Paleo Snobs
"People with goals succeed because they know where they're going."
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Hi!
I am 4 weeks in on the paleo challenge with my derby league, and just yesterday began the paleo challenge with my Crossfit gym. I really have to say that I am having a lot of fun with this. I thought it would end up being pretty difficult and a great testament to my willpower, but its forcing me to cook a lot more, which in turn is saving me money and money is a cool thing. Hopefully my before and after pictures will be awesome enough that they will be worth posting; I know people love a good before and after.
If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’ve probably read about how I went from being pretty sick without any real diagnosis, to feeling amazing with the help of food. Going through all of that helped me realize that what you’re fueling your body with is super important, but now I’m really starting to understand it.
I actually began eating strict about a week before the derby challenge started, so that’s 5 weeks of strict paleo as of today. There is seriously a difference in my body and what I’m able to do; when I walked into my Crossfit gym 5 months ago, I couldn’t lift 12 lbs over my hea. That was the result of a fractured scapula and separated A/C joint that happened two years ago, and no physical therapy. I was able to do a floor press at 22lbs, but it was difficult. I actually have quite a bit of difficulty with many of the movements we do in Crossfit, but I always push myself to be unafraid and do the best I can. It’s so similar to derby where you can get caught up in worrying about how everybody else is doing better than you, going faster than you, lifting heavier than you etc. I am SO proud of myself this month, and I have to pat myself on the back. I did a 55lb split jerk last week EFFORTLESSLY, and I benched 75lbs for 1 rep!!! You guys, I NEVER thought I would be able to do anything like this. I am pretty new to lifting and it’s easy to PR when you’re new but going from being able to lift like, nothing, to being able to lift 55lbs over head in the span of 6 months is so freakin’ exciting. Just had to share it.
Anyway, onto the fun stuff!
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I am SO sorry I have been MIA. Life is busy. I started school…I’m only taking one class right now - nutrition science - because of my lack of time. I’m really just getting my feet wet so I can get back into the school swing. I haven’t been to school in almost 10 years. It’s hard. On top of that, I am trying to balance roller derby, Crossfit, work and my personal life. I need like, three more days in the week. Actually, I’m just kidding. It isn’t that bad. I’m getting used to it.
I’m also leading a six week paleo challenge with my derby league. There are 18 people involved, and everybody is doing great so far. We even have a participant who has lowered her blood pressure and cholesterol, and lost 7 lbs IN THE FIRST WEEK. That is amazing.
Ok, you don’t really care about me, you just want some recipes. I will be better about updating since I am doing this challenge, I’m cooking more food, and trying to add more veggies in my diet. YAY.
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One week into the Whole Life Challenge. Its been a little rough, cutting out ALL added sugar. But I’m sure it will have great results. It will be really interesting to see how this goes. I did well on the baseline workout (1/2 mile run, 30 pullups, and as many burpees as possible in the remaining time of 12 minutes). Your score is the number of burpees you completed. I did 61; doing 61 burpees sucks, btw. Here’s my embarrassing, ½ naked before picture:
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Hi, I’m Viva Violence!. I will be guest blogging about a 8 week long “Whole Life Challenge” (excessive quotations = read in the voice of Chris Farley) that I’m embarking on with a few of my friends. I’ve dabbled in the caveman diet before. You can read about that experience and my background for this challenge here. Well, what is a “whole life challenge” you ask? It’s a challenge to create a sustainable healthy lifestyle. So for diet (note, diet means what you eat. everyone is on a diet. I am not restricting calories or trying to lose weight), you cut out all grains, soy, dairy, processed food, added sugar and alcohol. For lifestyle, you exercise at least 10 minutes a day (includes active recovery for rest days), stretch/roll/mobility for at least 10 minutes a day, and take fish oil (to try to bring your Omega6:Omega3 fat intake from a normal 20+:1 down to an ideal 3:1).
Why would you do these things? Well, the basic answer for nutrition is that you want to eliminate the foods that are most likely to cause an allergic reaction in your body. Other health benefits include but are not limited to: clearer skin, steady insulin and other hormone levels, lose fat, promote bone health, for a happy healthy brain etc. I think we all know that exercise and stretching are good for us, and take fish oil, again for a happy healthy brain (I have to use mine a lot). Also participate for some friendly competition (there are points awarded, random giveaways etc).
Okay, but personally why would I do this? Two things really. I want to run an infamous ½ marathon, pier to peak, which routes 13.1 miles from the ocean to the top of a mountain. Yes, I want to run this, and I want to do it in less than 2.5 hours (yeah, I know that’s slow for a half marathon, but did I mention the 4000 ft elevation gain?) and I want to do this run while sporting an outfit and smile like Michelle Jenneke (if you know me, you know looking good is important).I expect a few hardships along the way:
- I’m defending my dissertation. This will be a nutrition cheat day. Remember, the challenge is about sustainability, not perfection.
- BFF visit
- a wedding and a baby party
- a potential move (life changing event, not like down the street or something)
- one or three weeks of eating in the dining commons with summer interns.
Resources to make it through:- My WLC cohort
- weekly potluck dinners
- watching the olympics
- being called fat or any caveman/dinosaur joke you can think of by team heckle.
The challenge is judged by an on your honor point system, measurements and workout performance improvement. The overall outcome is to make a sustainable healthy life.Stay tuned for next week where I’ll post my pre-challenge pictures and performance scores and give weekly updates on fun recipes and how to cope with being healthy in an unhealthy world.
PS: I like to know a lot of stuff. I’ve done a bunch of research and have some strong opinions about things related to this. If you have any questions, feel free to message me. vivaviolence@gmail.com -
We are one week away from Rollercon, the annual roller derby convention held in glorious Las Vegas, NV. Rollercon is a yearly event that is home to 5 days of skating, debauchery, skating, and more debauchery, and is held at the Riviera Hotel and Casino.
The Riv has the jankiest food court I have ever seen, and severely lacks in snacking options. I know this, because I decided to nix all gluten (read: NOT paleo) from my diet this week last year, and I had so much (NOT) fun eating while I was in Vegas. I sat on my ass and watched roller derby for 15 hours a day, ate beef jerky (don’t worry, it was gluten free but it was really expensive), and drank Monster Lemonade Tea energy drinks. The only time I changed it up was the day I ventured away from the tracks, and out to the food court with a friend; I had black beans and awful steak from La Salsa. I more or less pickled myself between all of those chemicals in the Monster, the sodium in the jerky, and the stale smoky casino air.
I promised myself that this year, I would do something to avoid being in that situation again. So for the past 356 days – yes, almost a full year - , I have been planning on how I would cook and pre-package my food to bring with me to Rollercon.
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Hello out there in Tumblr land! We’ve gotten so many new followers recently, so I just wanted to say THANK YOU for following Paleo Snobs! Life has been really busy for both Reno and I, and you know what happens when you are busy? You cook less….or you just make huge batches of garlic mustard chicken. Anyway….
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Bacon. If we’ve known each other for more than a week, you know about my bacon obsession. I don’t really care. Bacon is what they should give you at communion instead of a wafer. Everyone should toast at weddings with a nice, crispy piece of bacon. BACON.
I didn’t take that picture but it’s a really nice picture of some tasty bacon.
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This sounds really fancy, but it’s not. In fact, it’s one of the most simple-fancy meals I’ve ever made. My grandmother (not a bacon lover) walked into the kitchen and said, “wow, that smells good!” and that is because it IS good, my friends.
I just got back from spending 4 days with my darling boyfriend in beautiful Cleveland, Ohio. In Ohio, there are no other vegetables besides broccoli. Broccoli sucks. So basically, I ate garbage and felt like shit. But, that feeling has subsided. Today I went back to real life, and did a dope metcon at Crossfit with my lovely fellow paleo friend Fish (who I am dying to get a guest post from coughcough). Then, I came home to make this. And now I’m sharing it with you while I wait for the shower. I desperately need to shower.
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I am obsessed with this chicken. Like, so much so that I eat it a minimum of three times a week. I wish I could shake the hands of the authors of Health Bent for creating this amazing, simple chicken, because it’s so good, I can’t even. Maple Mustard Chicken, you are life’s gift to food.
This blog post is not about Health Bent, or their Maple Mustard Heaven. It’s about my variation, Dijon garlic chicken, which I have down to a science. It was inspired by my father, who is a diabetic but is trying to eat better. One time, I was telling him about this chicken, and he was like “I can’t have maple syrup…that whole diabetes thing.” OH YEAH. Sorry, tangent. Basically, if you are a diabeetus cat, this probably will work out a little better for you.
I make 2-4 breasts at a time, because it’s good cold. It’s good on late Crossfit/derby practice nights. It’s perfect for lunch. IT IS PERFECT AND IT IS GOOD. TRUST ME. But only if you like Dijon.
