PCF 30 Day Paleo Challenge **April 19th-May19th

For those who have been on the fence about committing or for those who are still having challenges with little "cheats" here and there, we are asking for a 30 day commitment to eat WHOLE FOODS, and an opportunity to JUMPSTART your nutrition!

From Paleodiet.com, Paleo lifestyle is defined as "a simple dietary lifestyle that is based on foods being either in or out. In are the Paleolithic Era foods that we ate prior to agriculture and animal husbandry (meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, tree nuts, vegetables, roots, fruit, berries, mushrooms, etc.). Out are Neolithic Era foods that result from agriculture or animal husbandry (grains, dairy, beans/legumes, potatoes, sugar and fake foods)."

The 30 Day Challenge will begin on Monday, April 19th and end Wednesday, May 19th. 

Borrowed from Melissa Byer's blog, we should follow the guidelines below:

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.

• It is recommended that you keep a daily log of what you are eating. There are many online food logs that free, like Livestrong.com has an easy to navigate online food diary. 
• Also, it is a good idea to weigh yourself on April 19th and compute your body fat percentage so that you may be able to track the changes in your body composition through the end of the challenge.
• Optional: If you'd like, you can have photos taken of your body prior to start of the challenge- I'm sure Diso would be able to snap them for you. 
• I will set up a "tracking" sheet on the white board for those who want to participate in the challenge for all to see, so we can be a true community by supporting each other and keeping each other accountable. 

If you have any questions on what you can and can't eat please feel free to ask any one of the trainers or myself, Assassin!