What to eat pre and post training perfectly paleo

This is absolutely my favorite pre and post workout food. It works for both.

• 1 cup of Farmer's Market brand of Pure Pumpkin, Sweet Potato or Butternut squash
• mixed with 1 scoop protein powder, like Hammer Nutrition's whey 
• mix in 1 Tablespoon of a nut butter, like Living Tree Community's Alive Almond Butter
• mixed with cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Its like pumpkin pie every day! I used to do applesauce instead of the pumpkin but I felt hungry during my rows and it felt too light of a meal. I would need to eat a lot of sauce and still feel unsatisfied, as if it would go through me too quickly. Also I liked the convenience of the applesauce so when I found pure, 100%, nothing added pumpkin it was a great replacement. The folks at Farmer's Market are great and I thank them for their support! Thank you very much to Amy Kubal who helped me make the change.

Of course, this is the quick, convient fix, but there are days when I do prefer to do it all from scratch. I bake the yams/sweet potatoes or pumkin in the oven, put in a pot and with the hand blender mix up my own puree often adding flax seed from Omega Nutrition. Also making your own nut butter is really fun and easy. I took hazelnuts that I bought in bulk and put them in the food processor. At first it made a loud crushing sound. Then a type of flour looking mixture emerged. But you just let the processor keep going. It will starts to form clumps, and then finally it becomes runny and smooth, and I had hazelnut butter! 3 cups make a big jar.

Other additions or variants include chocolate chips, or some cocoa nibs. And other times, I use the Now Brand egg white protein powder with coconut milk and and sweet potatoe puree, mixed with dark chocolate chips and raw cocoa powder, spiced with a little red/cayenne pepper and its like chocolate mousse.

 I have been accused that lots of this food is like baby food. Its consistency lacks that crunch. But since I have salads most days or even an hour after I have this post workout meal, I'll be getting my crunch on soon enough!