America Peals

Yesterday, I made an announcement on Twitter and now for you all, that I am going to be a regular weekly columnist for The Elephant Journal. Waylon Lewis is the operator at this Boulder power blog. If you don’t know Way,  you should. Way has been deemed the Jon Stewart of the Green Movement. In addition, he has a brilliant website comprising everything from yoga, to sustainable living and Buddhist practices.

After penning a post on Fall for TwilighLightEarth, I reached out to Way and asked if I could be a part of his team. As much as I adore doing humor pieces, there is a part of me that also feels its compulsory  to write more seriously about our personal health and how to ameliorate. So, each week,  I will explore some element of the Paleolithic diet on ElephantJournal.com.

I was thrilled that Waylon just accepted me as a member of his blogging staff (FYI: Way and I have worked together in the past) and tweeted about it. I then receive a tweet from @onearmstrength telling me his is psyched to read the new column. I ask his experiences with the Paleo diet. Michael reports is doing CrossFit he lost approximate 55 lbs from the Paleo diet and CrossFit. I was incredulous. Michael also stated that his starting weight was 355. I’ll be damned.

But, as with any CrossFit story, that is not nearly the end of Michael’s tale. When Michael was 15, worked on on a machine in South Dakota. With his machine not passing safety regulations, one day while reaching over the machine, he lost his balance. And, he lost his arm.

Michael’s story continues with a battle with depression, eating poorly, then eating well. He eventually became a spin instructor. But that too did not last for long. Spin bored him. And the weight creeped back on.  I will defer to Michael’s words:

I’m down to 300lbs+- now and  started working out with CrossFit WODs. I eat mostly Paleo consisting of meats, veggies, fruits, berries and nuts. I eat no sugar (except on cheat days) and add no additional salt to any of my food either. Usually the salt that’s added is fine. No starches either. I’ve found that switching to Paleo from eating all the “bad stuff” was a challenge the first two weeks or so. Headaches, being rude, and just over all not feeling well. After the two weeks, my energy has gone up,  I feel better and much easier to get along with. After the years and years of eating the wrong way, I’m so glad I found CrossFit that introduced me to the Paleo diet.

And, here I am yakking about how difficult the Paleo diet will be. Michael you kick ass! You can find Michael at OneArmStrength.

Now for a little entertainment, watch this ass clown do a back squat. Please leave responses.