The Primal Journeys of Grok

My psychology professor in college recommended that I start a journal, now twenty years later I will take him up on his advice!

This journal is meant for me, myself and I. However others are welcome to read and comment.

I probably will not be writing down much of what I eat mainly because I am embarrassed about how simple my meals are. I have spent my entire life eating convenient foods, and my biggest primal challenge is not the food I eat, but [B]preparing[/B] the food I eat.

So without further ado, I will begin my journal:

[U]Wed. Jun 16, 2010:[/U]
Yesterday after work I drove down to the pull-up bars and saw someone who looked like he had zero body fat. I briefly chatted with his friend and he said they were from Bulgaria. I hope to meet them again to learn what this person eats and how he exercises. He looks like he a trapeze artist, he is so fit!

I did two sets of ten jack-knife pull-ups and then two sets of five more (I could not complete three sets of ten.) I then did two more sets of five with palms facing towards me.

Now it is lunch time, and I must prepare a salad before I head back to work. I promised myself I would eat a salad for lunch today.

Did the [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tDZRogSbbU"]Abs Fitness Workout[/URL] this morning. Still no where close to having proper form on exercise #6, and I do not even attempt exercise #8. Still, I feel like these are getting easier. I need to pick up some chicken breast for my salads. I need to focus on making a better salad for my lunches and chicken breast will go a long way towards that goal.

I did two sets of ten push-ups last night, want to work up to three sets of ten, but I am not in a hurry because I'm still lagging way behind in my ability to do pull-ups. I plan to head to the pull-up bars after work today.

At work today, I will implement in JavaScript a class to animate a series of frames within an image tag on Android platforms because Android does not support gifs. gifs are evil, just like flash. Good to see Google and Apple flexing their muscle against these non-open standards, even if it does make my job a little more difficult.

Need to check my bacon...

I found some Amorosa tomatoes at the store yesterday which are about an inch in diameter. These are perfect for my salad. I just cut one of them into quarters and I have perfect bite size tomatoes. These are especially sweet too. I have also cooked up a couple of chicken breasts and stored them in my fridge for the afternoon salad. These should be near perfection now.

[IMG]http://www.oppyproduce.com/images/fruit_pics/greenhouse_amorosaclam.jpg[/IMG]

Did two sets of ten jackknife pull-ups followed by seven more (quick break) then three more to finish off the third set. Then did two sets of five with palms facing towards me followed by four more for good measure.

Another round of the Abs Fitness workout this morning (excluding exercise #8.)

171.2 lbs this morning. I've been at this weight for a while now. I think I might be able to break through this level by next week if I don't cheat on my diet.

Need to check my bacon...

My [URL="cavemancookies.com"]Caveman Cookies[/URL] arrived yesterday. I got the Original and Alpine variety in the large bags. These cookies didn't have very many carbs, so I decided to try them out. Now if I can limit myself to just 2-3 a week!
[IMG]http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0045/4692/products/MG_0017_3_large.jpg[/IMG]

Also at the store yesterday, I discovered a yogurt which is even better than The Greek Gods yogurt: [URL="http://www.redwoodhill.com"]Redwood Hill Farm[/URL] Goat Milk Yogurt. The vanilla has only 16g of carbs and it is so delicious and creamy. This is my new yogurt of choice, sorry Greek Gods.
[IMG]http://www.redwoodhill.com/media/newyogurtcups-1272475348-dm-x220-552-502-182-51.jpg[/IMG]

Last night I accomplished a set of 10 push-ups followed by a set of 9, then a set of 5. My immediate goal is to be able to do three sets of 10 push-ups with minimal effort.

I completed my writing of a JavaScript class to animate a series of still images on an Android device in order to simulate an animated GIF. Today I plan to watch a [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXm6vlyj-IE"]lecture[/URL] from a long time friend of mine, [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_soon"]Willie Soon[/URL]. I have known Willie since the early 90s and he is the most brilliant person I have every had the pleasure to know.

I have noticed that my skin which is exposed to the sun is getting darker (I am a redhead who does not tan.) I am considering going out without a shirt for a few minutes each day to try and even the color of my skin out a bit.

Yesterday was a pretty bad day for me because I am suffering from a health issue which [I]might[/I] be caused by a lack of dietary fiber (see my [URL="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/showthread.php?10162-How-do-I-get-more-Fiber"]post on Fiber[/URL] in the nutrition forums.)

I fasted for most of the day yesterday and skipped exercise, except for the Abs fitness workout. Towards the end of the day yesterday, I learned that my health problems might be caused by lack of fiber so out of desperation I went out to eat and had some hash browns. I'm considering eating out again for breakfast and having some home fries.

Anyway, I think I'm going to make some changes to my diet as soon as I get healthy again. I'm going to start leaving the skins on my carrots and onions and I'm going to try and eat more vegetables which are high in fiber just as a precaution.

I picked up some desert sage yesterday which I use during prayer.
[IMG]http://hmrinc.ipower.com/store/images/desert%20sage%20cedar%20lavendar%20large%20sage%20bundle.jpg[/IMG]
I have not burned some in a while, so now that I have a new bundle I can use it to ward off any evil spirits which might be lurking.

Yesterday was an [B]extremely[/B] bad day. The pain was worse yesterday than the day before. I went to the store and picked up some NSAIDs and some fiber supplements.
[IMG]http://www.alva-amco.com/ultra-fiber/images/ultra-fiber_bal_sku_pic.jpg[/IMG]
I have become a pill popper! With Mark's Damage Control Master Formula, Fish Oil Capsules, and now the Fiber supplements and pain pills, I am up to about thirty pills a day!! I have become a pill-o-holic.

This morning I feel [I]much[/I] better. Most of the pain has subsided, however I have not fully recovered yet. I will most likely be taking it easy for most of this week. My body has gone through such a radical transformation in such a short period of time, I think this latest health issue is just a way for my body to tell me that I need to slow down.

My weight this morning was 166.4lbs! This is a remarkable difference from the 171.2 just a few days ago! The fasting I did over the past couple of days must have done it, I was at 171.2 for quite a long time. I guess that is one advantage to being sick, you can lose weight! :p I cannot remember the last time I weighed this much, it must have been some time in high school.

I appreciate all the advice people have been giving me on the thread on Fiber I started yesterday. My recent health issues might have nothing to do with fiber, but I'm going to try the supplements just to be on the safe side. As I stated above, I have come to conclude that it is just my body's way of telling me to slow down.

I have updated my signature in response to the Potato thread which I finally read. It is my opinion that potatoes should be consumed as "starvation" food, that is, only when there is nothing else available. I think potatoes are perfect for keeping you going during multi-day fasts. This is my own non-professional opinion, but I'm sticking with it.

I ran out of my bottled mineral water and my plastic containers of distilled water so I tried some tap as [URL="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/weekend-link-love-100/"]Mark suggests[/URL]. I found it to be totally disgusting! I think Mark is completely off the mark on this one (pun intended.) It is in my opinion that he is influenced by political correctness, however to a lesser degree than most. However, I'm only here because most of what he says makes sense.

[B]I'm sorry, I will not drink that putrid disgusting fluoridated chlorinated swill our government wants us to drink.[/B]

Speaking of governments, the Chinese have again decided to let their currency appreciate a little bit. This could easily snowball into the Yuan appreciating to it's market value. This would result in massive inflation here because the Fed would have to print dollars to pay the bills of our profligate government. In other words, all that debt is going to come due within the next several years. We could default on the debt which simply means we will promise to only pay back 50%, but the politicians will never do that because most lack courage.

I think I'm digressing and ranting. I study economics and history all the time and I get frustrated by people's ignorance at times. Especially the ignorance of our elected officials.

It has been a while since I have updated my journal. Mainly because I have been in recovery mode and I have not been exercising or doing much of the PB lifestyle the past week. This past week has been both a mental and physical challenge. I would say I am about 98% healed now, and I will most likely start picking up the exercises again either today or tomorrow. I plan to start off slowly.

I never took more than a few of those fiber supplements because I came to the conclusion that I was suffering from temporary insanity from being in pain 24/7.

I am going to try to cut down on my use of shampoo/conditioner and see how it goes.

I received some gift money they other day so I picked up a three piece cast iron set, a 20lb. kettlebell weight, and a pressure cooker. :)
[IMG]http://www.gopresto.com/images/products/02160.jpg[/IMG]
I used shampoo this morning, which is the first time since Thursday. I also picked up some Dr. Bronners liquid soap.
[IMG]http://www.drbronner.com/store/graphics/products/OLPE32EA.jpg[/IMG]
Getting back into lifting heavy things. This morning I did three sets of seven push-ups.

Yesterday after work, I completed three sets of one normal pull-ups followed by eight sets of five jack-knife pull-ups. For some reason, doing normal pull-ups at the park were more difficult than the pull-ups I tried at Sports Authority on their pull-up station. It must have been with the position of my palms. Using the pull-up station I could do about three pull-ups, but on a normal horizontal bar I struggle to just do two.

I want to really blast my arms. I was thinking yesterday I should set a goal of 100 push-ups a day.

I ordered some pemmican and it should arrive some time today. I hope FedEx will just leave the package at the door without having to sign for it.
[IMG]http://www.grasslandbeef.com/catalog/pemmican%20jpeg_thumb.JPG[/IMG]

I also ordered [URL="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UAK75I"]Encyclopedia Of Kettlebell Lifting[/URL], I guess I will probably need to get another kettlebell since I only bought one.