GET A FOOKIN' SMOKER

Ya i know i've got a smoking obsession - hey, it IS Colorado.  Anyway, i'm pretty sure i could make money off this next one. Try googling smoked nut-butter.  Just some lame stuff about making nutbutter out of smoked almonds.  Are  they even smoked?  This is the real deal here, and there's no almonds to be found. Seriously, it's incredible. So, stop sitting on your man-card and buy a smoker.  The flavors are out of this world.  But first, the GAMES are here - holy smokes!  I've never trained so hard for anything.  Literally, I left LA last year on Monday and started training on Wednesday. Pretty happy how things went. I qualified 5th in the world - exactly same as last year.  If you participated, you know the competition was up a notch this year. So that tells me my training and nutrition mods worked. What mods you might ask? Well, more variety of training, which of course is the cornerstone of crossfit.  I did crossfit at work, in the dirt and snow, and just made up a  lot of crazy stuff. Of course I also hit it pretty hard at Flatirons Crossfit.  Nutrition? More fat, less carbs, 'nuff said.  It's really not more complicated than that.  Carbs -> insulin -> chubby.   Fats/Proteins -> ripped.  We're all fat burners genetically but, IMHO, it takes years to get that machine re-dialed since you've probably been a carb burner for decades (me too). There are lots of people out there, crossfitters included, that will say carbs are magic, you gotta have them, performance suffers if you don't, blah blah. It's bullshit.  Carbs are non-essential, it's been proven.  Want to live long and be lean? Lower your carbs.  Try reading "Primal Body, Primal Mind" by Nora T. Gedgaudas.  The first 2/3 of the book is golden.  The primal mind part gets a little goofy for me but i'm an engineer and not that imaginative. If you try low carb, and feel like crap, you may have to give it some time.  By that i mean, back it up and go a year. Figure something improved yet sustainable and go.   Then try it again. Of course "low carb" is relative.  For me, less than 100g per day is "low." I think that's a good target but if it floats up to 150 gm some days, i'm not going to lose sleep over it.

My personal experience is that i've been slowly adapting more and more each YEAR.  I don't take any advice from people that don't walk the talk, so at the risk of appearing vain, see pic below - taken today at 51 yrs old.  And let me tell ya, I eat WELL, and i'm stronger than last year. NEVER hungry.  You can take your advice from chubby doctors if you want but the "how to" is well established (and they don't follow it). You just need resolve comrade. I think this recipe, lower and lower carbs, should work pretty well for men.  Women, i'm sorry, seem more complicated. Laurie can't eat fat and meat for breakfast to save her life.  I will STILL say lower your carbs, and just figure when and how you can do it. But don't forget you have to make up for those calories! Fat is your new best friend - coconut milk smoothies, bacon fat, avocados, full fat (even extra fat) yogurt (if you can handle lactose), etc.  Like Nora G. says - if you are ingesting sufficient fat, your body is thinking "hunting is good." :D

SMOKED NUT BUTTER (!)

1 cup cashews - raw
1 cup pecans - raw
1/2 cup macadamia nuts - raw
1/4 teaspoon shallot salt
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt

(Shallot WHAT you say? Find a spice shop Bro - you'll thank me later)

Smoke for about 1/2 hour - stirring regularly.  I then blend mine in a Vitamix.  Don't overdo it.  When it starts to "flow" you're about there (1st time i made nut soup - had to drink it).  Also, tip from a friend of mine, after you make your smoked nut  butter, make a kale/spinach/coconut milk/ blah blah smoothie.  THEN clean up your mess :)

I have NO idea if other mixers/food processors will do the same thing.  I think that Vitamix would turn rocks to lava so i just keep using it.
Lastly, please don't forget to support my sponsor  FitAID.  Free shipping on anything they sell using "paleosteve" code at check-out.  It's good stuff and i drink it weekly, if not daily.   AND, best of luck to all my fellow Games competitors.  Like Spealler said, money is in the bank now.  Let's have some fun.

Eat Well!  Steve "Paleo"

Smoked Mashed Potatoes & Ribs

In case you haven't noticed, i only post now when something REALLY gets me fired up, and this recipe is a good example. Smoked mashed sweet potatoes are SO good, you want to roll in them.  Granted, it's a little work, but this is not a dish you find anywhere.  Sadly, I didn't think of it.  I had them a few months ago at a restaurant in Boulder called Boulder Cork.  I think this place has been around since the earth was flat, and the patrons look it (they know a good meal by now).  The food is awesome. I had the waitress ask the cook how they achieved the smoky flavor and it's been on my to-do list every since. It's easy yet AMAZING.  But first, THE CROSSFIT OPEN IS HERE - WOOOOOHOOOOO!! When I left the Games last year, all i could think was "I have to get back".  That 7 months passed pretty fast.  I made massive changes, i'm free of injury, I feel good. Life is good.  How about you? Is your nutrition dialed? Are you strategizing? Are you not leaving a single extra second on the table? In case you didn't notice, the pool seems to ~double every year in this sport.  You need to get stronger, smarter, tougher.  By now you're as strong as you're going to get, but you can still get smarter and tougher.  Analyze the hell  out of each work-out and eat gunpowder for breakfast because this is it buddy. At the end of the week, relax a little, eat well, and enjoy the ride because this just comes around once per year and even though i dread the stress, it's damn fun.

Now for the "recipe".  Excuse the format - don't need a list of ingredients.  Everyone knows how to make mashed potatoes.  However, you will need a smoker.  If you don't have one, get off your lazy arse and get one.  I had one and then found out some mice turned it into a condo, even brought in their own bedding, but never changed it.  So i chucked it and got a new electric one from home depot for ~$80.  It will smoke chickens, ribs, whatever - I'm gonna start using it. So you need one of those and some wood chips - i bought apple. Now make up your mashed potatoes a good hour before you need them. I prefer WHITE  sweet potatoes since they're on the mild side and look more like regular potatoes.  Peel, chunk and boil in water until soft.  Drain the water (of course) and add spices - we like smoked paprika, celery salt, and pepper.  Add butter and sour cream if you do the dairy thing (who doesn't these days?), or not if you're a fanatic (i pity you).  Plug in that smoker and throw your chips in (that you soaked in water for 30 min).  Now simply take your pot of mashed potatoes, w/out the cover, and place in the smoker (warning: not your best pot - it will look a little "smoky" afterwards). I smoked mine for a solid 45 minutes and added more chips halfway thru.  Every 15 minutes, give them a stir. Then bring them inside, cover, and keep warm until the rest of the food is ready.  We combined these with pork ribs, which i've posted before (super easy - dry rub and bbq for about 10-15 min per side) and broccolini with dried mushrooms which we reconstituted (these are better than fresh - more flavorful).  You will be shocked at how fantastic these potatoes taste.  It's like going back in time 1,000 yrs and being served sweet potatoes cooked over an open fire. Exquisite, really.

LASTLY - I want to bring some attention to FitAID.  A few months ago I was looking for something to aid my maintenance and recovery.  I found FitAID thru another masters athlete (12th in the world after 13.2).  I love this stuff because it has supplements that have already proven themselves to me (glutamine and glucosamine to name just a few), is all natural, carbonated, and just mildly sweet. In short, this is a top shelf sports drink loaded with supplements.  If you want to give it a try, FitAID made a special coupon code for me to share "paleosteve" which will get you FREE shipping. They are helping to support my quest to get back to the Games.  Please support them if you're in the market for a really top quality sports drink.

Eat Well!   Steve "Paleo"