In the previous post, we discussed a few lessons about paleo zone that I learned the hard way. We also explained the easiest, lowest time commitment, cheapest way to eat Paleo Zone. (Hint: cook in bulk & make your own freezer meals). Now that you know all of that, you might be ready to embark on this adventure. Want me to plan your first week of bulk cooking for you? Check out this potential week in your paleo life.

Saturday: Make a Grocery List.

Sunday: Shop & Cook in bulk. Portion out your meals for the week, and then freeze the rest. It’s best to freeze in individual portions. An option would be putting each portion in a sandwich size bag, labeling, and laying it flat in the freezer. Then, you can pull it out in a few weeks when you’re ready for it. Avoid freezing in bulk–it’s much easier (and faster) to defrost in single servings.

A note on freezing: Meat is very easy to freeze, defrost, and often tastes just as great when re-heated. Since the veggies eating experience relies a lot on texture, I’d avoid freezing these dishes (with the exception of perhaps a veggie soup) and simply make these every week.

Monday-Friday: Enjoy the fruits of your labor by simply reheating your preservative-free fridge and freezer meals throughout the week.

Remember how we discussed the merits of choosing your meals based on 1) the ingredients and 2) the preparation method? You want a variety of protein/fat/carb sources, and you want to choose a bunch of meals that can all be cooked at once. Here are a few options:

Proteins:

Beef + One Pot: Robb Wolf Paleo Chili

Multi Protein + One Pot: Primal Jambalya

Eggs + One Pot: Nom Nom Frittata

Pork + Crockpot: Pulled Pork Chili

Chicken + One Tray: Smoky Chicken Thighs

Chicken + One Tray: Siracha Lime Chicken

Even Easier: Hot Plates! Cook all of your proteins and add some spices! Vary the proteins, vary the spices. Very Easy!

Carbs:

Low Density Carbs:

Broccoli: Add some oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and coconut aminos into a bowl with the broccoli. Massage gently, then spread it on a cookie sheet and place it in the oven at 400 for 30 minutes.

Brussels Sprouts: Add oil, salt, pepper, and chopped uncooked bacon in a bowl. Mix well, then spread it on a cookie sheet and place it in the oven at 400 for 40 minutes.

Kale: Rough chop it, toss with peppers & tomatoes,some dressing, and make a salad. Make this salad a few days in advance…the dressing helps to soften the kale.

Spinach: Toss with a few strawberries and walnuts, and make a salad!

High Density Carbs:

Sweet Potato: Cut into wedges, add oil and seasonings (I like paprika or rosemary), cook at 350 for 20 minutes, and then at 400 for 20 minutes.

Carrots: Coat in oil and dill weed. Roast at 400 for 20 minutes.

Fruit: apples, blueberries, etc. These are so yummy and are pre-prepped for you!

Fats:

You’ll want protein, carbs and fat at each meal. Fat often comes included in the rest of your foods (most non-ultra lean protein has fat, and most carb/veggie sources are cooked in fat) but you may need to add fat if you don’t have enough. Almonds and avocados are great choices here.

Want more? Check out these four posts!

EDCF Nutrition Part1 : Let’s Define “Clean Eating”

EDCF Nutrition Part 2:  Paleo Zone is the Way to Go! 

EDCF Nutrition Part 3: The Easiest Path to Paleo Zone

EDCF Nutrition Part 4: One Week of Meal Prep 

Paleo Nick’s Paleo Bank Account. 

In the previous posts, we discussed “What is Clean Eating?” and we decided that Paleo Zone is among the best diet prescriptions currently on the market, especially for a Crossfitter. Paleo tells us what to eat, and Zone tells us how much to eat. Now, we’ll talk practicalities.

There are a lot of routes to clean eating, but I’m going to share with you what I believe to be the easiest, simplest, cheapest, and least time consuming method. Here are seven lessons that I have learned the hard way. They center around choosing quality ingredients, being organized, cooking in bulk, and the use of freezer meals.

1) A failure to plan is a plan to fail! Eating clean will not happen on accident. Just embrace that this requires a little bit of leg work in the beginning, but it will pay off in the end. You’ll plan & cook your meals in advance.

2) There’s a fair bit of investment on the front end. However, it is not very expensive in the long run. If you decide to start eating paleo, you’ll spend about $60 in that first grocery trip on staples (coconut oil, key spices, etc.) After that, you can easily feed yourself for $3/meal or less! Much cheaper than eating out! You can also keep paleo from becoming too expensive by following these guidelines.

3) Cooking in bulk does not mean eating the same thing ad nauseum. We’re big supporters of making a ton of food at once, and then eating it throughout the week. I love the Paleo Nick concept of the “paleo bank account”. The PBA is the stash of paleo meals you keep in your freezer. Cook 6 pounds of meat at once, and you have twelve portions. Eat two portions this week, and put the other ten portions in the paleo bank account. Sometimes you make big deposits into the paleo bank account/freezer, and some weeks are busy and you make a lot of withdrawals. Read more about it here.

4) Cook simple meals. These won’t be fancy or rely on your fine culinary skills. They will, however, give you adequate protein & veggie intake, and they’ll still be delicious. There is a time and place to make more complicated meals, but your average work week is likely not one of them.

5) When cooking in bulk, choose meals based on the ingredients and/or preparation method.

Ingredients: You want each meal to be balanced. So, for each meal you’ll pick your protein source, your carb source, and your fat source. Try to get a variety of protein sources (beef, chicken, seafood, etc), a lot of quality veggies (brussels sprouts, kale, spinach, broccoli, etc.) and some dense carbs if it’s a heavy training day (sweet potato, acorn squash, apples, etc). For fat, it’s often easiest to eat a few almonds, some guacamole, or some extra olive oil on your veggies. If you want to really dial this in, calculate and use your Zone blocks. If you’d prefer the easier, albiet less precise method, you can use your hands to measure.

Preparation Method: The lowest time commitment method is to pick recipes that can be cooked all at once. For many people, that looks like one crockpot meal, two or three one-pot meals (stews, chilis, etc), and two in-the-oven meals. These are all low maintenance meals, so you can easily prep for one meal while the others are cooking. Unless you have a double oven (lucky you!) you may want to save your veggies for last and let them cook while you clean up and put your proteins in their storage containers. Rubbing some oil and seasonings on those veggies and letting them roast in the oven is a simple & tasty method.

6) Get into a routine & choose an organization method for recipes. Picking recipes can be a drag if you’re not organized. Here’s how I do it: I store all of my recipes in a Google Drive folder (copy and paste each recipe into it’s own document from food blogs or re-type from recipe books) divided into folders by protein source. I love this method because I can easily search for what I want. Tonight, I typed in “chicken” and “crockpot” and nine potential recipes pop up. I give a “star” to recipes that I really love and want to repeat. I’ve found this to be infinitely easier than keeping a bunch of cook books around or a mess of links in my favorites tab online. In order to really experience the fruits of this system, you’ll need to know of a few recipes first! Thankfully, paleo has become very popular and there are many great food blogs to choose from. When you come across a good one, simply paste it into a Google Drive document. This method can be used with Dropbox, Evernote, etc. I find this method easy because I can access Drive on all of my devices, it’s easy to edit recipes, and it’s easy to search. Regardless of the method you choose, it’s somewhat essential that you systematize this and make it part of your weekly routine.

7) Find a way to enjoy cooking. Personally, I load up a bunch of podcasts and then go to work. I also try to cook with friends as often as possible. And sometimes, just sometimes, I’ll have a glass of not-so-paleo wine while I cook. Make your food prep time enjoyable, and you’ll want to continue the habit.

Want to start using this system, but you want a little boost? Check out the next post, which includes a potential week of meals.

Want links to all posts so far in this series?

EDCF Nutrition Part1 : Let’s Define “Clean Eating”

EDCF Nutrition Part 2:  Paleo Zone is the Way to Go! 

EDCF Nutrition Part 3: The Easiest Path to Paleo Zone

EDCF Nutrition Part 4: One Week of Meal Prep 

With the temperature warming up, we thought it would be fun to do a little in house competition before summer rolls around. Introducing the EDCF Spring Body Composition Challenge. Unlike the past diet and exercise competitions we have put on with their endless points and spreadsheets, we have decided to make this one a little easier on everyone.

The competition starts on Monday, March 17th and will run for 8-9 weeks. There are just two main parts to the competition with prizes for each! There will be a pre and post-test for body composition via a mobile hydrostatic body fat testing clinic located at the gym. So what will the test exactly tell you?

•  Your fat and fat-free body mass, as percentages and in actual weight
•  How much fat, if any, you need to lose to achieve your desired body composition
•  How many calories per day you burn without exercising—unique to you
•  How many calories you burn from different exercises—again, specifically for your body
•  Where you are on a scale of ideal body fat for your age and gender

The competition starts Monday, March 17th. The body fat testing clinic will be at the gym from 4-7pm. Each test takes approximately 10 minutes and you have to reserve your time beforehand. We cut a deal with the company – The first test is $49.00 and the re-test is $39.00

Sign up through the following link

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/east-dallas-crossfit-body-composition-testing-tickets-10742811037?aff=eac2

Here’s a short video of what to expect:

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There are two prizes, one for best attendance during the challenge (challenge starts the day of test, challenge ends the day of retest) according to front desk and only according to front desk., (no emailing after class to say you were there but didn’t sign in etc). So make sure you sign-up beforehand AND sign-in when you get arrive at the gym for class!

The other prize is for best improvement in body fat percentage. For instance if you have % body fat of 10% to start, the 9% at the retest you lost 10% of your total body fat. If you start at 5% and retest at 4% you lost 20% of you body fat.

Again the pre-test is Monday, March 17th. Put it on your calendars!

In the last post, we discussed the mass confusion around the term “clean eating”. This week, we’re discussing how to make clean eating a reality. Paleo & Zone are, more or less, the official Crossfit diet programs. You can do all the research that you want about super foods & macro ratios, and you’ll find way too many options. The truth is that everyone is unique. Something slightly different will work for everyone. However, Paleo Zone is pretty darn good, and it works for a lot of people.So, save yourself a lot of research go with a template that works. After you’ve adopted this approach, you may want to tweak it slightly to meet your own needs. Some people might be able to integrate full fat dairy, some people might need fewer carbs, and so on. Still, this is a great place to start, and (for many people) this can easily be a lifetime nutrition program that consistently works.  Paleo tells you what to eat, and Zone tells you how much to eat. So, let’s say you want to give this whole Paleo Zone thing a whirl. Here’s how you can do it!

1) Find out your Zone prescription. Use this link. The final page will tell you that you should be eating XX blocks. Blocks are basically a way of creating balanced meals. Every meal will contain equal “blocks” of carb, protein, and fat. For example, you might have a 4 block lunch, followed by a 2 block snack in the afternoon.  If you’re interested in learning more, check out Enter the Zone by Barry Sears.

2) Now, choose your favorite paleo foods from this list of foods. Brussels Sprouts, Turkey, Avocado ….yum! If you’re eating a 4 block dinner, you simply pick 4 items from each list. If you’re eating a 2 block snack, you simply pick 2 items from the list. Don’t know what Paleo is? Check out this link.

3) Next, decide how much you need to buy for the week, based on your Zone prescription. For example, a 14 blocker would need about 14 oz meat/day, so about 6 pounds in a week. Veggies vary, but you’re likely looking at a few pounds of veggies per week.

4) Buy and cook that food! Paleo Zone doesn’t happen on accident! Check out Part 3 of this series for a few meal planning tips. (coming soon!)

5) Store the food in the fridge, and eat that yummy goodness all week!

Here’s a few mindset tips before you get started:

Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. It’s better to eat a salad with a little bit of cheese and ranch, than to not eat the salad at all. It’s better to have some peanut butter (not technically paleo) on a banana as a snack than to find yourself hungry and gorging on cookies later. 80% of the time, eat well. 20% of the time, allow yourself some flexibility.

No one is responsible for your health but you. Yes, we know that Susie brings cake to the office meetings. We know that you work long hours. We know that you don’t like to cook. It doesn’t matter. Tough love time, guys! 🙂 If you want to be in your best shape ever, you’re going to have to give up all excuses and just do it. It’s worth it! Promise.

You don’t have to be uber-precise if you don’t want to be. Following the Zone perfectly isn’t easy. If you are willing to do it perfectly every day, then I applaud you. What a man/woman you are! For everyone else, just implement the key takeaways: eat enough protein for your body. Eat lots of healthy veggies. Make your meals balanced. It’s simple stuff: eat whole foods in the form of balanced meals. Not too much, not too little. Most people will benefit from measuring their food diligently the first week or two, and then can eyeball it after that.

Remember that the body composition challenge will be starting next month! Now is a great time to dial in your nutrition…and win a prize or two!

Want more? Check out these four posts!

EDCF Nutrition Part1 : Let’s Define “Clean Eating”

EDCF Nutrition Part 2:  Paleo Zone is the Way to Go! 

EDCF Nutrition Part 3: The Easiest Path to Paleo Zone

EDCF Nutrition Part 4: One Week of Meal Prep