ABOUT

CONTACT:

www.paleodietandliving.com

Click here to send me a message

MISSION STATEMENT:

To provide resources to individuals interested in improving their nutrition, fitness, and overall quality of life by examining and integrating behaviors of our paleo ancestors into modern life.

HISTORY:

I was born and raised in the small Texas town of Terrell. I had what most would consider a normal American childhood for the times-two younger siblings, neighborhood pals, public schooling, church on Sundays, Nintendo, and good ole’ meat and potato homecooked meals, with the occasional fast food treat. I was a go-getter in high school, participating in band, varsity soccer, powerlifting, clubs, and finishing 3rd in my class of 195.

My high school resume got me a ticket to the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin to pursue my interests in the construction industry. During my third year of the five year program, I was introduced to competitive cycling. One of my housemates was the president of the cycling club. The club was hosting a mountain bike race and needed riders to pull in some points, so my housemate recruited me. With gym shorts, a t-shirt, a borrowed high end mountain bike, a crappy helmet, and clipless shoes/pedals (which I had never used before!), I toed the line for my first collegiate ‘C’ race ever. A nasty crash put me in last place pretty quickly, but once I got the hang of it, I was able to move back up to 5th. Might not sound like an exciting story, but it was the beginning of my passion for cycling, and hence my passion for health and fitness.

I graduated college in May 2005. I got a job in Austin, bought a car, bought a house, and started blazing my American dream.  40 hour work weeks, the stress of living in a moderately large city, meals from a box, and cycling. I had moved up the ranks of collegiate cycling from a lowly C class racer to the top of the ‘A’ category. While I had delved a little in road racing, mountain biking was my true passion. I joined a racing team in Texas and began racing at the ‘sport’ level in the TMBRA series.

After a year at ‘sport’ I moved up to ‘expert’. After a year there, it was time to move up to P/S/E (Pro/Semi-pro/Elite). This is the highest level of racing available in Texas. It was about this time that I began to take a very critical look at my nutrition and workouts. Once you get to the top level, the details matter much more. You have to work 20% harder just to get 1% better. The old saying in cycling is if you want to get faster, rider your bike- A LOT. Well, for someone with a career, that’s not really an option. I needed to find ways to get more results with less effort.

It was about this time in my life that I started dating a girl who was big into triathlons. I had always wanted to try this sport because I thought the athletes were more fit overall, being able to run and swim and all. I taught her to mountain bike, she taught me to swim. I nearly drown those first few triathlons, but I eventually got the hang of it and before I knew it, I was tearing up the regional Xterra scene. My swims sucked, my bike splits dominated, and I could usually hold my own in the run. Off road triathlons really are a blast!

It was also at the same time I started my own blog. At first it was just a way to share my experiences with friends and family. I never imagined it would morph into a journey and a passion to not only seek out the best diet and fitness regime, but to share this knowledge with all my racing buddies and family, and eventually, the world. It was only fitting that a mountain bike racer nicknamed Caveman would stumble upon this thing called the Paleo Diet, fall in love with it, declare it supreme diets of all diets, and bug the crap out of all his blog readers to take it up as well.

To backtrack a bit, one day back in October 2007 when I had just started racing Expert, I decided try my hand at a 24 Hour race. I somehow won the dang thing and got hooked on those types of races because I seem to really excel at them. The slower pace puts me in a zone that I can sustain for quite a while. I attempted another 24 Hour in February of 2008 and came away with disappointment and injury. I had overtrained  and the race was just the nail in the coffin to let me know this. I took some time off to heal up and was back to racing by the fall. In October, I decided to do a 4 man team for the largest 24 hour race in the world, Moab. I thought this would be a nice way to ease back into 24 hour racing but the team fell apart and abondoned the race while I was out on my third lap.After that fiasco I decided to not leave my fate in other’s hands and to stick with solo racing. I went on to win the premier 12 and 24 Hour events in Texas in 2009 and 2010.

In October 2009, I was laid off my job, as many other Americans were during the recession. I decided to take some time off work and float around until I could determine a new direction. After a few months, I decided to pursue a career in real estate investing. I started Parham Solutions, LLC in February 2010 and began learning the ins and outs of the industry. I acquired a few rentals and tried some other techniques that didn’t work out but provided useful skills and know-how.

In the summer of 2011 I decided to leave Austin behind in search of new adventure and settled in Durango, CO. The outdoor life here is unparralleled. I have access to hundreds of miles of the nations best singletrack, whether I want to bike, run, or hike. The Animas river is great for floating and fishing. There is lots of public land to camp and explore. The small town pace of life is much more enjoyable than it is in Austin. In the fall opportunity abounds for hunting, be it elk, deer, turkey, grouse, and other wild game. Come winter time, I get a chance to break up the monotony of cycling for skiing or snow shoeing. So in a nutshell, I’m never at a loss to enjoy more time outdoors and just enjoy life in general.My time is split between real estate, architecture, entrepeneurship,  blogging, mountain biking, spending time outdoors, and being a Caveman.

ABOUT THE SITE

In January 2011 I was invited to attend an internet marketing seminar in Austin. After attending, I got the idea to create a “Cavemen marketplace” It had occurred to me that there were no good resources on the web for hard to find paleo products, at least in a single place. There are tons of blogs out there promoting the Paleo diet and this and that, and it’s truly remarkable what the internet has done to spread this knowledge to the world, but it’s a bummer no one has combined the knowledge of the Paleo Diet with the products and resources to help make it work.

I am blessed to have lived in a towns such as Austin and Durango. There are ample outdoor playgrounds, beautiful buildings, beautiful people, places to chill,  and great places to buy food (farmers markets, Whole Foods, and Central Market, Natural Grocers, etc.) The Barton Creek Greenbelt is about a mile from downtown Austin. Four awesome trails systems are within a mile of my front door in Durango with many more just a few more miles away. Whether I want to run, ride, swim, or do a bush workout, it’s right there waiting for me. If I need some coconut oil, grass fed beef, organic veggies, raw trail mix, or energy bars, it’s a stones throw away.

This isn’t the case for everyone though, and that is the main reason I created this site. My first goal is to ‘educate’ you on all things Paleo. By educate, I mean give the info to you from my perspective. Sometimes, it’s backed by a scientific study, sometimes it not. Sometimes my perspective is exactly that-my perspective. I don’t care that  cheese is not a “Paleo” item. I like it and I don’t think it’s bad for you. This site is NOT about guessing what our paleo ancestors ate and how they behaved and then trying to mimic that exactly. This is the 21st century for crying out loud. This site is not about examining the latest medical/scientific studies (although I will cite a few here and there) and then offering my ‘expert’ interpretation. This site IS about sharing with you why certain paleo behaviors  are good for us, and then letting you decide if or how you want to incorporate them into your daily life. I’ll provide some suggestions, of course, but in the end only YOU are held accountable for YOUR health. Take everything I say with a grain of salt. Get a second opinion. I think you will find that Paleo Diet and Living makes a lot of sense though. It involves things most people want to do anyways-eat real food, play more, get more sleep.

After you have decided that this Paleo stuff makes sense, my second goal is to give you access to products that will help you achieve your goals. This is assuming you don’t have access to such products locally, or you’re too lazy to buy them locally, or maybe you just don’t have time to go to 3-4 different places across town to get everything you need for the week.

Some products are available on the web only, such as e-books and programs. I’ve shopped around and picked what I feel to be the best bang for your buck and effective products out there. You could shop around on your own and maybe find something cheaper, or something that looks more appealing. Time is money though. This is one concept I learn more and more as I get older and have less time. If it takes you 2 hours to find such a product browsing online and you could have done something more productive with those two hours, well, you get the point.

I don’t recommend any product unless it meets my muster. A lot of these products I use myself. I want you to feel assured that you’re not buying crap or throwing your hard earned money down the drain. Don’t  look at any of these things as an expense. They are an investment in your health and well being. You want to know what an expense is? Medication and doctor visits for wholly preventable diseases brought on by poor diet. Dental visits for the same reason. Anti-depression pills because your lifestyle and diet contribute to an unhappy life. Visits to physical therapists because you’re not working out the right way. The list goes on… Spend a little money and time up front to avoid health care costs in the future.

Enjoy the website, and best of luck in your journey to attain better health and fitness.
Greg “Caveman” Parham