What is P90X?

One of my friends told me today that he wants to read more about P90X, so I'll start with the background...

P90X is a 90-day physical activity routine developed by Tony Horton (and Beachbody CEO Carl Daikeler), which emphasizes what they term "muscle confusion." This confusion basically keeps your body on its toes. Haha, get it? Since your body is usually on its toes (except when you're sitting or lying down obviously). Anyways, the program is intended to keep your body off balance so that you can avoid the dreaded plateaus in your performance/weight loss/whatever you're working toward. The program promotes a nutrition and supplement plan in addition to the workouts in order to get you that "beach body." Each day focuses on a different area of the body, such as chest and back, shoulders and arms, legs and back, or a full body-workout such as cardio (like kickboxing) or yoga. One day a week is an optional day where you can either rest or do the stretching routine (I've gone with stretching). The exercises you do require the use of dumbells or bands, pull-up bars, chair, and a yoga mat. These are the essentials. You could also use push up bars and yoga blocks.

According to me...

Some of the benefits of the program:

• Your workouts are already planned for you.
• You can go easy and do the beginner versions of an exercise or make it harder for yourself and try advanced.
• You have someone talking to you the whole time to keep you motivated.
• Variety! There's no mind-numbing 30 minutes of elliptical at the gym every day.
• Warm-up, Cool-down, and Stretching. Most of us don't do this on our own even though it's so important for preventing injuring and improving performance. It's been really helpful for me to have it included as part of the workout.
• Tracking spreadsheet. If you're at all like me and love spreadsheets, this is just fun. If you're not like me, then it's also helpful for tracking the number of reps you've done and at what weight (if applicable) or even if you completed the workout.
• You do exercises that you wouldn't normally do (I never did pull-ups on my own. Though I can't really say I've done a full pull up yet - I do the "assisted" version with my feet on a chair. Don't judge me, I'm working on it).

Some of the negatives of the program:

• You're sucked into a 90-day workout routine.
• Each day's workout takes 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete.
• You work out to the same routines each week. We would normally do this on our own, but the downside to the P90X schedule is that you watch/listen to the same guy introduce the same people and tell the same jokes.

I just had a online chat with one of my friends today about P90X. See below...

Z: so how are you liking p90x?
compared to other exercise programs
me: I like having the routine and that it forces me to try exercises that I wouldn't normally do, but I won't mind a little more variety
Z: really? i thought the variety was good
what with the different routine for every day of the week
me: well, I mean that I don't want to listen to the same jokes each week
Z: then again when i went to gyms i would do the same thing every single time
haha
you can silence the jokes
me: I do better when someone is talking to me

...but I think it comes from years and years of coaches and then crew where someone literally yelled at you the entire workout

Overall, I'm happy with it. Waking up at 5am to fit in my workouts before work can be a bit rough, but it's become routine now and it's not so bad. It's worked well for me, but sometimes I feel like I'm not getting enough of a workout. Trust me, I'm not just moseying my way through the workout. I'm tired during the workout and I feel like I'm pushing myself, and sometimes just want to stop. But after I finish the workout, I'm not very sore and my energy bounces back pretty quickly. If I had more free time, I'd be tempted to work out twice per day. But since I don't have more free time. I'll just keep up what I'm doing.

I dare you to wake up at 5 with me and do a workout! Let me know if you do.

So I can't eat dairy, where's my calcium coming from?

Calcium is a mineral needed for healthy bones, teeth, and proper functioning of the heart, muscles, and nerves. In addition to calcium intake to maintain bone health, the CDC recommends 30 minutes of weight-bearing physical activity each day. Below are good sources of calcium:

• Dairy products
• Dark green leafy vegetables
• Calcium fortified foods
• Nuts

For those of us following the paleo diet, we must rely primarily upon dark green leafy veggies and nuts for our calcium. Additionally, Vitamin D assists the body in absorbing calcium (hence why milk is often fortified with Vitamin D), so we need to make sure that we're consuming enough Vitamin D.

After doing a little research, I've found that adult men (19-70) and adult women (19-50) require 1,000 mg/day of calcium, and adult women (51-70) require 1,200 mg/day. Refer to Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (Nov. 30, 2010).

Here's some information (from the Office of Dietary Supplements) that I've gathered on our alternate sources of calcium:
Turnip greens, fresh, boiled, ½ cup - 99 mg - 10% DV

Kale, fresh, cooked, 1 cup - 94 mg - 9% DV
Kale, raw, chopped, 1 cup - 90 mg - 9% DV

Chinese cabbage, bok choi, raw, shredded, 1 cup - 74 mg - 7% DV
Broccoli, raw, ½ cup - 14 mg - 1%

Almonds, raw, whole, 1 cup - 378 mg, 38%

Macadamia nut, raw, whole, 1 cup - 114 mg, 11%

For your comparison 1 cup of skim/non-fat milk contains 299 mg - 30% DV

Also, people have always told me that spinach is high in iron and calcium. However, thanks to a 7th grade science report, I know that spinach also contains oxalate acid. Oxalate acid binds with calcium, thus decreasing the absorption of calcium from spinach to about 5%, whereas the absorption efficiency of kale is close to 50%, bok choy is about 54%, and milk is 32% (from Calcium in Human Health, by Connie Weaver and Robert Proulx Heaney, 2006, p. 137). See the table below for a visual.

(from Calcium in Human Health, by Connie Weaver and Robert Proulx Heaney, 2006, p. 154)

To be honest, I am a little worried about my calcium. However, all of the paleo information I've read so far doesn't seem to be very concerned about calcium intake, saying that because of the large amount of vegetables and proteins we eat, and the lack of grains, the RDI (recommended daily intake) is overstated. I found these link to be pretty straight-forward and to have good references: http://thepaleodiet.com/faq#calcium-and-bones-paleo-diet-suggestions-for-bone-health, http://stevesoriginal.com/blog/paleo_calcium/

All in all, I'm slightly more comforted about my calcium intake. However I do intend to continue taking my daily vitamin supplement (I know that supplements are not something Paleolithic humans had; don't judge me). Better safe than sorry, eh?

Pork Chops

Pork Chops with Mustard-Rosemary Sauce

1 tbls extra-virgin olive oil
6 thin sliced pork chops (1/2" thick)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tsp mustard powder
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper.

Cook on medium-high heat until well browned, about 5 minutes per side. Move pork chops to a plate and cover loosely with foil. Add broth and rosemary to skillet and boil for about 5 minutes until roughly 3/4 cup remains. Put pork chops back in the skillet for about 4 minutes or until cooked through. Transfer the pork chops to plates. Mix the mustard, mustard powder, and butter into the remaining chicken broth, and season with salt and pepper. Pour mustard sauce over chops.

I served my pork chop over wilted garlic spinach. Yummy.

Beef Stew

Beef Stew Recipe:

Before

2 lb beef for stew (yes, that's what it says on the label)
1 1/2 cup carrots
1 cup celery
3 cloves garlic
2 cup mushrooms (I used baby bella mushrooms)
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbls white wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tbls dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Place everything in the crock pot, veggies on the bottom, followed by the meat, and then the spices. Set for 8-10 hours on low... Enjoy! (Side note: I stirred the ingredients after 3 hours.)

After 10 hours

Sunday Shopping

Sunday has been deemed my shopping day. Every blog post, article, advice I've seen and received since deciding to go Paleo has said to dedicate one day per week to groceries and food prep.

So here's my intended menu for the week. (Forewarning - I made way too many pork chops this morning, so I will be eating a lot of those this week. Also, most of my breakfasts are eaten in a rush, so I'm sticking with the same thing each morning this week.) I made the frittata tonight and am letting the beef stew cook over.

Sunday
B: Omelet with leftovers from the week
L: Almonds and grapes
D: Veggies (I snacked a lot while I chopped)

Monday
B: Frittata with chipotle sauce and guacamole
L: Beef Stew with side salad
D: Pork Chops (mushroom-rosemary) with sauteed kale

Tuesday
B: Frittata with salsa
L: Grilled Chicken "Sandwich" (with lettuce)
D: Zucchini "Spaghetti" with meat sauce (meat sauce is leftover from last week) See right.

Wednesday
B: Frittata with salsa
L: Pork Chops with roasted broccoli
D: Beef Stew

Thursday
B: Pork chops mixed into veggie/egg scramble
L: Thursday Noon Tradition (TNT), a.k.a. lunch out with co-workers
D: Beef Stew

Friday
B: Frittata with chipotle sauce
L: Beef Stew
D: Dinner out

Saturday
B: Omelet with leftover veggies
L: Pork Chop Sandwich
D: Salmon with sauteed kale



Frittata Recipe:
7 eggs
3/4 cup bell peppers, diced (I used red and orange)
3/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup onion
1 precooked chicken breast, diced (precooked with a BBQ rub)
3/4 cup broccoli (I ended up not using all of the florets in the photo)
2 cups spinach
1 tbls + some olive oil
pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375F. Coat the bottom and sides of a baking pan with a olive oil or butter. Heat 1 tbls olive oil in a skillet on the stove. Add peppers, mushrooms, onions, and broccoli and cook until onions are translucent. While these are cooking, crack the eggs into a separate bowl and beat. Spread veggies across pan and put the spinach in the skillet, heating until wilted. Distribute spinach in baking pan. Pour the eggs across the pan, making sure it's well spread. Bake for 20 minutes or until the center is firm (my oven runs a little hot, so it may take a bit more time).

Beef stew recipe will be posted tomorrow once it's done cooking.

Welcome

Happy Sunday and welcome to Adventures in Paleo-land!

Image from A Sweet Life

This blog is going to be a record of my quest for health. As of Monday, February 20, 2012, I started the paleo diet. One of my good rowing friends from Atlanta has been doing the diet for a couple years now and she's told me about how she feels better eating this way and doesn't think she could go back to her old way of eating. She's doesn't get that mid afternoon crash we associate with big pasta lunches. She doesn't have as many stomachaches and in general she's more energetic and happy. I've ignored all of this and scoffed at the paleo diet saying I would never try it... Well, I've finally succumbed and I'm giving it a try. I plan on doing the diet until May 6th. This date is when I finish my first round of P90X which I started on February 6th (I've lost 5 pounds and ~2" in my waist in the past 3 weeks). This all coincides really well with Lent, for which I was planning on giving up sodas and sweets. Basically, I just added in a few other things.

Some background on me... 

I've been an active person ever since I was a child. I did ballet, tap, jazz, tennis, basketball, and soccer (all at the same time). I had tennis lessons on Monday, tennis matches followed by soccer practice on Tuesday, three hours of ballet, tap, and jazz on Wednesday, soccer practice on Thursday, basketball practice on Friday, soccer game on Saturday, and basketball game on Sunday. Did I mention that I'm an only child? In the past few years I've worked out on my own at the gym, rowed with the Greater Houston Rowing Club, and have run a couple half-marathons.

Despite my activity level, my parents' focus on nutritious meals, and my own self-discipline that limited me to only one piece of candy per day (my Halloween candy always lasted for AGES that way), I've always struggled with weight. My body is naturally a bit more solidly built and muscular than most of my friends, thanks to my Scandinavian-Polish farmer heritage. (My mother actually grew up on a farm in northern Minnesota, so I'm one generation from an honest-to-God farmer.) Back to the point... I've always been a bit on the stocky side with wide shoulders. I'm short, at a whopping 5'3", so unfortunately extra pounds don't have much real estate to distribute over. However, I don't think most people would really label me as overweight though.

To the here and now...

I've been doing paleo for about a week now and so far I really like it. I'm eating freshly made meals and the quality of my meals as a whole has increased significantly. My roommate keeps saying that I'm eating "so classy." In the past week, I've had steak, stuffed chicken breast, and lettuce wraps, just to name a few. I'll post the stuffed chicken breast recipe once I make it again, because it was wonderful. Overall, I feel better and happy. I'm excited about this change, but I'm not sure if that excitement or the exercising is part of what's making me feel more energetic. We'll see how it goes in the coming weeks.

That's it for today. See the recipes below from Saturday.

Breakfast: Omelet with bacon

3 mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup diced onions

1/4 cup diced red bell pepper

2 eggs, beaten

1 slice bacon

1/4 avocado

Fry the bacon in a pan until it's crispy and brown. Take the bacon off and set it aside. Add the veggies to the pan, using the bacon fat remaining in the pan to cook. Once the onions look translucent, add the eggs and cook on low heat until the eggs firm up. Fold in half and top with avocado and chipotle-adobo sauce. To make the chipotle sauce, take a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and blend. Done! You have chipotle-adobo sauce!

Lunch: Chipotle chicken salad with mashed cauliflower

Mashed cauliflower recipe here:

1 head cauliflower

1/2 cup chicken broth (extra may be needed)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp black pepper (freshly ground if possible)

Put all of the ingredients in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cover. Cook for 20 minutes. By this time, the cauliflower should be easy to mash with a fork, if not you may need to cook longer. While cooking, check to make sure that all of the broth hasn't boiled off and add more if necessary. Once the cauliflower is at the correct tenderness, drain the broth off and into a bowl; set aside. Blend the cauliflower and garlic. You can add some of the broth to increase the creaminess of the result. I personally saved the broth for use in  making sauteed kale.