What’s In My Latest Amazon Box

Every once in a while I’ll get a big shipment of goodies from Amazon.  In our early Amazon does, when we first became Prime Members, The BJJ Cavewife and I would order things from Amazon willy-nilly.

Shampoo?  Click.  USB Cable?  Click.  Paperclips?  Click.  All as separate orders whenever the impulse arose.

It was amazing.  Two days after the click, a box would show up at our doorstep without any additional shipping costs.

Then we started thinking about all the resources being used just to ship these products out to us.  The piles of single-use boxes with the recognizable Amazon smile/arrow logo and abundant packing materials would accumulate so quickly that they would rapidly overtake our living space if we didn’t dispose of them in a timely manner.

All for the sake of our convenience.

Eventually the BJJ Cavewife, who has always been the more environmentally conscious one, encouraged me to be more judicious with my Amazon Prime ordering habits.  We would wait until we had a few things in our cart before clicking the Checkout Now button to minimize the amount of shipping materials being uused.

The box shown above is the result of my latest attempt at delayed-gratification-with-Amazon-Prime-in-an-effort-to-save-the-planet.

I thought it might be fun to go through what was in the box as a window into where my mind is at this moment:

 

1. Tera’s Whey Goat Protein – Honey Vanilla and Plain Flavors: Goat whey is supposedly a less inflammatory source of protein so now that our current whey protein powder is running low, it’s the perfect opportunity to try something new.  My favorite thing to do is to take a cup of almond milk or grassfed whole milk, a cup of organic mixed frozen berries, and 1-2 scoops of protein powder, mix it all up in a Vitamix, to make a nice post work-out smoothie.

It’s especially refreshing on these hot summer days.  I personally like having an added flavor like vanilla added in to my smoothie, but the BJJ Cavewife can’t stand flavoring, so the only thing she tolerates is an unflavored protein powder.  Luckily Tera’s Whey has an unflavored version.

I was automatically drawn to the Honey Vanilla flavor which put me in mind of pancakes and waffles and pastries… which now that I think about it doesn’t make much sense at all.

Oh well, we’ll try these out and let you know how it goes.

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2. Great Lakes Collagen Hydrolysate: Why take collagen?  Well, it’s good for the skin (1, 2, 3), it can help with pain and arthritis (4, 5), AND can even help with body composition and building strength!  Since the rigors of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Crossfit can really do a number on my joints and connective tissue, this is one of those supplements I try to take regularly.  One or two scoops in my morning coffee seems to do the trick.

I know, I know, bone broth is the best and most natural source of this stuff, but when it’s over 100 degrees outside, the last thing I want is a steaming bowl of bone broth.

Our normal source of collagen hydrolysate is Dave Asprey’s Upgraded Collagelatin, which goes for $39.95 for 16 oz.  I wanted to try this brand out simply for economic reasons… Great lakes is sold on Amazon for $22.99 for 16 oz.

3. Beet Elite: Until recently I’d always thought of beets as those annoying moist, purple-y, noodle shaped things that somehow ended up on my food without me really wanting them there.  I’d order something like a steak or salad, and there they’d be, these bothersome purple things that tasted strangely of corn.

I’m not sure why, maybe it’s my inner toddler, but I just had a strong and irrational aversion to them.  I didn’t care whether they were a super food or not.  Whenever the BJJ Cavewife would try to get me to eat them I’d politely reply:

I do not like them in a house.  I do not like them with a mouse.
I do not like them here or there.  I do not like them anywhere.

This would elicit an exasperated eye roll from her… and I would then push the uneaten beets to the edge of my plate in triumph.

Then Tim Ferriss looked into some of the research and announced in one of his 5 Bullet Friday e-mails that this was something he was experimenting with for recovery and performance, and I was like… OK!  I’m all in!  Apparently beets are great at stimulating the release of nitric oxide which enhances oxygen delivery.

So after a few clicks, this ended up in my Amazon shopping cart.

We’ll see how things go.

I also make it a point to eat all the beets on my plate now… but I still don’t go out of my way to order them (Not in a box.  not with a fox.  Not in a house…)

4. OXO Good Grips Spiralizer: One of my favorite things to eat is pasta.  I love tomato sauce and meat balls and the act of dumping a snowpocalyptic amount of parmesan cheese on top of it all.  Unfortunately because I’m trying to eat low carb and low gluten, pasta just isn’t one of those things I get anymore.

After reflecting on this, I realized that I don’t even really care that much about the noodle-y parts.  Whether its tubes, bow ties, spirals, or plain noodles, it’s actually my least favorite component of the dish.

Tomato sauce, meat and parmesan… these are the components of the Italian triad that I love.  Whatever ends up underneath is just filler.

The BJJ Cavewife came across this glorious solution.  What the spiralizer does is take something like a zucchini and make noodle-y shaped things out of it like so:

This now makes a plant based noodle to place under my beloved Italian triad which will now allow me to enjoy a tasty low carb, gluten free bolognese.

We’ve tried this once already and it turned out really well.  The BJJ Cavewife and I give it two thumbs up… way up!

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5. Absolute Preacher Volume 1: I’m trying to make it a point to read more fiction.  At this stage in my life all the books on my to-read list are non-fiction.  There are so many topics I want to learn about and people I want to read about that there just isn’t any time for fiction… which is why I need to make time.

I grew up reading comic books and this was one of my favorites.  When I started searching for things beyond spandexed super-heroes and hypersexualized super heroines, that’s when I discovered Neil Gaiman and Garth Ennis.

Preacher is Garth Ennis’ story of a disenchanted minister who is searching for God… literally… and he decides that Texas is as good a place as any to start.  In his search he encounters vampires, angels, demons, saints, and a Vatican mafia… among many others.

It’s hilarious, violent, graphic, and is just the thing I need when after a long day of work and BJJ, my mind just isn’t quite ready to tackle the next book on my non-fiction queue.

*Image found here.