The Great Millet Mash Fiasco of 2010

Here we are again, Big E and I, both working our little hearts out, trying to get back into better shape. For me, it's the launch of my running year. For Big E, it's his build-up to Paga. And as always, as we start to throw all of our efforts into working out more, and start feeling better and stronger, I start to ponder our nutrition again.

We generally eat pretty well, pretty healthfully. I cook fairly often, we get a fabulous veggie box that I've gotten better and better at using up, and I do tons of research and reading on the best nutrition for athletes for my hopefully upcoming cookbook.

The key things I work on improving whenever I'm paying attention are increasing the variety of vegetables, relying on leaner proteins (and eating a vegetarian diet more frequently) and incorporating more whole grains.

The last of those options took me on a bit of a wild goose chase yesterday. I had a lovely head of green cauliflower and decided to check out a recipe I'd seen in The New Whole Grain Cookbook, a millet and cauliflower mash that pretended to be mashed potatoes. Now, I'd like to point out for the record that while I love mashed potatoes, I'm also quite fond of puréed cauliflower and don't think it needs to disguise itself as anything else. Cauliflower purée is definitely better for you that most mashed potatoes and the texture is silky smooth and the flavour is delicately delicious. So there.

That being said, I love millet and thought doing this blend could take a good thing (cauliflower purée) and make it even better by adding the whole graininess, little bit of protein and loads of nutrients that millet contains.

That didn't really happen. I started out by following the recipe to the word: 1/2 cup of millet (rinsed) to 4 oz of cauliflower (roughly chopped) to 2 1/2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. After I cooked and puréed it, it was terribly thick and gluey. A horrible texture and the lovely delicate cauliflower taste was gone. It didn't resemble mashed potatoes either.

I tried and tried to salvage the recipe (adding more liquid, adding some butter, add some cream...) None of things worked - it was just a big porridgey sticky mess. I'll probably try again, my guess is the ratio of millet to cauliflower was off, so I think I would try halving the amount of millet next time. I'll keep you posted.

The thought I'd like to leave you with is this: whole grains like millet, quinoa and amaranth are fabulous things to swap into your diet if you're on a fitness kick. They're packed with nutrients, much better for you than rice or pasta and they can really taste delicious. I've been swapping them into all kinds of recipes with much better success than this story. I think the key is using them in situations where you'd normally use rice or couscous, boiled or steamed as a side dish or under a lovely sauce. As for the more advanced moves, like trying to sneak grains in odd places and have them masquerade as other creatures (barley chocolate mousse, anyone?), maybe it's good to hold off until some really solid recipes are found. I'm a bit skeptical about the whole grain book, but am not giving up yet! As I experiment, I'll definitely tell you about the winners.

Out with the Old, In with the New!

Yeah, I know I didn't say much about finishing up the P90X Lean program, but we really did get all the way through.  Well, almost.  We didn't do much that last recovery week, but that's OK, because we were just mentally gearing up to properly attack our new program... P90X Classic!

Although, it's really more like P90X-Lower Body.  I've shuffled the program around a bit to include more Legs and Back and more Core Synergistics, and less upper body.  So it's going to go a little something like this:

Week 1:  

• Tues:  Legs & Back + Ab Ripper
  
• Weds:  Plyo (can't wait!)
  
• Thurs:  Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper
  
• Fri:  Yoga X
  
• Sat:  Legs & Back + Ab Ripper
  
• Sun:  Kenpo X

Then the next week, we'll swap out the first Legs and Back with Core Synergistics and the Shoulders & Arms with Chest and Back.

Why are we doing this, you might ask?  Because while we appreciate how important building our upper body strength is, both of us have much more need of leg strength and core strength... Me for my running, Big E for his ultimate.  We discussed this at length and figured that the P90X program seemed a bit more geared towards having a pretty, beach-ready body with huge guns and sexy triceps, which is great and all.  But we really care more about having really strong abs, strong legs and while looking good in a bathing suit would be great, it's more of an added bonus and less our goal.

When do we start our P90X-Lower?  This coming Tuesday.  And yes I'll be attempting a nutrition plan again (but remind me to tell you later about the awesome healthy energy cookies I made last week!).  We'll also be measuring our results this Sunday so we'll keep you posted!

My New Favourite Pre-workout Snack

It's actually a bit more of a mid-afternoon snack, so about an hour or so before we generally workout, but I've found that I definitely need a bit of a boost before the daily workout, or I just can't quite Bring It.

My current favourite snack has been plain Greek nonfat yogurt (apparently, Greek yogurt is much higher in protein than normal, and happens to taste totally creamy and delicious, even when it's nonfat!) mixed with a small handful of walnuts, a drizzle of agave nectar and a small amount of chopped fruit (most recently a deliciously ripe persimmon).

So delicious, so quick, and completely healthful! Yum.

P90X Lean - Halfway Point

Well, we've made it half way through the program. Phase II is not really all that different from Phase I, the only difference is the Shoulders & Arms workout got replaced by Chest, Shoulders and Triceps. This workout is quite a bit harder for me, because I am not so great with the pushups, but it's good to see that one of the people does them on her knees, so I don't feel so guilty about doing that as well.

The rest of the week is the same: Monday is our day off - and I love it! Tuesday is Core Synergistics, which I am still very fond of: it's challenging enough but satisfying at the same time. Wednesday is Cardio X, which is a bit too easy to me, but I've started supplementing it with a good hard short run beforehand and that really makes a difference.

Thursday and Saturday are the strength workouts, upper body and then Legs and Back, respectively. Friday is Yoga X, which is always daunting with its 40 minutes of Vinyasa in the beginning but ends quite nicely. I usually supplement Fridays with another short run, unless I manage to sneak one in on another day. And then Sunday, which has become Monster Sunday, with my long run or crazy sprint repeats followed by the beloved Kenpo X.

So here we are, halfway through the program, and I have to say, E and I both love it! E's arms and back are looking fantastic and we both feel great!! The nutrition plan has completely gone by the wayside now, and we've just been doing our best to eat a balanced diet, with enough protein, much less saturated fat and a decent amount of carbs.

Yay P90X! Can't wait to see the results photos...