Final Thoughts II

Well Amy, it’s been fun!  Thanks for being a sport and taking this ride with me!  And congrats on your 2 pounds!  Here are my final thoughts (for now).  I also lost 2 pounds but then gained back a half leaving me with a net loss of 1.5 pounds for the month.  That was discouraging.  But that was also with little exercise other than dog walking and less than optimal health for the month and mega (job) stress.  I’ll take the loss…I just hoped for more.

I spent a lot of time in my head on Saturday wondering about good food and bad food and the realities of continuing long term with so few carbs.  It’s hard for me to demonize fruits and veggies and potatoes.  Oh, I love potatoes.

I came away from that talk with myself with an appreciation for what I have learned in the past 7 or 8 months of blog/book-reading & podcast listening.  I no longer look at soy as a health food.  I know why Crisco is bad for you and butter is good.  I know that food closer to how God made it is best for us, and that processed foods should not be our norm.

I’d like to continue to lose weight in November, though I know it will be a small and slow loss, as per my usual.  I’d like to maintain my loss in December so that I don’t end up losing ground before resolution-making time.  I’d like to eat real food keeping an eye on the carbohydrate intake, but not being dogmatic about it.  If I eat something sweet and delicious, I would like it to be something that my great-grandmother would have baked in her kitchen, or picked from her orchard (if she had an orchard!).  I would like to continue to spend the extra money to ensure that my meat & poultry are grass-fed/free range or at least hormone and antibiotic free.  I’m going to try to eat 3 meals per day and cut back on the snacks, and really, really work on my sleep.  

Thanks again to all of our readers (do we have readers??) for following along and as a final thought, I’d like to encourage others to try this – you never know what you might learn about yourself along the way!

Final Thoughts

Well, it’s over, and to be perfectly honest, I was horrible this past week! Too much Halloween candy.  And to make it worse, I haven’t been exercising AT ALL! Which is totally not like me.  But I wake up super early, get wrapped up in “work” aka Blogging, and I don’t stop all day.  I find it hard to pull myself away to exercise, or even eat for that matter.

Despite that, here are things I was true to:

I lost 2 lbs!  That may not seem like much, but those two pounds are actually ones that haven’t returned!  I started this experiment i think at 123, and I’ve been 121 for the last two weeks!

• I didn’t eat any whole grains the whole month!  This is a HUGE breakthrough for me! Even if I start eating oatmeal again, I don’t think it will be hard to never eat bread or pasta again!  I really think this alone has helped me keep the weight down, despite not exercising.
• I stopped killing myself with the cardio!  Well, it did help that the marathon was over, but I think I was finally able to let go of two pounds because I wasn’t “conserving” the fat for those long stinkin runs.

So, those are the two changes I’m sticking with, and I’m lightening up on the rest of the stuff.  Less grains and no bread… plus less long cardio sessions.

Thanks for the challenge Mindy! I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) have done this without you!

My Cheatin’ Heart

The good news is that I’m over my bout with the flu or whatever that was.  It was short-lived and thankfully I only missed one day of work.  That day when I stepped on the scale I was delighted, though not surprised, that I was down 2 pounds.  But I also knew I was dehydrated and it would quickly come back, which it did.

Now I’m in a weird place.  I allowed dairy back in a bit.  Then I had a couple baked steak fries.  Then I had a bit of chocolate, then a bit of carrots (all this week…not just today!) and now I’m feelin’ fat! 

I also find myself thinking about the long term….what if I just did a “balanced” eating plan?  What if I had a spoonful of brown rice? 

Jimmy Moore says that you should find what works for you and do it everyday for the rest of your life.  So does Paleo work for me?  Does low-carb?  Clearly, when you look at the weight chart on my BLOG, it appears to work better than high-carb/low-fat….but is there anything that works better?  I’ll be dead before I’m skinny, at this rate.

I just feel like nothing really, really works for me.  Everything works for a little while, and then it stops.  So today I’m discouraged and wish I could follow the Brownie Diet for a few days! 

Too Sick to Blog, II

This past week was so freakin’ crazy!  And I ended the weekend with a stomach bug, courtesy of my oldest daughter.  I’m wrapped up in a blanket in my flannel jammies, sipping diet Ginger Ale and I’m keeping down 4 saltines.  I feel 10x better than I did last night so that’s progress.

Amy’s outlined her plan post-30-day-challenge.  I’m not so sure where I’ll end up.  But can you believe it’s day 25?  Not bad!

I think I’ll allow some dairy, when it matters.  Sometimes you just need some cheddar cheese over that burger, you know?  But then there’s other times that it really doesn’t matter and I’ll try being moderate with it.  I may end up back with whey protein as opposed to the egg white protein powder though, just because the taste is so much better, and I don’t suffer from acne and don’t find it bothers me.

I am going to try, try, try to avoid grains.  I have an occasional potato or sweet potato and will continue to have small amounts of fruit.   That’s my plan – as it stands now.

Sorry all, I have to stop talking food…ewww. 

My many URL’s

I’m obsessed.  Literally obsessed, and I don’t know how to stop myself.  I officially have like 20 domains purchased! But two new ones I’m excited about are:

Healthy Kids Plates , Kids Dinner Plates and Free Healthy Meals.

They aren’t really set up well yet, but certainly they are going to make me millions and millions of dollars:)

Anyway- back to the purpose here.  I really do feel energized and thinner (although I still weight the same)

I think I’ve had 3 eggs with half an avocado every single day! It keeps me full till lunch, when I have leftovers from dinner the night before.  I’ve been snacking on apples and almond butter.  String cheese and greek yogurt, fruit, lot’s of carrots, and chicken breasts. 

I know we only have one week left.  However this is how I see the future:

more protein (especially the eggs and chicken)

More fat (especially the avocado’s)

One grain per day

1 dairy per day

unlimited fruits and vegetables.

Cravings

Yesterday I couldn’t believe the cravings I was experiencing!  I don’t know what got into me, but I wanted junk food! I wanted pastries, cookies, or anything with sugar and fat that I could get my hands on.   Lucky for me, I didn’t have anything like that in my house.. so I kept putting it off.  I knew I was going to the grocery store yesterday, so I decided ahead of time that I was going to buy something indulgent.  When I got there, I couldn’t do it! 

Then when everyone went to bed, I decided I was going to make something like cookie dough to just eat and enjoy… and I couldn’t do it!!  I woke up this morning a half pound lighter!!  Hooray that I didn’t give in!  It just goes to show how VITAL it is to not have junk food accessible IN my house.  If I had bought our Halloween candy already, there would have been NO stopping me.

My current weight 122.2

Sometimes We Struggle

Oohhh…I’m having a rough day!  Not sure what is causing it (couple o"’theories) but if there was a brownie or a cookie in my house right now, I would be eating it!  Of course, it does not help that I’m watching the QVC “In the Kitchen” show – all day kitchen stuff – and yes, I did buy the Today’s Special Value Vitamix!  So on top of wanting to eat carbs, I want to spend money!  It’s sick.

On Friday, which was the 1/2 way point to this Paleo experiment, I decided that I deserved a cheat meal.  My husband was at camp and I thought it’d be a nice night to take the girls out for dinner.  My plan – to splurge on some potatoes – either fries or mashed – but to avoid gluten.  Apparently a lot of people go out on Friday night.  I’m usually home in my sweatpants while the world is getting social.  So, after 2 tries at restaurants with long lines, we went to Pizza Hut and I had 2 slices of gluten.  However, it was good.  As you know, I’ve been avoiding dairy these weeks, too.  So it was really good.  I also had an ice cream to chase it down.  I was hungry, and I did not over-eat (quantity wise) so I felt OK about it.

Could that be what’s effecting me today?  Is Friday’s “sin” what’s causing me to want sweets?  Or is it because it’s the glorious time of the month and it’s just a “girl thing?”  I did hear Robb discuss this on an old podcast the other day and the verdict was that girls just have more cravings due to the biology & hormones….so it’s as I have always suspected….it sucks being a girl!!

So that’s where I am today.  This week I have 3 full days out of the office and I’m wondering how I’m going to manage with food.  I did purchase a box of Balance Bars for back-up, that I hope not to resort to eating.  We’ll see how I do!

Hey Amy, did I lose you?  How’s it going?

Back to Basics

Well, I’ve survived my first cold of the season.  It was touch and go for a while.  I spent an entire day in bed, got nothing done, and didn’t care.  During this lapse of health, I also had a few lapses of caring about being Paleo or anything else for that matter.  Though with the exception of the half bagel, I didn’t stray too far.

What has happened, though, is I’ve gotten sloppy, and cocky.  I had that nice loss last week and this week I find my hand going into the candy corn, I had a Munchkin’ donut hole yesterday, I ate some tater tots while cooking dinner the other day.  That’s the stuff that will do me in.  None of it monumental in volume or even deliciousness…just enough to be sketchy.

I’m hoping that on Saturday I’ll see a loss again, but this is the one week out of the month, if you catch my drift, where I usually gain 2 pounds, then lose 2 pounds, then find myself  just the same.  It’s frustrating.  This is further reinforcement to be “good” the other 3 weeks of each month so that I can make the most progress! 

On the different food note – I tried spaghetti squash tonight and it wasn’t bad.  It was my first try and it was a bit on the crunchy side, but I saved some left-over's and may see if it softens a bit when I re-heat it.  The fam wasn’t that impressed, though they were eating pasta and if I had that option I’d have picked that too.  But this was tolerable.

Here in the North East, we’re up for some more rain and cold temperatures the next few days so my goal is to be more careful as my outdoor opportunities for recreation will be nil.  Good time to get that sleep that’s so needed!

Feeling Great

Ahhh, I love the feeling of not having that training in front of me. When I’m doing stressful things, I EAT! When I’m super busy doing things i love (like working on my kids blog) I can go all day without thinking about food.  Eating becomes a drag, cause I just want to find ways to make money blogging!

Any-who! Yesterday was one of those days.

Breakfast- 3 eggs and blueberries (i’m out of avocado’s :( )

Lunch: beef stew from Sunday night (cuts of beef with carrots, potatoes, and onions)

Dinner: Chicken salad! MMMM, so good with shredded chicken and low fat mayo!

That was it.  I know I should have eaten more, but I didn’t have it in me.

I guess I don’t have to feel TOO bad, Kurt Harris http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/ says you can eat 2 meals per day!  He does ehttp://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2009/11/13/what-i-eat.htmlat dairy though.. and so does Mark Sisson.  So, maybe it’s OK? Right Mindy?

Too Sick to Blog

Ughhhhh….I am SICK!  My youngest daughter had this last week and the inevitable happened – I caught it!  I felt pretty good with a twinge of a sore throat yesterday but today…I have hit the wall! 

The good news since I checked in was a 2.4 weight loss on Saturday.  That’s VERY cool.  I did a brief Video Diary on Saturday.

Sunday we celebrated my dad’s 70th birthday and went out to eat.  I did great until we got home to the double chocolate muffins that I’d made in lieu of cake.  I decided that this might be one of those “kick up your heels” moments that Robb Wolf talks about so I cut one in half and ate it.  Then I ate the other half!  Arghhh!  It was so good!  I promptly wrapped those up to go home with my parents!  I can’t be trusted!

Today I”ve done fairly well with food until tonight when the thought of meat or chicken is nauseating!  So I had a warm 1/2 bagel which I really couldn't even taste…but it was comforting.  Sick trumps a perfect diet.

Hooray For Monday’s

I’m in a super good mood today, because my leadership training from last night is OVER!! I ate soo much yesterday.  I had two events that had ton’s of bakery goods, and being anxious about speaking last night I inhaled the food.  Oh and to make it worse, I was fasting for half the day (for religious reasons), and I always OVEREAT when I break a fast, and having all the good food in my way after fasting was an absolute disaster!

But like I said, I love Monday’s… today is a new day, a new week, and a new resolve to be awesomely good!  I’ve got eggs on the stove right now!

I’m the worst

I  just might be the worst diet partner out there!  I’m so sorry Mindy for my lack of posting and commitment.  The lame part is, I am “so overwhelmed” and busy with OPTIONAL things! The PTA, helping my kids with homework, church assignments, my SHK blog, etc.  Everything Optional, yet I’m overwhelmed with deadlines!!

Whatever, enough boobing about it.

So, since I can’t remember the rest of the week, I’ll do my best to remember yesterday.

I had an amazing 3 eggs, blueberries and half an avocado.  It is so filling to me.  The other morning I was out of eggs and had oatmeal instead, and I was literally starving by 10. Thanks to the fat in the eggs and the avocado, I really think that held me over till lunch.

Lunch was AWESOME yesterday.  I literally never eat out!  Probably 2 to 3 times per year! But I got a coupon in the mail for this awesome, fresh, local cafe type restaurant, and since my husband has been off of work (he has two weeks off to burn some vacation time  since the man never takes time off), the kids were all at school, so we went.  I had a grilled chicken breast with tomatoes and artichokes on top! YUMMY!! I did NOT get the delicious looking pumpkin cookies, although I really wanted one.  Enough with fall/ Halloween temptations already!

Besides a few handfuls of almonds, and an apple, I was pretty good till dinner, when I ate more eggs and sliced potatoes and peppers.  Wade made dinner, because remember… “I’m SO busy!”

Anyway- today will be a little less overwhelming.. but I still have to head to the school to collect Reflections projects (we’re expecting like 300 entries, and I have to catalogue and display them, choose a winning class for the most entries, find judges, and plan an awards night! Bleh.  Then this weekend I am responsible for a leadership training at church where 90 people are coming to hear what I have to say, and I don’t even know what I’m going to say yet!!! Another BLEH!!

So, my plan is MONDAY, after leadership training is over, I’m going to learn all about Cross Fit, and then return to Primal Blueprint.

Can’t wait till your OFFICIAL Weight in mindy!  I weight the same  :(

Day 7 for Betty

I won’t bore you with my food choices today – it’s more of the same (see days' 1-6) except that I treated myself to some Justin’s Maple Almond Butter today on a Gala apple while my co-workers scarfed down some birthday cake and ice cream that *I* had to procure!  Ugh!  You don’t know how much I wanted it!  The apple and MAB was pretty good….it just wasn’t cake.

When I went to the kitchen to wash off the knife, I did have a fingerful of frosting.  Can you blame me?  It wasn’t that good.

That’s the highlight.  Today it finally stopped raining – it’s been raining since Monday – so I went with a 1.5 mile quick walk with my husband and dogs.

I’ve had 2 good melatonin sleeps and I’m going to try to sleep without it tonight.

Rounding the Bend

Hi All, finishing up day 6 now and feeling a bit of cravings…I’ve had 3 blocks of Chocoperfection Bar today and a Ghirardelli square…and I’m having to stop myself from gabbing something else.  Good thing there are no brownies in this house or I’d be in them!

Breakfast:  Mocha Smoothie, McDonald’s Egg McMuffin sans muffin & cheese

2nd Breakfast:  Small apple with plenty of almond butter

Lunch (late):  L/O angus burger with pat of butter, 3 small orange peppers, small portion mixed nuts, Chocoperfection Dark Chocolate with Almonds square

Dinner:  Tilapia baked with EVCO, steamed green beans with butter, 1/4 cup cantaloupe cubes, 2 Chocoperfection Dark Chocolate Almond Bar squares, 1 Ghirardelli 86% Cacao square.

Last night I did sleep better, and am wondering if I should down another melatonin tonight.  I had a suggestion to take magnesium but just haven’t gotten to the store yet to get them. 

GOOD NEWS!  In listening to Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show this summer, I learned about Stop The Thyroid Madness! and brought this info to my doc for discussion.  Well, she didn’t want to prescribe any “alternative” thyroid meds for me…but did offer to refer me to an endocrinologist who might be more accommodating.  So, she did.  I called that office a couple weeks later since I hadn’t heard from them, and was told that I’d be called when my file was reviewed.  A couple weeks later I called again and was told the same thing.  Yesterday I called AGAIN and fortunately, this receptionist took the time to look me up.  You guessed it!  There was no file, no referral!  All this time I’ve been dealing with low levels of energy, mild depression (see my other blog) and waiting patiently for the magic appointment!  Grrr….but I have an appointment in 2 weeks.  I’m hopeful.

Tomorrow wraps up 7 days of Paleo.  So far so good.  I’m also looking forward with hope and anticipation to Saturday, my weigh in day.  Fingers crossed!!

Day 5 – DONE

I’m done with day 5 of this experiment.  I’m less hungry than I was yesterday at this time due in part to my addition of some serious butter on my steamed broccoli tonight!  

Breakfast:  Mocha Smoothie; 3 hours later – 2 eggs over medium cooked in butter, 1 1/2 slices thick bacon

Lunch:  Grilled Chicken Caesar salad from McDonald’s, no dressing, (only ate a bit of the salad…it was gross); 1/4 cantaloupe with a couple blueberries.

Snack:  Handful of pistachios

Dinner:  Angus burger, steamed broccoli, a few bread & butter pickles (No sugar added), some reduced sugar ketchup, a square of Ghirardelli 86% Cacao.

Last night my sleep was horrible.  My daughter coughing up a lung down the hall, my husband’s Blackberry vibrating on his night table, and my almost-20-year-old burning the midnight oil on her computer.  Tonight it’s melatonin.  I have to SLEEP!

New about Paleo

 What do you think of the new picture Betty?  Let’s forget the spa and end this thing in Hawaii! :)

  The reason for me, and I think Mindy too, that I may end the day still hungry, although I know I need to eat more food, is the lack of available approved food, right?!?!?  If we had ton’s of money, ton’s of food, and possibly a personal chef, we would be full and satisfied at every meal! At least I would.

I wanted to post something awesome and new about Paleo, but I didn’t have time to do any learning and reading yesterday.  I spent the day in the kitchen preparing stuff for my Healthy Kids blog,  so I kept nibbling food all day and not having a substantial meal.  That is always disastrous.   But, even though I ate a little too much dried fruit and white chocolate, I stayed pretty tight to my plan.

Breakfast: Avocado, three eggs, and blueberries.

Snack: Banana and nuts

Lunch: I really wanted the rest of the spinach salad.. but it was all wilted and gross.  Instead, I just had some more chicken.

Dinner: Chili: MMM, it was really delicious. 

I know I wasn’t going to focus on weight, but I still weight the same.  My wedding ring fits though.  Maybe I’m just going to lose weight in my fingers.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll post a bunch of ‘before’ pictures.  Maybe.

Days 3 & 4

Whew, I have some catching up to do!  Yesterday (Sunday) began with my husband and I having breakfast out, which is a bit of a weekly tradition.  I know, we also go out for dinner on Saturday night…but that’s it.  We never leave the house during the week!  So we went to the diner.  The diner is full, FULL of luscious breakfast carbs like French toast, pancakes, and pastries.  My preference, sans new lifestyle, would be a sweet breakfast.  I inquired about the fruit cup, but it was pineapple, grapes, & melon, so I passed.

Sunday Breakfast:  2 eggs, 3 slices of bacon, 1 sausage link.

Sunday Lunch:  Mocha Smoothie (egg white protein)

Sunday PM:  Various snacks:  walnuts, 2 Dark Chocolate’s

Sunday Dinner:  Sirloin tip roast, steamed green beans & broccoli with butter.

Today I had a NSV – I ordered a skirt a few weeks ago and it was a little snug, it pulled around the hips.  But I didn’t want to send it back because I’m losing weight, right?  So anyway, I wore it today and it fit fine.  Cool.

Today I felt like this Paleo thing might be doing something…I had a lighter feeling.  It’s hard to describe.  My food today:

Breakfast:  Mocha Smoothie

AM Snack:  1/2 Gala Apple with Almond Butter (yum!  haven’t had an apple in months!) & a couple little peppers

Lunch:  Salad with L/O roast

PM Snack:  Walnuts

Dinner:  STARVING!  L/O roast, 1/4 small cantaloupe, few sugar snap peas, few pistachios.  Still starving, so a couple pieces of bacon as I cooked tomorrow’s breakfast.

Over the course of today, I’ve had 3 sections of a Chocoperfection Dark Chocolate with Almonds bar.

Last night I did NOT sleep well.  I went to bed tired but just never felt like I got into a deep sleep.  That’s frustrating.  Not sure what to do about it but try again tonight!  I AM tired now.  And hungry.

Sunday

I’m thinking about trying out www.crossfit.com. It seems like a fun new exercise program, so if I have time, I’m going to try to figure out the exercises.

Also, I am having a hard time not buying Rob’s Paleo book.  I refuse to buy it until I’ve read the other two paleo books I have, Cordain’s and Mark Sisson (not exactly Paleo, but close)

Anyway, Sunday was great.  Eggs, avocado and fruit

Salad for lunch (this time I added the chicken)

Beef and broccoli for dinner (the family had the rice, but not me).  Tasty, although it looks nasty.

Apple and nuts for snacks.

I also had some brownie crumbs.. MMM they were good.

Although I woke up with a headache yesterday, today I felt pretty good.

Looking for the Energy

I read Amy’s post with envy…this energy that she’s gotten from the few days of this eating plan.  I can’t get out of my own way.  I made myself go for a walk but I pushed through it…I didn’t find it enjoyable at all. 
Breakfast:  Mocha Smoothie (my last with whey protein as my tub of Jay Robb’s Egg White Protein Powder came in the mail today).  Some yellow peppers at the farmer’s market (see Video Journal).   Handful of walnuts on the ride back from Walmart.
Lunch:  2 Cage-free eggs fried in extra virgin coconut oil (EVCO), piece of Ghirardelli Midnight Reverie 86% Cacao (yum, one pc was very satisfying!)
Lunch 2: Nuked Hebrew National Hot Dog and handful of pistachios.
Dinner:  Dark greens salad with maple vinaigrette (just a smidge), 4 oz filet mignon on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes with some sautéed field greens with a glass of pinot noir.
I must elaborate on dinner.  Saturday night is date night in my house and so it has been a quasi-“cheat night” while I’ve been on Atkins.  Not that I’ve gone too overboard but there was the breaded whatnot or the “few fries” kind deal going on.  Tonight we went late (thus the lunch #2) because it was Homecoming and we had to drop off my daughter at the dance at school  and then we went out.

We went to Fifty South in Ballston Spa, NY.  This is a great place that we frequently frequent for breakfast but have only been for dinner a couple times.  At breakfast time, it’s a bustling “diner” type of place but at dinner it is a fine restaurant!  I’m going to have to Yelp! about this place because it’s THAT good.


I felt a little guilty about the sweet potatoes but ate them anyway because they were AMAZING and there was probably only about 1/2-2/3 cup and they complimented the filet so nicely!  The wine, don’t know why I had it.  I have 2-3 glasses of wine per year.  I’m not a big fan but thought that it might help me relax.

Speaking of relaxing, I’m giving myself a 6 out of 10 for sleep.  My body is in the bed long enough (on weekends) buy my quality of sleep leaves much to be desired.  Not sure what to do about that.
Two days “in the can.”

I made it

I made it through a family party with no pumpkin bread, no pizza, no soda, no pumpkin cookies, no brownie sundaes!  Hooray.  I brought a spinach salad and I ate LOTS of it!  I tried to not worry about the dressing I was putting on it.  Reading Mark Sisson’s book has been helping me put away my fear of oil based dressings. 

I never went on that roller blade ride, sorry kids.

But I had a super enjoyable 40 minutes on the stair stepper, and some chest, shoulder, back exercises.  Took my fish oil. 

I am in a super good mood and have lot’s of energy.   I think I can handle this for  awhile!

Breakfast, same old eggs and avocado, and an apple.  Lunch chicken with cucumber and dressing.  Dinner the spinach salad. There was no protein anywhere.  I should have put chicken on my salad, but I didn’t.  So there was NO protein for dinner. Plus a few handfuls of nuts during the day.

I’m not going to take photo’s of all my food. I get embarrassed sometimes, especially at family parties.  So this will have to suffice.

Oct 1st

I went to bed hungry again. That’s OK though. I can handle that once in a while.

Today’s Paleo Tip is not really a Paleo tip.  But I was reading Primal Blueprint while at the gym, about exercise.  I LOVE that he says long easy cardio is good! I love long easy cardio.  I’m a long easy cardio queen!  However, one thing I am going to try to change is doing new things.   All I ever do is jog.  But he recommends doing more spontaneous fun things in all areas of activity.  So, today I’m going to go for a roller blade ride with my kids. They are going to love it!

Yesterday I did great!  Breakfast, another 3 eggs and half an avocado with peaches.

For lunch, I ate more taco salad

For a snack, apple and almond butter

and for dinner, chicken and broccoli.

I know it sounds exactly like the first day, but I like what I like.  I also had a few handfuls of nuts during the day.. pistachios and cashews.  I’ll try to reign that in.

Tonight will be TOUGH! It’s a pizza party at my In law’s house. I am bringing a salad though.

Here We Go!

Welcome to October, people!  It's day 1 of the Paleo 30 Day Plan and I'm pretty psyched. 

Breakfast:  A few walnuts & a Protein Smoothie (1 scoop Jay Robb vanilla whey, 1 heaping teaspoon cocoa, unsweetened almond milk, teaspoon instant coffee).  I only have a smattering of whey left and have ordered Jay Robb's Egg White Protein and was hoping that would arrive today. 
Lunch:  A salad from the grocery store salad bar with mixed greens, chicken breast, sugar snap peas, green pepper, cucumber, bacon, and a smattering of sunflower seeds and dried cranberries.  They didn't have olive oil so I put about 1T Italian dressing on it and added 3 chunks of cantaloupe.  Oh, and a diet Coke.  Cavemen had diet Coke, right?
Mid-PM:  About an ounce of pistachios.
Dinner:  Grass-fed sirloin and steamed green beans with butter.  1 "block" from a Chocoperfection Dark Chocolate Almond Bar. 
I'm not sure about the Paleocity of the Chocoperfection.  It's made with cocoa, cocoa butter, and chicory root.  It is about 8:00 PM now, and I'm hungry.  I don't have much to eat that's Paleo-approved and have already had 2 oz nuts today, so I will go to bed soon.
Thanks Amy, for posting up the fish oil calculator.  That's helpful.
I have decided not to log my food for these 30 days.  I log food compulsively but want to get away from that, so My Fitness Pal will be put aside for the time being as I just eat when I'm hungry.  What a concept!
I stopped at the farm today and got raw milk for the kids, 2 dozen eggs, the sirloin that we ate tonight and some grass-fed veal cutlets.  Tomorrow the rain will be gone here on the Eastern coast and I will go to the farmer's market to load up on organic fruits and veggies (mostly veggies).  For now I'm putting down the laptop and picking up The Paleo Solution to read more about what I should be picking up for food tomorrow and to start to ready my brain for sleep.  So glad tomorrow is Saturday and I won't have to get up at 5 AM.
My Video Journal

Supplements and Day 1

OK, I’ve decided, I’ll really only am going to post once  a day. Every morning with the prior day’s food and one new thing about Paleo.

Today’s new thing: I’m using Robb Wolf’s fish oil calculator and am taking 6 fish oil pills per day.  I’m also supplementing with Vitamin D (per Robb’s podcast).

Well, I finished yesterday with an apple and almond butter for a snack, and Taco salad for dinner. I forgot Legumes were not Paleo and had black beans in my taco salad.  Oops. It was tasty though.  I went to bed super hungry, so maybe need to eat a little bit more at each meal. But then again, maybe I’ll get used to eating less.

I drank lot’s of water, took my fish oil and vitamin D, and this morning I feel great!  I’m going to try really hard to not worry about the scale. I’m obsessed with the scale. But the point of this experiment was to eat Paleo for 30 days, and not about losing weight.  I’m only 123lbs, so weight loss doesn’t happen quickly for me, not having much to lose.  So when I try a new program, and don’t see a change on the scale like the very next day, I give it up promptly.  But this time is different.  No scale, only compliance.

You can call me Betty

A (wo)man walks down the street,
She says, Why am I soft in the middle now?
Why am I soft in the middle?
The rest of my life is so hard!
I need a photo-opportunity,
I want a shot at redemption!
Don't want to end up a cartoon,
In a cartoon graveyard .....

I am trying to keep a "glass half full" attitude about starting to "go Paleo" tomorrow.  I have been on a low-carb lifestyle since the 2nd week of July and have lost some weight (for the gory details, check out my blog here).  I have been listening to Robb Wolf & Andy Deas' podcast for some time now, and wanted to get Robb's book,The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet.  It arrived last week and it is excellently written!  All of Robb's humor, wit and sarcasm are present in its readable style.  Very consumer friendly.  Anyway, I've been wanting to take the Paleo leap but have needed a push.  Today I emailed my friend, Amy and she was up for the challenge!  She created this blog and we invite you to follow our journey!

Amy's mentioned her love of grains.  For me, the challenge will be sweets.  Even on my low-carb plan, I've had (artificial) sweets and that will be tough to give up.  Cheese might be tough as well, as I've enjoyed cheesing up my meat and veggies in recent months.  But, glass-half-full, I'm looking forward to some increased fat loss (PLEASE!), less intestinal discomfort, better skin, and a general sense of well-being. 

So please add us to your readers, and cheer us on as we take on the persona's of our paleolithic predecessors, Betty Rubble and Wilma Flintstone, and go back to our pre-agricultural roots!  If Wilma and Betty could do it, so can we!

Paleo Resources

Since this is where we will share all cool things Paleo, first I wanted to link to Robb Wolf’s Starting guide!  Thanks Robb.

Second, that hilarious youtube video that Mindy posted on Facebook yesterday:

 

And then last, my lunch for today:

Broccoli, Pork, and nuts

Jump starting on Paleo

Technically we are starting tomorrow, because it is October 1st tomorrow, but I ate a Paleo approved breakfast anyway, and it was delicious! I ate 3 eggs, 1/2 an avocado and a bowl full of blueberries.
There are a few things that will be tough, but I'm excited to work through. I may be posting three or four times a day if I'm struggling, so bare with me. What will be tough is no grains. I'm a grain-a - holic! But for 30 days, I know I can do anything. Also dairy. I love yogurt!! Especially creamy, greek yogurt. But again, 30 days, anything is possible.