Blender Soups - Fall has arrived!

Yeah, Yeah... its been a while. I've been slacking and I have been busy. 15lbs gained later, I'm back to what I know is best for me, WHOLE 30!! Well... its been fun catching up, on to the kitchen WE go.

Last night I made Jake a pureed soup since he is home sick with strep throat. 

Chicken Squash Soup

2 acorn squash

4 chicken thighs

4 cups chicken stock

The acorn squash and chicken thighs were already baked @ 350 for 45 min to an hour.  Since they were left overs I just debones and skinned, through them in the blender with chicken stock and BAM! It was done. 

Jake said he loved it so much it got me thinking what I might like in the blender as well. 

For me last night I made calamari, artichoke stir fry. 

1/2 onion

2 cans artichoke hearts

whole bag of thawed raw - nekkid calamari

It was ok... but it was missing something. So.... today as left overs I boiled 

2 cups carrots 

2 cups celery 

in 4 cups chicken stock till they were soft. 

Then added the calamari stir fry and broth mixture to the blender. 

Now, its tasty. 

Walking on water...

Wow summer is here and our blog has come to a screeching halt...I hope to spend more time processing and writing about the hunter/gather process. What has been going on in our world lately..Backpacking,Birthday parties, friends in from out of town and thus having a reason to skip the great workouts...No... but alas it has been a week or so since I have been to Crossfit.  I must say that seeing the callouses that I have worked to hard to build are starting to come off. I love that Crossfit has a 6am class and it was great to see Tobias face this morning.

I have been realizing lately the importance of drinking water. It's amazing to me how much my meal size shrinks and my unhealthy snacking stops when I am consuming the amount of water I should be. It make sense that if the body is up to 60% of the human body is water, the brain is composed of 70% water, and the lungs are nearly 90% water. Lean muscle tissue contains about 75% water by weight, as is the brain; body fat contains 10% water and bone has 22% water. About 83% of our blood is water, which helps digest our food, transport waste, and control body temperature. Each day humans must replace 2.4 liters of water, some through drinking and the rest taken by the body from the foods eaten. Why should you drink water? Water is your body's principal chemical component and makes up about 60 percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues. Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when you don't have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired. I believe that when I was at my highest weight I was in a continuous state of mild dehydration and thought it was hunger pains thus causing me to eat more which food contains water but it would have been way healthier if I would of just had a pint of water instead of food.  So now the question bears How much water do I drink or how much should one drink...For me I try to get a least a gallon of water per day. I place the gallon of water on my desk at work to remind me to drink. Now that doesn't  mean you should because we are all created differently. I must for warn you that drinking this much does mean that you are in the bathroom like a 5 year old , yet I have now realized one of my keys to being healthy no matter how small it may seem to at the time that drinking water is of most importance!

Beth - Whole30 - 30 days Before and After Photos

        

 Before 250lbs                                         After 237lbs

Before and After

Weight       250    -  237  = total lost 13lbs

Neck       15  -  14.5  =  0.5

Chest       49.5   -  46.75   =  2.75

Waist       47   -  42   =  5

Hips        51.5  -   51.75   =  -0.25

Thigh        25.5   -  26   =  -0.5

Calf        18.5   -  20   =  -1.5

Bicep        16   -  16.5   =  -0.5

Forearm        11   -  10.75   =  0.25

Total inches lost = 5.75

LDL Cholesterol

Can this topic get anymore complicated?

I got the call from my doctor today at 10am. I have high LDL levels. I had to look LDL up on the internet to even know what she was talking about.

LDL: Low-density lipoprotein
If its not over your head you can read about LDL on Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LDL

“Normal” levels are under 100. Mind is 109.

I thought I better do some research. I started looking up articles and to no avail, they were too hard to understand with all the doctor and science talk. Oy.

Just last week we were at dinner with our close friends and had a conversation about how high-cholesterol does not cause heart disease. It was very educational but what does high cholesterol mean then?
Do I need to worry about it?
Will it make losing weight harder?
Do I need to get it down even through it doesn’t cause heart disease?
Sometimes easy answers are hard to find.

Learn more about the Paleo Diet.

Backpacking + Eating = Whole30 Love

We went backpacking this weekend and had a great time. We did plan our food so we could stay within the Whole30 guidelines which was super tasty.

Onions, Egg, Pork, and olives. With Humble Bean Coffee.

Mid-morning Tea Time

Heating our water for Tea Time

Pesto (dariy free) Burgers on the Fire

Yummy!

Us at the Roaring River

Even CrossFit in the woods.

 

Last week I made many wonderful things...

Pork with a BBQ seasoning (no sugar) and Garlic Asparagus

Garlic Pork with slightly sauted Collard Greens

Coconut Pork

Omlete - Olives, roasted red peppers, and spinach.

PS: Pork was on sale $1.98 a pound. Lots of pork this week.

Friend Starting Whole30

I am happy to annouce that one of my best friends is starting Whole30 and I am so excited I wrote her an email to share my experience so far.

This is that letter:
Dear Jen,

I am so excited you are starting the Whole30. It has really changed my outlook on food and its truly been easy for me. I am on day 20 and plan to continue after the 30 days.

I hope you have been checking out our blog, as it has tons of recipes and food ideas – in addition to all the fun things we are learning.

One thing that is a challenge is all the cooking you have to do. There is no winging it with this food plan. We can’t just go out and eat fast food or even at restaurants unless we don’t mind being picky. I also feel concerned that even though restaurants won’t stay true to what I really want and need. So, for me its safer to just stay away and cook at home. It’s also really amazing how much money we are saving from not eating out.

Its hard to keep enough veggies in the house and its hard to get through them before they go bad. It’s a fine line. Learning new ways of cooking without soy sauce and sugars is also something that I saw as a challenge and now, its not a big deal.

No dairy - I thought that dairy would be the hard one but its relatively easy. Coffee is now black and I actually don’t mind. No cheese and haven’t really missed it - I do think about it but only a thought not a craving, in fact, I don’t even get cravings.

No beans, yeah whatever no big deal and wow… we fart way less. Its amazing how smelly we were before. 

No sugar (of any kind - even substitutes)– this has been frustrating only because in America they put it in everything (even meat), reading labels is now an art form and enjoyable.

No processed food - is easy to avoid when you try to just eat whole, real, healthy, and good for you things.

No alcohol – easy peasy. A good reason to give it up.

No grains or white potatoes – we really didn’t eat many grains or potatoes before no thing to fret about.

I’ve limited my fruit intake only because I want to lose weight but its totally allowed.

Not having sugars in my diet has really opened my eyes to how sweet things are NATURALLY. It’s amazing. I had an orange about a week ago and it was so sweet I didn’t finished it. ME, not finish food. I must be a changed woman.

I have not been able to weight myself but at this point it doesn’t even matter. I feel great. My whole outlook on life has changed. I’m so happy – truly. I am not making it up. I am sure CrossFit can take some of that credit too but all together I really feel like a new person. My brain works better and I don’t spend hours of my day thinking about food. The old tempting things at work are no longer an issue for me and I’m even excited when I get to say no to thing I know aren’t good for me.

I am trying veggies I would have never tried before and it’s cool because they actually taste food.

All that to say, WELCOME to the Whole30 way of life. It’s a trip worth taking! I can’t wait to share it with you.

Beth