Paleo check-in, Monday 13 July

Happy Monday. Sounds like everyone's weekend went well - I'm happy to see the Paleo ball rolling so fast for everyone! For those of you just joining, welcome. Spend some time reading the past week's posts and comments. There is a TON of good information in there from the community. (I'm sort of just the conductor here - y'all are the orchestra. And you sound GOOD.)

Today, I want everyone to commit to trying one new vegetable this week. Choose something you've never had before, or maybe had once and then abandoned because you weren't sure how to cook it. Share what you'd like to try, and maybe someone can offer advice or tips for how to prepare it. We've got some damn good cooks around here - my girl Melicious has all kinds of good recommendations, both here and on her blog. In fact, she's a bit of an inspiration all around... stay tuned for more on her special brand of Superstar later this week.

Weekend motivation

I'm throwing up a weekend post because it sounds like some of you are feeling the pressures right about now. The newness of your shiny new Paleo toy may be wearing off. You're a little cranky these days, aren't you? You're JUST far enough into this experiment to be FEELING like you should be feeling great, but you're still having some unhappy side effects (headaches, cravings, trouble recovering). Which, I assure you, is totally normal, but still... Grrrr. And now, events over the weekend (parties, cookouts, dinners out) may be tempting you to take just the tiniest little break from your initiative.

You listen to me right now - all of you. You are NOT going out like that. You will NOT cave to buffalo wings so processed, they're not even chicken. The lure of a sugar-bomb pancake or waffle at breakfast has nothing on your rockin' energy level and clear-headedness. And a cocktail at this point will both make you feel like super-extra crap in the morning AND make you mad at yourself for giving in to something so cheap and dirty.

So rally, people. You've got this. I'll help... Take a minute today and list, here, one thing that is significantly BETTER now than it was a week ago, thanks to your diet. Maybe it's your energy, maybe it's a flatter stomach, maybe you've PR'd on a workout or maybe you're happy coming here and seeing 100 comments from people who UNDERSTAND what it is you are trying to do. Share something, and remind yourself why you are doing this, and how important it is to push through these difficult times. Because, trust me... once you get over that hill and things start clicking (and THEY WILL, I promise you that), you'll be so, so glad you stuck with it.

Motivate now, and then get out there and enjoy your weekend.

Paleo check-in, Thursday 9 July




It's not you. It's us.

We're doing a check-in today (instead of tomorrow) so I could draw your attention to the CrossFit 603 site, and our Dairy Manifesto. Dallas summarized his rationale against consuming dairy products in a concise, not-too-science-y three part format. Interestingly enough, the often cited "lactose intolerance" reason doesn't even make his list. (By the way - everything I learned about diet and nutrition, I learned from Dallas first. His thoughts are my thoughts, which is why I asked him to help me out with this topic.)

One word of caution... there is a LOT of information out there. Some of it doesn't seem to fit together very well - and some of it is straight-up conflicting. It's easy to become confused, frustrated, paralyzed with information overload. So, again, I caution you to use your heads. Educate yourself. Gather information from sources you trust. Process that information against your own experiences. And then make up your own damn mind. How do you do that? BY TAKING ACTION. Is dairy a good thing or a bad thing for your health, wellness and performance? Despite his vast personal experience, all his years of formal and informal education and the many clients and patients through which he's drawn his conclusions, Dallas can't decide that for you. So figure it out for yourself. Stop eating dairy for a while (like you're doing now). Then, reintroduce it and see how you feel. That's the only way to know for sure, right?

At some points along your health, wellness and fitness path, it's okay to do stuff just because someone you trust tells you to. But there comes a time when you need to take a stand, based on your own experience. And that is part of what you are doing here. So read our Dairy Manifesto,
and post questions, thoughts or your own experience to the 603 site.

Does this feel TOO easy? Read on...

I could not be more surprised - or more thrilled - at how this adventure has taken off. I am in awe of how many people are taking this concept, this change, to heart. We've got entire GYMS working this 30 day program! And the level of support you are giving each other in the comments is amazing. AMAZING. It brings me joy - and I say that in all seriousness . Thanks to everyone who is posting, sharing, encouraging and generally holding each other accountable.

Now, for a word of caution... the first few days - the first two weeks, even - are always easy. You're fired up, you're committed, you're a part of something bigger than yourself. You get caught up in the excitement of this new, shiny, life-changing toy, and so you cruise along with practically no effort at all. You should have done this YEARS ago! It's really not that hard.

I would like to think that the positive experiences you are all having right now are going to carry you along through the whole month. It's hard to argue with looking, feeling and performing better - why wouldn't you want to keep it up? Unfortunately, it's not that simple. There are plenty of other factors, and stressors, that can influence this process. Two weeks from now, when this is no longer a new, shiny toy, and it is perhaps not quite as exciting, and you're being faced with more challenge and more temptation - it may not be this effortless. You may start to struggle. You may think maybe it's not worth it. You may think you've done enough, and what's the harm in relaxing just a little? You've earned it. You deserve it. What's the big deal? You may start to slack off in posting comments, asking questions, offering support. I will warn you of this, right now, so that there are no surprises... Changing your life will not always feel as easy as it feels right now.

So remind yourselves now of the commitment you've made here, to yourselves and and to each other. Be aware that there may be challenges ahead. Plan for them. Mentally prepare for them. Set yourselves up for success, if things start to get harder. Use this forum and each other for support. It's nice to have someplace to go, where you KNOW people understand. Rely on this, because I suspect at some point, you'll need to.

Keep sharing your experiences. Encourage us. Motivate us. Inspire us. Because someone, somewhere, will need that to carry them through.

Paleo check-in, Monday 6 July

Happy Monday. How did everyone survive the 4th of July weekend? I gave myself the weekend off, so I have a LOT of comments to review and questions to answer. I'm working on them.

One word of advice. For the next 30 days, your ONLY job is to eat clean. That's it. Don't even THINK about trying to incorporate some new dietary strategy like Intermittent Fasting (IF) at this point. IF is a relatively "advanced" dietary concept. You don't start playing around with fasting and feeding until your food quality, quantity and macronutrient proportion are good and dialed in. At this juncture, especially for those of you having some trouble adapting to this new way of eating (headaches, lethargy, crankiness, etc.) IF would place a significant amount of stress on an already stressed system. Not a smart choice, at this juncture. Just focus on your food.

I'm going to call in the troops for the headache questions. I've skimmed the responses, but I owe this one some time, so give me a day or two to pull something together. In the meantime, stick with it. Drink plenty of water. Make sure you're eating enough. Get plenty of rest. To quote Robb Wolf, if you eat a Paleo diet, sleep 8 hours per night and exercise, I’d be shocked if the rest of your life does not dramatically improve.

Paleo check-in, Friday 3 July

Let's talk about sticking with Paleo during all the 4th of July festivities.

The good news is, cookouts are your best friend. Burgers, chicken and steak on the grill, plus a side of salad, vegetables or fresh fruit and you're good to go. Not sure what your friends will be serving? Bring your own side dish - something you KNOW you can eat. Skip the beer in favor of mineral water with a slice of lime. And bring some snack back-up in case you get stuck... fruit, nuts, jerky.

Not sure what to say when someone pushes you on your food choices? "Oh, come on... you can have ONE beer!" or "What, you don't eat bread now?" can be tough to handle in social situations. These three little words will be your best friend in the next 30 days.

No, thank you.

That's all you have to say. Just keep repeating it, politely, with a smile, over and over, until the person takes the hint. No, thank you. Or, I just don't want any. Or, I'm good, thanks. Any variation of the phrase should do. If you feel the need to say something else and you think the person is receptive, you can try explaining what you're doing, and why. Or you can tell them that you're allergic. Or you can tell them that your (very expensive) nutrition coach would kick your a** if she found out you snuck a beer. Whatever works. Just don't let people pressure you into second-guessing your choices. You're tougher than that.

Post thoughts, questions and your best holiday weekend strategy recommendation to comments.

Paleo Resources

First, for those of you committed to changing your life... sweet. Welcome. Don't make me tough love you. Just do what you need to do for the next thirty days.

Here are some basic Paleo resources to get you started. You may need to search around on these sites to find specific information, but these are all resources I trust, and follow myself.

• Dr. Loren Cordain's site (author of the Paleo Diet for Athletes - check out the FAQ and Nutritional Tools on the left)


• Robb Wolf's blog (start with the FAQ)


• Good Harvest Market's shopping list (a simple, detailed, by-the-book list of foods to eat and foods to avoid)


• Nightshades (for those of you choosing to opt out of this food group, remove all these listed foods from the above shopping list)


• A Paleo introduction (a nice, general summary of the Paleo lifestyle - not sure who put this out, but it provides a lot of information and links)

For the next 30 days, Byers Gets Diesel is hereby known as Byers Goes Paleo. No, the site address won't actually change. But for the next 30 days, all my posts on the blog will be nutrition related, and the rest of the posts will be devoted to you and your awesome adventure. You'll have a chance to check in as often as you like for the next 30 days to post your progress, ask questions and share results. Even if you're not officially joining us, you should still keep an eye on how things are going around here. Maybe you'll learn some stuff... but at the very least, you WILL be inspired.

Also, I know I am behind in my review of the PR Party Playlist! I'm not ignoring the songs... in fact, I've hit a BUNCH of new PRs thanks to your tracks. But I have so many songs to go through, and I've decided to test drive them all personally, so I'm not all the way through the shuffle yet. I'm going to take another month with these and report back at the end of this Paleo thing. So if you haven't yet downloaded your tracks... you still have time. Rock on.

Change your life in thirty days

In Part II of my Guide to Eating Dirty, I recommend cheating smart – indulging in those foods that aren’t going to knock you out of energy, wellness and performance commission for days on end. The concept sounds pretty easy, and it is… as long as you know how various food groups like gluten, dairy and legumes affect you. So how do you figure out what foods are okay to cheat with, and what foods will never be worth it?

I can tell you where it STARTS... strip out all the crap from your diet and let your body heal and recover from whatever effects those foods may be provoking. What, exactly, does that mean? Super strict, no cheat, by-the-book Paleo for the next 30 days. Cut all the foods that could be kicking you in the crotch without you even knowing it for the next 30 days, and see how that feels. (To be clear – this is NOT a “30 Day Challenge”. This is so much bigger than that. And it's not really even about cheating. I kind of tricked you there. I'm not sorry. Read on, please.)

Why?

First and foremost, it will change your life. I cannot possibly put enough emphasis on this simple fact. This. Will. Change. Your. Life. It will change the way you think about food, it will change your tastes, it will change your habits and your cravings. It could, quite possibly, change the emotional relationship you have with food, and with your body. It has the potential to change the way you eat for the rest of your life. I know this because I did it, and it changed my life, and it changed the way I eat on a very permanent basis.

I promised you some cheat-tips, so here's how this ties in. The only way you are going to know if something is having a negative effect on how you look, feel or perform is to take it out for a while, then try it again with a fresh perspective. Think of it this way – if you’re allergic to pollen, and you are exposed to pollen every day, that means every day your nose is a little stuffy and your head is a little achy. You probably don’t even realize how crappy you feel, because a stuffy nose and achy head is just normal. Now, take a vacation somewhere pollen-free. Allow your body to experience a month without that irritant. Then… come home. Imagine how aware you would be of your allergy then. Your first few days back, you would be miserably in tune with how your allergy is affecting your everyday life.

Same concept here. Dairy, gluten, lectins and alkaloids may be provoking a similar autoimmune response in your body today – and you don’t even know it. Certain sugary foods may send you running for the nearest candy bowl, while others may satisfy you with just a small amount. So take a vacation from those food groups. Give your body a break, and then, if you so choose, come back to them with a fresh perspective. You’ll be able to immediately see if – and how – they really do impact how you look, feel and perform.

There are other reasons for doing a super strict 30 day Paleo program. For one, there’s an excellent chance that this little adventure will jump start fat loss. And I’ve seen really good results, especially in women, of body shapes changing just by eliminating these foods. Does your stomach look flat in the morning and chubby by day’s end? Try cutting dairy. You’d be surprised how an irritated digestive tract can manifest into a muffin-top over those low rider jeans in just a matter of hours.

What?

So what does strict Paleo mean? You'll get a different answer depending on who you ask, but this is the plan I followed back in April.

1. Eat real food – meat*, eggs, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruit, oils (like EVOO or coconut). Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they're fresh and natural.


2. Do not eat dairy. This includes butter, cheese (hard and soft), yogurt (even Greek) and milk (including cream in your coffee**).


3. Do not eat grains. This includes bread, rice, pasta, corn (I count corn as a grain), oatmeal, and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains. That's not real food, right?


4. Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kinds, lentils, and peanuts. (No peanut butter, kids.)


5. Do not eat sugars*** of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, Splenda, Truvia, Stevia, etc.


6. Do not eat processed foods. This includes protein shakes, processed bars (like Zone bars), dairy-free creamers, etc.


7. Do not drink alcohol, in any form.


8. If you have serious inflammation issues like arthritis, you may want to consider avoiding nightshades for 30 days as well.
   

*I ate organic chicken sausage during my 30 day period. They are nitrate, dairy, gluten and casein-free and all natural. I did not eat bacon, but I’d be okay with bacon if it didn’t have any nitrates or other crap in it.

**I drank coffee in moderate amounts. Since I was drinking it black, I really didn’t want that much anyway. If you really want to go hard core and reset your body’s tolerance to caffeine, skip the coffee for the 30 day period as well.

***I used reason when avoiding sugars. For example, my Sunbutter includes some cane juice, which means there are 3g of sugar in each serving. Since it’s such a fantastic fat source and the only other ingredient is sunflower seeds, I was okay with that.

How?

So now that you have the basic plan, you need to know how to implement it. I’ll help you.

Start now. Today. This minute. Count out thirty days, go immediately to your grocery store and stock up on things you can eat, and begin. Cold turkey, just start. It’s the only way to do it. Give yourself excuses, reasons to put it off, and you may never begin. Do it now.

The only way this will work is if you give it the full thirty days. Anything less and you are selling yourself, and your results, short. You may start to see and feel improvements within just a few days, but according to Robb and Matt, the healing process takes significantly longer. And... no cheating. Just ONE cheat could irritate your digestive tract, promote an inflammatory response, upend your insulin sensitivity and send you running for the nearest Dunkin Donuts. It will ruin the effect of the “reset button” you are trying to push. This isn’t me being a hard-ass, or insisting that you tough it out to prove to yourself you can do it. This is a fact – the only way this will work is if you give it the full thirty days, no cheating.

Where?

Right here. Come to my house, sign up for the month and then post back here as often as you like. I’ll provide the forum, every Monday and Friday, for the next 30 days. Post your progress, your results, share good recipes, ask questions. Tell us how good you look, how much better you feel, how much energy you have. Inspire each other. Support each other. Fist bumps all around for those of you who finish out the full 30 days. Right here, right now. Let’s do this.

Tough Love

Here comes the tough love. This is for those of you who are considering taking on this life-changing month, but aren’t sure you can actually pull it off, cheat free, for a full 30 days. This is for the people who have tried this before, but who “slipped” or “fell off the wagon” or “just HAD to eat (fill in food here) because of this (fill in event here)”. This is for you.

1. It’s not that effing hard. (Yes, I wanted to throw an f-bomb in there.) Don’t you dare tell me this is hard. Giving up heroin is hard. Drinking your coffee black is. Not. Hard. Substituting Sunday morning French toast in favor of a giant omelet and side of crispy bacon is not hard. Eating fresh, delicious fruits and vegetables every day is not hard. So I don’t want to hear one single complaint. You won’t get any coddling from me on this one, you won’t get any sympathy for your “struggles”, and you won’t get any second chances. Not in my house. It’s thirty days, and it’s for the most important cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime. So shut up and do it.


2. Don’t tell me you “slipped”. Unless you physically tripped and your face landed in a box of Krispy Kremes, you DID NOT SLIP. You made a choice to eat something of poor quality. It’s always a choice, so do not phrase it as if you had an accident. You make a poor choice, even once, you’re out. You don’t get to re-start, you don’t get to keep posting. Commit here, 100%, for the full 30 days, or go somewhere else.


3. Don’t lie to me. Don’t even try.


4. You never, ever, ever HAVE to eat anything you don’t want to eat. You’re all big boys and girls. Toughen up. Learn to say no. Learn to stick up for yourself. Just because it’s your Mom’s birthday, or your best friend’s wedding, or your company outing does not mean you “have” to eat crappy food. It’s always a choice, and I would hope that you stopped succumbing to peer pressure in 7th grade.


5. This does require a bit of effort, people. If you’re cutting grains and dairy for the first time, you have to replace those calories with something. You have to make sure you’re eating enough, that your vitamins and nutrients are balanced, that you’re getting enough protein, fat and carbohydrates. Don’t expect me to fill in the blanks for you. Figure it out. There are a ton of good resources out there. I’ll list some in my next post, to get you started. But take responsibility for your own plan. Improved health, fitness and performance doesn’t happen just because you’re now taking a pass on chocolate milk.

Summary

So there you have it – my thoughts on changing your life in 30 days. If just one person makes this happen – just one – this entire four page post will be well worth my time and energy. It’s that important. I believe in it that much. It changed my life, and I want it to change yours too.

Post questions to comments so I can answer them for everyone. Post your commitment, if you’re up for it. Just make sure you re-read the Tough Love portion again before you sign up. And don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The Byers Guide to Eating Dirty (Part II)

If you haven't read yesterday's Part I post yet, do that now. You really do need the background to understand where the below recommendations are coming from. If you're all caught up, let's continue with The Byers Guide to Eating Dirty.

1. Eat cheat meals or snacks throughout the week, instead of having a full cheat day. For one, it’s more practical and sustainable in real life. Opportunities for good food and socializing come up at different times. So allow yourself to have a drink on Tuesday night, a slice of cake on Friday afternoon and French toast with Nutella on Saturday morning. Think about this… if you eat/snack 4-5 times a day, and incorporate four cheat “meals” or “snacks” a week, you’re eating clean almost 90% of the time. Good lord, I’ll take that. In addition, your insulin sensitivity, GI tract and mental health and wellness will take far less of a hit if you eat clean, slip in a bowl of ice cream and then go back to eating clean… versus an entire day of Carb-a-Palooza. You’ll recover from your cheat faster, and you’ll feel better about yourself if you surround your cheat with good, clean eats.

2. Eat something because you want it, and because it's special... not just because it’s there. Say someone brings donuts in to the office. I look at the plate and think, donuts are here. I could eat a donut. But I can have donuts any time I want. So if I really want one in an hour, or a day, or next week… I’ll just go get one. The fact that it's sitting there does not make it special enough for me to go off-diet. But if my Mum (or anyone else, for that matter) shows up with freshly made snickerdoodles, I’m eating one. Or three. Those are SPECIAL, and I will really WANT one. So the next time you mindlessly pop a bagel, slice of pizza or piece of candy in your mouth just because it’s there... Pause. Think, do I really WANT this? If the answer is no, pass it up. If the answer is yes, proceed to numbers 3 and 4.

3 (to be performed in conjunction with 4). Eat only as much as you must to satisfy your craving. If you are dreaming about chips and salsa, break out the blue corn chips and get some. But now go back to #2, because you don't have to eat the whole bag just because it is there. In addition, if you are also properly working step #4, you should have plenty of notice that your mental fix has been achieved. When it has, stop eating. Maybe that's four peanut M&Ms. Or maybe that's an entire pint of Chubby Hubby. Both are okay, as long as you are mindful of the process.

4. When you do go off-diet, SAVOR IT. There’s nothing worse than filling up a bowl with Blue Bell chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and then hoovering it mindlessly in front of the TV. That is a shameful waste of a cheat. So when you finally get that drool-inspiring forbidden food in front of you, spend some time with it. Take small bites. Enjoy the flavor. Make it last. Since we cheat as a means of providing mental satisfaction, squeeze as much satisfaction as possible out of what you are eating.

5. Finally, a more complicated recommendation - cheat smart. There are off-diet foods you can eat with little perceived negative physical effect, and there are others that will absolutely wreck you if you eat even the tiniest amount. The catch is, these things are different for everyone. For me, French toast (grains) and syrup (sugar) in reasonable amounts (one good sized piece) are 100% okay. Last weekend, I ate my Nutella French toast, and immediately hit the gym and pulled a 10# clean PR. But had I eaten just a few bites of goat cheese (dairy) in an omelette, I would have had a stomachache for hours. Mathieu Lalonde tells a similar story. “After eating strict Paleo for two months, I cheated with a pizza for dinner. I woke up the next morning with a huge headache, blurry vision, and lethargy. I wondered if the insulin spike from the white bread and cheese was the problem or if there was something else involved. The next time I cheated, I ate a banana split and a pint of ice cream. I woke up feeling a little bit fuzzy the next day, but nothing compared to the gluten hangover from the pizza.” So, cheat smart. Figure out what foods are okay, and what are not. You will eventually figure out that the not okay foods are simply never, ever going to be worth it. Stay away from those cheats, and find other foods to satisfy those cravings.

How do you figure out what foods are okay for you, and what foods are not? I’ll tell you exactly how to do that... next week. I’ll give you an easy to follow, step-by-step plan to cleaning out your dietary closet and cheating smart. But be prepared… this helpful advice comes with a healthy dose of Tough Love. You’ve been warned.

So there you have it – my official and decidedly opinionated Guide to Eating Dirty. Post questions, responses or controversies to comments. I’m off to cover something in syrup.

My Nutella-fueled 115# clean PR, at Guerrilla Fitness CrossFit Montclair. (Photo courtesy of Gregg Arsenuk.)

The Byers Guide to Eating Dirty (Part I)

This weekend, I discovered Nutella. Yes, Nutella – that chocolate hazelnut spread that the jar assures you can be a part of a balanced, healthy breakfast. Now, Nutella marketing people, come on. I’ve read the label. I know there is nothing about Nutella that is balanced OR healthy. But damn if it isn’t delicious between two pieces of French toast. (Put that on the label.) Yes, this weekend I “cheated” on my diet with grains, sugars and processed foods. And that’s the subject of the day – eating dirty.

If you’re reading this blog, we probably have one thing in common. We all try to eat well. We eat Zone proportions or Paleo quality or some other mechanism that we would call a “clean” diet. We know the difference between Real Food and Stuff You Can Eat. We eat real food, natural food, nutrient-dense food. We avoid foods that require additives to be “healthy”, high-tech fabrications designed to replace real food, and food-like products made from ingredients we cannot pronounce. And we do this, day in and day out, for the vast majority of our meals and snacks.

But most of us don’t eat like that ALL the time. A 100% strict diet is mentally taxing, socially restrictive and just plain not fun. So, we “cheat”. We go off diet, eat things that we normally wouldn’t, indulge in things that taste good and satisfy our urges. But on the Healthy/F Off Scale, we still want our diets to tip well to the Healthy side. Which means we need to think long and hard about how we cheat, what we choose to eat and drink during these cheat periods and how often we go off diet.

Let’s first define what we mean by “cheat”. I’m going out on a limb and saying 99% of the time, cheat = high carb, processed, sugary foods and drinks. What else do we cheat with? Certainly not fat. Fat is not only allowed, it’s encouraged. No, we cheat with dirty, dirty carbs. Beer and pizza, nachos and tequila, cinnamon swirl French toast slathered with Nutella. We cheat with insulin spiking, sugar rushing, energy crashing CARBS. (Can I get an "amen" from my Brooklyn boys?)

Now that that's settled, in this next section, we’ll talk about the physiological benefits of cheating. Surely, you’ve heard that cheat meals or cheat days are a necessary part of your fitness program? They “shock the body”, “keep it guessing”, “jump start your metabolism”, right? So this next section will discuss the science-y details of how going off diet and cheating with things like pizza, pasta, cake and cookies has a positive impact on your physical health, fitness and performance.

This section is short.

IT DOESN’T.

To be perfectly clear, a cheat day does not have a single significant, long-term positive effect on your metabolism, your body composition or any other internal science-y factors, despite what you read on the internet. Mathieu Lalonde can step into comments and explain all the reasons that a single cheat day negatively impacts how you look, feel and perform for the next two weeks... but I’ll shoot down some common arguments here.

First… for those of you who eat a bowl of Breyer’s every night before bed and suddenly notice you’re looking leaner… that’s not the Breyer’s. It is, however, a sure sign that you have not been eating enough. The ice cream is giving you a caloric boost, and has jump started your metabolism. Which is great, short term. But keep eating ice cream every night for months on end and tell me how that’s working out for you. Or, I’ll argue, how much better would your fat loss and performance be if you instead ate more almonds, chicken and/or sweet potatoes to get those extra fat and calories in? In short, the “cheat” may have helped short term, but it’s a bad long term solution, and you could do better. (Pay attention to that last part. You’ll hear it again.)

Second, you may pass off your cheats as preventing metabolic slow-down. Serious calorie and carb restrictions decrease the release of the hormone called leptin. Leptin is important to keeping up your body’s metabolic rate. Increasing food intake drastically, even for a short period of time (like with a cheat day), will prevent the drop in leptin that occurs when dieting. But most of us aren’t seriously “dieting”, are we? We’re CrossFitting, so we are at least eating enough to support performance. We may have a slight caloric deficit to prompt fat loss, but we are NOT in starvation mode. Not even close. Our metabolisms should be chugging away like a super-powered bullet train. So, if we are already eating for performance, do we really need to “mix it up” and “jolt our metabolisms” with chili cheese fries and an ice cream sundae? (That's rhetorical, kids.) And if for some reason you are on a seriously calorie-restricted diet... again, I'll say that you can pull off a better metabolic shock-and-awe with a higher volume of good, clean carbs than you can eating crap.

How about the idea of “loading” or “refeeding” – essentially, replenishing glycogen stores? Glycogen (the carbs stored in the muscles and liver) is the primary fuel source for intense physical work. When your glycogen stores are low, you won't be able to train as hard as when you're fully loaded. For that reason, it's a good idea to periodically give the body a shot of carbohydrates to keep glycogen stores at least somewhat full. (We do this in the form of a post workout meal.) But again, it comes back to this. You can “refuel” with ice cream and candy… or you can refuel with sweet potatoes and butternut squash. Ice cream supports the basic, fundamental requirement of replenishing glycogen stores… but also messes with a whole host of other body processes, like insulin sensitivity, fat stores and autoimmune responses. Again, you could do better.

So there you have it – a cheat meal or a cheat day does nothing for your physical health and well being that couldn’t be done better with good, clean food. But there are a whole host of reasons to cheat that I DO support - and those are all mental. Your taste buds crave things that taste good. Your brain rebels against the rigidity of “can have” and “can’t have”. Your emotions needs a break from the isolation and social pressures of being the weird eater, the difficult dinner party guest, the one who makes everyone else feel bad about the way they eat. You need a mental break, which means you need to stray from your diet. And I am more than okay with that.

So we’ve established that we want our diets to weight in on the side of Healthy, but that there are mental and emotional reasons that mean it is absolutely necessary that we go off-diet from time to time. And as you might imagine, I have a few thoughts as to how you do that. Tomorrow, I'll publish my advice for how to strike the best balance possible while still preserving your mental sanity.

Stay tuned for The Byers Guide to Eating Dirty (Part II) on Friday.