I’ve started writing this “wrap up” for my 30 day Paleo challenge several times, and each time I’ve scrapped it because it sounded either too impersonal, too sales-y, or just stupid. Then I remembered that first and foremost, this blog is supposed to be fun for me to write. So then I scrapped what I had and just went for it… You’re welcome.

I’m going to do a little recapping and a quick Paleo primer, so for those of you who’ve followed me all along the way, well….

1. I love you. We should hang out sometime. I’ll even buy you a beer. Yes, that’s right, I’ve got a Coors Light with your name all over it… It may be slightly warm from sitting in the trunk of my car for several months.
2. You might want to skip or skim this first part, and forgive me if I use some of the same material. I can only be so creative (and even then, not very).

Alright, I’m going to start from the beginning…

My come to Paleo moment

I’m not sure how or why, but somehow or another I stumbled across the website for The Whole 9…. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure I got there via Melissa Urban’s blog which she eventually discontinued to focus on The Whole 9.

Anyway, I was probably Googleing “hot crossfit chicks” or something useful like that, and somehow or another ended up at whole9life.com and just started poking around. That’s when I found their challenge known as “The Whole 30”, and was first introduced to the term “Paleo” in reference to diet.  The Whole 30 is a very well formulated, documented, and supported plan for a strict 30 day Paleo diet challenge. It looked intense, it looked challenging, and they made it sound awesome. (Thanks again to Dallas and Melissa for putting this out there for the world for free.)

So all the positives that they talked about sounded great, but you know me, I had to get more details on if/why this diet was healthy and a good idea.

What “Paleo” is

So now that the “Whole 30” had whetted my appetite, I started to do some research, and quickly found Robb Wolf’s book The Paleo Solution. I like to have as much information as possible before diving into something that sounds so crazy, so I picked it up and flew right through it.

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I’ll try to sum up the book, and why the diet and lifestyle that it recommends is good for you, me, and grandmas everywhere, in a couple short sentences: Our ancient ancestors ate meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, and berries, and when they weren’t being eaten by piranhas or ravaged by rabid wombats, they were all around healthier than we are today. They had very little to no signs of cancer, diabetes, or many of the auto-immunity problems we face today. Therefore, we should go back to eating as they did, and not consume the dairy, grains, and excess sugar that they never had in their diets, and which causes all kinds of inflammation in our bodies… Oh, we should also sleep more. The end.

Obviously, that paragraph chock full of run on sentences doesn’t do the book justice, but luckily it’s cheap, so if you’re interested you can get it from Amazon for something like $10-15.  I’ve already bought several copies, and even given one out as a birthday present (still not sure if the recipient was all that excited about it, but whatever).

Where did Paleo come from

While there have been several different researchers, doctors, and various quacks that have promoted a Paleolithic diet in the past few decades, as far as bringing it to the masses it seems that Dr. Loren Cordain is the guy. He’s written a few books on the subject, and has his own site dedicated strictly to Paleo.

I would liken Cordain to the “God” of Paleo. YAWEH, if you will. He seems kind of stern, doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor, but he brought the Paleo diet to the mainstream, and was the Emperor to Robb Wolf’s Darth Vader (meaning, he mentored Robb)… So you best respect. Maybe that’s not a real fair description, since I haven’t read his main book (got his cookbook…not funny), but it’s just the perception I get.

Robb Wolf, then, is like the Jesus Christ of Paleo. You’d want to hang with this guy and drink a beer with him… After which he’d probably make you feel bad about drinking said beer. But then he’d forgive you, you’d both laugh about it, and he’d firmly shake your hand and on his way out the door he’d heal your grandma of rheumatoid arthritis for giggles.

Oh, and for those of you who know your Paleo celebs, I guess that makes Mark Sisson the… Muhammad? I don’t know.

So there you have a little background info from my perspective on Paleo…Okay, so maybe the title is a little misleading. I know that had little to nothing to do with my own “results”, but bear with me here. I may or may not be turning into a Paleo-vangelist, so I wanted to get you through Genesis in 2 minutes flat.

Next part will be my thoughts on the effects that 30 days of strict adherence to the Paleo diet and lifestyle had on me.