Amazing Avocado Chocolate Mousse! Great for the chocolate lover in your life that might need an easy gateway into the Paleo world! (*HINT: Don’t even tell ‘em what it’s made of until AFTER they’ve enjoyed it and asked for more)

Avocado Chocolate Mousse Pie Ingredients:

FILLING

- Medium ripe avocados 6

- Coconut Milk (full fat) 1 Cup

- Raw Honey 1 Cup

- Vanilla 2 TBLSP + 2 scraped vanilla beans

- Coconut Oil 1 Cup

- Cacao Powder 1.5 Cups

- Cacao Butter .5 Cup

- Sea Salt 1/4 TSP

CRUST

Wet

- Egg 1

- Vanilla 1/2 TSP

- Butter 1/2 Cup

- Honey 2 TBSLP

Dry

- Almond Meal 2 Cups

- Cinnamon (a dash)

Preparation:

Begin with almond crust – mix 1 egg with vanilla. Melt butter and incorporate until homogenous. Drizzle honey into mix and incorporate well. Add wet to dry and mix well. Coat inside of pie pan with butter, then pat into almond dough mixture and cover inside of pan evenly. Bake at 375 for 17-18 minutes or until edges just start to crisp dark brown.

Cut and peel 6 medium avocados, scoop out flesh, place into a food processor. Add in coconut milk, vanilla and vanilla beans and sea salt. Perform initial blend. Add cacao powder and blend until well incorporated. Add honey, warm coconut oil and warmed (liquid) cacao butter, blending in well each new addition. Taste as you go to make sure it meets your preferences. Once pie crust is done, remove and let stand 10 minutes, then pour in avocado mixture and spread smooth. Place in freezer for at least 1 hour to solidify the mix.

How to Enjoy:

SUGGESTION: Make a raspberry reduction with raspberries, lemon zest, lemon juice and honey and reduce until thick and syrupy. Drizzle this on the mousse pie when time to eat. This is the ultimate gateway to Paleo! An awesome dessert that people simply won’t believe only has 1 cup of honey for sweetener and is made primarily of avocado and coconut! No stomach aches either! Raw cacao powder and cacao butter can be found at Lazy Acres near the bulk spices section.

Aches and pains are an inevitable part of anyone’s fitness journey. Do they happen because we are broken? Because we’re not cut out for functional exercise? Quite the opposite in fact. Aches and pains, rather than being annoyances we should dull, mask and otherwise try to ignore or accept, are in fact valuable pieces of information telling us precisely what we need to work on to make ourselves healthier. Pain is a compass of sorts. Pay attention to it, because it’s your body’s way of whacking you over the head with a hammer to get your attention before something much more painful occurs (i.e. irreversible injury).

So what if we completely changed our perception of what an ache or a pain means?

What if an ache or a pain before, during or after a workout (or loafing around or sitting etc.), is our body’s way of telling us “You need to change the way you’re doing this, or else.”?

Could it be that aches and pains are an intelligent bit of feedback that our bodies give us, warning us that we need to change how we’re doing something or suffer much more dire consequences down the road?

Indeed, if this is the case, and we’ve been held back by aches and pains in the past, instead of avoiding doing something because it hurts, shouldn’t we instead be heeding that signal and consciously working to find a pain-free solution to that very thing?

Pain is a valuable compass.

This is true of all types of pain (physical, emotional, spiritual, mental).

Our bodies are designed to always seek a hospitable environment. It therefore makes perfect sense that we have the ability to “sense” the environment around us and within us and guage whether it is hospitable to our well being or not.

So why is it in most cases we view pain itself as the problem, the thing in need of fixing, when in fact it is trying to alert us to the real issue? Knee pain alerting us to tight hips, headaches alerting us to poor posture, and stomach aches alerting us to poor dietary choices are but a few examples.

Pain is a signal to change your environment.

Pain is NOT a root cause. Pain is a consequence of the root cause. The more it hurts the more urgently our bodies are trying to get our attention to pay attention to what is really going on!

BUT, all too often, we are deaf, dumb and blind to those signals.

Your knee hurts? Take some Advil.

Have a headache? Take two Tylenol.

You stomach hurts? Definitely wasn’t the ice cream. Take some Pepto.

How can we hear these incredibly urgent and important cries from our bodies when we choose to cover them up, mute them, and suppress them with drugs and other forms of outside-in name-your-ceuticals?

We can’t!

And thus we continue on grinding down our knees, getting increasingly worse headaches requiring more and more powerful medications and tearing up our intestinal linings with more junk food and more Pepto.

So what needs to change?

Our perception.

When something hurts, PAY ATTENTION. Our bodies are WAY smarter than we are. When our bodies ask for our attention, we should listen.

When something hurts at boot camp, modify what you are doing.

Lunges bugging your knee? Do a squat.

Pushups hurting your shoulder? Hold a plank.

Don’t know what to substitute? Ask us   That is what we are here for – to make sure you have a successful option that can keep you progressing while you address painful sticking points in a healthy way.

If something hurts, the last thing we want you to do is stop coming to boot camp. We are experts at observing the human body and identifying root causes of dysfunction and addressing them.

So before you let your doctor shoot you up with cortizone or pop a couple Aleve before your next workout, come see us and let us know what is up. We’ve all gone through chronic pain ourselves and have a lot of experience helping people find solutions to their own aches and pains.

Remember, pain is a signal. Pain is NOT the root cause, it is an effect. Pain is our bodies’ intelligent feedback mechanism for alerting us that something must change. If you’ve been stuck with your results because of pain, come see us. We will set up some 1-on-1 time to address your specific situation.

If you’re new to boot camp chances are you’re going to be hearing some funny words over the next few weeks. For efficiency and clarity’s sake we abbreviate a lot of the movements and exercise protocols that we use repetitively. Don’t worry if you don’t know what a movement is – we always include plenty of instruction and practice time in order to properly integrate new movement skills.

Here’s a quick list of some of the more common abbreviations and acronyms used at Innate Fitness.

Workout Protocols

AMRAP – As Many Rounds As Possible – Often we’ll set up a circuit of 3-5 different movements and have everyone work to complete as many rounds of that circuit as possible in a given time period.

EMOM – Every Minute On the Minute (for example, 5 pushups, 7 situps, 9 squats every minute on the minute for 20 minutes)

RFT – “Rounds For Time” This means we are doing a fixed amount of work as fast as possible with good form. You will record your time when done for future reference when you see the same or similar challenge. For example, we might do 3 rounds for time of 5 pull ups, 10 pushups and 15 squats. You see how fast you can complete those 3 rounds.

Ladder – A ladder workout will have you do one extra or one fewer repetitions of a movement with each successive round. For example. we might do a descending ladder (“Stairway to Hell”) of pushups and situps. We’ll start by doing 10 of each movement, then 9 of each, then 8 of each and so on until we’ve reached 1. Ladders can also be ascending as well.

Tabata – Named after Dr. Izumi Tabata who did the pioneering research on High Intensity Interval Training and it’s time-efficient benefits, a tabata is simply performing a movement as fast as you can with good form for 20 seconds, then resting 10 seconds, and repeating this cycle for 4 minutes (8 sets of each exercise).

WOD – Workout Of the Day – Every day a new WOD!

Movement Abbreviations

400M – 400 M Run around the block (across La Rada)

BC – Bear Crawl

BJ - Box Jump (or step up)

DL – Dead Lift

DU – Double Under. This means two revolutions of the jump rope for every one hop.

GupGdown/GUGD – Get Up Get Down

HB – Hollow Body

HS – Handstand

HSPU – Handstand Push Up

JR – Jump Rope

KB – Kettlebell (commonly seen as “KB Swing” for kettle bell swings)

OH – Overhead (for example: OH Lunge = lunge while holding weight overhead)

OHS – Overhead Squat

SDHP – Sumo Dead Lift High Pull

SLS – Single Leg Squat

SU – Sit Up

Other Common Acronyms and Short Speak

POPS – Points of Performance (i.e. during the squat, our points of performance are 1) Back, 2) Depth, 3) Heels, and 4) knees )

LC – Lumbar Curve (this is the normal healthy curvature of the low back we want to maintain through our movements)

MetCon – Metabolic Conditioning

Onion Rings Now Boot Camp Kosher. Is It A Dream? Is The Sky Falling? Read On…

Ingredients

2 Medium Onions

1/2 Cup Garbanzo Flour

1/2 Cup Potato Flour

1/2 TSP Sea Salt

1/2 TSP Pepper

1/4 TSP Cayenne Pepper

1 TSP Paprika

3 Pastured Eggs

Butter, Lard, Coconut Oil, Duck Fat used for pan frying

Preparation

In medium mixing bowl combine garbanzo and potato flours, sea salt, pepper, cayenne and paprika. In separate mixing bowl mix the 3 pastured eggs for the egg wash. Slice up two onions into rings, then wash with water (important that you do this so that flour mix  sticks to rings). Heat widest, flattest pan you have to medium high heat, add in oil/fat of choice (I’d recommend one of the 4 listed, depending on flavor preference). Coat onion rings in flour, then coat all sides in egg wash, then drop in the pre-heated pan. Allow to cook approximately 3 minutes before flipping, cook an additional 2 minutes then remove from pan.

SPECIAL NOTE: This can be done with just about anything. In the photo, you’ll also notice battered and fried zucchini slivers as well – I’ve also done small onions, squash, avoacados, tomato slices – it’s all good.

Great For

Special occasions, parties, any time you want to wow people with a healthy “guilty” pleasure (do they exist? They do now…)

What is protein?

Protein can be thought of as the ‘bricks’ of the human body (the ‘mortar’ is fat, but we’ll get there in a future post). Protein makes up our hair, skin, nails, muscles, new cells of all kinds in addition to hormones, neurotransmitters and many other types of intercellular messengers. Proteins are composed of amino acids, the structural building blocks that can be endlessly reconfigured into awesome things like whales, beetles, your dog and grass-fed steaks!

Quality sources of protein are fish, fowl, meat, eggs and shellfish. Yes, it’s true that you can get protein from things like beans and rice, nuts and seeds, but these proteins insufficient for building a truly healthy body. They’ll allow you to survive, but won’t let you thrive (to evidence this we can compare hunter gatherer societies with agrarian societies…the data speaks for itself – we’ll get to that later on as well).

Quality is of the utmost importance when it come to your protein sources. You want your fish to be wild caught and from a well managed, sustainable fishery. Poultry should be pasture-raised (allowed to express their “chicken-ness”, “duckness”, you name it). Meat should be pasture raised (sunshine, grass, foraging or grazing, no antibiotics or hormones, happy animal etc). Some shellfish can be farmed (filter feeders like mussels, clams, oysters etc. since they are raised in the ocean), but things like shrimp should be wild caught (and hopefully pole-caught, but again, that’s for another time).

Why is the quality of protein so important?

Getting consistent, high-quality protein in your diet has tremendously profound effects on your physiology. If you’re interested in losing weight, getting stronger, sleeping better, living longer and keeping your marbles for the rest of your days, you can’t do it without high-quality protein.

Why?

Remember how protein is used to build your hair, skin, nails, muscles, new cells, organ tissues and intercellular communicators like hormones and neurotransmitters?

Quite literally, you are what you eat. Is it cliche? Absolutely. But it is so true. Not just your hair, skin, nails and organ tissues. Protein builds the very things that your brain uses to communicate with your body and vice versa. It is also true that you feel, think and make decisions based on what you eat too.

Let that sink in for a second. Eating is more than just a mechanistic process of fueling your body. The foods you choose to eat influence your hormone levels, which influences how you feel, which influences the emotions you experience, which influences the thoughts you have, which influences the decisions you make, which influences the results you get!

SOY ALERT: There are a few reasons why we encourage people to avoid tofu these days – first and foremost the vast majority of soybeans grown in this country are genetically modified and laden with pesticides. Even if you are eating organic tofu however, there a few things to be aware of, 1) soy, and consequently unfermented tofu, is loaded with compounds call phytoestrogens – these compounds closely mimic estrogen in the human body and interrupt hormonal balance and 2) soy protein products are generally processed at high temperatures leading to the formation of potent carcinogenic compounds like nitrates. For a more complete listing of the reasons for avoiding soy products have a look at the Weston A. Price page on the dangers of soy. http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert

So what’s the big deal about protein?

Protein is the most powerful satiety signaler among the macronutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrates).

In other words, protein is really good at telling your brain “I’ve just had a meal, I’m not hungry any more.”

Protein elicits this response in a couple of ways, which we’ll touch on briefly here so you can understand the “why” of why protein is important.

Firstly, protein stimulates the release glucagon. Glucagon is a hormone that works the opposite way insulin does. Insulin helps your body store fuel, while glucagon helps release stored fuel from the liver and allows you to better access body fat stores for energy.

Secondly, protein releases a hormone called Peptide YY (a.k.a. PYY). Protein releases more PYY than fat, and fat more than carbohydrate (hardly any PYY is released with carbohydrate). PYY is a gut hormone that simultaneously reduces hunger (sends an “I’m full” signal to the brain) and improves leptin sensitivity. Leptin is a hormone produced by your fat cells that regulates appetite and metabolism. When working properly (i.e. you are sensitive to leptin) leptin is very effective at telling your brain “ I’m full” following a meal. When you lose leptin sensitivity, appetite control is lost and the wheels fall off the wagon.

This information tells you how to structure your meals to improve your sense of satiety (Protein + Fat = Where It’s At).

But don’t I need carbohydrate (glucose) to stay alive?

Your brain and your red blood cells must have glucose to survive. Glucose is a single unit of carbohydrate. Many doctors and health authorities would like you to believe that you will keel over and die without ample carbohydrates in your diet. This is untrue – your body has several ways of making glucose from protein and fat to keep your brain and red blood cells functioning. To illustrate this point, let’s travel back in time 50,000 years to hunter gatherer times.

Our hunter gatherer ancestors had a predominantly protein and fat driven metabolism, and the carbohydrates they did eat came in the form of organic, seasonal and local fruits, vegetables and tubers. Given their low carbohydrate intake, and the limited amount of carbohydrate that can be stored in the muscles and liver, their metabolisms were geared to burn fat as a primary fuel source. Stores of glycogen (a form of carbohydrate stored in the muscles and liver) would be depleted within or two or hunter gatherer activity, but even a relatively lean human being has literally months worth of energy stored as fat.

When your your body uses fat as it’s primary fuel source, a by-product of fat metabolism begin to accumulate called ketones. Ketones are small pieces of fat molecules that are water soluble (meaning they can circulate in the blood). The vast majority of tissues in your body can be switched over to using ketones as fuel instead of glucose over the course of a few days or weeks. The process of burning ketones as fuel is called ketosis. Tissues like the heart, kidneys, and intestines actually function better on ketones than on glucose.

Shifting your metabolism to ketosis solves two very important problems (especially when compared to modern day diets that are toxic with processed carbohydrates).

Ketosis shifts the vast majority of your metabolic machinery to burning stored fat as the primary source of fuel. This shift saves scarce glycogen stored in the muscles and liver (remember, we only have a day or two’s worth of this stored up) to maintain minimal blood glucose for those tissues that cannot function with out it (brain and red blood cells).

Ketosis halts the process by which muscle is broken down and turned into glucose. This preserved muscle mass during periods of prolonged starvation for our ancestors (and is the best way to burn excess body fat). Ketosis also makes glucose from the glycerol backbone of the fats it metabolizes, thus providing another way to fuel your grey matter without carbohydrate.

Fuel yourself with protein and fat and you will create an environment in which your body naturally burns stored body fat 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Vital Behaviors And Action Steps

1. Include at least some high quality protein with each meal throughout your day. This is doubly important for breakfast. When you eat only carbohydrates for breakfast, especially processed ones, in place of protein and fat it’s like starting your day with rocket fuel instead of diesel (a sure recipe for burnout, fatigue, and stress).
2. Protein + Fat = Where It’s At. Begin to incrementally shift your diet towards protein and fat dominance. Start slow. Carbohydrates are addicting, and it’ll probably be uncomfortable, but you can do it.

Shift your metabolism to protein and fat and create an environment where your stored body fat is your primary fuel source.

How To Make Lard…And Why You Should Be Eating It.

Making lard is very simple, hardly anything to it. Most of this post is actually about why you should be making and eating lard.

Yes, I’m being serious. As most of you that have gone through Innate Body Boot Camp’s nutrition education and content know, fat in your diet does not equal fat on your body. If you’re hearing this for the first time or get nervous at the mention of the word “butter”, don’t run away! I promise I’m not trying to fatten your fanny…quite the opposite really. You deserve a head-turning fanny and most importantly, a long and healthy life.

Suspend your disbelief for the next 8 minutes and maybe we’ll be able to learn something together.

OK, here we go.

What is lard?

Lard is rendered pig fat. Traditional peoples have been consuming lard for thousands of years, if not tens of thousands, as a part of a nutrient-rich wholesome diet. These traditional societies also exhibited exactly zero of the chronic health conditions that plague our society today. Keep that in mind as you read this and we just might save your life with deliciousness.

Lard is composed of approximately 40% saturated, 48% monounsaturated and 12 % polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Why should I eat lard?

Lard is incredibly nutrient-rich and it helps your body recognize when it has been “fed” (especially is you’re a recovering carbohydrarian – but that’s another series of posts all unto itself).

First, let’s talk nutrients! When it comes to animal fats, the quality of the fat will be directly determined by the quality of the animal’s life. You could make lard from a factory-farmed pig fed nothing but grains, other dead pigs and fecal material, denied sunshine, clean water and a stress-free living environment for it’s entire life and it would, not surprisingly, be an entirely different product than lard made from a pig that was allowed to fully express it’s “pigness” – a varied diet, access to forage, clean water, room to roam with a social group etc.

Basically what I’m saying is, when it comes to lard, or any animal product for that matter, you can taste the happiness.

Lard made from healthy, happy, humanely-raised pigs is an excellent source of highly bio-available (i.e. readily usable to your body) Vitamin D. Lard is also very stable and keeps for an exceptionally long time (I’ve personally had jars in my fridge for over 6 months and it’s still in perfect condition). Lard also contains palmitoleic acid, an antimicrobial fat that protects the gut from viruses, yeasts and pathogenic bacteria and helps to normalize digestive function (Let’s have three “oinks” for happy pigs!).

If you’re still not convinced and feeling queasy as a result of all the “F” bombs  being dropped in this post (by “F” I mean “Fat” of course. Oops! I did it again!), and you want to know a bit more about how fats can help you burn fat, get stronger, live healthier and be happier, take a few minutes and read why “Fat Is Not Your Enemy”, where I break down the biochemical awesomeness of fats, how they’ll make you healthier and happier, and why you’ve been duped into thinking they’re actively strangling your heart.

But don’t animal fats accumulate toxins?

Good question. This objection is frequently spun around in front of anxious parents by a suspicious group of people that eat only plants…their name starts with a “V” or something like that.

It is true that fat-soluble poisons, like DDT from yesteryear or probably anything that Monsanto makes, can bio-accumulate in food, in much the same fashion as artificial hormones and antibiotics accumulate in meat. Instead of abandoning meat, animal fats and all things delicious as those shifty “V” people would have you do (herbivorous homo sapiens?), the solution is to seek out humanely-raised, organic, pastured and typically local suppliers of different animal products. Here in Santa Barbara we are absolutely blessed to have many small farms that do just that.

How can I get lard?

You certainly can’t get it from the supermarket. Or a high end grocer. If those places stocked lard on their shelves their customers would run screaming from the aisles, terrified that their nearby not-so-local Megamart was trying to clog their aortas and send them to an early grave. A sad sign of the times.

But this is actually a good thing. See, Megamarts are supplied by Megasuppliers, and Megasuppliers supply the cheapest food-like items possible. If lard was stocked at your local Megamart, you could be sure that it was made from unhappy, diseased, malnourished animals that lived a short and tortured existence.

When it comes to animal products, care is probably the most important ingredient. Here in Santa Barbara, the land of near daily farmer’s markets, there are a lot of small farmers that actually care about the quality of life for their animals.

I get my pork fat from Jimenez Family Farms, a local supplier of sustainably-raised, 100% pastured meats. For pork fat, you’ll have to call and let them know to bring it to your local farmer’s market since it’s not exactly a high demand item (yet!). You can also order from their entire line of natural meats off the website.

Ok, so I’ve got pork fat. Now how do I make lard?

It’s super easy. Here’s what you’ll need.

• 2-3 lbs pork fat (frozen)
• a sharp chef’s knife
• a large pot for rendering
• 2 reusable glass storage containers
• 1 medium sized metal bowl

Step 1 – Freeze Your Pork Fat

Half inch cubes of pork fat.

Freezing the pork fat will allow you to cut it into small chunks and increase the quality of the final product and the speed with which you can make it.

Step 2 – Cut Up Pork Fat Into ~ 1/2″ Cubes

Small cubes will increase surface area, speed up process, and make perfect sized cracklings when you’re finished.

Step 3 – Add Cubes To Pot At Medium-Low Heat

Give them a minute, then stir to make sure nothing has stuck to the bottom of the pot.

Step 4 – Set To Low, Check Every 20 Minutes, Pour Off, Repeat.

In just about one hour, assuming you’re using a large pot, almost all of the fat should be rendered (liquified) at which point you can pour it off into your medium sized metal bowl.

Liquified lard and pork cracklings.

Step 5 – Pour Lard Into Glass Storage Containers, Refrigerate Or Freeze.

You might want to label the jar too – with contents and date. Also, save those cracklings at the bottom of the pot! They are delicious leftovers and go great on salads and as condiments.

Now what do I do with my lard?

Eat it! Ok, not outright, but incorporate it into your cooking. Lard is great for pan-frying potatoes, cooking eggs and of course Paleo baking. Check out all of our Easy Healthy Recipes for more ideas.

Drop comments or questions below. Now go enjoy your lard!

Finished lard.

Paleo Bluebs!

Ingredients

Dry:

1 Cup Coconut Flour

1 Cup Tapioca Flour

1  TSP baking Soda

2 TSP Lemon Zest

Pinch of Sea Salt

1 Cup Blueberries

Wet:

8 Eggs

1 TSP Apple Cider Vinegar

2 TSP Vanilla

3 TBLSP Honey

1/4 Cup Lemon Juice

7 TBSLP Butter, melted

Icing:

Juice of 2 lemons

1 TBLSP Lemon Zest

2 TBLSP Honey

1 Cup Arrowroot Flour

1 TSP Vanilla

Preparation: Mix dry ingredients well. Over low heat, melt butter in small saucepan. Mix wet ingredients well, then add in just melted butter, incorporate until mixture does not separate. Add wet to dry, mix well. Spoon into muffin tray pre-oiled with coconut oil or butter. Bake at 400 for 15-17 minutes, test with fork to make sure they’re done. Remove from oven, let cool, then coat with as much icing as you like, then place in fridge for 10-15 minutes to allow icing to set. There you have it, Paleo Bluebs!

Great For: Paleo Bluebs are great for Paleo Newbs! If you want to ease someone into the Paleo eat-move-thinkstyle this is a great first step. Just feed ‘em something delicious and wait until they ask what’s in it!

Hey There,

Hope You Had An Awesome Memorial Day 2011!

One of THE BEST ways to get fit, feel great, and be happy

Is to incorporate exercise/activity into your down time with family and friends.

That’s what Innate Body Boot Camp and

Santa Barbara Family Chiropractic did this Memorial Day.

In honor of our fallen heroes, and to say thanks to our clients and everyone in our

community, we hosted a phenomenal Workout/ Paleo (healthy & tasty food) Pot Luck.

Check out pics here:

It might sound intimidating, but it was FUN (and delicious).

Dr. Nick and Jen were hosting, they dropped a heavy workout,

but it was team based, not too long and hard to make it awful,

just fun and real tough.

Enough to make the awesome pot luck

we had after super delish and relatively guilt, and stomach ache free!

27 Awesome Fitness, Health and Fat loss warriors made it out

for the tough workout, and a lot of them brought some awesome dishes!

1ST ANNUAL PALEO POT-LUCK COOK-OFF

1ST 2ND AND 3RD Won $50 gift card to LuLu Lemon, No Big Deal!

Winner: Sammy/Casey (of course) pulled pork sandwiches with paleo bread

2nd place: Kelly K and Toby – Jerk chicken and squash carpachio

3rd:   Emma W: tasty fresh corn salad.

Tastiest Dessert! Paleo Cake with strawberry icing Nick & Jen(i know, right?!)

Other Dishes………….

ants on a log – Joy & Rick

bacon, aplle, broccoli cole slaw – Krissy & Andrew

Homade Pesto Hummus with veggies! yeah!:  China

Curry chicken endive appetizer:  Sandy

Bacon Mushroom Green beans: Barbara & Sorbet: Jim

homemade almond butter: Mickey & Sue!

Watermelon (can watermelon be beat?)

Grapefruit & avocado Salad:  The Pfeifers

Kick Butt Salad:  Alex

BAcon Wrapped scallops:  Christy

Everyone agreed to post their recipes below, in the comment section, right?

So post your recipe, and check out the ones below!

Thanks to everyone for an awesome day!

-Andrew

p.s. let’s be grateful for all of those who lost their lives,

and those who continually serve to keep us safe and protected at home

Hi All!

Thank you everyone for coming out to the first annual Memorial Day PaleoFest!

We crushed a killer workout courtesy of Nick and Jen and then had an amazing Paleo Feast. (We divided all 27 of us up into teams of 4, dividing the work among the group)

Format: Teams of 4 – 1 person works, 1 person runs (200 M), 2 people rest – as soon as runner finishes then a new runner and worker step in. Teams kept track together of the number of reps – once they finished one category they moved on to the next.

Buy In: 100 M Bear Crawl

1. 100 Push Ups

2. 100 Mountain Climbers

3. 100 Lunges

4. 100 Sit Ups

5. 100 Bench Jumps/Step Ups

6. 100 Up Downs/Burpees

7. 100 Bodyweight Rows

8. 100 Dips

9. 100 Push Ups

10. 100 Overhead Squats

Buy Out: 25 Ball Toss Sit Ups/Person

Every single dish at the feast was AMAZING – thank you to everyone that contributed. If you would be kind enough to post your recipe so that all of boot camp can reference it in the future that would be awesome – just drop it in the comments section below

Happy Memorial Day everyone and thank you to all who serve our country and home and abroad!

- Casey

Here are some simple healthy food prep tips for you all – engineered to save you time and energy as you plan your busy week around healthy eating, boot camp, work, family time and the all important mellow time.

Also included is a video from Santa Barbara Family Chiropractic’s own Dr. Nick on healthy food prep.

1. Mass Produce: Get Comfortable With ‘Purposeful Leftovers – Once you’ve identified your family’s favorite meals (ideally freezer friendly) then prep two, three, even four times the amount needed for the night’s meal and store it, some in the fridge and some in the freezer. Think about liberating future time from the kitchen and you will always have a freezer stocked with healthy food for the unexpected but unavoidable evenings when you have to pull something together last minute. Don’t give yourself the opportunity to make unhealthy choices.
2. Double Your Base Ingredients – Similar to mass production, if you’re making a meal that calls for a baked chicken or perhaps oven roasted potatoes, prepare twice as much food as is called for and store the extras. Having these pre-prepped base ingredients readily available will make future meals and ‘Smorgasboard’ nights easy and time efficient.
3. Multi-Batch Your Food Prep – Leverage your time in the kitchen. Have two chickens and potatoes roasting in the oven, your nuts and seeds sprouting in the cupboard, have chili going in a crockpot and quinoa cooking on the stove while you prep veggies or a bulk salad for the week. There are a lot of ways to cook things in your kitchen, so take advantage and leverage your time to get as much healthy food prep as possible done in a dedicated block of time.
4. Cook With Your Team – Get your family together and make and assembly line for healthy food prep. If you’re getting together for a neighborhood barbeque then grill some extra for everyone present. Again, take advantage of more hands and minds, divide labor, and mass produce for maximum time liberation.
5. Label Storage Containers – Get masking tape and label all food storage containers with the contents and the date made. This is especially important for organizing your freezer, even more so if you have a dedicated one for bulk purchases or are sharing it with other families. Organization is the key to making healthy food prep work.

And what is healthy food prep without amazing recipes? Click HERE for a complete list of the amazing paleo recipes listed on this blog to make the most of your healthy food prep.

Here is Dr. Nick from Santa Barbara Family Chiropractic for 4 minutes on healthy food prep!

For an example of a healthy food prep fridge, check out this video post from a while back taking you inside the Innate Kitchen

Preparing healthy food is simple – the apparent difficulty of creating the healthy food prep habit is what stops a lot of people from eating well (or so they will tell you). Remember, you can’t out-train a poor diet. Invest in yourself, spend and hour on the weekend after purchasing food and prep your food. Your body will love you for it!

Drop some comments below and share with your fellow gym warriors how you do healthy food prep for yourself!

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