PALEONISTAS

Cinco De Mayo was AWESOME and so NOT Paleo! 

Woke up and had delish STEAK AND EGGS for brunch! SO GOOD! I think I have a pic I can post… Then went to the Fountainbleau for Dan’s company’s Pool Party and started drinking again… man-o-man… came back around 7pm, took a shower, crashed for a 2 hour nap, snacked on some sushi and went back to the hotel to keep drinking and dance at Arkadia, one of the clubs in the hotel. So much fun! Luckily I was too tired to go to get junk food when we got home, even though I wanted some… glad now I didn’t. But we did go to Big Pink for lunch today and I had some of their amazing French toast with brioche bread (that stuff should be illegal!) and some eggs and bacon. 

I am hoping for a salad tonight and maybe some soup… Tomorrow is a new day :) 

M

So May 3rd was great. All paleo and no temptation… then came last night… we went out with Danny and Brandon and sure enough I had a few bites of a burger and some fries at 5am… damnit! 

So now it’s May 5th and I am hoping for a better day today! 

Today wasn’t too bad. One fried egg and two strips of bacon for breakfast, fish with steamed broccoli and sauteed spinach for lunch, fruit for snacks throughout the day and now I am munching on watermelon… About to head out the door for a long walk with Floyd before I make a cup of tea and settle in for the night to get some good rest. 

Felt pretty good today. No bad cramps or anything. No major energy either though. 

I signed up for the Whole9.com forum to get some support there for my second round of Whole30. It’s motivating to see others go through similar experiences and have tips and advice to share. 

Hope all is well,

M

It’s beginning of May and I feel like shit. I have awful cramps today that started this morning around 11 and are still wringing out my uterus… Matt fixed me a yummy salad for lunch with bacon :) Everything is better with bacon and I am about to walk Floyd to the park. I need to get out and get another walk in today! I walked this morning for about 45 min and felt better, so I will take Floyd to see his friends and get his energy out for the day and hope to then go for a 2-3 mile run to help ease the pain. 

Fruit for breakfast does not keep me full for a while. 2 hours later I am super hungry again! 

I might have to go back to eggs until I find some muffins or make some banana almond pancakes again! 

Take care and keep working on the pull ups!

M

Hi S,

so I have girls night tonight and will not be eating paleo… However, I am making BBQ Chicken in the crockpot and my apartment smells amazing!!! Going to slap that on some buns with pickles (should have made some kind of coleslaw with it) and enjoy it today. I also tried my hand at vodka gummy bears… Pretty much just dump gummy bears in a bowl and fill it with vodka, place it in the fridge and hope they soak it all up… mine didn’t all the way, so they are sitting in a vodka bath… still good though :) 

Really wish I could have girls night with you! 

Hope you two had a great weekend… to a great start for the week tomorrow ;)

~M

Dear S,

So I will upload two photos of what I had yesterday… Matt took me out on a date last night and wanted to try this place we heard about called MLT. IT’S A GRILLED CHEESE PLACE!!!! Holy cow was the food good!!! And to top it off, I had fried oreos for dessert…I felt like I was at the Texas State Fair….

So, needless to say, I weighted myself this morning and gained 2 lbs since I last posted my weight, which in total is 4 lbs of weight gain since I finished the Whole 30 at the beginning of February. Considering how much I’ve pigged out, it’s not as bad as I thought, but at the same time I prepped for the worst so I wouldn’t be as disappointed when I saw the actual numbers. Prob not the way I should approach all this…

I’ve got stuffed pepper cooking right now (with ground beef and whatever veggies I had left: mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, peppers, onions, spinach & tomatoes), and we had eggs for breakfast. After the past few months of eggs in the AM, Matt and I both need something different. I have to step up my breakfast variety game! Besides eggs and smoothies, I am on the hunt for new things we can eat, starting with fruit salads. If you have any suggestions, let me know! I might try some Paleo Muffins again. 

I also emailed Danny about a 13.1 that I found in Irving around the Champion Trail in September: http://www.heelsandhills.com/Events/HnHnH_Half_Marathon.html

Dan is going to run that half marathon with me! One of my 2012 resolutions was to run 3x 13.1 this year, and so far I completed 1 in 2:45 min. Now I want to start training for the one in September to get a better PR on my 2nd half and hopefully I will get to complete my 3rd one around November / December. Possibly even the Dallas White Rock Lake Half… So, if you and Cullen want to jump in on that one - plan for a 13.1 September 23rd of this year - plenty of time to train for it… Would be fun to have a larger group run together! Matt might even join in at that point too and I don’t think it’s too pricey. Seems like it’s around $40-$55…

I will start the same training program over again hopefully this coming week with emphasis on strength training, because the heavier the baby I sit for gets the more I realize how little upper body strength I have :(

Let me know how you two are and post pics!!

Love ya,

M

Hi S, 

it was so great seeing both you and Cullen last weekend! I can’t tell you how much that meant to me and how much I am already looking forward to seeing you two again soon! 

Paleo is going well since I’ve been back. It’s not another round of Whole 30 like I hoped (at least not yet), but overall pretty good. About 90% of our meals are completely Paleo and then we might have a cookie or some ice cream every now and then. I got pretty sick (bad cold) yesterday, so I made some chicken soup and Matt got me some saltines to go with it (obvs the not so Paleo part). My new obsession is Cocoa Almonds! I need to figure out how to make my own! They are so delicious…especially when you eat them with sliced strawberries…

I still haven’t gotten back into working out, but this week will be my re-entry! Once I feel better and am over this cold, I will suit up and go for a quick run this weekend and then back into the gym for some spin classes and yoga classes! 

I’ll keep you posted!

Love you both, 

M

Dear S,

So, I have to official start again today on the Whole 30 round 2! But this time around, Matt is on board! The reason why we have to start again is that we went out drinking last Friday and I had WAY too much (from beer to wine to mixed drinks!) so sure enough I had a sandwich the next day (from La Sandwicherie - the Prosciutto and Mozzarella) and then shared a pint of ice cream with Matt :( Ugh, it felt so good at the time and then I regretted it the next day of course! 

Needless to say, it is a new week and Matt wants in, because we weighed ourselves and we are getting too close to our weight that we had when we moved to Miami. I spent all day yesterday cooking meals and prepping foods for the week (also because I won’t be here this weekend and wanted Matt to have some easy to go to Paleo meals in the freezer to defrost). I made some crock pot meals (sausage and cabbage & chicken curry), spaghetti squash with bolognese sauce (I loaded the sauce with veggies like mushrooms, carrots, broccoli & cauliflower), stuffed zucchini and more meat mixture for lettuce wraps. I put them into portion sized tupperware and labeled them in the freezer (good wifey…). 

This morning I started my day with an hour long walk and a smoothie. I am babysitting all day, so I put the little one in the stroller, leashed the dog and went out with my smoothie in a to go cup (made it with coconut milk, frozen tropical fruit and ground flaxseed). I have spaghetti squash for lunch and a bit of chicken curry for a late afternoon snack. I also brought a baggie of carrots and cherry tomatoes with me to snack on in case I get hungry. I had my coffee with coconut milk (we really don’t eat or drink dairy anymore at all) and brought 3 reusable bottles of filtered water with me to drink during the day. It will be hard to stick to it in Dallas, so I am not going to be too tough on myself as long as I stay away from sugar!

We are getting back into running (did a few 2 milers over the weekend and will go again tonight), took Floyd to the dog park last night (with the skateboard, which in itself can be quite a workout on your legs and core balance). Now we have to get our fat asses back in the gym and get our strength training on! 

I am SO IMPRESSED with your Crossfit WOD progress - that is AWESOME! I can’t wait to see the video of your first pull up. Gosh, I can’t even think about doing one myself…That is amazing! Keep it up and tell me what you learn there so I can try that shit at the gym! :) 

Can’t wait to see you guys this weekend! 

Love ya and we’ll talk more in the Big D! 

~M

Recipe: I based this on the Tex Mex Hash Bake from PaleOMG.com

1) Sauté 1 onion in a deep sauce pan (I used my Le Creuset, because you have to use one you can stick in the oven as well) with about 2tbsp oil (olive or coconut or even bacon fat if you have some).

2) While the onion is cooking, stir occasionally until it is transparent. Shred 2 small sweet potatoes and chop your sausages into chunks (no fancy way of doing this, just chop them into pieces however big or small you like). 

3) Add the chicken sausage and brown a bit (if you want to use ground meat you can, just cook it all the way through in this step with your onions. Then layer on the sweet potato and let it cook for about 15 minutes (until your sweet potato is soft).

4) Whisk 6 eggs with seasoning of your choice (I used garlic salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, oregano, basil and of course some parsley) and pour over the mixture in the pot. Stir it all together to combine and coat all ingredients with the eggs. Place the dish in a preheated oven at 350 for 30 minutes. 

5) Check your dish in 30 minutes to make sure the egg is cooked through. If not, add 5-10 minute increments until it is cooked all the way (you can stick a knife in to see if it comes out clean). Temp and time vary based on individual ovens. 

Let it cool and enjoy :) I ate mine with Cholula’s Hot Sauce (the best!) => I make this dish a lot with whatever meat I have on hand (bacon, sausage, ground meat or even deli slices I have left over). Any kind of meat mixed with sauteed onions and other sauteed veggies if you want to add them can be covered with eggs and baked. You can steam sweet potatoes and eat them that way with the cooked egg dish, or you can shred them or even cube them and add them to the pot, soften and baked them all together! One pot meal that is a perfect ANYTIME meal (I put mine in portion sized tupperware and take them to work). Love this dish and the different varieties you can make with it!