An Indoor Rock Climbing Adventure

I bought us tickets through Groupon for Rok Haus** in Lafayette last July and we finally got around to using them this weekend. I know, right? Takes us six months to do something that’s only an hour away? (And that’s already paid for, so essentially free entertainment.) Jeesh!

It was AWE-some!

Look at me! I’m “bouldering” in the area where you can climb without ropes.

(Sorry about the white dots in the photos. Without the flash we got blurry pics. With the flash, we see all the dust and chalk in the air. sigh)

It may look innocent and perhaps not that exciting, but let me tell you, it’s challenging, and totally fun. We were having such a good time we weren’t really focused on how much we were pushing ourselves. Definitely a good workout while playing and having a good time. I so wish we had one of these places locally so that we could go regularly.

Here I’m taking on one of the more challenging walls. I was not able to make it to the top on this one due to the pitch higher up but I was pleased I got as far as I did.

They have walls that pitched away from you for kids and beginners, walls that are vertical, walls that start out vertical and then pitch toward you halfway up (that’s what I’m on now), and then uber advanced walls that pitch toward you so much you’re upside down before you go vertical. They also have some mostly vertical walls with much smaller grips and toe holds that are for the more advanced user.

Here’s Don at the top of one of the more vertical walls. It might not seem that high but it is. I wouldn’t even go to the top on my very first try. I got nervous about the height. But by my second wall I got over that.

Friends met us and their kids gave the climbing a try too. That’s Claire in the striped shirt in the middle (same wall Don was just on.)

Every climber has to have someone spotting them below, it’s called belaying. Don is belaying for Claire. You can just see part of him in front of my blindingly yellow shirt. When the climber gets to the top, they let go with their hands, lean back in the harness and the belayer lowers them back to the ground. Even belaying was hard work in my opinion. At least when belaying for each other; the kids hardly weighed anything so they were pretty easy to belay.

That’s Olivia making it to the top, after much encouragement, on the wall just to the right of the one Claire was just on.

And there’s Claire at the top of the same wall. We were so proud of those two!

Don’s taking on another wall that’s more vertical with some smaller grips. Made it to the top!

The red line you keep seeing in the pictures is where bouldering is allowed without ropes. There were some folks that looked like regulars there with their own chalk climbing those lower areas.

This was my last climb. This wall was definitely the most challenging wall that I conquered. I think I might have done it two times all the way to the top, and a handful of unsuccessful attempts at first. You couldn’t go straight up on this one. I finally found a way up starting to the right of where I’m at and moving left as you go up, then straight up from where I’m at.

The colored tape is identifying routes by skill level. The bright green is the easiest and I think the pink was one of the easier colors. I don’t remember what the white and other colors were. I pretty much just knew if a wall didn’t have any green then I wasn’t going to have much chance. LOL

After this climb my arms were shaking and it was time to call it quits – after about 3 and 1/2 hours of playing.

So, how do we feel today? Not too bad. I am usually the most sore on the second day after a hard workout so I’m curious to see if I’ll be hurting tomorrow. But so far, not too beat up for how much strength it took to climb. I would totally suggest to anyone whose even slightly interested to try this someday. It’s so much fun. I don’t think you’ll catch us out on a mountainside climbing, we don’t have the urge for that. But indoor play is happily welcomed.

Play energizes us and enlivens us. It eases our burdens. It renews our natural sense of optimism and opens us up to new possibilities.
~ Stuart Brown, MD

**I was not compensated or otherwise for sharing our adventure at Rok Haus. We just had a blast and want to tell others how much fun it can be.

Thinking About Going Primal/Paleo?

Many of my friends and family have expressed varying degrees of interest in the nutritional and fitness lifestyle and Don and I have recently adopted. For you, and for any new-comers who just stumbled here today, I’m excited to share a new book that Mark Sisson, creator of The Primal Blueprint, and author of Mark’s Daily Apple, has released. It’s called The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation. It’s a practical, action-oriented guide for how to eat, exercise and live primally.

If you’re still on the fence about going primal/paleo, or if you’re just now hearing about it and want to learn more, I encourage you to read Mark’s book. I have faith that it will rock your world. Don and I have The Primal Blueprint and I read Mark’s blog at MDA every day. Mark’s take on food and fitness have changed us dramatically. Sure, we’re reading a lot of other things too and watching documentaries and trying to educate ourselves on food and nutrition as much as possible, but for us everything seems to circle back to living primally.

If you would like a structured guide for how to ditch processed foods, how to re-engineer your workouts, how to re-learn to cook foods you love with alternative ingredients – then give Mark Sisson and The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation a try. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

In the interest of sharing the message of primal living, and helping Mark get this book on the New York Times best-seller list to gain exposure for the primal blueprint message as well, check out the following (amazing) special offers. If you order 1 or more copies between now and October 24, and email your receipt to a special email address, Mark will kick back a bunch of freebies to you. Read on for more details.

Order 1 Copy and You Get:

1. Access to the exclusive, password-protected ebook – “Primal Living in the REAL World”: In this 130-page ebook, hundreds of primal enthusiasts share their challenges, solutions and practical tips for how they get – and stay – primal. It’s like having the advice of 300 coaches. In it you’ll read hundreds of answers to these and numerous other questions: What is the first thing a person should do to kick-start their primal life? What do you think is the most important thing one should understand as they attempt to go primal? What was the biggest hurdle you experienced when going primal and how did you overcome it? And of course, the most important one, What do you usually eat for breakfast?

2. Access to the exclusive, password-protected audio interview – “21-Day Total Body Transformation”:  Download a 60 minute, free-wheeling Q&A podcast in which Mark discusses the 8 key concepts that everyone needs to know to go primal. Among many other topics covered, Mark discusses why your body prefers burning fat over carbohydrates and how you can use this knowledge to become a fat-burning beast instead of a sugar burner. Also, listen to Mark riff on why grains are totally unnecessary and why 80 percent of your body composition is determined by how you eat.

3. $10 Gift Certificate to PrimalBlueprint.com:  Spend it like cash and order whatever you want, perhaps a cookbook to go with the 21-Day Transformation book? This means for a net 5 bucks you can grab a copy of Mark’s new book today. (The coupon code is good for any single product at PrimalBlueprint.com and expires on 11/30/11.)

Order 3 (Or More) Copies and You Get:

1. All the aforementioned benefits – the $10 gift certificate, the exclusive ebook and podcast, plus…

2. Audio recording of the original Primal Blueprint (released in 2009) - Listen to The Primal Blueprint on your phone or MP3 player with this abridged, digital (MP3) audio book voiced by Mark. The audio book is four hours long, and covers all 10 of the primal blueprint laws and then some. This is the book that started it all and retails for $26.99. Grab 3 or more copies of the 21-Day Total Body Transformation and you’ll get it for free!

3. Plus an additional $10 Gift Certificate to PrimalBlueprint.com, bringing the total to $20. Maybe this is the perfect opportunity to try a PEK, Primal Fuel or Master Formula on for size! (The coupon code is good for any single product at PrimalBlueprint.com and expires on 11/30/11.)

Order 8 (Or More) – Click Here for Large Quantity Details

So How Does This Work?

1. Order your book(s) online or at your local bookstore before midnight Monday, Oct 24.

2. Email your receipt to the appropriate email address: (or low-techies can fax receipt copy to 310-317-4424)

• If you purchase 1-2 copies email your receipt to 1book@primalblueprint.com
• If you purchase 3-7 copies email your receipt to 3books@primalblueprint.com
• If you purchase 8 or more copies see Mark’s blog for more details. (I’m going with the law of averages here and assuming my readers won’t be buying in mass quantities but just in case, you can get those details on Mark’s site.)

3. You will receive your e-gift certificate, ebook download instructions, podcast download instructions, and all other freebies by reply email.

If you have any questions about ordering, or this promotion, please call 888-774-6259 (or 310-317-4414).

The Unfortunate Fine Print:

• Kindle and other digital books don’t count toward the NY Times best-seller list, nor this promotion.
• Books purchased in physical locations (e.g. a brick-and-mortar Barnes & Noble) count, too. Just scan and email your receipt to the appropriate email address above, or fax it to 310-317-4424.
• The 8 book offer only applies to book orders placed in the United States. While international orders won’t impact the New York Times best-seller list Mark will extend the 1-2 and 3-7 book offers to anyone around the world.

Leave the drugs in the chemist’s pot if you can heal the patient with food.
~ Hippocrates

Food Philosophy – A Work In Progress

Don and I thought that it would be hard to ditch processed foods, grains, and sugar. It really wasn’t. Not physically. Mentally it was little  challenging at first. Like cliff diving for the first time (which we haven’t actually done but I imagine that first step off the cliff is daunting) or jumping off a platform hundreds of feet in the air and ziplining through a forest (we actually have done this at Whistler and stepping off that platform was always the hardest part.)

Having conquered that initial first step of breaking away from processed foods, we have not wanted for anything in terms of flavor or variety. It is hard for a lot of people to believe and it’s equally hard to explain. People misinterpret that we are on a “diet”. People are starting to notice that Don’s excess weight has been falling off with little to no effort on his part and he’s often asked, “What’s your secret?”

So I’m writing today to tell you - there’s no secret. No meal regimen. No red or blue pill. We stopped counting calories. We stopped buying low-fat or no fat products. (Fat is good people! Carbs and sugar are not.) We eliminated rice, bread, pasta, beans, potatoes, cereal, oatmeal, all condiments with high fructose corn syrup, and a slew of other things. We eat larger portions of meat, bacon and eggs, lots of veggies, fruits, and nuts.

It sounds plain doesn’t it? That’s why I say it’s so hard to explain to people. It’s not plain! There is still so much you can do to dress up your food, to make traditional dishes in a new way (like no noodle lasagna, primal pizza, and mashed squash.)

Courtesy of Wikipedia

One of the amazing results of making this change is that fruit has so much more flavor than it ever did before! We can really taste the sugar and sweetness of fruit (which is ok because the fruit provides its own counter to the sugar – fiber – to allow your body all the nutrients it needs to process the fruit in a positive way.) Before, fruit was something we tried to get a little of every day, based on the traditional food pyramid (2-4 servings) but it held little interest. Now, my goodness, fruit is like dessert. It’s a little piece of heaven and we’re not even indulging in anything truly sweet, like cake, or candy. It’s just fruit.

Let me back up because I wanted to tell a little about how we got here.

In the beginning, we thought we would use up the rest of what we had in the house that was processed and that over time we just would not replace those foods and that in this gradual way we would transition to more whole foods, less sugar, no high fructose corn syrup, etc.

This really wasn’t effective. For us anyway. After a few weeks of half-hearted commitment and trying to juggle smaller amounts of processed foods in our meals (but still eating them) we finally said let’s just get rid of it all. We gave it all away and immediately we felt better for it. We could really focus on making meals with only the things we wanted to be eating and we were ready to spread our wings.

I want to reiterate that we are not dieting.

Our food philosophy has fundamentally changed and we are simply eating differently. Take a look at our food pyramid.

Courtesy of the Primal Blueprint and Mark's Daily Apple

We strive for an 80/20 approach to our food – 80 percent primal, 20 percent traditional. Meaning, there are some things we still enjoy that some people might argue are not “healthy” or not in strict keeping with primal or paleo ideologies.

Um, so? That’s our right to choose. Don’t criticize our choices because you don’t understand or agree with them. Oh, sorry, that was me on my soapbox a little bit.

We do still enjoy a glass of wine or a mixed drink when we want to. We eat out with friends or family from time to time and might take that opportunity to enjoy foods we generally do not eat. We eat cheese and peanuts which for some primal or paleo folks are on their do not eat list. I still LOVE cake more than anything and I will have some for my birthday next week.   Bottom line, we are not following a prescribed food plan from a weight loss program that tells us what we can and cannot eat. We are making those choices ourselves, based on documentaries, articles, blogs, and other resources that we have studied. And we will continue to learn and our choices might change. It is all a work in progress.

For those that are interested in numbers, Don has lost about 25 pounds; I’ve shed a few extra as well (I didn’t think that was possible at this point.) I am weighing in at about 147 – a number I’ve never seen as an adult. And to top it off, we feel more energetic and fit. Personally I feel stronger than I ever have in my life. This was all possible by simply removing a few things from our meals and replacing them with larger portions of meat and more veggies. We do get a lot of regular exercise too but we don’t go to the gym and punish ourselves for hours on end with relentless cardio activities. Our exercise plan (if you must call it a plan) is simple: get up and move around. As a guideline we follow Mark Sisson’s fitness pyramid, which really isn’t that much different from what we were doing already.

Courtesy of the Primal Blueprint and Mark’s Daily Apple

I will try to include more recipes or posts on what we are eating to help debunk the ideas that it’s too hard, too time-consuming, or just plain old boring. It’s not, I promise you. We don’t feel like we are missing out on anything and our meals are full of spicy kick, flavor, and nutrition.

And, get this, we aren’t hungry anymore! Did you know that carbs and sugar are processed by your body in such a way that it tricks you into feeling hungry when your body truly doesn’t need anything? Check out some of the things that started us on our journey if you’d like to know more. I can’t explain the science (I’ve probably gotten a few things wrong in my descriptions already.) But I can tell you, we feel amazing, we love to eat, and we enjoy the foods we are eating without a sense of loss for the things we are not.

You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients.
~ Julia Child