Chicken Pot Pie

I LOVE food.  I believe that we should not only eat for energy and activity, but we should also enjoy our food.  The main reason the Paleo Diet Lifestyle is blowing up in the past few years and why it is so popular in the CrossFit Community is because IT WORKS.  One hundred percent of the people that have tried it see improvement in either energy, body composition, health, digestion or all of the above.

Initially, the Paleo Diet Lifestyle can be overwhelming and seem quite extreme.  Once you get accustomed to making the base of your meals lean meats and veggies, it becomes learning how to use other Paleo ingredients to get the same results in your cooking.  For example, almond meal becomes your base “flour” and can be used almost the same way as wheat flour.  The only thing it doesn’t do well is thicken sauces very well.  In this recipe, Chicken Pot Pie, I used almond flour as the base of the crust topping.  By eliminating dense carbohydrates and gut damaging wheat, it allows your body to lean out, have more energy and absorb more nutrients.

Another item commonly substituted is milk.  There are 3 Paleo ways to have milk.  Coconut milk, almond milk and Grass-fed and raw Cow’s/Goats milk.  Fresh coconut milk is of course best.  Homemade almond milk is best.  Do we all have time to crack open a coconut and process together the water and the meat?  No.  Do I personally blend raw almonds with water to make the milk?  No, because we have back to basics, primal values when it comes to food and lifestyle in a modern world, we have to draw the line somewhere.  For me, this line is store bought unsweetened almond milk and canned coconut milk.  The most natural and unprocessed of these three is going to be the raw, grass-fed milk.  This will be digested and metabolized WAY better than pasteurized, homogenized milk.  When it comes to any milk, here is the bottom line.  The body does better without any processed foods (store bought almond and coconut milk).  I have seen people improve their body composition and athletic performance when all dairy is eliminated.  With this knowledge, the choice is yours.  Ask me where to buy raw, grass-fed milk if you are interested in that route.

You can still enjoy all of your favorite foods while following a Paleo/Primal lifestyle.  Know what to use to substitute items and when it comes to things that have no substitutions like Cheesecake, understand that every once in a while, if you really want it, have the cheesecake or what not.  Understand that when you eat clean (eliminating processed foods/organic) your body is just as clean as the food you eat and sometimes reintroducing “crap” will have it’s drawbacks…

Today’s WOD:

Weighted pullups 1-1-1-1-1

Then:

Complete 4 rounds for time

400m run

30 Walking Lunge steps

“The King who cannot rule his diet, will hardly rule his realm in peace and quiet.”  – Passage from the “Rule of Health of Salerno”, author unknown