Moving makes me disappear

You may be wondering what happened to me that kept me from posting for the last few days. Last Friday I moved into my new apartment and I cleaned everything before I moved in, including the tops of the kitchen shelves (I didn't originally intend to, but I saw just how dusty it was up there so I HAD to clean it). I hired movers for Friday evening to get all of the big stuff like my couches, table, and bed. I helped move some of the boxes and I have massive bruises to prove it.

On Saturday, some of my amazing friends helped me. The friends that show up on moving day are true friends! I have a few things left at my old place, like clothes and shoes to bring to Goodwill. LR and I still need to clean up our old place.

My new place is currently in an annoying state of unrest and messiness. I'm roughly half unpacked. I've almost finished putting all of my kitchen stuff away, but I have some work to do on my bedroom and bathroom. I realized just how much I need to finish unpacking this morning as I was getting ready and had to paw through a box labeled "Bathroom" to find my makeup and bobby pins.

I finally went to the grocery store today. I've been putting it off until after I settled in. This meant that for the past few days, I've been living off of Lärabars and nuts. I've had one bar for each meal since Friday. My stomach has not been happy with me. So today I finally cooked something. I made a taco salad for dinner: ground turkey, iceberg lettuce, green cabbage, grape tomatoes, and red bell pepper. My giant bowlful has made me very satisfied. Here's what it looked like:

What exactly is the Paleo Diet?

The Paleo diet seeks to replicate the diet followed by our ancestors up until 10,000 years ago when the Neolithic Era brought about a rise in farming and the domestication of animals. Paleolithic humans lived in small groups and survived via hunting and gathering. The belief behind the recent popularity of the Paleo diet is that modern human genetics have remained virtually unchanged since prior to the Neolithic Revolution (agriculture), and thus our bodies are adapted to the ancestral diet of foods found in nature. This diet promotes the foods that allow for optimum health and avoids the foods that became prevalent after agriculture in an attempt to protect the digestive system from inflammation-causing proteins (i.e. gluten). The basis of the Paleo diet is lean meat, seafood, and unlimited fresh fruits and veggies. This way of eating is also beneficial to your liver, kidneys, and pancreas.

Some of the foods that started being consumed in large amounts after agriculture have lead to the diseases of civilization ("lifestyle diseases"). These lifestyle diseases include obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, auto-immune diseases, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, etc., and are common in western societies. Studies of modern hunter-gatherer civilizations show that the 10-20% of the population is at least 60 years old. Additionally, the elderly of these populations generally don't have any signs or symptoms of diseases of civilization. However, when these populations do adopt western diets, they begin to show signs of lifestyle diseases common to western society. (Refer to The Paleo Diet for more information.)

So what can I eat? The short response is non-processed foods.

• lean meats (grass-fed)
• seafood
• eggs
• veggies
• fruits
• nuts & seeds
• healthy fats
• ghee (clarified butter)

What can't I eat?

• grains
• legumes (soy and peanuts)
• dairy
• vegetable oils (i.e. canola)
• processed food
• sugar
• starches (potatoes)
• alcohol (this is my caveat to the Paleo diet)

If you're attempting to lose weight, you need to limit the amount of fruits and nuts that you eat. Also, you need to work on balancing your omega-3 vs. omega-6 fatty acid intake. The ideal ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 is 1:1 or 1:2. However, with society's reliance on vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, etc.), this ratio usually settles out to 1:10. Yikes!

You may be asking: If I want to lose weight, shouldn't I follow a low-fat, high-carb diet? No! Most people that follow this fad diet always feel hungry and will gain back whatever they lost after they stop following the diet. Eating lean meats provides protein to the body. Protein has an increased thermic effect over both fat and carbohydrates; in other words, it increases metabolism. Additionally, protein has a much greater satiety value than fat or carbohydrates, so it decreases your appetite.

Loren Cordain has stricter guidelines, which are especially beneficial if you have auto-immunity issues. He also recommends limiting fruits with very high sugar content.

Check out these websites for more information:
www.thepaleodiet.com, www.robbwolf.com, and www.paleodietlifestyle.com.

Post P90X: Workout Programs?

As you know, I'm trying to decide what type of exercise to do after I finish P90X. One of my Aussie friends mentioned that he was going to do Rushfit which I had never heard of before, so I looked it up and found this very thorough comparison of the workout programs:

http://www.acefitness.org/certifiednewsarticle/1443/p90x-insanity-and-rushfit-a-side-by-side/

I really recommend that you read the article. Rushfit is a MMA-fighting style cardio workout, whereas Insanity and P90X both have more muscles building/weight lifting components.

This review gave the following scores for each of the programs
Rushfit™    103/120
Insanity™   71/120
P90X™        106/120

At least I picked the program with the highest score. Unfortunately it's still not keeping me motivated. I think I need to exercise with someone else. Having a workout buddy is such a great way to be kept accountable. Any volunteers?

Bad Eating Habits

This past week has been very busy and stressful for me. I haven't had a lot of free time in the evenings to cook food for lunch during work, so I've been snacking at work and eating unhealthily. A couple Mondays ago, I posted about dark chocolate, how eating it made me feel sick, and how I was going to restrict myself... Yeah, that didn't happen. My breakfast for the past couple days has been nonexistent and my lunches have consisted of a dark chocolate covered nuts and single serving packets of nut butter (I tried walnut and cashew this week). If I had a health-o-meter, it would be pointing at the red zone of "Worst idea ever."

Couple my diet this week with the stress levels I have from work and preparing for moving next week (I just arranged for movers today - which is about 2 months behind schedule for me. One week is my version of waiting till the last minute), and it's no surprise that I haven't been feeling great lately. Today I had a headache that was bad enough to have me curled up in bed at 2 p.m., where I stayed until roughly 30 minutes ago. I also had accompanying nausea that would kick in every time I attempted to stand up. Even sitting on my couch right now is leaving the left side of my head throbbing. However after napping sporadically this afternoon, I decided food was probably a good idea. So I made myself some Roasted Brussels Sprouts, though this time I took a slice of bacon and sliced it into small pieces to cook with the Brussels sprouts. Delicious! If my stomach had emotions, eating the Brussels sprouts would make it smile and shout with joy! Even eating some of the raw leaves while I was prepping the Brussels sprouts made my body feel better.

This is why I think that my food habits this week have had a big influence on my health today. I basically set up my own personal perfect storm for migraines:

1. Lack of sleep/changes in sleep patterns
2. High stress levels
3. Unhealthy eating
4. Chocolate (this kind of falls under number 3, but it deserves its own section because chocolate is a common migraine trigger independent of other eating habits)
5. Weather changes

I think I've had a lot of small failures the past couple weeks. I'm hoping to get myself back into line over the next couple weeks.

P.S. I've heard of some people wanting to cut out the core of the Brussels sprout before cooking to promote fast and even cooking. Personally the core is my favorite part, so I suggest trying this cabbage-like veggie with the core.

P.P.S. I saw the trailer for Thundercats today. I find Vin Diesel with face paint very amusing, but give me Brad Pitt, Vin Diesel, and Hugh Jackman any day!

Camping Cookouts

As I had mentioned last week, I went camping this past weekend. This is the second time I've gone camping in tents (girl scouts doesn't count). I was in charge of veggies and boy, did I bring it! Friday night was a veggie stir-fry with sausage. Veggies included cucumber, zucchini, mushrooms, red pepper, orange pepper, yellow pepper, and onions. I also brought carrots and celery, but we didn't use those in the stir fry.

Yes, we put up those tents all by ourselves. Go us!

Friday dinner

Saturday night we got the fire going and made baked potatoes (no, I didn't have any), and made individual servings of chicken and veggies in tin foil that we placed on the flames. Some parts got a little charred, but somehow the chicken managed to stay nice and moist.

1000 Views!!!

Woo hoo!!!!!

OMG! I'm happy to report that yesterday y'all helped me achieve 1000 page views! I'm terribly excited and happy that you enjoy following my blog and my experiences with Paleo and working out! I feel like I need flashing lights and banners to truly express how thrilled I am. I wish I had something truly exciting to report for this momentous occasion, however, I seem to be sorely lacking in momentousness. My life is currently consumed with work and preparations for moving apartments next weekend. This fact means that LR and my apartment is in a messy state of packing, which, if you know me at all, means that I'm annoying myself with the lack of order and cleanliness.

I really like trying out all of these new recipes for my diet and sharing them with you. If y'all have any requests for dishes you'd like to see Paleo-ized, let me know!

I haven't had a lot of time to cook this week and I haven't had any fresh meat to cook lately, so I bought some grass-fed thinly-sliced pork loin today. Based on the recommendation of BF, an Atlanta friend, I am going to attempt utilizing a brine prior to cooking. Of course, I'll let you know what the results are!

Where's my Motivation?

You know those days, the ones where you really don't feel like doing anything. Well that could easily describe my last couple days. I'm re-doing last week's P90X schedule because I missed quite a few workouts last week, though I think 3 hours of kayaking on Saturday while camping makes up for some of those. Anyways, I said I was going to be good this week. And yet I started off with a failure. Last night I came home from work fully intending to do my P90X routine. I changed. I put on my shoes. I pulled my hair back. I turned on the video. I started the workout. 10 minutes in, I sat down on the couch and watched 27 Dresses with LR. I don't know why, but I just couldn't make myself do the routine. Granted, I stayed at work until 7 p.m. last night after getting into work at 6:45 a.m., so it was a long day, but I think I've been viewing P90X as a chore instead of something to be excited about.

I did wake up at 4:30 this morning to do the entire P90X routine. And then after work I did the routine I was supposed to do today, so I'm up to date. But I'm slightly bitter about it - I really didn't want to do P90X today.

So what do I do from here? How do I get myself excited about working out? I think I need to find a workout buddy. I'm very much a team sports sort of girl and P90X by myself just isn't working for me... I really need to decide what to do after I finish P90X. I think I need something to look forward to.

P90X - Extended

Last week I was really bad about doing P90X. I did Sunday's workout on Monday, Monday's on Tuesday, and Tuesday's on Thursday. So I'm repeating last week to do all of the workouts that I'm supposed to. This means that my May 6th finish date has been extended to May 13th. Lucky number 13...

Last week suffered mainly because of sleep and my camping preparations. I'll do better this week. I promise!

Don't forget to vote on which workout program/sport/exercise I should do next. Just look to the right...

How To: Chop Onions

Onions make me teary-eyed, so I try to get the entire chopping experience over as quickly as I can. However, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I like the resulting onion pieces to be as uniform in size as possible. What to do? I went to a knife skills class a little over a year ago where they showed me this technique.

1. After removing the outer skin, cut the top and bottom off of your onion.

2. Place one of the flat ends down, and cut the onion in half.

3. With the new flat side down, start cutting 1/4" from one flat edge to the other. You basically want to cut from the outside of the onion to the center of the onion, so your cuts won't be straight up and down. Notice that my first slice shown here is almost horizontal.

4. Work your way radially across the onion. See the sketch below and the following photos for visuals...

I'm an onion. Cut me like this...      .

5. Now you want to cut perpendicular to the cuts you just made.

Notice how I'm holding the onion, with my thumb on one side and my pinkie on the other. This helps maintain the shape of the onion while you cut.

And here's your final product.

"Breaded" Buffalo Chicken Breast

Happy Friday the 13th!

I've been wanting hot wings lately. Unfortunately, I had neither hot wing sauce, nor chicken wings to cook with. So I got inventive and made a breaded chicken breast with a spicy crust. Here's what I did...

"Breaded" Buffalo Chicken Breast
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1 chicken breast
Hot sauce, optional

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix the ingredients in a bowl. Use a spoon or your hands to cover the chicken breast with your almond flour mixture. Coat the chicken breast in a little bit of olive oil first to help it stick

Bake in oven for 10 minutes on each side. Check to make sure the chicken breast is cooked through.  I added a few shakes of tabasco sauce to the final product and ate in a salad. My salad contained pumpkin seeds, walnuts, sliced almonds, carrots, broccoli, and flax seeds. I didn't use any dressing because the chicken gave the salad enough flavor. No pictures of the final result though... I was hungry!

Trail Mix and Blueberry Muffin Lärabar

I found dried blueberries today, which meant that I had to attempt the Blueberry Muffin Lärabar. Here's what I did:

1/4 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup cashews
1 tsp lemon juice



Use the blender or food processor to blend each of the ingredients (excluding the lemon juice) individually. Mix together in a bowl. Measure out 1/4 cup and wrap in saran wrap, molding it into bar shape. And you're done!



And I made my own trail mix:

1/4 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried apples, unsweetened
1/4 cup dried pineapple, unsweetened
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup blanched, sliced almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup almonds, whole

Think I'm ready for camping tomorrow??

Homemade Lärabar

Lärabars are kosher, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, and vegan. They are made with unsweetened fruits (dates, apples, bananas, blueberries, cherries, raisins), nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, peanuts), spices (cinnamon, ginger, cocoa powder, coconut, sea salt). Using these ingredients, the current flavors are below. I've crossed out the ones containing peanuts.

1. Apple Pie
2. Banana Bread
3. Blueberry Muffin
4. Carrot Cake
5. Cashew Cookie
6. Cherry Pie
7. Chocolate Chip Brownie
8. Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte
9. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
10. Chocolate Coconut Chew
11. Coconut Cream Pie
12. Ginger Snap
13. Key Lime Pie
14. Lemon
15. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
16. Peanut Butter Cookie
17. Peanut Butter & Jelly
18. Pecan Pie
19. Tropical Fruit Tart

Last week I was in a rush before work and didn't have time to cook something before running out of the door, so I stopped at the grocery store on the way into work to grab some pre-cut carrots and celery. While I was standing in line to check out, I saw some Lärabars on sale and vaguely remembered trying some at the race expo before my first half marathon in 2011. I picked up a bar and flipped it over to see the ingredients... "Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Non-GMO [genetically modified organism], Vegan, Kosher"... so I grabbed Cashew Cookie and Apple Pie. They were surprisingly good. I ate the Apple Pie once I landed in Atlanta and I let my mom try a piece. The expression on her face was priceless! It was a mix of "ugh, gross" and "something must be wrong with my daughter that she actually likes this." When I told her there's no added sugar, she replied, "Oh! It's pretty good then." Well I like it, and I feel like I appreciate flavors more, now that I'm not covering everything up with salt and sugar.

This coming weekend I'm going camping with some friends. We've been utilizing email and a google spreadsheet to figure out what we'll be eating and who's bringing what food, gear, etc. Based on our meal plan, I know there are some meals that I won't be able to eat, such as hot dogs, prepackaged trail mix, and cinnamon rolls. Because I don't want to impose my eating habits on everyone else, I'm going to bring some food to replace those meals. One of the things I'm going to bring is homemade Lärabars. These are the recipes for the ones I made Tuesday night:

This is really similar in appearance to actual Lärabars

 Apple Pie (made 4)

1/2 cup dates

1/2 cup almonds

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup dried apples, unsweetened

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp water

Pumpkin Pie (made 3)

1/2 cup dates

1/2 cup cashews

2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp water

Ingredients for Apple Pie

Use a food processor or blender to breakdown the dates/fruit into a paste. Transfer the paste to a separate bowl. Put the nuts in the blender and pulse until chopped small, but not to the point that you form flour/meal. Mix the nuts, dates/fruit, and spices together in a bowl. If your mixture isn't binding together, add a little bit of water. Once the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, measure out 1/4 cup of the mixture for each bar and form into bar shape. This is more cleanly done if you roll the 1/4 cup of mixture into a piece of saran wrap before shaping the bar. Repeat for all bars and then place the wrapped bars into a ziploc bag. Store in the fridge - this allows the shape to firm up. There you go. Homemade Lärabars!

Dark Chocolate...the highs and lows

Dark chocolate is chocolate without (or with very little) milk solids added and can be used to refer to unsweetened, bittersweet, or semisweet. It is produced by adding sugar and fat (like lecithin) to the cocoa, and is classified based on the percentage (by weight) of cocoa solids in the bar.  Unsweetened or bitter chocolate is cocoa solids and fat without added sugar; this type is usually used for baking.

After being removed from their pods, cocoa beans are fermented, dried, and roasted. Their shells are then discarded, leaving the "nib." Chocolate liquor is the paste that results from grinding the nib.

Some studies say that dark chocolate helps to lower blood pressure. But don't think that eating milk chocolate is going to help your blood pressure... it's dark chocolate that's "good" for you and is an antioxidant. Keep in mind that dark chocolate is still ripe with calories, so if you want to incorporate it into your diet, you'll need to make concessions elsewhere.

That little lesson on dark chocolate stemmed from this past weekend being Easter, which in my family means that my mother hides plastic Easter eggs filled with candy or an Easter basket filled with candy and other goodies. Because of this whole "Paleo thing", I don't eat candy, and I haven't had any sweets since Lent started. However, after reading various articles and blogs about Paleo, I noticed that most people on the modern caveman diet will eat dark chocolate. So I told my mom I could have dark chocolate for Easter... and she provided in abundance.

It was delicious!! I used to (and still secretly do) love white chocolate, the sweetest stuff out there, so dark chocolate was always too bitter for me. (In case you were wondering, white chocolate is sugar, milk, and cocoa butter, sans cocoa solids. The use of "chocolate" in describing this treat is a bit of a stretch.) However, after not eating sugar for so long, I didn't think the dark chocolate was bitter at all! Unfortunately, this meant that I ate an entire chocolate bunny throughout the day on Monday. Stop those stares! I didn't eat it all in one sitting! I instead spread it out over my trip home, beginning in Atlanta, continuing on the plane, and finishing it off once I got back to Texas. Even more unfortunately, I ended up curled in a ball on my couch clutching my stomach, with Never again! running through my head. Hence I'm restricting myself to one small piece of chocolate per week, which means that I should run out of dark chocolate sometime in November. I'm putting the chocolate in my freezer now...

Paleo Shepherd's Pie

So Sunday morning started with my parents and I making a frittata for breakfast. We used one chicken breast and a bunch of veggies. While the frittata was baking in the oven, I started the preparation for my Mushroom-Stuffed Chicken Breast by marinading the chicken (see below) and making the mushroom-bacon stuffing.

Chicken Marinade
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

After a late brunch, we went for a 5-mile walk around Stone Mountain and rented a movie on the way home. We started on dinner (below) after the movie ended.

Paleo Shepherd's Pie

1 lb ground beef, grass-fed (substitute with any type of ground meat)
3 carrots, diced
5 mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tbls fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tbls fresh sage, chopped
1 tbls fresh thyme, chopped
paprika

Mashed Cauliflower
2 cloves garlic, roughly sliced
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp garlic salt
2 cups water or chicken broth
3/4 head cauliflower, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Saute the ground beef in a large pan on medium heat until browned. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, and mushrooms, cooking until soft. Mix in 3/4 of your fresh herbs. Cover and remove from heat.

Heat the water, garlic, rosemary, and garlic salt in a medium pot on high heat. After it boils, reduce to medium-high heat and add the cauliflower in a steamer basket (I used a stainless steel collapsible steamer basket). Cook until cauliflower is soft and starts to fall apart when stuck with a fork. Remove from heat and let cook for a few minutes. Place into a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and stir in your remaining herbs.

After blender

Before the oven

Transfer your meat/veggie mixture into an oven safe baking pan or corning-ware. Spread the mashed cauliflower across the top and sprinkle with paprika. Bake on the middle shelf for 15 minutes, or until mashed cauliflower is slightly toasty.

We served the shepherd's pie with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and steamed carrots. Enjoy!

Happy Easter and Paleo in Atlanta

In honor of Easter weekend, I've returned to my hometown to visit my family. We went to dinner Friday night and got steak. Yum!!! Unfortunately I also managed to lose my camera at the restaurant. I'm very sad about that. Possibly this is an excuse for me to invest in a SLR.

Yesterday morning my parents and I all slept in until around 9 a.m. All of us sleeping in that late is unheard of in our household. I woke up and took the yorkies outside, at which point my mom got up to join me for Kenpo X. Yes, you read that right. My mother, who is 34 years older than me, did P90X. So what's your excuse for not working out? It better be a good one!

After P90X, we made scrambled eggs with veggies, my leftover steak, and some ham. I used my mom's camera to document the experience. We used 1/4 cup each of yellow, orange, red, and green bell peppers, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/3 cup onions, 1/2 cup broccoli, 3 mushrooms, sliced, and 9 eggs. We used 2 slices of ham, cubed, and 1/4 cup steak.

Begin by heating 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, cooking until translucent. Then add in all of the veggies. If you are like me, I prefer the peppers to be a bit more crisp, so I'll usually add the mushrooms and broccoli 5 minutes before I add the peppers. After you've cooked the veggies to your liking, add the pre-cooked meat. If your meat isn't pre-cooked, you should add in the meat after the onions and garlic.

Mix in the eggs and cook until fluffy. Serve with some sliced avocado and top with salsa (my dad preferred ketchup, so if you like that, whip up some home-made paleo ketchup and use that instead).

I love my parents' kitchen. They have so any nifty gadgets and pretty stainless steel. Did I mention that my parents, like me, organized their spices in alphabetical order?... I love them!

Voilà!

Post P90X?

I have one month from today until I finish my first round of P90X and I'm not sure what I should do after 90X. Do I just repeat it again? Do I go with the popular route with other Paleo enthusiasts and try out CrossFit? What to do?!?!

I've set up a poll for y'all to tell me what you think. Just look to the right under the Follow by Email section. You'll have until April 27th to respond. The options are: P90X (again), CrossFit, Rowing, and Archery, Kickboxing, and Krav Maga. I'd like to point out though that Archery will be done in combination with another activity (yet to be determined).

Why Paleo? Part 2 - Migraines

I'm one of those unfortunate people who gets migraines and has headaches on a daily basis. It's a family thing I guess, because my dad gets the same sort of thing and he's learned that his headaches are triggered by changes in pressure (a.k.a. weather) and correlates to eating wheat gluten. I know that my headaches correlate very strongly with a lack of sleep (as I've experienced lately), and my headaches usually get worse right after I eat, regardless of what I eat (though the intensity may vary). Additionally, the other week my doctor told me that processed foods can cause migraines. Well, Paleo fits in REALLY well with that. And the result is that my daily headaches aren't as bad and sometimes take a day off from tormenting me.

A migraine is a throbbing headache usually associated with nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and/or sound. Usually the headache is focused on one side of the head. The exact chain of events that cause a migraine are still unclear. It's theorized that migraines are caused by swollen blood vessels in the brain pressing on nearby nerves. The attack begins in the brain, and involves nerve pathways and chemicals, affecting blood flow in the brain and surrounding tissues (1). Migraines are often seen in adults 25 to 55 years old (2).

Migraine symptoms vary based on the individual and the trigger. Most of them occur without warning, though some warning signs may include:

• Aura (usually vision disturbances)
• Numbness or tingling in lips, face, or hands
• Weakness in arms or legs
• Difficulty focusing

The "migraine hangover" are symptoms that linger after the migraine has passed:

• Feeling mentally dull, like your thinking is not clear or sharp
• Increased need for sleep
• Neck pain

The following are a list of common triggers (1):

• Caffeine withdrawal
• Changes in hormone levels during a woman's menstrual cycle or with the use of birth control pills. (Women are 3 times more likely to have migraines than men by their early 20s.)
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Exercise or other physical stress
• Missed meals
• Smoking or exposure to smoke
• Alcohol
• Stress and anxiety
• Certain odors or perfumes
• Loud noises or bright lights

And now for a list of common food triggers (1) (I've highlighted the ones that the Paleo diet excludes):

• Any processed, fermented, pickled, or marinated foods
• Foods containing monosodium glutamate (MSG)
• Chocolate
• Nuts
• Peanut butter
• Dairy
• Foods containing tyramine (red wine, aged cheese, smoked fish, chicken livers, figs, and certain beans)
• Fruits
• Meats containing nitrates (bacon, hot dogs, salami, cured meats - a.k.a. processed)
• Onions

There are three types of medication to take as a preventative measure:

• Blood pressure medication
• Anti-depressants
• Anti-seizure

In fall 2010, I had done my own little experiment where I went gluten-free for a month and a half to see how my body responded to it. Gluten-free resulted in fewer headaches than when I ate gluten. Also, the number of stomachaches I experienced decreased when I didn't eat gluten. To be honest, switching to the Paleo diet has actually been easier for me than just doing gluten-free. My assumed reasoning for this is that I still wanted wheat bread, crackers, and the like, because I was eating other grains. Sure I sometimes want chips and salsa or bread now, but it's easier for me to restrain myself.

Plus the paleo lifestyle promotes exercise and sleep. It's recommended that you go to sleep when it's dark out and even blackout your room (already done!). You shouldn't use an alarm, instead you should wake up when you feel rested. This infographic is decent summary of the history of today's version of the paleo diet. I'm set on the exercise front, but I need some work on setting aside time for sleep.

References:
1. "Migraine," PubMed Health; A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001728/
2. "Understanding Migraines," Relpax; http://www.relpax.com/understanding.aspx?source=google&HBX_PK=s_migraine&HBX_OU=50&o=32174861|210521462|0&skwid=43700003069423602

Why Paleo? Part 1

For those who know me, you know that I've had my fair share of health issues thanks to a terrible immune system. During college, one of my bosses at my on-campus job told me "You put your own spin on it [being sick]." In other words, I'd get sick, but I'd have multiple things going wrong at the same time. For example, not only would I have a cold, but also I would get barotrauma in my ears (a.k.a. small tears on my eardrum) thanks to flying, which resulted in vertigo in addition to a cold. Yes, it happened. I've have exercise-induced asthma since at least 1st grade, and I used to get tonsillitis every single year of my life (the doctors would never believe me and my parents when we guaranteed that it wasn't strep throat) until I got my tonsils removed at age 21 after having chronic tonsillitis for a period of 3 months. I never realized at the time, but I would have colds for months on end throughout grade school. My friends joked that I was always sick. At age 18, I got shingles (the flare up of the chicken-pox virus that supposedly only the elderly and those with terrible immune systems need to worry about - Thanks immune system!). Plus, I'd frequently get stomach pain, especially right after eating, which kind of makes life in general annoying.

I know two big factors in my health are stress and a lack of sleep. My migraines get worse when I'm stressed and when I haven't gotten enough sleep. I tend to get sick easily, and living at the office for 50 hours each week isn't exactly conducive to avoiding colds since so many of us come to work even if we are sick (we don't want to miss our numerous deadlines).

The Paleo diet can correct these issues as well as many others. It also reduces your risk factors for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. This diet/lifestyle helps to reduce and even reverse many different illnesses/symptoms because many diseases have root causes in common, such as inflammation, gut irritation, and insulin sensitivity.

In the past month and a half, I've had the beginnings of a cold a few times, but haven't actually gotten a full-blown cold, which is a miracle (just ask my co-workers). The frequency of my stomach pain has decreased significantly as well. I can't tell you if this is purely the result of going Paleo, or if my diet has worked with my increased exercising to improve my health, but the bottom line is I am healthier.

Wild-Caught Snapper

Monday night, Z and I watched MirrorMask before doing the P90X workout of the day - Plyometrics (a.k.a. "the mother of all workouts" according to Tony). The workout ended up being a bit later in the day than I normally do mine, but having someone to work out with is awesome. I focused more on my technique and my competitive edge made me jump higher than I normally would by myself. And I got to talk to someone while I worked out, though I don't think he appreciated it so much (sorry, Z!). On the down side, my ankle angrily reminded me that I'm not supposed to jump at all - doctor's orders. The ice pack was super painful last night, to the point that I was writhing in pain once I strapped the ice onto my ankle. I toughed it out though and my ankle was a bit nicer today.

In an effort to try a new type of fish, I recently bought wild-caught Snapper at the nearby grocery store, where the butcher just told me I had a beautiful smile that brightened his day. He commented that my eyes are beautiful and unique and he hoped that he had brightened my day too. It made me smile, so mission accomplished. Plus, getting a compliment is a nice way to start attempting to cook something new. Here's what I did...

Snapper with Tomatoes

Snapper with Tomatoes and Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Snapper fillet (~1 pound). Get wild-caught if possible/affordable.
2 tomatoes, sliced

1 leek

1 clove garlic

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil
1 tbls lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Check the fish to ensure that all bones and scales have been removed (run your finger over the meat). Season with salt and pepper. Combine the tomatoes and leeks in a bowl with olive oil. Season with fresh-minced garlic, salt, and pepper.

Arrange the fish on the baking sheet, followed by the tomato mixture. Splash with lemon juice. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the snapper is cooked through. Remove from skin (should come off easily) and plate with tomatoes.

Before cooking                                                                                       After cooking

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

3 cups Brussels Sprouts

3 tbls olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp garlic salt

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Rinse and dry the Brussels sprouts. Pull off the first couple outer leaves and slice each in half.

 Place the Brussels sprouts in a bowl and add the olive oil, garlic, and garlic salt. Toss to coat evenly (you could also use a plastic bag and shake to coat).  

Place the sliced side down onto a baking pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the centers of the Brussels sprouts are soft. See the picture above for what they will look like.

Jousting

Today was just a normal Sunday, except for much much better... I woke up at 6:30 this morning to do P90X and get ready before we left for Sherwood Forest Faire. Today was the Jousting Tournament and the conclusion to this year's Sherwood Forest Faire season. Knights of Mayhem (as seen on National Geographic) performed the jousting.

If I ever have to go fully Paleo and hunt my own food, I think I'd ask for lessons from them. They can fight on horseback and clearly have a bit of a violent side. I did test my skills at Axe Throw and Long Bow though. I think I have a good basis at each, so I'll work on honing my skills.

Be afraid. Be very afraid!

We also spent some time at the combat arena for the Combat Tournament of Sherwood, where we learned to hit 'em where it hurts.

 Yeah, so today is mainly photos. I hope you enjoyed them!