Posts Tagged ‘Iftar’

Craving the Curry

Posted: August 7, 2012 in Food
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So let’s be honest, I’m from a Pakistani family and I love Thai food. It was only a matter of time before I would crave some curry based dish. I had some extra time today so I decided to make something curry-ish for Iftar that was Paleo friendly.

First though, for Sahoor I had scrambled eggs (2 eggs, 3 egg white) mixed with onions and tomatoes. I had some tilapia left over from last night that I added to it. I’m not sure if I have ever had fish and eggs before but it was a good combo. The lemon juice was still sponged in the fish, even after sitting in the fridge all night and then being heated up. It was spicy so no need for spices on the eggs. I drank about a liter of water as well.

Iftar

The curry dish I made was Chicken and Vegetables curry. It takes a little longer and requires more attention to make than my normal chicken dishes but it’s probably because it required several things going on at one time. I’ll try to make the instructions as clear as possible.

    • 1/2 lb of skinless chicken thigh, diced
    • 1/4 can of coconut milk
    • 1/4 onion, sliced
    • handful of broccoli, chopped up
    • 1 carrot, shaved
    • 1 tsp of garlic, minced
    • 1 tsp of ginger, minced
    • 1 tsp of curry powder
    • 3-4 plum tomatoes
    • sea salt and black pepper
    • 4 Tbs of coconut oil

Add 2 Tbs of coconut oil in to a hot pan and add in the chicken. Let the chicken brown, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt and black pepper on it. While the chicken cooks, add 2 Tbs of coconut oil to a hot skillet and drop in the onions. Saute the onions for about 5-10 of minutes until they show signs of browning.

While the onions are being done, place the the broccolli and carrot shavings into a pot full of water and put it on the stove to steam. Mix it up once in a while until they get tender.

Now back to the onions. Add in the curry powder, garlic, and ginger to the skillet and saute it for a couple of minutes. Add in the coconut milk and let it simmer for a few minutes until it starts to thicken. Add in the steamed vegetables and chicken to the skillet. Stir frequently for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender and chicken looks done. Pour it on to a plate and serve with some chopped tomatoes.

It took some effort and caused a mess in the kitchen but it was so worth it. Another great Paleo meal in the books! Only thing I would have changed is that I let the coconut milk simmer too long so it evaporated a bit. Great, now I’m hungry again..

The Workout

Today was a rest day. Tomorrow will be an interesting day because I will be doing a weigh in and strength check. I don’t expect to be making any strength gains this month but the goal was to try to maintain as much as possible. Will I match my existing PRs? Will I hit a new PR?? Tune in tomorrow!

Go Upside Down

Posted: August 6, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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Gymnastics isn’t something that the average gym goer incorporates into their training but it definitely should be. Gymnastic movements will help you build balance, coordination, and crazy core strength. When I first started CrossFit, I was afraid of Olympic lifting and didn’t have much respect for gymnastics. It didn’t take long after I scored my first oly lift and then was able to do a handstand to fall in love with these sports. Now these two elements are what I look forward to in a workout. My lack of respect for gymnastics was just ignorance. I had seen it on TV and the professionals made it look SO easy. I mean these guys pull themselves up on rings with such ease and do an Iron Cross as if it was as easy as standing up. My first time trying to pull myself up on rings was enough to give me a lifetime worth of respect for that sport. Some of the strongest and fittest people I have met have a background in gymnastics. Leaves me wishing I had taken on gymnastics when I was little instead of thinking I had a career as a Pro Wrestler. Oh well.

The Workout – Today’s workout was a couplet consisting of Olympic lifting and gymnastics.

5 Rounds
10 Handstand Push Ups
10 Power Cleans 155#
 

This was my first workout being upside down during Ramadan. It didn’t help with the dizziness I feel during workouts these days but I’m not sure how much of  it was from not eating vs a surgery I had a few months back. Every since then, I seem to get a head rush a lot faster. I spoke with a fellow CrossFitter who recently had a surgery in the same area and he is experiencing something similar. I’ll have to consult with Dr. Google on this.

I was able to do the handstand push ups unbroken first couple of rounds and then broke them into 5s after that. The weight on the Power Cleans didn’t feel too bad. I was able to string them together as I normally do with that amount of weight.

Food

Sahoor –  I had a scrambled eggs made in olive oil (2 eggs 3 whites).  I added some green peppers, chili sauce, onions and tomatoes to it. I had one Paleo muffin left over from last week so I had that as well. I drank 1.5 liters of water. Looking back I should have had some meat in the morning to have some more energy for the workout.

Iftar – Today was a fish night and I made Peppered Lemon Tilapia. Fish has all of the nutrients an athlete needs plus more. It’s a great source of protein, it has the all of the healthy fats you need, vitamin D, calcium, etc. Who needs pasteurized milk when you have good fish?? This does require a little more time than the other dishes so plan ahead. It’s completely worth it. Also, tonight I made enough for two meals so I could have this for Sahoor as well. This recipe is for 2 servings:

      • 4 Tbs of coconut oil
      • 1 lemon
      • 4 fillets of tilapia (or catfish, salmon, etc)
      • 1 tsp of chaat masala
      • 1 tsp of crushed pepper
      • 1/2 tsp of garlic powder
      • sea salt and ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F while you prepare the fish. In an OVEN PROOF skillet (not repeating yesterday’s fiasco), heat up the coconut oil and lemon juice. Season the fish with sea salt and pepper and place into the skillet. Coat both sides and lay them side by side. Mix the chaat masala, crushed peppers, and garlic powder up and sprinkle on to the top side of the fillets. Place the fish into oven and bake it for about 30 minutes. You’ll see the pan starting to blacken but that’s ok. The liquid from the oil and lemon will keep the fish nice and moist.

I pulled out two of the fillets for dinner and added some salad to the plate. Maybe I just got lucky but the fish melted in my mouth every time I took a bite and the lemon juice that was sponged up inside would gush out. It was purely amazing and it will be making a repeat appearance. Oh since I made extra, I guess it will be making an appearance in the morning, YES! For dessert, I had a bowl of watermelon after taraweeh prayer. Perfect end to a good day for me.

Careful, It Might Be Hot

Posted: August 6, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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Hmm, I wonder if there is a direct correlation between lagged physiological response and hunger. I suffered my first burn in a long time while cooking and it’s sort of a funny story. Not only did I do it once, but twice the same way! This is after making the mistake of putting a pan with a wooden handle in the oven. I mean who does that??

I know I’ve been posting a day late recently but I will try to get back to posting sooner. Also I promised a change up in Sahoor items and I will try to do that this week. Omlette and scrambled eggs are just so easy to make! So for Sahoor I had the typical 2 egg/3 egg white omlette with a ground chicken pattie. I drank the typical 1.5 liters of water as well.

The Workout – This is a quick body weight workout that can be done literally anywhere. Just warm up your core and stretch your legs with squats and lunges.

10 rounds for time
10 hand-release push-ups
10 v-ups
10 squats
 

For Iftar, along with burning myself, I made Turmeric Chicken. Turmeric is a plant that is usually grown to powder form and used in curry based dishes. It’s used heavily in South Asian and Thai dishes. Recent research is proving some major health benefits in this plant including treating Alzheimer’s. Here is how the dish was made:

    • 1/2 lb of chicken breast, diced – seasoned with sea salt and chili powder
    • 1/2 an onion, sliced
    • 1 clove of garlic, diced
    • 1.5 tablespoon of turmeric
    • 1/2 lemon’
    • handful of cherry tomatoes
    • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
    • extra virgin olive oil
    • chopped of parsley

Coat a skillet (ahem, not a pan with a wooden handle) with olive oil and heat it up with medium heat. Once it’s warm, add in the onions and saute them for a minute or two. Add in the seasoned chicken to the skillet and let it cook for about 7-8 minutes. Add in the turmeric powder, garlic, and lemon. Stir it around and let it cook for another 10 minutes or so until it starts browning to your desire. In the mean time, set your oven to high broil. Coat your cherry tomatoes with salt and olive oil. When the chicken is done, add in the tomatoes and place the skillet in the oven. Listen for the tomatoes to start popping. Once they have popped, pull it out (with an oven mitt!) and add in the parsley. Done:

I burnt my onions a bit so that taste lingered. Other than that it smelled great and the turmeric was a great touch. Add some more greens to it and you have a meal!

So how did I burn myself? Well, my first mistake was using a pan instead of a skillet. Rookie mistake. Then, when I went to pull the pan out of the oven, my sister (assisting me) tells me it might be hot. It just didnt register in time. I found myself holding the burning hot handle thinking, hmm something isn’t right. Doh! So I came to my senses and used an oven mitt to pull it out of the oven and on to the counter. A few minutes later I went to transfer the chicken to a plate and I grabbed it again! Seriously?! I blame the hunger.

Lessons learned, pans do not go in the oven and things from the oven might be hot. Be careful kids..

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!

Craving the Guac

Posted: August 2, 2012 in Food
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So I’ve been told by some that I eat a lot of guacamole.  I don’t think I eat enough! Love that stuff. If I had ripe avocados being delivered to me on a daily basis (hmm, wonder if Amazon Prime can do this), I would probably make some for every meal. I know some of you are still making faces at that word but have you tried it yet?? It will change your life. Well not really but it’s one of the best alternatives I’ve found for sugar/carb loaded sides. It has the essentials like monounsaturated fats, fiber, vitamins C and E and potassium that you need to get through these long days of Ramadan. According to the American Heart Association, monounsaturated fats from avocados can help reduce your cholesterol level, a huge contributor to heart disease. Oh so I guess it could change your life!

Guacamole can be eaten with almost anything too. Chicken, eggs, carrots, literally anything (ahem, including chips and pizza but that’s not the point of this blog). Anyhow, by popular demand and to save you from having to scrolling down too far, here is the recipe again. I’ve tweaked it a little bit:

    • 2 ripe avocados, peeled
    • 1 lemon
    • 1/2 lime 
    • 1/4 tsp of cumin
    • 1/2 tsp of chili powder
    • 1 clove of garlic (or less), minced
    • 1/4 tsp of sea salt
    • 1 diced tomato, diced
    • 1/2 red onion, diced
    • handful of cilantro to garnish, finely chopped (how-to)

Instructions: Put everything in bowl and mash it up with a fork until the avocado chunks can’t be seen anymore. Simple enough and it only takes a few minutes. It tastes best served right away. If you want to save some as leftovers, make sure you put it tupperware and refrigerate it asap.

The meals

For Sahoor I had a large omelette with tomatoes, onions, and peppers. I sprinkled some sea salt on it and added some hot sauce to it. I had a Paleo Muffin as well. I drank my usual 1.5 liters of water with it.

For Iftar, I was craving the guac so it was time to make some more. Keeping with that theme, I was craving something tangy so I made Chicken Fajitas.

    • 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced up
    • 1 tsp cumin
    • 1 tsp oregano
    • 1 tsp chili powder
    • 1 tsp sea salt
    • 1 Tbs coconut oil
    • 1/2 red onion, sliced
    • 2 bell peppers, sliced (red makes it look nicer)
    • 1 lemon
    • 1/2 lime
    • 1/2 tomato
    • 1/2 tsp of chopped cilantro

Instructions: In a bowl, mix the cumin, oregano, chili powder, and sea salt. Toss the chicken in and coat it with the mixture. Heat a large pan and add in the coconut oil when it gets hot. Throw in the onions and let them satuee for 2-3 minute. Add in the chicken and stir it around until it’s almost done (10-15 minutes). Add in the onion, bell peppers, lemon juice, lime juice, tomato, and cilantro to the pan. Stir it up for another couple of minutes and you’re done. Serve with some guacamole, and lettuce. 

Workout

Sleep, for time. I scored 7.5 hours! This is more than I’ve slept in a while. I know I’ve taken two rest days here but sometimes it’s needed. Just make sure it doesn’t snowball. I am relaxed, energized and ready for a good workout tonight. Oh and I have guac in me so I’m sure I will be awesome!

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!

Case of the Mondays

Posted: July 30, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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It’s Monday, weekend is over. The opportunity to sleep in is gone sigh. Oh well, time to make the best of it. I had another sleepy Sahoor this morning. Nothing too exciting food wise. I had some of the left over pasta and then had the same omelette I usually make, 2 eggs with 3 egg whites and onions/tomatoes. I drank over a liter of water. I also had a paleo muffin that I made the night before. I needed to eat more though considering I had workout tonight but we’ll just blame that on a case of the Mondays. It’s interesting though, I found myself craving coffee today when normally I never drink coffee. For those that are coffee drinkers, coffee can be Paleo compliant but it has to be drank black. No sugar or cream! Personally, I prefer the alternative of Teavana tea. They have some great flavors and most of them have really good health benefits. I recommend checking it out.

Here was tonight’s workout:

Back Squat
1 x 1 x 1 x 1 x 1 (weight should be 95% of your 1 rep max)
 
then…
5 Rounds
5 Push Jerks, 145 lbs
25 Double Unders

I did ok in today’s workout. I was interested to see if I had lost any strength since Ramadan started. I was able to back squat (around 300 lbs) 95% of my 1 rep max without too much trouble. This was great news for me! I did feel a little weak for the rest of the workout but that’s probably because I didn’t eat enough this morning. I wasn’t able to do the push jerks consecutively after the 2nd round because of dizziness. I started to drop the bar and start from the ground. No big deal.

Biggest take from today is that my strength hasn’t gone down!

For Iftar I made a beef dish today, Bunless Burger. I have ground beef patties that I keep frozen for busy days like today. I can pull them out, put them on the stove or microwave them and I have something to eat. The patties are mixed with tomatoes, chaat masala, paprika, chili powder, salt, egg, and lemon juice (uhm, it’s a little spicy if you can’t tell). I put the patties on top of a bunch of lettuce, added some tomato, cucumbers, and spicy mint mixture (chutney) to it. I ate it with a fork and knife while I drank another liter of water.

I was still a little hungry so I munched on a few blueberries later. I also snacked on some gluten-free jalapeno hummus with baby carrots. I like spices if you haven’t noticed.

I promised a good beef dish and I know this wasn’t exactly spectacular. I will make something good with beef at some point this week. Scouts..honor?

 

Oxymoron Bites, Success

Posted: July 29, 2012 in Food
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I’m going to go ahead and deem Oxymoron Bites day a success. I started this morning by making some Paleo Pancakes. Even though half of them broke apart on me while trying to flip them, they tasted amazing. (You think I could get IHOP to make their pancakes Paleo?). Anyhow, I was a little concerned if they would get me through the day but they did ok. I don’t think I would have been able to workout with just the pancakes for Sahoor, I would have needed to add some more protein and fat to the mix. Nonetheless, a great alternative to the typical egg breakfast I had been having. The only problem was, I didn’t sleep after eating them. I’m not sure if it was the pancakes or that I just missed my window of opportunity to fall back asleep but I was wide awake for good. No bueno.

Then later in the day I decided to make some Paleo muffins. I honestly had no idea how this was going to turn out. The idea of a healthy muffin sounds ludicrous to me but it was worth a shot. Here is what I used to make a batch of 6 muffins:

    • 1 cup almond flour
    • 1 tsp baking soda
    • 1/2 tsp sea salt
    • 1/2 Tbs cinnamon
    • 1/2 cup of pitted dates (in honor of Ramadan)
    • 3/4 cup shredded coconut
    • 1/3 cup grounded up walnut
    • 2 bananas
    • 2 eggs
    • 1/8 cup coconut oil
    • muffin tins

Before you start mixing anything, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Then, combine the almond flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Use a food processor to blend the eggs, dates, bananas, and coconut oil. Combine most mixtures into a large bowl and mix it up. Add in the walnut and coconut shredding and mix it up real good. Pour the mixture using a spoon into the muffin tins. Place them in the oven for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Pretty simple and straightforward to make if you have all of the ingredients ahead of time. Here is how it looked before the mixture entered the oven and then after they were done:

They don’t rise much so fill the tins up if you want the trust muffin look. The taste reminded me of banana bread but the coconut gave it a new angle. I ate one as a dessert today and plan on eating one for Sahoor tomorrow. It’s a great snack for cravings but I would still avoid eating them too late. The bananas and dates do contain a lot of sugar so it could affect your sleep and digestion.

So with the snacks covered, I decided to make Paleo Chicken Alfredo for dinner. It involved using a type of pasta I hadn’t heard of before, kelp noodles. It can be found at global food stores. Aside from that, the recipes calls for several powders that I didn’t have so I decided to make my own:

    • 1 lb of chicken breast, diced
    • 12 oz. of kelp noodles
    • 2 tsp olive oil
    • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
    • 2 tsp of cilantro
    • 1/2 tsp onion powder
    • 1/4 tsp garlic
    • 1/4 tsp salt
    • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
    • 1/4 tsp of paprika
    • 1/4 tsp of chili powder
    • 1/2 tomato, diced

Add olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is warm, drop in the minced garlic and let it saute for a few minutes while stirring it around. Add the chicken to the skillet and mix around until the chicken is done. Add the kelp noodles to boiling water for a few minutes. Drain the water and move the noodles to the skillet and add in the cilantro. Cover it up and let it simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes.

Place the onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, black pepper, and paprika into a blender and blend. Place some olive oil on a hot pan and add this mixture to it. Stir it around for a few minutes and add in the tomato. Stir it for another minute or so and then place this sauce into the large skillet with the chicken and pasta. Mix it all up and then cover it up. Leave it on to the stove to cook for another 10-15 minutes or until the noodles are tender.

I need some extra spice so I added sriracha sauce to it:

I made enough for the whole family and everyone seemed to love it. They aren’t paleo eaters so they put some alfredo sauce on it but oh well. It tasted good without it and filled me up. Regular pasta leaves me with a tummy ache if I’ve been eating Paleo. This however left no such feeling. Success in my book!

It was a fun day trying these recipes out for things that are generally diet killers for any athlete. However I showed you here that eating healthy doesn’t mean that you have to stick to rabbit food. With a few substitutes and creativity, you can make the same foods your friends do but maintain your washboard abs!

 

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!

Week 1, Check!

Posted: July 26, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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And just like that, week 1 is in the books. I was able to eat Paleo all 7 days and worked out 5 of the days. I even tackled a couple of days of travel. I have received incredible support from you guys and that is honestly what is keeping me motivated, especially on a day like yesterday when I almost didn’t work out. So thank you all!

So I went to sleep early after yesterday’s day of fatigue. I woke up much more energized and was able to put together a great Sahoor meal. I needed it today too with my schedule at work. Today is a rest day from working out so I will be able to rejuvenate even more. I should have no excuses for Friday’s workout. Can’t wait!

Today’s food selections might have been the best Paleo meals I’ve made yet. They will for sure make an encore appearance at some point. For Sahoor I had Scrambled Eggs with Avocado and Salsa:

  • 1 egg, 3 egg whites
  • 1/2 a ripe avocado, sliced
  • 1/4 of a tomato, diced
  • 1/4 of an onion, sliced
  • 1 piece of toast
  • 4-5 Tbs of salsa

I placed the egg and egg whites in a hot pan with extra virgin olive oil and mixed in the tomato and onion. I stirred it up until the egg was cooked. I placed the mixture onto a plate, poured the salsa on top of it, and added the avacodo and toast to the meal. I had left over Chicken Apple from last night that I added to the mix. Here is how it turned out:

For Iftar, I decided to keep the chicken in the freezer for today and try some seafood out. I decided to make Almond Crusted Tilapia:

  • 2 strips of tilapia
  • 1/4 cup of almond flour
  • 1/4 tsp of ground cilantro
  • 1/4 tsp of ground cumin
  • 1 lemon
  • chili powder (that’s if you like it spicy)
  • sea salt
  • ground pepper
  • coconut oil
  • shredded almonds
  • some sprigs of cilantro

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the almond flour, ground cilantro, and cumin in a bowl and set it aside. Season the tilapia with lemon juice, sea salt, and ground pepper. Then, coat the tilapia with the mixture you made earlier and place it on a pan that is greased with a little bit of coconut oil. Bake it for about 12-15 minutes. When you serve it, sprinkle some shredded almonds on it and place the cilantro on top for presentation.

I made some more gaucamole tonight as well. I used the same recipe I used the other day but left out the garlic. Gaucamole is one of my favorite snacks so I made enough to snack on for a few days. Here is how it all turned out:

As usual I added some mixed salad to the plate along with the gaucamole. I opened my fast with a few dates and drank a liter of water with the meal. This is by far one of my favorite Paleo dishes now. I’ll have to figure out how to top this tomorrow!

Day 7, week 1, in the books. God willing I will stay focused, especially with all of your support and tackle these next 3 weeks! Goodnight!

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