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"