Week Prior to Competition Diet

The final week prior to a competition, you make sure that you eliminate all the extra sodium so you don't retain water.

That means that I can no longer have protein shakes, they are loaded with sodium. I cannot eat egg whites either, they have lots of sodium too.

So when I get up at 4:00 am, I usually have a thick, delicious chocolate meal replacement shake, but no more for the next week. 

And I need to eat protein for breakfast and right before bed, and I usually have microwaved egg whites, plain right now, but when I am not within a month of a competition I will put on salsa, ketchup, hot sauce, all sorts of things. 

What's a girl to do?

Ground chicken breast.

Yup,  I will get up at 4:00 am and start eating chicken. I will also need a carb so I will have cream of rice. I may mix them together too, like some homemade baby food.

And when I get home from training, meal 2 will be ground chicken breast, and cream of rice again.

Right before bed? Ground chicken breast.

It is very important to read labels when you buy your food, including chicken.  Many companies are notorious for adding a sodium solution to "plump" up their meats, so they weigh more and they are charging you for salt water. 

You may think you are doing everything right, but in reality, you may be buying garbage just because it may be less expensive, and it is pumped full of a 14% solution of sodium.....and you will swell like a balloon. 

Read the labels. A 4 ounce serving of chicken breast should not have more than 70 to 75 mg of sodium in it, that is the naturally occurring amount. They are also required to state on the package if there is a sodium solution used, it could actually be a heath concern for some individuals. The label is very, very tiny though.

If you buy your meat at a butcher counter, they have all the data in the back, they can tell you, make them check. 

Here I have my ground chicken breast all cooked and weighed out. I have packages ranging from 2 ounces to 4 ounces each. My week will vary, I will have higher protein and lower carbs through Wednesday, then I raise the carbs and lower the protein, to shuttle all the carbs into the muscles. I am not so keen on the meals where I get only 2 ounces of protein, it's like a garnish to tell you the truth!

Friday night will be a big meal, steak, baked potato, cheesecake so I look full and healthy the next day.  I will surely write about that meal, I get to make my own (famous) cheesecake, and enjoy it Friday night and Saturday morning for breakfast too.

Shirataki Pasta

This looks fabulous doesn't it?! Doesn't even look like "diet" food, but it sure is.

"R" and I went to do a little shopping at Mitsuawa market today, it is my favorite Japanese grocery store.

Among other things, I found some beautiful scallops, I can eat them this week then no more for a few weeks due to the sodium content.
 

I also picked up a few packages of Shirataki pasta- it's made from tofu and yam flour. If you follow Hungry Girl, you read about this years ago, it's actually available at almost any grocery store, in the refrigerator section. I tried it then and didn't care for it, but after tonight I have decided it had to have been my method of preparation that failed me previously.

It has a gelatinous texture, so it is crucial to prepare it correctly so that is almost eliminated. The pasta comes in water, drain it and rinse it very well, using tongs or your hands to clean it all off. Then boil it for 3 minutes and drain well again.

Now this is the most important part, lay it out on paper towels then dab it with more towels to get it as dry as possible.  Now let it sit till you plan to toss it in your dish.

I heated a cast iron skillet till very hot, then sprayed it very quickly with olive oil cooking spray. Salt and pepper on the scallops, and seared them on each side for 2 minutes.

I added 1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (it can give sauces a meaty, rich flavor if used sparingly), it quickly cooked off, and I removed the scallops from the pan. I then added 5 ounces diced up fresh tomatoes, 1/4 cup chopped green onion, 2 Tablespoons julienned basil, a dash red pepper flakes and let it cook a couple minutes, then added salt, pepper and 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar.

Simmer a few minutes longer, then add 1/4 cup chicken broth. Add the pasta to the sauce, stir and warm a minute then add the scallops back in, stir.
Serve in a bowl with a few shreds of fresh basil on top.

 Now the good part-  An entire package of shirataki pasta is supposed to serve 2, I ate all of it. The whole package has the following nutritional breakdown:

Calories 40
Carbs 6 grams
Fiber 4 grams

Fat 1/2 gram

Protein 2 grams

Sodium 30 grams

So, when you add the other ingredients to this, the total breakdown was:

6 ounces (uncooked weight) scallops

5 ounces tomato

1/4 cup green onions

2 Tbls Basil

1 Tbls + 2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 package shirataki noodles

258 calories

16.6 grams carbs (tomatoes have a lot)

28 grams protein

3 grams fat

To put this into perspective, if you were to use 2 ounces dried pasta (the recommended serving on the box, that's 1/8 of a box), instead of the shirataki noodles,  the breakdwon would look like this:

418 calories

51.6 grams carbs

33 grams protein

3.5 grams fat

That's a HUGE difference, I rarely ever eat a meal with that many calories, and the only meal I eat with that many carbs is immediately following a heavy training session.

I am making turkey meatballs next and shall try a meat based broth with just a few tomatoes and will let you know how it is!

Chorizo Turkey Cutlets

We returned home from a lacrosse game, about an hour and a half later than I thought we would. Of all people, I didn't bring food with me! The game was a one hour indoor game, and was smack dab in between meals.

Shaydon Santos, the program director asked Cooper to stay a bit longer, Telemundo was filming and wanted some of the Cali*Lax players in the footage.  

 
By the time I got home, I was hungry and missed a meal. Missing a meal is a real problem when you are prepping for a competition, it may even be worse than eating too much!

I had a rice cake and some peanut butter to hold me a bit, then started making dinner.

David was making cooper "a little snack". He had a chorizo quesadilla, dripping in melted cheese. It made me really, really hungry for chorizo. I knew the cheese was out of the question though.

Dinner was turkey cutlets, they are pre sliced, thin rounds of turkey breast that cooks very quickly. I decided to make turkey cutlet chorizo!
 

I got a large non-stick skillet, sprayed it with olive oil cooking spray, then placed the turkey cutlets in the pan. I generously sprinkled them with chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder (be sure to use the powders and not the salts), pepper and salt.

Once they browned, I turned them over and sprinkled the same thing on the other side then poured in a generous amount of red wine vinegar, which sizzled and began to cook off quickly. One more turn, a bit more vinegar and it was done.

I served it with a side of plain brown rice, (2 ounces), I am now eating to lose fat so starches are restricted, steamed cauliflower and a mixture I had made the previous day of roasted cubed eggplant and sauteed red bell peppers, poblano peppers, and pimiento de padron peppers.

It satisfied my chorizo craving, and I now have a new tasty meal in my repertoire.