Fat
Remember fat is THE most important part of nutrition. We need quality fat for our basic cell functions to give us energy. You will likely open the cabinet of a non-paleo eater, and find vegetable and canola oil. You also might find olive oil (bonus!) In the fridge you will find grain-fed butter or, worse, margarine. Most, if not all, salad dressings will have hydrogenated and other crap oils. The bacon will be full of preservatives and nitrates/nitrites.
I came up with some options to help keep your quality fat intake to a maximum. Pack a tub of pastured beef tallow. It travels well especially in the winter as it stays solid at room temp. I just put my tub in a Ziploc, and threw it in my suitcase. Find a grass-fed farm in the area to purchase tallow, lard, bacon or butter. Also, add olive oil to salads or cooked veggies. Don’t use olive oil for cooking as the smoke point is too low. Add it after cooking is complete. If your system can handle it, eat nuts (no peanuts) for fat. Make your own mayo with olive oil and eggs or bacon grease and eggs. Try Ashley’s recipes from Paleo Madeline . Coconut oil is wonderful for cooking as well. Lightly toasted coconut chips with a little cinnamon added makes a wonderful snack on its own, sprinkled over fruit or eaten with some dark chocolate. Don’t forget about pemmican . I ordered a bunch before I left and brought about 5 bars with me on the trip. I use it more as a nutritious snack than a meal for myself and Pumpkin, but it’s a guaranteed vitamin/mineral-packed food.

Carbs
Most grocery stores will have an organic section or at least a few choice organic veggies. Carrots, broccoli, lettuce and apples are usually pretty easy to find organic. Most fruits and veggies that you peel will be fine to eat non-organic for a short time. Stay away from pesticide laden sweet bell peppers, kale, lettuce, spinach, celery, all berries, apples, peaches, nectarines, grapes, and regular potatoes (not common in a paleo or primal diet). The pesticides used in this list are especially nasty both in quantity and potency. It is fine to eat the occasional in-organic sweet potato. Just make sure you don’t eat the peel.
I use balsamic vinegar and Dijon/brown/German mustard to make a yummy dressing for salads or to drizzle on veggies. Pork also is quite yummy when dipped. A yummy fat/carb joy: sauté some apples in coconut oil or pastured butter and add cinnamon- yum! If you really want some tastiness, drizzle grass-fed raw heavy cream on top.

Protein
If you can find pastured protein, then capitalize. If not, choose lean cuts. Try your best to seek out hormone- and antibiotic-free meat. I was pleasantly surprised that wild caught fish is available at Walmart. I also found a grocery store that carries antibiotic/hormone-free beef, bacon and chicken. My parents live in Small Town, TX. They literally have one street light. I drove 15 miles to find a Walmart and a grocery store that carries a few organics and some almost crap-free meat.

If you are in a real pinch and can’t find the quality foods you want or can’t resist the low quality foods available, just know that indulging for your visit or vacation won’t kill you. Jump back on the bandwagon when you get home. Enjoy your trip!!

Workout of the Day 12/20/2011

A.Test Unbroken Box Jumps
2 min. Rest
Max Burpees in 1 minute
2 min. Rest
Max Sit-Ups in
2 minutes

B.5 Rounds:
10 Thrusters (95/65)
10 Pull-ups
200m Run
Advanced: Do Chest 2 Bar

Fundamentals 12/20/2011

A.Row for Calories
Partner effort, one rows while the other rests, switch until all rounds done
Row 40-30-20-10 calories
B.AMRAP 10
Use Dumbbells for the following circuit:
10 Front squats
20 Alternating bent row
10 press

Traveling is hard. Traveling is even harder when you’re doing so with an infant. On a plane. A really small plane that is roughly the size of a pack of gum. While sitting next to a very large husband who is uncomfortable on a large plane, nevermind a pack of gum sized plane. Throw in the fact that you’re going to visit family who are spread out all over the great state of Texas and all want to see aforementioned infant as often as possible for as long as possible and you might just reconsider traveling in the first place. Or you might want to reconsider the production of any more infants. Or both. Its enough to make a girl like me a little more nutty than she normally is. A lot more nutty actually.

Fun with travel pillows!

I should have made Daddy hold her the whole time. Keep reading to find out why...

Emmy, the resident beauty queen on my parent's farm.

Dreamee, one of my sister's horses at my parent's front door. We taught her to ring the doorbell a few years ago. Boy was my dad pissed...

Skylar meets her future show horse Bud for the first time

Waxahachie's famous courthouse. When they run at CFW they do laps around this.

Worn out after puking all over herself and me. Notice that she's in a different outfit? Yeah, that's because the other one was soaked in puke. I however, am in the same outfit. Still soaked in puke and smelling AWESOME.

If my last post regarding my personal paleo journey wasn’t human enough, hopefully today’s continuation will be. This is a little story about how I fell off the ‘wagon’ over the holiday and how important the role of sugar is in getting well after years of eating grains, beans and dairy. It’s a long one, so put your feet up on your desk, and get paid to read a blog post on nutrition Post your falling off the wagon stories to comments!

Roadtrip stop at a Walmart in Goodman, KS to stretch the legs. Even Jesus's intestines weren't impermeable to gluten.

No wagon in sight

In about June of 2009 I was eating a diet that was 100% in compliance with the USDA food pyramid (six servings of grains per day!); my RD (registered dietitian) professors looked at my sample meal plans and applauded. I went running, biking, swimming or spinning on most days of the week. I worked at a free clinic and taught type-2 and pre-diabetic kids the USDA nutrition I subscribed to myself (this haunts me from time to time).

Just like these kids, my HbA1C was high (6.5% = pre-diabetic) meaning my insulin sensitivity was low due to high sugar intake and poor leptin signaling. My lean mass was low compared to body fat (22%) thanks to a high-grain/bean/dairy and relatively low-protein diet. I wasn’t obese-looking (yet), but skinny fat with a very decent elevated-cortisol belly goin’ on. I had all the symptoms of pre-diabetes: extreme thirst, frequent urination, blood sugar roller-coaster rides that would often wake me in the night disturbing my sleep, further disrupting the delicate hormone balance that was already pretty much smashed to pieces. The RD’s I worked with said it must be ‘genetic’ and I should just eat more whole grains with my meals — hah! (Ironic/sad funny, not laugh-out-loud funny).

Snacking (on granola/quinoa/yogurt/hummus/whole grain crackers/rice cakes) every hour or two was the only thing between me and having a meltdown which could consist of me freaking out on the customer service representative, cashier, or Darek who might be on the receiving end. Little did I know that every one of those sugary, lectin-filled snacks was sending me further down the insulin-desensitizing spiral. Frequent rescues by Darek when I would become too sick (dizzy, nauseous, faint) to drive myself home from the grocery store/meeting/gym was the beginning of a revolution for me. On top of all this were my irritable bowl disease symptoms, headaches, back pain, etc, etc. Something wasn’t right.

Progressive Force CrossFit, Vegas

On the wagon

Fast forward to December 2010. Excellent fasted blood work done a month prior showed extremely low triglycerides (indicates level of sugar intake), high HDL, great vLDL, very low C-reactive protein level (a decent indicator of systemic inflammation). And my HbA1C was down to 5.8% — just above the normal range, this after almost one year of strict paleo. I am stronger, happier, and healthier than ever. What better time for a rewarding vacation with family!

For our vacation this winter, Darek (boyfriend), Kala (little sister) and I decided to drive to Chicago, stopping two days each in Vegas, Denver and Branson, 1.5 weeks in Chicago and fly back. Trips that don’t revolve around hiking or something athletic are usually an issue for me because when I don’t exercise (especially weightlift) my back issues come back, and the typical cycle ensues: I exercise less, sleep less, crave more sugar, my insulin sensitivity slides, I get cranky, I gain some weight, rinse and repeat.

Try as I might, winter is a tough time to make a vacation revolve around hiking. Thus, I had my whole break planned out: on the drive there I promised myself I’d jump rope or do air squats at every gas/food stop. I found all the CrossFit affiliates en route and contacted them ahead of time, and planned visits to various affiliates during my week and a half stay in Chicago. I told myself I’d completely avoid sugary stuff knowing my insulin sensitivity worsens when I don’t get to workout.

It was a nice plan, but not a good one I guess. How did I end up gaining 12 lbs (!?), worsening my blood sugar control / insulin sensitivity, come home feeling like a crotchety old lady and getting the slowest time (to my credit Rx’d, but still) in the gym on Tuesday? I think the answer is two-part: I am human and I am a rookie.

A turn for the worse: gluten-free, sugar/vegoil-filled cupcake from Sprinkles, Chicago

Almost 2,500 miles, two blizzards, and one week later was Christmas morning in the Northwest Chicago suburbs. I enthusiastically shoveled two driveways and built several snow-people, but couldn’t bring myself to do much more than eat after that day. I was eating paleo, but really it was paleo+sugar — Darek’s parents stocked the house with plenty of fruit and loads of dark chocolate in their effort to please us with paleo ‘treats’. I made piles and piles of paleo dishes while teaching his parents some meals they could make in their own paleo journey to reverse heart disease. It was a paleo feast for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was eating the same quantity or more of food I’d eat doing 1-2 WODs/day plus some sugar (fruit and dark choclate) which I’d almost never normally eat. I did a WOD a few days later at a CF coach’s house on the eve of New Year’s Eve, and that was it until we went snowboarding almost a week later in Galena which was debilitating having not conditioned for it.

Kala enjoying Pequod's Chicago-style pizza (I abstained... this time)

After finishing off the tub of peanuts on New Years Day, I vowed that was the last I’d see of my former favorite food ’til next New Year’s Eve. Needless to say the next week was not pleasant or pretty, my back was killing me at this point and I felt like I did a year ago. Once I got back to paleo, however, every day from there just got better.

Back on the wagon...

Ever find yourself away from the gym and thinking “Man I wish I could get in a workout, but I don’t have anything here.” I’ve definitely had that feeling before. I’ve also experienced two reasons for that feeling. The first being that I truly didn’t want to work-out; hey relax it happens to everyone! Lack of sleep, feeling sick, or it’s the day after new years and you blacked out in Vegas after 3 margaritas at your girlfriends old work and then don’t remember the 45 oz. margarita you ordered after that, and then proceeded to puke in front of a police officer later that night and by some gift of god your girlfriend got you to the airport at 6AM to get a flight from Vegas to LAX, and then LAX to Houston, then Houston to Buenos Aires all the while you’re hung over as all hell (yea that was me). When something like this happens; REST (and never forget your girlfriend is amazing). However the second and much more responsible and beneficial reason is you’re feeling like a workout but don’t have any barbells, bumper plates or pull-ups bars. Have no fear! You can still get your heart rate jacked and body sweating bullets.

Be creative with your workouts, just try making something up and see how it goes. It’s easiest to do things like 4 or 5 rounds of a couplet or triplet and just have a watch to hit start/stop with. The other option is task oriented like 100 pushups as fast as possible. When you’re done you might just realize why we try to be so fit in the first place, because being outside where we evolved is wonderful. The gym is great, but yesterday doing my 4 rounds of 400m run/30 pushup/50 air squats looking out at the bay of the southern most city in the world (Ushuaia) was almost blissful. That is until I was done and my legs and chest were on fire.

Hope all is well in South Bay and see you guys all when I return. I expect people to be working hard! Also here is something to reference back to if you’re in need of a workout: 100 workouts away from home in PDF. If you’ve got a smartphone or iphone – download it to your phone. Or it will always be here!

WOD 1/8/2009

Power Snatch 4-4-4 65% 1RM

5 Rounds for time
50M Waiter Walk (switch arms at 25 meters)
15 Box Jumps
10 Burpees
5 Front Squats (start from the ground) (155/95)

Previously I had read the following statement by Loren Cordain about modern fruits:

…the common fruits we eat today bear little resemblance to their wild ancestors.  Domesticated fruits are almost always larger, sweeter, and contain less fiber than their wild counterparts.  Compare a Golden Delicious apple to a crab apple and you begin to get the picture.

So on my recent trip to my family’s cabin in a remote part of Michigan, I went on a hike and came across the wild apples pictured. The lowest hanging fruits had been eaten by deer, but as you can see there were still plenty in the higher limbs. I took a couple with me and ate them later. While they were not bad, they were definitely more tart than even the strongest Granny Smith apple and a far cry from the mammoth red delicious you find at your local supermarket.

If you’re curious to know what they would be like, look no further than the Whole Foods in El Segundo. A couple weeks ago I noticed they had a stand advertising “heirloom apples” from a local orchard here in California. They have a few different varieties, but the two I’ve tried were remarkably similar to those I found in the wild.

WOD – 9.23.09

Clean 1-1-1-1-1

Two rounds, two minutes at each station:

• Rope Climb
• Wallball
• Row

Post loads used and total score to comments.

CFSB had several athletes attend the Level I and II CrossFit Certifications this past weekend. Here is a big congrats to all! You are now officially a Level I Certified CrossFit Trainer. What a great accomplishment!

CFSB is teaming up with CrossFit Thrive in Hermosa Beach to do Fight Gone Bad. The WOD will be during our regularly scheduled Saturday morning class at 9am. There will be no class at CFSB on Saturday September 26th. We will all be at CF Thrive tearing up FGB.

Please RSVP to max@crossfitthrive.com (310-819-2933) or mariessa@crossfitsouthbay.com (714-452-7121) by Thursday September 24th. If possible bring a donation to help the Wounded Warrior Project and the fight against prostate cancer

Michelle and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a seminar put on by Paleo Brands. John Welbourn, Robb Wolf and Professor Loren Cordain, Ph.D., presented a wonderful seminar on living paleo. Professor Cordain started the day with an extremely informative scientific lecture on the theory behind his work. Rob Wolf then put a clinical spin on the application of the paleo diet and showed us some real world results. He included his own testimony, and explained how changing to paleo saved him and his mother from death by following Professor Cordain’s teachings. John Welbourne concluded the presentation with a great talk on applying the paleo diet to athletes. He spoke of building strength, power, recovery and lean muscle in athletes; and the importance of early exposure of paleo nutrition guidelines in kids.

The event was filled with comedy. If any of you have heard Robb Wolf speak, you know his humor is second to none. Robb equated speaking in the company of Professor Cordain to a musician on stage with the Rolling Stones. We enjoyed a little healthy competition as Professor Cordain and John Welbourne joked of their differences in regard to the utilization of whole milk for healthy weight gain in athletes. Professor Cordain is for the most part against the ingestion of dairy products due to the high insulin response. John Welbourne understands the dangers, but proposed using whole milk as a post-WOD recovery meal to gain lean tissue. He feels that controlled use of whole milk was a much better alternative to filling athletes with grains and other unfavorable foods to gain weight for sports such as football. Professor Cordain countered with the suggestion of having the athletes eat more protein. Ultimately, they agreed to disagree. As for my humble opinion: if you are trying to gain weight, add raw whole milk as a post-WOD recovery meal. Utilize this technique for short periods (one month at a time); and then give your body a break from the dairy. Other than that, stay away from dairy. Disclaimer: I am no expert, just opinionated.

If ever you get a chance to attend a Paleo Brands seminar, I highly recommend it.

WOD – 9.21.09

Max HSPU in 1 min x 3

10 rounds:

• 10 KTE
• 10 KBS

Week 1, we arrived at the school excited, but unsure of what to expect. We were met with a wide range of reactions: some kids were nervous; others bewildered and overwhelmed. Still there were a number that wore a mask of apathy or disdain. We put our game faces on, tried to follow the officers’ lead, and launched into an intro to CrossFit. While there were a few older kids that had dabbled in sports and could execute a half decent push up, most could not perform sit ups without pulling themselves up with their hands.

Every three hour session began with warm up laps, stretching, sprints, and footwork drills. Then we launched into a calisthenic session, skill work and instruction, and then the WOD. As the weeks passed, we would bring more equipment: PVC pipes, plates, dumbells, and plyoboxes. We transitioned from body weight movements to OH Walking Lunges, Farmer’s Carry, Waiter’s Walk, Shoulder Press, Jumping Back Squats, and Box Jumps. By this last Saturday, we saw a marked improvement in attitude as well as conditioning. We even heard the kids asking, “Do we get to lift weights again?” They were even requesting to do Waiter’s Walks again!

This last week’s WOD was:

1 min stations for 20min:
Box Jumps
Shoulder Press (PVC)
OH Lunges (10/25# Plate)
Jumping Back Squats (PVC)
Jumping Jacks
Squats

It was heartwarming to see some of the kids sprinting back from the squat station to the boxes in order to maximize their box jump count!

Thank you Harbor Area Community Relations Office for this incredible opportunity! Stay tuned for more HAYCA stories!

WOD 08.04.09

Bar Weighted Step Ups 4×12 (6/leg)

Then, AMRAP 12

• 5 Deadlifts (70% 1RM)
• 10 Pullups
• 15 KBS

Post loads and times to comments. Or else.

For those of you who are on the Paleo-Zone wagon, a trip to the grocery store is no longer simple (or cheap). Your shopping cart is piled high with meat, veggies, fruit, and nuts, and you sigh as you realize it will only feed you for three days…if you’re lucky. When you pack a day’s worth of food (3 meals/2 snacks for most), you need a cooler that may even exceed the current limits of an airline carry-on bag.

So, what do you do when you have to plan a camping trip? Specifically, a backpacking trip where you pack in everything from shelter, clothes, gear, AND food? This last week, I had the opportunity to take a backpacking trip to beautiful Catalina Island.  We packed for 3-4 days, taking into account lack of refridgeration, minimizing overall weight, and omitting easily crushed foods.   The food list came down to:

Proteins: bison jerky, tuna packs, chicken breast packs, and Mountain High Scrambled Eggs w/Bacon & Scrambled Eggs w/Ham & Green Peppers
Carbs: apples, unsweetened applesauce, carrots, freeze dried strawberries, and pineapple cups
Fats: avocado (one survived, the other was crushed), Justin’s Honey Almond Butter (mmmmm), almonds, bacon bits (real bacon), trail mix (difficult to find without sugar, ie cranberries, raisins, choc chips, etc).

A little creativity (pepper, bacon, and Mrs. Dash) goes a long way to adding variety.  Granted, we’re starting to get into the realm of excess salt and preservatives, but it was a good trade-off compared to the carbs that would have been MUCH easier and compact to pack in (oatmeal, cous cous, rice, pasta). I was a little bitter lamenting this when trekking my pack in the hot mid-day sun (do you know how much weight 10 apples adds to your pack?!), but overall, there was never a carb crash and I know that the hike would have been much more difficult if fueled by dirty grains! 

WOD 07.07.09

Back Squat 5×3 (90% 1RM)

5 Rds:
10 Box Jumps (high!)
10 Hang Power Snatch (60% 1RM)

WOD – 7.6.09

Deadlift 5×5
Work towards setting a new 5RM.

Max rounds in 4 minutes of:

• 5 Burpees
• 7 Front Squats
• 9 Push Jerks

Rest 1 minute. Repeat for a total of 4 cycles.

I had the opportunity to attend Dutch Lowy’s Programming Seminar this last Saturday at Kaizen CrossFit in Vegas. Dutch broke down programming to the nitty gritty and qualifies every WOD with “Will this make them MORE fit?” The short and sweet of it is that the goal of CrossFit is to MAXIMIZE power output. In order to do that, your Rx is whatever load/reps needed to do this. If you find yourself huffing and staring at the bar for some time during the WOD, the load may be too high for you.

If fitness is your goal, then throw Rx out the window and allow your coach to prescribe your ideal WOD parameters for you to achieve that goal. Should you still make it a goal to complete Fran Rx’d?Absolutely, but the bulk of your training should be at the ideal load to maximize power, and hopefully, as you train correctly, that load will steadily increase and even surpass the original “Rx” weight.

Dutch also talked about the importance of rest days.  If you’re one of our gym rats that like to come WOD 6 days straight (you know who you are!), consider coming in for a Recovery Day and getting on the foam roller for an hour instead.  Trust me– if you do it correctly, it’ll suck just as much as a tough WOD, and it’s just as good for you!

WOD 06.09.09

Diane
21-15-9

• Deadlifts 225#
• HSPU

Cash Out: Max Reps of:

• KTE
• V-Ups
• Sit Ups