Common Sense Health and Wellness Challenge

Diet style..

It is time for the January 2022 IMW Common Sense Health and Wellness Challenge which will begin on Monday January 17, 2022, rain or shine. This challenge will focus on how a proper diet can improve your health and slow the aging process.

The challenge for you is to pick a diet that will help you improve your health, hopefully a form of a naturally lower carbohydrate diet such as Paleo, Whole30, Keto or even Carnivore. You can even do a Vegetarian diet if you want, as long as it is also low in carbohydrates.

For me this will be a Carnivore-ish challenge. I will be eating mostly carnivore with an occasional non carnivore food added in.

Why did I pick Carnivore-ish? It is what worked so well for me 4 years ago. In fact 4 years ago I planned on a 3-4 week Carnivore challenge and it ended up going 6 weeks as I felt so good. Since then, which has been about 4 years, I have remained mostly Carnivore, with on average 75-80% of what I eat being animal based. As I often say, if it can run away, swim away or fly away, eat it.

But of recent, I should say over the past month or so, I have slipped. Besides my Carnivore foods I have added some more fruit and probably some excess amounts of cheese. I still feel great BUTT I have put on a few pounds that I want removed.

Soooooooooooo, with that being said:

WHO IS READY FOR A CHALLENGE?

The goal of the challenge is not perfection.

The goal here is improvement.

The goal here is to be your own n=1 experiment and see what works for you.

The goal is to learn more why a naturally lower carbohydrate diet can most likely improve your health in more ways than just weight loss.

The length of the challenge is up to you as everyone’s challenge is unique.

As I have seen comments on this substack forum about putting together a cookbook I decided to start now to help with the challenge. Hopefully others will add their favorite recipes as the challenge proceeds.

So here is my recipe for the IMW Challenge January 2022 edition.

Ingredients:

1- Bathroom scale for daily AM weights.

2- A blood pressure cuff

3- A camera to take pics of your meals. Your smartphone camera works very well.

4- A camera to take before and after photos of yourself, for your own private use only, and never to share with others nor here on the challenge.

5- List of present medications and supplements prior to starting the challenge

Optional Ingredients you can use/track:

1- Energy level- desire to exercise or be active

2- Hunger/appetite as well as cravings.

3- Thirst

4- Bowel motility- normal, loose or constipated

5- Brain clarity or Brain fog

6- Sleep - length and quality , snoring

Recipe:

1- Mark down your Initial weight the morning the challenge starts

2- Write down your Goal weight for 1 month after your challenge as well as what you believe is your ideal weight overall

3- Take your BEFORE pics, both a frontal and side view. You will NOT be sharing these with anyone other than yourself.

4- Men- write down your present present belt size, neck/collar size, shirt size

5- Women - write down your present dress size

6- Write down your BP- initial readings on first day and final readings at end of challenge.

7- Begin the Challenge on Monday January 17, 2022

8- READ ALL THE COMMON SENSE HEALTH AND WELLNESS POSTS DURING THE CHALLENGE TO HAVE FUN AS WELL AS LEARN FROM OTHERS

9- Mark down your weight when you end the challenge.

10- Write down your weight at the end of the challenge and calculate the difference. How close are you now to your Ideal Body Weight?

11- Take your AFTER pics, both a frontal and side view. You will NOT be sharing these with anyone other than yourself. How does your AFTER compare to your BEFORE pics?

12- Men- write down your present present belt size, neck/collar size, shirt size. Have any of them changed from your initial?

13- Women - write down your present dress size. Has it changed from your initial?

14- Write down your BP-Has it changed from your initial?

15- Write down your list of medications and supplements you are using at the end of the challenge. Has your list changed in any way? Are you on any less of your prescription medications? (Work with your treating physician before changing any medications).

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The January IMW Common Sense Health and Wellness Diet Challenge begins in a few days.

So if you will be preparing different types of food, now is the time to prepare and do your shopping.

Let's get ready for some Common Sense Health and Wellness, Diet style!!