Sesame Encrusted Ahi Tuna, Raw Organic Almond Butter by the spoonful, and Organic Bee Pollen……..Sound like anything you could handle?

Charly Kate and I started our day at our very large and very cozy Kitchen Island….as we do most mornings this past little bit.  And, we started with that age old question:  What do you wanna eat this morning?  We are completely out of Uncle Keith’s Wild Missouri Deer Sausage…and, although the stuff we have purchased from all over the country is good, none of it is as addictive as that which Uncle Keith (and Uncle Keith’s mom and dad) produces.  So, until the next shipment of that particular sausage arrives next week, CK and I are just window shopping all the possibilities of what she might put into her belly to start her day.  And, this morning, what she wanted was a slightly warmed Cliff Bar….Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter to be specific.  Now, this is not a very Low Glycemic item….but, I like good Old Cliff’s mission statement a lot better than the folks at Cap’N Crunch.  And, I think it was okay as a start to my 8 year old’s day.  She paired it with a ton of Organic Blue Berries and Stawberries.  And, a bit of Orange Juice….a very little bit, I will add.  And, I think it all worked out as a pretty healthy alternative to 99% of her other Breakfast options that are offered on the Standard American Diet.  Special note:  My apologies to Cliff, but, If you care at all about your own belly and your success with flattening it, I suggest you pretty much NEVER put a Cliff bar in your adult mouth….(maybe you could have one during a long hike or something….but, you don’t even really NEED one then).  And, just as importantly, I would suggest that you never drink any kind of fruit juice.  Seriously.  If you want fruit, eat some actual whole fruit and wash it down with water.  Drinking juice is nearly the equivalent of pouring sugar straight into your bloodstream…cuz juice (and the juice’s natural sugars)…. start getting absorbed DIRECTLY into your blood stream as soon as they hit your tongue.  Absorbing that sugar in that manner creates quite a much more intense glycemic spike than the one you get when you eat actual whole fruit (that your body has to break down and digest.)  And, of course, I don’t ever eat fruit unless I am eating some thing with it…to further reduce the glycemic spike to my body’s insulin levels.  How about some Raw Organic Almonds with that Bowl of Berries??!!

Regardless, I started my own day with my “usual”.  I made one of my Undenatured Whey Protein Shakes with an absolute ton of Raw Organic Almond Butter
mixed in with it.  If you are still not ingesting a LOT of Raw Organic (Non-Roasted, Non-Flavored, Non-Salted) Almond Butter as part of  your daily nutrition, I really suggest that you ask yourself:  “Why?”  Not only is it great in your protein shakes, but it also makes a great filling snack….just by the spoonful with nothing else with it.  And, when you  eat it, you are “covering a lot of your nutrtional bases” for the day.  It is a great source of Omega 3 fats….that good fat that, by the way, will NOT make your belly fat….and, Almond Butter also has a good chunk of protein in it.  My buddy, Rob McCarvel, has been eating about 8 to 10 Tablespo0ns of Peanut Butter…every single day…for just short of 10 years.  And, at 6’0″ tall, his waist is roughly 32 inches…or, just shy of it.  (He has recently converted to Raw Organic Almond Butter…rather than the Peanut Butter.  The nutrition numbers on the jars are basically identical.  But, without a doubt, Almonds are better for you than Peanuts.  And, Raw Organic Almond Butter will keep your body going strong til you are at least a centenarian……I doubt that there are a large number of educated people that would make the same statement about Jif Peanut Butter!!!!                                        Anyhow, I chased that all down with the berries you see pictured above.  Oh.  I also grabbed myself a glass of Organic Unsweetened Iced Tea to take up to my desk.  And, the day had begun!

Whoops. Left out one mention:  I have started adding Raw Organic Bee Pollen to all my protein shakes.  Why? Well, I guess I cannot honestly state that I know the answer.  The world is hypothesizing on the benefits of this baby bee food.  In the meantime, I am going to take a chance that it really does have some miracle stuff in it….how could a gazillion baby bees be wrong?…..and, what the heck, it is pretty darn good in the shakes anyway.  (The little round bee pollen balls add a whole additional dimension to the texture of the shake as it goes down the chute.)   Should you be eating Bee Pollen?  I don’t know.  Google it.  I did.  And, I am going to eat at least a jar of it.  Who knows if I will order more after that…………..I guess you will find out at some point, won’t you?

I did not plan on working out at lunch cuz I knew I had to run up to the bank with Angie to get some loan docs finalized.  So…….brace yourself for the next
revelation……..Here it comes:  I actually skipped my 10:30 am snack ……..(cuz I was guessing I would grab some lunch at some point and wouldn’t really need it.)  Boy.  Was I wrong!  By the time the gal at the bank finally got through with us, I was ready to gnaw my arm off.  Now, Mark Sisson (author of Primal BluePrint) swears that a bit of fasting is actually good for you.  And, you need to let go of those irrational thoughts about having to have food in your belly at all times.  He is probably right.  And, if you are still working on YOUR belly and the SIZE of your belly, I would suggest that you skip a few nutritional opportunities here and there.  Doing so on the odd occasion….instead of the alternative that I see most folks do when they think they are desperate for something in their belly…..will definitely get you to your “ideal body” goals more quickly.  And, I assure you that missing that 10:30 am Protein Shake….(or, handful of Almonds or similar midmorning snack)….especially on a day that you were not even going to exercise….will definitely not kill you before you make it to your lunch destination!  (On the other hand, Throwing back 20 Doritos actually might!….Yes.  They have killer Super Bowl commercials.  But, that does not mean you should actually eat their Certain-Death-Causing Tasty and Cheesy Processed Chips!)………………Anyhow, however you look at it, I was starving by the time my wife and I snuck down to Grand Street Cafe to catch a quick lunch before heading back to work for the rest of the day.  And, for the first time in my life, I am quite certain that I “misordered” my lunch’s fare at Grand Street today.  Yes.  Of course, I have the entire menu memorized.  But, I must admit that there are one or two items on the menu that I have never actually tried.  And, one of those items is the Sesame Encrusted Seared Ahi Tuna.  I could have sworn I saw someone eating it one time and that I did not think it looked good.  (I was most definitely mistaken………)  When Angie’s food arrived, this is what she had before her……Perfectly seared beautiful Ahi Tuna with pan Sauteed Brussel Sprouts alongside it.  She was gracious enough to allow me one tiny nibble off one of the pieces of her Tuna.  And, that was enough for me to know that it was a little bit of Heaven sitting right there on her plate.  I assure you that you will be seeing pictures of this dish again in future postings…..on my plate…not hers.  It is definitely going to be added to What David Eats!  And, really, what could be healthier than barely seared (nearly raw) Wild Tuna and some garden vegetables alongside it?  I would argue that this meal was nearly nutritionally perfect….not to mention the happy feeling it left on my lovely wife’s taste buds as it passed through her mouth on the way to her belly.  Well, enough about that.  What did I eat?  Well, in truth, I ate one of my favorite things in the world…..braised beef short ribs sitting atop a pile of Pan Sauteed Yellow Squash, Zucchini  and Onions….all of it pulling flavor from the Au Jus coming off the Short Ribs.  Mine was awesome…silly of me to be coveting what my wife had on her plate!  But, still.  Anyhow, please don’t be afraid of a little animal fat in your Braised Short Ribs.  As we have discussed previously, the fat isn’t gonna make you fat……….remember, it is the stuff that spikes your blood sugar that makes you fat.  (Granted.  If you eat both fat and high glycemic items, you are REALLY gonna get fat!  But, if you don’t eat the high glycemic stuff, the fat that you eat along with your protein source is of very little consequence to the profile of your belly that the world is going to see this summer at the pool.)

Thanks to the semi-lateness of our Lunch meal….and, the fact that I was not exercising today…..I really did not need much of an afternoon snack to get me through to dinner.  Angie was working in her office about 50 steps from me.  So, I cut up an Organic Pink Lady into slices and globbed on a bunch of my favorite almond butter for apple dipping…..(Artisana Raw Organic Almond Butter)….and, split the whole dish with Angie for our collective snack.  I must remind you here that skipping the Apple altogether….and, just going downstairs and grabbing yourself a heaping Tablespoon of the Raw Organic Almond Butter…without any fruit with it….would be your smarter move….especially if you are still working on losing bodyfat.  Try it.  This Artisana stuff is literally just crushed raw organic almonds with nothing in it.  It is meant to be eaten by the spoonful….by itself.  The healthy fat in it (Omega 3) will burn slowly in your belly for the rest of the afternoon until dinner…(in other words, you won’t have cravings that might get you into trouble before you eat your evening’s meal)…..and, it has nearly zero glycemic spike to your insulin and glucose levels…..In short, leave the Apple out if you can make yourself get used to eating Almond Butter this way.  Your belly’s appearance will be the better for the decision a few weeks/months down the road.  And, I honestly think your taste buds will be fine with the change as well.

I knew that dinner was going to be another Home Run at the Curry Home.  (I had snuck a peak at the Whole Foods Grocery List that Josie had in her hand before she headed out the door to fill it.)  In addition to everything else, fresh sauteed shrimp was definitely on this evening’s menu!  And, where there is shrimp, I have found that there is often a fantastic salad for starters….and, some sort of pan sauteed vegetable to sit alongside the shrimp on my pretty white plate to keep them company.  Tonight was no exception!  But, to start it all off, I poured us both a generous glass of the 09 FoxGlove from Napa.  Robert Parker gave this Cab a nice little write up.  And, in its 4th year since picking, I am starting to warm up to what he must have seen was coming down the road from this bottle.  Very nice.  (I wish I had the luxury to wait one more year to drink it.  But, isn’t that always the way of it?  I think we have about 5 bottles remaining.)              Anyhow, as you can see, another mixed greens salad with greens from some trendy named outfit like “Organic Girls”….(whoever they are, they claim to have washed your greens for you 3 times before you receive them….saves a lot of time at dinner each night…and, a lot of cleanup with that thing that spins the water off the greens after you clean them!)…Angie threw on some Organic Baby Tomatoes and Blue Cheese Crumbles and her own homemade balsamic style dressing.  And, I was off to the races!  Shortly after finishing that fantastic salad, I started on the shrimp and brussel sprouts….Don’t freak out if your shrimp is sitting on your plate in a pool of Coconut Oil and Real Butter and Sea Salt.  (I certainly hope that those were the elements you used in the pan in which they were sauteing!)  None of that is going to have any adverse affect to your belly and your future six-pack.  In fact, you will notice what I have noticed….my food burns slow and evenly in my body throughout the evening and up to bedtime….and, I simply find myself with absolutely no cravings with which to contend….except for my good old friend, Mr. Trusty BPA Free Camelbak Water Bottle.  And, that is all anyone is going to see me drinking or eating for the rest of this night…………

Another day of Just Eating What I Eat…………..Over and Out.