Here we go! Holiday Eating Time is here! Now remember it’s not AMPAP (As Many Plates As Possible) when you hit up the family Christmas dinner. Be smart. Now is a good time to review last Friday’s post about surviving the dreaded holiday weight gain.

Crystal Nelson, a CrossFit Central coach, recently did a blog post with some great recipes. Real food alternatives to the sugary stuff. Check it out here:

Healthy Holiday Party Guide

We’ve already made the pecans, apple chips and the apple glazed pork roast. Awesome stuff! Enjoy!

Appetizer anyone?

Protein

When asked recently what we should have for dinner, my 2 1/2 year old daughter responded, “Protein!” That’s my girl! Protein is good for you and chances are you’re not getting enough. Click here for our past discussion on the “Magic of Meat!”

Boring-Schmoring

Getting tired of meat, fruits and veggies, and fat. That’s probably because you’re doing the same meals over and over. Put together a few new ones. Our Paleo Guru, Robb Wolf, shares the super-duper, handy-dandy Food Matrix. Mix it up, people!

You Haven’t Started Eating Paleo Yet?!!

Go here. Do what is says and change your life! Easy as pie – oops, pie really isn’t Paleo, but you know what I mean

Phillip grabs a bite at the box before BootCamp.

I get a lot of questions about these two subjects- Energy Drinks and how to make Paleo eating work on a budget. So let’s explore together:

Energy Drinks & Sports Performance

“Energy drinks, for those who would guess that a Red Bull is related to Paul Bunyan’s animal sidekick, are beverages that contain whopping doses of sugar (up to a quarter cup per can), caffeine and other ingredients, like the stimulatory herb guarana and the amino acid taurine. Although often marketed to (and by) athletes, they are not sports drinks.” Click for more.

My take: I see no reason for anyone to ingest one of these. It’s not going to help you in any way, shape or form in your workout. Will it wake you up? Sure. Will it give you some cheap (but not lasting) energy? Yep. Are the sugar-free versions better? Nope. Alternatives- water or coffee.

Paleo On a Budget

Follow along and see if eating whole, real foods is doable on a budget that is approximately the amount allotted by the USDA food assistance program (i.e. “food stamps”). Here’s Don’s first store trip and thoughts.

My take: Paleo on a budget definitely is doable. Using roasts, whole chickens, good amounts of fruits and vegetables along with fats like coconut oil, olive oil, and avocados you can create a huge number of great tasting budget friendly meals. If you skip the processed stuff, sweets and chips, you’ll probably find that you spend just a little more for better foods. But if you couple that with eating out less things average out. Here’s the thing- You Actually Have To Do It. Plan, shop, and cook. The trade off is this- Your Time For Your Health.

It’s 3pm and you’re trying to focus on work as the rumbling in your belly gets louder. You can’t take it anymore and open the desk drawer to see two items peeking back at you- a 100 calorie pack of Oreo crisps and an apple. They both put up similar numbers on their nutrition “labels.”

So really it doesn’t matter, right? They’re essentially the same thing. I mean that package of chocolate wafers only has 100 calories. You’re probably going to burn that in your warm-up.

Here’s the what I want you to look a:

100 Calories Of Junk Is Still Junk!

By now all of you guys should have the idea that it’s content over calories. It’s substance over sparkle. It’s building blocks and units of energy over cheaply made fillers and antinutrients (typically found in grains and legumes).

Get Real!

Eating real food matters. It matters in your waistline, in your performance and more importantly in your longevity. Eat food found in nature. Preferably in it’s most unaltered state. Do that often and you’ll reap more benefits than you can possibly imagine.

Duh…

I’m going to try to eat my weight in turkey Thursday through Sunday! J/K, of course.

But I will be a big meat eater this holiday weekend. I’ll eat some good fixins and enjoy a little bit of the sweet stuff. Then it’s back on the Paleo train come Monday! The benefits and results have been too huge not to stay Paleo. High-quality eating is the only way to get the desired results over the long haul. Most people try a diet that’s crazy restrictive and set themselves up for failure. Not good.

If you want results in your fat loss along with improved performance and general well-being, then:

Try something different. Something radical. Like eating real foods. Unprocessed food. Foods that haven’t been altered to sit on the shelf for the next millenia. Your body will thank you!

For more info on nutrition check out these posts:
Nutrition Tips For Daytime Desk-Jockeys, Nighttime Couch-Surfers and Elite Athletes
Nutrition Tips…Part 2
Nutrition Tips…Part 3

Rant over.

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Thanksgiving Fun Facts

Did you know?

– According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, in 2010, 242 million turkeys will be raised for the sake of making our dinners more filling. That’s about 7.1 billion pounds of poultry. Minnesota is the top turkey home with 47 million turkeys raised in the Gopher State.

– According to Ocean Spray, Americans consume 400 million pounds of cranberries each year, with 20 percent, or roughly 80 million pounds, eaten Thanksgiving week alone.

– Thanksgiving is the top holiday for food consumption.  The average Thanksgiving dinner contains about 3,500 calories.

– Wild turkeys can run up to 25 miles an hour. We should get some to chase around at bootcamp!

Happy Thanksgiving to all you BFC Turkeys!

Meatballs & Salad- simple and simply delish!

Quick and Easy Meatballs

1 lb Ground Beef
1/4 cup diced Onion
2-3 gloves diced Garlic
1 tbsp Worcestershire
1 tsp Olive oil
Pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients well in a bowl. Roll into balls and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until browned.

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Nutrition Quick Hits

Beetle-juice
The carcasses of ground-up, boiled beetles, are often used in snack foods to create those lovely shades of red, purple and pink in everything from fruit juice to ice cream to candy. Yum!

Get Off The Crack!
20 tips to help you break your sugar addiction. And you need to break your sugar addiction!

Show Me The Whey.
Whey protein has been shown to help with lowering blood pressure, improving insulin sensitivity, and strengthening the immune system. If Dr. Mercola’s good with whey protein, I’m down wit it too!

Half?- That’s Almost Half!
Experts say 42% of the US population will be obese by 2050. Not good.

Cut up a sweet potato. Slather on some olive oil and salt. Pop them on a foil-lined cookie tray and place in a 400 degree oven for 45+ minutes (until desired crispiness). Stir around every 15 minutes or so to cook evenly. Enjoy!

That's a big tuber!

MMM!

ADHD and Obseity Linked?

Weird. Hyperactive as a kid and overweight as an adult? I think all kids & adults need to take some recess!

Fast Food & Kids: Are They Marketed At Too Much?

While we were watching the video report my 2 1/2 yr old tapped my arm and said, “Daddy, I want fries.” You be the judge.

New Partnership + More Cheese = Profit For Domino’s

Healthy for Big D but not so much for you, since one slice contains as much as two-thirds of a day’s maximum recommended amount of saturated fat, which has been linked to heart disease and is high in calories.

If you’re trying to lose weight, drinking anything other than H2O is likely sabotaging your efforts. Some drinks are just calorie bombs! You can check out some of the worst “healthy drinks” HERE.

Don’t like to drink just water? OK- try water with lemon or lime, brew your own green or black teas, or try some kombucha (my personal fav).

Tip- Don't shake the kombucha!

Get off the juice today and you’ll likely look better, feel better and get closer to your goals!

Peace, Love & Kombucha!

Dr. Chris

PS. You’ll want to be hydrated for the 500 Miles For HOPE on Saturday! You have signed up your team already, right?

Robb Wolf talks about his best-selling book, The Paleo Solution.

Eating all day long might be good for you.

What’s in my food and what is it doing to me?

Get some color in there!

Lately we’ve been cooking simple. When I say we, I mean my beautiful wife. She’s been making most of the meals this week and they’ve been awesome in their taste and simplicity.

Here’s what she’s done- cooked meat and vegetables with olive oil and salt (with occasional spices). That’s it. Easy and Good! Thanks Sweetie!

Roasted Chicken Leg Quarters- you can roast leg quarters or bone in thighs in a small toaster oven covered with olive oil and salt in as little as 30 minutes. You don’t even have to touch it once you get it going.

Orange Roughy- this light tasting fish can be pan seared in coconut oil in 8 minutes. 4 minutes per side. That’s pretty darn quick!

Crock pot chicken- for an easy dinner that’s ready when you get home, nothing beats a crock pot. Coat the bottom of the crock with olive oil, sprinkle in some spices- garlic, cumin, chili powder. Place the chicken in and put more spices on top. Rough chop an onion and put it on top of the chicken. Pour in a can of dices tomatoes or Rotel and a cup of water. Set it to low. After this bad boy cooks all day you’ll come home to a great meal!

Yum!

Baked Salmon- topped with olive oil, lemon and chopped garlic, this is another dish to pop in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or so and it’s done.

Mixed roasted vegetables- acorn squash, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, yellow squash, broccoli. Individually or mixed together these veggies can be cut up ahead of time and easily popped in the oven coated with olive oil and your favorite spices.

Pan seared broccoli- broccoli florets and diced garlic pan fried in coconut oil is quick and tasty.

This has literally been What’s On Our Plate this week. Hopefully it gives you some ideas to make meals that are quick, easy and tasty!

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Is this why 70% of Americans are fat?

FOOD ADDICTION- New discoveries in science prove that industrially processed, sugar-, fat- and salt-laden food — food that is made in a plant rather than grown on a plant, as Michael Pollan would say — is biologically addictive.