What should I eat?

What Should I Eat (to be healthy)?
This is one of the most common question I get from co-workers, friends, friends of friends, and family. There are a few answers that I generally give, all a variation on the same concept.

• Meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar.
• Whole foods, no grains.
• Food from the outside aisle of the supermarket.
• Real food, no grains.
• Anything that doesn’t need a label to explain what exactly it is.

You get the idea. What you will notice is I don’t tell people to go out and buy a food scale, measuring cups, measuring spoons, etc. There is not gear requirement here. It is simple.

Within the CrossFit community we like to measure things: seconds, pounds, reps, rivals. But if we step back and think about what brought us to CrossFit in the first place (accept for the fire breathers and upper level athletes among us) we want to be fit, we want to be healthy, we want to feel good in our bodies, be sure of our strength. Counting our reps, counting the seconds, all of that is in the service of that larger goal, health and fitness.

Eating, for those of us who are on a lifelong path of health and fitness, should not take on a scientific lens. In fleeing from food as an indulgence, it is easy to start to see food solely as a fuel, and input, for a desired functional, measurable result. But food is much more than that, it is cultural expression, comfort, a reminder of home, even a form of communication, a source of pleasure, as well as fuel for our bodies. We need to answer the question of what to eat from a place that takes into account all of these factors, and not simply the fuel and elite fitness place.

So, for those of you wanting to know what you should eat to be healthy and compliment your CrossFit training and be human being not a fitness machine: Meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. Keep it simple stupid!

These recommendations are made for the beginning and even intermediate athlete. Moving into a competitive or elite level would require measuring and weighing.

Friday Recipe and WOD

Coconut Pancakes
(from Mark’s Daily Apple)

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup coconut milk (full fat)

Method:
Mix these ingredients and let them sit for five minutes. Oil or grease up your pan and heat over medium heat. Pour about a 1/4 cup of batter for each crepe, allowing each side to brown before flipping it.

Without accounting for toppings or cooking fat, FitDay says the whole batch amounts to:

37.2 g fat (20.9 g saturated)
42.2 g carbs (19.4 g fiber)
30.6 g protein

Warm Up

1/4 Mile Jog

WOD
Run for 2 Minutes
10 Bupees
Walk for 2 Minutes

x5

Stretch
Lying Glute Ham
Pigeon Pose
Calf Stretch

Friday Recipe

Sorry to all you vegetarians out there. I am very interested in fish oil lately and the role an unbalance omega6:omega3 ratio can really mess us up.

Get more info here:

• Marks Daily Apple

Anyway today’s recipe is looking to fish for inspiration. It is right out of the pages of the Paleo Update.

Fish in a Parcel
by Nell Stephenson              

You may be more familiar with the traditional name fish
en papillote, and may feel daunted at the idea of
preparing it. In actuality, it's a dish that I find
extremely simple to prepare, although the presentation
will lead your guests to believe you've spent hours
slaving away over a hot stove!

Using a mandolin, slice carrots and leeks into
matchstick pieces. This is also done easily by hand; it
just takes slightly longer.  I'd suggest using a 6 - 8
oz (raw weight) piece of fish per person, and I'd go
with halibut, salmon, sea bass or cod, although you can
certainly choose another fish!  For each piece of fish
you're preparing, cut a 12" piece of parchment paper. 
Place a mound of the veggies in the center of each piece
of paper and season with pepper and a touch of olive
oil.  Pat the fish fillets dry with a paper towel and
season with pepper and olive oil as well (for the
athletes out there, you can also add a touch of kosher
salt).  Place another 12" piece of parchment on top and
fold the edges of the two pieces together, sealing the
veggies and fish inside.  I found it helped to add a
layer of foil on the bottom, under the paper, to keep
the edges tight together.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 425 degrees for about 15
minutes (in which time you can steam up some fresh
broccoli), top with some fresh parsley and serve right
away!  Remove the fish and veggies in one step with a
flat, wide spatula, and slide it right onto a plate.
You'll wow yourself with how lovely it looks: right out
of the pages of a gourmet food magazine!

Rest and Watch

Rest it. Watch this video clip. Tell me what you think. Recipe will be up soon.

I want to save your life

Another rest day today because you deserve it.

My dear reader, I want to save your life. I want you to live long. I want you to be healthy and participate in creating a better world well into your old age.

So here it is: Stop eating bread, sugar, and processed carbohydrates. Now.

In the long term these parts of your diet will kill you. The long term consumption of these food goods will lead to ‘western’ diseases, such as: heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimers, auto-immune disease, depression, etc.

There is a ton of research out there. You don’t need to read all of it. You don’t need to know all the science. But get at least a little informed and live a healthy life.

For some really good web reading check out:

• RobbWolf.com
• Mark’s Daily Apple
• Life Spotight
• Food Lectins in Health and Disease
• Big Fat Lie – Gary Taubes

For some off the web reading check out:

• In Defense of Food
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma
• The Diabetes Diet

Friday Recipes

I know all you hard working organizers out there don’t have time to cook. You barely have time to eat. Well that has to change if you are in it for the long haul. Not only will you spend less money and eat more healthy (studies say) when you cook your own food, you can also reduce stress and relax into the cooking process.

Every Friday I will post a a tasty (and healthy) recipe for you to try. Post your experience to comments.

This weeks recipe come from the Vegan Grandma

Roasted Portobello Mushroom Caps
serves 4

4 large portobello mushroom caps
2 tablespoons olive oil
Olive oil to oil the roasting pan
1 tablespoon shoyu or liquid aminos
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Place the rack in the middle of the oven. Oil a baking sheet (large enough to place all 4 mushroom caps in one layer). Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Quickly rinse (use as little water as possible) or wipe off portobellos with a damp towel. A clean brush (like a paint brush) or cheesecloth is a good way to clean them. Slice the stems if needed so that the mushrooms will sit flat. Place the mushrooms gill side down in the pan.

In a small bowl, place the shoyu or aminos, the oil, and the vinegar. Use a fork to combine the ingredients. You can use any of the following sauces instead of the above mixture: Italian dressing, teriyaki sauce, barbecue sauce or balsamic vinaigrette.

Liberally brush caps with the oil, vinegar, shoyu mixture, and season with salt and pepper.

Roast in a preheated oven at 425 degrees F oven until the tops and edges begin to brown. Turn the mushrooms over, stir the oil, shoyu, vinegar mixture and liberally brush the gill side of the mushrooms with the mixture. Roast until they are tender, about 5 minutes more.

Or, you can grill or broil the mushrooms 4 to 6 inches from heat source for 4 to 6 minutes on each side, brushing on the mixture once or twice.

Serve topped with vegan aioli sauce.

Or Make it From Scratch:Vegan Cashew Aioli
makes 1 cup

½ cup raw cashews
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (O.K., sometimes I cheat and use bottled.)
1/4 cup water
½ cup canola oil (or any neutral tasting oil)
pinch of salt
3 or 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped (use more or less depending how garlicky you like it)Place the cashews into a blender. Process until the cashews are ground as finely as you can get them.

Add the lemon juice and water and process until smooth. Add the oil slowly, and process until the sauce is thick and creamy. Add the salt and process a minute longer.

Taste for seasonings and adjust if needed.

More Sugar

Regular readers and friends of mine know about my battle with a monstrous sweet tooth. Most people know my battle as a sweets fast that I try and stick to as best I can (usually defeated by travel and Thanksgiving to Christmas eating marathon). Check out this great article from the Life Spotlight Network about real sugar vs. fake sweeteners.

Pretty intersting stuff.

Sugar, Swine Flu, and Social Justice

The swine flu hype is a little crazy. I am of the mind that because it has a name it is easier to freak out about it. It makes me think of the panic that strikes when a serial killer comes around. They are both things to worry about. But similar to swine flu and “regular flu” serial killers only strike a very very small percent of the population, while tens of thousands more die of work related injuries every year (that’s right your boss is a bigger killer than Bundy).

You are more likely to dies of a chronic disease of ‘civilization’ or a capitalists neglect than you are of swine flu.

But there is hope, just as we build collective power to fight against injustice the work place, you can build your body’s ability to fight off disease and infection.

Here is a great article about sugar and your immune system.

I can attest to personal experience with this. I recently got bronchitis after breaking a sweets fast with a day of binged birthday celebration (which was worth it for my other sweety). The sugar attack hit my already edgy immune system that had been weakened by lack of good sleep and heavy workouts.

There is a trend in social justice movements in the U.S. today to talk about self care. People talk about mental health, emotional health, and spiritual health. It is time to really start looking at the whole picture. Physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. What we eat impacts our physical, emotional, and mental health. What we eat is also very much steeped in culture, comfort, history and community.

It is time to find the balance between healthy food choices and cultural comfort, not to mention our budgets.