Last night was kind of hard mentally. I was really wanting a beer and something easy for dinner, but managed to drag myself to Whole Foods to pick up some good whole foods for the last two dinners.
8 oz steak (8 blocks protein)/.5 onion caramelized (? blocks), 2 Gala apples, 'fried' in coconut oil with nutmeg and cinnamon (4 blocks)/olive oil, fish oil?
Slightly excessive in zone calories and too many fruits at the expense of vegetables.
Breakfast today:
2 slices bacon, 2 slices canadian bacon, 1 egg/~4 cups red chard (2 blocks), .5 onion, both sauteed in bacon fat/3 almonds, fish oil
Probably a block short of carbs, but I think right on for protein and fat.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Last Weekend
Zone adherence degraded over the course of the weekend, but I managed to hold onto strict paleo.
Friday night: ~10 oz steak/1 apple, 1 peach, .5 onion, half a bunch of asparagus/plenty of olive oil
Saturday morning: no breakfast, but FGB workout at the gym (score of 305)
Saturday post workout was the first time this month that I've eaten out. I realized sometime last week that I've cooked or prepared every single thing I've eaten this month, with the occasional exception of lunchtime salmon. I had half a mind to keep that streak going so I could say that I once went a month without dining out. This may not be much of an accomplishment in some locations, with some lifestyles, but for a busy person in New York, it doesn't typically happen.
After FGB everyone from the gym went to Maria's, a Mexican restaurant across the street for lunch. I checked out there menu and was able to find a few things that fit strict paleo. The place is actually great for paleo; they make almost everything they serve themselves using real foods. I decided to end my streak and eat there to round out the month and see what its like to eat strict paleo and attempted zone at a restaurant.
I ended up having a salmon fillet with a mango and jicama salad and orange sauce. I was pretty hesitant about the orange sauce, which I could just imagine being some kind of orange duck-sauce-like goo loaded with high fructose corn syrup. The waiter told me that they make it in-house with oranges and spices, so I went for it. The dish was pretty good, though not as good as the food I've been making myself this month.
For better or worse, the rest of the weekend also helped round out the experiment. Occasionally over a weekend, or a couple of week nights, I'll be extremely lazy; too lazy to go out and buy food or cook anything. I usually end up eating whatever I can find in the house after about twelve or so hours of this behavior, but this weekend I had nothing left that could form a paleo, zone meal. My other answer to this behavior is to order food from somewhere, which was clearly out of consideration.
So the rest of the weekend breaks down like this. I did go out to pick up some food later on Saturday.
Saturday dinner: .71 pounds skirt steak/half an onion, two apples (fried in coconut oil with nutmeg and cinnamon)/maybe some other fats, don't remember
With only two meals and no snacks, intake on Saturday probably didn't break 10 square blocks.
Then on Sunday, post-workout lunch: 3 slices bacon, 2 slices canadian bacon, 1 eggs/2 cups broccoli, 1 carton strawberries, half an onion/fish oil?
Not bad, but then that's all I ate Sunday. Not ideal after a FGB and heavy deadlifts. I did end up eating a handful of almonds after midnight--the only paleo thing I could find.
This morning I felt like crap: weak and tired with an empty fridge. I ran to the store and cooked the usual breakfast, plus one egg, minus broccoli and forgetting my APA, fish oil and almonds. I'm not sure if its the slightly short night of sleep or the insufficient recovery calories over the weekend, but I was definitely feeling it this morning. I wonder if that's what I have in store for the morning of October 2nd.
The diet reboot this morning did help though and energy is almost back to normal. Mental energy has been good throughout the weekend, but physically I haven't been feeling it. I remember the ride back from the deadlift workout being particularly difficult on my legs.
Today's lunch was the usual, with red onions and a peach to round out carbs and a flax oil and lemon juice dressing.
Friday night: ~10 oz steak/1 apple, 1 peach, .5 onion, half a bunch of asparagus/plenty of olive oil
Saturday morning: no breakfast, but FGB workout at the gym (score of 305)
Saturday post workout was the first time this month that I've eaten out. I realized sometime last week that I've cooked or prepared every single thing I've eaten this month, with the occasional exception of lunchtime salmon. I had half a mind to keep that streak going so I could say that I once went a month without dining out. This may not be much of an accomplishment in some locations, with some lifestyles, but for a busy person in New York, it doesn't typically happen.
After FGB everyone from the gym went to Maria's, a Mexican restaurant across the street for lunch. I checked out there menu and was able to find a few things that fit strict paleo. The place is actually great for paleo; they make almost everything they serve themselves using real foods. I decided to end my streak and eat there to round out the month and see what its like to eat strict paleo and attempted zone at a restaurant.
I ended up having a salmon fillet with a mango and jicama salad and orange sauce. I was pretty hesitant about the orange sauce, which I could just imagine being some kind of orange duck-sauce-like goo loaded with high fructose corn syrup. The waiter told me that they make it in-house with oranges and spices, so I went for it. The dish was pretty good, though not as good as the food I've been making myself this month.
For better or worse, the rest of the weekend also helped round out the experiment. Occasionally over a weekend, or a couple of week nights, I'll be extremely lazy; too lazy to go out and buy food or cook anything. I usually end up eating whatever I can find in the house after about twelve or so hours of this behavior, but this weekend I had nothing left that could form a paleo, zone meal. My other answer to this behavior is to order food from somewhere, which was clearly out of consideration.
So the rest of the weekend breaks down like this. I did go out to pick up some food later on Saturday.
Saturday dinner: .71 pounds skirt steak/half an onion, two apples (fried in coconut oil with nutmeg and cinnamon)/maybe some other fats, don't remember
With only two meals and no snacks, intake on Saturday probably didn't break 10 square blocks.
Then on Sunday, post-workout lunch: 3 slices bacon, 2 slices canadian bacon, 1 eggs/2 cups broccoli, 1 carton strawberries, half an onion/fish oil?
Not bad, but then that's all I ate Sunday. Not ideal after a FGB and heavy deadlifts. I did end up eating a handful of almonds after midnight--the only paleo thing I could find.
This morning I felt like crap: weak and tired with an empty fridge. I ran to the store and cooked the usual breakfast, plus one egg, minus broccoli and forgetting my APA, fish oil and almonds. I'm not sure if its the slightly short night of sleep or the insufficient recovery calories over the weekend, but I was definitely feeling it this morning. I wonder if that's what I have in store for the morning of October 2nd.
The diet reboot this morning did help though and energy is almost back to normal. Mental energy has been good throughout the weekend, but physically I haven't been feeling it. I remember the ride back from the deadlift workout being particularly difficult on my legs.
Today's lunch was the usual, with red onions and a peach to round out carbs and a flax oil and lemon juice dressing.
Friday, September 26, 2008
End of Week 4
I'm finished with all the tough (meaning at-work) meals for week four, and only two more of those to do next week. This week was pretty good (until today), but the zoning fell apart a bit. Improv and zone can be challenging; I think it probably takes a lot of experience and knowledge of what constitutes a zone block to get good at it. From what I've read, it seems like a lot of the people who get great results out of the zone have a very regular diet--eating almost the same thing every day.
My typical complaint with this is that its too boring to eat the same thing all the time. I realized though that I've done just that for months at a time without trying to. My second complaint is that I figure your vitamin and mineral profile could get a little lopsided if you're eating from a small group of foods. This isn't the end of the world, and could probably be evened-out with a multi-vitamin, but its kind of contrary to the spirit of paleo and optimal health. It might not matter much for optimal performance, but for health and longevity I doubt its ideal.
I started getting into food blogs this week, which was really tough at the beginning, since most of the great things they show and write about are completely unaccessible for me right now. By today it was a lot easier; it seems that exercising willpower does make it stronger.
I also found time to weigh myself yesterday. I was 187 pre-workout and 185 post-workout, which is weird because I didn't really sweat at all in the workout. Anyways, this amounts to a 4 or 6 pound loss from the Thursday before Labor Day, which was exactly four weeks ago.
A 6 pound loss is about what I expected. I don't feel much lighter and definitely haven't noticed anything bodyweight being easier in workouts, though I think I definitely look leaner. Of course, its possible--and probably--that I put on some lean mass during this month too. I still need to calculate my body fat percentage, but I'm pretty happy with how my body's behaving and looking right now. Going forward I'd be happy to maintain this level of leanness, possibly even add a little fat without worrying about it. I think if I ever want to get really lean, I know exactly what I need to do (zone) and I know that I can do it. Now, my new passion is increasing strength and hopefully adding some mass.
My typical complaint with this is that its too boring to eat the same thing all the time. I realized though that I've done just that for months at a time without trying to. My second complaint is that I figure your vitamin and mineral profile could get a little lopsided if you're eating from a small group of foods. This isn't the end of the world, and could probably be evened-out with a multi-vitamin, but its kind of contrary to the spirit of paleo and optimal health. It might not matter much for optimal performance, but for health and longevity I doubt its ideal.
I started getting into food blogs this week, which was really tough at the beginning, since most of the great things they show and write about are completely unaccessible for me right now. By today it was a lot easier; it seems that exercising willpower does make it stronger.
I also found time to weigh myself yesterday. I was 187 pre-workout and 185 post-workout, which is weird because I didn't really sweat at all in the workout. Anyways, this amounts to a 4 or 6 pound loss from the Thursday before Labor Day, which was exactly four weeks ago.
A 6 pound loss is about what I expected. I don't feel much lighter and definitely haven't noticed anything bodyweight being easier in workouts, though I think I definitely look leaner. Of course, its possible--and probably--that I put on some lean mass during this month too. I still need to calculate my body fat percentage, but I'm pretty happy with how my body's behaving and looking right now. Going forward I'd be happy to maintain this level of leanness, possibly even add a little fat without worrying about it. I think if I ever want to get really lean, I know exactly what I need to do (zone) and I know that I can do it. Now, my new passion is increasing strength and hopefully adding some mass.
Salmon, Bacon, Pepper Salad
Last night:
.71 lbs salmon (too much) = >5 blocks protein
2 cups broccoli/.5 onion sauteed/~2 small bananas smashed and chilled with almond extract = at least 5 blocks carbs
kind of forgot the fat, maybe I grabbed a few almonds. I was going to make guacamole, but my avocado had gone bad.
This morning:
2 slices bacon/2 slices canadian bacon/1 egg = 5 protein, 3 fat
2 cups broccoli/.5 onion sauteed in bacon grease/maybe .5 cup blueberries = 3 or 4 blocks carbs. I need to figure out what these onions really are, I've been guessing for a while.
almonds and fish oil to round out fat.
I'm getting kind of sloppy with the blocks here...
For lunch today, I ran out of salad ingredients, so I improvised (by which I mean, I just threw in everything I had).
5.1 ounces chicken = 5 blocks protein -- couldn't find the pieces that would give me exactly 5.0 oz
2 cups red pepper (1.5 blocks)/2 cups spinach (.5 blocks)/1 cucumber (1 block) = 3 blocks carbs
1 macadamia/~9 almonds/'Russian' salad dressing = at least 5 blocks fat
I ran out of salsa so I had to go with the paleo-Russian dressing alone today. I don't like it much, the tomatoes make it too acidic. It reminded me of the tomatillas a bit (puke-flavored) and made my teeth feel sticky.
So, a bit light on the carbs today. It probably won't get any better with my typical Friday night steak-fest either.
.71 lbs salmon (too much) = >5 blocks protein
2 cups broccoli/.5 onion sauteed/~2 small bananas smashed and chilled with almond extract = at least 5 blocks carbs
kind of forgot the fat, maybe I grabbed a few almonds. I was going to make guacamole, but my avocado had gone bad.
This morning:
2 slices bacon/2 slices canadian bacon/1 egg = 5 protein, 3 fat
2 cups broccoli/.5 onion sauteed in bacon grease/maybe .5 cup blueberries = 3 or 4 blocks carbs. I need to figure out what these onions really are, I've been guessing for a while.
almonds and fish oil to round out fat.
I'm getting kind of sloppy with the blocks here...
For lunch today, I ran out of salad ingredients, so I improvised (by which I mean, I just threw in everything I had).
5.1 ounces chicken = 5 blocks protein -- couldn't find the pieces that would give me exactly 5.0 oz
2 cups red pepper (1.5 blocks)/2 cups spinach (.5 blocks)/1 cucumber (1 block) = 3 blocks carbs
1 macadamia/~9 almonds/'Russian' salad dressing = at least 5 blocks fat
I ran out of salsa so I had to go with the paleo-Russian dressing alone today. I don't like it much, the tomatoes make it too acidic. It reminded me of the tomatillas a bit (puke-flavored) and made my teeth feel sticky.
So, a bit light on the carbs today. It probably won't get any better with my typical Friday night steak-fest either.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Salsa Chicken Salad, Strawberries
The usual salad, almost forgot the almonds though, ate 16 for 5 blocks. The salsa has almost gotten better with age; that's probably because I threw in the rest of the anaheim pepper yesterday.
1 cup strawberries to round out carbs. Also, I went to a specialty/hippie food store that's closer than Whole Foods to refill on peppers and cucumbers--never again. $3.99/pound organic cucumbers are ridiculous; my two cost over $6.
1 cup strawberries to round out carbs. Also, I went to a specialty/hippie food store that's closer than Whole Foods to refill on peppers and cucumbers--never again. $3.99/pound organic cucumbers are ridiculous; my two cost over $6.
Bacon-fried Kale with two kinds of Bacon
I didn't feel like going to the store last night, so I had to make due with my remaining kale this morning, instead of my usual broccoli.
Protein: 2 slices bacon/2 slices canadian bacon/1 egg = 5 blocks + ~3 extra fat blocks
Carbohydrates: half onion/at least 4 cups raw kale, both sauteed in bacon fat/1 pear = 4 or 5 blocks, I need to get more precise here
Fat: excess bacon fat/3 almonds/fish oil = 5 or 6 blocks
Zone-like precision and improvisation don't mix that well. I've definitely been eating zone-like meals, but there's usually a block or two margin of error for the fat and carbs.
Protein: 2 slices bacon/2 slices canadian bacon/1 egg = 5 blocks + ~3 extra fat blocks
Carbohydrates: half onion/at least 4 cups raw kale, both sauteed in bacon fat/1 pear = 4 or 5 blocks, I need to get more precise here
Fat: excess bacon fat/3 almonds/fish oil = 5 or 6 blocks
Zone-like precision and improvisation don't mix that well. I've definitely been eating zone-like meals, but there's usually a block or two margin of error for the fat and carbs.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A day of nothing exciting, followed by Sauteed Kale and Seared Salmon
Yesterday was the same old: bacon, canadian bacon, egg, peach, something else, something else for breakfast. Exact same salad as Monday with chicken for lunch. A not-so-great (aging) flank steak, peach and watermelon for dinner.
Today was a bit better. Two slices bacon creates a lot of liquid fat on the skillet; this is great for cooking the canadian bacon AND frying up a half onion. I might have mentioned this before, but I've learned this month that the key to sauteing an onion in a pan is to get all the pieces covered in fat. Its the hot oil that cooks the onion, not so much the onions contact with the pan. And the onions don't have to be swimming in fat, just a little bit all the way around each piece will go a long way. I've watched a chopped onion sit in a pan for half an hour and get no where near brown in previous years; now I know the secret.
So, since most things are better when cooked in bacon fat, I gave the onion a try. Couldn't really tell a difference, but it does use up that excess fat and makes cooking breakfast that much easier, so I'll continue this way.
Ended up a little light on carbs, I think I ate a peach on the way out, so probably 3 blocks or so. I was fine with that since I definitely needed to be alert this morning, and forcing 5 blocks of fruit in the mornings can cause problems for me.
Lunch was unremarkable, the exact same as yesterday. Still liking the salsa salad better. Need to pick up deli turkey for 5pm snack. I got some macadamia nuts the other week to try as snack fat; they're ok, but one macadamia definitely isn't as filling as three almonds.
Dinner tonight was great, a perfectly seared salmon fillet (~8 oz =~ 5 blocks), 1 red onion and 4 cups kale sauteed = ~2 blocks + ? blocks (I thought kale was 4 cups raw = 1 block, but now I can only find 1.25 cooked = 1 block). So if I call that three the small banana can bring me up to five. PLENTY of oil used to cook all of this, plus fish oil and 2 almonds = at least 5 blocks.
Then I tried to puree my remaining bananas in my smaller food processor, unfrozen this time. Still didn't work at all, it liquified a bit of the banana (which wasn't that appetizing) and didn't touch the rest of it. So I mashed them up pretty well in a bowl, mixed in some almond extract and threw it all in the freezer. There's a good chance its rock hard tomorrow (although I think something about the high sugar content might actually mean it doesn't freeze hard...), but I'm giving it another try.
Also, beef jerky was a huge hit with everyone who had it; I'll have to make it again soon. That reminds me, I have some steak odds and ends that have been marinating since Sunday night. I wonder if those are still edible...m
Today was a bit better. Two slices bacon creates a lot of liquid fat on the skillet; this is great for cooking the canadian bacon AND frying up a half onion. I might have mentioned this before, but I've learned this month that the key to sauteing an onion in a pan is to get all the pieces covered in fat. Its the hot oil that cooks the onion, not so much the onions contact with the pan. And the onions don't have to be swimming in fat, just a little bit all the way around each piece will go a long way. I've watched a chopped onion sit in a pan for half an hour and get no where near brown in previous years; now I know the secret.
So, since most things are better when cooked in bacon fat, I gave the onion a try. Couldn't really tell a difference, but it does use up that excess fat and makes cooking breakfast that much easier, so I'll continue this way.
Ended up a little light on carbs, I think I ate a peach on the way out, so probably 3 blocks or so. I was fine with that since I definitely needed to be alert this morning, and forcing 5 blocks of fruit in the mornings can cause problems for me.
Lunch was unremarkable, the exact same as yesterday. Still liking the salsa salad better. Need to pick up deli turkey for 5pm snack. I got some macadamia nuts the other week to try as snack fat; they're ok, but one macadamia definitely isn't as filling as three almonds.
Dinner tonight was great, a perfectly seared salmon fillet (~8 oz =~ 5 blocks), 1 red onion and 4 cups kale sauteed = ~2 blocks + ? blocks (I thought kale was 4 cups raw = 1 block, but now I can only find 1.25 cooked = 1 block). So if I call that three the small banana can bring me up to five. PLENTY of oil used to cook all of this, plus fish oil and 2 almonds = at least 5 blocks.
Then I tried to puree my remaining bananas in my smaller food processor, unfrozen this time. Still didn't work at all, it liquified a bit of the banana (which wasn't that appetizing) and didn't touch the rest of it. So I mashed them up pretty well in a bowl, mixed in some almond extract and threw it all in the freezer. There's a good chance its rock hard tomorrow (although I think something about the high sugar content might actually mean it doesn't freeze hard...), but I'm giving it another try.
Also, beef jerky was a huge hit with everyone who had it; I'll have to make it again soon. That reminds me, I have some steak odds and ends that have been marinating since Sunday night. I wonder if those are still edible...m
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