The paleo fitness community is obsessed with 30 day challenges and I can’t figure out why. Why 30 days? The number seems so arbitrary and irrational. If you’re going to do something good for yourself, why not do it all the time? The prescription is right, but the dosage is wrong.
I spend a great deal of time helping clients with their nutrition and I can say with certainty that very few people make a durable change in their nutrition patterns after a 30 day white-knuckle ride through no-doughnut land.
Here’s the brutal truth: most people who successfully complete 30 days of paleo then reward themselves with 60 days of ice cream and french fries. You know who you are. After realizing that you got fat, sick and weak, you climb back on the paleo bronco for another 30 days of wild bucking and psychodrama. There’s a word for this. It’s called yo-yo dieting. Calling it “paleo” or “primal” is just window-dressing.
As a crusty veteran of the paleo scene I would like to offer the following observations:
- the 30 day challenge amplifies food pathologies by turning toxic foods into a reward mechanism (snap)
- if you’re focused on the next thirty days, you can’t plan for where you want to be in thirty years
- if you approach nutrition as a “challenge” you will never be able to take joy in food
It should come as no surprise after all this that TwinTown CrossFit will not be sponsoring or supporting any more 30 day challenges. We’ve been working on something better that will provide more continuity, support, and accountability. Details will follow in tomorrow’s blog post, so don’t forget to tune in!
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WOD:
5-3-1-1-1-1-1 Overhead squat
-then-
Death by pull-up
