Crossfit Tribe Eats.

General Dietary Guidelines.

2009-09-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

By Dr. Garrett Smith

Naturopathic Physician

www.doctorasteacher.com

Eat five times a day, three meals and two snacks.

A “portion” of food is the amount of an authorized food approximately the size of the palm of your hand or your clenched fist.

Protein:

Eat a portion at every meal. Sizes below are approximate.

Chicken – 3-4oz

Beef – 3-4 oz

Fish – 3-4 oz

Eggs – 2-3 whole eggs

When you begin this diet, make sure you are fulfilling, at minimum, 80g of protein a day for females, and 100g of protein a day for males. Food choices are the most important part at this stage, however, we do want to make sure we are fulfilling basic nutritional requirements as well. Again, note that those are minimum requirements.

Carbohydrates (fruits and vegetables):

Eat a portion (at least) every meal, with your protein(s) and fat(s).

Authorized vegetables are approved in unlimited amounts (this is not true once sauces/dressings come into play, be careful!).

Note that people who have been eating grains/dairy/sugars by themselves or in combination for a significant amount of time are used to running on higher blood sugar levels and are also less sensitive to their own insulin. If you are someone who gets very sleepy/angry/irritable/dizzy if you don’t eat for more than 2-3 hours, know that you are likely in a hypoglycemic state, the first signals of heading down the road towards many diseases (diabetes and metabolic syndrome are just the tip of the iceberg here). During your transition to this style of eating, you may feel less-than-great (honesty is the best policy here, is it not?). Trust in the diet, you will feel much better soon. First, realize that the metabolic change-over in your system will not be enjoyable—you may be very hungry, irritable, and have low energy. Realize that if you are eating your protein at every meal, along with your authorized carbohydrates and fats, you are not undernourished. Take a multi-vitamin-mineral if it makes you feel more comfortable that your nutrient bases are covered. During the metabolic change-over, which may last a week (never more than two weeks), you can relieve some of the symptoms by eating more whole fruit. After the change-over, if you want to accelerate bodyfat loss, choose vegetables first, fruits second.

Fruits will seem more appealing than vegetables to many people. This is OK. Try to get in at least two servings minimum of vegetables a day, along with the fruit.

Fruit juice and “Jamba Juice”-type smoothies are NOT authorized.

Be judicious with dried fruits (raisins, dates, prunes, etc.) as their sugars are concentrated!

Fats:

Eat some (note that the portions of fat are different than all others) at every meal. Oils should be limited to less than a tablespoon per meal, nuts (raw is preferable, lightly roasted is acceptable) should be limited to small handfuls. A portion of avocado is ½ of a medium sized one. Use common sense and take into account fatty meals before adding more fat!

NO peanuts.

Hydration:

Drink at least 64 ounces of filtered water daily (note the daily intake should be higher in Tucson summers!). Green, white, and herbal teas (ie. ginger, peppermint, chamomile, honeybush, rooibos, etc.) are highly recommended and can replace water in a 1:1 ratio. Make some tea in the morning in your coffee maker and take it to work in a jar/bottle, or put green/white tea bags in room temperature water and let them sit, they will “brew” on their own.

Plan your meals in advance. Note that this means planning your grocery list in advance. After you get in a groove with your diet, this will become much easier than at the start. Remember, if we fail to plan, we plan to fail.

There are two “cheating” options on this diet. One is to have one free-for-all day once a week where you can eat whatever you want. The second, more effective option is to have one “cheat” meal a week. It may be best at the start to have one cheat day. As you see results and your taste for junk foods decreases, you will likely want to reduce your “cheating”. You may even begin doing it without noticing!

Eat whole foods. Meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Simple as that.

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

All flour products (bread/pasta/cake/cookies/scones/tortillas/pastries etc.).
All refined sugars (sugar in whole fruits is the only authorized sugar).
Beans/legumes (soy, pinto, kidney, peanuts, etc.).
Dairy (cheese/milk/butter/cottage cheese, etc.).
Mochas, lattes, frappuccinos. Want coffee/espresso? Drink it black or add some stevia (see below).
No artificial sweeteners (Splenda/sucralose/Equal/aspartame/Sweet’n’Low/saccharin/acesulfame-K/acesulfame potassium). Stevia, an all-natural non-caloric sweetener, is available for sale at Warehouse Vitamins, Wild Oats, and other health food stores. It is OK in small amounts (1-2x/day max). Don’t buy the Trader Joe’s stevia (it’s all lactose with a bit of stevia).
No sugar alcohols (sorbitol, maltitol, glycerol). Note that xylitol is OK.

AN EASYYY TO MAKE and SO SO GOOD PALEO TREAT!

2009-08-23T18:12:00.001-07:00

Feast your eyes and stomach...yep that is the tasting of a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich...paleo style!

So easy to make and oh so good. Here's how its done:

Go here to learn how to make Gluten-Free Bread 2.0. (which you will find many more paleo-friendly recipes....great site!).

Then, simply spread some raw almond butter and sugar-free jelly on top.....and you have yourself a very delicious little treat to wash down with a big cup of raw milk.

Ginger Beef with Broccoli

2009-07-26T17:35:00.000-07:00

I wish I had pictures of all of the food I cooked this week, but I took them of the last dish I made...Ginger Beef with Broccoli. This may be the best thing that I've made since I started cooking last fall.

Ginger Beef with Broccoli:

Grass Fed Beef
Broccoli
Scallions
Tamari
Ginger
Garlic
Sesame Oil

I minced fresh ginger and mixed it with 5Tbsp tamari, minced garlic, and 2tsp of sesame oil. I let the beef marinate overnight in this mixture.

Today, I chopped up some broccoli, scallions, and minced some more ginger.

First, I added some of the marinate into the pan with a bit of water. I added in all of my veggies and let them steam up.

Once the veggies were almost ready, I added the meat, and in no time flat, I had a wonderful one pot meal!

The rest of my menu for the week includes a chicken curry with red cabbage and red peppers, and a pork roast cooked with apples and sauerkraut.

2009-03-09T19:45:00.001-07:00

THIS BLOG MUST BE REVIVED!!!!

Paleo Brownies

2008-12-14T08:39:00.001-08:00

Here's the recipe that I used for the brownies on Friday night. I found it on the CrossFit Boards.

6 Tbsp oil
2 eggs
1/2 c honey (I used 1/2 c agave nectar instead)
1/2 c almond or pecan meal (I used almond meal)
1/2 c cocoa or carob powder (I used unsweetened cocoa powder)
1/4 c arrowroot flour

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

If you use a smaller pan and the batter is poured in thick, it comes out more like cake than like brownies. I used a 9x9 pan for mine.

Enjoy!

Coconut Custard a la SAM!

2008-12-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

Sam made a paleo custard and wanted to share!

BEFORE!

coconut custard!!

2 eggs
1 can 14 oz lite coconut milk
1/8 cup (2 TBSPN) agave nectar
1/4 tspn nutmeg
2 TBSPN hemp powder (optional)

combine ingredients.

put in tray. top with cinnamon
place in larger tray (add water in this tray)
cook for 1 hr @ 325*

Twas delishhhhhhhhh <3

AFTER!

Weekend Wants

2008-11-21T21:51:00.000-08:00

Somedays all I want to do is bake something - and eat ice cream. Today, friends, is one of those days. Here's just what the doctor ordered:

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Here's what you need:

2 cups of water
1 cup of raw cashews
1/4 cup raw hemp seed
1/2 cup pitted dates
1 tbs. vanilla
1 tbs. spirulina
1 tbs. peppermint extract
1 tbs. arrowroot extract
1 tsp. sea salt
bar of chocolate (1/2 broken up into big blocks goes to the blender, and 1/2 broken into smallish chunks to go in the finished product before you put it in the freezer)

1. Measure it all out and chuck it in the blender.

Primordial blenderness.

2. Blend for a few minutes and then pour into a low dish of some sort for freezing.

3. Use the pounded or chopped half chocolate bar to top the icecream.

I swear it's mint...it's just not green!

Coconut Flour Berry Muffins

Got this recipe off of Cindalou's site.

Not hard to make at all but I didn't add any stevia and I think it would have helped a bit with the cake-y texture of the muffin. I also didn't use cranberries and used mixed berries instead. If anybody cooks with coconut flour again let me know! The stuff is great - high in fiber for one thing - just need to find some more uses for it.

Southern Comfort Night in the Land of Non-Paleo People

2008-11-16T18:14:00.000-08:00

So a few of my friends who don't Crossfit (I know, HOW is that possible?) decided to have a Southern Comfort Potluck Night - this meant my choices for good food (the kind that tastes good AND makes me feel good) were bound to be slim. So I took matters into my own hands. I made sure there was at least a full meal that I could take advantage of (that they might also like) and although I did sample a bit of what everyone made I felt so much better than I normally would have eating what was readily available and bearing the consequences later. Here's what was on my menu.

UNCLE EDDIE'S SPIRAL MEATLOAF

Um, is meatloaf Southern Comfort food? I have no idea, but I feel like Uncle Eddie is definitely from Greenville.

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1.25 lbs. of meat (I used bison)
1/2 cup cut up shiitake mushrooms (I subbed these in for 1/2 cup breadcrumbs)
1/2 cup minced onion
1 tsp minced rosemary
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
20 cracks of black pepper

2 cups kale
2 cups spinach

1 tsp raw agave nectar (if I had raw honey I would have used that)
1 tsp crushed mustard seed

It's pretty simple.

1. Dump your cup of water in a large pan and throw in the kale and spinach leaves. Cover these until they're very soft (it should only take about 5 minutes) and then remove the leaves from the pan into a colander. If you can stomach it, drink some of the water that drains from the pan - it's full of good stuff for you! Let the kale and spinach cool off for a while and then press as much of the water as you can out of the leaves.

Ball o' Spinach and Kale: what it looks like when all the water is pressed out.

2. While all that's going on you can be mincing the mushrooms, onion, and rosemary. Throw all this in to a big bowl with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder and mix thoroughly with your hands (the fun part?)

You need to mince stuff pretty well for meatloaf that stays in one piece.

3. Now for the fun part - remove your ball of meat from the bowl and place on a cookie sheet, super clean counter, or, as I did, parchment paper. You're looking to flatten this ball out until its roughly 1/2 inch thick and 10" by 12".

This thick!

4. Once you've done that you can lay out the pieces of your veggie ball acrossf the top of the meat - you'll be rolling this in a second so make sure things are evenly spread.

It's about this long.

5. Now carefully roll the meat up and place in a shallow baking dish. Over this drizzle the agave nectar (or honey) mixed with mustard.

Roll o' meat.

6. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes (maybe a little longer for bison which cooks less quickly than beef) and voila! A really pretty also healthy, also TASTY meat dish. This took me all of 15 minutes to prepare. I swear. I was running late as usual.

2008-11-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

Sweet Potato Fries

I love these things way too much. In this case they are definitely not Zone-friendly, but they are paleo.

1. Pour enough oil in a pan to almost cover a stick about the size above (that's the scary part). Turn the stove on somewhere between high and medium (you may need to adjust this later if your fries are cooking too quickly).

2. Peel and cut up a sweet potato into little french fry sized strips. Smaller = crispier. You could also make some pretty mean hash browns by frying grated sweet potato I suppose.

3. Test out a little piece of sweet potato first. When you submerge it in the oil it should almost immediately begin bubbling around the sides. This means the oil is hot enough to be used for frying.

4. Fry your sweet potatoes bit by bit and when you fish them out (preferably with something METAL) place them on a paper bag which you've covered in paper towels to soak up the excess oil (Korean style oil soaking - mwahaha).

5. Let them cool off a bit, then eat. I know you'll eat one before you should. If they're too mooshy chances are the oils not hot enough, you haven't cooked them long enough, or you've got a little too much oil in the pan.

They bubble up like this.

Ah - crispy goodness...you can hear this picture, can't you?

Butter Pecan "Icecream"

Better than you'd think! Got this recipe from my Cafe Gratitude cookbook. It's uber simple and (I think) very delightful if you're someone who loves ice cream but can't bear the thought of what the high caloric load and dairy in general does to you. I'd say you could eat this stuff every day and it'd probably be GOOD for you.

Ingredients:

4 cups water
2 tbs. arrowroot
2 cups pecans
3/4 cup pitted dates (press the dates into a 1/4 cup to measure)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used Trader Joe's tahitian vanilla) or grated vanilla bean
1 tsp. sea salt

1. Place all of the above in a blender.

2. Blend for a few minutes on high.

3. Place in a long-ish baking dish and freeze.

4. It'll have the consistency of water ice but be a bit creamy from the fats in the nuts and the thickening properties of the arrowroot. I had mine with a little bit of baked pear + cinnamon (a la ALYSON! ;o) )

So easy a Caveman could do it!

It turns like this after you blend it!

More to come from my Cafe Gratitude Cookbook. I love that thing!

Starting Zone Week 5...

2008-11-11T17:21:00.000-08:00

Ah, my food is so good again this week! Love the crock pot...made two very easy meals in it and will definitely keep using it. This week has been good so far, not too tired and not hungry, so very easy to stay in zone. I'm planning on staying strict paleo zone for the next two weeks to make a full 6 weeks. Then I'm off on vacation, not that I plan on undoing all the good that I've just done over the past weeks, but it is vacation. Once I get back, I'll probably go strict again for a week or two just to get back into it and then play with things ever so slightly. I'll still eat paleo and in close zone proportions, but will probably not measure everything out as precise and just eyeball it instead (I've gotten good at that over the past month). If that works well, then I'll stick to that, if not I'll just have to go back to strict zone again. Only time will tell. For the moment, here's my log from Monday and Tuesday.

Monday:

6:10 - coffee (still with some milk)
7:15 - my normal breakfast with frozen blueberries (I really like blueberries with the sheep's milk yogurt, I think it is my favorite fruit to mix with this yogurt so far)
9:00 - ginger tea (I went through withdraw this weekend because I left all my ginger tea at work)
10:30 - 1 oz turkey; 1 red pepper (~1 and 1/4 cups); 1 macadamia nut
12:30 - 3 oz pork roast with 1 and 1/4 cups each broccoli and cauliflower with 1 tsp butter and 1 kiwi (I'm so glad I bought kiwi this week, I haven't had it in a while and it's so good!)
4:30 - 1 total block ginger pear chicken
7:15 - 3 oz pot roast with ~1 block sauce and onion, plus one apple

Tuesday:

6:00 - coffee
7:15 - normal breakfast with frozen blueberries again
10:05 - 1 total block ginger pear chicken (I really like this as a snack, maybe because it has a sweet taste)
12:10 - 3 oz pot roast with ~ 1 block sauce and onion; 1 red pepper (~1 and 1/4 cup); 1 kiwi
1:30 - 1/2 cup coffee with a bit of whole milk (I was cold and tired and tea with no caffeine was not going to cut it)
3:15 - 2 cups celery; 1 oz ham; 1 macadamia nut
5:50 - 3 oz pork roast; 1 and 1/4 cup cauliflower; 12 spears asparagus; 1 carb block worth of 70% dark chocolate (so good once again, and so needed)

I like how both days look with a variety of proteins and carbs throughout the day. Hoping to keep it like that through the rest of the week.

Blech...

2008-11-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

That's how I feel right about now. Had a nice cheat meal provided by my Italian grandmother...didn't over eat, but have felt better than I do now. Oh well, back to my normal schedule tomorrow.

Saturday:

11:00 - 3 medium boiled eggs (was going for soft boiled, but they were cooked a minute or two longer than needed); 1 pear baked with cinnamon (so good); coffee (this meal was slightly low on carbs and fat blocks...though I counted the cream in my coffee as a fat block or two)
2:30 - cafe americano (still tired even though I got some good sleep the night before)
5:00 - 3 total blocks of ginger pear chicken (this is so good and so much food...I didn't know I liked bok choy until I added it into this recipe)

So I really need to make sure that I eat more on a day like this. I was so hungry all night...but it was my fault for only eating about 6 blocks.

Sunday:

10:30 - 2 soft boiled eggs (yea, I got it right today); 1 apple baked with cinnamon (I'm addicted, what can I say); coffee
3:30 ish - cheat meal: small portions of: braciole, lasagna, sweet potatoes, caesar salad; plus 1 cup coffee, 1 brownie and 2 small chocolate chip cookies...this sounds like a lot of food, but it really wasn't and it wasn't all at 3:30 (not that that really matters). The food was great, I didn't over eat, but I'm definitely feeling it now...haven't had a cheat meal like this in about 4 weeks I think...it was needed, but I'm happy to eat good food tomorrow.

So yeah, wish my weekend food logs looked like the ones during the week...could have been worse though. I made some really good food this weekend that I'm excited about for the week. The ginger pear chicken is amazing, and the pork roast and pot roast that I made smelled so good while they were cooking. I'm definitely going to do at least one crock pot meal a week because it was so easy.

The work week always looks the same...

2008-11-08T08:42:00.000-08:00

I guess I have a good schedule going for the work week with being able to pack breakfast, snack, and lunch. It's a good thing. I haven't ordered out since I started and haven't snacked on anything that's around either. My food is more tasty than the stuff they send over for the kids, so that's a good thing too. This week I've been addicted to ginger tea and went all week without gum (was chewing a few pieces throughout the day before to get through). Now I just make sure to have a cup of tea and a cup of water in the room with me at all times. That being said:

Thursday:

6:20 - coffee (still with some milk, switching to a tiny bit of heavy cream)
7:05 - normal breakfast with frozen strawberries
10:00 - 1 oz ham; 1/2 pear; 1 macadamia nut
12:00 - 3 total blocks spaghetti squash with ground buffalo (I love this meal so so much!)
1:30 - pomegranate white tea
4:30 - cafe americano (very very tired today)
4:45 - 1 oz ham; 1/2 pear; 1 macadamia nut
7:30 - 3oz chicken with 2 blocks arame, spinach, and onion; 1 block dark chocolate (Thanks Steve!!! This was wonderful, and tasted so great!)

Friday:

6:10 - coffee
7:40 - breakfast with frozen raspberries (very hungry today)
9:00 - pomegranate green tea
10:30 - 3/4 c mashed turnips; 1 hard boiled egg; 1 macadamia nut
12:40 - start 3 blocks of beef and cabbage soup - finished about half and then had to go to a meeting
1:30 - finish beef and cabbage soup (this is a lot of food, but I was still very hungry)
2:00 - ginger tea
6:00 - 3 oz beef with 1 block broccoli and onion; 1 apple baked with cinnamon (once again, still hungry)
9:30 ish - 2 pints of Guinness (oh well, guess I'll be having 2 cheat meals this weekend, something I haven't done since I started this)

On a side note, I've been extremely tired this week, which is something that I haven't been for about 2 weeks now, so I don't know what that's about. Also feel like some what of a slacker due to having 2 cheat meals this weekend and not working out Saturday due to some back soreness...oh well, rest days are always good.

The food this week is so good, it almost makes it too easy...

2008-11-05T18:01:00.000-08:00

So my food is really good again this week. I'm still liking cooking, which is good. I have everyone at work wanting to make spaghetti squash now that they tasted mine! I've also been giving out recipes at work...so funny! Staying in the zone has been really easy this week, I've even been able to cut out gum this week now that I'm hooked on ginger tea.

Tuesday:

5:50 - coffee (stupid stupid alarm clock)
7:10 - normal breakfast of a hard boiled egg and yogurt with some fruit (sheep's milk yogurt)
9:00 - ginger tea
12:05 - 3 oz chicken with 2 blocks spinach, onion, and arame + 1/2 pear
12:30 - ginger tea
3:20 - 1 total block spaghetti squash with buffalo meat
6:30 - 4.5 oz shrimp with garlic in 1 tsp olive oil (shrimp is so good); 3/4 cup mashed turnips (forgot how much I like this); 1 apple baked with cinnamon (I was craving something sweet, this worked well)

Wednesday:

6:15 - coffee
7:20 - normal breakfast
9:00 - ginger tea
10:05 - 1 total block spaghetti squash with buffalo meat
12:10 - 3 total blocks of beef and cabbage soup with celery, onion, and carrots (this was pretty good and very filling - I had issues making it the other night due to miscalculating some things...thankfully I realized before I finished making the soup - would have been nice with the dandelion greens...now I need to figure out something else to do with them)
1:00 - pomegranate white tea
4:30 - 2 cups celery; 1 oz ham; 1 macadamia nut
7:30 - 3oz chicken with 2 blocks spinach, onion, and arame (I forgot until I was writing this that the meal was low in carbs and needed another block of something...it's too late to eat anything now though...oh well)

Yea for food shopping!

2008-11-03T17:43:00.000-08:00

So Saturday night was tons of fun, but left me not feeling so great Sunday morning. I was just very blah and wanted carbs...didn't cave, which is good...also helped that I pretty much had no food at my house.

Sunday:

12:00 - 3 blocks of pork with apples, blackberries, and onions; plus coffee
4:00 - Ginger Tea (was very shaky at this point of the day...and very hungry...the tea helped alot)
6:00 - ~3 blocks worth of a salad from Whole Foods (spinach, spring mix, tuna, peppers, celery, asian slaw thingy, eggs, more stuff that I'm not remembering right not)

Monday:

6:20 - Coffee, less milk than last week
7:10 - 1 hard boiled egg; 6oz sheep's milk yogurt with 2/3 cup frozen raspberries (very happy to enjoy this type of yogurt...also, craving ginger tea...go figure)
8:30 - Ginger Tea! (so good)
10:40 - 1 oz ham; 1 small apple (equal to 1 block); 1 macadamia nut
12:30 - Spaghetti Squash!!!! 2 cups with 1/2 cup sauce and 3 oz ground buffalo meat (this is a ton of food, and so good. I've been wanting spaghetti squash since last Sunday, so this meal made me very happy)
1:30 - Pomegranate white tea
5:00 - 1 oz ham; 1 small apple (equal to 1 block); 1 macadamia nut (happy that starting tomorrow, most of my snacks will just be a 1 block portion of the meals I make)
8:00 - 1 block worth of chicken with spinach, arame, and onion; 5 raspberries (the carbs for this meal are slightly low in the snack portion, hence the raspberries...one full block of carbs needs to be added in addition to this meal for lunch/dinner. This was a post Fran meal, I was kind of hungry, but it was late so I didn't eat more than that. Feel full enough for the evening.)

I'm thrilled to have food again! I bought some new to me stuff yesterday (buffalo meat, dandelion greens, purple turnips, sheep's milk yogurt, ginger tea) and hope that I will enjoy it all, so far I have. I have to finish cooking tomorrow and that should last me through the week (I hope).

Beer and wine are completely paleo zone friendly...right?

2008-11-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

So Friday and Saturday were interesting days food wise. I was happy with making it through Halloween at work (I work with little kids, so there was trick-or-treating and candy around all day) relatively well (a few small cheats, but nothing crazy). Saturday was crazy and fun...(I was pretty much not home from 11am until...well until much later than it's been in a long time...), at least what I ate was paleo zone...

Friday:

6:25 - morning coffee still with some milk
7:10 - normal breakfast of yogurt, frozen raspberries, and a hard boiled egg (I will be switching to sheep's milk yogurt starting Monday...more protein, less sugar)
12:10 - 3 oz chili with about 2 blocks worth of onion, pepper, and tomato sauce; 1 cup of celery, and 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries (I was strangely thirsty up to this point of the day, I had about 64 oz of water by lunch time, I usually have that much throughout the entire work day...oh well, I just listened to my body and kept drinking water. I was also very hungry this day, still hungry after lunch.)
3:30 - 2 cups celery, 1 hard boiled egg, 1 macadamia nut (still so so hungry...and I have almost no food left at home either)
6:30 - 4.5 oz of shrimp with garlic (I think this shrimp was my favorite purchase from Whole Foods this week) in 1 tsp olive oil; 8 stalks of asparagus; ~1/2 block Asian slaw; 1 apple baked with cinnamon (I had forgotten about baking apples with cinnamon...so good! I was still very hungry after dinner...blech.)

*Throughout the day at work, I cheated with 3 mini tootsie rolls and 2 mini reeses cups...not bad, but they definitely weren't worth it...oh well, it was Halloween...not really an excuse, just saying.

Saturday

10:15 - 3 eggs scrambled in 1 tsp butter with 1/2 cup salsa; 1 apple baked with cinnamon; coffee
4:40 - 2 hard boiled eggs; ~1/2 cup grapes and ~1 block total of cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon from a fruit cup (besides the fact that I had eaten way too many eggs for the day, I was happy to be able to put this small meal together...I know it was missing the fat blocks, but for buying it from an Au Bon Pain in the Port Authority in NYC, it was a great meal...I was wondering if I would be able to find something close to what I needed, and was honestly just planning on fasting until I got home if I couldn't find anything.)
7:00 - 3 oz turkey stirfry with onion, apples, and chard (this was a little low on carb blocks, but I was in a rush and wanted to eat something before the party)
9:00ish to I don't know when - Paleo friendly beer and wine? (Ok, so definitely not paleo zone, but Doug's Halloween party was so much fun! I had been very good this past week with the baseball games not drinking while I was out...that didn't happen at the party...)

I can't wait to go food shopping after open gym tonight!!! I have absolutely no food left in my house (ok, I have a few frozen meals from earlier in the week). Spaghetti squash with meatballs is going to be made tonight, and I still need to figure out another two meals to get me through the week.

Wednesday and Thursday

2008-10-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

These days were pretty much a carbon copy of each other...didn't plan it that way, that's just how it worked out. I need to go shopping again, and I need to buy more food next time I shop so I don't wind eating the same thing for two days (I get bored really quickly). Other than that, this week has been really easy to stay in the zone. It's nice that just about everyone I work with decided to start a 'biggest loser' competition, so there's no junk food around anymore. It's funny to be giving out recipes now...

Wednesday:

6:20 - 1 cup coffee with a splash of milk
7:10 - 1 hard boiled egg, 1 cup yogurt (plain, organic) mixed with 1 cup fresh strawberries
10:05 - 1 oz chicken (deli meat), 1 medium green pepper (about 1 1/4 cups), and 1 macadamia nut
12:15 - 3 blocks worth of pepper steak and onions (with arame and celery) (this is so good!)
1:00 - 1 cup pomegranate white tea
3:10 - 2 cups celery, 1 oz deli chicken, 1 macadamia nut
7:30 - 1 hard boiled egg, 1/2 apple, and 1 macadamia nut (weird post metcon WOD meal, I was kind of hungry, but not really wanting to eat...and it needed to be a quick meal)

Thursday:

6:20 - 1 cup coffee with a splash of milk
7:10 - 1 hard boiled egg, 1 cup yogurt (plain, organic) mixed with 1 cup fresh strawberries
10:30 - 1 oz deli chicken, 1/2 apple, 1 macadamia nut
12:35 - 3 blocks worth of pepper steak and onions
1:45 - 1 cup pomegranate white tea
3:30 - 2 cups celery, 1 oz deli chicken, 1 macadamia nut
7:45 - 3 blocks worth of pork stirfry with onions, apples, and blackberries (I was very hungry today for some reason)

See...almost carbon copies of each other. I took care of that for tomorrow. I also need to start saving smaller portions (1 block worth) of the meals I make for snacks instead of trying to put together that snacks that I eat now. Still really wanting spaghetti squash, that will definitely be on the menu for next week.

Alyson in zone week 3.

2008-10-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

It's been kind of crazy with my schedule so far this week due to a conference I attended yesterday and today. I did my best and it actually wasn't that bad.

Sunday:
9:30 - 2 eggs scrambled with 1oz ham with 1/2c salsa over the eggs, 1 cup fresh strawberries and 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
10:40 - my morning coffee
1:30 - 3oz pork stirfry with 3 blocks worth of apples, blackberries, and onions (thanks Erin! This is so good!)
7:30 - 3 oz deli turkey with 3 blocks worth of an Asian slaw - red cabbage, cucumbers, broccoli with a sesame oil/lemon juice/ginger dressing. (I was so hungry at this point of the day, it was post WOD and food shopping...this was fast and so good)

Monday:
6:30 - 3 eggs scrambled, 2/3 cup fresh raspberries (I love that my mom's raspberry bushes still have fruit on them) and 1 apple and coffee. (This wound up being a last minute breakfast and very heavy in fruit...I was running late, it was what I could do that still fit zone proportions.)
10:45 - 1/2 cup of horrible coffee with skim milk (At this point in the day, I was shaky and cold and needing to stay awake during a boring session at the conference...especially with being shaky, I didn't need the coffee...stopped drinking it because it was so bad)
12:30 - Steve's Paleo pack (This was so good! I need some of these for London - I was slightly lightheaded/shaky before I ate this, but feeling much better after I ate. )
1:45 - Cup of white tea (again, this place was freezing!!)
4:15 - 3 oz deli turkey with 3 blocks worth of Asian slaw (I was very hungry today for some reason)
7:30 - 2 oz deli turkey plus 1 apple (meal on the run pretty much, I needed something quick - again, very hungry)

Monday wasn't too bad, just heavy on fruit and a lot of the same protein throughout the day.

Now I'm off to cook some yummy meals to get me through the rest of the week. I'm even going to attempt to make shrimp...we'll see how that goes.

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edited to add:
Tonight was very productive. I should be all set with meals planned out through the weekend. I made some pepper, steak, and onions (with arame (sp?) and celery added as well). It smelled delicious, I'll be trying that out for lunch tomorrow. I also managed to make shrimp for the first time ever, and it was good! Next up is figuring out how to make meatballs without having to actually touch the meat...but I digress. Here's what I had today:

7:15 - Spinach and onion frittata with 1 cup fresh strawberries and coffee (still with a splash of milk, I'm trying to cut that out slowly)
12:20 - Steve's Paleo pack (again, so so good!)
1:00 - Cafe Americano (the conference rooms were freezing)
5:40 - 4.5oz shrimp with garlic (cooked in a teaspoon of sesame oil), 12 stalks asparagus, 1 1/4 cup cauliflower, and a little less than 1/2 cup fresh blackberries

I think I'm going to try to go light on fruit for the next couple of days (with the exception of the fruit I have with my yogurt in the mornings at work) because I had so much of it over the past two. Probably just until the weekend, then I'll go back to having a little fruit at the end of each meal.

I'm finding that I really enjoy cooking! I didn't know that I did, and I never made such wonderful food before, and it's so easy! Slightly excited to get back to work tomorrow so that my schedule gets back on track.

Erin in Zone Week Two.

2008-10-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

Well after a paleo meal on Saturday morning (ooooh Ambrosia) and 2 glasses of wine and a shot of vodka + splitting a basket of fries on Saturday night while watching the Phillies...uhhh...I was glad to eat well (zone/paleo) on Sunday.

Here's what's on my menu for the beginning of the week:

Spaghetti Squash "Pasta":

Cooked a spaghetti squash (my first - Thanks to Michelle!) and then made a kind of "sauce" to go with it from a lb. of organic beef (gotta get to Steve's farm sometime) and the basic pasta sauce ingredients: garlic, onions, fresh basil, and add the tomatoes last to simmer. Part of the way through I knew I wanted to add some kind of good greens. I can get away with adding almost ANYTHING when beef and tomatoes are involved because the flavors of the sauce are so strong I don't notice any of the bitterness of greens but I get all the goodness of including them. So I added - my carrot tops, radish tops, beef tops, and some extra kale. It looked massive and then of course simmered down to nothing but a REALLY good sauce. The pic shows the condensing process about half of the way through.

Comes out to roughly 5 3 block meals if you put the sauce over spaghetti squash or (as I had to) about 1 1/2 cups of some other kind of squash.

Tis the Season for Borscht:

Occasionally I get a really strange craving for borscht - an Eastern European beef and cabbage stew. Usually this stuff has potatoes in it but I opted to stick other stuff in it instead. All the below (3-5 tbs. of dried or fresh dill, few tbs. red wine vinegar, 1 quart of beef broth, 1 lb. buffalo stew meat, buncha shredded cabbage, chopped carrots, beets, and onions, and water) plus 1/2 package of arame (a sea vegetable you can add to almost anything that has so mild a taste you wouldn't know you've added it). Basically you stew the meat, onions, beef stock, and water to cover it all for 1 1/2 hours. Then you add everything else (except the cabbage) and cook for at least an hour - adding the chopped cabbage 1/2 an hour after you've added "everything else". It's traditionally served with a little salt and pepper and sour cream too - I'm just a little undairy right now. :o)

I should get roughly 5 servings of 3 zone blocks from all of this...probably give or take a few carbs...thought beets do account for a good amount.

Marinated Shrimp and Boiled Turnip:

I know - this sounds strange...but I swear turnip is amazing. I want to make pizza out of turnip. Maybe even pie crust. Maybe just pies. Here's how this goes: on one burner I put a pot full of the turnips I bought just cut up into big chunks and water. I set this to boil and poked it with a fork a few times to see if the turnips were tender.

While that was cooking (15-20 min) I threw some (6 blocks worth) shrimp I had marinated for a 1/2 hour into a pan for a few minutes. I marinated it in two tbs. of olive oil, a seafood blend of spices from Trader Joe's, and some fresh parsley chopped up.

I brought this to 2 3 block meals by adding a 1/2 cup of raspberries to each meal. This'll be a nice (but strange, I know) breakfast!

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I'll have to make more food soon! It'll probably involve eggs and spinach - frittata???

Balls of Meat?

2008-10-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

Oh-so-portable. Oh-so-easy-to-make. Oh-so-adjustable.

Thai Curry - 1/2 lb. turkey, 1 small whisked egg, 1 tbs. of thai curry paste, a little onion, chopped fresh basil, 1/4 cup almond meal, a little coconut oil and coconut milk in the pan.

Rosemary - 1/2 lb. turkey, 1 small whisked egg, 1/4 cup almond meal, little onion, little chopped rosemary crushed in your hands a bit, few shakes of garlic powder, cracks of black pepper and sea salt, in olive oil in the pan.

Chili Cumin - 1/2 lb. bison, 1 small whisked egg, 1/4 cup almond meal, few tbs. frozen cilantro (Trader Joe's), few dashes cumin, double the number of cumin dashes amount of chili powder, little bit of onion and a few dashes of garlic powder.

Roll into tiny little balls with hands and simmer/fry in chicken or veg stock for poultry meatballs, and beef or veg stock for red meat meatballs. You'll have to check a few to get an idea of how long yours are going to take to cook.

YAY. Eat.

Saturday...

2008-10-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

The weekends are always a bit off for me in terms of eating all of my zone blocks. It's probably because I get up later and am out more so I don't have consistent access to the food that I've prepared. It's definitely easier during the week to stay on more of a schedule because of being at work. That said, yesterday wasn't too bad:

12:00 - Paleo potluck!!! (This was not zone friendly, but everything was so so good! It was pretty much a cheat meal zone wise (didn't over eat though), but at least all of the food was paleo. I really need to learn how to make curry chicken...)
1:20 - Cafe Americano (Can't believe I made it this late without coffee)
6:30 - 3 protein blocks worth of meatballs (thanks Erin!) with 3 carb blocks worth of spaghetti squash with sauce (thanks Michelle and Rick!). (This was so much food, and so good...I need to make spaghetti squash at some point too...)

Don't let the pictures fool you - Real Food just tastes like Tofurky.

2008-10-26T09:02:00.001-07:00

I kid, I kid - this food was unbe****inglievable. And I never curse on the blog.

So how did you make it? : one of the three stooges speaks.

Erin's Meatballs

Mike and Dennis brought Thai Chicken Curry.

Steve's Frittata

Michelle's Spaghetti Squash

Kelly's Chicken that I can't remember the official name of...

Alyson's Ambrosia (FOOD OF THE GODS)

MORE INFO TO COME ON EACH OF THESE RECIPES!

YAY ALYSON POSTED...and some other things.

2008-10-26T08:52:00.001-07:00

If you haven't met Justin and Alycia yet I HIGHLY recommend you pencil them in ASAP. This super fly couple made the Cauliflower Pizza and sent me the pics to prove it... Beat that, Paula Deen!

To get this food you must...

Do this...

While this is happening...

I know it sounds absolutely CRAZY but eating food that's good for you can ACTUALLY mean eating food that tastes good AND is pretty easy to make...so if you're not - I pretty much figure you're lazy.

Because Erin gave me posting privileges...

2008-10-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

I started doing paleo zone just about two weeks ago. It's been an interesting transition with some days being much better than other. My first week went surprisingly well, aside from being tired, I was very motivated, only eating things that I made that were in zone proportions. I even managed to have the will power to not eat anything at a work potluck lunch (re: amazing food), and it wasn't that difficult, my soup that day was really good. This past week was a bit worse. Monday and Tuesday were horrible, I wanted something sweet and some sort starchy carbs for most of the day. I surprised myself by not giving in though and just sticking to the routine, and I'm glad I did because I know I would have felt bad if I had eaten something not on the zone.

Starting with yesterday, I'll be posting what I eat daily (even if I mess up) so that it will help me out a bit:

Friday 10/24

6:20 - 1 cup of coffee with a splash of 1% milk (milk is not paleo, but I only have it in my coffee)
7:05 - 1 hard boiled egg, 1 cup yogurt (organic, plain, again not paleo, this is my only dairy throughout the day) with 1/2 cup fresh strawberries and 1/3 cup fresh raspberries, then 3 macadamia nuts
10:00 - 1 oz deli ham, 1 macadamia nut, 2/3 cup frozen raspberries
12:35 - 3 oz of chicken in soup with about 2 carb blocks worth of chard, onion, celery, and carrots (I forgot how much food is in this soup and it's so good!), then 6 stalks of asparagus steamed, and 1/3 cup of frozen raspberries
2:00 - 1 cup of pomegranate white tea
6:15 - 12oz cafe americano (I was exhausted at this point of the day, either from the zone or from keeping 9 - 3 and 4 year olds occupied for 8 hours, or a combo of both...needed something to stay awake)
7:15 - 3 oz of ground beef with broccoli and onion, cooked in a bit of olive oil (this may have been a bit light on carbs for the meal, but I didn't think it was a big deal)
8:20 - 2 spoonfuls of carrot ambrosia salad (I needed to taste it to make sure it was edible before the potluck on Saturday)

Some general observations are that I really need to go grocery shopping...I was down to my last vegetables and berries (thought I had more when I went shopping last Sunday). I usually have a wider variety of fruits (mostly berries) and vegetables throughout the day, so I was happy to have to go to Wegman's to get stuff for the carrot ambrosia, I now have more yummy things to eat! Ok, this is really long, more tomorrow...

What is Zone Paleo anyway?

2008-10-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

PALEO IS: EAT MEAT (preferably grassfed), EGGS (as close to chickens roaming in your backyard as you can get) and SEAFOOD (wild caught and smaller is better), VEGETABLES (eat for color - get a deep green like kale, and a bright red cabbage in the same week - also, look around - I bet you have no idea what's hiding in your produce section), SOME FRUIT (too much can simply yield different results than too little - as with most things - eat what's in season), LITTLE STARCH (yeah, and here we mean starches that come from root vegetable sources such as rutabagas, parsnips, carrots, beets, carrots, etc. NOTHING THAT COMES IN A BOX OR BAG!), NUTS and SEEDS (too many yields different results than just enough for energy and nuts and seeds that are high in omega-3 fatty acids - i.e. macadamia nuts, walnuts, flax, and hempseeds - are better), and NO SUGAR (seriously - if it absolutely kills you look into some not-so-horrible paleo sugar substitutes).

ZONE is simply eating all of the above in proportions that balance the body's hormonal response to food. Your body composition (lean muscle to fat ratio) effects your performance and zone effects your body composition.

SO yeah, there's a lot to learn!

Here's the news on the blog for the week:

Alyson and I (Erin) are doing paleo food in zone proportions together! Let me know if you'd like to join in! I am in my first week (see food above) and Alyson is in her second. Check back here for more on our progress!

Here's a few things I've learned so far:

1. The first time I did the zone I think I kind of wished the zone meals would fall from the sky...much in the shape of Steve's new paleo kits! This time I bought myself some estrogen-enhancing tupperware (thanks for the tip, Steve xP) and cooked for 3 days on Sunday after a visit to Trader Joe's with Alyson. I cooked last night again and now I'm good for the week! My only rule when I go to the grocery store is to come home with something I haven't had in a while. Hating your food is a sure-fire way to want something that is not "your food". I'm only allowed to eat from blue containers - that makes eating a lot less complicated and my list of excuses a LOT shorter.

2. Spices make the meat you eat taste sooooo different. I tried out a few new things this week. Good quality spices are your friend. See?

On the menu this week:

Crushed Sage rubbed Pork Chops, Apples, Onions + Blackberries
This was kind of my default breakfast for the week. All I did was buy some sage - it's a pretty subtle flavor - you'll get the gist of it if you just pick it up and sniff it at the grocery store - crush it in a pestle and mortar (but you can do this with your hands) and rub it all over some pork chops. Meanwhile a small onion was sauteing in one tablespoon of olive oil. I added the pork to the pan and weighted till it was almost cooked - then I threw in a bunch of chopped apples and cooked them till they were just a little soft (doesn't take long). Along with this I added a few blackberries which brought this meal to an even 3 blocks per serving.

Asian-ish Chicken and Everything Slaw
4 4 oz. sliced pieces of chicken go in a pan with 2 cloves garlic, a few dashes of wheat-free Tamari, and 1 tbs. of coconut oil. I saved part of this for 2 block chicken and apple snacks and the rest I combined with a slaw made of pretty much everything: in one pan chuck broccoli slaw, mirepoix (carrots, celery, and onion chopped into tiny pieces - usually used as vegetable stock base), 3 bunches of bok choy chopped into thick pieces, a bunch of napa cabbage, a tiny bit of ginger (I used too much), enough low-sodium, free range chicken broth to basically soften the vegetables (you can add more if needed), and 5 tbs. of Thai Green Curry Paste (this stuff is all amazing spices like, kaffir lime leaves! - and no crazy preservatives). Leave it alone and it'll eventually soften and go with any kind of meat you've already made.

My version of Quick Chili (packed with raw spinach)
You can saute in olive oil or simply dump a little bit of water in a pan to soften some garlic and onions. After that stuff gets translucent dump some ground beef (grassfed if you can get it from Steve - haha) into the pan to brown. Add enough chili powder to lightly cover all the meat - a dash over everything and add a little bit less cumin than chili powder. A little bit of cracked pepper...then dump tomatoes in any form in (I used a pre-made sauce with NO SUGAR from Trader Joe's). I also added a whole bunch of kale I had left over. I often eat kale in meals with lots of spices. Kale still tastes pretty bitter to me so it helps to have it with something like tomatoes and chili powder. Let it all stew together and thicken a bit and pack over spinach for a really flavorful meal on the go (I just ate it cold).

Rediscovered BBQ Pork Chops, lightly steamed cauliflower, and small raw apple
So I found this awesome BBQ spice at Whole Foods which is everything that normally goes into homemade BBQ sauce (which I was craving because Steve keeps cooking things I don't ever make). I cracked the spice over a bunch of thinly sliced pork chops and placed the chops in a dry pan (the fat from the chops eventually gets to be enough - though if I weren't on strict zone I might just fry these in coconut oil or some suchthing - YUM). In a separate pan I poured 1 cup chicken broth and chucked a bunch of cauliflower pieces I broke apart with my hands. I cut up 1 garlic clove and tossed that in too and watched the pan to make sure I kept the cauliflower very crisp. I eat this 3 blocks of the meat (3 oz. of chop = ~21g of P) with the 1 cup cauliflower (a negligible amount of CHO relative to zone blocks - maybe about 1/2?) and then eat a smallish apple (roughly 2 blocks CHO). Apples are in season right now so I don't feel too bad about making my way through my bag of Trader Joe's apples.

Good thing I love cooking! :o) WHEW - that's all for now!

And so it begins!

2008-10-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well, there's only one way to explain the presence of this portion of our blog. I'm hungry! And I need something else to do...

That said, here's the deal:

This is a blog which will feature the goings and comings of Crossfit Tribe members who wish to experiment with what they've got. That is, people that want to go from "I don't care what I eat" to "maybe I'll eat paleo for 40 days and see what happens to my 400m" OR "I'm going to try to keep under 100g of carbs per day for a week and see what happens to my waist size" OR "I'm going to eat liver, onions, and guinness in zone proportions for 15 days and then try to PR on Fran". Whatever you're experimenting with - we want it here!

It'll also feature recipes. LOTS of recipes! So that future experimenters can have a one stop resource to search. If you've got a recipe to post - please send it to crossfit tribe at gmail dot com.

And anything else we're (or you're) reading about nutrition that's worth a quick read. We want this blog to be a place where beginners can ask questions and get some idea of how trying to alter your eating habits in just about any direction might go. We're learning with you and from our mistakes...we hope it helps all of us to both enjoy the good things our food can do for us AND appreciate the things we can learn from listening to our bodies.