May 16, 2012:  Do or Don’t Do

A couple weekends ago my cousins came to SF for a Bachelor party.  We were planning to tryout SF Crossfit, but got there too late.  So AJ ran us through an MIT Workout near Crissy field.  Some people walked by and said, “they’re doing that P90x thing”.  Funny.  What we were actually doing was a Tabata, using what we had available which was sand and our bodies.  All this to say is that its great to have workout partners…especially when they’re in the family.

Fast forward to this morning’s workout at Crossfit Palo Alto .  It was fitting for the kind of week I’ve been experiencing.  

The WOD:  5 rounds of 400 meter run and 500 meter row…oh and since there were too many of us 40 burpees while you wait for a rower to open up.  Why not right?

This WOD is my nightmare really.  I’m slow at both running and the row.  Endurance has not been my friend.  But sometimes in life there is just DO or DON’T DO.  No scaling things back to make it more doable, just do it (insert Nike logo here).

I got through it at a speedy 30:14 (haha), but was just happy to get through it before the sun set (mind you it’s a 7am class).

This has been my week at work.  Deadlines, taxes, programs to run with no staff, half my staff not able to work for one reason or another.  Do or don’t do; no scaling back.  It  might not be pretty and it might not be the fastest, but keep pushing through to the best of your abilities.  Endurance has not been my friend, but it’s good to have when the only other option is “don’t do”.  And at the end of the day, I’d rather say I went for it (whatever it is) then not having ventured at all. Because the more you “do”, the stronger you get for the next time around.

*This has been a public service announcement from PaleoPilipino.*

2 weeks ago

May 8, 2012: Spiritual Lessons from a WOD

I had someone ask me last week “How has CrossFit affected you spiritually?” (I was making some pretty big claims).  

Here’s one example:  

Yesterdays WOD (Workout of the Day) was 30 sandbag lifts from ground to should, run 400 meters with sandbag, 30 wall balls with medicine ball, run 400 meters with med ball, 30 plate lifts from ground to overhead, run 400 m with plate, 30 kettlebell swings, and then yes you guess it, run 400 meters with the kettlebell.  

I laughed when I read the workout as it looked daunting.  Run with a 35lb kettlebell? Who does that?  No really..who does that?

To my surprise I got through the first set with the sandbag without a problem.  In honesty the small sandbag is a little too easy for me, but the large one is way too heavy.  Goldilocks’ got nothin on me!  

When I came in to do the wall balls things started to fall apart. (cue tension filled music here)

I was frantic from the run and trying to get through an overwhelming workout.  I grabbed a 10 pound med ball and as I started Tim gave me a heavier med ball to use.  HEAVIER?  What the….so I proceeded to throw the 12 pound weight as high as I could against the wall.  I was flailing really.  I couldn’t throw it far because I wasn’t squatting low enough and I was using what little arm strength I could muster up instead of the power from my  legs.  If I were trying to make a layup, they would have been all airballs.

Then Tim said this, “Slow down.  Reset.  And do this with the right form”  (or something to that affect).  I took a deep breath, slowed down and thought about how I was moving forward in the next motion.

Fast forward 24 hours.  Things at work are spinning a little bit out of control.  My staff are all off today for various reasons and I’ll be running our program alone today.  There are other issues cropping up that I can feel will become much larger and possibly uglier in the near future.  I’m feeling a little frantic with the heavier weights that are being put in front of me.

Slow down. Reset.  And do this with the right form.

To get through the frantic out of control times we often need to take a moment to realign ourselves inwardly in order to better perform outwardly.  For me that means slowing down to stop the spin of worries that have become a tornado in my mind.  Deep breath.  Reset my focus on the God that gives me life and love and grace and mercy.  And start again with the right form, on God’s strength and wisdom and not my own.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden light” Matthew 11:28-30

Whether it’s work, or a WOD, or trying to get through a Whole30, or whatever “weights”  you’re carrying today; if you’re feeling out of control…Slow down.  Take a deep breath and reset.  And go forward with the right form.

3 weeks ago

April 28, 2012:  Why does food taste better when someone else makes it? Last week I was fortunate enough to have some great meals with my friend Shirley’s who has now surpassed me in Paleo-ness (is that a thing?).  Check out her blog here.  I also did a little getaway with the cousins in Camano island in Washington.  I am very very thankful to have cousins who take food seriously and life not so much.  Thank you to my cousins and Shirley for feeding me some great eats!

I also posted my first time roasting purple yams.  Usually Filipinos make it into dessert called Ube (ooh-beh) and all things ube flavored.  But I figured a yam is a yam right?  So I roasted it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes along with some roasted organic chicken drumsticks covered in Penzey’s herbs de provence and sea salt.  Pretty tasty if I do say so myself.

After a long and busy work week I finally made it to Costco to stock up on food.  All I had in fridge all week was a container of Sonoma brinery pickles.  With my Costco finds I made Bison burgers with Firewood spice from Penzey’s and s&p.  Topped it off with fresh avocado and kimchee and wrapped all that goodness up in butter leaf lettuce.  For those of you who haven’t tried Bison burgers before it’s very similar to grass-fed beef in it’s leanness and beefiness (or bison-ness whichever angle you’re taking).  

1 month ago

April 12:  Being Paleo and Pilipino ain’t easy

I should probably say this from the start, I’m Filipino American. I was born in CA.  So while I am 100% Filipino I am also 100% American. I grew up on both lumpia and lasagna; sinigang and soft drinks, paksiw na lechon and pizza (wait…I’m sounding more like a diabetic Italian right now). In my adult years I tend to make more American style foods as Filipino dishes are hard to make for one or two people. I’m pretty sure every single Filipino dish yields 40 servings. So if I eat Filipino food these days it’s when I’m with family or when I eat out with friends (thank God for great Pilipino restos in California!)

A couple weeks ago I found out about a supermarket that is purely Filipino. Usually Filipino food items are buried along with other Asian fare at an asian market like Ranch 99.  So I was curious to check out Island Pacific to see what a fully Filipino market looks like.  I went with the question “Can I buy Paleo friendly Filipino products?”

The answer is YES!  and No.  Like any supermarket the key is to shop the outsides (produce and meats).  I ventured in the middle aisles to find out what import treats I might want to indulge in.  Now that I am adept at reading the ingredients on labels I found myself shaking my head at the realization of why diabetes is so common in my family.  Like a lot of processed foods, there is sugar in everything…even our spaghetti sauce.  

I was stoked to see (did I just use the word “stoked”?) beef cuts especially made for sinigang (tamirand sour soup) and freshly prepared longonisa sausage without casings.  The fresh fish were also tempting, but I needed to show some restraint somewhere.  The vegetables were fun as I loaded up on long beans, plantains, purple yams, sprouts, jicama (although I think that’s more Mexican) and kamatis (okay that’s just tomatoes but it sounded exotic for a second didnt’ it?).

I had an internal war with myself as I tried to leave without buying something at the not 1 but 2 bakeries near the entrance.  No Goldilocks and Velerios...no pan de sal for this gal.  Oh…but it smells so good.  No.  Okay just a little piece of mocha cake.  No.  bibingka?  That’s gluten free right?  How bad can sweet rice covered in sugar be?  No.. get out, get out now!  For the love of God, save your self…run!

Post script:  I made it out without a bakery stop.  They only took cash.


1 month ago

April 8, 2012: The picture is of me doing the “Stations of the Cross” at Highway Community church.  The idea is to move from station to station and contemplate the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  At this station we were to carry a large wooden cross to get a small idea of what it was like for Jesus to endure the pain of being flogged and mocked and then having to carry the instrument of his eventual death.  All of this was an act of total and complete love for us, the objects of God’s affection.

Why am I posting this on PaleoPilipino?  For me body and soul are one.  I believe it was the ancient Greeks who separated body and soul, believing that our souls were the only thing that really mattered in the end.  But ancient Hebrews believed the body and soul were connected.  While I can’t speak to the theological nuances of this difference I do think that we were created with these amazing vehicles called bodies and that, like everything we’ve been blessed with, we’re to use them well.

I’ll be posting more on spirituality and the body in later posts, but for now I just wanted to reflect on sacrifice.  On Easter we celebrate that Jesus sacrificed his life for ours.  For that I am grateful.

But then I think, “So what am I doing with the life I’ve been given?”  What am I doing with my finances?  With my time?  With my gifts?  With my body?  I don’t have a lot, but these are the things I do have, so what am I doing with them?

Romans 12:1 encourages us to “offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God.  This is your spiritual act of worship.” It doesn’t say offer our souls as living sacrifices, it says BODIES.  

What kind of body do you have to offer?  Offering your best and first harvests or animals was a practice since the time of Cain and Able.  They used to take their choicest vegetables and best animals from their herds as a sacrifice to God.  God offered God’s best to us by sacrificing Jesus. So what am I offering back?  

I used to think of my excess weight as “seminary weight.”  This was the weight I gained while in school, reading a lot and moving very little while eating cafeteria food for 3 years. But 11 years later I think I needed to face the facts that the sacrifice I was offering was pretty shoddy at best.  I worked out a couple time a week, ate good food but also ate bad food in addition, slept little and stressed a lot.  Not horrible, not really bad, but not my best.  

For those of you who follow Jesus, what does your act of worship look like right now?  Is your body holy and pleasing to God?  I’m not talking some unattainable standard set by magazine covers and movie stars.  I just mean is your body at it’s best, the way you were created?  Is your physical body in the shape it was intended to be? 

Don’t get me wrong…God loves us JUST THE WAY WE ARE.  No matter what we do or don’t do, no matter how big or little, no matter how tall or short, God simply loves us just the way we are (deeper than the Bridget Jones way even).  I’m just asking us to think about what our response is to this unconditional love.  

1 month ago