times of reflection with those who know us best.  But above all, there was love and compassion shared between two people and between a group of family and friends.

I count myself stupidly lucky to have found such a person in my life.  I find myself overwhelmed to have the opportunity to legally and publically make that union recognizable in both the eyes of our government, but also the eyes of our family and friends.  I only hope that the rest of my life will be as enriching, educational, joyful, and fulfilling as the last 10 years have been.  Perhaps a request for such happiness is unreasonable and the notions of a dreamer. 

I’ve always been a dreamer.  I don’t intend to change now.

Totally not our rings.  New pics to be posted when I read the stupid manual to my new camera.

A Reflection of 2013, Anticipation of 2014

Well it is January 1, 2014, and while my upstairs neighbors are presumably sleeping off the late night boozing they so graciously shared with the rest of the building via audio-havoc, I am enjoying a reasonable flute of chilled prosecco and feeling pensive about things.

There is much about the above statement that lends support to the notion that I am clearly an 86 year old woman trapped in a 33 year old dude's body, but let's not dwell on it.

I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the year that was 2013, and also ponder what might be in store for 2014 and what I hope to achieve.  This could get deep, people.  I might use hashtags.

As an athlete, 2013 was disastrous in many ways, and yet extremely constructive in others.  As I've written up in a previous post, IronMan Mont Tremblant was primarily a hot, steamy pile of mess for me.  I wish there was a better way to describe my performance, but it was just plain ugly.  Sure there might be a correlation to my level of training and fitness at the time, but I've never had a solid grasp of correlations, or anything about statistics for that matter.  Good thing I'm not getting a PhD…

Despite the messy and steamy nature of it though, it was supremely motivating.  Since that race, I have had a fire under me that has launched my training into new places: namely existent!  I'm afraid I am overwhelming my poor coach with my compliance.  He never saw it coming.  Poor dear.

In that vein, I have been on my bike 3-4 times per week and killing the workouts.  I don't get a kickback on this endorsement (which my lawyer will soon be made aware of), but I started taking classes at this cool joint called Tailwind Endurance.  Check this out: you put your bike on a computrainer with 15 other idiots too delicate to ride in the cold, and you cycle like a maniac all while going absolutely nowhere.  Brilliant, right?  Here's the best part: on the giant screen in front of the group is a display of how you are performing.  You see not only your current wattage output, but also how you rank among the other morons sitting next to you.  It's like a video game, athletics, and a college binge-drinking night all rolled in to one.  I'm in love.

In the several weeks I have been taking these classes, I have seen my FTP (functional threshold power, AKA: the number that proves how manly you are) jump by huge margins.  That translates to me going faster on the bike.  This in turn means we have one happy cyclist sitting here in front of a computer screen with an almost empty glass of prosecco.

And since we are talking bikes, check out my new baby pictured below.  I got a fascinating email from my accountant a few weeks ago which went something like this: "Dear Chad, the IRS is going to rape you in a couple of months.  Hard.  You will cry.  So will your unborn children.  If you have any business expenses coming up, spend them now."  You know the best part of being a physical therapist practice owner and having a blog to help "advertise?"  Tri bikes that are categorized as Damn Sexy are considered a business expense.

Boy bike or girl bike?  What should I name him/her?

I also just completed a 45 day Paleolithic diet eating and fitness challenge.  My blog is chalk full of entries detailing this experience, but suffice it to say that I am a fan.  Not only did I see incredible changes in my own performance, recovery, and svelte physique, but my fellow participants went through pretty incredible changes as well.  The winner of the challenge, and subsequently my Mom, shocked her physician with her results and was able to discontinue the use of daily blood pressure medicine.  That's big, people.  I was honored to have led such a group and alarmingly inspired by their determination and fantastic results.  This was a rewarding experience, and one I hope to renew again soon.  

As for my personal life, 2013 has been more rewarding than I could have ever imagined.  My business, F Squared PT has been consistently and marvelously growing in reputation and productivity.  I was offered a part-time faculty position teaching in a doctorate program of physical therapy at Touro College, which I graciously and humbly accepted and begin in a couple of weeks.  I have a beautiful soul whom I am lucky enough to call my life partner, not to mention being proud of the fact I haven't murdered for the insurance money.  I have 2 of the most outstanding pups a dad could ask for with whom I share a love so sincere I can't imagine it bested by any other (see below for their picture and prepare yourself for a collective "ahhhhhh").  My life has been blessed in 2013, and not in the stereotypical Hallmark sort of way.  When I say blessed, I mean only to convey the most heartfelt and overwhelmed feelings of gratitude and fortune.  I know I have worked hard to be where I am, but I also appreciate the serendipity and sheer dumb luck that has brought me to where I stand.  

And speaking of standing, I may not be able to after this last glass of prosecco.  #whatsinthisstuff

Maggie: a princess in every sense of the word

Mick: the sweetest and most loyal dog in the history of furry companions

So after all of that alcohol-inspired rhetoric about the previous year, what can I say about my hopes and ambitions for 2014?

I have learned over the years to avoid making firm plans.  That just gives the Universe an opportunity to toy with you.  Instead, I hope to succeed in the following points for 2014:

• Remember to take time for myself.  With the intensity and veracity of my schedule and life, it is easy to forget that I am important too.  Having a morning or two at home with just me and my pups is something that I hope to embrace in the coming year.
• Remember to prioritize what is truly important.  For 2014, I have a great many goals.  These include becoming a better athlete, a better partner, a better puppy-daddy, a better human.  My goals do not include trivial daily occurrences that can seem so monumental at times.  My goals do not include petty competition or ego-driven triumphs.  My goals should not serve a superficial/selfish aim, but rather should enrich the very person who I hope to improve upon.
• Strive to be the best I can be at what I choose to devote my energy.  If something is worth doing, it is worth doing right.  
• Remember to do things that improve and enrich other peoples lives as mine has been enriched.  I do honestly believe that the best way to appreciate the blessings and opportunities one has in their life is to help another achieve the same success.  Seeing the satisfaction, gratitude, and triumph through another's eyes is truly the best way to experience your own good fortune.  I hope to remind myself of that and make efforts to create such opportunities.
• Find ways to show my gratitude.  For example, I am stupidly grateful to you all taking the time to read the rantings of such an one as I (I think that is a Gilbert and Sullivan line…#muststopdrinking).  That so many of you, a considerable number being strangers, read what I have to say is humbling.  I am grateful and wish I could show you that in some way.  Until I figure that out, I'll just keep writing and you just keep reading.  It's what we do.
• And lastly, I hope to eat more guacamole and plantain chips in 2014.  If there is a more delicious snack in this world, I dare you to introduce me to it.

I have nothing but optimism and excited anticipation to see how this coming year unfolds.  There will be success.  There will be heartbreak.  There will be achievements paired with failure.  We have all been given the precious gift that is this life.  I plan to live mine to the fullest, and what better time to recall such a motto than the beginning of a new year.

Much love, immense gratitude, and pinch-me-awake joy,

Chad