Going back to the beginning?

So this week I had my work physical and it brought into reality exactly where I stand...healthy and above average in all aspects. I should be happy with that, but frankly, I'm not. Despite my body weight only going up one pound and my treadmill test remaining the same, my body fat is up from 19 to 22-23%.  A lot of that stems from a less-active lifestyle. My days off, which normally consist of running the perros and hitting crossfit have been replaced with eight-hour days at school or 12-hour clinicals. The diet has taken a huge hit as well: convenience eating (dining out or processed pre-made meals) and snacking on sugary sweets to stay awake in class or fight the boredom.

This week was the eye opener I needed. Time to re-evaluate what my goals are and how to reach them. Lots of people have New Year's Resolutions, well I'm not waiting another two months to get back on track. Looking back at earlier blogs, time to re-up my commitment to a healthier and happier life. So today I'll tackle the goals:

Goals:
1. Lean up. My first blog ever, I set the goal for 15%...this time around I would like to just get back below 19% and stay there.
2. Start running again. I would like to run 4-5 times a week and get my 5K time below 25min. I don't have any races in near future, but that shouldn't stop me from hitting the pavement. I know the pups would sure appreciate it. Besides, nothing beats breathing in the cold morning air and feeling the lungs start to burn.
3. Make smarter food choices. Time to go back to primal and dump the processed semi-food. Also time to listen to my body and feed it what it needs to excel not what I can get my grubby hands on at the time.
4. Get back to my gym roots. I feel like total outsider since I basically went MIA from Crossfit Southwest. I really miss my family there. Strangely enough, I miss getting my ass kicked by Ken too.
5. Be happier with myself. This might be my loftiest but also most important goal--to change from the inside out.

So what are your goals? Any tips on how you reached them or will reach them?

Next time, I'll talk about setting out a plan...

Back on the Wagon

Over the last few weeks, I have taken some much needed time off from working out, worrying about nutrition, and just enjoyed myself. Perhaps, I enjoyed the alcohol a bit too much but somewhere I'm sure there's a study about a drink or three a day keeps the doctor away.


Well now that my vacations are officially over, it's time to get back on the wagon. What better way to start than the "Filthy 50." (thanks Ken! It's been a while since my hands felt this raw). I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did...finished as RX'd (for chicks) in 24:43.  The last time I tried this was before I got hired (so over four years ago), and I'm pretty sure my time was somewhere in the 40minute range.  So even with taking some time off and imbibing in the spirits, I still cut my previous time in half.  Imagine what I could do if I was 100% back on the fitness wagon!


So as another Paleo/Primal challenge looms in the near future...I am feeling excited and motivated.  I set a goal to compete in my first olympic lifting meet in September, and despite the short amount of time, I am excited to jump head first into training and see what kind of numbers I can put up.

But for now, it's time for a well deserved nap...

Start of Clean Living Challenge 2012 at CFSW!

Today starts the four week "Clean Living Challenge" presented by Ken at Crossfit Southwest. We had an informative meeting tonight, and I was inspired and awed by the amount of people that showed up to participate. Granted this is day 1 of 28 but the enthusiasm was high!


 
Here are the basics:
1) Eat real food (lean meat, veggies, fruit, & nuts/seeds)
2) Avoid crap food that makes us unhealthy (grains, dairy, sugar, processed food, alcohol, & legumes)
3) Recover (heal wounds...make imbalances balanced, etc...)
4) Set goals and create action plans on how to achieve them both for the challenge and the long haul
5) Exercise & be fit
 
I actually started the process this morning by purging the house of "unfit" food. Luckily for me, the house is not filled with cookies and cakes but it was hard to get rid of the oatmeal, honey, and the booze!

Bailey's & Goose, I'll miss you most of all!

After I was done with purge, I rewarded myself with some delicious egg muffins. The recipe is super simple, and they store fairly well if you make a bunch in advance.

Ingredients:

• 5 slices nitrate free/organic bacon (diced and cooked ahead of time)
• 10 eggs (beaten)
• 1 cup already cooked spinach (you can use frozen)
• 3 green onion stalks (diced) 

Method:
Mix all ingredients together.  Either line muffin tins with paper or grease heavily (I'm so investing in silicon baking cups soon!) and evenly distribute mixture.  Bake at 350 for approx 20-25 minutes, depending on oven. Enjoy!

Nutrition: (Per muffin)

• 72 cals
• 4g fat
• 1.25g carbs
• 6.25g protein

After the meeting, I had a meal fit for a primal queen-- free range top sirloin and organic greens. Yum! Guess I should start tackling the "initial assessment" and figure out what exactly I want out of this challenge...

Fall goes Primal?

October has to be one of my favorite months of the year. I love decorating for Halloween even though the candy is lurking around every aisle at the store tempting me. Damn you fun size Snickers! The weather has finally dropped below 100 but not so cold that I'm bundled up like an Eskimo (anything below 55 requires gloves, multiple layers, and a scarf...I'm an AZ native after all.) Finally, pumpkins are everywhere and make amazing additions to any meal.


Today I tried to "primalize" two pumpkin recipes...pumpkin spice cake and pumpkin pancakes. Both turned out pretty good except the pumpkin cake never really cooked all the way through in the very middle.  If you're interested, here are the recipes:

PROTEIN PUMPKIN PANCAKES

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup milk (I use unsweetened almond milk)
• 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• coconut oil or butter for frying

Directions

1. Mix ingredients and cook on griddle like you would any other kind of pancake

PUMPKIN SPICE CAKE

Ingredients:

Maybe I took the diet too far...I'm all skin & bones!
(yes...I'm a Halloween nerd!)

• 1/2 cup coconut flour, sifted
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour, sifted
• 5 eggs
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup pure pumpkin puree
• 1/2 tsp sea salt 
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine wet ingredients.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and blend with a mixer until evenly combined.
5. Lightly grease 13x9" pan with oil and pour batter into pan
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes, check with a toothpick.

Day 16- A brief reflection

My thought for the day: An often overlooked part of our lives, unfortunately, is the relationships of those closest to us.

As part of the primal challenge, diet & fitness may take center stage, but play & family are equally as important. The first time I tried this challenge my mood was severly affected. I had a lot of "nasty" moments where even the slightest gesture would spin me into a negative mood. It was like I was enshrouded by negativity. Don't get me wrong there were some really good days, but I let the limitations of the diet affect my mood.

I am happy to say that this time around I have had a much more pleasant experience (and so has my crew & my man who bear the brunt of my moods). There have been a few negative moments this time around but much less severe and shorter in duration. So what is different? One is that after the last challenge I did not revert to a carb-fiend so this time around the limitations of the challenge seem just like the everyday choices I've been making since the last time. Second, and probably more important, is that I feel more support. Jesse has been helping me in the kitchen so it doesn't feel like so much work to cook almost every meal. My crew has adapted meals to fit my needs and even let me opt out of chow a few times. My new "Crossfit family" has been amazing. I especially want to thank Heather for spearheading our group discussion boards so we can exchange ideas and share our struggles and ways to overcome them.

Last time I tried to do this on my own. Now I realize that part of this experience is to discover that sense of community and closeness that is often missing in our fast-paced lives. Living primal means slowing down to enjoy the moment and the company we keep.

Day 12- Experimenting in the kitchen

So after a conversation at the gym yesterday about the difficulties of baking primal...I decided to rework one of my favorite gluten-free biscuit recipes into one that is also primal friendly.


The original recipe is for Pão de queijo, which is a very popular Brazilian cheese roll made with tapioca flour. The biscuits when done right are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Because they are made with tapioca flour (from the cassava root), this recipe is naturally gluten free. They are, however, NOT primal due to the cup of milk and two cups of cheese!


So this morning I decided to switch up the recipe a little to see if I couldn't render something savory and primal! 

The original non-Primal Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups tapioca flour
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 beaten eggs

My attempt at Primal: 

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup organic butter
• 1 cup unsweetened original flavor Almond milk
• 2 cups tapioca flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup spinach
• 1 Aidells All Natural Andouille pork sausage (diced)

Baking Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Pour olive oil, water, almond milk, and butter into a large saucepan, and place over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat immediately, and stir in tapioca flour until smooth. 
3. Stir egg into the tapioca mixture, one at a time, until well combined, the mixture will be chunky like cottage cheese. Add sausage and spinach. 
4. Drop rounded, 1/4 cup-sized balls of the mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet.
5. Bake until the tops are lightly browned, approx. 20 minutes

What to try next time:

• So the biscuits came out with the right texture (a major concern I had cooking with almond milk) but they lacked a little flavor. The sausage and spinach were a nice touch but the dough itself was a little bland. I omitted the teaspoon of salt thinking the sausage would add enough, but I was wrong. Perhaps a teaspoon or two of minced garlic or other spice will perk the dough up next time.
• I know those of you on a strict "Paleo" diet cannot eat butter. So I'll try subbing that 1/4 cup butter with either 1/4 cup olive oil or maybe some other paleo oil like flaxseed oil or pumpkin oil. Ghee is also an option.
• The protein count was a little lower than I wanted (only 2g per biscuit) so I might sub the water for low-sodium organic chicken or beef broth. That will bring it up to 3g of protein per biscuit. 

If anyone has any suggestions on how to further tweak this recipe....please please let me know.

Grain free blueberry muffins

Day 3:

So a big part of the primal challenge is to rein in my daily carb intake. It is a huge adjustment to go from eating lots of fruit and oatmeal to trying to keep my daily intake around 100-150g.  The thing that helps the most is switching to low carb veggies and berries and healthy nuts when I need a quick pick-me-up before a workout.  Another trick is to take recipes and tweak them so they meet the primal criteria: low carb and high protein and healthy fat.

Luckily for me, there are lots of people who have done the work for me and I can browse their blogs to get ideas. Today's recipe comes from fastpaleo.com.

Grain free blueberry muffins

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients and Cooking Steps

• 2 1/2 cups almond meal
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 300°. Line 12 muffin cups with muffin liners (or grease each cup well with coconut oil).
In a large bowl, whisk together everything but the blueberries until fully combined. Gently fold in the blueberries to incorporate.

Fill each liner 3/4 full with batter and bake for 30-40 minutes. The top should be spongey but firm when pressed and your finger should not go through into the muffin. Cool for 5 minutes and remove from muffin pans.

Per muffin:
Cal: 182
Total carbs: 12g
Fiber: 3g
Sugar: 8g
Fat: 12g
Protein: 7g

Primal can be global

Although I am not as strict with my paleo diet, especially at work, I still manage to follow most of the guidelines while at home. The other day I made gluten-free/paleo friendly (minus the dairy but at least it was organic) Swedish meatballs and Brazilian Pão de quiejo (tapioca cheese biscuits). I was inspired by my latest trip to Sweden. It was amazing how easy it was to eat organic and gluten free there. They are so far ahead of us when it comes to healthy eating. They avoid "fake sugars" and instead use beet sugar grown locally to not only promote the economy but promote all-natural and simplistic meals. Even the Coca-Cola uses real sugar and minimal dyes. It might actually be better than Mexican coke. Maybe.

Anyways...I was so inspired by my trip that I brought back a few recipes including meatballs, roasted mushrooms, & mandeltårta (almond cake that's naturally gluten free).

The secret to the meatballs is nutmeg, allspice, and almond meal (crushed almonds) as the binder. The sauce was made with organic heavy cream, potato starch, spices, & organic butter. I'll figure out how to post the recipes just in case any one is interested.

"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana"- Groucho Marx

Day 11:
Having my carbs limited to only 100g a day (except on my intermittent fast day--50g) has really forced me to research exactly what my food brings to the table.  I was under the impression that all fruit has to be good for you, no matter what.  It's from mother nature right? No, I am finally starting to realize that sugar is sugar is sugar.  Well, except fake sugar...that is a totally other beast, which I'll get into on another day.  The point is:
               Fruit = fructose = sugar = carbohydrates = The Devil.
Wait...that last one isn't right. Carbs are not the devil.  They are just slightly wicked and need constant surveillance.

Over the last few days, I've researched the amount of carbohydrates in my fruit.  The Primal Challenge recommends berries, but there has to be more than that, right? In short, yes! Sadly, there are also a few of my favorite fruits that are on the naughty list. 

A nutritionist once told me that bananas, although delicious, are the "fat fruit."  They are high in calories (105kcal), carbs (27g), sugar (14g), and relatively low in fiber (3g) and protein (1g).  One medium banana is 27% of my daily intake of carbs!!! Talk about fat fruit.  An occasional banana is allowed but there are better options. Most people (including me) think the banana is a great source of potassium. In reality, it is only a moderate source at 560mg.  A better and lower carb/sugar option is:

• 1 cup of spinach--840mg of potassium and 1g of carbs/0g sugar

My other, go-to fruit was the mango.  I ate mango salsa, mango smoothies, raw mango.  I love it.  Unfortunately, it is now on my "only on a very special occasions when I only want to eat one thing for a third of my day" list. A mango has whopping 35g of carbs and 24g of sugar!! Just to put that in perspective, that's 7g of carbs and 2g of sugar more than a mint Klondike bar (an overtime treat at the firehouse).  Not that I'm going to eat a bar, but it blows my mind to think a piece of fruit has more sugar and carbs than an ice cream treat. 

To simplify my life, I have a handy dandy chart:

Day 1-A reflection of why

So today was the start of my 30 day Primal/Paleo Challenge! Now I'm sure you're wondering 1-why am I doing this, 2-why am I blabbing about this online. The second question is much easier to answer so I'll start with that. I'm keeping a "public record" because it's a way to make sure I'm held accountable and sticking to the challenge. It also gives me a chance to meditate on what is happening in my life. Too often the days fly by, and I'm left with only a faded memory of what really happened.  My mom (happy early Mother's Day) always told us to live in the present so this is my attempt.

Ok...so now the big question: why the hell am I going Primal? Or maybe you're wondering, what does that even mean? Well on a very basic level, eating primal or paleo means eating things are readily available from nature and not overly processed.  The idea is to eat like our ancestors did before agriculture turned us into sedentary creatures. Obviously I'm not going to turn my back on convenience and the advances of modern science...the occasional protein shake (low-carb of course), supplements, and the grocery store are all acceptable during this challenge! So not only am I going to eat "cleaner" but also going to readjust my carb intake. As a whole, our society eats way too many carbs!! Most of us aren't training for marathons so why do we carbo-load almost every meal? So the plan is to focus on getting ample lean protein, healthy fats, lots of veggies and fruit, and avoid added salt and carbs. Did you know they even sneak carbs into deli meat? Most is full of wheat filler so that they can save money.  It's a carb and gluten conspiracy!

Ok...so now to really answer why! I am doing this for a myriad of reasons. Here are my top three:

1) Lean up. I feel like my body has become accustomed to carrying a little extra fat (damn you thrower's diet) and I need a serious kick to reach my goal of 15% body fat. Last time I had the fat caliper test, I was at 18.9%.  The plan is to be at 15% by the time my brother and I compete in the 2011 World Police and Fire Games in September.
2) Dominate fitness/competition.  I'll be throwing hammer and shot, running a 5K, doing max rep strict pull-ups, and swimming 100m in the Toughest Competitor Alive. I also plan on running various 5Ks throughout the year and hopefully be in a position to compete in next year's Crossfit Open. Not to mention my very physically demanding job! I have an awesome and very fit crew that inspire me to push myself physically and be not only one of the top females, but one of the top overall fittest people on the department.
3) It's been a while since I have had to really challenge myself.  Things have gotten a bit stagnant lately and as a result, I've lost a little confidence and have avoided really looking at the reasons I've been stuck on this mental and physical plateau.  So this is going to be my 30-day self-reflection and kick start to a happier and healthier life.

If you want to join me...check out these websites:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-blueprint-30-day-challenge/

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/one_hundred_gram_carb_cure

P.S. Today was a success!! Today was a "fast" day so I kept my carbohydrate intake right at 50g. I'm surprised how much you can still eat.  I'm also surprised at how many "healthy" foods are super high in sugar and low in fiber.