Paleo Salmon Patties plus Homemade Mayo

Well, it has been forever since I've updated and written a blog post.

Not a whole lot has been going on. Life has been pretty slow, CrossFit has been fun, photography has been bumping along, and we've enjoying some special company now and then. It's been rather enjoyable. :)

Tonight, I found myself alone for supper, was hungry for seafood (which, in itself, is weird), and wanted something I could douse in my homemade mayo.

Um. Yum.

Salmon Patties

Mix:

1-5oz package of skinless, boneless salmon
1-egg
2-teaspoons coconut flour
salt, garlic, onion powder

I heated my awesome cast iron pan (I'm still working on the muscles to lift that sucker. I swear it adds 10 pounds when it gets hot!), and fried them up in butter, probably about 3-4 minutes each side.

I served it on a bed of romaine and spinach.. topped with homemade mayo, of course.

Homemade Mayo

Add to immersion blender bottle:

1-egg
2-teaspoons apple cider or white wine vinegar
2-teaspoons dijon or yellow mustard
Juice of half a lemon (this is the tastiest part!)
Salt

Then, hold your immersion blender in there at the very bottom and let 'er go.

This is a pretty detailed video, if you want more instructions: http://youtu.be/PBeyEPlHPkk

I can't believe I lived nearly two years without ever having mayo. Never again. :)


In other news, I have been struggling a little bit with digestion and my stomach. I lost my appetite the last two weeks and would finally get hungry in the afternoon a little. If I did eat in the morning, I would get sick to my stomach, bloated, and not able to eat for hours. I would get a little anxious about eating as I was always worried if it would be okay. It was rough. One night I couldn't even finish a 6-oz steak, and I lost like 6 pounds total. Yikes.

From what I can summarize, it seems like it was set off with my gallbladder after an overdose of coconut milk and avocado (learn to put the spoon down!), and settled in my stomach.

Also, my workouts were not affected until I simply ran out of fuel in the second week... but it's quite possible the workouts affected my stomach. Looking back through my detailed food/workout/sleep/"symptom" log, there's a strong correlation between a lot of core work (mainly pushups) and worse symptoms on that day. However, my appetite and the upset stomach didn't seem to matter if I worked out or not... so I kept working out in order to get a little appetite going. ;)

I explored some different therapies and techniques, adjusted the supplements I'm taking, and called in the big guns: Enzymes, probiotics, and fermented foods.

I'm feeling much better now... and it's been good for me to reign in my portion size. I can honestly say that I think a lot of CrossFitters (and people in general!) don't eat enough (see Crossfitters Eat to Perform), but I think I was far exceeding my 2500-2600ish daily caloric needs. The idea that maybe my body decided to just shut me down to use up all its stored energy has crossed my mind too. Who knows.

And all you medical people, don't worry, I had promised the hubby that if my final appointment yesterday still yielded no results, I was going to go for "tests." Who knows what that all would entail... maybe multiple doctor visits, stomach scopes, thousands of dollars in our deductible. I'm pretty confidant that I got this figured out for about $350-400.. which is a huge cost savings, not to mention not having to take any meds.


That's about it for news... take care until we meet again. :)


Oh!
PS. I have a couple links you should check out:
Why Women Should Not Run  This guy is a genius anyway, but this article is awesome. Sprints and HIIT are great, but "chronic cardio" and endurance training is extremely harmful to your thyroid. Read it. And do some intervals instead of 5 miles. Then go lift some heavy weights. Your thyroid will thank you.

Why News is Bad For You  I'm usually out of the loop, but I never feel left out. I have always believed that a person is happier without news.

PPS. It's April. And rain is expected. But I'm ready for summer. Like now. Anyone else? Sigh.

PPPS. I got 2 double unders in a row today. Woo hooo! I got so excited I threw the rope. Hah!

Life, CF, growth... and a cooking class!

Not a whole lot has been going on lately.... other than life. You know how it goes. :)

CrossFit has been going well. The Open WOD's are done, which is a bit disappointing. The best part about those is everyone in CrossFit does them... and it's fun to see how you stack up and compare.

I didn't do one of them, as pushing motions are still on the back burner for me. 150 wall balls? Ain't nobody got time for dat!

However, the rest of them have gone great.

This was 13.4:

95-lb Clean and Jerk's with Toes-to-Bar

Two of my favorite moves! What a blast.

I read this awesome article about what the Open teaches us. It's a sense of accomplishment, a measure of how we compare to ourselves, and what we can prove to ourselves. We can be proud of the accomplishments we have, no matter how humble they seem. Read the article here.

In general, I have multiple goals for CrossFitting, but I keep coming back to these main ones:

1. Have fun
2. Get strong
3. Prove myself by giving it my all and never quitting
4. Encourage others

I've had a lot of victories lately, physically. My injuries from the past have been healing.

Aside from burpees and a few light reps here and there, I hadn't done any pushups or bench-press type motions since last November. They would ignite my upper traps and neck and send me straight to migraine city. But I (weakly) did 84 of them on a 24" elevated box (along with 84 push presses and 84 situps in 15:32). Success! No migraines! Is this any more reason to head over to Valley Spine and Sport? Seriously. Dr. Alex is a genius. I was, however, sore for nearly a week with good ol' DOMS. :) I'm excited to cross off pushing and pressing motions from my list of can't-do's!

My deadlifts are back up where they're supposed to be plus my shoulders are holding up for toes-to-bar, kipping pullups, split jerks, and overhead squats. Hamstrings aren't complaining lately either! *knock on wood*

I've been photographing some different things lately too. I helped Dr. Alex update some images for his website and social media, as well as my good friends at CrossFit Appleton. It's been fun to photograph these Open WOD's and the incredible athletes getting it done. Check out some of the photos here.

Other than that, I've been enjoying time with family and friends.

We hosted supper the other evening and then played some games. I love my in-laws. :)

We also had a couple's weekend a few weeks ago where a bunch of us younger, married, child-less couples got together for games, food, and fun. That was a blast too!

In other news, winter is still. dragging. on. It's still cold, wet, and there's a chance of snow for later this week. Oh well. Summer has to come eventually, right?

Here's one of my Paleo fails from recently.. these are always fun! I saw several times online about mixing avocado with cocoa. Some people added a banana and blended it, which would have helped drastically. I'll admit that this required a LOT more chocolate chips to make it palatable. ;)

Oh, and how could I forget?!

I have been invited to teach a cooking class, for which I am super excited!

It's called "Civilized Cavemen: Gluten Free and Paleo Cooking"

Click here for more details, but this is the description:

"We might not grunt and live in caves, but we can learn a lot from our ancestor's diet of unprocessed whole foods and sustainable meats. Join us and learn how to create gluten-free, Paleo meals that incorporate fresh, local foods. We'll share an overview of the Paleo template, strategies on how to stock your kitchen, time saving tips, tricks and resources for preparing meals. Mariah will demonstrate tasty recipes that even your gluten-eating friends will love - no caves or fires required! Come learn (and taste) how great eating like civilized cavemen can be!"

I will be demonstrating a few recipes, plus doing a little educating and offering plenty of resources to make things easier. This will be fun! :)

Also, tonight I watched the documentary "Forks over Knives" about a whole-foods, plant-based diet, or veganism. I have quite a few reactions to that, and I even took notes during, so expect a post coming soon.

Anyway, I'm off to bed... Can't wait to CrossFit tomorrow morning. :)

Another Whole 30 Wrap Up

I had someone ask me for a little bit more advice on the Whole 30 today.. so I thought I'd create a little blog post so everyone could benefit from my nuggets of wisdom. ;)

Seriously though. I love getting emails and messages about eating Paleo, the Whole 30, and everything else.. but I think I'm going to create a little references pages here on the blog so I have all the information ready at my fingertips!

Anyway.. the question: "I was just kind of wondering how your Whole30 went for you and if you might have some feedback, pointers and/or recipes you might care to share with me."

And my response:

Here was my "official done with the Whole 30 blog post:"http://jmbaseman.blogspot.com/2013/02/i-joined-crossfit-finally.html

Really, though, I would say do it. It does take a lot more planning but there are ways to get around that.

A few things I definitely recommend:

Read the It Starts With Food book. That really makes everything clear. Super clear. It's hard to follow something if you don't know the why behind it... at least for me!

Do a once-a-week meal prep day. In the beginning of the cookbook Well Fed from http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/, Melissa talks about her meal prep.. she cuts up and partially steams a variety of veggies. She bakes sweet potatoes and squash, boils eggs, and cooks up a few pounds each of ground meat like turkey, pork, beef. Then when you're hungry and in a hurry, you can whip out some veggies, add them to a pan with coconut oil or ghee, throw in some ground meat, add any kind of seasoning, and you have lunch in 10 minutes. She calls them "hot plates."

I have at least one hot plate a day, and I still do the cook-up weekly.

Also, it IS do-able. But not sustainable. Once I got through it, I was scared to go back to the regular eating. I had a couple of dreams where I accidentally licked my finger that had some organic ketchup (but it still has sugar!!) on it. Ack! I woke up in a sweat. Not cool. So, do it, commit to it, but realize that it's only for a certain period of time. Serious stress about eating is harmful in it's own right.

And really commit to it.. follow the instructions to a T! Joining their email newsletter is definitely worth the small price... and it's super important to get on their forums and read and connect with others. Plus, many times if you're wondering something, you only have to search through and someone else has asked the same question or went through the same struggle.

Now I eat mostly Whole 30 standards, with a bit of stevia here and there... and a lot of Paleo pancakes. Ahh. I eat a bit of butter now and then, but I've found I hardly even miss cheese! Pretty crazy considering I wanted to fall face first into a fresh batch of squeaky cheese curds for most of January.

That's one thing about the Whole 30.. it's more emotionally and mentally changing than physically. At least for me. So a lot of the "rules" they have are just as important for your mental health (like saying no to pancakes and other Paleo-ified comfort foods) as it is for your physical health.



Today I created a little WOD for myself after doing some split jerks (woot! another shout out to my sports med guy. These are my favorite lift and I'm FINALLY able to do them again!)

So, for time:

800m run

30 pistol squats (15/each leg alternating)

100 single unders

800m run

30 pistol squats (15/each leg alternating)

100 single unders

800m run

Took me 26:00... and I was toasted by the end!

I'm still working on double-unders too.. I can usually get one every fourth or fifth single under. Fun, fun! :)

Tomorrow I see our WOD has a 25:00 time cap... yikes. I better head out and get some sleep!

And because I simply cannot have a blog post without a pic, this is why I blog:

Source: studiomothers.com via Mariah on Pinterest

And another favorite from today:

Source: fengshuistore.co.uk via Mariah on Pinterest

Good night all! :)

Squash Egg Bake and the end of 1RM week

So, I never got around to posting the results of 1-rep max week at CFA.

For your normal people out there that don't speak in PR's, 1RM, WOD's, AMRAP's, RX'd, and other CrossFit lingo, a 1-rep max is just your heaviest lift, or how heavy you can go for one rep.

I had set a new PR (personal record, or personal best) in my squat clean earlier in the week for 120-lbs.

Mid week, I came close to some old numbers with my squats. We're talking old. Like over a year ago when I was still kicking butt and taking names. Fearless. Heh.


My front squat: 145 (old pre-injury PR 155)
Back squat: 165 (old pre-injury PR 185)

I’m pretty sure the old PR’s were a bit shallow though.. probably met parallel, but not below, so I’m pretty happy with the numbers.

And, ding ding! Another HUGE PR for me. I overhead squatted 100 pounds. I think the most I've ever done before is 85. And you guessed it! I did go back through allll my workout logs and search out these numbers.

Unfortunately, then on Friday (deadlifting day.. yay!), I was toast. Ironic, seeing how I don't eat bread.

I couldn't even pull up 215 after two failed attempts at 225. So much for 235! Sigh. A little part of me really disliked CrossFit right then. Deadlifting is my thing! And I sucked it up, coming in with my number of 205. Lame.

Oh well, the WOD we had some fun things like rowing, deadlifts, and toes-to-bar. I am really working on my kipping, which is the hip swing that allows you to complete them fast and efficiently. Very gymnastic. Very not me. And for one of the first times in my life, I did the WOD at the prescribed weight. Woot!

I had to take a picture because even though I was NOT proud of the 205, I was super proud of the little "RX," which means as prescribed, behind my time. :)

One more bit of CrossFit related news...

Today this happened:

Please pardon my lovely "I want to die" face. I had a slight migraine this morning plus still dealing with my hip flexor issue. Yes, it's back. I'm pretty sure it was the squats. I hadn't noticed anything until Saturday's workout set it off, when I made a very abrupt switch and modified the rest of the workout.

Anyway, then this happened...

First time for everything. I didn't notice until I was done! Oh well. I still have a layer of skin there so it could be much worse. It just made washing dishes tonight super fun.

A while ago, I was going to blog my squash egg bake that I make all. the. time.

So here we go! It's a perfect mix of carbs, protein and fat. The goodness of eggs. The yumminess of squash, which in this case tastes just like pumpkin pie. Ready??

Squash Egg Bake

 Crust:
4-5 TB of butter
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup coconut flakes (unsweetened obviously)
1/3 cup almond/hazelnut/other nut flour
cinnamon

Melt butter. 
Add almonds, coconut flakes, nut flour and cinnamon.
Put another little plop of butter in your 8x8 glass pan and throw it in the oven for a bit while it's preheating. Don't forget about this. ;) Take it back out and make sure the sides are well covered.
Mix and spread in the 8x8 pan.
Put in 350* preheated oven for 10-12 minutes

While that's baking, add to a blender:
4-eggs
1-cup squash
1-tsp+ sea salt (**Do NOT skip this!)
Cinnamon, Pumpkin Pie Spice, and Nutmeg (I just dump and pour, but it's probably close to 1-tsp each.)
2 rounded TB coconut flour
Stevia, to taste (optional. I used liquid vanilla stevia, probably 5-6 drops)


Mix until well blended, add to the pan, and bake for about 30 minutes.

Top with berries, coconut milk, or even pure maple syrup or honey.

Enjoy!

My hubby likes this even.. and he's about as non-Paleo as a person can get. His only caveat is that he gets to put as much syrup as possible on it. ;)

Chocolate pancakes, the weekend, and why I CrossFit

What a great day today!

It's 1-rep max week at CrossFit this week... score! :) This means I should be in bed right now and not blogging. Oops. It has been an interesting few days, though, so I wanted to tell you all!

Today we tested cleans (squat cleans) and power cleans. I managed 120-lbs for both, which was awesome. There's nothing like everyone cheering you on as you're struggling to stand up. :) Coincidentally, that was a 5-lb PR, so that was awesome. Then I got my butt handed to me by the WOD, which was squat cleans and pullups.

Honestly, today was the first time I ever got close to losing my breakfast. I think I ate too close to working out. And it was one of those exhausting, on-the-brink-of-tears finales. I'm far too stubborn to quit though.

On that thought, over the weekend, it was brought up at the photographer's lunch table that I was a powerlifter. An older lady turned to me, wrinkled her nose in disgust, and asked why.

Oh, all the reasons I could have said, but I gave her my megawatt-endorphin-smile (see photo below), and simply said "Because I love it!"

Then the heavy-set, vegetarian older lady next to her proceeded to carry on about her life, husband, circumstances, how she was the strong one in the marriage and he was dragging her down, blah, blah, blah, for the rest of the meal. So I got to thinking about why I work out. Why I lift. Why I Cross Fit.

Because...

That first moment I bent over at home to get something out of a cupboard, and I felt my glutes fire as I stood back up.
I can help my husband move furniture.
I can move furniture myself.
I can kindly thank the gentlemen that offer to help me with groceries... and then decline while chuckling inside.
I can stand at a wedding show all day long without my feet hurting.
I can open sealed jars easily.

...and the big things:

There is no greater feeling than discovering my mind and body are powerful.
Pushing myself to the limits always yields results.
Each success brings more self confidence.
Every new measure of strength helps me walk with my head held higher.
Nothing can bring me down when I am assured in myself and my abilities.
If I am determined enough to get through a workout that nearly has me puking and crying all in a span of 15 minutes, I can get through anything in life.

I don't know what image the word "powerlifter" brought up in her mind, but I'm imagining it was fat, hairy balding men grunting, snorting, listening to heavy metal, and bench pressing.

In short, the reason why I do what I do is for the quality of LIFE.

Moving on. Mini heart-to-heart done.

Here's my official new member picture from awhile ago:

They insisted on taking it post-WOD. Lovely. And me being the photographer: "Can I see it? Ew, it's blurry! .... oh, wait. That's perfect." ;)

After the WOD today, there were free 10-minute massages by area students. It was awesome. I was trying out the the panorama feature on my phone finally. And I love it. Except for poor Inna here in the first one...

On a slightly related note, we got news a bit ago that we're moving to a new, huge space in June this year. I'm super pumped!

After that, it was the usual groceries, then back home. And then the dog ran away from me (again). Sigh. I wanted to strangle her. Yesterday she was mad at me for leaving her all day while I was at the photo convention. I didn't think she held grudges...

As I was rushing around to eat lunch and get ready for my chiro appointment, the doorbell rang in the middle of my shower. The dog was barking, the doorbell was ringing, there was pounding on the door, and I managed to throw a few towels on to go kill whomever was at the door.

Turns out, it was the Fed Ex guy with my newly repaired camera body and lens. Okay, I guess that was worth the hasty shower. 

Welcome home, my lovelies. I can't wait to use my new and improved lens!


The rest of the afternoon was pretty normal.

Speaking of normal. Or the absence of normal. This was a crazy weekend! Friday night started the WPPA (Wisconsin Professional Photographer's Association) spring convention which continued each day until Monday. The speakers were great, and it was fun to reconnect with some past friends and meet some new peers!

This was the view from the skywalk looking farther into downtown Friday evening.

And this was the speaker on Monday.. he talked about weddings, sales, marketing, and we had great fun learning from his posing and photographing demonstration. He's incredibly talented.

He started out with a bang... I loved this thought: Do you live to work? Or work to live?

Going back a day, Sunday offered another lovely wedding show.

These really sap the energy out of me... but I love it. I was told by two different future brides that I was their favorite photographer they had talked to that day. Another couple came back and asked if they could look through my albums some more because they liked my work so much. Talk about heart-warming!! I could hardly fit through the door to leave from my big head and inflated ego. ;)

And I haven't changed the teal and green at all.. because I get so many positive comments and feedback. "Oh, you're the teal and green lady!" Yes! My branding is working! ;)

Monday evening, I also had a wedding professionals networking meeting where I got to see a lot of my friends/other vendors from the wedding show and catch up with them. It was great.

The bummer part was, Joel was working out of town all week, and only home for the weekend. Thankfully I was still able to see him in the evenings, and he even helped me set up at the wedding show. I love that. :)

Okay, so back to today.



I was hungry for pancakes this evening. Again. It seems like an every other day thing since being off the Whole 30. Weird. I'm keeping them clean though.

So, I loosely followed this "recipe."

Ingredients:
1-ripe plantain or banana
1/4-cup nut flour (I used hazelnut this time, as the store was out of almond. Don't get me started on that.)
2-eggs
1/2-tsp of baking soda
1/4-cup cocoa powder
2-3 drops of vanilla stevia (optional)


Directions:
They're pancakes, not rocket science. ;)

1. Blend. I used my awesome immersion blender. Buy one. Make this. And squash soup.
2. Cook them. I heated my pan, put coconut oil in, and poured the batter in.
3. Flip and top them with any variety of berries, fried apples or bananas, coconut milk, coconut cream, pure maple syrup, nut butters, etc.
4. Enjoy.

I worked hard for those frozen raspberries. They were on sale at the store, so there were only a few bags left. I had to step up and nearly crawl into the freezer to grab some! I can't let a great deal on my favorite organic frozen berries go to waste.


Now.. off to bed finally. Tomorrow's lift is the snatch and power snatch! Woo hoo! :)


PS. I turned off anonymous comments. I hope you can still comment if you like, but I was getting sick of the spam. Let me know if you have issues.

PPS. I stumbled across some pictures the other day from New Years' Eve. Those will have to get on here soon. Along with our ugly sweater/men-cook-the-food-potluck from Valentine's Day. Fun times.

PPPS. And this was a great article. But I can't pin it due to lack of images. Boo! So it's linked here for me to remember. Food Logging, What I Learned

PPPPS. Kidding. ;)

Keep calm and play music.

When you've already done this ...

Source: google.com via Mariah on Pinterest

... sometimes you still have to do this...

Source: Uploaded by user via Mariah on Pinterest

... and then record it. ;) Because what is life, really, if it's not recorded and uploaded via instagram, facebook, youtube, etc., etc.

I don't know if it's just because Joel's gone. Or I'm tired. But I've been in a funk the last few days. So I spent some time this evening doing what I used to do to ease my frustrations.

Enjoy, but don't judge too harshly, please. Yes, I know the piano desperately needs tuning. And I made a few mistakes. I seem to crack under pressure. ;)

Day of Love

Here's some visual chocolate...

just a few things I thought were funny that popped up in my news feed today!

My Valentine's Day went pretty well...

I treated myself with chocolate and sugar for the first time since doing the Whole 30 back in January. Yum!!

This chocolate is amazing. And so is the macademia/brazil nut butter. And so was the cocoa cashew butter. :)

The hubby sucked it up and took me to Serious Burger. He doesn't really like it that much, but between the whole birthday thing and Valentine's Day thing, he obliged. :)

It was delicious! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Risk

There has been a thought that keeps coming to me... about life in general, love, and especially lifting. I've been tossing the words around in my brain for the last month or so, but finally settled on these:

The greater the risk, the greater the chance for disappointment in failure, but also greater the depth joy in success.

In lifting terms, there's a great amount of risk to loading up heavy weight on the bar and deadlifting. The risk of failure is pretty great. There is a slight risk of hurting yourself physically. There's a risk of failing the lift and hurting your pride. But if you take the risk and succeed, your happiness is uncontrollable. Such joy.

In cooking, it's sometimes a risk to try new recipes or spice combinations. And sometimes things don't work out. But when they do, you find out you actually love green beans. And squash soup. Who knew?

In love, it's a great risk to open up your heart completely to another person. There are so many examples of heart-breaking failure. We humans get in our own way so much. We mess things up and make mistakes. There's a greater chance for disappointment. But when love works out, how wonderful and incredible it is. The joy is incomparable.


As as it applies to lifting, I have known failure. It is crushingly defeating to fail a lift that I completed the week before. But those successful days... there are few things on earth that bring that kind of elation.

And as always in life, it seems there are just enough disappointments and failures to keep us soft and compassionate of others, but enough sweetness and success to make it worth it.

I originally posted this picture a long time ago... and I still love it. :) I created the image with roflbot.

Mariah and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

.... or in other words, my birthday last week.

Let's call them birthday surprises.

Started off with a funny one: running out of toilet paper. Lovely.

Then Aunt Flo made her presence known. That bugger is always early for our appointments.

Unfortunately, that skewed things for my body fat test, measurements, etc. later that morning at the gym.

Speaking of the gym, I dropped a 65-pound, loaded bar on my shin. It was pleasant. Note to self: do NOT lose concentration at the bottom of an overhead squat.

It's still pretty painful. But, on a side note, my sweet Adistars were my early birthday present a few months ago. :) I love them.

After the gym, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things. I stepped in a super deep puddle by accident and found out my little suede boots were the opposite of waterproof. Freezing cold, sloshy socks... brr.

And on the way home from the store, I managed to hit a massive pothole on the highway. Literally, there was a chunk of the road missing. Thankfully, I wasn't traveling highway speed because it was a bit snowy/slushy. Regardless, the tire was flat within a quarter mile, or by the time I made it down the offramp of our exit.

Thankfully, I have a hubby that loves me. He was there within 25 minutes, swapped out the snow tire/rim with one of our summer tires/rims in a couple minutes, and I was on my way home. Nothing like eating lunch at 2:30!

We also got the snow tire replaced yet that afternoon, which was great... except for the massive pothole sized dent it left in our checkbook. ;)

The rest of the day went a little bit more smoothly with only a broken lock button on my phone to finish the day off.

I might have done some lounging around in yoga pants that evening. :) And ate bacon. Hey, I'm only human.

Good thing it was my birthday... all the Facebook posts, messages, texts and the few phone calls really brightened my day. :)

And thank goodness my birthday only comes once a year! Phew!

I joined CrossFit... finally!

Well, I did it!

I'm finally a member at our local CrossFit box, CrossFit Appleton.

I had my first workout this morning, which was awesome. Lots of friendly coaching, which is exactly what I need. Better technique = fewer injuries. ;)

After 6 long rest days with only one night of ice skating for physical activity, I also tried re-maxing out on my deadlifts yesterday. I know I can do 240. I am positive. But then I can't do weight math and try for 250 instead of 240... And that was the end of that.

Sigh. Oh well, there's always another day, right? I'll keep my 235 for now. :)



I am also finishing up my Whole 30 (well whole 41, to be exact) on Thursday with measurements, my weight, and a body fat test. I'll take a few "after" pictures too. However, I'm pretty sure those will not reflect the true changes that the Whole 30 has taken me through.

So usual metrics aside, these have been my standards/benchmarks for change: (Sorry, these might get personal.)

-My hormones. I feel like they're finally balancing out. Finally. I still get mood swings, but they seem fewer and farther apart. I guess the true question would be to ask Joel if I'm any easier to live with. Maybe I don't want that answer. ;)

-My complexion. It got worse for awhile in the middle... when I was OD'ing on coconut cream (oh, so yummy), but then evened out after I gave that up.

- The Sugar Dragon. I feel like I've conquered it. You know that thing... where you have cravings for sweets? Especially at the end of meals? Or right before bed? Yeah. Me too. Nearly gone. Now, old habits die hard, but I got some serious work done on this one.

-Like I mentioned earlier, I had discovered how delicious coconut cream is halfway through my Whole 30. And since it was technically legal, I went for it. I used to be that way for almond butter... but that was pretty much off limits for me because it's what they call "food-without-brakes." And that's just like it sounds. Food that you can't stop eating once you start. Speaking of, that is the real beauty of the Whole 30....

-The physiological effect of food. They really delve into your emotional attachment in the book, It Starts With Food (which I highly recommend reading). This is why they say no to things that you can make or create within the guidelines, that still end up being comfort food and mess with your mind. Pancakes is the first one that comes to my mind. Also pizza. You can Paleo-ify these quite easily, but it's still a no-go. They actually call this "sex-with-your-pants-on," which they describe much better than I ever could. ;)

-My digestion is better. I'll leave it at that. ;)

-I'm eating more food than I ever have before. And I feel lean. This is amazing.

-I will never, ever keep track of calories, protein, carbs, fats again. Ever. If I'm hungry, obviously my body needs something. How can my conscious brain know what my body needs better than itself?? I'm still keeping a food and workout log, but no numbers.

-I feel a lot more in tune with my body. Now, I'm not going to start chanting, meditating, and saying Namaste, trust me. What does that even mean, btw? It's a good feeling though.

-My fingernails have skyrocketed. It feels like I'm cutting them every other day. (Random.)

And of course, about the food:

-I can survive 30 days without bacon. Granted, I have connections to sugar-free, junk-free, humanely-raised bacon. It's called U.S. Wellness Meats. But consuming that on a daily basis is waaaayyy out of our price range. And I'm normally okay with spending decent money on quality food.

-I discovered hot plates and weekly cook ups. Basically, you spend one day in the kitchen: you cook up a bunch of meat (ground turkey, beef, etc) and prep a bunch of veggies. Then you can throw your veggies in the pan with oil, add your meat, add in any spice you like (Asian, Mexican, etc) and BOOM. Dinner's on in 10. Yum.

-I developed a taste for green beans. Whaat?

-It's really easy to plan ahead for meals... more than I thought! :)

-I gave up my daily (and sometimes most of the time, 2x daily) protein bar. For good. I gave the rest away. Now I eat meat and sweet potatoes after my workouts. I get some strange looks... ;)

Anyway, this is just a small sample of some of the changes I've noticed, but if you're even thinking about trying it, definitely read their book. They explain everything in detail, but make the science and facts behind their theories so easy to understand.



And this is just funny to me. A lot of them really hit home. You know you're doing the Whole 30 when...

In other news, Joel and I went to my parents last weekend for family pictures, ice skating, and general laziness. It was perfect. And my lovely mother even let me cook everything in coconut oil rather than butter. And I said no to fresh Blue Bunny ice cream. And multiple other sugar-laden nuggets of deliciousness. High five! ;)

I didn't take along any cameras, so no pics here. You'll survive. :) We had a good trip.


Back to regularly scheduled programming... I'm exhausted and headed to bed. :)
(PS. None of these links are affiliate links, just fyi. I'm not making any money off of the Whole 30 program or US Wellness Meats, but I definitely believe in them.)

Today's thoughts.

Today was a weird day.

A new PR in the gym.. 235-pound deadlift which is up by 5 from two weeks ago. I had 240 in my grasp, but lost the mental control over it. (Plus I've been "sick," does that count for anything? :D)

That was pretty awesome.

But last night/this morning I had one of those very REAL dreams. All of my dreams are more vivid and lifelike since I've been doing the Whole 30 this month. (Wow, I'm almost done!) But this one involved my brother Justin.

I haven't dreamt about him in awhile, and usually when I do, it's some kind of scenario or situation where we only thought he died. This morning was no different. So we planned the funeral, gathered the family, and then he "woke up," gave bear hugs all around (oh, I loved those bear hugs!!), and thought it preposterous that we were planning his funeral! Then I wake up with a lonely feeling in the pit of my stomach. Every time I dream about him, I always get one of those awesome bear hugs. 

Mom also had a dream last night... and she also got a hug from Justin. These hugs are so real!!

Interesting. Not that this is completely out of the blue.

A few days ago, the 23rd, was the 2nd anniversary of his death which I didn't post about that on here. Sometimes I think the deep workings of our heart cannot really be put into words. We can't communicate the complexity of feelings we have so we sit in silence, unable to talk.

Justin and I when we were much, much younger.

At times, it seems like just yesterday we threw a bag together on that bitter cold Sunday morning and rushed out the door to Rochester, Minnesota. I don't think the car thermometer got above -20* the whole way there.

We dropped the dog off at Joel's mom and dad's, and began the journey to say goodbye.

How do you say goodbye when you weren't there? When he had already had one heart attack and was airlifted to Mayo? When you were expecting to be there for his surgery which was planned for the very next day? When he's only 25 for crying out loud?

It was the longest 4 hour drive I think I have ever sat through. And really, that was probably the longest day of my life. Once we said goodbye, we headed back to our homes.

The next few days were a haze. I know I had a wedding consultation which I booked, amazingly enough. I had lunch with some of our ministers, but the worst part is, I can only remember one of them for sure. I'm pretty sure who the other two were, but that's quite unnerving not to be positive.

The reality set in when we went home for about a week surrounding the funeral. The family, friends, and outpouring of love was astounding. I can't imagine getting through any intensely difficult time by yourself. I can only attribute my survival to the grace of God and the prayers of others for me.

Why these thoughts today? Could it be Mom and I's dreams? The Puff Daddy song on the radio this afternoon - I'll be Missing You - that reduced me to tears?

I am thankful though, that with the passing of time, there seems to be more and more sweetness of memories and les and less of the bitterness and pain of loss.

So today was interesting. Some decent success in the gym. Plus I found out I'm famous.. ;) I was featured in my gym's magazine earlier this month, and then that magazine was printed on a poster! Cool.

I also had a lovely texting conversation with one of my good friends who's like a little sister to me. :)

But then a very sobering and introspective afternoon... 

Some days I really miss my brother. I miss his positive prospective on life, his love for music, and the twinkle in his eye. Some days when I hear a really great song, a new album by Collective Soul, or even a really great singing/playing/jam session, I just stop and think how he would have loved to hear that.

I'm so thankful for the family and friends that I do have, and I love them all dearly.

This general thought has been on my mind lately: 

Source: Uploaded by user via Mariah on Pinterest

Anyway, if I am going to nip this cold in the bud, I better head off to bed. These were just a few thoughts on my mind today. Thanks for listening and have a good week. :)

Just another Wednesday. Not.

Yup, it's been forever. Like since before Thanksgiving. Oops.

I have a massive post coming up, or rather, probably several small posts for you on the deets of the holidays. But for now, just a quick check in to share some small victories from today.

I power-cleaned 105# for the first time since last July, which at that time was a PR and I only did it once. Today I cleaned it 6 times. (!!)

Even cooler, when I started my lifting program 6 weeks ago, I was worried about cleaning just the 45# bar, due to my shoulder/upper trap injuries. Any upper body work would send me straight to migraine city.

A million thanks to Dr. Alex from Valley Spine & Sport, who has been working with ART, other manual methods, and corrective exercises to fix all my injuries and issues. (Hah! Maybe not all.) Plus, I've not had a migraine or serious headache in almost a month, and after the accident last June, it was a multi-weekly, sometimes daily, occurrence.

He's also been helping me with my hamstring tendinopithy/tendinitis and wacked out hip flexors/adductors. (or is it the abductors? who knows.)

But the icing on the cake? Thanks to the Whole9's Whole 30 program, I have better mental clarity than I've had in months, am eating more than I ever have, and am the leanest I've been since probably last May.

As I was thinking about this today, I was filled with such a thankfulness of how far I have progressed from my injuries. My body is completely loving this break from CrossFit and high-intensity work... and the heavy weights are fun. And even though I'm still not cleared for regular ol' pushups yet (works the wrong muscles and it's back to headache-town!), I have pullups to console me. :)

So much for the Wednesday mid-week blah's!


Ps. These two pins have meant a great deal to me lately:

Source: melodyross.com via Mariah on Pinterest

Source: franklyesoteric.tumblr.com via Mariah on Pinterest

I'm enjoying a simpler, more relaxed life here in this wonderful off-season of photography. :)

P.P.S. If you follow mbaseman on Instagram, you'll see many of the food creations as I'm going along this Whole 30. Fun stuff!

P.P.P.S. Just kidding. :)

Paleo Protein Pancakes and Fried Apples

Pretty normal life lately.. but some fun things thrown in here and there!

We had a couples' game night in Oconomowoc the other week. That was so. much. fun! :)

A rousing game of Pictionary, guys against gals.

A wacky game of "Things."

We need to do more of these! :)

---------------------

In other news, I have been wrapping up my summer projects quite nicely... lots of album designs, orders, and being in touch with my lovely brides.

Training is going pretty well. I guess. I've really been taking it easy the last month or more, trying to heal up some of these nagging injuries. I have been seeing a sports and reconditioning specialist in the area, who has been using ART or active release technology on my messed up muscles. You can read a little write up about Alex and Valley Spine and Sport. He's super knowledgeable and can give you a diagnosis just by walking you through different movements where the pain is plus lack of mobility. If you're struggling with anything, even headaches, please, PLEASE check him out. I cannot refer him enough. Plus, he's a regular chiropractor if needed.

I have a strain/sprain in my left shoulder (don't even ask me about my lack of overhead work and pullups lately.. :/), some issues in both shoulders on top of that, an overactive hip flexor on my right side, as well as hamstring tendinopothy on my right side.

Anything overhead and even some back work aggrivates my shoulders, back squats get my hip flexor going, and deadlifts usually hinder my hamstring more than they help. Doesn't leave me with much, eh?

But we are definitely making progress. Especially as long as I follow the exercises he tells me to do. And follow his "be smart" advice. ;) The cool part is, Alex is an athlete and CrossFitter himself, so he understands (and actually supports) my desire to keep being active. I love that attitude.

So. I keep plugging along. Slowly.

Oh, I almost forgot though. Not sure if the blog world knows. I've been working on deadlifting lately, and will be starting a program to add about 20-ish pounds or so. My latest numbers have been 215x5 at the top of a 5x5, and I pulled up 220x1 just for fun after one of them because I was having a strong day. Not bad for my incapacitated state, eh? I think the deadlifting program will be good for me (as does Alex) since we can tweak a few things to help my hamstring vs. make it worse. Plus it will give my upper body a break from so much Cross Fit. One would think the last month and a half would be a break enough....

---------------------

Anyway, now that we're back to regularly scheduled programming, I can actually post the few recipes now and then that I've been creative with in the past few months.

Tonight I was jonesing for something... not sure what. Something interesting that I didn't have in my fridge or pantry already. Something that seemed like comfort food. But outside the rut I have fallen in lately. I had an apple that had been sitting on my counter that I figured was probably stale and gross. Random, but it needed to be used or thrown.

Since I've been regularly sauteing up carrots with coconut flakes (in coconut oil, obviously) with my eggs in the morning, I've gotten in the habit of frying anything I can. It's a good way to get more coconut oil in my diet! :) Which, a quick side note: I'm pretty sure there isn't a single bad thing about coconut oil.

As another example, I found these "hot dogs" the other day. Another great Woodman's find! :)

This was so incredible: carrots, broccoli, the hot dogs cut up like sausage, and spinach all sauteed in coconut oil.

Anyway, I figured the apple was shot from sitting there so long, so I might as well try frying it! Heh.

I threw a little cinnamon in with it... wow, guess it wasn't bad! It ended up a bit soft in the middle, a bit crispy on the outside and the perfect topping to my pancakes! Imagine the flavor with a fresh, fully sweet apple.

The major players, plus an egg, some stevia, a smidge of baking soda, and some extra water.

Now, isn't that a perfectly puffy pancake?

My first pancake wasn't so perfect, but the pan was too hot. Note to self.

I drizzled a little bit of almond milk (and even a spot of honey for my very last bite) and chowed down. Yes. The whole entire batch. Four large pancakes. With a fried cinnamon apple. Mm.

By the way, I did get the idea here for these
Protein Pancakes with Fried Apples

Ingredients:

1 c. almond flour
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/3 c. almond milk or more as needed
1 egg
1/4 tsp. baking soda
water as needed, to make it pourable but not too runny
small apple, sliced or diced
cinnamon
stevia, to taste
coconut oil (for frying)
honey or maple syrup to top (optional)

Steps:

1. Heat coconut oil in your pan. Add apple slices/pieces and cinnamon. Let saute for a few minutes on each side.
2. Mix almond flour, vanilla protein powder, almond milk, the egg, baking soda, and a few drops of stevia. Add water as needed to make it slightly runny and batter-like.
3. Pour into the pan, flip when there are a few bubbles in the batter.
4. Garnish with fried apples, coconut flakes, honey, maple syrup or any combination you choose. Fresh berries would be delicious too.

And, as always, enjoy. :) I certainly did!




Hope your weekend is going well, and your Thanksgiving plans are well under way! :)