Hey!! We have about 25 people going Paleo tomorrow and Zoning too. Awesome. If you are not one of these people be ready to be a little bit patient with your fellow CrossFitters in the next couple weeks as they adjust to a new way of eating. And then, watch out… Well, I’ve been to the Farmer’s Market and Sunflower Market today. I will say that in my current life I do not have a lot of time to cook and I love to cook, so this is sad for me. Anyway, consequently my contribution to the idea-bank will be the practical, fast, not-necessarily gourmet ideas. Here I am with a bag of already cooked shrimp, checking the label. The label is helpful beyond belief: 9 shrimp are 14g of protein and 0.5g fat, or 2 Protein Zone blocks and not-even-worth-worrying-about Fat Blocks. So, since I will be eating 3 blocks at my meal and Carl will eat 6 I am going to need 13.5 shrimp+27 shrimp. I am going to serve our shrimp on 2c of steamed broccoli (or whatever green veg needs to get eaten first) for me and 4c for Carl and a heap of baby spinach. In my VitaMix I am going to put a bit of raw garlic and fresh ginger with a little rice vinegar. I might add a few drops of toasted sesame oil because it will taste delicious. Then I will measure 1t of olive oil on mine and 2 on Carl’s. Then because I really like Carl and he really doesn’t like enormous quantities of vegetables, I will make up the rest of his carb blocks as 3 little Clementines. One meal down…
Breakfast will be shredded green cabbage cooked with onion and lean turkey bacon, with fruit for those of us who can’t bear the idea of 6 blocks worth of vegetables at breakfast…
A third meal will likely be the unimaginative combination of mountains of baby lettuces purchased at the Farmer’s Market, proper ounces of lean deli turkey, celery and cucumber in quantity to make up my Carb blocks and an apple for the rest of Carl’s. I will add the proper amount of olive oil and some herb salt.
As a side note, I will make all 3 of these meals in about an hour in the morning. Two of them will go into my cooler bag because once we leave home mid-morning we won’t be home until 9:30pm. I will most certainly make enough to have as leftovers in the next couple days while I am at it. My guess is that 1 hour of cooking will get me about 5 meals. Good luck everyone.
I’m ready! I did my shopping and a bunch of chopping and separating so everything is easy to throw together when needed.
I have two questions though:
For salad dressing, can I add vinegar to my olive oil?
Is beef jerky ok or no-go?
Thanks, Jen! Very helpful info here!!
Yeah, I really like learning about what others are eating. It helps me come up with fresh (pun intended) ideas.
Ok, this great, though I must say hearing about Carl getting 6 blocks makes me a bit envious of being a man ( a way I rarely if ever feel
). Breakfast 2oz roasted turkey breast, 1 egg, 2.5 points worth of salad and .5 points of salsa made into a dressing with Braggs and 2/3 tsp of olive for 3:3:3. It is nice to be in this all together.
Thanks Jen, very helpful for future meals. I have just tried coconut oil for the first time. eggs cooked in cnt oil with avocado and salsa,(pretty good). I also bought some tahini, any ideas?
Good luck to everyone taking on the Paleo Zone. I’ve been doing the Zone for seven weeks and have lost 12 pounds. One word of workout caution: My muscles felt like crap for two weeks! Cardio was worse than Cross Fit but everything felt weak. If you are used to eating more carbohydrates than 40% be compassionate with yourself! Work through it…your body will figure out what it needs to do. I got back to feeling like my strong, fit self on day 16 or 17.
The quantity of protein this sets me up for is so far beyond what I usually eat. I went to the farmer’s market on Sunday and bought $80 worth of meat, fish and eggs. If it lasts me a week then the price is fine, and it should last me a week… but it was still pretty shocking.
I know its a sticky point, but what other sources of protein can we consider besides meat and protein powder? There must be some seed/nuts/beans that can provide adequate protein. Kim mentioned chia seeds?
Eating 5-6-6 myself — breakfasts will probably consistently be 3 eggs, 2 turkey sausages (any suggestions where to get decent ones? Supermarket freezers terrify me), 1.25 Cup Orange Juice and 2/3 tsp butter to finish up the fat.
Sunflower has excellent freshly-made chicken sausage, in a variety of flavors (I think the options differ daily but there is almost always hot italian).
I’m also a HUGE fan of TJ’s turkey meatballs as well as the turkey meatballs in the freezer section at Sunflower.
Jen can I get a reminder about how many grams in a fat block? I didnt write it down and now I am hoping my breakfast included it (3eggs with mushrooms, spinach and salsa). Im still working on the measurements and am kindof aproximating at this point.
I just finished my Paleo-Zone lunch. It was kind of like a CrossFit workout. About a third of the way through the meal, I didn’t think I would be able to finish. But I pressed on, alternating soup and salad, until I completed the task! I had a ridiculously huge salad which included 5c lettuce, one 8″ cucumber, 1/2c onion, 10 olives, 1/3T olive oil, and vinegar. I also had homemade chicken soup with 3oz meat and a few veggies to round out the carbs.
Hi Briar and everyone, I have been exploring the zone website. I was also wondering how many grams made up each block. Here is what I found 7 grams of protein per protein block, 9 grams of carb per carb block, and 1.5g of fat per fat block. There is also a more extensive food list on the zone site. I will warn you that when I did some extensive searching a while back I found that all of the lists agree what consititutes a fat and protein block but there is quite a bit of variation on how they count the carbs as far as quantity of veggies. Hope everyone is having a good first day. It helps me to know you are all doing it!
Oh yeah, and I also want to thank Dave for coaching me through the workout at our CrossFit Games on saturday. I was unable to show any appreciation at that time. So thanks for keeping me motivated, Dave!
We are using 3 grams of fat per fat block. (THANK GOODNESS!)
Thanks for the correction Rach- so good to know!
Is salt ok?
Hey guys,
I’m really excited about this two week challenge and wanted to give some words of encouragement to those of you starting a paleo diet. After taking Jen’s awesome advice back in December, I started eating strictly paleo. Eating paleo was a little hard at first with all the weighing and measuring but I quickly got the hang of it. You will too. In March, I added blocks to the paleo diet and I’m almost at my own personal goal. To Ryan, the amount of food is overwhelming at first but you get used to it. Remember that our bodies are happiest when fueled with a balanced amount of protein, carbs and fat. Good luck to everyone and welcome to the paleo zone. It really does work!
Rachel,
No problem, you killed it! It was great to see everyone pushing so hard on Saturday. I had a ton of fun.
And double kudos to Rachel for being able to finish that salad! I definitely would have buckled and just taken the easy out with some fruit.
Lunch, 3 blocks: 4.5 oz salmon with squeeze of lemon and dill, poached so no fat. 9 almonds. green drink made with half apple, 1/4 c orange/carrot juice, and mixture of spinach/celery/cucumber to form additional carb block, then added water for desired thickness.
I usually add some watermelon or cantelope to my drink for a little more added sweetness but that would throw me over in my carb portion today. So I had to force down a drink that is more bitter than I’m used to. Gonna have to make adjustments for next time.
Creating and calculating meals is actually kinda fun!
You are welcome, Nikki! I love fat!
Just remember if you are looking on the Zone website for food lists, a lot of it is not Paleo. Congratulations everyone! Day One DONE!
Well, I limped through today….measuring out my nuts in single digits…….. UUUHMM I usually eat them in handfulls. I am adding some cottage cheese to protein options. I am hungry & it is bed-time
……..Say a collective prayer for me as I will spend the next 2 day in the unhealthy hospital environment… bowls of candy & crap everywhere. JUST SAY NO!! I want to thank, Carl, Jen, Jenny, Kate, Mike & Bryon for their encouragement. I can’t believe I have been crossfitting for a month. You are all awesome & I feel welcomed & inspired to be healthier, stronger & maybe someday kick mike’s ass at something 
…probably cartwheels. 
PS my favorite workouts have been with Jenny leading & Kate pitching in… Karen, Rachel, Kathy & I cheering each other on. I needed some of that woman power. Each person representing a step I would like to achieve… THANKS LADIES!!!
I found out today that trying to cram in my dinner post-Grace and pre-teaching isn’t such a great idea. Yes, I use 3g of fat per block. You all workout and if I have one nutrition mantra it is that good fat is great. Particularly while you are getting off the crack as they say in CrossFit. Ryan, as all my vegetarian clients hear until they are sick of me-it is all about the meat. I completely agree about the cost. Trader Joe’s and Sunflower are a must for me (until we have 250 members at our Affiliate!) as they are perhaps not my ideal meat sources, but affordable for my large family. I use chicken thighs instead of breast for example because they are much cheaper even organic. Karen, tahini can be counted as fat blocks and it is delicious as part of a lemon juice, sea salt dressing or to baste on chicken or fish. Mmmmm, Paleo.
Erin, I will keep an eye on Mike’s weaknesses when he doesn’t know I am watching. Hang in there. I will enlist Chris Hardy as a spy. I am hungry too. A good reason to go to sleep now.
One more thing: Christine, sea salt is fine. And go ahead and add vinegar or lemon juice or whatever and don’t worry about it. Just keep track of the fat. If I missed anyone’s questions, ask me again!
Erin, You have been doing awesome! I love teaching the 9am class! Everyone has been so encouraging to eachother and working great together. Thank YOU for all your hard work. I am doing the paleo-zone thing too, for the first time. I’m right there with you guys.