I Found a New Drug!!!

Remember this video?  I once saw them in concert.

I love pizza.  No......wait.......I can devour pizza.......no wait.......if pizza is around, I now need to leave the room.  In fact, the only connection I have to any kind of recovering addict is that I imagine them needing to get out of dodge when they are in the presence of whatever it is they are addicted to.  Ask the folks with whom I work.  Schools order pizza all the time for kids.  In the past, I could never.....ever have just one slice.  I just could not control how many slices I ate.  Have I mentioned I love pizza?!!?  On a Paleo diet, sausage and cashews (not together, of course) are the same for me.  I'm working on not eating cashews for this entire week.  Not easy.  But back to the pizza......

My favorite:  New York Style:  The thin crust and savory sauce.  

I don't need all that doughy Chicago style crust.  I don't hate it.  Don't get me wrong.  I just prefer taking a trip back memory lane to my aunt's house in Brooklyn and now Staten Island.  Nothing beats actually going into a real pizzeria and taking in that waft of Italian air baking in those huge ovens.  

So what's all this have to do with a blog about being healthy?

Well tonight, I took a stab at my first Paleo pizza and I found my new drug, Huey Lewis fans!!!  I took the recipe from one of my favorite Paleo blogs

This gal is the real deal.  She's a certified Crossfit coach and a mother of three!  Go to her "About" page and get the link to her before/after pics. of her.  She has truly transformed her body the healthy way.  

I took her Paleo pizza recipe and followed it exactly.  I was concerned that the crust was not as hard as her recipe makes it sound, but it ended up working out.  Here's the link to her recipe if you are interested as I can not take any of the credit.  

My discovery:  The almond meal is not the same as floury dough.  No real earth shattering breakthrough there, huh?  But.....it was good.  In fact, if I would have doubled the amount of rosemary I put in, I think it would have been really good.  And.....next time I won't cook it as long.  But......this MOST DEFINITELY fills the void left by choosing to omit such foods from my diet to attain the fitness goals for which I am striving.  This meal confirmed for me that living a Paleo lifestyle is more than attainable with real food.  It just takes some extra time and patience.  On a side note, tonight is my wife's night to work, so I'm Mr. Mom for the few hours that she is gone.  When I put the Paleo pizza on the table, my seven and five year old both said.....

"What is that?!?!"

"That does not look like pizza, dad!"

"I don't like this crust."

"Yeah, dad.  You need to work on the crust for next time."

Tough crowd.....However.........both kids ate both of their slices!!!  

So it can be done.

Here's a few shots of the b/f and after......

Crust on pan raw.  Pretty thin.  I was worried it was going to be too thin.

Crust after baking for 20 minutes.  I was wrong.  It turned out to be just the right thickness.

Finished product:  Sausage, black olives, onions, and spinach!!!

I found a new drug!!!!

P.S.:  On day 10 of my 30 Day Paleo Challenge.  Read my journal here.  

Aggie

I'm not a big multiple post per day kind of guy, but I wanted to share a little bit more of what happened today.

It's Sunday and usually a rest day, but given my back injury, yesterday was my first WOD in 7 days.  See previous post, Annie for details.  Today, my buddy Mike asks me to come over and make up a WOD together given that Crossfit Carmel is closed on Sundays.  We come up w/the following:

25 double unders

25 air squats

25 push ups

4x for time 

Mike was jealous I showcased my pooch this a.m., so he dubbed today's WOD, Aggie.  He does have a freakin' good pooch as you can see, however she has not taken a bullet, is not blind in her eye from being stabbed, and her tail is in superior shape.  But this post and WOD was bigger than Aggie (sorry Mike and Jayme) which I will explain......

...........Last night I veered of the Paleo path and found my family and me at a gem of a restaurant in Carmel, Indiana.  Pizzology!  While I had the best bowl of muscles in this history of my life, I added two very scrumptious hoppy ales from The Victory Brewing Co. later that night with my trusty neighbor, Don.

1 Hop Devil and 1 Hop Wallop

Some of the best food and pale ale I've had in awhile.  But..........remember Aggie.....this story was bigger than that pooch right???!?!??!

Here goes......I spent 30 days on a strict Paleo diet.  I felt great.  I saw gains at Crossfit, and I JUST.  FELT.  GREAT!  I woke up this a.m. and I'll spare you the details of how my stomach was acting.  After the newly dubbed Aggie WOD, I felt reflux in my chest and my stomach ached a bit.  A far cry from how I felt after WODS while on my 30 day challenge.  While I believe in having that cheat meal or even a cheat day (whichever you can handle w/out going overboard), I don't like how the food and beverage made me feel the day after.  Granted, I've been off Crossfit for a week, I still know my stomach, and I know how it felt when I was not eating those foods.  So I've made the following conclusions:

#1:  Pizza is a food I often can not control, so I can not have pizza and beer together as a cheat meal and expect to feel good and perform well during a WOD a day or two later.  I'm not 17 anymore.

#2:  Beer can only be a treat once per week at the most and not in huge excess.

#3:  I don't like how I feel after beer and pizza now that I know what it was like during my 30 day challenge.  

#4.  The contrast b/t how I felt today versus how I felt when eliminating such foods/drink is incredible.  

#5:  It's easy to slip on dietary habits when injured or coming back from an injury.  

Thanks Aggie!!!