Dinner Aftermath, Crossfit, and an added bonus: The Egg Cometh.

Today was a great day for me overall, despite an inauspicious beginning.

I awoke a little late, feeling like I had a hang-over. My eyes were mortared shut with whatever that eye-funk is called, an experience I haven’t had in a long, long time. My nose was somewhat stuffed up, and I actually had a headache. I stumbled out of bed sluggishly to start the morning. I can’t help but attribute all of this to the meal I ate last night. It’s pretty much the only variable, with everything else in my life held constant.

I’ve actually had numerous episodes similar to this one; the rationalle usually goes something like this:

I’ve worked out hard all week, haven’t I? I deserve a little break from the “healthy” routine I’ve been following. Besides, my friends are doing it. Besides, one time won’t disrupt anything.

The interesting thing is, the longer I am on a Paleo diet, the less appealing normal food that most of the population eats seems to me. The idea of “cheating” has started to seem ludicrous in relation to the lifestyle choice I’ve made and has become a part of me. The question is, why am I choosing to eat food that leaves me feeling drowsy the same night, and hung over the next morning?

The key to restaurant food, I think is to choose very carefully those foods that fit into one’s life way, and eschew everything else. In other words, it was that cobbler that really did me in! I think it underscores what a different way of eating the Paleo diet is that what is normal or even ‘gourmet’ to many is anethema to me.

If it seems I’m beating myself up, I’m really not. The novelty of restaurant food and the ambiance was pleasant, but I could have made better choices about what to eat.

An interesting question to me is whether or not everyone experiences these sorts of reactions every day as a consequence of unhealthy decisions, and the fact that I eat and live relatively “cleanly” just makes those effects obvious and apparent. If so, there are an awful lot of people making themselves very unhappy very often. Food for thought…

I wasn’t very hungry at all this morning, so I didn’t have too much:

• Three cups of coffee:
  • Tanzanian Organic
  • Ethiopian Yergacheffe
  • Guatemalan Antigua
• Two large Hass avocados with salt and pepper.

And a light lunch, as I prefer on Crossfit days:

• A handful of mixed nuts

It was a red-letter day today for me at Crossfit, although I didn’t perform the WOD particularly well:

• As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP): 20 minutes
  • 100m run (I think by run they of course meant sprint!)
  • 12 Push-Jerk @ 95lb
  • 12 Pullups

I only managed 4 rounds plus 6 pullups, but I did the push-jerks at the recommended weight, and more importantly, I did the pullups all kipping style, with no assistance from box or bands. This is a first for me.

I went into class believing that I would use the box to assist on the pullups. The deal I made with myself was that I would always do half the pullups on the bar, and the other half on the box. My coach John had other ideas for me. When he asked if anyone was going to use assistence on the pullups, and I raised my hand, he quickly put the kibosh on that notion. Who was I to disagree?

Frankly, it did slow me down a lot, but I think in anything, you have to suck, really really suck for a long time before you get good at it. Like I said in my previous entry, I am not sure wither my reliance on scaling and assistence was out of a lack of confidence in my abilities, or an inner desire to avoid the ego hit. Either way, I’m glad John made me step up to the plate. I believe that it will, as he said, bring me to the next level.

Dinner was absolutely amazing, due to my purchase of a Big Green Egg earlier in the day. I have had my eye on these for quite some time, as every time I’ve tasted food (meat!) cooked in one, it has been the best brisket/steak I’ve ever had. Today I finally threw down and bought a small one.

Folks, this thing is a must. Once you taste a steak seared at 650-700 degrees, you will never want to cook one any other way. I’m completely serious. My roomate and I cooked up two New York Strips as a test, and immediately devoured one (leaving the second for salads), and then cooked up four nice ribeyes later on. All were amazing, and I will definitely be using it often! The damage tonight as a result was:

• 1/2 a large New York Strip
• 1 medium-size ribeye
• huge mixed green salad with celery, walnut-balsamic vinaigrette and plenty of cracked pepper.
• Mixed fruit: Strawberries, grapes, blueberries, blackberries.
• 1 glass Malbec which went wonderfully with the steak.

It was a good day.