Lessons from the Road

First off, my apologies for the lack of posts this week. David and I were off in Calgary hacking our way through the CrossFit Level II cert. Luckily we both came out victorious in the end, newly minted certificates in hand!

Being on the road, however, did not leave much time for creativity in the kitchen! We did manage find a few interesting paleo options and learned an important lesson or two along the way.

1. CrossFitters everywhere are awesome people! Thanks to everyone at CrossFit Calgary and our fellow testees (hee hee) for all the feedback, support, and positive vibes. Heart you all.

2. Jerky and trail mix are the universal snack staples of caveman eaters everywhere

3. The safeway deli makes an interseting chicken and mango salad with loads of veggies and no pasta or grains

4. Always check your oven before preheating...

This is what remains of all 4 trays and the lid of my food dehydrator, along with my latest batch of bison jerky. We put the trays in the oven overnight to keep them out of the cat's reach at David's mom's place on Tuesday night and unfortunately forgot to check if the oven was empty before preheating to make dinner the next night. Big OOPS!

The End of Rehab

Okay, so the 30 days are up and that means it's time for a review. Lets compare the goals to the results. In the end I am 5lbs lighter than day one, but you've seen how much that fluctuates from day to day. The four areas to work on in this 30 day intensive were:

• Caveman Food
• Intermittent Fasting
• CrossFit
• Being My Own Car

Caveman Food

The original intention was to do all 30 days without cheating. That lasted, I believe, 13 days, so I have to give myself an F in the "no cheats" department. All in all though the intention was to reign in the cheat days and confine them to one or two meals per week, which we have successfully done. We had also been eating out a lot, relying on take out and processed foods way too much. I like cooking, so it doesn't take a huge effort for me to snuggle up with my cookbooks, reunite with my meat slicer, and get back to my post in the kitchen. I am lucky to have a great caveman as the other half of this team who cleans up after me in exchange for being well fed all the time. Thank you David!

On a side note, I like training barefoot and I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Does that make me barefoot in the kitchen? Good thing I'm not pregnant or this would be really cliche...

Intermittent Fasting

In total I think we had 3 or possibly 4 days of intermittent fasting. I'll continue working it into my life, probably on every other rest day. I find it works especially well when I am feeling beat up, sore, and on the verge of getting sick. When your body needs to direct energy to repair and immune function, it's ok to give it a short break from the hard work of digesting food. Going without eating until dinner time really isn't the end of the world.

CrossFit

For the fitness side of things, this was a successful 30 days. Of the 21 WODs completed, all but one were new PRs. Among other things I got my first ring dip, something I thought I would never be functionally capable of doing. I PR'd my continuous pullups at 15, kick ass considering I had set a goal to get 12 in a row by the end of 2009. And I added 7lbs to my CrossFit total. My gymnastics, weight lifting, and cardio capacity all improved noticeably because I didn't just get stronger or just get faster, I got fitter. That's what CrossFit does to you! Several of the 21 WODs I had never done before and many of the other I was able to attack as Rx'd or at least closer to it than previous attempts. I even managed to beat my husband at a few! Even with my cheat days, eating cavegirl 80-90% of the time has resulted in some very satisfying gains on the performance side.

Being My Own Car

I'm still riding my bike to work as often as possible. I really enjoy the morning ride and I don't find this to be a chore at all. I'll be sad when winter creeps in and keeps my indoors, so I'll be appreciating the weather while it lasts.

Rehab Day 29

Weight 124.8

Food

Breakfast was my standard fare - eggs and nuts, although I've added Salsa (oooooh!). Through the day I munched on several of the delicious creations that came out of the kitchen yesterday. I made bison jerky from a roast picked up at the farmer's market.

....and what's this?? Is that a paleo sandwich?! Indeed it is! David misses bread a lot because his favorite food is samiches. I've been experimenting with a recipe I found in a raw vegan cookbook involving sunflower seeds, flax, and onions. Although in my version I'd like to bake it since I have nothing against cooking my food. Cavegirl Onion Bread 1.0 was delicious, but way too labor intensive. I'll post the recipe when I've perfect the process!

CrossFit

Rest Day!

Rehab Day 28

Weight 125.6

Food

Not much in the way of appetite today, as is usually case after a cheat day. Funny how it all evens out, isn't it? Mid-morning I ate one egg and the final italian sausage scrambled together with salsa and some avocado. Mid day I ate some trail mix and some left over meat.

For dinner I made grilled bacon wrapped pork tenderloin medallions and sweet potato and apple mash. David thrives on a little more carb than I do, on a day to day basis. So while he tucked into a big pile of starchy vitamin A, I filled my plate with spinach salad.

Pork wrapped in another kind of pork. Could there be anything better?

On the right, little pork yummies. On their sides on the grill to get the bacon extra crispy!

On the left, 1 Sweet potato with 1 apple, dusted with cinnamon. Baked at 350 F for 30 mins before being pureed in the food processor.

Cavegirl In The Kitchen

This blog is called just that because I eat and move as much like a cavegirl as I can but I love being in the modern oasis that is my kitchen. The paleo or primal lifestyle does not mean forsaking all neolithic amenities, donning a loin cloth, and spear hunting your dinner. With the seemingly endless options we have in terms of what to eat and do from minute to minute, being a cavegirl gives me a framework to navigate this world and helps to shape the choices I make. I keep my food "genetically congruent" with what my physiology is most supremely adapted to eat, while at the same time enjoying the fact that I don't have to risk life and limb to get it. A trip to Sobeys is all it takes. I exercise using functional movements at high intensity because those too are the physical remnants of a long-ago life built around sprinting, jumping, climbing, throwing, walking, lifting, and carrying. No need to sleep in a cave to actually get the benefit though. I'll keep my running water, comfy bed, and Nintendo Wii, thank you very much.

Some interesting things are coming out of my test kitchen these days and I'm looking forward to sharing the successful results in the coming weeks. I'll keep the disasters to myself though! Bison jerky, cavegirl bread, banana mac sorbet, and many other recipes will appear here in the future.

CrossFit

Today's WOD

Shoulder Press 1-1-1-1-1

Push Press 3-3-3-3-3

Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5

This is the first time I have ever hacked out this entire WOD as Rx'd. I usually end up forgoing the sets of 3s and 5s, hitting only singles and then getting tired and quitting before I'm really done. So today...

Press: 86 Fail, 76, 81 Fail, 76, 76

Push Press: 86, 91(1PJ), 96, 101 Fail

Push Jerk: 101, 106f, 96, 96, 101x3

I love a good shoulder day...

Rehab Day 27

Weight 123.8



Food
For breakfast I had two eggs scrambled with 1 sausage, topped with 1/4 avocado and salsa. Yum! I hit up the farmer's market this morning for the first time in a while. I picked up a bison eye round roast, which will be turned into bison jerky later this week as well as some fresh BC cherries. I only just discovered the delicious wonder that is cherries last week and now I'm obsessed. I'm not sure how I managed to go my whole life without ever eating cherries before, but I have been missing out!


Before working out I had 1/2 apple with almond butter and some leftover pot roast. Usually I find as soon as I start warming up I get painfully hungry and that I can eat immediately before starting the stop watch. On this day though, eating right before this WOD seemed like a very, very awful idea since I started to feel nauseous almost immediately. After this serious ass kicking workout (see below) we hit Booster Juice for a little PWO refueling. Again I ordered a Mango Hurricane, no yogurt and added my own egg white powder to it. I get stuck in a rut with these things.


It's Saturday so that means it's time for a cheat. I made chicken fingers in the oven and David had pizza. We both had some cookies from Safeway for dessert. If you know me at all, you'll know I'm not much of a drinker and it's a rare occasion that I actually enjoying an adult beverage. It happens maybe once every few months. Tonight would be one of those nights. I enjoyed a few glasses of Kim Crawford Sauv Blanc while sitting out on the deck lounging in the summer loveliness. Perfect!


CrossFit
"Badger"
3 rounds for time
30 Squat Cleans, 65lbs (men's Rx'd 95lbs)
30 Pullups
800m Run
--> 40:25
I really wanted to finish this one is under 40 mins! Dammit. It annoys me to no end when this happens in a longer workout. Surely I could have shaved off 26 seconds somewhere in this whole endeavour! A few seconds here or there really doesn't matter, other than I just like the idea of a 3 at the beginning of my time rather than a 4. It's silly. I know. My rounds were 12 min, 15 min, and 13 min so I probably could have knocked off the time I needed by slacking less in round 2. I stopped though to cut off two callouses on my left hand that were starting to lift rather than suffer the pain of ripped hands again.
My winning streak continued as I beat David by about 7 mins. Once again my muscular stamina prevailed.

Rehab Day 26

Weight 125.4

For once I actually did not eat eggs for breakfast! I just didn't have time and ended up picking at some leftover Pad Thai before working out in the mid morning. I had another lovely berry, spinach, and egg white smoothie PWO. For a late lunch I had two egg scrambled with two italian sausages, half an avocado and salsa. 

For dinner I put a sirloin tip roast in the slow cooker. The recipe was very simple: 1 Cup beef broth, 1 medium can of tomato paste, an onion, a bay leaf, and a sprinkle of thyme. I browned the roast on all sides in a pan on the stove before letter it simmer on high in the crock pot for about 5 hours. Tender and delicious! ...oh, and EASY!

CrossFit

"Randy"

75 Power Snatches, 56lbs (men Rx'd weight 75lbs)

-->9:26

Any workout where I can beat David is a good one as far as I'm concerned! He's owned me in several WODs over the last week, but I finally made a comeback, beating him by over 2 1/2 minutes. In the 10 types of fitness, muscular stamina would be a strong area for me, so I tend to do better in high rep workouts like this.

Rehab Day 25

Weight 126.2

Food

I'm sure you're very tired of reading that I eat the same thing for breakfast everyday by now. But let me offer that as one piece of advice: automate at least one meal per day. Make it easy, make it quick, and make it the same every day. It takes some of the stress out of opening the fridge, staring at a bunch of ingredients, and contemplating what you're going to eat. Not every meal has to be the most mind blowing experience for your taste buds. Sometimes food is just fuel.

Most of the day I ate leftover to try to make use of all the cooking I've been doing lately. The rest of the Shepherd's pie made a great lunch. Mid afternoon I used a couple of the remaining italian sausages from the failed kabob experiment the other night to make my own Denny's style scrambler. Eggs, sausage, peppers, and avocado topped with salsa. Awesome. This actually left me feeling quite full for the rest of the night and I didn't eat much of anything for dinner, opting instead for an early bed time.

CrossFit

Rest Day. Since we didn't do yesterday's 10k, this make 2 rest days in a row. Sometimes that's necessary. Rest and recovery is an oft neglected element for hardcore crazy fitness freaks.

Rehab Day 24

Weight 124.0

Food
Nuts and eggs again, with a little ham in there for good measure. Through the day I ate some more ham, nuts, blueberries, cherries and some delicious left over pad thai. For dinner I turned some of the roast beef in the fridge into a cavegirl Shepherd's Pie. I actually found a ready to eat beef gravy at Sobeys which wasn't terrible. The ingredients were quite similar to anything I would have made at home: beef dripping, mushrooms, red wine, and some corn starch. I added loads of veggies and simmered on the stove. For the topping, I steamed cauliflower and a parsnip with a clove of garlic. Once softened, I pureed them in the food processor. It turned out to have a texture exactly like mashed potatoes and a mild, yet hearty flavor. Overall, yummy!

The picture doesn't quite do it justice...

Cheats
David and I have been discussing how to incorporate cheat days into our lives a little more, shall we say, responsibly. The all-out, anything goes entire cheat day seems like too much. I end up feeling like crap for a day or two after, like a food hangover. As you've seen, I gain a lot of weight in a short period of time. Water weight or fat, it doesn't matter. 5lbs is 5lbs when you're trying to do a pullup! We go way beyond "refueling" to the point of performance sabotage. Plus I generally resent the idea that I willingly pump myself full of such processed, garbage food-like substances.

So we're experimenting with this: Two cheat items per week, one on Wednesday, one on Saturday, preferably home made. We eat pretty low carb the rest of the time, so this approach is essentially a cyclic low carb/high carb diet a la Mauro DiPasquale's Anabolic Diet. I have not read any of his books, but from what I've gleaned from articles and interviews this is essentially his approach. Far be it for me to put words in his mouth though, so check out his website if you're curious about what he does.

Anyway, last night David chose sandwiches as his cheat - one roast beef, one peanut butter and jam. For me, I made a tiny batch of brownies. Mmmm.... Better than anything I could have found in a store!

CrossFit
Today's WOD
Run 10k

As my gimpy foot is not up to running I did not attack this one today. I'm not one to skip workouts or cherry pick the ones I like, so I will complete this one as soon as I can, hopefully on the weekend. I had intentions of subbing in something else, but ended up just feeling too wiped out from Eva yesterday. My own programming ended up being "One Nap, for Time" - Total time: about 3 hours! Precious precious sleep....

Rehab Day 22

Weight 126.4

Food
Good old eggs and nuts again for breakie. I munched on cherries, more nuts, blueberries, and some roast beef throughout the morning. Last night I cooked two roasts, chilled them over night and used my meat slicer to create an abundance of homemade deli meats. And yes, I have my own meat slicer.

Two Spicy Looking Eye Round Roasts Ready For The Heat

David and I have arranged a deal that if I supply him with enough quality homemade paleo food that he never has to cook anything, he will clean my bathroom. Take my word for it that this arrangement works in my favor... that is one messy bathroom...

For dinner I tried a recipe from the Weber Grilling cookbook that looked tastier than it actually turned out to be. It was spicy italian sausage and scallop skewers with big chunks of onion. I couldn't find good scallops at the grocery store today, so I ended up using chicken. I did find fresh in-store made italian sausages though that actually did not contain wheat, dairy, nitrites, or MSG. The filler was rice flour, which is a lesser evil as far as I'm concerned but still not great. Anyway, the kabobs turned out to be just kinda boring...

CrossFit
Today's WOD
CrossFit Total
3 attempts each for max weight in
Back Squat
Standing Shoulder Press
Deadlift
--> Total 462, an increase of 7lbs over last time
Squat - 190 (the same)
Press - 76 (a disappointment since I max pressed 81 a few weeks ago)
Deadlift - 196 (6lbs bigger than last time)

At one point in Oct last year I 3-rep deadlifted 205, but have not been able to recreate that magic since getting full-on into CrossFit and following only the mainsite programming. 195 is inching in the right direction though!

Rehab Day 21

Weight: 128.4 (yeah... I gained 4.2lbs in 24 hrs)

Food
I wasn't hungry too much today - more about that below. Around noon I ate 2 eggs scrambled with sliced ham. At 4 I had a Larabar. Then we had dinner at my parents' place which was BBQ'd ribs and veggies. A paleo delight! Dessert was some dark chocolate and fresh strawberries, which are just starting to be deliciously in season. Overall, not a lot eaten today.

A Properly Functioning Metabolism
Your body is designed to withstand huge fluctuations in energy intake. You can imagine quite easily that your caveman ancestors did not have a steady supply of food to enjoy 3 square meals and 2 snacks each and every day. Instead they likely enjoyed a huge feast after a successful kill, and then less food until they were hungry enough to bother going out to hunt again.

I find for myself that the day after a big cheat I have almost no appetite. The interesting thing is this is how a properly functioning metabolism is supposed to work. I didn't have to purposely deprive myself of food today, I just had no desire to eat. I ate as much as I wanted, and that wasn't very much. Your body does not work on a tight 24 hour schedule with regards to calories in and calories out. The process is smoothed out over days, weeks, or even months.

Hormonally, I'm pumped full of leptin, the hormone that makes you feel satiated, and devoid of ghrelin, the hormone responsible for hunger. This is how your body evens out energy intake with energy output and maintains homeostasis - a fancy way of saying "balance". It would be evolutionarily disadvantageous to be obese, after all. Try chasing down a woolly mammoth with 50 or 100 extra pounds dragging your ass down. Not very successful. A small amount of body fat is enough to see you through those brief periods without food, but too much would not be helpful at all.

It all goes wrong when you inundate your body with unnatural foods for too long. The steady flow of refined and starchy carbs overwhelms what your body is designed to handle. Your hormones get totally out of whack and crazy things start happening like you feel hungry even though you just ate an hour ago. Or you feel tired even though you at plenty all day and you've got easily 100,000 calories stored on your butt. Essentially your metabolism can no longer maintain homeostasis at a "healthy" bodyweight and weight gain ensues.

CrossFit
Today is main site rest day. Yay!

One of the recommendations in CrossFit's Elite Fitness In 100 words is to try new sports often. Today we tried Frisbee Golf and it was really fun. We will definitely be doing that again quite a bit this summer!

Rehab Day 20

Weight - 124.2

The blogger world

Melissa Byers is a girl I like, even though I've never even met her. She's witty, real, and an awesome CrossFitter - my 3 favorite qualities in a lady. She writes a great blog called Byers Gets Diesel that I check in with often. This week she had a wonderful two part series on cheat days (how timely, see below...). You're never going to go your whole life without eating a cookie again and no one expects you to, so she addresses a few points on how you might work cheat days into an other wise health and performance oriented lifestyle. I accidentally got up on my soapbox with regard to Part 1, however, and ranted a little about how we think about supposedly "clean" carbs like sweet potatoes vs obvious junk food like ice cream. Read it here. 

Food

I ate my regular breakfast, although somewhat later in the morning than usual. After the workout I made a strawberry, mango, blueberry, banana, and spinach smoothie. Seriously, you can't even taste the spinach. It's a good way to hide some extra greens in your diet. 

We planned for a cheat day today, and cheat we did. It didn't start until about 3 in the afternoon. So in total the crap food intake only lasts about 6-7 hours. It is remarkable what can be demolished in that amount of time. I've threatened to post what I am actually capable of consuming on a cheat day before, so here it goes in all its disgusting, carb'o'rific glory:

• 1 regular size Quizno's turkey sub with guacamole and a cookie
• Several chocolate cake donuts
• 2 pieces of Delicio oven pizza
• Blue Cheese/Hot Wing Doritos
• 1/2 pistrami sandwich (one piece of bread, lotsa meat)
• A few winegums
• Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream

Sometime I will actually FitDay a cheat day just to see what it all adds up to. I suspect it is easily 5000-7000 calories. The worst part is this is nowhere near the most I've eaten on a cheat day. While wandering through sobeys looking for inspiration, I found myself mostly wanting meaty things. I bought some deli meats, and chicken fingers, which I never even ate. They're still in the freezer for next time. 

CrossFit

Today was an odd workout that has not come up since 2003... 

2 rounds for time:

1 arm barbell push press, 12 reps right arm

1 arm barbell deadlift, 12 reps left arm

run 800m

1 arm barbell push press, 12 reps left arm

1 arm barbell deadlift, 12 reps right arm

run 800m

This WOD has no Rx'd weight, only saying "go heavy, run fast". I used 46lbs for the push press and 96lbs for the deadlift. As expected, the left arm, and especially the grip in the left hand were the weak parts. My foot is still not happy from yesterday and so the runs were slow and kinda gimpy. Total time 40:53. David severely owned me in this one, finishing in 27-something. Ouch. This was a fun one though! 

Rehab Day 19

Weight - 126.2

Food

Again with the same breakfast. Food throughout the day was left over pork stirfy and butter chicken. I had a banana, blueberry, and spinach smoothie after the workout. I ate some chicken and guacamole at my parents' house while visiting in the late afternoon. Today was one of those days where I had very little appetite and almost no interest in eating.

CrossFit

"Nicole"

AMRAP 20 mins

400m run

max reps pullups

Basically you sprint, then do as many pullups as you can. When you drop off the bar you go for a run again. If you can't do very many pullups, or if your grip is weak you'll be running a lot.

-->15, 12, 10, 10, 7, 6

the 15 pullups in round one is a new PR for me. I did 13 continuous kips, then 2 more before dropping off. Previously my record was 7 continuous, and 12 without dropping. Unfortunately I dropped off the bar and landed wrong on my left foot in round 3. It wasn't too happy about running after that. I did not do the run between the last two sets of pullups because I was already hobbling around at that point.

Rehab Day 18

Weight - 126.2


Food
Eggs and nuts again for breakfast. I mostly ate leftover stirfry from last night throughout the day. David picked up some fresh cherries from one of those roadside stands yesterday and it was on this day in history that I first discovered that cherries are in fact delicious. I'm not sure why, but I always thought I didn't like cherries. I had no idea what I've been missing my whole love. Those little gems are scrumptious!


We went to costco in the afternoon for another load of meat, veggies, and nuts. In addition to Cherries, it is also getting to be blueberry season. My favorite time of year! For dinner I made a cheater butter chicken with sauce from a jar. Besides some cream, the ingredients are not only pronounceable but also reasonably paleo.


CrossFit
The Workout of the Week in our gym this week is:


3 rounds, for time:
500m row
21 burpees
400m run


After watching everyone else sweat it out through this cardio monster, I couldn't resist taking a shot at it even though it wasn't on my schedule. In April, I did it in 19:21, this time 18:00 flat. I was really hoping to go sub-18, but I just didn't get there in time! Call me a masochist, but I love this one.


But since that wasn't actually my workout for today, I had a smoothie then hit the main site WOD which was:
AMRAP 20 mins of
Thruster, 5 reps
Hang Power Clean, 7 Reps
Sumo Deadlift High Pull, 10 reps
66lb barbell for all.
--> 5 rounds + 3 thrusters.

Hang Power Clean

Since I had just worked all the metcon I needed for today, I used a weight that, for me, is really heavy and treated this as more of a strength workout. 5 rounds is really not many for one like this, but it felt great to throw some weights around!

Rehab Day 17

Weight- 126.4

Food

Another Paleo day completed. You must be bored by now of reading that I eat eggs and nuts for breakfast everyday. Somehow I'm not bored of eating them though! I ate some sliced deli turkey, cucumbers, red peppers, pistachios, and half an apple with nut butter throughout the day. For dinner I made a pork tenderloin, broccoli and cauliflower stirfry. It's really pretty simple simple. 

Slice and marinate the meat in oyster sauce and sesame oil. Stirfry, then add the veggies. 

The sauce: 1 Cup beef broth, 1 TBSP soya sauce, 2 tsp honey. Simmer until the sauce reduces.

CrossFit

Rest day! Glorious rest day!

Rehab Day 16

Weight: 124.6

Food

Another reasonably good day, although by the time I write this I almost forget what was eaten today. Breakfast was the same as always - eggs and nuts. I munched on some nuts and beef jerky through the morning. After my workout, I had a Booster Juice, again with no yogurt and added my own dried egg whites. That's a lot of carbs and it set me up to feel quite munchy through the rest of the day. At some point I ate a Larabar. Thank goodness the box of those things is almost gone because they are addicting! Dinner was some chicken eaten later at night and too close to bed time.

Water Weight

So lets talk about water weight. Between yesterday and today I dropped nearly 4lbs. Clearly this is not "bodyfat". You can't gain or lose 4lbs of fat in a day. What it is, is mostly water. 1 litre of water weights 1kg or 2.2 lbs. My drop in weight from yesterday to today represents aprx 1.5L of water.

Salt, hormones, and different foods can all influence water retention. Large fluctuations in salt (and water) intake can cause big changes in water retention or loss. Female hormones definitely have that lovely monthly effect of making girls bloated and cranky. Other hormones, like insulin, stimulate the kidneys to retain fluid rather than excrete it. A by-product of the chemical equation for metabolizing glucose is water. Some foods, like cucumbers and grapefruits, can have a diuretic effect making you shed water weight. Remember the grapefruit diet? Well that's basically a dehydration plan and it works to dump a lot of weight in a short period of time. It's not fat though. Just weight. Caffeine and alcohol are also both strong diuretics.

Low carb diets are well known to cause a huge weight loss in the first few weeks. "But it's mostly just water weight!" the critics will always whine. Excuse me, but when was the last time anybody wanted to retain fluid? In fact fluid retention is one of the major elements of hypertension. Why are we supposed to be disappointed when we 'just lose water weight'? I don't wanted to be bloated any more than I want to be fat, so if a diet is causing me to shed excess fluid along with the fat that's just peachy as far as I'm concerned.

CrossFit

3-3-3-3-3 Front Squat

121 lbs x 3

126 lbs x 3

136 lbs x 2

Previous 3 rep max was 125lbs with 0 reps on an attempt at 135lbs. The two reps I eeked out at 136 completely finished me off and back was was having no more of making any further attempts!

Later in the day I did the CrossFit Endurance workout on the rower which was 6x3min sprints with alternating rest periods. It goes like this:

3 min on, 1 min off

3 on, 3 off

3 on, 1 off

3 on, 3 off

3 on, 1 off

3 on, DONE!

Distances (in meters) were: 655, 666. 666, 647, 640, 662

Rehab Day 15

Weight: 128.2 (ouch)

Food

Today was entirely back on track. Eggs and nuts for breakfast. Chicken, pistachios for a mid-morning snack, and veggies. A larabar in the afternoon. 2 grilled sirloin patties with all the fixins for an early dinner. We didn't get home until around 8:30 and by that time there didn't seem to be any point to eating right before bed.

Supplements
I haven't been listing much in the way of supplements because I don't take much in the way of supplements. I usually have 2 fish oil capsules with breakfast and with dinner. I take caffeine first thing in the morning and occasionally part way through the day as well. Post workout, you'll see I list my smoothies in which I use dried egg whites. I don't even consider the egg whites a "supplement" - they're just powdered eggs! The only ingredient is "egg whites", unlike most designer protein supplements which contain a whole selection of weird, unpronouncable chemical concoctions.

Probably the weirdest thing I take is baking soda. I'm quite conscious of the acid/alkaline balance of my high protein diet. This topic deserves a post all to itself on the BRIO page. Basically a net metabolic acidosis is a bad thing, and a slightly alkaline internal environment is a good thing. The remnants of what you eat present themselves to the kidneys as either an acid, a base, or a netural. You can't pee out acid, so your kidneys neutralize the acid with one of only two alkaline substances stored in the body: calcium from the bones or glutamine from the muscles. Either you're breaking down bone mass or muscle mass - bad news either way. Grains and dairy (espeically hard cheeses) are highly acidic. This could possibly explain why north americans have such high rates of osteoporosis despite consuming huge amounts of dairy. Animal protein though is also acidic, but in a caveman style diet, this is balanced out by the alkalinity of the dark green leafy things and berries. There are several books written on this topic such as the Acid Alkaline Diet, the pH Miracle, and The pH Balance Diet. Of those, I've only read the first one.

There are plenty of supplements promising to bring down metabolic acidosis and even some kooky water ionizer things for sale on the internet, but the easiest, simplest, and cheapest is good old baking soda. It's even the main ingredient in Alka Seltzer so it can help with acid reflux too. I often begin and end the day by chugging 1 tsp of baking soda dissolved in water. Whether it's a purely psychological effect or not, I do seem to feel better when I take it and it helps to settle the acidy stomach on intermittement fasting days.

CrossFit

"Handstand Helen"

3 rounds:

400m run

21 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood (16kgs)

12 Handstand pushups

---> 12:36

Felt great with this one today. Out of breath, but in a good way...

Rehab Day 13/14

Weight: 124.6 (I deserve that...)


Food:

The theme of this weekend could be "minimize the damage". Much to my chagrin, Friday night's cheat set off a cascade of less-than-dedicated paleo eating for the whole weekend.


Usually I follow a cheat day with a day of intermittent fasting. On Saturday, this lasted until the early afternoon when we went for a little subway. I won't pretend like I was a good little cavegirl here. I ordered a 6" sub with double turkey. More meat, less bun. I get the "sandwich artist" to pick out the squishy bread once the bun has been sliced open to further eliminate at least some of the grain-factor.


Saturday evening we were at a wedding with a great buffet. Half my plate was greek salad and the other half was chicken and roast beef. I skipped the buns, pasta salad, and potatoes because I knew the wedding cake was coming later. Yes I had some. Isn't it bad luck if you don't?? :-)


Sunday I had my regular breakfast late in the morning followed by a postworkout smoothie of blueberries, bananas, spinach, and dried egg whites. In the afternoon, David suggested Arby's. I ordered a large roast beef sandwich and ditched half the bun. Again, more meat, less bread.


Sunday night we had a great paleo dinner at my parents' house of bunless burgers, bacon, guacamole, cauliflower salad, grilled asparagus, and strawberries with dark chocolate for dessert.


So that's it. There you have it. I (we) cracked and the cheats happened. But WHY?! Why on earth do I do this to myself when I know all the negative consequences? Sorry Kelly Brownell, but this certainly is not an issue of lack of nutrition education or information.


Instead I think the biggest problem is the long lag time between indulgence and negative consequences. If I ate a pizza and was struck with asthma, weight gain, sickness, and diabetes at the speed with which I would burn my hand on a hot stove, I'd probably learn to knock it off with the pizza pretty fast. Instead, I woke up on Saturday feeling refreshed and energized. Sunday I was heavier, which made the pullups more difficult, but otherwise I felt fine. It would take a few weeks of crappy eating to start feeling terrible, and that's a long time when it comes to human behavior. It would take close to 30 years before I'd get diabetes or heart disease, which is an inconveivably far-away time when that pizza is in the oven.


CrossFit
Saturday was a rest day and I went for a nice jog with a neighbor early in the morning. It felt good and the weather was perfect.


Sunday was the following:
10 rounds for time of:
3 weighted pullups, 45lbs
5 deadhang pullups
7 kipping pullups


I turned this into my own version...
8 rounds for time of:
1 weighted pullup, 10lbs
2 deadhang pullups
3 kipping pullups
200m sprint
--> 23:37

Rehab Day 12

Weight: 123.2 (finally...)

Food
Breakfast - 1/2 larabar (before I biked to the gym), 2 eggs, nuts
Snack - Lemon chicken, more nuts, beef jerky
Post Workout - A large Tropical Tornado Booster Juice smoothie, minus the yogurt. Added my own fried egg white protein rather than the soy protein powder they use because soy isn't food.
Late Lunch - 2 sirloin beef patties, with all the bunless-fixins and a plate of veggies
Dinner - here's where it all goes wrong...

So we went to a party at a friend's house and managed to successsfully avoid all the non-paleo items like lasagna, bean salad, crackers, cheese, and even all the booze. On the way home, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up eggs for tomorrow's breakfast. And here's where the fatal mistake was made: we went to the grocery store hungry! Our quick stop for eggs turned into a cheat night involving Delisio pizza, a sausage roll, and some cookies. SH*T!!!

Damn you pizza and your grainy cheesy deliciousness!

CrossFit
Today's WOD

AMRAP in 20 mins of:
5 Handstand Pushups
10 Bench Press, 56lbs
15 Push Press, 56lbs
20 Dips

Finished 4 rounds + 10 bench press + 6 push press. This was a killer since all 4 exercises use the same "pushing" muscles, but it felt great. I love a good shoulder day!

Rehab Day 11

Weight: 124.2 (finally going in the right direction again)

Food
Breakfast - 2 eggs, almonds, walnuts
Post Workout - Smoothie: 2 TB dried egg whites, spinach, strawberries, blueberries
Lunch-ish- Left over lemon chicken, about 4 oz. Almonds, walnuts. Peppered Beef Jerky
Later Afternoon - Larabar, pepperoni stick, cucumbers, pistachios
Dinner - 4oz roasted chicken, 1/2 avocado, whole red pepper, cucumbers

Beef Jerky Underwear? Edible undies indeed!

In a pinch for something to tide me over during an afternoon hair appointment/training session out in Martensville, I grabbed a bag of beef jerky from Pharmasave. The Peppered Beef flavor was the best option with only 1g sugar per piece. Holy hell that stuff is salty though. It almost burned my lips! You know I'm a fan of sodium for athletes but this was excessive. My homemade jerky is way better... more on that the next time I make some :-)

CrossFit
Today's WOD:
50 Wall Balls
50 Pullups
35 Wall Balls
35 Pullups
20 Wall Balls
20 Pullups

Time- 36:04

That's reeeeeeeeally slow. I know. David was done the first round before I was done round 1. Shameful. But here's the thing - I HATE wallballs. I hate them. IhatethemIhatethemIhatethem. And continuing in the spirit of trying to get better at things I hate/suck at, I used full girl weight (14lb ball) and was brutal on myself about not counting reps that did not contact the 10' wall target. I'm guessing I did close to 150 WBs to get the 105 that counted. Normally I would scale the weight in order to get through the WOD faster. I'm finding now that unless I physically cannot move the weight, I have more to gain from taking some hits on my times but attacking things unscaled than I do from continuing to languish at the same weights/reps/versions of things.


The pullups are coming along just fine. They're slow - only 5 or 6 at a time, but I can do them. For the second time in less than a week though, I ripped my hand - on rep 96!

Rehab Day 10

Weight: 125.0 (Still... hmmm...)

Food

Breakfast: 2 eggs, almonds/walnuts

Post WorkOut: 2TB Dried Egg Whites, Big Ol' Handful of Spinach, strawberries, blueberries

Lunch: OPA! Greek Salad (no cheese), gyros, and chicken

Snack: Larabar, pepperoni stick, pistachios, leftover lemon chicken

Dinner: Butter Chicken with ground cauliflower

For the butter chicken we used a sauce from a jar. The main ingredients

were fine (water, tomatoes, garlic, onions...) but it did have some sugar and cream. Both very very not cavegirl approved. Instead of serving it over rice though, I pulsed some cauliflower in the food processor and cooked it lightly. Rice is bland and so is cauliflower. I pick the one with an enormous amount of vitamin C and almost no starch.

CrossFit

I missed Nasty Girls on the weekend, so I decided to combo that with today's 10x1 Power Snatches. 

3 rounds, for time:

50 squats

14 scaled muscle ups

10 Hang Power Snatch, 56lbs

---> 13:47

(still riding my bike to work!)

I feel as though my recovery from these workouts is going really well. WODs that, last month, would have left me feeling beat up are now leaving no residual soreness at all. I attribute that to better nutrition (duh) and more sleep. My food isn't quite as ninja as I would like, but I'm getting there and the cravings are basically non-existent now. Interesting though that my weight hasn't budged in several days...