CrossFit South Bay | Hermosa Beach, CA

FitRat Paleo pork chops with roast tomatoes, massaged kale, poblanos with walnut mole

Here is another great post from our very own Paleo chef extraordinaire, Remy Olson. Everything I have eaten has been delicious. You would never knew that it was actually good for you. She must sprinkle the food with stem cells or something.

As CFSB’s resident nutritionist and chef, this will be the first in a long series of nutrition posts from me. Check out my nutrition primer post below for an introduction to the nutrition posts to come over the next months.

This is also the inaugural post announcing FitRat — a paleo and zone meal and planning service for CFSB. Before you knew that it had a name though (FitRat what?… I’ll explain in a later post), you tasted some of its creations. At the CFSB move-in you had the opportunity to sink your teeth into some of my paleo food — the buffalo, lamb, and veggie kebab with cauliflower ‘rice’ and massaged kale w/raisins. So now you know I don’t mess around.  Look for the FitRat paleo zone meal site soon from the CFSB main page.

Before the paleo/zone programming at CFSB kicks off, for Thanksgiving I am offering to the first 4 people that email me* a chance to buy some FitRat paleo Thanksgiving food:

• Paleo Dessert: pumpkin pie or lemon bars — crust is raw nuts/nut meal/arrowroot flour ($20; serves 6)
• Paleo Stuffing: Squash, apple and nut-based stuffing w/the usual mirepoix, traditional stuffing herbs, but without the bread ($25; serves 6).

*The limit on quantity is because I will be cooking for two paleo Thanksgiving dinners after that for others.

Now, to kick off the series, here are some pointers to paleo-ize your Thanksgiving foods. I would make zone suggestions, but that might be asking too much for a day that has come to represent gluttony. If you do want to keep it zone, it won’t be too tough if you eat paleo foods only and study this zone block chart for all the Thanksgiving favorites.

If you’re still not clued in on what paleo and zone are, check out this handout I made and check out the resources at the bottom of the primer post.

• If you must have a gravy trough…

FitRat paleo sweet potato 'falafel'

Yes, that pile of white fluffy that you ‘fwap’ onto your plate first and arrange the other 5-10 other goodies around; that food mortar that you use to create a trough for your turkey gravy (thickened with wheat flour usually by the way) that when drained of its brown liquid begs for round two? Well, those white potatoes are the blood sugar catastrophe of your main course at Thanksgiving. If you want potatoes, have sweet potatoes, but don’t have them if they’re covered in sugar/honey/syrup, or whipped with milk or sour cream. White potatoes have a much higher glycemic load and raise blood sugar 30% more than sweet potatoes, and have a much lower nutrient density. Sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin C and carotenoids (the latter are also found in most other orange/yellow vegetables and play a role in helping the body respond to insulin), and in the compound chlorogenic acid, which may help reduce insulin resistance. Blood sugar instability and insulin insensitivity is one of the hottest topics in nutrition science and is arguably the worst outcome of the average American diet and will be discussed in some future posts.

• Do you seriously want to eat beans?

Tri-bean salads, green beans, baked beans, bean chili… all holiday usual suspects. Remember, it’s not actually beans that make chili so good – it’s the tomato element and spices (here’s a good bean-less chili recipe). Especially if you’ve been eating paleo (i.e. not eating beans regularly), your body will have a difficult time processing beans when you do eat them. Your body adapts to the presence or absence of certain types of sugar in beans by increasing or decreasing the enzymes that help digest them. If you haven’t been eating beans, your body likely won’t have enough of the enzyme on hand to minimize the bloating and gas that will accompany beans. So if you must eat beans, make sure you at least take some bean-o (which contains some of the necessary enzyme). Why beans are not optimal fuel, how they cause problems and why they’re not paleo will be subject for another post for sure. Oh, and peanuts are legumes (bean family), sorry.  Alternatives: Make broccoli or brussel sprouts in place of beans: either of these lightly steamed, halved, drizzled with walnut oil, sea salt and garlic powder, and broiled for a 3-5 minutes beat green beans any day

• Grass-fed (not grain-fed) animals and animal products

FitRat Paleo breakfast egg quiche

I’ll go into more detail in later posts, but eating grass-fed meat (and eggs from grass-fed chickens) contributes greatly toward maintaining a low ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in your body that very strongly correlate with major health and performance benefits. This ratio is affected essentially only by what fats you put into your body. Health benefits include reduced risk of cardiovascular disease; performance benefits are a result of the strongly anti-inflammatory property of these fatty acids (which are also found in cold water wild-caught fish, fish oil high in EPA and DHA, walnuts/oil, flax seeds/oil, coconuts/oil, and other sources). Grass-fed (usually free range) animals produce meats with vastly different fat profiles than grain-fed (factory-farmed) animals. Do yourself a huge favor and rely regularly on grass-fed meats, especially if you’re going to gorge yourself on it at thanksgiving. You’ll find grass-fed meats at your Farmer’s Market (www.farmernet.com) or Whole Foods. If it doesn’t say ‘grass-fed’ it’s probably grain fed (99% of animals are farmed and fed grain — a.k.a. factory farmed: less expensive, less ‘healthy’ meat).

• Use the right oils and nuts

Use oils in cooking that help you minimize your omega-6 intake and are temperature stable (don’t oxidize/create free radicals when cooking) — coconut oil, grapeseed oil. Use nuts that are lowest in omega-6′s in desserts (macadamia nuts, cashews, pecans). PS: peanuts are not nuts, they’re legumes (bean family)

• Avoid over-eating

It’s sadly statistically normal to over-eat on a regular basis for most Americans. Thanksgiving makes over-eating culturally acceptable and even fun. T-day foods are extra carb-heavy and can cause major blood-sugar spikes leaving you feeling hung over the next day (and, when repeated on a regular basis contributes to insulin insensitivity). Avoid a carb hangover by making yourself eat a giant helping of leafy greens (kale, watercress, spinach) before starting in on the other stuff — you’ll feel fuller much quicker and will be less likely to over-eat on the less healthy stuff.

• Thicken gravy with arrowroot flour, not wheat flour: Instead of wheat flour, use arrowroot flour (tastes good, available at Whole Foods, Sprouts)
• Paleo pies: Buy one from me (see beginning of post) or pre-made gluten-free pie crusts (Whole Foods), or use a combination of nut meal (like almond meal) and arrowroot flour or a pre-mixed gluten-free flour (nut meal tastes way better than flour anyway). You won’t have the normal gluten-free rising issue since it’s pie.
• Cranberry relish doesn’t have to be astronaut food: Make raw cranberry relish from fresh fruit for a more nutrient dense (and tastier) relish. Use equal parts raw cranberry, orange and apple and blend in a food processor (leave skins on cranberries and apple). Use a tsp of cinnamon+cloves, 1/4 tsp almond extract and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract per 3c of relish.
• Dairy-free cream subs: Use home-made mayo (add brewer’s yeast for tanginess of sour cream) or almond or hempseed milk; thicken with arrowroot flour and sweeten with stevia to replace sweet cream.
• Paleo stuffing: Buy some from me (see beginning of post) or make your own but sub out bread for baked squash/apple mixture
• Mashed sweet potatoes: Use sweet instead of white potatoes. Whip in hemp/almond milk or home-made mayo to fluff up your mashed potatoes. Add garlic, ground thyme and rosemary, and tamari to season.
• Sweeteners: Instead of refined sugar, try stevia (not the one from Trader Joe’s – it’s mostly lactose), agave, applesauce, or use dried fruit or fruit purees (especially berries – frozen are cheaper and are fine in small amounts just for garnish)

WOD – 11.24.09

Max Hold Ring L-Sit 3 Rounds (60 sec rest between rounds)

“Nate”

AMRAP 20
2 Muscle Ups
4 Handstand Pushups
8 Kettlebell Swing (2 Pood)

Sub muscle up from ground with assistance or 3 dips, 3 pullups. Handstand pushups sub with knees on box or with band.

Nate Hardy with his baby. This WOD is in honor of him.

From Z Fitness

“Nate” is Chief Petty Officer Nate Hardy, a Navy SEAL who enlisted in 1997. He was following in the footsteps of those before him. Both his grandfathers served in World War II. Growing up in Durham, NH he played lacrosse and soccer, but he always fostered a dream that started in sixth grade. He knew then that he wanted to become a Navy SEAL.

He enlisted in the Navy in November 1997, and graduated from boot camp in January of the following year. That same month, Nate entered the toughest training in the military with Class 221 of BUD/S. Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training at Coronado, California makes the deadliest fighting men in the world, and Nate was no exception, graduating in May of 1998. He then went on to serve with East Coast SEAL teams and made multiple deployments to Iraq.

On his fourth deployment to Iraq, Nate was with his SEAL team on patrol in the early hours of February 4th, 2008. His team was tasked with taking down a compound littered with terrorists. The insurgents inside were responsible for numerous improvised explosive devices and suicide bombings. Soon after entry, a small arms battle erupted. When it was all over, the building was reduced with every terrorist dead. Nate, along with his teammate Michael Koch, had died in the gun battle.