Make your mother smile: eat your vegetables and share.
It is April! Hard to believe that, if you ask me. Feels like it was just January and the start of the paleo challenge. CFR is growing right alongside the green grass and the flowers. This means that it is time to start thinking locally. Chillax! I am not about to throw away my shoes and start hugging trees as I walk to work. I have, however, been doing my homework this week: which involved making it to at least 3 CFR classes, as well as gathering information that will get all of you pumped about what this change of season means to the foods you may want to consider consuming.
Eating seasonally is one of the aspects about this awesome-sauce paleo way of life that we have not yet really talked about. SOOOO…this fine Friday in April we will take a (hopefully quick) look at why eating seasonal rocks our socks off.
Think about it-eating things that are in season means that you will spend less $$ on food. Personally, I think it is total blasphemy when someone says that it is cheaper to eat out than to cook at home. Alas, this is not what I am carrying on about today, so I will K.I.S.S and agree that it can absolutely, unequivocally, both feel and be more expensive to eat paleo. Let’s face it: regardless of how your checkbook balances, we would all love to get great deals on delicious food.
It makes sense that eating seasonal items is budget-friendly, particualrly if we consider the produce section at the grocery store. At times, my beloved raspberries cost 5.99/per tiny container…..other times, 2.99. That is HALF the price. (P.S. why do they never mark food 50% off? I’m guessing it is a psychology thing…50% off, you mean, old food? Gross!) When raspberries are growing faster than they can be picked on a close-by bush, we see the latter price. When they have to make the journey here from Guatemala, or are carefully grown in November in a greenhouse in the Ozarks…the price goes up.
Paleo principle #1=Choose to consume foods that are best for your body. Which food sounds like it holds more nutrients: produce picked and shipped from Mexico 2 weeks ago, or food labeled ‘local’ from PA or NJ at Giant? No surprise answer there. Still, I bet you would wrinkle your nose at the thought of hoofing it up there and braving the Jersey Shore for a salad. The faster you eat a vegetable after it leaves its roots, the more your body gets from it, and the better it tastes. It just makes sense, people. Vitamins and minerals are lost as produce sits on shelves.
Here is a challenge to make your salad as seasonal and as local as you can. Here is a plethora (word bank!) of local farms that sell produce (often natural or organic) and have CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture). I find that the prices at places like this usually aren’t far off from the grocery store, but the selection is wider, and you have the option of meeting the person who lovingly grew the food. Beyond produce and better yet, many of the links below offer cage-free eggs and grass-fed meats. It’s like a local, fully hyper-linked paleo dream-list..get clicking!
Mt. Airy, Westminster, Westminster-MEAT!, Parkton, Hampstead, Sparks, Eldersburg, Freeland…And we can’t forget about Evermore Farm in Westminster-their CSA is already full, but their goods can also be found at the Westminster Farmers’ Market (which starts back up next month, and is right around the corner after a Tuesday evening or Saturday AM workout at CFR!). Evermore Farm also offers a monthly ‘pantry’…definitely worth a look! Also consider checking out the farmers’ market at the Carroll County Ag Center…it is huge!
In closing…I have a proposition. It is now clear that seasonal, local eating can be done with just a small amount of planning-even in Carroll County. (Click on this link!!!! Then print it out. I promise it is not a virus) What I propose raises the bar another notch…
you grow something, I grow something… we swap.
Casey brought several batches of extra and gorgeous tomatoes (and more!) into the box to give away last summer. I say we take her example and run with it (you are like cave-people, after all). Within CFR is a group of amazing people who have made the choice to turn away from the Standard American Diet and do things differently. You all lift heavy shit, realize what so-called ‘healthy’ food is doing to the insides of the people around you, and know what it really means to powerclean. I know that many of you enjoy gardening, and would love to diversify your plates. (Color=Good!!) We add a little table and a basket into one of the many corners at the new CFR to share our wares, and before you know it: food co-op. It’s about as seasonal & local as you can get, money is saved, tummy’s are happier, lifts are stronger….win:win:win!
ignore the pipe (=
It’s time to plan…who wants to grow what? Let’s start talking in the comment section, and go from there! How awesome-sauce of us all(=
Until next time…
Mallory
ShareP.S…Phyllis is working on compiling CFR’s favorite paleo recipes into one location. With the help of all of you, and especially the creative & lovely Jess Shick, we may be on our way a CFR cookbook available for order. Please send any recipes you love to Phyllis by email ptmccrobie at gmail dot com. Thank you!!!!
Eat.better.food.
Today, we try something new: a recipe.
I believe I have mentioned before that I am not big on recipe use. It does not mean I don’t like or use them from time to time-especially when learning something new.
The reason I got so into food, and then nutrition, is because I make damn good food. I always have. I am seriously not trying to toot my own horn, I am just making a statement. Maybe it’s because growing up, I had a dinner rotation starting in the 6th grade. Maybe it’s because I learned in college that I felt less like a waste of space, and didn’t want to jump down a flight of stairs from stomach pain, if I made my own dinner in lieu of stopping for a meatball sub (they tasted sooooo good) at the dining hall. Maybe it’s knowing how amazing YOUR mom’s food tastes, and hoping to one day emulate. Maybe its the curly hair.
Quite simply, I LOVE TO COOK. I don’t even mind grocery shopping. I see, I make…it tastes yummy. Dishes get scraped. Fingers are licked. People praise my work. I feel warm and fuzzy inside. So, I do it again….(anyone else thinking about Pavlov and his dog?!?)
I learn more about food. I mess up. I re-do. I venture beyond my comfort zone. I grow things. (I kill things.) I simplify. Over the years I have changed the food I cook, tinker with what I buy, and alter how I prepare. It’s like a delicious science class where you can sip a glass of wine (busted!) and there are no exams. A little of this, a pinch of that. Cut, dice, mix, splash, taste, smell…add a bit of this; a touch of that, sniff, taste…smile.
Holy Jehoshaphat’s pantaloons! (WHAT? Who says that!?!) Does this feel like a stinking’ creative writing class yet? I’m finished, I apologize…I got carried away.
Now, onto the recipe….
Awesome Sauce Chicken Salad
yum
(made for one moderately hungry lady. double, triple…etc, as needed!)
Ingredients:
-2 chicken thighs
-2 sprigs of fresh dill
-sprinkle of sea salt
Place the above in a pan w/ water covering all ingredients. Boil until chicken is cooked through. Drain, discard dill, shred chicken. (you can also skip this step and use whatevs kind o’chicken goodness you want)
-3 strawberries, diced
-2 radishes, diced
-2 ‘stalks’ cauliflower, diced
-1 Tbsp sweet onion, diced
-1/4 cup homemade mayo (IF YOU AREN’T YET MAKING THIS, WE NEED TO TALK. Follow this link to the first recip e I used. (see- I do use recipes sometimes!) IT’S EASY AND SoOoOo GOOD.! You must use extra light olive oil or it is weird…also I pretty much hate mayo otherwise.)
-Shake of cayenne pepper (or to taste)
-Dash of sea salt (to taste)
-Fresh ground pepper
Mix all ingredients in a bowl, taste….alter as you see fit…and enjoy! How easy was that!?!?
I hope you will find that it is sweet, savory, crunchy, and filling…with a touch of heat. Tastes like spring! Pairs fab with sauteed kale and a glass of California Sauvignon Blanc on the back porch…preferably after a WOD at CFR.
you know you giggled.
Are you guys cool with the idea of a recipe blog now and again? Let me know!
$20 to the sucker who brings an oversized batch of this Awesome Sauce Chicken Salad to the moving party on Sunday AM. (p.s. that comment needs a sponsor.)
Until next time….
Mallory
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Confession:
I went running last weekend. Like, forreals running. An 8k and a Half-Marathon. My race training since Jan 1? 11 weeks of Texas Method, plus 2 wod’s (2 TOTAL, not 2 per week) and 1 sprint session in the driveway in January. I am relatively positive that my last actual run was in August 2011.
THIS is running for your life.
I used to run like a fiend. I looked like a bobble-head (with a pancake rear), my body was falling apart, and I could easily waste 2-4 hours of delicious sleeping time on a weekend morning training (complaining the whole way). So why does a recovered-long distance runner decide to go ahead and run a race weekend she signed up for almost 2 years ago? It’s pretty simple. While I may like to refer to myself as awesome-sauce, I am in fact: a moron.
Let’s talk a little about (long distance) running:
1- It’s boring.
2-It hurts.
I remember now that there are great reasons (like the entire lower half of my body) why I no longer run long distances.
3-Really-it’s boring.
There are very few things that are fun to do for over an hour with no break. I mean come on- even TV has commercials so you can go to the bathroom, check facebook, or do some random pushups.
Doesn't this look fun? He's so fit!!
4-You are surrounded by skinny-fat (and fat-fat) individuals.
It’s a crying shame to know how hard and long a majority of the racers work to complete something like a half marathon, yet as I look around, I’m bombarded with signs of ill health and inflammation in so many of them. Telltale weight around the midsection, zero muscle tone, slumped shoulders, knee braces, washed out complexions, and pockets full of processed atrocities they call nutrition.
5-It does nothing for your hind-parts.
Pancakes are not bootylicious.
6-There is beer at the end. Plus pretzels and sugar cookies.
Holy peanut gallery. Shoot me now. How’s about we eat pasta before and have cookies and beer after…aren’t we the picture of health!?!!?!
How does this relate to nutrition, you ask?
Blonde moments. Even those of us who rock the awesome-sauce title on most days can have them. For me, blonde moments have less relation to food choices, and more to do with decisions like the one that occurred last weekend.
I am happy to say, that after about three+ years of being gluten free, and 2 of being paleo, I just about have the whole ‘cheating’ with food thing down. More often than not, it just is not worth it for me to fall off the wagon. A few torilla chips or a gluten free brownie now and again are a fun treat, and I will certainly indulge. (As I brush the evidence off my fingertips to type, I have to be completely honest. Potato chips: I will search high and low for a potato chip cooked in an oil deemed paleo. Does a paleo snack this make? Heck no. This is something I really need to work on. WHY DO I BUY THEM?!?)
It wasn’t always like this. (NOT the potato chips, funny guy.) Arriving at my current nutrition-blog-writing-self was a journey. It was a long road full of learning things both the easy and the hard way. Most of all, it was figuring out how to take a blonde moment, and allow that moment to become a lesson, instead of derailing any progress I had made. For those of us still trying to figure out how to make the best food choices on our own, working toward an individually-defined goal and sans CFR-Paleo Challenge point sheets, this is often the real challenge.
So yes. I had a blonde moment: I really went running. And no, I won’t be making a habit of it.
Does running with beef jerky make it a WOD?
Don’t be afraid to hop back on the tracks.
Until next time…
Mallory
P.S. CONGRATULATIONS, JESS! YOU ROCK!
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Are you overdoing it?
this feels wrong.
What you eat is important. Hopefully I have convinced you of this by now. No? Ok, fine. It took me about one bajillion books, blog posts, and real-life experiences to get the traditional SAD calories-in, calories-out mentality out of my pea brain. I am a better back squatter for doing so. I poo-poo the ridiculous notion that no matter what the calories I put into my body, I can ‘burn’ them on a treadmill (shudder!) and be a healthy individual. (2,000 calories of twinkies, anyone. How about Ben & Jerry’s? A double chocolate peanut butter shake from Hoffman’s? Oh yum, and Lord have mercy.) At some point in the equation, how much and WHAT you are eating DOES become important.
When are these times? It’s hard to generalize, but…I will try. SOOOO, if you feel like you are doing everything right, but not feeling like you are getting the results you are expecting…this would be the perfect indicator.
Time to take a closer look at what is entering your pie hole. I wish I were savvy enough to make some flow charts on here, but alas, I am not. So, lists it is. First of all, listen to your body and don’t eat just to eat. Robb Wolf likes to advise people not to have their mouth resemble a vacuum cleaner. Eating paleo, we eat great stuff. But we can still overdo it.
Here is a glance at some issues that paleo people may run themselves into every once in awhile.
Fruit.
Fruit is like a Girl’s Gone Wild episode. On the surface, it seems innocent enough- fruit is fun loving and sweet. But when you get down to it, more times than not, that fruit is not going to do your body good. If what you are looking for is body composition changes, just don’t do it. Berries may be your friend, but bet your bottom dollar that the SUGAR in grapes and bananas (etc) may be what is squelching your hard work. If this is your concern, cut it out for two weeks, at least, and report back to base camp with your findings.
- High School Cavepeople read this blog. (lol I wish they would) Current pic is less scary then the real Spice Girls, and far more appropriate than a “GGW” image search.(yet still fruity!)
Cheating.
was it worth it?
100%? 95%? 80%? It’s been a solid week since th challenge-how do you feel now that you have incorporated a cheat or two…or ten? If you feel like you have suddenly stalled in weight loss, body composition changes, or strength increases at the box, it is likely time to really look at how MUCH you are cheating, or what that ‘other percent’ really is. You have found that high quality dairy doesn’t bother you, and have been having a sliver every other day as a treat? Nice. Crumbly croissant for breakfast? Delicious, probably. Nice, no. If you are feeling or looking less than awesome-sauce, it may be time to address that 5%, 10%, or 20%…Don’t hate, just do.
Carbohydrates.
don't be this guy.
See above fruit information-and expand to additional food choices. Consuming lots of starchy veggies? I am BY NO MEANS a zero-carb advocate, HOWEVER, if you are crying at night because you don’t like your body composition, you MUST take a look at your carb intake. I am a firm believer that the average caveperson (I’m so darn equal-opportunity), regardless of how bada$$, underestimates his or her carb intake. Some people run really well on higher carbs (LOL I just typed crabs). Others are uber-sensitive. Have you tuned in to determine which you are? I can carb it up. But not sugar carb. Like my love-the sweet potato. 24g carbs, 7g sugar. I can eat the crap out of sweet potatoes. But oranges? 17g carb, 14g sugar-we do not get along. I feel bad and look bad. I am no mathematician, quite the opposite…but even I can divide well enough to see the difference in these two carb sources. Not sure where your carb intake lies? Perhaps it is time for a few days of honest food journaling. Record what you eat, and then plug it all into a handy-dandy site like fitday, which will quickly break down your daily food intake. There are even pie-charts (mmm, pie). If you are looking for weight loss on a paleo diet, you are going to need to curb your carbs. 50 to 100g would be a great place to aim. Unfortunately, I find this is lower than you think…a.k.a. it will likely take some actual tracking before you get used to what it looks and feels like. If you need help making heads and tails of your journal/fitday results, bring them on into the box and ask Angie, Beau, myself, Tiffany, Patrick M, or another one of your many food-savvy wod-mates help you make heads and tails of your findings.
Food quality.
Yes, you order paleo when you eat out. Still-not knowing how your food is prepared can be a problem. Steaks, salmon,
go ahead, be specific!
and chicken cooked in lesser-oils. Added and unnecessary sugars, starches, and hydrogenated oils added to many foods that you would never suspect. This can add up to trouble. Am I suggesting that you never eat out? Heck no! What I am saying is that if you have a specific goal in mind that you have not been able to reach, even though you feel like you are doing everything correctly, meals out could be an area to address. How much you are really eating food you don’t prepare yourself? Do not be afraid to pull a Sally a la ‘When Harry Met Sally’ when you are out and ordering. After all, you are the money behind that operation. Spread the word around the box when you find somewhere that will not only cook for you, but also cook it to paleo perfection.
If you are looking for the cliff-note version of today’s post, here goes:
-We will NEVER hit the elliptical to ‘burn’ calories. Alas, if looking to lose weight or lean out, in addition to your work at CFR, in:out still matters.
-Don’t be a fruit-monster. Also, Berry=Merry (Oh come on, I am trying to make you remember something, here!)
-How cool are you with being a cheater?
-Define how carbs affect YOU. (For me, Roots>Fruits. Again, work with me.)
-Have more dinner parties at home. (Invite me…clearly.)
Until next time…
Mallory
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Milk: It does a body good?
SHUT.UP. Is this real? It had to be awful. I want to see it. What can it even be about? He needs to squat more, stat.
I never really liked milk all that much. (Especially when the neighborhood kids drank it on pizza night…gag me with a spoon.). Maybe I have just been a super-genius since forever? Eh, since I spelled it ‘genious’ until last week, willingly played the french horn, and Family Matters was one of my favorite TV shows, that probably is not the case. But perhaps I was on to something, after all. Today, we talk about why you can ditch milk in all of it’s lovely forms (I vote cheese as the superior form of milk), get all the calcium and nutrients you need, and still do your body just as good.
Go ahead, throw it away...
Fact #1: Milk Mustache Not Required for Calcium Intake
SPOILER ALERT: your paleo diet is affording you way more calcium than you thought. Not only is eating paleo reducing the ever-evil-inflammation in your hot bod, but all of that protein, fat, and vegetable matter is introducing fantastic and much-needed vitamins and minerals into your system. Since your gut lining is healthy (read: low inflammation), you are able to soak up all the good stuff: Voila! Strong back squats AND strong bones!
Fact #2: Bones are Alive, and Yours are Stronger Now than Before CFR
I think it is a common misconception that bones are old and dead (thanks, Halloween). Bone is a living tissue. It breaks down, is absorbed, and builds back up (super elementary description, BTW). And lifting heavy is making yours happy: You get stronger, your bones get stronger. I don’t care if your kids or those smart a$$ coworkers think you are old as dirt: it’s never too late to start picking up heavy shit. Check out this abstract from pubmed. Incase you don’t, I’ve extracted my favorite sentence: Strength exercise seems to be a powerful stimulus to improve and maintain bone mass during the ageing process.
Oh no! Boss or traffic caused you to be a little late to your preferred classtime at CFR…you only made it just in time for the WOD? Turns out box jumps aren’t just magic to the ear…but also to bone formation! How about a little more science for good measure: studies show that resistance training can maintain or even increase bone mineral density.
Fact #3: Osteoporosis is Not Really About Lack of Dietary Calcium
P.S. If we have to talk about smoking...You're in trouble.
It IS about a whole host of things, which the SAD more or less takes care of in one fell-swoop. Vitamin deficiencies, consumption of processed foods, lack of vegetables (poor quality foods in general), and being sedentary. If you have been paying attention thus far, you see that we have all but cleared that sad SAD list up (pun intended!). Check this out for a great recap. As Robb Wolf and his mounds of research so eloquenlty put it, “the short-hand reasons why a paleo diet is beneficial for osteoporosis is that (calcium) absorption is improved by healing the gut lining + improved hormonal state from increased protein intake”. Lastly, as we have dicussed previously; do NOT forget to take your Vitamin D3. Without proper Vitamin D levels, Calcium is more likely to be blocked from entrance into the pearly-white gates. (LOL. Get it?)
Fact #4: If Beau recommends you drink milk; It is not because he thinks you’ve got soft bones.
This isn’t a link, but it is probably the best summation of today’s topic, and it comes from Beau himself:
“Milk makes you grow. The problem is this growth is indiscriminate (bone mass, muscle mass, and fat mass). If you are looking to get big and strong AND you are not concerned with fat gain, drink your whole milk. If being healthy and having strong bones are what you’re after, then screw milk: just eat your broccoli and squat”.
The aim of this post is to give you plenty of cold, hard, ammunition to throw back at the ever-present peanut gallery (word bank, people!), who tell you your bones are going to crumble into piles of dust or your spine will start curling up if you don’t get your milk mustache on, stat. (More info from the brains at Whole9.)
There may be a place for dairy in some of your diets. If you reintroduce a high quality (read: grass-fed. Heck don’t shoot me (or turn me into the state police), but perhaps even grass-fed and RAW) dairy and find that you have no ill-effects, then it may be a feasible addition for you. Alas, this is another topic altogether.
The point here is to reassure all of you fine folk at CFR that you are not, contrary to conventional wisdom-belief, ’doing your body bad’ by eliminating dairy. Fear not, CFR. You remain…awesome sauce.
Until next time…
Mallory
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