Step 1: Detox

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to give out some details for what I'm doing to kick the weight I put on from the holidays.  It's all going to be simple stuff that should get me (and you, if you do the same) back on track!

Step 1: Detox

It's the day after Christmas, and I woke up this morning to a home that looked like it had been used for a holiday frat party.  Unfortunately, this frat party lasted way too long.  There is wrapping paper all over my house, toys scattered from one end to the other, and my son and two cats are having the best time ever.  Under every pile of crap, there is some new adventure just waiting to happen!

Worst of all, there is a pile of food on my kitchen table and more of it stocked in the pantry that any sensible paleo dieter would go green in the face just looking at.

The first step in getting rid of my holiday fatty fun is detoxifying my body.  The protein powder is coming out of the pantry and the vitamin organizers are getting filled up again.  Aside from delicious coffee with a little cream and sugar, and an emergency no-carb-no-sugar energy drink, my intakes of choice are going to be protein shakes and water for the next three days.  This will get my body back into requiring only the things it needs to stay healthy.

This is a good time to do a holiday purge.  Candy canes, fruit cakes (if anybody actually even gets those anymore), pastries, and other sugary carb-loaded foods need to go!

Review of the Primal Blueprint 90-Day Journal

I bought this journal at the end of October as a means of tracking my daily progress in health and exercise.  This book/journal didn't have a strong release from Mark Sisson like the original Primal Blueprint did, but is meant to be used as a companion to it.

This is the fourth product of Sisson's that I have bought, and I have to admit that while I love the application of the journal, I think it has it's flaws.  I'll weigh the pros and cons of owning this journal and what I've gotten out of it so far.

What I liked:

• This is a great companion to the Primal Blueprint.  The journal stays right in line with the teachings of the Primal Blueprint fundamentals and doesn't try to change anything up.  People who buy this journal are getting exactly what they need to help them keep track of their daily lifestyles.
• The journal pages are very detailed.  There is space provided to log dieting habits, daily measurements, exercise, personal details, and how the writer aligned himself to the primal lifestyle.
• There is space for periodic evaluations.  The journal provides pages to write down measurements, values, goals, and accomplishments at the beginning, end, and every 30 days of the journal so the writer can see how they've changed.  This is crucial for getting healthy because the results may not always show up on the scale.
• There is a wealth of reference material in the back.  Sisson doesn't bother reciting all of the values and ideas of the Primal Blueprint in the book like he has to for the original book or the 21-Day Transformation.  The back of the book has a quick reference section if someone needs to look at the primal eating pyramid or the primal essential movements.  This book is clearly meant for someone already familiar with the ideas and functions of the Primal Blueprint.

What I didn't like:

• It's not very portable.  For me personally, I like to be able to bring journals along with me.  I find it best to write down what I've eaten very soon after I've eaten it.  The same goes for logging exercise.  There are a few "travel" pages provided at the end, but those pages are limited and one would still have to come back to the book to log that information at some point.  This book weighs a few pounds and is pretty sizable   I have found that it's pretty easy to get left behind, and if it gets out of sight, it gets out of mind.
• Personal experiments were a bust.  Before the journal was released, Mark touched briefly on the idea of doing personal experiments on his website.  This may have lasted two months, but hasn't been mentioned since.  The idea was nice, but not executed very well, so it has a hard time being translated into this journal.
• May not have the detail you're looking for.  I found that I was unsatisfied with the section related to the diet.  That section basically just gives you an open paragraph to write down what you ate and mentions snacks.  It gives room for comments below, but it's not put together in a fashion where I believe it can be examined scientifically.  Getting healthy mostly includes changes to one's diet, so I would think this needs more attention.

The only other change I might make to this book would be adding an online/electronic version.  I see great potential in this book to become it's own website or app that user's could log daily values into and be able to review at a moments notice.  Everything is making a transition into some form of digital content, and this shouldn't be an exception.

Overall, I think this is a decent book to have.  Personally, I think Sisson should have waited to pull the trigger on the 21-Day Transformation and compiled it with this journal.  Giving people suggestions on what to do on a daily basis and giving them ample room to log it would might have been helpful.  However, if you're a person who likes a lot of structure in your diet with some wiggle room for interpretation, the Primal Blueprint 90-Day Journal may be the book for you.