20 Days of Paleo and Half Marathon Later!

Ro is in our trainer mentorship program. She’s a hard-working boot camper that’s looking to take her results to the next level. She’s committed to a 30 day Paleo diet. She’ll be sharing her experience on our blog so you can share in her Paleo diet journey.

Is the Paleo diet life changing?

I have to say, when I first started the paleo challenge, I had my doubts. Despite all that I had read and heard of how life changing the paleo diet is, from helping with allergies and disease, to weight loss and stomach problems, I still wasn’t sure it would cause any dramatic changes to my life. Was all this time commitment and new grocery list making really worth it? After having a stressful week 1, were the following 23 days going to get better or easier?

3 weeks later I can say, YES, yes the paleo diet is worth it!

My body feels completely different

As the days and weeks pass, my new diet has not only become almost second nature, but my body is feels completely different. I had already noticed my digestion issues improving in the first week, but now my stomach even looks flatter. Also, before I had ever started my paleo diet, I would have anywhere from 3 to 4 coffees a day! Now, I don’t even need coffee on most days!

What’s even better is that I was able to hang out with friends multiple times now, while they drank and ate sweets, and I didn’t have the crazy, angry cravings I had the first week. I wasn’t giving them the angry stare for eating cupcakes in front of me, I simply made sure to have snacks I could enjoy and made a delicious paleo ice cream instead (frozen bananas, coconut milk, and processed nuts).

The trick to a paleo diet is to always be prepared!

I have to make sure I have chopped, accessible veggies, fruits, and nuts ready to eat in case I’m running late or low on time. I’ve purchased 2 different cookbooks and found paleo recipes to replace many of my favorite dishes, like pizza, popcorn, and cookies. Kale chips have officially replaced popcorn on movie nights.

What was once a challenge for me is now becoming more of my lifestyle, but I also had a physical challenge come up last week that made me question my new paleo diet.

I still questioned my new paleo diet

While this month has been mostly dedicated to my 30 Day Paleo challenge, long before I had committed to the Whole 30 Paleo Diet Challenge, I had committed to another undertaking; the Carlsbad Half Marathon. While I have run a couple half marathons before, and at the time I signed up for this half I wasn’t too worried about it, I became worried that my new paleo diet wouldn’t get me carbs and sugar to get me through my run. I rely a lot on my carb load the night before for energy and also sugary goo packs or jelly beans, to get my glucose levels back up when I start to get tired around miles 8 or 9, but what was I going to do this time.

So what was I to do? Find alternatives!

I found paleo solutions

I found an amazing paleo pizza casserole that would provide me with sufficient carbs to get me through the day. Additionally, before my race I used to have some oatmeal with fruit, this time, I had a hardboiled egg and banana. And lastly, for the sugar high I needed during my race, I went and got some Mango baby food packs from Whole Foods. I figured I’d go with a fruit that I had a lot of sugar and the packs would be easy for me to squeeze out.

New PR with my paleo diet

I was very nervous the day of the Carlsbad Half Marathon. Would my paleo carb load meal and breakfast be enough to get me through the race? And would my Mango baby food pack work?

An hour and 49 minutes later, I felt amazing! I beat my Personal Record by 3 minutes and the mango baby food worked great at mile 10. I also felt great after the race, normally I feel a bit dehydrated, but this time, I felt great post-race, aside from need to rest for a bit. Overall, a great race!

The delish Paleo Spaghetti Casserole recipe I used was:

Prep time: 25 mins
Cook time: 1 hour
Serves: 3-4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large spaghetti squash (about 600 grams)
• 1 pound Italian sausage
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• 1 cup pizza sauce (no sugar added)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
  salt and pepper, to taste
  3 eggs, whisked

Optional: add anything you like with pizza: veggies, basil, even cheese if you do primal

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Place spaghetti squash cut side down on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the skin of the squash gives when you press on it. Then reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.
3. Once squash is done cooking, remove threads and place in an 8×8 greased baking dish.
4. Place a large pan over medium heat. Add Italian sausage and onion. Cook until pink no longer remains in the sausage and it is broken up into pieces.
5. Add pizza sauce, dried basil and salt and pepper to the pan and mix well.
6. Add sausage mixture to the 8×8 dish and mix well with spaghetti squash threads.
7. Lastly, add whisked eggs to the baking dish and mix everything together until you can no longer see the eggs.
8. Place in oven and bake for 1 hour or until the top of the mixture forms a slight crust that doesn’t give when you press on it in the middle of the dish.
9. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

This dish was not only a great pre-race dish, but now one of my favorite dishes that I’m making again tonight! 9 more days to go, but I’m sure I will be making paleo my new way of life.

Some other Bootique’ers are doing the 30 day paleo diet challenge. How’s it working out for you? – Ro

Recipe by Juli on Paleomg.com