Never too busy for food!

While I've been too busy with work and training to blog about food, I haven't skimped (too much!). Yesterday marked my 30 days of fairly strict paleo (for athletes). Aside from a few glasses of red wine, a few beers, 2 small slices of pumpkin pie, and 3 chocolate chip cookies I held out all month. I have found that I only eat non-paleo when I drink. Odd coincidence, eh?

Last night we celebrated by going out to a restaurant (first time!). The only non-paleo thing I had (aside from beer and wine) was bread. I wasn't that impressed, and since it was toasted it tore up my mouth! Darn you grains. Anyway, the sandwich was pretty bland without the heaps of mayonnaise and ranch dressing, go figure! Needless to say, I'm really happy with my paleo (for athletes) diet, and have no plans of changing it any time soon.

I don't miss dairy or grains really (aside from convenience). I have no idea if my calcium intake is sufficient, but a few days a week (when I'm not outside at all) I'll take a Calcium/Vitamin D supplement. It contains soy, so I don't take one every day. Aside from that, I've been taking Glucosamine and Omega-3, and that's pretty much it.

Now on to the best part - food!

We tried a variation of the paleo banana/flaxseed pancakes a few weeks ago. They were supposed to be lemon, but really just tasted like almond butter. Justin added blueberries, and I topped with agave one morning pre-ride.





Next morning we got back to basics with leftover fish, butternut squash, and half an avocado



Dinner the night before was grilled veggies and salmon with rubs (our previous favorite recipe was marinated in low sodium - haha - soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar. Soy sauce is totally out, and balsamic vinegar mostly is due to the acidity in vinegar, so rubs it is). We've been doing cajun seasoning and Costco/Kirkland Organic No Salt - tasty! Leftovers for tomorrow in the background!



One night last week while I put in some trainer time Justin hooked us up with a curry chicken and cauliflower recipe I'd found online. Basically he browned up some chicken breasts, probably with a little olive oil or coconut oil, then added in some diced cauliflower along with a little coconut milk and curry. He added in the carrots when the rest was nearly done (carrots fully cooked release their sugars - raw they are still plenty paleo-friendly). It was tasty! We've been liking the curry a lot lately.



Other than that, we've been eating good! Justin cooked up some mushrooms in a red wine reduction sauce with spinach, and then the old standby's: chicken, fish, and beef!

Breakfast is served:



Went on an almost 3 hour ride on Sunday, got pretty worn out, so came home to baking sweet potatoes and left over top sirloin. Delish.



I scarfed that down.

Justin also made applesauce for us last week. It was much easier/quicker than I thought it'd be. If I have time this week I'll try to make up the rest of our apples and do a post on it just in case someone else out there isn't sure how to make it! We left the skin on, so it's kind of...clumpy! Tastes great, though.





We also want to make almond milk and cashew butter, so stay tuned!

Paleo: The Early Days…

Not of mankind, but of my 30-day paleo journey. It isn't really a "challenge" since it's prescribed and driven by me, wanting to try something different nutrionally. For my 30-day journey I'm going to try to stay away from anything non-paleo entirely (e.g. no cheat meals, and probably no alcohol) just to see what happens. If I still take in dairy, wheat, and alcohol in somewhat regular fashion (1-2x a week) it may (or may not) be hard to tell if there are any true differences to this diet ("way of eating") vs. how I was eating a week or two ago.

My paleo (for athletes) journey began Sunday morning. Saturday I competed in the 12 Hours of Temecula, and didn't want to ruin my possible performance by being under-fueled and not used to this way of eating. I woke up Sunday, though, and realized that aside from eggs and veggies I had nothing else in the house that I could eat aside from left over red onion and frozen chicken breasts.

So, we got up Sunday after not sleeping long enough following a hard effort like the race the day before, and I decided to let Justin sleep. He cooks the eggs around the house, so instead I cleaned out the cupboards. I know, there's still off-limits stuff in there, but it won't be used. The olive oil and spices are must-haves!



Our fridge was barren, like a cool tundra



I've yet to bring myself to toss the creamer and yogurt because they are mostly full. But, who wants half-used food?

Some of the stuff I packed up, which we may or may not use again (the canned goods and anything unopened and still viable will be donated around Thanksgiving)



Justin got up and cooked some muy delicioso scrambled eggs with sauteed sweet peppers and spicy peppers, with red onion. I even french pressed some coffee, black. We don't drink black coffee. We drink coffee mixed with tasty french vanilla creamer. Well, not anymore!

Breakfast









I had one of my remaining bananas before a jaunt to a grocery/market to pick up some local vegetables and meats. We picked up a wild Alaskan Coho salmon filet, 2 beef top sirloin's, a few pomegranate's, a butternut squash, spaghetti squash, avocado oil, a bunch of garlic, and 2 apples to snack on before the trip home. When we figured out a plan for lunch we also went back in and bought some really expensive organic unsweetened almond milk.



The apples were awesome, as were the steaks (but we'll get to those!).

Upon the return home I knew we'd be grilling up the chicken along with having some paleo-approved butternut squash (recipe taken from here), but it'd also take awhile to get all that sorted out, so I made a sort of homebrew smoothie for all of us to enjoy.

In the blender I mixed up some really frost-bitten frozen blueberries with vanilla whey protein powder and cranberry juice. It was pretty good.



Awhile later lunch was done. I totally dig butternut squash this way. It's SO tasty with the cinnamon, curry, and garlic. The Craisins also are delish.



Justin did a rub on the chicken with curry, garlic and maybe a bit of chili or cayenne pepper and hammered it in. Great lunch, and super filling.

I noticed that I wasn't really hungry, but had a weird empty feeling in my gut? I've felt that way a bit. I'm not generally hungry or really craving anything (I think I am happy I'm not craving carbs?), but just sometimes feels like I should eat. So, I grabbed a few walnut pieces and almonds to tide me over until dinner (quite a few hours away).

I ran to the grocery store to pick up a bunch of meat (wound up getting chicken to grill up for leftovers and some pork tenderloins), a lot of veggies, and more coffee! Using the french press I'm only making 32oz a day (2 cups for each of us), which is a lot more moderate than say, last week.

For dinner we grilled up the shark we'd gotten earlier in the week, and had sauteed squash and zucchini with roasted broccoli.



The shark was delish, and we saved a few oz's for breakfast the next morning.

So, yeah. Getting up Monday morning to cold/leftover shark and veggies was odd, but it worked out okay. I also sliced up an orange for us to share. Tasty, and pretty quick (but only because we'd spent twice the amount of time the night before making food!).



For a snack at work I had some plain green tea, about 2.5oz of peeled baby carrots, and an oz of almonds. Lunch was the same as lunch the day before (grilled chicken and butternut squash). For an afternoon snack I had a mix of about .5oz walnut pieces with .5oz dried blueberries and Craisins. I know not specifically paleo-allowed due to the sugar, but I didn't have anything else! My favorite snack of the day was a sliced apple with almond butter.



After work we hit up Costco for a LOT of meat and veggies, and also 2 massive bags of frozen fruit (no additives), one of mixed berries and one of tropical fruits. Should've taken a pic of the cart; it was the fullest we've ever had one! Tons of good stuff: flank steaks, chicken breasts, walnut halves, blueberries, mixed sweet peppers, huge bag of peeled baby carrots and pre-sliced broccoli, olive oil, almond butter, and a box of Lara Bars (no additives at all, just nuts and fruit!!). After that it was off to Trader Joe's for fresh juice, bananas, and a grip of unsweetened dried fruit and non-salted nuts! Should've taken a pic of that also. I got unsweetened applesauce, fruit strips from mixed fruit, and dried Bartlett Pears, and then we got some pistachio's, raw cashews, and pecan pieces. TJ's is awesome for the unsweetened fruit, but it was actually somewhat difficult to find some of the nuts without being roasted and salted. But, we worked it out. I looked for Coconut Milk, but didn't find any this time around. We'll likely be getting some vacuum packed frozen fish also, but we've got a freezer and fridge full of meat for now!

We got home and Justin got to work prepping the steaks and cutting onions to grill. He did a rub of garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and black and white pepper on the steaks. Then he grilled up some mixed pepper quarters and onion slices while I sauteed asparagus in olive oil, garlic, pepper, and lemon juice. Tasty.



In preparation for today, I packed up the same snacks as for Monday, but since I'd be doing a trainer session in the morning figured I'd make some homebrew-ish smoothies: grapefruit juice, banana, whey protein, and the frozen tropical fruit (mangos, papaya, pineapple, and strawberry).



When I hopped off the trainer the implementation didn't work all that hot. The blender froze up (I think I broke it). So, we added some almond milk to help it along. The smoothies were great, but very "grapefuit-y". I forgot to add the banana, and then also doled out some applesauce.



I took a Lara Bar to eat this morning with my coffee, and for lunch had leftover chicken from Sunday night along with leftover asparagus and peppers from last night. So far so good with the food.

I will say that I haven't had any difficulty with the types of food (but we're double checking every label and trying to figure out what to eat all the time), and I don't miss the carbs really. I thought I'd be craving the grains and wheat, but I'm not. I have yet to notice any difference in the gut (e.g. like those who have a gluten sensitivity, etc.) due to no dairy and no wheat/grains.

My biggest complaint overall is the time suck this way of eating leads to. I felt like all I did last night was cook, prepare, dole out, pack up, and get food ready for today. I am at work from 7-5 or so and typically exercise mid-day, so I have to have enough food for 2 snacks, lunch, and sometimes pre/post workout made up and ready to go, and no access to a grill, toaster, or anything other than a sink and a microwave. Thus, we always have to cook enough the night before for 2-3 meals so we aren't running out of foods.

I've had enough energy during the day, but I've been really tired, I think because I haven't been sleeping enough. With starting up training again, I need to be sleeping more. Stop the food insanity!

At this point if I fail in my 30-day journey it'll likely be due to the time needed to eat this way, and not due to the restrictions.

But, I'm liking it so far.

Will refrain from posting each and everything I eat on a daily basis, but if anything interesting comes up in the next few days I'll post it up. I do need a good spaghetti squash recipe as we've never cooked that before!