I modified a gluten-free brownie recipe to get it closer to Paleo this weekend and they came out pretty good. I’ll make a batch for the proposed holiday social event for everyone to try.

Where do you get your almond flour? Essene?

Mmm… paleo brownies sound good! In the past I’ve gotten almond, pecan and hazlenut flour online from King Arthur Flour. I’m sure they have them at Essene or Whole Foods, though.

I did find almond meal at Essene. But Bob’s Red Mill has a large gluten-free flour line on their website, including coconut flour.

http://www.bobsredmill.com/gluten-free-flours-meals/

How is heavy cream Paleo???

Here’s an awesome alternative made with apple sauce:

Pancakes paleo style
2-3 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup almond butter
bunch of shakes of cinnamon
1/2 cup almond meal

splash or two of almond milk depending upon if I need to thin it out a little

mix well and put on pancake griller.

you can adjust the measure ments for more and add whatever you want - e.g. blueberries.

Sam, heavy cream is not strict Paleo. (No dairy is). However I consider some dairy to fall within the ‘acceptable’ range… especially if it comes from a grass-fed cow.

Thanks for sharing the alternate recipe!

One could use Coconut cream instead of the heavy cream and coconut oil instead of the butter if they wanted to be more Paleo friendly.

You might not be able to find coconut cream in stores. But if you buy the cans of coconut milk (full fat, not that light stuff) you can scrape off the top (which is the cream) and use that.

The leftover watery part can be used in a mixed drink too, so it is a pretty good deal.

I heard that coconut water is one of the best ways to rehydrate yourself (after too many non paleo drinks)!

Here’s a link on coconut water…
Not sure how reliable it is.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/735177/seven_benefits_of_coconut_water.html?cat=5

“Coconut water is an isotonic solution which replaces the fluids and minerals that the body loses during physical activities. For this reason, many athletes and persons who work out regularly are encouraged to drink coconut water to replace all the minerals and fluid that they lose while working out. Even the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) attest to the benefits of drinking coconut water when it fought for a patent in 2000 to market coconut water as the next big sports drinks.”

I’m fairly sure you can get both coconut cream and coconut water at Whole Foods on South Street. In general, you can find good coconut cream products at the Mexican-owned stores in the neighborhood around the box. It’s a common ingredient in many Mexican sweets.

I’m going to have to try coconut flour to replace the quinoa flour in my Paleo brownies now.

Where do I place my order for your paleo brownies?

Wellll…if you talk real sweet, I’m sure we could arrange a barter.

Or, here’s the base recipe I modified to make Paleo.
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2006/01/dark-chocolate-brownies.html

I used the El Rey Venezuelan 73% chocolate from Whole Foods and added 1/2 cup of Droste cocoa powder. This is key-you can screw around with the other ingredients, but if you don’t have the best possible chocolate, it’s going to taste like hell regardless. I subbed organic, unsweetened applesauce for the butter. I subbed light agave nectar for the brown sugar (you could try real maple syrup too). And I used quinoa flour for the brown rice flour, but coconut flour would make it more Paleo.

Technically, ANY sweetener means this is not Paleo-compliant, but let’s just agree that brownies are an occasional treat.

Just a continuation of the coconut cream thread. I realized I had a couple of cans of both coconut milk and coconut cream in my pantry (blame that Alton Brown and his damn coconut cake episode). Anyways, if you purchase a commercial canned coconut cream product, it IS blended with sugar (at least the brand I have). So be sure to read all labels. If coconut milk separates the way Rob K. describes, then you can probably go that route, but commercial coconut cream sold for baking purposes IS mixed with sugar.

Quote of the month, “The leftover watery part can be used in a mixed drink too, so it is a pretty good deal.”

Rob mixes Paleo knowledge with cooking/chemistry skills and ends up with a Pina Coloda.

I’d like to share a Paleo recipe I came up with this weekend that was rather successful, a spaghetti squash casserole.

First, take a spaghetti squash and puncture it all over with a skewer of some sort (to prevent it from exploding in the oven). Put it on a shallow pan and in a 375F oven for about an hour. Take it out and let it cool. Cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Take a fork and shred the squash meat. OK, at this point, I just eyeball everything. Mix the squash meat with about a half a coffee mug of coconut milk mixed with a couple of tablespoons of green curry paste. I also mixed in a couple of teaspoons of adobo sauce from my can of chipolte peppers in adobo (for some heat) and a few shakes of fish sauce. I also mixed in a beaten egg and a few tablespoons of parmesan cheese. Press into a greased casserole dish (about 9″x9″) and bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Yum!

This has inspired me to make paleo pancakes and paleo pumpkin pie this week.

I will post how they turn out and the recipies later.

I think we are due for a separate recipe blog…how do the rest of you feel about that?

Topper,
That is a great idea.
Now you have to set it up.

Hmmmm….I assume you want this to be recipes you can make with Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Topper?

That’s Kraft Cheese & Macaroni. Haven’t you seen the commercials?

Beings this pancake blog has seemingly become the nutrition thread for us. I was curious if anyone had any good info on the effects of coffee on performance and recovery.

Coffee = me not being cranky and headachey, which is always good for my performance and recovery :/

There are lots of studies, but no solid agreement yet. Here’s a quick look:

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(from Active.com)
Caffeine and performance

Caffeine is one of the best-tested ergogenic aids (substances, devices, or practices that enhance an individual’s energy use, production, or recovery) and is known to help athletes train harder and longer. Caffeine stimulates the brain and contributes to clearer thinking and greater concentration.

There are more than 74 good studies on the use of caffeine for both endurance exercise and short-term, higher intensity exercise. The vast majority of the studies conclude that caffeine does indeed enhance performance and makes the effort seem easier (by about six percent).

The average improvement in performance is about 12 percent, with more benefits noticed during endurance exercise than with shorter exercise (eight to 20 minutes) and a negligible amount for sprinters. More benefits are also noticed in athletes who rarely drink coffee, hence are not tolerant to its stimulant effect.

Because each person responds differently to caffeine, don’t assume you’ll perform better with a caffeine-boost. You might just end up nauseated, coping with a “coffee stomach,” or suffering from caffeine jitters at a time when you’re already nervous and anxious.

And be forewarned: While a morning cup of coffee can assist with a desirable bowel movement, a pre-competition cup might lead to transit troubles! Experiment during training to determine if a caffeinated beverage or plain water is your best bet.
****

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(For an opposing viewpoint — and perhaps better suited for a CrossFit-esque discussion — I got this from TheFreeLibrary.com:)

Caffeine does not appear to benefit short term, high intensity exercise.

[...]

The effects of caffeine on performance

Current researchers tend to suggest that caffeine almost certainly has an ergogenic influence in some people, in some forms of exercise. In other words, it isn’t a magic bullet. But let’s have a look at who might benefit – and when.

The most compelling evidence regarding caffeine’s usefulness is in prolonged submaximal endurance exercise. For runners, that means your long and steady runs – sessions in which you are exercising for a long time but not at your maximum effort. Workouts that do not use the person’s maximum effort but last 40 minutes or more are also examples of prolonged submaximal endurance exercise.

There is less research on the effect of caffeine in multi-sprint sports, such as football and tennis – although one study found that women who took caffeine prior to a four-hour tennis match won significantly more games compared to when they drank a carbohydrate drink or a placebo

And that brings us to an interesting point. While early researchers thought caffeine’s benefit came from its ability to help us ‘spare’ muscle glycogen by increasing fat metabolism, current thinking is that it is caffeine’s effect on our brain, rather than the body, that really counts.

(Click here for full text of article)
****

Personally, I have found that if I drink any coffee within an hour prior to a CrossFit WOD, I end up paying for it. It tends to really drive up my heart rate, making even a moderate effort seem as if I’m pushing my limits. It’s also contributed to shakiness, diziness, and nausea during a WOD. So I am inclined to agree with the second viewpoint, and feel that while it may have benefits for an endurance athlete (ala the typical Active.com reader) I would not recommend caffeine for a CrossFitter except in moderate amounts — and definitely NOT before a WOD!

Also, I’ve been cutting down on my caffeine intake lately - I’ll let you know if I see some performance benefit from that.

And speaking of coffee and exercise, here’s some interesting but slightly off-topic reading for the men of CFSP:

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/12/08/coffee-exercise-fight-prostate-cancer.html

I don’t normally drink coffee, but I do drink Yerba Mate every day. I also drink it before every workout as well. While Yerba Mate does not have caffeine, it does have a similar chemical compound that has similar stimulating properties.

I am not sure if drinking it before a WOD is good or bad. I think I will try it out and see. I’ll report back the results when I get them.

Caffeine has been a hot topic for a while, as far as I know. The NY Times did a (admittedly not-too-scientific) article on it last March (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/health/nutrition/26best.html) and I also like this Men’s Health piece on the health benefits of coffee more generally (http://www.menshealth.com/men/health/other-diseases-ailments/know-your-joe/article/3ff6246a3669f010VgnVCM20000012281eac/2).

From personal experience, I’ve used caffeine before big matches and felt a difference. I preferred to only use it for games and not before a big workout, but I’m guessing it works either way.

Be aware that they are serious about effecting different people differently. As I mentioned this morning, I stopped with the caffeine pre-WOD because I found whenever I drank coffee before a Max Effort, I would almost pass out (seriously - I would fall to the ground and almost lose consciousness). Maybe something about the Valsalva plus an already elevated heart rate isn’t great.

Agreed on the individual differences with caffeine. If I have any sort of caffeine after noon, I’m pretty much guaranteed to be awake until 3am. I have my one cup first thing in the morning and that is usually it. Sometimes if I know I need to be awake late, I’ll have a cup of “disco coffee” at about 7pm.

I suspect I would experience the same sort of symptoms that Eric reports, if I had caffeine right before a WOD.

I have heard and do partially agree with the theory that the acidic properties of coffee hinder recovery.

There’s not much published on the effects of coffee and other types of caffeine on recovery. What little I did find pointed to the diuretic effects of caffeine as possible hindrance to recovery. Since fluid is needed to transfer the nutrients needed to build muscle, it is very possible that drinking coffee is not a good idea for people engaged in resistance training.

Fun fact: Caffeine is on the IOC’s list of banned substances! Athletes who test positive for a caffeine level equivalent to 8 cups of coffee are disqualified from the games.

Here are a couple more articles, Wil. The third even suggests that coffee can reduce post-workout soreness. And wouldn’t we all love that!

Better performance: http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/does-caffeine-create-team-spirit-35859 (Dose: 6 mg/kg body weight)

Less pain during a workout: http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2005&issue=05001&article=01712&type=fulltext (Dose: 5 to 10 mg/kg body weight)

May even reduce post-exercise soreness: http://www.news-medical.net/news/2007/01/09/21358.aspx (Dose: two cups)