Posts Tagged ‘Iftar’

Master the Fatigue

Posted: July 26, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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Fatigue got the best of me last night so I didn’t post the workout or what I had for Iftar but I’m back with some extra energy!

With the lack of sleep catching up and another busy day at work, I was a little nervous about the workout at 7.30pm and preparing a Paleo dinner. I felt the fatigue but I pushed myself to go to the gym. The thought did cross my mind for a quick second about skipping the workout but I pushed that out of my head. I told myself that if I could get through this workout, I could sleep easy and then rest the next day. I made it home in time to change for the gym and start dinner preparations. However, since the days are getting shorter and Iftar was going to be at 8.27pm, I was in a bit of a schedule bind. Luckily my sister stepped in and finished making my dinner once I left for CrossFit. Thanks Sis!

This workout was taken from the masters competition from the CrossFit Games this year. Factor in my lack of sleep, food, and water to the mix and it made for a difficult workout. I took longer breaks in between reps than usual but even holding on to the pull up bar became a challenge. I didn’t have a solid game plan of how I was going to scale this down but half way through I knew I couldn’t finish the whole workout. My coach had me scale the reps in the second half.

For time:
10 Deadlifts (275 lb)
20 Pull Ups
30 Box Jumps (24″)
40 KB Swings (53 lb)
50 Double Unders
40 20 KB Swings (53 lb)
30 15 Box Jumps (24″
20 10 Pull Ups
10 5 Deadlifts (275 lb)

I didn’t feel any weaker which made me happy. I was able to deadlift that weight for that many reps without a problem. I felt the exhaustion though and that made me take longer breaks to feel less dizzy. I made a video of the workout so if you aren’t a CrossFitter you can see what the movements look like. It’s purpose is to show the flow of the workout so I edited out my breaks and complete reps.

For Iftar I made another chicken dish, Chicken Apple. Here is what it took:

  • 1/2 lb-ish of chicken breast, diced
  • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
  • 1/2 of ground pepper
  • 2 Tbs of coconut oil
  • 1/2 1 large apple
  • 1/2 Tbs of Chaat Masala

To make this, you season the chicken with the salt and pepper. Heat up a pan and add the coconut oil to it when it’s hot. Cook the chicken for about 10 minutes and then grate an apple into the pan. Stir it up until the chicken is done. Place it into a plate and sprinkle the chaat masala on top. I added some fruit salad to the plate as well as lettuce and cucumbers.

I made this with half an apple, but looking back, I should have used a full apple. It had a bit of sweetness to it but the full apple would have given it the altered taste I was looking for. The chaat masala dominated the sweetness of the apple so I mixed in the fruit salad as I ate it. I managed to drink over 1.5 liters of water too. I snacked on some small plums after dinner as well.

Since sleep was getting the best of me, I decided not to go to the mosque for Taraweeh prayer. Instead I did my prayers at home and called it a night. Day 5, done!

Home Turf

Posted: July 24, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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I want to start by saying that I appreciate all of the positive feedback I’m getting. Every remark is making me stronger in this venture and is really motivating, so thank you! If you want to receive updates when I post entries, add your email address in the box to the left

So just like that, the quick trip is over and I deem it pretty successful from the challenge point of view. I was able to eat pretty Paleo and use what was available in the hotel gym to perform a CrossFit workout. I made it home right before the last CrossFit class of the day at my gym so I was able to join in on the fun. Today’s workout was:

“Cindy”
AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 20 mins 10 mins
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 squats

I modified this classic CrossFit workout to be 10 mins instead of 20. I managed to complete 9 rounds. I felt a little dizzy after round 7, probably because of all of the walking in the heat today and lack of sleep, so I decided to end at 10 mins. I might have been able to go for more after a minute or two of rest but I decided not to push it yet. I can feel my body adjusting to working out without food and water so I’m hoping I can start tackling more difficult workouts soon.

For Iftar, I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare so I whipped up some quick Coconut Chicken. It took almost no time to prepare so it’s great for a busy day. As usual, to open my fast I had 3 dates. Here is how the coconut chicken was made:

  • 1/2 lb chicken breast
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/4 cup almond flour
  • 1/8 tsp of sea salt
  • 1 egg
  • 2 Tbs coconut oil

Almond flour is a real treat for Paleo eaters, it almost feels like cheating. It’s a gluten-free substitute for flour and tastes great. I’ll attempt some Paleo muffins this weekend using almond flour. Healthy muffins, sounds like an oxymoron but we’ll see how it turns out.

Anyways, to make this you place the shredded coconut, almond flour, and sea salt into a bowl and mix it up. Crack the egg into a small bowl and beat it. Dip the chicken into the egg bowl and then coat it with the coconut/almond flour mixture. Heat up a pan and put the coconut oil in it. Place the chicken on the pan and fry it until it’s cooked. Simple and done! Here is how it turned out:

It had a great sweet taste that you don’t expect when you think chicken. It confused the taste buds for a minute. I added some salad to it and chugged on a lot of water, including a Vita Coco Water to restore my electrolytes. It was a lot of food so I didn’t finish it. I did get hungry later on so I’m eating the rest of it now. So much for leftovers.

So I know this has been a lot of chicken dinners but I promise to switch it up with some beef coming soon. Stay tuned!

Ramadan on the Road

Posted: July 23, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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Today was the first day I had to eat out this Ramadan. The plan was to carefully research and find a Paleo friendly place. However, life happened and there was limited time to find the perfect place. My fate was left in the hands of Yelp and it landed me in a Irish pub with more baseball memorabilia then the MLB Hall of Fame. It was too late to turn back so I had to make do with what was available. Turned out to be ok. I was able to watch the Nationals game (Go NATS!) while I scoured the menu for something somewhat Paleo friendly. For those of you who have eaten at Irish pubs, you know that finding something healthy is nearly impossible. When you are faced with a situation like that, you have two viable options. Almost every restaurant will have some sort of salad selection. Pick one that is heavy on the greens and contains some sort of protein in it (avoid 6 lbs of ranch dressing). After all of the walking today, I was spent and a salad just wasn’t going to cut it for me. So the next option is to head on over to the gluten-free portion of the menu. Gluten is a type of protein that is added into grains and wheat to add texture, flavor, and thickness. It’s also difficult for the body to process, so for a healthy diet it’s something that should be avoided. Most restaurants will have gluten-free options these days so be sure to ask for it.

I ended up getting a shrimp dish that was served with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, a healthy serving of broccoli served on top of linguine. It had some oregano and other spices in it and it looked like it was made with olive oil. I later had some mixed fruit to satisfy the sweet tooth.
No pictures of food tonight, the food came out right as Iftar hit and I wasted no time attacking it.

The Workout

You and I both know, traveling is one of the best excuses to skip a workout. Not for a dedicated CrossFitter though! As a CrossFitter, when you travel to a different city, there is almost always a CrossFit gym that you can drop in at. They will almost always take you in as if you are a regular and it’s fun to see how other gyms operate. However, a couple of things hindered that option for me today. One is that my schedule simply didn’t match up with the workout sessions of the local gym. Second, as a drop in, I’m not so sure how a coach would feel with me making up my own WOD as a guest if they had an intense met-con programmed. So this leaves me with two options. I could either do another body weight workout in my room, or… the dreaded hotel gym..

Ignore the grandma on the elliptical and avoid eye contact with the guy doing 600 bicep curls and you will be just fine:

“Hotel Woes Chipper” for time
15 dumb bell thrusters 70#
10 push ups
15 dumb bell push presses
10 squats
15 med ball thrusters
10 sit ups
15 dumb bell cleans

With this day in the books, time for the hard part. Waking up for Sahoor and finding a place to eat at 4 am…

First Weekend Complete

Posted: July 22, 2012 in Challenge, Food
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The first weekend of Ramadan is over and am I the only one confused where the time went? I figured I would be at home on a rare unscheduled weekend and that I would be counting down the minutes. SubhanAllah, time passed and here we are at Iftar. Food time. Alright so some of you saw a teaser earlier on my Facebook page about what was for dinner:

The result, Chicken Fajita with Guacamole. The end result, or I guess the beginning before I devoured it:

This is a pretty straightforward dish to make. The guac was from the night before and made a nice addition. Here is how it was done:

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb of chicken breast cut in to small pieces
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt (optional)
  • 1 Tbs of coconut oil
  • 1/2 onion sliced
  • 1 red bell pepper sliced
  • 1/2 of a lemon
  • 1/2 of a lime
  1. Combine the cumin, oregano, chili powder, and sea salt into a bowl.
  2. Mix the chicken pieces into the bowl and mix it around to make sure all of the chicken is coated.
  3. Heat up a pan and when it’s hot, put in the coconut oil
  4. Put the onions in the pan and let it saute for 3-4 minutes
  5. Add the chicken in and stir everything up. Let the chicken cook for about 10-15 minutes while stirring.
  6. Right before the chicken is done, add the lemon, lime, and red bell pepper to the mixture. Stir it up for a few minutes
  7. Serve with a mixture of vegetables and guacamole.

I usually use extra virgin olive oil but decided to switch things up today and use coconut oil. Coconut oil is known for its many benefits regarding digestion, weight loss, skin care, and immune system. Also the salt is optional here. If you do want salt, try to use sea salt. This is a lot of food so plan to store some or share with someone else. In 20 minutes, you have another Paleo friendly dish.

The Workout

Today’s workout is a body weight workout. These type of workouts are great if you are on the go or don’t have access to equipment. You don’t need a lot of room either so if you are going out and aren’t going to have time, a public bathroom should be more than enough space to get this done haha.

10 rounds for time

10 push ups

10 squats

10 sit ups

Not a lot of technical movements going on here so just make sure you warm up your major muscle groups and get your heart rate elevated before starting. If the push ups become too much or you can’t do push ups, drop to your knees and do them that way. If you still feel this will be too much, you can reduce the workout from 10 rounds to 6. Remember the goal of these works are high intensity, so push your self to do as much of this as you can unbroken (without taking rest).

That’s a wrap for day 3. I’ll be on the road for the next couple of days for work so I’ll be tackling the challenge of eating out as well as working out on the road. Stay tuned!

Day 2 in the Books

Posted: July 21, 2012 in Challenge, Ramadan
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So no workout today. Every fourth day is generally my rest day. I was hoping I could get in a workout today and take tomorrow off. However, seeing as how the gym is closed on Saturday evenings, I would have had to do my CrossFit workout at home which isn’t much fun or motivating. Also, I don’t think I ate enough this morning at Sahoor. Although I was much more rested than I have been in days, I felt weaker than yesterday. No worries, I’ll make adjustments for tomorrow’s Sahoor and go at it tomorrow.

Iftaar was at 8.30 today (that reminds me, I really need to create that glossary). I started preparing some Paleo dishes an hour or so earlier. This meal was again heavy on poultry and veggies. I made some gaucamole from scratch to keep around for snack attacks.

 

Here you have some of the premarinated chicken that I keep in the freezer. I sautéed it in extra virgin olive oil with a handful of spinach. I added an egg and some chili powder to it. I mixed it all up as it sautéed on the stove. When there was about 10 minutes left before Iftar, I cut up some tomatoes and put them on top with the stove turned to the lowest setting and let it sit. Once it was time for Iftar, I opened my fast with a date. This is how Muslims traditionally open their fast and is usually the first thing I’ll have. I added some rice (not so Paleo I know), lettuce, and the gauc I made to my plate for a satisfying dinner. For dessert, I had a nice amount of watermelon mmmm. This is how it turned out:

In reference to my earlier post about preparedness, I made enough of this to eat tomorrow as well for Sahoor. I’ll probably add some scrambled eggs to it and some meat. There is also plenty of gauc left over for midnight snacks. Gauc is a great source for healthy fats and a great Paleo snack. I’ll try to post some of these recipes on my page at some point.

Ready for day 3!

First Workout

Posted: July 20, 2012 in Challenge
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First day of Ramadan and my first Ramadan workout are in the books. Maybe it was the fact that I was busy at work all day today or that I knew I needed to stay strong for a good workout, but I didn’t really feel it. I felt a bit of grumbling during my normal breakfast time and then again during my routine lunch hour but other than that it was great.

As for the workout, I didn’t exactly stick to my plan but for the better. Since it was my first day, I had decided this morning I would stick to a less intense strength based working. Probably something with olympic lifts, nothing that involved a time challenge. However as tired as I was, when I got to the gym I felt great.  I made it for the 7.30pm session and randomly decided to take on the Workout of the Day (WOD) that the rest of the gym had done. I did decide to modify it a bit by reducing the amount of running I would have to do since it was afterall my first day trying this. Here is what I did:

3 Rounds for time
Run 200 meters
15 Power Snatch 75#
7 Chest to Bar Pullups
7 Ring dips
Completion time- 10 minutes
 

I felt pretty good afterwards, I wasn’t completely wiped and even felt I could have done it a bit faster. I was surprised to find that I still had some energy left in me but I decided to leave it at that, no need to push my self to the edge on day 1. I managed to get home just in time for Iftar. Enough text, let’s see a picture of my dinner

What you see is chicken marinated with spices, sauteed in olive oil with broccolli and some lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers on the side. For the chicken you can ready it in advance by getting chicken breast, cutting it into small pieces, and dip it into a mixture of lemon juice and various spices. I then freeze it for future use. Oh and I love spices so I throw some siriracha sauce on top it.

All in all a successful first day. I ate pretty Paleo, was able to do a met-con workout, and then made it to taraweeh prayer. 1 day down, God willing I can keep this up for another 29!

p.s. time to hydrate hydrate hydrate!

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