CrockPot Pulled Pork

This has become a staple in our household! I have to say, I love anything that involves a crockpot! It really just makes life that much easier! 

This pork is amazing, so much so that I add it to eggs, salad, sweet potato hash or just have it on its own. Its extremely yummy, versatile and so easy.

I first tried this pork at a potluck all the CF7M ladies had when we were doing an eating challenge. I have to say, I probably had about 3 servings of this pork - it was that good! The girl who brought it, Lizzie, assured me it was simple, so I decided to give it a go and never looked back! Thanks Lizzie! =)

Below is the recipe adapted from www.startsattheplate.com. I only changed a few ingredients mostly to match what I already have in my cabinet.

Ingredients (note I usually double the recipe)

• 4 lb bone in pork shoulder
• 4 tbsp paprika
• 2 tbsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp ground garlic powder
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper

1. Mix all the spices together in a small bowl to create a rub for the pork.
2. Take the rub and massage it into the pork making sure you get it in all the little crevices.
3. Put pork in a large plastic bag along with any remains of the rub that did not stick. Alternatively, you can also tightly wrap the pork in plastic wrap.
4. Put the pork in the fridge and let it sit overnight to ensure all the spices have flavored the meat.
5. Put the pork in the CrockPot with ¼ chicken stock and cook on low for about 8-10 hours.
6. Take the pork out of the CrockPot and onto a cutting board or large bowl.
7. Tear the meat apart using your fingers or 2 forks (I find the forks do the job pretty well).
8. Enjoy some pulled pork!

There is also a great BBQ sauce to go along with the pork (and other BBQed items), but I will leave that for next week. No need to worry though - this pork can be enjoyed on its own!

Meghan Prunty is a Holistic Health Practitioner and Fitness Coach. I work with athletes of all ages and skill levels to perform to their optimal ability in sport and life. We work together to form a set of goals for your sport, relationships, career, nutrition and lifestyle. From these goals we formulate a game plan for you to meet and exceed those goals.

For more information or to sign up for your free 50 minute consultation please visit www.therealrx.com

Getting Better Means Making Sacrifices

Now, I’m sure you’ve heard this before. I know I’ve heard my coach say many a time that if we want to get better we need to eat more, mobilize more, practice our weaknesses and drink less. Those are the obvious sacrifices for any athlete.

I’m speaking specifically to women about this one – getting better at CrossFit means sacrificing our (and society’s) body ideals. Now what do I mean by this? I will explain with a story…

About 6 weeks ago I started a strength and conditioning program from Catalyst Athletics. At the same time I started an eating (I don’t like the work “diet”) program from Eat to Perform. Long story short, I was eating more and lifting more with the end goal of getting stronger.

So, I ate a lot of protein (150g/days) and added in more starchy carbs. In the beginning I felt a little bloated – like I was drinking a case of a beer each night, but I knew I had to see this thing through. After a few weeks the bloat went away and I was slowly but surely feeling stronger.

A couple days before my testing day I decided to try on this fabulous dress I bought a few months ago for a friend’s wedding coming up the next weekend. I absolutely fell in love with the dress – it was more than I wanted to spend, but it just looked amazing and was posh enough for this NYC wedding. Well, the dress didn’t fit…I was too nervous to even try to sit down in it, there was no way I was busting any moves on the dance floor and I would even need someone to go to the bathroom with me! This obviously was not going to work!

At this point I was devastated. I’m a girl, I loved this dress, and now it doesn’t fit. 

The next day I went into the gym and told my male coach my extremely girly problem…at the end of the conversation I said, “I better PR on my lifts!” Obviously, not really into my tremendously girly problem, he kept it short and said, “you will…”

It came to testing day and needless to say, I was ringing the PR bell like no one’s business! Below are my before and after numbers:

• Snatch: 105 - 125lbs
• Clean & Jerk: 125 - 140lbs
• Back Squat: 180 - 200lbs

I was beyond excited! 125 was always my “dream” goal for my snatch and after I stood up with that barbell, did a dance, and dished out some hugs – with a smile on my face I said, “that was totally worth my dress not fitting!”

We all make sacrifices. I had to sacrifice how I viewed my body in order to get stronger. My legs, butt, and arms are all bigger…infact, I think I only have one pair of jeans that actually fit now! But, I’m fine with that. I will take bigger thighs and ass if that means my lifts go up and my times go down.

You have to decide if you are willing to make the sacrifice.

I leave you with this quote: “Sacrifice is giving up something good for something better.” - Unknown


**below are videos of my snatch and clean & jerk PRs...not the prettiest jerk - something I know I need to work on, but I'll take it! 

Meghan Prunty is a Holistic Health Practitioner and Fitness Coach. I work with athletes of all ages and skill levels to perform to their optimal ability in sport and life. We work together to form a set of goals for your sport, relationships, career, nutrition and lifestyle. From these goals we formulate a game plan for you to meet and exceed your goals.

For more information or to sign up for your free 50 minute consultation please visit www.therealrx.com

The "I Miss Cali Guac" Recipe

I am a total California girl - you can probably hear the accent! I love the beach, warm weather and above all - avocados! In California I would put avocados on everything!

In that respect, living in Cayman has been tough (oxymoron!?!?). I love living here, but the avocados are certainly not plentiful and they are expensive! But when I see a decent deal, or I'm really craving it, I buy as many good looking avocados as I can.

One of my favorite things to do with avocados is make guacamole! Below is a simple recipe for my favorite guac.

Ingredients:

·       3 Ripe Avocados           

·       ½ lime – juiced

·       1 clove garlic minced

·       ½ teaspoon salt

·       ½ teaspoon pepper

·       ½ teaspoon cayenne

·       ½ jalapeno pepper (if you like your guac with some heat!) – seeded and miced

·       2 Roma tomatoes – diced

·       ½ medium onion (I prefer purple, but any onion will work)

1.            Mash avocado in a large bowl. Add lime juice, garlic, spices and jalapeno. Fold in tomatoes and onion. Mix well.

2.            Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving so all the flavors can come together.

3.            Serve with homemade sweet potato chips (recipe to come), Terra sweet potato chips (pictured and WLC approved), plantain chips (recipe to come), veggies, or just eat it with a spoon – its that good! Enjoy!

**If you are a fan of bacon (who isn't) - add a couple strips of chopped bacon to the guac...you won't be sorry!

They Just Gave Me the "Up-Down"

You all know it! Maybe it has happened to you or maybe you are the culprit! I know I am! It is a real technical term for when you see someone and one of the first things you do is look them up and down from head to toe.

Whatever your reasons are: checking out a girl a the club, admiring some one's body on the beach, wondering why a person put that outfit together...and the list goes on; it all equates to some version of judging.

 This action was something I encountered many times when I was in Ecuador for the CrossFit Latin American Regionals earlier this month.

I came in contact with a number of people in the airport, hotel, restaurants and they all inquired as to what I was doing in Ecuador. *sidenote: probably everyone asked me this questions, but I could only answer those that spoke English. When I replied that I was on a team competing at Regionals probably 9 out of 10 times I got the "up-down" Now, I know I don't look like Annie Thorisdottir or Camille Leblanc, but I am reasonably fit! At first I took a slight bit of offense to this, but then again, I don't know their reasoning for the look. I worked hard to get to Regionals and whether I look like a poster child for CrossFit or not doesn't matter.

The best look and comment I received during my time in Ecuador was from a woman who didn't speak any English. I was speaking with her daughter and they (like everyone else) asked why I was in the country. After I gave my response the woman smiled, looked at my thighs, pointed, and made a gesture to represent "big." She and I both laughed and I agreed "Yes, I do have large legs!" Probably one of the best compliments I received during my time in Ecuador.

Overall, it doesn't matter if you are be judged. You never know what the other person is thinking. Anyways, the majority of the time people give the "up, down" has to do with jealousy. They either wish they were more like you, or wish they could be with some one like you. I know the majority of people I give the look to tend to be fit CrossFit chicks (and a couple guys on the beach too...but don't tell my husband, I'm just admiring)!

So the next time you receive the up-down or a judging look, take it as a compliment, smile and look the person in the eye and say "thank you"!

Gaining Weight and the Tight Pants Dance

You know when you have to do a couple air squats to get those tight pants on? Ladies (and hipster boys) - you know what I'm talking about! Well slowly but surely I needed to add a few extra air squats to my morning regimen.

Thats right...I have gotten bigger, even put on a few pounds. But for the first time in my life, I'm okay with it!

If this happened anytime from age 14 to even just a year ago, I would probably be upset, beating myself up and stepping on the scale everyday just to see if I lost a couple pounds.

So what changed? Simply put, I started looking at food differently. I now eat in order to fuel myself for my daily life and workouts. Since I started this mental shift I have seen some extreme gains, especially in the past couple months!

CrossFit forced me to look at food differently. I no longer look at a meal and think, "Man, this is going to make me feel fat and put on at least a couple pounds!" I look at my meals and think "this is going to help me in my workout today, tomorrow and a month from now."

This isn't to say that you can just eat whatever you want in order to "bulk up." The quality and types of food you choose are still extremely important. When you take an approach of eating as fuel, you will then choose foods that help your performance.

I recently used a calculator on eattoperform.com (great website!). In the end it told me I should be eating close to 2500 calories a day! I was amazed! In high school I probably only ate close to 1200! I used to go by the model "calories in = calories out." However, this thinking is just plain wrong. It doesn't take into account basal metabolic rate (BMR) - which simply put is the amount of calories your body needs to functions on a day to day bases.

Now 2500 may sound a bit much for a 5'4 girl, but I have to say it has done nothing but good for me.

Yes, I have put on weight; not only on my body, but on the barbell - and that's what counts for me!

Maybe one day I will be able to back squat 300lbs like Camille LeBlanc (maybe...)

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THE Banana Pancake Recipe

This is one of my FAVORITE recipes! If you go to CrossFit 7 Mile - you've heard me rave about these! I found a version of it when I was doing the Whole Life Challenge a couple months back and doctored it up a bit to get it exactly how I like it. It is a great substitute for traditional, high fat, high sugar pancakes.

The following recipe is easy, clean, gluten free, dairy free and paleo!

Ingredients:
Bananas (ripe)
Eggs
Spinach
Nut Butter
Coconut Oil (to cook with)

Prep:

• Mash up 1 banana and put it directly into the blender
• Crack 1 egg into the blender
• 1 cup of raw spinach
• 1 teaspoon of your favorite nut butter (I use hazlenut butter; however, you can use almond butter or whatever butter you prefer...but hazlenut will be the best...I have tested this!)
• Combine all ingredients in the blender until the mixture is a pancake batter-like consistency

Directions:

• Heat pan on a low-medium heat - I use around 4 - 4.5, but this will depend on your stove 
• Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
• When pan is hot with coconut oil, pour batter directly into pan and make 3 small pancakes in the pan approximately 3 inches in diameter. You can experiment with how large you want to make the pancakes, but I suggest starting small so they are easier to flip.
• Cook for approximately 4 minutes - unlike regular pancakes you won't see the edges browning as much, so be sure to set a timer
• Carefully flip the pancakes and cook on the second side for approximately 2 minutes
• Take pancakes off pan and onto a plate

And you are done!

I usually just add grass fed butter on top and eat! Feel free to mix it up and add fresh berries, bananas or any fruit! No need for syrup on these - they are already sweet enough!

A couple tips:

• It may take a couple times to get the correct temperature and time on your specific stove, just be sure to cook on a low heat so the egg is fully cooked.
• I usually make a large batch of these at a time 5 - 6 bananas and keep the leftovers in the fridge and use for the next few days.
• If you use more than one banana all the other measurements match the number of bananas you use: example: 5 bananas, 5 eggs, 5 cups spinach, 5 teaspoons nut butter.
• You will NOT taste the spinach - trust me I have tried this with and without spinach. It is just an easy way to add some veggies into the meal! If your kids ask why they are green, just explain they are special St. Patty's Day pancakes (all year round)! They won't care anyways once they try them!
• You can also add cacao powder or dark chocolate chips if you are in chocolatey mood