Congratulations! You’re now halfway through 40 days of nearly perfect eating! By the end of this, you’ll also have accomplished some amazing things like resetting your metabolic engine, reestablishing your gut lining and breaking your addiction to food insanely high in nasty processed garbage. That’s a lot in just over one month!
You’ve probably noticed some other things too. Changes in body composition, increased energy levels, and physical performance.
You also might be thinking, “Well that’s it. I’m finally done on the 21st!”
Well, you are, and you aren’t!
You see, this challenge is just the beginning. It was you hitting the big ‘reset’ button on the way to making a better, healthier you.
Look at everything you just accomplished above! That’s a lot of good stuff and a lot of hard work; I’m guessing you don’t want just to throw that all away!
So let’s talk about getting the most out of these 40 days.
Day 41.
You’ve been thinking about this a lot. Oh yes, you have! Don’t lie, we all have. The question is how are you going to handle it? Here are some suggestions.
Three-day food cycling.
Take one of the ‘Big Three’ (grains, legumes or dairy) and cycle it into your diet for three days. Then take note of your reactions. Any joint pain, skin blemishes, congestion or just general GI discomfort? If so, eliminate that type of food for three days, and see if things improve.
Here’s an example of what I might do on Day 41.
I start cycling dairy back into my diet. Butter, whole milk and oh yes, ice cream.
Day 1: Everything is ‘A-ok’.
Day 2: Sniffles, early on. Later my nose starts to run, but otherwise, I’m fine.
Day 3: More with the nose still running but now I have a low-grade headache to boot. Time to back off the dairy.
I’ll then go three days without dairy, and everything gets back to normal. I go back to a new Day 1 and cycle in some grass fed butter. I see no issues in 3 days, so I know I’m good to go with the butter. I try the same with whole milk (or ice cream), and it’s a no go, I’m right back to the symptoms listed above. I can have a bit, but milk and ice cream only once in a great while.
Once I’ve explored dairy, I might try grains next using the same process as detailed above.
Next: Paleo Challenge – Exit Strategy: Part 2 Cheat meals.
