New Tradition: Healthy Meals with Friends - Part 2

My friends and I held our second healthy dinner on Sunday. We all seemed to be on the same page when it came to veggies because we ended up with two dishes of each veggie: broccoli, carrots, and Brussels sprouts. There was steamed broccoli and Brussels sprouts, roasted broccoli and carrots, sweet and spicy roasted carrot fries, and a shredded Brussels sprouts salad. So it was three veggies, two-ways, and it was delicious.

The meat entrée was Chicken Coconut Curry based on Tyler Florence’s recipe, and dessert consisted of fresh fruit with whipped coconut cream. Here's how you can make the whipped cream...

Whipped (Coconut) Cream

1 can coconut milk – chill for a few hours first and DO NOT SHAKE THE CAN

1.5 tsp vanilla
1 Tbls raw honey

Pinch of cinnamon (optional)

1. Open the unshaken can of coconut milk and scoop out the top solidified portion of the coconut cream. If you shake the can, you won’t have the thick coconut cream that you’re looking for. Or if you want to be super crafty, open the can from the bottom and pour the liquid into a storage container, then scrape out the cream. The liquid/milk can be used for smoothies.
2. Combine the vanilla, honey, cinnamon, and coconut cream in a stand mixer or bowl. Mix/whisk well (3-5 minutes), until you get the fluffy whipped cream consistency. This may take longer, especially if you’re hand-whisking.

I was a little off my game this past week due to the ridiculous BBQ cold/flu I came down with at the Rodeo Cook-off. Quite a few people on my team came down with something. I ended up staying home and in bed (or on the couch when I couldn't stand my bed anymore) for most of the week. It was a very pathetic week.

New Tradition: Healthy Meals with Friends

I've implemented a new tradition with my friends. Once a month, we’re going to gather at someone’s place and cook a healthy dinner. Each person brings the ingredients for one dish which gets shared with the rest of the group. Leftovers can get taken home by all and serve as at least one lunch for everyone that week. For this first one, my roommate and I got all of the leftovers because we went to see a movie after dinner and we didn't want to let the food sit unrefrigerated in the car. Of course then my roommate went out of town for work, so really I kept all of the leftovers… works for me. I got at least four meals out of the leftovers, and still had another three meals portioned out that I didn't eat - I need SOME variety in my life.

I have the most dietary restrictions of the group, so everyone caters to me… just kidding, but not really. We've also got one girl who doesn't eat any meat except for chicken and another who doesn't have gluten or added sugars (she’s practically paleo), so our meal plan is roughly:

• 1 chicken-based entree (i.e., stir-fry, chicken tikka masala, etc.)
• 2 vegetable-based dishes (i.e., ratatouille, roasted asparagus, sweet potato, tomato basil soup, etc.)
• side salad
• fruit for dessert

February 15th was the first night we did this and we had three people attend. I’d say 3-4 is a good number if all of the chefs need to prep and cook their dishes. More people probably would have led to some collisions

My roommate made a Spicy Sweet Potato Soup, with roughly the following ingredients. She tweaked this recipe to suit my needs and her dislike of chicken broth/stock.

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 tablespoon ghee

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, sliced

4 cups water or chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root, or 2 tsp ginger powder

1/4 cup smooth almond butter

2 tsp lime juice

1 tsp salt

If you divide this soup into 8 servings, each serving is 106 kcal, 14 g carbs, 5 g fat, 3 g protein, 5 g sugar, 3 g fiber, 168 mg sodium, 260 mg potassium, 165% vitamin A, 18% vitamin C, 5% calcium, 5% iron.

My other friend made a spicy veggie stir-fry, and I whipped up NomNomPaleo’s Braised Chicken with Artichokes and Pearl Onions.

We scarfed down our dinner before I thought to take a photo of the nicely plated meals, so here’s a shot of one of the portioned meals I had throughout the week.

30 Days of Yoga - Day 11 and Getting Outside

If you've liked me on Facebook, you've seen a few posts over the last 11 days about how I've been enjoying daily yoga. I've attended 12 yoga classes in the past 11 days (I doubled up on Monday). I feel as though my mood has improved drastically; I've found myself smiling and dancing about and just generally feeling peaceful when I'm alone. I don't know if I can attribute this solely to yoga though. I've been trying to spend more time outside in the sun by going for walks or jogs. My doctor recently told me that I'm vitamin D deficient, something that's been happening with greater frequency to everyone these days thanks to long work hours, and even more at-home time in front of computer screens, so I've been trying to get outside as often as possible. This means that instead of heading home and plopping down in front of my computer or tablet to watch a TV show, I'll cook, or go for a walk, or read a book, or clean my room - things that will make me feel calm and relaxed. In general, I've been trying to be more active, watch less TV, and make plans with friends that don't just revolve around food or alcohol.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I've heard more and more people I know express feelings of discontent about being in constant contact with people. In today's world of cell phones, tablets, laptops, and an endless supply of messaging apps, it's hard to take time alone to just relax and sit quietly. During my freshman year of college, I took an English class that was really a philosophy class with some writing assignments thrown in. We had to write a paper on space and how technology interacts with space. Basically, what I wrote was that while cell phones and computers make it easier for us to stay close with friends and family that live far away, it also creates distance between people who live near each other. What do I mean? Well, think back to your last social outing or the last time you had someone over to your place. How many people were on their phones? Texting? Tweeting? Checking Facebook? Probably quite a few. I know that I'm guilty of it myself. Why do we feel the need to post on Facebook that we're having fun with a friend? Instead I think we all need to just be in the moment: enjoy time with friends and be fully invested in that friend/moment. I hate it when I'm talking to someone and they keep checking their phone waiting for a response from a different conversation. Hello!?!? I'm right here, in your face... talk to ME! Not that electronic box glued to your hand. That's one thing that yoga touches on: fully being in the moment. Appreciating the time that you have and focusing on yourself. I think all of this technology has caused people to lose their communication skills. I sometimes find myself feeling awkward when someone gives me their full attention. To have someone fully listening to you and being invested in your conversation is a very personal and intimate feeling; it makes you feel special and important. And instead of allowing ourselves to be a part of these types of interactions, we post on Facebook, and only feel special if someone likes or comments on your status.

So for this past week, I gave up some of my vices: TV, chocolate, Facebook messaging, and alcohol. I think the hardest one was chocolate. Not really because I was craving the sweetness, but mainly because eating chocolate at work gives me a reason to get up from my desk and walk over to raid my co-worker's stash of candies, and look at something other than my computer screen for a little while. Also, instead of using my personal Facebook account, I've tried communicating directly with friends, like phone conversations. Sure, sometimes it's inconvenient times to talk on the phone, like maybe during work hours or when you're at dinner with that special someone, but I get more joy with a phone conversation than I do with a texting conversation. For instance, while I walked back from yoga yesterday morning, I called one of my Atlanta friends and had a 20ish-minute conversation catching up with him. I was happy, talking excitedly, and bouncing around, all while gesturing wildly to myself and all of the random people that drove past me on the road. We could have had the same conversation via texts, but it would have just been my thumbs tapping away at the phone, it would have taken a lot longer to get all of words across, and I wouldn't have had the same satisfaction nor would I have been able to convey emotions or my happiness as easily. 

I urge you to try changing your routine a bit this week. Turn off the cell phone. Go for a walk instead of watching your favorite TV show. Or even better, go for a walk with a friend. Let me know how it goes!

Paleo f(x) Recap

This past weekend was Paleo f(x). For those of you who are unaware of this event, it’s basically a giant Paleo reunion. All of the big names in the Paleo blogosphere were there giving presentations, sitting on panels, and being friendly with all of their fans. I sat in on sessions featuring Mark Sission of Mark’s Daily Apple, Robb Wolf of The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet, Diane Sanfilippo of the 21 Day Sugar Detox, Darryl Edwards of Paleo Fitness and The Fitness Explorer, Juli Bauer of PaleOMG, Jim Laird of J&M Strength and Conditioning, just to name a few. There were sooo many awesome speakers there, that I really can't list them all.

I attended the conference as a volunteer, meaning that I saved the ~$300 premiere ticket, granting me access to all of the presentation stages, but had to work throughout the weekend. I was on the dinner prep staff as well as a timekeeper. It meant that I had to leave the conference a bit early on Friday and Saturday to set up for the dinner, but as someone who likes to be behind the scenes, I quite enjoyed it.

It seems that the latest trend in Paleo seems to be the focus on stress. My favorite session was called Hacking Stress and focused on biohacks to identify when you're under stress and what to do to relieve it. It's funny, right? To think that you have to use something else to figure out that you're stressed is so indicative of the fact that we're all under too much pressure these days. It's expected that we're all superheros and can handle everything all at once. Sadly it's true. I was using a sleep app, called Sleep Cycle, for a while to track how well I was sleeping, if I was tossing and turning, or waking up, etc. Before you start the recording app, it asks you to identify a few things about your day, did you exercise, drink coffee, drink tea, eat late, and/or have a stressful day? Last fall, after months of using the app and while my work load got heavier and heavier, my usual stress load was so high, that "stressful" became my new norm. I no longer labeled my day as "stressful;" it had to be extraordinarily stressful for me to tick that box. I think it's a terrible trend, that is affecting more and more people that I meet.

Anyways, some of the panelists said that when you're stressed, you just know; that you can feel it in your body, mind, bowels, and spirit. Others suggested heart rate variability as a way of determining when you're stressed if you've tuned out the signs because you've been under stress for so long. Alternatively, you can have your doctor run blood work, immunologic testing, etc. One thing that they all agreed on is that you have to take time for yourself to recover. And make time for sleep, and make sleep easier by using earplugs, eye masks, and orange glasses before bed to block out blue light (click here for some reading on that). A lot of them also suggested that you go outside and just be in nature.

Another interesting presentation I went to was "Maximizing Nutrient Density" by Terry Wahls, who developed a food diet that focused on getting a certain profile of macronutrients to attempt to slow the onset of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. She ended up reversing some of the effects of her disease, and managed to improve her health such that she no longer requires the assistance of a wheelchair to get around. Incredible, or what? One of the interesting facts that she mentioned in her presentation was that in order to meet the nutrient intake of the modern-day hunter-gatherers (the Kitavans and the Inuit), someone following the typical US diet would have to consume 27,000 kcal to meet the nutrient profile, and someone following the Paleo diet would have to consume 14,000 kcal. Why you ask? Because the mineral content of the soil in which our food is grown has decreased by up to 85%. We've stopped rotating crops, and instead used pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizer. Unfortunate.

So now that I've written an essay for you, here's some photos from the weekend:

Juli Bauer doing a cooking demonstration.

From left: Sean Croxton, Carol Salva, and Mark Sisson

Friday night dinner

Friday night dinner at Springdale Farms in Austin, TX

US Healthcare: In Crisis or Chaos?
From left: Dr. Grayson Wheatley, Charles Mayfield, Darryl Edwards, Dr. Richard Maurer, and Robb Wolf

My Dinner Tribe! What a team!

Darryl Edwards and I

Flipping around the fireman's carry

And you wanna know what else is great? A fireman's carry is totally normal. We all just chuckle and say, oh, that's Darryl. We're used to our world of Paleo folks doing random things like lifting people in the air or setting up a slackline outside of the conference hall. We like lifting heavy things, playing, and running around in our Vibrams, which are totally cool to wear with a suit (yeah, there was someone wearing that at the conference).

Whole 30: Paleo-ites Unite!

Anyways, Friday was an exciting day. I found out that I passed the FE exam! Excuse me while I dance around my apartment!! ... And, I'm back. Phew. On Friday night, I went to a Brazilian steakhouse with a Paleo meetup group. If you're a Paleo person and feel alone in your city, check out meetup.com and search for things like Paleo, Primal, Health, Natural Foods, Caveman, CrossFit, Primal Blueprint, Gluten-free, Nutrition, etc. You'll probably be able to find at least a few people who you can bond with over Paleo trials and tribulations. And want to know how to recognize a table of Paleo-ites/Groks? Look for the table that all turns around to the waiter and says "No bread, please! No, we don't want the bread." The most amusing part of the evening is the fact that one of the guys at the meetup whom I had never met before happens to be friends with one of my buddies. Small world, eh?

Other excitement over the weekend... A couple of my friends and I went to a German Christmas Market where we got to see some of these cool characters... like Santa on a golf cart... because that's what we do in Texas...

 St. Nicholas and a elf/puppeteer...

and a high school German dancing club...

 My lunch was a bratwurst (minus the bun)...

And then I saw the star of my future nightmares... these ridiculously enormous pretzels that had to have been twice the size of my head

 My friends indulged in an apple strudel, which looked truly delicious. The bakers told me how impressed they were that I was saying no to the strudel and lemon white chocolate mint bread.