This weekend I checked off one of the items on my “bucket list” in that I finished my first ever Triathlon… The Ramblin Rose Triathlon hosted by Endurance Magazine. I call it a “sensible triathlon” in that the distances were pretty reasonable… 225 yds (9 laps) of swimming, 9 miles of biking and 2 miles of running. While I initially decided to enter this about 6 weeks ago and was thinking that my goal was just to finish it, I’m now thinking I should set my goals a little higher because I did better than I expected. The thing that I am proudest of from the whole event is how fast I ran at the end of the race which means that I had something left in the tank at the end of my hour of hard exercise.  Out of 111 women competing in my age group, I finished 19th in the two mile run at the end with a time of 17 minutes 43 seconds!

And the thing I credit for that is my diet. Instead of eating fake goop during the race, I had two pastured eggs and fresh biodynamic spinach cooked in coconut ghee a few hours before the race along with a banana and some coconut water just prior to my event. I was running on real fuel and I think that helped me from feeling any kind of stomach upset or cramps during the race. When I was training, I was running 10 minute miles so I was really surprised to see those times when I looked at the final race stats!

I can say for certain I am fitter than I was 6 months ago. There’s no way I could have done this Triathlon as well several months ago and I have noticed that my clothes fit better and that I seem to be more “toned.” Eating real food like the kind that is described in the Liberation Wellness diet has been a key to success. Even though my weight loss efforts seem to be at a stall for the moment, I got some good news when I got remeasured and tested at my local gym today.  I’ve lost over 5 inches from my waist and hips and my body fat dropped over two percentage points. It is good to measure things beyond pounds because pounds don’t always tell the full story when you are adding muscle and losing fat.

I must say it was quite a kick to be in “competition.” It made me feel younger and more alive to be outside cycling on a beautiful day and to be running and swimming as well. I’m glad I took on this challenge!

While I’ve been eating a real foods diet for some time, I just recently started to eat like a Tiger and put more of the Liberation Wellness book principles into practice. And I’m happy to report that I have lost about 5 pounds in the past two – three weeks. While the weight is not “melting” off my body, the numbers on the scale are moving in the right direction and I am seeing steady progress.

One of my fun little challenges of late is that I have been training for the Ramblin Rose Triathlon (http://www.endurancemag.com/ramblinrose). I see this as a “sensible Triathlon” in that it is 10 laps in the pool, 9 miles of biking and 2 miles of running. Considering that the last time I swam laps in a pool save the last six or so weeks was back in the 80′s and the same for running and biking, I just thought it would be kind of a cool challenge to see if I could get this middle-aged momma body into a bit more shape and push myself to try something new. I think one of the best ways that we parents can model lifelong learning for our kids is to step out of our own comfort zones and try new things from time to time. I have been following the training regimen suggested by the organizers which has me doing some running/biking or swimming five days a week, usually for about a half hour or up to one hour maybe two of those days.

And you know what, I realized that I kind of enjoy the thrill of the sweat! It is fun to push beyond my normal walking limits and while I don’t see myself becoming an endurance junkie, I must say that it has been fun to get my body moving in new ways. When I am sweating and pushing myself in running or biking, it makes me think back to my childhood and my own athletic “glory days.” I used to be a pretty good tennis player and spent hours sweating and pushing myself in matches that could last for hours. There was an inner tiger that I called upon to help me get through those challenging matches and I feel like training for this triathlon has re-connected me to my inner tiger! My family even treated me for Mother’s Day and got me a cool “tri” outfit so I can swim, bike and run all in the same getup.

So what I noticed when I went to the sports store to pick up my “tri gear” is that they sell all this NASTY fake looking food… things like sports jelly beans and just nasty old goo that is pure SUGAR…. somehow that just does not seem like the things a “liberated” triathlete should eat before, during or after the race! In fact, I can’t see how anyone would want to ingest any of that stuff…. EVER… I am thinking about making coconut date balls which have coconut oil, dates, coconut cream and coconut flakes in them. I’m also thinking maybe a LARA bar would give some extra carbs but in a whole food form based on the nuts and dates. I am wondering if I should put on the back of my shirt…. powered on Coconut oil and LARD!!! as I swim, bike and run!!! Wouldn’t that be a hoot to see in a crowd that is probably stuffing down fake goo by the case! I just wonder if anyone in this liberated group has any suggestions on what someone should eat the night before the big race and two hours before? I also think I may drink coconut water along the way when I want to replenish myself. I’m not sure I know the best thing to eat, but I am pretty sure it would not be scary sounding fake food things.

So I’m all ears gang and would be happy to hear what you suggest a “liberated triathlete” should eat to get to peak performance on race day!

Donna Bauman blogs at http://fromprocessedtopure.blogspot.com and has slowly evolved her diet from the “Standard American Diet” to a whole foods diet over the past several years and has a passion for sharing her food insights with others.

I just had a wonderful conversation with Kevin Brown this past week as I discussed his Liberation Diet book with him and was trying to get some advice about why despite increasing my exercise level and eating a pretty good diet overall I have stalled in my weight loss. While had read the book a few months ago, somehow the part about NOT SNACKING between meals had escaped me…. And actually that made me feel good because I felt like I had something to work on and that maybe I could still see some results!

So for the past week I have really CUT OUT the snacks. No more grabbing the cheese cubes on samples while shopping at Whole Foods… No more popping a handful of nuts while making my kids’ lunches in the morning. When you are a mom making 3 meals a day for 4 children and a husband, there are many opportunities to just pop a little of this or that in one’s mouth while preparing a meal. So guess what happened when I cut out the snacking? Surprise, surprise, I have lost about 4 pounds in the past week! I am hoping that I can keep this level of success up for the next few weeks and maybe finally banish the last 10 pounds that I’d like to lose. I have lost about 10 pounds since last August and my BMI is in the healthy range but I’d like to get just a bit closer to the middle of the range for my height and those last 5-10 pounds would do the trick to get me there.

The interesting thing about not snacking is that I have found I am becoming much more appreciative of the meals that I do eat! I find myself looking forward, almost yearning for the time when I can sit down and indulge in my meal! And I have put a bit more effort into making an extra side or two that turns a mundane meal into more of a feast. I am also trying to savor the eating of the meal and enjoy every bite knowing that it will be several hours before my next indulgence. So I find myself giving more thanks for my meals and also because I am really making the meals even more special that my kids are enjoying the meals more too! My 13 yr old called last night’s dinner of steak salad, saute’ of spinach and onions and roasted turnips, carrots and potatoes a real feast! That’s high praise from my kids and they ate more at the meal and thus had less need to snack later as well. So there are blessings on many fronts. I look forward to sustaining these good initial results so far!

Posted by Donna Bauman, a wife and mother to four children who has spent the last 8 years moving from a “Standard American Diet” to an unprocessed, whole foods diet. She has also become an avid fan of fermentation and tries always to keep her crocks full of fermentation projects.

Her main blog is at http://fromprocessedtopure.blogspot.com