Tuesday Tallies: Primal Menus and Movement

Once again, here's my infrequent answer to the frequently asked questions, "What do you eat?" and "How do you work out?" (Click here to view more Tuesday Tallies.)

Monday's Food as Fuel

Breakfast -- Omelet with onion, cheddar, and spinach. Sliced tomato and avocado. Coffee.

Lunch -- Lamb burger (with *gasp* bun, at a restaurant), Asian slaw, and beer.

Dinner -- Cold chicken thigh. Roasted zucchini. Blueberries with coconut cream.

Monday's Workout

One hell of a climb straight up the ski slopes at Baldy, for lunch at the restaurant at the top. (By the way, this counts among my best dates ever.)


Wednesday's Food as Fuel

Breakfast -- Two egg and sausage muffins (mini-frittatas baked in muffin cups, not Egg McMuffins!), sliced tomato and avocado, cilantro garnish. Coffee.

Lunch -- Big ass salad with organic greens from my garden, tuna, green onion, olive oil and lemon juice. Spearmint iced tea.

Dinner -- Bunless burger with spicy mustard. Zucchini and carrots sauteed with garlic and butter.

Wednesday's Workout

4x rotation of backsquats, pullups, weighted HLRs, and bench presses.

Friday's Food as Fuel

Breakfast: Big ass salad with the last of my garden greens, roasted red pepper, green olives, garden peas, tuna, fresh basil, olive oil and lemon juice.

Lunch: 2 savory egg muffins and half a cup of blueberries.

Dinner: Cold chicken thigh. Beet greens, carrot, and garlic sauteed in bacon grease. Small sweet potato. Red wine and 99% chocolate.

Friday's Workout

Had planned for bodyweight/gymnastics, but decided to skip it after a stressful week.

Saturday's Food as Fuel

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with fresh herbs, onion, and peppers. Bacon. Sliced tomato and avocado.

Lunch: Spinach salad with chicken (dark meat), green onion, boiled beetroot, oil and vinegar. Handful of cherries. Iced herbal tea.

Dinner: Chile verde with sour cream and cilantro. Blueberries with coconut milk. 99% chocolate.

Saturday's Workout

Long day of farm work (horse training, miscellaneous repairs, chores, and duck wrangling). 4x rotation of heavy lunges, weighted situps, deadlifts, and military presses.

Sunday's Food as Fuel

Breakfast: 2 savory egg muffins. Baked apple with warm spices and coconut milk. Coffee.

Lunch: Spinach salad with chicken, boiled beets and carrots, tomato, garden peas, avocado, olive oil and vinegar. Iced herbal tea.

Dinner: Chile verde with sour cream. Berry-tea paleo popsicle.

Sunday's Workout

Another long farm day. Even longer, actually. Long enough that a formal workout was rendered quite unnecessary.

Notes:

Although I normally include 4 or more 16-hour IFs in my weekly routine, I've temporally laid off them out of respect for my current stress levels. As Robb Wolf says, IFing is for people who have everything else dialed in -- not people who are dealing with too much stress, lack of sleep, high training levels, injury, etc. I'll go back to it when work settles down a bit.

The highly observant among you may have noticed that I've cut back on my nut consumption. I don't have any known issues with nuts, but my new Carlson's fish oil adds about 400 calories to my daily intake. So, I can clearly afford to nix my usual 1/4 cup of nuts from my salads. Extra O-3's instead of extra O-6's? Yes, please.

Also, I'm making a concerted effort (again) to bump up my carb intake for extra energy. Summer days on the farm are very long and active, especially when combined with the mental/emotional stress of my job, plus formal workouts, and I find that I run better when I take in at least 85g/carbs daily. Up to 125 (!!!) seems to work well.

I've become so accustomed to keeping carbs low that I have to actually pay attention to eating extra (by trading them in for a bit of protein and fat; note my moderately reduced meat intake). I have to remember that anything under 150g or so is still waaaaaay less than the damaging quantity of carbohydrate consumed by most westerners. Also, I'm choosing high-quality, paleo carbohydrates rather than harmful ones like grains and legumes. Carbs are not evil! They have their place; I need to give it to them.

Grokking on...