Food Diet Lifestyle – Eat Well. Live Fully.

Paleo / Primal On the Go. Grand Rapids 01142014

One of the things I’m plan on being very conscious of in 2014 is the choices I make around food and fitness, more fully live the “paleo lifestyle” of what I eat, how I sleep, lifting heavy things, managing stress. A key to this is making better and more mindful choices as I travel. Recently, a Facebook friend asked how I manage paleo eating while traveling. From that question, I realized I could force myself accountable on my trips via this blog. I would not only make better decisions, and might help others as they tackle the same decisions and choices.

My plan to is capture what I eat and drink along with how I handle (or avoid) activity, fitness and workouts while I travel. As you read these posts keep a couple of things in mind. First and foremost, I am not, nor ever will be 100% paleo compliant. I routinely use heavy cream in my coffee and enjoy butter. At home I stick to grassfed dairy. On the road this is difficult. I avoid all vegetable oils at home, sticking to butter, ghee, olive oil, tons of coconut oil, palm oil, and bacon grease in cooking. I make homemade olive oil mayo and all salad dressings. On the road, I eat out and while I do attempt to avoid inflammation causing vegetable oils (soybean, canola, peanut, etc.), they are an inevitable part of my diet. I refuse to lose sleep over this.

Oh, and I work for a beer company and love beer. So you’ll see beer and ciders. I’ve found if I avoid all other gluten, I don’t have any real effects outside of some temporary bloat. I understand that beer is not paleo or primal, and can be a major problem for those who are more gluten sensitive.

That said, here’s my most recent trip – a one nighter to Grand Rapids.

Had a nearly 3 hour layover at O’Hare. With exception of the time spent eating, I typically spend my airport time walking around the terminals, right up until boarding time. Podcasts and Pacing is how I put it.

As my instagram followers saw, O’Hare is one of my least favorite airports to fly through – both for the number of cancelled flights I seem to get and for the general airport amenities and food options. For lunch here I went with a Gyro “sandwich ” – telling them to skip the pita, and I added a side of veggies. Ate just the meat and a bit of the tzatzaki along with the veggies.

Meet up with co-workers for a pre dinner drink, and enjoyed a Crispin Cider. How nice that the lobby bar’s blue glow matched the label.

Dinner was a NY Strip with some veggies – asparagus, carrots and mushrooms. Skipped the starches and any alcohol, instead drank San Pellegrino.

Back in the room, I ate the turn down “dream bar” along with an orange from the concierge lounge (forgot to shoot the orange). The turndown bar is the smaller version pictured below. This is JW Marriot’s new specialty turndown item. I’m kinda meh on it. Has oats, chia, berries and dark chocolate. I’d so much rather just have a small square of dark chocolate.

Some stats for the day…according to my Fitbit tracker, I’d walked 13,726 steps/6 miles and burned nearly 2900 calories on this day. I had done a 30 minute “Body Pump” workout in the morning, but that was only around 200 calories of that. Walking as much as possible in my day is important. Airports and airport wait times are great for this!

The following morning I had my typical concierge lounge breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon and some berries. My coffee had half and half.

Lunch was with a client and the account team. I ordered the restaurant’s chicken salad, and asked for it on greens versus a sandwich or wrap. Not olive oil mayo, but whatever.

Late afternoon, early evening was back in an airport. This time a 2 1/2 layover in Cleveland. I like how they encourage travelers to walk. And walk I did, hitting all terminals at least once (A, B,C, and D) and a couple of them multiple times. I paced around my gate as boarding got close, but never did sit down, except while eating dinner. (Yes, I check my bag, just easier on the walking, but do wear a laptop backpack.)

Dinner was at the airport’s version of Chipotle/Qdoba. A bowl with double meat (pork and chicken), a small amount of white rice and black beans (yes, I know, not paleo) , lettuce, pico de gallo and hot salsa. Water to drink.

On my flights, I do not eat the peanuts, pretzels or other snacks. Thankfully, I’m not a real snacker. I always drink Club Soda as my beverage choice.

Fitbit stats for that day – despite sitting in 6 hours of meetings, 14,848 steps/ 6.49 miles walked, 2774 calories burned. Compare this to Monday which was an office day 6132 steps and 2249 calories burned. Airport walking. Do it!!!

Paleo / Primal On the Go. Grand Rapids 01142014

That said, here’s my most recent trip – a one nighter to Grand Rapids.

Meet up with co-workers for a pre dinner drink, and enjoyed a Crispin Cider. How nice that the lobby bar’s blue glow matched the label.

Dinner was a NY Strip with some veggies – asparagus, carrots and mushrooms. Skipped the starches and any alcohol, instead drank San Pellegrino.

The following morning I had my typical concierge lounge breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon and some berries. My coffee had half and half.

Lunch was with a client and the account team. I ordered the restaurant’s chicken salad, and asked for it on greens versus a sandwich or wrap. Not olive oil mayo, but whatever.

On my flights, I do not eat the peanuts, pretzels or other snacks. Thankfully, I’m not a real snacker. I always drink Club Soda as my beverage choice.

Proceed with Caution…

In typical Kim zero to sixty ASAP fashion, I’ve gone from months of slug like behavior to biking or lifting weights 6 of the last 7 days. And the strength training program is lower body dominant. I just returned from. Derby party and can barely move. Tired. Sore.

Over training is what lead to my shoulder issues. I feel so damn good when I am working out that I quickly go gung ho. It’s something I have to watch. The irony is i burn myself out, start feeling like crap and then forget how doing proper training or regular exercise Right now I’m just exhausted. I’ve been good about sleep, and food has been pretty spot on. Not trackin food now so have no clue to calories in, but dont hink im in a hard deficit. So far not in a bad place (as if one week of training could affect me that badly this quickly). In the past the first signs of over training are trouble sleeping. Probably a cortisol stress reaction. A year ago I ignored this sign and the ver increasing shoulder pain until that compounded the keep issues.

Plan now is to kick back and rest tonight, hopefully sleep in tomorrow. Sounds like the boys want to go ride the Kettles. Which is fine. I need to ride demon Bermuda and squash that demon. Neither Hubby nor Kiddo have been riding this year, so shouldn’t be at a fast pace, and will include plenty of rest. The big benefit of me doing my own rides is I won’t feel so much like we’re wasting the ride by not pushing. That feeling has lead to some less thn optimal attitude on family rides in the past. Imagine that, me with my bitch on. Never happens.

Did another strong curves work out yesterday. Oh. My. For what seems very easy simple, low key routines, they sure as hell activat the glutes (and hamstrings and hip flexor) with just enough big muscle upper body work to balance thing out. No stupid bicep o tricep isolation work (as I I need bigger upper arms. Yuck.) Great core work, too. Both typical abs but also back. Like it so far.

Today’s ride was to and from Kiddos baseball game with detours around The Mitchell and Fox Brook trails and an extension over to Calhoun and back. If I’m gonna ride pavement I do like this route. Was riding Coda, not a mountain bike. Realize I need some cadence sensors. I can tell since getting rid of Dolce (my roadie) I’m fallin back ino my less than optimal but nature 60rpm cadence as opposed to the 85-90 I’d worked so hard to cultivate. Just another thing to work on.

Getting my cook back on….

It’s funny how once I get active again, start doing more regular and structured conditioning, it’s easier to eat correctly. Which makes me feel better, which makes the conditioning easier, which….. you get it, a virtuous cycle.

So what have I done of interest this week. Hmmm, there’s been some grass fed steaks on the grill (and a lunch of leftover gress fed bone-in rib eye from last Friday night at Mr. B’s). But best of all was a Bolognese I’d made with half grass fed ground beef and half free range ground veal. Made it Monday night, and we ate it again on Wednesday night. Kiddo and hubby had it over gluten free noodles (I’m trying to convert them to paleo/primal, not having great success, just baby steps). I enjoyed it over spaghetti squash. I’ve finally figured out how to cook the damn stuff. From ‘Practical Paleo’ by Diane Sanfilippo (get it, you must). Just cut in half, scoop out seeds, rub a tiny bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on baking sheet cut side down, into 350* overn for 40 minutes. Scoop out. Easy Peasy.

Hadn’t made the stir fry in a while. With all the veggies, spices and shrimp, we never miss rice or noodles.

Trying to eat more veggies. Wonderful lunch today of eggs over bacon/avocado pieces a touch of green salsa with a huge salad (lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, carrots) dressed with one of my quickly thrown together vinagerettes. It’s so quick to make your own dressing out of a good olive oil and vinegar, so I stock several infused oils. Garlic, Lemon, Orange, Italian Herb infused EVOO are kitchen staples, as are several balsamic vinegars (regular, Blackberry, Raspberry, Peach White Balsamic) and a good Red wine vinegar. Today was a combo of garlic and Italian herb oils, red wine vinegar and some fresh garlic and Italian herbs. Yummy.

Rain shortened yesterday’s lunch ride, and it appears most of the riding possibilities for the weekend. Did remember to bring a chamois to work along with some riding clothes…just forgot a sports bra. Was a tad wet for rest of afternoon. Oh well, I’ll get this riding over lunch thing nailed soon.

Off now to do some strength training. Feeling good.

Benchmarks

To really know if you are improving, you need some kind of benchmark to evaluate progress against. It’s as true in sports as it is in business. At work, we routinely set baselines or benchmarks, and this week’s first trail rides of the season have me thinking about benchmarks in my mountain biking. Every sport has its own ways to measure training and skill progression. As with road cycling or running, there’s the simple measure of time taken or average speed within a section of trail. More important than a speed measure in mountain biking is judging the development of technique and how that allows you to ride harder trails, tackle larger obstacles, get more air, be more aggressive. if you are only interested in speed it can be bench marked against your own performance or that of others. There’s tons of gadgets and smartphone apps that help you track this. Many of these allow you to compare how others rode the same routes. I find this interesting and a piece of the bigger picture, but my biggest competitor is myself. I need to measure my progress versus the trail, improvement in technique. I am at the point in my mountain biking skills development that increasing strength and stamina play a significant role, but I still have so much to learn in this sport. So much technique to develop.

By riding the same trails regularly, I can easily judge the progression of my skills. Now starting my third summer mountain biking, I’m realizing both what I’ve already learned along with an awareness of how much I don’t know. It brings a smile to my face when I look back at pictures like these from 2011 and remember struggling with a climb I can now top, being afraid to ride across rocks I barely notice, coming to a dead stop in front of a log, I now pop over without a thought.

As I rode this week, I remembered how we used to have to stop at each and every bench, along with at the top of every small climb to rest and recover. I’m working hard at active recovery, continuing to pedal while I catch my breath. Limiting rest stops. I continue to be surprised how much the line you take or the momentum you have going into a climb, descent or obstacle plays a part. There were places on Sunday’s ride I struggled due to a line that put me into bigger roots or rocks, or how by not having proper momentum, I had to put a foot down in areas I’ve cleaned in past. At the same time in a section of the Muir trails called The Beach, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to ride. I remember the first time we rode that section, stopping half way up to rest. It’s the first time I’ve actually felt like I was enjoying a climb. Minutes later Hell’s Kitchen reminded me why it has the name it does.

But with increased confidence and skills, also comes increased chances for error. I’m riding faster. Attacking sections more. Weaknesses are being exposed. At the Ray’s Women’s clinic, I struggled with both speed and bike angle/position in the bermed turns of the pump track. At Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, I did better at speed, but Kiddo chastised me for not leaning the bike, for going through upright. On Sunday’s ride, in a section called Bermuda…. Damn bermed turn. I just don’t trust myself to lean the bike through them. Towards the bottom of the section, the final left turn, took the turn too high on the berm, upright, no real lean. On the exit there’s a small tree to the right. Because I was high I was on the right edge of the trail and bbeing upright meant my handlebars were not leaning away, I clipped the tree. Leading to a face plant and a bloody nose. Funny how many thoughts go through your head in a millisecond. ….Don’t look at tree! You’re gonna hit tree. I’m flying. Splat. Oops there’s gonna be a bloody nose. Get off bike off trail before someone barrels into you. Feel blood begin to pour. Pinch nose….

Still work to do. Benchmarks set, and continually updated. I’m super stoked about this summer’s riding. Here in Wisconsin I hope to do some rides with other women in addition to the family and solo training rides, there will be rides and the Women’s Clinic in Brown County, IN in June, riding on our family vacation to Breckinridge, CO in July and another prior to my nieces wedding at Killington, VT in August. Plan on doing a WORS race or two, The Brown County Super-D, Fall Colors Festival. Hopefully we can sneak in another spot or two, like maybe a trip up tp Copper Harbor, MI.

Tho, face it, even with a desire to more formally train this summer, I still want to stop and smell the roses so to speak…pausing to snap a few pictures and enjoy the view will always be a part of my enjoyment of mountain biking.

Striving for Consistency vs. Perfection

I have this tendency to let a desire to do things perfectly derail me. It shows up sometimes as procrastination (that old fear of failure thing or even a fear of success), other times as built in excuse to stop doing something or to do things I know I shouldn’t. After all, you can’t do it perfectly, why bother, right? I think everyone struggles a bit with the later. The old, “I just ate a piece of pizza, might as well eat what I want all weekend and get back on track on Monday” thing. The problem for me is that Monday never comes. Or rather comes and goes and goes and goes….

As I re-commit to training, I have to work on making consistency my focus as opposed to getting lost in a desire for perfection. I saw this already starting to happen this week. I’d combined the desire to start this new program with words from Keifer (www.dangerouslyhardcore.com) about late afternoon being best time to work out. I knew Kiddo had his first Little League baseball game at 5:30. Knew that I’d be pushing it to leave work earlier enough to get him to the field, let alone sneak in a workout before. But yet, I still had myself convinced I had to work out in the afternoon. That if I was going to do this, I must do it perfectly.

Obviously, this wasn’t happening, and by Monday evening, I was this close to fuck it, I’ll never get this right, why bother. My nicely equipped but lonely home gym would continue unused.

Thankfully, Tuesday was another day. Copies made and posted of the workout and warm-up cue sheets. Daily logs printed. Best of all Week1 Workout A accomplished It felt good to sweat, to lift some weight. The program is interesting in that warm-up includes foam rolling or other myofascial release moves, static stretches, dynamic activation and mobility work. Looking at the work outs, I think I’m going to like this program. Even if I still always feel like a beached whale trying to roll around on that instrument of torture known as a foam roller. Yes, it does hurt so good.

Bottom line, I know I’m going to continue to struggle with finding the “perfect” time to work out. My schedule is never consistent. I travel frequently. Kiddo’s activity schedules change. Stuff comes up. Life gets in the way. But I know I must find that time. Be consistent.

The more things change…the more they remain the same

How freaking perfect…I come back to this blog to start bringing some personal, albeit privately public (that makes absolutely perfect sense to me) accountability to my diet, conditioning and general fitness training, and discover my last post was of the exact thing I planned to write about.

#FAIL

So fast forward 15 months. Crossfit was a hoot. I loved it, even if it did not love me. Supraspinatus tendinitis with impingement. Big words to say I screwed up my shoulder by doing too much too fast with less than perfect form and ignored the pain for far too long. Until I basically could not raise my arm, was heading to frozen shoulder territory. Still have twinges of pain in certain positions. 6 months of physical therapy later, I was released to start crossfit or weight training again, but haven’t. Tossed around program idea after program idea, but couldn’t settle on one. Knew that my competitive nature combined with tendency to injury made Crossfit perhaps not ideal for me. Couldn’t quite pull the trigger and start. Winter training was a few (very, very few) spin classes, and playtime on the bike at Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park. Yesterday’s ride on some real trails showed me how far I need to go to get back in riding shape.

Meanwhile clothes a bit too sung. Feel doughy. Weight feels up, but looking at logs nearly exactly the same as it was when I posted that last blog post. Overall diet is decent, not strict paleo…probably too much its of gluten and grain. Not a ton of alcohol, but a martini or beer at night is too much the norm. Generally only one drink, but more habit than need. Mainly real food, very very limited processed crap. Still stuck not making final weight loss goal, still with a long way to go.

Bottom line is getting in shape. Not about the scale, even if I know for optimal performance and self confidence, I must drop a significant number of pounds. I want to feel strong, re-connect with that athlete in me. Sure there’s the looking good, feeling sexy bit. But it’s the strong, confident, secure in my skin feeling I miss. That I am determined to bring back.

And so back to this blog. To some of the habits that worked so well. Tracking food. Lifting weights. Only this time I am not going to second guess programs. Waffle around. Tweak a trainers program because I’m some kind of special unicorn. Commit to one program, and do it for the entire 12 weeks. Re-asses after that.

The program I’ve chosen is ‘Strong Curves’ by Bret Contreras and Kellie Davis. Love that it is a lower body focus but with a decent amount of upper body. Today is the first workout. Kinda pumped to start….

(ha, see what I did there?)

What’s missing from this picture.

Simple answer me. A decently stocked weight section in my semi-finished basement. Plates and benches sitting cold and lonely.

But wait there’s more……a whole other section of the basement. A treadmill, a trainer for indoor riding on my bike, room for yoga. A variety of kettlebells (and DVD workouts for them), a set of bowflex dumbells. Chalean Extreme DVDs.

Bottom line, I have no excuse. No one to blame but myself. A strange inertia had set in about a year ago around conditioning (and eating properly if we’re honest). The really sad thing is, I like lifting heavy weights – esp. squats and deadlifts (hate, hate hate bicep/tricep curls). This month’s Whole30 has gotten me back on track in food. I feel great. IBS symptoms gone. Tons of energy. getting lots of home de-cluttering done, cooking a ton. But yet, no work outs.

And so I realized I need a structure. Something to force me forward. So I finally took the plunge. Spent the money to sign up for the February on-boarding “Elements” class at a Badger Crossfit, a Crossfit gym close to my office. They are going to work with me around my travel schedule. This is good. January was kick the food choices back in gear. February will be get going on Crossfit, on working out. Having a gym structure is good for me. Knowing I can do a couple classes a week in a structured environment, plus bring a WOD or two home a week.

This is good.

And if I get really motivated I can do some bosu squats…..kidding.

Whole30 Week 1- whole lotta cooking going on

January is my first Whole30 v. 5.0. I really needed this stricter eating plan following two weeks of holiday eating and a complete derailment from anything resembling a paleo or primal diet (and the associated raging IBS, bloating, and other fun symptoms…not to mention 12 pounds of scale weight gain in two weeks. Yikes).The biggest part of this for me is not thinking of it as a diet…at least not in the weight loss sense. Part of the Whole30 program is not taking any measurements during the 30 days, no scales, no tape measures, no bodyfat monitors. Sure I took all those as a staring baseline, but the necessary equipment has been stored away until February 1. For me, this is a huge leap of faith (and making me a tad crazy).

Because so many friends, family and co-workers, think the idea of not eating grains, sugars, dairy or legumes so radical, I’m making an effort to photograph and document what I eat using my iPhone. What’s funny is no one is questioning the eating plan from a health stand point…it’s all about satiety. I mean who can possibly not eat bread or muffins or….

It was only a 4 day work week. I spent two of those days out of the office on biz travel, but saw a definite theme to lunch at my desk…simple protein and veggies. Tuesday was leftover steak, sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts – a duplicate of Monday’s dinner, and Friday did a quick run to the grocery for a roasted chicken breast and some fresh raw veggies.

Tuesday night I made Braised Chicken Breasts with 40 cloves Garlic, a Rachael Ray recipe, leftovers were my dinner on Thursday. To make the recipe 100% Whole 30 compliant, I used ghee instead of butter and de-glazed the pan with chicken stock rather than Marsala. Still very, very yummy, However, I do believe the Marsala adds a richness to this dish, and will use Marsala in future. My kiddo was excited to see me starting to cook the “chicken with the crunchy skin”. If you make it, brown them well, and make sure the stock/braising liquid stays below the crispy skin.

Wednesday and Thursday I was at the mercy of restaurants, hotel food, meeting catering and stashes of food I either brought or obtained while on a business trip. This reliance on what I have available is where I’ve had problems with compliance in paleo/primal eating (and when I was doing traditional calorie counting). Okay, maybe less reliance on what was available so much as a built in excuse to stray from the plan. This trip, this month, I am teaching myself that lack of compliance is neither necessary nor an option. One thing I did fail at was taking pictures…but I was 100% compliance. I am discovering that by first asking about gluten-free options, and also telling the server I am dairy intolerant gets me to a good starting point with menu options. I can edit from there. Thursday’s lunch was a Primal Pac I’d stashed in my backpack, Wednesday a working meeting lunch where I just calmly and quietly removed all the bread and cheese from the catered sandwich lunch. And I did raid the concierge lounge for some late night munchies…enjoyed after a walk around downtown Chicago.

Saturday morning…leftover steak, turned into a steak, spinach breadless “benedict”. Ever since discovering how easy it is to make fresh hollandaise, I cannot believe I used powdered mixes for so long. Honestly, fresh isn’t much more work, and so much tastier. Used ghee as the butter source, and buy the free-range, omega3 type eggs.

Planned a stir-fry for Saturday night. I had prepped so many veggies, that this meal was repeated Saturday and Sunday nights with slightly different spices. First night was scallops and shrimp, done spicy with ginger and garlic. Second night, also spicy, but stronger curry type seasonings (hot curry powder, gram marsala, and vindaloo mixes) and added a touch of coconut milk. This time proteins were shrimp and chicken. Each family member got to make their own veggie selections, and I cooked each individually. Huge hit with Kiddo who has requested this is weekly…at minimum.

In the interest of honesty…….Food-wise I was 100% compliant to Whole30. There was one planned, and pre-decided deviation, my office’s monthly beer tasting club was Friday. Purely educational (really, I work in this biz). Limited the amount I drank past the what was needed to taste the beer, leaving most in the small tasting cups. Focused much more on aroma, color, mouthfeel. But, yes, I realize it is non-compliant.

All and well a good first week.

#BeefFest

A holiday tradition of mine is enjoying a standing rib roast with the immediate family on Christmas Eve. I made my first one 14 years ago. While I’ve had several significant life changes in that time, I’ve followed the same basic method each year since. If memory serves, the original recipe was from epicurious. However, I’ve long since stopped referring to a recipe and made it my own. It’s easy peasy to do, even if it does take some advance prep wok for best flavor.

The beauty of this recipe is that there are no exact portions needed. Really don’t think it’s possible to mess this one up.

Garlic/Horseradish/Rosemary Beef Rib Roast.

Ingredients
Standing Beef Rib roast (I typically use a 3-4 bone roast)
3-5 heads of garlic
Ground horseradish
Fresh rosemary
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse Sea Salt& Fresh ground Pepper
Beef Broth (optional)
Meat Thermometer

This year I had a 6.5 lb, 4 rib roast. My butcher cuts the meat from the bone for ease of serving, but then ties it all back together for flavor. I’ve found the flavors of this recipe are consistently great with a regular high quality rib roast, so no longer pay the extra for a Prime Rib roast. In the future I would pay extra for grass fed/ grass finished if I could get locally. Buy the roast a day or so ahead to allow time for thepaste to infuse the flavors.

At least 24 hours ahead peel the garlic….the more the better in my mind. As with recipes calling for bacon, you can never have too much! This year I used 4 full heads and a bit of a leftover 5th head. Place them in a small oven safe dish, cover with EVOO and roast in a 300 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Remove and allow to cool.This year I roasted the garlic the evening of the 22nd. Stored in fridge overnight and made the paste the following day after work.

When cool pull out your food processor, dump roasted garlic and olive oil, about half a jar of horseradish (1/3 cup?), leaves from 2-3 sprigs of rosemary, and a healthy does of fresh ground pepper and pinch of sea salt. Puree into a paste.

Place roast on rack, bones down. I stab the top a few times to make pockets to push some of the puree into. Then I get my hands dirty (after washing them well of course), and rub the puree all over the top and sides of the roast. Cover loosely (I stick blunted toothpicks in to hold foil off rub paste.), and into the fridge for 12-24 hours. This year I had the paste on for the full 24 hours.

Remove from fridge 30-45 minutes prior to roasting to bring up to a room temperature and take some of the chill off. Pour beef broth into the base of the pan to catch the drippings (water works, too but broth tastier, for a final au jus or gravy)

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Place roast in 450 degree oven for 20 minutes to sear and crust the paste. If you are like me and tend to forget things, set a timer NOW. At end of 20 minutes, turn oven to 325, loosely tent the roast. Insert a thermometer into middle and roast to your desired temp. We like medium rare (Mom likes medium well, so she gets end with some extra cooking in pan). On my thermometer this is around 140 degrees.

This always takes longer than I expect. I think it was 2 1/2 hours this year. Maybe tad longer.

Allow roast to rest for 15-20 minutes. This is the prefect time to relax w/ Ketel-One-up-olives.Especially if your Mom is visiting and likes to cook down the pan drippings as an au jus or gravy (add flour or not, your choice, moving forward we’ll skip the flour, for paleo / gluten free goodness)

Slice and enjoy.