Adam Farrah's Blog - Evolved Eating, Evolved Training, Evolved Living...

The NorCal Margarita…

January 19, 2011 by 25 Comments

 

A NorCal Margarita using Espolon tequila

This drink recipe has become a SERIOUS favorite of mine. What’s funny is, if you’d talked to me 6 months ago, I’d have told you I didn’t drink. I’ve been going through a move and a lifestyle “reorganization” recently – a VERY positive one – but one that’s been full of stress, logistical nightmares and other wacky stuff. So, faced with the option of a clock tower and a sniper rifle or a drink or two here and there, I’ve opted for the drinks! You can thank me later :-)

I’ve been VERY sensitive to alcohol my whole life – one of the reasons I really don’t drink – but this recipe is pretty easy on my system and it’s also fairly Paleo friendly. I got the original recipe from my friend Robb Wolf’s book, The Paleo Solution, and I put a few of my own tweaks on it.

Let me know what you think of my favorite – and only – drink recipe!

ttys

Adam

Other Posts You'll Like:

Filed Under: Paleo Challenge, Paleolithic Diet, Paleolithic Lifestyle Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Perfectionism and Self-Sabatage – Paleo Style…

November 28, 2010 by 30 Comments

Paleo Dinner

I really should have known better. It wasn’t till last weekend when there was all the talk about food addiction and all that other fun stuff on Facebook and the SINS page that things really clicked for me and I got a clue.

There are times I go MENTAL with my diet. What I realized is that I’ve been creating a pretty much impossible standard for myself. And it’s been making it harder to stay Paleo and  making me pretty crazy besides. I said a lot about “impossible standards” when I talked about the whole body image thing in my post “Body Image, Food Addiction and I’m Not Good Enough.” I guess writing that post made some of the crazy stuff I’ve been doing more obvious…

What RESULT are you after?

In Self-Help there’s a big thing about results. Anthony Robbins is HUGE on defining what result you want before you start anything. What result was I after when I started Paleo-style eating more than 6 years ago? HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE. My “result” wasn’t “I want to eat a perfect Paleo diet and be more perfect than anyone else at it.” That kind of self-righteous bullshit is reserved for vegans and vegetarians as far as I’m concerned :-P

I’m still blown away at times when I mention something like eating brown rice or goat yogurt on Facebook and have a bunch of people FREAK OUT about those foods not being Paleo. I mean, what are we trying to do here? Are we trying to “eat Paleo” as an end in and of itself, or are we after health and performance? If you have BETTER health and performance with a cup of brown rice a few times a week, then eat the damn rice! Are we trying to get through the Pearly Gates of Paleo Heaven or are we trying to LIVE and TRAIN and PERFORM?

On the flip side, nuts and seed make me feel like crap and I don’t digest them very well. BUT THEY’RE PALEO! “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar…” How canst thou forsake nuts and seeds? Blasphemy!!!!!!! Look at my RESULT. Do I want to follow the diet dogma or do I want HEALTH and PERFORMANCE? Avoiding nuts and seeds is getting me to my RESULT…

But, THAT’S not Paleo!!!!!!!!!!

NOT Paleo dinner...

Something that’s made me nuts about virtually every “diet community” I’ve been around is the dogma and near religion that a lot of people get into. As a community, I think Paleo has a few zealots but, overall, I think we have more of a “use what works” mentality than many other communities. Robb Wolf has played a large part in that because he’s a leading theorist and he’s also pragmatic, humble and willing to change course when he learns something new.

Our diet – call it Paleo if you must – needs to be a living, breathing and evolving thing. A diet is a lot more than a list of what you can and can’t eat. I think Paleo is the best map we’ve come up with to date but, IT’S STILL JUST A MAP.

Something I take regular flak on is my use of rice protein in my fruit smoothies and green smoothies – and my use of smoothies in general! But the damn things WORK for me! I know that Paleo man didn’t have a Blendtec – or an outlet to plug it into – but I DO and smoothies work for my body and where my life is at this moment.

As a side note, I think the people who are screaming the diet dogma the loudest are the ones who are most likely to be pulling down the shades and eating garbage when no one is looking. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone and all that…

The Other Side of Perfectionism

I’ve written a lot about eating organic, buying local and supporting small farms. This past week I realized – all of a sudden – that I had set some SERIOUSLY high standards for myself – and they were making it HARDER to get where I wanted to go. I’ve made it a point for most of the last 6 years to eat ONLY organic food. I’ve stayed as organic as I possibly could. I’ve also made it a point to eat only grass fed beef and I’ve tried to get raw dairy – and make my own yogurt with it – whenever I could. Beyond this, a goal of mine has been to – as I’ve written about – keep everything local.

So, here’s the standard:

  • 100% organic food
  • All meats organic and fed their APPROPRIATE diet – This means cows are fed grass and chickens are pastured and not fed corn or soy, etc.
  • As much local as possible – This is somewhat achievable spring and summer, but in the winter in New England it’s a lot harder.
  • I’ve avoided seasonings other than Celtic sea salt and organic pepper for most of the 6 years. I really did my best to enjoy the natural flavors of things.

And Then I Started Missing the Mark – A LOT

I actually managed the above pretty well. Yeah, one of my staples is pasteurized goat yogurt and the organic whole chickens I get from Whole Foods are fed soy, but most everything else has been on track for the most part. But I wasn’t very hungry for the foods I was “supposed to” eat. Or, I’d start hungry and a few bites in be struggling to get it down. I could look at this as a moral failing – and I’m sure plenty of others would LOVE to as well. But I tend to look deeper than the surface of things…

My Breakthrough

The problem with having perfection as a standard is it’s REALLY easy to NOT meet it. That’s what was happening to me. When “grocery shopping” means a 30-45min drive to the nearest Whole Foods or paying WAY too much at the little local health food store and not having a great selection – it was getting pretty hard to stay 100% clean.

Add to that, I’m preparing ALL of my food myself and it was getting out of hand. I don’t mind devoting a lot of time to my eating and diet, but it was becoming somewhat impractical and some part of me was becoming more and more resistant and resentful.

And then there were those days when I was completely exhausted mentally and physically and said: “Fuck it, I’ll just order a pizza!” And, the reasoning goes, if I’m breaking my diet I might as well have a few Kit Kats for dessert. Oh, and I’ll have pizza left over tomorrow so I might as well “relax” tomorrow too… And we’re on our way down the slippery slope to mediocrity BECAUSE WE WERE PURSUING PERFECTION AND IT WASN’T REACHABLE AT THAT MOMENT.

Making it Practical

This weekend I went to Stop and Shop and – horror of horrors – bought two of their own rotisserie chickens. Not organic, not cooked myself. They even had some cornstarch and sugar added. Now, this IS NOT the way I want to eat. I’m still on the organic, local, humanely raised thing. It’s what I believe in and what I value. But I also have had to embrace the UTILITY of driving 5 minutes down the road and getting a hot, ready to eat chicken once in a while when I don’t have the time or energy to cook AND I’M HUNGRY. It’s a MUCH better option than driving 5 minutes down the road for a pizza.

Basically, what I did is give myself a “middle option” between cooking an organic, pastured chicken myself and ordering a pizza. How about eating chicken that may not be the quality I’d really prefer? That non-organic chicken is going to be a hell of a lot less harmful than a freakin’ pepperoni pizza!

Making Things Taste Good Again

Tabasco, Bone Suckin and Wing It

This past week I’ve been really thinking about the food addiction topic. One of the reasons I think a lot of crap food is SO addictive is the seasoning. They’re really good at doing stuff to that food to make it taste good and keep you coming back for more. But the need for new and different tastes is a natural human thing – and probably evolutionary at that. And wars have been fought over spices throughout history, so it’s a good bet that we humans are pretty into them.

Last night I ate chicken, roasted veggies and bacon. All topped off with some Tabasco Sauce and Bone Suckin’ BBQ Sauce (I use Bone Suckin’ because it’s not only AWESOME but it’s one of the few that’s gluten and refined sugar free). And it was delicious! I ate and ate and ate! And this was the same meal I didn’t even want to finish the night before – without the sauces.

You STILL have to work, Pumpkin…

At this point, I’m sure someone out there is saying: “He’s right! I’ll just eat whatever I want! I don’t want to be a perfectionist!” That’s NOT what I’m saying! What I AM saying is that perfection is an impossible standard. Let’s go for OUTSTANDING and keep focused on the RESULTS we want to achieve.

ttys

Adam

Other Posts You'll Like:

Filed Under: Building Health, Health, Paleolithic Diet, Paleolithic Lifestyle Tagged With: , , , ,

Practical Paleo – Diet Tip of the Day – Sauces

November 20, 2010 by 7 Comments

Tabasco, Bone Suckin and Wing It

Explore Sauces and Condiments

I’ve talked before about the power of sauces and condiments to make the boring interesting. There are plenty of websites out there like InsaneChicken.com that specialize in sauces and condiments. There are also plenty of other places you can go to find sauces and condiments. There are A LOT of people out there who take this stuff REALLY seriously!

Depending how seriously you want to take the Paleo thing, you might have to read the labels on the stuff you consider using. Some sauces have sugar, wheat, soy, corn starch, etc. in them. A lot DON’T though and it’s really up to you whether you want to take it this far. But, be warned, if you’re really sensitive to some things, keep an eye out for them in the ingredients of the stuff you consider.

Here are 5 places to look for great sauces, condiments and other ways to make the bland interesting:

  • Google “Hot Sauce” – I already mentioned Insane Chicken above. And they’re one of the better known out of hundreds and hundreds of online stores that sell hot sauce, mustard, sauces and rubs. And, remember, even if you don’t like spicy food these sites have plenty of “mild” mustards, sauces and marinades too. Just grab a cup of coffee and do some browsing!
  • Go International - Even the “regular” stores have pretty good international sections now. If you look at all those little cans and jars there are literally HUNDREDS of choices for stuff to throw on top of meats and salads. Spanish or Mexican sections are going to have tons of different peppers, salsas, and sauces. Italian and Mediterranean sections are going to have all sorts of olives, peppers, pestos (some will have cheese and nuts in them) and flavored olive oils.
  • Try some “Rubs” – Rubs are another big area that the “grilling crowd” gets into. A rub is really just a fancy term for a bunch of dry seasonings mixed together that you “rub” onto meats before grilling, roasting or sauteeing them. They give whatever you’re cooking flavor and they help the meat “crisp up” on the outside. If you go to foodnetwork.com and search “rub” you get back 2,489 results. That will probably keep you busy for a while… Virtually any food store you go into is going to carry a wide variety of rubs and seasonings. Buy one or two and try them out.
  • Get into BBQ and other sauces - BBQ and BBQ sauce is another “cult” food thing. There are BBQ competitions all over the country and everyone has their own sauce recipes and methods. One of my favorite sauces is Bone Suckin’ Brand. Not only is Bone Suckin’ the best TASTING I’ve had, it’s also gluten and sugar free. Not a bad deal! Their site has tons of recipes and they also make mustards, teriyaki, salsas and other stuff. There is an entire WORLD of mustards, hot wing sauces, salsas, teriyaki and other sauces just waiting for you to try and experiment with!
  • REAL Pickled Veggies - This is another area with a lot of variety. Things like pickles and sauerkraut can be gotten at health food stores in their raw, organic and “real form” – that is, cultured with healthy bacteria the way they’ve been made for 1000s of years before they got mass produced and canned – and different brands will have very different flavors. You can try, for example, a grilled grassfed burger with a heap of REAL sauerkraut over it and some REAL pickles on the side. Other pickled veggies are things like Kim Chee – traditional Korean pickled cabbage – that can really change the taste of salads and meats. The trick is to find raw and fermented pickled vegetables because you get the benefits of raw foods plus the healthy probiotics. Canned and supermarket versions of this stuff are virtually ALWAYS heated, pasteurized and NOT properly fermented with good bacteria. Stay away from this stuff if you can.

There’s some more stuff to keep you busy!

ttys

Adam

Other Posts You'll Like:

Filed Under: Paleolithic Lifestyle, Tip of the Day Tagged With: , , , , ,

Practical Paleo – Diet Tip of the Day

November 19, 2010 by 6 Comments

Grassfed Burger and Salad

Nevermind “Paleo cooking” – just COOK

My first “real” career was as a chef. I went to culinary school – not Paleo culinary school – and learned, of all things, Classical French Cooking mainly. The thing is, once you learn the basic techniques of cooking you can cook pretty much anything. And there is absolutely NO shortage of cooking resources in this country! There is an entire culinary WORLD out there that can help you learn to cook and keep things interesting. You don’t have to become a Chef or spend $1000 a week at Williams-Sonoma, but getting a little into food and cooking will go a long way toward making Paleo fun and keeping you Paleo long term.

Just get interested in cooking and keep your eyes and ears open. Sure, bread and pasta is out, but there are plenty of “regular” recipes, cookbooks and cooking shows that can give you some great ideas for Paleo dishes.

Don’t limit yourself to Paleo-only resources

Here are 5 non-Paleo resources to get you started:

  • Recipes on WholeFoods.com - Sure, maybe half of these recipes aren’t Paleo, but A LOT of them can either be made Paleo with a few changes or are almost there already. If you spent some time on this site once in a while you’d definitely have a ton of ideas to work with. You can browse by categories like Beef, Dairy Free, Wheat Free, Portable, Poultry and Vegetables. Remember, a category like “Vegetables” or “Vegetarian” doesn’t need to be a main course. You can use a vegetarian “meal” as a side for your beef, chicken or fish. Yeah, the vegetarians might get mad, but they’re too skinny to do much about it :-)
  • Spend a day at the book store – If you spent some time in the cookbook section of a big book store like Borders or Barnes and Noble you’d find a ton of great cookbooks. Buy a couple and resolve to try one recipe a week. If you really like beef or chicken, get a book devoted to one of them. Out of an entire book devoted to meat or poultry, a lot of recipes will either be Paleo or can be made Paleo pretty easily.
  • Recipe books on amazon.com – Same thing here. And you can get really niche on a site like amazon. There are over 2,785 cookbooks on amazon today for “meat, poultry and seafood.”
  • Check out Food Network and foodtv.com – Again, there’s plenty of non-Paleo stuff here, but there’s also plenty that IS Paleo or can be made so. Guys like Bobby Flay do TONS of grilling and spicy stuff that is either straight-up Paleo or is Paleo when you drop the side dishes. Flay’s show “Boy Meets Grill” is a good one to check out.
  • Don’t forget the Vegetarians – Believe it or not, I have a bunch of vegetarian cookbooks. Like I said above, a lot of vegetarian recipes make great side dishes for a big old hunk of meat :-)

Paleo can actually be a pretty easy way to eat. Once you get a handle on what’s excluded from the diet you can use a HUGE variety of “regular” recipe resources to find Paleo recipes and ideas for Paleo dishes. If you make cooking and food a little “hobby” for yourself you might even find that you enjoy it!

ttys

Adam

Other Posts You'll Like:

Filed Under: Paleolithic Lifestyle, Tip of the Day Tagged With: , , , , ,