Day 21 - Challenge Update

20 days in and only 10 to go - we never expected this challenge to be so enjoyable.  Sure, there's been a rough days and quite a few temptations along the way but overall, it's a very feasible culinary shift. We've found incredible paleo recipes and such a massive community online - also living in Vancouver has definitely helped, with a ton of great gluten free options at every turn.

Dave at Granville Island Public Market

That being said, the last 10 days are likely to be the most challenging.  Pat will be traveling across the country and Dave will have to cook it out solo, before some visitors make it into town this weekend.  We'll be updating our Paleo to-go section and posting as many new recipes as possible over the next few weeks. Until then - a huge thank you to everyone for their ongoing support, recipe ideas and inspiration! 

Guest Blogger: Meet Elizabeth (and her soon to be abs)

Dear abs,

I f&*%ed up. We had something pretty great and I acted like a selfish jerk. Life got busy and difficult and I took you for granted. I was weak and let my vulnerability get the best of me. I threw away everything we had for some wild fun with poutine, beaver tails and those other trashy pub food that were just so charming and exciting at the time. I miss what we had and was foolishly tempted by those bastards and now all of my memories of you are buried under layers of… well… fat. 

I’m sorry. I know I’ve said that before, but this time I mean it. I am going to change. We’ll see each other again soon. I promise.

Elizabeth

Hello friends of Dave and Pat. Who am I? My name is Elizabeth and Dave and I are friends from work. There was a time when every time Dave and I would talk, I would have some scandalous tale to share. A time when life was super exciting and I had the time and energy to get into buzz-worthy trouble.

Unfortunately, in the past few months, the story-well has run dry. I moved across the country, got a dog, continued to tackle an MBA in my spare time, and started a new and fairly demanding job. All of these things are fantastic. However, they’ve left me feeling tired, stressed, and just kind of grodie (that’s totally a word). It also doesn’t help that I’m an awful cook and extremely lazy in the kitchen. Cue take-out food.

Recently I was starting to feel like something needed to be done to stop this madness. I know what good feels like and this ain’t it. Not even close. Sure I could use to shed some of these pub-pounds and it wouldn’t hurt me to find more time in the day to exercise. But this need for change was more about doing a better job of fuelling my body so that I can take on all the hectic things on my plate and still have energy left for tomfoolery.

What happened next was totally serendipitous; I saw Dave’s first blog post about his paleo challenge. I had actually just been researching the paleo way but seeing a friend commit to it really motivated me to want to get my ass in gear. So, in true tag-along form, I decided to also embark on a 30 day paleo challenge as well. I mean, with Dave and Pat making it look so damn easy and delicious, how could I not?

So here I am on day 5 and so far so good. While my ‘cooking’ is limited to chopping, boiling, and stirring in a combination that cannot contain more than three steps, I’m actually having fun. My goals for the next 25 (and probably more) days are as follows:

• Continue the paleo lifestyle
• Play outside of my culinary comfort zone and see what I can actually create in the kitchen (with the help of Dave and Pat’s recipes!)
• Be patient while remember that this is a wellness journey and not a fad diet

And, if at the end of this, I am reunited with my beloved abs… well that will be the cherry on the top of my sugar-free, dairy-free sundae. 

Thanks for the inspiration, boys!