Day 3 has come and gone and I am still staying strong on the paleo diet. Another day filled with fresh fruit and vegetables, lean protein, nuts, and oils. Sugar cravings are still around (my mouth actually started salivating when I walked through the junk food aisle at the supermarket today) but I can ignore them easily enough. Check out why I find beating addictions easy below, as well as my food list for the day, and a few other points I am noticing about this paleo diet.

Food

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs, 1/2 an orange, and handful of nuts Snack: Apple and handful of almonds Lunch: Chicken salad (no egg this time) Snack: Pear and green tea Dinner: Lamb burger (with roasted capsicum "buns") and sweet potato chips.

Why Addictions Motivate Me

I have always been a very competitive man and that breaks down to two parts - I always strive to perform at my very best and I always aim. And these two traits are perfect for motivating me to deal with physiological addictions of any kind. Sugar cravings included.

When I notice a withdrawal-type symptom in my body I automatically see it as a challenge. It is as if someone has said "I bet you cannot get by without sugar. I bet you give in" which just makes me want to beat it even more.

The other part is my desire to perform to the best of my ability. When I notice symptoms like sugar withdrawal I start wondering if I was ever performing at my best. Maybe I have been holding myself back all this time? What if I cut sugars and I become stronger, faster, fitter, and healthier? That's a pretty big motivator for me.

External Motivation - Seeing is Believing

Theory is all well and good but sometimes the perfect motivation comes from seeing others in action and hearing their success stories. A good source of motivation for the paleo diet naturally is Robb Wolf's website, but today I stumbled upon a Canadian gym called The Strengthbox. It looks like my heaven.

The Strengthbox is about "primal exercise" which is the exercise equivalent of the paleo diet. Their workouts involve natural body movements and resistance forces, performing irregular actions that activate multiple muscles, and generally having a bit of fun while exercising. This looks exactly like my ideal gym that I dreamed up a while back.

Then I stumbled onto Greg Carver's blog, Athletics by Nature. Greg is one of the main guys at The Strengthbox and his blog is all about living a primal, or paleo, lifestyle. He has interesting articles about recipes, diet, exercises, recovery, and even how to build a MovNat climbing platform for exercise. Check it out, it's very cool.

I guess it is the same with any regime change (diet, physical or other). You can always find support and motivation online so there is never a reason to give up, especially not when the new plan has so many benefits.

Creativity is Through the Roof!

One benefit I am noticing is that I am having a big spike in my creativity when it comes to meals, especially dinner. Previously it felt like I was just going through the motions, preparing the same old meals that I could do with my eyes closed. Now I am dreaming up recipes and challenging myself to do something different with great success. Yesterdays Spicy Orange Chicken was fantastic and tonight's Lamb burgers hit the spot.

With this added culinary creativity I am also noticing an increase in my general creativity. I am reconsidering writing my novel, investigating several other business opportunities, and working on a new computer program to help me bring in some money. Hopefully this creativity trend continues as I get further into the paleo diet because it is very positive.

Summary

Day 3 down and I am feeling pretty good. Not too much different to how I was a few days ago, except for the sugar cravings and increase creativity. My sleeping habits have not been very good of late so I think I am still over-tired and under-resting which is not ideal. I believe this will impact on my ability to maximise the paleo effects so I need to address this.

On that note, it might well be my bed time. Good night.