Nutrition Blog

Throw.Out.Your.@#%$.Scale

Posted by on Mar 22, 2013 in Nutrition | 0 comments

Throw.Out.Your.@#%$.Scale

Alright, challengers…ALMOST there!

Be sure to remember these dates as you amazing ladies and gents finish up:

 March 25th – After photos must taken BY THE PARTICIPANT.
 March 28th – The post Paleo challenge workout must be completed and recorded by a trainer. Paleo challenge food points must be turned in. An email must be sent by this date by the participant to beau82nd at gmail dot com. The email must include both before and after photos, total food points, number of days you made it to CFR during the challenge and Paleo challenge pre workout times and post workout times.

Now that the details are taken care of, lettuce get down to business. (Just seeing if you are paying attention!)

Turns out, as awesome sauce as we try to be at CFR, there was something missing from the most recent paleo challenge. It’s our bad, really. We forgot to tell you back on Feb 23rd to…

THROW AWAY YOUR SCALE

“Um…how will I know if I am making progress if I don’t have a scale?!?”

Good question. Fair question.

Right now, many of you equate the number on the scale with your health and fitness. Clearly, to have better health and fitness, the number on the scale must continue to go down.

CONTINUOUSLY FALL

CONTINUOUSLY FALL

Right?!?! Without that number, how else could you possibly know that you:

can now run a 200m sprint?!?

….lift heavier weights?!?

… have gained days, months, maybe even years of healthy living?!?

…cured your eczema?!?

…have a firmer backside and less jiggly arms?!?

…have less acne?!?

…fit back into your sexy pants?!?

Wait a minute…what is this blog-lady talking about? My scale only has NUMBERS. None of that other mumbo-jumbo!

You guys are so smart…you hit the nail on the head. Your scale only has NUMBERS. Your scale DOES NOT tell you any of those things listed above. I mean, come on now. Who even likes NUMBERS, anyway!?!? (Sorry, math teachers and accountants…and bankers. And anyone with a checkbook (smartphone?). Maybe you guys like NUMBERS. Lettuce exercise your imaginations and pretend NUMBERS are your new frenemy.)

FatMuscle

5lbs vs. 5lbs

Does anything about that picture look equal to you?

You can make EPIC changes in your health and fitness, speaking in terms of your body composition  from here on, WITHOUT LOSING WEIGHT. True story. There could be very little change, no change, heck-even an INCREASE, on the NUMBERS on that stupid, stupid scale, and your body composition could be steadily improving.

Improving Body Composition!

I’m not trying to hurt the scales’ feelings by calling it dumb. It just is a poor, POOR representation of the changes you are making by: lifting heavy weights, doing smart WODs, and eating a diet full of protein, healthy fats, and delicious, natural carbs (er…sounds familiar, what is that called? OH yeah: PALEO).

Read this, and tell me after if you don’t think your scale is a dumbass afterword:

Someone weighing 200 pounds with a body fat percentage of 25 is carrying around 50 pounds of extra fat. That same person weighing 200 pounds with 10 per cent body fat would be carrying around only 20 pounds of fat.

What would the scale say for each person weighing 200 pounds?

Correct. It would say “200″ pounds.

Would those 200 pounds look the same?

No.

Would your scale still say 200 pounds?

Yes.

Do you think your scale is stupid yet?

 

 Why waste precious time daily -before you shower but after you’ve worked out and gone to the bathroom (twice, just in-case) and crossed your fingers on your right hand only-or weekly, or twice daily, or WHATEVER- on a measurement that is stupid and leaves you feeling like you aren’t making any progress, when you CLEARLY are moving right along?!?

The Moral of the Blog Is:

Instead of getting frustrated by what the stupid, no-good hunk of plastic and metal that lives on your bathroom floor tells you; pick a smarter way to judge the ‘body composition’ area of your health and fitness. Not NUMBERS. 

 

You could:

  • Check out your before and after pictures from the paleo challenge…what differences do you see? The proof will be in the puddin’ on that one. (Didn’t participate in the challenge? No problem, your camera works even on non-challenge days; I checked with the manufacturer.)
  • Look at how your dead lift, bench press, or back squat has gone up in the past few weeks. That means your lean muscle mass is increasing!
  • Wear your sexy pants, sans muffin top. (Used to seem kinda weird that the NUMBER on the scale didn’t move but those pants went back on, didn’t it? (The fat must have transferred somewhere else,  right?!!?) Now you know better than to be duped!)
  • Wave hello and goodbye without fear of the ‘jiggle’!
  • Wonder who’s good lookin’ arse that is in the mirror you just walked by…oh, that’s right…it’s YOURS!!!

Do whatever. Just stop getting sucked into a NUMBER on a stupid scale.

Everyone stops counting their age at 29. So, new challenge rule:

You can keep your scale if you weigh less than 29 pounds. Otherwise,

Throw.Out.Your.@#%$.Scale.

 

Seriously. Try it for 30 days. Notice you continue to kick a$$ and take names, without giving a hoot about a NUMBER. (Then un-hide it and throw.out.your.@#$%.scale.)

You know you can do anything. You are awesome sauce.

Until Next Time…

Mallory

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Beans, Beans, The Musical Fruit

Posted by on Mar 15, 2013 in Nutrition | 1 comment

Beans, Beans, The Musical Fruit

The more you eat, the more you….you know.

Growing up, we had to sing the ‘musical fruit’ version in lieu of the ‘good for your heart’. Why? The ‘F’ word was banned at our house. (Not that one, THAT one was ok.) COME ON, gang. I kid, I kid. (They were both, obviously, no-go’s.) But I am referring to the one that rhymes with Bart. As in Simpson. Bart and Homer were also a no-go. (That list was comprehensive. I am pretty sure if I were a kid today, we would live in a cave. Wait a second: How PALEO would that be!?!?)

Turns out, both ‘musical fruit’ and ‘good for your heart’versions are bad, and your children will need to put on their thinking caps to designate an appropriate version for your house. (Post them to comments, I beg of you!)

By now, you are on to what we are going to dissect today. It’s a question I have heard at CFR many times, in many ways. It sounds something like this:

NO BEANS? Why can’t I eat beans? They are full of fiber and, uh…other good stuff! What will I order at Taco Bell?!?!

Alright, I took some liberties with the Taco Bell part. But know this: I know. (What? I am making zero sense.) What I mean is, I know from the regularity of this question, and from other banter one picks up when they spend many an hour each week at the box, that many of you have seemed to miss the boat on beans. (Write that down-they sound like new lyrics!)

Beans take a lot of…WORK.

Can you pick a lima bean off a branch and consume? NO. Even if you COULD, you WOULDNOT. Why? Think about what RAW (aka unprepared) beans look like at the grocery store. They are in a dusty bag on a hard to reach shelf. You would probably purchase said bag to make ‘cornhole’ bean bag replacements before thinking ‘chili!’. Imagine crunching down on one of those suckers….the magical root-canal maker!  Most legumes are far, far away from the state that you will end up eating them in. It requires much preparation to get a lima bean to the (undesirable) texture that it ends up in that can you pulled off the grocery store shelf. A good rule of thumb in general…the more steps it took for your food to become  edible, the less desirable it likely is.

Beans, while toted as being a fabulous source of fiber, protein, and ‘low-cal’ carbohydrate, really cannot be outdone by of other, more readily prepare, paleo foods.

As a protein source:.

BEANS < MEAT

1/2 cup of beans has 4-9 grams of protein, depending on the variety. A mere three ounce serving o’ meat (palm sized) has 21 grams of protein. Absolutely no argument there. Eat the meat.

BEANS < VEGGIES

Beans do not beat out other vegetables, particularly our favorite: locally sourced, leafy, green varieties, and beyond, in either micronutrients or absorbed fiber content.  Eat the veggies.

Beans ARE, however, a fantastic source of PHYTATES. Hold your horses, this is not me changing my tune. Phytates are anti-nutrients (like in: GRAINS…dun dun dun), which bind to the minerals in beans, making them UNAVAILABLE for our bodies to use. These now unavailable nutrients include magnesium, calcium, zinc, and iron. All really important. Guess what your body holds onto when you eat meat, eggs, and vegetables…

Beans also contain the anti-nutrient called lectin. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that are present in nearly every living thing. Think of a lectin like a little built in pesticide, designed to make whoever ate beans want to NOT eat beans again. Mark Sisson says it like this:  “In order to avoid being completely decimated by insects, foraging animals and Groks, plant species evolved assorted anti-nutrients that would make said pests regret their gorges with a variety of mostly digestive related ailments…They’re relatively sticky molecules, which makes them effective in binding with their sought after sugars but undesirable for our digestion, in which their binding powers can lead them to attach to the intestinal lining and wreak havoc.”  

AKA…gas.

And now, my favorite kid-friendly explanation goes like this: “Kidz World explains that beans contain sugars the human body simply cannot digest. Once these sugars reach a person’s lower intestines, “the bacteria go berserk, start feasting, and make loads of gas.” Before you know it — toxic fumes.”

 This is Why Beans Make You…Musical.

We urge you to stay away from grains because of the damage that anti-nutrient inflict on your intestinal tract, which increases the permeability of your intestines, leading to inflammation….which can lead to a whole host of unwanted effects from bloating (small problem) to leaky gut to diabetes and heart disease (very big problems).

Seems to me like this is also ample reasoning to also stay away from the beans.

Step away from the beans and make this

easy, delicious Eggplant Pizza

instead!

You Will Need:

  • 1 eggplant
  • Sugar Free Spaghetti or Pizza Sauce
  • Toppings of your choice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sliced and Broiled

With different toppings, over spicy arugula!

Until Next Time…

Mallory

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Again…Why Am I Doing This? (And Butter.)

Posted by on Mar 1, 2013 in Nutrition | 0 comments

Again…Why Am I Doing This? (And Butter.)

One of the many participating in CFR’s Paleo Challenge? Hitting a slump and trying to recall WHY? (Non-challengers, hang with me. There will be prizes…made of butter.)

Let’s see…

1- Because you are awesome sauce.

2-You have a goal. A goal that YOU set. A goal that YOU are going to achieve.

3-Setting a stellar example for your kids, nieces, parents, grandkids, spouse, coworkers, (fill in this blank _____) seems like a pretty amazing idea to you.

4-In your mind, getting stronger and faster sounds like a plan.

5-Living a longer life filled with more healthy days seems better than saving milliseconds by ordering take out. (more to come on this…I feel a “Why you can make it yourself faster and cheaper” experiment coming up.)

6- Eating real food isn’t half bad, after all. (Lots o’ meat, lots o’ veggies…done!)

WAIT A MINUTE…DID YOU ALL GIVE UP SMOKING??? (I am highly distracted at the moment because I ate too many roasted garlic cloves. They were delicious. This will make more sense to you in a few paragraphs.)  Crazy that what you eat can affect you as much as smoking a known carcinogen.

Oh yeah….and there is ALWAYS this one:

7-You want to look better naked.

‘Nuff Said.

Now…Onto the butter.

Mash it!

CRACK  (a.k.a. Rosemary Garlic Butter)

OH yeah.

  • 1 head of roasted garlic, mashed
  • 1/2 cup kerrygold butter, softened
  • 1 tbsp dried rosemary
  • Pinch of salt
  1. Make sure your garlic is completely mashed.
  2. Add butter, rosemary, and salt to a bowl and mix well.
  3. Transfer mixture into a ramekin, cover tightly and refrigerate until firm.
  4. Fry your eggs in it, spread on brisket…Put it on every.single.thing. And I dare you not to lick the knife.

Mix it!

Double Batch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah…this part will also be important. And easy.

 Roasted Garlic

  • Preheat oven to 425
  • Cut pointy end off full head of garlic. (You will be cutting approx 1/4 way in from pointed end.)
  • Do this with as many as you desire.
  • Place both ‘halves’ cut side up in an oven safe dish (pie dish, shallow Pyrex, etc).
  • Drizzle liberally with olive oil, approx 2-3Tbsp per head, more if desired.
  • Lightly salt
  • Cover tightly (with foil)and place in oven.
  • Roast for approx 45 minutes. (Check at 30 mins to gauge). Garlic is finished when the large cloves are soft, almost butter-consistency, to the touch. The smaller pieces from the pointed end may get more done-these are a delicious snack…(don’t say I didn’t warn you, after you have suddenly popped 10 or 12!)

Roasted garlic can be served alone, thrown into vegetables, mixed with spaghetti squash, spread on paleo pizza, blended into salsas and salad dressings…the rich, nutty, almost sweet flavor will go with anything!!!

Cut off the pointed end.

Roasted deliciousness.

Olive Oil, Salt.

 

Keep on, keeping on! And it’s probably time to buy some more Kerrygold. 

Until Next Time…

Mallory

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Challengers…

Posted by on Feb 16, 2013 in Nutrition | 0 comments

How did we remember anything pre-smartphones!?

Info as promised at the Paleo Challenge Meeting. Thanks to all who attended,  you had great questions and are sure to do awesome! (Same goes for those who were not able to make it!)

Remember that important dates and all Challenge info can be found here: bookmark it! 

If what you are eating did not get dug out of the ground, picked off a tree, or have a face prior to arriving at the market, READ THE LABEL. Do NOT be fooled by phrases like ‘all natural’, ‘heart healthy’, ‘gluten free’, etc, etc. (Big thanks to Lesley!)

List of Ingredients to AVOID.

Other names for sugar

  • barley malt
  • beet sugar
  • brown sugar
  • buttered syrup
  • cane-juice crystals
  • cane sugar
  • caramel
  • carob syrup
  • corn syrup
  • corn syrup solids
  • date sugar
  • dextran
  • dextrose
  • diastatic malt
  • ethyl maltol
  • fructose
  • fruit juice
  • fruit juice concentrate
  • glucose
  • glucose solids
  • golden sugar
  • golden syrup
  • grape sugar
  • high-fructose corn syrup
  •  honey
  • invert sugar
  • lactose
  • malt syrup
  • maltodextrin
  • maltose
  • mannitol
  • molasses
  • raw sugar
  • refiner’s syrup
  • sorbitol
  • sorghum syrup
  • sucrose
  • sugar
  • turbinado sugar
  • yellow sugar

Grains

Whole Grains

  •  Amaranth
  • Barley
  • Brown Rice ANYTHING
  • Buckwheat
  • Bulgur (Cracked Wheat)
  • Farro / Emmer
  • Flaxseed
  • Grano
  • Kamut® Grain
  • Millet
  • Oats ANYTHING
  • Popcorn
  •  Whole Wheat Cereal Flakes
  • Muesli
  • Quinoa
  • Rye
  • Sorghum
  • Spelt
  • Teff
  • Triticale
  • Whole Grain Barley
  • Wheat Berries
  • Whole Grain Cornmeal
  • Whole Rye
  • Whole Wheat ANYTHING
  • Wild Rice

Refined Grain

  • Cornbread
  • Corn Tortillas
  • Couscous
  • Crackers
  • Flour Tortillas
  • Grits
  • Noodles
  • Spaghetti, Macaroni, ALL PASTA (Gluten Free Included!)
  •  Pitas
  • Pretzels
  • Ready-To-Eat Breakfast Cereals
  • White Bread
  • White Sandwich Buns And Rolls
  • White Rice

Wheat ingredients

  • Cereal extract
  • Durum flour, durum wheat
  • Emmer
  • Einkorn
  • Farina
  • Flour (all-purpose, cake, enriched, graham, high gluten, high protein, pastry and wheat)
  • Granola
  • Kamut
  • Semolina
  • Spelt (not wheat but contains gluten)
  • Sprouted wheat
  • Triticale
  • Vital gluten, wheat (bran, germ, gluten, malt, starch)
  • Whole wheat berries

100% Whey Options

www.truenutrition.com 

 NOW Superfoods  

Just look for something that is 100% whey. Nothing.Else. You guys can figure this out!!!

Fish Oil

This is more complicated and will require more research by your friendly blog-her(ha!). Focus on your food for now and we will readdress at a later date. If you are already taking fish oil, keep on keeping on. You can also check out this post on fish oil from last year.

Making Your Own Jerky

Scroll down to the comment on this recipe for ideas making your own jerky without sweeteners.

Meal Plan and Websites

Click Here to head over to Robb Wolf’s meal plan. This is his fantastic ‘get started’ info…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly…remember not to over think things:

Eat real food.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Until Next Time…

Mallory

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Can I (as in YOU) Eat Paleo?

Posted by on Feb 14, 2013 in Nutrition | 2 comments

Can I (as in YOU) Eat Paleo?

If You Have a Head on Your Shoulders, You Can Eat Paleo.

 5 weeks. 

No excuses.

(Unless You are Headless) 

Five weeks of real food.  February 18-March 25. I dare you to complain in April.

Proof is in the pudding.

Be awesome sauce.

Questions answered tonight, February 14th,  at CFR ,  6:45pm.

It’s like giving yourself a Valentine.

I'm a true romantic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until Next Time…

Mallory

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