So I have been thinking lately- I pretty much love eating Paleo. I know that sounds cheesy. But for realsies I do- oh and CrossFit- I love that too. But I have been thinking about this new lifestyle Matt and I have been living- and I really love the way it makes me feel. I feel healthy for the first time in my life. I have always been "healthy"- I played soccer in college and have always been in pretty good physical shape (except for a short stint in college where I gained the dreaded 15 lbs.)- ever since I was 5 I have had soccer practice 4-5 times a week and games on the weekends, but thinking back at what I ate really surprises me. We would always "carbo load" with pasta dinners as a team before games, I had a coach that would give us candy at half time for energy, I would chug 3 gatorades a day (ahh! the sugar!) and on top of all that because I worked out so much I could stay skinny and eat WHATEVER I wanted without a problem. I mean whatever- cookies, pizza, chips, soda, etc. Now don't get me wrong- my parents fed us kids healthy in the sense of what 'healthy' is considered in the mainstream- we had 3 meals, meat, starch, veggies- good breakfasts and lunches. The fact that my parents actually put an effort into our health and that I played soccer is probably why I wasn't 500 pounds. It is so funny to think that what the media and government tells us is "healthy" is really so disgusting when you actually THINK about it. And I just now began actually THINKING about what I put in my mouth. I have had success in the past losing weight by eating things like Lean Cuisines, Non-fat yogurt, Whole Grain Bread, 100 Calorie Cheez-it packs and an array of processed, chemically dense, disgusting- "food".

So where am I going with this rant? Well- all of this thinking has actually caused me to start paying more attention to the products I am using. I know- I am worried I am one step away from becoming one of those crazed, chemical-free, barefoot, dreadlocky people living in a house powered by solar panels...but that's why I married Matt- I'm extreme and he keeps me centered. So instead of going to the lengths of moving into a log cabin somewhere and living off the land- I have decided to change my shampoo. And if I am feeling crazy- maybe my face and body wash too. On our trip to San Fran we were walking around Santa Clara and I stumbled into this shop- and it was love at first sight. They use fruits, vegetables and natural products to make make-up, lotion and all kinds of other awesome things.


                                                            COCONUT HYDRATING



Oh- did I mention they sell make-up? A lot of it is gluten free- and it's made of fruit. Yea-fruit. I smelled the mascara in the store and it smelled delicious. I think I would also like to order a few make-up products. Anyways, thought this was cool. Search the site for yourself- you will be surprised with the cool stuff. But also- beware- it is a little expensive. But that's expected- using pure and natural ingredients is always more expensive than using chemicals. Plus- they are a small business local to California- come on people, can't get much better than supporting a local business!

-Aubs

It came out okay!! It actually tasted pretty good :) I put the crock pot on low and let it sit for another 2 or 3 hours and it pulled apart very nicely. I just chopped up some freshly steamed cauliflower and served it over the pork. We ate it with some guacamole, salsa and plantain chips. It was good!

We had it for lunch and for dinner we had Lemonade- I had some chicken salad, a salad and some cauliflower. Oh and today at the box I got my first rope climb!

So the plan was- get this awesome pork shoulder, follow a recipe BUT instead of cooking it on low for 6-8 hours- cook it on high for 3 hours. FAIL. We are home and ready to eat and my pork roast is very tough and not close to falling apart carnitas style :( So the new plan- Matt is going to to get take out Zankou chicken- I have put the crock pot on low and will let it cook for a few more hours, throw the whole thing in the fridge and have an awesome lunch/dinner tomorrow. But here are some pics of the beginning steps which I will go into more detail tomorrow- IF plan B works.

Sorry if you guys were expecting a recipe tonight but I am new at this whole trying to cook nice things gig and it might take me some time!


Looks delicious, huh? Guess we will have to smell that cooking while we eat take out... please keep your fingers crossed that leaving this in the crock longer will work & I didn't completely ruin this dish!

Thank god for Whole Foods. Makes my life easy after CrossFit- especially when we have no food in the fridge. We went today after our WOD and I got some baked chicken and veggies. I also bought a delicious pork roast were going to have for dinner tonight- I will post the recipe later on!

We are back!!! Wow..it is great to be home. We had an awesome time in San Francisco. Our goal was to eat as Paleo as we could...and we kind of failed miserably. We started out with good intentions! We drove up the PCH on our way there- it took us about 13 hours- and we brought snacks- water, plantain chips, nuts, OhMyBars and Laughing Giraffes. And we did great on the way up- we stopped at this beautiful cafe and had salads. Then when we got into town we headed to a restaurant called Anchor and Hope. We decided to have a beer- and when we looked at the menu there were not a lot Paleo choices. So I had a lobster roll and Matt had the fish and chips. The food was pretty good- but overpriced in our opinion. And it all went downhill from there....here is a look at some of the delicious, non-paleo food we ate this trip.


YUM. It was all very, very good- but my body is doing very, very bad. With 5 days of non Paleo I have gained like 5 lbs (no joke), my face has broken out, I feel nauseous, I couldn't sleep through the nights, my visits to the bathroom did not go well (sorry, TMI) and I just feel like BLAH= Bloated Lazy Awful and Heavy.
So, was it worth it? This is a tough question I have been thinking about since we got home and on the drive home (which was only 5 1/2 hours). I would have to say Yes and No. Yes because I got to eat a lot of my old favorite foods- and they did taste very good. No, because I feel like a lot of my hard work is wasted. I am back to the old me- and I don't like this me. The old me thought it was normal to feel sleepy after a meal, ate all of these foods without a care and felt like crap- but did not realize what I was feeling was crap UNTIL Paleo. So now when I go back and eat all of these things I am more aware of what it is doing to my body. It is kind of a blessing and a curse- a blessing because now I am on a path to healthier and happier life but a curse because my body reacts so badly to foods that are non-paleo and the knowledge of all the negative things the food is doing to my body kind of ruins the fun in eating bad things. But I still kept ordering the bad stuff. Why? Two reasons- number 1 this bad food is addicting. Very addicting. That is why a majority of Americans are overweight. number 2- I was so much hungrier than I usually am! And I ate so much more! I guess when the quality of the food goes down the amount of food you need to feel full goes up. So when I did have a chance to order something non-Paleo- I found myself thinking- but I am so hungry that won't fill me up! And it probably wouldn't have due to the way I had been eating. It makes me think back to my first week of the challenge- I was STARVING. Until my body adjusted- then much less food satisfied me. I guess this is what this week will be like! A huge detox. I will probably be cranky and tired- so prepare if you plan on reading about it. So we decided to go ahead and go back to strict Paleo until we get all of this shi* out of our bodies. No dairy ( :( ) and less carbs. We will start today! I think I will have a protein shake for breakfast and then I need to do some major grocery shopping. I will keep you all filled in on our road to recovery. In the meantime here are some more fun pics of San Fran!!