the 50/50 update and my WOD..............

I don't feel as sparkly since I've been cooking most of my veg. My skin isn't as good, my eyes are not as bright, and I feel a little flat. 

Veg wise, apart from spinach looking things, red onions and shallots, I'm going back raw. Placebo or not I just don't feel so healthy right now, and I haven't since I went fully Paleo instead of being Rawleo. That's all I needed to find out.

Today's offering to get me back on the rawleo track........

 

 

So, it looks a bit 'splat! there's your dinner' but it tasted right nice and was a bit experimental actually, as I'm trying to shake up my little paleo rut I've found myself in.

Pan fried Tuna steak with almond and coconut flour batter, with Shallots fried in brazil nut butter (so yum). On top of loads of cucumber and tomato, with some seeds thrown on top. Great post work out protein dinner. I didn't make it too big, I have a portion size issue I'm trying to address.

Today a nice girl at the gym asked me "are you going to do the WOD with us?"

- "the what now??"

-"the WOD, written there, are you going to join us"

-"What? a what? what are you even saying?"

- "the WOD"

- "I literally have no idea what you are asking"

- points to the board - "workout of the day" 

- "aaaahh I see............ What the hell is an air squat?"

I have a lot to learn. Anyway, I didn't join with them, I did a WOD of my own.

My WOD today was around half an hour handstands, then an hour hanging from a bar trying to do stuff that was previously really easy while wincing in pain as the baby soft skin on my hands also went raw. Some fucking about on the rings, then some fucking about doing human pyramids and teaching people how to base a two high. 

Really fun day with my new cross fit buddies. I didn't do any cross fit. That's tomorrow morning!

Hanging, swinging and Paleo brownies.

Getting back on it.

Found the perfect gym for me, a 5 mile bike ride away.

I did lots of hanging, swinging, squatting and running about, with other primal type people who like doing all that, they also like lifting heavy things. I don't like lifting heavy things, maybe I'm a bit scared I'll get all big and hulky, but maybe I'll give it a go at some point. My body is proving a heavy enough thing to lift at the moment, that is soon to change.

I've been eating really well too, and cutting down a bit my portion sizes.



Red Pepper guacamole with mince beef and veg

I've been eating raw chocolate instead of dark chocolate, which contains no sugar, only things that are good for you, obv I can't be chugging down 100g a day like I want to, but 40g is alright, enough to catch my snap but not so much it's going to reverse all the good things I'm doing. Soon I want to cut down to 40g per week but that's too hard to imagine right now.

I also made these...........

Paleo Brownie cookie things!!!

they're super easy to make. I will tell you how.

1 1/2 cups sifted blanched almond flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted (melted, not softened)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup honey or maple syrup

1 whole egg

3 tbs raw cocao powder

So all the powdery type things go in one bowl and get mixed up. The almonds/cocao powder/salt/soda

all the gloopy stuff in the other bowl mixed up well.

Then add the gloop bowl to the powder bowl and mix it all in. I also added crushed up macadamia and goji which made them extra amazing. put the mix in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Then put them on baking paper on top of a tray in little balls, bake for 5 mins at 190 - 200, take them out and squidge them flat with a spoon so they look more like cookies, then bake for another 5 - 7 mins.

Put them on a plate, Sit in the coldest room you can find holding the plate and staring at them for ten minutes while using every inch of your being not to eat them all before they cool down.

Whooopla!! Yum Yum.

I was glad there were other people around so I didn't eat the whole batch myself.

The meatball, the blood sausage and the steak.com

Today was a memorable day of Paleo eating, so I'm blogging it down before my food coma makes me forget.

Coconut milk starters, short break doing stuff, whole foods salad bar veggies and steak, short break doing stuff, a trip to The Meatball in Chelsea (nyc not london, but still quite flowery) - not really because I was hungry, more because it was called 'The Meatball' 

I read the sign and sort of fell in the door like a sun stroked zombie. What? they had air con!

After a raw choc and goji post dinner snack, another doing stuff break and a short train ride, met a new Paleo friend, who was introduced to me by a band boy friend, kinda like 

"Cadence, this is Lee, he eats Paleo........you can talk about food" 

Lee runs long distances and does dot com type clever things along with living in willy B and having a great knowledge of places to get some kick ass meat. 

He took me for the best steak I have ever eaten, before it we ate Avocado chip things, a cold meats selection that involved blood sausage which was strangely nice actually, a little gag moment happened when the word 'blood' was mentioned while I had a piece in my mouth, there were more cold meats, a well good salad with beetroot, nuts and pear, and a bowl of guacamole that we ate with our forks having turned away the chips. 

Then came a whopping steak, with two sausages on top and another kind of steak on the side that was very fatty. I tore it up. Steak heaven, only short breaks for breathing and some talking. 

Here is my problem. half way through the steak course, the guy who is totally jacked and easily twice my size declares he is full, totally done, he's out, game over.............

me -"Really?? Can I just go ahead and eat the rest then??? Awesome, how comes you're full?? When did you last eat??"

him "1pm. When did you last eat?"

me - "oh, I ate meatballs at about 6.30"

no shame.

I eat more than anyone else I know. I have to think about possibly addressing this issue.

I went to town on some 85% dark chocolate when we left the restaurant. obv, and yes, in this heat you have to eat the whole bar quick before it melts. 

I Then swung about on a scaffolding bar and did some toe hangs.


awesome day.

Kitchen Chicken...........

Lazy Sunday in the Bronx, went to the local tiny veg store, came back with a sweet potato, a carrot, a very tiny pumpkin, a bit of ginger, a half stale lemon and some curry powder. B T Dubs, all the veg came to $1.10 - score! fuck you whole foods and your overpriced salad bar. 

The pumpkin had a sticker on it that said 'Acorn' - these confused Americans, it's clearly just a very small pumpkin, I imagined a squirrel trying to carry it off. I bought it anyway.

Already had two chicken breasts, an onion and some coconut milk. Made curry, it was nice and healthy, if not slightly too gingery.

good protein, good fat, nice orange veg. Paleo win.

This curry actually contains very little of the 'acorn' as I got completely bored trying to get the skin off. It would have tasted better if I was a more patient chef.

I realise it's not the most photogenic food I've ever made. I also realise it was wrong of me to eat the entire batch as I could have got three meals out of it.

At least I didn't melt some chocolate in or throw on a side of Ben and Jerry's.

nice to be back on the health, I will work on portion sizes tomorrow.

The choice of reason......................

Fuck it I'm on holiday!

A friend gave me some sound advice - stop stressing about it, give yourself a break. 

I don't think he meant ram a slice down my shoot, 'cos he's Paleo, but, this was me giving myself a break.


Tomorrow I'll be back to normal with my happy healthy eating habits, who cares if my ass got fat, I'm in the Bronx, fat asses are all the rage here.

The Blackout..............

I'll admit, I have moved more in the last couple of days than I did in Texas, and eaten less, but I've not exactly launched myself back into full time training like I said I would. I've done a bit of cardio, but it was 37 degrees out and I was more than miserable, I did some hanging around that included leg lifts, pull ups, shoulder traction, up and overs then some press ups, V sits and all that, I've actually retained a lot of strength, I've just gained 2 inches of flab around it.

I was about to start some sort of lower body fat shifting work out when I got a call from a friend with a better, less misery inducing offer..... 

"Oh hey, how's it going? REALLY? yeah cool, no, no, not busy at all, not at all, right, I'll come now, perfect, oh how exciting" 

- Get out of jail free card, he did not have to ask me twice. Weight loss plan abandoned for the day. Shocker.

I carried on eating high protein low carb, 1g protein per lb of body weight per meal (which is a lot of meat), veggies and nothing else, stuck to it all day. I may not be training, but at least I'm not eating for weight gain.............

I ignored the slight pang of hopelessness at the workout bailout, ignored the fact my shorts feel tight when they previously struggled not to end up round my ankles. Ignored the fact that I wanted to wear my other shorts today but they just don't fit past my thighs anymore. Ignored the fact that all of the above really stresses me out when it shouldn't.

Then, 11pm, this happened...........

I only went in the deli for water, saw this new untested brand shining out like a gem, too right it was a dark chocolate blackout, I blacked out on my reality until it was nothing but an empty cardboard package.


An article about dark chocolate and why it's addictive

I have a choice to make.....

Suck it up, suck it in, appreciate and listen when people tell me I look hot and healthy with a 'few' extra pounds, and learn to love myself while wearing tight shorts, addiction issues and all, and quit the self loathing about it.

Or 

get tough, find some self control and stop this nonsense of eating like I'm a garbage truck. 

I'm undecided, I'll let you know.............am technically kind of on holiday, so, really, that should be a holiday from everything, maybe a holiday from kicking myself about weight gain. I think I really need a holiday from myself.

In the words of Russell Brand "you can't really have a holiday from it all, because, you are there, on the holiday" 

In the belly of the beast........

Sold!

Today is my last day in Austin, I've had such a relaxing week with a very awesome friend, being lazy, eating, sitting in the pool (yeah sitting, not swimming), walking doodlebug tiny dog once round the block, making strawberry coconut smoothies, going to whole foods and tearing up the salad bar, going to Rudys Texan style BBQ joint and eating my own weight in moist brisket..........

Making paleo brownies in the vitamix blender, eating them, making more, eating them, making more..................you don't need any help to see where this is going.

Basically, no training, triple the eating, the dark chocolate came creeping back in, I wasn't going to, but if I didn't eat this today I couldn't help save the animals, and I really like animals............I saved some yesterday too, and the day before. Long live the wildcats, I feel great, if not a little stuffed about helping this panther...puma? who knows, anyway, yum yum.

The downside of being at Julies house......... she has some neato electronic scales, and I have now gained an entire 16 of your American pounds. Shocking isn't it. 


Don't get me wrong, Sometimes it's really good for you to be lazy and rest after training really hard for a while, but, I think I'm kinda taking the piss now.  


So it's my last day of guilt free all out foodie heaven, I fly back to New York in the morning, shit's gonna get serious.


Here's how I will shrink back down to my former, less squidgey, more circussy self.........


No more healthy paleo brownies, however sugar free and packed with goodness they are, eating an entire batch per day kinda cancels out the word health.


Salads, lean meat, more salads more lean meat - and that's about it for meal plans.


Trapeze themed mornings and gym themed afternoons, followed by water guzzling nights out in dirty dive bars with beardy metal heads.


Trade 4000 calories per day for 1500 ish? maybe, I need to check on this one.


.....and Cadence, one more thing, how about trying some fucking cardio while you're at it!! 


ha ha we'll see about the last one.


Julie is on her way home, we're going to stuff our selves Mexican style then watch a million bats come out of the famous Austin Bat bridge, while holding our bellies that will be full of meat and guacamole! 


I love my Vacation, and Julie loves her Vacadence, I'm sad it's about to be over. 

Catchin' my snap Rawleo style...........

I can't exactly call this a recipe, I'm not the type to invent or follow any kind of instructions when it comes to making food, I just don't have the attention span, but, I really like those nut/fig/date based raw vegan bars as a snack, and I've read the ingredients on the packet enough times to get the gist of it, so I thought I'd give homemade a whirl.


We went to whole foods and I tore it up in the self serve fruit and nut section, the shop guy, who apparently checked me out so much he almost got a hernia, gave me the cocoa powder free as they didn't have any in self serve and I only needed a small bit. score! $8.99 worth of chocolate powder freeeeee, sometimes it pays to wear a short skirt! What a total whore bag, no shame.


Anyway. here goes.......

Flatten it out with grease proof paper.
 Stick it in the fridge

I just sort of guessed in handful type amounts, until it worked, and kept no track of what I was doing, it's really that easy.


Cashew, Macadamia, 5 dates, 5 figs, 1 tablespoon coconut oil, cinnamon, free unsweetened cocoa powder (I think about 3 tablespoons, maybe more), sunflower seeds, desiccated coconut, some Paleanola - ha ha paleo granola (only in the USA I bet), it's basically just nuts and seeds, oh and a big handful of hemp seeds, almost forgot. I mean, Just get your favorite nuts (no peanuts, they're legumes, not to mention they are gross), and mix them up with dates and figs and add spices as you wish. simple.


I basically just blended it all together in the Vitamix and guessed amounts until it tasted good and I could squidge it together and put it in the fridge.


It went cold, we sliced it into bars like little brownies, and ate the entire batch in one go while sitting out by the pool. Oooops.


it tasted so good, and really helped me catch my snap on my chocolate addiction, without chowing down 100g of green and blacks!


Everyone's a winner, and as I'm on holiday I'm not going to stress about the whole thing being gone already!



...........update, make with natural dried cherries instead of figs and dates, soooo good!...........yeah, we're on batch number 2. shame on us.

Calories, Health, red meat, and not training.........

I'm in Austin Texas Y'all, it's scorching and Julie has a pool and I'm totally chilling the fuck out.


I've not been training much, I mean I've hung about from a trapeze a bit and worked on my act, I've walked everywhere, but when it's 38 degrees outside I tend to walk a bit like ageing sloth. I'm drinking gallons of water, eating salads and meat as usual, minimal berry type fruit, I'm sleeping well, not eating dark chocolate, which I have to pat myself on my sun burned back for, I feel great, happy and healthy and awesome. 


I got on the scales this morning, I had suspected some slight weight gain - I've gained 14 pounds in 6 weeks. Massive lol. This is what happens when you go from training full days and eating like a builder, to not training at all, and eating like an even hungrier builder.


Now, I don't really care this time, according to everyone I know I look really healthy, according to half the men in New York city I'm the sexiest red head since Rita Heyworth, and according to me, well, I'm getting used to being out of size and I basically just want to keep eating and laughing my head off, so it's all cool.


According to being a flyer in the circus? - I don't think fat girls fly all that high to be honest. 

a fellow flyer, Flora Laco,
in a fat suit, illustrating my point.

I need to A) stop putting on weight. and B) start taking off weight. 


I have no idea how many calories I should eat when I'm not training.


Julie, my favorite Texan, told me around 1200 per day to retain weight, not to take it off. She also told me I had to stop with so much red meat and stick with chicken or turkey. I'm too fat and shocked to ignore her. 


It's 7.45pm, I'm on about 700 calories so far. 


I'M FUCKING STARVING! 


............update, I ate a healthy meal for dinner, lean mince beef, some tomato and avocado.


Followed by a whole bag of home baked gluten free Julie cookies. There as like a pound of cookies in that bag. Gluten free don't mean shit they were full of sugar.


This shit has to stop. I'm a planet. 

A little tip for weight loss...........

Don't live in New York.

On the plus side, I could easily be Paleo a go go if I lived here, I don't need a kitchen stateside, I can get meat, cooked meat, grass fed meat, veggies, raw food, raw treats, healthy things and everything I would need, easy peasy, it's brilliant.

On the downside, I can also get fried chicken, candy, fries, burgers, pizza, pasta, cheese, bagels, food, food, food, food then more food for afters 24 hours a day. oh and all the different colours of soda pop crap, everywhere! a bottle of cold water is the hardest thing to find in the fridge sometimes.

The whole place smells like food, everywhere I turn there are people eating food or standing in line to get more food, while eating. The people I usually see doing this, are not the smallest people I've ever seen.

The thing is, I get it now, the whole fat issue in the states that I think I under estimated before. Everywhere smells so good, my belly is full to bursting with grilled chicken and veg, and all I want to do is follow the next smell and eat that too, no wonder there are massive people everywhere, E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E. It's so sad, how does anyone have a chance to say no and eat less and be any smaller or healthier.

It would be like trying to give up heroin, and seeing it, readily available, on every street corner, for a couple of bucks a hit. 

when I see an average sized person I want to give them a high five and a pat on the back!

Austin next week, I'm guessing I might see a similar problem.

I'm off to get some steak.........I can smell it from here.