Happy Monday All. Hope you had a great weekend, with lots of sunshine and outdoor play! I (Krystie) had a surfing lesson at Waimarama Beach on Sunday which was great. So nice to be in the surf playing around… and yes I did FINALLY stand up for a brief moment or two 😉

We made a yummy Meatzza – recipe to follow – and have now completed 2 weeks of our healthy eating challenge. We went out for dinner on Saturday evening to friends, where we all made something from a cookbook, and the meals were inspired by our eating challenge, so this took out the temptation you usually find at parties, and added in nourishing, home cooked meals for all.

Anyway, on to today’s newsletter:

For this week’s movement we are going to look at the Pull. Pulls are essential if you want to develop a strong core and back. Pulls can be performed in both vertical and horizontal fashion. 

Caveman 

Once our caveman ancestors had taken down the prey they had to pull and drag that guy back to camp or a safe space.

Pulling was often used to climb trees and scale cliff faces. As the years went by and our ancestors got smarter they hollowed out trees to make boats in order to use the water as an efficient transportation. The primary movement in rowing is pulling. 

Today we mainly use pulling to open doors and drawers. We pull the weeds out of the ground, we pull the ball away when playing rugby and many other sports. 

Posture  – How Not to be a Hunchback 

Pulling is great for our posture, in today’s world where we spend far too much time slouched over computers, slumped in the car seats or mindlessly hunched while scrolling through the gram – Pulling is the counter to offset the damage. The muscles that pull are the muscles that keep us upright and our shoulders back and down 

The execution of all exercises is paramount but of all the exercises I see, I think that pulling is the one most poorly executed. When we pull, we want to keep our shoulders back and down. We need to forcefully depress, rotate, and retract the scapula. You should feel your head shift backward and your chest raise upward, as your scapular pinch together. When we pull correctly it does wonderful things for our shoulder health. 

‘’Your shoulders are NOT friends with your ears. They should never be close or hang out together’’ – Paul 

 

 

On our 30 day detox plan, pizza is off the cards, however we remembered the long lost meatzza! This recipe is delicious and if you must, you can hold a piece in your hand without it falling apart! Play around with different toppings – ours was cheese free, however you can use cashew cheese or normal cheese 🙂 We added fresh basil and microgreens to the top of this pizza for serving. Delicious!

Base:

  1. 200g beef mince and 200g pork mince
  2. 1 egg yolk
  3. 1/4 onion, finely diced (i used red)
  4. 1 garlic clove finely diced
  5. 1 T finely chopped parsley
  6. 1 T finely chopped oregano
  7. pinch of sea salt
  8. ground black pepper

Mix all in a bowl. I also added delicious roasted marrow from grass fed cannon bones. Lay onto non stick paper and press out evenly to cover tray. Bake in oven – 180 – for 10 or so minutes (drain off any juice). Take out and add toppings (we had tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, salt and pepper. Place back in oven for 5-10 or so minutes then cut and eat.

This recipe is taken from Pete Evans new cookbook, Easy Keto Dinners.

So there you have it. You can have your pizza and eat it too! Give it a go and let us know what your favourite healthy pizza toppings are.

Paul “is there more” and Krystie “cheese please” Miller