Recipe site

I found a recipe site that I want to pass along.

The foodee

Business Travel and eating clean 101

I have been working for a consulting firm for the past Six and a half years.  Four and a half years were spent on the road every week Monday through Thursday.  The past two years I have been working in Chicago, but I still travel about five to eight times a year for work and pleasure.  I have earned my travel expertise through the years, and I would like to pass on my knowledge.  This guide can be used for more than business travel. 

Plan ahead!
This is the most important part of traveling.  What is that famous saying, "If you fail to plan you plan to fail"?  That saying has a nice ring to it, and is true.  Here are some of my tips for traveling

1. Internet search such as google and yelp are your friends for finding restaurants and grocery stores.  Use these tools to search and find restaurants that cater towards grass fed beef, free range chicken, from scratch cooking.  Also you can find whole foods, trader joes, small markets, or farmers markets.
2. Hit up the local butcher and buy some quality beef jerky.  In Chicago we are lucky to have Paulina Meat Market and Gene's.  Also, don't forget about ordering dried meat online.
3. Pick a hotel that has a Fridge.  I will leave the benefits to the reader as an exercise.    
4. Pick a hotel that has hot breakfast such as eggs, bacon, and sausage.  Most hotels have some sort of breakfast, and for the lucky business travelers that ask nicely, most are complimentary.  
5. Ask for a King size bed.  Put this preference in your hotel awards program preferences, and enjoy the size and power of a king size bed. 
6. Bring an empty water bottle.  Airports and most modern offices, unless you are working in a sweat shop, have water coolers and/or water fountains.  It is important to stay hydrated when traveling.  This allows frequent bathroom breaks to excuse one self from tedious meetings. 
7. Do not bring nuts.  I know this might sound blasphemous, but nuts are calorie dense and I feel folks eat too many nuts during the day, especially at work.  Nuts are only allowed if you are trying to bulk up and add weight. 
8. When on the road use your per diem, unless you are working in a sweat shop, most business give their employees a per diem on the road.  Use this wisely and find good steak or seafood places.  Again, yelp, google, and local folks are your friends with information. 
9. Avoid working late.  I used to fall into the following trap while on the road: "I don't have anything else to do, so I might as well work".  Bullshit, go exploring, network, or rent hotel porn.  I find that if I work late my stress is high and I get tempted by Dole's candy basket or any other junk food that happens to be at work.  
10. Avoid eating at the airport.  Plan your flights around times when you are not going to be hungry.  If you have a flight that is long, during eating hours, or delayed then fall back to your dried meats.  Bonus: Use said dried meats to make a mile high friend! 
11. Avoid airplanes, well you can't really do this.  But, the worst part of traveling is the airport and flight.  Relax, bring a book, or a Nintendo DS to pass the time.  So many variables are out of our control that the variables haunt Stephen Hawking to such a point he can float in the air! 

Ain't no think like a chicken wing on a string!

First, I want to get this off of my chest.  I have been hearing is stories of failures and minimal stories of success.  I am not a priest and I do not want to listen to folks confess their sins.

 

Secondly, Who likes Chicken wings?  I do, and they are really easy to make, and are great to eat while watching your favorite sporting event or soap opera.  Here is my quick recipe:

1. Obtain 2 to 4 pounds of Chicken wings.  
2. Heat oven to 400 degrees
3. Liberally season chicken wings with salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder, and chili powder.
4. Cook for 40 minutes total.  Twenty minutes per side.
5. Pull Chicken wings directly from the oven and put into a giant bowl.  
6. Add a generous helping of duck fat on top of the steaming hot Chicken wings.  You can also use coconut oil, lard, or butter.
7. Add hot sauce to taste and toss.

There she blows!

I am casting a large net and I think I am going to catch the Leviathan known as Joel!  Harpoons ready; check! 

The site that Joel is posting about Alcohol http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/AlcoholAndHealth.html is written and maintained by David J Hanson P.H.d.  This site is funded by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.  The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States is an alcohol lobbying association.  I will leave it to all of you make your own decision on David's research. 

From my experience, dropping alcohol for 30 days coinciding with the paleo challenge, I felt very good.  All weekend I was productive and not focus on sitting in front of the TV while drinking, or sitting in front of the TV nursing a hang over and feeling sorry for myself.  I highly recommend it.

 

GUTS

Gratuity welcomed

I thought I would post some tips for the new folks joining this adventure.

1. Remove all bullshit from your pantry and fridge that is not paleo/primal.   
2. Quality over quantity - do not count calories or zone blocks, and focus on quality of food and eat to satiation. 
3. Find your internal motivation.   
4. Cook a lot of food on Sunday evening and re-heat/eat throughout the week.  
5. Experiment with many different foods and flavors. 
6. Ask many many questions.

McDougald's Rule

Since I'm pro McDougald, thought I'd share two awesome links today.

1. A review of Robb Wolf's book, the Paleo Solution, which I have not read yet but purchased on Amazon this morning. Nice write up Damon. My brother turned me on to adding the Robb Wolf podcast last year and it's now my Tuesday night ritual to listen to his show. I would recommend downloading this podcast to all.

http://www.windycitycrossfit.com/crosslit/2010/11/november-2010-the-paleo-solution-the-original-human-diet.html

2. AOM at WCCF. Two McDougald's, one year. Yep, that is what I thought.

http://www.windycitycrossfit.com/athlete_profiles/2010/11/november-2010-damon-mcdougald.html

Great video Cheston, can't wait to see the outtakes.

A nerds time to reflect

Congrats to everyone who stuck with this for the 6 weeks. Everyone did very well and lost body fat %. Alright, so I don't remember the correct numbers, but I went down from 17.3 to 14.4, and I gained 6 pounds of lean body mas while losing 8 or 9 pounds of body fat. When my sister and I previously measured our body fat before and after a previous paleo challenge I believe I lost 4%, but I lost lean body mass. I am pumped that I gained lean body mass while still remaining to be an adult mail. **Adult male > 200 pounds**.

I remained silent because I was trying new things during this paleo challenge. I am no stranger to paleo, but this is the first time I remained strict. Other times I would still drink and eat pizza once a week. This time, money talked and bullshit walked. I was stricter than comrade Stalin and his daily vodka regiment. I did not partake in booze accept during the pumpkin carving party at Moe and Drew's and one beer and tequila after Colorado USAW/XFIT event.

So what are my sweeping changes?

1. I cut out the booze. This is a no brainier. Sorry Yaz, you can't dance with the buffalo stance. I have used that song lyric twice in a day! I know what you are thinking, I cannot give up my booze. Why not? You can enjoy booze every now and then, but do not drink booze daily.
   
2. I ate real food. I did not use protein powders or any other synthetic foods.
   
3. I always ate a big breakfast. For those who don't like Breakfast, get over it and eat a large meal every morning.
   
4. I did not count calories or worry about my protein intake. I made sure I ate satisfying meal with protein as the center piece of the meal.
   
5. I left intermittent fasting alone. I had issues with this in the past and do not want to revisit.
   
6. I did not snack. I left the fruit and nuts at home. I ate three meals a day. This was very important as snacking can get out of hand. I would recommend increasing the amount of food eating for every meal.
   
7. I did not eat many fruits or nuts. Both are calorically dense. I would recommend picking up Robb Wolf's paleo solution. It has great chapters on how the body handles different sugars and fats.
8. I did not supplement my meals with paleo treats such as paleo muffins, paleo cakes, paleo pudding, etc. Only one weekend did I enjoy paleo crackers and a paleo pizza, but I would recommend staying away from consuming paleo substitutes to real food sparingly. And when I mean sparingly I don't mean Tiger Woods sparingly. I mean once in a blue moon.
   
9. I worked very hard on sleeping 7 to 9 hours every night. This ties back to the no drinking. Alcohol impedes sleep. On the weekends I would try to sleep in and shoot for 10 hours.
   
10. I worked hard on minimizing stress. I always see this guy on Cuyler Avenue around 8 or 9 pm in a business suit, smoking cigarettes, and looking haggard. He looks like a prime candidate for an early heart attack. While I enjoy my job, I am learning how to say no, and I prioritize my life accordingly.

Every small change I made was not that difficult, sure it took commitment and sacrifice. But, I feel it is important that everyone answer this one question. Why did you join the paleo challenge? My answer is simple. I want to live a healthy and independent life.

My goal is to get to 10% by July 2011. I will post a follow up on my new plan of attack. I am going to make some small tweaks during the next month and track my progress.