Cinnamon Carrot Slaw

Hopefully no one is getting tired of my salad recipes yet, because I've got yet another one!
I can't help it, but I just love using coconut cream as a base for dressings..


I'm so glad it's almost weekend again.. My last weekend in the Netherlands before heading to the USA! Because of some festivities in my city, 80% of the hospital will be closed tomorrow afternoon, so I only need to work 4 hours tomorrow. That's not so bad.
I finally finished planning my holiday, and am now busy making a 'what to pack' list, which is almost finished as well. Although I think some stuff will pop up in my head over the next few days.
I practiced some double unders again yesterday, with a different rope this time. I did almost 30! The rope you use definitely makes a huge difference. I now have 2 days of rest, because this weekend is going to be very intense, workout-wise.
Saturday: CrossFit WOD at CrossFit Twente
Sunday: SealFit WOD at Breda Strength & Conditioning
Especially that second WOD is going to be really, really (really) hard.. We'll see what happens!


Cinnamon Carrot Slaw (serves 2)
- 3 medium winter carrots, shredded
- 3/4 cup coconut cream
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts


1. In a small bowl, combine coconut cream, lemon juice, cinnamon and cilantro and mix well.
2. In another bowl, combine shredded carrots, raisins and walnuts.
3. Stir in the dressing until well-combined. Serve and enjoy!

Braised purple cabbage

I'm back! Just took a short break from blogging after my Whole30. At first it was strange I didn't 'have' to take pictures of my food every time anymore, but I've already gotten used to it again. Plus, now I don't need to make my food look so 'decent' with each and every meal. Sometimes you just want to throw together a bunch of food, as long as it tastes good.


Foodwise, I haven't changed anything so far. Except for those raisins and walnuts I had yesterday morning, I have been eating pretty much in the same way as I did over the last month.
But, it's time for a new recipe now! Braised purple cabbage. It takes up some oven time, but preparation is quick and easy.

Braised purple cabbage (serves 4)
- 1 head purple cabbage
- 1 onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 medium winter carrots, chopped
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted over very low heat
- 1/3 cup apple juice (or water)
- 1 tbsp cinnamon


1. Heat oven to 165 degrees Celsius.
2. Rinse the cabbage and cut it into 8 wedges, don't remove the core, it will help keeping the wedges together.
3. Put the cabbage wedges into a large baking dish and divide the onion and carrots over them.
4. Add the coconut oil and apple juice to the baking dish and dust everything with cinnamon.
5. Cover the dish with aluminium foil, tightly wrapping it around the edges, and bake for 1 hour.
6. Remove the dish from the oven, carefully remove the foil and turn the wedges over. Add some more apple juice if the dish is starting to dry out.
7. Cover with foil again and bake for another hour.
8. Remove the foil, turn the heat up to 200 degrees Celsius and bake for another 20 minutes until the vegetables are starting to brown.
9. Divide the wedges over 4 plates and serve with protein of your choice. Enjoy!

Whole 30 - Day 30!! What did I learn?

Day 30! Or actually, day '31'.
Why am I posting this a day late? I wanted to let you know what happened to my body on the outside, which I didn't measure until this morning.
So, here they are, my measurements:
Before - After
Weight: 60 kg - 57,4 kg
Waist: 69 cm - 66 cm
Hips: 90 cm - 88 cm
Thighs: 53 cm - 50 cm


And, best of all, I definitely got leaner!


Now that we've got that covered, let's get on to the part where I tell you what I've learned from this Whole30. After all, I didn't do this just for the sake of doing it, I was hoping to learn something from it and so I did.
1. I am perfectly able to survive without overeating on potato chips and paleo cookies on weekends. 
2. I even feel much better without those foods.
3. Planning meals is easy, as long as you make big batches every time.
4. My cravings for carbs are 99% gone!!
5. I love meat. (oh wait, I already knew that..)
6. It's hard to find a good balance between protein and fat intake, I found that I don't start leaning out until I eat some more protein and a little less fat.
7. I do miss eating nuts every once in a while, they just make some dishes even better.
8. Coconuts are awesome!
9. I don't need food to reward or comfort myself.
10. This program actually works!


Note: This morning (day 31) I made a carrot salad (recipe will be posted later on) and added a few raisins and walnuts. I wolfed it down, tasted pretty good, but all in all, it would have been equally good without the raisins and the walnuts. 'Missing' certain foods is just a mental problem after all!


And here's what I ate on my final day of the Whole30:

Breakfast:
Beet salad, 1/2 avocado and shredded chicken with roasted carrots and onions

Lunch:
Lettuce with tomatoes and carrot, and a 2 egg scramble with sardines and chives

Dinner:
Beef burgers with oven roasted cauliflower and some more beet salad

Simple beet salad

This is one of those recipes that's just so easy to make.. You could hardly call it a recipe (since it only has 2 steps), but I liked it so much that I wanted to share it with you.
I guess most people who like beets sometimes have too much of them (leftovers..) and wonder how they can serve them in a different way than usual. I turned my leftovers into a simple, yet tasty salad.
You can make a meal out of it by adding in a few chopped boiled eggs, some shredded chicken, or some salmon or mackerel. All works really well! If you do still want it to be a salad, it might be wise to double the dressing ingredients so you'll keep the creamy texture.
And if you don't have any chives, spring onions, cilantro, parsley or even some mint will do the trick just fine. Well, I hope this inspires some people to get creative with those leftover beets!


Beet salad (serves 2)
- 2 cups finely chopped, cooked/roasted beets
- 1/3 cup coconut cream
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp chives, chopped
- black pepper


1. Combine coconut cream, lemon juice, chives and black pepper in a bowl and stir everything together.
2. Stir the coconut dressing into the chopped beets and serve. Enjoy!

Whole 30 - Day 29

The 2nd last day of my Whole30. It's not even hard anymore.. And while it'll be over by Tuesday, I have already started planning some meals for next week, and they're all as strict as I have been eating over the last 29 days.
I'm certainly not in a hurry to add nuts and more fruits to my diet again. I do know that I will enjoy those next week, but not that much. Perhaps some berries and some walnuts. Not sure yet!


Today was a pretty relaxing day again, except for the workout I did this morning:
- 5 rounds of 7x clean-front squat-press-back squat-press
I started out with 20kg, but went back to 15kg because my clean technique was suffering from it. I'd rather do this correctly with less weight, than tiring myself out and suck at it at the same time.


Then we went on to the deadlifts! I like those much better :)
Here's what we did:
1 - 10 - 1 - 20 - 1 - 30 reps (I did: 50kg - 40kg - 52,5kg - 40kg - 57,5kg - 40kg)
Why the 57,5kg? I wanted to be able to deadlift my own weight, feels pretty awesome that you can actually lift yourself.
We finished the whole workout off with 25 pull ups.


Back home I almost fell asleep on the couch, hmm.. But after an hour of resting I felt fine again and started working on my trip planning, once again. I only need to look up a few things about Chicago and that's it!
But for now, I'm going to show you what I ate today and then I'm off to bed.

Breakfast:
Grilled trout, fried egg, 1/2 avocado and oven roasted broccoli

Lunch:
3 egg fritatta with celery and cinnamon, baba ghanoush and some oven roasted beets

Dinner:
Lettuce, carrot and beet salad with chives, smoked mackerel and sardines

Whole 30 - Day 28

I'm kind of late posting my food intake for the day today, but I just got back from the cinema.. I watched the latest (and last) Harry Potter movie and it was pretty awesome!! And even though I haven't read any of the books, nor am a huge HP fan in secret, I loved the movies!


Besides that, I also did my very first pull up from dead hang today! Cool huh? Yeah, I'm proud of it! Pull ups are awesome!
Still struggling with the double unders though.. But I got 2 today, already double the amount of what I had last week.
The WOD we did at CrossFit Twente was really tough, we did a relay race with teams of 2. I was on the Paleo team, and just because of that fact, we were awesome. (didn't win, but that doesn't matter)
We did 16 rounds of: 10 burpees, 10 box jumps, sandbag run (so every person did 8 rounds in total)
I had to start by learning how to clean the sandbag onto my lower arms and then toss it over my head onto my shoulders. My shoulders actually have bruises on them, but I did it! I love the feeling you get after a CrossFit workout; tired, yet satisfied, and because it never takes a really long time to complete a WOD, it doesn't take too long to recover from it.


As you might have figured out already; I'm all better! Luckily :) I hate it when it takes a long time to recover from a virus.. But I guess a few days of rest, taking some extra supplements and, most importantly, eating well, works magic on your body and immune system.


Well, it's actually time for bed already, so I'm going to show you what I ate today. (day 28! 2 more days to go) I just realised I ate 2 chicken breasts, 1 steak, 1 mackerel fillet and 4 eggs today. That's a whole lot of protein! (approx. 140g)

Breakfast:
Leftover pumpkin and swiss chard mash, with lamb steak, chicken breast and chives

Lunch: (post WOD)
Chicken breast with a 2-egg fritatta with some chard, spring onions, tomatoes and parsley

Dinner:
Leftover oven roasted veggies with smoked mackerel and 2 scrambled eggs with chives

Whole 30 - Day 27

Can't believe it, but I've been hungry pretty much all day long.. Growling-stomach-hungry that is.
Could be explained by a lot of activity except for the fact that I hardly did anything today, except for sitting on my couch, watching movies, planning my trip, some reading.. And I cycled to the shopping center nearby (only 5 minutes of cycling..), just to see how some activity would feel and because I needed a few things. I impulsively bought another eggplant, but I have yet to turn it into baba ghanoush. (and I certainly will do that soon! I think it'll taste great with walnuts too..)
How's that for an addiction? Baba ghanoush, of all things.. At least it's healthy!
Way better than my pre-Whole30 addiction to potato chips! (and nutty cookies, 'paleo' baked goods, etc etc) I don't even crave chocolate anymore. Not that I'll never eat it again, but it feels good to know that I am able to survive without a cocoa fix every now and then.


As far as that virus goes, I slept 9 1/2 hours last night, already felt better but still a bit light-headed and weak this morning. But I feel pretty good by now! I really miss being active and want to go out for some sports, I simply have too much energy now.. That's a really good sign I guess! If my body was still using up all its energy to battle a virus, I would never feel this way.


The planning for my trip is almost done now.. Just a few more things to look up. I'm going pretty slowly since I get all enthusiastic about every place I'm planning to go to and end up endlessly surfing google maps and other websites with information on what to do and where to go/eat/shop. I can even get lost in time while checking out restaurant menus..
By the way, I made a really nice dinner today! My mom had given me some lamb steaks last Monday and I decided to grill those today. This was the first time I successfully grilled a steak, without it getting all tough and chewy! Maybe because it was such good quality meat.. I also oven roasted some of my uncle's organic home-grown carrots and shallots, and some broccoli too, topped with fresh rosemary. Especially those shallots were really tasty!
And it's a super easy dish to make. Just chop the veggies into equal pieces, drizzle with olive oil and pop them into the oven on a parchment paper lined baking tray at 200 degrees Celsius for approx. 20 - 25 minutes. Done!
Here's what else I ate today:

Breakfast:
Leftover egg salad, mixed with a diced cooked chicken breast, and stir-fried kohlrabi and swiss chard

Lunch:
Salad with leftover tomato fish curry, tomatoes and parsley

Dinner:
Grilled lamb steak (delicious!!), a fried egg and oven roasted carrots, shallots and broccoli with fresh rosemary and parsley

Whole 30 - Day 26

On to day 26. Just 4 more days to go, and hopefully less than that to beat this virus.
I actually felt slightly worse this morning, but I took a whole lot of rest (the weather sucks over here so I didn't even go outside..) and am starting to feel better already. Let's hope another easy day tomorrow will work like magic, so I'll be all better by Saturday!


I mostly did some holiday planning today, and cooked a few dishes. It's nice to just be at home, taking your time to cook a good meal, allowing you to get a little more creative. Of course it isn't nice to be at home because you're not feeling well, but it's important to always look on the bright side!
Regarding my trip (just 2 more weeks!!), I'm going to drive all the way to Oregon City (near Portland) for a workout at CrossFit Oregon City and figured I might as well go to the Multnomah Falls, which are close by. I've seen some pictures of those and they look absolutely stunning! I love waterfalls.. I don't think there's anything more beautiful in nature.
I better keep a travel dairy next month, to keep track of what I did on which day as I've got so many things planned. Might be interesting to keep some sort of food log as well so I can do a 'how-to' blog post on road trip food.
Hmm, I guess I'm going to finalize my 'planning' (which is always subject to change) tomorrow.


Here are my meals for day 26 of the Whole 30!

Breakfast:
Egg salad, leftover ground beef and stir-fried swiss chard with some coconut milk

Lunch:
Tomato fish curry with a salad

Dinner:
Pumpkin and swiss chard mash, with a diced cooked chicken breast and chives, and some tomatoes

Tomato fish curry

I was actually planning to make a lemon fish curry, but then I figured I'd better use some of my tomatoes and ended up making this tomato fish curry. I really liked it.
Luckily this virus hasn't killed my appetite or taste buds yet!
And, because of the huge amount of lycopene found in tomatoes, this dish is chock full of anti-oxidants.  That's always good to know.


Tomato fish curry (serves 2)
- 2 spring onions, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped

- 5 medium tomatoes, chopped

- 1 small can of concentrated tomato puree (70g)

- 1/2 tsp ground cumin

- 1/2 tsp ground coriander

- 1 cup coconut milk
- 350g tilapia fillets, diced
- 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
- 2 tsp coconut oil


1. Heat coconut oil in a frying pan and fry garlic and spring onions until soft.
2. Add tomatoes, tomato puree, cumin and coriander, and stir in the coconut milk. Bring to a boil.
3. Carefully drop in the diced fish and reduce heat to low. Simmer for approx. 10 minutes until the mixture has thickened and the fish is cooked.
4. Stir in the parsley at the last moment, serve hot and enjoy!

Whole 30 - Day 25 & Low blood sugar issues

I don't feel too good today..
Dizziness has been bothering me all day, and I had the feeling it had something to do with my blood sugar levels. The advantage of working at a hospital, is that you can get yourself tested for pretty much everything all day, so I did a blood glucose test. It was 3.3 mmol/l, and the girl who tested it looked at me as if she were surprised I was still standing. 'That's really low!! You should see your physician about this!'
Everyone who heard it advised me to eat some sugar.


Of course, I didn't do that! Although no one seemed to understand when I tried to explain that when I were to eat sugar, my blood sugar would rise for a short while, making me feel a little better, and would then lead to an even worse crash making me feel worse than before consuming the sugar in the first place.
I figured my blood sugar was supposed to be lower than the average person's due to my diet, which is pretty low in carbs, but this might be on the low side for me too.
I never gave this subject any reading, as my hypoglycemia symptoms had disappeared ever since I went paleo, and I figured that it wouldn't bother me ever again. I guess I was wrong.
First off, I got myself an apple and a banana and ate those, I figured they wouldn't raise my blood glucose levels too rapidly, since I'd had lunch less than an hour before. Then I waited, and the dizziness went away for exactly 10 minutes, no more. Conclusion: eating fruit does not help when your blood sugar is low. And I should have known this before I ate it.
In fact, I did know! After all, your body is perfectly able to regulate your blood sugar all day long, when this mechanism fails, you're either eating too much carbs (there's hardly no such thing as eating too little carbs) or there's an underlying problem.

Back home, I googled it, and didn't find that many useful articles. I did learn that this can be caused by an infection (and some more serious conditions, which I suppose I don't have), but I thought I was over that virus that had been bothering me 2 weeks ago.
Every time I have health concerns, I call my bioresonance therapist. It's as if she knows the answer to pretty much anything that's bothering me.
She asked me a few questions and came to the conclusion that the virus I had 2 weeks ago is most likely to be causing this. Advice: extra vitamin C and extra rest.
That's not too hard.. And to be honest, I didn't really allow myself to get over the virus when I should have. So, I'm going to bed really early tonight! And I'll take some vitamin C right now.
Hopefully I'll be over this soon!


Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast:
Egg salad, stir-fried swiss chard, tomatoes and leftover grilled turkey

Lunch:
Lettuce, kohlrabi, 1/2 avocado, chives, parsley and salmon

Dinner:
Salad with celery, lettuce, swiss chard and tomatoes, topped with leftover ground beef


Snack:
Apple, banana

Egg salad

I don't really have a better picture than the one above, but this was my breakfast this morning. Including a yummy egg salad!
It had been a really long time since I had egg salad. Before going paleo, I used to eat it on my lunch sandwiches every now and then, store-bought, loaded with additives egg salad.
Since I'm too lazy (or afraid it won't work) to make mayonnaise, I figured I'd make my salad with mashed avocado and some coconut cream. Tastes differently, obviously, but really good nonetheless.
The best thing about this is that I have 2 servings left for the next few days!

Egg salad (serves 2-4)
- 6 hard boiled eggs
- 1 avocado
- 1/4 cup coconut cream
- 2 tbsp chives, chopped
- 2 tbsp spring onions, chopped
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- lemon pepper


1. Peel the eggs, chop them up and transfer them to a bowl.
2. Cut the avocado in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh, transfer to an other bowl.
3. Add the coconut cream to the avocado and mash it all together with a fork.
4. Stir the chives, spring onions, lemon juice and lemon pepper into the avocado mixture until well-combined.
5. Add the avocado mixture to the eggs, and mix well.
6. Serve cold, and enjoy!

Whole 30 - Day 24

Just finished my first day of a new workweek, just 3 more to go. (and then another 8 1/2 before my holiday!)
I also did a fun workout:
5 rounds for time of:
400m run
20 deadlifts (40kg)
20 push ups
10 deadlifts (40kg)
10 push ups
I finished in 29:34, and was pretty tired afterwards!
It was also raining outside, but that actually made the running a little easier for me. I simply love running in the rain! (unless it's pouring of course..)


I must admit that, since this weekend, I wasn't too motivated to stay on course of my Whole30 eating plan anymore. Even though I did stick to it. It simply wasn't fun anymore, and I missed not being able to have certain foods.
Luckily I rediscovered my motivation this afternoon, after work. I enjoyed getting creative with all those veggies in my fridge again and making a simple yet tasty meal with it. Filled me up, looked nice, and didn't leave me craving for something sweet afterwards. Finally!
I guess this is all just part of the process... You'll be motivated at first, but the fun slowly goes away, you miss certain foods, and you might even start hating it at some point, right until you realise it isn't that bad after all and you are at peace with the decision you made.
I've been thinking of food I would eat after this Whole30, but this weekend seems to have been my turning point. Not having those foods isn't that bad after all, and I'm in no hurry to re-introduce them into my diet (which will be on few occasions only).
Yep, this turning point feels good!


And here are my meals:

Breakfast:
2 fried eggs with some chives, baba ghanoush, sauteed swiss chard, a tomato and leftover grilled redfish (yes, I kind of overloaded my plate..)

Lunch:
Salad with lettuce, kohlrabi, 1/2 avocado, chives and fried turkey pieces with spring onions

Dinner:
Ground beef with red poblano pepper, spring onions, swiss chard, lots of fresh parsley, on top of some lettuce and a tomato


Snack:
Carrot

Whole 30 - Day 23

Wow, did I get spoiled this weekend! Really, I did.
I got a new wok from mom and dad, along with jasmine green tea (my favourite!) and a lot of chicken and meat from their local butcher to stock up my fridge. Thanks!!


We also visited my aunt and uncle this morning, who happen to have a huge vegetable garden, and they gave us an enormous amount of veggies!
I spent 1.5 hours chopping part of those veggies tonight, and my fridge is pretty much filled to the brim with food.
This is what I'll be cooking with this week: lettuce, tomatoes, kohlrabi, chives, spring onions, parsley, celery, shallots, carrots and swiss chard. I've never eaten swiss chard before, but I figured it's much like spinach, and probably really healthy. Especially since all of their veggies are organic in the first place.
But if anyone has a good idea on how to use swiss chard, please let me know!!
I've got a 3 liter tub full with chopped chard, so I better find some good use for it.


Before going to my parents I was actually scared that I wouldn't be able to resist all the good (not-so-Whole30) food they have lying around. But I managed really well. My mom made sure that the meals were 100% paleo, and delicious if I may say so, and there was more than enough to fill me up so I wouldn't be tempted to reach for fruits and nuts and chocolate etc. Of course my cravings got slightly worse, and I really wanted to grab a handful of nuts, and a banana, and some of that gluten free cereal my mom eats for breakfast.. But I didn't.
I have to admit that at some point I was thinking 'screw that stupid 30-day plan, gimme those nuts! and while you're at it, you better bring some chocolate too!' but I quickly imagined how I would feel if I were to eat that, so it wasn't that hard to resist anymore. And no, I'm not planning to eat a whole lot of stuff that I miss on day 31. Just the idea that I can eat some nuts or chocolate when I want is probably enough, after all, that's what it's all about. It's a mind game; tell someone not to do something, and he'll want to do it.


Here you go, my meals for today:

Breakfast:
Some grilled turkey, 2 egg scramble with zucchini and carrot, and an avocado

Lunch:
2 beef burgers and oven roasted cauliflower with cilantro

Dinner:
Salad with grilled redfish fillet (I didn't eat all of the fish because I wasn't that hungry)


Snack:
Carrot and a piece of grilled turkey

Whole 30 - Day 22

Here we are, day 22! At this point in the Whole 30 I'm actually starting to miss certain foods.. I'd love to have some fruit, some nuts and some cocoa too. Would be nice to eat that again.. Although all are allowed on the Whole 30, I want to keep my blood sugar under the best control I can, so none of the sweet stuff for me. Just 8 more days, I'm sure that won't be too hard.
I'm visiting my parents today, and we just did a 15km beach (and dune) walk. Had a great time! We walked for about 3 hours, so that might be causing some carb cravings right now. I also have slightly sore abs, and my legs feel a bit heavy, I guess yesterday's workout contributed to that. Including a lack of sleep..
I was planning to take the 7AM train today, without checking the schedule online.. Turns out, the first train on Sunday didn't leave until 8AM.. Darn.. Could've stayed in bed for another hour!

I did some reading while on the train; The Paleo Diet for Athletes, by Loren Cordain. Very interesting book, but it seems to be mostly designed for triathletes and other people who do a huge amount of sports on a daily basis. The importance of carbs is constantly being stressed in the book, without that much underlying information as to WHY your body needs that amount of carbs. Question that came to mind; what ever happened to the idea of the metabolism shift in which you should burn  mainly fat instead of carbs? I get why you'd need more carbs when you exercise a whole lot, but I'm missing the science in the book. It's more like a list 'eat this and you'll be fine' with a whole lot of tables in it. Looks impressive, but why would you list grains and print some of those in bold because they contain a large amount of a certain nutrient? Especially since some vegetables contain much more of that certain nutrient. Grains are bad anyhow (as mentioned in The Paleo Diet), especially the ones containing gluten, so why would you add these to a list if not for the sole purpose of pointing out how unhealthy they are?
After reading that one should only eat lean meat and little animal fat, just like The Paleo Diet tells you to do, I started to ask myself why The Primal Blueprint actually encourages the consumption of those fats. Turns out, Mark Sisson did a post on that and he explains it very well over here.
I haven't finished the book yet though, and I will keep on reading, but it's been disappointing me a little so far. I liked The Paleo Diet much better, I think the Athletes edition is passing the purpose of the diet itself.
I wonder how Robb Wolf covers the Paleo Diet basics.. I should definitely read his book. Perhaps I can get myself a copy in the USA.

Anyway, here's what I ate today:

Breakfast:
Cauliflower fried rice with carrot, 2 beef burgers and an avocado

Lunch:
Stir-fried veggies and a tasty beef stew (made by my mom!). This did have some dried fruits in it (apricots and prunes) but it still was mostly meat so didn't spike my blood sugar. Plus it tasted really really good.

Dinner:
Salad with grilled mackerel and a scrambled egg

Whole 30 - Day 21 & another nice WOD

Woohoo! I did a double under!! My first one, ever :)
Now all I need is a speed rope and lots of practice, and I'm sure I'll be able to do a few more soon. Perhaps I can find myself a speed rope in the USA next month.
Can you believe it? I'll already BE in the USA next month! I'll even be there 3 weeks from now. (jetlagged, but happy)


Before I keep going on and on about my upcoming trip, I better tell you about today's CrossFit WOD at CrossFit Twente! It was a lot of fun again and I had a really good time.
The WOD was pretty tough but not as tough as last time we went there.


We started with some stretching, then did 3 rounds of 15 wall balls and 5 toes to bars. At first I could hardly get my toes near the bar, but after a few attempts I kind of got the hang of the swinging and succeeded in doing 5 during the last round.
Then came our WOD; Angie!


100 pull ups
100 push ups
100 sit ups
100 squats


The only thing missing was the actual song Angie playing while we did it, but I guess it wouldn't have been too motivational since it's a pretty slow song.
When I was around my 80th sit up and my abs were burning and the question 'why am I doing this' was starting to form in my mind, Guns 'N Roses' Sweet Child O Mine started playing! Timing couldn't have been better, as that intro is the perfect motivation.

Before I knew it, the rest of my sit ups were done and I only had to perform those squats. I finished at 24:04.
Will be going to CrossFit Twente again next Saturday, and I already can't wait!


I'd almost forget to tell you about my PWO meal; I had fritatta with some carrots shortly after the WOD and that digested pretty quickly. I felt good after eating it though, didn't leave me tired at all, didn't bother my stomach.
Normally I either don't eat after a workout, or just have something small, and the biggest difference is that I wasn't tired when I got home at all, while I normally am! I just sat down for a while, then got hungry again and had 'dinner' at 3.45 PM. Quite early, but you better eat when you're hungry, right?
I then cycled to the city center to get myself some goodies from the outdoor sports shop to take with my on my trip; BPA free plastic cutlery, concentrated laundry wash and hand sanitizer. They also had a pretty cool meal kit and a foldable bowl, but I figured I wasn't going on a survival trip and that I could just get myself a bowl or plate when I'm in the USA (after all, I am going to have to prepare some meals myself). I could've bought half of the items they had in store if I'd had the money, because in those stores, everything suddenly appears to be very useful while you'd actually never use it.


Today's breakfast was inspired by Rob's recipe at PrimalFood. It was really good! Instead of using tuna, I used mackerel, which worked really well. I also omitted the salsa (didn't have any) but replaced that with some lemon juice and ground black pepper. Yum!
I served it with 1/2 tomato, a fried egg, and.... another batch of coconut baba ghanoush. I just love that stuff..

And these were my other meals:

Lunch (PWO):
2-egg fritatta with spinach, red onion and a small amount of leftover chicken, some carrots

Dinner:
Cauliflower fried rice with onion, spinach and shii-take, and 2 beef burgers with carrot and onion mixed in

Whole 30 - Day 20 & Post-WOD meal confusion

Weekend! Finally..
My last day at work was a nice one though. It was as calm as I'd expected it to be, well, except for maybe the patient who almost collapsed 5 minutes after I'd done some tests with her. I swear I didn't give her anything, really!


The strange thing is that I've been hungry pretty much all day long, despite eating quite some food. I had to get 2 boiled eggs at 11 AM, otherwise I wouldn't quite make it to lunch time. And when I got home I was too hungry to spend a lot of time cooking, so I simply chopped some cabbage; stir-fried it and added grilled salmon. After finishing that I went back for another serving of cabbage because I was still hungry.
Seems like my digestion is speeding up..


I also did some groceries tonight and couldn't resist buying another eggplant to make some more coconut baba ghanoush. It's just so tasty..
It's in my fridge now, firming up a little, and I will be enjoying it for breakfast tomorrow. How could I ever have missed this wonderful dish!? I guess making new discoveries is a good thing.


Since work wasn't busy at all, I've been doing some reading on post workout nutrition. Especially this article by Robb Wolf. It's a very useful post and made me realize that my own post WOD meal should consist of lean protein and some carbs (i.e. veggies) and little fat.
I was actually planning to have an avocado after my workout tomorrow, but apparently fat slows your digestive system, and speed is what we need post workout because we want to repair our muscles quickly. But glycogen release should be slowed down a little too, so I still do need a little fat, and.. oh, the confusion!!
Others say it doesn't really matter if and what you eat after a workout, but I'm going to give this a try and see what I feel like. After all, I'm going to CrossFit Twente tomorrow for what's most likely going to be a tough WOD!
Therefore I've been playing around with my meal plan for tomorrow (normally I just plan meals that I think I'm going to enjoy and that will include some fat, lots of protein and lots of veggies) and figured I should get most of my fat in the morning, along with protein and some carbs. Then a high protein, post workout lunch with some carbs and little fat. And a 'normal' dinner; the way I usually have dinner.
Let's see what happens.. I'll be able to tell you tomorrow!


Please note that I'm just trying to find out what feels best for my body, you could call it a little experiment. I do have this slight clue that I won't really notice a difference.. I'm usually hungry after a workout, and basically any meal will do just fine, without making me feel sluggish. What else could you wish for?


These are my meals for the day:

Breakfast:
Baba ghanoush, leftover beef strips, fried egg, a tomato, carrot and 1/2 avocado

Lunch:
Salad with curried chicken

Dinner:
Stir-fried cabbage with coconut milk and salmon


Snack:
2 boiled eggs and a carrot

Coconut Baba Ghanoush

Here it is, as promised, a new recipe.
I had never eaten eggplant puree before in my life. I never really was a fan of this vegetable, until I tasted grilled slices of it on a burger. That's when I realised it actually tastes really good!
What else could I do with eggplant? When mindlessly surfing to watch some foodporn, I ran into Baba Ghanoush. I always like food with foreign names, so I looked it up online; pureed eggplant with tahini, garlic, lemon and parsley. Sounds good.


I didn't have any tahini or parsley, so I figured I'd try it with coconut and cilantro instead. I also left out the garlic, as I didn't feel like adding it. Feel free to add a few cloves to the recipe below though.
I think the coconut adds a lot of sweetness to this dish, and it's packed with taste. I love it!
So, for everyone who's never had Baba Ghanoush before; just give it a try and I'm sure you'll like it.


Note: if you leave this in the fridge overnight, it's even better the next day!!


Coconut Baba Ghanoush (serves 2)
- 1 medium eggplant
- 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp creamed coconut / coconut butter (not coconut oil!)
- 3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped


1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Wash the eggplant and cut it in half lengthwise. Put it in the oven with the cut side up on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and bake for approx. 45 minutes until soft and slightly blackened. Let cool for a while.
3. When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and chop up the flesh.
4. In your food processor, combine the eggplant flesh, lemon juice and creamed coconut and process until smooth.
5. Stir in the cilantro, serve and enjoy!

Whole 30 - Day 19

Almost weekend, and I'm glad! Just one more day at work to go..
Luckily today wasn't as stressful as yesterday, and I'm confident tomorrow will be pretty relaxing too. (Or at least that's what I hope.. You never really know)
My mind is kind of blank at this moment, so I'm just going to show you my meals for the day.


I will be posting a new recipe tomorrow!

Breakfast:
2 Egg scramble with cabbage, red onion and leftover turkey. 1/2 avocado and a tomato

Lunch:
Salad with curried chicken

Dinner:
Lettuce with a tomato, oven grilled eggplant and fried beef strips


Snack:
Boiled egg, tomato and a carrot

Whole 30 - Day 18 & Learning snatches

I learned a new skill today! Snatches! (thanks for teaching me, Edmund!)
We started out by doing some med ball snatches as a warm up, then used an almost weightless barbell to get the hang of the movement itself before we proceeded to use an actual barbell. I used a 15kg barbell, which was heavy enough for a first time, since I'm not that good at doing really quick and explosive movements yet. But I liked it!

We also practiced some power cleans and pull ups, then did a few core exercises and called it a day. I wasn't that tired from the whole workout (except for my arms and shoulders) and instead it left me energized for the rest of the evening. (so far at least)
I really needed that, because the rest of my day sucked. Had a fair deal of stress at work, didn't feel good all morning.. Let's hope tomorrow will be a better day!


I'm halfway through my work week, so I can start counting down to the weekend again! And it's just 3 more weeks before I head to the USA.. I have to admit that I actually made a list today of things I need to pack.
And I got my laminated maps of Seattle and Chicago in the mail yesterday! Nice =)

So here's what day 18 looked like, foodwise:

Breakfast:
Leftover lime chicken salad with a tomato

Lunch:
Stir-fried broccoli and butternut squash, with 2 scrambled eggs with some mackerel

Dinner:
Pan fried turkey fillets with some roasted beets and zucchini salad

Whole 30 - Day 17

Day 17. Almost there.
So how was everyone's 4th of July? I really wish that would be an official holiday over here as well, along with all the festivities. (even if it's just for the sake of having an extra holiday)
I got 3 appointments at San Francisco CrossFit scheduled and confirmed today, and I'm all happy about it. I simply booked an 'Introduction to CrossFit' series; 3x 1 hour with a personal trainer, which they recommend when you're just starting out. I know I've already been doing CrossFit WODs a little longer now, but I'm still fairly new to it all and don't have enough experience to join in one of their group classes yet.
Training with a personal trainer will definitely benefit my technique for certain lifts and movements and, -bonus!- I get to ask a whole lot of questions and get them answered too. Not that I'm the annoying question asking kind of person, I simply like the fact that I could be.


This weekend I also realised I have a small problem.. I do not fit into some of my clothes anymore. Did I just get fat? No.. But the size of my arms and shoulders has definitely increased over the last few months. Meaning I no longer fit into certain tops, including my favourite fitted jacket.. (unless I stand up straight and don't move at all, which is next to impossible for me)
Does that mean there's a downside to CrossFit??


No!! It means I need to go shopping. What a shame...


Speaking of workouts, I just had another nice one!
Warm up:
3 rounds of 30 seconds of each exercise:
DB row / push ups / butterfly sit-ups / air squats


and then the WOD itself:
25 pull ups
400m run
21 thrusters (I used a 20kg barbell)
800m run
21 thrusters
400m run
50 push ups


My time: 18.43 (and a pool of sweat..)


And this is what went into my stomach today:

Breakfast:
Leftover roasted veggies, fritatta with kohlrabi leaves and broccoli stems, and some shredded chicken with coconut lime cream

Lunch:
2 beef burgers with stir-fried broccoli and butternut squash

Dinner:
Grilled trout with some roasted beets and stir-fried cabbage


Check out the teeth on this trout! I though it was really primal to serve it this way.