What I eat. What I do. How I roll.

Yesterday I got an email from a friend asking me what I eat, what I'm avoiding, and what I do for exercise (like when, where, etc). I haven't had much time to blog lately, and thought it would be the perfect time to update my blog since I'd be writing the same stuff in an email anyway.

In our daily diet, we follow what is termed the Paleo-Zone diet the best we can. CrossFit Journal 21 recommends "eat meat and vegetable, nuts and seeds, some fruit, and no sugar." This is essentially the Paleo philosophy. The Zone aspect comes into play by making sure every meal and snack you eat is a balance of protein, carbs, and fat.

While our diet is not close to being clean enough, we have come a long way from where we were last year.

Yes I will tell on myself and say I brought home cookies from a girls night out party and ate 6 of them yesterday before I threw the rest of the box away.

We have cut out most grains and starches. I no longer buy bread or make bread (ok, so sometimes I do bake bread). I avoid cooking with pasta, potatoes, ramen (I'm not even sure that's a real food), and rice. We have also cut way back on the amount of milk we drink as a family. We do not keep soda in the house, and very rarely do we have fruit juice on hand.

However, our fridge is consistently well stocked with fruit such as oranges, apples, pears, grapes, etc. I like to keep strawberries and blueberries in the freezer. Our girls go through fruit quickly, it's their preferred snack. If there is candy in the house they'll eat it, but if it's not here they don't ask for it but just reach in the fridge for some fruit. We probably eat more fruit than recommended, but it's better than candy or potato chips.

Meat/ Animal protein is essential for growing kids and for helping one's body recover/rebuild after a hard workout. We eat a lot of chicken, turkey, fish, cheese, and eggs. Beef occasionally depending on the cut and how good of a sale it is. Very rarely we eat deer when we're blessed with some from a friend.

I like to grill, bake, broil, or steam. I avoid breaded chicken or frying my meats when I can.

Yes you can get some protein from beans and soy. But beans are more carbs than protein, and beans give us horrible gas so it's not worth it for me. From the reading and research I've done, the human body assimilates animal protein better than plant protein, and a plant's amino acids are not the best for rebuilding muscle.

Eggs are cheap protein, and easy to fix for a quick meal or snack. You can poach them or fry them in small amounts of canola oil for breakfast, or lunch sandwich on some tortillas. Or you can hard boil them for a take along snack.

I do not eat pork. I avoid it if at all possible. It's just a personal preference of mine, and Jerimiah will eat it any day of the week. To me, there's a reason swine were forbidden to be eaten under the Old Testament Law. Swine are natural garbage disposals, and will eat anything including manure or other dead animals. They are great for rooting around, and turning the soil if they are temporarily penned in an area you plan to make a garden, but I don't consider them good for food. Plus the way most of the pork on today's market is raised/produced is not healthy for the animal or for me.

I also avoid Catfish for the same reason.

Cows thrive when fed fresh green grass. Poultry thrive when given free range to eat bugs, worms, and vegetation. (Have you ever had a garden and let chickens free range through it? In my childhood experience, they like tender peas and beans. We had ducks a few years back and they constantly ate my tomatoes!)

Vegetables, I buy as fresh as I can get them. Kale, spinach, Romaine, tomatoes, cauliflower, etc. Veggies I usually buy frozen are peas, mixed veggies, corn, etc. I love farmers markets and farm stands. There is a "You Pick" farm down the road that I'm going to try for next year for most of my veggies. I tried several years to have a garden of my own, but we have numerous stray cats in the neighborhood and I got sick of cleaning cat mess out of my soil. If you can grow your own, do it! If not buy it as fresh as you can get.

We eat a lot of oatmeal for breakfast, and I'll occasionally make pancakes with cornmeal and whole wheat or rye flour.

I don't like to cook with pasta. But spaghetti squash is a great substitute for spaghetti nights.

What about no sugar or sweeteners? I have cut out almost every sweetener from my personal diet. I do use raw, local honey in my coffee and on the kids oatmeal. But no processed sugar, no sucanat, no turbinado sugar, no molasses, no stevia, no splenda, no aspertame, etc. Splenda and Stevia may say on the box the have no sugar or no carbs. But research has shown that just tasting something sweet causes your body to respond by increasing insulin in your bloodstream. Frequent insulin spikes wreck havoc, and the crashes cause cravings for more, resulting in a really bad roller coaster ride mentally and physiologically.

We eat fats such as olive oil, canola oil, almonds, cashews, and avocados. If I can I like to avoid fast foods, fried foods, lard, shortening, and most oils.

Well, kiddoes, I'm out of time. My youngest is stirring in her bed so I need to grab a quick shower. I hope to answer the rest of this question tomorrow!

Be Blessed

12/30/08

Breakfast: 1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup home made yogurt
6 almonds

Lunch: 3 oz tuna
1 tsp mayo
Carrot and Celery sticks
1/2 orange

Snack: 2 oz turkey balogna
6 almonds
Mashed sweet potatoes

Dinner: 4 oz chicken tenders
Corn
Coffee with sugar and cream

Exercise: Walked approx 1 mile with the girls (yes it was at a snails pace, but it was something)
Practiced KB swing technique
3 x 10 KB russian swings
3 x 10 KB deadlifts
10 lb Kettlebell

Daily Food Journal

Breakfast
Sirloin
Peppers and onions
My fridge was kind of empty. Can't you tell??

Lunch
Yogurt
Tuna Fish
Crackers

Snack
Coffee with cream and sugar

Light dinner
1 cup spaghetti with Tomato sauce

Late dinner
House made breadsticks with Olive Oil, Garlic, and Basil dip
1 slice pizza
1/2 portion of Viva Italia
Iced tea

My brother is a truck driver from Sugar Hill, Ga. He unexpectedly had a route through Oklahoma, and we were fortunate enough to be able to meet him in Muskogee. With all the craziness of the day (grocery shopping, calling everyone to arrange plans, driving to meet my brother) I didn't get a workout in.
We got to Muskogee about 8:30pm and my brother got into town about 9:00 pm. The rest of my family trickled in after that.

We met and had a wonderful dinner at this little restaraunt in Muskogee called Napoli's. Everyone at the table ordered something different and we got to sample a little bit of everything. The food is absolutely fabulous and the portions were more than ample for the price. We all ate more than we should of, but Jerimiah and I didn't go away feeling stuffed so I don't think we did too bad. After everyone ate we came home with enough leftovers for lunches for a week!

I highly recommend this restaraunt, to anyone looking for as close to authentic as possilbe. There is a location in Muskogee and in Broken Arrow. I definately plan on going again for a girls lunch or a date night, but I'll be picking a more zone friendly chicken salad. :)

My brother asked Jerimiah to give him a workout regimen that he can do with equipment he can put in the cab of his semi :). So Jerimiah modified the beginners workout to use with dumbells. He downloaded a bunch of the instructional videos and burned them onto a dvd so he could learn the movements while on the road. We sent him on with plenty of reading from free journal journal articles, and told him to look up CrossFit Gyms along all of his runs and try to stop in and visit one.
My brother is a big old fat fart, but hopefully we can help him bring out the competitiveness and drive gained while he was a marine. Semper Fi

Daily Food Journal

Breakfast:
4 eggs,
1 apple,
celery

Lunch:
Chicken Breast
Pureed Sweet Potatoes
Celery

Dinner
Chicken Breast
Corn
Green Beans

Snack
1 Chocolate Chip cookie
2 cups decaf coffee

Recipe: Speared Chicken Bundles

Daily Food Journal

Breakfast:
3 eggs
1 Apple

Lunch:
2 oz tuna
Celery and Carrot Spears
Applesauce

Snack:
1 McDonalds Double Cheeseburger
1 Large Diet Coke

Dinner:
Speared Chicken Bundle
Water

Recipe for Speared Chicken Bundles

Makes 4 servings.

• 2 10-12 oz boneless Chicken Breasts
• 1 Bundle Asparagus Spears
• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 tspn Herbs De Provence (Available at Whole Foods) OR
• 1/2 tspn Thyme and 1 1/2 tspn Rosemary
• 1 clove garlic

Pre heat a 10" or larger cast iron skillet on the stove top OR Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare the Asparagus spears: Remove the band or tie from the bundle, rinse spears of asparagus under cold running water. To break off woody steams, hold each spear firmly at the base and in the middle and bend the stalk. The stalk will snap off just above the woody base of the stem. It is best to break off the woody ends individually, rather than guess and cut off the ends. Rinse again and set aside to drain.

Place chicken breasts in a gallon size freezer ziplock bag. With the flat end of a meat tenderizer, flatten each chicken breast. (Please don't tell my husband that my kids borrowed and lost my tenderizer and I used his MagLight flashlight.... :P )

Dip a basting brush in olive oil and lightly oil bottom of cast iron skillet. If you are baking it in the oven lightly oil the bottom of the baking dish.

Pour rest of oil into a small mixing cup. Mix herbs into the olive oil. Mince garlic clove and mix in oil/herb mixture. Baste the center of the top of each chicken breast with 1/4 of the oil/herb mixture.

Place 4-6 asparagus spears in center of each chicken breast. Roll up each chicken breast, keeping asparagus in the center. Secure seams with 3-5 toothpicks.

Place chicken bundles in cast iron skillet or baking dish. Baste the bundles with the rest of the oil/herb mixture.

If baking chicken in the oven, arrange rest of asparagus spears in the baking dish and cover with aluminum foil or baking dish cover. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes until chicken is done.

If cooking on stove top, cook over medium heat in a cast iron skillet. Brown bottom of chicken bundles about 5 min. Then with a spatula loosen each bundle from the bottom of the skillet. Cover skillet with lid, and simmer for 30 minutes. Test with a thermometor to ensure the chicken is done. Remove the chicken bundles, drain juice and set aside to use later.

Arrange rest of asparagus in the skillet, cover and saute for approx 5-10 minutes, turning halfway through, until tender. Add chicken and reheat till warm.

Remove toothpicks from bundles. Cut each bundle in half, and place each half on a dinner plate. Arrange 1/4 of rest of asparagus on each dinner plate for a pleasing presentation. Lightly drizzle chicken bundles and asparagus spears with juice from the pan.

Serve along side a spinach salad and enjoy.

Daily Food Journal

Breakfast
2 egg omelet, diced onion, sliced mushrooms, spinach
1 cup cantalope
filtered water
breakfast tea

Lunch
4 oz sirloin
Green beans
Kool Aid

Dinner
5 oz chicken breast
Steamed brocolli

Daily Food Journal

Breakfast:
3 egg omelete, 2 oz milk, spinach, yellow bell peppers
1/2 apple
1 cup coffee

Lunch:
2 oz Tuna
1 cup Applesauce
1 cup milk

No Snack or regular dinner

During working Nightmare parking I had:
several hand full of roasted peanuts
1 ham, cheese, and bread sandwhich
Turday and cheese from a second sandwich. I tossed the bread
2 pkgs M&M's
1 slick pizza
1 sausage roll
1 bottle gatorade
Several bottles water

Today's Food Journal

Morning: 1 cup coffee
3 egg omelet with 4 mushrooms and 1 cup spinach
1/2 cup milk

Mid Day: Rest of banana pudding from last night and 1 cup coffee.

Dinner:
4 oz Sirloin, Sauted Onions and mushrooms, green beans
2 cups milk
1 glass sweet ice tea

Late snack: 1 egg and 1/2 apple

Daily Food Journal

Today was unintentionally a fast day...

Joelle was sick so I was mostly focused on caring for her. I had 8 - 12 cups of coffee. Which the first 4 cups were actually coffee. The rest of the cups of coffee were brewed using the same grounds and pretty weak.

I snacked on some carrot sticks and apple slices through the day.

Dinner was 4 oz chicken breast (cooked in the crock pot with garlic, Herb de Provence, and Balsamic Vinegar.), and sauted Asparagus spears. Dessert was banana pudding made by my neighbor.

Late snack of 1/2 apple

Daily Food Log:

Morning: 1 cup coffee, sugar, cream.
3 eggs
1/2 apple
Drinking 32 oz of filtered water

Midday: Tuna broccoli salad
Carrot and Celery Sticks
Ranch Dressing and Honey Dijon Mustard
1 cup milk
Second 32 oz filtered water

No snack

Evening: 1 ham and cheese sandwich on 2 slices of bread
2 Chocolate chip cookies
1 snack sized bag of sun chips
1 can Dr Pepper
1 caramel covered apple

Oh well.... at least there's improvement for the meals during the day.

Daily Food Journal

Breakfast: 2 cups coffee with sugar and cream. 3 eggs.

Lunch: Tuna Brocolli Salad
1/2 orange
1 cup milk

Snack: 2 cups milk

Dinner: 1 bowl Turkey Vegetable Soup
1 cup coffee with cream