Paleo Lessons: Week 11

Whew it's been a busy week. There were a couple of things I noticed this week.

I forgot how good hardboiled eggs are. I'm not kidding. I made some to go with lunch salad this week, wow. Not only are they protein and fat filled, but they're super portable and come with their own packaging. If you do it right, they take less than a minute to peel and don't need anything else to taste good (although that second bit might just be me).

This was a little stranger, but I realized my tastebuds are changing. For example, almonds taste slightly different now, with have more depth of flavor. The chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream I splurged on last week tasted... fake. It tasted full of preservatives and sweet chemicals made in a lab. It wasn't as good as I was expecting (might be the type of ice cream though, since the black raspberry - no judging, 20% and a 2/$5 sale - was delicious). As mentioned earlier, hardboiled eggs are fantastically delicious now, and I grew up enjoying them only for their ability to be colored. It's not just a physical adaptation, I think. I also wouldn't dream of giving up my lunch salad for any type of sandwich, and eggs are pretty much my go-to for breakfast now.

Last week I was sorta dreading doing a Whole30 and had all but completely dismissed the idea. Now I'm actually considering it and somewhat planning to do one relatively soon. It seems like a neat challenge. With that in mind, I'm trying to see what I can do to remove dairy from my diet. Not yet, and probably (hopefully) not permanently. Just to see what I would use instead on the Whole30. It's little things, like replacing the cheese on my lunch salad with cucumber chunks and coconut flakes and using bacon grease (my usual go to) and coconut oil instead of butter.

And finally, because this has been the most important lesson this week, allow yourself time to recover after a race. Do not go somewhere and walk around for 6+ hours the next day when you quad muscles were screaming if you merely stood the day before. Especially don't do this if you suspect you might be dehydrated. Let yourself sleep, even if that means putting off prepping some type of food until the next day. Your body needs sleep to recover. You will thank yourself the next morning, or afternoon - let yourself sleep in a little bit. I could only afford an hour, but boy did that extra hour help.