Rolled out of bed knowing that I was going to be doing a little makeup workout up at the CrossFit gym this morning. But, that doesn’t mean there was going to be any real deviation in meal planning.
In the old days, I would start loading up on highly glycemic stuff in anticipation of the morning’s workout. A Cliff Bar and some gatorade if you can believe it. Just FYI: If you are still doing that practice in order to get ready for your workouts, please be advised that you are spiking your insulin and glucose levels to such high levels that it actually causes damage to your internal organs over time. They call that “oxidative stress”. And, it ain’t good. And, over time, it leads to things like heart disease and adult onset diabetes. I don’t think you are looking for either of these. So, how about we lay off the glycemic spikes and just keep on an even keel with your nutrition all day every day….regardless of what the day’s events promise to bring in terms of exercise or other activity.)
For me, that meant putting down a morning protein shake and my traditional bowl of strawberries.
After that, I headed up to Sky’s the Limit to make up the “Squat Clean” Workout that all the other guys did yesterday. If you are not familiar with Squat Cleans, they are another exercise where you 
are pulling a loaded barbell off the floor, using the opening of your hips action to pop it up your body, and quickly diving under the bar to catch the whole thing in a squatting position before you stand up with it. For some reason, a lot of guys don’t love this exercise…..I don’t happen to be one of them. I like them. And, I was looking forward to the opportunity to try to improve my form and strength at the movement. Sadly, that was not all of the workout. And, I was about to find out how much I DIDN’T love doing “Thrusters” combined with over-the-bar “Burpies”. Let’s not go into all that now. But, suffice it to say that I was “toasted” by the time I walked out the door and headed for home! And, as you can imagine, I knew that exactly what my belly wanted and needed was a Protein Shake with Undenatured Whey Protein sourced from Free Range New Zealand Dairy cattle who have never even heard of antibiotics or hormones. (Sound 
Familiar?) It sure does to my belly. And, the Organic Flax Seed and Raw Organic Almond Butter that get thrown into this little concoction turn it more into a meal than a snack. And, remember, immediately following exercise, your body has a “nutritional window” during which it is most able to assimilate protein and other nutrients….more than any other time of the day. In fact, if you ARE going to eat some carbs, this is definitely the safest time to do it. In fact, some people say you SHOULD mix a banana with your protein shake at this one opportunity each day. Remember, your body is on “high churn” during this 30 to 60 minute Window. And, it needs some replacement for all that you just wringed out of it. This might be called your glycogenic window. I’ll have to look it up. Wow. I just googled it. What a memory, David. Very nice. (Note: Bananas are a no no for sure at all other nutritional opportunities throughout your day.)
Following that…and also an incredible performance by CharlyKate at her tennis lesson!….I rushed home to get the rest of my girls for 
another Dad and Daughter Saturday lunch outing! I let the girls choose where we ate……as usual…………..You should try that with your own children the next time you are thinking about running them Over to McDonald’s for a little Saturday afternoon lunch. I always have mine choose our destination. And, out of all the times I have taken them, I am yet to ever hear a request for fast food. (Isn’t that interesting and, perhaps, a bit surprising?! They HAVE eaten fast food in their lives. The nannies take them to such places often to save time when they are on outings to the zoo or park, etc.) Yet, they always choose somewhere where they can eat something healthy and fresh when they are given the ability to choose for themselves. And, today was no exception. They chose Kona restaurant on the country club Plaza. And, the other thing I find interesting (that most people would not guess) is that you can feed your children at Kona for about the same thing you could feed them for at McDonald’s…..or, perhaps a few dollars more. But, seriously, there isn’t much of a price difference. Why? Because almost all fine dining restaurants have an incredibly underpriced “loss leader” Kids menu to attempt to get adults to come their way and eat. I fed my four children for $18!!..… (Of course, that does not count the cost of my own food.) My apologies if this is getting to be a repetitive theme of this blog. But, you CAN feed your children healthy food….instead of junk….it just takes some thought and willingness to deviate a bit from our current society norms.
Now what did DAVID eat for lunch with those little beauties? How 
about 7 ounces of fresh WILD Cobia paired with some grilled asparagus and an unsweetened iced tea? As you can see from the pic, it was, indeed, a perfect lunch for David’s belly! (Remember, there is no rule against telling them to axe the rice that you were supposed to be getting with your fish and swapping it out for a double portion of the veggies. And, that is exactly what I did. Do the same if you want to Eat What David Eats…..and, if you care what your belly is going to look like tomorrow, next week, or this summer.)
What did the girls actually eat? In truth, I didn’t see anything on the kids menu that my kids were likely to eat today……so, no worries. The four of them split the monstrous lunch portion of the grilled chicken pasta on the adult menu. (Remember, portion size in this country has gone out of control. And, the average american eats about enough in one restaurant portion of food to feed one 8 year old and a set of almost 4 year old triplets!) The girls did an uncharacteristically good job of eating their food. And, they were happy as goats about it. (Admittedly, pasta is most definitely NOT low glycemic. And, I am most certainly not advocating that you go pump a bunch of it down your own throat. But, my girls can handle a little of that kind of glycemic spike a lot better than the one they were going to get from the Happy Meal at McD’s!)
As I contemplated my late afternoon protein source, I chomped on a handful of what were most definitely NOT raw organic almonds. Please don’t follow this poor example. Whenever almonds go through the “roasting” process, they basically get almost all that was once good in them cooked right the heck on out of them. They won’t kill you….. or give you a mid-afternoon glycemic spike …(like a handful of potato chips will do). But, please don’t kid yourself into thinking that you are getting “a good source of Omega 3 fats” when you are eating that handful of Roasted Almonds. Quite frankly, I don’t think there is much remaining that is a good source of “nutrition” in that husk of an almond that is sitting in your hand…..(if it came out of a container that said “Roasted Almonds” on it!) We do have bags of Raw Organic Almonds in the pantry. Next time you see a picture of me and Almonds together, I assure you they will be Raw and Organic….not toasted and dead.
A couple of notes about the recurring theme of “planning ahead” 
and having “the right stuff in your home for meal success”: If you are cooking like We Cook, you should always have a lot of organic whole cloves of garlic laying around your house. Remember, the fresher something is, the more of its nutrients are still going to be found in it when YOUR body processes it. So, although it takes a little longer to cut those cloves of garlic out of the whole bulb, the time you are investing will do your belly good….not to mention making whatever you are eating taste that much better. (You can taste the difference when something is made with FRESH ingredients!)
Take a look at what the caregivers came back with from the store
yesterday. French Green Beans and Strawberries that were NOT organic. My apologies. But, the more I learn about what is legal in the world of food production in this country, the more my wife and I are insisting that everything we use for food preparation in this house is USDA certified “organic”. (And, for our meat, it has to be Wild and/or free range as well.) Sadly, the veggies pictured fit into none of the acceptable 
categories mentioned above. We truly debated simply throwing them out. (Our girls eat about 4 containers of this size of strawberries per day. And, if we had tossed the ones that were erroneously purchased, we might have had a full-blown mutiny on our hands. So, we did not actually follow through on the plan to throw these out. But, we had a chat with the caregiver gals about how serious we are about eating only “organic”. And, I don’t think we will see this kind of labeling show up in our fridge anytime soon again.) I strongly suggest that, in addition to working on how your outward body (and belly) appears to you and your friends, that you also think a little about how your inward body looks as well. Eat Organic. Eat Free Range. Eat Wild Game. It does your body good!
Onward with the Day’s Intake of Nutrition: As the afternoon drew to a successful close, my wife and I decided that we really didn’t want to leave the girls on our traditional Saturday night “date night”. And, that, instead, we were going to have the “Saturday night nanny” run grocery and gas errands while we stayed home and did her job with our girls. So, as it turned out, I was going to be eating home made Chicken Chili soup for my dinner. And, that meant that I did (indeed) have room for one of my very fantastic protein shakes……. sourced from all the good stuff that can be found in this world. Today, I had a special treat cuz I decided that my digestive system could handle a bit of Hemp Milk (instead of the water I normally use) as the liquid portion of my shake. (I do this about once per week. I think I have forgotten to mention it until now.) Boy. You HAVE to try this in your shake a time or two. Make SURE you get the stuff that is NOT sweetened. (If you know me and live close to me, I will give you a container of the stuff since I have enough to last me until the end of time. Long story there.) There should be zero grams of sugar in there. And, about a zillion grams of Omega 3 fat…which naturally occurs in Hemp seeds! Even if you throw out all the nutritional reasons to try adding this nectar to your shake, you should still do it
simply for the incredible taste it provides. It slightly thickens your shake and makes it a bit more like something from an Ice Cream shop….instead of something you whipped up in your kitchen. Remember, you are adding a ton of fat calories to your day by swapping the water portion of your shake with Hemp Milk. So, be aware. But, also remember: I don’t worry about eating Omega 3 Fat Calories….not one bit. They provide no addition to any chance at a glycemic spike AT ALL. There is nothing in hemp milk that could be expected to produce an internal glycemic spike. So, your only potential concern would be the additional calories. (Let me be frank: If your belly already looks like you could wash clothing on it in a pinch, go ahead and try Hemp Milk in your shake from time to time. It will only do your body and belly good. If you are still on your way to a fit and firm belly, you may want to give the Hemp Milk shake idea some serious thought…..in fact, I might suggest that you give it a slight delay until you get a little closer to your body fat percentage and/or longer term fitness goals.)
Enough on the shake. What did David Eat for Dinner? Well, it isn’t 
going to look as pretty as what you are used to seeing night after night on these postings. But, I assure you that I enjoyed it just as much! Another serving of Angie’s Chicken Chili Soup paired with a bit of Dry Trader Joe’s Colby Jack Cheese and a glass of Organic Unsweetened Iced Tea. (By the way, if your belly doesn’t yet look like David’s belly, let’s skip the cheese that you see pictured here. No. It will not cause an internal glycemic spike. But, I doubt the extra calories are really necessary to make this meal a successful ending to your day.)
By the way, do you ever think to yourself: “The only reason his food always looks so pretty in those pictures is because he knows he is going to post it on his blog!”?….Well, if you do, please rest assured that you are, most definitely, wrong! The reason my food looks so pretty in the pictures is because that is how I like for my food to look when I am preparing to eat it. Food should look good. Come on, people. Seriously.
Another day of Eating What David Eats in the books.
Over and Out.
P.S. Yes. I did finish the evening with water out of my trusty BPA free Camelbak water bottle. Nothing better! And, nothing else went in this belly after I finished my evening meal. (No glycemic spike means no cravings. In other words, I never WANTED anything but the water after my evening meal had been ingested. Plain and simple. No lie.)