I do love some good turkey, and despite all the hoopla about tryptophan it’s probably the carb crash from the rest of the trimmings and your system needing to process the overeating that hits you.  Turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey in whatever form is delicious.  What about the country?  I’ve never been.  I do remember the first time I even knew there was such a country.  It was fourth or fifth grade and we were identifying blobs on a map as a whole class.  The teacher pointed to one blob that none of us knew and this girl, I believe her name was Theresa L., bursted out in a somewhat timid manner, “Turkey?”  The entire class, me included laughed at the ridiculousness of it.  Who names a country “turkey” and why would she think such a place existed?  The teacher came back with a, “no but very close!”  I sat there stunned.  Once again, who names a country after a bird?!  It turns out it’s the other way around.

People need goals to actually get somewhere. If you don’t have some idea of what your target is, how are you going to hit it?  At the same time if all we do is jump from goal to goal, what we end up doing is burning out on goals and actually never achieving a point of contentment.  We spend all this time trying to achieve some goal while the actual goal itself will at most be a fleeting moment.  There is some irony in the fact that 99% of the time we are chronically not at our goal.  In fact if we are setting ambitious goals it’s possible we will never achieve them.  Does that make a person a failure because they didn’t achieve it?  I think that depends on if they are looking for enjoyment at achieving a goal versus from going through the process of trying to get there.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of podcasts.  The quality is very up and down between one producer and another.  Some people have been doing it for years and have big budgets while others seem to be using their computer microphones and just uploading almost unedited content.  Production quality aside it can be enjoyable to get the diverse set of perspectives on various topics.  I listen to podcasts on everything from gardening to running to general health.  Unfortunately with the demands of my schedule I’ve been stuck in the car the better part of a day for the past couple weeks.  I’ve therefore needed to amp up and podcast list to not run out of things to listen to.  A quick scrub of some related podcasts brought back a wealth of new producers, but with it a discovery of some dubious advice.

Several years ago I skipped on my Sirius/XM Satellite Radio subscription and decided to start indulging in podcasts.  I wanted something to keep me occupied while I was working out, which I couldn’t do with satellite radio anyway.  I figured I could find some fitness or cooking podcast so searched the iTunes store for those.  At the top of the list were all these Paleo podcasts, and at the top of that list was the Paleo Solution Podcast.  Listening to the podcast taught me a lot about practical Paleo implementation but also how it has helped people overcome major illnesses.  One of the more dramatic stories came from none other than the podcast host, Robb Wolf.

I’m now two weeks into my hiatus from starting the Paleo experiment.  In that time I haven’t been eating like total crap, but I have my ups and downs.  My lunches have consisted of a huge hoagie, cheesesteak or otherwise packed sandwich every other day.  I’ve been snacking on pretzels and sweets.  All of this is being washed down with lots of Coke Zero again.  These aren’t the cravings that I speak of though.  Instead what I’ve been craving is something far different.

Tell me if this sounds familiar.  It’s sometime early in the morning and you are roused from your sleep by the alarm blaring at your head.  A quick snooze will give you that extra ten minutes of sleep.  Maybe a few more snoozes before you have to wake up.  Perhaps your body “just wakes up” right before that infernal alarm starts up, so you can proactively hit it.  While you start off dragging ass a quick jolt or two, or ten, of caffeine gets you wired up fine.  Maybe a little sugar high too can be used to push you on your way.  The rest of the day can be fine or an exercise of chasing one caffeine or sugar high to the next.  Sound a bit familiar?

Monday begins the Paleo week off in high fashion.  Actually, it’s going to be starting the Paleo Phase off a day early.  Considering all the gorging on junk food I’ve had (did I mention I ate a Coldstone Creamery Ice Cream for lunch) I figured it’s good to get cleaning out early.  While I won’t have the luxury of being creative with my meal planning for breakfast or lunch, I do plan on spreading my wings at dinner time.