The Virgin Diet

I hate to beat a dead horse, or however that saying goes, but I am absolutely fascinated by the concept of elimination diets. As I've mentioned before, I'm putting together a holistic wellness program for patients, heavily focused on diet and lifestyle. Therefore, I've spent quite a bit of time researching and have begun to build relationships with some great companies. One of the programs that I'm really loving is the Virgin Diet, which asks participants to eliminate the top 7 inflammatory foods for 21 days, and then gradually reintroduce them. The goals is to establish a diet that is tailored to one's unique sensitivities. The one issue that I have with the program is that the author, JJ Virgin, recommends a vegan protein powder that contains sugar. She also recommends the use of xylitol as a sweetener. Now, I'm all for cutting out sugar and artificial sweeteners, so I have a hard time accepting xylitol as a good alternative. I feel much better recommending stevia, or even honey or maple syrup.

I truly believe that a diet of primarily wholefoods, is key to healing, but I also recognize the benefits of a quality protein supplement. Thus far I have found one product that I think I will end up recommending to patients. Garden of Life makes a RAW protein powder that contains fermented soy, but no added sugar, and no gluten, corn, or dairy. I struggle with this because I'm still trying to figure out which is worse, fermented soy or sugar. From what I've read fermented soy, has significant health benefits,  just question whether it is a problem for those with a soy sensitivity.

After a week of tummy troubles, I'm really feeling motivated to try the Virgin Diet myself. Paleo already eliminates corn, soy, dairy, gluten, peanuts, and sugar so my biggest challenge will be to eliminate eggs. Unfortunately, this means no more breakfast cake for a while. I plan to start my 21 days on Monday the 4th, because I  want to try it out before I go recommending it to patients.  I better get a move on it since I'm all set to start seeing patients next week!

I actually ended up swinging by Wholefoods on my way home today and picking up some RAW protein. I didn't have time for lunch today (a huge no no!) so I made a shake when I got home. Here's the recipe:

1 scoop raw chocolate protein powder
10 oz unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen blackberries
1 tbsp almond butter

This shake was unbelievably good! Just the right amount of sweet and chocolatey goodness all from stevia and raw cacao. Again, I am all for whole foods, but I do believe that a quality protein shake has significant health benefits. I'm looking forward to trying this one out for the next few weeks.

New week, fresh start

After a CHALLENGING weekend, to say the least, I am totally pumped to get back on track. The only major slip-up I had was having a piece of cake on Friday night, but this one transgression, shocked my digestive system for the entire weekend! I felt absolutely horrible! One of the greatest benefits that I have garnered from the Paleo lifestyle is learning that I do have some food intolerances. Not necessarily true allergies but definitely sensitivities. The beauty of paleo is that it eliminates many of the foods which are linked to allergies and inflammation. These include: gluten, corn, peanuts, soy, dairy, and sugar,. Now of course eggs are majorly inflammatory for some people but I have not noticed any issue with them. At some point I would love to do a food sensitivity test, but for now I'm satisfied simply eliminating this major allergens. Based on this weekend's tummy troubles I'm pretty well convinced that I am sensitive to gluten, and possibly sugar. How tragic, since my absolute favorite dessert is chocolate cake! All I know is that no cake is worth feeling crappy for days. I'm more determined than ever to stick to paleo, and come up with creative solutions to satisfy my cravings.

Mondays naturally feel like a fresh start, so I'm ready to let go of the weekend and move forward. Luckily, my friend Aubrey is starting a 60 days paleo challenge today, so I will have some support. Even Chad wants to get back on track, and that will be great, since watching him eat pizza is pure torture. Chad and I started the morning off at CrossFit and here is today's WOD:

STRENGTH: 
CLEAN PULL @ 60% OF 1RM BACK SQUAT 3.3.3
BEFORE COMING IN FIGURE OUT WHAT 60% OF YOUR 1 RM BACK SQUAT IS. IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR MAX BACK SQUAT IS THAT IS FINE. WE WILL TRY TO FIGURE IT OUT IN CLASS.
OLYMPIC SQUATS @ 60% 3 X 12 REPS-60% OF YOUR MAX OLYMPIC SQUAT

WOD: AMRAP 20 MINUTES
300 YD KB FARMERS WALK
50 BOTTOMS UPS KB PRESSES
50 TOTAL SINGLE ARM KB SWING ALTERNATING
50 ALTERNATING ARM FLOOR PRESS KB
300 YD KB FARMERS WALK

Its nice to have this workout in the books!

For breakfast I packed Chad some carrot/ginger paleo muffins, cashew butter, and strawberries. I made myself my usual, but added shredded carrots the breakfast cake mix. Can you say YUM!

What's going to be really sad, is the day I finally get tired of eating the same breakfast everyday, but until then, this is my go to.

Last night I roasted a whole chicken, so we'll be able to eat on that for most of the week. Check out this beauty

All I did was stuff the chicken with sliced oranges, fresh rosemary, and garlic. Then I topped it with EVOO and S&P. This chicken is about 4.5 lbs so I baked it at 350 for about an hour. Super simple and full of flavor. Once we eat most of the meat, I'll use the bones to make broth.

I'm looking forward to a month of clean eating and lots of adventures in the kitchen.

Well looks like I'll be restarting my challenge today. Yes, I must confess, I totally broke down last night and had an AMAZING piece of vegan chocolate zucchini cake at Fido. My day started out great, usual breakfast followed by snacking on my homemade beef jerky and almonds, followed by a veggie and turkey bacon scramble for lunch. We met our friends Aubrey and Matt for dinner at an awesome Thai restaurant, and I had a green papaya salad and red curry minus the rice. I completely stuffed myself! Then, we headed to Fido and they happened to have my favorite cake. I hadn't had it in months and I just could not resist. After absolutely inhaling it, along with a cup of coffee, I felt so guilty. We'll just call yesterday my "big carb" day.

This morning I got up and made breakfast and then headed to day 5 of CrossFit. Here is today's WOD:

WARM UP- 6 TO 8 MINUTES
SKILL/MOBILITY: GRAB YOU PVC PIPES AND SPAR WITH EACH OTHER. JUST KIDDING….PRACTICE.
OVERHEAD SQUAT: 15
SNATCH: 15
POWER CLEAN: 15
FRONT SQUAT: 15
HOLLOW ROCK POSITION: 15
KIPPING POSITION: 15
WOD:

• Pullups – 25 reps
• Barbell Deadlift with 135 lbs. – 50 reps
• Pushups – 50 reps
• 24-inch Box Jumps – 50 reps
• Floor Wipers – 50 reps
• Single-Arm Clean-and-Press with 36 lbs Kettlebell – 50 reps
• Pullups – 25 rep

I completed the WOD in 17:04.

No matter how crappy I might feel about my eating, I always feel AWESOME at CrossFit. It is really empowering to loose yourself in a great workout.

For lunch I sauteed chicken, zucchini, onion and spinach, and then added my cashew sauce. I way over ate but it was really satisfying after a tough WOD. I would like to make an effort over the next month, to not stuff myself at meals. A, its completely mindless eating and B, it makes me feel gross.

Chad and I headed to a movie this evening, and then decided to eat out again. Reluctantly I agreed to head back to Fido, but I was determined to resist another piece of cake. Chad is seriously the WORST influence ever because he has an awful sweet tooth. I ended up ordering their local burger bunless, but with cheese, and a side of sweet potato fries. I love their fries because they aren't fried :) Chad went ahead and ordered cake, and yes, I did have a bite of his, but I didn't have my own piece. I sipped on a great cup of coffee after dinner, and then we headed home.

My diet today certainly wasn't perfect, but it was a great step towards getting back on track.

Back on track

Good morning and happy Friday! As you may have figured out, if you've followed my posts at all, I am really into goal setting. For me, setting and achieving goals keeps me accountable and helps me maintain lifestyle changes. Today marks 30 days until my 27th birthday so I think it is a perfect day to get back to paleo, and back to my wellness goals. This time around I'm not going to step on the scale, in fact I am going to try and avoid it for the entire 30 days. I plan to monitor my progress with pictures and my measurements instead. As I've said before, I love experimenting to figure out how different ways of eating and working out effect my body. Thus far I've discovered that paleo and crossfit make me feel great, but crossfit definitely encourages my body to beef up. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it takes some getting used to. In the interest of further experimentation I want to maintain a diet of less than 100g of carbs/day 6 days a week, and then double that amount 1 day per week. This is a common practice with the theory being that doubling carbs, one day per week will boost metabolism. I've never tried it so I'm eager to see how it works for me. So here's the plan:

1. Clean, paleo eating for 30 days
2. 6 days/wk eat < 100g carbs/day, 1 day/wk double that amount
3. CrossFit 5 days/wk
4. sleep at least 7hrs/per night

I'd love to get back into yoga, but I have a ton on my plate right now so I don't want yoga to become something else I have to check off my list. 

I'm really looking forward to this latest challenge and can't wait to see the results!

Weaning off sweets

Ya know what absolutely baffles me? The fact that  I can go a whole month without sweets and then one indulgence, and the cravings are back! The day after I finished the paleo challenge, I had a piece of red velvet cake, and every day since, I've craved sweets. What gives! I swear sweets are like drugs, and just one taste can throw me back into bad habits. On a positive note, even though I've eaten a few grain products, I really haven't craved them. Winning! I've been gradually weaning myself off sweets by indulging in a couple pieces of dark chocolate, and 1-2 dates, every other day or so. What usually ends up happening is that I quell my cravings with nut butter , so I need to watch that as well. Work in progress!

Today I was pretty productive. Chad and I went to CrossFit and I did some cleaning, grocery shopping, met with my boss, and spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Today chuck roasts were on sale at Wholefoods so I got a 2lb roast and decided to attempt to make some beef jerky. I thinly sliced the meat and then marinaded it. Here's what I used:

2 tbsp coconut aminos
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder

I cooked the meat at 170 degrees for about 4 hours and I think it turned out pretty well.

I also made some carrot-ginger muffins that I thought would be great to grab on the go. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cup almond meal
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
3 large eggs
1 large extra ripe banana mashed
1 tbsp raw honey
1 tbsp coconut oil melted
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt

I mixed all the ingredients and baked the muffins at 350 for about 10 minutes. I think they turned out great but they are definitely not sweet, which may be a problem for Chad. Adding more honey would help but I like them as is.

For dinner I made turkey meatloaf, roasted veggies, and carrot-sweet potato cakes. I also made some ketchup to use for the meatloaf, but this time I made it a bit more savory than usual.

Ketchup is soo easy to make and this way you can control the ingredients. All you need is tomato paste, salt, garlic powder, apple cider vinegar, either dry mustard or dijon, and honey.

I am so stuffed but happy that dinner was a success. I can't wait to try out the beef jerky!

Pancakes

 

This morning I woke up and just felt like having pancakes. Every now and again I'll get a craving for them, and I think this one was sparked by passing Nashville's famous restaurant, Pancake Pantry, last night. In the interest of working my way back to paleo, after a week long hiatus, I wanted to create a recipe that stuck to paleo principals. I looked at several recipes online, and then got bored and started throwing ingredients together. Luckily my experimenting worked out pretty well and the pancakes turned out fluffy, and actually stuck together. Here's the recipe:

5 tbsp coconut flour
3 tbsp almond flour
4 large eggs lightly beaten
1/3 cup unsweetened organic apple sauce
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract
coconut oil for the pan

I wish I could tell you that I mixed the wet and dry ingredients separately, and then carefully combined them, but that's just not me. I threw all the ingredients together and mixed them with a fork. I heated a pan to medium and added a tsp of coconut oil. Once melted I added about a 1/2 cup of mix to the pan and cooked the pancake for about 5 minutes total. Again, I was shocked this recipe actually worked out but take a look at the picture above! I topped my pancakes with almond butter and blueberries, and Chad's with raw honey and cinnamon. This is a great basic recipe and next time I want to add ginger and molasses to make gingerbread pancakes.

So now my belly is full of yumminess and I'm ready to reevaluate my goals. I am so glad that I tried paleo because I honestly feel that it is a lifestyle that makes sense to me, and falls in line with my beliefs about health and wellness. Its really quite simple: EAT REAL FOOD!

I like to set very specific, timed goals for myself, because I think it is much easier to stay accountable that way. My 27th birthday is March 22nd, just over a month from today, so that's my time frame for my latest set of goals. Here's what I hope to do:

1. go to Crossfit 5 days/wk
2. practice yoga at least once/wk
3. Eat paleo 6 days/ wk, allowing a cheat day (within reason) once a wk
4. No less that 7 hrs sleep/night

I'm still working on that six pack, so hopefully these goals will continue to bring me closer

My friend Aubrey and her husband are going to be starting a 60 day paleo challenge. I totally commend them, and it will be great to be able to support each other.

My jeans don't fit....

This week has been really wonderful, and its one I look forward to every year. Chad and I get to celebrate Valentine's day, the anniversary of our first date, and Chad's birthday. Of course this also means that we over indulge in food and drinks, so sticking to paleo has been tough. You may have seen my "paleo" V-day dinner, which was awesome, but that chocolate pot de creme made me soo sick! It was just way too rich and I was up most of the night with a tummy ache, which lasted through Friday afternoon.

Friday night Chad made us reservations at an awesome restaurant, Kayne Prime. I was supposed to meet him at his office at 7, to make a 7:30 reservation, but of course I was running late. I was stuck in my closet in tears for 30 minutes because I could not figure out what to wear. I wanted to throw on some jeans, but none of them fit! Now for most women, this is an absolute tradgedy because it usually means you are gaining weight. I know the reason my jeans are snug is because all the CrossFit is adding muscle to my legs, but honestly after dealing with body image issues for most of my life, its so scary when clothes stop fitting. I finally found a pair I could squeeze into, but I was super uncomfortable. I sucked it up and ran out the door.

Dinner was amazing! We each had a 6oz Waygu beef filet and Chad ordered Mac 'n' cheese and cesar salad, and I ordered brussel sprouts. We also shared an awesome bottle of wine. My dinner wouldn't have been too un-paleo (except for the wine) but then I tried Chad's Mac, and I couldn't resist. I don't even like Mac 'n' cheese, yes its really true, but this stuff was unbelievable! It was a great meal, and a great way to celebrate with my love.

Saturday we headed to CrossFit, which made 6 days in row for me once again :) Here's the WOD:
WARM UP - 6 TO 8 MINUTE

SKILL - DOUBLE UNDERS 5 MINUTES

WOD - 5 ROUNDS FOR TIME
10 PISTOLS EACH LEG
10 WALKING KB PRESSES
10 POWER PUSH UPS
10 RUSSIAN TWISTS WEIGHTED
10 JUMP SQUATS
STRETCH/COOL DOWN

Afterwards we headed to lunch at Burger Up with Chad's family. I ordered my burger paleo style, no bun or cheese, topped with avocado and egg, and lots of sweet potato fries. We then headed back to our house for cookie cake and presents. I was able to resist the cookie, and occupied myself by getting started on the cooking for last night's party. I made a bunch of food, and none of it was very paleo. Here's the menu:

Proscuitto wrapped asparagus
Blue cheese turkey buffalo meatballs
Goat cheese stuffed bacon wrapped dates
Quesadillas:
    carmelized onion, apple, brie
    avocado, chicken, goat cheese
    pesto, chicken, mozzarella
Blackberry vodka lemonade

Everything turned out great and we had NOTHING leftover. Always a good compliment :) I ate and drank way too much and had a great time. I capped off the evening with an ice cream Sunday before heading to bed... I don't even remember the last time I had ice cream!

This morning I woke up and didn't feel great, but I was not nearly as hungover as I thought I'd be. I had my usual breakfast and coffee, and lots of water. At my women's circle I had some delicious paleo sweet potato muffins, a paleo brownie, and one chocolate covered strawberry. I also had a ginger kombucha that I bought yesterday in anticipation of today's pain. After this week I am so ready to get back on paleo. Garbage in= garbage out, and I'm really feeling the ill effects of my dietary choices. Its really not worth the pain!