Ken Korg, One Week Into His 30-Day Challenge
One week into his Primal Blueprint challenge, Ken Korg is rolling. Things are falling into place, and he’s happy with the results thus far.
As per Valentina’s guidance, he consulted the carb curve and reduced his carbohydrate intake. Currently, Ken is eating between 50-75 grams of carbohydrate each day and it seems to be working. He hasn’t weighed himself yet, having been warned away from scale obsession, but he has managed to button up a certain pair of jeans. You know what pair I mean – that pair of jeans that everyone has, the waistline barometer. Yeah, well, one week in, Ken’s wearing the waistline barometers to work… and he didn’t even have to lie down on the bed to get them on.
Ken’s once-perpetual hunger is gone. He gets hungry when it matters – before a meal, for example, or after exercising – but he doesn’t constantly think about food like he did before. And now, instead of reaching for processed snack foods (Cheez-Its were an old fave) when he does happen to get a small hunger pang he has a few nuts or a strip of (homemade) jerky and gets on with life. For once, Ken doesn’t have to tap into a steady drip of willpower to keep from stuffing his face. He can go about his day without keeping his appetite on one of those creepy child leashes.
That said, Ken’s journey has hit some snags. Nothing too big or too disheartening, mind you, but snags nonetheless. Any veteran Primal Blueprinter could have told Ken to expect some challenging moments, especially if you’re trying to take your family along for the ride.
Yes, despite Ken’s initial successes, there is discord in the house of Korg.
It all starts at breakfast. Kelly Korg has been eating four slices of whole wheat toast and peanut butter for breakfast every morning for as long as he’s known her. It’s pure habit; at this point, her circadian rhythm is probably entrained to that toast and peanut butter. Their son Kenny usually opts for cereal, something with the words golden, crunch, nutty, and/or harvest in the name. That first Tuesday morning after his revelation at work, Ken bounded out of bed a half hour early and prepared a massive Primal breakfast feast. Huge omelets cooked in butter, twelve ounces of crispy bacon, a big berry fruit salad, pot of coffee. It was great, and everyone loved it. Even vegetarian Kenny enjoyed a couple strips of bacon, the gateway meat. They all agreed they could get used to this.
Fast forward one week and Ken’s little early morning pristine Primal wonderland is marred by burnt toast scrapings and cereal-sweetened milk. Breakfast is a battleground. Kelly’s toasting bread, Kenny’s eating cereal out of the dog’s extra (big) water bowl. And Ken feels like a failure. He went big too early with that first elaborate breakfast, and now he doesn’t know what to do. He can’t spend an hour every morning making breakfast, but how else is he going to convince his family to commit?
At work, a dejected Ken voices his concerns to Valentina. “Man, industrialized food producers really have us beat when it comes to easy breakfasts. Pour a bowl of cereal, pop something in a toaster for two minutes, drink some juice. Heck, they even trick us into eating cupcakes for breakfast simply by calling them ‘muffins.’ For Primal, it seems like you have to cook your breakfasts. And cooking means cleaning. For one guy, it’s doable, but for an entire family rushing around trying to get ready all at once? How do you do it?”
A smirk plays about Valentina’s face. She’s been waiting for this. “Breakfast doesn’t have to be a huge production, Ken. There are plenty of breakfast options for on-the-go eaters. Work some of those into the rotation and always have something on hand. You can’t let up, especially this early on.”
“But what about the bacon?” asks Ken. “It’s the only way I can get Kenny to eat animals, but it takes too dang long to fry up on the stove.”
“Cook it in the oven. 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, depending on thickness and desired doneness. Set it and walk away. BAM.” (Valentina’s fatal flaw is her bizarre Emeril Lagasse fanboyism.)
Ken closes his eyes, sighs, and drops his head. “Of course! That’s genius. You’re a genius. Thanks again for the help.” He turns to go, takes a few steps, thinks hard about something, then wheels back. She’s still there. It’s almost as if Valentina knew he’d be returning. “Just one more thing. I really want this to work for the whole family, but I’m worried Kelly’s about to give up on the whole thing. While I’ve been jumping out of bed each morning ready to tackle another day, she’s been waking up with headaches. In fact she’s been pretty listless the entire week. No energy, always tired, constant headache, always complaining about a fog clouding her brain. I’m actually pretty worried.”
“Is Kelly eating low-carb?” she asks.
“Yep. Between 50-100 grams per day. Other than the morning toast, she’s good.”
“Is this a big change for her?”
Ken answers immediately. “Oh, yeah, most definitely. She used to put down 3, 400 grams a day, easy.”
“Ken, this is totally normal when someone drastically reduces their carbohydrate intake. Kelly is simply going through the low-carb flu. Check out that post; it’s got some great advice and there are tons of comments from readers with similar experiences sharing how they made it through. She’ll be fine.” Valentina is very reassuring.
“Great, so this is just something she has to get used to, right? She just has to push through the initial hardship and maintain?” Ken asks.
“Pretty much. Some people adapt immediately, others take longer. Some take a month or more. You just have to be there to support her.” Valentina winks.
“Awesome! I’ll just tell her to keep at it, to keep up with the running, to-”
“Wait, wait, what was that? The ‘running’?” asks Valentina.
“Oh, yeah. Kelly’s always been a cardio fiend. She absolutely loves to run. I know what Mark thinks about running too much when you’re miserable, but she genuinely enjoys it.”
Valentina frowns. “That’s cool and all, but if she’s going super low-carb and trying to maintain her running habit, she may have to make some concessions. If she’s burning through her glycogen every day, she probably could use a few more carbs than she’s getting. This could be exacerbating her low-carb flu symptoms.”
Ken’s face lights up. “Really? Valentina, you are a life saver. You’ve just made a certain wife of mine extremely happy. I’ll let her know she can eat a few more carbs to support the running, and I’ll be sure to push the yams and sweet potatoes. I don’t want her using this as an excuse to fill up on junk.”
“Happy to help, Ken. Anything else?” Valentina’s got work to do, but she’s pretty obsessed with all this Primal stuff and loves talking about it to anyone who’ll listen (I’m sure you can relate).
Ken wavers. “Actually, yeah, there is. I have a few more questions if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Let’s hear it.”
Ken dives right in. “So, Kelly’s work is always throwing parties for something or other. It’s always someone’s birthday, and that means cake or cookies. And if it’s not a birthday, it’s a catered meeting. There’s just a lot of ambient snacking. Treats are everywhere. It’s a funny word – ‘treat.’ It’s supposedly a ‘source of special delight and pleasure,’ but is it really ‘special’ if it’s everywhere you look? Donuts in the break room, candies in jars on desks, leftover cupcakes scattered all over. Those aren’t treats; those are staples.
“Anyway, I’m wondering how Kelly should handle living, working in such an environment. How does she handle the mob mentality without hurting her relationships with the members of the mob, who are perfectly lovely people otherwise?”
Valentina’s ready. “I could give you a long spiel, but I’ll just verbally hyperlink you to this post on dealing with the “treats” mob. It’s very timely and should prove useful to your situation.”
Ken’s eyes roll back into his head as his brain processes the material and scans the comments. “This is great stuff, thanks. One quick question, kinda similar, only regarding Kenny. The kid’s just started high school, which can be a tough time. He’s trying to establish his place on the social totem pole, and he’d rather it not be one of the lower positions. I don’t think being known as the kid who eats “healthy” and turns his nose up at pizza and soda will do him any favors there. Any suggestions on how to make this Primal stuff work as a high-schooler?”
“Absolutely. Show him this post on making Primal work as a high-schooler. I’d go ahead and read it yourself, because there’s some good insight on making things easier at home, too. It’s not just about high school. It’s more about that age of uncertainty, adolescence.” Valentina’s got work to do, so she bids Ken farewell.
“Thanks again, Val. Don’t know what I’d do without you.” They part ways.
On his drive home, there’s roadwork. The street he usually takes is full of burly guys with jackhammers and neon vests. His normal way home is barred, but there’s ample warning before he gets there – detour arrows, orange “Roadwork Ahead” signs – so Ken knows where to go. He has help. He’s not fumbling through the dark, turning small initial mistakes into big blundering ones. The roadwork is a minor inconvenience, a tiny snag, because he knows it’s coming, and he knows what to do and where to go to avoid it.
Yeah, Ken’s going to be all right.
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
Super gaily girl- I tried the whole low carb thing and I felt like crap. I love this site, but I do not like the whole low carb theme. I understand that low carb has helped a lot of people, but it’s not necessary and I know people who haven’t felt good and gained weight on it, including myself. Look at cultures like the Japanese who eat rice and the kitavans who eat a lot of potatoes- they are very thin. Carbs are not inherently fattening and you might feel better if you start adding in potatoes and/or yams…I definitely did.
I don’t know why but I think Ken may realize that Valentina is looking more and more like his soul-mate than Kelly … hmmm
Am I the only one with this idea …
I love the “Ken Korg & The 30-Day Challenge” stories.
Could this possibly be part of the upcoming “21-Day Primal Blueprint” quick start guide? Am I guessing right or just speculating? AAaaaaaaaargh! Methinks I might be walking the plank Mateys!
Haha – I too like the Ken stories. When I started eating primal, I would eat veggies, leftovers etc for breakfast – now this was during school when my 9 yr old learning healthy eating in health. haha – she came home and told me they were talking about breakfast and her teacher said you don’t eat salad or soup for breakfast do you. All the kids chant ‘no we eat cereal or toast’, my kid peeps out sheepishly ‘my mom does’. Cracks me up – so now we call that teacher the breakfast police.
That’s funny. I am reading “Good calories bad calories.” And my son is learning about “my plate” at school. He talks about how “veggies should be the most things that you eat, then grains”, and I’m trying to correct him. But spouse doesn’t want him to correct the teacher.
Eh well.
Very timely reading as I’m at a similar stage as Mr. Korg at the moment. I just finished my first week of my ‘low-carb lifestyle’ and after years of using regular exercise as an excuse to eat what ever I want, I’m feeling so much better than I ever have. Being an exercise physiologist I always knew these principles in theory…but knowing and doing are two very different things!
Even my wife, who like Mrs. Korg loves her carbs and bakes on an almost daily basis, is even becoming converted.
After 1.5 years of me eating primal and my husband NOT, he finally crossed over.
After his last blood test and being 50 lbs overweight and all his ‘nice’ clothes not fitting anymore he finally realized that a diet high in grains and sugar combined with starvation and no exercise doesn’t work.
He has officially crossed over about 3 weeks ago and already lost 20 lbs, which is amazing in itself.
I’m so proud of him.
Now if I could just once not buy the Hanuta chocolate/nut wafers when going to the Co-op…gah! I have a little over 5 lbs to go to be of ideal weight, that’ll probably never happen until someone bans those wafers.
Holy cow that’s amazing! I’ve only been trying Primal for a couple of weeks now, and today my coworker said “you have lost weight!” So it’s nice that they notice.
Great post! Breakfast is seriously a hard one to get a handle on. I think of all my meals as “meals” they aren’t time specific or genre specific. they all are variations of the same one, protein, fat, more veggies than average!
Pre cooked food is the way I go for breakfast, just heat up whats cooked eat game or grass fed meats with small number of vegetables and animal fat. I am in Ken’s boat have my fiancee and her son both non primal. It is amazing how people see you becoming leaner and stronger yet they doubt that its due a primal diet, good quality sleep and reduced stress. Not knowing what to have comes down to limited thinking, there are many great grass fed/wild meats & seafood as well as vegetables and healthy fat options.
My daughter went Primal and I thought this is an unhealthy program. After a few months I noticed a huge change. Not just the weight that she lost but how heathy she looked and the ton of energy she had. I started very slow, but now I’m completely primal. I’m off of my alergy medicine, and my asthma is gone.
What’s the deal with kids and breakfast cereal? Argh! After I eliminated breakfast cereals (and nearly 99% of all grains) from my cupboards, I started to pay more attention to the fact that my kids were being brainwashed by marketing! I quickly made sure that during the short amount of television they were allowed to watch, that they were allowed almost zero commercials. But kids grow up, and my son is in Kindergarten and the cereal question has now been resurrected. “Why don’t we have cereal? There’s Vitamin D, and Fiber!” “Cereal isn’t bad, all my friends eat it!!” I have been very patient while explaining nutrition to my kids, but I would be lying if I said that a part of me didn’t feel guilty for making them feel “different.” It’s not that I have a problem with being different, I just have a hard time forcing it on my kids. Am I the only one?
I started Primal about 2 weeks ago (down 9lbs so far). Right now I’m the only one in the house that is eating this way. I spoke with my wife about the whole family switching over and she agrees (although she said we have to finish up the stuff we have in the house first-no wasting food!) I’ve been thinking about the same thing regarding my kids. My daugter is 6 and she loves her mac and cheese, muffins, cereal etc. (I keep her active so weight isn’t an issue for her right now thankfully)I don’t want her to feel like the odd one out as well, but I think in the end her long term health and scholastic performance is more important than being different. I remember struggling with ‘daydreaming’ and restlessness in elementary school. After all of the reading and research, I’m pretty much convinced it was my awesome sugar cereal breakfasts (anyone remember Crazy Cow cereal that made flavored milk as you ate?)
that contributed to a lot of that. I don’t want that for her. All we can do as parents is make the best choices we can for the kids, and hope they pan out as we anticipate. I’ve had fantastic results within 24 hours of going Primal. I’m sure it will benefit the kids as well.
As far as finishing up the stuff in the house first, I decided to donate what I could to the local food bank. Doing so not only got things I didn’t want to consume out of the house but made a lot more room in the pantry.
Hi, Mark! I was once a paleo-girl who couldn’t give up her cereal addiction and had to go back to regular “healthy” lifestyle. Recently I’ve been lurking again after reading this amazing book called “Deep Nutrition: Why your genes need traditional Food” by Catherine Shanahan. I was wondering if you’ve read it before, and if you haven’t yet, I just wanted to recommend the book to you! Thanks
Day 8, week 2. Another good one. Nice salads, walked, got sun, slept well. Tomorrow I sprint, swim and dance. Will give up on the scale for week 2. Still no sweets and proud of that.
I fry up 2 lbs of bacon at the beginning of the week, then add it to eggs every morning. Or eat it cold as a snack:-) Grokaliciuos!
Ok, can someone please help me? I’m giving this challenge a real go this time, not like the half-ass attempts I’ve been doing for the past year. My food intake is where it should be, I’m doing more intense, explosive workouts, walking more often and much slower (my dogs are amazed that they have time to sniff things before I yank them along).
BUT, like Kelly Korg, I do love to run. But, unlike most runners, I don’t do it every day on concrete. I usually do 2 3-mile trail runs/week, and make a real attempt to sprint the inclines and take my time with the declines. Do I go “all out” up the inclines? No. But I definitely push harder and faster.
Would my runs be considered Chronic Cardio, given their interval nature, infrequency, and varied terrain?
I think the main concern with chronic cardio is when it feels like a chore. I run or bike on the weekends, too, but only Saturdays and Sundays. I walk almost everywhere, but I enjoy it.
Pushing your body every now and then is good, as long as you rest adequately ie not going all out on consecutive days.
Although my family has been doing the primal thing for a year, I am still having a hard time keeping food in the house! I just feel like we go through meat and vegetables like crazy, and the fridge/ countertops are always empty.
For fun, you can check out all of the food we bought while driving through the countryside in England: http://tinyurl.com/5uskyhm .
Believe it or not, three days later, most of it is GONE!
My blood presure is on the the low side of normal and I can often get postural hypotension. This did get worse in the first few weeks because I got rid of so much fluid. A bit of poking about on the interweb and I discovered that with the fluid I was probably losing quite a few electolytes. So when I feel light headed, I dissolve half a teaspoon of Maldon Sea Salt in some boiling water, add some cold water and neck it. Instant relief.
I’m loving this challenge, Mark! My one week results have been insanely good. In addition to that, we started a Facebook group that has fourteen new people going Primal and supporting each other through the 30-day challenge. I started on the start date but the group started a week later. They’re all on day two and very excited about the transition to the new lifestyle! Looks like it’s going to be a 37-day challenge for me. Tomorrow will see me at a 100 pound total loss since going primal and I’ve got another 100+ to lose but I know now that it’s attainable!
“Cereal-sweetened milk”…lol! Ingenious bons mots like this are my favorite element of the Sisson style.
People always ask “don’t you miss bread?” and I ask “would you rather have bread or bacon?”
Day 9. Too many meetings, not enough time to eat well as I took a step backwards today, eating a bunch of mints while waiting. Did some barefoot walking, got sunlight, and worked a lot. Tomorrow will be better!
thanks for the insight Ken. I have been primal friendly for awhile now but I doing the 30 day challenge to try to kick the gluten. I failed already in the first weekend—social reasons. But I have definitely dusted my self off, threw my shoulders back, and smiled. If I do even 21 straight days that will be a record for me.
I think my mind has been warped by TV. I can’t help thinking that this story is due for some scandal, such as an adulterous relationship between Ken and Valentina.
Hello all! I’m on day 6 of my 30-day Challenge and am down 7.5 lbs. My carb intake is between 50-100 each day, and I walk every night with my dogs. I am using myfitnesspal.com to track all food and exercise. Is this weighloss number correct? I’ve stepped on the scale 3 times this morning to double check, same number came up every time. I feel GREAT and will just keep pluggin’ along!
been doing this paleo stuff a couple of months and literally stopped cold turkey …well I eat cold turkey but not carbs or sugar…never had the carb flu and have found that I need less sleep…on the weekend I cycled 100kms at speed on a charity ride, all without eating breakfast or the sugary drinks handed out gator— etc. So the issue for me is why have I not lost a gram in weight…I have minor cheats, a glass of wine daily, and sometimes have a turkish bread egg and bacon roll from the cafe at work. I have lost a heap of fat…as finally I am free of the love handles and double chin…in all I really do not care about the weight as I am looking pretty good…and feel great.