29.2.12

Whole 30 Day 25

February 29 - Day 25:
Coaching at 6am means getting up before 5am, making coffee, cooking breakfast, feeding cat, finding clothes, and being chipper before my alarm clock normally rings. Phew, quite the morning. All that, followed by a dentist appointment and a visit to the chiro.

I bought all the spices for the butter chicken recipe - trying that tonight!
I also went a bit crazy with the fancy nuts and dried fruit at Bulk Barn. It's hard to last til lunch when you had breakfast at 5:15am!
Update: too many dried fruits in my belly make it hurt.

Breakfast: eggs, decaf coffee
Lunch: the very last bit of shredded pork, butternut squash, blanched spinach & rainbow chard
Supper: stovetop version of the butter chicken that's in the slow cooker; with broccoli, rainbow chard & cauliflower

lunch
supper

5 days until March 5.

28.2.12

Whole 30 Day 24

February 28 - Day 24:
Dropping the ball on the constant updates here - sorry!

Breakfast: blueberry and coconut milk shake, eggs, decaf coffee
Lunch: mmmh pulled pork, butternut squash, steamed kale
Supper: last bit of pulled pork, squash, blanched spinach & rainbow chard

I'll say it again: best meal combo!
Did some front squats before coaching.

6 days until March 5.

27.2.12

Whole 30 Day 23

February 27 - Day 23:
Sometimes I impress myself with the food I prepare. My latest pork roast makes the best leftover meals! With some squash and greens on the side - mmh!

Breakfast: spoonful of nut butter, eggs and decaf coffee
Lunch: pulled pork, kale, butternut squash puree with ghee
Supper:

The training room is in use today, so I can't squat at lunch, and I have a massage tonight; no workout for me?

7 days until March 5.

26.2.12

Whole 30 Day 22

February 26 - Day 22:

Breakfast: pulled pork, squash with melted ghee, roasted kale
Lunch: same as breaky - soooo good!
Supper: can you guess? This is the best meal combo I've had in a while.

Two Oly sessions at the gym today. The regular 2 hour class in the afternoon: snatch, followed by front squats, and a second session 3 hours later. I only did clean & jerk at night. It was getting pretty late and we were all exhausted.


I got 63kg over my head for the first time, so that we pretty exciting. Now I need to squat when I clean and I'll be able to lift more (right?)

8 days until March 5.

25.2.12

Whole 30 Day 21

February 25 - Day 21:

Breakfast: three eggs
Lunch: jerk chicken skewer and garden salad
Snack: sweet potato fries
Supper: pulled pork, butternut squash & roasted kale - very yummy

Might have to go back for seconds.

Back squats this morning, then I judged the first workout of CrossFit Open 2012: 7 minutes of burpees. Yep, I'm glad that I'm into weightlifting these days.

9 days until March 5.

24.2.12

Whole 30 Day 20


February 24 - Day 20:
Phew, that was a long Friday. This week didn't feel like the short, post-long weekend week that I wanted it to.

Breakfast: eggs with the last of my Cool Springs Ranch bacon :(
Lunch: went to the Mediterranean Bistro. Service was so-so; we were the only patrons in the whole place and it still took 50 mins to get our food from the time we ordered. Quite expensive too. I had a beet, orange & fennel salad with additional chicken.
Supper: mmm roast! Put it in last night, shredded it this morning, simmered the liquid all day, added splash of balsamic vinegar - tasty! And brussel sprout "chips".

Oly class tonight. I'm exhausted, we'll see how it goes.

10 days until March 5.

23.2.12

Whole 30 Day 19

February 23 - Day 19:
I coach the second gym class at work today, so I get home a bit after 6pm. I have nothing else scheduled tonight, so I'm cooking! I don't have any meat thawed... but I'll figure something out.
It might be a "everything I have in the fridge" disaster, but it might just be delicious!

Breakfast: two of the tastiest mini muffins & apple slices with nut butter - and a coffee! I'm trying out this decaf thing.
Lunch: spinach salad & apple slices with nut butter
Supper: last two muffins... kale chips, carrots. Cooking a pork roast

No time for front squats - grr!

11 days until March 5.

22.2.12

Whole 30 Day 18

February 22 - Day 18:
Self-induced, accidental afro day.
Note to self: twirling wet hair before bed and brushing it in the morning leads to a full on white lady 'fro.

Breakfast: bacon & eggs with avocado. And 1 apple muffin (how can I resist?)
Lunch: spinach salad with avocado
Supper: eating at a friend's house we couldn't make up our minds so we tried the new hot pot restaurant.
before
after
It was very good, and catered well to my whole food needs. We shared a dinner for two & seafood dinner (so we could try everything on the menu). They ate the tofu; I almost got through all the meat. There was beef, chicken, prawns, crab, squid, random delicious fish, "special" meatballs, zucchini, bok choy, a variety of mushrooms and a pot of boiling water to cook it in.

Gratuitous muffin shot

Back squats at lunch: did pretty well, got up to 190lbs, which is a first for me. Down sets at 170lbs.

12 days until March 5.
10lbs til a "decent" back squat

Update: 2 x Butter Chicken

A co-worker shared the link after giving this recipe rave reviews. Of course I can't leave a good thing alone, so I'm modifying the recipe a touch to make it more Whole30 by omitting the dairy.
I'll most likely try it again with full fat yogurt and butter once I'm back to good old-fashioned Paleo.

4-6 boneless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces
1 onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil
*replace the 2 fats with ghee? 4tbsp?

Stir fry chicken, onion and garlic in frying pan on medium heat until the chicken has some color and the onion is translucent. Then pour entire contents of pan into crock pot. Then add:

15 green cardamom pods (in cheese cloth)
2 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp curry paste
1 tsp cayenne powder (optional) It’s really hot if you add this
2 tsp tandoori masala
1 tsp garam masala
1 can coconut milk
1 cup yogurt
*replace the yogurt with another can of coconut milk?
1 5.5 fl oz can of tomato paste
Salt to taste

Mix gently and cook on high heat 4-6 hours or low heat 6-8 hours.

Original recipe by Lisa Kremer

And here is another recipe that I want ot try. Taste test?

21.2.12

Whole 30 Day 17

February 21 - Day 17:
I love me a 4 day week!

Breakfast: bacon and eggs with avocado
Lunch: leftover spinach salad with avocado & improved chicken, coconut milk, leek soup
Supper: (snacky) beef patty with coconut oil mayo, apple muffin, apple with nut butter

Clean & Jerk at lunch: got to 130lbs, down sets at 115lbs. Wore my new belt to break it in a bit.

13 days until March 5.

20.2.12

Whole 30 Day 16


February 20 - Day 16:
Hey! I'm half done!

And I was so bad and lazy today...

Snacks, snack, snacks: apple with macadamia nut butter (x2, oops!), kale chips, beef patty with coconut oil mayo
Supper: leftover salad with avocado

And then I got snacky...
Inspired by these, I made apple cinnamon muffins.

2 1/4 cups almond meal
4 eggs
1 apple finely chopped
1/3 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut water
1/2 tsp baking soda
cinnamon (lots)

Pre heat oven to 350.  Finely chop apple. Add all other ingredients and mix by hand.  The batter will not be super thick, but more like a cake batter.  Using a bit more coconut oil, grease a muffin tin.  Fill the tins about 3/4 of the way full.  Bake for 15-17 minutes.  You will know they are done when you can insert a toothpick into the middle of a muffin and it comes out clean.  Serve hot out of the oven with some ghee melted on top.

Uhh, these are a-ma-zing.

14 days until March 5.


19.2.12

Whole 30 Day 15


February 19 - Day 15:
Dinner party tonight; the food was fresh, easy and delicious. I don't think I've ever received so many compliments about my cooking.

My house cleans up pretty.
Breakfast & lunch: bacon and eggs
Supper: Wilted greens, hard-boiled egg, rainbow trout & salad

So much food, the salad didn't fit.

15 days until March 5.

18.2.12

Whole 30 Day 14

February 18 - Day 14:
I'm clearly a better blogger when I'm at work... oops.

16 days until March 5.

17.2.12

Whole 30 Day 13

February 17 - Day 13:
It's finally Friday! This week took forever to go by...

Breakfast: eggs (and now I'm starving)
Lunch: much improved coconut milk, cauliflower, leek & chicken soup
Supper: shredded beef? soup?

Any big plans for the long weekend? Nope, totally forgot about Family Day on Monday.

17days until March 5.

16.2.12

Whole 30 Day 12

February 16 - Day 12:
Quite the morning... locked myself out of a running borrowed car when I was leaving for chiro appointment #2. Lots of running around (actually sprinting) knocking on doors, waking people up, calls across the country to locate spare keys, to finally just call a tow truck and wait around in the back alley for my rescuer. Got myself to the chiro in the end, and to work only 2 hours late.

Let's hope the rest of the day goes a bit better...

Breakfast: bacon & eggs
Lunch: cock-a-leekie soup. (it didn't go mushy overnight, deliciousness is still to be determined)
Supper: no-longer-cock-a-leekie soup

Yesterday's recipe was a flop; totally tasteless. I'll add a can of coconut milk tonight and blend the whole thing. It certainly won't make it worse!
Update: Coconut milk makes everything better! I added a can and some curry powder; blended the whole thing, and now it's not so bad! Yay!

Back squats at lunch.
I discovered yesterday that if I stretch my hamstrings between reps, my SI doesn't scream as much. I'll try doing that today and see if it helps.

18 days until March 5.

15.2.12

Whole 30 Day 11

February 15 - Day 11:
I don't have time to do go shopping tonight and almost run out of shredded beef and veggies - what will I eat tomorrow!?
Right now I have:
  • Leeks
  • Carrots
  • Cauliflower
  • Broccoli
  • Brussel sprouts
  • Frozen chicken breasts
I can probably pull together a Cock-a-leekie style soup. Will that work in the slow cooker? Might turn to mush…
In slow cooker, boil chicken breasts in stock. Put on before coaching. (Those will cook in 2 hours, right?)
In coconut oil, cook garlic, onions; add leeks once onions are translucent.
Cut up cooked chicken, dump all back into slow cooker. Add cauliflower and… carrots? Broccoli?
And then let it cook all night, because that’s how I roll. Maybe I’ll leave it on warm; see if that keeps things from dissolving into a puree with fat and chicken chunks.

Breakfast: bacon and eggs
Lunch: shredded beef and fresh veggies
Supper: couple of eggs and shredded beef before coaching. Will probably need a snack after.

Squats at lunch, we'll see how it goes.

19 days until March 5.

14.2.12

Carrot & apple sauce muffins


The original recipe comes from here, but I can't follow directions, so I made my own version.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour (1 1/2 cups almond meal + 1 cup coconut flour)
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup shredded carrots
cinnamon
nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix together dry ingredients.
3. Add in beaten eggs, vanillla, applesauce, and carrots. Mix well.
4. Grease a muffin pan with coconut oil.
5. "Pour" in muffin batter. **
6. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

We'll see how they turn out. (update: pretty tasty, but more like scones than muffins.)
I will try following the reciped more closely once I am done Whole30 and review them again.

** The mix was firm enough to make balls with... so they could be cookies too I guess.

Whole 30 Day 10

February 14 - Day 10:

It's Valentine's day, so I'm treating myself to paleo muffins. I got a carrot & apple sauce recipe from here. Looks amazing.

Breakfast: the usual bacon and eggs
Lunch: shredded beef with coconut milk "gravy" and fresh veggies. No time to cook last night, so I have produce straight from the grocery store today.
Supper: roasted kale and shredded beef with coconut milk "gravy"

I looove kale. And so does my cat.
Went for an adjustment for the first time of my life this morning. It was equally terrifying and awesome.
He even said I should workout today! Squats at lunch it is!
(Update: heavy-ish squats started to hurt again, so I didn't go super high, and stopped after 1 rep in my down sets. I'm thinking... lighter squats/more reps for tomorrow? I think I should still be squatting until my next appointment on Thursday)

20 days until March 5.

13.2.12

Whole 30 Day 9

February 13 - Day 9:
Monday morning; it's a new week.

Drinking tea today. I totally cut dairy from my diet and that has inadvertently made me stop drinking coffee. Which reminds me, I should clean my coffee pot...
The only thing I miss is a tasty & strong latte. I can't drink that right now anyway, so might as well just not drink coffee at all!

I dumped some coconut milk in the leftover broth from the slow cooker to make "gravy" for the shredded beef. We'll see how that taste at lunch. (update: it was delicious!)

Breakfast: Cool Springs Ranch bacon and eggs
Lunch: shredded beef with leftover roasted veggies (the brussel sprouts batch)
Supper: probably more shredded beef? (updated: with eggs and fried apple bites sprinkled with cinnamon)

Back squats at lunch. It's finally paying off! Squatting on my lunch break every day is starting to make a difference. My goal of a 200lbs back squat is just right over there. I can see it! Yay!

21 days until March 5.
15lbs til a "decent" back squat

12.2.12

Whole 30 Day 8

February 12 - Day 8:
Coaching this morning, coming home for lunch, coaching again, then Oly class.

Breakfast: supper for breakfast - shredded beef and leftover roasted vegetables
Lunch: more shredded beef, with the broth from the slow cooker
Supper: bacon! and eggs

Supper for breakfast
I put a roast in the slow cooker before bed and woke up to the most tender, fall apart on its own, hunk of beef.
Bowl o'meat
22 days until March 5.

11.2.12

Whole 30 Day 7

February 11 - Day 7:
Lazy! Doing laundry, can't be bothered to cook... Waiting until I have a headache to get my act together?

Breakfast: OMG, tuna, avocado, coconut oil mayo, lime juice, pepper - looks disgusting, tast delicious. Would be amazing in lettuce wraps!
Lunch: Snacks at the movies: snow peas, coconut water, nuts
Supper: leftover snacks, pear with almond butter

Probably not the healtiest day, but I didn't anythign bad.
Picked up my meet order from Cool Springs Ranch. So excited for bacon!

23 days until March 5.

10.2.12

Whole 30 Day 6

February 10 - Day 6:
Back at work; feeling better. Still have a lingering cold feeling.

Breakfast: the staple, again: eggs & avocado
Lunch: pork chop and veggies, leftover from the start of the week
Pre-coaching snack: coconut milk & blueberry smoothie
Supper: egg scramble-mess with broccoli

I predict that I will be starving and have a headache tonight. I'm going straight from work to coach until 9pm. Only 2 people showed up at each class, so I joined in and did turkish get-ups at 6pm, and back squats at the end of Oly class. I maybe ripped my "dress pants"...

24 days until March 5.

9.2.12

Whole 30 Day 5

February 9 - Day 5:
Sick day. Blah.

Breakfast/ Lunch: apple slices with almond butter. Eggs, avocado.
Supper: Veggie & chicken skewer, kimchi.

After going to work for a bit and coaching I went for a massage and then a spur-of-the-moment culture evening. I went to a contemporary dance performance and then ate out with a friend.
I'm pretty sure that the skewer was marinated in a sauce that included soy, but considering that this was my first Whole30 meal out, I think I did pretty well.
Breakfast staple

No workout today...

25 days until March 5.

8.2.12

Slow Cooker Boston Butt Pork Roast

I never know how to cook roast without drying them out. I'll try this next time.

Slow Cooker Boston Butt Pork Roast (from here)

I have adopted a minimalist approach to cooking big pieces of meat in the slow cooker; I am cooking the meat with spices and one cup of water. I like the flavor I am getting cooking the meat without a lot of vegetables or extra liquid. This approach makes the meat taste “meatier” to me. Try it, you’ll like it.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 9 hours

Ingredient list:
4.5 pound Boston Butt pork roast
Ground cumin
Ground coriander
Red chili powder
Garlic powder
Salt

Directions: Prepare a spice rub with cumin, coriander, red chili powder, garlic powder, and salt. Season roast generously on all sides and lay in the slow cooker. Pour in one cup of water. Place cover on slow cooker. Set temperature to slow cook (200 degrees on my unit) and time to 9 hours. That’s it! The house smells great after a few hours and continues to smell great until after you pack the leftovers away in the refrigerator.

Notes: About 3 hours before time was up on the pork roast, I cut 2 to 3 rutabagas into bite-size pieces, seasoned them with salt, garlic powder, and red chili powder, and tossed them into the slow cooker. There was already plenty of liquid in my slow cooker, but you could add a cup of water with the vegetables if needed. The rutabagas were well cooked by the time the pork roast was done and flavored deliciously.

Whole 30 Day 4

February 8 - Day 4:
Woke up feeling pretty gross again today. Hopefully this is the worse that my cold will get. I'm trying to suppress it with Vitamin C and lots of sleep.

Breakfast: overcooked eggs (gross), avocado
Lunch: last of 'vegan delight' with leftover veggie meatballs
Supper: roasted veggies, pork chop

Brussel sprouts, bok choy, carrots, onions - pre roasting
Mmm, supper
Back Squats at lunch were so-so; only went up to 170lbs, down sets at 155lbs.

26 days until March 5.

7.2.12

Whole 30 Day 3

February 7 - Day 3:
I'm getting a cold and feel like garbage. Not a good start.

Breakfast: eggs, leftover veggie meatballs, avocado, tea
Lunch: pork chops slow cooked with onions, bok choy, broccoli
Supper: same as lunch

This challenge isn't very different from how I was eating before, so how is it that I'm starving even though I'm eating more than enough food? It's been a very frustrating day; mostly because I'm hungry right after meals, but also because there was no room for me to workout at the 4:40 class. I changed, warmed up, started squatting and then had to give up my bar.
Instant bad mood and headache. My emotions rule my life...

27 days until March 5.

Callipers & Before pics

Took some terrible pictures last night, and they are now on the world wide web for everyone to see.
Mieka also graciously lent me her calliper skills and pinched bits of fat all over my body.
I don't actually know how the Whole 30 will affect these numbers, but it will be interesting to see if the lifestyle has the desired effect on hormones. If it does, my umbilica numbers (belly fat) should go down.
If squatting more had the desired effect, I should see my triceps numbers go down. High fat in that area indicates low-levels of testosterone. Squatting heavy regularly is supposed to trigger the central nervous system and boost testosterone - clearly not working for me. Yet?

Cheek: 7mm
Chin: 7.5mm
Wing: 11.5mm
Scapula: 18.8mm
Tricep: 13.2mm
Iliac crest: 21mm
Umbilica: 18.5mm
Calf: 13mm

Scary, scary numbers by the way. They indicate that I'm in a relatively messed up place in regards to my hormones and how they affect my health.

Before Whole 30 - February 6, 2012

6.2.12

Whole 30 Day 2

February 6 - Day 2:
Training at work during my lunch break. I did Front Squats yesterday, so I'll be doing Back Squats today. I'll also go to Oly class tonight at 7pm.

Breakfast: eggs, bacon, black coffee
Lunch: leftover "vegan delight" with tons of hardboiled eggs
Supper: breakfast for supper - no time to cook - eggs, bacon, avocado

Work lunch #1: vegan delight + eggie protein
Back Squats at lunch were okay. Maxed at 175lbs (79.5kg), down sets at 155lbs (70.5kg)
Evening session: snatch up to 110lbs super easy, then went up too fast to 115lbs and failed. Tried 113lbs a few times, then back to 110 lbs with no luck. Down sets at 103lbs.
Front Squats to 145lbs, failed 150lbs, down sets at 135lbs. If this happens again I will do my down sets at 140lbs.

We've also decided that I have low testosterone levels. I have a hard time accessing my central nervous system (what's supposed to be fired up when lifting HEAVY singles).
Gotta work on that?

28 days until March 5.

Obsessive?


I've set up a blog post for every day of the Whole 30. Titles, time stamps, countdown, and ready to go! I scheduled all of these so they automatically publish on the day they should.

This is supposed to motivate me to keep this blog up to date - because it would be embarrassing to have empty posts going up, right?

We'll see how it works...

5.2.12

Fellow cheerleaders

Shara has been working hard at the Paleo lifestyle. She also documents her foodie habits on her blog.

The Whole 30

It's time for a new challenge; because I clearly need more than a new years resolution to motivate me.
Starting today, I am doing the "Whole 30" and updating this food log. The goal is to kick start & energize my Paleo lifestyle. I've been pretty good at maintaining since last spring, but I've become lazy and need a bit of a boost.

Thirty days of super clean pale eating will hopefully get me down to the 63kg category for weightlifting.
I'd like to live at 63-64kg, so that I can easily drop weight for competitions.
A few other flux ladies have agreed to take part in the challenge (also for Oly category reasons) and for the motivation factor.
We will be keeping each other in check and of course cheering each other on. There is nothing better than a personal cheerleader to keep you motivated!

February 5 - Day 1: weighed in for Oly class at 68.7kg. Using callipers and taking before photos tomorrow.

Late breakfast/ lunch: eggs, bacon, black coffee
Supper: avocado with steamed bok choy, brocoli, celery and roasted turnip, beet, onion (ate supper with a vegan...)
Super vegan start

I have leftover veggies for 2 meals, now I just have to add meat!
Four pork chops thawing in the fridge.

Afternoon Front Squats: maxed out at 155lbs (70.5kg) (failed at 160lbs), down sets at 140lbs (63.6kg)

29 days until March 5.

1.2.12

Smokey Southwestern Apple and Squash Soup

Smokey Southwestern Apple and Squash Soup (found here)
If you want to keep this soup vegan, use vegetable oil instead of butter and skip the sour cream or use your favorite vegan version.

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3/4 cup diced onion (about 1/4 of a large onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, minced
2 apples, cored, peeled and diced (I used Granny Smith)
2 cups butternut squash, diced (frozen is fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Mexican chili powder
1/4 rounded teaspoon chipotle powder
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
a few shots of your favorite hot sauce (optional)
2 tablespoons sour cream (low fat is fine)

Melt butter in a medium-large soup pot and add in the onions, garlic and jalapeno pepper. Saute over medium-high heat until soft and fragrant. Add in the apples, squash, salt, chili powder and chipotle powder. Stir and let everything reduce for a bit and get mushy, 10 minutes should be plenty, stirring occasionally.

Pour in stock making sure that everything is just covered. Put on lid and simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes until the squash and apples are very soft. Use a hand blender to puree until everything is very smooth. Taste and add in some hot sauce if you want (I want!). Whisk in the sour cream until smooth. Top each bowl with additional sour cream, if desired. Makes 4 small servings or 2 giant ones.