Mardi Gras and Lent really snuck up on me this year. I am not Catholic, but the Methodist church is one of the few protestant churches that observes lent and despite what denomination I take part of, I’ve always felt it is an important experience to participate in. Heck, even if you aren’t religious, there are benefits to reap from abstaining from some controlling habit in your life for 40 days. What is some such habit that holds power over you? Food, alcohol, cigarettes, pornography, gadget addiction, sex, coffee, shoes, bikes, clothes, housewares, friends that are poor influences, going out too much, TV, internet, work, lack of sleep, money, you name it? Did you notice the key words in this question: “Has Power over you” ? You are a smart, capable being. Things like these shouldn’t hold power over you, but rather vice versa. To me, this is the self awareness aspect of Lent that forgoing such pleasures can help you achieve even if you aren’t religious. If you are religious, Lent can be a way to take your spirituality to a whole new level.

1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him

Matthew 4: 1-11

And from Mark 1:12-13 we have this reading:

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

From the Mark passage I just can’t help but relate Jesus’ time in the wilderness to some awesome Caveman experience long before Jesus even came along. A Caveman no doubt endured such hardships without food among the beasts and terrain of the wild. As to whether he had a spiritual epiphany out of such circumstances, I cannot say. Very likely, he was just very, very hungry. I would have to optimistically believe, however, that he had great faith in his skills and the abundance of the earth to eventually find food. I digress, though.

In the past I’ve given up coffee, sodas, alcohol, and some types of food, like sweets. Having adopted the paleo lifestyle, I don’t feel like there is much to give up anymore. Plus, I’ve got a wedding to attend right smack in the middle of lent that I have no intention of turning down a few glasses of Shiner Bock at. If I dig real deep though, I can find some things to give up that will bring me closer to enlightenment. I’d like to share these with you.

I will absolutely give up alcohol until the wedding night. I will give up coffee or any caffeinated beverage until the honeymoon. For the full 40 days, I will forego ice cream and Tex-Mex, two foods I never gave up after switching to Paleo. I will try as absolutely as hard as I can to limit internet usage to work and blog posts. I will keep my house absolutely spic and span. (bet you didn’t think about giving up clutter, did you?) I will not buy one single thing for any of my bikes. If something breaks, oh well, I’ve got another bike. I will not turn on the heater at my house. I normally don’t run any kind of heat or AC anyways, but it has been a cold winter and I have enjoyed the comfort of my gas heater. No more though. I can sure as heck go without heat for 40 days at this latitude if Jesus went 40 days without food. I absolutely will not consume any food product that is derived from a grain or contains a sweetener. I was pretty disciplined about this leading up to the 12 hour race, but might eat tacos with corn tortillas, or tortilla chips, or a rare soda once in a while. No such tolerance this time. Fruit, veggies, nuts, meat, and water. That’s seriously going to be it.

If you’ve ever wondered why lent last 40 days, check out this Crossroads Initiative article… All these “forties” are a necessary and not-so-comfortable prelude for something new. I’m looking forward to my “something new” in forty days, I hope you are too.

To your success,
Caveman

Meet Ladybird.

Colleen found her on petfinder.com yesterday. We’ve been thinking about getting a Blue Lacy for some time now. When this gal popped up in the Lampasas animal shelter, we jumped at the opportunity and I made the drive up this morning. She is 11 months old and not 100% Blue Lacy, but a good source thinks she might be 3/4 full blood. The Blue Lacy is the official state dog of Texas. They are known for their strong work ethic, especially when it comes to herding and hog hunting. Colleen and I look forward to our adventures together with Ladybird, and who knows, maybe one day she’ll corner a pig and I’ll knife it and bring home some tasty pork!

Hello friends, family, acquaintances. You might or might not have heard the good news recently that I’m starting my own business. As of today, February 11, 2010, the Texas Secretary of State recognized Parham Solutions, LLC, as a new business entity ready to do business in the great state of Texas. I’m sure you’re wondering what kind of new business I might be doing. No, it is not architecture, although I will continue my small hourly services to pay bills until the new endeavour is fully off and running. I’m getting into Real Estate. This county’s housing market is in an absolute mess, and there simply isn’t enough government help or investors to help fix it. I’m not going to real estate school nor do I plan to become a licensed realtor. On the contrary. These modes of conventional wisdom limit creativity and profit potential, not to mention the ability to help more people and help them in more beneficial ways. I have the utmost respect for realtors and their skills will be critical in my success, it’s just not quite what I’m shooting for.

Parham Solutions, LLC will set forth to help individuals facing foreclosure or having any other real estate related problem. Zig Ziglar once said “Help enough people get what they want, and you can have anything you want” My goal is to help people first. Then and only then can I be rewarded for my efforts. In addition to the fulfillment that comes with helping others, the pay can be very,very handsome. Hard work is important, but no so much as initiative and smart work.  Passion.  I’ve long thought real estate would be my ticket to independence, I’ve just never acted on that hunch, until now.

I used to think I was sitting pretty comfy at $40/hr, but mark my word, there will come a day when my time is worth $1000/hr, and perhaps even greater. Of course, I won’t be working 40 hours a week nor every week of the year. I still reckon that will build some nice wealth. I’m not the kind of guy to wipe my butt with $100 bills though. I like to share the love. A lot of friends and family could definitely use the help in these lean times. What about the people of Haiti? The third world countries all around the globe? The overburdened animal shelters? The homeless right here in Austin? They could all use a hand. It’s a win win win situation. Help families in foreclusure, help banks avoid having to call the sheriff, earn a living, help others. You will never see me in a Hummer or Porsche. A 6,000 sq ft house with Travertine floors and gold leaf trim? No way. Cozy cabin on 10 acres of Texas or Colorado land, that’s more like it. And you might see me in a Subaru Outback or an off-the-shelf Chevy Silverado 4X4 to get out to said cabin, but nothing more. Toys don’t buy happiness, but freedom does. I dream of visiting every national park in the country, every major city, doing more cool bike races across the nation, and even the world.

There will be naysayers. People who will say it can’t be done. People will ask “If it’s so easy, why doesn’t everyone else do it?” It’s no wonder people like this are stuck behind a desk or some other job they don’t like their entire lives just making endsmeat. You gotta think big. You gotta think for yourself. You gotta take action now. Consider this my invitation to become part of my network. I am currently seeking out Austin realtors, especially ones who deal with REO properties or have clients that are overfinanced/upside down/etc. on their mortgages and are trying to sell. Even better if they have 2nd or 3rd mortgages. I’m not actively seeking out hard money lenders or investor partners yet, but there will come a time when such services are needed. If you are interested in seeing handsome returns on your investment, to the tune of 10-18% secured by the property itself, give me a ring. The government will even let you use IRA roth funds for investments! Put that tax free lazy money to work making more tax free money.

Any-who, that concludes the good news for now. It is very exciting times for me. I’ve been studying diligently and preparing for all the new things to come. Stay tuned for even more exciting news to come in the following week. Cheers,
Greg

I have spent the last two days basking in the glory of victory at Warda on Saturday. I finally got to see Avatar in 3D at the Imax Sunday. Then Colleen and I went to Fiesta to buy some Superbowl goodies. I then proceeded to drink a beer, gorge on some hot wings, and top it all off with some Blue Bell Pecan Praline ice cream while the Saints beat the Colts. Today I got a 90 minute massage at Performance Wellness, then went to one of my favorite hangouts in Austin, the Screaming Goat. There, I enjoyed a Bacon Burger with chips and guacomole, and two glasses of Dr. Pepper! I don’t necessarily miss all these things since switching to the Paleo diet, but on choice occasions when I do splurge, let me tell you, they are absolutely delicious. Below is the link to the official race write up. It is long, and I didn’t want it taking up the whole home page, so I gave it’s own page. Hope you enjoy.

The 2010 Dirty Dozen 12 Hours of Warda Race Report

The Dirty Dozen 12 Hour MTB race at Warda is right around the corner. The herd is assembled. My gear is packed. The caveman energy bars are in the fridge. The Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale is awaiting deposit into the escrow account setup for a friendly little wager between team Caveman Productions and Team Currently Known as Awesome!. The Team Currently Known as Awesome! is a group of 4 low life aggie alum whose only goal during this race is to defeat Team Formerly Known As. Little did they know that Caveman would have a bone to pick with them and wager a 6 pack of beer as to whether he could finish the race within 2 laps of them. Can I actually do it? A one man show against 4 decent riders for 12 hours straight? Physically, I believe I can. I have unprecedented faith in my primal diet and fitness. I’ve stayed disciplined since cross season ended and have all but eliminated processed carbs from my diet, eating mostly large amounts of fat and protein. I’ve gotten at least 9 hours of sleep every night. I’ve put in quite of few hours of base training, and just as much effort in weights and sprinting. You never know what’ll happen at races like this though. Crashes, bike failure, acts of God, etc. It will be an interesting way to keep motivated and Take it to the Limit. Who cares about the solo category?! If I can actually pull this off and snag a six pack of Shiner from these scum sucking aggies it would be a victory for the ages! Tune back in next week for the exciting recap!

What if I told you there was a revolutionary new diet or product out guaranteed to make you lose weight? Do you wanna know about it?? It’s so simple yet so effective I don’t think you can handle it! Still wanna know? Are you just dying to know? Is it a new magic pill? A fad book claiming veganism is the way to go, or even a new take on an old spin saying to avoid fat at all costs? Still curious?? Alright, here it is. I promise if you obey this one rule, you will lose weight, and lose it fast! DON’T drink any water (or any other fluids for that matter)! That’s it!

Now hopefully after telling you that yes, water weighs 8 lbs a gallon and you could easily lose that in a day or two and indeed drop weight, your common sense would also tell you that this isn’t the healthiest way to lose weight. Why then do so many people turn to these ‘magic pills’ or “fat loss secrets” or accelerated programs or whatever the latest and greatest flashy infocomercial product is to lose weight? You might as well not be drinking water. Wanna look great? Wanna feel great? Do it the right way. There are no secrets. Only eat things that you can kill or pick from a plant or tree in the wild (minus a few toxic wild edibles). Long term satisfaction comes only with long term dedication. If you would like to speed it up a bit, follow the 3 Primal Fitness Laws: Move frequently at a slow pace (walking or very easy bike riding), lift heavy things (squats, lunges, pull-ups, push-ups, chair dips, etc. are just fine) and sprint once in a while. Consider the Tabata protocols which can be structured to fulfill both #2 and #3 here. Get in touch with me if you have any questions about any of the Primal content on the site.

Dairy-It’s Back On The Menu- Sort of…

Now, to backtrack a bit on everything I just said, here is something that you can’t kill or pick from a plant that I now consider to be ok to eat, in moderation. I know a lot of you will have a hard time giving up some of those old staples, most notably bread and dairy. Well good news for those of you who just can’t live without dairy. My findings and experiments have allowed a few items back on the menu, even though they are not paleo approved. I wouldn’t say they are paleo unapproved though. Nutritionally, there are two things that led me to let these items sneak back into my diet: 1. HIGH in fat and protein  2. low in carbohydrates. The products I speak of are cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, heavy cream, plain yogurt, and butter. All of these either involve separating the fat and protein from the sugars (lactose) or having the lactose fermented into a protein. Milk is still a no-no, unless you can find it raw, which is pretty unlikely. If you do decide to include these items in your diet, make sure to look for minimally processed, whole milk derivatives, and NO additives. That great dairy flavor we all like comes from Fat, so when you take the fat away you’re not only negating the dietary benefits of it but replacing it with something else to make up for the flavor, most usually sugar, artificial flavors, or who knows what else? Stay away from flavored yogurts and processed cheeses. Plain, real yogurt like Greek or Bulgarian yogurt can be pretty sour, so I like to add berries, vanilla extract, and sometimes honey. Recently for breakfast, when I feel like cooked eggs over raw, I smother ‘em with Daisy brand all natural sour cream! This is of course after cooking them in the leftover bacon grease from a few strips of bacon (uncured-no nitrates or nitrites, and low sodium!). I also add a small avocado. Talk about guilt free flavor to the max! Bacon makes everything better! Fat-protein-and little more fat to top things off!

I still advise eating such dairy products in moderation, much like dark chocolate or red wine should you choose to consume these. Remember, fat is not the enemy, high glycemic carbs are. I’ve got the race results, health markers, and a lean, athletic body to prove it. Start eating better-stop wasting your money and precious health on junk food and products that don’t help you thrive. To your health,
Caveman