Simple Slow-Cooker Beef Stew

On my way back from the airport from my Portland trip last weekend I stopped at Whole Foods to pick up ingredients for a stew. I literally just walked through the produce section thinking Hmmm... that looks yummy. I'll grab one of those. Oh! Sweet potatoes!! Hmmmm, I should probably get an onion. Oooohh! The red peppers looks good. I need some more color. It was very haphazard as I zig-zagged back and forth across the produce section. That's what I get for showing up without a grocery list. Anyways, I got home, unpacked, and started laundry (Yeah, I'm good like that), and started chopping vegetables. I was finishing up my stew preparations just in time for a friend to join me in some TV/football watching. By the time I woke up Monday morning, this deliciousness was waiting for me.

Simple Slow-Cooker Beef Stew
1 lb beef, in chunks (the type of beef that you use is up to you, stew beef is always an option)
6 carrots, peeled and sliced
3/4 bunch of celery (~7 stalks), chopped
1 onion, sliced
1 sweet potato, in chunks
1 red pepper, chopped
1.5 cups beef broth
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
salt and pepper, to taste
6 shakes tabasco sauce (optional)

Once all of your ingredients other than the broth have been chopped/sliced, layer the ingredients into the slow-cooker: onions, sweet potato, carrots, celery, and beef. Sprinkle the spices on top and then pour in the beef broth. Add your tabasco sauce. Cover, and set on low for 10 hours. I usually mix after a couple hours, but you don't have to stir if you don't want to or won't be near your slow-cooker (I have this thing with leaving my crock-pot unattended for an entire day. I think I inherited my mom's fear that the slow-cooker is going to burn down the house.). Anyways, there you go. Easy-peasy!

Portland - Day 1 - Part 2

Just as a warning, I just got back from dinner at Fogo de Chao with SD, GS, and CM, where I ate all of the meat, so I'm about to fall asleep from a food coma. If I misspell words or use faulty grammar, please forgive me. I did prepare for tonight's dinner though; I only had 2 eggs for breakfast and ~1 cup of fruit today so that I could stuff myself tonight and not feel so guilty. To be honest, I've gone to churrascarias before where I feel like I've eaten way more. But I didn't eat any bread this time like I normally do at those places (the cheesy bread is delish), so maybe that's why I didn't feel too overly full. Moving on...

229123. No those are not the numbers I pick for lottery tickets. 229 is the number of photos that I took of roses at the International Rose Test Garden, and 123 is the number of photos from the Portland Japanese Garden. Too many? Probably. But I liked it. So here are a select few. And trust me, I had a hard time picking, but I don't know if you would appreciate the nature overload you'd get from seeing all of my photos at once.

In a garden
The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth
-Dorothy F.B. Gurney

We finished off the day at Red Star, the restaurant connected to our hotel. I had the Ruby Gimlet and the Red Star drinks with my slow-cooked pork shoulder over coleslaw and corn. Delicious. The corn (not Paleo, I know) really pulled the dish together.

Portland - Day 1

The other side of the mug said "Call your mother"

As I mentioned in my post on Monday, I started off with a 6am run. By the time I got back to the hotel room around 7, my parents were ready to start the day. So after I de-glistened myself (Us Southern belles don't sweat, we glisten. Obviously.), we headed to the front desk where the kind young gentleman recommended that we go to Mother's for breakfast. There, I ordered hot chocolate and Mike’s Special Scramble (prosciutto ham, roasted garlic, tomatoes, basil & provolone cheese),

and my parents each got the Omelet du Jour. It was delicious and filling, even though my toast and potatoes went untouched. I forgot to ask for no cheese, so my tummy growled at me for a bit after breakfast. The restaurant was super cute and had some awesome chandeliers.

After breakfast, we wandered over to Pearl District, passing by the entrance to Chinatown and a couple interesting sculptures along the way.

Our first stop was Powell's bookstore. 

I wish ALL bookstores were like this! These three monstrous floors of giant bookcases (68,000 sqft) full of one of my favorite things ever: BOOKS! Store maps are available by the entrances and at information desks. The bookstore even has a smart phone app that will provide you turn-by-turn directions through the store to the book you're looking for. We spent about two hours perusing the aisles. Of course the first thing that I went for was cookbooks (particularly books on Paleo), followed by books on running and other workout books. Those were the two things most appealing to me. I ended up buying Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals by Mark Sisson. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but each recipe comes with a handy nutrient breakdown: calories, fat (and the types of fat), carbohydrates, and protein.

And, I think that's enough photos for one day... don't you?

Apple Butter

Because I was bad and didn't post for a while, here's a sweet and easy treat for you... Forgive me?

Apple butter is a pretty basic recipe, and it epitomizes autumn! I might have mentioned once or twice that I've been longing for fall. Just maybe. One of my co-workers told me today that I looked like fall. I politely thanked him, but in my head I was dancing around and cheering. Mission accomplished!

Apple Butter

9 apples (of a 5-lb bag of Gala apples, I used all but two, mainly because I got tired of peeling and chopping apples)

1/4 cup honey

3 tablespoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

Peel and then chop your apples into small slices (I stopped at Wal-mart on the way home from work yesterday to buy an apple slicer specifically for this purpose - only $3.97).

Of course, you'll have to cut the pieces smaller after the slicer does its job. Transfer all of the apple chunks to your trusty Crock-pot. Spread the seasonings and honey over the top of your apples.

After 2 hours of cooking.

I waited until after cooking for two hours once there was a bit more liquid to mix everything up. However, if you're just going to let the slow-cooker do its thing and not touch it, i.e., overnight or during your work day, go ahead and mix everything now.

Cover and set the slow-cooker on low heat for 8 hours. If your slow-cooker isn't programmable, you can do what my buddy BA does. Get a plug-in timer, set the timer so that the electricity will be supplied for 8 hours, and plug your slow-cooker into that. Genius! This saves you electricity costs, too. And you can use it when you go out of town so it looks like you're still there. Or if you come home after dark and want a light on in your house so you don't trip over things as you make your way to the light switch.

After 8 hours, your apples should look like this:

Use your food processor or blender to blend the soft cinnamon-y apples until smooth. Transfer to jars/storage containers. You're done. The apple butter can cool in the jars and you can spread it on Paleo crackers (recipe to come), or on pork, or even it it by itself. Crazy! If you eat bread, you could have an apple butter sandwich, just replace the almond butter with apple butter, or use both. However, if you're like me and will normally eat apples with a bit of almond butter, I don't recommend exchanging apple butter for almond butter: apple slices with apple butter might be a bit too much apple. You'd be consuming a lot of natural sugars (way more than Paleo-recommended levels)!


Next step: Pumpkin butter! Mmmmm... pumpkin!

The Return of the Gitta

I've managed to escape the clutches of my parents and the city of Portland. In other words, I was on vacation last week to the city of Portland. My dad was in Portland for a National Academy of Kinesiology conference, so my mom and I tagged along to see a new city and do some sightseeing. (Kinesiology is the basically study of human movement, in case you were wondering.)

So I'm sure you've been wondering what happened to me... I'm usually so good about posting each weekday, and I failed that pretty badly this past week. I guess could have posted using my handy-dandy smart phone app, but texting a post using my thumbs didn't appeal to me. I type much faster. So here's a brief start to my Portland trip...

On my way to the airport, I got stuck behind a truck with the bumper sticker: Please drive naked. I found it amusing. Maybe you don't. Either way, I don't suggest trying that anytime soon.

My airplane snack food/lunch consisted of beef jerky, which is always a handy stand-by when you're Paleo-on-the-go. I fell asleep for take-off. This ended up being a good thing, because I slept through the ear pain that I usually get from airplane take-offs and landings. watched Battleship on the plane and studied for the FE exam. Studying = un-fun. On the happy side, we made it to Portland in one piece!

We stayed at the Hotel Monaco, which wins points for leaving a teddy bear in the room (see below). They also get points because they host a daily happy hour with free wine and beer tasting, which my parents and I hit up before we even went into our hotel room. They set up a Wii for people to play Mario Kart, as well as an easel and paint for attendees to explore they're more creative side. We were there for four nights and I was the only person who made use of the painting or the Wii. So what, I played video games like a kid while drinking wine. I'm cool with it. And do you want to know what's even better than all that? They host a Thursday morning run at 6am! Not many hotels do that. So I woke up at 5:45am on Thursday, stumbled into my workout clothes and running shoes, and made my way to the front desk where I was greeted by my running guide/chief engineer of the hotel. It was about 50F outside for our run, and it was a bit of a shock from the Texas heat that I'm used to, but vastly preferred. We ran down to the river front, along the river, and then across one of the numerous bridges to check out the other side, before looping back to make up a 3.7-mile loop. It felt good (I haven't been doing more than 2.5 miles without taking a break - I blame the 90-degree heat)! My hamstrings didn't quite agree that it felt good, but  it was a great way to start the day off before walking lots and lots while sight-seeing.

Picture taken while standing in our sitting room!

Nick at the front desk recommended that we try out Jake's Grill (park of McCormick and Schmick's) for a good steak, so that's where we went our first night so I could get: The Queen Bee (made with lemon and honey) and steak. Yum.

The Queen Bee

Nail Health

This is a bit random, but just the other day I noticed how long my nails were getting and how strong they were. I found this intriguing because I'm not used to that. I used to keep my nail short for violin (if I were to show up with long-ish fingernails, my teacher would make me trim them immediately). But honestly, my nails would usually break off before they got close to the tip of my finger because they weren't very strong. However, right now, these suckers are strong. I've heard in the past people say that there are certain foods that will help with nail health, such as "eating avocados improves your nails." Obviously what you eat affects your overall health ("You are what you eat," right?), so I'm sure eating Paleo and feeling healthier has to affect my nails. I've also heard in the past that the condition that your nails are in can provide insight into your overall health.

Dryness and brittleness can result from a lack of vitamin A, vitamin D, and calcium. Insufficient amounts of vitamin A and B can lead to vertical or horizontal ridges in your nails. Want healthier nails? Make sure you get enough omega-3 fatty acids, lean proteins and iron. Hello, Paleo!

So your fingernails are kind of like a barometer for your health... Health issues involving your liver, kidneys, lungs, and heart can appear in your nails. Here's some of the things that you're nails can tell you:

• Pale nail beds can imply anemia or malnutrition (the nails can reflect deficiencies of iron, biotin and protein) the 
• White nails with dark rims can indicate liver problems.
• Besides fungal infections, yellow nails are also associated with thyroid disease, lung disease, diabetes, or psoriasis.
• Bluish nails may mean that your body is low on oxygen, which can be a lung infection, heart condition, asthma, etc.
• If the surface of the nail is rippled, it could mean psoriasis or arthritis.
• Frequently cracked or split nails is indicative of thyroid disease.
• Inflamed nail fold (cuticle area) can be an infection or even an auto-immune disorder, such as lupus.
• Dark lines under the nail could be a form of melanoma.
• If your nail separates from the nail bed, this could also indicate thyroid disorder. Another possible effect of thyroid disorder is "spoon nail," where the nail is concave away from the finger.
• Splinter hemorrhages are thin red/brown lines under the nail that look like splinters but is blood. They can be associated with cardiovascular issues or can result from severe injury to the nail bed. (I have these on one of my nails that got ripped off when I was 7. Yes, you read that right. Ripped off. It wasn't pretty. The nail bed is not pleasant to look at, and it took roughly 6 months to grow back.)
• And obviously, if you're a severe nail-biter, you might have an anxiety or compulsive disorder. Though it could just mean that you're stressed or bored.

A few other facts: The human fingernail is made out of the protein keratin, the same protein from which animals' horns and hooves are made. Fingernails grow an average of 3mm per month, though it varies for each individual based on sex, age, exercise, diet, and season (your nails grow faster in the summer, how strange). The world record for longest nails (4.8 ft) is held by Shridhar Chillal. Click here for a photo. Personally I think his nails look terrifying. The record-holder for women is Lee Redmond (2'11"). Click here for a photo. Yikes!

References:

(1) Trimarchi, Maria, and Sellers, Jennifer. "Top 10 Things Your Nails Say About Your Health" Discovery Fit and Health. http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/nail-care/health/5-things-nails-say-about-health.htm

(2) Stamatis Gregoriou, MD, et. al. "Nail disorders and systemic disease: What the nails tell us." The Journal of Family Practice. August 2008 · Vol. 57, No. 8: 509-514

 http://www.jfponline.com/Pages.asp?AID=6492&issue=July_2008&UID=

(3) "Nail Abnormalities." Medline Plus. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003247.htm

Barefoot Running

I found this pair on sale for half off, plus an extra 10% because they were the last pair.
And they fit perfectly. It must be a sign!

Barefoot running, also known as natural running, is based on the theory that humans were designed to run barefoot. Think about how you run while wearing running shoes. It's a heel-strike-to-toe motion, right? Well the downside of this is that by landing on your heel, there's no way to absorb the shock of impact so that you don't injure your joints from the repetitive stress of pounding the pavement. Barefoot running on the other hand consists of running on the balls of your feet, which removes the pounding force impact on your joints. See the photo and graphs below for a comparison of shod and barefoot running.

Impact on Foot: Shod Running vs. Barefoot Running

Also, the muscles of the longitudinal arch may allow the foot to dampen impact and may remove stress from the plantar fascia, which could help people with plantar fasciitis. FYI, plantar fasciitis is the inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot and can be very painful.

The practice of running barefoot is still followed by the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico. The people of this tribe have been known to run up to 200 miles (320 km) at one time. This 200-mile run can take place over two days through their homeland of rough canyon country. Three of the five canyons are deeper than the Grand Canyon(1). The Tarahumara can travel between 50-80 miles everyday at a "race" pace. Because of the terrain, travel using domesticated animals (i.e. horse and wagon) isn't possible and running is needed for inter-village communication and transportation, as well as to hunt. The Tarahumara use a persistence hunting technique, which basically means that they chase down an animal until it slows from exhaustion. Because humans sweat, our bodies have a mechanism to cool down while continuing to run, and although many mammals sweat, few can effectively thermoregulate via sweating, thus often relying on panting to cool the body. Unfortunately for these four-legged animals being hunted, they aren't blessed with the ability to pant while galloping (such as while being chased), so they have to slow down to pant.

The barefoot running movement got some of the spotlight after Christopher McDougall's book, Born to Run, was published in May 2009. After dealing with running injuries himself, the author traveled down to the Mexican Copper Canyons to learn more about how the Tarahumara tribe can run with  minimal foot support (homemade sandals) and without significant injuries. 

Watch the video below for the perspective of Daniel Lieberman, PhD, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.

Because so many of us live in cities and run on roads and sidewalks, running barefoot might not be the best idea because of the potential to injure the bottom of our feet due to puncture wounds, bruising, or thermal reasons such as running on ice or very hot surfaces like pavement in Texas. Therefore, options such as Vibrams FiveFingers or moccasins are available for barefoot/minimalist running. As a side note, the modern-day running shoe was developed in the mid-1970s.

If you plan to switch from running with shoes to running barefoot, you should do it gradually. It significantly changes HOW you run. It works different muscles that may be unaccustomed to being used so much. My Vibrams came with a nice little tag that recommended that I wear the shoes 1-2 hours per day for a week or so in order to get used to them. Transitioning too fast could result in pulled calf muscles, Achilles tendinitis, and metatarsal stress fractures.

Interesting fact: Abebe Bikila was an Olympic marathoner who ran a marathon barefoot at the 1960 Olympics and won. Yes, you read that right, he WON an Olympic marathon while barefoot!

My reactions to Vibrams: 

I've found my new personal trainer for my calves. Now, every time I walk down stairs I have to give myself an internal motivational pep-talk to convince myself to take that step and to convince my calves not to cramp up or collapse on me. If I even kind of point my toe I feel like my calves are going to cramp into a charley horse at any moment. (Side note, Charley Horses can result from high or low blood pH, hormonal imbalances, low levels of potassium or calcium, or as side effects of medication.)

Anyways, this past Tuesday evening I ran one mile without stopping, then walked a half-mile, before running another half-mile. Because of the lack of heel support like I'm used to with running shoes, my first few steps were rough on my heel. However, I immediately changed my stride without much thought. It was a very natural transition to running on the balls of my feet... as in, "no thinking required" transition. My calves were aching by the time I got home, but I didn't have any ankle pain, which I was getting every time I had gone running since I injured my ankle last fall. On Wednesday I ran on the treadmill using my regular running shoes and was rewarded with pain in my left ankle. For now, I'm still on the fence as to whether this way of running is better, but I'm going to give it a try. And maybe it'll end up being like my switch to Paleo: a great decision for my health. Check back for more updates!

(1) http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/art.html

(2) Daoud, Adam. "Foot Strike and Injury Rates in Endurance Runners: A Retrospective Study." American College of Sports Medicine. http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~skeleton/pdfs/2012b.pdf

(3) "Barefoot Running: How Humans Ran Comfortably and Safely Before the Invention of Shoes." ScienceDaily. Feb. 1, 2010.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100127134241.htm

(4) "Long-Awaited Barefoot Running Study Finds Sneakers Are Harmful"

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-01/barefoot-running-study-finds-your-sneakers-are-unnatural

Hamburgers - 4 ways

Last Friday, Whole Foods had a sale on grass-fed ground beef, so I bought just over a pound of ground beef. When I decided to cook it, I felt like trying out a few different things. And here's what I've been eating this week!

Ginger-Sesame Burger

1 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp sesame seeds

1/4 tsp mustard

2 slices of cored pineapple

Salt-n-Peppa Burger
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup guacamole
3 cherry tomatoes, sliced

Five-Herb Burger
1/2 tsp Basil
1/8 tsp Coriander
1/4 tsp Parsley
1/4 tsp Rosemary
1/8 tsp Thyme

Thanksgiving Burger
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Clove
1/4 cup mashed sweet potato

For me, fall consists of baked goods, especially pumpkin pie, which, if you don't know, contains cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. So though this burger is a bit sweeter than your average burger, it's like autumn in my mouth.

CrossFit

Last Friday night I went out with some friends. While we were at the bar, my buddy BJ convinced me to attend CrossFit with him the following morning. I've expressed interest in attending a few times over the last year and he's invited me multiple times; this was the first time I accepted. I was excited about going on Friday night, but when Saturday morning rolled around, I was nervous. I know that there was no reason to be nervous, but I was apprehensive because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to handle the workout. I had heard about so many CrossFit workouts that seemed impossible to me because I hadn't tried any of them. We did the "Fran" workout on Saturday which consisted of thrusters (squats with an overhead press) and pull-ups. I didn't add any weights to the bar and I did an assisted pull-up, and found the workout much easier than I expected. Don't get me wrong, my arms and legs were burning afterward, but I know that I could have increased the intensity of the workout with more weights and would have been able to handle it.

Based on that one class, I could definitely see myself doing CrossFit regularly. This past Saturday made me realize how much I miss doing working out with people. I miss teams. I should join a team of some sort. Doing P90X alone at home holds absolutely no appeal now. I've been running instead lately. I really need to join a team. I'm just waiting until AFTER I take the FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) Exam, so I can actually study a bit.

My post CrossFit breakfast: Open-faced Omelet

2 eggs

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 sausage link

3 Tbls guacamole

5 cherry tomatoes

Brown the sides of the sausage over medium heat. Once browned, cut the sausage into pieces and brown the flat sides. While the sausage is cooking, whisk the eggs with the spices. After both sides of the sausage slices have been browned, reduce heat to medium-low, then add in the eggs. Once the eggs have cooked, slide onto plate and add guacamole/salsa/Paleo ketchup/whatever you want. I used hatch chile guacamole with some cherry tomatoes.

Zucchini-Carrot Cookies

I call these cookies because they're cookie sized. However, the consistency is a bit more like miniature zucchini bread cakes. When I described them to friends over the weekend, I called them Zucchini-Carrot-Banana-Orange-Coconut Cookies. Doesn't sound terribly appealing ("too many veggies"), but if you like zucchini bread, you'll love these.

Zucchini-Carrot Cookies

1 cup zucchini, shredded

1/2 cup carrot, shredded

1 banana, frozen

2 Tbls orange juice, fresh-squeezed if possible

2 Tbls cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 Tbls honey

1 Tbls maple syrup

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 + 1 Tbls cup almond flour

1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Preheat your oven to 325F. Now set out the frozen banana to let it thaw. Use a shredding attachment on your handy-dandy food processor, shred one zucchini. Remove the excess water from the shredded zucchini. Place zucchini on a paper towel and pat with another paper towel. Do the same with the carrot. Place the zucchini, carrot, and banana into a bowl and use a hand-mixer to break down the banana. Beat in the orange juice and eggs, and then mix in all of the remaining ingredients. Using a large spoon, place the batter on a coconut oil-greased baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Blogs to Check Out

These are some of the blogs that I follow for food, Paleo, and entertainment purposes:

Nom Nom Paleo is awesome. Great photos and recipes. She likes mushrooms and always seems to have well-balanced meals. If you have an iPad, check out her recently created iPad app. Also, if you've got a lot of kitchen toys (WAY more than me), you should look at her recipes. She has some super cool gadgets.

If you want an entertaining and humorous read with LOTS of wonderful dessert recipes, check out Juli on PaleOMG. She's in the process of pulling together a cookbook of her recipes. Some of her entrées look questionable for my tastes (though I'm sure you may think the same of my recipes).

I also read Mark's Daily Apple when I want to learn more about Paleo and other health and fitness topics. He posts every day... like a boss! And each weekend he provides links to various different topics. Great about answering questions and really helpful about analyzing recent research publications, such as this one about gluten sensitivity.

Robb Wolf was my first insight into the world of Paleo. I read his book, The Paleo Solution, when I first decided to start doing Paleo. He tries to provide facts and is not solely trying to win you over to the side of Paleo. He wants you, the reader, to be healthy. He wants to help people and he's convincing. Give his blog a shot.

Bill and Hayley of The Food Lovers Kitchen was also a blog/source of recipe ideas when I was starting out. They've got some good explanations on what is and isn't Paleo. They've created a new Android/iPhone app that is awesome for meal planning and grocery lists. You can search for certain foods or mealtimes, and put them on a meal plan for the week. It has the ingredients and directions available, and also produces a grocery list for you. Hard to get better than that!

I don't visit this one as frequently, but I do think you should check it out: The Clothes Make the Girl. Melissa Joulwan helped form the Texas Rollergirls in Austin, TX. Roller derby. How cool is that? I enjoy reading her blog for her sense of humor and her good job of tracking food when she does Whole 30 (like she's been doing lately).

If you're looking for some delicious and well-presented food ideas, look no further than Morsels and Mouthfuls. One of my friends back in Atlanta prepares excellent-looking and -tasting meals and I'm super jealous of his dinner plates. I like my food and I think it tastes good, but his presentations are restaurant-worthy.

Hiatus - Paleo Pumpkin Brownies

Ingredients
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 Tbls sunbutter (sunflower seed butter) or any nut butter
3 eggs, whisked
2 Tbls maple syrup
1 Tbls honey
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup almond flour
2 Tbls cocoa powder
1 Tbls pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbls cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate-Chips (Dairy-free, Soy-free, and Gluten-free)

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all of the wet ingredients together with a hand mixer. Start with the pumpkin puree and the sunbutter, adding each wet ingredient one at a time. Mix in the flours, cocoa powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and baking soda. Now, fold in your chocolate chips. Spread in a greased (with coconut oil) 8"x8" baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick entered in the center comes out clean

It even looks good before baking!

So Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate-Chips are made in a dedicated gluten-free and nut-free environment, so you wind up with vegan, kosher, gluten-free, casein-free, dairy-free, soy-free chocolate chips. Intense, huh? Definitely makes you wonder what's left. And since you're wondering, I'll let you know: evaporated cane juice, chocolate liquor, non-dairy cocoa butter.

Nom nom nom...

Hiatus - Sweet Potato Chips

I'm on hiatus. From P90X that is. I'm going to do Week 4 next week. This way I'll make up the days that I missed. So my reasoning for taking some time off from P90X can be summed up in one word: Balance. Physically, I can balance pretty well. However when it comes to my schedule and commitments, I need some work to balance things. I'm rather all or nothing. I get involved to the extreme. If I join an organization, I don't just join it, I usually run for a leadership position (sometimes doing multiple leadership roles at the same time). If I decide to exercise, I have to do a workout EVERY day, and it's a huge deal if I miss a day. What I'm trying to work on right now is balance. I started a FE review course last week, which means that a lot of my time these days is going to be taken up by class and studying. I'm trying to balance class/studying with work and exercise, right when football season starts. And no, I'm not a big football fan, but I decided back in July that I was going to try to be more interested and engaged in football. So that's something else on my plate. I also have a lot of different interests and activities that I want to do, and I need to prioritize those. It's a work in progress.

So I mentioned last week that I didn't feel great after eating a salad with carrots and apples on it and I was curious as to whether the it was the apples or carrots that was making my stomach angry. Yesterday I ate the same salad, minus the carrots, apples, and sundried tomato dressing (Spring mix, Baby Spinach, Tomato, Cucumber, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Mushroom, Celery, Bell Pepper, Cabbage, Pumpkin Seeds, Walnuts, Almonds, Chopped Egg, Sundried Tomatoes, Grapes, Strawberries, Mandarin Orange, with Chipotle Chicken), and felt just fine. Today I ate the same salad again with carrots and Pesto Chicken instead of Chipotle Chicken. Again, I felt fine. Leaving apples as the culprit. Sadness.

Yeah, I haven't cooked meal stuff lately, so I've been hitting up the salad shop close to my office. And I also admit that my salads have no theme. I literally just take everything I like individually and mix it together. It sometimes ends up as odd flavor combinations, but I'm okay with it. If you're not, then I suggest not eating the same salad as me. Problem solved.

And now for recipe time...

Baked Sweet Potato Chips

1 sweet potato

1 Tbls olive oil

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 300F. Whip out your mandoline or a really sharp knife and slice your sweet potato into ~3 mm slices. (No I didn't measure it, though I bet you thought I did.) In a large bowl, coat/toss the sweet potato slices with olive oil and the seasonings (you can use whatever seasoning you want: basil, parsley, rosemary, etc.).

Spread in a single layer on a tinfoil-covered baking sheet.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until edges are crispy and center is still soft, flipping halfway.

Tip: crumple the tinfoil before spreading it over the baking sheet; the chips won't stick to the baking sheet as much when you're done baking.

P90X - Days 20, 21, 22, & 23

I disappeared because it was Labor Day weekend and I needed a break. I took a break from blogging and from P90X. I know, I know! It's "bad" that I didn't work out. I'm supposed to be doing this intense daily workout program, right? Taking a day off isn't acceptable. Well, check back tomorrow for my reasoning behind my days off. In the meantime, I'm going to talk about the importance of sleep. I've mentioned it before a few times, but I feel like I need a reminder, so maybe you do, too.

Many of us claim that we don't have the time for sleep. We have work, exercise, cooking, friends, family, etc. all demanding our time and attention. It's difficult to say no to friends when they ask you to go out. If you have kids, you probably have a harder time taking care of yourself because you put your children first. However, there's one thing you need to remember... you need to take care of yourself before you can take care of others. Think about the safety presentation/video on airlines. Have you forgotten that they always say that if the oxygen masks are needed, you should put your own mask on before you assist someone else? If airlines have learned this, shouldn't we?

I bet most people you know have pulled an all-nighter at one time in their life. My first all-nighter was at a slumber party with my friend KM. We had tried to stay up all night at my birthday (maybe my 15th birthday), but ended up falling asleep for a couple hours. KM's birthday was a few months later and we decided we were definitely going to stay up all night. There were a bunch of girls over, but KM and I were the only ones crazy enough to attempt an all-nighter. We were especially crazy because we were both singing in church the following morning. And by singing in church, I mean that during service we had to sit front and center (literally... we were some of the shortest girls in the choir) in front of the entire congregation. So we stayed up watching movies and talking until her mom came down to the basement to wake us up for church. We got to church early for rehearsal and were still buzzing off of caffeine and sugary snack foods. However, during the middle of the service, we started to crash. My head kept bobbing and I couldn't keep my eyes open. Our solution? We pinched and poked each other to stay awake, and somehow managed it through the service. Why was it so important that we stay awake? One of the boys in our choir had fallen asleep during a service and the hymnal on his lap had slid off and smacked onto the floor; everyone jumped and stared at him. We didn't want to have the full attention of the church on us, too. We survived church without any embarrassing moments and headed home, where I immediately passed out. My entire day was wasted because I was so sleep deprived.

So what to take from that story...

Choice: It was KM and my choice to sacrifice our sleep; we had no reason to stay up all night.

Sleep substitute: TV/Movie and talking. Though talking and maintaining our friendship is important, it's not necessary to do all night, and watching TV is purely entertainment and is unnecessary in life.

After-effect: By staying up all night, it was difficult to perform the next day, not just in the singing sense, but also in basic day-to-day activities for a high-schooler like chores and studying, or even basic functions such as listening or staying awake.

Getting enough sleep is YOUR decision. YOU have to choose to give yourself enough time to sleep. YOU have to prioritize your sleep over the latest episode of Survivor, or whatever popular reality show you love. Think of it this way... what do you absolutely need to live? Sleep or one more TV series episode? This should be a simple choice. Would you give up food in order to watch TV? What about water? Sleep is just as vital to life as food and water. Okay, so you're a student studying for tomorrow's exam? Though I'm guilty of this myself, staying up late to study may not be the most beneficial activity. Stage 3 sleep aids in consolidating declarative memory (that you would be using for exam studying), whereas REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep helps with muscle memory. So by staying up and cutting into your Stage 3 slow-wave sleep, you may be harming your ability to remember what you studied. Such a dilemma!

Even a single night of sleep deprivation can be detrimental to your health. One night of partial sleep deprivation, which results in increased cortisol levels, can impair insulin sensitivity in addition to hampering the body's stress response. For those who don't know, insulin resistance is a component of Type II Diabetes. According to the US National Library of Medicine, metabolic syndrome is another term for insulin resistance and is defined as "group of risk factors that occur together and increase the risk for coronary artery disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes." Yikes.

I think my biggest issue with getting enough sleep is what I feel I ought to do. I've had lots of days like today where I got less than ~3.5 hours of sleep and then spent 10+ hours at work, followed by 2 hours of class and blogging. And when I'm in the midst of a workout routine like P90X (and blogging about it), I feel obligated to do the workout even when that means giving up my sleeping time. My other excuses for cutting into sleep time: there are chores that I ought to be doing, or studying I should do because I'm behind schedule, or socializing I want to do with friends. In short, I need to do some prioritizing. And the lesson you can take from this is: Go the F*** to Sleep, read to you by Samuel L. Jackson. If you are offended by Samuel L. Jackson or the f-bomb, don't click on the link or watch the video.

Click here if you like infographics.

Reference:

(1) Donga, Esther. "A Single Night of Partial Sleep Deprivation Induces Insulin Resistance in Multiple Metabolic Pathways in Healthy Subjects." The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. June 1, 2010, vol. 95, no. 6, pp. 2963-2968. <http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/95/6/2963.full?sid=b7ac906e-efdc-4dae-82f0-637cc6705ad9>
(2) Leproult, R. "Sleep loss results in an elevation of cortisol levels the next evening." Sleep. 1997 Oct; 20(10), pp.865-70. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9415946>