The G7 Primal Challenge is officially coming to an end this week. It has been a lot of fun, and many G7 clients have seen fantastic results. Be sure to attend the finale this Saturday at 3 p.m. Everyone is welcome!
While doing my usual recipe research over the weekend, I happened to stumble upon a great website with many recipes I’d like to try in the future. One recipe that I found especially interesting was a carrot chip recipe. Do not be fooled when you find vegetable chips at your local grocery store. Often times, these “vegetable chips” have added ingredients and oils which classify them as grain-filled chips with a hint of vegetable flavor. So far I have found only one brand of carrot chips (SunWell) that is primal diet approved. The ingredients consist of carrots, palm oil, and sea salt. Palm oil is considered smart fuel due to its vitamins and antioxidants, and you can read more about that here. SunWell also offers green bean, onion, and sweet potato chips. I have been able to find them locally at HEB Plus in the past. They are very tasty, but why not make your own?
I tested out the carrot chip recipe and had extreme success. Extreme success can be measured by the fact that my dad tried a few, went back for more, and said “I like them!” He doesn’t know this, but I was jumping for joy on the inside once he professed his love for my carrot chips.
You can use frozen or fresh carrots for this recipe, but make sure to defrost the frozen carrots before frying. While frying the carrots in coconut oil, I sprinkled some sea salt into the pan, but you can add the sea salt after done frying, like the recipe suggests. If you prefer a really crispy chip, continue frying until they begin browning on both sides. For the carrots in the picture below, I removed them before they began browning. This resulted in carrots with a crispy outside and soft middle. Both methods give you the same sweet and salty deliciousness and will keep you wanting more!
Over the weekend, George and I traveled to New Braunfels for some Airrosti treatment. Dr. Brent Perry is a miracle worker!! If you have an injury and haven’t checked out Airrosti yet, do it now! I have had 2 injuries in the past year, and both times, Dr. Perry from Airrosti helped me back to recovery in no time.
While in New Braunfels, George and I made a quick decision to stay overnight with my brother, Mike, in Austin (which is only about 40 miles away). Little did I know that my older brother, Roberto, was in also in Austin for the night. It was awesome to be able to see them, and we all had a great time together.
In Austin, George and I were introduced by my brothers to a motivation video that was posted on the SicFit website. It’s an uplifting video that definitely got George’s blood pumping faster. He’s probably seen it over 20 times now and has recommended it to everyone in sight. After seeing this video, I started thinking about my own motivation. Sure, I get fired up when I hear a really good song or watch a video of Carey Kepler achieving an 11:01 finish in an insane workout at the 2009 CrossFit Games, but what is my true source of motivation? This is what I came up with.
It has been a week since my last post, and there is so much to talk about! A quick update on my homemade pickles. I tasted them a few days ago. They were good…if you like the taste of cucumbers with a hint of pickle. I am not a big fan of cucumbers, but I think the cucumbers would taste more like pickles if they were sliced really thin. My cucumber slices were thick, so they didn’t absorb enough of the pickle taste for my liking. The next time I make them, I am going for thin slices.
Over the weekend, I traveled to San Antonio with George Cuellar for his CrossFit certification. He is now a Level I certified CrossFit coach. Congratulations, George! During our time in San Antonio, we searched for primal eateries and decided on Chipotle and Red Robin. At Chipotle, I ordered a salad with 1/2 chicken, 1/2 carnitas (pork), pico de gallo, and guacamole. This is one of my favorite restaurant meals because it’s not only delicious (especially the guacamole), but also the carnitas and chicken are from naturally raised pigs and chickens. So…what do they mean by naturally raised? Pulled straight from their website:
Naturally raised pork involves “no antibiotics ever, letting pigs exhibit their natural behaviors in open pasture or deeply-bedded pens, [and using] vegetarian feed with no animal by-products.” Naturally raised chicken “must never be given antibiotics, have more room to move about than in conventional chicken operations, be vegetarian fed, [and] never given animal by-products.”
How often do you find that at restaurants? If you haven’t visited a Chipotle yet, do so!! You won’t be disappointed.
Chipotle for 2 (My meal is on the left)
At Red Robin, we basically created meals of our own. I got the guacamole bacon burger which usually consists of two buns and a hamburger patty topped with guacamole, bacon, melted swiss cheese, onions, lettuce, and mayonnaise. I asked for this burger without cheese, onions, and mayonnaise and was able to get it wrapped in lettuce. Instead of fries, I got a side order of steamed broccoli, which was not listed as a side order on the menu. Fortunately, George asked the waitress if there were any veggie options as a side, and she revealed that broccoli was a possibility! Thank you, George! Lesson: Don’t think that your only options at a restaurant must be from what is listed on the menu. Always ask the waiter/waitress about substitutions or any other non-menu options. My Red Robin non-menu burger creation was tasty!
George’s Red Robin creation (with double meat)
Moving onto G7 news…
Yesterday, I successfully completed an extremely brutal workout: 3 rounds of 30 wall-ball shots (14 lbs./10 ft. target) and 30 hang squat snatches. When my brother, Mike, andDutch revealed to me that it was the fifth workout of the 2009 CrossFit Games, I immediately felt defeated. My thoughts were…if elite athletes at the CrossFit Games had a tough time with that workout, I would definitely not complete it. In the end, I made it out alive; however, my 24:48 time was not within the 20 minute cut-off time used at the CrossFit Games. Instead of looking at my completion time as a failure, I decided to stay positive and proud about it. I think it’s good to notice all the little things that have been accomplished through training rather than dwell on what hasn’t been accomplished yet. Yes, I missed the cut-off time; however, it was my first time using the 10 ft. target. For those of you that don’t know much about CrossFit, the 10 ft. target is usually the men’s target, whereas the 8 ft. target is designated for women. That’s a 2 ft. gain for me! Thank you, Dutch for pushing me to go beyond that 8 ft. target. It was definitely tough, but I did it!!
Congratulations to G7 athletes Brenda, Daisy, Kenia, and Karina for accomplishing regular burpees this week. Although they insisted regular burpees were too hard and not possible within a workout for them, I knew they could do it. Check out the video below. Too hard? More like…too easy!! Great job!!
One last congratulations to my brother, Mike, who PR’d (beat his personal record) on the infamous CrossFit workout, Fran. It consists of 21-15-9 thrusters and pull-ups. His previous record was 3:24, and he completed it in 2:30 this time around. Check it out here. Amazing!! You make me proud.
He doesn’t know this, but I was jumping for joy on the inside once he professed his love for my carrot chips.
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