Let’s Talk About Flexible Dieting…

Many of you have been reading this blog since way back in 2009 when I first started. Those were my humble beginnings, and just like any good character in a deeply engrossing novel, I have changed dramatically since then. Life tosses you many things as you age…marriage, kids, homeownership, dogs, cats, lives, deaths, friends, family and you must embrace all those things with courage, grace, and spirit. The knowledge that you gain (GAINZ!) from embracing change is a powerful tool. How can you possibly grow as a person without change? I’ve touched on the subject before, as it seems many people are afraid of change. Be it in the form of small things like dyeing your hair or changing your wardrobe to moving across the country or getting married, no matter the size of the change, people fear it.

When this blog started in 2009, I was 26 years old. I had one small child and one little dog. I lived in a tiny rented townhouse and I was on maternity leave from my office admin/inside sales job at a hardwood supply warehouse. I did not do the fitness, unless you count the walking I did with my tiny baby. I still watched daytime TV and thought squats were bad for your knees. I ate a “healthy” diet that mostly consisted of home cooking but not enough of it. I like to think I wasn’t starving myself, but I kinda was.

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Why Abs Are Dumb

I see a lot of bullshit on the internet, as I’m sure we all do. A lot of misinformation, poorly “researched” articles and just plain old downright lies. In this “Age of Information” it can be just as easy to be informed as it is to be misinformed.

So let’s talk about abs for a minute. Look at the photo above and tell me what you see. Leanness, check. Abs, check. Happiness? Nope. The photo above is from early 2013. I was eating a strict low carb paleo diet, working out twice a day and eating below 1600 calories. I was fatigued in my WODs in the afternoon from doing fasted cardio and ab work in the morning, I had ZERO strength gains and I was miserable and hangry, but look at my SEXY ABS!

Was I satisfied with my abs at the time? Nope.
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Vanilla Protein Pancakes

So remember that awesome KitchenAid dishwasher I got? Here let me refresh your memory…

Ooooooo shiny! But in all seriousness, let’s talk about this thing shall we? The reason I got handed a dishwasher worth almost 2K is so that I can tell you all my honest to goodness opinion of it. Every time I tell people that KitchenAid gave me a dishwasher, I get quizzical looks and the inevitable question: “WHY?!”. Because, I’m awesome?

But no really, it’s because I have a keen eye and an honest voice. I don’t pretend to like things that I don’t like and I tell it like it is. So I’ve told you all about how much I love it, but what is wrong with it right?! SOmething is always wrong with the things we spend money on. I will tell you this thing is as quiet as they advertise (we have a decibel reader…NERDS!) and washes and dries like no other dishwasher I’ve owned, as long as you put the dishes where you are supposed to…like maybe, not on top of one another.
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Immersive Fitness

It’s no secret that I love fitness.

You might think I only believe in one type of fitness, but that’s simply not true. Before I started CrossFit, Power Lifting and Olympic Lifting, I was a pupil of the Beachbody way of life. I did the Insanity DVDs eight times through, then Insanity: The Asylum for another two rounds. I then got into P90X and P90X2 before finally discovering CrossFit through my neighbours (The pictures above show my before and after all the Beachbody stuff). I also dabbled in running, hot yoga, Daily HIIT and many other forms of fitness before settling on the one that was right for me. What can I say? I fell in love with lifting heavy and I’ll never go back.

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Heirloom Tomato and Burrata Caprese

As part of my continued participation in the Lavazza Passionista Blogger Network, I got the opportunity recently to review and cook from the new cookbook: “Extra Virgin” by Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar of the Cooking Channel program of the same name. This book is beautifully written by a couple who are obviously in love, features classic Italian dishes such as Pasta Alla Gricia, Spaghetti Alle Vongole, White Pizza and Tirsmisu and has beautiful photography to accompany many of the pages. When I first opened it, I thought there wouldn’t be much in here I could eat. Although you may have seen me talking about doughnuts and not eating 100% paleo all the time, I still try to stay away from a few things: bread, pasta, grains, legumes and sugar. The recipes in this book have a lot of those things…as well as a couple I haven’t really talked about avoiding, but have been doing so nonetheless: garlic, onions and certain other FODMAPs. So this book but very tough for me to utilize!
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