Week 3 recap - JONSING FOR BREAD!!

After 21 days (3 SOLID weeks woot woot!) on Whole30....what am I craving most?  A stiff drink??  Actually, no (side note: a Makers on the rocks sounds real good) but ... I'm actually craving BREAD!  Golden brown, crusty rolls, croissants, fluffy tortillas, flat, Hawaiian, bagels... you name it - I'm jonsing for it.  This is probably the first three weeks straight in a long time I haven't had any bread.  I figure - to better understand how to kick this craving - it's best to understand why I feel this way.  What makes up the craving and WHY does one crave?

I was conversing with Tray the other day while stretching post a vicious leg work out... 

"Ummm Trayyyy...how is there sugar in bread?  I mean carbs (as I've come to realize) is sugar right?  ....but bread has the most carbs ever... but bread isn't sweet?  So what is the DEAL here buddy?!"

It was then I got this long winded, totally reasonable, answer that made me understand why bread sugar (or carbs) is more complex then candy sugar.  It actually made me feel pretty good about wanting to have a Reeses Peanut Butter cup next week (even though I probably wont have one because I'm on a roll...oh man, roll...).   

So let's start with what a "CARBOHYDRATE" actually is.  These pesky little things are found in a lot of different foods - healthy and unhealthy.  Last year while on my "I am super woman and I'm going to eat 30g or less a day of carbs" I was shocked to find that there was carbs in EVERYTHING. 8g of carbs in my carrots!?  6g carbs in my broccoli!?  It would piss me off when I would eat bell peppers and "waste" 1/3rd of my carb intake on veggies.  This is when I started to realize there is a difference between good carbs and bad carbs and carbs are everywhere ---- EVEN IN CELERY (2g carb for a large stalk!) 

It's important to note that it's impossible to go without carbs entirely.  Carbohydrates are an extremely important part of a healthy diet.  They provide the body with glucose, which is converted to energy which supports physical activity....AND WHO DOESN'T LOVE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY!!! (sorry for screaming - I'm just a super fan duh...) 

Anyways - I get it - carbs are important but then what makes bread is so bad?  Why can't I eat a huge baguette like every single day and have it be ok?  Boudin is calling my name!  SOURDOUGH!  I want some fresh SOURDOUGH!  It feels bad to eat...it makes me feel bloated and full...but what would actually be happening if I went to Boudin right now and had like 5 sourdough loaves of bread? 

What exactly happens to our body when we 'carb binge'?

Falling victim to the carb binge once or twice (haha I wish!) in my time - I decided to investigate WTF is actually happening to me post the hoagie roll (and ice cream sandwich afterwards eeek!) went down the pipes.  So right after the super awesome spongy loaf and cold counterpart - my pancreas is then kicked into overdrive and sending a flood of insulin to try to sop up the excess glucose that went rushing through my bloodstream because of my binge.  The glucose is actually really good muscle fuel when it's IN the muscles but toxic sludge when it sticks around in my bloodstream.  Since my body is a smart body ;) it knows that this stuff is no bueno and then does everything it can to get it out of there.  This insulin then creates a see-saw effect.  If there is room, the sugar can go into the muscles.  If there is no more room (which is usually the case), it is turned into fat cells where it is stored - as... fat!  gaaaaaspppp!  My body thinks of this as a life threatening situation and stresses to achieve homeostasis by releasing adrenaline.  This explains the heart racing, the uncomfortable feeling, sweating, shakes, flushed, spastic...etc. All this and it's only been an hour to an hour and 1/2 after the co-workers birthday carrot cake! 

By about 6:00 PM after this fake late afternoon birthday shin dig, a tired feeling comes over me.  The glucose has left my bloodstream and I begin to feel sluggish.  THE SUGAR CRASH!  I am beginning to think maybe this is the end of my sugar binge side effects but it's actually far from over.  My immune system has been sent into a tail spin.  The cough that is going around the office, the germs at the super market or at the gym (cause you know, I went there to try to work off extra calories on the treadmill...) I'm super susceptible to sickness!  My immune system is in overdrive working with the sugar I overloaded my body with and not paying attention to fighting the germs around me!  In addition, that night - I sleep like shit.  Literally, tossing and turning all night, waking up once or twice throughout the evening.  I roll out of bed feeling crappy and sluggish the next day.  A carb binge, and the sugar intake from it, can stay in your system for more than 24 hours.  UMPH.  WHYYYYY?!! 

Now that you feel super great about that cupcake you had today, don't worry too too much.  Again, our bodies are smart (especially mine haha) and with a good metabolism: a piece of cake or a celebratory happy hour will not kill you; however - it is good to know what the heck is happening. This is also provides you a good insight as to why balance is key and why going overboard is never good for your body.  It happens...but it's harmful.  

There are a variety of reasons as to why we crave certain things.  The most obvious is usually due to a brain connection: a memory, happy feelings or a good thought associated with the Hans Homemade Ice Cream shop or the Big Stick Popsicles that you had when you were in the after school program...etc.  I have many of these.  My immediate past was full of treats.  My ex-boyfriend LOVED sweets and always enjoyed dessert and cakes and ice cream and cookies... It seems when I'm down and out, I immediately think of the treats we used to share together that made us so happy then.  I want to feel this way and have these good memories back...so I have to work hard to resist the temptation.  The second reason for cravings is from deficiencies.  If we're low in amino acids we can crave foods.  Depending on what we're "low" on - this effects our cravings.  For instance, if we're low in L-tryptophan (which produces serotonin) you may have an afternoon craving for carbohydrates, alcohol or drugs (haha) vs. being low in endorphins which might make you crave comforting or numbing treats. 

So why did Tray make me feel better about eating a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup?  Well, at the end of the day - Simple sugars are broken down and digested very quickly.  These simple sugars (sugar, fruit juice, milk, yogurt, candy, maple syrup...etc.) contain very few essential vitamins and minerals.  Does this mean I should I go to Target and grab a bag of Cadbury Creme Eggs for .33 cents on their post Easter special isle?  (YES, .33 cents...dammit...)  No...but if I DID partake in a nice treat I would be able to work it off with some good 'ole cardio easily.  If I had a bunch of complex carbohydrates (whole grain breads, oatmeal, legumes, brown rice, wheat pasta...etc.) it will be a bit harder to get rid of.  Sure, healthy complex carbs are the body's preferred source of energy; however, they take longer to digest and are packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals.  They like stick around a bit more trying to figure out where to go and what to do within your system.  No - Cadbury Creme Eggs are not better than whole wheat pasta; however, they all work differently within your body. 

I'm going to repeat this to myself and hope it works.  Asparagus tastes like chocolate! Asparagus tastes like chocolate! Asparagus tastes like chocolate! Asparagus tastes like chocolate! Asparagus tastes like chocolate! Asparag....

Oh 85 degrees Mango bread - you're so good.

Week 2 - Tiger Blood?

Well another week down of no alcohol, preservatives, sugar (added), beans, grains, milk in my coffee, cheese, dairy...you pretty much name it - and I can't have it.  I think I've gotten to the point where I don't WANT to have it - not just CAN'T have it, which is good - I think it means it's working!

Stripping all preservatives from your diet ain't no joke.  You literally need to cook just about everything you eat.  Luckily I'm 100% not lazy and I'm able to cook multiple things at the same time and usually work on a "go go go go" basis to get everything cooked and done.  I need to have this mentality because I generally cook about 8 meals a day (since I cook for my trainer in lieu of a good portion of payment woot woot and lately make more for my awesome roommate).  In any event, I would put a $20 bill on the fact that I cook more than anyone I know.  I dehydrate, I roast, I bake, I cut, I chop and I scramble and fry.  Eggs nightly (for the following morning), a protein for lunch with veggies, snacks and more veggies.  This also means that I use more tupperware than any one on the planet.  Again, I'll put another $20 on that.

For sure I've been a cooking machine.  I have made some staple recipes in the past 14 days that will forever be regulars in my cooking regimen.

First off (and I'm sure I'll have a more extensive post in the near future) - I got a DEHYDRATOR!

This thing is the best contraption I've gotten in a long time.  Amongst my favorite items?  ZUCCHINI CHIPS!  Literally the cheapest, easiest & healthiest treat I've ever made!  $3 worth of zucchini yields two different dehydrator rounds of 4 trays of "chips".  Just a LIIIIITTTTLE salt (and I say little because my roommate over salted them and it was 10 hours of dehydration gone bad) and throw them on the dealio for 6-10 hours - depending on which dehydrator you have.  LOVE LOVE LOVE.  I also make 100% raw zucchini bread and carrot cake (in which you can JUICE the carrots and use the pulp that is left over).  YAY!  I've always been wanting to use the pulp and haven't ever been able to.

Another interesting moment this week was joining the family for a holiday while on Whole30.  Over Easter I had to bring Whole30 friendly eats to my family party.  Being pretty determined to change my families mind of "veggies" and "raw foods" I put some hard work in Saturday to get everything prepped.

The paleo-friendly items I brought were:

Sweet potato "noodles" from www.inspiralized.com.  I love these fake noodles.  They're the best!  Overall, my family thought they were "interesting" and they liked them, but probably wouldn't make them.  My yogi sister however, loved them and enjoyed that I left her some leftovers for lunch the next day!

SWEET POTATO NOODLES with SPINACH and PECANS (I omitted the bacon but I bet it's amazing!)

Another item that was a MUST was deviled eggs.  I HAD to have some deviled eggs for EASTER Sunday so I Googled my little heart out and found these babies: Avocado-Lime Deviled Eggs

I highly, highly recommend these.  The fam LOVED them and there is literally nothing but the yolks, lime juice and avocado.  The recipe calls for Franks Red Hot (which I'll add after Whole30 is over) but even without - they're DELISH!  Could they get any cleaner?

The last thing I'll say about Whole30 for this week 2 recap is that WHOLE 30 LOVES BACON!  I repeat:  WHOLE 30 LOVES BACON!  And you know what?  So do I!  I've noticed that the BEST bacon is at Sprouts for sure.  One of my favorite things is lettuce wraps with bacon, tomato, cucumber, avocado and some turkey.  YUM YUM YUM - what a lunch!  

Do I miss mustard (jalapeno and chipotle) and Mayo?  Actually I miss ALL condiments (again, another blog post in the near future on making your own condiments) but I feel like $1,000 bucks and soon to be a million.  I wonder if the Tiger Blood is on the horizon? :)

Happy (and clean) eating ya'll...

Whole30 WEEK ONE Recap - Not down with the "XG"

Well, it's lunch time on DAY 8 of my first ever Whole30.  I had a great 4 mile warm up this am followed by an interesting arm set consisting of boxing and volleyball (most of the workout had to be outside because they're painting in the gym and everyone was getting high from the lacquer).  My punches are getting stronger and upper cuts are vicious.  I also definitely feel the ab work when boxing and I get to punch out my aggression of my clients before the sun rises, which is always a good thing.  Whenever I need to kick some guys ass, I for sure have Tray to thank.

This week was an interesting one on Whole30.  My first full week of no SUGAR...no PRESERVATIVES...no ARTIFICIAL anything.  Have you ever truly looked at the nutrition labels?  Like really looked because you can't have something say like... xanthan gum?  I mean what IS xanthan gum anyways?

WELL - if you MUST KNOW:

Xanthan gum (/ˈzænθən/) is a polysaccharide secreted by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris,^[2] used as a food additive and rheology modifier,^[3] commonly used as a food thickening agent (in salad dressings, for example) and a stabilizer (in cosmetic products, for example, to prevent ingredients from separating). It is composed of pentasaccharide repeat units, comprising glucose, mannose, and glucuronic acid in the molar ratio 2.0:2.0:1.0.


Hmm...so xanthan gum works for food and for cosmetic products....ok - so does it make you pretty on the inside? :)  All jokes aside, when reading more down the WIKI of the XG I had NO FREAKING CLUE what they were talking about.  It was molecule talk...all of which was so foreign to me.  At the end of the day, it's probably a good thing to remove the chemically engineered cosmetic component from my food.

MY FINDINGS!

My favorite meals consisted of:

Fruit (bananas, watermelon - oh I love watermelon, kiwi, pears, pineapple...etc)  The only sugar you get is from fruit and the natural sugars of veggies like carrots and yams.

FRITATTA!!  This is an amazing meal for you paleo loving WHOLE30'ers out there.  This is compromised of lots of veggies (summer squash, onions, zucchini, spinach) all cut and put in a Pyrex dish.  Scramble eggs and fill it up until they're filled over the veggies and cut up BACON and put it in there as well.  Bake it and it fluffs up to breakfast pie goodness!

Kale Salad - yea yea, kale salad sounds so healthy but this one is by far my favorite (and even better after sitting in your homemade EVOO dressing for a couple of days).  This one came from one of my favorite blogs:  www.inspiralized.com - you can find the recipe here: INSPIRALIZED KALE APPLE SLAW

Roasted veggies: cabbage - my fav!, egg plant, baby carrots!  Actually I made the baby carrots into as a sort of 'sweet potato fry' by mixing them in coconut oil and cinnamon and roasting them - PHENOM.

LARA Bars:  Some of the only nutrient bars that are PURE as pure can be.  Only ingrediants are cashews, almonds, dates and/or whatever fruit is sweetening the bar.  They've been a lifesaver for my dessert binge or my need for something sweet.

I've had a variety of items atop my favorite turkey burger patties and by far - the best bacon is at Sprouts, for reals.

Other than getting creative in the kitchen I've seen that my energy levels on day 3, 4, and 5 were HARSH.  I was falling asleep at the wheel I was so tired and it wasn't from lack of sleep.  Artificial sugar can do a number to the burst in our step and when you're getting sugar from items like juice, chips, snacks, bread, rice...etc. you're moving quite a bit faster than when you're negating these from your daily regimen.  I've stayed just as active as when I was eating more so this could have something to do with the fact that I've needed coffee to get through the day (100% black of course...)

I did go out on Saturday night and drank my fair share of club soda with lemon.  It was all fun and games until everyone was shitty and I was TIRED!  I didn't succumb to any temptation and managed to be out at 4 bars with a ton of people and stuck to the routine.  Go me!


All in all I'm getting back to tight and toned - just where I feel my best.  I have hip bones again - phew...I thought they were gone forever!  I'm super looking forward to weighing in at the end of all of this - as well as a glass of much deserved VINO.  Week one down, three to go!

 Almond Butter...my best friend and worst enemy!!

 My friend Danielle and I making a FULL veggie meal a la Lemonade in LA. 

 Spiralizing some sweet potatoes!

Brussels sprouts are SO good to precook.  For the PALEO Whole30 friendly version I mixed them with mustard seed, olive oil, approved spices and lemon juice and baked them for 45 minutes or so.  *SIDE NOTE: they're awesome with eggs in the AM also!

shit...NO GUM on Whole30?

I didn't even think of this!  Gum is the ultimate vice to distract you when you just need to chew on something.  *Hmm, this might be harder than I thought*

Oh WELL:

Day ONE recap:

7:30 AM *post spin class* = Banana & black coffee
10:30 AM = watermelon and kiwi (not too much of each, just a little natural sugar)
NOON PURE BARRE CLASS
2:00 PM = steamed broccoli and carrots & a small slice of this freaking AMAZING egg frittata that contains: (eggs, bacon, peppers, onions and summer squash - topped with fresh pico de gallo salsa and avocado)
4:15 PM = 2 lettuce wraps (fresh turkey, tomato, avocado wrapped in butter lettuce)
8:30 PM = 6 small pieces of grass fed steak with roasted garlic and long stem organic broccoli (all cooked in nothing but pure olive oil and/or coconut oil)
10:00 PM = 2 tbsp of almond butter - I was jonsing for something sweet!

Day TWO so far:

7:30 AM = egg frittata again, can't resist
8:00 AM = small tangerine
10:00 AM = pear
1:00 PM = grapefruit.....

Man, I really go for the fruits huh?  Next meal will be veggies and turkey around 4:00 PM :)  I'm still figuring it all out!

Whole 30 @ 30!

So if you're on my Facebook as an acquaintance, friend or just old school mate you may have noticed I've been traveling quite a bit lately.  In fact, 10 different flights in 3 weeks consisting of 6 cities and another country (Cayman Islands) for a week.  Lucky me!  (except naturally, it gets real tough to control your eating habits.)

I mean seriously!  How do you NOT enjoy this:

OR this...

AND this...

BUT with that nice scenery comes:

  

Don Julio Boat Cruises...

A trip to the Cayman Islands Brewery...

THE MOST AMAZING dinner at Cracked Conch (seriously, the best dinner I've had in a really long time)...

 and ENDLESS sunset drinks at Macabuca....

While my workation to Philadelphia and vacation to the Caribbean was fun and exciting - it's time to buckle down and get back to business.  I mean - I think I drank enough alcohol for the the entire summer in the last three weeks (and we all know alcohol is the number one killer of diets).  This is JenisTRAYNING folks not JenisTANNING!  Not only is summer around the corner, but my back is seriously in pain and my body is wondering what happened to my amazing physique.  Don't worry body, I got ya...  can't wait to see you in a couple hard mentally intense weeks!

So that being said: 

This is my journey on Whole30!!

PROGRAM RULES - the cliffs notes version:

• DO NOT consume added sugar of any kind, real or artificial (YIKES, probably THE hardest part about Whole30 - you know, since I'm such a sweetheart ;)
• DO NOT consume alcohol of any kind, not even for cooking (I'm ok with this.  I easily drank enough for the whole summer in the last 3 weeks)
• DO NOT eat grains (ugh, love quinoa but ok, fine...I get it - hard to digest and can cause skin problems, autoimmune disease and depression - not to mention spell check STILL doesn't know what it is so - well, let's give it a shot...)
• DO NOT eat legumes (again with the digestive problems...what happened to 'beans beans, they're good for your heart?...)
• DO NOT eat white potatoes (ok, this I can get down with a little easier than barley and quinoa...cauliflower mashed it is and thank goodness for yams)
• DO NOT consume carrageenan, MSG or sulfites (ugh...what?  yea, we'll need to research more into this.  I should probably avoid Boiling Point with my bosses the next 4 weeks...)
• DO NOT 'paleo-ify baked goods, desserts or junk foods (man, so I guess trying to 'fake it' is out of the question)

Lastly...

• NO stepping on the scale or taking measurements of any kind during the program (this is kinda cool.  I can get down with this.  For those that don't know, when you lose weight and...err...'puff' back up - you tend to get a biiiiiiit obsessive about how every little thing effects your body and how much one good week could make you lose.)

Essentially, this is a PALEO based program.  PALEO by definition is a combining form meaning “old” or “ancient,” especially in reference to former geologic time periods.

Understanding the definition makes sense now because it's the 'caveman' diet - i.e. old, ancient - foods. Foods for humans.  Popular amongst crossfitters, PALEO is basically based on the notion that - for optimal health - modern humans should go back to eating real, whole unprocessed foods that are more healthful than harmful to our bodies.  That's fine, I've heard enough about crossfit (and even though at this time do not have intention of trying it) I might as well try out paleo in the form of Whole30, to have some sort of knowledge on the subject.

Regardless, abs are made in the kitchen and I'm down with some easily digested food for a bit -especially since I had a huge hurrah the last couple weeks.

Another Jenistrayning challenge has begun and the next 30 days should be very interesting!!