Happy 50th Anniversary to The Flintstones!

Happy 50th anniversary to the Flintstones!  When I posted my Bam Bam shirt on Tuesday, I had no idea there was such cause to celebrate.



Happy 50th anniversary!  Tonight's the night for those big ribs! Celebrate in paleo style!

By the way, Neatorama has a list of 10 Neat Facts about The Flintstones.

I learned (in #10) that Fred and the gang were Neanderthals, which calls into question any desire to look, eat, or "train" like a Neanderthal, once posed here and in part two, on T-Nation, a while back.

I think Fred is obvious proof that there was a mixing of Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon man, resulting in what we might now know as "modern man."  Now, we have a pretty good idea where the Neanderthal ranged, too.

I'm a little sketchy on the ancient man timeline, but when I was in Bulgaria, a lot of  museum literature mentioned ancient peoples known by the term "Proto Bulgarians." The phrase sounds really cool and it would explain so much. ;)

One bean salad

You've heard of Five and Three Bean Salads, right?  This is the essence of the bean.  Just. One. Bean.

One Bean Salad

Serves 1 or 2

Ingredients

1 can green beans
1 tbsp vinegar

fresh ground pepper
salt to taste
real or artificial sweetener (optional)

Directions

Drain the beans and put them in a bowl. Add vinegar, pepper, and sweetener (if using).  It doesn't take much, if any sweetener.  Taste the beans, and if they need salt still, add some.

Chill, if desired. 

Eat.

As if one needs another reason to go paleo

Eggs in puttanesca sauce

I cannot overemphasize the value of quality staples in your pantry, fridge, and freezer.  Sometimes you are out of what you really want or don't feel like eating what you planned.  Having good goods is good.

Using eggs (which last a long time in the fridge) and a quality jarred sauce, I had a good meal.  I had some frozen veggies, too, but they were just good veggies.  Nothing to write home about.


Eggs in puttanesca sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients

6 eggs
2 cups Trader Joe's puttanesca sauce
2 tbsp parsley, chopped (optional)

Directions

Use a large shallow nonstick saucepan with a lid.  I used a deep skillet and covered it with a pizza pan. Improvise.

Bring the sauce to a simmer.  Once it's simmering, crack an egg into a small bowl.  Using a spatula, make a depression in the sauce and carefully slide the egg into the hole.  Repeat with all eggs.  Cover the pan and simmer until the yolks are set as the way you like.  It took about 5 minutes for a solid yolk over here.

Scoop each cooked egg onto a bowl or rimmed plate.  Spoon the sauce over the eggs and top with parsley, if desired.

Eat.


Choose your sauce

Of course, you don't have to use Trader Joe's puttanesco sauce, you can use any tomato based pasta sauce you like.  We don't all have a Trader Joe's nearby.  All fancy markets, like Whole Foods have good jarred sauces, and even the everyday supermarkets have excellent sauces that are healthy.

There are so many sauces to choose from, so what do you look for?

Good

• Tomatoes as the first ingredient
• organic ingredients
• olive oil (or canola, I guess)
• stuff you like to eat, like olives, cheese, meat, sausage, garlic, onions, peppers, mushrooms.

Bad

• sugar(s) high on the list of ingredients
• soybean oil
• corn oil
• too many unpronounceable ingredients

Things that make people put the jars back on the shelf, but shouldn't

• Tomato sauce or puree vs whole tomatoes
• a pinch of sugar is okay, even if not necessary.  Make sure it's low on the list of ingredients, though
• Even if sugar is not listed on the ingredients, you will see sugar on the nutrition label.  Do you know that tomatoes, peppers, and onions naturally have sugar.  That's where it's coming from.
• Fat - fat is good.  Just make sure it's from a healthy source like olive oil or meat

Would you like a Lipitor with your fries?

Would you like a Lipitor with your fries?

From "Can a statin neutralize the cardiovascular risk of unhealthy dietary choices?"

Fast food outlets already offer free condiments to supplement meals. A free statin-containing accompaniment would offer cardiovascular benefits, opposite to the effects of equally available salt, sugar, and high-fat condiments.

Other ideas could include free insulin shots, Zantac, and and side of Tums.  Plus, a children's aspirin to keep handy, just in case of a tight feeling in the chest.

What about all the inflammation from too many Omega-6s and not enough 3s?  NSAIDs to the rescue here.  Maybe a fish oil capsule or Smart Balance fried fries?*

I almost forgot, we must combat the acid/base imbalance caused by too much grain, cheese, and meat without any veggies and fruits to balance things out! The meal needs some Greens Plus or Superfood, too! 

In the exercise realm, we see muscle wasting and bone loss in the elderly and infirm.  These conditions can be helped by vibration plates and electric shock devices (or so I'm told).  Why not bring these to the table for all people, too?  In fact, just make the fast food tables vibrate.

Back to reality...  These goofballs made comparisons to helmets and filters, and I cannot say their logic is totally wrong with their statements and "suggestions," but this should be a shocking call to arms for everybody who cares about the state of health and wellness in our world -- rather than take responsibility for our own health, would we let the fast food hawkers take responsibility for covering up our symptoms?

I know it seems like something that would never happen, but look around at the news.  Not a month goes by where we don't shake our heads at something that "would never happen."

* I double-plus kid, since Smart Balance is only thought to be good for you. It's not.  Not at all.

Primal scream for ice cream!

I scream, you scream, I primal scream for ice cream!

Two weeks into the 30 Day Challenge, and the sweet tooth hits.  The urge is often to look at the list of primal approved ingredients and whip up a dessert from them.  With nuts, seeds, cheese, and fruit, I could have a Primal Cheesecake that's very awesome, but still about a million calories.  Banana is a fruit, and coconut is actually encouraged, so would my banana ice cream work better?

Yes and no.

Yes, the Coconut Banana "Ice Cream" would be better from a calorie perspective, assuming you kept your intake to a reasonable amount.

Then comes the "no."

Are you a binge waiting to happen? (Roland holds up his hand) If you are, like I am, the 30 Days is more than just 30 Days of Primal ingredients, but 30 days of Roland getting old and bad habits out of his head. ...or at least out of the forefront.

Desserts, ice cream, even fake ice cream, brings up memories and subconscious feelings. We love ice cream for more than the taste, but for the feelings that go along with it. If you think the insulin surge or the resulting blood sugar drop is what makes you go back to the freezer for another two scoops, you're mistaken.  It's the feelings. Is there a physical component? Sure, but still...

Ice cream isn't alone here, I mentioned cheesecake earlier, and we also have primally approved chocolate coming in the form of cacao nibs, cocoa powder, chocolate bars, paleo cookies, and as little chunks in caveman-style trail mix.  All might be mighty healthy, but if you eat five hundred calories of anything "extra" it leaves little room for anything else. If that five hundred is not satiating, this is bad news. If that five hundred leads you off onto a binge of yet another five hundred or even more, suddenly you're back to getting fat.  It IS possible to get fat on a paleo treat, just like almost any food that you might overeat.

Cool, that rhymes.

     Vizzini -- No more rhymes now, I mean it!

     Fezzik -- Anybody want a peanut?

     Roland -- Um, peanuts are not paleo...

I'm back...

I hope 30 days of fewer treats period, primal, paleo, or "normal," will help to put that sweet habit on the back burner.

Second, this, and other "paleo" treats, can be the kind of loophole that brings down even the best of those on a diet.  The Zone Diet or Atkins Diet has a lot of failures, no doubt many were triggered and finalized by bars and packaged meals that are "compliant" but still, in my humble opinion, loopholes. Not that I'm particularly FOR (or against) either diet, but when you play a loophole, you defeat the purpose of your "diet."  Personally, I think the end result of too much maltitol is punishment enough, but those bars continue to sell, and bring down those who overeat them.

Paleo and Primal, Zone and South Beach, Low Fat and Low Carb, Vegan, Vegetarian. They all have "rules," and rules have loopholes that one can exploit. Are you in this to get your health on or just going through the motions for some other reason? A diet that you've chosen to follow is not a punishment, but a tool to help you.

Are you even bought into your diet?  Did your doctor prescribe it?  Are you doing it with your spouse because you don't have the balls to say no?  I remember a guy who was on the TNT Diet with his wife. In addition to eating everything else TNT, he also ate about two whole chickens a day "because it's compliant." Man up and get with the program OR man up and talk to the wife.

Third, there really is no third point.  The first two are points enough.

Our wild rice & roasted root salad recipe

Wild Rice & Roasted Root Salad

This is a salad that Galya and I made last winter. It's a great use of wild rice and all those fall and winter vegetables. It's great hot or cold, too. I suggest a picnic.

Wild rice it's so much more than just filler, it’s a highlight.  In this salad, the chewy texture and nutty flavor of the wild rice complements the slow roasted sweetness of the roasted roots and asparagus, without adding a lot of calories. Enjoy!

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients

½ cup uncooked wild rice

1 small sweet potato or yam

1 small turnip

1 beet

2 large "adult" carrots or 10 baby carrots

10-12 asparagi

1 tbsp cumin seeds, partially ground

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt to taste

Directions

Cook the wild rice according to the package directions, then drain and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. 

Clean and peel the potato, turnip, carrots, and beet.  Place them on a cookie sheet or baking pan and roast for 1 hour.  Add the asparagus and roast for an additional 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven.

When the vegetables are cool enough to handle, cut them into bite sized pieces.

Toss the rice, vegetables, cumin, oil, and vinegar.  Salt to taste and enjoy!

A week and a half in on the PB 30 Day Challenge

I'm a week and a half into my 30 Day Challenge.  I'll be honest and say that I feel about the same.  However, I hardly ate like crap before I started.  I've been doing the healthy thing for eight or nine years now.

Nine years ago

Not that this diet isn't better than most, it is.  But, like many diets, people go from "shit to suck"* merely by "going on a diet." I was already at suck, I guess.**

I think the Primal Blueprint is a better diet than most, at least from a health perspective. It concentrates on whole foods, close to their natural state.  There are some supplements allowed, the goal to make up for what modern versions of ancient food lack these days.  I take some fish oil, creatine, and some vitamins and minerals, for instance.

About nine years in, what did I expect from this that I wasn't getting on my own?  A tightening up. Not of my skin. Not the elusive "toning" that's the goal of so many. More of a consistency of diet than the diet itself. Although, Mark Sisson's got an 80/20 rule that can make or break you if you're not careful.  More on that, later.

Eating, weight, and body composition

Not as many grains and legumes as the general public, but not paleo levels, that's for sure. All this has done is tighten things up.  I'm down about 2lbs, despite not having the time to workout as much as before, so all is good.

9 days without gluten, and my eyes and nose run as often as it did before on gluten.  Still, it's no great loss, beer excepted.  I've had a one fourth of a sixer of Redbridge (a gluten free beer) and a couple of green apple hard ciders from TJ's, and that's good with me.  Giving up gluten means giving up bread, buns is bread, and burgers have buns.  Those of you who really know me, know I love the burger, and can eat multiple burgers per day per sitting.  Going bunless means more meat, which leads to longer periods between meals, which means fewer calories.  Win win if there ever was one.

For me, the jury is still out on long term grain eating.  What is it doing to us, albeit slowly, that won't appear for many years?  I don't know.  However, I haven't missed the grains much, and the only one I have had is corn.  Two fresh cobs of the stuff, grilled, and two corn tortillas, hot of the griddle, stuffed with carne asada.

I will say that I feel less puffy when I eat fewer carbs, but ice cream and bread are really the only "carbs" that I can really go to town on, so I try to keep these away from my mouth.  I can only eat so much corn and I'm done, and even 300-400 calories of corn doesn't make me feel bloated or puffy.  Rice, too, although I can skip the rice, sushi excepted.  I guess that's two grains I've had, but six wheels of spicy tuna roll isn't much rice in the grand scheme of things.  All part of the 80/20 rule, anyway...

Cooking

Burgers and tacos aside, I've been cooking a lot, so I've got lots of recipes coming up.  Osso buco with cherries and dried mushrooms, chopped veggie salads, and a few more that need more fine tuning.  Recipes in progress. I have a cold right now, and typing this is about all I've got in me.

Health & vitality

I mentioned the cold? So much for those people who think paleo and primal are magic.  Maybe it's my 20% overtaking my 80%?  Damned rice and corn! ;)

By and large, the spirit of the Primal Blueprint is to embrace the spirit, lifestyle, and nutrition of our ancestral heritage.  With the Primal Blueprint, you eat natural, wholesome foods that provide a positive contribution to health and avoid those that have negative ramifications to your vitality. You get enough exercise to keep heart, muscle, and bone healthy.  Get enough sleep, rest, relaxation, and play to feel young and happy. It's a good recipe for health that would serve most people well.

The 80/20 principal

From Mark's Daily Apple...

The central point of the 80/20 Principle  is this: if you’re eating fully Primal 80% of the time, the other 20% offers room for well-intentioned but practical choices when we can’t be Primal or choose not to be for a variety of personal reasons.

I'll come clean that my 20% must be carefully chosen, lest I binge and it becomes the 80/200. No joke!  Ice cream must be carefully rationed out and the rest of the carton rinsed down the sink. Funny how this doesn't happen when my girlfriend is around, and I'm not even afraid of her (hi, sweetie), leading me back to my long held belief that you can't get slim to get happy, you have to get happy to get slim (see Fat & Happy).

I will say that 80/20 is a good starting point for most of us.  For some, we might need to go 90/10 or 95/5, especially if our goal is fat loss and/or we have emotional eating issues (he raises his hand).  If you're still bogging down at 80/20, try 90/10 or 95/5. Still floundering?  It's time to rethink your 80/20 choices, since you might not have the math skillz.  Also, that 20% is subjective?  Is it meals, calories, ingredients, days?  If you aren't "primal" for 20% of your meals, how much damage can you do to the other 80%?

Exercise 

In the spirit of Mark's 80/20 rule, I'll share that I have an 80/20 PB thing, overall. My 80% concentrates on the food choices and not on the primal-style activities and workouts, which aren't typically my style.  They can get hard and get you into good shape, but they usually aren't my style.

In nod to primalocity, I usually train kettlebells without shoes, so there's that.  I do workout with weights and kettlebells (Lift Heavy Things in the PB vernacular).  I also move around real slow for a long time.  I can't remember the tenet of PB that calls for that, but let's just say that's been checked off the list. Finally, I rarely sprint, per se, but I can sprint. My "sprints" are mostly kettlebell related burst of Jerks-at-speed OR a race for the frisbee when my son says "you're too slow" after a long throw.

My strength is good (still either Shit or Suck, though), and I continue to make gains on the Bench Press using Wendler's 5/3/1.  This is my only conventional weight training day right now, the rest of my days are pretty busy with training for the kettlebell charity event, below...

My Energy is good, and I've made it up to 37 continuous minutes of kettle bell Long Cycle (clean & jerk) with a 20kg kettlebell.  I have about 5 weeks to get myself to a straight hour to make a good showing at my friend Jason's One Hour Long Cycle charity event.

37 minutes is well into the "need carbs" zone, right?  I do pretty well on low carb, though, and my trans-workout nutrition goes something like this -- meat and veggies an hour before swinging the kettlebell, water during, meat and veggies afterward.  Fat, protein, and whatever carbs you might get from a tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. It's not going to put me into ketosis, but it's not carb loading, either.

Again, this is the event. Check it out.



One Hour Long Cycle Charity Event

 

* From the Dave Tate scale of Shit>Suck>Good>Great

** I actually think I eat around Good, but going from Good to Great is more than I have in me right now.

Duck and Cover

For some reason I was recently reminded of life during the Cold War. My life was nowhere near as hard as the lives of those under Communism, so my complaints are mild compared to theirs.

We used to "duck and cover" at school. The siren would go off and we would drop to the ground, cover our eyes and heads with our arms and wait things out.  In class, we got under the desks and did the same.  This was an earthquake drill in kindergarten through 3rd grade, and a Russian attack drill starting in 4th grade.  Duck and cover. We were ready.

Also, when I was a child, we had a monthly air raid siren test, city-wide. The last Friday of the month, at 9:15 in the morning, the siren would blare.  We used to joke that it would be the perfect time for the Russians to attack, since we wouldn't duck and cover because it's just a test.

I don't know about my friends, but I had occasional nightmares about the bomb. I don't remember the specifics, but scary was a big part of it.

As late as 1986 I thought a "hot" war was still possible.  I was driving home from work, late at night, when blinding flashes went off around me, blinding me as I drove.  My car stalled, from my own clutch-work it turned out, but still...  I was momentarily convinced that nukes were going off around me. Luckily, the oil refinery was merely exploding.  Whew!

Hello, lamppost!

The Primal Blueprint 30 Day Challenge

I'm a firm believer in eating more like our ancestors did.  For most of us, that means fewer boxed foods, fewer desserts, fewer processed foods, more protein, and less vegetable oil, but I have to say that a big part of me believes that we just need to eat less.

"Eat less and move more" is one of those throw away phrases that fitness guys like to use to sound profound.  It's true, though, but it's not as simple as it sounds for so many people.  People have little concept of what less means, and more sounds hard. People are already tired, so they must be moving more already! ...and boy are they hungry! How can they be expected to eat less?

Our ancestors ate less and moved more than we do, but it wasn't done on purpose.  They moved because they had to work to grow food, get food and make food for starters. Also, some of the tastiest food was relatively expensive. Things like sugary desserts weren't daily things because of this. Over time, these things got less expensive and also became a habit. The reasons why are many.

I plan to go on and on, but not all in one shot. These rants are best served a little bit at a time. Savored.

In the meantime, let me tell you about the Primal Blueprint...

The Primal Blueprint goes back a ways farther than your grandma and grandpa, suggesting that we eat more as nature intended.  More hunter and gatherer, less farmer and storekeeper. It does not rely on your belief in cavemen, either, as primitive societies have existed in modern times, eating just what you'd imaging primitive cultures eat.

I'll net it out so you don't have to weed through the next website and find it out for yourself.  You'd just end up feeling tricked and pissed off, and you might run off on an emotional eating induced binge of Oreos. I can't handle that responsibility.

Primal Blueprint Foods

Yes - Meat, fish, eggs, poultry, nuts, seeds, veggies, fruit, squash, sweet potato, yam, some cheese and dairy
 
No - Wheat, corn, rice, oats, and other grains, quinoa, beans, peas and other legumes, sugars, juice

There's more, but those are the biggies. Deal killers for many, huh?  Bread is made from grains.  Rice and corn are grains. The no-grain thing is a tough sell. This would be a big change for many, so I expect some of you will now click away.

On the surface, it looks like a low carb diet, but it's not really. It's carb agnostic. Sweet potatoes and squash have plenty of carbs, as do fruits, seeds, and nuts. However, these foods are tough to overeat, primarily because they aren't sweet or particularly easy to chew and swallow. Try binging on a chicken.

I don't believe that low carb or paleo/primal foods are better at weight loss than diets that limit calories only, but as I said before, these foods are harder to overeat and not your fun foods for binging.

Personally, I believe in the long term health benefits of eating more whole foods and less processed foods. This may seem extreme, but it's free to try and only 30 days. What if you feel a lot better?  I don't think there's an argument that you could feel worse, is there? After you take away the fluff foods, it's just real and whole foods that I'm suggesting.

It's only 30 days, after which you'll likely be pleased at how you look and feel.  Try it for 30 days and make a decision then on whether to go on or start adding some of the "no" foods back in.

If you've made it this far, here's the Primal Blueprint 30 Challenge.

If you dig into the web site further, you'll tons of good stuff on health and fitness, training and working out, plus nutrition and recipes. Enjoy.

I can really use 30 days of knuckling down, so I'm in!

Bulgarian Mom Tea

Galya's Mom sent me home with a huge bag of tea, made up of personally chosen herbs, right out of her own garden.

It smells really good, as I'm sure you can imagine from the pictures.  Look at all the herbs and flowers, easily identifiable by sight, smell, and taste.

This tea came with more instruction than I'm used to with loose tea.  Galya translated...  "Have this tea when you are nervous, anxious, cold, lonely, or when you are in love."

I'm a little suspicious of that last one, but maybe I heard it wrong.  I asked her to repeat it and she translated for the second time as "when you have a tummy ache" so who can be sure?

Workout nutrition in a pinch

This article is also on JPFitness, Feel free to comment or ask questions about this program and many other articles, topics, and programs, here or at JP's.

Workout nutrition in a pinch

by

Roland Denzel, IKFF-CKT

Workout nutrition is the food you eat or drink before, during, or after your workout.  Many people drink a homemade workout shake just before and/or just after. Some of you drink specific formulas made specifically for training and recovery, either purchased from a sports supplement company or whipped up at home from tubs of whey and dextrose and Gatorade powder. There are also "chocolate milk people," who choose to go with this old childhood favorite and its protein and carb makeup and track record of success. Still others insist that solid food, before and after, is the way to go.

Whatever you choose is up to you, but don't discount the idea that maximizing your training and recovery is the real goal. If your regular meal schedule already lets you train at your highest level, then you're already good to go with your workout nutrition.  If you need a nutritional or energy boost to take your training to where you want it to be, then do what you need to do.

By and large, I don't think it's all that big a deal, but only because of my typical eating patterns.  I only really worry about something specific if I'm hungry. It's not usually an issue, since I tend to eat an hour or two before a workout. That's usually good enough for the energy I need, and I tend to eat plenty of protein at every meal, so I've always got plenty "floating around" and at the ready. The problem is usually when I wait too long to hit the gym and get hungry! 

I train after work, and keep a gym bag in my car, and I can hit any 24 Hour Fitness along the way home.  When traffic is rough, or work calls longer than usual, I'm sometimes just parking outside the gym three or four hours since my last meal. This is not good. I'm hungry, and easy and healthy food isn't all that easy to get on the run. While I tend to keep a dry shaker bottle, ready with protein powder in my bag, protein shakes don't make me any less hungry or help boost my energy. I usually need some actual food.

I know, there are grocery stores everywhere, right?  But try going to the grocery store and getting a serving of meat that's ready to eat. If you even can find a single serving of meat, it's expensive AND usually deli meat. What's worse is that it's usually more than I want to eat before a workout, so what to do with the leftovers? It's also hard to wash fruit and vegetables, so you're stuck with bananas (like) and oranges (not like).

Over time, when I'm stuck, I bite the bullet and go with a couple of tried and true options.  The goals, filling enough to get me through an hour in the gym, not so much food that I actually feel full, protein, some carbs, and a decent amount of fat for energy. 

Here are some typical pre-workout snacks for me.

A bunless cheeseburger and, maybe, a green tipped banana

Not ideal for many of you, but I happen to be a big fan of burger patties. Of course, I'd prefer grass fed beef, but a Double-Double, no spread, protein style is awesome.  I also actually like McDonald's little McDouble, lettuce wrapped, and Burger King just puts the two patties and cheese on a little plate with a fork.  Any way I get my bunless burger, it's just enough protein and just enough fat to carry me through a workout.  If I plan to really work long and be all metabolic and shit, I'll grab a green tipped banana (I don't like the ripe ones) at the store, too, but most of the time, the burger is good enough.

The price on this option depends on the fast food place. In-N-Out's Double-Double is is around $3, but it's the best.  McDonald's and BK will run you a buck each.  Calories range from 220 to 350 (btw, the Double-Double spread is an Omega-6 bomb, so skip it). Add a banana from the store for another fifty cents, plus around 100 calories for a non-huge one.

Two plain or "light" yogurts

Most, but not all grocery stores have individual plain  yogurts, which I prefer.  They might have guar gum, pectin, or carrageenan, but whatever. It's not homemade.  Second choice is a couple of "light" yogurts, which I secretly love, despite the cries of "artificial sweetener!"

Most of the time, you come in under $2 and 200 calories. Plenty of carbs if you like that for a workout, and enough protein to get you through until dinner, and the calories are held down by the notion that low fat yogurt means good health. Eat it anyway, and have fat at home...

Nuts and fruit

There's always nuts and fruit, and you can usually keep this in your car. Most fruit will do fine, even in the heat of a car for one day. A banana won't survive well, but an apple or pear?  A plum or a peach actually tastes good when juicy and warm, like it's just off that tree in my backyard growing up.

I recommend buying nuts ahead of time and doling them out into baggies, since nuts on the run are more expensive AND come in larger sizes than you might want, like 1.75 servings per bag.  Sure, you won't eat the whole bag...  But when you have .75 servings of nuts staring back at you, you tend to eat it.

For those who say nuts aren't a complete protein, I say you're right.  But, you have the rest of the day to fill the void with the rest of the aminos, AND if you ate earlier, and plan to eat again later, you're golden.

A medium apple and an ounce of nuts comes in around 275 calories, 16g Fat, 30g Carbs, 8g Fiber, 6g Protein.

Small plain Greek yogurt & a Larabar

There's a Whole Foods right across from 24 Hour Fitness, which is convenient but expensive.  Whole Foods has decent food, but most of it is pricey.

I found a small Chobani yogurt, and since I'd heard so many good things about this brand, I picked it up.  Too bad.  It was really bad stuff.  Very sour, with an unpleasant texture, but it had a good amount of protein for the price. I'll pick another brand, next time.

The Larabar was Ginger Snap flavor, which is my favorite. It's got some carbs, fiber, and fat, so I'm good to go.  I'm glad I ate the yogurt first, so the awesomeness of the Larabar could get the nasty, sour taste off my mind.

Total price: $2.75
Total nutrition: 365 Calories, 17.5g Fat, 30g Carbs, 6g Fiber, 22g Protein

Most of the protein is dairy, most of the fat is nuts, and most of the carbs and fiber from the fruit, almonds and pecans, so all is good.

It's good in a pinch for me, what's good for you?