Heather Loves Apples

Inspiration for Eating Well Everyday
May 12, 2012

Real Quick

Check out Lauren’s bacon burger and egg instagram shot! Join in on the fun and post your meat + vegetables + fat meals to the OPENutrition Facebook page!

I’m still busy and still not blogging. I’ve got a couple blog posts a brewin’ but I’m not ready to send them out to the interwebs yet. In the mean time, I wanted to share with you a blog post from The Institute for the Psychology of Eating. I’m working on an article for those guys right now on a new way that I’m navigating my food world. I’ll right a post this week on all the great stuff OPENutrition has coming up this summer as well! I hope you enjoy this article, it encompasses a bit of why I am so excited to work with athletes one on one about their relationship with food.

7 reasons why the world needs more eating psychology coaches

If you take a look around, you might notice that the professional world has become abundant with nutritionists, health coaches, and those who are trying to make a living by telling people what to eat, and what not to eat. Surely this has been a great development over the last decade. The planet desperately needs clear and useful education around nutrition. Paradoxically though, the world’s inhabitants keep getting sicker and fatter and less happy when it comes to living in a body. It’s time for some new insights and ideas. It’s time for a fresh approach to our food, weight, and health concerns that can truly further the action and get us out of the stuck places that have held us for too long.

The Institute for the Psychology is forging ahead with powerful educational programs that yield results. We are at the forefront of a new generation of nutritional healers that are learning deeper and lasting strategies that touch our client’s lives in a whole new way. Consider the following 7 reasons for why the world needs more eating psychology coaches:

  1. More than 2/3 of Americans are on a diet, or trying to lose weight – but more than 98% of all weight lost on ANY diet is gained back. Our students learn how to guide clients to be a part of the other 1-2% – those who experience long term weight loss that’s precipitated by inner change, and shape-shifting on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. Eating Psychology Coaches are bringing forth a new paradigm for the deep and complex challenge of weight loss.
  2. 9 out of 10 women are unhappy with their looks, and want to change their bodies. Our graduates are trained to address body image concerns with protocols that are soulful, practical, and effective. What would be possible if 8 out of 10 women loved and honored their bodies instead? Can you imagine the transformational force that would be available in the world if our women were embodying self-love and radiating their true feminine power?
  3. Women and mothers on the quest for the perfect diet and perfect body are passing on a damaging legacy. A recent study reported that more than half of 10-year-old girls wish they were thinner. We need to support all women in finding a nourishing and empowered relationship with food. Students at the Institute for the Psychology of Eating learn the skills to recognize and heal chronic dieting patterns, so that mothers can pass on a nourishing, pleasure-filled, and healthy relationship with food to their children.
  4. Many gifted healers, practitioners, and dieticians aren’t experiencing the results they know are possible with their clients – even if they are prescribing the most pure and healthful foods. In our professional trainings, we address the missing ingredients that are necessary for true nutritional success. These include: accessing your intuition as a practitioner, guiding your client to shift the beliefs that inform their choices and behaviors, learning the subtle language of the body, listening for the hidden wisdom of symptoms, and facilitating an environment where healing can happen.
  5. WHAT you eat is only half the story of good nutrition. The other half of the story is WHO we are as eaters. Eating Psychology Coaches are rare experts in this other half. While food is incredibly powerful and a crucial component in health, equally important are the tools that help us understand the emotional patterns that influence our relationship with food. Many of our students already have some training and experience in nutrition, yet they have been frustrated by their lack of success with clients. When they become trained in eating psychology, they are unstoppable in their capacity to serve.
  6. Many of our clients simply don’t need more information about health and nutrition. They are already suffering from a “High Fact Diet.” What they need is wisdom and understanding and guidance. Many people are simply confused by all the nutrition theories, diets and experts that endlessly contradict each other. The Institute trains coaches to work with clients around their unique needs, and to help them navigate through their confusion and anxiety around eating. People are tired of the same old messages about food. They’re looking for the very wisdom and skills that our professional trainings offer.
  7. We are more than just a collection of mere nutrient needs. Our nutritional metabolism is dramatically influenced by heart, mind, and soul. For far too long, the fields of nutrition and health and medicine have approached clients as if we are nothing more than chemistry and genetics. Fortunately, humans are far more fascinating, complex and real. At the Institute, we recognize that our clients are multi-dimensional beings who need to be addressed on all levels so that true healing can happen. It’s time to bring heart and soul back to the table.

I will be at Crossfit Denver tomorrow at 1 p.m. giving a seminar on post-workout nutrition! Whether you’re a triathlete or a Crossfitter or a coach, I promise you will learn a thing or two about eating for recovery. You can register online or pay at the door. See you soon!

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April 30, 2012

One Tequila, Two Tequila

Hey Howdy! Life is crazy busy and crazy good. I’m sorry I haven’t been blogging regularly, and I can’t promise that I will any time soon. You know what I have been doing? Updating OPENutrition’s Facebook page daily :) So if you want to know what I’m eating, Like me on FaceSpace and you’ll get a daily dose of inspiration! And maybe a new meal idea!

Obviously, we all go through phases with our diet. Holidays are particularly indulgent, the New Year usually calls for some sort of a challenge, spring and summer might warrant lighter foods and more fruit (my crockpot has not been working very hard since it got hot outside), and in the fall hopefully we are enjoying the bounty of the harvest (in Alaska that means salmon and blueberries to me)! My diet is absolutely reflective of my life right now…somewhat sporadic, all really good, sometimes a little over the top (cocktails are delicious but not my friend), and by no means structured. I’m letting myself have a piece of fruit every day, a little dark chocolate here and there, some almond butter (still keeping reasonable at one serving a day), kicking my heels up with drinks when in good company, two to three cups of coffee seems reasonable. I have no real goals that I’m striving for with body composition (a.k.a. I’m not the leanest that I’ve ever been, but not the heaviest either). I’m running around at “Heather” weight. I’m eating what I want, training as much as I want and it all feels like a none issue since I’m so dang busy with everything else in my life.

Actually, I’m going to say my life/diet feels constantly celebratory. I finished the OPENutrition Challenge, went on vacation, completed my Crossfit Endurace Cert, graduated from school, my dad came to visit, I started the OPENutrition Seminar Series at Crossfit Denver, I had approximately 600 friends come to town last week, Crossfit North Fort Collins is having a field day this weekend (adult beverages will be involved), I have yet another seminar in Denver on the 13th and then I’m waiting to hear back that the nutrition seminar at Crossfit Telluride is a go and I will blazing over there the following weekend. Then it’s time for the Bolder Boulder 10k, a concert a red rocks, another seminar in Denver and then I’M OFF TO ALASKA FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH! And that will be one big party to say the least :) So…I constantly have a reason to celebrate and I’m doing it. That means more indulgences with food, which means I’m not Zoning and running around at 140 lbs. I am eating stuff that makes me feel really good and gives me enough energy to keep up the pace in my life. Lots of eggs, bacon, chicken, steak, canned tuna, canned salmon, lamb, pork, really big salads, grilled/roasted veggies, avocados, coconut butter, almond butter, an apple here and there, Ignite Naturals recovery drink immediately post-WOD, coconut probiotics, Natural Calm before bed, and that pretty well sums it up.

I hope everyone else is also enjoying spring and eating well! If you’re thinking you might need to do a little “spring cleaning” with your diet, you are welcome to join the folks at Crossfit Denver who will be taking the OPENutrition Challenge starting June 10th and the athletes from Crossfit Telluride should be kicking off June 9th.

Updates from Kris Swanson, who took the OPENutrition Challenge with us at Crossfit North Fort Collins: he is still down 14 lbs and looking spry! He said he feels great, he is sticking with the diet about 90% and has had multiple people jump on the wagon with him since seeing his results. Sounds like eggs and bacon, mexican food and burgers is still the majority of his diet :) Nice job Kris and can’t wait to see ya in June! We should go to Homer for halibut!!

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April 12, 2012

Busy + Loving It!

Oh hey! Sorry I have been neglecting the blog so heavily. I’ve been too darn busy to sit down and write anything more than my next to do list.

And you know what that means? I’ve been too darn busy to cook, let alone weigh and measure my food.

I wish I had a list of all the epic stuff I ate on my vacation, but I don’t. Needless to say, I kicked my heels up nice and high and it felt good. But you know what else feels good? Getting back into a food routine. And not drinking like a fish.

Since I’ve been back from vacation my food has been unreasonably boring and monotonous. Fried eggs and coffee pre-workout, post-workout Ignite Naturals recovery drink, heavy whipping cream in my 2nd coffee of the day, chicken salad of some variety at lunch, and meat + vegetables at dinner. Tonight it was coffee marinated grass-fed rib eye and steamed spinach. I don’t think this took me more than ten minutes to make, and it was GOURMET! I’ve also been incorporating one piece of fruit + an ounce of my all time favorite stone ground dark chocolate + a serving of nuts everyday. Actually, I’ve been eating chocolate in the morning with my coffee and eggs. It puts a smile on my face first thing in the morning :)

I would love to chat more, but like I said, life is BUSY! I completed the Crossfit Endurance Cert. last weekend (which was AWESOME), I’m graduating from the Institute for the Psychology of Eating this weekend (YAHOO!), my dad is coming to visit on Tuesday (YAY!) and I’m putting on two nutrition seminars next weekend (DOUBLE YAY!).

April 22nd 1 p.m. at Crossfit Denver

OPENutrition 101 – Eating for Performance

Learn how a diet based on meat, vegetables and healthy fats can drastically affect the outcomes you are getting from your training regime. Are you a high-performing athlete looking for the next “edge” in your game? Have your results recently stalled and you are wondering what needs to happen next in order to see improvements? No matter who you are or what athletic event you are training for, you can benefit from improving your sports nutrition.

April 22nd 6:30 p.m. at Crossfit North Fort Collins

Eating Psychology – An Intro to Mind Body Nutrition

Have you ever noticed how stress affects your digestion? Are curious what the psychology of eating is? Would you like to learn more about your relationship with food? Come learn about mind body nutrition and what it can mean for your nutrition and athletic performance.

You can learn more about the OPENutrition Seminar Series at OPENutrition.com

If you are looking for more food updates/inspiration, follow us on Facebook! I’m posting a meal a day to help folks see just how easy this whole meat + vegetables + fat scheme is :)

Talk more soon!

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March 26, 2012

Bitter Sweetness

Have you ever had the feeling of being so completely stoked on life and completely freaked out at the same time? Well, that is where I’m at right now. The trip to Telluride has been AMAZING! Metta and I had a safe + fast drive over, we’ve been playing outside everyday, we have approximately 3000+ friends from Western Washington University here visiting, the food has been epic (everyone seems to be coming down with gluten intolerance simultaneously….hmmmm), and I have been sleeping like a baby. What could possibly be the matter?

My lululemon pants fit tighter.

Yes, the weight has been coming back on. No scale required, I just feel bigger in my butt. And I have been making absolutely poor food choices. Or I should say, I’ve been eating A LOT and indulging with my friends and acting like I’m on vacation. Truth be known, it is an absolute head trip to not be Zoning anymore. I followed the Zone a couple days last week before our trip started, and had great intention of doing it while on vaykay. I’m an idiot. That’s insanely unrealistic. I logged my food at breakfast the first day we were here and skipped having mimosas with my friends because I was freaked about carb blocks. I walked away from that meal and realized I was a total prude and completely preoccupied with food. That’s not the type of friend I want to be!

So, I’ve been eating. A lot. I’ve made a point to stay gluten free (picking hard cider over beer, skipping the homemade cookies, etc.), but I have let cheese, heavy whipping cream, fruit, nuts, jerky, chocolate, tequila, and wine back into my life. I’ve also been eating yams outside of the post-workout window (AAACCKK!). And I have absolutely no eating rhythm. I’ve skipped breakfast, eaten dinner really late at night, dropped any notion of quitting caffeine after noon. I’M OUT OF CONTROL!

There is a part of all this that feels good… I need to step out of my comfort zone. As with all things, this is just an experiment. For me, the experiment is whether or not I can let go of my “perfect” diet for two weeks. By April 4th, I can go back to weighing and measuring my food if I want. But right now, it would be an absolute suck fest to skip going out for happy hour with my girlfriends because I’m afraid I won’t be able to see my top four abs by the end of the trip. And I catch no sympathy from my friends if I complain of feeling “fat”. I can still see every freaking rib in my body + I get stopped on the daily by people who want to know what I do to have such buff arms. So I cannot complain, but in my head I’m FREAKED that I no longer have to roll my tights over to keep them up during workouts.

Oh yeah, and I’ve been working out like a maniac. I took Friday off and just walked around a bunch, Saturday I did the Open workout 12.5 again (yuck) at Crossfit Telluride, Sunday I went for an hour hike in the morning + an hour bike ride in the evening, and this morning I rode my fixie to the gym and did a 20 min AMRAP from hell, then rode back into town. I talked about this before in my post on how to royally muck up the paleo diet, but you CAN’T exercise away poor nutrition. At least I can’t. My butt and thighs are still filling out even though I never sit still.

Sigh, I thought about how bad I wanted to be on the Grand again last night after having a snack, hard cider, dinner + dessert. I want to put myself back in situations like rafting + camping + trekking + climbing where my self worth is not determined by how well my ass fits into my pants. But sometimes I live in this shallow existence where I feel entirely too concerned with how many nuts I’ve eaten, and whether or not another piece of fruit is going to push my over the edge.

Okay, enough sob story, let’s talk about the TOTALLY EPIC food that is making me a curvier chick ;)

Right now I’m having a gluten free cherry almond scone with black coffee. And it is DELICIOUS! I used to eat scones + biscottis all the time before I went “paleo”. I’ve never screwed around with gluten free baking because I think it is a total joke. But today, I decided I was on a mission to find a gluten free baked goodie! It’s noon and that’s all I’ve eaten today. No pre-workout protein rich breakfast, no post-workout snack, just sugar and coffee. I know the rules, therefore I can break them :)

Here is my post-bike ride treat at 6 p.m. yesterday…coffee and baileys. Stupid good.

This is Ben’s totally amazing gluten free birthday cake that Metta made. I’m pretty sure it was just chocolate + butter + eggs + sugar + coconut milk. I had a slice with strawberries + coconut bliss ice cream…and I went back for seconds.

Real quick…we need to talk about the top photo on this post. This little bar in town serves popcorn with Bragg’s sauce + seasoning salt + flash fried brussel sprouts. It was ridiculous. Our studly bartender did a great job of serving us a myriad of tequila cocktails as well…did you know that tequila + coconut water go good together?

Here is the meat cook out of all time! A family friend grilled up beef + elk + big horn sheep for us. It was…as you might have guessed…AMAZING! I overdosed on apples with goat cheese as an appetizer and then polished off AT LEAST a 1/2 pound of meat at this meal. With a big ol’ glass of red wine in hand, I felt extremely sick. Overeating does not feel good, but it happens.

As I was feeling guilty once again for eating WAY too much food, our host inquired about what I eat and how I workout, referencing how she wanted arms and shoulders like mine. Just goes to show…often how we perceive ourselves or the hellacious head space we live in IS NOT REAL!

Okay, this post is entirely too long, but I wanted to give you an update on my food world. I’m having a blast, eating a bunch of really great, delicious, decadent food and trying to convince myself that my world won’t end if I don’t diet for the next week.

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March 21, 2012

VAYKAY!

Oh hey! I have been neglecting the blog all week, and I’m about to do it some more. I’m headed off on an epic adventure with Metta + Co. for Telluride + Moab + where ever else the wind takes us. I’M PUMPED! I hope my next two weeks is filled with Crossfit in Telluride, hiking, skate skiing, rock climbing, camping in the desert, shooting photos with my 1975 Hasselblad, finally reading some leisure books, and  boxed wine :)

I packed a stupid amount of food for this trip! I have two big bags of world’s kitchen beef jerky, my favorite stone ground dark chocolate, roasted and salted mixed nuts, canned sardines, canned salmon, canned trout, kipper snack, justin’s nut butter packets, a couple packets of vanilla whey protein and tomorrow’s lunch/dinner. Road trip food for tomorrow includes baby carrots, jicama, an apple, crockpot leg o’ lamb with garlic and mushrooms and rosemary, a little smidge of pate, mixed nuts and of course a bit of chocolate. Metta and I are chocolate + coffee maniacs, so we make a good team!

Dinner tonight was a bit of a fridge clean out. Lamb + lots of broccoli + pate + an apple. My god it was good. Ever since the Zone experimented ended, everything I have eaten has tasted like pure heaven. I refuse to eat food that is anything less than amazing.

Here’s a couple bonus food photos for ya:

Yesteday’s dinner + today’s lunch was parchment paper baked salmon with mixed greens + steamed green beans + baby carrots + brianna’s american dressing.

Monday dunch = herb roasted chicken thighs + boiled yam with kerry gold butter + steamed broccoli. Yams with butter and cinnamon are the best thing ever!

Here is what Metta + I had on St. Patty’s day: Arugula salad with roasted beets + carrots + feta + grilled lamb + a big plate of kale chips. I also had a hot whiskey cider that really got the night off to a good start :)

The top photo on this post is a quick example of how I prepped food for the week. I had bagged carrots + jicama + steamed broccoli + steamed green beans + sliced fruit for post-workout + leg of lamb in the crockpot + baked some salmon + made sure I have at least a dozen eggs + canned fish in the pantry. I keep hearing over and over again that it is difficult for people to prepare food. All I can say is, sorry. You’ve got to make eating quality food a priority if you want it to happen. I wish I had a personal chef that I could simply tell what I wanted to eat every day, but that’s not reality (yet). So, enlist your loved ones to spend Sunday mornings drinking coffee and hanging out with you in the kitchen while you prep. Or pour somebody a fat glass of wine and have them help you make dinner so you can both take leftovers for lunch the next day. Bake a bunch of egg muffins or meatloaf so you have quick snacks on hand. If you’re an athlete, going to gym initially probably felt like a chore. Once you get into the habit of training, it becomes just another important part of your day. I encourage you to treat cooking + eating the same way…make it a priority and develop the habit of eating well! Remember, everybody loves a cook!

I will probably do some updates from the road, but if I don’t…I don’t! I will be road foraging for eggs + bacon, guacamole bacon burgers, a stupid amount of coffee with heavy whipping cream, malbec, dark chocolate, steak + veggies, rotisserie chickens + more.

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March 16, 2012

Heather’s Experiment with The Zone

Yep, the Zone works.

I don’t know exactly how much I lost. At the start of the challenge I was hovering at 152. I stepped on the scale before this photo was taken and I was 140. As an experiment, I moved the scale 4 inches to the right and stepped on it again. On that part of the floor, I was 144. When I moved the scale 4 inches towards me, I was 142.8. One more time, I moved it 4 inches to the right and weighed in at 144.8. Lesson learned: give away your scale and let it screw with someone else’s head.

Before I go on… read this article.

Unlike Nicole, I don’t feel like The Zone is the cat’s meow. It was a pretty hellacious experience. Here is a short list of some of the highlights:

Crying on a daily basis? Check

Crying at the gym while walking up to the bar to do back squats? Check

Food dreams/nightmares? Check

Performance dip? Not sure…I had a few workouts that ABSOLUTELY SLAUGHTERED ME – such as White + Fran + 12 minute 500 m row and hang squat clean workout. I was also 15 seconds slower on my 5k row time. In general, I would say that being sad + tired + hungry + emotionally drained + mentally preoccupied made my training WAY less fun.

Performance increase? Not sure…I got my first muscle up, made the CF Total 500 club and did Fran RX’d for the first time. I was not blowing workouts out of the water by any means, or doing them with a smile on my face.

Constantly freezing my ass off? Check

Socially isolated? Check

Leaned out? Check

Dropped 10+ pounds in 5 weeks? Check

Precise Zoning? Nope

A lot more fat than recommended? Check. I tracked my food in Fit Day for the last 2 weeks and was consistently getting over 50% of my calories from fat. I was getting a lot of extra fat from eating eggs, lamb, ground meats, etc.

Cheat meal? Not really…one night out in Denver I had Tapas and ate scallops, shrimp, chorizo and salami…I still don’t think I blew my block allotment, I just ate them all as protein instead of carbs. Oh yeah, and there was the chicken skin binge.

Pissed off 24/7 because I can’t eat? Check

Did it get easier? Yes

Was giving up coffee worth it? NO FREAKING WAY!!

Absolutely caffeine free? Nope, I had black tea a handful of times + more than a few cups of decaf coffee in the last week. And I give no shits.

Other fails? Stevia…I had it in my tea three times, drank those Kevita probiotic drinks that are stevia sweetened, stevia sweetened natural calm + coconut probiotic…and I should have eaten leaner meats

Alcohol? 4 glasses of wine over the course of 5 weeks and I counted them as carb blocks

Sleep? A LOT! I went to bed really early every night to avoid thinking about food and being hungry. I didn’t sleep through the night though…often times I woke up because of bad dreams or my stomach aching because I was so insanely hungry…I never got up and ate anything

Period? Lost it

Feedback? “Girl, you look like you need to eat a sandwich.”

Worth it? Yeah…I will use it as a tool with my clients RARELY.

I’ve been eating A LOT since the challenge ended. My workouts felt WAY better this week (I actually showed up at the gym smiling and giddy). The last three nights I have slept better than I have in two months. I feel liberated and have an increase in overall sense of happiness not having to count blocks.

I have been trying to eat whatever I want, but it has been really mentally difficult. I followed my Zone prescription on Tuesday because I’m freaked about gaining the weight back. I don’t know what my weight should be at. I don’t know how much weight I will gain by no longer Zoning. So my experimenting with food continues. What’s going to happen when I reintroduce coffee + cream + chocolate + nuts + fruit + more fat + more carbs + more protein? I don’t know (and neither does anybody else)!

The Zone is a tool I can use if my weight creeps back up and I want to shed a couple pounds. I’m not convinced that following a Zone prescription is the recipe for optimum performance. For me, I think NOT having to weigh and measure my food, getting to cook, grocery shop, and go out to eat is personally liberating and makes me happy. And I know I perform my best in the gym and with my work when I’m happy. Who isn’t that true for?

I could talk more about dieting, but that’s all I’m giving you for now. I still stand behind the OPENutrition recommendations to focus on food quality. Weighing and measuring is a tool, but in my opinion, not sustainable. Plus, dieting is mentally, emotionally and physically draining. I want to help my clients have nourishing, fun, enjoyable, healthy relationships with food. That seems more important than fitting into booty shorts.

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March 11, 2012

Day 33/It’s Over!!

Saturday pre-workout = 1 oz ham steak + 3 fried eggs + 1 tbsp duck fat + 1/2 cup japanese yam

Post-workout = 2 meatballs + 1/2 cup japanese yam

I had my “after” photo taken, and then decided my challenge was OVER!

1 p.m. Celebratory americano with heavy whipping cream!!

2:30 lunch = 1/2 lb burger + 1 side bacon + 1 side guacamole

5:30 celebratory snack = 1 oz dry roasted almonds + 1 inch x 1 inch square 70% dark chocolate + another americano with hwc

8 p.m. “I’m hungry and I get to eat!” snack = 1 large rosemary chicken breast + 1 pink lady apple

I’ll write a really lengthy post about the challenge this week, but for now, just know that I’m stoked to be eating food and drinking coffee. I had coffee with a tablespoon of kerry gold unsalted butter this morning and two tablespoons of maple almond butter (Adrienne – that stuff is RIDICULOUS!). Not a large or well rounded breakfast, but I’m exercising my will to eat WHATEVER I WANT WHENEVER I WANT for a bit.

I celebrated being done with the challenge yesterday by buying a bunch of stuff that I can’t breakdown into blocks. Duck legs + pate + mouse + foie gras + salami! This is my new favorite place in the world.

I can’t wait for the OPENutrition Potluck tonight at CFNFC! I’m stoked to hear how everyone else’s challenge went! Kris made a weight loss graph that I will post on the site this week, and his results are pretty darn impressive!

Seriously…coffee makes the world a better place :)

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March 9, 2012

Day 32

I’m an egg poaching professional! That’s not true, I broke the yolk on my second egg as I was lifting it out of the pan.

8 a.m. breakfast = 2 eggs poached in homemade chicken stock (thanks for the idea Danielle!) + 3 oz ham steak + 1 broiled portabello mushroom + 1 box of spinach cooked in 1 tbsp bacon fat

12:30 lunch = The Big Salad with 1 serving carrots + 1 cup jicama + 4 cups mixed greens + 4 oz chicken breast + 2 tbsp brianna’s new american dressing + perrier

4 p.m. dunch = 4 meatballs + 1 broiled portabello mushroom + 1 head broccoli + .5 cup carrots + 4 tbsp baba ghanoush + 2 tsp olive oil

I was going to say dunch reminded me of the mezze plate at Maxine’s in Girdwood, but actually it’s nothing like it. Instead of falafel I had meatballs. Instead of hummus I had baba ghanoush. Instead of pita bread I had chopped veggies. So really they only thing those two meals have in common is that I eat them with my fingers and they are delicious.

7:30 Dinner = A couple meatballs. I already had all of my carb + fat blocks for the day :(

I did make Kris a kick ass batch of stew. He said it was really good!

Crockpot Moose Stew

2 cups chopped onion

2 cups chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrots

3 tbsp fresh rosemary

4 chopped garlic cloves

1 can diced tomatoes with italian herbs

1 lb moose stew meat

2 cups homemade chicken stock

1 diced jalapeño

Everything goes in the crockpot on low for 8 hours. And it always tastes better the next day!

6 carb blocks + 16 protein blocks + 0 fat blocks/6 cups

1 cup = 1 carb block + 2.66666666666666667 protein blocks

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March 8, 2012

Day 31

8 a.m. pre-workout = 2 eggs + 1 tbsp duck fat + 2 oz leftover chicken

11 a.m. post-workout = 4 oz leftover chicken breast + 1/2 cup japanese yam

3 p.m. lunch = The Big Salad w/ 1 cup carrots + 1 cup jicama + 2 tbsp brianna’s french dressing + 4 oz brisket + decaf green tea

6:15 dinner = 1 glass malbec + 1 cup spaghetti squash + kalamata olives + sun dried tomatoes + fresh basil + 1/2 tbsp olive oil + 6 oz moose venison pork meatballs

Kris gave our dinner an A++! I’ve never seen that guy eat so many vegetables, or finish his plate before me :) The moose + venison + pork meatballs turned out really good, but Kris and I agreed they would’ve been even better with olives mixed in ‘em. Thanks Al + Pete + Josh for the all of the game meat!

Super Duper Easy Meatballs

2.5 lbs ground meat

2 eggs

2 tbsp of desired seasoning (I used oregano, thyme, sage and black pepper)

2 tbsp fresh rosemary

4 cloves minced garlic

Mix all of the ingredients together by hand. Form into 1 inch meatballs and place in a ceramic baking dish, evenly spaced apart. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

We have a ton of leftovers that we get to snack on tomorrow. I might serve round two over zucchini noodles with homemade pesto.

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March 7, 2012

Day 30

8 a.m. pre-workout = 4 eggs fried in duck fat

10:30 post-workout = 1 slice meatloaf + 1/2 cup japanese yam

3:15 lunch = 1 slice meatloaf + 4 tbsp baba ganoush + 1 cup carrots + 3/4 cup jicama + 1/2 avocado + lemon la croix

7 p.m. dinner = 1 cup steamed broccoli + 1 glass malbec + 1/2 boiled artichoke + 1 tbsp kerry gold butter + a stupid amount of chicken and skin

I just binged on chicken skin…we made la croix can chicken and it was AMAZING! Kris said every meal he’s had in the past week has been great! But seriously, I weighed out my four ounces of chicken for dinner…but when I was pulling the meat off the bones to make stock and I literally ate every piece of skin that was on that bird. Whoops…I was telling Stephanie this morning at the gym that crispy chicken skin is my favorite (that sounds so gross but it is so good). So I just tossed the Zone on its ass and ate WAY more than I needed to. The end of the challenge is within spitting distance and I can feel it!

Have you ever had that experience where at the end of a long day your way to “de-stress” is to knock back a bottle of wine, or overeat dinner, or have dessert, and maybe have late night sweet/salty snacks? Yep, I think we all have. And I totally do that :( I get stressed, it’s just about that time of the month (it comes around too often), and all I want to do is eat a bunch of food and lay on my back and chill out!

I’ve heard this from quite a few people this week, “I can’t believe your willpower, you are so disciplined, I could never eat like that.” Newsflash: I have NO more willpower than anyone else. I’m a stress eater. I get sad when I’m dieting. I HATE weighing out protein + measuring cups of broccoli. I get pissed and emotional and reach for a glass of wine, coffee, hot chocolate, just like anybody else. We all do this, and it’s not a big deal. You brush yourself off and move on.

I feel really, really full…for the first time in five weeks.

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