#zonepaleo

I think a lot of us in the health/fitness/nutrition world have dealt with this at some point.

Precommitment is the way we limit our choices while we're still far (distance or time) from the temptation. 

&

Time inconsistency, which is the way our feelings or preferences change through time, along with our desires.

=

the feeling of failure.

I firmly believe:

food is fuel

we should eat according to our goals

nutrition is more important than the world thinks

our food choices affect our performance (athletically or otherwise)

our nutritional choices can heal us

but, we should live a little

When the first 5 points collide with my last point, is where problems arise. So many of us (ding, ding, ding: ME) are 100% in everything we do. We have goals, we figure out how to achieve them, we plan our days and weekends (precommitment), and then the issue of (time inconsistency) gets us. Often we feel regret, guilt, or even failure. Because having a laid back weekend sharing pizza, ice cream, and beer won't get you to the goals that you 'precommitted' yourself to, right? Right.

How do we detach from this feeling. If I could figure it out, I'd tell you. What I have found is that along with creating goals, we tend to set a goal date, or time period to achieve it in. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe one 'not-so-ideal-food-choice' weekend did throw you off your game. Maybe you gained a few pounds or struggled in the gym the next week. But rather than seeing that as wasted time, or as though you are a failure, why not look at the big picture. If you were to just keep going, keep pushing toward your goal...you'd get there. No matter how many 'occasional' pints of Ben & Jerry's you eat. Just keep it up. Maybe you won't acheive your goal by the exact date you wanted to. So maybe it takes two extra weeks..or a month..or even a year? Guess what? You'd get there.

The time will pass anyway. Focus on your goals.

I am writing this to myself, obviously. I have always been very goal-oriented and get frustrated when I think I've lost my motivation. The best way I've found to stay dedicated to my goals is to live 80%/20%. Maybe even 90%/10%. No matter how I think of it, I know that if I'm consistent at least 80-90% of the time, I'll get where I want to be.

Alright, my 6 week Zone-Paleo challenge is over now. It took me a total of 5 hours post-challenge to make Paleo Blueberry Muffins with coconut crumble on top (See recipe below!). As you can guess, I didn't really have much to write about unless it was to complain so I sort of kept off tumblr for the most part. I was pretty strict for 6 weeks on a 2 block zone meal plan, keeping it very paleo.

I had alcohol twice and 1 cheat meal (Valentines Day) throughout the entire 6 weeks. Not too bad! And ya know what? I didn't really see any better results than I've seen while just staying Paleo. I've got a good deal of muscle mass, but I can't really chalk that up to Zone.

I do have a much better idea of how balanced my meals should be and I'll definitely take a lot of that with me in the future. I do thoroughly enjoy preparing all of my fruits and veggies ahead of time because otherwise they sit in the drawer in my refrigerator and spoil. That equals a lot of money wasted :(

I do love being creative with Paleo and baking is a passion. I understand that it's not entirely paleo and that people tend to stray from this in order to truely reap the benefits, but sometimes I need to indulge without cheating too badly. So I made these:

  **Paleo Blueberry Muffins with Coconut Crumble Topping**

(I based this recipe off of Paleoholics muffin recipe and added my own topping)

2 Cups Almond Flour

2 Eggs

2 Egg Whites

1/4 Cup Honey or Maple Syrup

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Dash of Salt

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Tbsp Coconut Oil

1 Cup Blueberries

TOPPING

3-4 Tbsp Almond Flour (add more of less, for crumbly consistency)

2-3 Tbsp Shredded Coconut

2 Tbsp Honey

1 Tbsp Coconut Oil (warmed/liquid)

1 Tbsp Coconut Butter or Ghee (if you're cool with butter, that would work as well)

Method

Step 1

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

Step 2

Place all ingredients excluding blueberries into your food processor and blend until smooth.

Step 3

Once completely mixed fold in blueberries.

Step 4

Spray muffin tin or mini muffin tin with a healthy, non-stick cooking spray.

Step 5

Evenly scoop batter into muffin tin. **NOTE: This is where you should spoon a bit of the topping over the batter for each muffin. Spread it out as best as you can.

Step 6

Bake for 25 minutes.

Step 7

Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.

Step 8

Enjoy

I definitely found that 25 minutes was a little long, especially because the topping tends to burn a little bit much. Be sure you check it around 15-20 minutes to see if the topping is browning too much.

It's Week 2 of my Zone-Paleo challenge. Paleo = no problem. I'm usually Paleo unless my mother is pestering me on Christmas for not eating her ravioli (we're Italian, she got pissed, that's real life) This has never been a problem for me because I <3 meats and veggies. And eggs! God, I love eggs. Breakfast for dinner is always amazing and delicious. However, The Zone diet requires a LOT of carbohydrates and not so much with the meat. I'm sure I've mentioned how pathetic 2 oz of chicken looks next to 6 cups of lettuce or 2.5 Cups of broccoli. Now it's not only pathetic to look at, but it's making me feel pathetic too.

I feel like I'm over eating and thus am bloating. My stomach seems like it's getting bigger every day. I'm still hoping this regulates, but I just feel like I'm not digesting the copious amounts of vegetable I'm required to inhale on a daily basis. Blech. I really don't want to GAIN weight on the Zone-Paleo. Gross. I'm not looking to really drop any weight either. I thought it might slim my stomach though, which is my main problem area. I don't weight a lot, but my stomach LOOKS like I weigh a lot.

Although our challenge technically didn't start until Monday 1/14...I started it on Sunday. I didn't want to start my week off in a miserable shock, so I thought I'd ease into it. I'll be honest, the first 2 days were fucking terrible. I was angry and moody and I kept getting hungry at awkward times of the day. It's times like those that I would normally grab some trail mix or a banana but then I had to remember that I was doing zone and I couldn't do that.

If I have a banana...I can only have 2/3 of a 9 inch banana. I must also have it along with 2 blocks of protein and 2 blocks of fat. So I'd end up having to eat 2 eggs and 6 almonds (which is a pathetic snack) Nothing is ever a quick grab-and-go. It takes me almost my full hour to eat lunch, depending on what kind of carbohydrates I have.

Also, I'm used to meat being the main portion. I would normally eat a large piece of chicken, steak, fish, etc. Vegetable and fat would be a small side dish to accompany. When you're doing the Zone Diet...2 oz of chicken = 2 blocks. Have you ever actually seen 2 oz of chicken? or 2 oz of canned tuna? YIKES!!!! It's so tiny that I kept re-calibrating my scale assuming that I was weighing it incorrectly.

Some portions are ridiculously large, some are ridiculously small. It all depends on the type of food and how dense it is. I hardly eat sweet potatoes because although they're technically paleo, they make me gain weight due to their density and high starch level. However, I may need to start incorporating sweet potatoes into a meal every so often so that I can make sure I'm getting in my full blocks of carbs without having to eat 6 cups of lettuce.

Day 5 is good so far. I'm full and happy and starting to adjust. I'm being smart about portions and weighing and it really helps that I mapped out and pre-packaged every block for every meal and bagged each day separately so I can grab it and take it to work. My co-workers laughed when they saw how many containers and tupperware that I was bringing with me. Kind of hilarious because I'm pretty tiny. But I feel good now and I just hope the next 5 weeks are successful.