"Paleo-fying" and Pot Roast

I just signed up for CFSP's month-long paleo diet challenge, where I'll be encouraged to maintain a pretty strict paleo diet and check-in weekly with other challengers. This is the first time we're doing something like this at the gym, and it honestly could not come soon enough for me!

We did Barbara today at the gym, and it was brutal. More brutal than the WOD was the heavy feeling of the Vietnamese sandwich I had at lunch. While it was full of bright veggies and lean chicken, it was also wrapped in white bread. Bad move. I have to remember that my body is fueled by what I put in it, and when I eat something grainy and heavy, I usually feel pretty bad the rest of the day. I want to contrast this with eating for body composition. I think a lot of people may get confused and think that my paleo diet is a "true" diet in the common connotation of the word: that I eat the way I do because I'm trying to maintain a certain weight or get skinny. In reality, I eat the "crazy" way I do because it makes me feel good. And what's more, when I do cheat or fall off the paleo wagon every so often, I don't feel any guilt or remorse like other dieters. No, white bread at lunch isn't going to drastically change the way I look, it just changes my overall feeling and the way I perform at WODs. It's no biggie, but I like to stay on track as much as I can.

The first step to paleo eating for me is a process I call "paleo-fying" my pantry. I get rid and refuse to buy anything that may encourage me to "relapse" into the standard American diet of cereals and sugars. If I must buy sweets, I only buy the most pure and dark chocolate (and sometimes I don't even keep THAT in my house). Everything in my refrigerator or my pantry fits with the paleo plan: nuts, lean meats, fresh vegatables, cans of coconut milk. While getting in gear for the upcoming paleo challenge, the hardest part for me is going to be giving up my weekly Greek yogurt purchase. I've never stopped eating dairy before, but that will be my way of further "paleo-fying" my current diet. In it to win it!

Obviously, the next step after paleo-fying your local environment in your own kitchen is to paleo-fy any situations you might encounter. I know sometimes it's difficult - eating is pleasurable and is often social. Heck, I fell into it today when I had already brought my own chicken curry lunch to school, but then got a call from Janine asking to meet up for lunch. Sandwiches and fro-yo for dessert it is. I'm not saying that you should turn down these opportunities to be social and eat out (paleo IS part of an evolutionary nutrition model, and being social is also very important from an evolutionary perspective), but it's important to stay strong, stick to your guns, and keep your ultimate goals in mind.

I'm reminded of when I used to be vegetarian (don't laugh!). I didn't eat meat for two years, and I was super vigilant about checking ingredients or substituting things out at restaurants. Or take my roommate for example, who has an egg allergy - she's even more cautious than a vegetarian! Well, think of eating paleo as kind of like that: like you're taking a stand against eating grains or that you're allergic to sugar. That's how I do it at least.

Ok, enough with the ramblings and onto the real reason we're all here: food recipes! This week I'm living off the yellow chicken curry I made over the weekend as well as a pot roast I prepared during Degrassi the Boiling Point (EPIC highlight of my summer btw).

Roasts are great because you just need to cut up some veggies, sear some meat, layer it in a crock pot with some liquid and then leave for 7-8 hours. What more could a busy cook need? You can do any Google search for pot roast recipes, and I combined a few different ones to come up with this one that I really enjoyed. It might be a little on the salty side, so I might recommend using water or dry red wine as the liquid as opposed to the chicken broth I used. You could also lesson the amount of seasoning salt you use. I had to work with what the CSA box gave me this week, but be creative - any roast of beef and any combination of vegetables will work, so if you're on a budget, work with what's on sale!

Pot Roast
2.5 pounds chuck roast (round roast works too)
6 small carrots (or 3 medium-sized ones), sliced, chopped, however you like 'em
2 small sweet Spanish onions (or 1 medium), sliced
4-5 small red potatoes, quartered
1/4 head green cabbage, quartered or shredded
5 strips lean bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup chicken stock (red wine/water/any liquid)
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
Seasoning salt (see below) or pot roast spice blend, any seasoning for meat

Season the roast on all sides with the seasoning of your choice. I make my own seasoning salt and use it on everything, but you could also just mix different proportions of your favorite spices together in a bowl or buy a premade beef seasoning mix from a bulk section. Let the roast sit and warm up to room temperature while you cut up your vegetables and the bacon.

In a large skillet on medium-high, cook the bacon until done. Remove and drain on a paper-towel lined plate, leave the bacon grease in the skillet. In the skillet, sear the roast on all sides (about 4-5 minutes per side). Move roast to a plate. In the same skillet, saute the carrots and onions for about 2-3 minutes, just to meld all the flavors together. Throw the carrots, onions, and potatoes into the crock pot. Place the roast on top of the veggies. Cover it all with the chicken stock and the Worcestershire sauce.

Set your crock pot on low for 7 hours (mmmm, sleep!). After 7 hours, throw in the bacon bits and the cabbage shreds on top and cook for another hour. Enjoy!

Seasoning Salt
I got this recipe from my Seriously Simple cookbook, which I love even though it's not the most paleo cookbook. It's got a lot of great tidbits of information on time-saving in the kitchen and making cooking simple, and all the recipes are pretty easily paleo-fied. This salt goes on everything - seared steaks, grilled chicken, sauteed veggies. It makes about 4 cups, so either halve the recipe or get a good dry, dark space to store it in (can be stored for 6 months).

30 garlic cloves, peeled and ends cut off
1.5 cups kosher salt
1 Tb onion powder
2 Tb paprika
3 Tb chile powder
2 Tb ground white pepper
2 Tb celery seed
1 Tb ground ginger
1 Tb poulry seasoning
1 Tb dry mustard
1 Tb dried dill

Mince the garlic cloves in a food processor. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl and then add to the garlic. Pulse until mixed well and completely blended, using a rubber spatula every so often to move the ingredients around. Store in an airtight container.