Bribery

Some of you have asked for the recipe for the recent Paleo bribe.


I used a couple different recipes, here and here, but finally this is what I included:


Ingredients
1 (16 oz) jar of almond butter, creamy and toasted (COSTCO sells huge 26ouncers for 5 bucks and some change! A Steal)
2 eggs
1/2 cup date puree (see my previous post to make your own- COSTCO sells great Mehjool dates) If you don't want to use dates use a full cup of honey instead of the 1/4 cup.
1/4 cup raw honey (I got mine at the commissary for you military folks)
1 TBS vanilla (again...COSTCO sells Madagascar Pure Vanilla which rocks)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (any grocery store carries this)
1/2 tsp sea salt (COSTCO also sells a grinder version of this in their spices section for cheap)
1 tsp baking soda

Create:

In a large bowl mix ingredients with the cocoa sea salt and baking soda being the last things.
Use coconut oil to grease a 9x13 baking dish
Bake @ 325F for about 20 minutes (I don't know why mine took such a short time to bake- I thought they would take 30-40 minutes...watch them so they don't burn!)

SIMPLE INTRODUCTION...Again.

The Challenge...We need all the help we can get

Hopefully at this point a good amount of you have dove head first and accepted this challenge.

Today is DAY 2 and this is what I would suggest:

1. Take and front view and back view Picture of yourself (set the timer, put the camera on a table...no excuses)

2. Start a Food Log (not to get wrapped around the axle but to make sure that you are getting enough food, namely protein)

3. Sleep (try for 8 hours- I know for the 0600ers its really hard to fit it in but keep on reading and you'll see the importance)

4. Prepare (if you haven't already go grocery shopping tonight, pack a lunch, boil some eggs, slow cook a chicken, cut up some broccoli/cucumbers/red peppers etc.-- get some easy food prepped to grab-and go)

5. Get Excited, whatever your reason, motivate yourself and anticipate the success and benefits of 30 days of discipline!!

Ok, so you took the pictures, started a food log... now go get ready for bed ;)


TIP #1 Sleep: Appetite

Briefly, I wanted to touch on the topic of sleep. Starting this Paleo Challenge we will need all the help we can get and that includes not being artifically hungry throughout the day. Adequate sleep will be one of your best resources for keeping that appetite true.

Below, I included some articles that come from sciency-people (one of whom I am definitely not).

We have to "listen to our bodies" but when sleep deprevation registers our homones and appetite get all thrown out of wack (read articles). I'm not going to speak to the science part but I can shed some light on the subject through...

My Personal Experience:

I had a hard week last week...Filthy Fifty, Fran and 12 days of Crossfit...plus two CrossFit Endurance workouts (tabata and 6x400m). Come Jan 02, I was BEAT...and it was supposed to be a double day. I ended up not able to fit in the workouts (due to my better half returning from Thailand and blustering artic-tundra-like winds) so I rested. What? Rest? Yes, I needed it.

Friday, I got something like 9+ hours of sleep (is that a record?)

and then Saturday, I wasn't planning on it but I slept for 10.5 hours

This is absurd for me. Usually I am trying to fit in between 7-8 hours. When I get those 4 hour nights I can turn off the appetite the next day. I could have done no physical activity and I am ravenous, no fair!

I know some of you are rolling your eyes because this is way more sleep than you can fit in your schedules but its important.

So with this sleep behind me, yesterday I showed up at the 0600 and had one of my better workouts yet.

I attribute it to the sleep and rest!

Read the articles and post comments.

GOOD LUCK!!

Lets get this show on the road...

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20041206/sleep-loss-feeds-appetite

http://www.sleepdex.org/appetite2.htm

http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2004/20041206-sleep.html

EDIT (10 Jan 10) I recently found this posting on Paleo Diet Online and wanted to retroactively include it on this post. The title is Stress, Cortisol, Sleep and Their Effect on Health.

Tomorrow it Begins

Tomorrow is the start of our 30 day Paleo Challenge.  If you’re still on the fence at this point, I suggest you jump down off the fence and start Paleo with everyone starting the challenge tomorrow.  It is not just CF Bolling doing a Paleo challenge; there are hundreds of CrossFit affiliates across the country starting Paleo challenges tomorrow, including CF Alexandria.

Before we kick off tomorrow, I want to state something.  Some of you doing this challenge will not lose a ton of weight.  But you will see your body composition change pretty dramatically.  This is not a fad diet that is built to have you shed water weight and make you feel better about your progress.  This is a diet that if you buy into it completely will fundamentally alter the way you look at food and what it does to your body.  I know personally I feel better, I sleep better, and my CrossFit performances have taken huge leaps since I have been on the Paleo diet.  Since I started doing Paleo 4 months ago I have taken a minute off my Fran time.  I know the Paleo diet is not solely responsible for that, I credit Casey and Rudy's programming as well but I do not think it would have made that big of a jump if not for the Paleo Diet.

So tomorrow is the big day, I hope that you have enjoyed the blog so far.  Mac and I have worked hard on getting a lot of information out quickly so everyone can jump on the Paleo bandwagon 4 January.  Yuki will be bringing her scale tomorrow so everyone can have a solid starting point.

P.S.  We are not doing before and after pictures for the challenge, but I encourage everyone participating to take a picture of themselves (men: shorts no shirt. women: shorts, sports bra) tomorrow so you can have a before and after picture.  This is something I wish I would have done.

Paleo Beef Stew

On cold windy days like this, I like to have to have something warm and hearty to eat. I found this recipe for Paleo Beef Stew on the CFSCC Eat This website. I have made it three or four times in the last few months and it never fails to disappoint.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. lean stew meat, left in big chunks!

about 3 T olive oil

32 oz. low sodium beef stock

1 -14 oz. can stewed tomatoes, no added salt

1/4 C almond flour

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

veggies:

1 large rutabaga, cut into big chunks

1 large parsnip, cut into large chunks

1 large turnip, big chunks

3 stalks celery, chopped

1/2 C baby carrots, whole

1 C pearl onions, pealed and left whole (added in the last 1/2 hour of cooking)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

In a plastic bag, combine almond flour and spices. Add stew meat to plastic bag and shake until meat is well coated. Heat about 2 tsp olive oil in pan (I used my favorite cast iron pan). Brown meat in pan... this may take two batches. Add a little more olive oil if needed. When browned, put stew meat in crock pot and add everything else (except pearl onions). I cooked this on high for about 3 hours, then turned in down low for another 2 hours. Add the pearl onion about 1/2 hour before serving. If they are added too soon, they break down too much.

This is total paleo, and 1 C is about a 4 block meal (for those who might be zoneing).

Break-Fast

Imagine going through your day, maybe just sitting at your desk...for eight long hours...without eating. I would be Miserable. Starving. Grumpy. In dire need of a snack. Well, you do this EVERYDAY (give or take a couple hours) except its nighttime. What I'm getting at here is you guys have to break this overnight fast in the morning! I'm not necessarily saying to eat before you workout, except that I have been eating a little applesauce lately with protein powder and loving the results. You guys do need to eat in the morning, preferrably as close to the workout as possible (again, a whole other topic). This blog is about eating Paleo so I wanted to post some really simple breakfast options:

Smoothie
Time: 30 seconds in my Vita-Mix
Ingredients:
CARB 2-4 cups frozen fruit from costco, mix berries and strawberries
PROTEIN 2-4 TBS protein powder ( I use Hemp Protein from Trader Joes...its doesn't taste bad and no it doesn't make me high)
water
FAT I bring along almonds in a ziploc and munch on those throughout the day

Leftover Meat and Butternut Squash
Time: 2 seconds to grab the leftovers and about 30 mins for the butternut squash @350F
Ingredients:
CARB about 2 cups of butternut squash (if you follow zone portions 3/4 cup is one block)
PROTEIN a piece of meat the size of the palm of your hand (in thickness and diameter)
FAT later on I will eat an avocado or more nuts as I get hungry...

Egg Muffins
Courtesy of Performance Menu

Make these in muffin cups and they are easy to grab and go for breakfast—either hot or cold. This is the doubled version, which makes about 16 muffin cups.

· 1 whole package of ground turkey or turkey sausage, over 1 lb.
· 1 yellow, red or orange bell pepper, chopped
· 1 whole medium onion, chopped
· 1 package of sliced white mushrooms
· Salt and pepper
· 10 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup (or two 6-cup) muffin pan with paper baking cups. Using only one paper baking cup per muffin is best.

In a medium non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, cook the turkey, pepper, onion and mushrooms for 5 minutes or until the turkey is no longer pink. Add salt and pepper (a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper is fine). Spoon this mixture into a larger bowl and cool slightly, about 5 to 10 minutes (if the turkey is not cooled it will cook the egg, which is bad). Stir in the eggs. Evenly divide the mixture among the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, or until the egg is set.

Remove from oven. Let the egg cups cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Remove the egg cups and place them in a Tupperware container and refrigerate. The egg cups will last for up to a week.

Reheating instruction: Leave the egg “muffin” in the paper cup. Heat in the microwave loosely wrapped in a paper towel for 25 to 30 seconds. Peel off the paper cup and enjoy! Two egg cups makes a great breakfast.

Pumpkin Paleo Pancakes
(2) 5 block meals (approx 35 gm P, 45 gm C, 45 gm F /person)

Courtesy of Steve "Paleo" who has the most delicious recipes EVER!!

2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves (my addition- remember, I love spice!)
1 tablespoon honey (Steve's recipe called for agave but I like honey better)

2 tablespoons chopped pecans - topping
2 tablespoon real maple syrup - topping

Coconut oil - for the pan

Mix everything up real good - sometimes that nut butter is clumpy - and make pancakes as usual (except you're gonna use the coconut oil in the pan) and add the pecans and maple syrup at the end. The recipe above makes 2 good size pancakes.

On the side you can up the protein and the carbs by:
12 extra egg whites to bring the protein up 35 gms/person
~ 4 oz of berries to bring the carbs up to ~45 gms/person

Watch This / Read This

One of the things I wanted to do with this blog is give people suggestions on movies to watch and books to read that might change the way you look and think about food.  The first movie I would like to suggest is Food Inc., this movie was given a nationwide release earlier this year but I have not run into many people that have actually seen it.  This is the movie that pushed me into eating Paleo and I think it might have the same effect on other people.  Below is a synopsis from IMDB.

"The current method of raw food production is largely a response to the growth of the fast food industry since the 1950s. The production of food overall has more drastically changed since that time than the several thousand years prior. Controlled primarily by a handful of multinational corporations, the global food production business - with an emphasis on the business - has as its unwritten goals production of large quantities of food at low direct inputs (most often subsidized) resulting in enormous profits, which in turn results in greater control of the global supply of food sources within these few companies. Health and safety (of the food itself, of the animals produced themselves, of the workers on the assembly lines, and of the consumers actually eating the food) are often overlooked by the companies, and are often overlooked by government in an effort to provide cheap food regardless of these negative consequences. Many of the changes are based on advancements in science and technology, but often have negative side effects. The answer that the companies have come up with is to throw more science at the problems to bandage the issues but not the root causes. The global food supply may be in crisis with lack of biodiversity, but can be changed on the demand side of the equation"

 Like I said at the top this movie completely changed the way I looked at food.  I switched the grass fed beef and bison as my main sources of protein and adopted the Paleo way of eating.  In a later post I will supply links to the farm where I order my meet from, they deliver to many locations in the National Capitol Region, so you do not have to worry about driving to far to pick up orders.

If you have seen this movie please share your thoughts in the comments section.


If you have Netflix this movie is available for streaming on your PC, XBOX360, Blu-ray player, etc.

Food, Inc. Trailer from TakePart on Vimeo.