Thursday, June 30, 2011

Thursday

Eating yesterday included the usual breakfast, turkey sausage version, a couple of cheese snacks, naked smashburger with green chiles and cheese, some fries, the other ice cream, and strawberries. 142.0 this morning.

No food in training, and no audience participation, either. Phew.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Wednesday

Short entry. Usual breakfast and cheese, then several cheese snacks and chocolate almonds waiting for dinner. Dinner was a smallish sirloin, baked sweet potato, green beans.

142.6 this morning. Bad cramps overnight - left leg, as usual. I didn't drink enough water, apparently.

I'm in training at work the next two days. I do hope no pastry or candy is involved. Also, no audience participation. That last hope is almost certainly vain, unfortunately.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Tuesday

Here is yesterday's eating:
  • scrambled eggs
  • turkey sausage (3 links)
  • tea with cream
  • a Perrier
  • a cheese snack
  • various tea, but another glass of water
  • 2 bratwurst with mustard
  • salad
  • blue cheese dressing
  • a bottle of hard cider
  • a bit more water
  • a 1-serving Haagen-Dasz vanilla ice cream
  • 2 pieces gruyere
  • 1 square of 85% chocolate
  • 2 chocolate almonds
  • 3 strawberries
I'm pretty sure that was it.  Lee and I both had rather annoying days and opted for portion-controlled, 5-ingredient ice cream as a survivor's reward.  It was very good, but much sweeter than it needed to be.  142.8 this morning - the very minor gain probably from water; as you can see, I did make a conscious effort to increase my intake of water without stuff in it.  It did seem to quell the mild fasciculation I'd been having in my calves over the past weeks, lending credence to Dr. Eades' explanation of the really nasty cramps.  I'll keep it up - already had a Perrier on the way to work today - and we're taking water with us on our trip next week.

Sleep has been rather sub-par of late; I think it has much to do with "need a vacation" at the moment.  With luck, things will settle out in that area next week, even with the time zone changes.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Monday

So, let's see.  What did I eat Friday?
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon (probably 3 pieces)
  • a cheese snack
  • ...
  • no idea
I was right.  I remembered it all very clearly on Saturday, but it was gone by this morning.  It might have been fajitas (so called - ech!) at Applebees, with a nasty sweet BBQ sauce on them, for dinner.  Possibly.  And probably something to get that taste out of my mouth after.

Anyway, we did pretty well over the weekend - a couple of handfuls of walnuts were probably my worst peccadillo.  I'm at 142.6 this morning, which is about where I was on Friday.

Lots of things going on in my head, diet-wise, over the weekend.  I dried about 4 pounds of strawberries on Saturday - seriously yummy stuff - and it started me thinking.  I'm battling two opposing instinctive drives here.  It's summer, and I feel the need to put food up for winter, hence the drying of strawberries and what-not.  Making like a squirrel with nuts stashed all over.  But the paleo in me says, "live seasonally", which would lead me to avoid putting anything away in storage.  Oh, well.  I never was a purist or anything about this way of eating, and if I feel like drying fruit a bit this summer, so be it.  I'm thinking peaches or nectarines dried in a similar fashion (cut thin and left in the dehydrator until crunchy) might be darn tasty, too. 

I succession-planted the garden over the weekend - pulled the spinach out and put in some winter squash (the seed packet claims 4 varieties, but I could only pick out 3 distinct seed types, so not sure what we will be getting from this exercise).  The strawberries continue to produce at the rate of a handful every couple of days, and the raspberries are on the brink of being ripe - as we are a week out from our vacation.  Go figure.  Hope they'll outlast it and I don't get home to find the netting in a state of devastation.

And, to top the weekend off, I got Dr. Eades' latest blog entry in an e-mail, and he explains my leg cramps, after all the work I did to keep my potassium levels up, as simple dehydration.  Since his description of the cramps matches mine very well, I'm buying it - and will probably drink a bit more water after dinner from now on.  Glad to hear, actually, that it's not potassium depletion; it sounds like a nasty thing to do over a long period and I was actually a little worried about it.

We are taking cheese and salami and nuts with us on vacation next week, so I shouldn't have any regrets for indulging in truck-stop trail mix this trip.  Hope not, anyway.  And I got the Cracker Barrel app on my phone, so we can always find a sit-down meal that includes low-carb options (bless them!) while on the road.  Should be a good time.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Another walk

Got another walk in today - same route as yesterday.  Apart from getting my blood moving and working out a few kinks from sitting for a living, it's nice to be out in the sun for a brief period each day.  Fifteen minutes, right at noon.  If I were naked, I'd get my 10,000 IU of Vitamin D during that walk, nearly.  On the other hand, I probably wouldn't get in my walk.  Well, my arms got some sun, and my face, maybe my ankles a bit. 

I read not long ago about some speculation that nearsightedness is related to spending too much time indoors as a kid.  I certainly did that - and I'm nearsighted.  And my eyes are gently getting worse each year, which is a bummer after doing LASIK 11 years ago.  Maybe a walk at lunch isn't enough to fix anything - especially with nearly 50-year old eyes.  But it can't hurt.  I'm still wearing sunglasses so far, but I'm working on weaning myself off them.

As for my feet - I can't claim that they're shorter yet, but my work shoes fit differently after I got back from my walk.  I do think my insteps were higher.

Friday

Just to note - the likelihood that Monday's entry will include today's food is a bit thin.  That said, here's yesterday:
  • No breakfast
  • tea with cream
  • a cheese snack
  • 7-8 pepperoni pizza thingies (pepperoni, mozzarella, spaghetti sauce, bell peppers, mushrooms)
  • tomato slices
  • a glass of wine
  • two chocolate almonds
  • about 7 strawberries with cream
  • tea with cream
  • two chocolate cherries
And we're back to 142.2 this morning, despite going to bed with swollen feet.  My stomach did settle down, finally, and I was hungry around 10, but held off eating my cheese snack until after my mile stroll, so it was around noon.  Ended up with a 15-hour fast, give or take a bit.

The strawberries last night were amazing - very ripe, very sweet - I practically licked the cream from the bowl.  So much better than storebought.  Having said that, I now must confess that I will be buying a jumbo box of strawberries at Costco on our next run - to dry for snacks mostly later in the year.  Dried strawberries are amazingly good, and the smell in the house while they're drying is intoxicating.  I did a batch a few weeks ago, but I want more this year; we ate through last year's supply very quickly.

Dried fruit is probably not "paleo", because it allows one to eat non-seasonally.  But I've given up cookies and pies, mostly, so this seems like a reasonable compromise.

Don't know what the weekend holds.  I have a fairly meaty list of "to do" items, so I think we will be able to avoid the sit-still-and-snack periods for the most part.  And I will do my best to avoid the non-walnut nuts.  I tend to think, looking at yesterday's eating, that the foot swelling had to do with the giant pecan nosh the day before, assuming that it was somewhat inflammatory.  No proof, of course - just what it seems to be.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Semi-barefoot walk number 2

There is definitely a transition required between even flat shoes (3/4" heel, I think) and barefoot walking.  At the outset, I do tend to come down hard on my heels and slap my forefoot down.  But a couple of blocks in (I did my 1-mile route today), I can feel things start to smooth out.  I like the improved road sense that I get, walking that way, although it still feels pretty unprotected compared to walking with stiffer shoes.  But good so far, I think.  The moccasins are working out great - not rubbing anywhere painful and not showing undue signs of wear (I would hope not - after a mile and a half!).

The mile took me 16 minutes.  Two traffic lights where I had to stop along the way.  Not particularly close to my old race-walking times (13-ish minutes per mile, generally), but not bad for not exercising much, either.

Thursday

We're neither of us sleeping very well right now for some reason; bed just seems a bit uncomfortable.  I don't think my body comp is shifting again, which was a reason once before, but it feels a bit like that.

Here's yesterday's eating (including a bucket o' stupidity there at the end):
  • 2 scrambled eggs
  • 3 slices bacon
  • tea with cream
  • 3 pieces gruyere
  • ribeye steak (not a whole one, but they were monstrous)
  • salad
  • blue cheese dressing
  • 2 chocolate almonds
  • a boatload of pecans with cheese spread

142.8 this morning and a stomach that is mildly cursing me.  So no breakfast today; I'll let it rest.  Once again, I got the munchies last night.  I think I actually wanted ice cream - and shoot, a small bowl of ice cream probably would have been better for me than spending a half hour (maybe a bit longer) spreading pecans with cheese spread and eating them. 

The steaks last night were very good - and huge, maybe a pound apiece.  Between us, we demolished about 1-2/3 steaks - a smallish bit is in the fridge for leftovers.  Tonight, unless plans change (they tend to), we'll do the mini pizza thingies - pepperoni spread with sauce, cheese, and miscellaneous chopped pizza veggies (in this case, green peppers and mushrooms).  I guess we'll fill a cookie sheet with them and eat until we can't.  Messy, but very tasty.

I think I'll get in a walk today - probably try the full mile in the moccasins (no intentional reference to any proverb here).

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Cool!

Finally got out on the street in the moccasins; life does get in the way sometimes.  I was anticipating that I already would have adjusted to barefoot walking since so many of my shoes are very flat-soled.  Not so much, it turns out.  I was much more aware of the force of my heel strikes than I expected, and it took about a block to feel comfortable walking at my normal speed.  The moccasins also felt much more "barefoot" than I expected - and I'm wearing fairly minimalist (or so I thought) shoes today. 

I did a circle of a couple of city blocks - maybe about a half-mile.  They work!  And I say that even after stubbing my toe on an uneven bit of sidewalk.

I do have to admit that the inspiration was this: http://huntgatherlove.com/content/incredible-shrinking-feet.  I wear size 10-1/2 shoes right now - the size that mostly doesn't exist.  I would love to have my feet shrink a bit due to strengthened arches.  Here's hoping!

Wednesday

Bike-to-work day around here.  As I drove in, I didn't see all that many bikers, for which I was grateful, since they rarely seem to hold themselves bound by traffic laws.  Terrifying creatures, really.

As I swore to do yesterday, here's my eating:
  • 2 scrambled eggs
  • 3 slices real bacon
  • tea with cream
  • 1 skewer marinated chicken
  • 1 skewer marinated beef (Korean BBQ; had some sugar and soy in it for sure)
  • 4 pieces gruyere
  • tea with cream
  • Beef-with Broccoli (restaurant chinese - had carrots, water chestnuts as well)
  • small hot and sour soup
  • rather a lot of walnuts
  • 4 small strawberries (not as ripe as I would have liked - shoulda left them another day)
  • 2 chocolate dried cherries

The Chinese food was very unfilling - just like the myth claims, we were hungry an hour later - hence the walnuts and cheese.  And I'm at 142.2 this morning - not sure if it's lunch, or the salt, or the walnuts to blame.  We ended up going out, rather than having steak or pizza snacks for dinner, because the steaks were still frozen and the pepperoni was partly consumed by my husband in a minor nosh Sunday night.  Oh well - we got more.  Steaks tonight, I think.

Sleep last night was hard, but painful - I woke up achy pretty much all over.  Not really sure why, but I took some Advil and an extra fish oil at breakfast; hope that will fix it.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Additional thoughts

I just read back through my posts since Easter, which is the period in which I put on as much as 6 pounds and bounced around a lot trying to get rid of it, without much success until this past week.    And I'm thinking a couple of things.

First, it would have been more helpful if I'd been consistent at formatting a food log each day, for the previous day.  Just bullet points listing the foods I ate, never mind quantities (unless it was anomalous in some way - then I could say "a lot" or something).

Second, I do think I have been having some struggles with hormones, but I do see us having gone off the wagon a bit over that period - Mexican food shows up a lot, as do cashews, trail mix, and potatoes in various forms.  And I kicked the whole thing off with my week of eating dessert right after Easter.  Which makes me wonder if perhaps Guyenet's theory about food reward may have had some play there - I ate very rewarding food in those helpings of cheesecake and flourless chocolate cake, and it seems like they kicked off a period of mild cravings that I'm just now getting to back off a bit.   Definitely a possibility.

One other thing hit me as I was re-reading things.  The discussion a couple of days ago about the food allergies?  One thing I missed in my quick read was that some significant subset of the children with these life-threatening allergies manifest them as soon as they stop breast-feeding, nearly.  Not sure I would abandon my theory that they're diet-driven, but I wonder if they have to do with Mom's diet in some pre-natal period.  If bad proteins are passing through Mom's gut-blood barrier due to leaky gut, why would they not be passing on to the child in utero and triggering sensitivities to things they subsequently eat?  I'm an amateur, and we rarely sleep at Holiday Inn Express, but that certainly makes some sense to me, given what I've read to date.  What really seems to suck is that these allergies - some of them, anyway, don't seem to clear up.  Although I guess that there aren't any studies using strict Paleo/anti-inflammatory/gut-health eating to see if that doesn't help a great deal.  Someone should do some.

Okay.  Thinking time is over.  I do believe I'll try the bullet list food log thing for a while; see if it's easier to evaluate for patterns over time.

Tuesday

There's something to this "stay busy and don't veg out with snacks" approach, I think.  Back down to 141.8 today.  And that after an evening spent watching Triple-D with pecans and cheese spread.  I'm pretty sure that the cheese spread is not paleo - we've had it quite a while in the fridge, and it looks the same way it did over a month ago.  That degree of preservation?  It's not natural.  It is, however, low carb.

Dinner was the meatballs in spaghetti sauce.  I am very impressed with the way a potato starch panade keeps the meat moist; we had to nuke them for nearly 10 minutes to get the sauce heated up from frozen (I just dumped out a mostly-frozen ziploc on top of the meatballs).  They were absolutely fine - not hard, not even a little overcooked. 

Today I am eating lunch out of lunch trucks - they gather in downtown Denver every so often for an official event, and a friend and I are going.  Not sure what it will end up being, but I'm sure some of them sell meat in some form.  Dinner either steaks (if they're thawed) or pepperoni-based mini pizza things. 

We netted the blueberry bush last night - an effort to get a few of them in a ripe state.  Of the two bushes, one is completely stripped; the other, being closer to the patio, still has quite a few, but they were starting to dwindle a bit.  The berries we have so far are a green overcast with pale blue - pretty, but not yet edible.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll be good.  At least now, we'll be able to find out.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Monday

Generally a good weekend; I did what I planned to do and mostly kept the crap-snacking down.   Not perfect; we had a naked burger on Saturday for dinner and it came with fries, and I had a few (and they were really good).  On Sunday, I did have more chocolate cherries than I should have, and a small handful of cashews, but that was it.  142.8 this morning as a result - very nice.  Back in the region I think I should be sticking with, tho' on the high side.

I saw a short article in the paper this morning about children having food allergies (the type that make them swell up and stop breathing) at a rate of 1 in 13.  No idea if that's a higher ratio than in previous years or not, but if it is, I'm sure that it has to do with the upper right corner of "My Plate".  Just sayin'.  And it's interesting that peanuts (a legume) are one of the allergens - could it be the toxins in them that cause the problem?

Made some fresh blue cheese dressing yesterday - this time with real Roquefort cheese.  Oh, my, that's good stuff.  The recipe is so easy (sour cream, mayo, vinegar, garlic powder, celery salt, salt, pepper, blue cheese) that I don't know how the factories make any money selling the bad stuff in the bottles.  I may never buy salad dressing of any sort again - I'm sure there are recipes out there for Thousand Island (Lee's weakness), and I've been making dijon vinaigrette for quite a while now.  I had a side salad one night last week at dinner (in lieu of fries that time) that had a weird gelatinous fake-tasting "blue cheese" dressing with chunks of some mystery substance in it - it was so awful I had to stop eating it.  Weirdly enough, the naked burger in that case (we eat a lot of naked burgers at restaurants) had blue cheese on it - and it was fairly realistic.  Go figure.  Or don't think about it at all, actually; it might lead to uncomfortable conclusions.

I heard from Elizabeth over the weekend that she is still avoiding bread.  I didn't know if she would just bag the whole way of eating once she got on the migraine meds that said not to eat low-carb.  Apparently not, which is definitely a good thing, since she seems to be the most wheat/gluten intolerant of all of us.  But she was at a meeting on Saturday where the only thing to eat was pizza, and because of the crust, she didn't have any, even though she was hungry.  I'm impressed.

Got a few more strawberries from the garden - somehow, they taste fruitier than the bought ones.  I don't really know how to explain it.  And as before, the quantities available were such that I could not binge.  The raspberries, however, are going gangbusters.  They're not ripe yet, but there are a million of them.  Binging on them may be obligatory.

Meatballs with spaghetti sauce this evening for dinner, and pepperoni-based mini pizza thingies one other night this week.  Ummm-good!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Friday

And boy, would I hate to be wrong about the weekday today.  It's been a long week.  But good.

Got about 10 strawberries out of the garden yesterday, all ripe and red to the core.  They're so very different from the ones that live in plastic clamshells at Costco.  I sliced them up and ate them with cream, after giving one very small slice to one of our dogs, who is likewise addicted to them.  Gotta share, after all.  They were ambrosial. 

They were also sweet.  Which triggered a bit of binge eating; always seems to.  If my theory about eating fruit in season to fatten up for the lean months is true, that reaction would fit - when encountering food full of fattening-up fuel, eat until you explode.  But I mostly controlled myself last night - had a few more chocolate cherries just before bed, and made do in the interim with salami and swiss cheese.  No nuts.  (Costco chicken and salad for dinner).

143.2 this morning - delayed loss from the fast, I'd guess.  Glad to see it again.  And I am DETERMINED to avoid crap-snacking this weekend, somehow.  Lee's golfing in the very early am tomorrow (6:30 tee time - ugh!), and I am going to sew, to keep busy.  After he's done, who knows - but it's the time by myself that is usually my big downfall. 

I didn't get my walk in yesterday - work provided a fascinating mental puzzle to solve, right around 11 am, and before I knew it, it was nearly time to leave.  I will try to do it today.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Thursday

Wow - already?  Kidding, I think; this has been a week that is taking longer than necessary to wind down.

Got in a one-mile walk yesterday, in something around 15 minutes including stop lights - it was downtown, after all.  Not bad, and my feet did not cramp up at night at all, which I appreciate.  Nonetheless, I went out yesterday to Hobby Lobby and bought a kit to make moccasins, came home, and made them.  They're not Vibram Fives, obviously, but they are very minimalist - some thin flexible leather with about 1/4" of foam attached as an insole.  I'm going to try them out today.  I figure that, for $20, I can decide whether or not I'm really into the pseudo-barefoot thing, and if I'm not, I haven't invested much.  And if I am, they'll probably last for a while, and may work well enough that I never move to something more pricey.  And they'll preserve my work shoes a bit - I don't think they're much appreciating the wear and tear of city streets.

Fasted right up until dinner yesterday; I was a bit hungry mid-morning but ignored it and it went away.  It had no effect whatsoever on my walk at noon.  Dinner was taco salads - we split a pound of meat between the two of us, so it was pretty satisfying.  Followed it with - guess! - chocolate, walnuts, and cheese.  I'm down to 144.4 again this morning and mean to keep the momentum going in that direction.  I could have fasted again this morning, I think, but we went ahead and ate - scrambled eggs and turkey bacon.

Sleep has been really good lately - cycling very closely with the outdoor light levels.  It's just dark around here at about 9:00 or a little later, and the sun is apparent around 4:00; I'm falling asleep pretty close to 10:00 and waking between 4:30 and 5:30 with pretty good energy (though not a lot of desire to get up and go to work, I must admit).  Anyway, I'm not doing the second sleep thing at the moment, which is just fine by me.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Wednesday

Fasting today.  I certainly like that it's possible to wake up in the morning and realize that I'm just not hungry, and not feel compelled to eat breakfast.  So we didn't.  Lee opted out too, since not cooking at all is much easier than just cooking for himself.  He'll probably eat lunch; I didn't even bring cheese with me to work, so I'm in it for the whole day.  With taco salad for dinner - that's the plan, to use up some of the leaf lettuce in the garden.

The garden is starting to pay off, oh-so-slowly.  I got 3 strawberries out of it last night - all ripe, warm, shiny, and perfectly sweet.  And 3 is a just-right sort of amount - more than a tantalizing taste, but nowhere near a gorge.  And since none of the others were ripe yet, I couldn't have had more, no matter what.  Very paleo, don't you think?  Can't wait until the raspberries ripen...

Had a bunless cheesesteak for dinner last night, with a pickle spear and cottage cheese.  Really good stuff.  Followed by the strawberries, as noted, and some walnuts (not too many; I'm controlling my nut binges better this week), two pieces of salami, and 4 chocolate-covered dried cherries.  I think that was it.  And I'm down a bit more this morning - 145.2 again.

What I need to do is control myself over the weekend; that's where I blow it every time.  Mexican dinner, too much chocolate, cashews, etc., and before you know it, all my losses of the week before are gone.  I think I'll plan on sewing this weekend; that will keep the boredom snacks down, or should.

I got in a walk mid-day the past two days; will try again today.  I have some shoes that are pretty good for walking (while remaining fairly business-like); the ones on today feel fragile, and they're loud when walking on concrete, which is distracting.  I was able to use Google Maps to lay out a route and measure the distance accurately - yesterday's walk was 0.8 miles and I mean to go one block farther on the outbound half today to make it an even mile.  Takes nearly no time to do, and doesn't feel remotely like exercise, although I finish it faster than Google Maps says I will.  That said (doesn't feel like exercise), I had some golly-whomping cramps in one foot last night that I trace back to the walk - these were not potassium-related (they just feel different; I don't know how else to describe it).  I think it's possible that today's walk will repeat that issue; something about the toe-box on working shoes being too narrow for exercise, I think.  Which is pushing me to consider some barefoot shoes - either the low-tech approach (moccasin kit at Hobby Lobby - costs about $20) or something a bit higher-tech (probably Merrells' shells - can't recall exactly what they're called, but they have a Mary-Jane shoe that claims to be barefoot-compatible).  We shall see how things go.

Here's a funny thing I just realized.  We have a vacation coming up in a bit over two weeks, and I know that last summer, I felt compelled to plan out our vacation eating approach.  This year, we both came to the conclusion that we needed a car fridge (lighter plug-in type) so we can bring cheese and salami with us and avoid the truck-stop nuts.  But that's the extent of our planning; it's become second nature to order bunless burgers and salads and steaks at restaurants.  Nice!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Tuesday

Held out until I got home, then had a cheese snack, followed by a dinner of steak, salad with blue cheese, and country-style green beans (which I swear I will learn to make).  After that, 8 chocolate-covered dried cherries and some gouda.  145.8 this morning, but a night of the weirdest dreams I can recall in some time.  No idea what prompted them.

While I'm perfectly comfortable in this weight range, my one fear is that this will be "okay" and then I'll hit the top end of it and stay there, with variations above and below, and that will be "okay" and so on, until suddenly the scale starts saying things I don't like a lot.  So I would like to see things move back down to the low 140s and spend their time doing variations on that theme.  Unless it's muscle, which seems highly unlikely, given my utter lack of exercise these days.  I do mean to do my measurements one day and see where the body fat thing comes in; if it's still 23% or whatever I was last, then I'm absolutely fine with the additional 4 pounds, because it would be mostly muscle.  But I tend to doubt it.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Monday

A good weekend, but not nearly long enough.  Got some bona-fide sun time yesterday morning; whether it was that or something else, my ear appears to be clearing up from whatever was impeding my hearing on Friday.  Good thing - that's a very distracting ailment.

Ate a lot of nuts over the weekend - I was on a snack binge, quite honestly, and spent Saturday eating chocolate, as well.  So I guess I should be grateful to be "only" at 146.4 this morning.  And I am, sort of.  But I must say, snacking is my biggest problem with this way of eating - I've been a snacker for so long that it's very difficult to break the habit.

Eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast today.  I plan to get out and walk a bit mid-day unless it starts raining or something (I don't think that's in the forecast).  And meat-and-leaves of some sort for dinner.  Nothing until then - especially not m&ms and peanuts.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Friday

Four am, and the dog starts making noises suggestive of imminent digestive upset.  That's how the day started.  It got worse.  As I climbed back in bed after ushering both of them outside, I realized that one ear is very stuffed up, and the other is not far behind.  So I'm going to be deaf-ish all day.  That generally renders me completely ineffective.

I got bored yesterday, and hit the machines.  That, even after eating a cheese snack.  A bag of peanuts and a bag of M&Ms later (they don't make a good substitute for trail mix that way, for what it's worth), I'm at 145.6 this morning.  Stupid of me.  And eating that mix of toxins may have something to do with my ear issues this morning.  Maybe, anyway.

Oh, well, it's the weekend.  We will eat better this weekend, one way or another.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

The PaleolithicDiet.com's new Infographic - way cool!

Paleolithic Diet Explained
Learn more about the Paleo Diet.

Thursday

144.6 this morning - not sure why, except that I noshed on coconut chips after dinner, mindlessly.

Slept like garbage - the leg cramps became foot cramps last night - across the ball of my foot, trying to roll that area into a tube.  Not violently painful - I didn't leap out of bed or anything - but annoying as I tried to keep the foot in a non-rollable position and simultaneously relax it.  I guess it worked, eventually, because I did fall back to sleep.  That was during the lightning and thunder stage of the night; I think we also had some rain, and I'm glad to say this morning that my fear of hail was unfounded.  It kinda sounded like that sort of storm at the time. 

Anyway, noise, discomfort, and minor anxiety do not a good night's sleep make.

We had the bratwurst for dinner, with extra hotdogs - Lee didn't think 3 bratwurst between 2 of us was enough - and a salad.  It was good; nothing to write about, really.  Something with ground beef tonight - to use up the remainder from breakfast the other day.  I'm not much inspired at the moment.

If it clears up today, I'll do another walk - I enjoyed getting out into the sun yesterday.  I don't know that I'd similarly enjoy a jaunt in the rain, so I do hope it will stop soon.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Inspiration

I do read the blogs that are listed over to the right.  And I really enjoyed today's Mark's Daily Apple, on walking.  So much so that, I'm sitting at my desk and a little voice in the back of my head is bugging me: "You should get out and go for a walk."  I don't eat lunch, most of the time, and I usually just keep working during the lunch hour.  But today, I obeyed the little voice, and got outside for about 15 minutes in the sun and fresh air.  Good stuff, that - thanks, Mark!

Wednesday

That was quick.  144.4 this morning - back where we were last Friday.  I had, in addition to the boffo breakfast, a piece of cheese mid-day, 3 hours spent staring at wrapped candy in a meeting that just hurt (not due to the candy; it was as food-like to me as Christmas ornaments would be), a burger smothered with pork green chile and cheddar, a pickle spear, some cottage cheese, two or three chocolate cherries and a similar number of almonds, some gouda chunks, some walnuts (they have omega-3 pufa, after all, right?) and some coconut shreds. 

Was it all water?  I can't really explain it away otherwise; that's 3 pounds down in 2 days, basically.  But then, I certainly saw losses of that magnitude a year ago at various times.  So who knows?

Last summer, I recall being somewhat taken with the play of muscles in my forearms as I brushed my teeth.  And then I stopped noticing it, and actually wondered if I'd lost the muscle or moved some fat around or what - it didn't seem to be as obvious.  Must be a summer thing, because it's obvious again.  And fun to watch.

The bratwurst planned for dinner last night has been rescheduled for tonight.  I had eggs, turkey bacon, and turkey sausage for breakfast, so I shouldn't need a cheese snack - or at least, I hope that's the case, since I did not bring any with me today.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Tuesday

Easy fast yesterday - surprising, since it was a no-meetings day and that meant a day rife with potential boredom.  Not sure what it was I did to forestall boredom-hunger, unfortunately, since I would like to use it again.  Ah, well.  Went home and broke my fast with wine.  Big mistake.  I was fairly tipsy for the next hour or so - and trying to do embroidery with eyes that, due to alcohol and a day spent staring at my computer, would NOT focus. 

Dinner was burger patties with bacon and green chile (an amazing combination of flavor that I should have realized would work - we go out for pork green chile-smothered food all the time) and a salad with homemade blue cheese dressing.  And the wine.  And some dark chocolate-covered dried fruit - blueberries and cherries.  Yum.  I think I grabbed a couple of hunks of aged gouda later in the evening since that didn't seem like enough food for one day, but it was satisfying.

The fast knocked off just under a pound and a half - well, either it, or a hormonal event.  Seriously?  I spent six weeks having hot flashes from hell; I thought that meant I was done with this silliness.  But apparently not.  Fine, whatever.  And I'm down to 145.8 this morning.  But oh, how I hope that this doesn't mean I get to have more hot flashes...

We used up much of the spinach from the garden for breakfast today - had ground beef, spinach, and eggs scrambled together.  I don't know how many eggs were involved, but we shared a half-pound of (grassfed!) beef and each had full bowls of the mixture.  I should be good for the entire day on that.  But I brought a cheese snack to work with me, because I have a 3-hour meeting slated for this afternoon, with the people who always bring candy for sustenance.  In another building, worse yet, so I can't show up with a cup of tea to keep me going.  I won't eat the candy, obviously (well, maybe that's not so obvious, given my trail-mix weekend), but it's just going to suck.

Bratwurst and salad for dinner tonight, I think.  Something to look forward to.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Monday

No surprises here.  I spend the weekend in the car, driving down to Albuquerque and back, and have trail mix for lunch both days, Mexican for Saturday dinner and a dinner yesterday that included bean salad and corn fritters and mashed potatoes, and I find 3 extra pounds in my weight this morning.  147.2, specifically - up exactly 3 from Saturday morning.

I'm IF-ing today.  My stomach wants me to - it's a bit perturbed by the toxic load I gave it. 

Friday, June 3, 2011

Friday and not a second too soon

Sheesh, what a work week.  I'm about toasted, I think.  Hitting the road tomorrow to trade cars with Elizabeth in Albuquerque - and we'll be having Mexican for dinner, at a place we ate at two Christmases ago, give or take.  Always good when restaurants stick around that long.

I had a two-jerky day yesterday (also metaphorically, but that's an unrelated story).  Something about that stuff just fails to satisfy.  Got home, and while waiting for Lee to get home, had cheese, chocolate, salami - and was still hungry.  We had Smashburger for dinner - naked Classic burger and a strawberry shake.  Both very tasty - and finally filling.  Although by bedtime, I was scrounging more cheese...

I have some very minor cramping going on in my legs and feet - the kind I've learned to avoid by not getting in certain positions.  A pretty good night's sleep, and a bit more of the post-Easter weight gone - down to 144.4 this morning.  Lee says he's losing again - slowly - too.  So that's good.

No idea what dinner will be tonight - probably out somewhere.  Or not.  We really haven't given it any thought.  Lunch at a place that sounds meat-oriented - a chance to get together with some former co-workers.  So if I eat enough meat at lunch, we could have nothing but leaves for dinner, maybe.  Guess we'll have to see.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

And, Thursday (right?)

We had grilled pork tenderloin and salad for dinner last night - the two of us ate the whole tenderloin, something we don't usually do.  It was good - and I improvised a sauce for it that I will do again - dijon mustard (probably about 1 Tbsp), white wine vinegar (maybe 1-2 tsp) and about 2 tsp of maple syrup.  Not too sweet, not too "honey-mustard"-y, and worked well with the pork.  And we had some wine - a very domestic Chardonnay (from in the state).  I also ate some spicy pickled green beans that we picked up last year at the olive oil place near Phoenix.  They're great, but quite spicy.  I had some dark chocolate after that, and eventually two pieces of gruyere, but I think that was it.

145.0 this morning, and much less achy.  So my foray into the almonds wasn't too damaging.  Later yesterday afternoon I looked up walnuts, and they're much better - a 4:1 ratio of Omega-6 to Omega 3.  I thought I'd read somewhere that they were the least awful of the nuts, but had seen others claiming that almonds were better.  Now I have the facts, and I will act accordingly.  But I'm still avoiding nuts as much as possible the rest of the week.

Eggs, bacon, and turkey sausage this morning - more meat because we had 3 eggs between the two of us (Costco run tonight, check).  If I get hungry today, I'm going for the beef jerky I have stashed - not the turkey.  And I think we're having salad with flank steak in it for dinner - either that, or eating out somewhere between errands.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

paleolithicdiet.com

Check this out! I'm definitely looking forward to it. Just got my introductory e-mail tonight.

http://paleolithicdiet.com/re5we

Well, bother.

I got hungry today mid-day again, and it wouldn't go away.  At 2:30, I succumbed (again, not fasting) and, rather than repeat yesterday's turkey jerky incident, I thought I would go to the "convenience" store on the corner near work and get some cheese or something.

I'd only been in there once before - to grab a Red Bull on a day during the spate of hot flashes when sleep had just been a pipe dream.  And I hadn't really noticed what all they sold, but figured it would be more or less like a truck stop - maybe with a few more normal grocery items.  But snack cheese would be there, right?

Nope.  Cheez-and-crackers, Cheetos, and a single 8 oz package of Kraft cheddar, but nothing more amenable to snacking.  They also had a single package of bologna, and one of bacon.  Oh, and some beef jerky and cans of vienna sausages.  A very few fruit/veggies - onion, garlic, lemons caught my eye.  Other than that, carb-city, baby.  Wow.  And people live in that building, and I think the nearest grocery store is quite a ways away.  Nasty.

I bought a package of almonds, thinking that they were the nut with more Omega 3s than others.  Then I looked up the Omega-3 content of almonds.  5.7 mg per serving, compared with 11.5 full grams of Omega-6 oils.  So if that's as good as nuts get, nuts aren't much good.  I ate them anyway - starvation and all.  I hope they don't make the inflammation worse, but I don't think I'll hold my breath.

Wednesday

Can the 13g of carbs in turkey jerky (9g sugar) spike insulin?  Based on my mood late yesterday, maybe.  I had 2 eggs and 2 pieces of bacon for breakfast, and had to supplement with turkey jerky around mid-day due to hunger (I wasn't fasting or anything).  By dinner time, I was starving, not shaky precisely but feeling empty, and very hostile.  Not a sensation I've had in quite some time.  Dinner at Chipotle seemed to fix things - a barbacoa bowl with rice but no beans, two salsas, sour cream, cheese, and guacamole.  Good stuff, even if the meat involves soybean oil somewhere.  And I hoovered it right down.

Came home and had some dark chocolate, cheese, and salami - I'm going without nuts for at least the week, to see if that helps get me over the problems with inflammation.  I finally had to take an epsom salts bath last night to get to feeling mostly normal - every joint was achy.  I also have a mild sensation like an allergy or very light cold - occasional stuffy nose, and one ear is swollen a bit and feels waterlogged.  Not sure what is going on there, but figure I can do fairly anti-inflammatory eating for a few days and see if that calms all of it down.

146.2 today - down a little from yesterday, probably due to the bath.  Hopefully the trend will continue - as long as I avoid the bloody nuts.