Dairy Free + Meal Prep + CrossFit

As I hope you’ve previously read, I made the decision to go dairy free when Briar had an adverse reaction to dairy through my breast milk. I’m not a big dairy eater in general so overall it wasn’t that hard for me to give up.

It becomes hard when I’m tired and I don’t feel like meal prepping.

It becomes hard whenever I’m at a party and they have pizza and I can’t have it.

But, it’s worth it knowing that I’m not hurting Briar. Her face got really badly broke out for a while and the two times I ate a large portion of dairy (cereal with milk and ice cream) she projectile vomited. She also had some pretty mucusy diapers.

At her two month well check appointment, I expressed these concerns to her pediatrician and he said we could do a milk protein allergy test. It would just require drawing some blood and testing it. Her test came back negative. So, I just assumed she has a sensitivity. Which is much better. I still have not reintroduced dairy. I might try around 5-6 months.

On top of dairy free, I am also soy free, and somewhat egg free.

Whenever I self-diagnosed Briar with a dairy sensitivity, I also immediately cut soy because they go hand in hand. I cut all obvious and hidden dairy and soy.

I decided to cut egg a couple of weeks later because her face was still breaking out. I wasn’t really sure if it was still the dairy in my system, or if it was the eggs I was eating for breakfast. Just yesterday, I tried a paleo bread recipe that had baked in eggs and so far she’s been okay. So fingers crossed we are okay for eggs because I need protein!

I took this dairy free life as a blessing in disguise.

With CrossFit, the Paleo diet goes hand in hand with it. The Paleo diet is called the caveman diet. You are essentially eating, meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. You are not supposed to eat grains, dairy, refined sugar, or anything processed.

For me, it was just an easier way to incorporate this diet into my life. I very, very loosely followed it in the past, but I decided if I was going to do this, I was going to do it the right way. At this moment I’m probably about 90ish% paleo. The only thing that is keeping me from being 100% paleo is the oatmeal (grain) that I eat in the morning. At this point, I’m not willing to give that up because it helps boost milk supply.

What exactly am I eating?

Chicken and vegetables, basically. I have no problem eating the same thing over and over again for a really long time, so it’s been okay for me. Here’s somewhat of a breakdown:

Breakfast – steel cut oats (instant) and then I add blueberries and strawberries

Snack – Protein Shake

Snack – raw almonds/pistachios

On days I workout I will have another protein shake right after I workout.

Lunch – chicken/turkey burger and roasted vegetables

Snack – oranges/apple/grapefruit

Snack – Larabar

Dinner – chicken/turkey burger and roasted vegetables

For lunch and dinner, I have to roast vegetables about every other day. The vegetables I like to use are a combination of carrots, sweet potatoes, zucchini, squash, asparagus, mushrooms, brussel sprouts, just to name a few. It all depends on what I’m feeling at the moment in time and what’s on sale. I almost always use sweet potatoes though, because they are my favorite.

Whenever I roast the vegetables, I normally just chose 4 different vegetables, dice them, mix them together on a baking sheet, put olive oil, salt, and pepper on them, and put them in the oven for an hour. Half way through I mix them up. I am all about quick and easy because I do not have time to waste these days.

Plus, Raelynn loves to help me cut up “begetables”. I let her put them on the baking sheet, and then she helps sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Total prep time is 15 minutes at the most.

For the turkey burger, I buy premade, all natural, butterball turkey burgers. They are full of protein. I normally just grill them. It takes about 20 minutes.

For the chicken, I have found a recipe that I’ve really been leaning on because it’s so easy, it takes literally 5 minutes, and the chicken stays moist and tender throughout the week. It’s called Lemon Garlic Chicken.

Since I am meal prepping for a couple of days, I use way more than the recipe calls for so this is my recipe:

5-6 pieces of chicken (breasts)

1 TBSP kosher salt

1 TBSP pepper

1 TBSP parsley flakes

1 TBSP oregano

1 TBSP minced garlic

1 lemon (need juice from the lemon)

Put chicken in crockpot, mix spices together and spread on chicken. Squeeze lemon over the chicken. Depending on your crockpot, you can put on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours. I prefer high for 4 hours. Total prep time is 10 minutes. Super easy!

Protein…this could be a touchy subject.

Some people are okay with taking protein while nursing and some are completely against it. For the type of workout I’m doing, I NEED protein or else I will lose all of my muscle.

The problem with the protein I need, it was a struggle to understand and research what was safe and that complied with my dairy free, soy free, and egg free life. Anything that was Whey Protein and Egg Protein was out of the question. I started researching and I found that I needed a plant based protein.

Previous to pregnancy, my protein needs were met by a company called MRM. Their protein was not full of crap, essentially. They happened to have a plant based protein. I ordered some samples, made sure Briar didn’t react adversely to them, and she didn’t, thank goodness, and then ordered me a big ol tub of protein. My favorite protein shakes:

Morning Protein Shake:

1 cup almond milk

1 cup coffee

2 cups ice cubes

1 scoop of protein

After workout Protein Shake:

1 cup almond milk

2 TBSP PB2

1 scoop of protein

1 cup ice

Protein Shake

Again, I try to keep things simple and tasty. I love coffee in the morning. I love peanut butter all the time and PB2 is full of protein and way less calories and fat than regular peanut butter. Plus the PB2 powder mixes really well in a protein shake. You can also blend these. I’m just always on the go, so just adding ice to my shaker bottle and shaking vigorously works well for me.

I also use the MyFitness Pal app to track all of my calorie and nutrient intake. I need to make sure I am getting enough of everything with nursing Briar and working out. I’m not going to lie, I struggle most days to get all of my calories and nutrients in.

I’ve been tracking my food intake for around 45 days and I’m still trying to figure out what works best and what foods go well together. Some days I am super high in carbs, some days I’m super high in fats, and I ALWAYS struggle to get in enough protein, even with 2 shakes and turkey and chicken. It’s a work in progress. I’m hoping to be able to incorporate eggs again so I know that will help. I feel like I am constantly researching Paleo recipes, snacks, etc. I try something new at least once a week.

In a nutshell, that’s what I do for food.

I started CrossFit back at 6 weeks.

I was only going 2-3 times a week, and now slowly doing 4-5 days a week. My CrossFit box is right around the corner from work and I am only part time at work right now. I return to work full time on April 24th, so I’m hoping to be more consistent with 5 days a week. The same with pregnancy, I have just been letting my body dictate when I can and can’t do.

CrossFit has overall been going very well. I am struggling mentally and physically, which was expected. Mentally and physically, I know what my body is capable of. I could do more in my ninth month of pregnancy than I can right now. And it sucks. The biggest thing is I have no core at all. Core is key in everything I do. So, until my 6 pack decides to show up *sarcastic smile* I suppose I will be on the struggle bus.

I can feel myself getting stronger each week.

I’m also putting in extra work at home so I know that’s helping. I work on a couple of different lifts every week and each week I’m getting closer to my maxes. Even though I am struggling (more so mentally), it’s very refreshing to watch myself get stronger and closer to my max lifts. I feel like it’s just a matter of time before I’m back to where I was; hopefully even stronger. I made a list of goals this year to attain in 2017 and I honestly think I can hit the majority of them by summer.

I am having a hard time coping with my body not looking like I want it to and I’m finding myself on the scale every single day. I used to never get on the scale. I’m just so impatient, summer is quickly approaching, and my body is nowhere near bikini ready. Not to mention, I have some terrible, horrible stretch marks. I’m hoping as I tone and get a little tan from being in the sun, they will “disappear” a little. I know I will get there, it’s just not in the time frame that I want. Patience is not a virtue for me