Day 2: April 12th, 2016

How is everyone feeling after Day 1? Don't be surprised if you say, "I feel like crap!" Most of the first week people experience headaches and exhaustion. In fact, it usually takes 4 days for people to get over the side effects of the american high-carb/sugar diet!  THEN everyone starts to feel the benefits. I promise. 
So, stay strong!

Day 2 Agenda:

1. Continue daily movement today and throughout the rest of the challenge: park far away from work in order to increase movement; take the stairs instead of the elevator; take a break every 30-60 min. from your desk job; go for a walk.

2. Complete a maximum repetitions workout. At the end of the challenge, you will do this again to see how you have improved.

3. Lastly, take a cognitive ability test HERE {~45min test} to compare with at the end of the challenge. Many people feel groggy/sleepy at the beginning of the challenge {I like to call this a "brain fog"} and then alert/energetic even after the first week! 

Take 5-10 minutes to find your maximum repetitions of:

• Pushups - Keep body in straight line, hands shoulder width apart, hands and toes on floor, touch chest to ground. To modify, keep knees on floor along with toes. Do the best you can.

• Sit-ups - Put a rolled up towel lengthways or pillow beneath buttocks and back. Put bottom of your feet together to make a diamond with your legs. When you lie back, reach back as far as you can with your hands and then crunch forward reaching as far as you can with your hands to your toes. The woman in the below video doesn't reach back with her hands, but just imagine she continues backwards with her hands stretched out.

• Pull-Ups or Chair Dips - Grip the pull-up bar with the top of your hands facing you, wide grip, pull your body up until your chin is above the bar. For chair dips, take a chair and sit just in front of it by gripping your hands on the edge of the chair. Your body will be in a sitting position just in front of the chair. Dip down as far as you can and then push yourself back up.

• Plank Holds - Get into the pushup position, hold this position for as long as you can. Back completely straight.

• Squats - Stand shoulder width or a little wider if you have long legs. Keep your arms stretched out in front of you and lower yourself down by pushing your buttocks back, keeping your back flat, and keeping your knees behind your toes and going outward rather than inward. Go as low as you can, preferably below parallel.

Meal/Snack Ideas:

I included a couple of recipes that copycat regular foods you would not normally eat on a primal/paleo diet {i.e. desserts, pizza, pancakes} BECAUSE I know it's hard to come off of the high-carb diet. You may also be craving the foods you previously ate. Although I would not suggest using copycat recipes all the time and especially during the challenge, I do think it will help you during the first week, so that you don't feel like you are missing out. Remember, we want to train your body into becoming a fat burning body, so this means each meal should have a portion of at least protein, fats, vegetables, and maybe some fruit or tubers.

Breakfast- banana pancakes {copycat recipe}

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 2 eggs
• a few dashes of cinnamon

Mix together and pan fry in coconut oil, butter, or olive oil (I suggest making each pancake a smaller size than a normal pancake as they can sometimes be difficult to flip when larger).  Top with almond butter, coconut milk, fruit or just eat them plain because, honestly, they are delicious by themselves! Add a side veggies to make it a complete meal.

Lunch- cauliflower tortilla tacos {copycat recipe}

{pic and recipe from recipegirl.com}

Go HERE for the cauliflower tortilla recipe. Add choice of meat and toppings to make them into tacos!

Dinner- Lamb Shoulder Chop

Ingredients: {2 servings}

• 2 large lamb shoulder chops
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sea salt 
• 2 cloves fresh minced garlic 
• 1 tsp dried thyme leaves

Mix all ingredients, besides meat, in a bowl ensuring to mash minced garlic into olive oil well. Rub all over chops. Place into ziplock bag to marinate about an hour in fridge to induce flavor. Cook on medium high heat over stove on a pan rubbed with olive oil until it's cooked to your preference! 

Add  a colorful salad with your favorite veggies {pictured is sliced green pepper/cucumber/yellow and red tomatoes}. I love to drizzle olive oil, lemon juice, and sprinkle course salt on my salads as a simple, tasty dressing OR I use balsamic vinegar {check ingredients} OR red wine vinegar/olive oil/se salt mixture.

Snacks: sliced apples dipped in nut butter {this does not include peanuts which are a legume and not primal approved - ALWAYS check our primal food list}. Below are homemade nut butter recipes from a previous challenge participant along with picture! Thanks again, Kristina:) OR you can buy almond butter at whole foods or another grocery store where you can literally flip the switch and churn whole almonds. Therefore, you won't have any preservatives/sugars from the jarred nut butters!

Cashew butter:

• 500g organic raw cashews
• 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
• 1/2 tsp himalayan salt

Add all ingredients to the bowl of your food processor and process for a very long time, until nice and smooth. You will have to scrape the sides often, and your nuts will turn into a very thick and crumbly paste before eventually starting to release their oils and turn into nut butter. Be patient and resist the urge to add any form of liquid. Just keep going, it will eventually happen. From beginning to end, this might take a good 20 minutes of active processing, so it is a good idea to give your food processor a few minutes break from time to time. Keep your nut butter in mason type glass jars or other air tight containers.

Vanilla roasted pecan butter:

2 cups of pecans

2 tsp vanilla powder

1 tsp coconut oil {optional}

Process all ingredients in a food processor until you reach the right consistency. Pecan butter is not as solid as other butters so if you want it more solid you will add the coconut oil.

One last copycat recipe for those of you suffering! This  below recipe was given to me by a friend who tried a challenge a few months ago. She did very well and had great results, but found herself emotionally craving food even after the real cravings subsided after the first week. So, she thought it would be helpful to share this comfort food recipe with my participants and I agree with her input...the first week is rough coming off of cravings, so trick your brain by having a few copycats;) Thank you, Susannah!

Flatbread

Ingredients:
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup water

Combine all ingredients. Heat coconut oil in a large skillet. Pour pancake-sized portions into the pans. Once they start to bubble, flip to the other side for a minute or two. Once they are stable, transfer to a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 10-15min {add garlic powder or salt to taste if you want to change the flavor!}

Take some notes!

-how did you increased your daily movement? 

-max reps for pushups/sit-ups/pull-ups/plank holds/squats?
-relaxation techniques tried?

-energy level {POOR, AVERAGE, GREAT}?

-satisfaction level with meals?

-hunger level between meals?

-struggles?

-benefits?