30 Days of Yoga - Day 1

Day One of 30DoY (30 Days of Yoga) is a go! After snoozing my 5:30 a.m. alarm for 10 minutes, I made the last minute decision to go to a 6 am "Wake Up and Salute the Sun" yoga class. Luckily, the yoga studio is only 5 minutes from my home, so I had enough time to roll out of bed, throw on my yoga clothes, grab my yoga mat, and stroll into the studio. It was calming, yet made me sweat... just a little. I guess I'm used to my Krav Maga Flex class which consists of super-intense yoga/boot camp, where we may start out with rolling partner push-ups, move to partner stretches (your partner literally sits on you to help you stretch more), next to splits, and then on to inversions (this past week we worked on hand stands). So a hour-long class of upward/downward dog, sun salutations, warrior 1 & 2, forward folds, and boats isn't all that challenging. But I will say that while Flex is humorously too intense for most of us, the morning class is a great way to start the day with a peaceful and calm attitude. Now I just need to figure out how to turn off my brain and focus on my "practice." And how to maintain that calm throughout the workday. It's only day one though. Let's see how I progress over the month.

How did your first day go?

30 Days of Yoga

On May 1st I'm starting 30 days of yoga. Why? you ask. Well, I've been attending a yoga class at my Krav Maga studio for the last few months. It's only once a week, but I love going. I more regularly attend Flex than I do the actual Krav Maga classes. I guess I just haven't been in the mood to hit people lately. Anywho, I'm super stoked about starting a month of yoga. I want to get more flexible, and yoga is a nice joint-friendly, surprisingly tough workout. When I did yoga last summer, I swear I ended every class soaked in sweat. And let me tell you, maintaining an inverted pose while your hands keep sliding away from your center of balance is not an easy task.

So I'm doing 30 days of yoga. Are you with me? Email me and let me know! Let's do this!

Update (30APR2014): If you're looking for free online yoga videos to do from the comfort of your own home, there are a bunch of website that offer free videos, such as doyogawithme.com or myfreeyoga.com.

Happy Easter!

Yeah, I'm a day late, but I hope you all had a fantastic Easter.. if you celebrate it. If you don't, you can at least enjoy all of the candy that's now on sale. Except if you're hard-core Paleo that is. In which case, go buy yourself a high-quality dark chocolate, like this bar of 75% Cacao Fearless Chocolate that I found on sale at Whole Foods. The two (yes, only two) ingredients in this bar of chocolate are organic cacao and organic cane sugar. Sure, we try to stay away from added sugar, but if you're going to have a bar of chocolate, aim for the stuff with the least amount of sugar, and go for organic. They also have a 85% cacao bar.

Anyways, in honor of Easter, I decided to cook myself a yummy breakfast. Because what's Sunday morning without brunch?

Veal Chorizo and Artichoke Scrambled Eggs

1/4 lb chorizo-flavored ground veal (Click here to find a chorizo seasoning recipe)

1/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped (you can use frozen or marinated artichokes)

1/4 cup frozen cut leaf spinach, thawed

2 eggs, whisked

1. Heat a pan over medium heat. Break the ground veal into small bites and add to the pan. Heat until thoroughly cooked.

2. Toss in the artichokes and spinach, then add the eggs. Cook for a few minutes until the eggs are done.

Serve with a side of sweet potato hash browns and a small glass of blueberry kombucha. Happy Easter!

And in exciting news for today, I convinced myself to do the Chest and Back P90X workout today after work. I also have finally managed a headstand. I got myself up and held it for 20 seconds without using the wall for support. Huzzah! I'm super excited about it! I never knew I had a goal to do that, but after practicing inversions with my Krav Maga yoga class, that goal just developed. And today was a good start on my way to doing a handstand. I feel productive. And enthused. But now, I'm going to go to bed and get my eight hours of sleep. Sweet dreams, y'all!

W30D17

Hey, guess what? I just realized that we're over halfway through with this Whole 30. Rock on! It hasn't been too bad so far, if you exclude my Saturday Irish stew consumption, but that was a brief hiccup. I have to admit that I've been fighting off the urge to sneak a piece of dark chocolate. Notice that I used the word "sneak," because I know that I shouldn't be eating it so I feel like I'd need to hide it. I've fought off the urge for the past two nights. Want to know my motivation for saying no? Of course you do... It's the fact that I'd have to call up Jay and confess that I ate dark chocolate during a Whole 30. That's a definite no-no. And after I called him, I'd post it on here. For all of you to read. Yeah, it's good to be held accountable by someone other than just yourself.

I really need to start going to bed earlier. I'm not sure how exactly to make this happen, because I keep finding myself writing these posts and finally replying to emails at the end of each day. Because I stayed up till 11:30 last night, it took me a while to get moving this morning. I snoozed my 5:00 a.m., 5:15 a.m., and 5:30 a.m. alarms, and finally got up at 5:50 to shuffle over to my rowing machine and get a morning workout in. Note to self: Don't get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom... There is a 7' long rowing machine in your way.

Now on to the yummy stuff.

Rosemary Lamb Chop

1 lb lamb chop

4 Tbls olive oil

2 Tbls chopped rosemary

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

1. Mix 2 Tbls olive oil, rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper together. Rub mixture into the meat, cover, and let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes or more.

2. Heat the remaining two Tbls olive oil over high heat in an cast iron pan (or something capable of going into the oven). Once hot, add the lamb chop and sear on each side for 3-4 minutes.

3. Transfer to 400 F oven and cook for 4-5 minutes. (optional)

4. Move the lamb chops to a plate or cutting board and cover with tin foil. Let rest for 5-10 minutes. Then eat up.

ECD9: 45 minutes rowing + 15 minutes practicing inversions (a.k.a. head stands). I'm getting closer to being able to hold it for more than 5 seconds.

W30D16

What can I do with all of that chicken that I roasted the other day? Easy. Time to pull out that crock pot...

Spinach, Pepper, and Chicken Quiche

12 eggs

1 cup coconut milk

2 cups shredded chicken (for me, this was all of the meat from the wings and thighs)

1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 cup chopped bell peppers (I used red, orange, and yellow)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3/4 tsp hot sauce (cayenne pepper)

1. Whisk the eggs and coconut together. Mix in the spices.

2. Spread the chicken, spinach, and peppers in the bottom of the crockpot.

3. Pour in the egg and coconut mixture.

4. Set crockpot on high and cook for 2.5 hours.

5. Slice into six pieces and serve.

Look at that thick slice of quiche. Isn't it pretty?

ECD8: 1 hour Krav Maga Flex (yoga)

W30D12

ECD4: 2 hours of Primal activity.

Today I did my first so-called Primal workout. It wasn't high intensity, but I definitely felt tired during and after it. What can I say? Running around the park and crawling over and under trees and branches can wear me out. We started off the afternoon with warm-ups/stretches and then left the running path to head into the "woods." jumped over bushes, climbed trees, and bear crawled under tree limbs. After we emerged from the wooded area, we then bear crawled across the grass to a few bleachers, where we bear crawled up and down the bleachers before jumping off of the bleachers and then climbing the chain-link fence around the nearby baseball field. Yeah, we were kind of all over the place. And we had a cop watching us the entire time we crawled around. It was a bit creepy.

After crawling around for a while, we ran/weaved through some trees before finding ourselves at a playground. Man, I miss playgrounds! I think we all need to make more time for playing. Because seriously, running around on playgrounds, sliding down slides, and jumping across bridges. Why did we EVER stop doing this. After playing around there for 20 or so minutes, we headed into another wooded area that had fallen trees everywhere. (Thanks to our last hurricane for all of the excellent trees to run on.) I felt like we were running through a bog. My feet were sinking into the mud during the times we couldn't stay balanced on trees. Let me tell you, ponds/mud/bogs are a pretty good motivator for maintaining your balance.

All in all, it was awesome. I really REALLY want to do it again. I can't remember the last time that I just played around outside. I've spent time outside doing organized activities like running or rowing, but I haven't done a random jaunt around a park picking up tree limbs and throwing them around. I've got a few scrapes and bruises to show for it, but that's kind of what I signed up for, so I'm pleased with the experience.

And to go along with new things, I tried out a new Brussels sprouts recipe. What do you think?

Lemon and Onion Brussels Sprouts

2 Tbls olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

15 Brussels sprouts, halved

2 Tbls minced fresh basil

2 Tbls lemon juice

1. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5-10 minutes until translucent.

2. Place the Brussels sprouts, cut side down, in the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes until browned. Flip and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

3. Add the lemon juice and basil, cooking until the flavors have fully incorporated. Serve and enjoy.

W30D10

Well, I managed to wake up at 4:58 a.m. to get my ass over to my Krav Maga studio for their 5:25 a.m. Meta (metamorphosis/boot camp) class, followed by the 6 a.m. Krav Maga 1 class. In the 30 minutes of Meta, I did 66 burpees, 54 hollow rocks, 54 kettle bell push-presses, 54 up-down planks, and 54 Krav get-ups. We were supposed to do more, but I did move fast enough... for good reason, I was exhausted. We worked on elbows, knees, head-butts, and side choke holds today. By the time I got done with my Krav class, I had scraped off the skin of my right elbow due to throwing elbows against a pad, had gotten elbowed in the head more times that I could count, and had a slightly rug-burned neck from snatching my partner's hands away from it and out of the choke hold. Yeah, it can get a bit violent, but I always leave feeling happy and energetic. Right now, roughly 16 hours after the start of my first workout, I'm starting to feel the muscle soreness. I can only imagine what tomorrow is going to be like.

I'm thinking about getting a Fitbit. Any thoughts? Suggestions? Is it worth getting one?

Chicken and Sweet Potato Stuffed Peppers

(this is pretty similar to a recipe I posted last year, with some differences)

1 1/2 lb chicken, cut into 1" pieces

3 bell peppers, whichever color you want

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

2 small jalapeno, finely diced

2 tsp chili pepper

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 Tbls lime juice

2 Tbls olive oil

1 sweet potato

1. Mix your ingredients together in a large bowl or gallon-sized plastic bag. Toss/shake until the chicken is evenly coated. Cover/seal and place in the fridge for an hour or two. Take a break, read a book, or cook other things.

2. In the meantime or after you get back to cooking after your break, heat your oven to 400 F. Prick your sweet potato with a fork all over and bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until tender. Remove from oven and let cool. Then chop up half to all of the sweet potato into 1 cm chunks. Set aside.

3. Remove for chicken/veggie mixture from the oven and spread on a pan. Cook in the 400 F for 25-30 minutes until almost completely done.

4. While this is cooking, slice the tops off of the bell peppers and remove the seeds.

5. Mix together the chicken and the sweet potatoes and stuff into the peppers.

6. Place on a pan and cook for 30 minutes, or until peppers have softened.

ECD2: 30 minute boot camp style + 1 hour Krav Maga

BMI is BS

My company hosted a health fair on Monday. Various different insurance companies, eye doctors, dental providers, etc. came to one of our offices to tell us about how great their services are. I'm sure they're all great, but that's not why I'm telling you about this health fair. I'm sharing this not-so-juicy tidbit because of the comparison of Body Mass Index (BMI) against body fat percentage. BMI is calculated based on your height and weight. Your body fact percentage can be measured with the use of a Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) - something like this. The long and short of it is that an electrical current is sent through your body via two conductors. The resistance of this circuit provides an indication of the amount of fat between the conductors. Fat is a poor conductor of electricity, whereas muscle is a good conductor due to the water and electrolytes found in the muscles. Okay, so you've got some of the theory now. And if you've used one of the hand-held or scale BIA monitors, you've seen your % body fat. What does this mean? Well, there's different standards, but here's the breakdown I received at the health fair.

Though I don't really want to share this value, I will... just to make a point. My percent body fat was 30.7%, which is within the healthy range. However, my BMI is 29.2, which is on the overweight/leaning toward obese side.

My conversation with the woman who gave me the BIA test went a bit like this:

Health Professional: Oh, 30.7% - that's good. You're healthy. Oh, but your BMI is 29.2, that's right at the edge of the critical range. You really need to watch that. You should make sure you're staying active.

Me: Well, I exercise 30-90 minutes almost every day, and I watch my food intake and follow clean eating guidelines. What else should I be doing?

Health Professional: Oh, um, just keep doing what you're doing. Once you hit 30 years old, your metabolism starts to decrease.

Me: Oh, thanks. So I'm great as I am, even though you told me I'm almost obese? (Okay. So, I didn't actually say that, but I thought it. There were probably some mean names thrown in there, too.)

Seriously though... I'd really like to know how I'm considered healthy with one standard, yet border-line obese with another. I feel healthy. I can handle 90 minutes of moderate to intense exercise on a fairly regular basis, and I seem to be able to move around just fine, minus some joint pain. Hey. I'm not perfect. I still have weight I think I should lose to reduce said joint pain. So I'm going with the decision that BMI is BS!

Still not convinced? I decided to play around with the numbers to see how the healthy range of each scale measured up to each other (at least for my fat-free body mass). The table below is what I calculated for my body. I've highlighted the cells in green that fall within the "healthy" range for each method.

Body fat percentage and BMI are completely exclusive of each other for me. To be considered healthy according to my BMI, I'd need to become a professional athlete... or completely starve myself, like seriously stop eating period, maybe throw in a daily laxative for good measure, and stop moving altogether. I obviously can't keep working or strengthening my muscles, because I would need to lose muscle mass to get to the low end of the BMI scale. I should also point out that essential fat for women is 10-13% (for men it's 2-5%), so if you take that into consideration, my 10-13% body fat range corresponds to 22.5-23.3 BMI. This leaves me with the BMI range of 23.4 to 24.9, that could maybe be achievable without completely disregarding the % body fat... that is if I were an athlete.

Anyways, I get really up-in-arms about this because I've had doctors fret about my BMI and tell me that I should aim for a weight that is unattainable for my body type/composition. I had a doctor in the past tell me that I could stop losing weight once I hit a weight that corresponded to roughly a BMI of 20. Hello 0% body fat, good-bye curves, but more importantly, good-bye health, energy, and exercise. I feel very grateful that my dad is an exercise physiologist and physical activity epidemiologist. Who knows how different I would have been if I blindly attempted such ridiculous weight-loss goals. I'd probably be constantly depressed and food-obsessed. I'd be constantly thinking about food and how hungry I am because I'd be practically starving myself, yet I'd be depressed because I would never be able to reach these goals.

In summary... I'm choosing to ignore BMI from here on out. Instead I will listen to my body and use my eyes to assess how I think I look. I may supplement this with sporadic body fat percentage measurements if I feel like it. BMI is BS! Thanks for listening.

Note: Please remember that the numbers I provided here apply to me and my body. If you're truly serious about weight loss and your percent body fat, I suggest talking to a health professional and/or a nutritionist. While the BIAs that you can buy on Amazon or at fitness stores can give you an estimate of your body fat, it is not the most accurate method of measurement out there. For example, underwater weighing (hydrostatic weighing) measures the displacement of water volume when your body is submerged in water and measures the change in weight. This method is more accurate than the hand-held monitor. Just so you know...

Whole 30 - Day 32

My fingers are burning. The cuticles and the skin beneath my fingernails are burning. And even worse... the open blisters from last weekend's regatta. Seriously... OMG! It's not stopping... Why? Because I was cutting jalapenos. And apparently I didn't do a good job washing my hands. Sigh. I'm not sure how to make it stop. It's been burning for the last hour at least. Oh well. I guess something's bound to happen when you cook frequently. The other week my mom said that she used coconut oil to combat the burning. It doesn't seem to work for me. Tragic!

Yesterday I went to a Krav Maga class and Metamorphosis class. The Meta class is basically a boot camp/CrossFit/kettle bell class. Yesterday's class consisted of 1 minute of each exercise, with 15 seconds in between. Two rounds. I kind of wanted to die. I had to actively think about breathing to make sure I kept sucking in oxygen. And I was sweating like crazy. It was a great workout. Here's the list of the exercises:

1. Toe taps
2. Straight Punches
3. Knees/Kicks (with the punching bag)
4. Ground-and-pounds
5. Push-ups
6. Burpees
7. Jump Squats
8. Battle rope/high knees
9. Kettlebell Swings

And then I had an hour of Krav Maga. Good recovery meal is leftover sweet potato and ground beef. Great way to get some carbs and protein in for post-workout recovery.

Whole 30 - Day 27

Lots of photos tonight. There's nothing I'd like more than to go straight to bed, but I'm taking a few minutes to share my day with you. I cheated again today. I had gluten-free beer. Two days in a row of cheating? Yeah... I thought about saying no, but I decided to drink it. Let me explain why...

After falling asleep around 11 last night, I woke up a few times throughout the night because my hotel room got really cold. The first time was around 1 a.m., and I got up to turn down the air. The second time was about 4 a.m., but I just burrowed under the covers more. Then I woke up at 5 a.m. and burrowed further. My alarm finally went off at 5:45, but I didn't roll out of bed until 6, after my second alarm went off. I had laid out everything last night, so it didn't take me long to head to the front desk to check out at 6:30 a.m. and then grab some of the eggs at their free breakfast. I'm pretty sure everyone at breakfast that early was there for the regatta (registration started at 6:30).

Anyways, I drove the quarter-mile to the boathouse and we started setting up camp for the day. After a brief course/safety session, we starting getting on the water for the first races. My races were at 8:30, 9:30, and 10:30, though everything kind of fell behind, so I spent probably 90% of my time from 7:50 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. on the water. I rowed 18,000 m today. When you're not racing, you're helping your other teammates with their boats or their oars so that they can launch their boats from the docks. Or you're scarfing down some sort of sustenance in between guzzling water. Once our races were done, we all celebrated with a beer or two (just one gluten-free beer for me), before de-rigging all of our boats for transport back to our boathouse. (We remove the riggers which hold our oars in place so that we can fit all of our boats on one trailer and so that the trailer can be towed without smacking into cars on either side.) Once everything was loaded, all of our garbage collected, and our tent and chairs stowed in our cars, we made the 4.5-hour drive back to our boathouse for unloading and rigging the boats, storing our oars, pushing the trailer back into the back of our boathouse, hanging the slings, and carrying the boats to their proper racks in the boathouse.

This all finished around 9 p.m. I made a quick stop at Whole Foods to grab some food for dinner, but by the time I got home around 9:45, I wasn't hungry anymore. I dragged myself to my room, showered, and started this post. Sigh... I'm too tired to be hungry, but apparently not tired enough to skip out on this.

So with all of the rowing, carrying boats up hills, and general weight-lifting as we overhead press our boats onto the trailers or to avoid hitting things, I decided I deserved a beer... in a social setting. Granted, it probably wasn't the smartest decision from a dehydration standpoint, but I don't feel guilty about it. All I feel right now is tired and sore and a little sunburned.

So to wrap this up, here are some photos from today. I only took photos after I had finished my races, and I don't have any of me actually racing... maybe someone else took some...

Yve and I after our races

Mixed Masters Quad

Watching as boats are brought down to the dock

One of the women in my quad today is on crutches, but she stilled rowed in two races = Dedication!

The row of boats (haha, get it?)

Beaker came to watch

Relaxing/collapsing after our races

And enjoying a gluten-free beer. Judge away.

Whole 30 - Day 23

Breakfast today was leftover veggies from Sunday night's stir-fry with a few slices of Proscuitto and watermelon.

Lunch consisted of leftover steak and fajita veggies, some "power greens" from Trader Joes. I also had a snack of plantain chips, apple slices, 3 strawberries, some pineapple, and some grapes (we had a meeting at work during lunch and my only viable food options were fruit).

Dinner was a post-workout sweet potato with an egg, and some pomegranate seeds.

I read an article recently from Fitrocracy about weight loss: http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/weight-loss-101/. This article provided a link to a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculator in order to determine your ideal caloric intake for weight loss. Your BMR is the amount of calories that your body burns while at rest. Now to accurately determine the BMR of your specific body, lab experiments need to be run, including a gas analysis through direct or indirect calorimetry. I bet most of you don't want to spend the time or money to have these tests, so in the meantime, you can get an estimate of your BMR from one of these websites: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ or http://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html. You can then use the Harris-Benedict Equations (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/) to determine what your caloric intake should be based on your lifestyle/activity level. Alternatively, if you want to use the Mifflin St Jeor Equation, this calculator can be used: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm. The Harris-Benedict equations were originally developed in 1919, and then updated in 1984. The Mifflin St Jeor equations were developed in 1990 and take into account the change in lifestyle over the last century, a.k.a. we're a bit more sedentary. Keep in mind that these formulas don't take into account lean body mass. If you know what your % body fat is, then you can use your lean body mass [your weight * (100% - %body fat)] with the Katch-McArdle or Cunningham formulas.

As you can probably guess, I've read about this just a bit and would in fact like to lose weight. I wouldn't say that I'm actively counting calories, but it's a side effect of using PaleoTrack.com to keep track of my nutrient intake. I've posted before that it's rather difficult to achieve ideal Paleo nutrition. To add another layer of difficulty, the article I mentioned above said that you should eat your goal weight in grams of protein, i.e. if your goal weight is 100 lb (not that mine is), you should aim for 100 g of protein per day. That's a LOT of protein, and it's much higher than what I tend to consume in a day. And I've found that a lot of protein sources, like beef and chicken, have high omega-6:omega-3 ratios, which messes up my fatty acid ratio. So I guess that means I should eat fish every day? Yikes. Though I've gotten past most of my aversion to raw meat, I haven't quite gotten used to the idea of handling raw fish every day. I still find it gross.

Lead with your rice?

See this BBC article on USA rice. I know this is a couple months old, but still... in case you didn't have enough reason not to eat rice, apparently some of the rice you can find here in the United States contain 20 to 120 times the provisional total tolerable intake (PTTI). The high end of that range applies in particular to children among groups who eat a higher than average amount of rice, such as those of Asian or Latin background. For the average adult, the levels of lead in rice can be 20 to 40 times higher than the PTTI.

Who'da thunk?

And in other news... my candlelight yoga class tonight was intense. Seriously. Do you know how odd it is to have sweat dripping up your chin while your arms shake in downward dog, downward dog split, and dolphin poses? I definitely never thought that yoga was sweat-worthy. Sure, sports involving lots of cardio = sweating, but yoga? Really? And of course, I'm dripping sweat to the point that my hands and feet started slipping on the yoga mat. Fortunately my arms and legs didn't splay out so that I belly-flopped onto the mat. Ah, the little things in life...

I checked my mail after I got back from yoga. My mailman/woman/person was probably furious with me for letting my little mailbox get so full. But as a nice surprise for me, I got a package in the mail. And what was in this wonderful little package? A new pair of spandex yoga capris. Super soft ones. And I love my spandex so much that I actually started talking to it. Word-for-word, this was what I said to my spandex capris: "Oh! Look how soft you are! Helllllooooo, lover!" Yes, I'm weird. I love spandex. I think I truly realized this love when I started rowing back in college. And since then, I would willingly wear spandex whenever possible. Sadly, I don't think that work would be too cool with that, but man would I like to. Ah, the comfort that I could feel while sitting at work all day every day. But then my company doesn't give us standing desks, why would they let me wear spandex to work? I'll work on it...

Ow, blisters...

Last Thursday night I stroked a quad. I know what you're thinking: She did what???

A quad is a 4-person boat in which the rowers scull, meaning that you row with two oars. Stroking the boat means I was the stroke seat (sitting in the stern of the boat) and set the pace for the rest of the boat. I was stroke seat in college too, but we rowed sweep then, meaning we used one longer oar. I also started having asthma attacks every time I stroked. One of the attacks was bad enough to send me to the hospital. But I'm happy to report that I did not have an asthma attack last night. Yay!

When I rowed in college, we weren't allowed to use gloves. It was supposedly a safety concern. I guess the oar could have slipped out of our hands, resulting in the oar smacking us in the face and possibly flipping us out of the boat (worst case scenario). My current crew team falls under the masters category, since we're not rowing with a school. My team could care less if we wear gloves. In fact, a large number of us do. I use a pair of little boy-sized football gloves because they're grippy.

Anyways, I don't like to scull with gloves because the Velcro strap on the left glove tends to scrape against my right wrist and it feels like it's going to get pulled open. So last night, for the first time since rejoining crew, I rowed without gloves. The result? 11 new blisters on my hands. Two of the blisters ripped open on my left hand, and somehow I got blisters underneath those. Impressive, huh? I also have lots of little scrapes on the first two knuckles of my left hand from the fingernails of my right hand scratching against them while rowing. The things we do to ourselves for sports...

After getting home, I poured some hydrogen peroxide on the open blisters to clean them out. Can you say "pain"? And my post-workout shower... Well, hot water HURTS! Despite all of this pain, I'm still kind of excited to have blisters again. It means that I was trying hard, and it's kind of like a sense of pride. Rowers, like cross-fitters, like to compare blisters. We like seeing how bad it can get. We're a weird group of people, huh?

During my novice year of rowing (sophomore year of college), I roomed with a gymnast/cheerleader. We used to talk about and compare blisters. She told me that she used to use pickle juice to dry out the blisters she got from gymnastics. It just so happened that I had an almost empty jar of pickles in the fridge, so after a weekend regatta, I decided to give it a try... I don't recommend it. Mainly it just burned, and my hands smelled like pickles for the next few days. And "pickle" isn't a great perfume choice.

A blister is a pocket of fluid that forms within the upper layers of skin. In my case with crew, the blister is formed by forceful rubbing/friction between my sweaty hands and the oar. See my post about blood blisters for how to treat blisters at home (it's basically the same). Also, don't use alcohol on the blisters because this can delay the healing process.

Alcohol and Meat Roll-ups

Last Thursday's workout took roughly 45 minutes. I drew from my one CrossFit experience of Fran:
Warm-up: 20 lunges, 20 pushups, 20 squats, 10 minutes elliptical

Thrusters (21-15-9@ 50 lb)

Assisted Pull-ups(21-15-9)
Reverse Curls (2x20 @ 10 lb)

Cycle - 30 minutes

Last Friday was Rabbie Burns Night, so my friends and I went to a Scottish pub to celebrate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxIBqpryG0&playnext=1&list=PL76C25FB248957F10&feature=results_video

I drank cider (yes, I know it's not compliant with Whole 30, and I am a terrible person). I had fun though, so I don't feel too bad about it. I did feel bad the next morning when I realized that a few ciders over the course of four hours wasn't even to get me drunk but it apparently was enough to give me a hangover the following morning... or at least hangover symptoms - I woke up at 8 on Saturday with a screaming headache. As a result of the headache, I gave in to medicine and took a couple Advil before crawling back into bed to sleep away the headache. Two hours later, my headache was down to a dull ache and I had started considering how bad alcohol really is for my body.

If three drinks leaves me clutching my head the next morning, is it worth it? I don't have the answer to that. Sometimes I think that alcohol isn't worth it; other days, I wonder what to do when I meet up with friends during the week. Usually we meet up for drinks, but if you're not drinking and you go to a bar where you don't want to eat any of the food on their menu, what do you order? I don't often drink soda (though sometimes I'll let myself have soda water or gingerale), so I probably won't order a soda at the bar. What does that leave me with? "May I have a water, please?" I always feel weird going to a bar with friends who intend on drinking alcohol and then being that one person who isn't drinking because I choose not to for my health. Not to mention if you go to a bar and meet someone new... they'll eventually notice that you're not drinking and then you end up getting into the whole story of why you're not drinking alcohol, because apparently "I choose not to" isn't always a good enough reason for some people. This always leads to me feeling like I'm preaching Paleo.

Anyways, as I had posted previously (http://adventurepaleo.blogspot.com/2012/12/whole-30-peer-pressure-and-alcohol.html?m=0), maybe there are better types of alcohol to drink. Red wine always seems to be at the top of the list for the least-bad-for-you-alcohols. But again, it's one of those things where you personally have to decide if you're okay with consuming something that's still technically bad for you, but just happens to be the healthier option. That's like saying, I'm allergic to dogs AND cats, but I'm more allergic to cats than I am to dogs, so I'm going to get a dog, because I'll still kind of be able to breathe out of my nose instead of becoming my cat-induced mouth-breather alter-ego. Neither the dog nor the cat is a wise idea, but the cat would be MORE harmful to my health. Does that logic make sense to you? Hopefully not. But then again, maybe you REALLY want a pet. Maybe that pet is going to be good for your mental health because you'll have something to take care of and something to love you unconditionally (in the case of the dog at least).

So, to share some lunch love... I had this for lunch at work the other week. I bought some Prosciutto at Trader Joe's, along with some mini heirloom tomatoes and mixed greens. I sliced the tomatoes in half, placed 4-6 halves on one prosciutto slice with some of the mixed greens, and rolled in up. The result? Meat Roll-ups! You can also do this with other types of sliced meat... It was DELICIOUS. Prosciutto is yummy! And to round out my lunch with a little bit of sweet, I added a small handful of blackberries.

Paleo Pizza and Tuesday/Wednesday Workouts

Because my computer decided not to post this when I planned to, you get Tuesday and Wednesday wrapped into one. Lucky you!

Tuesday's 5 am workout took about 45 minutes to do.

Warm-up: 20 lunges

Side-to-Side Squats: 2x20, 15 lb

Straight-Arm Raises (Front/Side): 2x20, 10 lb

Step Back Lunges: 2x20, 15 lb

Inchworms: 5

Punches: Jab-Cross – 20 each side, Hook-Uppercut – 20 each side

Wall Sits: 1x1 min, 2x30 sec

Bench Press: 10-8-6, 50 lb

Angled Leg Press: 20 @ 120 lb, 20 @ 180 lb

Abs (Lay flat on your back. Lift your legs about 6" off of the ground and rotate to the right. Rotate your legs over your head and then to your left, returning to your starting position. Switch directions. Repeat 20 times - 10 in each direction.)

Cool-down: Stretching

By Wednesday morning I was so sore from my recent reintroduction into weight lifting, that the effort of  ignoring my muscles to roll over and turn off my alarm was almost too much. I had a very serious debate with myself over whether I should just let the alarm keep going off. I mean, it'll turn off eventually, right? Instead I turned it off and went back to sleep until my next alarm.

Sitting at my desk for the day at work was rough, too. Because I sit on my ass for most of the day, my muscles, such as my hip flexors, like to tighten up so that when I do try to stand up, it becomes a very slow process of stretching out my muscles first. Therefore, my exercise for the day was to go for a nice relaxing walk... outside. It was wonderful getting fresh air.

And you know what else is wonderful? Pizza. Especially pizza with a yummy crust, like the one from the picture below. So keep scrolling for the recipe. Yum!

Paleo Pepperoni and Sausage Pizza

Pizza Crust

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup shredded coconut 

2 Tbls flax seeds

2 eggs, thoroughly whisked

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp ground pepper

sprinkle of salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the bottom of a round cake pan with coconut oil.

Mix the ingredients together and transfer to the cake pan. Use the back of a spoon or your hand to spread the mixture evenly across the bottom of the pan. It'll be pretty sticky.

Bake for 20 minutes or until top is browned and crust-like.

Topping

1/2 cup pasta sauce (like this one I found in Whole Foods)

6 pieces of pepperoni

1/2 cup sausage crumbles, precooked (I used mild Italian sausage)

5 basil leaves, chopped

1 green onion, chopped

1/2 cup sliced cherry tomatoes

Once the pizza crust is made, spread the pizza sauce over the crust and sprinkle with the basil and green onion. Spread the meat across the sauce...

... and top with the cherry tomatoes.

Bake for 15 minutes (this is basically just to heat the meat and roast the tomatoes).

Slice into quarters and serve hot.

Monday Workout

I finally started working out again on Monday after a bit of a hiatus (I worked out every day I was in Jamaica, but otherwise haven't regularly worked out for a couple months). What did I start back with? Well, I knew you would be interested, so here you go.

Warm-up: 20 squats

Deadlift: 2x15, 50 lbs

Military Pushup: 2x15

Balancing Squats: 1x20

In and Out Bicep Curls: 2x20, 10 lb dumbells

Weighted Squats: 2x15, 10 lb dumbells

Upright Rows: 2x15, 20 lb

Curtsey Lunges: 2x20

Bench Tricep Dips: 2x15

Leg Extensions: 2x20, 70 lb

Abs (Ab Ripper X)

    In and Out (25)

    Bicycle (25)

    ReverseBicycle (25)

    Crunchy Frog(25)

    Wide Leg Sit-up (26)

    Fifer Scissors(26)

    Hip Rock and Raise (25)

    Pulse Ups (25)

    Roll-up/V-up(26)

    Oblique V-up(25 each side)

    Leg Climb (12each side)

    Mason Twist(50)

Cool-down: 3 sun salutations, quad stretches

The whole thing took about an hour, but by the time I finished work, working out, and cooking, I ended up eating dinner at 9:30. And my late-night dinner left me stretched out in bed, thinking "Ugh. Soooo fullllll!" Word to the wise, people... don't eat right before bed.

Whole 30 - Primal

If you don't read Mark's Daily Apple, you should. If you don't care about the science and facts behind Paleo/Primal and are purely searching for recipes, Mark also has authored a few cookbooks. He just announced the release of his newest book (Primal Blueprint Healthy Sauces, Dressings & Toppings) and is offering awesome giveaways. So check it out!

In other exciting news, I went to the gym today for over an hour! I haven't done that in quite some time, and I feel wonderful. Tomorrow may be a different matter. I'm hoping the 20 minutes I spend icing my ankle while I'm writing this will keep the pain from getting too bad tomorrow

I brought my pumpkin trifle into work today in a small-ish jar for people to taste. One of my co-workers who NEVER gets second helpings of desserts went back for more (and also got a bit of whipped cream in his mustache). My supervisor ended up finishing off the dish, then washed it and returned it to me, "ready to be refilled." I think they liked it.

Anyways, I wanted to share some products I found while perusing Whole Foods tonight. First off is Go Raw Organic Lemon Super Cookies. I was intrigued... Gluten free, wheat free, and nut free. I tried one of the "cookies" and I am NOT a fan. I do not recommend these. It tastes a little strange.

The second thing is Eden Organic Spaghetti Sauce. If you're like me and sometimes get too lazy to make things from scratch. Here is a Paleo option for spaghetti sauce. It just contains tomatoes, olive oil, and herbs/spices. So give it a try.

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.

Archery

Months ago I created a poll for you to vote on what my next exercise choice should be. Well, it came down to a three-way tie between archery, P90X again, and rowing. So... I had my first archery lesson today. Yes, you read that right... Archery! Who's a badass? Yeah, that'd be me! The only time I had shot a bow and arrow in the past was at renaissance festivals. Every time that I go to a ren fest, I leave with a desire to learn sword-play or archery. Thanks to a handy-dandy LivingSocial voucher, I'm finally getting around to archery. I started off on the short-range and after a few warm-ups where I learned the form, I managed to get four, count that, FOUR bulls-eyes right next to each other. Did I mention I'm a badass? So the instructor switched me to the longer range target. I only got one bulls-eye, but hey, I'm a beginner... give me a break!

Speaking of archery, did you watch the USA men's archery team when they were competing against South Korea? Our boys look like Southern rednecks who go hunting every weekend, whereas the South Koreans looked like their only form of physical activity is pulling back on that cord. I definitely chuckled when I watched it this past Sunday. Another amusing/amazing thing is that the top South Korean archer is legally blind. "In tests of his vision Im Dong-Hyun scores 20/100 and 20/200 in his right and left eyes respectively." Somehow, he still manages to be an amazing archer. And he doesn't want to have corrective surgery because he's afraid it will mess with his archery performance. Crazy!

My entree selection... yum, steak!

It's also Restaurant Week(s), so my friends and I went to out to eat. For those who don't know about restaurant week, a bunch of restaurants put together a special menu for patrons with a portion of the cost being donated to the food bank ($5 for dinner, $3 for brunch/lunch). It's a great excuse for everyone to try out different restaurants and feel good about helping others. Win-win! The downside is that they don't have a ton of options available and some of them aren't completely Paleo-friendly, though can be made so by asking to hold the rice/pasta/grain-product. Plus, the third course offered is dessert and not many places have a Paleo-friendly dessert. However, the restaurant we ate at tonight had coconut ice cream. Huzzah!

And we had two bloggers at our table, so fortunately our friends were nice enough to wait before tucking into their meals so that Shasie and I could snap photos. Shasie is a fashion blogger (Live Life in Style), but she still takes photos of food, like me and our waiter. That's right, we bonded with our waiter about blogging. Once I have some time I'm going to hunt down his blog.

Coconut ice cream, with coconut flakes. Yum again!

I didn't eat this, but my buddy Z had this chocolate tres leches. I didn't realize that was possible...

July Goals

I've mentioned lately that I need motivation. Those of you who know me personally know that I can have an iron will when it comes to eating healthy and working out. You should also know that sometimes I'm as weak-willed as any average Joe you meet walking down the street. I'm really good at sneaking snacks, even when I'm technically only "hiding" them from myself. As I mentioned a while ago, my mom has always tried to get me to eat healthy, and she succeeded for the most part. Despite this I wasn't a skinny child. I remember feeling uncomfortable with my weight in 3rd grade. My mom tried to be helpful, but sometimes it just made me either feel guilty or angry. I definitely remember times when my mom would glare at me for grabbing a second helping of whatever we had for dinner. Because of these glares, I indirectly developed my sneaking food habit. Whether or not I actually had (or have) skills at this is still unknown to me. And I guess I kind of view my unhealthy snacks as okay as long as nobody else notices. It's an accountability issue for me. And it's also the reason why I share my decision to go and attempt to stay Paleo with almost everyone. If everyone knows about my diet and I still eat something "bad," then I feel guilty.

So anyways, I need to set some short-term goals for myself that I feel are attainable for me. It's my birthday in three weeks and I think that's a good deadline these new goals. So my new short-term goals are as follows:

1. Run 4 miles without any breaks.
2. Exercise a minimum of 30 minutes per day.
3. Cut out all processed sugars (no dark chocolate) and minimize natural sugar (fruit/honey) intake. - This one will be really tough since I usually turn to sweets when I'm stressed and work is in crazy-stressful mode right now.
4. Limit alcohol consumption.
5. Hold a wall sit for 2 minutes.

I'll keep you posted on my progress. Fingers crossed!