Yes Man vs. Cave Man

The paleo diet is simple: Eat like a cave man.

Being a yes man is also simple; Say yes to everything.

Put the two together and it’s not nearly as simple;  eat healthy and say yes to everything??

Sometimes saying yes conflicts with eating healthy, and sometimes eating healthy conflicts with saying yes.  Here’s how I compromise:

• When I cook for myself I usually eat lots of vegetables, fruits, meat, and occasional whole grains
• When I eat out, I’ll try whatever the waiter recommends, even if it’s not paleo (Sliced Cod in Black Bean Sauce at Judy Fu’s was the best mistake ever)
• I eat healthy snacks like almonds, carrot sticks, apples and oranges between meals at work
• I will never turn down homemade treats my coworkers offer me (fried rice, bagels, cookies, peanut butter cups, YUM!)
• I’ll work out most days after work, even though a happy hour is tempting
• I’ll go to happy hour after work with friends I haven’t seen in a while, even if it means a few beers, greasy bar food, and skipping the gym
• I’ll skip a bar night so that I’m rested for a hike the next morning
• I’ll go to the bars with people I’ve never met before instead of staying in and watching a movie

My goal is to be as healthy as possible, which I believe is a direct result of eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and lean meat and exercising frequently.  Sometimes saying yes gets in the way of this goal, but it’s worth it because I might try something new that I really enjoy, meet a new friend, or maybe even learn something.

A diet, by definition, limits what you can eat and how much.  A yes man is the exact opposite — it opens you up to new things you never would have tried otherwise.  I ride my unicycle somewhere in the gray area between the two.  Here are my guidelines:

• Eat food that loosely follows the paleo diet, as long as I still enjoy what I eat.
• Say yes most of the time, try new things and meet new people, as long as it’s not too unhealthy or uncomfortable.

This is the constant struggle I face in eating paleo and being a yes man.  But it’s worth it.

Crossfit Day 1

After thinking about it for a very long time, I joined a crossfit gym. Yesterday was my first day, and instead of just signing up for a month to month deal, I prepaid for 6 months; I made a commitment. I have already been eating healthy and working out religiously for the past 2 years, but this is a little different. I’ve got a friend who started doing crossfit about a year ago and his whole life has changed. He’s in the best shape of his life, his back pain is gone, and he has changed his diet up so that his chron’s disease is no longer an issue. Crossfit is THAT big of a deal. This is a commitment to functional body movements, hard workouts, a friendly community of other crossfitters, and living a healthy life.

My first workout yesterday involved a lot of stretching, a lot of deadlifts, and even more burpees. If you don’t know what a burpee is, you probably don’t want to know. It’s one movement where you do a push-up, jump to a squat position, do a squat, then repeat. But you do 10 of them. Fast. For time. Then after that you do 5 deadlifts with fairly heavy weight. Then repeat the 10 burpees and 5 deadlifts over and over again. In 12 minutes, I did 5 or 6 rounds, but the goal was 10. And I cheated a lot because these motions are completely foreign to me.

After my first crossfit workout yesterday morning I was tired and sore, but it was a good tired and sore feeling, kinda like I had accomplished something. My lower back, my butt, and legs were all screaming at me. And that was just day 1.

Naturally, I want to document how much of a change crossfit really makes, and I’ll try to provide somewhat consistant updates on the workouts, my weight, and how i’m feeling.

12/30/2009 stats:

• Weight: 223.8lbs
• Body Fat Percentage: 18.8%

Pics to come later!

The Best Salsa Ever

Dilemma time.

I love chips and salsa but I hate cilantro.  And I also love spicy foods.  So naturally, finding a quality salsa that’s spicy but doesn’t have cilantro is a difficult task.  Problem SOLVED.

Trader Joe’s Hot Chipotle Salsa is the best salsa I’ve ever had.  It’s got a slight smokey flavor, it’s got a decent bit of spice, and the cilantro flavor is MIA.  I got a jar from Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago and I’m a changed man.  I like to put it on scrambled eggs and vegetables for breakfast, but it’s also excellent with chips.  This is seriously the best salsa I’ve ever tasted — so good in fact that it’s hard to describe what sets it apart from other salsas.  If you’re like me and you hate cilantro but love spicy foods, you NEED to try it.  If you are nothing like me, you still should try it.

I’m excited for breakfast tomorrow!

UPDATE:

This is what my AMAZING breakfast looked like this morning; scrambled eggs with mushrooms, onions, and peppers, with the best salsa ever on top:

Gym Reviews: Allstar Fitness

I’ve been going to Allstar Fitness for 10 months now and it’s been my favorite gym in the Seattle area so far.  Prior to joining Allstar I went to Epicenter because it was convenient and cheap ($25/month) through a corporate membership at my company.  However, Epicenter was small, dirty, busy, and the management were jerks.  There were many factors which played into my decision to switch from Epicenter to Allstar, but I will focus mainly on the Pros and Cons of Allstar.

Pros:

• Price: I pay $30/month and I paid a $25 activation fee back in January (at peak new years resolution season)
• Convenient Location: 511 Olive Way, a block away from Westlake Center in the heart of downtown Seattle.
• Not too busy: Mondays and Wednesdays @ 5pm are busy but not unbearable.  All other times are less busy.  I’ve never had to wait for a treadmill, but the weight area is sometimes slightly crowded at peak times.
• Lots of space:  There’s plenty of room to spread out without bumping into other people.  There is also a Women’s only workout area.
• Equipment Quality: Cardio equipment and weights are all fairly new and in good condition
• Cardio Options:  There are plenty of treadmills, elliptical machines, and exercise bikes which are almost always available
• Weight Options:  Lots of free weights, 2 bench presses, 2 squat racks, smith machine, plus all the standard benches, machines, circuit training, and other equipment
• Cleanliness: The facilities and locker rooms are well maintained and generally very clean
• Locker Rooms: Very big with tons of amenities.  Steam room, sauna, iron and steamer.  Note that you need your own lock
• Parking: They validate parking for up to 2 hours (limited time windows) in the garage underneath the building
• Hours: They’re open 5am to 11pm on weekdays with limited hours on the weekends
• Towels: Unlimited large and small towels are provided free of charge
• Rock Climbing Wall: I haven’t used it yet, but I believe it’s free
• Classes: I’ve never taken a yoga, spin or other class but I believe those are free as well
• Trainers: The trainers seem very friendly, although I’ve never scheduled a session with one of them before
• Management: The management seems respectful, but I haven’t had any issues or tried to cancel my membership yet
• Trial Memberships: Ask them for a month free to try the facilities out.  This will give you time to really get a feel for the gym and also negotiate the rates.

Cons:

• Only 1 real pull-up bar and 1 assisted pull-up/dip machine
• No rowing machines as far as I can tell
• No Basketball Court or Swimming Pool (downtown is very limited on space)
• Stretching area has many small mats but only a few large ones

Overall I like Allstar most because it’s a great value, the location is convenient and the equipment and amenities are high quality.  When I originally came in for a tour in January 2009, I was quoted at $50/month with a $200 activation fee.  Over the course of the free month trial, I managed to get the rates down to $30/month plus a $25 activation fee.  Also, I’ve got coworkers who have since signed up for $25 and $30 a month respectively in the past month or two.  If you have the time and do your research, you can negotiate lower rates with them, especially if you have a large group or if it’s near the end of the month.

I would recommend Allstar fitness if you’re looking for a convenient and inexpensive gym downtown.

Motivation

Motivation is the biggest problem I have with working out and eating healthy.  I have a set of guidelines that I know will cause me to lose weight and get in better shape but i have trouble executing because i’m lacking motivation.

Here are the guidelines:

• Work out hard 5-6 times a week
• Eat mostly vegetables
• Eat smaller portions
• Drink lots of water
• No eating after 8:30pm
• Avoid eating out
• Avoid fried foods
• Avoid sweets
• Avoid processed foods
• Drink only once every 2 weeks
• Damage control on the weekends

That’s really all there is to it.  I’ve lost weight following these guidelines before but I give in to temptation and I have terrible self control.  I continue to work out each day but my eating habits have been poor lately.  As a result I’ve gained a few pounds and I need to motivate myself to build up the right habits.

I know exactly what my problems are, but old habits die hard and I have trouble getting back to eating the way I know I should.  These problems areas are:

• Eating smaller meals
• Avoiding sweets

I can pinpoint exactly when I struggle — in the afternoons around 2 or 3pm when I usually have a snack.  Instead of a healthy snack like a small handful of nuts, I’ve been eating candy which is provided for free in the kitchen at work.  I know I shouldn’t eat candy but I want to.  Then once I start eating candy I can’t stop.  I start to crave chocolate and sugar after having just one bite.  This is where my self control sucks.  This is where I need the motivation.  Because I’ve managed to avoid candy at work in the past I know I can now, but I need to have some motivation or goal to remind me that it’s not worth it.

What motivates you?

Eating Healthy is Expensive

I recently read two books that really inspired me to eat more fruits and vegetables and avoid processed foods.  Those two books were In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and Dr. Gundry’s Diet Evolution by Dr. Steven Gundry.  I highly recommend reading both of them as I learned a lot from each one, despite different underlying goals.

As a result my eating habits have changed and my weekly grocery trips to Trader Joe’s have been getting fairly expensive.  To limit my spending (and the temptation to buy treats), I generally only go to the grocery store once a week to stock up.  I usually buy enough food to either make a large meal and bring leftovers or to make a bunch of salads during the week, budgeting a few meals when I know I won’t make my own food.

Let’s break down a typical weekend Trader Joe’s shopping trip:

• 3 bags of organic spinach ($1.99 each, $5.97 total)
• 2 packages of organic mixed cherry tomatoes ($3.29 each, $6.58 total)
• 1 avocado ($1.50)
• 3-pack of bell peppers ($3.79)
• Limes ($1.19)
• 6 Bananas ($.19 each, $1.14 total)
• 5 Apples ($0.49 each, $2.45 total)
• Strawberries  ($2.79)
• Blueberries ($2.99)
• 5 Organic Greek Style Honey Yogurt ($1.69 each, $8.45 total)
• Broccoli ($2.49)
• Snow Peas ($2.19)
• Sweet Onions ($1.79)
• Water Chestnuts ($0.99)
• Smoked Salmon ($8.99 for 8oz)
• Frozen Chicken from Costco for vegetable stir fry (not included)

Grand Total: $53.31 for for breakfast for 6 days, lunch for 5 days, and dinner for 4 or 5 days.

Now the difficulty here is determining where I can cut costs.  Obviously smoked salmon is the most expensive weekly purchase I’m making, so I looked for alternative sources of protein.  The nice thing about smoked salmon is that 1) it’s delicious, and 2) it requires little to no prep before eating.  The best alternatives I’ve got are frozen chicken and shrimp, but both of those take a bit of prep time.  I think at Costco 6.5lbs of frozen chicken breast is around $20, so grilling up a bunch of chicken once a week would be a much cheaper alternative than $8.99 for 4 small servings of protein.

The only other item that jumps out at me is the greek yogurt.  5 individual cups of organic greek yogurt at $1.69 each totals to more than $8 a week.  The healthiest alternative to yogurt that I can enjoy with fruit is steel cut oats, which cost $2.99 for a few cups worth.  I’m going to also try eating steel cut oats this week for breakfast with fruit instead to see if that’s a suitable replacement.

So I’m going to experiment this week without smoked salmon or greek yogurt and see how things go.  I don’t think I can cut costs very well in the vegetable department because they’re aren’t very many suitable alternatives.  Hopefully in a week I will have saved some money while continuing to eat healthy!

Cheat Days

I have a lot of trouble on cheat days.  Actually not just cheat days but also days when I don’t work out.  I feel like the two go hand in hand because Sundays used to be my cheat day for food and my day off for working out.  Nowadays cheat days feel like any day where 1) I don’t work out or 2) I don’t eat healthy.

Take today for example.  I didn’t have time for a workout because I was going to the Mariner’s game after work but I had my food planned out so I wouldn’t eat too poorly.  Or so I thought.  I had Yogurt w/ fresh fruit for breakfast, I brought leftover stir fried chicken and vegetables for lunch and some leftover thai food to eat for dinner before the game (not necessarily healthy but at least it’s free).  The problem for me was that I didn’t even eat the stir fried vegetables for lunch.  I had a sandwhich because they were giving out free ones (Jimmy John’s) in the lunch area and everything went downhill after that.  I usually try to fill up on fruits, vegetables and meat and avoid processed and “white” foods.  However, after I ate the sandwhich on white bread it snowballed from there.  I had pineapple to go with my sandwhich, but the candy and multiple handfuls of almonds really added up.  My biggest problem is how to handle an afternoon snack because I usually (try) to eat only a handful of almonds but today that proved difficult.  After the sandwich for lunch I was craving something else sweet/unhealthy so I had a piece of candy.  5 or 6 little snack sized pieces of candy later and I still didn’t feel satisfied.  I wasn’t hungry at all, I just wasn’t satisfied.  Days like these can really counteract a solid week of eating healthy and exercising.

In general though I feel like cheat days are a good thing because they keep you honest.  I definitely need a day off from the gym occasionally to let my muscles recuperate, and I definitely need to allow myself a cheat meal here or there to keep myself honest.  I know for me that eating pizza is a good way to satisfy a craving for something unhealthy while also making me feel guilty.  If I can have that one cheat meal a week and then feel guilty afterward it gives me that much more motivation to continue following my guidelines.

At the same time though it’s all about damage control.  I see the best results when I schedule big daytime workouts like hikes or long bike rides on the weekends and then continue to eat healthy on Saturday and Sunday.  The alternative would be eating crappy food all weekend and not exercising as much to counteract all the calories.  It really is a slippery slope, because I’ve learned through experience that your self discipline can only get you so far.

The fact of the matter is that today was a cheat day — I didn’t workout and I ate a lot of crappy foods — but tomorrow is a new day.  I know that I can execute on my plan to eat healthy foods (for all 3 meals) tomorrow and workout in the afternoon to get back on track.