Fuel : Lunchtime salad

Coach T says that if i'm still hungry, it's because i need more fat in my diet.

I love chicken skin and bacon as much as the next guy, but I've got eight children and there just plain isn't enough skin to go around :)...

Other great ways to increase your fat intake is: olive oil dressings, butter slathered on roasted meat, nuts (salted or not) and nut butters, coconut oil.

But one of my favourite fat sources is avocado.  It's full of minerals, has a delicious, smooth taste, can be added to eggs, sandwiches or salads, and fills you up!

Plus, I find that as mom i can either feed me or feed the troops, and eight little mouths certainly outvote my paleo tummy...  So i end up making carby foods for their breakfast, and grabbing quick whatever i can find to fill my tummy as they get going.  This morning (and lunch) it was a peach and some leftover ham!

This salad is super easy to make with leftover salad, taco fixings, or to just make up for a one person salad bowl.  A plain oil and vinegar dressing is great, but add in some mashed avocado, and a little dab of dijon mustard, and it's a whole 'nother world.

One more delicious trick is grinding up sesame seeds into a paste in the blender, and using the pea sized chunks as "croutons"...

Fast and easy!

Workout : Inspiration!

While we are still working out in our home gym, while the Olympics are on, we're finding inspiration watching people doing some of the same lifts we are doing.

Instead of only lifting the bar, these women can really lift! (And of course, the men are pretty good, too!)

Coach T recommends vegging out and watching - he thinks that by watching superior form and technique, we internalize better ways of lifting, and hopefully we can incorporate some of what we *see* into what we *do*.

Baby Octavia approves, as well!

Fuel : Proteiny, savoury eggs in a muffin tin!

Like most things in life, the inevitable craving for carbs can fixed with the judicious application of bacon!

Coach T loves these little "muffins", which are super easy to bake and are super tasty!

We tweaked this recipe from allrecipes.com, so it's always a little different...

Bacon and Eggs in a Muffin Tin

Preheat oven to 350.
Bake bacon on a cookie sheet (this reduces the mess!) till well done but not completely crispy. 

But a little knuckle of butter inside each muffin cup.
Curl a bacon slice around the inside of the muffin cup, and break some up to make a "bottom", too.

Sprinkle a little cheddar in each muffin cup, then break an egg into each one.  Top with jalapeno bits and a little more cheddar, and any leftover bacon crumbs.

(Coach T likes to switch up what cheeses he uses, or add in onion instead of jalapeno, or red peppers, too)

Bake in preheated oven for ten to fifteen minutes.

Delicious!!!  I have frozen these so he can grab them for a quick breakfast (when he isn't doing the intermittent fasting, which i guess will be another post one of these days...) :)  But in general, they go way too quick to save.

Workout : With Teens

We just finished a "weightlifting session" with Wy, our almost 17 year old.  He is not near as passionate as his dad about fitness!  But he has to complete 80 hours of various activities as part of his PE 10 course - so here we are!

Things that went well - kept the lessons short, lots of demonstration, posters on the wall with good information, and a fitness partner (mom) who is less in shape than he is, so he isn't too scared to try in front of dad.

Things that were challenging: a reluctance to look foolish or fail in front of dad, a reluctance to try new things.  A lack of flexibility.

This is weight training with our teen :) - with our next one, who is 14, it would be different issues.  But physical exercise is such a great benefit to your children, and i think we're more likely to stay faithful in working out if we *can* include them.  Not feeling obligated to do it every time, but so far everyone down to our four year old is able to do *something* with us out in the home gym, and has :)

Workout - Magnificent Seven! (or three...)

Today we started out with high hopes...

Here we go!

Coach T named our workout "The Magnificent Seven", but once we got started (immediately after supper, which was weird), we realized that three sets would be more doable...

This workout is a little more complicated, so i will link to explanations for each exercise.  I would post video of me doing the exercises, but i don't think that would be very pretty ;)...  Especially the burpees.  Painful!!!  Funny how i hate them just as much as i did in elementary school - the awkwardly undignified name titters at an involuntary bodily function, and the exercise itself is probably the least graceful and flowing of all exercises (except when Coach does them...)

And..... here's the workout!

The Magnificent Seven

Coach version  :                              Mama version:

Seven sets of....

Handstand  pushups                        Shoulder presses with 20 lb db
Push Press                                       Push Presses with 20lb db
Knees to Elbows                             TTapp "putting organs in place"                                                      
                                                        & half frogs
Deadlift 225                                   deadlift 15lb kettlebell
burpees                                           burpees
kettlebell high pull 50 lb               kettlebell high pull 15 lbs
chinups                                          bodyweight rows

We've got passes to our local pool, so i told Coach we should add a little incentive - once we are done our workout, we'll go swimming!  He's on summer vacation right now, and we're missing three children (birthday party, and two at Oma's house), so we took the five that remained to the Multiplex.  Not a good workout, as one of those is only six weeks old, but so relaxing on a hot summer day, after a sweaty workout!  If you can find something that will be an incentive, it sure helps motivate you to get out there, get the exercises out of the way.  All the better if it's something that doesn't cost any money :)  Because hopefully you'll be working out a few times a week!

Paleo readings and Margie Mom!

>
http://www.nerdheaven.dk/~jevk/paleo_intro.php

T made me read this article today and it was a good (although grammatically weak) explanation of the paleo diet, and some trouble shooting.

I liked it because he seemed to recognize that we are all individuals and will follow the diet in different ways, and be motivated by different things.

On another blog i was reading last night, America Peals (accessed from the www.paleomama.com website), a reader commented on using "personal marketing" images - i.e. stick my head onto a model's body and put it on the fridge to help remind myself of my goals.

Thing is, my goal is to eat healthy, to be at a healthy weight - and i do know that no matter how fit i get, there are certain things that won't change - i will still be 5'2 - i will still have borne seven children and have the stretch marks to prove it.

Lately, i'm finding that my motivation comes more from the way eating right makes me feel. When i'm down, i don't care much, i eat crap and feel worse. But if i can break the cycle somewhere, it influences the other half of the equation, too...