God bless this food.

Seriously. Nothing is better than a $5.99 lemon roasted chicken from Albertson's.
Today, I cut off some pieces, sliced some avocado and doused the whole thing in Tapatio. Yum. For dessert, I had a white peach.
Another paleo favorite is shabu shabu. Lindsay mentioned her favorite spot in Costa Mesa. I love Sakura Shabu Shabu in Huntington Beach. What is shabu shabu, you ask? Read this review I wrote awhile back.
This picture is from last night.

Done with days: Fishy breakfast, busted body

I slept in my own bed in my own house for the first time in two weeks last night. Felt great.
What did not feel great was coming home from CrossFit this morning and realizing that I also hadn't been grocery shopping in two weeks. I'm going to take care of that after work today. But that was no help this morning when the only paleo food I could scrounge up was a warm can of Whole Foods tuna and a plum.
I don't know if it was "Elizabeth" or the breakfast that made me want to puke more.
On another note: I've been nursing a couple injuries for about a month now. The first happened when I fucked up a hang clean. The second is a knee injury. I didn't really know the cause of that one until Saturday night when I asked my brother to take a look.
Some background: My brother is the head athletic trainer at a local college and has been on staff for several college and professional athletic teams. So he knows what he's talking about.
I asked him to take a look at my wrist and explained how I thought I injured it. Turns out, my injury isn't in my wrist at all. Apparently I strained some really small muscles in my forearm while incorrectly trying to heft up a lot of weight with them. That caused caused the tendons to swell. It was most painful in the wrist because the tendons run through a smallish tunnel on the way to my hand. When they're swollen, they've got a lot less space to run through, which amplifies the pain. (If I've got terminology for tendons and muscles wrong, forgive me. You get the gist.)
Anyway, in the process of rehabbing that injury, my brother asked to see some of the other movements we are doing in CrossFit. Generally, he's stoked on the work outs, loves Olympic lifting and the other basic exercises we do. He does have some concerns about the body's natural tendency to sacrifice form for speed in a competitive atmosphere.
And his example of that was my squatting. He could immediately tell I my left knee is injured because I was favoring my right one every time I squatted. And he said that injury likely occurred because I was squatting incorrectly in the first place.
That's no surprise to me. Every time I squat heavy weight, my knees tend to buckle in. My trainers have pointed that out and told me to stop it, but I guess I never understood the consequences of not being extra careful while following that advice. In addition, I guess the alignment of my knees (and being a woman with wide-ish hips) make me predisposed to this sort of problem. The solution is to be extra conscious of pushing out my knees (ie, pointing in the same direction as my feet) when I swat and narrowing my stance.
So usually I wouldn't write about my aches and pains -- I'm not a pansy or anything. But I guess I just realized that we have to take a higher level of personal responsibility doing these intense workouts. If something hurts, it's important to ask for help figuring out what might be the cause. The trainers at CrossFit are awesome and really knowledgeable, but they can't be everywhere and see everything all the time.
I'm really looking forward to building momentum at the box this week. How's everyone else doing on Paleo?

Day 1: Again....

Back from Nicaragua, and I'm starting this post as a second day one because the diet was pretty impossible to maintain while there.
I spent most of my time in one of the poorest towns in one of the poorest countries in the world. I was staying in a small, stark surf bungalow, and there was one option for every meal: what the cook there made. There was no grocery store within 30 miles of where I stayed. The chef did a good job at thinking of vegetarian alternatives, but those usually consisted of rice and beans. So there were several days when the only thing for me to eat was a lean protein. I brought along almonds and beef jerkey and was able to stick to paleo foods for the first four days, but the proportions were all off and it was doing some not so pretty things to my body.
The rest of the trip, I ate mostly paleo, but where I had to cheat to be full, I did. I also allowed a cheat day to try some native food -- the most gigantic tamale I've ever eaten.
I can't tell you how much I could feel the difference when I stopped eating paleo food. Felt sort of like when you quit smoking, then have a cigarette. Maybe the first drag is good, but it leaves you feeling not so great afterward.
I'll be back in the OC Crossfit gym Monday. Can't wait to see you guys.
I'm in the south bay for the rest of the week. Going to drop in a Xfit gym up here.
On another note: An anonymous commenter wrote the other day that I should read up on paleo, and I totally agree. So I'm starting "Paleo Diet for Athletes" by Loren Cordain, PhD. so I can have a better understanding of this.
That being said, a three-month paleo challenge is hardly "drinking the Kool-Aid." It's an experiment, a way to see whether this makes me feel good and gets positive results. Part of the reason for blogging about it is to document that, and to clarify things I might not understand with the help of people who read this. So if you see something I'm eating that isn't paleo, let me know. And please explain why it's bad. But telling me that I'm somehow brain washed and that my CrossFit instructors' advice is way off just because I post a photo of some organic turkey meat is hardly productive.

Day 8: In awe

Justin blogged the other day about the philosophy of CrossFit, the healthy competition and drive to improve that catapults members into better shape.
I started CrossFit with my good friend Lindsay (that's her after Saturday's workout -- photo courtesy Orange Coast Crossfit), and I love it when we get to work out together because with every workout, she's so determined to push through and lift more and go faster. It keeps me honest and motivated. And being able to see how we improve together has been awesome.
Well, except when she completely kicks my ass during a workout like she did this morning.
Lindsay did the workout today Rxd, which means it's the prescribed weight for all around bad-ass girls. I've been able to rx a couple workouts, but I'm still not strong enough to do the majority of them. This morning's WOD was 21-15-9, burpees, push press and kettlebell swings.
The rx for push press was 65.
I started the workout rx'd just like Lindsay. But after struggling through four push presses on my first round, I had to drop 10 pounds. And even then, I was still dumping weight throughout the WOD. Meanwhile, Lindsay just got it done in what I'm sure were painful sets of four.
Great fucking job this morning, Linds. You killed it. And now you have me imagining how I'm going to do shoulder workouts in Nicaragua.
(And cheap plug: Lindsay is a top wedding/party planner, so check out her website if you know anyone who's walking down the aisle soon.)

Day 7: Carnivorous cravings

So today ends the first week of paleo challenge. I'm feeling great. And just now noticed, that instead of craving frozen yogurt or nachos, all I really want to eat is meat.
Anyway, I like lists. So I'm going to list some of the paleo foods I'm really loving so far.

• Sparkling water: It cured my cravings for diet coke quick. And it's so much more refreshing. Squeeze in some oranges and it's like a virgin paleo mimosa.
  
• Almond butter: So good on fresh apples.
• Paleo smoothie: Frozen blueberries, strawberries, a small splash of fresh squeezed orange juice with no sugar added and heavy whipping cream. Blended. Forrest's CrossFit trainer told him the heavy cream is ok because it's not pasteurized and processed the way regular milk is. Let me know if you hear differently.
  
• Turkey slices with avocado.

And here are some things I'm still missing.

• Hummus
• Cheese
  

Day 6: Paleo-friendly fiesta

What? We can have margaritas, and it's not cheating?
Lindsay just sent me this photo and a recipe for these margaritas.
I think we need to have a paleo fiesta soon. Who's in?
Strawberry Margaritas:
Fresh strawberries
100% Agave Tequila
Agave Nectar
Ice
Cointreau
Fresh Lime Juice

Day 6: After the marathon

Ok, so I'm not talking about a real marathon. But the past two days have felt like one: Up before 6, in bed after midnight, with jam-packed days.
And miraculously, no need to cheat.
I owe a big part of that to two people who helped me out huge this week.
First meet Laylan, my roommate and dear friend. I had one hour after work on Thursday to pack for a trip, shower, take apart my bed for the new mattress delivery guys and eat before I had to rush to LA for a meeting. Laylan to the rescue.
I've got to start by saying, Lay is a great cook. And part of the reason for that is she's not cheap with the ingredients that make things taste delicious, such as olive oil and cheese and cream and bananas fried in butter with ice cream and Nutella. So when I first told her I was doing paleo, the conversation went something like this:
"What about rice?"
Me: "No rice."
Lay: "But you can have tortilla chips?"
Me: "No."
Lay: "Golden Spoon?"
Me: "I wish"
Lay: "Good luck with that.."
So fast forward to Thursday, and Laylan tells me that she's going to have dinner ready so I can just eat really fast and leave. She grilled cod topped with a homemade sauce of pureed garlic and spices from her garden. Then she baked cauliflower with spicy red flakes on top and made a paleo version of caprese (without the cheese, but add pine nuts). Um, hello five star restaurant in my living room!!












So awesome person #2 is Forrest. Let me start by saying that Friday was equally nuts. I was up at 5 a.m. to get to the airport for a quick work trip up the coast. Didn't have time to eat before I left, so I ended up having this sort of disgusting scramble at LAX:
I also grabbed some almonds and water at the airport for snacking later that day, and I raised some eyebrows at lunch, when, at this fancy restaurant with a pretty limited but very specific menu, I was ordered my meal with tons of modifications and turned down the waiter's offer for a free dessert.
My returning flight was delayed and didn't get in until 9. But I hadn't eaten anything but coffee and almonds since 2, so Forrest picked me up from the airport, and when I was showering and about to pass out, he was grilling steaks and veggies: broccoli and artichoke hearts. It was so good, and I'm bummed that I was too tired to think of taking a picture of it.
So this brings me to a new dilemma: I leave next week for a week-long surf trip in Nicaragua. I'm going to pack a couple bags of nuts, maybe some nut butter, and beef jerky in case the villages where we go don't have enough paleo food. Anyone have some suggestions for what else I should do to prepare for that?
When I can find a computer, I'll update from there about how THAT's going.