Optimum Anabolics - Day 50/Wedding Day Market

No, no. Not my wedding. :-)

Even though we had to be at an 11:30 wedding ceremony today, I was determined to make it to the farmer's market. The fresh produce is almost unbelievable right now AND there is only one week left in the season. I might have to give goodbye hugs to the farmer's next week (haha).

Anyway, I had to post again about the markets because I like being an excuse buster. I get sick of hearing people say it's too expensive to eat healthy.

Look at all these veggies I got for $15! That spaghetti squash could feed us for a week. Not really, but you get the idea...

















Seriously, do what you gotta do in the winter, but for now...get out there while you can and support your local farmers. Even if they do not follow strict organic guidelines, it's better than paying your grocery to haul the same stuff in from 1,500 miles away or, worse yet, some other country.

WORKOUT - SHOULDERS

Week 8 of the Optimum Anabolics program is the 2nd week of a Progressive Loading cycle. This means getting more work load accomplished in progressively shorter amounts of time. In other words, this type of workout really gets the heart and lungs going.

Superset 1: DB Front Lateral Raises, Standing Arnold Presses
Superset 2: DB Rear Raises, Side DB Raises
Superset 3: DB Shrugs, Twisting DB Presses

Total Time => 43:04

Comments:

My shoulder muscles have definitely gotten stronger since the last Optimum Anabolics Progressive Load workout.

I took a 15 minute bike ride after the weights for some light cardio work.

DIET - PROTEIN DEPRIVATION

For breakfast this morning, I wanted something quick and easy so I could get to the farmer's market. A coffee smoothie was in order. Into the blender went:

• 1 cup of chilled coffee
• 1 cup of almond milk
• 1 frozen banana
• 2 TBS of cocoa powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp+ xanthan gum

We had a wedding to go to this morning/afternoon. Before the ceremony, I snacked on a carob energy bar cut into 3 cubes along with raw cashews, almonds, walnuts, and brazil nuts. Thankfully, the meal at the reception was served buffet style with plenty of low protein (aka, veggy) options. I started with an appetizer of 2 spinach-stuffed mushrooms, a half dozen whole wheat crackers, a few pieces of pineapple and cantelope and 3 strawberries. In the buffet line, my plate got filled with a mixed green salad dressed with balsamic, broccoli salad (broccoil, mayo, raisins, carrots, onion, etc.), black bean and corn salad in a spicy dressing, and mango salsa that was to go over the roast turkey breast. Considering I thought I was going be stuck with salad and a steamed veggie or two, this was outstanding! Dessert was cake, of course, along with a chocolate covered strawberry. I gobbled up the strawberry but ate only a bite of the cake. I'm just not a cake kinda guy, I guess. Good thing they didn't have ice cream. ;-)

Since lunch was mid-afternoon at the reception, we had dinner (post workout) a little later than usual. We decided to do pizza night for the second Saturday in a row. This week we tried out a new gluten-free recipe from this book with the shipment of almond flour we received from Honeyville Food Products. This stuff is awesome and made an excellent crust. I topped mine with EVOO, minced garlic, green and red peppers, mushrooms and red onions. I put 4 oz of grass-fed, organic mozzerella cheese on half to meet my protein requirement for the day. Mmmmm....pizza.

Dessert was a repeat of last week, too. Cookies (oatmeal raisin) and ice cream! The PJ Madison's is good, but not excellent. It's tough to complain about the ingredients, however.