The more we train, the finickier we get about everything from our equipment to our clothing. And if there’s one thing I hate, it’s when I go blind mid-workout because the sweat has firmly lodged in my eyes. It’s painful, distracting, and downright dangerous.

So how fun to discover that Saaka has created a line of athletic bands with all different athletes and activities in mind.

Saaka bands come in a variety of colors and patterns.

Saaka bands consist of three layers of fabric. The two outside layers are constructed from poly/Lycra microfiber, while the middle layer is a bamboo fabric. According to Saaka, bamboo absorbs 30% more moisture than cotton and is also naturally anti-microbial.

“[T]hese are much more functional and comfortable than your average band for athletic wear. It’s clear a great deal of thought has been put into their design and into the materials used.”

Each band can be custom fitted due to the Velcro closure. One interesting aspect to Saaka’s Velcro closure is that it is vented. Both sides of the Velcro have holes punched in them, so you don’t end up with a thick section of fabric that doesn’t absorb or doesn’t breathe. Instead, it seems to be just as comfortable in that regard as the rest of the band.

What I Tried

• Headband – I like the idea of a headband that is not a complete circle. I mean, it becomes a complete circle, but it has an adjustable Velcro attachment. While this is handy for sizing, it also means you don’t have to jack up your face and hair just to get your headband on.
• Wristband – These come in small and medium sizes, but both are quite thick in width. This is nice for stopping sweat from sliding down onto your hand and also for using to get the moisture off your face.
• MP Band – “MP” stand for multi-position. The idea behind this band is that you can put it anywhere on your body where you don’t want the sweat to flow. So if your grip is important, then you can put one on your forearm or upper arm. If you really hate shin sweat, then put one just below your knee. Make sure to pay attention to the sizing on this one and keep in mind that not all sizes will fit all parts of your body. I know that sounds like a “duh,” but the Velcro closure isn’t so big that you’ll have a lot of adjustment leeway.

Saaka wristbands are quite thick in width and come in small and medium sizes.

If you think you’ll love these bands, you can also $5.00 by purchasing the Agility Bundle. The bundle comes with two wristbands and a headband, which would normally cost $50.00. You also get a free mesh wash bag that would normally cost you $3.00.

All the bands come in a variety of colors and patterns. Saaka products are also made in the U.S. and they donate 10% of their profits to Sports Charities USA.

My Recommendation

I highly recommend purchasing the mesh wash bag to go along with your bands. The Velcro is big and sturdy on these products, which is great when you’re out exercising, but not so great on your other clothes once everything is in the washer. Saaka also recommends that you air or line dry the products.

“One interesting aspect to Saaka’s Velcro closure is that it is vented. Both sides of the Velcro have holes punched in them, so you don’t end up with a thick section of fabric that doesn’t absorb or doesn’t breathe.”

In general, the Velcro is both the best and worst thing about these bands. It’s great that it’s adjustable, but I found the doubling up of material and the corners sticking up a bit on my wristband to get a bit in the way when I was hiking. And if you turn it so the closure doesn’t brush against your body, then you’re left trying to wipe your forehead on the least soft part of the wristband. This isn’t a problem with the headband and MP band, but was a bit annoying on the wristband.

The Agility Bundle includes one of each band and a mesh bag for $45.00.

Conclusion

All in all, though, these are much more functional and comfortable than your average band for athletic wear. It’s clear a great deal of thought has been put into their design and into the materials used. And really, they’re just ridiculously soft and when it comes to wearing something that’s going to rub and sit on your skin for hours at a time, that counts for a lot.

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If you believed in an organization so strongly that you would stand up to defend it against your own friends and family, would you also then assume that organization would stand up for you? According to Jeff and Mikki Martin, founders of CrossFit Kids, if the organization in question is CrossFit, Inc., then such an assumption would be wrong.

While CrossFit, Inc. has had public legal battles for years, the Martins never imagined the sights would be set on them. They were the godparents of Greg and Lauren Glassman’s children. In addition to running one of most well known CrossFit affiliates out of their gym, Brand X, they were well-respected as the founders of CrossFit Kids. But that business, born from a simple handshake agreement in 2004, would turn into a life-consuming lawsuit and have them see CrossFit and the people behind it in a whole new light.

“It’s almost as if they didn’t know us,” said CrossFit Kids co-founder Mikki Martin. “We started as a self defense studio. We started as: people shouldn’t be treated badly, you should fight for yourself, and you don’t allow people to do bad things to you… I don’t know what they thought. I think they thought we’d be scared and roll over. And that’s not us.”

To understand what happened, we need to take a look at some CrossFit history.

The Timeline

• 2004 – Jeff Martin discovered CrossFit and took his first Level I certification. He and Mikki integrated CrossFit into their martial arts kids program at the request of Greg Glassman and Lauren (Glassman) Jenai. The Martins were subsequently invited to the CrossFit course in Boulder, Colorado. There, Greg Glassman asked the Martins to start CrossFit Kids and they agreed. Greg encouraged them to post workouts on their website and they began doing so that December. Glassman then encouraged the Martins to create a turnkey program for affiliates wanting a kids program, including lesson plans, magazine, and a certification course. The Martins began building CrossFit Kids and Glassman continued to emphasize that the endeavor belonged to the Martins, stating, “It’s yours for a hundred years.”
• 2007 – The Martins began creation of the first CrossFit Kids certification course.
• 2008 – The Martins launched the certification courses. Glassman changed the wording he used to say that he “licensed the name” to the Martins for one hundred years. He encouraged the Martins to create affiliates through CrossFit Kids.
• 2010 – Glassman asked the Martins and CrossFit Kids to come “under the umbrella” of CrossFit, Inc. In response to the Martins’ concerns, he stated again that CrossFit Kids belonged to them. By this time, the Martins were training certification teams and teaching CrossFit Kids courses worldwide. This was the first profitable year for CrossFit Kids, contrary to the statements by CrossFit headquarters (CFHQ) that the Martins needed their financial assistance. Glassman asked the Martins to discontinue the CrossFit Kids affiliation process so affiliations could go through CFHQ. In return, they were promised profit sharing – $500 for each CrossFit affiliate running a CrossFit Kids program and 2% of all sponsorship and advertising revenue. The Martins agreed, but the details of their new compensation were never actualized due to Glassman becoming increasingly distant. The Martins believed the lack of communication was due to the legal issues between Glassman and Lauren Jenai and didn’t press the matter, despite taking a huge cut in income.
• 2011 – CFHQ was no longer scheduling as many CrossFit Kids courses or with enough lead-time for the courses to be marketed, so the Martins’ income was dramatically cut. The Martins were not given the ability to schedule additional courses. CFHQ billed the Martins for all expenses associated with the courses and only paid the agreed-upon percentage of profit after expenses. But in fact, the Martins had signed the agreement under duress and no details regarding the determination of profit had been laid out, so the billing of expenses and small nature of their payments came as a surprise. The Martins had been told they could go to Glassman with any concerns, but they were continually denied access to him. As the situation wore on, the Martins became in danger of losing their home. Glassman paid them a one-time bonus and put them on a salary with a three-year agreement. CFHQ agreed to come up with a more comprehensive contract once the courses were back on track. Throughout this, the Martins expressed that their income should be connected to the CrossFit Kids courses as it was their creation.
• 2014 – The three-year date passed on the Martins’ contract and no renegotiation was brought up by CFHQ. The Martins felt promises were made that were never actuated and pressed the matter.

In 2007, Glassman suggested to the Martins that CrossFit Kids be linked on the main CrossFit website. The Martins believe the following voicemail from Glassman offers clear evidence that CrossFit Kids belonged to them:

The Beginning of the End of CrossFit Kids

In early 2014, CFHQ asked the Martins to hand over their CrossFit Kids email accounts. These were the personal accounts created by the Martins ten years earlier.

When the Martins declined to surrender their email accounts and restated that they believed they had the rights to the CrossFit Kids name, a six-month long negotiation ensued. During that time, the Martins’ ownership of CrossFit Kids and their loyalty to CrossFit itself fell under repeated question.

The Beginning of the End of CrossFit Kids

In 2007, Jeff Martin was working a full-time biotech job. He got up at 4:30am to prepare for work, drove 45 minutes to work, worked nine hours, drove 45 minutes home, taught at the gym all night, then went home to work on CrossFit Kids, going to bed at close to midnight every night. Mikki was matching this effort, raising their family and devoting her time to running the gym and CrossFit Kids.

Later that same year, Jeff was laid off, but he was offered other biotech job opportunities. The Martins met with Glassman to get his advice. They felt if Jeff retained another biotech job, they would not be able to move CrossFit Kids forward.

Glassman encouraged them to go all-in with CrossFit Kids and invest everything in the company, reiterating that it was theirs forever. The Martins cashed in all of their stocks and retirement investments to give themselves the capital to concentrate 100% on CrossFit Kids.

Fast-forward back to 2014. The Martins trusted their financial future to CrossFit Kids and to CrossFit, Inc. But because the profit-sharing promise never came to be, they were facing an empty retirement account. They had created a company worth millions of dollars and were faced with having to start over, with no savings to stand on for their children or their own future.

After six months of frustrating and contentious “negotiation,” the Martins went away from what would be the final meeting believing everything was about to be settled. They were waiting for final word from CFHQ. They hosted and attended a CrossFit Kids course that weekend, but didn’t hear from CFHQ on Monday due to a holiday.

On Tuesday morning, the Martins were fired and on Thursday morning they were served with a lawsuit.

It became clear to the Martins that CrossFit, Inc. had been drawing up this lawsuit the whole time the “negotiations” were going on. And despite Castro and Carroll being the agents of the negotiations, the Martins feel firmly that Glassman was behind it all.

The Trademark Is Not the Issue

Mikki believes the argument about trademark is simply a way to win public favor:

I think the use of the defense that it’s all about the trademark is easy to sell to affiliates who have lots of concerns about trademark … They want other people not to be able to use that name without going through the steps they went through and the investment that they went through. And that’s very understandable. So I think that’s an easy tool for HQ to use – that everything is about defending the trademark, when in some cases, such as ours, we feel it has almost nothing to do with it at this point.

To prove the point, Jeff Martin asked, “Where were we going?” Jeff and Mikki were never leaving CrossFit, never taking their CrossFit Kids brand elsewhere, never threatening to break off or market to another entity. They were always fully on board with being part of CrossFit, Inc. and continued to run a CrossFit affiliate gym.

Instead of taking the bait and seeing them as the villains, the Martins ask people to dig deeper, to not believe the vitriol on the Internet. To ask why CrossFit might behave this way when they’ve been given everything they asked for.

The Martins have already handed over everything CrossFit requested, including the domain names at the center of the original dispute, so why has CrossFit not dropped the lawsuit? And why should this concern every affiliate owner?

Jeff Martin was honored with the rare title of “Coach” in 2006.

Why the Martins Should Matter to All Affiliate Owners

In a recent and already infamous interview, Greg Glassman stated that he runs his business like a motorcycle gang. Some fans of CrossFit find this amusing, but the Martins think the analogy is all too telling.

“If you think about it, his analogy of ‘I run my business like a motorcycle gang’ really applied,” said Jeff. “Mikki and I are the perennial prospect. Not the patch members like Dave and Nicole. The prospects, and ‘I want what the prospect has, I’m taking it, and I can take it because I have the gang behind me.’”

Mikki elaborated:

There’s this whole idea of “ninety lawyers [sic].” What’s that for? That’s to scare people and intimidate them, and then things happen somehow where somebody says or does something that they don’t want, and they lose their connection to HQ. They were an L1 trainer or they had a great affiliate where they gave courses and all of the sudden there are no more courses scheduled there or they’re no longer staffed, they’re contractors, so they’re staffing changes. Those mysterious things occur, and people are scared. We see it and that’s why we have this ‘unbullyable’ theme. People feel bullied.

“They used the affiliate agreement that we have as Brand X to say that they own everything we’ve ever done,” Jeff said. “That should scare you.”

CrossFit Hasn’t Given Up

Despite the fact that the Martins have moved on, CrossFit has not. CrossFit Brand X, the Martins’ CrossFit gym – the fifth affiliate that ever existed – was recently notified by email that their affiliation was revoked. And the lawsuit still stands. I reached out to CrossFit, Inc. for their thoughts, but was unable to get a comment. I was referred to their statement on The Russells blog:

The Martins have introduced countless people to CrossFit and had immeasurable impact on trainers and young athletes throughout our community. Still, no amount of time as CrossFit Inc.’s licensees or employees would make them owners of “CrossFit Kids.” Seemingly, the Martins had always understood this as they frequently acknowledged in print and otherwise that they were licensees—not owners—of the CrossFit Kids mark. CrossFit Inc.’s intent has never been to harm the Martins. After exhausting all other avenues for reasonable resolution, CrossFit Inc. was faced with point-blank refusal of access and administration over its own domain name, websites, social-media accounts and email accounts, thus had no choice but to file suit to protect the CrossFit brand.

Christopher Wimmer, the Martins’ lawyer, perhaps sums up the situation the best:

I’ve been digging into the story of CrossFit Kids since last November. Everything I’ve seen tells me that Jeff and Mikki spent years of their lives dedicating themselves to developing CrossFit Kids from the ground up based on their handshake agreement with Greg Glassman. Although CrossFit has so far failed to produce a single document in the litigation, the emails and other documents I’ve seen from the Martins – including a voicemail from Mr. Glassman himself – show that CrossFit knew what Jeff and Mikki were doing, sought to benefit from it, and was grateful to them for expanding CrossFit’s global empire. To anyone who doubts the Martins had an agreement with CrossFit, I would ask: If you had a family, and you had other opportunities, would you spend thousands of hours over the course of six years building a business from scratch if you didn’t have the right to do so? It beggars belief.

The Next Evolution

Despite the CrossFit scare tactics, despite the lawsuit, and despite the social media melee, the Martins are not standing down and not giving up on their passion.

For them it always has been and always will be about the kids. “We will do whatever we need to support the community,” Jeff said. Though they are no longer connected to CrossFit Kids and they mourn the potential that business had, they are excited about their new path.

“We want people to have more education about how to train kids,” said Mikki. “There’s so much research out there on exercise and brain function and what we can do for kids in a really amazing way.

We have the obesity problem. We have physical literacy issues. We have sports injury that’s just ridiculous because people are professionalizing their children. There’s so much work for us to do.”

Jeff and Mikki began as Brand X back in their martial arts days, and their new kids program flies under that proud banner – The Brand X Method.

On the horizon are seminars, online courses, a new curriculum, and training centers. But the Martins are taking their time to create a quality product, striving to achieve the same level of excellence for which they’ve always been known.

They have launched one course – the Brand X Method Teen Weight Training Seminar – in response to coaches wanting to know more about safely teaching weightlifting and strength training to teenagers.

As proof of the efficacy of their method, Jeff and Mikki recently took nine of their teenaged students to a USAPL meet in California. All nine won their weight classes and qualified for nationals.

Jeff and Mikki at the USAPL meet with the Brand X Method staff and participants.

For more on this next evolution of kids coaching from Jeff, Mikki, and the Brand X Method, visit their website. They regularly post pre-school, kids, pre-teens, and teens workouts. Just like they always did, but the Brand X Method is likely to be the purest form of their methodology and philosophy yet.

The post CrossFit Kids: Divorce and Custody appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

One of the most common complaints about eating paleo is that it’s expensive. Or, if you try to have it not be expensive, you end up eating the same plain-tasting meals all the time. Ciarra Hannah, founder of Popular Paleo, attempted to counter that complaint with her new book, The Frugal Paleo Cookbook.

While Ciarra acknowledges it is possible to spend a lot of money on paleo grocery items, she says it isn’t necessary. It’s just a matter of strategizing your purchases and your approach to eating. The first and most important piece of advice she gives is, “Avoid making dishes that center around premium products.” That means in this book you won’t see such liberal use of bacon, honey, maple syrup, and expensive nut flours. You’ll also see less expensive cuts of meat and ground meats.

But don’t think that means the dishes will taste any less amazing. On the contrary, this book offers a great collection of recipes across the flavor spectrum that will keep you and your whole family happy and full.

Tex-Mex Casserole

The recipes are divided into the following categories:

• Beef and Lamb
• Poultry
• Pork
• Seafood
• Eggs
• Vegetables
• A Few Basics

Recipes I tried included:

• Pate for Rookies
• Tex-Mex Casserole
• Spatchcock Cilantro Lime Chicken
• Tangy Apricot Pulled Pork

The Pate for Rookies recipe was impressively tasty. I made it for guests who weren’t sure they’d even like pate, and they enjoyed it immensely. The fruit in the recipe really takes the edge off the offal and truly makes this not only an entry-level pate, but easy to make and enjoyable for veteran pate lovers, as well.

“In general I found the recipes in this book to be both simple and satisfying. Some recipes will require more effort than others, but there are plenty that are straightforward…”

The Tex-Mex Casserole was also simple to make, and made for some great leftovers, as well. In general I found the recipes in this book to be both simple and satisfying. Some recipes will require more effort than others, but there are plenty that are straightforward, and for the most part, there are no ingredients required that you couldn’t find at a decent local grocery store.

In addition to the recipes, Ciarra offers advice on how to keep your paleo meals tasty and give them variety by using spice blends. But again here, she gives tips on how not to break the bank by creating your own spice blends, including everything from taco seasoning to creole seasoning.

Spatchcock Cilantro Lime Chicken

Downsides

The binding on the book did break almost instantly, so I would be careful when handling your copy so you don’t start losing pages. In addition, not every recipe has a photo, which is a big pet peeve of mind with cookbooks. I want to see what I’m making, and see if what I made was even remotely in the ballpark of what the dish should look like.

“[I]f you are seeking more nuts-and-bolts about the science of paleo , as well as meal-planning and shopping support, this is not the book for you.”

This book does not cover the paleo approach to eating in as thorough a way as other cookbooks. There are no meal plans, shopping lists, or nutritional information for the recipes. This is all not necessarily a bad thing, as you may already own books that provide that sort of info for you. But if you are seeking more nuts-and-bolts about the science of paleo , as well as meal-planning and shopping support, this is not the book for you.

Who This Book Is For

Despite those potential negatives, this book still might be a good purchase for you. This book is not only about eating paleo frugally, but it itself is frugally priced.

I believe it also successfully walks the line between providing simplicity and great flavor. It’s not always easy to prepare tasty meals, and it’s not always fun to eat the same meals over and over. Creating a budget-friendly cookbook that still results in great food is a big challenge, and I think this book does an admirable job of meeting that goal.

“The Frugal Paleo Cookbook” is available for $12.99 at Amazon.com.

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PR3 is the latest supplement in the line-up from Pure Pharma. Founded in Denmark in 2009, Pure Pharma has been around a while, yet has surprisingly few products for sale. This is a good thing. The company takes their time developing each of their products – from fish oil, to vitamin D, to a multi-mineral supplement – so they can stand behind each item 100%.

About the Product

The PR3 powder is the company’s first foray into the area of protein supplementation. All twenty amino acids are included in PR3, including 2g of leucine per serving. Each serving is 150 calories and contains 1.5g fat, 9g carbohydrates, and 24g protein. Along with that, each serving includes electrolytes extracted from coconut water, as well as 2.5g of collagen peptides.

“Though Pure Pharma sells only a few products, they put a lot of work into each one. I haven’t seen a protein powder quite like this one on the market before and it hits all the boxes of a potential recovery booster.”

Many of you may have noticed the glut of gelatin recipes flooding the Internet these days, along with all the bone broth concoctions. These are both becoming popularized as people realize the value of collagen. It can help your body maintain and rebuild tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. All parts of your body vital to athletic performance, but that often undergo a lot of wear and tear. So it’s with all that in mind that Pure Pharma has included collagen (extracted from beef) in this protein powder.

Ingredients:

• Organic rice protein
• Organic coconut water
• Collagen peptides
• Organic Dutch cocoa
• Organic stevia
• Xanthan gum

On top of containing quality ingredients, PR3 is non-GMO, dairy free, and gluten free. It contains no artificial ingredients and is 93% organic.

Pure Pharma recommends you take this supplement once a day, right after a workout.

Price Point

Each bottle of PR3 contains 25 servings. At $69.00 (before shipping and tax), that comes out to $2.76 per protein shake. You should also figure in what else is going into your protein shake – like milk, rice milk, bananas, or berries – when deciding if this fits your budget.

“Each bottle of PR3 contains 25 servings. At $69.00 (before shipping and tax), that comes out to $2.76 per protein shake.”

PR3 is definitely at a higher price point than most protein powders. A general all-natural powder costs about half as much as PR3. But if you look at a powder specifically for post-workout recovery and from a comparable boutique company, then Pure Pharma is quite appropriately priced. And, on top of that, the post-workout proteins I found from smaller reputable companies didn’t include the collagen, but contained glucosamine and chondroitin instead.

My Experience

I tested PR3 just mixed with water, both so I could taste the flavor without any other intrusions and also because that’s how I most often drink my protein powder. I don’t personally need all the extra calories from milk (dairy or otherwise) and fruit.

The flavor was not too sweet, despite the inclusion of the stevia (80mg per serving). I don’t personally mind the flavor of stevia, and since the creators used Dutch cocoa, the overall flavor ends up more like dark chocolate.

The powder did have a slight chalky undertaste. I wasn’t entirely sure if this was due to the rice protein or the collagen, but I suspect its one of the two. It had a little bit of a funky mouthfeel overall. But again, I was testing this with the protein just in water, which may not be how most people consume their protein. It’s a rare protein that is completely pleasant just in water.

My Recommendation

In the end, though the price might be higher than some other post-workout products out there, the quality of the PR3 in comparison to those products is likely to be higher as well. Though Pure Pharma sells only a few products, they put a lot of work into each one. I haven’t seen a protein powder quite like this one on the market before and it hits all the boxes of a potential recovery booster.

If you’re shopping around for a post-workout protein that makes your body feel good and doesn’t make you feel like a sucker at the supplement shop, then consider checking this one out.

Pure Pharma PR3 is available at Amazon.com.

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The w.o.d.welder company was formed by CrossFitters who were tired of waiting for their torn hands to heal up. You know this feeling? They started their company with a hand salve, but have since evolved to offer soap, bath salts, odor absorbers, pumice stones, and hand cream. (Oh, and a trucker’s hat, too.)

w.o.d.welder Bar Soap for Athletes

The first product of theirs that I tested out is their natural paleo bar soap. The company claims the soap is “hand stirred by ridiculously detailed Cavemen in small batches.” Take that as you will. I take it to mean this is handcrafted soap like you would get in a boutique, only it’s made by cavemen so it’s not embarrassing to have it seen in your bathroom.

Soap Ingredients:

• Coconut oil
• Olive oil
• Avocado Oil
• Comfrey root
• Shea butter
• Peppermint oil
• Eucalyptus oil

Because of the peppermint and eucalyptus oils, the soap is naturally antibacterial and antifungal. This means it’s good for getting whatever critters rode home from the gym with you back off your body.

According to the company website, comfrey root is “an anti-inflammatory and cell regenerating compound.” The idea being that it helps your skin heal up after your hard workouts. Same with the shea butter. It should also be noted that the comfrey root just makes the soap look cool, as it’s the ingredient responsible for the brown swirls throughout each bar.

In addition to the good stuff that is in the soap, there are a lot of bad things that are missing. The soap contains no dyes, chemicals, synthetics, phthalates, or parabens.

The soap does sometimes feel like it leaves a bit of film on your skin, but it’s not a bad feeling. I’m not sure “film” is really the right word. It just feels like it’s left something behind, but since the ingredients are all beneficial and natural, I think I’m most likely feeling the coconut and olive oils.

“In addition to the good stuff that is in the soap, there are a lot of bad things that are missing. The soap contains no dyes, chemicals, synthetics, phthalates, or parabens.”

Each bar weighs 5oz (170g) and will last you for some time. I’m a few weeks into the bar I’m testing and it’s still going strong. It lathers up nicely and smells pleasant without smelling heavy or perfume-y. It also doesn’t contain tea tree oil, which I was glad to see. Tea tree oil seems to be the go-to ingredient for a lot of soaps designed for athletes and that smell just gets to be too much.

The price point might seem high compared to normal soaps, but remember that a lot of those soaps either aren’t antibacterial and antifungal or they’re full of all kinds of garbage. Overall, if you’re looking for a good product to get the gym cooties off, make your skin feel nice, and not smell like the leopard-print ladies at the entrance to Macy’s, you’re on the right track with this soap.

w.o.d.welder Odor Crusher Sacks

Back when I was doing martial arts regularly, I had a whole pile of items that claimed to absorb odors and moisture. I’d stuff them in my gloves, my shoes, my bag, and my closets. Sometimes they seemed to work and sometimes they didn’t.

These little Odor Crusher Sacks from w.o.d.welder seem to do the trick, though, and are a lot more affordable than the cedar-chip-stuffed things I used to use. These are simply unbleached muslin bags filled with corn-based filler. The filler absorbs moisture while the other ingredients, peppermint and eucalyptus oils, make everything smell good and provide some protection against fungus and bacteria.

“The filler absorbs moisture while the other ingredients, peppermint and eucalyptus oils, make everything smell good and provide some protection against fungus and bacteria.”

These won’t last forever. And if you’re really stinky or really sweaty, you’ll be glad you got a three-pack. But they do work. One sack will fit easily inside a shoe, but they are also powerful enough to handle a whole bag, a drawer, or even your buddy’s car (you can totally just slide it under the seat and no one will notice).

The Final Word

The branding of the products isn’t my favorite thing. It’s very “CrossFit” with the use of “workout of the day” and “WOD.” But don’t let that turn you away if CrossFit isn’t your thing. These are well-made and useful products. And even if they’re not for you, they might make great gifts for the WOD-doer in your life.

Available at wodwelder.com.

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The post A Stink Solution for All Kinds of Athletes appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Breaking Muscle receives no compensation in exchange for reviews. We received this product for free and did not experience typical customer service. The opinions expressed belong solely to the writer.

No matter which food philosophy you subscribe to, sometimes you just want to eat something fun. It might be a birthday, it might be a holiday, or it might just be your cheat day. But you don’t want to go totally off the rails. You want some cake, but still don’t want grains, gluten, and garbage.

This is where businesses like Paleo Baking Company have jumped in to fill the gap. Gone are the days of dry, heavy paleo desserts. Now, baking your own fluffy, tasty, not completely unhealthy confection is as easy as opening a mix packet and adding a few of your own kitchen staples.

Flavors available:

• Chocolate Cake and Muffin Mix
• Hazelnut Cake and Muffin Mix
• Spice Cake and Muffin Mix

All mixes are:

• Gluten free
• Grain free
• Dairy free
• Soy free
• Refined sugar free

How It Works

You might at first be underwhelmed by the fact that Paleo Baking only offers three flavors. But that would be a mistake and would entirely miss out on the magic of their product. Each one of their mixes is actually the foundation for a variety of possibilities. For example, with the hazelnut mix you can make lemon poppyseed cake, blueberry muffins, chocolate chip muffins, and more.

“There are also a few vegan recipe options for the mixes on the website, as well as a recipe for paleo bacon chocolate cake (based on the chocolate cake and muffin mix).”

The recipes for all of those are located on the Paleo Baking Company website, along with plenty of others – including frosting. Eight different types of frosting, actually. Now, the ingredients for the frosting do not come with your cake mix, of course, but what’s a cake without frosting? So it’s nice that the company provides these paleo options and ideas.

There are also a few vegan recipe options for the mixes on the website, as well as a recipe for paleo bacon chocolate cake (based on the chocolate cake and muffin mix). I just have to mention that because, really, bacon and paleo are pretty inseparable at this point, and just about anyone can appreciate a good sweet-and-savory dessert item.

Downside

The downside of these mixes is the price point. It’s not just the price of the mix, but the price of the ingredients you still need to add to get it to the finished product. One cup of coconut oil, six eggs, and one cup of honey need to be added to create the basic cake or cupcakes. If you choose to do one of the recipe variations off the website, you may need more ingredients than that.

“[D]o you want to stock your pantry with a variety of gluten-free flours and nut flours, some of which can be expensive, or would you rather have a ready-to-bake mix you can just pull out of the cupboard without too much fuss?”

But even just doing the basic cake – that much oil, eggs, and honey adds up to a pretty penny, especially if you are being picky about buying high-quality versions of those foods. That said, Paleo Baking Company does offer free shipping on all orders, no matter how few or how many mixes you buy. So maybe plan to order and eat a lot of cake and things will even out just fine? (I could be totally okay with that plan.)

Choose Your Adventure

So, the trade-off is, do you want to stock your pantry with a variety of gluten-free flours and nut flours, some of which can be expensive, or would you rather have a ready-to-bake mix you can just pull out of the cupboard without too much fuss? In essence you are trading convenience for money.

This is something we all do all the time – we just choose different moments to do it. For some people, these mixes are going to be a fantastic choice and the result will taste and look great. For others, the expense will drive them back to the grocery store to buy the elements and create from scratch. Neither choice is wrong. It’s just what you choose. Either way you end up with something tasty!

Paleo Baking Co. Cake and Muffin Mixes are available at Amazon.

More Like This:

• Why Natural Sugars Aren’t Any Better Than Artificial Sugars
• Paleo Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Recipe
• Paleo Sweets: They Might Be “Healthy” But They Might Still Be a Bad Idea

The post Delicious Paleo Desserts Made Easy appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

With the mainstreaming of kettlebell training comes the ability for all of us to shop around for equipment based on our needs and budget.

It wasn’t that way years ago. (Who remembers the old “adjustable” kettlebells filled with shot?) But, of course, with kettlebells becoming an opportunity to make money, comes some cheap and nasty bells, too.

Not the case with the CFF Fit K2 series of kettlebells. If you’re shopping for your first bell or another addition to your collection, consider adding this one to your list of options to check out.

Features

• Available in sizes ranging from 4-32kg (9-71lb)
• Weights are guaranteed to be accurate within +/-.05%
• Powder coated finish to prevent chipping
• Single mold casting
• Warrantied for as long as you own it

The Handle and the Grip

The handle of the bell is an obvious sticking point (no pun intended) when it comes to purchasing a new kettlebell. Anyone who’s used a few different brands knows how horrible it turns out when you use one with an obvious seam in the handle.

“The bottom of the kettlebell was also stable and flat, so resting it on the ground easily and safely was never a problem between movements or sets.”

The handles of the CFF K2 bells are quite smooth, but not so smooth that you can’t get a grip. They feel textured, but not rough. And, due to the single mold casting, there are no seams or bumps that will catch your flesh and make you sad after a few rounds or intervals. According to the CFF site, the bells go through a series of grinding and finishing steps that result in the smooth and comfortable handle.

The size of the handle is also quite comfortable. While almost any kettlebell will easily accommodate single-hand movements, larger people find two-handed movements awkward when the handle isn’t wide enough. I had no issues with any movements I did with this bell, but I typically don’t on any kettlebell.

My husband is almost a foot taller than me and has much larger hands. When doing two-hand movements, he had to let his pinkies hang out, as he does on all kettlebells. But he said that the CFF bell handle did not chafe on the sides of his ring fingers like almost every other kettlebell he’s used. So, he gave it bonus points for that.

Our Experience

My husband and I used this bell for both grinds and ballistics. Mainly him for ballistics and me for grinds, given the size of the bell we tested. It worked well for both and felt well balanced.

The bottom of the kettlebell was also stable and flat, so resting it on the ground easily and safely was never a problem between movements or sets. It does not have the screw-on bottom plate that some brands have, just a flat, finished bottom.

Pricing and Discounts

As always, shipping becomes another decision point when it comes to kettlebell purchases. Since I was sent this bell to test and review, I did not pay shipping for it. When investigating costs on the CFF website, shipping of a 24kg bell to Los Angeles ranged anywhere from $26.59 to $148.96 depending on the desired arrival time.

When I input two 24kg kettlebells into the shipping estimator, it double the prices. So there appears to be no discount for ordering multiple items.

According to the Discounts page on the CFF website, there are 10% discounts available to all law enforcement, military, firefighters, first responders, and personal trainers. Gyms, CrossFit boxes, MMA studios, schools, and hotels may apply for a 15% discount.

My Conclusion

While shipping is almost always going to sting when it comes to kettlebell purchases, the quality and the price of the bell itself are the other major factors to consider. The prices for the CFF K2 kettlebells are all quite reasonable, and we have used our bell for a couple months now with no quality issues arising at all.

If you are looking for an alternative to the big-name kettlebells and the cheap, hand-ripping kettlebells, the CFF K2 might be something for you to investigate.

CFF K2 Kettlebells are available for $11.95-89.95 at ChristiansFitnessFactory.com.

Further Reading:

• All You Need to Know About Getting Started With Kettlebells
• Training Kettlebells: Why You Shouldn’t Be Scared
• Getting Started with Kettlebells: How to Buy, Learn, and Train
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

The post Kettlebells From CFF: A Good Addition to Your Collection appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

With more and more paleo cookbooks trending toward foodies or autoimmune protocol, sometimes it’s refreshing to find someone regarding food simply as fuel again. But wait, does there have to be such a hard line between foodies and fuelies?

According to The Performance Paleo Cookbook author Stephanie Gaudreau, the answer is no.

A Book for Athletes

Stephanie is the founder of Stupid Easy Paleo and a life-long athlete. She doesn’t just create recipes for athletes – she is one. She understands what athletes need when it comes to paleo eating for performance, and this book revolves completely around that concept. Every recipe indicates the exact macronutrients and there are meal strategies provided depending on the time of day you typically exercise.

“She doesn’t just create recipes for athletes – she is one. She understands what athletes need when it comes to paleo eating for performance, and this book revolves completely around that concept.”

Because the focus of this cookbook is performance and it’s geared toward serious athletes, it’s organized significantly differently than other paleo cookbooks. You may find this annoying at times, but if you keep the food as fuel mindset, it will actually be very useful.

Cider-Braised Cabbage, Apple, and Onion

The recipes are divided into the following categories:

• Pre-Workout Snacks
• Post-Workout Refuel
• Protein-Packed Meals to Build Strength
• Carb-Dense Sides to Maximize Recovery
• Nutrient-Boosting Veggie Sides
• Tasty & Nutritious Treats
• Scrumptious Sauces & Seasoning

At the start of each section, Stephanie explains what makes these recipes perfect for these purposes, what macronutrients they are mainly comprised of, and when they would ideally be eaten for the best training results.

Recipes I tried included:

• Bison and Butternut Skillet
• Mocha-Rubbed Slow Cooker Pot Roast
• Badass Bowl
• Creamy Coconut-Braised Sweet Potatoes
• Cider-Braised Cabbage, Apple, and Onion
• Mocha Protein Almond Butter
• Lemon Vanilla Custard With Blueberry Sauce
• Awesomesauce

Lemon Vanilla Custard With Blueberry Sauce

Be aware that some of the “sweet” recipes might not actually turn out that sweet. There’s not a lot in the way of added sugars even to the items that look like desserts, and often Stephanie relies on the natural sweetness of fruits. This is hardly a bad thing, but definitely something to be aware of if you’re jonesing for a typical paleo dessert.

“There’s not a lot in the way of added sugars even to the items that look like desserts, and often Stephanie relies on the natural sweetness of fruits.”

My husband and I both thoroughly enjoyed all the recipes, and I found them quick and easy to put together. I even made the sweet potatoes for guests recently. In particular, we found the Bison and Butternut Skillet to be great and I’m going to make a triple batch next time I make it so we have plenty of handy leftovers.

And, for real, who wouldn’t want to eat a Badass Bowl covered in Awesomesauce for dinner? I might have to put that one on the menu the next time I have guests just so I can say it out loud.

Precise Measurements

I loved that the recipes in this book include the macronutrient profile. For this to be accurate, though, you’re going to need to measure carefully. Thankfully, Stephanie also provides weights for all the ingredients so you can be precise. This is something I wish all cookbooks would do, macronutrient profile or not. I mean seriously, what is “one carrot?” I could get all Zen here, but instead, I’d just like a weight in grams, thanks.

Bison and Butternut Skillet

Downside

The only negative I have about this book is that there are some obscure ingredients in a few of the recipes. I’d never heard of black garlic before, and I have no idea how to procure cricket protein. I guess I could scour the Internet for one or both of them, but that’s where the negative comes in. Despite being about food-as-fuel, this book does revert to a few pure-foodie moments with the ingredients.

But that’s a tiny negative and you shouldn’t let it sway you from investigating the book. The vast majority of the recipes are uncomplicated and genuinely enjoyable.

“The Performance Paleo Cookbook” is available for $16.69 at Amazon.com.

Further Reading:

• A Paleo Primer: Benefits, Limitations, and Misconceptions
• 2 Tasty Tidbits to Get Your Best Results From Paleo
• The Paleo Mystique: Deciphering “Paleo” Eating
• What’s New on Breaking Muscle Today

The post Better Food, Better Performance: Paleo Fuel for Athletes appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In 2009, Paleo Eats author Kelly Bejelly learned she was prediabetic.

After years of practicing vegetarianism and veganism in an unhealthy way, she had recently returned to eating some amount of meat, but was still experiencing panic attacks and depression, as well as remaining obese. When she took her diet a step further and experimented with paleo, she lost 65 pounds and her health problems disappeared.

From that experience, Kelly was inspired to start her website, A Girl Worth Saving. A die-hard food lover and admitted sweet tooth, Kelly firmly believes good foods hold a valuable place in our memories and interactions with friends and family. But it’s also her belief that you don’t have to give up your health in exchange for those moments.

About the Book

After a short section dealing with kitchen and paleo basics, Paleo Eats gets right to the good stuff – over a hundred recipes. Kelly grew up on a combination of Filipino and Southern foods, and you can see those influences in her recipes. It makes for a hearty combination of satiating goodies and meals.

The recipes in this book are divided into the following categories:

• The Basics
• Breads, Wraps, and Pastries
• Breakfast
• Mains
• Sides and Salads
• Desserts
• Drinks

One additional section that I found fascinating was the Paleo Baking Tutorial at the back of the book. Here, Kelly gives tips on how to convert non-paleo recipes. She addresses the various paleo flours and how to handle them when it comes to trying them in traditional recipes. She also covers various things that can go wrong in baking and how to troubleshoot them. In addition, there are a number of pages including cooking conversions and substitutions that are useful to cooks and bakers of any level of experience.

Freshly baked raisin bread

Recipes I Tried Included:

• Mushroom Gravy
• Yeasted Biscuits
• Raisin Bread
• Pepper Steak
• Chicken Enchilada Casserole
• Salisbury Steak
• Spinach Nuggets

All the recipes were thoroughly enjoyable, except for the yeasted biscuits. Something went very wrong on that one, but I’m more than willing to bet it was me, not the recipe.

“A die-hard food lover and admitted sweet tooth, Kelly firmly believes good foods hold a valuable place in our memories and interactions with friends and family.”

The spinach nuggets were surprisingly tasty and reminded me of pizza crust. The chicken enchilada casserole was simple and quick to make and will definitely be revisited in our house. And the mushroom gravy made for a great variation on one of my favorite comfort foods, beef stroganoff.

LEFT: Spinach nuggets; RIGHT: Mushroom gravy

Not the Best for Weight Loss

The biggest negative about Paleo Eats isn’t just about the book. It has more to do with the way the paleo movement has developed. In some ways paleo has trended toward more detailed and life-changing adjustments in diet for those with autoimmune and other chronic issues. In other ways, paleo has trended toward concocting slightly different versions of the bad foods you’ve always eaten.

While you might feel better eating nut-flour batter instead of gluten-full batter, it doesn’t make deep frying your foods any more appropriate if you’re trying to lose weight or maintain a certain amount of calories.

“If you’re thinking eating paleo ingredients is the main path to losing weight, a lot of these recipes might not work for you.”

If your goal is to go grain, gluten, and dairy free, then this cookbook has a lot to offer. If you’re thinking eating paleo ingredients is the main path to losing weight, a lot of these recipes might not work for you. While many in the paleo crowd purport that quality is everything, quantity still literally counts for something. Junk food is junk food, regardless of whether you made it with dates or white sugar.

My Recommendation

If the idea of switching to paleo is daunting for you and you have health concerns that are making it imperative you change your diet, then this book could be a useful one for you. While it is full of comfort foods and things I would consider treats, that might be just what you need to make the first step toward healthier eating.

So, if you can’t bear the idea of forsaking your toaster pastries, onion rings, and peach cobbler or you’ve got a family that is yet to be convinced on this whole paleo thing, give this cookbook a try.

“Paleo Eats” is available for $24.33 at Amazon.com.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• Book Review: “Paleo Comfort Foods”
• Ease Yourself – and Your Family – Into a Paleo Way of Eating
• A Paleo Primer: Benefits, Limitations, and Misconceptions
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

The post Comfort Food Made Healthier: Kelly Bejelly’s New Paleo Cookbook appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Breaking Muscle receives no compensation in exchange for reviews. We received this product for free and did not experience typical customer service. The opinions expressed belong solely to the writer.

Coffee is the new bacon. Coffee is showing up everywhere. In our protein drinks, mixed with butter, on our brisket, and now – in our energy bars.

I’ll admit to being a coffee junkie. And I’ll admit to getting pretty excited about any product that gives me an excuse to consume more coffee in surreptitious forms. So I was pretty excited when New Grounds Food messaged me and asked if we’d review their new Mocha Latte CoffeeBar.

Oh, did I forget to mention it’s full of chocolate, too?

About CoffeeBar

There may be some snack/protein/energy bars already out there that contain caffeine, but they are mostly likely bars that are full of all sorts of undesirables, as well.

The CoffeeBar is the first bar I’ve seen that packed a coffee punch while maintaining high quality, organic ingredients.

• Contains the equivalent of a cup of coffee
• 100% organic
• Vegan
• Gluten free
• Kosher
• Made in the U.S.

My Experience

While the CoffeeBar itself is a little shapeless, it’s not like those nasty protein bars you remember from years ago. It’s just because of the dates and the lack of nasty things to make the bar stick form into a highly defined shape.

“The almonds and chia add a nice crunch, and the flavors are balanced. The coffee flavor is present, but so is the chocolate.”

When you eat the bar, the texture is not a problem at all. It’s neither too dry nor too mushy. The almonds and chia add a nice crunch, and the flavors are balanced. The coffee flavor is present, but so is the chocolate.

Of course, it’s not a sugary milk chocolate taste. It’s more of a dark chocolate taste, so keep that in mind. Even with the dates and brown rice syrup, the CoffeeBar is not too sweet.

If you’re a coffee and chocolate fan, you know what I’m talking about when it comes to a preference for bitter versus sweet, and you’ll appreciate the level of sweetness in these bars.

At present, only the one flavor is available, but it appears they are working to get additional flavors into production.

The Company Website

The CoffeeBar is the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign. If you poke around the company website, you’ll see Kickstarter references and even their original campaign page.

While the New Grounds Food website isn’t very robust – pretty much anything you click on takes you to the store to buy the Mocha Latte CoffeeBar – there are a lot some fun and interesting posts on their blog, especially if you’re a coffee nerd or enthusiast of any sort.

Subscription Options

You can buy CoffeeBars by the individual box, or if you think you’ll get as addicted to them as you are your morning coffee, then you can sign up for a subscription.

Subscriptions are available for three, six, nine, or twelve months. This simply means you receive one box per month for that length of time.

“My husband and I ate one bar a day and plowed through our box pretty quickly. (But maybe that’s a different discussion.)”

The subscription idea doesn’t quite jive for me since there’s only a dozen bars in each box. That doesn’t seem like a month’s worth.

My husband and I ate one bar a day and plowed through our box pretty quickly. (But maybe that’s a different discussion.)

On the plus side, the subscriptions do allow you to save anywhere from between five to twenty percent off the single-box price.

My Recommendation

According to a blog on the New Grounds Food website, eating coffee (as opposed to drinking it) provides you with more antioxidants and helps you absorb the caffeine faster.

I say that to provide you with some final excuses to eat your coffee and drink it, too.

CoffeeBars aren’t the most affordable option on the market if you’re looking for a quick snack. But they are enjoyable and they will give you an extra little punch to get through your day (or your night). Give them a try, and then if you like them, consider the subscription option to save yourself money.

Mocha Latte CoffeeBars are available at Amazon.com.

More Articles for Coffee Lovers:

• 3 Coffee Recipes to Fuel Your Workouts
• How Your Daily Coffee Battles the Effects of Obesity
• Is Coffee Good or Bad for Your Testosterone?

The post Have Your Coffee and Eat It, Too: A New Kind of Energy Bar appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

With the popularity of paleo-style eating increasing, more and more newcomers are wanting to give it a try. But transitioning to paleo can be overwhelming. It feels less like a transition, and more like a wholesale change of everything you’ve ever eaten and ever done. What if you don’t even spend much time in your kitchen to begin with? And now you have to take pains to shop properly and cook?

The “Real Life Paleo” Solution

Stacy Toth and Matt McCarry are the authors of a new cookbook called Real Life Paleo. As the writing team behind the blog Paleo Parents, they understand how challenging it can be to incorporate paleo eating into a busy lifestyle, especially one with children. So their book represents a three-phase approach to paleo nutrition, with real people and real problems in mind.

When Stacy and Matt applied their approach to themselves and their children, they lost over 200lbs combined and improved their gut health, depression and anxiety, asthma, ADD, and allergies. According to them, their oldest even went from being a problem child in school to the best-behaved kid in his class.

Stacy and Matt felt the popular thirty-day paleo programs were too fast of a transition for their family, so took a slower route. To teach other people how to change their families like they did, they outline three phases:

1. Swap – Switch to healthier versions of what you’re eating
2. Remove – Eliminate all the non-paleo foods in your diet
3. Heal – Add in healthy foods and activities

The book has sections dedicated to each of these phases, designed to walk you through the process and achieve success. Suggestions are given to help make shopping easier and grocery lists are provided. In the swap phase, there is a chart outlining what you might be currently eating and what the “better” and “best” choices are for replacements. They also provide ideas on how to eat out without getting frustrated, going hungry, or giving in.

Navigating the Kitchen as a Beginner

As the head of a busy household, you might not be currently spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Or maybe you’ve just never enjoyed spending time in the kitchen. Learning cooking skills can be an obstacle for anyone trying paleo.

To help you overcome that obstacle, this book includes a lot of tips on how to prepare foods, how to save time preparing foods, and how to put whole meals together using the recipes in the book. The meal ideas even include information on what you can make ahead of time and what you can do with the leftovers.

“My experience of the recipes was that they were simple, easy to understand, and generally easy to put together.”

The meal ideas and plans are also all organized by which phase of the three-phase plan they fall under. So you can easily coordinate your progress with the appropriate meals. You can also download coordinating shopping lists for each plan.

At the back of the book, you’ll find handy pullout guides you can post in your kitchen as reminders to help you learn all the ins and outs of paleo. There are also a few pages that contain charts outlining which recipes are egg free, nut free, and/or nightshade free.

LEFT: Juicy Pot Roast; CENTER: Creamed Kale; RIGHT: Not Beanie Weenies

What You’ll Find

There are 175 recipes in this book, covering a broad range of foods. At the start of each recipe chapter, a chart indicates which recipes take under thirty minutes, have fewer than five ingredients, are one pot, are good for holidays, or are on-the-go. Even though I work from home and don’t have kids, I still found that information useful. Some days you just don’t have the time or don’t want to deal with dishes.

The recipes are divided into the following categories:

• Condiments, Sauces, and Dips
• Breakfast
• Snacks and On-the-Go
• Childhood Favorites
• Appetizers
• Sides
• Drinks
• Mains
• Sweets and Treats

Recipes I tried included:

• Apple and Pumpkin Butters
• Carolina Style Sauce
• Not Beanie Weenies
• Creamed Kale
• Juicy Pot Roast
• Mongolian Beef
• Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder
• Brisket With Onion Jam
• Creamy Coconut Chocolate Chip Macaroons

My experience of the recipes was that they were simple, easy to understand, and generally easy to put together. The Mongolian Beef was probably the most complicated recipe of the ones I tried, and even that wasn’t too daunting at all.

My husband and I enjoyed every one of the recipes, and we got a real kick out of the Not Beanie Weenies, I must say. We might not have kids, but we still enjoyed the “Childhood Favorites” plenty. And even though I’m technically done testing out this cookbook, I still have a number of recipes I plan to try. The Green Onion and Bacon Mac ‘n’ Cheese is calling to me.

One Downside

My only pet peeve with this book was the lack of time estimates on the recipes. While recipes that take under thirty minutes are marked, there is no other indication of how long anything might take. This is one of the first things I check when preparing to cook, so I can plan out my day and not wind up eating dinner at midnight, so it would have been nice information to have.

My Recommendation

This is a great general cookbook for anyone new to paleo, but its strength really lies in its orientation toward the family. Throughout the book, Stacy and Matt revisit the idea of enrolling your kids into this whole paleo process. They provide ideas on healthy family activities, as well as tips on how to get your kids on board with the food itself. So if you’re looking to transform not only yourself, but everyone in your household, this book would be a good choice.

“Real Life Paleo” is available for $25.98 at Amazon.com.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• The Paleo Mystique: Deciphering “Paleo” Eating
• A Paleo Primer: Benefits, Limitations, and Misconceptions
• Book Review: “Beyond Bacon”
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

The post How to Eat Paleo as a Family appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

With the popularity of paleo-style eating increasing, more and more newcomers are wanting to give it a try. But transitioning to paleo can be overwhelming. It feels less like a transition, and more like a wholesale change of everything you’ve ever eaten and ever done. What if you don’t even spend much time in your kitchen to begin with? And now you have to take pains to shop properly and cook?

The “Real Life Paleo” Solution

Stacy Toth and Matt McCarry are the authors of a new cookbook called Real Life Paleo. As the writing team behind the blog Paleo Parents, they understand how challenging it can be to incorporate paleo eating into a busy lifestyle, especially one with children. So their book represents a three-phase approach to paleo nutrition, with real people and real problems in mind.

When Stacy and Matt applied their approach to themselves and their children, they lost over 200lbs combined and improved their gut health, depression and anxiety, asthma, ADD, and allergies. According to them, their oldest even went from being a problem child in school to the best-behaved kid in his class.

Stacy and Matt felt the popular thirty-day paleo programs were too fast of a transition for their family, so took a slower route. To teach other people how to change their families like they did, they outline three phases:

1. Swap – Switch to healthier versions of what you’re eating
2. Remove – Eliminate all the non-paleo foods in your diet
3. Heal – Add in healthy foods and activities

The book has sections dedicated to each of these phases, designed to walk you through the process and achieve success. Suggestions are given to help make shopping easier and grocery lists are provided. In the swap phase, there is a chart outlining what you might be currently eating and what the “better” and “best” choices are for replacements. They also provide ideas on how to eat out without getting frustrated, going hungry, or giving in.

Navigating the Kitchen as a Beginner

As the head of a busy household, you might not be currently spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Or maybe you’ve just never enjoyed spending time in the kitchen. Learning cooking skills can be an obstacle for anyone trying paleo.

To help you overcome that obstacle, this book includes a lot of tips on how to prepare foods, how to save time preparing foods, and how to put whole meals together using the recipes in the book. The meal ideas even include information on what you can make ahead of time and what you can do with the leftovers.

“My experience of the recipes was that they were simple, easy to understand, and generally easy to put together.”

The meal ideas and plans are also all organized by which phase of the three-phase plan they fall under. So you can easily coordinate your progress with the appropriate meals. You can also download coordinating shopping lists for each plan.

At the back of the book, you’ll find handy pullout guides you can post in your kitchen as reminders to help you learn all the ins and outs of paleo. There are also a few pages that contain charts outlining which recipes are egg free, nut free, and/or nightshade free.

LEFT: Juicy Pot Roast; CENTER: Creamed Kale; RIGHT: Not Beanie Weenies

What You’ll Find

There are 175 recipes in this book, covering a broad range of foods. At the start of each recipe chapter, a chart indicates which recipes take under thirty minutes, have fewer than five ingredients, are one pot, are good for holidays, or are on-the-go. Even though I work from home and don’t have kids, I still found that information useful. Some days you just don’t have the time or don’t want to deal with dishes.

The recipes are divided into the following categories:

• Condiments, Sauces, and Dips
• Breakfast
• Snacks and On-the-Go
• Childhood Favorites
• Appetizers
• Sides
• Drinks
• Mains
• Sweets and Treats

Recipes I tried included:

• Apple and Pumpkin Butters
• Carolina Style Sauce
• Not Beanie Weenies
• Creamed Kale
• Juicy Pot Roast
• Mongolian Beef
• Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder
• Brisket With Onion Jam
• Creamy Coconut Chocolate Chip Macaroons

My experience of the recipes was that they were simple, easy to understand, and generally easy to put together. The Mongolian Beef was probably the most complicated recipe of the ones I tried, and even that wasn’t too daunting at all.

My husband and I enjoyed every one of the recipes, and we got a real kick out of the Not Beanie Weenies, I must say. We might not have kids, but we still enjoyed the “Childhood Favorites” plenty. And even though I’m technically done testing out this cookbook, I still have a number of recipes I plan to try. The Green Onion and Bacon Mac ‘n’ Cheese is calling to me.

One Downside

My only pet peeve with this book was the lack of time estimates on the recipes. While recipes that take under thirty minutes are marked, there is no other indication of how long anything might take. This is one of the first things I check when preparing to cook, so I can plan out my day and not wind up eating dinner at midnight, so it would have been nice information to have.

My Recommendation

This is a great general cookbook for anyone new to paleo, but its strength really lies in its orientation toward the family. Throughout the book, Stacy and Matt revisit the idea of enrolling your kids into this whole paleo process. They provide ideas on healthy family activities, as well as tips on how to get your kids on board with the food itself. So if you’re looking to transform not only yourself, but everyone in your household, this book would be a good choice.

“Real Life Paleo” is available for $25.98 at Amazon.com.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• The Paleo Mystique: Deciphering “Paleo” Eating
• A Paleo Primer: Benefits, Limitations, and Misconceptions
• Book Review: “Beyond Bacon”
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

The post Ease Yourself – and Your Family – Into a Paleo Way of Eating appeared first on Breaking Muscle.