Tag: paleo
Power Snatch
The 2013 Opens start March 6. Are you ready?
Power Snatch 3-3-3-3-3
Mini tabata mash up: (4 min total)
Double unders
Pull ups
*score total reps
Burpees vs. Cookie-Nobody wins
…The trouble is, that is not an effective means of motivating yourself to stick to a diet. Oh sure, it seemslike it would be. I mean, staring at that cookie, you can’t help but think to yourself, “I want the cookie… but do I 100 burpee want the cookie?” In a perfect world, the answer would be no, crisis averted, challenge intact. Except most of us don’t think that long term. Yes, from cookie to burpee is, in fact, “long term”… (continue reading)
Radical Food Challenge
As we get ready start a new year, we will all be looking to get back on track and make some positive changes. Many of our goals this time of year are health related and we are going to help you achieve those goals! Hitting CrossFit 3-5 times a week is going to be a great start! Getting adequate sleep and managing stress will also boost your results more than you ever realized. But, the hard part, the really really hard part is taking a good look at the food you’re eating and making an honest assessment. Is the food you’re eating making you more healthy or less healthy? There really aren’t any other options when it comes to food, either its good for you and bettering your body and overall health or it isn’t. Simple. As. That.
Give me one week to radically change what you eat
We are excited to roll out a nutrition challenge unlike any other at CrossFit UV. We will equip you with the tools and support you need to be successful during our radical food challenge. Our challenge will start Saturday January 5 and will kick off with our first of six weekly support groups. We will equip you with a handy dandy nutrition guide from our friends and partners at Whole9. We will have weekly check-ins every Saturday at 9 am. This will be a great place for you to talk about the week, share your success/frustrations, share recipes, as well as ask questions. We will also have weekly topics to help you along the way such as, eating out, supplements, hydration, etc. Each week you will be asked to recommit. We will all be holding ourselves and each other accountable to those participating. After each week you’ll have to reflect on yourself and what changes you’ve experienced and ask yourself is it worth it to continue for one more week?
All-In or Baby Steps
We know that changing your food is one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. What we eat is comforting and convenient. Some of us have tried so many diets and failed we’ve decided to give up on them completely! We understand that and have come up with two options that should work for everyone. Option 1 is All-In; this is for you if you are ready to completely start from scratch. We will wipe the slate clean and start anew. This is for the person who doesn’t do well with moderation and is also perfect for all of the Type A’s out there. Option 2 is Baby Steps; this is a great way to test the waters and start making changes towards more healthy foods. You will be given an assignment each week to implement and by the end of the challenge you will be caught up to those that started out All-In.
Everyone Wins
We love some healthy competition, but in this arena we want you more focused on making a change in yourself than winning a competition. Our Radical Food Challenge (RFC) will run for a little over a month and in that time should give you the confidence and building blocks to continue on well after. If you give 100% to this month, you will radically change your overall health and how you view food for the rest of your life.
Jump start
Looking to get a head start before the challenge? Check these out!
- Ask a trainer for a nutrition guide (if you’ve lost yours)
- It Starts With Food -book
- Foodee project-recipes
- Quick reference guide and recourses via Whole9
- Free downloads
- For the more science minded person-start here
Pork Chops and Veggie Rice
These pork chops never disappoint and what makes them even better is that they are really easy to make! For the veggies I tried to make some of the same old stuff in a new way and it was a success! The great thing about this meal is that the veggie rice would keep for a few days and make great leftovers for another nights dinner or lunch, all you’d have to do is cook up some kind of meat/fish. And you could easily make this a dinner for one by simply cooking one pork chop, or maybe eating both of them yourself!
For the veggies:
1 head cauliflower
1 head broccoli
2 zucchinis
clarified butter or coconut oil
Using the shredding blade of your food processor or a cheese grater if you don’t have one, shred all of the veggies. Add to a pan with a liberal amount of clarified butter and add salt and pepper to your liking. Cook until to desired doneness. I like mine to start to get a little browned. We call it veggie rice, but the consistency is closer to cous-cous. You could probably also cook this in the microwave to save time. Once you have the veggies started it’s time to make the chops…
For the Pork Chops:
desired # of bone in pork chops (we used 2)
rub on liberal amounts of the following:
salt (we love kosher salt), pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and the secret ingredient; herbs de provence-you can buy this at Sprouts the store formerly known as Sunflower Market.
Heat a pan to medium heat with enough clarified butter or coconut oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Drop in your chops and cook for 5-7 minutes, flip and cook the other side for 5-7 minutes. Next drop 1/8 cup water into the pan to deglaze some of the yummy bits on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 3-4 minutes. This should leave you with a delicious seared outside and a moist inside. I haven’t ever had them turn out undercooked or dry.
This was such a great dinner! Jeremy said he liked the veggie rice better than just cauliflower rice. Truth be told the picture is of his plate, I ate the rest of the veggies plus my pork chop!
Smokey Roast
Coffee Spice Rub:
- 2 T coffee grounds
- 1/2 t ground chipotle
- 1 t unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 t cinnamon
- 1/2 T garlic powder
- 1 T dried oregano
- 1 T cumin
- 1 t sea salt
Mix all spices together and rub onto roast
other ingredients:
- 2.5 lb beef chuck roast
- 1/2 T coconut oil
- 1 red onion, halved and sliced
- 3/4 C water
Heat your coconut oil in a skillet over medium to medium high heat, make sure your pan is nice and hot! Using tongs, place the roast into the hot skillet and sear for 3-4 minutes on each side. If your pan is not hot enough you will lose your spices, but if it’s too hot, you will burn your roast. You want it to make a nice crust on all sides of the meat. Place your sliced onions and water in the bottom of a slow cooker. Once the roast has been seared, put the roast in the slow cooker on top of the onions. Cover and cook on high 5-6 hours or low for 7-8 hours.
I served mine over some pre-bagged salad and some sweet potatoes pan fried in clarified butter! I used some oil and vinegar for dressing. This is also really good atop kale. See post here for how to make some amazing kale
Potluck Recipes
Here are some of the recipes from the Potluck last Friday.
Sweet Potato Casserole
Sweet Potatoes
4 large sweet potatoes
½ cup canned coconut milk
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
1-2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
juice of half an orange
Pecan Topping
¾ cup chopped raw pecans
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp melted coconut oil
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and preheat oven to 350º F. While water comes to a boil,
peel and dice sweet potatoes into large chunks.
2. Add sweet potato chunks to water. Boil until fork tender–about 10 minutes.
3. Drain potatoes, then dump them back in the large pot with all the other ingredients. Using a
hand mixer, blend until potatoes reach desired consistency and flavor (add a little more coconut
milk, spices, or syrup based on your taste).
4. In a small bowl, combine all topping ingredients until pecans are well coated.
5. Dump sweet potatoes into an oven safe dish and top with pecans.
6. Bake in preheated oven until topping is browned–about 15 minutes. Serve warm.
Deviled Eggs
18 hard boiled eggs
½ c mayonnaise (Paleo)
3 t dijon mustard
White wine vinegar to taste
Salt and pepper
Smoked paprika
Peel and slice in half the hard-boiled eggs. Remove yolks and place in a bowl. Combine yolks with remaining ingredients. Adjust seasonings to taste and spoon yolks back into egg whites.
Paleo Mayonnaise
1 egg
1 ½ T lemon juice
1 t ground mustard powder
Salt and pepper
1 cup light olive oil*
*Make sure you do not use extra virgin olive oil, the taste is just too strong. You can also use ½ cup avocado oil in place of ½ cup of the olive oil.
In a food processor, mix the egg, lemon juice and mustard powder. With the processor running, SLOWLY add the olive oil. I eyeball it until I think it’s about ¼ cup, then let the food processor run for a little while until what you’ve added is emulsified, then slowly add another ¼ cup and so on until the entire cup has been added. Salt and pepper to taste. Store in the refrigerator. **This won’t last like your store bought mayonnaise, so try to use it within a few days.
Ambrosia Salad
1/2 Pineapple
4 Clementines
3 Kiwis
1 Can coconut milk; fat from the top
1 C unsweetened coconut flakes
1 Tbs honey
1/4 tsp vanilla
Cut up the fruit and mix it all together
Eggplant
1 Eggplant, diced
1 Red bell pepper, diced
1 small red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
olive oil
fresh or dry basil
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
roast the red bell pepper and garlic, add the onion and cook for about 3 minutes. Add eggplant and rest of ingredients, cook until tender.
Roasted Cauliflower
cauliflower cut into medium/small pieces
EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
salt and pepper
paprika
oregano
Roast @425 for 25 min
Pumpkin Sausage Soup
PUMPKIN SAUSAGE SOUP
serves 6
ingredients:
1 lb breakfast sausage
1/2 a large onion, minced
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
15oz can of pumpkin
4 cups chicken stock
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
pinch of dried rosemary
1 tsp paprika
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tsp sea salt or to taste
2 T clarified butter or some other more paleo cooking fat such as coconut oil
1/2 cup coconut milk or heavy whipping cream
Heat the butter in a heavy deep pot and saute the mushrooms over medium-high heat until golden. Remove from the pot to a small bowl, leaving the butter. Add the onions to the pot and saute them until golden, then remove them to a separate bowl. Add the sausage to the pot and brown it until it is cooked through and looks tasty. Drain sausage if necessary
Add the pumpkin to the pot and deglaze with the chicken stock. Add the onions, mushrooms, and sausage back to the pot. Add in all the remaining ingredients except the coconut milk (don’t forget to add in the cooked mushrooms and sausage!), and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut milk.
***This soup also freezes and reheats really well! I like to make a double batch and freeze some for later.
Add some greens to your meals
Having a hard time adding veggies to your meals? Here is a quick way to add some greens into your life.
Add some cooking fat to a pan (clarified butter, or coconut oil, or even some leftover bacon grease)
Add a couple handfuls of baby kale or spinach to the pan, sprinkle with salt.
Cook until wilty and I like my kale a tad on the crunchy side.
I like to serve this with eggs over medium, as well as any leftover steak, roast, brisket, etc.
My take on your nutrition (part II)
Hopefully you are at least considering taking some action and starting to change your eating habits. I said before that the simplicity is what makes it so beautiful, but maybe you need some guidelines. When you are used to diets with so many rules, it seems crazy to just abandon all of them and just start eating freely. Eventually, you’ll get this all figured out, shopping and cooking will be a breeze and maybe even fun! But, right now it might seem terrifying. For some of you, your own kitchen is a place you don’t really know that well, except for your microwave of course!
The hard truth is, you will have to cook, you will have to go grocery shopping, you will seem like a freak to all of your non-CrossFit friends. At this point some of your non-CrossFit friends probably already thing you’re a freak anyway as you probably never stop talking about, the wod, your PRs, Rxing, ripping your hands, etc. I guess it really comes down to are you happy staying where you are at from a health and wellness standpoint, or are you ready to try something new and make a change? Your current diet or eating habits have gotten you to where you are today, and either that is a place you are okay with or one you are not okay with. If you’re not okay with it, then it is time to throw caution to the wind and try a different approach. So, even though what I am suggesting probably sounds crazy and goes against everything you’ve been taught your whole life (food pyramid, ADA, AHA, etc.), it might just work!
The best recourses for getting started, what to eat, and how to put a meal together have already been laid out by Whole9. I have included links below to get you more than prepared to start enjoying high quality delicious foods. But since I am a get to the point sort of girl, I’ll give you the highlights:
- Eat Meat, Fish, and Eggs
- Eat lots of Veggies and some fruit (these are your carbs). Did I just blow your mind or what?
- Eat the right types of fat. Even if you are trying to lose weight you need to eat fat. Where has your low-fat/fat free diet gotten you?
- Don’t eat grains (bread, rice, pasta, even oatmeal or whole wheat anything)
- Don’t eat legumes (peanuts live here)
- Don’t eat/consume dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt)
- Eat 3 meals a day not 6
- This will turn your body into a fat burning machine instead of a sugar burning machine. Pretty cool huh?!
- Drink lots of water
- Get some dang sleep (8+ hours a night)
Links to help you get started:
How to navigate at the grocery store
Shopping list (this is to get you started not necessarily a list of the only foods you can eat)
Keep this stuff in your pantry
There you have it! Everything you need to know to get started! Also remember that eating grass-fed and organic is best case scenario, but not a deal breaker. Eating that way is mucho expensive. If you’re looking for an excuse to not do it, try again. You will still see amazing benefits and results from eating regular meat and produce bought from any grocery store.
Got questions? I know you do! Lay them on me! This will also help give me ideas for future blog posts.
My take on your nutrition (part I)
If you have started training with us, then that probably means you are trying to take some steps in the right direction towards being healthier. You may be trying to get out of your fat jeans and into your skinny jeans, get stronger, put on some weight, or maybe you just want a better quality of life. Whatever your reason for doing CrossFit, did you ever consider what you are eating may be affecting these goals? Many people have gotten themselves disciplined enough to working out 3 or more times a week. Don’t get me wrong, this is great! But, if you are eating low quality foods such as pretty much any fast food, and anything you buy at the store that comes in a box where you just add water, microwave, or toast. You are doing yourself a great disservice. Many of us think, well I work out hard, so I can eat what I want. If that is your reason for working out and you are happy with where your overall health and body composition is, than good for you and keep on keeping on! But, I’m guessing most of you, if you are honest with yourself aren’t where you want to be. If this is the case than I ask you why do all the hard work in the gym and not be the least bit concerned about what you are putting into your body?
The food that we eat plays such a huge role in our overall health and body composition. If you are going to invest the time into working out, I feel you also owe it to yourself to eat high quality foods. There are so many benefits to eating high quality real foods. The food is very nutrient dense, flavorful, and satiating! There are no gimmicks, no quick fixes, no calorie counting or weird formulas, but there is the promise to have you feeling better than you probably have in years! You should sleep better, take less sick days, clearer skin, have more energy that is consistent throughout the day (no more 2pm crashes), and you’ll look better with or without clothes on. Sounds pretty good right?
If this interests you try to find the nutrition packet we gave you when you started On Ramp. If you’ve lost it ask a trainer for another one. If you don’t train with us but follow us online then spend some time getting familiar with Whole9 and their book It Starts with Food. You need to take some initiative here and read about this on your own. I can tell you what to eat and how to eat (which I do and will continue to do in future posts), but until you are ready to grab the bull by the horns and take your nutrition into your own hands, you will not succeed. The idea of eating better sounds good to most people, but actually doing it can be a different story. Everyone has an excuse about why they can’t. The most common ones are time, money, and simply knowing what to make and how to make it.
Don’t overcomplicate it:
Eating this way is pretty simple, challenging at first, but that’s mostly because it’s different than what we are used to. Here is what we are asking you to eat: meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, healthy oils, nuts and seeds. That doesn’t sound so bad or hard, does it? I bet most diets or eating plans you’ve tried before are full of rules and parameters where you basically need a list of approved foods and a road map (calorie book, block/point chart) to find your way. After a few days or maybe weeks of this you throw your hands in the air and conclude that this is too hard to keep up with. And in many ways you are right. That’s what I love about eating in line with the principles of Paleo and Whole9. It’s simplicity is so beautiful! Once you get over the initial complexities of removing certain less optimal foods from your daily diet, it really does become pretty easy. I personally have been eating this way for over 3 years. So, is eating a diet rich in meat/fish/eggs, veggies, fruits, and the right fats sustainable? Absolutely!
Recommended quick reads:
Why we don’t eat grains (try to keep an open mind here)
Potluck Express (10 items or less)
Friday Oct 26 at 6:30 pm
Feeling overwhelmed by the nutrition packet we gave you when you started On Ramp? Need some new recipes to throw in the rotation? Do you need to learn how to cook? If you answered yes to any of these questions this is the potluck for you!
Come enjoy a night of delicious food and company with great friends! Who knows you may even decide eating clean can be tasty and exciting!
For my more experienced paleo eaters please bring something with 10 ingredients or less. You may count any and all seasonings as one ingredient. Please also bring some copies of your recipe as well as email it to me with a photo to post on the blog/fb page.
If you are newer to this please bring something super simple such as a bag of salad, salsa, raw veggies, fruit, hard boiled eggs, etc. Or, by all means if you are feeling adventurous try a recipe you have been scared to make.
The rules here are pretty simple:
3-2-1 Paleo
At the beginning of the year I put together some very basic posts to help people get started with a paleo diet. Changing your diet is scary and uncomfortable, but it can also be so rewarding! All you need are the building blocks to feel confident enough to take that first step. I am linking all of the articles here to make it even easier to get started!
Bonus:
My favorite source of fat is clarified butter. That’s right butter! You might be thinking, hey wait a minute, butter is a source of dairy. You’re right it is, but the great thing about butter is that is is mostly animal fat. By clarifying it you remove the milk proteins and are left with pure golden butterfat. It can also withstand high heat cooking which is an added bonus!
