IT'S HARD TO RUN FOR YOUR LIFE

So lately I've been reading up on the Paleo diet. If the word Paleo sounds just a wee bit familiar, think Paleolithic Era. Basically this is referring to how cavemen lived. Apparently it's not all about diet but also about the need for exercise in relation to how our ancestors would have used energy.

The basis is simple. The cavemen chased their food and ran from predators. They climbed for fruits and nuts while walking to find water. They worked HARD for food to keep them from starving, NOT going hungry. At the end of the day they had no need to exercise 30-90 minutes a day to keep fit. Although some of us go to extreme lengths to quench our thirst and curb hunger, such as bribing our children to get us a soda from the fridge or making a late night run to the nearest store for some Ben And Jerry's, we generally don't fight for our unhealthy food cravings.

What does this mean? We don't have the many bouts of intense running, climbing, pushing or pulling throughout the day to keep us fit. We don't eat the natural foods that were originally found in our environment to keep us nourished. Foods and activity level were much different.

The main diet is made up of meats that are not highly processed, eggs, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. From what I've read, the things that are cut out are anything that's highly processed, grains, corn, and dairy products. Basically, if the cavemen didn't eat it, you shouldn't either. As for activity, you should be keeping yourself busy, and every once in a while for like 5-10 minutes at a time doing something EXTREMELY strenuous.

As simple as this sounds I thought I'd give it a try, since seeing as I got on this smoothie kick and I like to fill up on lean proteins and snack on nuts. Why not, right? This is easy, I got this food thing down, I thought. Exercise for 10 minutes at a time, who couldn't do this?

For starters, I love milk and yogurt. Not that I consume it as I should (osteoporosis here I come!) but I'm not going to fully give it up either. I love cheese to but with that, if its out of sight it's out of mind. I occasionally get a craving for bran flakes, oatmeal, brown rice, or beans but I'm not addicted so I'm good there too. I love steamed veggies and soups plus I can make smoothies that are pretty filling so the food rules are not going to be an issue.

My morning exercise was hard though. Sure, I was going out to run for like 5 minutes but some tips I've read were to do your chosen activity as hard as you can. So what did I do but chose to go running. I grabbed my iPhone and turned on Pandora only to hear a really good song that was not much of a running song. So I decided to warm up and walk. The next song I ran full speed for like 20-30 seconds then walked some. It wasn't bad. I was going to attempt to do this 5 times. I started out pretending like I was running from muggers, then a vicious dog. By the end of my jog, my 30 second bursts of intense running ended up being more like 10 second jogs of chasing a fat man down because he dropped his candy bar.

Over all, I would probably make a crappy caveman but an excellent vegetarian. I would have not been much for chasing my food because I was winded but felt great. Maybe I would have been a better gatherer that would have traded for meat. Point being, I definitely am going to incorporate mostly Paleo-type foods and just train myself to handle the small bursts of exercise because they are better than my typical sitting on the couch.