Thursday, March 18, 2010

What to Eat



I’ve been making recipes from a paleo blog called Dialed-In Nutrition at

http://www.marianutrition.blogspot.com/

Some of it has been really yummy and some of it has been okay. I was really excited to try the paleo ice cream from March 1, which the blogger said even her kids liked, but then it wasn’t too tasty. It used coconut milk, berries, banana, vanilla, and nuts. Here are two disclaimers though. 1) The quality of coconut milk could have made a difference. We used Sun Luck. 2) Doug made it while I was out and you just never know what could happen there. For instance, did the baby throw in some salt while he wasn’t looking? Did he use balsamic vinegar instead of vanilla? I’m sure he didn’t put nuts in because he’s not always a nut fan. Also, if you let it freeze the whole way it just becomes a big rock that you can’t eat unless you have a pick ax or let it melt for a while.

Doug liked the chili from February 18. I liked it but didn’t love it, too many sweet spices for me: cocoa, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon. Shepherd’s Pie from February 25 was good. I liked it, and Ali liked it. The boys didn’t like it a ton. Doug doesn’t like cauliflower, and it did have a bit of cauliflower taste. I think it might not be as strong a taste if you steam the cauliflower before baking the whole thing.

I am going to try the lime chili pork tenderloin from March 11, the chicken soup from March 7, and the quiche from January 29.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

First Mountain Bike Ride of the Season




First mountain bike ride of the season on Saturday. We rode the Rockville Bench Trail and it was incredible—beautiful and fun. The trails down here are amazing and the scenery is world class. We rode the big loop, taking a couple of hours, but I felt pretty good overall (well except my bum). There are some pretty technical parts on the trail and even with my new lovely, lovely, fun, fun bike, I bumped my bum a bit.

I did feel like I have improved my leg strength. When I had to pound up something steep, I was surprised at what I could do. Just another plug for the high-intensity, strength workouts.

I’ve been trying some new recipes that are pretty good. I’ll put those up next.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Cake is good.

I went a little crazy with the treats this weekend. We had family in town celebrating birthdays, and I bought one of those huge, yummy Costco birthday cakes (I am keeping that place in business.). So I ate cake and ice cream, had some guacamole with chips, a few Cadbury chocolate eggs, and popcorn. But did I die? No. Did I ruin everything? No. Did I gain 10 pounds? No. But if I keep that up I will! So that was just my indulgence weekend, and I shall be a good girl for a while now. You can indulge every once in a while. It’s not going to undo all the good. But I am facing the truth of what Coach Robin says, “You can’t outtrain a bad diet.” That was how I approached life before. “It doesn’t matter if I eat this entire pizza and wash it down with a little Sprite followed by some ice cream and chocolate sauce. Tomorrow I’m going to run 10 miles.” The hard, cold truth is that I never got as strong doing that as I am already, after a couple of months of Crossfit and good eating.

Food in our society is really baffling. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Even though most of us have seen or read things like, Fast Food Nation, Supersize Me, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, our eating habits don’t drastically change. Our culture is set up to make terrible eating habits easier than good ones. Ninety percent of the food in a grocery store is junk. Half of the things that we think of as healthy are not really healthy at all. Bread, cheese, pasta, rice. It’s processed beyond recognition. And I don’t even know how to prepare the most nutrient dense foods like kale or swiss chard. I eat what is convenient or sweet rather than what is good for my body.

Apparently, most people’s diets consist of about 20 main foods. The funny thing is that those 20 main foods are usually not the 20 BEST foods. For me, I was definitely eating more cold cereal and bread than spinach and carrots. And I thought that was pretty good. At least it wasn’t French fries and Coke. But now changing my own diet for 24 days has really made the whole food awareness thing personal for me. I felt better, less bloated, and less stuffy in my sinuses. I had more energy, slept better, and got stronger. I’ve had a little food epiphany. Eat food that makes my body feel good! Make eating a response to physical stimuli rather than psychological stimuli. We are a culture of psychological eating. Does not compute.

With that said. I still admit that cake is good. I’m going to keep eating it. Maybe just once in a while instead of after every meal!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Time to Part-ay

Last night we had our little celebration for the end of our 24-day challenge. The gym catered a dinner that was really yummy. We had bbq pork, chicken, beef, grilled veggies, and a couple of salads. That was some of the best food I’ve eaten in Cedar City. Kind of cool that the gym put on an event like that. I love that I am learning about eating better along with a new workout strategy. It’s a more holistic approach to health than the average gym.

We also had our measurements re-taken. So we did tape measurements of arms, legs, hips, etc. We weighed in, and then we did another magic measurement (I can’t remember what the machine is called) that measures body mass index. So it provided numbers for lean body mass, fat body mass, percentage of body fat, and stuff like that. I lost 7 pounds and Doug lost 14. I think the most anyone lost was one guy who lost 20 pounds! His wife also lost 15 pounds. She said that after her last baby it took her months to lose that much weight. Not that this is a weird super-low calorie way to eat. It is a normal way to eat, and you can eat like this all the time. But I think the combo of healthy eating and high-intensity workouts gets you pretty fit fast.

I feel like I had a few pounds to lose and could stand to lose a few more. So I think the weight came off pretty easy. I’m not going to try to look supermodel thin—not really my thing—but hope I can get into some clothes that are too tight right now. But once I lose those pounds, I’ll just try to maintain. I just feel better when I eat right and exercise. I end up sleeping better and having more energy and just feeling a little perkier. So that’s what it’s really about for me.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

4 Rules for Omitting Useless Calories from My Diet

1. Do not eat food from the kids’ plates when cleaning up after a meal.
2. Do not eat food just because you are walking by it.
3. Do not eat food just because you’ve gotten all the kids in bed and finally have a minute to sit down.
4. Do not eat food because it’s easier than putting it back in the fridge.

Thinking I’m tough with the dead lift. I was talking to my sister last night, and I asked her how much she can dead lift—285 pounds is her best! Okay, I can work up from my measly 105. Not that I’ll ever have significant shoulders. My dad used to call me “chicken wings.” My sister is so strong!! She used to piggyback my dad around. And she’d probably smoke half the male population in an arm wrestle. She is a great athlete.

Two of our trainers qualified in the Utah/Nevada Crossfit regionals. Here’s a link to a video of my trainer Robin Lyons coming first in one of the WOD competitions. I have a soft spot in my heart for her since she is half Canadian, was my Foundations trainer, and was a Canadian track and field champ and a bobsledder.

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/Games2010_UTsect_wod2female.mov