I was so excited to get to the gym yesterday that I forgot to pick a winner for the food scale giveaway last week!
The winner is: True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 73 Result: 16
Blog Reader:
amy marantino said:
my goal is to take a vacation
Amy, send me your mailing address to: mybizzykitchen@gmail.com – congrats!
So I put myself to bed by 10:45 on Sunday night. I didn’t want to take any chances of not getting up to get to the gym yesterday morning. I had my workout clothes all laid out, food made for the day.
It’s weird how diabetes works – I woke up with a blood sugar of 122. Awesome number by the way. Only problem is that in the morning, my blood sugar rises when I work out. If I was 122 at lunch and I tried to work out it would bottom out. So here’s what I did. I ate a cup of honeydew melon and then did my work out.
- 5 minute warm-up
- chest press (45 pounds) 2 x 25
- leg press (135 pounds) 2 x 25
- core (planks) 2 x 4
- 35 minute treadmill (3:1)
So the plan is to pick a weight that would leave you fatigued by the end – I kept going until I picked my weights that I felt would fatigue me, and you better believe the 45 pound chest press was hard by the end! For the plank I held each plank for 30 seconds, rested 20 seconds in between.
It’s up to the individual to pick a cardio – I decided to run. The goal of the run is to run 3 minutes at a normal pace, then 1 minute really pushing it, and back down again. Holy shizz was this hard! But my last sprint was at 6.5 mph and I felt really good. Then a 5 minute cool down.
So all in all my workout took about 55 minutes. 😀
Breakfast is what I am calling a turkey kialbasa hash. I bought this kialbasa at Whole Foods on Sunday:
Sorry for the shitty picture in advance!
Here’s the mix: 3 ounces turkey kialbasa, roasted red pepper, 1 zucchini diced, chopped spinach, 1 egg, 1/2 cup egg whites cooked with 1 tsp. of oilive oil.
Stats: 326 calories, 15 fat, 9 carbs, 2.8 fiber and 32 protein – or 8 WW points. This dish provides 118% of vitamin C and 46% of vitamin A!
I love the steam coming off the plate. 😀 This was super filling – I mean look at all that food! It kept me full for hours. I contemplated walking at lunch, but didn’t want to overdo it – I had no idea how sore I would be today, and suprisingly, I am not too bad.
When I first started thinking about Paleo recipes, one of the first things that came to mind was my zucchini lasagna. I mean, I already subbed in the zucchini for the lasagna noodles, but then when I started writing down the recipe. No ricotta allowed. Fudge. So I decided to sub in a cauliflower carrot puree in place of the ricotta cheese. Mind you, this may seem like a lot of steps, but you could obviously make the puree ahead of time. I only ended up using 1/3 of the puree for my lasagna.
Cauliflower Carrot Puree (the whole recipe comes in at 357 calories, 24 fat, 33 carbs, 11 fiber and 8 protein) Next time I think I’ll leave the butter out completely.
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small head of cauliflower, chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
In a stock pot add all the ingredients. Simmer over medium low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the veggies are tender. Using a stick blender, puree – taste to see if you need salt or pepper. Mine needed a touch more salt and a touch more crushed red pepper to balance the sweet.
Lasagna Sauce:
- 20 ounces of crushed tomatoes (I didn’t end up using the whole can)
- 4 ounces Italian sausage
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
- just cook down for about 15 minutes – my Italian sausage is homemade by our grocery store butcher and isn’t greasy at all
Lasagna Filling:
- 1 large zucchini, sliced lengthwise
- 1 cup baby spinach
To Assemble:
- layer of sauce
- layer of zucchini
- layer of puree
- layer of baby spinach
- finish with layer of sauce on the top
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until a knife goes through the zucchini.
I baked this in a bread pan – so it made two servings:
320 calories, 16.5 fat, 33 carbs, 8.8 fiber (!) and 21 protein – 8 WW points
The lighting in our kitchen at work is just awful – don’t let this picture turn you away – the flavor combination was really delicious!
We had a work deadline yesterday and I always bring my boss food on that day. I asked her if she wanted to try my “alternative” lasagna and she agreed. I brought it in her office, let her continue to work and shut her door. About 5 minutes later, she yelled my name – I walk in and she looks at her lasagna and says “where’s the noodles??!!” Needless to say I heated up a Lean Cuisine for her!
I didn’t have to work late so I came home to make zucchini cakes to go along side our steak. I am not posting the recipe just yet – it needs some tweaking – we both liked the flavor, but I need to work on the texture to give it some more crunch. I used two new to me products. I thickened the zucchini/egg mixture with coconut flour:
And then I fried the zucchini in a teaspoon of coconut oil:
I originally bought this a while back when I saw Veronica made her own magic shell – this got buried in the back of my cupboard – still need to make that stuff though!
I only ate about 6 ounces of this steak – the dog got the rest. Dinner comes in at 447 calories, 26 fat, 12 carbs, 1.5 fiber and 37 protein.
Stats for Monday:
- 55 minute strength and cardio
- 1263 calories, 58 fat, 54 carbs, 13 fiber and 90 protein (included 1 oz. of peanuts when I realized I’d only had 1093 after dinner)
- 28 WW points
- no wine! 😀
Thanks for all your well wishes, emails and support as I go on this adventure – it means a lot! Now I am off to the gym for rows, leg curls, torso rotations and cardio! Make it a great day!
p.s. check out my brother’s last blog post – I loved it! 😀
Partendo dai più maturi, di quelli che hanno indicato e indicano la via alle nuove leve, ci sono i fratelli Coen con “Inside Llewyn Davis” ispirato alla vita del cantante folk Dave van Ronk, attivo a New York negli anni ’60, interpretato nel film da Oscar Isaac, attorniato da due dei migliori giovani attori americani, Carey Mulligan e Justin Timberlake, più una faccia nota del mondo dei Coen, John Goodman
Those recipes are fabulous! Your workouts are great too! I have two clients now that not only have their diabetes under control, their A1C numbers are below 5.6 so theyre not even in the spectrum anymore! Eating paleolithically will do this for you! You’re making us proud!
those leg presses get me everytime, i swear i’m going to have a hernia sometimes! the food looks and sounds delish, i’ll definitely be looking to you for some good recipes!
Biz you are so creative with your new food guidelines – all of your meals look delicious.
I love coconut oil and coconut butter. I bought that coconut flour to experiment with for a friend of mine who can’t have wheat. Haven’t gotten around to it yet so I can’t wait to see all of the creative recipes you come up with!
I have a muffin recipe that I am working on – I’ll post it when I think its good enough! 😀
Look at you killin’ it with the strength training 🙂
The sub for the ricotta is brilliant! Looks great. Your boss is a dork not to love that lasagna. Can’t wait to see what else you come up with. It is a pretty streamlined diet, but wow it does get hard to forgo the bread and pasta. In fact I had pasta tonight- stupid me!!
I dont know if you are allowed pork rinds on the paleo diet, there are no carbs, but i tryed a recipe tonight that was awsume, i took chicken breast, cut into strips, i dipped in egg, then in almond flour, back into the egg mixture and then i took pork rinds and mashed up fine and dipped the chicken into that, sprayed with pam and baked at 400, and talk about crispy and flavorful chicken strips…yummmy…
Connie – what a great idea! Not sure pork rinds are allowed, as I think its a processed food, but I’ll have to check it out. 😀
Wow…you are so clever Vat. Excellent ricotta substitution!!! I’m looking forward to all the wonderful paleo creations you make!!! Have a good Tuesday.
I like how you modified the lasagna recipe with the cauliflower and carrot puree! I like making cauliflower puree, it’s great with just a bit of butter and milk.
That’s really amazing how creative you are with the Lasagna. Also impressive is your workouts. Very very good!
🙂 Marion
I just bought coconut oil and I LOVE it! So tasty!
I tired making a zucchini lasagna once, WITH the ricotta though, and it tasted terrific…but way too watery. I needed to remember that there was no pasta to absorb the sauce and the zucchini itself let off a ton of moisture. IDK much about this new diet you are trying, but if it is all about eating like our ancestors, I might wonder if they had coconut flour available to them…but then again, maybe it’s not like that. I am never any good on any type of elimination type diets….so that’s me 🙂 It sounds like you are doing great though!!
Yep, not sure coconut oil or flour was available then either! 😀
Yeehaw, it looks like you are having a great time experimenting with food to make this diet work, and I bet that part alone will make it much more interesting for you!
P.S. I wanna smack your ungrateful boss.
Coconut flour absorbs a sh*t ton of moisture, so I always keep extra wet ingredients in mind when making new recipes.
Coconut oil and bacon grease – the only fats I cook with!
always wanted to try coconut oil. Your meals look incredible!
I am glad your meals are leaving you full. No matter how great a food plan is if it leaves you hungry chances are it won’t last. I think the lasagna looks great and very nutritious. Your boss missed out.
I’m not doing the Paleo diet but the hash sounds really good and I’ll probably try it. A good sense of humor must run in your family – I loved your brother’s post – the drawings are darling.
Thanks for checking it out – here is one of my favorite ones though:
http://www.backtothefridge.com/the-rocky-squad/
So cool seeing what you do with the Paleo diet! That alternative lasagna sounds amazing! 🙂
I love the hash idea, I wasn’t hungry until I started reading and now I’m starving!!!!
Leave it to you to make lasagna Paleo friendly! Cauliflower puree is a genius sub!
Way to rock day 1!!!! (You’re probably rocking day 2 as I type!)
That lasagna looks delicious but I must admit all those steps scare me. lol Can ya just call me next time you make it and I will join ya! 🙂 hehe Your workout made me tired….and I was just reading it! 🙂 You go BIZ!
You are really rocking! Go Biz!
Your boss needs a spanking if you want my opinion. How rude!
I think I’d die doing a 45-pound chest press! Good for you!
The hash looks completely amazing! I think you should start your own catering business – seriously!!
You really got creative with that lasagna! Awesome!
Ha! I also posted a link to Charlie today! twin powers activate 🙂
Good eats Biz! You are going to do great!
I’ll have to try that lasagna. I admit, the picture doesn’t make it look like lasagna but the ingredients sound great. I think it would be great with onions! I could totally just replace the noodles with caramelized onions! 🙂
Mr. Helen has already requested Lasagna for part of his carbo load prior to testing for his 3rd degree on the 18th & 19th. I think I’ll make a veggie version for me so that I don’t feel left out! Great idea.
Oh, and please, STOP offering your boss your delicious food – she doesn’t appreciate it properly!
x2…I wouldn’t bother offering anymore!!!
Great workout Biz! And the idea of using the puree in the lasagna is awesome! Did y’all like the flavor of the coconut flour? Or was it sort of masked in the cakes? I love coconut. The flour…not so much
I looooooove coconut oil. Love it! It is pretty much the only oil I cook with now.
And I love the coconut flour, too. I do have that coconut flour banana bread pudding on my blog, which is a great go to for breakfast.
All three meals look great. In my head I think low carb means a steak with a side of bacon. Glad to see all the veggies.
The lasagna is really interesting and creative. I think I need to make it.
Interesting about your blood sugar in the morning vs afternoon with exercise. The lasagna and your boss had me chuckling..I think that puree in place of the ricotta sounds amazing!!
Higher BG levels in the morning are quite common for diabetics. It’s called the dawn phenomenon (or liver dump) and happens when a body doesn’t or can’t produce enough insulin to counteract the release of hormones that help you get up and going with a new day. It can also happen when a type 2 takes too much insulin at night and experiences a low while asleep. The body reacts by dumping glucose into the blood stream, resulting in a higher fasting BG. If you’re interested, there is a great website called Blood Sugar 101 with lots of information about diabetes and BG control. (http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/index.php)
Wow – thanks for the info! I’ll check that link out. 😀