Best 3 block snack ever
Sticking to the Zone Diet in Ouray proved to be too much of a hassle to really handle. We stuck to zone/paleo for breakfast and mostly paleo for lunch (minus a cookie on the first day…), but typically by the time we got to dinner, we were so cold and hungry that the last thing we wanted was to weigh and measure and eat kale while our bodies were screaming, “I want cheese! And beer! Lots and lots of cheese and beer!” And sometimes, well, you just have to be flexible and listen to your body!
But this week we have been back to zoning and eating things that are less full of dairy and alcohol (sigh). And honestly, it continues to get easier every day. Now I can look at a piece of chicken or fish and have a really good guess as to how much it weighs, or scoop out some lettuce or potatoes without having to use a measuring cup. I also am really enjoying what was ultimately my biggest reason for wanting to try zone: it forces me to eat more balanced meals and have a more structured eating schedule. And I finally got rid of the post-holiday bloat that made me feel like a big lump for most of December.
Since we started zoning our meals, I have PR’d my mile time by a full minute, and also PR’d my clean & jerk and snatch. Obviously these accomplishments have been months in the making, but I definitely feel like this change in my diet has given me a boost. In fact, I might extend my 8 week timeframe to 90 days just to see what happens. Cleaning up my diet again has also given me a lot more energy, made it much easier to fall asleep at night, and made, erm, everything else a lot more regular. Which is always nice.
I am looking forward to my next grocery trip (which will most likely be tonight…) now that the spending fast has been put into the equation. Yes, groceries are obviously a necessary expense, but that $18 per pound wild caught salmon probably isn’t. I see a lot more ground turkey and a lot less lox in my future, which is just fine, and I am excited to try out some new recipes that come with that territory.
And on that note, one of my Winter 2013 goals was to try a new paleo recipe each week. We have been doing so much random food experimenting that I sort of neglected this the past 2 weeks but this week we made Health Bent’s Greek Meatballs and took them with us to a Paleo potluck. Each slightly-larger-than-a-golfball sized meatball was 1 block of protein (we didn’t add the cheese), and we dipped them in sugar-free, gluten-free tomato sauce, which added about 1/4 block of carbs to each meatball. Overall I am not a huge meatball fan, but the mint and lemon added a really interesting tangy quality that I really liked. I think the ones we made turned out a little overcooked, so if we were to do it again I would try to make them more of “medium” instead of so “well-done.” This weekend I am going to make PaleOMG’s Blueberry Breakfast Carnitas which are probably a little high in sugar but sound incredible nonetheless, and I am also going to make Health Bent’s Pumpkin chili for another Paleo potluck on Sunday. And hopefully they will be delicious, because making people delicious food is a pretty good way to make friends. And who knows, maybe recommending delicious food to them works too… you’ll have to let me know.
