We post often about food and nutrition, typically more that we post about training itself.  If your nutrition is out of whack your physical performance will be negatively impacted (thus affecting training and the results it yields).  Nutrition is also the one area where you potentially have the most [...]]]> Friday, December 25, 2009

We post often about food and nutrition, typically more that we post about training itself.  If your nutrition is out of whack your physical performance will be negatively impacted (thus affecting training and the results it yields).  Nutrition is also the one area where you potentially have the most control in comparison to training.  For example, you can elect not to train but eating is not an option; you need to make time for it and need to actually do it and can choose to do it right or not.  As well, the quality of your training can depend somewhat on your level of skill at performing particular movements.  Skill takes time to develop, not so with sound nutrition.  You may not have got your clean and jerk down solid yet, but you sure can dial in your nutrition right off the bat.

Now that the incessant writing about food and nourishment has (at least partially) justified, check out the Christmas Recipe Roundup over at Elana’s Pantry.  Elana’s Pantry boasts organic and gluten free recipes, and although they not always Paleo, with a little tinkering they can be brought into Paleo-friendly compliance (or at least nearly so).

We have just posted some new pics in our gallery

We now have a Twitter page so you can keep up with all CFTO happenings through your regular Twitter reader.

Workout

Complete 10 rounds for time of:

• 20 Walking lunges
• 10 Sit-ups

Ah, Paleo… I love how you boost my health, improve my athletic performance, help my sleep, shrink my butt… but do you have to be so damn messy? Salads are amazing, until you try to eat one in the car (lesson: stop eating in the car). Soups and stews? [...]]]> Friday, December 11, 2009

Ah, Paleo… I love how you boost my health, improve my athletic performance, help my sleep, shrink my butt… but do you have to be so damn messy? Salads are amazing, until you try to eat one in the car (lesson: stop eating in the car). Soups and stews? Delicious, but if your tupperware leaks, you’re out one really nice messenger bag. And if you’re trying to feed a child? On the road? Oh my.

But, but, but! I did it! The following recipe produces grain-free, sugar-free biscuit/cookie things that a 10 month old can and will eat with gusto without choking, that are free of potential allergy hazards (egg whites, tree nuts, dairy), and that are tasty enough that I tend to gobble up what Etta doesn’t finish. Also, mess-free. Behold!

Coconut Things (not so good at naming foods, me)

• 1 cup ground coconut (take 1 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut and run it through your coffee grinder until it’s flour-like. The volume will decrease.)
• 4 egg yolks (save the whites for breakfast tomorrow)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup frozen raspberries, crumbled up into little bits
• Optional add-ins:
  • cinnamon and ginger, to taste
  • dried blueberries
  • chopped nuts

Mix it all up in a bowl, form little hamburger-like patties, and bake on a parchment-lined cookie sheet at 350 degrees until they’re firm to the touch. Cool, then chow down. Makes 9. Or 12. Depends on how big you make your patties.

Workout

Deadlift 5-5-3-3 reps

rest 5 minutes

Complete 5 rounds for time of:

• 30 Double-unders
• 10 Weighted pull-ups (boys: 45#; girls: 35#)

This tasty, gluten-free recipe was found over at Paleo Mama’s Cave Chick Cuisine.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Life is so unfair.  First TTC fare went up to $2.75 (old news, you say?  I’m still irate!), then your PVR didn’t reprogram itself when the hockey game was moved to a different channel, and now your favorite foods might be trying to kill you.  Wait.  Back up.  What?

It’s [...]]]> Friday, December 4, 2009

Life is so unfair.  First TTC fare went up to $2.75 (old news, you say?  I’m still irate!), then your PVR didn’t reprogram itself when the hockey game was moved to a different channel, and now your favorite foods might be trying to kill you.  Wait.  Back up.  What?

It’s quite common among people with celiac disease to crave bread, crackers, and pasta.  What the hell?  Why would your body direct you to consume the very substance which is doing so much damage?  Theories abound.  Specific to gluten intolerance: Gluten irritates your intestines, making for really inefficient nutrient absorption.  Simple, refined carbohydrates are absorbed earliest, in a less-irritated region of intestine… so your body craves white flour and sugar because those are pretty much the only things making it through in a useful form.  Here’s one theory about why we might crave or be addicted to other foods (including, but not limited to, gluten) to which we’re intolerant.

Image credit: World’s Healthiest Foods

Does the thought of cleaning up your diet leave you in a panic?  Is there one food or food group that you think of more as a close personal friend than as fuel?  Consider this:

Hint: how do you know you may have these food sensitivities?  There are all sorts of ELISA allergy tests you can take, but if you feel particularly “addicted” to something, it may actually suggest you are sensitive to it.  When we took our kid off milk, he acted like he was coming off heroin for the first few days, he kept screaming for milk and cheese.  If you’re intrigued, take yourself off these things for a few weeks and introduce them back in, and then see how you feel.  (from Green Fertility)

You can do anything for a week, right?  Except hold your breath.  Or stand on one foot.  Or run nonstop.  Or… well… ok, so there’s a lot you can’t do for a week.  But avoiding, say, cheese?  Just to see if it changes your wellbeing for the better?  Might be worth a shot.

Workout

Complete 5 rounds for time of:

• 5 One arm dumbbell thrusters, left side (1/3 of body weight)
• 5 One arm dumbbell thrusters, right side (1/3 of body weight)
• 30 Double-unders

I want you all to be having lots of sex and making lots of babies.  There.  I said it.  In fact, I’ve been saying it in various ways since I started contributing to this blog!  Every time I suggest that a lower carbohydrate diet made up of real foods [...]]]> Thursday, December 3, 2009

I want you all to be having lots of sex and making lots of babies.  There.  I said it.  In fact, I’ve been saying it in various ways since I started contributing to this blog!  Every time I suggest that a lower carbohydrate diet made up of real foods might be a good idea, every time I mention intense exercise or strength development as a means for improving insulin sensitivity… Well… That’s all just double-talk for “make lots of babies”.  It’s obvious, isn’t it?  I go on and on about lowering your carbohydrates and maybe even fasting a little here and there… it’s all been a covert op: when you’re struggling with infertility one of the drugs you may be prescribed is:

Metformin (Brand name: Glucophage).  Metformin is an insulin-sensitizing agent… Metformin may increase your fertility to the extent that it reduces insulin resistance, and thus helps to normalize insulin.  (from Natural Health Solutions for PCOS)

Weird, right?  And it’s not just you gals I’m after.  Oh, heck no.  Boys, I want your swimmers to be doin’ their thang and doin’ it well.  Turns out you guys can be just as affected by gluten sensitivity and insulin resistance as the ladies.  (See celiac disease and infertility, as well as gluten sensitivity and infertility).

Sure, we claim that the CFTO blog is all about fitness and nutrition and gym-related exploits, but it turns out we’re all about the horizontal mambo around here.  Take heed: If you’re not looking to produce a mini-you and you’ve just jumped into a Paleo lifestyle, maybe double up on the protection.  Just sayin’.

Workout

Split jerk 3-3-3 reps

Rest 5 minutes

Complete 3 x as many rounds as you can in 5 minutes of:

• 7 Pull-ups
• 7 Kettlebell swings (boys: 32kg; girls: 24kg)

Rest 1 minute between rounds

A lot of people, when they hear what a Paleo diet entails, are baffled.  ”What do you EAT?”  ”Don’t you get hungry?”  ”I could never be so disciplined”.  This reaction is understandable, but misguided… Paleo isn’t about denial, or deprivation, or feeling holier-than-thou based on food choices.  It’s about [...]]]> Thursday, November 19, 2009

A lot of people, when they hear what a Paleo diet entails, are baffled.  ”What do you EAT?”  ”Don’t you get hungry?”  ”I could never be so disciplined”.  This reaction is understandable, but misguided… Paleo isn’t about denial, or deprivation, or feeling holier-than-thou based on food choices.  It’s about delicious, delicious food that makes your body feel amazing.  Mark Sisson says it better than I could in this article:

“Might that not-so-subtle positive interplay between taste bud and food stuff be by design? I mean, sex feels good because it promotes procreation.  The sun feels good to convince us to stay outside long enough to make vitamin D, an essential prohormone for life.  Conversely, direct flame applied to our skin hurts like hell because it’s damaging our body and threatening our health, and we get sunburns to let us know we’ve gotten a bit too much sunlight.  Wouldn’t it follow that the things that taste good actually are good for us, that the things we could conceivably come across and eat raw in nature are in fact suitable for consumption?”

Workout

Complete 8 Tabata intervals of:

• Row for max distance

You’ll see it on a lot of “diet food” packages: Guilt Free.  It’s on baked chips, fat-free cookies, sugar-free candies.  What is all this emphasis on guilt?  If I eat a bowl of ice cream it makes me a little wired, then a little sleepy, then a lot hungry, but it doesn’t make [...]]]>

You’ll see it on a lot of “diet food” packages: Guilt Free.  It’s on baked chips, fat-free cookies, sugar-free candies.  What is all this emphasis on guilt?  If I eat a bowl of ice cream it makes me a little wired, then a little sleepy, then a lot hungry, but it doesn’t make me immoral or bad.  The people in charge of food packaging are playing with your emotions… by saying that this granola bar is “guilt-free”, they’re implying that any other choice you might make is “guilt-full”.  I prefer to shop the perimeter of the grocery store… none of the fruits, veggies, or meats try to mess with my head.

One of the things I love about the Paleo way of eating is that the focus is on what will be delicious fuel for my body, and also on knowing exactly what’s happening when I make a less than ideal choice… I know exactly what will happen to my insulin and energy levels if I eat a big plate of pasta.  That doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to eat the pasta, it just means weighing the options: do I have time for a two hour nap afterwards?  Will the gluten wreak havoc on my digestive system, or do I tolerate it reasonably well?  Did my grandmother make it for me?  Do I really really really want it?  Sold.  If I have something else to do that evening I might make a different choice, like meat and veg, that will allow me to stay conscious and productive.  But notice how none of that assigns a value judgment to one food over another.

As Robb Wolf said in the Nutrition Seminar: “Food is just food.”  This is the food you eat, this is how you feel.  That is all.

Workout

Jackie

For time:

• Row 1000m
• 50 Thrusters (boys: 45#; girls: 35#)
• 30 Pull-ups

This website uses sugar cubes to visually represent the sugar content of foods and drinks.  They do preface that they do not differentiate between the types of sugar (sucrose, fructose, cane sugar, corn [...]]]> There is an email going around right now from Sugar Stacks with some sweet visuals!  Thanks to Nancy for inspiring today’s post!

This website uses sugar cubes to visually represent the sugar content of foods and drinks.  They do preface that they do not differentiate between the types of sugar (sucrose, fructose, cane sugar, corn syrup, honey, etc.) and recognize that these sugars are metabolized differently.  It is quite an eyeopener though to see the sugar contents of favourites foods and snacks…especially the ones many believe to be “healthy.” 

Check out some of these dandies…

Vitamin water.  Know anyone who thinks they are “doing their body good” by drinking a few of these a day.  One 8 oz glass contains 13 grams of sugar, while a bottle contains 33 grams!  For the record, a regular Snickers bar contains 30 grams of sugar!

Have you noticed the craze of these Arizona’s lately.  Seems everywhere I go there is a kid knocking one of these gigantic cans back!  A 24 oz can contains 72 grams of sugar!  HOLY SMOKES!  Might as well open a Coke…or 2!

And further proof that Organic does not mean it’s good for you!  Be smart…organic vegetables are fantastic…grass-fed organic meats are gold…but boxed foods, organic or not, are ultimately boxed foods!  These HEALTH Valley breakfast bars contain 14 grams of sugar…which is actually more than a small bowl of Trix or Captain Crunch!

How about that healthy fruit yogurt!  Seems adding a little bit of fruit adds a big punch of sugar!  27grams of sugar to be exact!  Calorie and sugar content-wise, you could enjoy a Twinkie and take the same sugar hit!

OK OK…so we know these glorious smelling Cinnabon’s aren’t a smart choice…but who knew how dumb really!  55 grams of sugar…never-mind the bad fats packed into these sinful treats…enough said!

Almost didn’t want to post this little bit of horrible reality.  Who doesn’t love a blizzard!  The terrible truth is 86 grams!  Sadface.

And how about the LowFat Wonders!  Guess what…most are equivalent in sugar to their full fat siblings!  That’s right…3 low fat Oreos have 14 grams of sugar just like the plain ole Oreos and only a 10 calorie savings!

Visit the Sugar Stacks website and their blog Sugar Delirium…it’s an interesting read.   They have a section on fruits and vegetables as well that has instigated quite a bit of controversy.  Yes fruit and vegetables are healthy, but it’s interesting to see why some are better choices than others.

Pass this on to someone you know…who may think they are making a “healthy” decision.  They may reconsider that Jumba Juice for breakfast, or stop indulging in their daily Mocha Frap-a-Sugar!

Workout

Buy In

• 90 second Hand Stand Hold
• 90 second L-Sit

Front Squat 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Cash Out

• 30 x 1/2 BW Thrusters

Your mom may have told you not to play with your food.  That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with your food…

You are what you eat…what does your fridge say about you?

Sometimes things aren’t always what they appear!

Next time you think the cheat is worth it…ask yourself if it’s worth [...]]]>

Your mom may have told you not to play with your food.  That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with your food…

You are what you eat…what does your fridge say about you?

Sometimes things aren’t always what they appear!

Next time you think the cheat is worth it…ask yourself if it’s worth the wrinkles!?

Just another few reasons for sticking with the Paleo way!

Especially with delish options in Paleo baking

(Thanks Aimee for the paleo finds!)

Workout

Complete the following circuit for time, alternating between stations each round:

• 12-12-8-8-4-4 Handstand push-ups
• 5-5-3-3-1-1 Rope ascents