Posts Tagged ‘Focus’

Quick Win

Posted: August 6, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
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Alright so I really don’t have a great excuse for not posting this on time. This post is for the 4th. Although I’m off from work, I have another project that kept me busy all day. Well at least procrastinating about it kept me busy. I do feel myself dragging a lot more these days. It almost feels like the beginning of Ramadan even though I am much more rested these days, not to mention fully adjusted to the schedule. Maybe I’m resting too much? I’m not one to sit around idle so maybe being off work this long is making me lazy.

For Sahoor

This one is for you eva626. I tried your silly recipe of sweet potatoes and milk (I used almond milk). I boiled the potatoes, mashed them up and then added warm almond milk as well as some cinnamon. I don’t know if the excitement of the night and lack of sleep kept me unhungry (is that a word?) but I found it difficult to eat. It tasted good but maybe I just made too much since I used 2 sweet potatoes. I had been snacking on almonds and other things throughout the night as well. Where did I go wrong? Here is what it looked like:

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For Iftar

I had stopped procrastinating and gotten pretty busy around Iftar time so I had only a few minutes to throw something together. I had marinated salmon with sea salt and chili powder earlier. When it was almost Iftar time, I heated up a pan and cooked it with coconut oil. I added green peppers, scallions, and tomatoes to it. I cooked both sides of the fish and when it was nearly cooked, I added some raw honey to one side of the filet. I let it simmer on low heat and put a top on it.

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This was extremely easy to make as you can see. It took maybe 10 minutes with the exception of marinating the filets. Adding honey to one side of the filets left it with a great sweet/spicy combo. It was the perfect touch that made it taste like something I had put effort into.

Workout of the Day

The ab challenge has a rest day today so I did a body weight metcon workout;

5 Rounds
10 Push ups
15 Squats
10 Pull ups
15 Lunges
5 Handstand Push Ups
*Every 30 seconds do 5 burpees

I will be writing the post for the 5th right after this so I will be caught up. It’s almost over, not the time to start getting lazy!!

Night of Power: 2013 Edition

Posted: August 4, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
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Yesterday was the night before the 27th of Ramadan. Without getting into too much religious detail this day is known as Laylat al-Qadr, or Night of Power. This night can fall on any of the odd days in the last 10 days of Ramadan, but it is commonly believed that it falls on the eve of the 27th. It’s believed that this was the night that the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) while was he was meditating in a cave. It’s mentioned in the Quran that this night is better than a night of a thousand months, meaning praying this one night is worth more than praying on any other night for a thousand months. While we have now spent this month fasting, giving to charity, praying, and purifying ourselves, Muslims tend to go the extra mile on this night.

The mosque was packed more than the other nights because not only was it a Saturday, potentially Laylat al-Qadr, and free food had been served, it was also the day the recitation of the Quran was completed during Taraweeh prayer. During Ramadan, Muslims gather each night and are led in prayer as the Imam recites the chapters of the Quran cover to cover over the course of 27ish days. On this day after the Imam finishes the recitation, there is an extra prayer which ends up going on for about 30 minutes (we timed it) while you are standing. Thank you CrossFit and mobility for somewhat keeping my back and legs intact for this. After all this, people usually hang out at the mosque until Sahoor. There are more prayers throughout the night but it’s generally a joyous occasion.

There is something about that night. You don’t feel tired, annoyed, or grumpy because of the lack of sleep. You tend to take in every minute and hope the clock slows down because even with all of the praying and asking for forgiveness, you have this feeling that you are having fun. Maybe it’s just me but I had a great time and inshAllah I will get to do it again next year.

For Sahoor

I had some extra chicken left over from the night before that I ate. Why do I keep forgetting that it isn’t easy to eat chicken in the morning? Anyways, I had a serving of fruit that consisted of watermelon and an apple. I finished it up with a protein shake.

WOD

I didn’t do a CrossFit workout but I did do the next day on the Ab Challenge calendar.

For Iftar

This is going to sound nuts or like a cheat meal but I had butter chicken (that’s not really made out of butter.) It’s a recipe my chef mentor, aka mom, came up with. It essentially avoids using butter yet still achieves the creamy look and taste. I think it’s some of the best butter chicken I’ve had even when comparing to some big time restaurants. I’ve made this dish before but on this night I can’t take any credit:

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Just about every ingredient in it is Paleo friendly with the exception of a little bit of dairy. Oh what’s the recipe? Yeah.. about that. Sorry this one I can’t give away. Truth is I don’t even know it completely. I’ve made it a couple of times before but there are always a couple of steps that mom has taken care of. I’ll find it one day, and I may just share it with you all.

I did want to touch on another thing. As great and happy of a night this is for the majority of the Muslims around the world, the only bit of anger I do carry on this night is what I hear about it on the news. I’m referring to the idiots who have hijacked this religion of peace and demonized it for their perverted agendas. The thought of them using the Night of Power to possibly carry out acts of evil on innocent people is sickening and even during prayer where one should disconnect from the outside world, I can’t help but hold anger towards them. May Allah bring sense into these peoples’ heads and bring peace into everyone’s hearts.

For the Boring Salad Days

Posted: July 28, 2013 in Food, Ramadan
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Not a lot to say but I show a quick way to make a tasty salad for those days you just don’t have time. Salads can be great, but watch the dressing!

For Sahoor

Since I vowed never to eat eggs again, I went a different route. I ate a bunch of random things to fill me up. I had a protein shake, then moved on to left over chicken from the night before, and lastly an apple and peach. I drank 3 or 4 glasses of water and called it a morning. The chicken was no easy thing to eat that early in the morning though. They were leftovers that I warmed up. Not the easiest thing to chew and digest at 4am. Mission wake up earlier to make something better starts now. I guess Mission go to sleep earlier should begin before that.

For Iftar

A couple of days ago I talked about showing everyone quick ways to eat delicious Paleo meals without eating boring salads every day. I do however want to show a quick way to make a good tasting salad for those days that you are too busy to make something else.

  • a layer of lettuce
  • half of a cucumber, sliced
  • 1 banana pepper
  • hand full of olives, sliced
  • 1 small carrot, diced
  • 1/2 tomato, sliced
  • any left over meat. I used extra ground beef that I had left over from taco night
  • Paleo salad dressing. Keyword Paleo, don’t let me catch you dousing it with Kraft Ranch.

Lay down a layer of lettuce in a wide bowl. Then, add in all of the ingredients, leaving the meat for the end. Do your self a favor and make it look pretty. It makes eating a salad a little more enjoyable. I added Tessemae’s zesty ranch dressing all over it. It tasted great and the greens really filled me up.

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See, looks pretty, tasted good, and it took all of 5 minutes to make it. Where people usually go wrong with salads is the dressing. There really is no point in wasting a meal on a salad if you plan on letting it swim in high caloric, fat enriched, processed dressing.

Be wise and stay Paleo my friends.

Away from the Kitchen

Posted: July 18, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
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So today I had one of those situations that everyone faces during Ramadan, having to eat away from your kitchen. This usually involves going to someone’s house for Iftar and being force fed fried egg rolls and samosas before the rest of the carb and sugar loaded dinner is served. When you think it’s almost over, a tray of kulfis are busted out and well, how can one say no to that.

I’m here to say you can say NO! It may get you some weird looks and you may deeply insult the aunty who cooked but sometimes it needs to be done because at the end of the day, it’s your body. Become comfortable saying no and picking out what you want to eat rather than feeling pressured into having to try everything.

This was my first experience having to go out for Iftar this year but it wasn’t as bad as they usually are. It was an interfaith dinner at the local mosque and a commission that I serve on along with other elected officials in the county were invited to it. It’s an annual tradition and one that I really enjoy. You get to break your fast with neighbors in your community, many of which may never have known what Ramadan is. Everyone has a good time enjoying the food while sharing what Ramadan is about and also learning about cleansing, purifying, and fasting in other religions. If you don’t have one of these in your community but have some pull with the mosque leadership, I highly recommend you look into organizing one and invited local elected leaders, pastors, rabbis, etc to it. If you need help or advice on organizing this, feel free to contact me. A little (paleo) bread breaking with the community goes a long way.

For Sahoor

Before I talk about Sahoor, I do want to mention that I did start hydrating better. The night before I had some watermelon which has tons of water and then I paced myself in drinking about 32oz of water in between Iftar and when I went to sleep.

For Sahoor, I started hydrating while I made my eggs. It was the typical 2 egg/4 egg white omelette with onions, green peppers, sea salt, and tomatoes. I had everything cut up already the night before so in the morning I just threw everything together to make it in coconut oil. I added half an avocado to the plate as well and had about a handful of almonds. I finished up with probably 40-50 oz of water consumed. That’s a lot of water and not the best idea for someone who’s decided that today is the day they are going to start drinking water.

For Iftar

So while standing in the buffet line to get my food, I did my snooping to see what was being served so I could develop a game plan. First up salad, check. Second, fried rice. Yum… I mean no, pass. Next, tandoori chicken, don’t mind if do. That station will always get me looks because I will pile on for a while. Usually it’s the most Paleo thing there so I have to take advantage. Then there was a spinach dish; paleo-ness was questionable because of the type of oil I tasted in it but I had some anyways. Lastly, grilled beef kabobs, check.

Like I said, I’m not shy with the tandoori chicken. I should have gotten some more greens but other than that, it was solid. Paleo (for the most part) while being away from my kitchen so I didn’t have to worry about cooking, check, check, and check.

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Lastly, I’m not sure how many more of these rest days I have left before you guys write me off about this being a workout blog as well. It’s been a rough, long week but it’s almost over. Have I blamed traffic yet? If not I would like to blame that for not letting me make it to the gym in time so that I could get home in time after that to cook. For those that are wondering why I don’t workout after Iftar, here is my (attempted) schedule in the evenings:

6:30-7:30 – Workout. This means I have to make it to the gym before 6.30 from work.

7:30-8:30 – Getting home from gym, clean up, and cooking my Iftar meal.

8:30-9.30 – Break the fast, pray Maghrib prayer, and then dinner

9:30-9:45 – Do a couple of things for work

9:45-11:30 – Drive to mosque, pray taraweeh, drive back.

11:30 – sleep – Write this blog and prep for sahoor. Oh and then be up by 3:30 to make Sahoor.

So basically, if I don’t make it to the gym by 6.30, everything else will be thrown off if I do decide to stick around for a workout. Oh well, I’ve had 10 days to adjust to this schedule. I should be good after this weekend!

The Home Stretch

Posted: August 9, 2012 in Ramadan
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Here we are in the home stretch of Ramadan 2012! The last 10 days of Ramadan is a special time for Muslims all around the world. It’s said these last 10 nights are Nights of Power. In one of the Nights of Power hides a moment where whatever you pray for will come true. No one knows what night this is or what time it will be at but it’s said to be on an odd number night. Muslims will stay up and pray, read the Quran, and go to Mosques to worship.

It’s truly a blessed 10 days and it’s one of the few times of the year where I feel at peace. I’m able to shut out the world and concentrate on purifying myself. It’s also a time for slackers like me who may not have taken as much advantage as I should have in the past 20 days to make myself  a better person. If I’ve wronged anyone, I ask for your forgiveness. If you want me to pray for you, please ask. To my Muslim brothers and sisters, let’s make the absolute best that we can of these last 10 days!

Meals

For Sahoor I had scrambled eggs again. I also had a beef pattie that I warmed up. I drank 1.5 liters of water. I made guac today though! Can’t wait for Sahoor tomorrow.

Iftar was a cheat meal with the family today. Again, it’s my dirty little secret so I won’t share what it was. However, I will say that it is one of my favorite foods and rhymes with leaning tower of…pisa.

Workout

Pray! Do extra tahujjad in these last 10 days! Make sure you are donating to the less fortunate and volunteering your services to those who can use it. See you all tomorrow

Pardon the Samosa

Posted: August 5, 2012 in Food
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So here is an issue we all face at some point during Ramadan and there is just no way of avoiding it. The Iftar invitation to someone’s house. I’ve been asked by a few people on how to do deal with that so I will share my experience with this.

First though, for Sahoor, I had my typical 2 egg 3 egg white omelette and a liter of water. I threw some hot sauce on it and had a Paleo muffin. I’ll try to switch up my Sahoor meal a little bit this week so I can share some more recipes. I have had some people send me some dishes that I will try to convert to be Paleo friendly as well.

Ok so Iftar: During Ramadan when you go to someone’s house for Iftar, you will see a sea of food. There will be everything from samosas to egg rolls, to rice and bread, and just about any other carb/sugar loaded fried food you can think of. Your success will depend on how you scope out the food, run a quick investigation of the setup, and come up with an attack plan on what will make it to your plate. Traditionally the fast is opened with a date, simple enough. Now comes the hard part. Some people will have appetizers before the evening prayer and main meal. Simply put, (if done wrong) eating these appetizers are usually the worst thing you can do to your body. Since you are probably really hungry at this point, there is a chance of overlooking the fact that 90 percent of the items laid out have been deep-fried and/or contain tons of carbs. Your stomach starts making the decisions at this point instead of your brain and before you know it, your plate is full of samosas and egg rolls. This is similar to grocery shopping on an empty stomach, I come home with nothing but frozen pizza and ice cream. This is where scoping out of the food comes into play. Learn what’s on the table, where it is, and evaluate what you really should be getting. Stick to that plan! Ignore your stomach and go for what seems to have the least amount of oil and bread in it. I scoped out a veggie dish and loaded my plate with carrots, celery, and broccoli. Yeah some of the other stuff looked good but I also knew what sort of pain my stomach would have been in if I took in the grease and bread. Appetizer, success!

So now on to the main meal. Same strategy should apply. Scope things out and come up with a plan. Stick with the basic rules, avoid the rice/naan(bread) and find the meat! I ended up finding a tray of tandoori chicken and beef kabobs. Jackpot! Yeah I got some looks as I bypassed all of the oil based dishes and rice, and especially some looks when I loaded my plate with tons of tandoori chicken, but oh well.  Here was my plate:

I added some salad and mint yogurt to the mix. Main meal, success! Having Iftar at your relatives’ for friends’ house can be done but it requires a lot of self-control and obedience. Have a game plan and stick to it. Others around you will load their plates up with unhealthy items and it becomes that much harder to avoid those things. However, stay focused and keep your eye on the big picture!

Raise the Steak

Posted: July 31, 2012 in Food, Ramadan
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No I haven’t lost it, there is a point that goes with the cheesy pun. This is the blessed month of Ramadan. The devil is locked away, Muslims are generally feeling good about life, time is spent reflecting, praying and giving thanks. It’s a month for Muslims to go above and beyond, whether it’s being extra nice to your neighbors, volunteering at a homeless shelter, or giving more to charity. You try to get away from your luxuries and attempt to comprehend how people less fortunate than you might be feeling. You push your self to be humble. It’s a month where you Raise the Stake. As we watch the Olympics this week you see these athletes who have trained for years for those 2 minutes or less on that stage. The stakes for them are at the highest they will probably ever be. Let’s think of this month as the Olympics of Islam. This is our 2 minutes on stage. Are we doing everything we can to get the Gold? This month the podium is almost handed to us. Let’s Raise the Stakes and work for the gold in all aspects that we can.

For me, I’m taking that challenge on by maintaining my religious obligations but also trying to spread knowledge about healthy living. Every day around Iftar I’m seeing people post pictures on Facebook or making comments about all of the carb loaded sugar meals they plan on over stuffing themselves with. I understand that we abstain from eating and drinking all day but the point isn’t to stuff our faces the second we can! When did humbleness turn into gluttony? Most health issues these days stems from a bad diet and lack of exercise. God gave us our healthy bodies and the least we can do is take care of it. Let’s raise the stake and work on living healthier. This Ramadan, take a pledge to eat healthier, do a few push ups, work towards making yourself better in all aspects of life.

Well with real-talk out of the way, let’s talk about food. I still had some left over pasta from the other day so I decided to have that for Sahoor. Note to self, that stuff does not taste too good 2 days later. Anyhow, I also had 2 scrambled eggs with 3 egg whites. I added some sea salt and sriracha sauce to it.  I still have a few paleo muffins left over so I ate one of those as well. I washed it down with a little over a liter of water.

For dinner, as promised, I made a beef dish! Paleo Pepper Steak Bites (Raise the…Steak..). Enough of that, here is what went into it:

    • 1/2 lb of beef diced up
    • 1 Tbs of coconut oil
    • 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
    • 1 green pepper, diced
    • 2-3 plum tomatoes
    • 1/4 cup of water
    • 1/4 tsp of sea salt
    • 2 large carrots

Add the oil to a hot skillet over medium heat and add in the beef and onion. Stir it around until the beef is brown and the color of the onion changes. Stir in the water, pepper, tomatoes and salt. Cook for another few minutes while stirring constantly. Shred the carrots onto a plate and serve the beef on top of it:

The onions and pepper gave the beef a great taste and the carrots gave it the perfect crunch. If you want it to be a little more spicy, add in some sriracha right before you take the beef off of the skillet. I decided to lay off of the spices for the day because I have been having wayyyy too much recently. This is a very easy dish to try out but just make sure you leave some time for the beef to cook.

That’s all I have for today. Give what I said a thought. We are almost half way done with Ramadan and there is still time to make some good goals. Let’s purify our spirit and make the body it lives in a bit healthier too!

Game Plan Juxtaposition

Posted: July 28, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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For CrossFitters, a workout at the gym can affect your mood and your whole well-being for the day. A good workout can relieve even the greatest stress on an athletes mind where as a bad one lingers around like bad gas. Yesterday was one of those bad days. I modified the met-con to make it a bit easier since the programmed one was fairly long. Here is what I did:

3 rounds for time
Run 200 meters
10 Push Press 95#
10 Toes to Bar
2 Rope Climbs (15′)

Aside from not running fast enough, keeping my rhythm while doing toes to bar, or maintaining proper correct technique while climbing the rope, I just couldn’t keep my intensity up. I came home frustrated and feeling weak. It took me a little while to compose my self even when I got home. I started to write a post about the experience last night but I had writers block from the frustration and weakness I was feeling so I decided to leave it for today.

I was able to sleep in today, finally (actually) catching up on my sleep and had a thought occur to me. I had somewhat of a game plan coming into this and here I am 8 days into it, completely disregarding it! Instead of doing more strength WODs, I’ve taken on some difficult met-cons all week. All the while, lying to myself about being rested enough. I had 4 solid points that I wanted to stick to on my game plan post and I find my self already disregarding a lot of them. I think ambition is getting the best of me. I see a fun WOD on the board and I feel like I should be taking it on. When I walk into that gym, it’s as if I forget that I haven’t eaten or drank anything since 4 am or how little I’ve slept this week. It’s the power of CrossFit and it’s a great feeling but I need to keep my circumstances in mind. Time to refocus.

Now that I’ve let that out, time to talk about what I ate last night. I made chicken with eggs and cauliflower:

    • 1/2 lb chicken breast, diced up
    • 2 eggs
    • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
    • 1 tsp of chaat masala
    • handful of cauliflower, chopped up
    • extra virgin olive oil

This was very easy to make. I added the oil to a hot pan and then dropped in the cauliflower for it to satuee. In the mean time I marinated the chicken with salt and chaat masala for some kick. Once the cauliflower was starting to soften up, I added in the chicken and stirred it around. Once the chicken was done cooking, I placed it on a plate, added the remaining guacamole I had left from the day before, and added some vegetables to it:

1.5 liters of water washed it down. I snacked on a bowl of watermelon a little later in the evening. Simple enough. Now if I can only stick to the game plan for everything else…

Focus!