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If you’ve ever transported a cake from point A to point B, you know it’s easier said than done. I once tried to bring homemade cupcakes to work. To help me do so, I borrowed a cupcake carrier (which shall remain nameless) from the office. I feel it’s important to point out the fact that said office was a food magazine. You’d think they’d have the best cupcake carrier on the market, right? Nope! The only thing keeping each cupcake in place was a measly little raised plastic ridge. By the time I got off the subway, I had no choice but to turn my cupcakes into cake pops.

It was unfortunate, yes, but it inspired me to find the best carrier out there.

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Any avocado aficionado knows the most annoying part of eating the beloved fruit (yes, it’s a fruit) is all the prep work. The cutting, the slicing, the peeling, the scooping — it can be a lot of work, unless you’re ready to dig directly into the avocado with a tortilla chip. What’s a guacamole-lover to do?

Lucky for you, a new tool from Slygap wants to help you streamline all your avocado prep.

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Transitioning to the Primal Blueprint way of eating should be simple. There’s no need to invent the wheel at every meal. That said, it does likely mean shifting some of your routine in the kitchen. If you’re used to processed food, enjoy getting your hands a little messier. If you’re used to take-out, capitalize on the chance to use your creative skills. (Don’t worry, you’ve got an abundance of recipes and cookbooks right at your fingertips.) That said, all Primal cooks—beginners to old-timers—can make life easier with a few select tactics.

Cook Large Pieces of Protein

We could also call this “Learn to Love Leftovers.” If you’re turning on your oven and cooking something, you might as well make a lot of it. Instead of cooking a pork chop or a chicken breast, cook a pork roast or a whole chicken. Large pieces of protein (e.g. roasts, chickens, salmon filets, etc.) can provide several different meals over the course of a week. Check out this past kitchen tips post for a short primer on how to cook any large cut of meat.

Be Fearless with the Produce

Salads are great. Keep eating them. But don’t use the convenience of pre-washed salad greens as an excuse for neglecting the likes of Swiss chard, kale, mustard greens, collards, and other dark, leafy greens. These greens provide a wide variety of vitamins and minerals, and they’re easy to cook. They don’t deserve to get passed up in the produce aisle—or to die a slow death in the bottom of the vegetable crisper.

Here’s what you do: First, swish the leaves in cold water or rinse under running water. Shake the excess water off, but don’t worry about drying the leaves; the moisture will help them cook faster. If the stems are thick and woody, tear the leaves off the stems into bite-sized pieces. The leaves can also be cut into thin ribbons, making the greens less chewy and easier to eat. Add raw greens to soups and stews in the last 10 minutes before serving.

For greens as a side dish, heat a drizzle of oil (or bacon fat) in a skillet, add garlic and sauté 1 to 2 minutes. Add greens a handful at a time, letting each batch wilt slightly before adding more. Sauté only about 4 minutes. For softer greens, sauté 4 minutes, then add a ½ cup of stock and saute 5 minutes more. There you go.

Roast, Don’t Steam

Yes, steaming is an easy and healthy way to cook vegetables, but roasting will get you more flavor every time. Buy two rimmed baking sheets—the rims keeps things from dripping or rolling off the sides but are low enough to let air circulate, which means the outside of whatever you are roasting will brown nicely. Cover the baking sheets with parchment paper, which makes clean-up nearly effortless.

Cut veggies the same size so they cook evenly, coat lightly with oil, salt and pepper. Spread the veggies out evenly. This is no time to crowd the pan. Roast at 400º F for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice (cooking time might be longer or shorter depending on the vegetable). Look for lightly browned and crispy on the outside and insides that are easily pierced with a fork. Cook large batches, and eat the roasted veggies all week as a side dish or on salads. You can even puree them for a soup if that’s what you’re in the mood for.

Cut Down on Cooking Times

Want to magically cook great tasting food in a half or a third of the time that it usually takes to cook? (Is there really anyone who would say no to this?) Buy a pressure cooker. A popular, user-friendly brand is Instant Pot, which can quickly make stews, bone broth, curries, short ribs and much, much more. These days, Primal and paleo pressure cooker recipes are easy to find, so you’ll have no shortage of recipes to try.

Meet Two Pots That Make Your Kitchen Life Easier

A cast iron skillet and a Dutch oven are worthy investments. Both will last forever—people pass these things on as heirlooms. Use either to sear meat on the stovetop, then go directly into the oven. A cast iron skillet can be used for any type of vegetable or protein, even a whole chicken. A Dutch oven is a go-to for stoups, stews, braises and roasts.

 Never Over-Cook Your Meat

You don’t need a degree in culinary arts to cook a perfect steak. You just need an instant-read meat thermometer. This simple tool helps both beginner and expert cooks know exactly when meat is done. Buy one and use it regularly.

Expand Your Idea of Breakfast

Many a person has been undone by a breakfast rut. Smoothies, eggs, and bacon are great, but you don’t need to eat them every morning. Any and all leftovers in the refrigerator are fair game for breakfast. Sip a mug of hot soup or broth, grab a cold chicken drumstick on your way out the door, eat leftover salmon with a dash of hot sauce, or have a bowl of fresh berries and nuts.

Add Umami in Three Easy Ways

Think of the condiments fish sauce, soy sauce, and coconut aminos as secret ingredients that amp up flavor. Keep a bottle of each in your fridge, and add a drizzle of one or more to soups, stews, chili, and tomato sauce. When you sauté or stir-fry vegetables, add a dash in the last few minutes. Add a tablespoon to marinades for bigger, bolder flavor.

Use One Simple Trick for Tastier, Healthier and More Appealing Food

Let’s be honest: visual appeal matters. And so does the perception of freshness. Herbs are perfect for this. It’s hard to think of a meal that won’t improve with a sprinkle of fresh herbs. Chefs don’t just sprinkle fresh herbs on dishes because the green color offers a visual “pop.” Herbs also make everything taste fresher and bolder (and they have some fascinating health benefits to boot). Use kitchen shears to snip herbs over almost everything you serve. Parsley is the most versatile herb and keeps well in the refrigerator. Thyme, mint, cilantro and basil are good all around choices, too.

Note Three Ingredients No Cook Should Do Without

There are many types of healthy fats you can, and should, cook with. But here are my go-to basics. Avocado oil is my hands-down favorite for cooking itself because of the high smoke point (and I happen to think it tastes great in salads, too). Two others I always keep on hand are high quality butter and olive oil.

Yes, “good” butter and olive oil are more expensive, but they can be used sparingly after a dish is finished. If your meal tastes a little blah, simply top it with a small pat of really good salted butter or a drizzle of great olive oil. It can make all the difference.

That’s it for today, folks. How’s your transition coming along? What are the kitchen tips you use the most and would offer to beginning Primal types? Thanks for reading.

The post Primal Transition 101: Insider Kitchen Tips appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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For most of us, a jolt of energy in the morning is a necessity. While coffee tends to be the most popular choice, there are plenty of other drinks out there that give you that buzz — some via a caffeine kick, and others that give you energy in non-caffeinated ways. Here are five sips to try instead of that cup of joe.

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Like many people, from lifelong avid athletes to those whose pursuit of fitness is more casual, I’ve experienced my share of injuries and pain while living an active lifestyle. These injuries have run the gamut—overuse injuries (fractured vertebrae, tendonitis), acute injuries (multiple ACL tears, sprains, strains), chronic conditions (arthritis).

Despite these experiences, I’m a firm believer that you don’t have to be in fear and pain while living an active lifestyle.

Injury recovery is as much a mental process as it is a physical one. In a traditional, or perhaps an old-school model, injury recovery commonly follows a sequence more or less like this:

1. Consult with and receive treatment from a physician
2. Complete rehab with a physical therapist
3. Get the green light to return to activity.

Subsequently you may be on your own for the next steps. This equation leaves much to be desired with regard to addressing the fear and uncertainty that comes with returning to physical activities following an injury.

If you’re feeling overly cautious — or downright scared — about jumping back into training, even after being cleared by your doctor or physical therapist, that’s understandable.

There are a number of things you can do to bridge the gap and ease your transition from rehab and physical therapy back to doing the activities you love.

Structuring A Belief System That Doesn’t Normalize Pain and Fear

In bridging those gaps, a good starting point is acknowledging that you do not have to accept being in pain and fearing injury as a normal state. Our beliefs about the world and ourselves have a profound impact on every aspect of our lives, including injury recovery and the stressors and fears that injury can induce. The moment you decide that you can overcome your fears is the moment you become empowered to seek out solutions and take action, rather than resign yourself to fear.

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During my high school and college years I experienced a series of injuries that led to seven knee surgeries. Over years I spent significantly more time either hurt or in rehab than healthy. It became my norm. I began to identify with injury more than with health.

I see this happen frequently in others; people who have permanently written off their ability to do many different things, in part because they’ve adopted a belief system built around staying attached to their perceived limitations. Sometimes it’s simply more comfortable to draw a line in the sand (“I can’t lift, I have a bad back!”), than to step outside the comfort zone and look at the shades of grey between not being able to do anything at all, and perhaps being able to use progressions or variations to step into participation.

When we become too attached to our issues, we tend to spend more time talking and thinking about our limits than we do focusing on where we want to go. Where you’ve been in the past, or even where you are now is not where you have to stay.

The Power of Self-Talk

Any practice designed to establish an empowered mindset must take into account the power and influence of our self talk. We all engage in internal dialogue that can help or hinder our efforts to conquer fear after injury. When we aren’t aware of our self-talk it’s very easy to fall into deficit-focused language around the injuries we’re overcoming.

Actively replacing any negative self-talk with a compassionate, caring internal voice is vital.

It took me almost a decade after my last knee surgery to acknowledge that I kept repeating very negative thoughts to myself—cursing the previously injured leg, allowing myself to focus on the frustration of feeling a significant strength disparity, and basically wondering, “Why can’t my left leg be strong and healthy like my right?!”

Conscious, helpful self-talk could include eliminating deficit-focused language, or incorporating mantras that affirm your strength and resilience, no matter what challenges you face. Consistently affirm what you can do. Practice gratitude with regard to your body. Your precious body, whatever it’s been through, is your only one. Show it love!

Visualize Healthy, Pain-Free Movement

Whatever your activity of choice, visualization is a powerful tool in overcoming fears. Visualizing yourself completing your workouts or activities pain free offers both physical and psychological benefits. The brain-body connection is real. The practice of creating vivid mental imagery of how you want your body to move and feel during your workouts will bring you one step closer to actually achieving what you desire.

Numerous studies have tied visualization practice to improved performance, and it’s even been shown effective in creating muscle memory for the movements you visualize. You brain doesn’t distinguish between visualizing an activity and actually performing it.^1,2,3,4

To get the most impact from your visualization practice, try utilizing all your senses. What does the barbell feel like in your hands? What are the sights, smells, and sounds around you as you perform the movement? Both, when you’re sidelined with injury and as you return to activity (frankly anytime, as it improves confidence and performance in general), spending time visualizing yourself moving well and without pain will go a long way to increasing your confidence and reducing or eliminating fear.

Practices That Provide Peace of Mind

When we allow ourselves to listen to it, our intuition is an invaluable tool. To some extent fear following injury is a protective reaction. While it’s important not to settle into identifying with your injury and related fears, it’s also critical that you attend to them. By that I mean digging into what you are afraid of and why. There are a number of things you can put in place to help you do this.

Establish a care team in whom you have confidence. This may include, among others, your physician, physical therapist, coach or trainer. If you are diligent with your rehab or maintenance protocol and you are still not seeing improvement, seek out additional resources! There is more than one way to do things, so don’t give up until you find what works for you.

Not only is there more than one way to do things, but what works for you may evolve over time. Rehab, prehab, and maintenance should always be a part of your training. Consider an injury a signal for you to pay closer attention. Assess on an ongoing basis how effectively your practices are helping you remain pain free, and adjust them as needed. Like fitness itself, recovery is an ongoing process, not something from which you move on after checking it off the list.

Having these things in place and following an appropriate progression in your return to activity will help to identify and reduce unsubstantiated fears so that you can focus on the helpful signals that your body and mind are giving you.

Move forward with confidence that following injury you can once again participate in the activities you love — without fear!

At Girls Gone Strong, we want you to feel confident knowing that what you’re doing to look good, feel good, and feel healthy and strong are not only based on tested, reliable, and safe information from trustworthy sources, but that it is also effective and efficient.
That’s why we developed our flagship training system, The Modern Woman’s Guide To Strength Training (AND IT’S ON SALE RIGHT NOW! UP TO 40% OFF!)

At Girls Gone Strong, we want you to feel confident knowing that what you’re doing to look good, feel good, and feel healthy and strong are not only based on tested, reliable, and safe information from trustworthy sources, but that it is also effective and efficient.
That’s why we developed our flagship training system, The Modern Woman’s Guide To Strength Training (AND IT’S ON SALE RIGHT NOW! UP TO 40% OFF!)

Learn more here!

References

1. Blanchfield, A.W., Hardy, J., De Morree, H.M., Stain, W., Mlarcora, S.M., (2014). Talking Yourself out of Exhaustion: The Effects of Self-talk on Endurance Performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc., 46(5), 998-1007
   http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2014&issue=05000&article=00019&type=abstract
2. St Clair Gibson, A., Foster, C., (2007). The Role of Self-Talk in the Awareness of Physiological State and Physical Performance. Sports Med. 37(12), 1029-44
   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=The+Role+of+Self-Talk+in+the+Awareness+of+Physiological+State+and+Physical+Performance
3. Jones, L., & Stuth, G. (1997). The uses of mental imagery in athletics: An overview. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 6(2), 101-115.
   http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962184905800162
4. Warner, L., & McNeill, M. E. (1988). Mental Imagery and Its Potential for Physical Therapy. Physical Therapy, 68(4), 516-521. Accessed December 23, 2016.
   http://ptjournal.apta.org/content/68/4/516.

All photos by Alison Gamble Photography

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From Apartment Therapy → Inspiring Kitchens You Won’t Believe are IKEA

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Let’s be honest — breakfast is the only good thing about the mornings. And making your own gives you full reign over the menu, but also leaves you responsible for the cleanup. Make it extra easy with these smart tips from Debbie Sardone, the mastermind behind SpeedCleaning.com.

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Although you were probably taught as a child to be wary of talking to strangers, a dinner party organization in Perth, Australia wants you to throw caution to the wind and embrace the unknown. Stranger Danger Dinners wants to help you meet potential friends over a plate of delicious food.

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Prize: The Holy Grail of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Care Packages!

Restock your pantry with Primal Kitchen’s entire line of products!

1 Bottle of Avocado Oil: More heat stable than olive oil and a wonderful alternative for those who don’t like the taste of coconut oil, PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Avocado Oil is perfect for searing, drizzling, sautéing, stir-frying and dressing. Use to make marinades, finish sauces, or even in lieu of butter for all your baking needs.

1 Bottle of Extra Virgin Avocado Oil: PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Extra Virgin Avocado Oil is the first ever avocado oil made from 100% California premium avocados, freshly picked and immediately pressed for the highest quality and richest flavor. Why Extra Virgin Avocado Oil? Extra Virgin means the oil undergoes minimal processing to keep flavor and aroma molecules intact for a nutrient-dense, healthful oil. You can literally see this superfood’s nutrients reflected in its emerald green color! It’s a healthful addition to all your favorite culinary creations.

3 Jars of Avocado Oil Mayo: PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Mayo is the perfect companion for your deviled eggs, coleslaw and chicken salad needs. Every dollop is chock is full of good fats, phytonutrients, and other antioxidants, so you can use it lavishly—not sparingly—to upgrade the flavor and nutritional profile of your meal.

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When the temperature drops in January, what we really want is food that fills us up and nourishes at the same time. So start your day with a hearty smoothie, but finish it with a wholesome stew. This is one of a series of stews designed to make you feel good in every possible way. Brimming with veggies and spices, each of these wholesome stews will support and reward your best New Year’s intentions.

Beef stew is the esteemed granddaddy of stew, but it doesn’t have to feel stodgy. The chunks of braised beef in smooth-as-silk gravy make it classic, while the high proportion of interesting root vegetables makes it lighter.

This recipe is a tutorial in the building blocks of stew. If you can make this stew successfully, you are ready to tackle any other with confidence.

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