However, there are other, arguably healthier sources of fat, such as coconut oil, beef tallow, and fish oil. And always make sure to save any excess fat when cooking meats. Fat is essential to our brain and cell health (despite what the establishment tells you), so don’t let it go to waste!

Please donate to my plunge.

Plunge Day:  March 3, 2012
Start Time: 11:30am
Where: Matthiessen Park Beach, Irvington, NY

The Irvington Penguin Plunge is the first F.A.C.E. community event whose primary goal is to raise funds to help restore Irvington’s tradition of fireworks at Matthiessen Park. In addition to the fireworks, we are working to restore many special events, services to the seniors and programs cut from the budget. Some of these programs and events are Friday Night Youth and Teen Open Gym, Halloween Parade, The Egg Hunt, and the Turkey Trot.

If you are in the area, sign up and join us!

Well, Ben Stafford upped the ante in the comments. He wrote,

Chuck…must be telepathic or something…I’ve been thinking the same thing. I’ll one up you though…How’ bout 30 days?

You are on, Ben Stafford. 30 days it is. Starting officially on Monday, February 20, Ben and I are going to go dairy-free for 30 days and publicly track our progress on this blog.

Why am I doing this?
I am doing this because I’ve hit a weight-loss plateau. The only questionable food group I’ve regularly consumed since going primal is dairy. (I consume a fair amount of cheese and kefir.) Also, my complexion is better than it used to be pre-primal, but it can still be better. I’d like to see if cutting out dairy will make any difference in those areas.

Who is in with us? Clear your homes of dairy products this weekend (give them to someone who needs them) and leave a post in the comments letting us know you are joining us!

Want to know more about dairy and the primal lifestyle? Read this.

For the next 10 days, I will not consume any dairy products. I will keep the rest of my diet, exercise, and sleep the same. I will note any changes in an upcoming post.

Have you cut out dairy from your diet permanently, or at least for a period of time? What were your results? How did you benefit?

For the past three months I’ve been about 99% Primal and now adhere to it at 100%.  It didn’t take long at all to notice benefits.  Now that more time has gone by I thought it would be good to write briefly on the positives I’ve noticed.

As for negatives, there really aren’t any.  Is it more inconvenient to eat this way and workout etc.? Sure. But I don’t really see that as a negative largely because it’s my own laziness that says it’s inconvenient and I know that in the long run I am doing my body a ton of good in the present.

Ok, so the positives. Note, these things are new to my life since starting primal. I would not be able to describe myself this way on my previous Standard American Diet, and constant chronic cardio.

-I have lots of daily energy.  I generally wake up with the “on switch” fully on.  And I have this energy throughout the day, though it declines til at nightfall I’m pretty well “off”.  I used to get the post-lunch drowsiness. No more.  And no more is getting up in the morning a chore.

-While I never had frequent or debilitating headaches, I would get them on occasion all the same. The Headaches are now gone.  I suppose the last time I had a headache was sometime last summer maybe.

-I am finally building muscle. 6 lbs since the beginning of the year.  Can’t be anything other than eating real food and lifting heavy things.

-Running long distances is easier and far more enjoyable than others. I think this also has a lot to do with form, but it also has a lot to do with the fuel (fat) my body is now using for energy instead of sugar and carbs.  I’m pretty much at liberty to go out and run 10 miles barefoot whenever I feel like it and feel great during and after the run.  That is totally new for me.

Those are the visible benefits. I know the benefits yet to be seen are avoiding astronomical health costs and inconvenience later in life by avoiding a hosts of degenerative diseases (unless I’m wired genetically).  If I keep eating and living healthy I plan to live perhaps a hundred years more.

Maybe just reading those benefits doesn’t seem all that great.  I can say this much though, They mean enough to me that I don’t even consider switching things up.  Definitely keeping the hard workouts and eating real food.

The stories of all three of these individuals are inspiring. The lady has a dramatic reduction in the frequency and severity of her migraines, and the two men lose a ton of weight, get off of all their medications, and motivate scores of people to make a positive change in their lives to regain their health.

While the fast/diet in this film is not necessarily primal because of the large intake of fruit juice it prescribes, absolutely no fats or meats, and decent amounts of legumes and soy, I find it very inspirational because it highlights the ability of clean food to cure our bodies. These people realized they had a problem, got the internal motivation to do something about it, and made positive, long-term changes in their diet and lifestyle in order to live a healthier life.

So they aren’t 100% primal, so what? Their companion website, Join The Reboot, tries to get people off of processed foods, and to get people to eat more real foods and less whole grains. This is a big win in my book. A huge step in the right direction.

If doing a juice fast is what break’s someone’s addiction to grains or junk food and motivates a permanent change in their lifestyle, more power to them. I am not going to criticize them for eating a lot of sugar in the form of fruit or still eating grains on occasion. While not perfect from a primal/paleo perspective, a the folks over at Join The Reboot are fellow travelers. Give this film a watch.

Here are the entries:

PaleoJoe: A Fast (Technically, Joe is cheating, since it didn’t involve any meat or veggies, but let’s include him in the contest. He has given good reasons as to why we should fast.)

Scott Ewing: Pulled Pork with Guacamole

Bob and Antonie: Ground Beef, Egg, and Avocado Skillet

(I am excluding my pork chops and red cabbage since I posted that before I opened the contest.)

The winner, as determined by popular vote, will receive a package of Caveman Cookies. Voting is open until 12:30 p.m. EST Sunday, February 19.

Okay, so all that said, here is a tip to overcome the roadblock presented us in the difficulty:  Find others to be primal with.  

Might be roommates, people across the country, or a group in your town.  If there are others who can hold you accountable and encourage you you’ll have a much easier time at it.  Chuck Grimmett was super helpful for me when I was just getting started.  He really threw down the gauntlet: no grains for 30 days, pure primal. Dang, ok man, lets do it!

This Saturday I’m planning on going on a hike with an Atlanta Primal/Paleo meet-up group.   You might look around your area for a local meet-up.

Who do you know that can keep you accountable and you can trade ideas with?