Thursday 10/17/13

Strength
15 Minutes to Establish a 5RM Back Squat

WOD
4 rounds each for time of:
Sprint Row 500m

Each round should be an all out effort. Rest as needed between rounds.

Basics
10 Minute AMRAP of:
10 Box Jumps
15 Kettlebell Swings
20 Split Jumps (10l/10r)

Preparation

Step 5 in our 10 part series, 10 Steps to Eating Better looks into meal preparation & cooking.  You know, the fun parts!  You get to create beautiful dishes that make you want to snap a pic and post it online for all to see.  This is where you fall in love with food.  The complexity of the tastes and different dishes.  The patience and reward.  There are a few things to consider when preparing and cooking for a new healthy lifestyle.

One trick CrossFitters and those who love to eat healthy EVERY meal is to prepare one day, and cook another.  When you eat real food, there is a lot of chopping, dicing, slicing, grating, etc…  A lot of dishes will be used (just ask my wife about this one!) and much of the time in the kitchen is spent preparing the food to be cooked.  If you prep first, cooking can be a breeze and it won’t seem as daunting of a task to do prep OR cook, compared to the full shabang.

The next trick to to cook more, in order to cook less.  This means, cook more food in one meal, so you won’t have to cook as often!  If you are going to make a breakfast egg scramble for you and your significant other, why not make a double batch?  This way you can cook once, but eat for the week.  Careful with this one though, use common sense.  Some meals don’t hold well after a few days in the fridge (3 day old asparagus, yuck!).  My rule of thumb is about 3 days in the fridge.  Some meals will hold even longer in deep freeze (see below) or on the shelves (paleo muffins).  I always eat left-overs for lunch and I know Ryan will sometimes have left-overs for breakfast, so go with what you prefer!

If you are reading this post, you are probably not just interesting in good food.  You are probably also American, which means sometimes we lead busy lives and don’t have time to cook for every meal.  If this is the case, here are a few options for meals that are “on the go”. 

Breakfast:

-paleo muffins & bacon

-smoothies

Lunch/ Dinner:

-homemade Paleo kit (or Steve’s Original)

-smoothie

-bacon wrapped chicken jalapeno popper

Snack:

-Lara bars

-raisins/ dried fruit

-jerky

-handful of nuts

-fruit

-Paleo crunch/ granola

Last but not least, the deep freezer can become one of your most favorite appliances.  You won’t need anything more than a small, comfortable deep freeze in the garage.  Trust me, it will go a long way!  You can store excess cooked meals that will be good to reheat, meat if you buy in bulk, large batches of Paleo baked goods, fresh berries before they go bad, etc…  A smart label and a good air tight container can be a life-saver for those days you forgot to put the meat out to thaw, no time to cook, or you didn’t buy enough food (or forgot an ingredient).  With these tips, we hope that you feel prepared and excited to cook!

 

Written by:
Just Paleo