Paleo for Triathletes: Part 2

Or...Paleo-style in pictures...

Every morning, I have a 3 egg omelette with veggies, sun-dried tomatoes, and olive oil.

My omelettes are FULL of veggies: broccoli, kale, green peppers, and onions.

As you can see, I have prepped all my veggies before hand -- washed the kale and tore it off into chunks and crammed it in a container.

Then, I top it with this:

Avocado -- Julie style. 95% of it is good for me. :D

Hungry throughout the day? Here are a couple of my snacks that I can just grab and eat ASAP:

Snowpeas -- these are good to eat while your significant other eats potato chips They crunch and you are not left out! :)

Baby carrots -- no dip, just the carrot.

Whenever I drive pretty much anywhere: to the pool, to the city, wherever, I always bring a cooler and throw the whole bag of carrots, snowpeas, an apple, a banana, and 1 or 2 precooked chicken breasts. That way, when hunger strikes, I am prepared. (I have the most awesome wheeled cooler too -- it looks like a small piece of carry-on luggage.)

Pre-cooked chicken breasts taken with my shitty new camera.
I only paid $40 for it off the internet and it's waterproof too...the only downside?
It's really shitty.
And I keep discovering more aspects of it's shittiness...SIGH.

Here is my solution to cold cuts: The ingredients don't scare me...I'm weaning myself off this stuff too now, but it has helped my transition.


Here is a pic of some turkey sausage...Yeah, there are a LOT of chemicals in there, but there are not a lot of choices living in the armpit of the Canadian Rockies...:) :)

Plus, I need to appease the Polish side of me. Sausage....YUM. Hahaha!

And here we have my FAVOURITE FOOD OF ALL TIME.....

THE YAM!!! (Squash is there too, but the yam is the best!!)

I love yams - oh man, they are so good. I can eat them day in and day out and never get sick of them. I used to eat the skin, but it tastes like dirt..so that stopped right away. Heh-heh. I prefer baked yams to anything else, but usually I am too impatient and end up nuking my yams...

Here's the lazy girl's way of making a dinner:

1. Peel yam, then either poke holes or jab knife in all over the yam.
2. Nuke yam for 2:30 - 3:00 on one side, and again on the other (approx).
3. Cut up warm yam, then put diced chicken breast pieces all over it, some oil, salt, and some avocado!
4. Presto! Your meal looks like cat puke, but it is really, really good!

Nuking yams make them a little chewy at the ends, so if you have the time to bake them, they are so much better...When I bake them, I peel them, slice them into big chunks or even disc sized pieces and put them in the toaster oven for 1 hour at 375 degrees F. I don't even use olive oil or anything -- you just throw them in there and they are awesome. Earlier this year, I would bake a couple of yams the evening before a long bike ride.

I carry them in a ziplock baggie in my bento box and whenever I need some fuel, just root around in the baggie. The yams do sort of turn to mush (and by sort of, I mean that the hotter is outside, the quicker they mushify) and your fingernails get a bit orange, but it's like blowing your nose when you run -- the good ole hand wipe on the hip. :)

(On a side note, I came in from a run a few months ago, and wiped my nose on my sleeve. Mike was so grossed out...saying to me, "You're at home now! You can use a kleenex!" Poor guy, 10 years with me and he still doesn't GET that this is what we athletes DO. Without thinking! You can imagine my delight, when my friends Tina and Andrew spent the night and I saw Tina doing the same thing!! YES! My people!! It's the same delight I feel when I get together with my tri peeps and out of the Crowsnest Pass -- we are all drinking out of our own water bottles, we eat chicken breasts and yams, carry bananas with us, and wipe our noses and wear our boogers all over our clothing and it is no big deal!! YAY! Hahahahahaha!)

Ok..back to paleo in pictures...

I don't even know why there are oranges in this picture. I don't even like oranges.
Normally there are way more bananas and apples there -- my fruits of choice. :)

Now, I learned a trick a couple of years ago from pro triathlete, Rachel Kiers....if you use frozen bananas in your protein shake, it's like a milkshake! There's something about the banana being frozen that bulks up the shake or something....and I have been a convert ever since.

Just remember though -- PEEL your bananas before freezing them. Because there is no way in hell you will be able to get that peel off otherwise. Trust me.

So...in order to prep for and make the world's best protein shakes...

1. Buy a LOAD of bananas when they go on 50% off.
2. Peel said bananas. (That is so legal sounding isn't it? LOL)
3. Break bananas into small chunks and put them in a big ziplock freezer bag.
4. Don't cram in as many banana chunks as you can though -- leave enough space so you can flatten the ziplock bag on its side -- this makes getting the banana chunks out wayyyyy easier. (They freeze into one big massive banana chunk other wise and no amount of smashing the bag on the counter will set it free)

Here are my ingredients of choice: (What's missing is my protein powder. I use a chocolate kind, but have an egg protein one on order...I am really curious to try out the egg one. It has no other ingredient in it other then egg!)

Almond milk, MAGIC OIL (this stuff is the bomb!), and YES I finally found coconut water here....
Well, technically I found it in Fernie -- close enough!

I also buy ground chicken/beef when it is discounted and make a bunch of meatloaves:

Yes, I know it looks like cat food. :)
But, it's better than that nasty bean loaf Susi made that one time... LMAO!!
I hope she doesn't read this! Hahahahahahahaha!!

And my little baggies of little potatoes...Potatoes are NOT Paleo so don't get all in a huff and a puff and start preaching to me. I DON'T CARE. These little suckers are good -- I also buy the yellow ones too -- boil some water, throw them in, cook until your fork goes into one easily, drain them, put them in another tupperware container in the fridge.

Don't hate me just because I have saponins in me. :(

And there you have it!

I have found that changing to a Paleo-style way of eating has been a real eye-opener. My goal is to go 100% Paleo, and the way my body has been responding, it's like it is naturally heading me in that direction.

Granted, there are times when I've not been nutritionally prepared and end up sucking down a big bag of Tostitos and 4 packs of Reeces Pieces that were in the back hall and part of a care package to be sent to my dear friend in South Africa, BUT....

on the whole, when I get hungry now, I don't want or crave bread and/or pasta. You know those times? When you go to the cupboard and open it and stare inside, looking for something....even though you know exactly what is in there, you stand in front of the cupboard staring as though in a trance, hoping a genie will pop out of there are say: "Ba-da-bing! Here is a Filet Mignon dinner all cooked and ready to eat -- just for you! YAY!" :) :) :)

I still will open the cupboard door and stare inside, but I end up going for some nuts or I actually open the fridge and eat a whole cucumber instead. Hahahahaha!

One other trick I've learned...hee-hee! Mike likes his taco salads, so there is usually a big bag of salty nacho chips hanging around. I am a very salty sweater, so sometimes all I really need is salt and I want to taste it...

So what I do, is dig both hands around the bag of chips and get them covered in salt and then lick my hands clean. No double-dipping though. That would just be gross.

:D

Hope this helps any of you out with your nutritional challenges! Feel free to email me with any questions or comments -- or share your experiences!