A lapse and recover

It has been a few days, or weeks, since I posted, meaning this post will happen in stages.

I have been cooking some seriously fire paleo meals.

Roast chicken enchiladas using sweet potatoes as the tortilla.

Chilean Sea Bass with a habanero/orange relish, sweet potato with toast almonds in a cinnamon butter.

Citrus grilled shrimp over mango and guacamole

The fail, popcorn at the movies.

Kebabs carne y mas energia

This week marks the end of my third week living the Paleo lifestyle.  I feel great.  Seriously, I feel healthier than ever.  I was convinced before I began and the difference after only 21 days have been quite satisfying.  The biggest changes have been in my sleep and overall well-being.

I have never been a morning person--I usually drag my feet and walk around in a cloud for an hour or two.   This week I have been waking up before my alarm, wide awake, and ready to rock.  Ridiculous that all it took was an abstention from gluten, and all that other processed shit.

I am a compulsive exerciser.  I love working out.  Today I did a two hour bike class and killed it.  I honestly do not believe I could have stayed the whole two hours last week, let alone a month ago.

Cavemen must have been absolute monsters.

For the food.  I had some coworkers over for a paleo dinner last night.  This meant I got to head to Eastern Market.  This meant I was happy.  I bought pounds of fresh veggies, country-style pork ribs, bacon, sausage, and steak.  I left very pleased.

For dinner we had cauliflower rice with diced cilantro and lime juice, lightly toasted in my wok with coconut oil. Zucchini, squash, mushrooms, red onion, and green bell pepper skewers.  I soaked the steak in coconut milk for a few hours, salt and peppered it, and skewered 'em.  Then I experimented a bit.  I wanted a coconut curry sauce for the steak and thought it could be interesting if I used the milk the steak was soaking in--it was fire.

Where I stand

I might as well begin this with a quick summary of my being.

I stand at 6 feet 4 inches, 190lbs, and with 10% body fat.
My goal is to reach 195lbs with eight percent body fat by June 1st, ending at 200lbs and 7%, respectively, in August.

Onto something more interesting. Food.

Last night my friend Ward gave me a whole organic chicken that he buys off a farmer who travels into the city once a month.  He had intended it to be for a family dinner, meaning I cook food and my two roommates eat it.  However, this was not going to be a family dinner; my roommates subsist on a diet of Kung Pao chicken (no veggies) and pepperoni pizza.  If you are starting to get the picture, they do not eat vegetables, or fruit, and their basic health reflects this.

I had other plans for this chicken.  I wanted a dinner with meat, veggies, fruit, and I wanted it to look great.

Ingredients:
Chicken
Rosemary
Sweet potatoes
Red Cabbage
Mango
Coconut oil

I began by muddling up fresh rosemary with Spanish sea salt and pepper.  I rubbed this mixture over the chicken and followed with a generous amount of extra virgin coconut oil.  Diced mangoes followed the chicken into the baking dish (in the future I will lightly mash these to let more juices out).  I also added a little white wine into the dish.

The sweet potatoes were just baked alongside the chicken in the oven.

The red cabbage, one of my favorite veggies, might have been better than the chicken, and the chicken was damn good.  What made this so good, and the chicken, was the coconut oil.  I can't stress enough how amazing this shit is.  I diced the cabbage up and lightly (lightly is the key, you don't want it to soft) sauteed it in coconut oil.  Go buy some, yesterday, and try it tonight, you will thank me later.

Principium: Life as a caveman

Bienvenido,

After considerable debate, I have decided to write a blog.  The purpose of which is to support my decision to live healthier.  No more take-out Chinese food.  Nothing processed.  In short, I will  be following the paleo diet, and if you aren't familiar then google it already.  Robb Wolf's book, The Paleo Solution, is an excellent resource, the best I have found; he explains why and how we should do more to eat as our ancestors did, using anthropology and biochemistry, if he cannot convince you than you are likely hopeless.

No paleo diet would be complete without a vigorous exercise routine.
I am a huge advocate of cross-fit and yoga.  These two vastly different exercises augment each other perfectly.

I am doing this because I have witnessed what happens to someone who lives carelessly.  I have seen what happens when you live healthy and unhealthy--I will not become the latter.  I will update this blog each week, with recipes, exercise routines, and whatever entertains me.