They say: Eat “4.5 servings” of fruits and vegetables a day.

I say: Eat tons of vegetables! Some fruit! Way more than 4.5 servings!

They say: Eat “at least three 1-ounce-equivalent servings a day” of fiber-rich whole grains.

I say: NO! to grains. Read this, this and this. Then come talk to me.

But I was hired to do a job, and since I haven’t yet convinced my co-workers and company that Paleo is awesome, I still have to write articles that reflect what the company believes: stuff like “fat is bad,” “whole grains are good.” That kind of stuff.

So I found it kind of ironic when my doctor’s office (a different place) mailed me results from the blood panel they did on a recent wellcheck, and everything LOOKED AWESOME.

Total Cholesterol: 232 (This is high — it should be 125-200 mg/dL)
HDL (good cholesterol): 122 (range to be is is > or = 46 mg /dL)
Triglycerides: 32 (range to be in is < 150 mg / dL)
LDL (bad cholesterol): 104 (range to be in is < 130 mg / dL)

So the skinny is this: even though I regularly eat eggs and bacon, coconut milk, coconut oil, organ meats and other foods and other fats and meats despised by the American Heart Association, my cholesterol is high on the side of “good” and low on “bad.”

Hmmm….

Hours after my Thursday workout class, while at work, my right wrist and forearm started acting up. And then it tightened up. And then something that felt like fire shoot up my arm and into my thumb.

I had to stop using the mouse.

It passed and I eventually got back to work, but when I showed up for my appointment at Next Level Chiropractic this morning, I made sure to tell San about it.

And then he tortured me.

Ha-ha. No, seriously.

They do less adjustments at Next Level — mostly they use active release technique to work on the areas that pain you. A lot of the coaches at my gym use them. In fact, my coach recommended them for my hip because of the severe shifting I was showing in squats.

My shifting is better, but the right wrist — my computer wrist — acts up. Sam says it was probably poor form on the hang power cleans that got me. He said reverse curls will do it. He just about nailed it, because Zach was fussing at me Thursday morning for the bar swinging way out in front of me during the hang power cleans.

Grrrr… so that was my morning. I was tortured. After Sam worked on my wrist, they had me lie on a table and get all iced up. I was sore for a while, but I’m feeling much better now. Good enough for a strength workout in the morning.

I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be spending time with my barbell. What are you doing?

I know you must be pretty annoyed with me right now. You’re sore and achy, and even a little hungry. Since we started down this road 3 years ago, I’ve pushed you past what you thought was possible. When you scream out to stop, I ignore you. I tune you out and you can’t convince me to quit.

I can be kind of stubborn in that way.

But I promise you, the benefits are real. You are stronger. Remember yesterday when you cleaned 105 pounds? You’ve never lifted that amount from the ground in your life. You never even tried. But you’re capable, and I know you’re growing stronger.

And because you’re stronger, I’m stronger too. I feel more confident, and I spend less time worrying about what other people think about me. I feel sharp and alert. I still feel like a college kid, but without any of the awkwardness and uncertainty that plagued me all those years ago.

You are amazing for putting up with me. For putting up with the bruises, fatigue and pain. We are on a journey, you and I. And we will never be the same.

Best,
Brain

Wednesday
Olympic lifting
Hip Clean x5 w/ bar, 3×4 by feel → 35, 55/65/75/85
Clean off block 3×3, 2×2 → 85/95/100, 95/95
Clean 1×5 → 95/100/100/100/105
Back Squats find heavy single 120/125/130
-then- 85% x3, 90% x2, 95%x1, 90%x3 → 110/115/125/115

Thursday
Crossfit Class
Back Squat 5×3 → 95-105-115-135-(no time)
3 rounds: 15 HSPU / 10 Hang Power Cleans
Time: 5:57 @ 75#

“CC Flyers”
3 rounds
400 m run
21 box jumps
12 Overhead squats (M 95# / W 65#)

Or is it 10 over head squats? Or 15? And when is the cut off?

Haha. I remember being so proud to finish this benchmark three months ago. But in October, the benchmark was different. They only had us do 10 overhead squats. And the cutoff was 15 min.

Today, the cut off was 12 minutes, and there were 12 overhead squats. I know it seems like a tiny change, but it made a big difference. I did not finish.

Completed 2 rounds + run + 3 box jumps RX in 12 minutes

What’s also different this time is how I feel about that. I don’t feel disappointed. I’m not angry. And I didn’t feel it was necessary to argue with Zach or Aaron about the time limit. I’m OK with the WOD being harder. It changed the rules of the game and made things a little more interesting. And Zach is absolutely right — I CAN finish CC Flyers in under 12 minutes, I just have to bring my A-game next time.

I think my running is suffering a little. I haven’t been doing any running outside the warm up. I miss it. I’m halfway considering signing up for the Cap 10K this year, even though it means I’ll probably run alone. But it will give me a reason to run again.

I haven’t forgotten that my goal is to add competitions to my schedule. I missed the Fittest Games, but I’m hoping something will come along. Maybe this Clean competition in College Station? Hmmm… anyone want to join me?

I normally don’t wear nail polish.

I’m terrible at applying it myself (I used to be decent, but I’m way out of practice), and I hate the feeling like something is on my nails. I want to wash them constantly. (Toes are a different story. I LOVE painting my toes.)

But I broke down on Sunday. The nail on my right index finger is split, and it keeps splitting. I had to put something on that nail to stop it. So I decided to spice things up. I found some blue nail polish in the cabinet and went to town!

And, of course, within 20 minutes, I had forgotten about the polish and tried to write. With a pen. And I messed up one. And then I accidentally chipped another while turning off my monitors. So I put on a top coat of polish and wondered what my hands would look like after Olympic Lifting in the morning.

And you know what? I put my hands through hell and they came out fine after class! Not even a chip. Too cool.

It’s everything we did that day! Here’s the video, and here’s the link to Zach’s blog about it.

Schedule-wise, I’ve been running from work to appointments to meetings and back again nearly non-stop. I’ve been having trouble keeping up with the Zoning. I’ve been exhausted.

But this weekend was really nice. After the Oly seminar, I had a chance to do some major relaxing. I let loose on Saturday night when some friend came over with a bottle of red wine. I know I swore off alcohol for a while, but I decided to indulge. Of course, then I couldn’t resist the chocolate in the fridge, but I stand by my decision. No regrets!

On Sunday, Andy and I took to the kids up to San Saba to visit a web client, and I had a great time. We wandered around a new park built by the LCRA, and it was so peaceful and relaxing. The scenery was gorgeous — there were literally hundreds of pecan trees.

Later on, we stopped at a place where Luke was able to gather fresh eggs and walk really close to a blank angus cow.

Ahhhh…. we got home tired, but I feel more at peace. I feel ready to take on my week.

Ursula Garza, middle of the front row, next to me.

I was so nervous ahead of Satuday’s Olympic Lifting seminar. Zach told me to sign up, and, of course, I did, and for the past two weeks I’ve had this gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I thought about it.

I worried and worried. I know that the seminar was intended to help beginners like me improve their form, but I worried about how I would look in front of a woman who coaches Olympic athletes. Ursula Garza is a darn good coach. She’s also Zach’s coach, and part of me didn’t want to look bad because I didn’t want my coach to look bad in front of his coach.

I’m so glad I went, though. It was an awesome seminar. Andy asked me if Ursula was a better coach than Zach and the answer was (and still is) no – just different. Her cues were different. Everything she said I’ve heard from Zach, but she said it slightly differently. There were no major revelations, but I definitely benefited from her instruction.

We did snatch progressions, jerk progressions and then clean and jerk progressions in the 2 hours we had with her, and it was so great! By the end of the snatch part, I felt the bar contacting my hip just at the right spot EVERY TIME. It was so great, because that’s what I’ve been working for for so long. I just hope I can repeat it on Monday morning in class.

And it felt so good to hear Ursula say “That was good!” when I clean and jerked the weight near the end of the seminar, Admittedly, there wasn’t a lot of weight on the bar, but my partner and I were more concerned about form than weight. I felt like it was more important to get it right than go heavy.

This has been a week of great lifting. This week I tried out the morning class because of scheduling, and it turns out I really like it! I’ve decided to make it my regular class. I feel stronger and I like not interrupting my day.

Monday
Hip Clean 3×4 → 55/65/75/80
Power Clean & Power Jerk 2×3, 2+1×3 → 80/80/80, 85/85/90
Drop Snatch 3×4 → 55/65/75/85
Back Squat 75% 4×4 → 110/110/110/110

Wednesday
Drop Snatch 3×5 → 55/55/55/55/55
Power Snatch + Hang Power Snatch 1+2×4, 1+1×4, 1×3 (Power snatch only) → 50/50/55/60, 60/60/60/60, 65/65/65
Flat Foot Snatch Pull 5×3 → 65/65/65
Front Squats: Find Max for day → 120/125/130
85%x3, 90%x2, 95%x1, 100%x1, 85%x5 → 105/110/120/125/105

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Jalapeno-Avocado Hot Sauce

I absolutely love spicy food. The hotter, the better. But — alas! — I have children! When I cook, I cook for all of us, and they simply don’t have the tolerance for hot food like I do.

So instead of integrating spicy into my dishes, I add it after it’s been served.

I tried buying hot sauce. I like Cholula, but I wanted hotter (and I wanted to avoid the Xantham gum they add). So we found something called “Widowmaker” at Whole Foods. Turns out Widowmaker isn’t quite as badass as the name would have you believe. I really have to question Whole Foods buyers because it was weak sauce.

Over Christmas we picked up an excellent hot sauce at the Farmer’s Market: Hotvocado from Kala’s Kuisine. I highly recommend it. I tasted the Gingery Habanera, and I liked it too.

But that got me and Andy to thinking — we have a few jars of hot peppers we canned over the summer — why not make our own sauce? And then we could be sure it would be paleo and free of weird thickeners. So we did, and it turned out AMAZING.

We canned pint jars of peppers, so if you need to buy peppers to do this, look for a 14.5oz can, packed in vinegar.

Jalapeno-Avocado Hot Sauce

Ingredients

1 jar pickled jalapenos, liquid reserved
1 small Haas avocado
1/4 cup reserved pickled pepper juice (vinegar) to blend

Instructions

Combine the peppers and avocado in a blender. Add pickle juice to just lubricate enough to mix — maybe a little more. Blend and serve.

This should keep for about a week in a sealed container in your fridge. It’s good on EVERYTHING. Seriously. I put this stuff on my eggs, steak, salad, you name it. Delish.

My lunch

I often hear people talk about how they don’t eat vegetables. I once had an executive producer who told a waitress at a restaurant that she “doesn’t eat vegetables” and wanted to make sure whatever she was ordering did not have a single one on the plate. Andy has similar stories of co-workers, and lately these stories come up when people see what we eat.

It’s like they feel like they need to defend their own eating habits.

It’s true that my family eats an insane amount of vegetables. They are a staple of nearly every meal, except breakfast, and only because my coach has me eating protein and fat only at breakfast.

But we didn’t always eat vegetables in large amounts.

It’s true my mom made vegetables available at every meal. There was always a salad or vegetable side — like lima beans, peas, broccoli or spinach. But when I was in high school, I rebelled, and fast food became a way of life when I was out with my friends. College wasn’t much better. I shudder to think what I ate. No wonder I hit my heaviest weight my freshman year and struggled to shed it over the next 10 years.

Even when I was a vegetarian, I didn’t eat as many vegetables as I do now. Grains were still a huge part of my diet. Pasta, rolls, rice were all featured on my plate.

When you go Paleo, meat becomes a natural part of your nutrition, but it does not comprise the majority of it, contrary to what many people believe. Meat MUST be balanced with fat and carbs, preferably huge amounts of leafy green vegetables.

While I never hated vegetables, I never LOVED them either. It took time for me to adjust my palette. It is possible to love vegetables. Here’s how:

Do a sugar-free challenge
(AKA junk-free, Whole 30, primal, paleo)

Vegetables taste sweet. I discovered this last year during the I AM Crossfit challenge when I gave up all chocolate, alcohol, dairy, and cut way back on fruit. Giving up sugar for a while totally changed the way I taste things. Without sugar to dominate my palette, I can actually taste other flavors. And guess what, vegetables taste sweet! Give me a bowl of Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, and I’m in heaven.

Kids don't hate vegetables! But sometimes you have to serve something 10 or 20 times before they will like it.

Sign up for a CSA

A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) will deliver a share of whatever crops a farmer grows every week or every two weeks, depending on how it’s set up. Our CSA, through Johnson’s Backyard Garden, comes every week all year long. I don’t like food to go to waste, so I make sure that we eat whatever comes in our box. That means I’ve had to be creative and figure out how to cook vegetables I’ve never encountered before.

Invest in a good cookbook

I can’t stress the importance of a good cookbook enough, because if a recipe tastes bad, it’s much harder to overcome that aversion to vegetables. Not all cookbooks are created equal! I tend to shy away from celebrity chefs, many of whom write recipes that are hard to pull off on a weeknight (Yes — even Rachel Ray. 30 minute meals, my ass.)

My go-to cookbooks are from the editors of Cooks Illustrated magazine (Anything they’ve written. They’ve NEVER let me down), Deborah Madison (Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone), and Rick Bayless (Mexican Everyday). Lately we’ve added two new cookbooks to our collection and so far so good:

• Cookwise
• Good Meat
• And I’m waiting for our copy of Well Fed to arrive, written by fellow Austinite and paleo enthusiast Melissa Joulwan. I’ve tasted a few of her recipes and so far so good.

If you want to go the primal cookbook route, there’s always a few from Mark Sisson, and the ones with “paleo” in the title, like Everyday Paleo and Paleo Comfort Foods. I’ll be honest. It’s all a formula. Meat, veggies, spices. Some recipes are well-written. Some aren’t. If you’re going just for innovative or well-written veggie recipes, stick with the cookbook authors that have a proven track record.

Remember, just because you didn’t like a vegetable in one recipe doesn’t mean you won’t like it in another. I had to try five different okra recipes before I found the one that everyone in my family raved about. Sauteed okra with tomatoes is now a family favorite, and it even managed to turn Andy from an okra-hater to an okra-lover.

Eliminate grains

When you get rid of grains, you have to fill your plate with something, right? Instead of making it meat — make it vegetables. And the more you eat them, the more likely you are to learn to like them. So stop filling your plate and stomach with grains and make room for more vegetables.

Try a new vegetable every week

Eating vegetables I like really helped me eat more, but trying new ones made meals an adventure. I credit my CSA with forcing me down that road. As the seasons change, our box of vegetables does too, sometimes with varieties I’ve never heard of. Romanesco cauliflower? Golden beets? Rutabaga? Okra?

It’s just more fun when you try something new.

Bonus:
Grow your own

There’s just something about growing your own food that makes you want to eat it. My kids will nibble leafy greens all day, straight from the plants. They get excited when they harvest something and then it’s served for dinner. Somehow, that personal connection makes us all more likely to eat our vegetables. I’m not sure why that is, but I’m definitely glad it happens.

I guess the key to loving vegetables is to open your mind and mouth to the possibilities.