{day 3 // an update}

Yesterday’s breakfast: 1 egg scrambled with salsa and bacon; black coffee.

Yesterday’s lunch: leftovers from night before dinner of sweet potatoes and hamburger patty; Lara bar afternoon snack.

Last night’s dinner: chili :) Dessert: bananas seared with coconut milk, cinnamon and agave.

Breakfast today: fried egg plain; coffee.

So, Lara bars. I was told when I first heard of paleo a few years ago that, since Lara bars are still processed, it’s best to avoid them. I think this could be debated without resolution. So, for us and our lifestyle, we’re pro-Lara bars. They make an easy, good snack. I just get the ones with paleo ingredients. My fav is the key lime pie - holy cow, it’s good. Tastes just like a lemon bar.

Tonight, I’ll be making a grilled chicken and spaghetti squash dish that I can’t wait to try out. I’ll share if it comes out ok :)

{paleo lunch on the go guide}

A few places we frequent and various options that are decent without eating like a rabbit……

Smashburger:

Sweet potato fries – with or without rosemary garlic

Salads without cheese, balsamic vinaigrette dressing in lieu of cream dressings

Any burger or chicken without the bun or cheese

My fit foods:

Stone oak beef stew

Almond crusted chicken

Better beef and broccoli

Fit nugget nation

Wes’s country dinner

Turkey meatloaf

Salmon and vegetables

Chicken and vegetables

Ninja tenderloin

Pear salmon

Chargrilled crazy chicken

Chipotle bowl/salad:

Meat (I usually double it or get barbacoa)

Lettuce

Veggies

Salsa (no corn)

Lime juice

Dickey’s bbq:

Meat (no sauce)

Green beans

In n Out:

Protein style, no cheese

Whole Foods / Central Market:

Rotisserie chicken (look for the ones without sugar)

Grilled chicken or steak

Veggies

Fruit

Boston Market:

Rotisserie chicken (you can buy any quantity – whole, half, quarter)

Green beans

Texas de brazil express:

Salad

Meat

Veggies

Balsamic, oil & vinegar, or chimichuri

La Madeleine:

Caesar Salad with oil & vinegar or balsamic vinaigrette in lieu of Caesar dressing

Spinach salad with chicken

Wild field salad with chicken

Roasted pear and prosciutto salad – no cheese, oil & vinegar or balsamic vinaigrette in lieu of blue cheese dressing

Vegetable soup

Eggs, bacon, sausage, with fruit

Omelette with meat, veggies, no cheese

Eatzis:

Chef’s corner meat

Any soups that don’t contain grains or dairy

Salads without cheese

Meatballs with sauce

Vegetables

Here we go a-paleo….. again.

Today is day 1.  And of course, I’m blogging to keep me accountable.  

The goal this month is to find a sustainable way of eating that falls somewhere in the 90% compliance with paleo for both me and hubby.  

He is actually more my challenge ;)

90% to our family means:

Todd can enjoy his coffee however he needs [read:wants]; but I will be transitioning to black.

We will be cutting out cheese except for the occasional parmesan or goat cheese at a cheat meal.

We will be eating out, most frequently during the work week for lunch, and not stressing so much about how foods are prepared or quality as much as food type.

When we eat at home, it will be strict, since I’m preparing it.

So, this morning, we had eggs and turkey bacon.  Pretty simple.  Coffee, his jazzed, mine boring.  

And for lunch, until I can get ahead of our schedule by making dinner with enough for leftovers, I compiled a quick list of viable options that we can make do with as needed.  I’m posting that separately for ease of sharing/finding in the future.  

So here’s to the merry merry month of paleo May!  Wish us luck ;)

{Breaking Up Is Hard To Do}

 Dear Lurong Living Paleo Challenge, it’s over.  It’s not me; it’s you.  You told me from the beginning that we would have only 9 weeks together, and, at that time for me, it felt like it would be an eternity.  But I could not have been more wrong.  The hungry, tired hours turned into days, and days stretched into weeks.  Before I knew it, our brief stint had vanished.  And so had 15 lbs, btw.  I knew you couldn’t leave me without taking a piece of me with you.  And no worries.  I have no problem parting with those 15 lbs and 7.5”.  

This is not to say that you didn’t leave an impression on me as well.  Like I said, you are the one calling it quits.  I will be forever changed by our time together.  Even just the past couple of days feels so wrong when I’m not with you.  It’s like I don’t know how to live my days any longer.  When I cook my paleo breakfast each morning, I reminisce of our recent meals together and know that continuing to be grain-, dairy-, and processed sugar-free is one way that I can honor what we had.  It feels strange when I do happen to consume grains; it’s like I haven’t eaten at all, and I crave real nourishment, like only you could give.  

I know that life won’t be perfect from this point forward, but I will strive to be the kind of person that you would respect and would be proud to call yours.  My life just isn’t the same any longer, and I have you to thank for that.

xoxo

sarah, what’s left of me

Paleo Pad Thai adapted from “Paleo For Foodies”

  The original recipe is found here: http://www.paleoforfoodies.com/2011/03/paleo-pad-thai.html.  I modified it based on some personal preferences / food phobias ;)  

Here’s what I did……

In lieu of spaghetti squash (because I am SO over it), I used this awesome little broccoli & carrot slaw that I found at Whole Foods.  Crispy, fresh, and void of that sweet flavor that spaghetti squash has as well as the mush.  I also used about 2 cups of the bean sprouts - because they’re hella good.  

Mod #2:  I used almond butter in lieu of sunflower seed butter.  Why?  Because I already had it.  #cheapskate.

I also left off all of the garnishes.  My hubby is out watching the UFC title fight, baby is in bed, and my dog really doesn’t care much about how my food looks - she will beg for it regardless.  And I feel that garnishes simply get in the way of me and my food.  

Lastly, I have this weird OCD thing (shocker) about using as few dishes to prepare a meal as possible (also that the kitchen has to be clean by the time the meal is finished as well - which takes TALENT!!  trust.).  So, this recipe calls for 4 prep dishes at minimum, plus the wok.  That’s a lot of cleaning.  So, I added the chicken to the pad thai sauce once it was done cooking rather than keeping them separate.  This means that once the eggs were cooked, I dumped in the veggie slaw, then the pad thai WITH cooked chicken, then the almonds and lime juice.  This reduced my prep dishes by 1, and I was cool with that :)  Efficiency!!

I have to say - I think this has been my fav paleo meal so far….  It had so much flavor.  And I loved how light it was since there were no noodles, just the veggie slaw.  You have GOT to try this one…  

And here’s the original recipe copied below:

“Ingredients:

Chicken and Marinade:

- 1-1 1/2 lb raw chicken breast, sliced diagonally into strips

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 2 tsp arrowroot starch

- 3 tbsp coconut aminos (soy sauce substitute)

——————

- 2 tbsp oil (use coconut, sesame, olive oil, etc)

- 1 cup scallions, chopped

- 4 garlic cloves, minced

- 3 whole eggs, beaten

- 1 cup bean sprouts

- 1 cup purple cabbage, chopped (about 1/4 small cabbage)

- 1 large carrot, shredded

- 1/2 cup slivered almonds

- 2 1/2-3 cups (really depends on how noodley you want it, I only used two heaping cups and it turned out great but I felt a little more would be better for the 1.5lbs of meat I used!) cooked spaghetti squash

- cilantro, for garnish

- red jalapeno/thai pepper, minced, for garnish

- lime, cut into wedges (I use 1/4 for each dish)
———————

Pad Thai Sauce:

- 2 tbsp tamarind paste (DO NOT omit this, its very important…took me forever to find it—Whole Foods carries it now!)

- 1/2 cup boiling water

- 2 tbsp fish sauce

- 3 packets of stevia

- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

- 2 tsp chili sauce, or substitute 1/2 tsp with chili pepper flakes or cayenne (adjust according to taste)

- 2 1/2 tbsp Sunbutter (sunflower seed butter)


Directions:

1. Mix the 2 tbsp of tamarind paste with the boiling water in a small dish and set aside.

2. In another bowl, combine the fish sauce, stevia, apple cider vinegar, chili sauce, and sunbutter. (After you’ve chopped some veggies for a while you can mix in the tamarind and water with the rest of the pad thai mix).

3. Place a wok over high heat and add 1 tbsp oil. Once hot (wait about 2 minutes to make sure its sizzling!) drop in your marinated chicken pieces, along with the marinade (if it starts smoking at any time, turn the heat down a little, but not too much, you want to sear in the juices!) With two spatulas, wooden spoons (or whatever works!), constantly toss the chicken until cooked (about 5-8 minutes, if you aren’t sure, take a small piece and cut it in half—its better to test it than to overcook it!). Once the chicken is cooked, set aside to add in later.

4. Reheat the wok over high heat with another tbsp of oil. Once hot, add in 1/2 of green onions and fry for about 30 seconds before adding in the garlic. Let cook an additional 15 seconds. Add your beaten eggs to the pan. Once they begin to set up (15-20 seconds) begin to scramble with your spatulas.

5. Add the following ingredients in this order and toss after each:

- Spaghetti Squash

- Pad Thai Sauce

- Purple cabbage

- Shredded carrots 

- 3/4 bean sprouts

- 1/4 cup slivered almonds

- cooked chicken 

Toss everything to mix thoroughly. Don’t cook longer than a minute or two though! Nobody likes mushy Pad Thai!

6. Serve immediately. Garnish with remaining bean sprouts, green onions, slivered almonds, lime wedge (to be spritzed over the Pad Thai of course!) cilantro (optional), and red jalapeno/thai pepper (optional). ”

“The Secret”

  So, because of my recent success (I’m a success story??  what????), I’ve been getting a lot of requests for, “so what’s your secret?  how are you doing this?  can you tell me exactly what you’re eating?”  And I realized that I probably do need to be a little more specific.  It’s been 5 weeks now, as of today, and I’m still down 12-lbs (I had a brief plateau due to some cheats this weekend at a wedding - more on plateaus later).  And I’m fitting into nearly all of my skinny-girl clothes.  So, I can understand the need to know ;)

For the food challenge that I’m doing, here are the diet requirements:

Meats/Fish:

Chicken, Beef, Pork, Buffalo, Bison, Poultry, Turkey, Venison

Salmon, Shrimp, Scallops, Sardines, Trout, Clams, Crab, Tuna, Lobster, Mussels, Oysters

Meats should be grass-fed & nitrate free. Fish should be wild not farmed. (For the scoring of the Challenge this is a strong recommendation but not required for points. Lean meat, even if not grass fed, is still good during the challenge).

Eggs

Nuts/Seeds:

Almonds, Brazil, Cashews, Macadamia, Pecans, Pinenuts, Pistachio Nuts, Pumpkin Seeds, Sesame Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Walnuts, 

Almond Oil, Avocado Oil, Coconut Oil, Cod Liver Oil, Fish Oil, Flax seed oil, Macadamia Oil, Pecan Oil, Pistachio Oil, Poppyseed Oil, Pumpkin Seed Oil, Hazelnut Oil, Sesame Seed Oil, Walnut Oil

Generic recommendation: Cook with Coconut Oil and Flavor with Olive Oil

Fruits/Vegetables:

Asparagus, Artichokes, Avocado, Apple, Apricot

Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Banana, Blackberries, Blueberries, Bell Peppers

Cabbage, Cauliflower, Carrots, Celery, Collard Greens, Cherries, Cucumber, Cranberries

Dates, Eggplant, Fig

Garlic Grapefruit, Grapes, Guava

Honeydew, Kale, Kiwi Fruit, Lettuce, Lemon, Lime

Mushrooms, Mango, Melons, Nectarine

Onions, Olives, Okra, Orange, Pumpkin, Papaya, Peach, Pineapple, Plum, Pomegranate, Passionfruit

Radish, Red Cabbage, Raspberries, Spinach, Saurkraut, Sprouts, Strawberries

Tomato, Tangerine, Watermelon, Yellow Squash, Zucchini

Liquids:

Water, coffee, Coconut milk, coconut water, almond milk

Up to 1/2 tbsp daily of natural sweeteners such as agave or coconut nectar & 1 pack (3.5g) of stevia

Now, for the challenge, you are supposed to eat 6 meals a day, but not required.  I have a really difficult time not consuming too many calories if I’m eating that often, so I’m a 3 meal per day-er.  I also read on the challenge info that a female needs to limit her carbs to 100g per day or less if she wants to lose weight.  Carbs from veggies, fruit, and nuts/seeds in this case (obviously not from grains).  I thought this was really interesting and made me realize I need to figure out more recipes and meals that are not so heavily weighted on sweet potatoes (which is most recipes online).  Sure every now and again, it’s cool, but I try to eat those maybe twice per week rather than daily or every other day.  They just happen to be higher in carbs than other vegetables are.

I’m also a food phobic: you can read about that in an earlier post….  So that limits my typical food intake even more so than the list above.  This means that I eat these things constantly on rotation:

eggs

rotisserie chicken (whole foods, tom thumb)

nitrate-free chicken sausage (sprouts, whole foods, tom thumb)

ground beef

steak

chicken breast

peppers, onions, garlic

coconut milk (from a can)

black coffee

agave, cinnamon, vanilla (for my sweet tooth moments)

bananas, pineapple, berries

coconut flour from time to time (nearly never almond flour - I read that it’s easy to overeat nuts, particularly when you use nut flours)

asparagus, broccoli, spinach

sweet potato chips and salsa (I make sure I never eat these two days in a row)

sweet potatoes

spaghetti squash

zucchini, squash

red wine

And I think that’s about it…..  No, really.  That’s it.  For instance, for my lunch, I was super hungry, so I had TWO chicken sausages (usually I only eat 1) and a huge handful of spinach that I wilted down with EVOO, minced garlic, salt/pepper, and poultry seasoning.  So good.

Plateaus:  I’ve had 2 cheat meals during the challenge.  The first one set me on a week long plateau.  I didn’t particularly feel bad after eating, but everything tasted super sweet and I was a little irritated at how long it took to get back to my pace.  I had another cheat this past weekend.  It piled 2 lbs back on me, and I DID feel awful this time….  In fact, it was two days ago, and I’m STILL feeling it.  Very lethargic and demotivated.  I couldn’t wait to sit down with a filet and sweet potato chips last night.  Ah!  Real food again!  So, I’m not sure I’ll be taking any more cheat meals…  It’s upsetting to my pace and how hard I’ve been working, and it doesn’t seem worth it.  

As for working out, I have actually had to crossfit less than normal the past few weeks due to hubby traveling on business trips, so I guess I could be doing better.  I typically go at least 3 times per week.  But I’ve been having a difficult time hitting 2 recently.  He has a couple of weeks off from traveling, though, so I will take advantage of him being around to watch baby so I can get to the box.  Then he’ll start back up again early November, just in time for the second round of benchmark WODs to commence.

So there you have it.  The Secret.  Seriously no cheating other than what I mentioned.  And watching my portions to ensure I’m not overeating and sabotaging myself.  I think that’s key.  So that would be my final piece of advice: look up the caloric needs of a person that is the weight you want to be, then eat that many calories of good, clean food.  

{Halfway Through Week 5}

  So, I could not be more thrilled to report that my scale told me that 12-lbs of Sarah has been eliminated.  I have no idea where it went.  But it’s gone, and I’m ok with that.  

I also completed my performance WOD for the week last night: Diane ladder for 7 minutes.  Since I can’t do handstand pushups yet, I had to do the scaled version, which was 105# DL and strict pushups.  Start out at 1-1, then 2-2-, and so on for 7 minutes.  Score is the total number of reps, and I got 84 in.  I’m not so great at pushups…..  they really slow me down.  I still felt pretty good about my effort, though, because I didn’t stop really.  I just didn’t like my score so much :)

Halfway through this challenge, and I have only one cheat meal logged.  I do have a couple of weddings coming up, though, and I’m planning to use a cheat meal for at least one of them this coming weekend.  I hope it doesn’t set me back as much as my big cheat earlier in the challenge seemed to - that one sent me on a plateau for about a week.  I’ll be a little more restrained this time around….  I have more of my hardworking results to protect :)