Thursday, October 30, 2014

The New Normal- I accept my image

Thursday 10/30/14

I just read THIS article from The Whole 9 Life and it is offically bookmarked, saved to favorites, pinned, shared on FB, tweeted and shared on the MICF blog for all our clients to read. Needless to say, I love it!  I needed to read this right now. I needed to be reminded that it's not about the way I look, it's not about what I weigh or the extra fluff I have. It's about what my strong, capable body can do. I admit that my issues have more to do with all the junk I have been putting in my body and I need to dial that in so that's on me. But I need a constant reminder of the changing ideal image of this country today. When I was a teenager thin was in,  I mean sickly Kate Moss skinny and I am just not build that way. So having curvy athletic builds be accepted now is amazing to me. I have summit-ed two 10,000+ ft mountains with these meaty little legs of mine, I've skied and snowboarded and hiked and walked all over this great pacific northwest and I can do pull ups! I have no fear of not being able to survive a zombie Apocalypse or not being able to chase my future children around because God has given me this very amazing and healthy body to do all these things with.

At the end of the post they list things you can do to stay positive when looking in the mirror- Focus on Health, Question the "Ideal", and Practice Positive Talk which I found to be one of the most inspiring parts of the post. I have to remind myself that I was given this body to use for a temporary time while on this earth. God trusts me to take care of his temple and to love it and adore it the way he does.

Do yourself a favor and read the article.
At the Summit of Mt. Baker, WA


Friday, October 24, 2014

Water Challenge

I hate water, not what it does for my body but the taste of it. Or the lack of taste. When I was in college I had to have surgery and take these huge horse pills for them which required a lot of water intake. Needless to say I got sick on it and I think this might be the reason I don't like it. Similar to people who get food poisoning and can't eat that food anymore.

Enough of those gross visuals.

After reading numerous articles on the benefits of water and ALL it does for you including THIS great one from Complete Health and Happiness, it came down to a challenge from my husband. He knows the best way to get me to do something is to present me with a challenge.

Anyhoo, my husband challenged me to drink the equivalent of 3 Nalgene water bottles a day(96oz) to see if it helped with my CrossFit performance, sleep, weight loss and skin. I took him up on it but wanted a measurable thing so I'm taking a photo of myself everyday for the challenge and we'll see how my skin changes from there. I even talked a fellow CrossFit friend into doing it with me.

After 2 days I already feel better in the morning when I wake. I'm not as groggy and I just did a workout where I did really well after some time off. So far I like the way I feel, still not keen on the flavor but I'll suck it up.


Day 1

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Grandma's Apple Pie (Fay Pie)

I finally found a Paleo Pie Crust I LOVE. I practiced with my aunt this summer and posted the blackberry pie HERE

So, at the request of my friend Jess, I decided to try an apple pie. 

I mixed two recipes just to see how it would turn out. I used the pie crust from HERE and the filling from HERE. Made a few adjustments and kept an eye on it while it was baking so I didn't burn it. 

Soooo.... Here ya go!


  • For the Crust:
  • 2 cups coconut flour
  • 2 cups arrowroot flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1 c cold water
  • Dash of Vanilla

For the Filling:
4-6 Apples, cored, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices
1 Tbs. lemon juice 
1 Tbs. arrowroot powder
2-3 Tablespoons of honey or pure maple syrup

  1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. To make the crust, combine the coconut flour, arrowroot flour, and sea salt in a large bowl. Cut in the coconut oil with a pastry cutter or stand mixer until you have pea-sized granules. 
  2. Add vanilla and the cold water, little by little, and mix until the dough is just moist enough to all stick together (it will still be pretty crumbly, not like regular dough).
  3. Place half the dough in a 9-inch deep pie dish, and spread evenly across the bottoms and sides using your fingers. 
  4. Place the other half of the dough on a piece of wax paper and cover with another piece and roll with pin to flatten but not too thin. 
  5. n a medium mixing bowl, combine apples, lemon juice, arrowroot powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and honey.
  6. Dump apple mixture into crust and spread evenly. Then take the flattened crust and flip on top of apple mixture. Mine fell apart but was easy to squish back together and cover the entire top of the pie and press into the sides. I cut 4 slits in the top to allow room to expand if needed. 
  7. Bake at 375 for about 40min. After 30min check frequently to make sure it's not burning. 


Turned out like this:


Obviously it was eaten faster than I could grab a photo of the finished project. Enjoy!

Oh, and I served it with some Coconut cream on top:
1 can of coconut cream (not milk, just the top of it)
1 Tbsp Vanilla

Nutmeg and Cinnamon to taste
Blend together and chill until desired consistency is achieved (close to whip cream).