W30D11

I just realized that I haven't eaten any fruits for the past three days. So somehow my Whole 30 has shifted into a mix of Whole 30 and 21DSD (21 Day Sugar Detox). It wasn't intentional, but I guess I have been trying to break the habit of finishing off a meal with something sweet or dessert-like, like chocolate, fruit, or nut butter. Now I kind of want to see how long I can last before I start craving fruit.

I'm somewhat regretting my decision to say goodbye to Facebook for a while, because now I just want to ask for my friends opinions on the fitbit and other biotracking devices. Although I would really prefer a device that would monitor my heart rate and walking/running speed/distance in addition to the number of steps I've taken. Is it too much to ask for everything? Does the vivofit by Garmin cover my desires?

Basil Tuna

1/2 lb tuna steak

1 Tbls olive oil

3 Tbls fresh basil, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1. Rub 1 Tbls of olive oil into the tuna steak.

2. Mix together the basil, salt, and pepper. Then spread over the tuna steak.

3. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking pan and set to broil on a rack 4" below the top of the oven. Cook for 4 minutes, then use tongs to flip the tuna over and cook for another 4 minutes. This got me to a medium-well tuna steak, which is a bit more than I wanted. It still tasted delicious though!

After cooking for 4 minutes on one side.

After for minutes, flipped.

After 8 minutes of cooking

ECD3: 1 hour Krav Maga

Of course we worked on throwing elbows again today, so shortly after starting to slam my right elbow into the "tombstone" (small pad), my partner looks at my elbow and asks "Are you okay?!?" I've got blood smeared all over my elbow and partly onto my forearm from scraping off the fresh scab from Wednesday morning's class. And there's blood on the pad as well. Lovely. So I do a few more, despite the worsening wound, and then run off to grab two disinfecting wipes. One to clean off my elbow (Ahhhhh! It BURNS!), and one to clean the pad before I switch to my opposite elbow. During one of the breaks where the instructor focused a bit more on technique, I run over to my purse where I had a roll of stretchy tape and wrap up my elbow to make sure I don't spread blood everywhere. Despite reapplying a fresh wrap after class and removing it once I got home, I have a nice red, itchy, burning rash where the tape was. Because of course, I'm allergic to tape. I know that I have allergic reactions to band-aids and medical tape, and have ever since the summer of 2003. I don't know what happened 11 years ago in the formula for the adhesive used in band-aids and all types of medical tape (including "sensitive-skin"), but over the course of one month, my grandmother up in Minnesota, my mother in Atlanta, and me in Valdosta, GA for summer camp, ALL developed allergic reactions to adhesive. What gives? The doctors didn't know what it was so they labeled it as a latex allergy and it's stuck in my records ever since, though I'm find with latex as long as you don't attach an adhesive to it.

W30D1

Whole 30, Day 1

Hello, everyone! I'm back! (Or at least trying my best to come back.) Life has been a bit crazy lately. Let me summarize... Back in November, I started working part-time as a project engineer. I was supposed to spend 50% of my time on process engineering and 50% of my time on project engineering for a month, at which point, I was supposed to completely transition from process engineering to project engineering. What actually happened was full-time process engineering + part-time project engineering. After a month of this split work, I had full-time responsibilities for both jobs. Another month later and my direct supervisor moved to a different project while I was on vacation. So I was welcomed back from vacation with the responsibilities for three full-time jobs. Let's just say that I've been extremely stressed lately. Add in planning a bachelorette party and an upcoming trip, and my attempts at including healthy foods and exercise into my life were failing miserably. I basically stopped cooking altogether, stopped exercising, and stopped reading health-related blogs. Because I wasn't cooking, I was eating a lot of non-Paleo foods, such as bread and cheese, and subsequently, the frequency of my migraines increased.

As of last week, thanks to the help of my process lead, I am no longer doing project engineering work, so my stress level has decreased a bit since then. With that reduction came a slightly more optimistic attitude for getting back to Paleo. I went to a Paleo lunch meetup on Saturday where my enthusiasm for Paleo was reinvigorated. So my friend Jay (of Health Nuts Anonymous) and I decided to start a Whole 30 today. If you need a refresher, Whole 30 is a 30-day challenge to eat nutritious foods.

The things you can eat:

• Grass-fed meat and poultry
• Wild-caught fish
• Eggs (from free-range, grain-free chickens)
• Fruits (2 servings per day)
• Nuts (in moderation)
• Olive oil, coconut oil

The things you can consume in limited quantities:

• Ghee/clarified butter
• Green beans, sugar snap peas, or snow peas
• Most vinegar (white, balsamic, apple cider, red wine, and rice); stay away from ones with added sugar

The things you have to cut out:

• Grains (wheat, corn, oats, quinoa, rice, etc.)
• Sugar - real (honey) or artificial (Splenda)
• Dairy
• Legumes (this includes peanuts)
• Alcohol
• Tobacco
• MSG, Sulfites
• White potatoes
• Seed Oils and Vegetable Oils
• Sex With Your Pants On (Read below for more details)

Check out the full "Can I Have...?" List here

What is the benefit of cutting out these foods?

• Physical Improvements: "body composition, energy levels, sleep quality, attention span, mental attitude and athletic performance"
• Psychological Benefits: "changing long-standing, unhealthy patterns related to food, eating and your body image, and a dramatic reduction or elimination of food cravings, particularly sugar and carbohydrates"

Spiced Tuna Steaks

1 lb Ahi tuna fillet
2 tbls coconut oil
Spice Rub:
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbls coarse black pepper, freshly ground

1. Cut the tuna fillet into roughly evenly-sized portions.

2. Mix the spice ingredients together and rub over each side of the tuna.

3. Heat the coconut oil in a cast iron, or heavy-bottomed pan. When there are a few wisps of smoke, add the tuna.

4. Cook for 1 minute on each side, then remove from the pan.

5. Slice lengthwise and serve with veggies and balsamic vinegar reduction.

Balsamic Vinegar Reduction
6 tbls balsamic vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, peeled and cut in half

Put the vinegar, lemon juice, and garlic clove in a small saucepan and heat over medium-high heat. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Set aside until you're ready to serve.

Lemon-Paprika Salmon

It's the second day of my Virgin Diet. Nothing new to report. As I mentioned yesterday, the Virgin Diet isn't significantly different from how I normally eat. However, thanks to the handy website PaleoTrack.com, I noticed that during these past two days my protein intake has increased and my carb intake has decreased. And by carb I mean starchy veggies and fruits. So I'm falling into the ketosis/intermittent fasting range of carb intake, or < 50 g of carbohydrates. Reference this graph here. I had talked about ketosis the other week as a way of potentially reducing my migraine frequency, but I never really expected to do it. Seriously, I had already cut down on so many things, that the idea of cutting down on my fruit/starchy carbs intake was unappealing. Yet here I am now, cutting down on fruits. Ketosis, here I come... Let's see how long I can keep it up without having a bad day or a weak moment and attacking an entire bag of dried fruit (dried mango has become my weakness over the last couple months... curse you, Trader Joe's for have unsulphured, unsweetened dried fruit). In the meantime, get some Omega-3's into your diet with this salmon.

Lemon-Paprika Salmon

1 wild-caught Coho salmon fillet
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsp lemon juice (or orange juice)
1 Tbls olive oil

1. Mix the garlic powder, paprika, sea salt, pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil together in a small bowl.

2. Coat the salmon on both sides with the mixture, and place in a covered container in the fridge for half an hour.

3. Set oven to broil.
4. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the salmon has turned a light pink shade and is slightly flaky.

5. Let sit for a few minutes and then slice and serve.

Steamed broccoli or asparagus are good side options.

Backup Protein

The one thing that I feel is the most important thing to have in the fridge, especially when you're feeling lazy, is a carton of eggs. Often when I'm not in the mood to cook, I'll just toss some veggies and eggs in the frying pan and call it dinner. Yeah, eggs are typically considered a breakfast food, but you learn to move past that with Paleo/Primal/healthy eating. When you start eating steak or meatloaf for breakfast, then "breakfast" kind of becomes unimportant. Tonight's meal (since it's not a typical "dinner") consisted of smoked salmon with spinach, shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, and eggs.

Vegetable Scrambled Eggs
1 cup spinach, packed
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1/4 cup shredded carrots
2 eggs
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper
1 shake of crushed red pepper

1. Heat a little bit of olive oil in a pan. Once hot, add the veggies. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until desired softness.
2. Add the eggs and stir. Cook for a few minutes until eggs are fully cooked, then serve.

Whole 30 - Day 14

So yesterday I was complaining about eating out. Though it is tough to find suitable (and appetizing) options, it is doable. I promise! For instance, last weekend I went to a wine bar with some friends for dinner and got this delicious-tasting tuna with squash sticks and zucchini balls, and topped with a green tomato dressing. Here's some photos of it...

And below is one of my meals out while in Atlanta. I got this from Yeah! Burger. Yeah! Burger is one of the restaurants in Atlanta where it's a bit easier to get Paleo-friendly meals, and they use grass-fed beef! Then again, a lot of specialty burger joints are easy to get Paleo-friendly choices when you don't mind giving up the bun. It comes down to how the burger is cooked, as in what oil is used. For instance, a lot of my Paleo friends and I used to believe that Smashburger was a good option for us, however we found out that, like Chipotle, they cook with soybean oil. Suddenly, that bun-less burger is no longer Paleo. Sad. If you want other Paleo-friendly options in Atlanta, Farm Burger is a good choice. They also use grass-fed beef. If you want a restaurant that actually offers Paleo options, check out Urban Pl8. Urban Pl8 has paired up with some Atlanta Crossfits to offer home-delivered Paleo meals, which is so incredibly handy for those who want to go Paleo, but just don't have the time to cook all of their meals.

Anyways, Yeah! Burger was a good option, and they do have a gluten-free bun option. I got a grass-fed beef burger with a side of Brussels sprouts and a cider, and it's reasonably priced. This was technically before I started Whole 30, so no judging allowed.

Tilapia Ceviche

Tilapia Ceviche
2 tilapia fillets
2 Tbls coconut oil, melted
1/4 onion, finely chopped
1/4 green pepper, finely chopped
10 yellow cherry tomatoes, finely chopped
2 Tbls fresh parsley, chopped
2 1/2 Tbls fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 Tbls lime juice, fresh if possible
1 tsp hot sauce (i.e.,Tabasco)
2 Tbls olive oil
1 avocado
extra cilantro for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Coat both sides of the tilapia fillets with the coconut oil and cook for 5 minutes per side, or until thoroughly cooked.

2. While the fish is cooking, combine all of the remaining ingredients, except for the avocado and extra cilantro.

3. Cut the tilapia into small pieces. Combine with the mixture you just made and place in the fridge for a couple hours for the flavors to meld

4. Remove from the fridge. Chop up your avocado and combine it with your tilapia mixture. Plate and garnish with cilantro if desired. And you're done.

You can use lettuce, spinach, kale, Paleo crackers, or just a fork to eat the ceviche.

Lemon-Rosemary Salmon

After studying with SD at a Barnes and Noble for four hours on Sunday, I came home with the intention of using my Sunday evening to cook some of my meals for the week. I'm trying to get back into that habit. We'll see if I can or not...

Lemon-Rosemary Salmon Packet

1 whole side salmon, scaled, with skin, de-boned (~3 lbs)

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp coarsely chopped rosemary (use fresh if possible)

2 lemons, thinly sliced

6 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 425°F. Rinse the salmon under cold running water and pat dry. Put a large piece of aluminum foil (large enough to make a packet around your salmon fillet) on a large baking sheet and place the salmon in the center, skin side down. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Then place the lemon slices, onion, and garlic on top of the fillet. Pour the olive oil evenly over the salmon. Fold the edges of the foil up and crimp to seal.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. The salmon should still be moist when it's ready. Here's the final result. Cut it into portions and drizzle with some of the lemony olive oil you can see below. Serve with kale, cauliflower rice, or a side salad.

Please practice good office etiquette and DO NOT bring salmon into the office for lunch. There's nothing worse than the smell of fish permeating the office as someone heats it up in the communal kitchen. Be kind, leave the fish at home!