Going to an island and finding the solution

2012 was a big year for our family. We made the move from our safe and stable life in Norway to try our luck in the New World. Australia was going to be our new home.

In order to make it work for everyone, we decided that I should stay at home with the kids the first year. After working full time since I had my kids, I was looking forward to what I could do with this time. In the begging my 5 year old daughter and I ate and drank our way trough "The Foodies Guide to Melbourne 2012" and had a great time! After a couple of months of living like everyday is a holiday, I needed a kick in the but so I signed up to do a Boot Camp. 4 mornings a week at 6 am, rain or shine.

This helped me getting my mind back into what I've always loved. Training and staying active. It created the habits of getting to a workout, but the results were not as good as I had hoped for. And I hated the cardio Fridays! Running has never been a favorite of mine. Bad knees, bad back and
basically hating running has kept me away. Last workout I did in the Boot Camp was a 5 km run and I can back feeling I was 10o years old and everything was hurting. It put me off working out for a while. Then I discovered CrossFit.

CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program. It is "constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity". Meaning you work really hard and intense for a short period of time with functional movements like picking up something heavy, climb a rope, stand on your hands or do sprints. It looks intimidating the first time you see a WOD (Workout Of the Day), but the kick you get from finishing something that looks almost impossible, is what makes everyone come back for more. That and the great results you get!



I was fascinated by the CrossFit community, workouts and athletes and I wanted to learn more and find a way to become as good (or better!) as the people I met in my "Box". Wherever you read about Crossfit, you are almost always bound to read about Paleo and the lifestyle of eating lean meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. No grains, no dairy, no sugar and no vegetable oils.

Earlier I had read the book Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis. A cardiologist working to improve the health of his patients by removing wheat products. This book talks about how wheat has changed over time and what it has become in our industrialized world. It goes on to explain how wheat in our diet is the cause of many of todays epidemics like obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle illnesses. I found the studies and information in the book to be intriguing and it all made sense to me. But when it came to the "how to do this" chapter, I gave up. How was I supposed to cut out all of this food that was staple in my diet? Especially coming from Norway where we have bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was no way I could manage that! So too bad, the wheat belly had to stay. Besides I loved my cake with my coffee in all the great cafes in Melbourne more then I was willing to sacrifice for a beach body! My motivation just wasn't there.

But then along came Paleo and it all started to make sense.