Saturday 30 April 2011

day 20 - a third of the way in

well well well, 20 down ,40 to go, no bothers so far ,
feeling pretty good over all and i am definitely losing a shit load of body fat,
i've been training hard for years now but i always seemed to carry a small bit of fat that i culdn't seem to get rid of , i just assumed that i was "one of those people" who's abdominal muscles weren't prominent or something.
turns out the thing i was neglecting was diet ,
removing grains ,beans, and potato's along with sugar and processed food has made all the difference,
the first little protruding muscles on my stomach are a testament to that :-)
and that seems to be the least of it ,i wake up fresher , i feel happier , i taste my food more, i don't get constipated, i've been performing better in my wods, the list goes on.

roll on the next 40!

todays food

breakfast
3 duck eggs , coffee,3 sea kelp, 5fish oil

lunch
12 prawns in chilli lemon coriander and garlic
a grapefruit

lunch 2
a delicious omelette cooked by my good friend elmo, lots of veg ,salmon and asparagus, thanks brah:-)





dinner
 fillet steak with steamed broccoli and carrots
snacks - a handfull of dates and some paleo treats in eamos

Friday 29 April 2011

day 19- liver , eggs, bon bons, hearts and a wolf!!

good day today , finished work for a week and a half  , OH YEAH!
gonna get some serious training and fun days in over the week, starting with a roadtrip  to our brothers and sisters in crossfit waterford on sunday, cant wait .

todays breakfast was 3 fried duck eggs along with hunters cup(half a melon some milled almonds and a handfull of blueberries,

at 1000 i had a grapefruit and a cup of coffee

LIVER - THE HUNTERS CUT

since starting the paleo way i've been researching different cultures and foods and a recurring thing that keeps coming up is offal,
yes offal - lungs heart kidneys liver spleen .

both human and animal hunters treasured the offal above the meat ,
and the liver above all else ,
the liver is a nutritional powerhouse , packed to the hilt with vitamins , iron , and good fats.
the most powerfull lion gets the liver
the alpha wolf gets the liver
and the human that makes the kill gets the liver.

unfortunately offal has a bad rep, and being forced to eat chalky overcooked liver as a kid defo didn't help.

so today i took the plunge and bought some liver and 2 lambs hearts
i had the liver for lunch and found a lovely recipe which is different than i've ever had ,
liver stir fry

this was really tasty , i will defo  be exploring liver and organ meat in general much more in the future.

then i made some of these beauty bon bons  from the fabulous susan jane murray, i subbed the wheat grass for carob powder (thanks niamh) and the dessicated coconut for sesame seeds
i ate 4 of these and then had a massive sugar dump (from the honey) and fell asleep on the couch for an hour , hilarious!

i will definitely be exploring liver and offal much more in future , it is true caveman food !!
ps , i had no dog food so i fed the two hearts to the dog,
a cavemans gotta take care of his wolf!

she looks happy enough :-)

roll on day 20!

big daddies paleo banana fritters

this is so simple and amazing
it just came to me in a sweet epiphany as i stood staring into the coals of a bbq


take a banana or two
 slice it down the skin lengthways,
 
peel back the skin a bit ,
spoon in some almond butter,
spread it around and get it right in there- dont be afraid of it .


drizzle a bit of honey on top ,
bang it on the bbq (or in the oven)for 15 mins or so ,

eat it straight from the skin like a true jungle warrior- stiiiiicky!!!!

enjoy

Thursday 28 April 2011

today was a feast of culinary delights in the man cave,
for breakfast i had  the fabulous hunters cup with milled almonds blueberries and a drizzle of honey,along with 3 boiled eggs, 5 fish oils and 3 sea kelp

went training at 12 and did
1 rep max back squat followed by a met con which i like to call GOAT WOD
in the crossfit world ,a goat is something you're shit at , sometimes i like to take a few crossfit skills that i suck at (lord knows theres enough of them),and put them together into a wod(workout of the day)--
todays GOAT WOD consisted of :
3 handstand push ups ,
10 one legged squats demo
30 double unders demo

10 minute A.M.R.A.P. (as many rounds as possible)

i hit 122.5 kg on the back squat and did 7 rounds even on the met con
happy enough considering this is my third day in a row hitting double wods.

pwo consisted of :
one salmon tail and a pile of salad (spinach ,cucumber , carrot , tomato,--all the good stuff),a banana,two mandarins
plus 3 sea kelp











over the last few days i have gotten talking to a guy in work who owns a poultry farm and he is going to sort me out with beautifull organic duck and hen eggs from now on HELL YEAH!!
got a taster off him today -4 bantam(midget) chicken eggs which i duly devoured as soon as i got back to the cave and they were amazing ,so freakin tasty .im pumped up about getting these eggs on the regular.
SCORE!

the eggs kept me going till about half six when my ratatoille was done , this was enjoyed a la 2 sea bass fillets, cooked cooked by aoife like only she can cook em .with a juicy parsley and  olive oil dressing , scrummy!

and now for the piece de la resistance _ BIG DADDIES PALEO BANANA FRITTERS!
BOOM!

they dont look too great but they taste like paleo heaven - believe me!--recipe to follow



paleo breakfast-Hunters cup

Neccesity is the mother of invention,
Here's a little brekky treat I came up with, its really simple,  and you could probably press it into service as an after dinner treat too.
It goes like this:
Take a melon
Cut that baby in half
Shave a slice of the bottom so that it stands like a bowl
spoon out the seeds
Shovel in a tablespoon of milled seeds /nuts (linwoods)
Drizzle some honey over
Throw in a handfull of berries.
Enjoy with your chosen protein source
3 eggs in my case.







Tuesday 26 April 2011

Day 16 - Lunch, dinner, snack,

Lunch was a salad that aoife made for me last night(bless her cotton socks), and a chicken breast, along with 3 kelp tabs and 5 cod liver oil tabs, I also downed a banana and 3 mandarins.

At half 3 I was peckish so I got some grapes and a bag of Brazil nuts in the shop (this contained 7 NUTS!!!)

at six I had a chicken breast with steamed brocolli and asparagus.

It is now 10 to 10 and Im cooking 2 salmon tails,  one will be devoured now and the other will be luncheon for tomorrow.

Peace!




Day 16 -

6 streaky Bacon,  3 boiled eggs, a punnet of strawberries, 2 mandarins, 5 fish oil tabs, 3 sea kelp.



Monday 25 April 2011

big daddys bbq turkey burgers with veggy skewers and honey glazed parsnips

ingredients :
  • 500g minced turkey breast 
  • 1 red chilli
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 egg
finely chop the chilli and mince the garlic , 



throw it all in a bowl 

mix it all up nice and good 

form into 4 patties

stick some veggies on a skewer  

half the parsnips and glaze em with some honey

stick it all on the bbq or on the pan  and enjoy at your leisure 


Day 15-Brekky

A pile of streaky rashers, 1 boiled egg, 1 grilled tomato, a mandarin ,some grapes, 5 cod liver oil tabs, 3 sea kelp.

day 14 - food log

breakfast-- 3 boiled eggs--4 cod liver oil tabs--2 sea kelp tabs


lunch-- superquinn cooked chicken, legs wings and some breast-- a punnet of strawberries-2 mandarins


dinner---went to SABA with aiofes mam and dad -- tough to find anything paleo friendly on the menu , the only thing's they had were chicken wings with sesame seed and honey glaze for starter, and a prawn stirfry for main, which had baby sweetcorn in it ,but i just picked that out
for dessert ,i had a lemon, honey, and ginger green tea which was nice ,
but its not nice watching people chow down on delicious ice cream and hot chocolate brownies though, yuk  yuk give me strength :)

had a slice of nuttylicious when i got home and some chicken breast later on to snack on,
made a batch of blueberry muffins with raspberries and no honey ,they aren't as addictive without the honey , but i still ate 3 :0

Saturday 23 April 2011

day 13 - a confession

going orienteering and abseiling today
breakfast -0630- 3 boiled eggs , and an unknown quantity of cooked ham that larry had left over from last night, beautiful

0930- coffee and a paleo muffin

1230- BBQ get down - lots of sausages and chicken

confession- these sausages were only 80 % pork and so- den den den - not strictly paleo- i've let myself and yuk yuk down :(
fuck it though, they tasted so gooooood and im sure the other 20% was spices and shit (thats what i'm telling myself anyway)  :)

1800- went to FIRE restaurant in town for dinner with the lovely aoife ,
          wood fired jumbo tiger prawns for starters ,
          6 oz fillet steak with asparagus on the side,had to get the chunky chips off the plate quicksmart                                before i devoured the lot (phew!)
and a double espresso to suppress the sugar demons while aoife chowed down on some tasty ice cream.

Friday 22 April 2011

blueberry cinnamon muffins, paleo style !!!! gigita!

these babies made my day - simple ,quick and adaptable - just like yuk yuk :)

ingredients

  • 3 eggs 
  • 1 cup of almond flour(you can make your own by sticking whole almonds in the blender and pulsing them- it doesn't have to be real fine)
  • 2 tsp of honey
  • dried or fresh berries
  • some  cinnamon powder  
preheat the oven - 180 ,
get your muffin cases ready,
whip up the eggs almond flour and honey,
add the fruit ,(dont worry its meant to be watery)
spoon it into the muffin cases (dont fill them to the brim),
sprinkle on some cinnamon
bang them babies in the oven for about 20 minutes or until brown and tasty looking-
enjoy-

day 12 food log

3 boiled eggs , 4 strips of crispy bacon,half a pineapple


lunch-juicy salmon tail , a slice of nuttylicious and a paleo muffin- recipe coming up
dinner - mussels cooked in white wine and garlic with a rocket, tomato red onion and olive salad
i love these mussels , so easy to cook , bang them in a pot with some white wine ,butter and garlic, bring to the boil and let them simmer for 5 minutes , BOOM!!
amazing


supper - couldnt resist another delicious paleo muffin ,
and another 
and another
they're all gone now
sad caveman

a little story about carbohydrate

long ago ,
in a time called the paleolithic , there lived a little fella called yuk yuk,
every day, yuk yuk would take his bow and arrow and go hunting ,just the way his ancestors had done since the yellow god in the sky had first blessed the earth with his light,
often on the hunt , yuk yuk and his fellow hunters would walk a long way from the village , sometimes tracking their prey for days before they ever caught sight of them. 
along the way , they would forage and pick whatever fruit nuts and seeds they could find on the trees and bushes, this would keep them nourished and give them short term energy until they could get a kill,

when (or if) they got a kill they would eat the organ meat first (spleen ,liver, kidneys etc) along with the fattiest cuts of meat, they would crack the bones and suck the marrow,

yuk yuk and his people had lived this way for generations , and thrived.

but unknown to them , a new age was dawning , known as the neolithic era,

people had realised that instead of hunting ,they could take young animals and keep them in an enclosure and let them grow big and fat , then they could kill and eat the animal at their leisure,
all good so far but here's the problem , they also figured how to process  sources of carbohydrate known as grain, beans and potatoes (uh oh) to make them digestible, 
the great thing about these foods  was that they were really easy to grow ,but best of all , they could be stored for a very long time , and eaten whenever they were needed, amazing right ?

wrong

the reason that they could be stored for so so long is because they contain toxins called lectins,
this is also the reason that they needed to be processed, to remove the toxins so that they wouldnt make humans sick, 
Grains, Beans and Potatoes share the following important characteristics:

· They are all toxic when raw- there is no doubt about this- it is a fact that no competent source would dispute- they can be extremely dangerous and it is important never to eat them raw or undercooked.
 · Cooking destroys most but not all of the toxins. Insufficient cooking can lead to sickness such as acute gastroenteritis.
· They are all rich sources of carbohydrate, and once cooked this is often rapidly digestible-giving a high glycemic index (sugar spike).
· They are extremely poor sources of vitamins (particularly vitamins A, B-group, folic acid and C), minerals,and antioxidants 
diets high in grains beans and potatoes:
· Contain toxins in small amounts
· Have a high glycemic index (ie have a similar effect to raw sugar on blood glucose levels)
· Are low in many vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytosterols- ie they are the original "empty calories"

yuk yuk is a fictional character created by my cousin dave, but sadly, the rest of the story is true, take a look at any food pyramid, what is the base of the whole thing? yep you got it : grains beans and potatoes - at least 6 - 8 servings a day , madness!

do yourself a favour, cut the grains ,beans and potatoes,and replace them with vegetables fruits and berries you'll feel the difference, i promise

coming soon : starchy carbs, syndrome x , insulin and diabetes,dairy products

good hunting ,
do as yuk yuk would
the "normal" food pyramid

the paleo food pyramid




Thursday 21 April 2011

day 11 food log

breakfast
salmon tail, half pineapple,half honey dew melon,cod liver oil, 2 sea kelp






lunch

salmon tail ,half pineapple ,half melon, 2 sea kelp, apple some mixed seeds
















dinner -
chicken wings , prawns , salad (mixed leaves, tomatoes, olives)



supper 
mussels  and a fresh kipper , 3 paleo pancakes