Nick's 30 Day Paleo Challenge- Day 16

As I am writing this I am absolutely starved and about to face the Bread Brigade downstairs at Breakfast. They are serving all different types of really good bread as well as chocolate croissants. FML.  They even have cake for breakfast. Instead Ill have fruit, cold eggs and black coffee. Delicious!!!

Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I got to work about 9am and stayed until 6:30pm. I didn’t go out once during the day, they brought lunch in. The one benefit to smoking was you were guaranteed a few trips outside everyday which is nice. I use to sit there and smoke and recap on what happened since I was last downstairs having a smoke. Although in Greece, its amazing the places people smoke here. They still let people smoke at restaurants. It’s like China.

I had Chicken and Greek Salad for lunch today. I also found out that traditionally Greek salad (as it is served in Greece) does not have any lettuce—kind of odd, no? Throughout the day I had about 2-3 cups of coffee (black). They didn’t have Almond milk here so adding a cream wasn’t an option. For dinner I had some more grilled chicken (reoccurring theme) and smoke grilled lamb. The chicken was great and they serve cut it up into pieces for me (kind of like the way Mom used to cut the food for me) which I love. I believe when they serve it already cut up for you that it tastes better (opinion).

Not enough veggies or fruit yesterday and I am feeling that as I write this. I’m hungry and slightly worn down. I haven’t really seen any places selling fresh produce (I know they exist, but haven’t had the chance to venture around much). There is a Starbucks near my hotel but it was not open at 7am (amazing).

So my meeting is at 10am today (the reason I am here) and afterwards I am thinking of hitting up the Acropolis and starting to do all that fun tourist stuff.

I like Greece and its amazing to be here, which I’m grateful for, but this week in combination with last week (Chicago) has thrown off all my eating patterns. Having healthy options that are satisfying is difficult to do when you are away from home and I am feeling that now.

Talk to you guys tomorrow.

Nick

p.s. I do feel like I have lost some lbs (mostly because I haven’t been eating—not good).

Nick's 30 Day Paleo Challenge- Day 15

Today has been an extremely long day (and unbelievably grueling). So last time I left all of you it was somewhere in between 7-8am on Monday morning in Amsterdam. I had just flown overnight in the middle seat and was loving life. Well, it didn't get much better from there. So I had this 5 hour layover and here a few things that annoyed me.

1.       Europeans love bread, chocolate and smoking.

2.       Airports have almost no healthy options for eating.

3.       The seats at the terminal were not made for a man of my current size.

4.       I spent 40 Euro’s on the wrong adaptor.

So as I sat there scrunched into my small seat waiting hours for my flight and wanting a nice cold Coca-Cola, piece of Chocolate and cigarette while the power in all my devices started to die due to my inability to charge them because of the wrong adaptor I did think to myself well if I can get through this I can get through almost anything.  I’m happy to report that I did not give in. I went hungry until about 9:30pm in Greece but I did finally get a nice piece of grilled Chicken and veggies.

I slept well until about 4am but the jet lag is always tough for me when I am coming this way. Luckily I downloaded 7 episodes of Sons of Anarchy and had some juice in my Ipad mini.

For breakfast this morning I had some eggs, some bacon (not even close to the stuff we have at home) and fruit. The buffet at my hotel was hog heaven; tons of really good breads, sweets and grain cereal. Not going to lie I came really close to cracking at breakfast. I kept trying to justify why the fruit wasn’t going to fill me up and that I had a long morning and needed to eat bread. It’s amazing what our brains can tell us sometime. If I didn’t have this blog I think I might have taken 8 or 9 pieces of bread. I’m not hungry but also not full. I’ll make it to lunch.

After breakfast I went out for a morning run around Athens (that was pretty cool). It’s about 60 degrees here. I won’t really be able to get out and see the city until Thursday but I did a drive-by of the Acropolis last night and it looks amazing. Planning on spending all day there on Thursday so my post that night might turn into a travel blog more than a Paleo one (fyi).

We’ll I'm getting ready for work now. Till next time.

Still hanging on,

Nick

Nick's 30 Day Paleo Challenge- Day 14

Feeling a little weird about writing this one since I am currently writing Sunday's post on Monday morning. But it's 14 days in the books and I feel good about that. I'm sitting in an airport terminal in Amsterdam. I have a 5hr layover until my flight to Athens (FML). I've been to this airport before and it reigns supreme in terms of crappy processed food. I mean they've got everything here. Burger King, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and loads of Chocolate. Plus everything is open even though its 7:15am. I need to find some fruit and water. This will be tough.

So Sunday was an extremely long day. I woke up feeling great. Had some eggs  and bacon for breakfast (I've been cooking my eggs over medium and getting really good at it, I think its the new way I am going to be eating them fyi). I then popped down to see my folks before I left. On my way back home I got a call from Delta that they needed to move my flight up by 2hrs. I was supposed to leave at 7:15pm on Sunday night and have a 1 hour lay in Paris. They told me that I now needed to leave at 5:55pm and have a 5hr layover in Amsterdam. Plus I get in Athens two hours later than expected. Anyway back to food. I met up with Marisa after I left my parents house and we got some lunch--braised beef, veggies, fruit and water. Yum.

When I got to the airport it was chaos. The lines were already unbelievably long and everyone  was in such a pleasant mood. I really enjoyed the hour and half it took me to get through security. As soon as I got through I figured I should eat something since I didn't want to be left having to choose between the Dog Food they serve on the plane or going hungry. Luckily there is a Palm restaurant in JFK so I had a Steak and some broccoli. I'm finding steak restaurants to be a real safe haven for me. I know I can always get the food I need there.

The flight over to Amsterdam was long. I had the middle seat (FML again). I did watch two movies--Wolverine and Last Resort. Both were decent.

I also need to report a weight update. I weighted myself on Saturday night/afternoon and I was 235lbs. That brings my total weight loss to 17lbs in 14 days. Something is working....


Till tomorrow.

Nick's 30 Day Paleo Challenge- Day 13

Day 13 has come to an end and I am starting to notice some really big changes in my behaviors. The biggest one is that water has become the norm for me. I struggled so much with that for so long and always reached for a Pepsi or another sugary drink. It feels really good to have broken that habit (and be 13 days off Soda).

The second change is that I am really starting to care what I put into my body. I only want fresh produce, grass fed beef, nothing processed etc.

Day 13 came and went pretty quickly in terms of my diet. I had a juice this morning with my mom. I just got her a Juicer so we christened it with a Mean Green. She loved it. I had to work for a few hours today so I grabbed some fruit before I went into the office (blueberries, Banana and Pineapple).

By late afternoon I need to eat something so I headed back home and cooked myself a few eggs over medium and Applegate Bacon (the best). I cooked it with Kerrygold butter (grass fed butter). Washed all that down with some ice water.

For dinner I met Marisa and we went to Crave Fish Bar. There I had some King Prawns and Lobster. It was really good and nice to mix it up for a change. After that I had some more work to finish up before I leave tomorrow.

I also went out for a run tonight and got a pretty decent sweat going. Feeling good.

Till next time...

Nick's 30 Day Paleo Challenge- Day 12

As I sit here thinking about the past 12 days of my diet I started thinking about the number 12 and how important it was. Think about it: 12 apostles, 12 months in a year, 12 people who have walked on the moon (don't ask me to name them), 12 Angry Men and 12 days I have been off the crap and eating healthy.

Today was long as hell. I was up at 4am and caught the early flight back to NYC from Chicago (this was a bad idea, I wont be doing it again). Had a great time and love Chicago. Definite highlight was Second City.

Was real busy at work today as I am preparing to head over to Athens, Greece next week for some meetings. This should be real interesting as we head into week 3 of the Diet.

Today for food was pretty standard. Had some veggies for lunch and a bit of grilled chicken. Drank lots of water. The afternoon crave for sugar and other junk is almost gone. It's amazing. I hadn't really thought about it once today.

Around 7:30pm I had Braised Beef, Carrots and Broccoli from Dig Inn

Then I went out and picked up a ton of fresh produce so I could make me and Marisa a couple of Mean Greens.

Before:

After:

Delicious and really healthy for you. I put some Kale, Radish, Apple, Ginger and Celery Stalks in there. I love juicing. About to hit the sack. Till tomorrow.

Nick's 30 Day Paleo Challenge- Day 11

Well my time here in Chicago is almost over and I still haven't given up on caveman. Eating healthy hasn't been easy on the road, I've had to go the extra mile for restaurants that can serve me what I need. Also, Chicago has so many options for pizza, burgers and other junk that it has been difficult to resist, but I'm happy to report that I have.

This morning I had a western omelet with a fruit smoothie. I needed to fill up on fuel since we had a long meeting this morning. The walk to the meeting was painfully cold. With the wind chill it was -13 degrees.

After the meeting I grabbed some lunch--chicken noodle soup and fruit. I had a bunch of calls etc. to do so I worked the rest of the afternoon from the room. I wasn't hungry for a snack in the afternoon like I have been in past days. I drank a lot of water. After I finished worked we went over to the Willis Tower to go up the Sky Deck.

After that we went up with my cousin Jennifer who lives here and is getting married. It was really great to see her.

For dinner we went to eat at this place called Chicago Cut which was a really nice steak house. I totally Paleo pigged out here. For appetizers I had some Nueski's Bacon (really good stuff) followed up by lollipop lamb chops. Then for dinner I had the Rib Eye which was amazing.

Check out the before

and now for the after (ate all the veggies and picked the bone)

I had some ice water and Iced Tea (unsweetened obvi)). One other point of interest, I have been drinking my coffee black (sans Almond milk and sugar) and not hating it. I actually am starting to like it a little (heavy emphasis on "little").

Looking forward to weigh-in on Monday. 6am flight back to NYC tomorrow. Talk to you all tomorrow night!

Nick's 30 Day Paleo Challenge- Day 10

First things first, Chicago is freezing in the winter. When I walked outside this morning I felt like I was being stabbed with a thousand knives. They should call it the Chilly City because it is flipping cold here.

Back to the diet, I cant believe I have made it to double digits doing Paleo. I am feeling more and more like a caveman everyday. More importantly I am feeling better. I am actually looking forward to getting on the scale next Monday.

Despite not liking the hotel all that much I do have to say the bed was super comfortable and I slept really well. For breakfast we went downstairs to the restaurant in the hotel and grabbed something quick. I had a western omelet which came stacked with potatoes (they looked soooo processed but so good). I moved them to my bread plate which I wasn't using (obvi). I also had a fruit smoothie--strawberry and banana. After breakfast I was back to the room to prepare for my meeting in the afternoon and Mom went out to the see City (she actually took one of those bus tours)

and she had Vince Vaughn as a tour guide (like from the Break Up)--kidding.

But she did have a blast and loves Chicago. Our meeting this afternoon went really well despite the cold walk to the meeting and the walk back--everything in between went as planned.

I skipped lunch so I went and had a bowl of Chicken Noodle soup and some fresh fruit around 3pm. Wished the portions were slightly bigger but what are you gonna do. My other alternative was McDonald's which is literally next store to our hotel. It looks so tempting and I would love a Coca-Cola, 20 piece nugget and some fries but I can't. Ahhhhh!!!!!!!

After I finished working I head down to the gym for a quick sweat. I used the treadmill, bike and did some free weights. It's getting easier to workout, but I still don't love it like some people.

For dinner we went to the Drake Hotel and ate at the Cape Cod-- a really good seafood restaurant. For an appetizer I had some grilled shrimp and the house salad followed up by the chicken (I know lame choice at a seafood restaurant). This place had amazing bread also. I really wanted a piece but resisted.

After dinner we headed over to Second City to a see a show (the 102nd Revue). It was hilarious. All the actors were so funny. I think we'll be seeing them on SNL in no time. We left the theater around 9:30 to head home. I prepped for my meeting tomorrow morning and now I'm rounding out my 10th day with a post to you all.

Something non-diet related but hilarious I saw today:

Till tomorrow friends!