About this blog

In other words, the Zone + Crossfit = Optimal Heath!
This blog focuses on nutrition, using the Zone Diet as the basis. However, I often eat Paleo foods in Zone proportions.
I love to investigate anything having to do with food- what we eat and why. And what happens within our bodies, our organs, our brain, when we do? My precious mother struggled with eating disorders. I want to avoid this delimma based on research, common sense, and the natural consequences on my body. The Zone shows me where the balance lies between eating too much and eating too little.
My husband runs a Crossfit gym. Exercise and choosing the right foods have become a mission for ourselves and our children. We don't want to be nerds about it, we just want to be healthy.
I have been asked by several friends what I feed our family, especially our kids. My husband and I follow the Crossfit prescription to nutrition (meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar). If you know me, you know that the sugar part of this equation will be a life long struggle given my love for chocolate! Evan adheres to the stricter version known as the Paleo-Zone diet (and I do on my good days!) which requires the same foods in a ratio of 40% protein, 30% carb, and 30% fat. Children require 50% carbs, 30% fat, and 20% protein. If you're wondering how to figure this out, I do it on a per meal basis and I have a "block" chart from the Zone website.
It seems like a headache at first, but if you're interested, just know that it is not that bad once you practice it for a couple of weeks. All you need is a $10 scale and some determination. It really is quite simple and makes my life easier at the grocery store and when cooking dinner. Most of all, I feel great when I eat well- mentally and physically, and we all know that the physical can affect the mental and visa versa!
Evan and I are hunter/gatherer wanna-be's! This blog will track my journey of health as it should be, and the honest reality of living in a sugar fried culture. When it comes down to it, I get excited to talk about nutrition, but I am definitely not perfect at it! If you have the desire to eat well, but it is often a challenge to overcome the temptations along the way, then you are in the right company!
I hope you leave this blog feeling enlightened and encouraged as you go throughout your day!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Day 4

Well, I made it to Granny's and back and stuck to my prepacked meals! I just drank coffee at Wendy's. Now the challenge awaits to not eat the 100 calorie snacks that she sent home to the kids! I could throw them away, but it's not in my DNA to do so (ask Evan!). When I got home with the kids this afternoon, I ate my 4 o'clock meal 30 minutes early to help with the temptation. I like free food when it stretches out the budget, and I don't want my kids to feel deprived when they look around at other kids, so I inform them of whether something is a treat or not and I make sure they eat what is good for them before they have the treat, unless it is after school.

Anyway, this week is going very well for me so far. How to keep my head in game, motivated to make good choices and not feel deprived... this is the challenge soon approaching and I hope we can all give each other some insight this Saturday on that topic. Week one always goes well for me. I walk around saying, "Why don't I eat this way all the time! I feel so great!" Then week two, I overcome temptations, but by week three I am tired of self control and I find a reason to indulge. This is what I want to avoid this time. And thanks to an article that Bethany Willis, a family friend and fellow crossfitter from KY, posted, I see that I really have to address the heart issue that comes along with wanting to indulge. This is kind of scary for me because I'm not sure what I am going to find. I hope that I can make a mental breakthrough, but at the same time, I don't. You know what I mean? But, this article put me in that direction. It talks about the definition of "indulge", that it an unrestrained action. Unrestrained eating. Hmmm. I don't like that. That sounds yucky. Not very attractive. I don't want to be that. So then the question lies, is there ever a time that unrestrained eating is ok? Celebrations? What do you think?

If I cannot have restrain, then I probably don't need to reward myself with food... But I love brownies, cookies, icecream, and chess squares! I love chocolate. But here is the other concept that hit me hard this week: I am not simply a chocolate lover, I am addicted to sugar in the chocolate! I am simply a sugar addict! BUT, I have gone 4 days and not felt tremors or anything! I am not craving it right now. So what is the deal? Is the female cycle something that is really responsible for certain cravings? Or does my mental discipline only last so long? I know that when I am thoroughly stressed from the daily grind of raising children, I want to eat sugar. So, this article, taken from a book, that Bethany posted, really attacks the war within our hearts and minds. I hope to get the book in the near future.

Here are meals that I have eaten this week: 2 blocks every time
Breakfasts: always two eggs with toast and butter or fruit and then coffee with cream
Dinners: Mahi fish (meaty and bland, so it takes on flavor well) sauteed squash and zuccinni, or cooked spinach, and/or with sauteed nectarine, yum!; ham and sweet potatoes with nutmeg, maybe butter
Lunches or inbetween meals: Egg repeat (I cook enough in the morning to have later in the day. I just warm them up in the microwave- it doesn't bother me.) Fruits. Today I had a 2 oz. packet of tuna mixed with mayo, salt, pepper, and curry and then chopped up a nectarine and ate it with my tuna. It was good! I had a pear, ham, and coffee with cream. I also like to buy the precooked Tyson meat strips. Definitely not organic, but easy. Sometimes I have to pick my battles!

Hope to see you Saturday! Email me at satterfieldstudio@comcast.net or send me a message on facebook if you need directions to our home.

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