Wednesday, August 31, 2011

How to Eat Clean When Surrounded by Free Food and Curbing Temptations

Truffle Salt, my free food remedy.

Sticking to a clean diet has been a huge challenge for me, especially because I am surrounded by free food almost all day, everyday.  I am a Software Engineer in Silicon Valley.  I have a hard time controlling myself, especially since food is so convenient.  For example, if there are jalapeno poppers laying out, all cooked, warm, and smelling delicious, I will start by eating one (hey, it's just one), then two (it's just one more), and then before I know it, I have devoured at least 20 of them.


I was in denial for awhile.  I claimed that I eat "mostly Paleo," except on binge day, once a week.  However, I would "cheat" every few days with a small piece of white chocolate.  Few days turned into a couple of days, and then turned into every other meal.  Those white chocolate pieces were getting larger and then I was adding ice cream, fried food, rice, and occasionally pasta.  All those "cheat" meals added up and soon enough, I had performance issues at the gym.


So how does one stay Paleo for more than a couple days straight?  What about minimizing fructose temptations?  This is what worked for me.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Roam Artisan Burgers

Delicious lettuce-wrapped grass-fed beef burger at Artisan Roam Burgers in SF.

Eating out while on Paleo can be pretty challenging because I have to know exactly what is in my food.  I have been strict Paleo for a few weeks now and I did not want to ruin the long streak.  However, this weekend my really good friend Devon came to visit.  I really did not want to cheat (but knew I might have to) so I did some research on Paleo-friendly restaurants in the Bay Area.


I stumbled upon Roam Artisan Burgers in San Francisco.  Their tag line is: "made fresh with mindful ingredients."  The restaurant serves 100% grass-fed beef and free-range, all-natural turkey and bison gourmet burgers.  In addition, it also had a lot of great reviews on Yelp.  A lot of reviewers claimed this place to have "the best tasting burger, EVER!"  After getting the okay from everyone, we headed to Roam Artisan Burgers for dinner on Saturday night.



Thursday, August 25, 2011

Primal Energy Bars

Primal Energy Bars: Blueberry Brownie.

This recipe is from Mark's Daily Apple.  It is one of my favorite Paleo/Primal snack recipes.  I made this recipe a bunch of times with different modifications each time.  The original recipe is below with my comments inline.


Monday, August 22, 2011

Vietnamese Minced Pork

Vietnamese Minced Pork!

The Paleo version of a childhood favorite!  A very quick (~10 minutes), easy and tasty dish to make.

I know a lot of my recent posts have been recipes.  I am trying to stick to a strict Paleo diet for the next few weeks after some bad WOD performances during the second week of August.  Look for a couple posts on my experience and how to eat clean while surrounded by free food in a couple weeks!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Guacamole Deviled Eggs with Bacon

Gucamole Deviled Eggs with Bacon!

If I had to list my top 10 favorite food, deviled eggs would definitely be on that list!  Here is a quick recipe I like to make for breakfast, inspired by Mark's Daily Apple's Fat Guacamole Devils.  I doubled the recipe (since what are you going to do with that other half of the avocado before it turns brown) and added bacon and tomatoes.  I usually eat half for breakfast and then combine everything into one big mixture to bring to work.


 Another random off-topic note: I updated my post on blister-free pull-ups.  Anyway, on to the recipe!


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Yummy Dumplings

Yummy Dumplings!

This is one of my favorite dishes to eat!  I probably made these every week for the past months and have not gotten sick of it yet.  I usually double the recipe and make them for lunch at work.  When I make them for dinner, Eugene and I will eat every single one of them, so there are no leftovers.  There is no need for the dipping sauce, or even salt and pepper, as the dumplings are already full of flavor!


Monday, August 15, 2011

Homemade Orange Bursts

Homemade Orange Bursts!!

Last week I ordered a Food Dehydrator Kit from Amazon so I can make jerky, kale chips, and those expensive orange bursts  snacks I get at the California Avenue Farmer's Market every weekend.  The kit came with five trays, a jerky gun, two Clean-A-Screens, and some other stuff.  The first thing I tried to make were those delicious dried oranges.  In my opinion, these taste way better than the ones I was buying from Old Creek Ranch!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Dips

Weighted Dips: my new thing!

Recently, I got very into dips.  I'm not sure if it's because we now have dip belts at the gym or what.  It's just my new favorite thing.  One of my goal is to string 10 ring dips together and to get better at dips overall.  My limiting factor for doing multiple muscle ups in a row is pressing out of that very deep ring dip.  It would also be awesome to do a weighted dip with 50# (approximately half my bodyweight).



Monday, August 8, 2011

2011 Reebok CrossFit Games - Day 3

Jason driving the sled home during the last event, finishing overall in 7th place!

We spent most of Day 3 of the CrossFit Games watching all of the final events.  It was intense!  We also managed to enter a couple more mini contests at Vendor Village.   

Thursday, August 4, 2011

2011 Reebok CrossFit Games - Day 2

Some of the ladies at KI Athletics!

Day 2 of the CrossFit Games was the day where we really took advantage of the spectator experience: the food, the vendors, the mini competitions, and the sports series area.  Ana, Ben, Dheeraj and I woke up at 6:45am, put on our blue Khalipa shirts, ate a quick breakfast, got coffee, applied tons of sunscreen, and then headed to the Home Depot Center to catch the men's WOD4 event at 8am.  The Home Depot Center was packed from the very early morning!  I believe it was almost at full capacity!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

2011 Reebok CrossFit Games - Day 1

Team Khalipa after WOD1 at Santa Monica Beach early Friday morning!

Day 1 of the CrossFit Games was unique and packed with excitement as the first WOD was on the beach in Santa Monica!  Ana, Ben, Dheeraj and I woke up at 5:45am last Friday to cheer Jason on, played at Muscle Beach for a bit, and then headed to the Home Depot Center for more action!  We stayed there until about 9:30pm, after the final men's heat for WOD3.  Had I known I was going to come home with a couple weeks worth of CrossFit swag I would have packed wayyyyy less!



Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Congratulations Jason!!!

Congratulations to Jason Khalipa for placing 7th in the 2011 CrossFit Games!!

Congratulations to our trainer and fearless leader, Jason Khalipa for finishing in 7th place at the 2011 CrossFit Games!!!  It is truly an honor to be coached by one of the fittest people on earth!

Check out my post on Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 at the games!



Monday, August 1, 2011

Valley CrossFit

The Valley CrossFit Hummer!

En route to Carson for the 2011 CrossFit Games, Ana, Ben, Dheeraj and I decided to catch a WOD at the famous Valley CrossFit!  One of the main reasons why we wanted to visit this box is because it is home to some of the most bad-ass people in CrossFit!  Kris Clever, Becca Voigt, Katie Hogan, Lindsey Valenzuela, just to name a few.


Check out their new location in my most recent visit here (07-12-2012).