Breakfast With Champions

Since I stressed the importance of nutrition in my last post, I will delve into it a little further today. On Tuesday morning, Christy Phillips - my dear friend and 6th Place finisher at the 2010 CrossFit Games - came over for breakfast. And since she's eating strict Paleo at the moment, I did my best to prepare a Paleo-friendly meal. Here is photo of the meal half-ready:


First off, I totally agree with you: my kitchen countertops are to die for! Secondly, how delicious does that look? I'll do a little rundown of what you're looking at...

Counterclockwise from the top:
-Various spices
-2 sliced chicken breasts
-6 Beaten eggs
-Diced tomato and onion
-1 sliced avocado
-Almond & walnut slivers
-Frozen mixed berries
-1 can of coconut milk
-6 strips of bacon

Alright, let's dig a little deeper into this meal, shall we?

1) Spices. I reckon the spice of life is spice itself - seasonings, not the channel you all used to watch when you were 13. Let me get something straight: I'm no chef. Honestly, I know shit about cooking. But if something has the word "chipotle" on it, I'll throw it on something. Mix it up, try different combinations. Changes the whole attitude of the meal.

2) Chicken. Anyone who doesn't eat meat in the morning is worse than Mel Gibson. That's right, if you don't eat meat in the morning, you may in fact be an alcoholic anti-Semite. Chicken, steak, pork - it's all gravy, baby!

3) Eggs. Protein = Awesome. And don't ditch the yolks, either. They're full of nutrients you're missing out on. Cholesterol is a myth. I'll save that discussion for a later date.

4) Tomato & Onion. In retrospect, this meal should have had more vegetables, but damn it, do I ever love meat.

5) Avocado. Eat a lot of these. Very high in monounsaturated fats and very high in deliciousness.

6) Almond & Walnut slivers. More monounsaturated fats.

7) Mixed Berries. "Fruit, motherfucker!" -Samuel L. Jackson. Note: That may not be an actual Samuel L. Jackson quote, but I was just picturing him saying it.

8) Coconut milk. High in saturated fat, which is not nearly as bad for you as people like to think (this will be covered more in the cholesterol topic).

9) Bacon. Six strips is never enough. Especially for two people. When in doubt, add more bacon.

Now, Christy brought ingredients 6-7 to make "Paleo cereal." Sounded odd to me at first. But you just throw the nuts and berries into a bowl, dump some coconut milk in and that's it. And it's good as hell. Captain Crunch was a dick anyways - did you ever see that guy actually captain a ship? But I digress. Anyways, I cooked the eggs, threw the vegetables and some spices in, and here is the finished product...


How motherf'ing good does that look? Presentation is half the battle, of course. The point of this story, however, is really simple: if I can cook a Paleo meal, any of you can as well. It just takes a little time and creativity. If you really loathe cooking, you need to make enjoying it a priority. Pretend you're on a cooking show and talk to an invisible audience (I actually do this). Your roommates and neighbors might think you're insane, but it really enhances the whole cooking experience. Now get out there and refine your collective palates, people!

Pushing Paleo

First off, congratulations to Simon and Katie for taking 1st and 2nd Place, respectively, in Kari's 30-Day Paleo Challenge. In light of this, I thought now would be a good time to share some excellent nutrition resources with everyone. So, in no particular order, here is a buttload of links to help improve how you look, feel, and perform:

Egg On Their Face by John Welbourn

Look Better Naked

Everyday Paleo

Change Your Life In 30 Days by Melissa Urban

Urban Gets Diesel

The Whole9Life Blog

Robb Wolf

Mark's Daily Apple Recipes

NorCal S&C Recipes

The Paleo Diet Recipes

My Paleo Kitchen

NorCal S&C - Sarah's Story

Jen's Gone Paleo

Simon Says

Simon sent me an intriguing email I thought I'd share with all of you...

Take a crack at the picture attached. It looks like a genuine chef cooked it. Nope, that is my creation. Its a sous-vide chicken breast with a sun-dried tomato vinaigrette, cooked to absolute perfection. I'm not a bad cook, but they way I cooked it yielding amazing results - the chicken literally melted in your mouth and was perfectly moist. Note: Haha... he said "moist"
Sous vide is what is important here - it is a better way to cook, and it works especially well for paleo style diets. The idea is that you vacuum seal the food and cook it in a temperature controlled water bath. It allows you to get perfect cooking every time because you control the water temperature very precisely.

A sous vide can be pricey to set up, my setup cost just south of $600. I bought a sous vide supreme (449) and a Foodsaver vacuum sealer (130). There are cheaper ways to do it though, mainly by taking a crock pot and rigging up a $100 temperature controller. You don't need the vacuum sealer as well, there is a clever way of using a plastic bag and a water to remove the air from the bag (see this video: http://vimeo.com/11317493). I have a crock pot if you want it.

I'll keep experimenting, but I'm going to invite the crew in the next 2-3 weeks for a sous vide dinner.

Simon sets a great example here. While eating better is paramount, at times, one can feel limited by their options - "No bread?! But what about that sweet deal at Olive Garden!?!" First of all, when it comes to cooking, you're only limited by one thing: your imagination. Seriously, anyone who thinks Paleo is unreasonable because of a lack of options is really just goddamn lazy. At Robb Wolf's seminar, we did the following exercise:

1) Make three columns.
2) In Column 1, write down a bunch of meat options. In Column 2, vegetables. In Column 3, fat sources. And in Column 4, spices and such.
3) Start mixing that shit up!

Do the math on how many potential meals this list could make. Pretty substantial, ain't it? And this list only scratches the surface of what can be done. I'm not saying you have to go as far as Nils, who's enjoyment of cooking even exceeds my love of YouTube, but make an effort. If you can make cooking an enjoyable endeavor rather than an annoying chore, the results will astound you. You'll eat better, perform better, look better, feel better, and all potential mates are impressed by someone with cooking prowess. How else could you explain Nate Nash having a girlfriend?

In a short while, I'll be posting a list of excellent Paleo resources filled with recipes, tips, and ideas. Stay tuned...

Nutrition, Pt. 1

At the moment, I'm not going to go crazy into detail on all of this. It's early and I can't get my thoughts in order, not until this coffee settles in at least.

Let me just start off with something simple: You cannot out train a bad diet. Let me say that again, in bold for emphasis...

You cannot out train a bad diet.

It's as simple as that. You can bust your ass in the gym everyday, but if you go home and mainline Root Beer, funnel Skittles, and inhale crap from This Is Why You're Fat, then your training will suffer and progress will be slow at best. Conversely, even if you think you eat pretty healthy, you could be wrong. You might not be eating enough, lack substantial protein intake, or drink way too much beer (I know, it's hard to believe "too much" is even possible).

Again, I'm not going to dive into too much detail at the moment, but here's a quick list of things to think about:

1) Fat doesn't make you fat, insulin does
2) Breads, grains, sugars, and processed foods cause a significant insulin spike
3) Coffee is awesome - in moderation
4) Meat is your best friend - chicken is fine, but red meat works better
5) Soda = Evil.
6) How you eat should depend on the goals of your training. Some of us want to trim down, others need to bulk up (Greg and HMS, especially - that's right, you two have been called out). Still, you will need to eat
7) Monounsaturated fats are best i.e. olive oil, avocados, macadamia nuts, almonds, and so on. Saturated fats are not as bad as people want you to believe. What does this mean? Bacon and coconut milk are AWESOME.
8) Protein and caffeine help release dopamine, the chemical responsible for feelings of "love, passion, sentimentality"... basically, coffee and bacon is like being in love.
9) If you need to gain weight/strength, you need to eat accordingly. If you weigh 160 and need to weigh 185, you need to eat like a 185lbs person. One way would be to eat 185 grams of protein per day. Easiest formula to pack on the pounds? Everyday eat 2g of protein per every pound of bodyweight. I dare you not to grow.
10) Avoid sugar as much as possible. This includes soda, artificial sweeteners, and a bunch of other crap.

That's a good starting point. I'll elaborate more on all of this soon. If you have any questions, please ask away. And a quick warning, Katie is going on a strict 30 Day Paleo Challenge. Kudos to her and try not to piss her off...