At least according to Lyle McDonald, if I understand correctly, to make the most efficient use of a refeed you should use a cyclic ketogenic diet where every week you:

1) Empty your muscle glycogen with a full body workout.

2) Refeed for a day with high-calorie, high-carb, but low-fat food.

3) Reestablish ketosis the following day with low intensity aerobic exercise.

4) Do a second full body workout the day after that to make use of your now super-compensated muscle glycogen stores.

Details, explanations, and advanced considerations can be found in his book, The Ketogenic Diet, and I’m sure there is also much discussion on his forum and others.

If you try that, I’d love to hear about the experience.

Walked in and picked me up some Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk from Wild By Nature (Thank you King Kullen offspring for creating a Wild By Nature that is in close proximity to me)…proceeded to walk 25 steps to the nearest Starbucks with my unopened carton of non-dairy goodness and once I met my barista and explained the deets on my strict dietary needs, without any hesitation she opened up the fresh container and frothed up the foamiest steamed almond milk your eyes could possibly never imagine.

For $2.20 I left Starbucks with a Venti sized cup of warm cozy and PALEO caffeine and a buzz that no amount of prescribed psychoanalytic medicines could ever control…aka I’m bouncing off the wall!! My next endeavor will probably be to invest in a milk steamer so that I can re-create the magic I just experienced in the comforts of my own home without looking like a freak bringing in an entire carton of almond milk for steaming pleasure.

This recipe uses an ingredient I’ve been wanting to try for a while, but I’ve been a little nervous about it. The ingredient in question is nutritional yeast, it is an orange powder, with a cheesy, nutty taste. As the name suggests nutritional yeast is highly nutritious - it is a source of complete protein and is very high in vitamin B-12.

Broccoli Chowder:
3 Broccoli Heads, finely chop both the florets and the stalks (it yielded about 5-6 cups of chopped broccoli)
1 Large Onion, peeled and diced
1 Large Carrot, peeled and diced
2 Celery Stalks, diced
4 Large Garlic Cloves, minced
1 quart Vegetable of Chicken broth (or water)
1 teaspoon Ground Mustard
1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
1 Cup of cooked, pureed Cauliflower
3 Tablespoons of Tahini
1/4 Cup of Nutritional Yeast
Olive Oil for Pot
White Wine for deglazing

1) Heat a large pot over medium heat, add the onions, celery and carrots. Saute 10-15 minutes until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic, saute another 5 minutes, until the vegetables are slightly browned. Add a splash of white wine to the pot and use a spoon to loosen any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
2) Add the broccoli, broth or water, mustard, red pepper and salt to the pot. Cover and let simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
3) Transfer approximately 3 cups of the soup to a blender, along with the cauliflower puree, tahini and nutritional yeast. Blend until nice and creamy. Add this back to the pot of soup. Taste the soup and add more salt as needed.
*I wanted a chunky chowder, so I only pureed part of the broccoli - if you want a smoother soup, you can puree it all

Squash and sweet potato bake

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 c coconut oil (melted)
• 1 large (around 1lb size) sweet potato
• 1 small (around 1-1.5 lb size) acorn, butternut or other favorite squash.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Coat the bottom of a 10×10 dish with some of the coconut oil.  Peel and cube the sweet potato.  Peel, halve, clean and cube the squash.  Place both in the dish and pour the rest of the coconut oil over the squash. Sprinkle the cinnamon and nutmeg over the top, mix it all up, and cover it with foil.  Bake for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Apple “Pumpkin” Pie

This recipe uses the natural sweetness of the apples and yams to let you have a traditional pumpkin pie without the sugar.

Ingredients – Crust:

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp salt

Ingredients – Pie Filling:

• 2 to 3 Apples (We recommend Honeycrisp, since they are on the slightly sweeter side)
• 1 3/4 cup steamed and pureed yam/sweet potato
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 nutmeg
• 2 beaten eggs
• 3/4 cup coconut milk

Directions:

For the crust:  Thoroughly mix all ingredients together except for the coconut flour. Add the coconut flour in and mix well to form dough. Knead dough for ~1 minute.  Roll dough out between sheets of wax paper until it’s big enough to fit the pie dish. In my experience transferring the pie crust usually results in it falling apart to some extent, so just plan on patching it up a little bit once you’ve transferred it.

For the filling:  Thinly slice, peel and core apples. Coat with cinnamon and stir. Set aside.  In a separate bowl, combine yam, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.  Beat in eggs gently until just combined. Slowly add coconut milk until combined.

Layer apple slices and pumpkin filling in the pie dish. Bake in a 375 oven for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

2 cups fresh Brussels sprouts

1 head cauliflower, chopped

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic

3 tbsp dried rosemary

1 tbsp sage

4 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 cup vegetable stock (or water)

about 3 cups water

salt and pepper to taste

Lightly grease a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and lay sprouts across the sheet.

Roast in the oven at 325 for about 20 minutes, until softened and browned slightly. Meanwhile, lightly grease a saucepan with cooking spray and drop onions in.

Cover and cook on medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, and then add the garlic. Continue to cook, covered, about 10 minutes more, stirring occasionally (to be sure they don’t stick), until softened and slightly caramelized (they’ll have a sweet smell). In a different baking dish, steam the cauliflower until cooked.

Once all of these items are cooked, unless you have a huge food processor you’ll probably need to work in batches. Add the veggies to the food processor, and then the spices, lemon juice, vegetable stock, and about half the water.

Puree until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan or pot over the stove, and add the rest of the water, the balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir and cover until hot, and serve.

Classic Raw Hummus (Raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Yields 1 3/4 cups

2 heaping cups (about 2 small zucchini) chopped
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1 tsp cumin
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup hulled sesame seeds

1) Place ingredients in a high speed blender (like a Vitamix) set to manual speed, with zucchini at the bottom. Begin blending at low speed, using the plunger to help get everything going. As the mixture blends, you can turn the speed up, until eventually the whole mixture is blending smoothly.

2) Switch speed to high, and let the mix get very creamy. Taste; adjust seasonings, and re-blend. Serve.

Food processor option:

2 heaping cups (about 2 small zucchini) chopped
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1 tsp cumin
2 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup tahini

1) Instead of chopping zucchini, shred it using the processor’s shredder attachment. Turn shredded zucchini into a bowl, and use paper towel or a clean dish cloth to squeeze out as much of the natural moisture as you can.

2) Return zucchini to processor and add remaining ingredients. Process till smooth.

The food processor option will yield thinner hummus, but it will still taste great.

(via choosingraw.com)

Plain 3 oz tuna

super simple baby spinach salad with some cucumber, pepper, and 1/4 of a tomato. Plain tuna with mustard

there is finally an alternative to gluten-free brown rice pasta that contains a lower proportion of grain and has less carbohydrate, more protein, and more fat than other gluten-free pastas. It’s made from (in this order) almond flour, arrowroot powder, pumpkin powder, quinoa flour, egg whites, inulin, and xantham gum. It comes in four flavors: original, spinach, tomato, and a limited edition chipotle spice. You can purchase a single flavor, a 4-pack, a 6-pack, or a sampler + 2 (6-pack).

56 grams (2 ounces by weight) of uncooked Paleo Pasta contains
210 calories
9 grams of fat
30 grams of total carbs (24 grams after subtracting the fiber)
3 grams of sugar
7 grams of protein

By comparison, 56 grams of uncooked Andean Dream Gluten Free Spaghetti contains
200 calories
1 gram of fat
42 grams of carbohydrate (39 grams after subtracting the fiber)
3 grams of sugar
6 grams of protein

And 56 grams (2 ounces by weight) of uncooked Trader Joes Brown Rice Pasta contains
200 calories
43 grams of carbohydrate (41 grams after subtracting the fiber)
0 grams sugars
4 grams protein