Hey, ma. Crepe Myrtles & riots of roses – in one yard – and all still blooming.
September 3, 2013
Hey, ma. Crepe Myrtles & riots of roses – in one yard – and all still blooming.
September 2, 2013
Go home, September. You’re drunk.
The Weekly Dozen – Week 6
Week 6 of the ‘Weekly Dozen’ challenge. The gist is to share your 12 favorite pics per week – in an effort to make one more mindful about taking and using the camera daily.
Most of these pics were taken while wandering the Lower East Side this weekend.
Whole30 – Recap
Whole 30 Recap
What I learned
Eating out while doing Whole30 isn’t as all-fired scary as I thought it was going to be. It can be done and well. It might take a little planning – menu researching and avoiding places where it would be hard (but still not impossible) to control yourself (like Mexican restaurants) – but it isn’t that much more effort than finding a restaurant to eat at in the first place. And you don’t even have to eat joyless dry salads with questionable lettuce or teeny tiny little appetizers that will never fill you up and cost 97 bigillion dollars each like I was afraid.
Whole30 itself wasn’t as much of a burden as I had anticipated, either. Sure, I occasionally missed an adult beverage with a meal out and the biological corn imperative occasionally caught me in its fevered grip, but things really weren’t that bad. Not near as much whining about the lack of booze/corn/ice cream in my life as I had thought there would be. And lots of good food. Score!
Results
I’m hesitant to post results here, since your mileage will definitely vary; but here they are.
Weight: Down a good sustainable 2 pounds, fluctuating to 3 or even 4 every few days.
BMI: Down a full point, point and a half.
This might not sound like huge losses; but they’re good for one month and solid, sustainable losses. And better than numbers on a scale, I feel stronger this month – and I *feel* like I’ve lost mass in places where I want to lose mass. It also now looks like changes happen in my arm when I flex my biceps. I’m not up to having guns yet, but I see some definite movement there. Way to go, me.
The reduced BMI and scale number results I got were not achieved in a vacuum. I work out 5-6 days a week for 10-30 minutes a day (I’m on Week 6 of the Warrior 90 program from HasFit) and I wouldn’t have achieved any good results at all without diligence. Before this crazybananas business, I had hit a few month long plateau — my food was decent except for the aforementioned adult beverages + few “splurge” non-paleo items I allowed myself per weekend and I was working out four times a week (power/active yoga twice and cardio/strength training twice – both for half an hour each). But the scale and the tape measure weren’t budging (I’m down 4-6 pounds since starting my new workout routine) and I was starting to lose enthusiasm for the rut I was in. I’m happy to report that with the new workout regime and diet clean up, that I officially broke through my plateau and am doing the happy dance on the other side.
Takeaway
I went into this experiment thinking I didn’t really have that much to gain. I broke my carb addiction months ago, and never really had a sugar monkey on my back. I’m happy to report that I *did* get a lot out of this experiment. I learned just how damn much sugar and other undesirables sneak into food at every opportunity and how to be more mindful of what is actually going into my body. It’s another tool (aside from paleo) I can use to ensure my body is getting nutritious food without a lot of junk on the side.
The Food – What I Ate
The Recipes
A collection of recipes I posted during the month that are not only Whole30-compliant, but damn tasty as well.
September 1, 2013
Street art in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.
August 31, 2013
Parachute Drop @ Coney Island
30 Minute Meatballs & Red Sauce (paleo, Whole30)
What?! Meatballs in marinara sauce in under 30 minutes? Blasphemy! Well, I’m here to tell you it can be done. It won’t be a leisurely 30 minutes puttering around the kitchen, but it can totally be done if you have a craving and not much time to satisfy it.
30 Minute Meatballs & Red Sauce (paleo, Whole30)
Quickie Tomato Sauce
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1/4 onion
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. granulated garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. + water
1 Tbsp. grass fed butter
In a medium pan over medium heat, add the tomato paste and stir to break it up some. While the pan comes up to temperature, slice the onions wafer thin and halve the cherry tomatoes, dropping each into the pan and stirring as ready. When the paste starts to sizzle (a little scorching here is ok), add the water and spices. Stir to combine, drop the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently and adding water when things get too dry (I ended up adding two batches of 1/4 cup each) about 20 minutes. Add the butter and stir to distribute.
This would be fantastic with wine, but since wine is a Whole30 no-no, I had to forego. If you are using wine, sub in 1/4 c. for half the water in the first addition.
Quickie Meatballs
1/2 lb. grass fed ground beef
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley and basil – the ratio is up to you
1-2 cloves garlic
1 egg (optional)
Salt & pepper
While your sauce is doing its thing and trying to burn (seriously. stir frequently or you will end up with a hot mess), address the meatballs. Break off about a third of the meat and get into a medium pan. Brown, breaking into small bits as you go. Add to a bowl with the rest of the beef, the herbs & garlic which you’ve chopped, salt and pepper. You might want to add an egg, too. I didn’t and my balls were fine; but could have been less dense with an egg. The browned meat helps alleviate some of the denseness as well. Don’t forget to salt & pepper. Form into 6 balls and sautee over medium heat until browned on all sides.
And there you have it – a long lunch/quick dinner meal that’s satisfying, meaty and hits (at least for me) the right ‘comfort’ spot. And obsession button. I got addicted to ‘red gravy’ this past winter and have never looked back. To be fair, my talented DH started this addiction years ago with his spaghetti, but since I don’t eat pasta any more, I’ve been eating meatballs & sauce like they’re going out of style.
Serves 1 for lunch with enough sauce left over for ‘pizza burgers’ the next day.
August 30, 2013
Street art
Whole30 – Day 30
Aah. The last day of Whole30 is here. And what do I do? Skip dinner & have a jacked-up breakfast.
Breakfast
The smoothie this morning was a disaster – the avocados were too hard to use, so the DH tried swapping for coconut oil (which kinda worked once before, I think when banana was involved) – gross. Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross. I got about 3 sips in and couldn’t take it any more. Tasted like vegetable vomit.
Had 1 ounce sea salt dusted almonds instead at about 11:30 when I couldn’t deal with being starving any more.
Lunch
Heirloom tomatoes + Saturn peaches + chicken breast + scallion + macadamia nuts with a Whole 30 sriracha/lime juice/organic apple cider vinegar dressing. Fresh, delicious, really quick and light feeling.
But I was starving again about 10 minutes after eating.
30 minutes after that, magically not hungry.
Dinner
I went to book club tonight – at a bar with no food. Had a club soda with lime and let the time get away with me.
Luckily, I pretty much always carry an emergency bar with me. Had this Lara bar at 11:15 while waiting for the train.
Whole30 – Day 29
A good day.
Breakfast
My favorite green smoothie, minus the banana.
Lunch
The last of the leftover skinless sausage, eggplant/red pepper sauce & green beans.
Dinner
Broccoli slaw + leftover Mexican Beef + Saturn peaches with a lime juice/Whole30 approved sriracha/organic apple cider vinegar dressing.
Gastography 