You have excuses, barriers, statistics, logic and so many other things telling you that you can't, shouldn't or not able to do something.
At the end of the day and you look in the mirror, are you going to be happy with your decisions?
Its always You vs You! Seize the moment!!
Merry Christmas!!! I hope everyone got what they wanted from Santa and enjoyed some nice Paleo-friendly meals and snacks like honey-glazed ham, Mac & Cheese and cina-buns!!!
I wanted to talk about one of the underlying physiologicial reasons as to why CrossFit works. Its called E.P.O.C.: excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. Simply stated, its the number of calories burned after your workout above your normal resting rate due to the workout. Its more commonly known as the "after-burn" effect. Studies have shown that this after-burn effect could last anywhere from a few hours up to 48 hours post-workout! In other words, if you normally WOD on M/W/F, when you show up on Wednesday, you could quite possibly still be burning calories from Monday's WOD!
For example, lets say that my resting metabolic rate (number of calories I need to ingest just to stay alive) is 2,000 calories/day. After a typical WOD, that rate could increase up to 2,300 calories. Now my body is burning more calories at rest. However, the body's response isn't the same with every type of exercise modality.
Even with my personal clients, I hear people say that they need to get "cardio" in. If done properly, anaerobic training IS your cardio, while throwing, squatting, lifting and jumping all at the same time. Here's the kicker: even though both aerobic (running) and anaerobic (CrossFit) elicit an E.P.O.C. response, anaerobic exercise, especially high-intensity exercises with weights elicits not only a much greater response, but the after-burn effect lasts for much longer!
Am I saying to stop doing aerobic exercise? If you're performing the same number of aerobic sessions as anaerobic sessions, yes. You're actually doing more harm than good. You're stunting your strength gains, muscle growth and some other very cool physiological improvements. Aerobic exercise is great as an active recovery (bike, run, row). However, there's much more of a benefit from anaerobic training with weights in addition to the carry-over effect.
Happy exercising!
I know, I know...its not bad enough I have my own mother and every other Latin mother disowning me for giving up rice (yes, you can be disowned by people not in your family). Now I'm probably about to get disowned by the Italians entirely...
I was experiementing a bit last night with Chicken Parmesan. Although it will never even come close to comparing the pollo parmigiano di nonni, this recipe will prevent the 3-day carbohydrate coma that usually follows. Good thing about prepping for the Paleo Chicken Parm is that its almost identical to regular chicken parmesan so nonni won't hit you with the broomstick...yet.
Ingredients
*chicken breasts
*1 egg
*seasoning, to taste
I poured some of the almond flour on a plate next to the bowl with the scrambled egg. After coating the chicken breast with the egg, I place the chicken in the almond flour and gave it a nice coating. Making sure it was completely covered, I placed the both pieces of chicken on a flat baking sheet. Before baking, I added my own seasoning: mostly Adobo, cayenne pepper and paprika. Place the baking sheet into the oven that's been pre-heated to 350 degrees and set the timer for 15-20 minutes.
You may find that the almond meal my not stay completely on the chicken. You may have to play around with baking time and temperature to allow the almond meal brown and keep the chicken coated.
This can easily be paired with a salad, stir-fry vegetables or some spaghetti squash and a side of avocado for a complete Paleo meal. Bon apetit!
nutrition I can say "yes" confidently, more with a resounding HELLS YEAH!!
Ironically, this happened to be the perfect storm (yes, pun intended): not only was this my first crack at Paleo Pancakes, but I was racing against the clock because even though I had power, I didn't know for how long, thanks to Hurricane Irene. (I luckily survived the night with power, only to lose it half way through my meal).
At first glance, the ingredients seems sparse, dry and bland. Looks can be very deceiving. Here's a list of the ingredients:
*1 cup almond flour
*3 eggs (you may need more or less, depending on the size of your eggs)
*1/4 tsp vanilla extract
*1/4 tsp cinnamon
(After mixing the ingredients, the consistency was a little dry and I added a bit of half & half/cream.)
The best part about these pancakes is that they cook just like normal pancakes: cook them for a few minutes on each side until golden brown and BAM, you have Paleo Pancakes!
Now comes the hard part...no syrup! Syrup is pure sugar (or high fructose corn syrup), which causes your blood sugar to fly through the roof, then after the inevitable crash, you end up craving more sugar (carbs) and the viscous cycle is repeated. What is the result? This lovely statistic. So what DID I use? Peanut butter. Yes, I know peanut butter is NOT Paleo but its all I had left. However, the pancackes tasted just as good and this'll probably be my first breakfast meal after I get power back.
According to a recent study published in Health Affairs, American doctors spend 21 hours/week and $82k/physican/year on dealing with insurance companies. That's right, 21 HOURS. Always wish your doc would spend an extra 10 or 15 mintues with you? Here's why they can't...
Each insurance company has their own set of rules, regulations, standards, paperwork, etc. In addtion, most patients have custom insurance products that carry its own set of rules and paperwork. This makes it almost impossible to get a straight answer when needed most. According to one doctor,
A young patient complaining of extreme fatigue, for example, might benefit from a $40 blood test that could confirm infectious mononucleosis in 10 minutes. But a doctor cannot order the simple test without first checking with the insurance company to see if it is covered and if there are any constraints on where the patient’s blood can be drawn and the test run.
In addtion, doctors are having an increasingly difficult time keeping up with the ever-changing drugs that are covered by each insurance company. Doctors are sent weekly notices as to which medications are now covered, making tracking almost near impossible. How so?
Those doctors that are able to hire Office Managers or Office Administrators to work with all the insurance companies. However, most doctors run single-physican practices and cannot afford the expense to outsource this work to companies that specifically deal with insurance companies on the physician's behalf. So they are left to find the 21 hours/week to follow-up with insurance companies to ensure their patients receive the care they deserve.
