Posts Tagged ‘Paleo’

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!

Preparedness

Posted: July 21, 2012 in Food
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Maybe it was the excitement about Ramadan starting, maybe I was excited about getting this blog started, or maybe I was just too used to easily pouring a bowl of cereal for breakfast these days but I seemed to overlook a small detail. Having the necessary food items available! So this morning I was mentally prepared to eat a large omelette. I had my meat ready, I had onions and tomatoes chopped up ready to go, I open the fridge….and well, no eggs!! DOH! So the lesson for today, be prepared. Plan your meals ahead of time so you aren’t trying to figure this out while under the pressure of a clock. Figure out what you want to eat and then CONFIRM YOU HAVE WHAT YOU NEED. Luckily I have plenty of good food prepared ahead of time that I was able to pull out and warm up.

This is what I ended up pulling together this morning since I was sort of missing a major ingredient for my omelette:

  • 3 grilled chicken patties
  • Lettuce and Tomatoes
  • Piece of toast
  • 32 ounces of water

These chicken patties contain ground chicken mixed with onions, tomatoes, green peppers, eggs, lemon juice, and other veggies. They were prepared and grilled prior to Ramadan and then frozen. They make for a great quick meal or snack.  It isn’t easy eating that much meat in the morning so allow your self some time if you go that route. I hydrated a bit last night and continued to do so this morning although I’m realizing it’s not enough. As an athlete you should be drinking at least a gallon of water a day. Given that I’m not eating or drinking throughout the day and then working out, I may need to increase that.

Oh and to make sure I’m prepared, I made a trip to my favorite grocery store, Wegmans, and picked up some stuff I will use for tonight’s Iftar and snack attacks.

As you will notice, I shouldn’t be running out of eggs anytime soon….

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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