The Paleo Challenge

The Paleo Diet Outline

The rules of the Paleo Diet are to eat foods with very few and all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed because they're all totally natural and unprocessed.

Omitting all of the following foods and beverages will help you regain your healthy metabolism, reduce systemic inflammation, and help you discover how foods are truly impacting your health, fitness, and quality of life. Obviously, since we are going off a point system in this challenge you can eat these foods. However, the more you indulge in them, the more you are limiting the extent of your results.

1. Do not consume added sugar of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, etc. Read your labels because companies sneak sugar into products in ways you might not recognize. However, for the purposes of this challenge, we will allow Stevia as the only approved sweetener.

2. Do not consume alcohol. It just isn't good for you and you're trying to make a lifestyle change, right?

3. Do not eat grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains, and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa. Yes, we said corn... for the purposes of this challenge, corn is a grain. This also includes all the ways we add wheat, corn, and rice into our food in the form of bran, germ, starch, and so on. Again, read your labels.

4. Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kind, (black, red, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava,etc.) peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts (no peanut butter either). This includes all forms of soy- soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and all the ways we sneak soy into foods (like lecithin).

5. Do not eat dairy. This includes cow, goat, or sheep's milk products such as cream, cheese, kefir, yogurt (even Greek), and sour cream... with the exception of clarified butter or organic butter.

6. Do not eat white potatoes. This is somewhat arbitrary, but is we are trying to change your habits and improve the hormonal impact of your food choices, it's best to leave out white, red, purple, Yukon gold and fingerling potatoes off  your plate. But do eat sweet potatoes. Just go light if weight loss is your goal.

Scoring

You will have a possible total of 20 points per day. You will start with 15 points. You will add bonus points based on fish oil consumption, mobility, CrossFit, and sleep. You will subract points based on the quality of foods you eat. Here's the breakdown:

15 points for a full day of all Paleo-friendly meals and snacks
+2 for a workout at CrossFit Serious Fitness
+1 for extra mobility (outside of CFSF)
+1 for at least 6 grams of fish quality fish oil
+1 for at least 7+ hours of sleep
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20 possible points per day

Deducting points

-1 point off for every serving of: beans, hummus, peanuts, agave, honey, salt, peas, dried fruit, most salad dressings, red wine.

-2 points off for every serving of: dairy, (milk, yogurt, cheese, butter), soy products, quinoa

-3 points off for every serving of: cereal, grains, wheat, oats, corn, tortilla chips, bread, rice, pasta, noodles, hot dogs.

-4 points off for every serving of: soda, juice, sports drinks, potatoes, fried food, chicken wings, most restaurant appetizers, pizza, cookies, baked goods, ice cream, frozen yogurt, sweets, pancakes, ketchup, processed marinades, BBQ sauce, sugar-added dried fruit, beer, and all alcoholic drinks (besides red wine).

*Note: If you are going off the reservation, it's important to know how many servings you are eating. For example, 1 can of soda is 2 servings. That means if you drink an entire can, you must subtact 8 points. Moral of the story: don't do that.

*Note 2: There are no portion restrictions in the challenge, but be smart. If you are eating an entire bag of trail mix, you are not eating Paleo; you are doing more of the same stuff you did before. Use this challenge to change your habits.

There is a potential for 5 bonus points per day. Here's how to get them:

1. You get 2 extra points for every day you participate in a CrossFit workout. The benefits of Paleo are magnified when combined with a training program that combines constantly varied, high intensity, functional movements.

2. You get 1 extra bonus point for every day that you consume at least 6 grams of fish oil.

3. You get 1 extra bonus point for every day that you do more than 20 minutes of mobility, outside of class. www.mobilitywod.blogspot.com

4. You get 1 extra bonus point for every night that you sleep more than 7 hours.

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The Paleo Challenge will begin January 7th with a weigh in, measurements, and contracts. It will cost $15.00 to participate with 2/3 of the pot going to the winner, along with two free months of CFSF. The second place winner will get 1/3 of the pot, and 1 free month of CFSF.

The Challenge will be ten weeks long. Good luck!

CFSF