Paleo on the Road

It is indeed Happy Hour when your
paleo-friendly apps are 1/2 off!

I celebrated Day 60 on the Paleo Diet on Monday!  It feels like quite the feat, considering that my last 3 days of were spent eating while traveling to San Jose for the San Jose RocknRoll Half marathon.  It was my first real experience of trying to stay paleo while not being able to cook and refusing to succumb to peer pressure to "just eat like a normal person".  I must have explained the basics of Paleo about 30 times this weekend, each time we ate with a new group of people.  My mom and I traveled with her running buddies, about 14 amazing women who were determined to live it up and run it out.

My race weekend started Friday evening, with a meal at The Counter with my family.  I'd reviewed this downtown San Diego restaurant just recently.  Before taking me to the airport, we decided to carb up at our favorite Paleo-friendly restaurant with sweet potato fries.  I also had a "burger in a bowl" for the iron.  It was going to help my body store and use oxygen more efficiently during my big race.

Not a pretty breakfast but
 it tastes good

Saturday morning, Mom and I woke up at 4 am to see my Daddy off on his 100-mile race.  He'd be running the Rio Del Lago 100 all of saturday and he'd planned to finish around the time we'd be getting up on Sunday morning to run our own race.  A Larabar and a banana continued the carb up while I shivered in the pre-dawn, waiting to see Daddy off at the start line.  (As a note: not ALL Larabars are paleo.  Stick to the ones that contain only dates, tree nuts, fruits, and coconut.  My favorites are Coconut Cream Pie, Lemon Bar, and Key Lime Pie)  We then headed home to pack for our own race.  I completed my carb up with an eggs, avocado and sweet potato breakfast.  That was the last time I was going to get to cook for myself before my race.

After arriving in San Jose (by the way, a car with 4 middle age and older women will need to stop at least 3 times to pee during a 2 hour road trip), we checked in, picked up our bibs and explored the expo.  One of the great things about Paleo is that you don't experience the drop in blood sugar that you did before when you were eating processed carbs and sugars.  So while everyone else was getting cranky, I was holding on pretty well.  We lunched at Baja Fresh, which isn't an ideal paleo choice.  But I made it work, ordering a Mango Chipotle Chicken Ensalada.  I suspect that the mango salsa and chipotle sauce contained sugar and possibly soy . . . but overall it was a paleo-ish choice.  I avoided eating the tortilla shell and asked for NO cotija cheese (even though I REALLY REALLY love cotija cheese).  For a pre-race lunch, the chicken salad option was probably the best choice.  It's heavy on fiber, high on water content and low on binding meats.  Red meat can take longer to move through your system, which may make you feel heavy on race morning.

Dinner was probably the most difficult to handle.  All of the group we were racing had arrived and there was much discussion on eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory.  Italian restaurants are nearly impossible for Paleo people, I try to avoid them all together.  It's a lesson that "Gluten-free" does not equate to Paleo.  Luckily they couldn't take our group of 14 for at least 2 hours, so our group ended up breaking up into smaller ones and Mom and I headed to a 50s themed Diner called Peggy Sue's.  They are a counter Service, sit down restaurant.  They're menu was simple and easy to alter for the Paleo diet.  I had a spinach salad (that was of massive proportion) and a bunless bacon, pineapple burger.  Once again, loads of iron to help with oxygen use.  I am also a proponent of fiber on the day before the race.  It'll help you with that pre-race elimination that is oh so neccessary.  (I wondered how long it'd take me to mention poop on my blog).  Everyone's fiber needs are different.  It's important to experiment during the training cycle to see how much fiber you can take in to help you on race morning.

 I woke up on race morning feeling amazing.  I had nine hours of sleep, and maintained my paleo diet while traveling.  Mom and I ordered room service and split a meal.  I got the eggs and bacon, she got the tomato juice and english muffin.  It's nice to travel with a non-Grok!  After breakfast I was feeling even better!

My race review has already been posted.  I've had people ask about my IN-RACE nutrition and will explore that in my next post.  If you have any questions about pre-race nutrition or about staying paleo while on the road, please feel free to ask!

  

Race Day Ready and still Paleo!

Dining Out Paleo: The Counter

                                                 

The Counter
695 6th Ave
San Diego, CA 92040
http://www.thecounterburger.com







Our family supports the Autism Society of America San Diego Chapter because, well, we live with autism.  Our son is 11 years old and was diagnosed with high functioning autism/Asperger's syndrome at age 3.  The ASA in San Diego has a WONDERFUL Parent Education Series on Autism Through the LifeSpan.  Its a free series and I encourage attendance to ANYONE who wants to learn more about helping those in the spectrum grow and thrive.





The Counter is a new family-style, build-your-own-burger restaurant in the Downtown area of San Diego.  In an area that is drowning in hipster themed whisky bars and charcuteries, it's a much needed addition.  The restaurant owners partnered with the ASA to donate 100% of their proceeds on their "Soft Opening" to the ASA's programs.  Getting to go to a new restaurant before anyone else?  Good.  Supporting ASA's programs?  Better.  FINDING OUT THAT THEY HAVE PALEO OPTIONS????  AMAZING.





The Menu and it's dietary information can be found on their website.  Our very chipper and attentive waitress Amber, informed us that their entire staff had been trained on different dietary needs, including Paleo, "because there are so many people into CrossFit".  At that moment, I was ready to commit to coming to The Counter at least once a week.  And I hadn't tried the food yet.  The ordering process is fun, you go down a checklist, marking what items you want on your burger.  With options like "Burger in a Bowl"($1.00 extra), organic greens and grass-fed beef it's a pretty safe place to eat paleo.

Our waitress was especially attentive to our son, after tactfully                 finding out that he was in the spectrum.  He has an affinity for Shirley Temples, and while the restaurant doesn't have cherry flavoring to put in Sprite, she suggested using Grenadine (from the bar) and ended up making his favorite Shirley Temple of all time.









From the appetizer menu we ordered a 50/50 plate of french fries and                    sweet potato fries (sweet potatoes ARE paleo, however these fries do contain soy which is a no-no). The fries were delicately cut and extremely good.  They came with a horseradish aioli.  We also ordered the Grilled Veggies.  They were very good, thinly cut and grilled only to the point to bring out a sweetness.  This appetizer is Paleo Friendly IF you ignore the corn.







To illustrate the fact that I am a solo-Grok in this family, my son made a "burger" from his pretzel bun and french fries.  I commend those families living with autism who have gone gluten-free.  That is something I just couldn't imagine doing, as processed carbs are 90% of what my son eats.








I ordered a "Burger-in-a-Bowl" with a 1 lb grass fed patty, cooked medium rare.  Their burger patty sizes are post-cook weight.  So when you order 1lb of meat, you get a FULL 16oz.  I added tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, pickles and a fried egg to my burger.  I also chose the garlic aioli, although the "burger-in-a-bowl" had so much flavor that I ended up forgetting about it.  It was really well put together, the meat was cooked perfectly.  When I pushed through the yolk and runny gold ran out into my salad, I was definitely a happy paleo girl.





I couldn't order milkshakes like the hubby and daughter, but I COULD order a "Skinny Margarita".  A drink that is already offered on their menu, it's Patron Silver, agave nectar, and fresh lime juice.  Imagine my delight that my Paleo drink of choice was something the bartender already knew how to make.  The milkshakes were reported to be good.





The Counter definitely has my vote as one of the most Paleo-friendly eateries.  The price point of the menu items are definitely competitive for the Downtown area.  For 2 appetizers, 4 meals, 2 milkshakes and 1 alcoholic beverage, our tab was $85.  That's a huge meal for us, but 100% of the proceeds were going to the ASA, so we let our hair down.  Being able to eat without worrying about ruining my carefully planned diet, knowing that they support families with autism, and the level of customer service and quality of the food definitely adds up to a return visit.  Besides, hubby can't wait to try the Oversized Chocolate Chip Cookie, which is reported to be larger than our daughter's face.