Archive for the ‘Nutrition’ Category

The Pursuit of Paleo: At Home 2

Posted: January 16, 2011 in CrossFit, Nutrition
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I can’t believe it, but we’re already through half of January, and many of you “made Resolutions” (or set goals) for 2011 that had to do with improving your diet. Some of them were geared towards weight loss, some towards improving your performance in the gym and some were just to try and eat healthier foods.

This post is to share yet another wonderful resource with you on how to more easily follow a “Paleo” diet. Sarah Fragoso is a trainer is NorCal Strength and Conditioning who started a blog called “Everyday Paleo: Recipes for Life“. Not only does she provide some wonderful recipes for how to cook delicious meals, but her story alone is enough to inspire anyone!

After having three kids and being a busy mother and wife, Sarah struggled to find the time to take good care of herself. But after she dedicated herself to trying something new, and getting the help of some amazing people (among them, Robb Wolf, one of the world’s premier experts on the Paleo Diet and the author of The Paleo Diet) check out her “Before and After” pictures after she made changes to her diet and devoted some time per week to working out and exercising. What an absolutely amazing transformation!

I hope you can find some useful information from her blog, as she has dozens of delicious meal ideas that can help your body stay in line with Paleo guidelines, yet still have a great time cooking fun and delicious meals! As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

The Pursuit of Paleo: At Home 1

Posted: November 19, 2010 in Nutrition
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“I don’t have time to cook…”
“Healthy food is so expensive…”

Those are just two of the reasons we give ourselves to delay trying to adjust our way of eating in order to improve our fitness, and quite frankly, our overall quality of life.

I have not met a single person who feels worse in their day-to-day functioning when their nutrition is cleaned up, even a little bit. One of the things I’ve been trying to say to you guys is to start small…. but start.. and start now.

Does that mean eating one less meal at a fast-food place per week? Does that mean replacing pastas with veggies once per week? It doesn’t matter how big the change, but you can start the change now.

My usual breakfast when I make something at home will be eggs and a few other things. Ideally, I’ll pair 3-4 eggs with 1/2 of an avocado and maybe some veggies cooked in with them, but that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes, for my fat source I’ll throw in some walnuts or mixed nuts. Others, I’ll have some fruit instead of veggies for my carbs. Today I didn’t have fruits or veggies, but I did still have a jar of Rosa Mexicano Kitchen Salsa from a sample pack that my friend who works for them sent me (thanks, Maddy!). Magically, I was able to sub that in for my carbs! Crisis averted.

Check this out, though… a jar of salsa costs what, $3-4? A dozen eggs, let’s guess high and say $3. A single avocado, $2 for a nice one, I’ll guess. So for a single meal, it’s going to cost me less than $2. You know what else? 4 eggs, some big spoonfuls of salsa, and a cut up avocado will fill me up a lot more than a $3-5 breakfast burrito or a $5+ “Value Meal” at a drive-through place.

Paleo, CrossFit, Smashby Training, Eggs, Pursuit of Pale, CrossFit Lakewood

Delicious AND Nutritious! (and easy to make)

What about time? How long did it take me to make this delicious meal pictured above?
Let’s figure it out:
Getting pan and spraying with Pam- 7 seconds
Grabbing 4 eggs, cracking them in pan, throwing away shells- 15 seconds
Cutting avocado in half, scooping out 1/2 onto plate- 20 seconds
Check on eggs 2-3 times while cooking- 15 seconds
Moving cooked eggs onto plate- 10 seconds
Placing a few scoops of salsa on the eggs- 20 seconds

So what am I saying? For less than $2 and less than 2 minutes of your time, you can have a delicious and healthy breakfast in the comfort of your own home.

Obviously that’s just one example of one possible meal, but doing that for lunches and dinners can be just as easy to break down. Eating better food just takes a little bit better planning at the beginning, and then just like anything else, it becomes habit!

Check out this video that was posted on the CrossFit Journal a few days ago. It’s less than 7 minutes long, but it shows about what one woman was able to do in 8 weeks, just by cleaning up her diet, and CrossFitting 3-4 times per week. Eight weeks. Yet another inspiring story of someone who decided it was time to change their life for the better. I love stuff like this.

Click here to watch the video

The Pursuit of Paleo: Grocery Shopping 1

Posted: August 6, 2010 in Nutrition
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Quick post here for you guys!

A lot of people claim the don’t eat as well as they could or should because they don’t have time to shop, or don’t know the “right” foods to buy.

As I said in my first “Pursuit of Paleo” post, I guide most of my food choices off of a prescription found in CrossFit’s World Class Fitness in 100 Words.

“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar.”

Again, I use this as a GUIDE.  I don’t live my life with a strict Paleolithic Diet, but I am aware that the body reacts more favorably to… well, life, when we choose better and healthier food options.

Last night I decided to go grocery shopping and 10 minutes and $50 later, here’s what I walked out with-

$50 can get you a lot of good food that can last for a while!

I used to use the “I don’t have time to shop or eat healthy” excuse a lot, so here is a quick run-down of what I bought and why.  Feel free to disagree with any of my food choices.  I’m just sharing what I did, and why 🙂

Frozen Veggies- Heat them up in your microwave in 4.5 minutes.  Super easy, and frozen veggies last MUCH longer than fresh ones

Fresh Veggies- There is some asparagus in there, too, not just the spinach.  Those are two things that I can just toss in the pan if I’m baking some chicken and add some greens to my plate.  Very easy to prepare, and the spinach I can even rinse and throw on any plate, with pretty much any meal.  Good for you, and easy to make.

Eggs- I’ve read it can be bad to eat too many eggs, and I’ve also heard they’re one of the most effective means of obtaining protein.  Plus, I can whip up a plate in 6 minutes, so that works well for me and my busy schedule.  Just toss on some hot sauce and I’m ready to go.

Fruit- Some people say to eat fruit too often can lead to an intake of too much sugar in your diet.  On some levels I agree, but on the other hand, cutting up strawberries takes 20 minutes and I can keep them in the fridge for a week plus.  Also, grabbing an apple when I walk out the door in a rush, instead of a pop tart… is a little better for me.

Chicken Breast- Rip open the tray, separate 1-2 breasts in a ziplock bag at home with a marinade of some kind for added flavor, and freeze them until I’m ready to cook.  Piece of cake!

Walnuts- Great source of good fats, and I’ve been on a walnut kick lately.

That’s all there is to it.  It literally took me 10 minutes walking through the perimeter of the grocery store and I had enough food (and food that I consider “healthy”) to last me for at least 5-7 days.  Not bad!

Feel free to comment on this post and let me know your thoughts on my food choices and your stance on nutrition in general!  Let’s get this dialogue going.

Enjoy

The Pursuit of Paleo: At Home (Intro)

Posted: August 2, 2010 in Nutrition
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So just like the “Dining Out” section of the Pursuit of Paleo segment of this blog, here I will be sharing some delicious and easy-to-make meals that are good for you as well.

A lot of these may not be crazy meals, or particularly complicated or fancy meals, but the goal of these posts is just to show that anyone can make a healthy dinner.  Usually in a lot less time than you’d think, too!

As always, I’m interested in what you guys think, so comment on these posts and let me know.

Does it look gross?  Can we spice it up a little bit to make it healthier/more delicious?  Do you even like the posts?

Hope to hear from you guys!

The Pursuit of Paleo: Dining Out 1

Posted: July 25, 2010 in Nutrition
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The first stop on this crazy adventure is a place called Wahoo’s Fish Tacos!  I ate there for lunch the other day, and as I’ve done for the last few months if I eat Mexican cuisine, I knew I wasn’t going to eat a tortilla if I went for a taco or burrito.  It’s unnecessary carbs, and quite frankly, I don’t love the taste so I don’t get one.  Usually I do a bowl of some sort.

When I looked at the menu, though, I saw an option that looked a lot better for me.  The Wahoo’s Salad!  Since I was hungry, I decided to get it with steak AND shrimp, too.  When the plate came out, I was in heaven!

Will you look at that!  Lettuce, veggies, guacamole, steak, shrimp, and hot sauce!!  It was amazing.  To me, the little tortilla strips are just bad carbs so I didn’t touch them, and the sauce they provided didn’t add anything to meal, so I didn’t use that either.

Fast forward 15 minutes and 4 songs on my iPod:

I don’t know where you grew up, but where I come from, crushing a meal like that gets you membership into a pretty exclusive group.  Maybe you’ve heard of it: The Clean Plate Club! 

The point is, even if you go out to a place who’s cuisine may not be very “paleo”, you can still make choices that are much better for your body, and really delicious.  I’ll rate this meal an 8.4 on the Paleo scale.

p.s.- Fine, you caught me.  I did eat two of the tortilla strips, but JUST TWO!

The Pursuit of Paleo: Dining Out (Intro)

Posted: July 25, 2010 in Nutrition
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This is the first post of a new series called: “The Pursuit of Paleo”

In these posts, I’ll share stories and ideas for how to keep your diet geared towards what I feel is the most effective  way to tailor your nutrition.  For me, that way is by following a Paleolithic diet.  What is that?  I won’t overwhelm you with details here, but basically it means you eat foods that were available 10,000 years ago.  If it’s processed or has a label on it, it’s probably not good for you.  CrossFit.com says in it’s World Class Fitness in 100 Words: “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar.”  That’s as simple as it gets.

Now let me start this new segment of the blog by saying one thing:

I am by no means a model of what a person should or should not eat.  However, I am constantly improving my own diet and can say, with complete confidence, that proper nutrition is equally as important (if not more important) than an effective training program.  If you address and improve your diet, you will improve your quality of life.  You can quote me on that.

Finally, everything I write in these segments are my own personal thoughts and opinions.  I am not a nutritionist, so understand that it’s just my opinion and take what I’m saying with a grain of salt!  Actually, scratch that.  Salt’s probably not the best thing to eat…

If you want to learn more about the Paleo Diet, feel free to start with some reading on Wikipedia –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet

And if you want to read a blog by someone who does know his stuff, check out my buddy Kevin Ogar’s blog –

The Ape and the Caveman

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