So after my adventure in Korea I'm settled (for the minute) in grand old London. Working for a charity by day and blogging by night, I'll be updating this blog regularly with paleo-friendly recipes, my thoughts on healthy living and my experiences in...
It’s Friday, the weekend beckons but before that... have some funky, 80s inspired synth electro to get you warmed up for your pre-weekend fitness session. You ARE having a pre-weekend fitness session aren’t you?
Thursday afternoon rolls around and we only have the scantest of hours before.... THE WEEKEND. Climb, Run, Cycle, Lift, Eat, Drink, Dance, Party. Whatever your game, rock it.
And now for you’re daily dose of musical motivation. This has recently been added to my gym playlist and it’s absolutely disgusting. Rage Mode: ENGAGE.
It’s time for something new at The Kimchi Caveman! Today is the first postin what will, hopefully, be a monthly series of posts focusing on someone who follows this blog or my twitter account (www.twitter.com/kimchicaveman). I’ll be chatting to people about their goals, ambitions, favourite foods and anything else that comes up, all with a focus on healthy living and the paleo lifestyle. So *drumroll* welcome one and all to the inaugural Follower Friday post here at the Kimchi Caveman!
Kaia is a stay at home mom from Texas who set out on a daunting journey to lose half her bodyweight after treatment for Graves’ disease left her constantly fatigued and unable to lose weight. Kaia told me that she was aware of her weight gain but didn’t really care, ultimately setting the scales at just north of 300lbs. When Kaia became unable to take her daughter to do things that she wanted however, it was time to take a stand. Now, Kaia is well on her way to her 150lb target weight (having lost over 60lbs so far) and has thrown herself into fitness and paleo eating. Grok on! This week, I caught up with Kaia via email and asked her to tell me about her journey so far:
The Kimchi Caveman: Kaia, tell me a little about your background and history? What happened in the time before the start of your new lifestyle?
Kaia: Well, I was never skinny growing up, but I was always active so it was never too much of a hassle to lose weight when I needed to. That said, in my Sophomore year of college (second-year uni for us Brits) I was diagnosed with Grave’s disease and had to drop out. I received radiation treatment for my disease that killed my thyroid. Needless to say this wasn’t ideal for my weight. I was tired all the time and started gaining weight that I just couldn’t lose, which ended up with me weighing 309lbs (140Kg or 22st – the same as a professional rugby forward).
TKC: Crikey. So you decided to make a change after you couldn’t take your daughter to do things? What were your initial targets for getting into the shape that you wanted?
K: Yeah, I never had any stamina and as my daughter became more active, I just couldn’t keep up. She’s 2 now and my biggest goal was just to keep up with her!
TKC: Ok, and what about your other major goal to lose 50% of your bodyweight? That’s a huge target, how have you gone about doing it?
K: Fitness has become a huge part of my life! Ever since I made that initial target (to lose over 150lbs)… I just threw myself into fitness. It’s one of my biggest passions now and I love learning more: finding new exercises, researching regimes and motivating other people to start their own health journey.
TKC: That is 100% inspiring! So what exactly are you doing, activity-wise, to work toward your aims?
K: At the moment I’m doing a whole bunch. I currently do Zumba, Piyo (a guided system akin to Insanity and P90X) and Camp Gladiator (think British Military Fitness).Oh, and I just started leading a stroller workout a few times a week for myself and some of my Stay At Home Mom friends.
TKC: You’re putting me to shame, all I do is cycle at the moment! Anyway, how about your diet? It’s probably the most important part of a healthy lifestyle so what do you eat?
K: I’m following a paleo diet at the moment, although I allow myself cheese every now and then! In March I’m going to be starting a Whole30 with some of my closest friends though, which should be pretty tough!
TKC: Good luck with the Whole30, it’s something I’ve never had the willpower to try. So, to wrap things up: what are you working towards, fitness-wise, and what is your favourite paleo recipe?
K: Ok, so I’m currently working towards a half marathon and a sprint triathlon later this year! And my favourite paleo dish? Probably crockpot spaghetti squash and meatballs, it’s super tasty!
TKC: Thanks Kaia, you’ve been awesome. I hope you keep rocking out with the fitness and paleo. Hopefully we will get a chance to catch up later this year to see how it’s all going.
A co-worker sent this to me today, 'bahaha Kimchi Caveman, your diet is a sham, look... look at this article and weep salty tears!'
Turns out that this article is actually really interesting. The folks over at IFL Science have pulled together information from a bunch of studies, which show that ancient man ate just about anything available: meat, plants, insects, tubers... everything was on the list!
That said, and in reply to my colleague, pizza and bread were not evidenced as being available to paleolithic man. Grok on!
Ever seen a bento box look this good? Me neither, head over to http://lovehealthlift.tumblr.com/ for more tastiness. Now I'm off to gorge on almond butter.
Direct from the oven of Brokeandcooking comes this incredibly tasty looking chicken dish. Consider it on the 'To Cook' list!
Original Post:
I love last minute meals that are not only quick and easy, but on the lighter side. This chicken is so freaking good. It’s simple to make, and the recipe can be used for chicken thighs or breasts :)...
Back to Basics: What is Paleo? (and why conformity sucks)
Quite a question isn’tit? I’ve recently decided to get myself back on the wagon with paleo eating and that’s all well and good, but when you think about it what exactly does ‘Paleo’ mean (and we’re going to focus on diet here, because when you consider lifestyle, 500 words just won’t do it justice)?
If you, like me and so many others, have previously been a clean eatin’, carb hatin’ and hard trainin’ machine then you’ll probably scoff, “pffft, Kimchi Cavemen you’re so silly, EVERYONE knows what the paleo diet is!” Well… yeah… kinda. The problem comes when you try and nail down the specifics. Sure, we all know that carbs are bad, bacon is good and praise be to the bone broth, but then things start to get fuzzy.
Even the pros aren’t really agreed on this. Robb Wolf (http://goo.gl/yntZzW), the god king of paleo believes that dairy is bad, while Mark Sisson (http://goo.gl/pnnLDl), another heavyweight in the primal world, thinks that for some of us its fine. Contrast this still further with Steve Kamb, of Nerd Fitness fame (http://goo.gl/DrsQxC), who just kind of throws his hands up with a ‘yeah… maybe dairy, I guess? Or not, I don’t know.’ and you begin to see how confusing things can get (and let’s not even consider asking the crowd over at www.paleohacks.com).
So, if the pros can’t agree, where does that leave you and me, the guys that have just returned to the paleo diet and want a refresher course? Well, here’s my suggestion (and it certainly isn’t new or unique): why don’t we stop asking what is paleo? And start asking what is paleo for me? This isn’t a new opinion by any means but it’s really one of the only good ones when you stop and think about it. Paleo means so many things to so many different people that attempted conformity will just end up with frustration, unhappiness and a backslide into Monday night take out (I’m looking at you in the corner, don’t think I didn’t see you).
So, for me? My paleo eschews starchy carbs full stop, I can’t even condone a sweet potato as I’m not training due to injury. But, on the other hand, I think that dairy is fine in moderation (you’ll thank me after you try my blue cheese mussels) and the occasional midweek glass of wine is just dandy. For me, I’m strict with my clean eating from Monday to Friday but let my hair down a little at the weekend. Sure, some of you will guffaw at this, ‘Ahaha but Kimchi Caveman, that isn’t paleo!’, but isn’t it? If it works for me and follows some basic principles then who’s to argue the difference?
I’ll leave you with this idea, paleo is no one’s and paleo is everyone’s. So, what do you think? I’d love to know!
andulkaphoto
romaincrisis
theartofmadeline
baratheonpilled
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