Thursday, October 20, 2011

Mind Blown

I hit a bunch of CrossFit webpages religiously.  I start my morning checking out the WOD for my local CrossFit box, CrossFit SOAR. After that I check out Crossfit.com, the crossfit journals, and then mobilityWOD.com.  That's along with the RSS feeds that go to my inbox from the many paleo websites and blogs that I follow.  A post that caught my attention was a recent CrossFit journal video that spent a day with Graham Holmberg and Rich Froning Jr. before the 2011 CrossFit games and cataloged their workouts and diets.

I had heard of two-a-days, but these guys are insane.  There is a reason they are the fittest people on earth.  They must have done somewhere around 6 workouts during the day.  They would wake up around 5 am and then go to bed around 10-11 at night.  They also ate very little compared to what I eat during the day.  Rich also ate peanut butter and jelly out of tupperware container......

It's important to remember that these guys are training for the games and to be the absolute fittest in the world.  Most of us have jobs and most of us just want to be healthy and fit.  This was just an insight into the fittest in the world and my mind was blown.  If you can see this video, watch it.  It is amazing to see what the human body can do.

UPDATE:  I found the link, it's a free download and a MUST see!  Enjoy!  Number 1 and Number 2: A Day of Training

Monday, October 10, 2011

Paleo Lemon Bar Recipe

So what's the best part of a new diet? Finding all the treats that fit into it.  I did some research and found the a recipe for paleo lemon bars.  I made them this past weekend and they are delicious.  Be warned, they are very sweet and heavy which makes them great but if you're someone, like me, who thinks they can polish it off in one sitting, it will present a challenge.  The ingredients call for honey, which I normally would stay away from just because I don't want the extra sugar but as a treat, I allowed it.  I will post the instructions and pictures here and also link you to where I found the original recipe thanks to a CrossFit affiliate. 

Ingredients for Topping:
  • 3 whole cage-free eggs
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
Ingredients for Crust:
  • 1 cup of almonds
  • 1 cup of pecans (or other nut, I used cashews)
  • 1/4 cup of honey
  • 1/2 cup of melted unrefined coconut oil
  • 2 whole cage-free eggs
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions for the topping:
I started with the topping to allow it time to cool.  I started by taking a sauce pan and blending the eggs, honey, and lemon juice together.  After they are blended, I turned on the heat to about medium-high and slowly added the coconut oil.  I would probably add it all at once or all in small pieces.  I stirred until the mixture begins to solidify and bubble.  You will see the mixture thicken and in my case, the oil didn't melt before it thickened (which is why I would add it in small pieces and not the glob I used).  Once it got to the point where it started bubbling, I placed the topping in a bowl and put it in the fridge to solidify further.

Instructions for the crust:
I only had a 1/2 cup of almonds so I used that with the other nut I had in the house, cashews.  So I put the 1/2 cup of almonds and the 1 1/2 cup of cashews in a food processor and pulsed them to where they were finely chopped.  I stopped often and mixed the nuts up so that I didn't turn the nuts into a butter.  Having some nut chunks is fine.  From there, I placed the rest of the ingredients (honey, coco oil, eggs, sea salt) in the food processor and pulsed a few times until everything was well mixed and had something that resembled a chunky batter.  I placed the batter into a coconut oil greased 9 x 9 inch baking pan I had and placed it into the oven that was preheated to 400 degrees.  I let that bake for about 10 minutes.  I took it out, placed a knife in and it came out pretty clean.  I placed the crust onto a cooling rack for a while.  Be gentle because the crust will come out very soft like a cake. 

When everything was cool, I placed the cake onto a plate, spread out the topping across it and placed it back in the fridge for a little while until after dinner.  What came out was an awesome dessert.

I found this recipe from EAT THIS.  Check them out!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Vitamin D

In the paleo diet, there isn't a need for MUCH supplementation because we are supposed to get everything we need from the real food we eat.  Of course, that doesn't always happen and everyone has different goals.  I, for instance, take a generic multivitamin and a fish oil pill with breakfast and dinner.  I ran this by my doctor along with the basics of the paleo diet, of which he was familiar, and said that I was doing everything perfectly.  I also mentioned that I had taken some Vitamin D in the beginning and he began to warn me about oversupplementation with Vitamin D.  Let's see why we need Vitamin D.

Vitamin D is produced by cholesterol in the skin when in contact with sunlight (UVB to be specific).  This is why getting at least 15 minutes of direct sunlight every day is recommended.  Mark Sisson says, "One thirty minute session of full-body (no shirt, shorts, no sunblock) sun exposure when the sun is at its strongest, for example, can get you between 10-20,000 IUs of endogenous vitamin D production. If you get 20,000 IU a week, you’re way ahead of the game."  That's if you can get that much.  The issue also comes in during the colder months and for those that work indoors all day.  You may not get that kind of powerful sun exposure at all during a work week if you are in this scenario. 
Lets go back to the doctor's office.  His concern is that he saw an extreme abundance of kidney stone cases coming into his office.  He links it to the current over supplementation of Vitamin D.  Vitamin D, sometimes taken with calcium, can cause kidney stones when taken in large doses.  He didn't tell me to avoid the Vitamin D supplements altogether, he just said to be careful.  It was an interesting point of view from a DOCTOR who could also spit out studies to backup his claim.  He is a reputable source of knowledge for me and hopefully your doctor can be for you too.