Aches, sore neck and back, tight chest cough, fever, and the “buggy” feeling - the dreaded flu! I know rest, rest, rest, with liquids is about the best, but what else?

Some have even recommended a nip of Scotch! …and yes sir, I’ve tried that - Single Malt 18 year Highland Park to be specific! I must admit, the heat and honey tastes add some soothing therapy to the whole miserable feeling. I actually slept pretty well last night considering.

I’ve got some Paleo soup warming now! 50/50 tomato/butternut, with homemade BONE BROTH! Can’t wait. Then off for a nap to slumber the afternoon away.

http://www.quirky.com/ideations/129908

Anyway, prior to the injury, I was about 8 months into barefoot running and was noticing the benefits to my joints and overall improvement to my aches and pains of the old way of running.

Yesterday I “jogged” about 1 1/2 miles on and off with walking and a very slow pace. This morning, zero knee issues and just a little sore on my lower calf muscles (expected that).

I’m excited to start pushing it a bit and seeing how my progress goes. I’m hopeful that I can run at least 2 times a week now + my Primal type workouts. Though soccer my not be in the cards as much if at all in the future, I’m coming to grips with it.

Ingredients:

1 Butternut Squash, ~ 2 Lbs cut in half
1 Lb Ground Beef
6 Slices of bacon
3 Small Onions, sliced 1 reserved
1 Stalk Celery, diced
Salt
Pepper
3 Tbsp Cinnamon
Balsamic Vinegar ~ 2 Tbsp
Process:

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F
Cut squash in half and scrape out the seeds

Place face down in your pan or dish of choice with 1/2 inch of hot water and cook for 30 Minutes

While its in the oven, cook the bacon in a pan until crispy, set aside and leave the bacon fat in the pan

Add 2 of the sliced onions and celery to the pan and then add the beef

Season with Salt and Pepper to taste and your cinnamon (I like fresh nutmeg too)

Continue stirring until the beef is finished, remove from heat and place in a bowl

Remove the squash from the oven, when you can handle it scrape out some of the guts, leaving ~1/4 inch of squash, add squash to bowl with meat

Crumble your bacon and add
that to the bowl as well

Mix well and then stuff your squashes with the beef mixture and place back in the 350 Degree oven for 20 minutes

While your squash are baking, add your reserved onion to your sauté pan and cook them over low heat with your balsamic to caramelize them (add as topping to squash when done)

Beica has been an interesting mantra over the last few years - the ability to choose seems to be the driving force behind so many of the responses I get when folks identify with the brand. Well, a “new” chapter in Beica has emerged - Paleo! This Paleolithic-caveman-cavewoman-primal-ancestral movement is taking hold and Beica seems to be caught right in the middle of it!

My attraction to the Paleo lifestyle might not be so different than many others (I’ve noticed this now that I’ve jumped in and have been feverishly reading EVERYTHING I can get my grubby hands on).

I’ve always thought of myself as “healthy” - right? I’ve played soccer most of my life - through college and now into my 40’s. I took a few years off to get more into weight training, backpacking, and then cycling (maybe not so Paleo - haha, but I still like to do it). I ate TONS of carbohydrates during my formative years.Gotta load up for that tournament coming up, or that big game, or that 4 hour ride, right? I ate TONS of veggies, tons of fruit, some “good” meats: fish, chicken, beef. However, as I got past the 35 year mark, things seemed to have changed. Was I slowing down? was I moving slower? Will this be how it is as I age? Sore. Beat up. Sometimes “pudgy.” Inflamed. Tired. Boated! GASSY! AND WORSE OF ALL, F.A.T. Well not so fast. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I wasn’t really FAT, but now that I’ve been Paleo for over 4 months, I look back and can say, I was getting there. I’m NOW on my way to getting my body back! So far probably 20 pounds lighter and another 8 to go. I’m NOT weighing myself, counting calories, or even WORRYING about it, it’s just HAPPENING! The other amazing thing? I’m not even working out as long. I’m not pounding out those extra miles in vein to try and burn off that cup cake after lunch or that cookie and mocha I had for a late afternoon “pick-me-up” - YUK!!

I’m going to make a pretty damn bold statement here, but this topic is real and it will save your life: “Wheat and grains in general do a lot of harm to our bodies (digestive tract, emotions, hormones, you name it)!” REALLY. Don’t take my word, do the research yourself. Read as much as you can. Study how other countries are developing the same illnesses we AMERICANS have been developing over the past 80 years. Why? GRAIN! Wheat and gluten are the culprit.

For further info, please check out the work published by Dr. Loren Cordain, The Paleo Diet or  The Paleo Diet for Athletes. Also, check out Mark Sisson’s Daily Apple for great info: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/about-2/mark-sisson/

I’m NOT a scientist, a biochemist, or even a nutritionist (even though most of them are misinformed anyway - smile). I will say, NOTHING I’ve ever done with relation to food and dieting has been easier now that I’m in it! I have been addicted to carbs and SUGAR and didn’t even realize it. Carbs and sugar has been keeping me from reaching my fitness and health goals. Crazy.

My outlook on life has totally changed! I’m happier, I don’t pick fights with my wife, and my emotions are so much more stable now! My sex drive has increased! Ask my wife. I’m an animal now! Bringing it back to Beica - “Because I Can”, Beica is a life mantra that so many people can relate to. I work out, “Because I Can”….I run, “Because I Can”…..I swim, “Because I Can”…..I’m doing the Paleo lifestyle, “Because I Can!”

I encourage anyone that’s doing Paleo to comment, post, and get involved! I think it’s the next biggest thing and could possibly save us from so many diseases out there.

Have a great day all!

Disclaimer: above is a pretty fluid thought. Spelling and grammar have NOT been checked. ]]> http://www.beica.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=155 http://www.beica.com/blog/?p=147 http://www.beica.com/blog/?p=147#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:54:10 +0000 Chief Trailblazer http://www.beica.com/blog/?p=147

130 days into my Paleo Lifestyle!

Feeling and looking like I did 20 years ago. Wow, what a great experience and way of life. No need to EVER go back to grains (namely wheat) again!

Today for breakfast was a 2 egg, avocado, banana, coconut milk (1/2 can), some water for the right consistency smoothie.

Lunch - some nuts, raw carrots, three slices of Tri-tip from last night (yum - my Craig’s Cowboy Rub)….

17 mile bike ride - took my road bike out for a couple loops through our park. Flat spinning (pretty relaxing). 3 all out “sprints” to just shy of “failure”, about 1:35sec.

Dinner looks like - who knows what. I think some polish dogs (local from Llano Seco Farms) and two types of veggies, and a picnic with the girls creekside.

50. You are over 30 and there is still someone in your life that you refer to as “coach”.
49. Your last bike cost more than your first car.
48. You have peed outdoors more times in the last year than you did in your first year of university.
47. You think of mowing the lawn as a form of cross-training.
46. You’ve worn a heart-rate monitor to bed.
45. And it wasn’t when you were sleeping.
44. You refer to the front hall of your house as the “transition area”.
43. When you get home from a training session at the pool, the newspaper is just being delivered to your house.
42. You have changed more flat tires this year than light bulbs.
41. The most frequently used software program on your computer is the one that keeps track of your workouts.
40. You have no idea why they call Cal Ripken Jr. “Iron Man” when, after all, he was a baseball player.
39. The first three items on your grocery list are Gatorade, power bars, and gels.
38. When you floss at night, it’s to get the bugs out of your teeth.
37. Your legs move in a cycling motion while you are asleep.
36. When you see a drop of blood, your first reaction is that you spilled some red Gatorade.
35. You know how far you biked and ran last year, to one-tenth of a kilometer.
34. You think the ultimate form of wallpaper is about 64 racing bibs.
33. A 19-year old kid who works in a bicycle shop know more about you than your next-door neighbor.
32. Your children are more likely to recognize you if you put your bicycle helmet.
31. You have a vanity license plate with the word “Kona” in it.
30. About half the shirts you own have at least a dozen logos on the back of them.
29. You don’t find the word “fartlek” in the least bit amusing.
28. When you refer to your “partner”, you mean neither your spouse nor the co-owner of your business but the person you run or bike with three times a week.
27. You shave your legs more often than your wife.
26. The closest you came to punching somebody was when they disagreed with your position on whether wearing a wetsuit amounts to cheating.
25. It doesn’t feel right that you can’t “clip “ in and out of the pedals in your car.
24. There is a group of people in your life about whom you are more likely to know how fast they can swim 100 meters than their surnames or occupations.
23. Some of the shorts you wear today are tighter than the ones you wore in high school.
22. You are frustrated with the latest Garmin Forerunner because its live readings have a margin of error of approximately three per cent.
21. There’s a separate load of laundry every week that is just your workout clothes.
20. One of your goals this year is to be faster at getting out of your wetsuit.
19. You failed high school chemistry but you could teach a course on lactic acid.
18. All you want for Christmas is something called a carbon crank set.
17. You wore a digital watch to your wedding.
16. You have to have completely separate meals from your spouse because he or she is on a low-carb diet.
15. Your bicycle is in your living room.
14. You have stocked up on a brand of cereal because it has a coupon that will save you money on your next two pairs of running shoes.
13. In order to establish a new personal best, you considered peeing without getting off your bike.
12. One of your proudest moments is when you lost a toenail.
11. When a car follows too closely behind you, you accuse the driver of “drafting”.
10. When you went for a job interview, you wrote your social insurance number on your arm in black marker.
9. Your spouse cried during Terms of Endearment; you cried during the television coverage of the Hawaii Ironman.
8. You are comfortable discussing the sensitivity of your nipples with other guys.
7. Your spouse is looking forward to the day when you will slow down and just run marathons.
6. You have paused in front of the mirror in your wetsuit and thought, “Hey, I look like Spiderman.”
5. You see no issue with talking about treatments for chafing or saddle rash at the dinner table.
4. You recently asked your spouse out for dinner by asking if he or she wanted to “fuel up” together.
3. For you, “bonking” no longer has a sexual connotation.
2. The magazine secretly tucked under your mattress has pictures of really expensive bicycles in it.
And the No. 1 sign you’re obsessed:
1. Most of this list doesn’t seem like a joke to you.

Thanks guys,

CT

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