Whole9 Workshop

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend a nutrition workshop put on by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig of Whole9.  It has taken me a couple of days to really process all that I learned and figure out how to sum it up on this little blog.  And basically, I think I can sum it up best by saying this: It. Was. Awesome.  We've been paleo for a while now, but I think this workshop will help us, to borrow a phrase from Emeril Lagasse, "Kick it up a notch".

Since my high school days of science class from Mr. Muelink, I have to say that science has always stumped/annoyed/frustrated me to no end.  However, I think Dallas and Melissa did a great job of explaining the science behind things without losing me. And not only did I track with most of what they were saying, but, dare I say it, I actually really enjoyed learning about it.

What I most enjoyed was their emphasis and encouragement on chilling out and not stressing about if something is technically paleo or not.  Instead, we should look at the overall value of something.  Basically, is it making me more healthy or less healthy?  We have been making some good choices food wise, but we can make some better ones, which is what we'll be working on in the coming weeks.

Another hot topic in the paleo community lately has been that, while food is foundational and important, it's not the whole picture.  Just because you eat good doesn't mean that you are the picture of health.  There are a lot of other factors that play into health (excercise/activity level being just one of them).  We need adequate sleep, low stress levels, etc.

Lastly, I had a chance to kind of step back and look at this little blog and how it fits into the bigger picture of our life.  I hope that everyone understands that what you see here is such a small picture of what we actually eat and may not always give you an accurate picture of paleo.  It's not all that exciting to show the amount of meals that we eat that consist of a piece of chicken/pork/beef/fish and a plate full of broccoli/cauliflower/carrots.  Additionally, we don't eat copious amounts of larabars and dried fruit everyday, which you might assume based on the amount of times I've mentioned them.  Of course there are times that we do eat a lot of those things, but not day in and day out for weeks.

All that being said, I think one of the things that I will take away from this workshop is the importance of educating yourself continually.  I've found that it is easiest to stay motivated, creative, enthusiastic, and encouraged when you are consistently putting helpful information into that noggin of yours.  So, on that note, here are a few articles that I've read in the past couple of weeks that might be of interest...

Health in general:
Whole9: The Whole Health Equation
Everyday Paleo: The Whole Enchilada

Specifically Paleo/Food stuff:
Robb Wolff: What is the Paleo Diet?
Dan's Plan: Five (slightly different) Flavors of the Paleo Diet
Lifehacker: 10 Stubborn Food Myths That Just Won't Die (Particularly #3, #4, and #7)
Everyday Paleo: Stay Positive. Eat Food. Keep It Simple.