I'm CooCoo for CoCoNuT

I have been loving the recipes I have been making from different Paleo sites like Everyday Paleo and Paleo Perfectly. Even hubby is lovin' them--he asked for the Orange Chicken two nights in a row.

For Valentine's Day, Lola and I made him a LOVE CAKE (so NOT Paleo) and I decided to get a little creative with the coconut.

Love Cake: banana cake, coconut filling topped with powdered sugar.

During my Florida days I used to love to go to Shooter's and get the Coconut Shrimp so thought I would try making Coconut Chicken for dinner.

I cut up boneless, skinless chicken breast into tenders and set aside.

Then I set up my COCO-NUTTING station:

in the first bowl I added about a cup of coconut flour. Then in a second bowl I added 3 eggs mixed with about 3TB coconut milk and in the last bowl I added unsweetened shredded coconut

roll your chicken tenders in the coconut flour--then dip into the egg mixture-then cover in the shredded coconut.

In my saute pan, I melted some coconut oil and browned each chicken tender until golden.

Once browned, put onto a baking sheet or stone and finish in the oven (400*) for about 15 mins or so.

I served this with a giant green salad and lightly steamed broccoli-you gotta leave some crunch in it!

Easy and it was a nice change of pace. I love coconut so I will definitely make this one again. I think I will try to figure out a good sweet/spicy chili dipping sauce in the meantime!

Don't forget to enter the TOUGH CHIK giveaway. All the cool kids are doing it--Right Kovas?

Speaking of Tough Chik--did you see that EMZ is running for 24 hours on her Treadmill in May to support The Sojourner Center? Call I get a collective "YOU FREAKING ROCK EMZ?" 

Eating in the Cave

Here we are in week two of cave dwelling (aka eating paleo for the athlete) and these are some of the yummy veggie eats we have been enjoying!

Roasted Cauliflower

This dish so simple. Chop the cauliflower, put into a glass dish, drizzle with your favorite oil, add a little pepper and roast for about 35-45 mins on 425.

The base of the slaw-shredded veggies!

Shredded carrots, cabbages, broccolli. Mix with the juice of 1 lime, some lime zest, 2 tbsp paleo mayo, a handful of cilantro, a dash of cayenne. Mix and let sit in the fridge for a while.

Spicy Slaw

Tuna stuffed avacado

Cut an avacado in 1/2-stuff with tuna or salmon, a teaspoon of another easy paleo mayo, lemon juice, chopped onion, red pepper, celery. I topped it with pea shoots and a lemon wedge.

Green Monster Salad

This is my new favorite. Mix your favorite green lettuces with baby spinach,
top with some pea shoots and cilantro dressing. 
To make the dressing mix a big handfull of cilantro, the juice of 2 lemons, a dash of pepper and a little drizzle of oil. Whiz in your blender or food processor.  

Sauteed Italian Squash with mushrooms

Small Italian squash (aka zucchini) sauteed with coconut oil and mushrooms.
I added a dash of crushed red pepper flakes to add a little zip!

We have had lots of grilled chicken, roasted chicken and then making soups and stews from the roasted chicken bones. We have been making all kinds of chili and soup recipes.

I picked up some beautiful wild trout so had that last night for dinner. YUM! and tonight is Very meaty chili with steak, ground beef, ground turkey and veggies chopped up in there (shhhhh-don't tell hubby!) 

I have to say, I am not really feeling like I am missing anything here. I feel good and my energy is just fine.

Oh, did I mention that the scale dropped a pound and a half?? Yeah. Happy about that too! Who knows, maybe I will have abs like EMZ this summer (ya, right!)

A Lighter Shade of Paleo

If you are a regular reader of my blog you know that I'm best friends with Joe Friel I met Joe Friel this December at a Winter Base Training seminar that was held here in Maine at Orthopedic Associates Performance Center.
You also know that I take what the man says very seriously.


Here is proof of our "friendship":

Yes, I will use any occasion and any excuse to post this picture of me and my BFF, Joe Friel



How's THAT for motivation??

While at this conference he discussed nutrition and body composition and of course, I was fascinated with everything he had to say. It's one thing to READ it but it's a whole 'nother story hearing it right from his mouth.
Mr. Friel provided a little formula that he uses to determine body comp for his athletes; it is not based on body fat percentages, total weight or traditional measurements that are used in most fitness plans I have seen or read. He breaks it down into pounds per inch and then based on this number he has been able to break it down by athlete performance - Front of the Pack (FOP), Middle of the Pack (MOP) and Back of the Pack (BOP) runners and triathletes.

Runners:
FOP 1.7-2.0
MOP 2.1-2.2
BOP >2.2

Triathletes:
FOP 1.9-2.1
MOP 2.2-2.3
BOP >2.3
Curious where you stand?
Here is the formula-

 body weight divided by height = lbs per inch

In order for me to get my body into the FOP category, I would need to shed just about 8 to 10 lbs. I do think this is completely doable and with the proper nutrition (it's all about what you eat folks!) I should be at my perfect racing weight in no time.


I had read a couple of books about nutrition and weight loss for athletes and most of what I read did not jive with what typically works for me or with my basic understanding of nutrition. I found most plans a little too carb heavy for my taste. Don't get me wrong, I think carbs are our friend...it's just the quality of carb that I think is important.


So I have been reading about Paleo and borrowed Dawn's book, The Paleo Diet for Athletes (as mentioned in this post) and while I am only 5 chapters in and have been skipping around the book, reading this section and and then re-reading that one, I find that my own personal philosophy falls more in line with this kind of nutrition.
Clean foods, staying away from commercially raised meats and fish, ditching processed foods. Keep it simple. Make it yourself. Lots of fruit, veggies, lean proteins, nuts, seeds and berries. The basics of my current eating lifestyle.


Don't let the PALEO title scare you...THIS version of Paleo--for the ATHLETE has been altered a bit to meet our needs a bit more. You can eat starchy veggies like potatoes as well as grains-- "You may also select grains such as corn, bread, a bagel, rice, and cereal to continue the rapid replacement of carbohydrate stores".


I find that this is a Lighter shade of Paleo- A bit "friendlier" if you will and certainly, I am finding it easy to adjust to this pattern and style of eating. It's all in using those carbs to refuel your body at the right times around your training schedule. Makes sense to me!


So while I am not totally submerged into a Paleolithic eating lifestyle or even following TPDFA to a tee yet, I am making some changes and I feel good. I do not feel tired. I do not feel deprived. I am not clawing at the drawer with the hidden truffles (Lola's treats).
I also subscribe to a philosophy of balance and moderation.
If I want a truffle, I will have one-not six.
But I also have goals to achieve and races on the schedule and I find that this is a big motivator for me.

Hubby has my kryptonite in the house-potato chips-and I haven't nibbled a single chip.

A couple resources that have made it easy to find great, family friendly recipes:

Everyday Paleo
We have been making several of Sarah's recipes over the last couple week just because they are so delish!! My favorites so far? Paleo Chicken Piccata (I skip the wine) Everyday Paleo Chili Verde and Chicken Chili Soup. You don't have to eat Paleo to enjoy these dishes. They are now doing a podcast too!

Paleo Perfectly
Cait does a great job having fun with Paleo, taking recipes and tweaking them into Paleo friendly versions- Molten Chocolate Babycakes? Lemon Squares? Sounds good to me! Her entire family eats Paleo and she has fun making kid friendly recipes like Chicken Nuggets and Fries, Cookie Cutter Eggs, Pirate Pork,

Paleo Diet Recipes
This site has a great list of you favorite condiments made Paleo friendly! Even if you don't eat Paleo, who wants to eat ketchup loaded with High Fructose Corn Syrup and chemicals anyway??

Getting Sick, Getting Snow & Getting "Stoned"

Getting Sick!
Uggggh. The sick bug has hit me and hit me hard. Hubby brought home this pesky little virus and it started to shut him down on Sunday. Now, the little buggers have invaded my body and have me feeling pretty ick. uck. yuck. It started creeping on Tuesday night and by yesterday I was sporting a full blown illness. Combine that with a severe lack of sleep on Tuesday night (can you say snoring thanks to hubby??) and the complete inability to get any rest on Wednesday and well...not a good combo. I wasn't the happiest gal to be around.

Bum knee, stuffed up head, congested chest. Yup, doing great for my base building period huh??

Getting Snow!

Mother Nature dumped an amazing amount of snow on the Northeast US Wednesday--parts of Massachusetts are reporting upwards of 20 inches. I'd guess to say we got a good 16" here.



The Obligatory First Taste of snow...she asked for ice cream when we got in from playing



Snow Angel!

Up and down the street we went!

Luckily, Lola is not sick and she really wanted to get out and play today so we spent the morning outside-visiting the neighbors, throwing snowballs, making snow angels and then I pulled her up and down the street in her little sled. The fresh air felt good and I could feel an "itch" to run!

The neighbor's stunning Snowman



Look how high the snow banks are! Look how Lola CAN'T look!

Between the blizzard yesterday and being sick, I did not work out at all on Wednesday. I did not workout this morning (but the day is not done). I did spend the day cleaning house, doing laundry and getting some reading done when I could.

Getting Stoned??

What am I reading you ask??

I borrowed The Paleo Diet for Athletes by Joe Friel and Loren Cordain from my buddy, Dawn.
Paleo=Stone Age=Stoned. Get it?? Yeah, I know. Super funny.
I am only about 30 pages into it so I really don't have my opinion formed on this book as of yet. I will say that I am normally not a big fan of any eating plan that eliminates entire food groups. On the other hand, some of the info I am reading makes some sense and I AM a big advocate for quality carbs and eating clean foods. I also happen to be such a Joe Friel groupie supporter that if he told me to run 6x800's with angel wings tied to my back & it would make me faster, I would certainly try it.

I have been reading a bit about Paleo here and there since another friend of mine jumped into the lifestyle 100%-she is an avid Crossfitter and she is in amazing shape! I have also been reading some great Paleo blogs and really love the recipes on Everyday Paleo.

So, I am keeping an open mind about it and will form an opinion once I have read the entire book. Even if I end up it total disagreement with the basis of the book, I will just chalk it up to LEARNING. I always enjoy reading and studying anything relevant in health, fitness and sport.

From talking with Dawn, it is not as limited as most Paleo based eating plans we have heard or read about and she is feeling good following Paleo for the Athlete. I also got an E-book called "Paleo for the 21st Century" which gives some modern day alternatives to eating Paleo.

**I would like to hear from you**

• Do you follow a Paleo based lifestyle or eating?
• Have you been successful with your athletic goals following Paleo?
• Do you totally disagree with anything Paleo related?
• Did you attempt a Paleo plan only to fail?