The Paleo Read List

Here is a list of recommended reads on the Paleo Diet. All offer a bit of insight into its benefits and the best way to go about attacking the diet. Most of you seem to be doing quite well with it and any further reading will only help you out.

1) The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolff - A very practical guide to the paleo diet. Robb is an interesting writer and keeps it very simple for anyone to pick up. His how to implement is spot on and can be easily adopted by anyone. Buy Here

2)The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy . Author Mark Sisson takes the reader on a fascinating journey through human evolution, comparing the life and robust health of our hunter-gatherer ancestors with a day in the life of a modern family - exposing potential health issues that arise from trying to do the right things living in the 21st century. Sisson offers a solution in 10 empowering 'Blueprint Lifestyle Laws' that can help us reprogram our genes away from disease and pain towards a direction of effortless weight loss, vibrant health and boundless energy

Buy Here

3) The Paleo Diet for Athletes: A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance - A personal favorite of mine, this book is geared towards the endurance athlete. Cordain is the writer of the original " the paleo diet" and in this piece he details the correlation of diet and athletic performance. Buy Here

Guacamole Recipe

-3 ripe avocado
-peeled 1 ripe roma tomato
-chopped small cilantro leaves
-chopped 4 green onions
-chopped 1 tablespoon sliced jalepeno
-fresh lime
-chopped garlic cloves
Mix & mince in a bowl.. add a little salt and a little pepper
So what do you eat the guacamole with if you cant eat chips?? Plenty. I like to add my avacado to alot of my foods; all I think of guacamole as is some creamy seasoned up avacado. You can throw it on your burgers, eggs, turkey burgers, chicken, steak etc. Just depends on how froggy your feeling that day. Have fun with it.

Heres a link to the recipe above on how to prepare. Ignore the tosito/chip that he samples with HA!
http://inedible2incredible.com/guacamole-recipe/

Ahh the Holy Grail..

The Paleo Pyramid

Live by it...

(Or be in pain without it)

Norcal Margarita

Hey guys, I know its friday and the majority of you WILL be drinking tonight (especially Musto and Jep). So lets not try to stray too far off the beaten path. I'm gonna hit you up with a little drinking knowledge that we picked up from the good old Robb Wolf.

Drink of Choice Recipe:
~The Norcal Margarita~
-2-3 oz of clear alcohol (i.e. tequila, Rum, Vodka)
- 1 fresh squeezed lime (if your at a bar just ask for a bunch of limes, dont be the tool bag that asks for fresh squeezed anything.. I doubt you'll get a pleasant response)
- Splash of Soda (thats club soda.. the term "soda" doesn't mean you get a choice of what terrible sugar-filled, carbonated beverage you'd like)

** Now don't get it confused, do I encourage drinking? No. Do I do it? Yes. Do I know you're going to do it? Yes! So just do your best to stick the regimen. Enjoy the weekend!**

Killer Fashion Statement

Musto rockin' some vintage spandex!

Why look better naked when you have a wardrobe at home that looks like this???

Enjoy your snow day guys! Make sure that Hot cocoa is lactose free.

Not full?? Eat more!

Alright so a little feedback I've been hearing through the grapevine is that you guys are starving!
Key Point:
I know this "fat" topic may sound a little repitiuous but I have some more to add. Leptin, is released from not just food, but also from body fat. Leptin triggers a signal in your brain tellng your body that it is full. Of course if your body is not only ingesting less fat but also decreasing its own fat supply (body fat) our leptin signal is lower.
What should I eat to satisfy my hunger?
Well the answer isn't carbs!! As a matter a fact, carbohydrates stimulate hunger in many people. Protein on the other hand can be very *satiating. So eat more of it!!
Also, now that we learned fats send signals to our brain telling us we are full; What other foods do you think we can eat more of...??? FATS!
Some good fats: Omega-3 olive oil, avocado, nuts, coconut oil.
Now, I'm not saying to make fats a huge chunk of your daily intake, im just saying to moderately add them to your diet.

*Satiate- to satisfy (an appetite or desire) fully

Artificial sweeteners = Fat

It is very common when dieting to not only decrease your caloric intake but to also remove sugar from your meal plan. Along with this, most people turn to aritificial sweetened foods and drinks; zero-calorie sodas, yogurts, candies, baked goods etc. Although this does indeed decrease your caloric intake for that particular meal, it can ultimately lead to increased body fat.

Artificial ("natural") sweeteners (Sweet n' low, stevia, splenda etc.) although able to have no immediate caloric effect on the body, its evil trickery cannot fool your brain! After your brain detects any type of sweets (artificial or not), it prepares to burn off any ingested calories. However, since there is nothing to burn, your body now becomes oober hungry causing you to overeat!!!

So what does this mean?? Do we say what the hell, if artificial sweeteners are just as bad as sugar if not worse... should we just use the real thing?? Absolutely not, excess sugar not only will increase body fat, but can also lead to diabetes, heart disease and more.

I know I know, as if mondays arent bad enough already, I had to go ahead and drop this somber peice of information on ya. Sorry, the balls in your court.. but if you are going to slip up, be sure to do it in moderation!

Your Goals

Hey Guys,

I know this is somewhat belated but better late then never. While assessing your diets we need to have an idea of what you would like to get out of this challenge goal wise. Different goals necessitate different dietary guidelines, so to make it individualized please post all your goals for this 45 days. Don't get hung up on this, write whatever comes to mind. It can be a physical appearance goal (lose 5 lbs), physical achievement ( get 1 pull-up), or even a mental goal. Keep it simple.


PS I'm posting from connecticut right now while attending my first level OPT cert. Learning some great stuff to bring back to the gym next week.

Omega3 Fish Oil

Omega3 fish oil plays an important role in not just our brain functions but also fat loss and muscle maintenance. In earlier years, our animals would feed on grass and plant based foods which would make our food sources be rich in Omega3. Unfortunately, now they are GRAIN fed (because it is cheaper for farmers.. because Grains are the devil) decreasing the our Omega3 content and increase Omega6. Although Omega6 should be apart of our diet, its is found much easier than Omega3's.

Benefits of Omega-3 fish oil:
Increases Lean body mass
Helps heart beat strong and healthy
Maintains elasticity in cardio tissue
Increases metabolism by up to 400Kcal/day
Reduces inflammation within muscle and connective tissue
Improves fat burning
Improves insulin efficiency
Contains antioxidants
Prevents excessive muscle breakdown

A good recommended dose of Omeg3 fish oil would be 1 tsp (5 x 1g capsules) per 20 kg of lean body weight or no less than 15-20g per day.
of Omega3 fish oil

Get your APP in Gear

For those of you with iphones this could be a good app to purchase. The app provides users with over 2,000 specific meal suggestionsat 300+ of the nations leading chain restaurants, to help you stay paleo. So no more (insert chain restaurant name here) I didn't have any options I haaadd to cheat.

Cheers

Paleo Heaven (AKA Trader Joes)

With your new found Paleo style diet you will learn to love this place. They have a great selection of grass fed meats, veggies and fruits at very affordable prices. Give yourself a few hours go in, explore , and familiarize yourself with their products.



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Also good job on the posts. Keep them coming and we will leave feedback for everyone on a weekly basis.

Wednesday Jan 19, 2011

So we are fully underway at this point. There are a total of 13 of you that have " bought in" for the next 45 days to make some great performance and physical gains. Almost everyone has completed the benchmark workout at this point and this is how it has shaken out:

Total score:

Andy- 313
Mike C- 283
Chris I- 280
Musto- 260
Dan- 260
Doc- 207
Kyle H- 192
Jess- 178
Morg- 147
Gus- 145
Becca- 130
Lance- DNC
Mike R - DNC


Also everyone should be posting their meals on a daily basis at this point. If you haven't created an account yet DO IT!

Tuesday Jan 18, 2011

Monday Jan 17, 2011

Easy breakfast recipe using chicken sausage takes less than 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1 Cup spinach
1 Chicken Apple Sausage link
2 eggs (only use the whites)
1/2 Avocado
salsa of your choice

This recipe is sort of like a stir fry so make sure to keep stiring the ingredients. It sure will not look pretty but trust me it is a delicacy.
-Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook for a minute. Add spinach and chicken apple sausage. Cook for a few minutes until the spinach starts to wilt and the chicken browns. Then add two egg whites to the mix. Cook for about another minute mixing the eggs in with the rest. Remove from heat add avocado and salsa.

Sunday Jan 16, 2010

DAY 1!


We are officially underway in the look better naked challenge. Going forward forget almost all you know regarding nutrition and try it our way for the next 45 days. Trust us if you give a little bit of effort you will see results. On a daily basis right here on this site we will be posting something to do with nutrition whether it be a recipe, interesting article, or just a photo. This is where we want you to leave your daily food intake, under the daily comments section. It is very simple, all you do is create a blogger account, become a follower of this blog and post away. Post what you eat on a daily basis, if you miss a day make up for it the following with both posts. A little trick for this is to carry around a small notepad and log your diet that way and then when you get in front of the computer at night you don't have to play guessing games. Also try and pick a username that can be easily associated with your name so that we can log in who it is. Once again it is on the honor system and it is up to you to be truthful as to what you eat. We can only critique based on what you tell us. If you have any questions regarding the diet just shoot us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Good Luck!