Internal Mono(b)log

An interesting blurb from Michael Greger MD in my mailbox this morning.

Diet vs. Exercise: What’s More Important? | NutritionFacts.org.

and I agree w. him totally.  We all know a calorie isn’t a calorie and the composition, processing, additives, and personal food sensitivities around diet choices can make a MASSIVE difference in how your body is using those calories.

In that vein, I have recently been conducting a personal nutrition experiement (in the constant stream of them that I am continually doing), and cutting dairy from my diet.  I previously wasn’t a HUGE consumer of milk or cheese, but I did eat cottage cheese and yogurt pretty much daily and in pretty good quantities.  About 2 weeks ago I cut these “staples” from my diet.  The results?

Well, 1st and foremost I note that I feel mentally clearer like a light fog has been lifted.  This is surprising because I never felt that dairy had any negative impact on my physical or mental well-being, but it would appear that I’m wrong.  I’ve also noted lower morning resting heart-rate (this may just be due to being fully recovered from The North Face Endurance Challenge Ultra that I did in early December, so not too confident about this being dairy related, but noteworthy), less phlegm and muscus, reduced hunger, less frequent sleep interruptions, and least important but still happy-making, a drop in fat-mass without a loss in lean-mass.

All things considered, it would appear that the experiment is  having positive results and as such I’ll probably adopt it into my normal dietary regeme.  I still occasionally have a bit of cheese on my eggs or a drop of milk in a particularly medeocre restaurant coffee but my daily habitual consumption has, at least for now, come to an end.

Pecan Pie Ice Cream | Raw Ice Cream Recipes | Healthy Blender Recipes.

OMG this is SO good and 100% dairy free.  I could eat waaay too much of this far too easily.

Sitting in a cafe at Tremblant drinking green tea and passing time til dinner, I figure now is as good a time to write about my race day nutrition plan as any. So here it is:

My nutrition plan has changed a bit over this summer: I’ve started including more solid and natural nutrition into the mix. I still heavily rely on FirstEndurance liquid shot and drink but now have added my home-made energy bites into the mix with great results.

Today, the day before the race, I’m eating a lower fibre diet, still whole foods and largely unprocessed but no big salads, mostly cooked veg and light, easily digested fish and/or eggwhites for protein. I’ll aim to eat to a zero calorie deficit today and each time I wake at night to pee, I’ll top up with a banana.

For breakfast I’ll have a coffee and a banana, granola and cottage cheese (normal brekkie).

Pre-swim I’ll eat 2 GU Rocktane with some water.

Out of the swim, for the first 5-10k I’ll drink just water and let my system settle before putting any kind of fuel in. On the bike I have 2 flasks of EFS liquid shot diluted with water in a speedfil a2 (800 calories) and 2 bottles of EFS drink (200 calories), a bottle of water and 10 energy bites (500 calories) and refills for each of these at the Special Needs tent. This works out to about 500 calories per hour and since I hope to finish the ride in a little less than 6 hrs, my goal is to consume most of this.

The run is similarly planned. 10 bites, 1 flask and 1 EFS drink per 2 hrs with refills in special needs.

I expect that this will be my last blog post until Monday. Though I may try to do a quick finish time post Sunday night. I’m #1176. You can track me on ironmanlive.com or with the irontac app on a smartphone.

Cya on the other side of hearing: Rick Yazwinski… You… Are… An… Ironman! 🙂

Hmm.. may have to try this!

The Food Lovers’ Primal Palate: Rice-Free Sushi.

Newest batch of bites recipe follows.  These are pretty darned tasty.

• 250g pitted dates
• 30g organic dried cranberries
• 10g chia seeds
• 10g shredded unsweetened coconut
• 20g brazil nuts
• 30g pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• healthy pinch ground sea salt

Process as usual: 1/2 dates and all other ingredients and process course chop, then add remainder of dates and process until a “dough” ball forms.

Press ball down on parchment lined cookie sheet and roll to consistent 4-5mm thickness.  This batch I baked for about 10 minutes at 425 the edges started to get dark (almost burnt toast colour). Remove from oven and tip onto mesh cooling tray.  I then put the batch back into the cooling oven to continue drying for 15-20 minutes (with the oven off, just residual heat).  I then removed the slab from the oven and cut into 30 bites.

Hydration Science and Practice | Skratch Labs.

Wow – good article describing why it’s important and beneficial to get race nutrients thru food and not liquid form.

Thought provoking.. definitely need to do some additional race nutrition experimentation.   Love the bars I’ve been making.  Gonna be hard to onboard 500-700 calories/hr, but if I’m not getting the benefits of all those liquid calories anyhow… hmm… eenteresting 😉

I’m on a roll it seems… really enjoying playing with flavours in these energy bites.  Love having complete control over what I’m putting in my engine.

Here’s the latest version from this afternoon’s Mad Kitchen Scientist:

Apricot, Almond, Cranberry Bites

• 25g dried apricots
• 50g craisins
• 250g dates
• 100g almonds
• 25g raisins
• 20g chia seeds

Course cut the apricots, then put the apricots, craisins, almonds, and raisins in a food processor and process to course meal.  Add about 1/2 of the dates and the chia seeds and process until well incorporated.  Then add the last of the dates and process until a “dough” ball forms.

Instead of dehydrating these I tried baking them.  I pressed them about 1/4″ thick onto a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and baked for  15 minutes at 375 (a you would a gingerbread house wall), but it was too hot.  Next time I’d do 325 for 15 and see how that works.  They’re still pretty good, but a little crispy around the edges.  Cut into 44 bites.

Here’s the nutrition info:

Enjoy!

Made this tonight, took less than 5 minutes!  My blendtec blender even warmed it as it blended it.  The only addition I made was a few pinches of smoked ancho chile powder.

Creamy Tomato Soup | Raw Food Home Recipes.

So good!  Wow!  Assuming the recipe makes 4 servings, here’s the nutrition breakdown.

Ingredients

• 10g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 10g chia seeds
• 110g juice sweetened dried organic sour cherries
• 250g dates

Process all ingredients until well mixed and the mixture forms a “dough” ball.  Spread onto dehydrator sheet and dry for ~36 hours.  After the 1st 8-12 hours, when the mixture starts to firm up a bit but into 36 roughly equal portions.

In my home made nutrition experimentation vein here’s experiment #2:

Peanut Butter’n’Banana Energy Bites

• 250g dates
• 50g dry roasted unsalted peanuts
• 50g banana chips
• 10g chia seeds
• 1/4 tsp salt

Pulse peanuts and banana chips in food processor until finely chopped.  With the food processor running, add about 1/2 of the dates, then the chia seeds and salt and finally the rest of the dates.  When everything is well chopped and mixed, spread small bar shapes (if you make 9 bars they divide easily into 36 bites) on parchment or a teflex sheet and put in the dehydrator for about 2-3 hours, flip and dehydrate for another 2-3 hours, then place on a normal dehydrator grill for a final 2-3 hours.  Let cool, then cut the bars to produce 36 mini-bars (bites).

Delish and best yet my gut seems to tolerate them well too.  Enjoy!