Flaura eats Fauna (and fungi) page 14

[Flaura]

Thanks W&C!

I had a huge feast on thanksgiving. I didn't count calories or anything like that. I even had 3 rolls over the course of the day. Yesterday I had pumpkin pie for breakfast and thanksgiving leftovers for dinner.

today I sprinted (in my new Merrell Pace Gloves)!! Had cottage cheese for breakfast along with my coffee w/HWC. Back on track with the protein anyway. Hoping to make a full primal recovery by the end of the weekend. I will be working this weekend, though. Then maybe I'll take Friday off and have some fun. Fun is primal, too. Must remember that. Must join gym still...

[Flaura]

What do you know, blink and 3 months go by. Well, I'm back, after a little vacation away from my food-obsession.

It has been almost a year of Primal for the Flaura. Not that anyone is most likely reading this. I would like to do a reflection on what I've learned. But no time for that today.

Mostly came on here to document a little transition that is occurring in my life. For the last 3 months I've been slacking (mostly due to meeting a boy) I've still not joined a gym, and I've let too much sugar, grain, and alcohol creep back into my life. Also I never even tried giving up dairy. So a few days ago I made it my goal to give up sugar, grains, dairy, and alcohol for two weeks. This is the optimum timing because in two weeks I will be moving in with my new man. I will be moving several hundred miles away and taking on a new job. I want to start this new chapter of my life without my little sugar and alcohol habits. I want to start on a fresh note.

So far I'm on day 3 of my little detox. Also I've been cutting way back on caffeine, and trying to drink more tea and mate. I am doing very well with the exception of a couple squares of very dark chocolate yesterday and the day before.

Day 3:
B: 2 fried eggs, 2 slices bacon, 2 cups black coffee
S: a couple handfuls of walnuts
L: 5 oz. Tilapia fillet fried in butter, lettuce with EVOO & Balsamic, 1/2 avocado
D: 1.5 c. very primal chicken soup, 1/3 c. applesauce, 1/2 avocado
S: 1 oz. almonds, 1/2 small can of tuna, several cups of tea with stevia

[Flaura]

Now I remember why I stopped coming here, too much information. It seems like I can't stop reading other people's N=1 experiments and wondering if I should be doing the same thing. I read a couple journals last night where the journallers seemed to have been more successful than I at losing weight. Those journallers, who will be left unnamed as of yet, seem to be more in tune with their bodies than I am.

But it's not really a mystery to me why I'm not at my ideal weight. In fact, I looked at myself in the mirror last night and was amazed that I am not a chair-shaped blob of fat, because I feel like that some days. Too much time sitting. On a positive note, I was surprised that, aside from a few blemishes, my overall skin tone looks really good. I am wondering if it' from not drinking alcohol...or maybe it's the no-dairy. I don't know, but I think that this detox of mine is worth it right now. It doesn't even seem that hard.

I've decided that for my purposes right now, that butter isn't dairy. I have a lot of butter laying around. It was on sale at the grocery outlet. So I made a batch of Batty's Balls, whatever they're called. But I used huckleberries instead of blueberries because I have frozen huckleberries and stuff I need to use before I move. Haven't had one yet. I am excited though.

Two trends on the forum that I'm noticing (and tempted by): Bulletproof coffee and Iodine supplementation/detox.

I tried the bulletproof coffee this morning in addition to my bacon and eggs. It was good. Maybe tomorrow I will have it by itself. I've had a long-standing crush on Tibet.

I have recently started making my own toothpaste and generally avoiding fluoride. I definitely not ready for any kind of detoxing. I don't even think I want another supplement to add to the list. However, I think it's probably high time to start eating more sea vegetable in addition to my fairly regular seafood.

Day 4
B: 3 slices bacon, 1 egg, bulletproof coffee
S: almonds
L: BBQ Beef on top of lettuce, equivalent of 1 Batty Blueberry Butterball
S: 1 BBB, a shit ton of tea

walked the dogs for about an hour in the sun

[Flaura]

Way too much procrastination going on here, could it be that I use MDA/obsessing about my weight as just another fun procrastination tool? I wouldn't put it past myself. Although that's pretty self destructive. At least I'm in good company. I see you guys on here all the time, no judging. What am I even talking about?

I had to eat the applesauce this morning, well, I had to eat something fast cause I was about to lose my vitamins. I must remember to eat something sensible before taking all those little pills. Hey wouldn't it be fun if we could all subsist and vitamins and coffee? That would about be my ideal world right now.

At least I got sun yesterday. Sleep has only been a couple hours the last two nights. I look like hell warmed over. Too much chair time.



Day 5
B: 1/4 c. applesauce, 1 BBBB, BULLETPROOF coffee.
L: 1.5 c. chicken soup (with a few too many potato chunks in it)
S: Kombucha, seaweed sheets, a few nuts (mostly cashews and Brazil nuts)
D:TBD, thinking about trying to make chili with ground turkey and pumpkin. will have to find some recipes. Maybe it will actually be a curry, who knows

middle of the day notes:

there is something seriously weird going on with my skin, it's glowing and simultaneously breaking out all over, little zits across my forhead. I've never had that happen. Not even in high school. So either this is a weird hormonal shift, or it's from stress, or my body really is trying to rid itself of some toxins through my skin. I don't know what to believe about detoxification, in my head the whole thing is so muddled in the metaphysical bullshit whimsical nonsense (the kind of stuff that sucks me right in). I don't know if there's any real scientific basis for it. A lot of my previous health wisdom was based in ayurveda because I was doing yoga. Anyone who has gotten hooked on yoga knows that it's pretty much THE answer to all your problems while your doing it. Addictive is I guess what I'm getting at. I even paid to have an ayurvedic diet recommended to me. Now I can see that a lot of it was prettymuch bullshit. BUT, there are some strange overlappings here and there between ayurvedic principals and primal principals. Detoxification is one of those weird overlappy areas for me.

I found some seaweed snacks at the natural food store. I bought them and some kelp sprinkles to cook with. Trying to up the natural iodine so I don't have to eat too much of that iodized industrial salt. Or another vitamin pill.

Another thought, with all this fat that I'm suddenly eating, I'm wondering if I'm going to enter ketosis soon. I keep wondering what it will smell like. I like my normal smell. But I do want to be in ketosis, I don't think I ever have been there before.

The Bulletproof coffee is good, and I have the perfect tool for it at the place I'm staying, it's like a magic wand with a little blender blade at the tip. But the bulletproof coffee only kept me satieted til about 11:30. Then I was hungry again. Although Gawd knows I'm not burning much, sitting at my desk here.

[Flaura]

Day 6
B: 1 banana, Bulletproof coffee
S: 4 breakfast sausages
L: 1 BBBB, 4 small carrots,1/2 tin of smoked oysters
D: BBQ beef
S: 8 oz white wine, 3 strawberries, 1 serving of trader Joes veggie chips with papaya salsa

Sooo day 6 I drank alcohol. But not of my own accord. I drank it socially because my friend/landlord/roommate is FINALLY back home. After a long drive she texts me to ask if there is wine in the house. I tell her it can be arranged. I can justify this cheat. I didn't overdo it and we needed to celebrate, afterall, she is now retired and I am now no longer dogsitting (after 3 months). Also, I still haven't had dairy or grains or sugar. I know that day 15 of my challenge I will be drinking too, to celebrate the big move. Actually I planned for this whole challenge to end on day 15, but I could keep going with the exception of a couple alcohol cheats a month. And then maybe after awhile skipping the sugar and dairy and whatnot won't seem so challenging. Maybe I will transition naturally from a challenge to a way of eating. Maybe I will start being able to intuitively eat right. I think that is my ultimate goal above and beyond weight loss or inch loss or anything. I want to change my relationship with food so that I intuitively eat what is right for my body.

Maybe I should mention that after 6 days I am down 1.9 lbs.

Also, I think all the butter is giving me the runs. Not positive about this but I am going to lay off the Bulletproof coffee and BBBB for now. My hypothesis being that my body has a sufficient amount of fat. Eating bananas to try to stop the runs. All the fruit eating does not seem to be making me ravenous.

Day 7
B: 1 strawberry, 1 banana, some not-so-bulletproof coffee
S: mineral water
L: my bizaar turkey curry chili concoction, 1 BBBB
D: No

[Flaura]

So Day 7 I was back on the wagon, and then there was Day 8 (yesterday) which started on a high note and just took a nosedive from there.
Day 8
B: 3 slices bacon, 2 eggs, 1 C. black coffee
S: peanut m&ms (Why?)
D: 8 oz white wine, more turkey curry chili stuff, caesar salad, 1 slice bread (why?)with butter of course
D: huckleberry buckle with icecream (why, why,why???)

My friend/roommate/landlordlady decided she was going to cook dinner and dessert, and use my huckleberries in a buckle recipe that involved lots of sugar and flour. I worked a ton yesterday and didn't pack a lunch so m&ms for lunch (STUPID). If I just had wine with dinner I wouldn't have felt so bad. It was the m&ms, bread and dessert that really make me mad.
Anyway, feel junky today.

Day 9
B: 1 cup black coffee, 2 slices bacon, 1 cup yerba mate
L: Turkey curry chili stuff
D: 2 boiled eggs, some salami slices, 1 pear, some Kombucha
S: a piece of cheese, 2 olives, 2 slices ham with cream cheese on them all rolled up, 3 pieces salt water taffy

[Flaura]

So I'm back to that point where I think "what am I counting for?" cause none of my goals are sticking.

I still want to stop the sugar addiction, but it seems near impossible to avoid all sugars and still eat around other people. I think I could give up one thing at a time, but to break the sugar addiction I think I have to give it all up. Including dairy, yes. For awhile anyway.

This means forming new habits. I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR recently and heard an interview about changing habits. One thing I took away from that interview is that it's easier to change habits when you have a break in your routine, vacations or moving to a new home, for example. Which is fortuitous because I'm going to be moving, in 3 days (Holy shit). So maybe all I will have to do is make sure that the first few days in my new home are sugar free and that will be enough to change my habits. Actually the first day in my new place I am going to have a drink to celebrate. But after that....

Today yogurt seemed like the most expedient way to get protein for breakfast.

B: greek yogurt, 1 tangerine
S: Yerba Mate

[Flaura]

I'm baaack. Well, Mostly just to compare notes


The last measurements I could find in my journal were from September 2011
weight 148 lbs
bust 37"
waist 29.5"
hip 38"
arm 11"

As of Today:
weight 141 lbs
bust 36"
waist 30"
hip 39"
arm 10.5"

To summarize my absence:
I moved across the state to live with my man (haven't lived with a man since I was 21).
I almost immediately lost 7 lbs.
I got a job doing a lot of physical work in the field which may account for some of the weight loss.
I cut out a lot of the chocolate and sugar. I probably just eat less period.
I get more sun.
I get more play.
I'm WAY HAPPIER!!!!


I'm still (shockingly) not 100% primal (whatever that means these days). I probably have eaten more grains since moving than I did on my own. We kind of like to party around here, too, so lots of alcohol is consumed very regularly.

Looking forward:
I would like to clear up some of the digestive issues I've recently started experiencing.
I need to start adjusting my lifestyle to maintain/continue the weight loss through the winter which will involve a lot more desk-time/indoor time most likely.

Goals:
reduce grains and dairy and alcohol,
add yoga and walking to the routine (on desk days),
start taking herbs to balance doshas (aka yoga voodoo shit)

[Flaura]

This weekend the man is away. I am using this time to rest and regroup. I have done a lot of moving around slowly around the house and garden doing chores.

Saturday I woke up early. Weighed in at 141. Took a bath in the early morning, later I had black coffee and greek yogurt for breakfast. Did recycling and grocery shopping. Had some chai tea (made with milk and honey)with turmeric, and a tuna salad for dinner. I also had some mineral water with HWC for snack/dessert. I did a lot of laundry and house chores. I spent a significant portion of the day on the computer, which did not feel very primal. At least I got to relax after a stressful week. Went to bed around 10.

Sunday I woke up around 6. I weighed in at 138 mysteriously. I used my neti pot in the morning, it seems to help me with some congestion, but I still have a bit of post-nasal drip.don't know if this is food related or not. Did my morning chores, then had Italian sausage for breakfast along with a zucchini which I sliced up and sauteed in olive oil with cayenne, turmeric and other spices. I felt very proud of having veggies for breakfast. I did some yard work and in the late morning I had half a papaya. Chicken breast for lunch. Kippered herring for snack, along with some iced tea, carrots, and a couple cherry tomatoes that had just ripened. I washed some of the cars and put the chickens in for the night and then I came in for dinner which was a bit of liver with onion (sauteed in butter). I also had a bit of sake with dinner. I still felt pretty lethargic. I also felt worried and angry for periods of the day. I'm glad to have this time to check back in with myself. It's almost 9:30, time for bed!

I am counting calories elsewhere. I don't have a daily goal for calories. Mostly I just enter my data so I can refer back and see the trend. I've decided I'm done with having a journal that reads: Food: blablabla, Exercize: blablabla. It lacks personality, doesn't tell the whole lifestyle story. I've learned over the last few months that the lifestyle may be more important than the diet. It's at least equally important.

[Flaura]

ug, I wrote a post and it all went away! Poo...

In summary: I weighed in at 138 again, which is awesome. I used my neti this morning and I also took my probiotics. I had eggs for breakfast, tuna salad for lunch, carrots and peaches for a snack, turmeric tea, and a huge steak with greens and huckleberries for dinner. Food was awesome! No cravings, no emotional eating. I feel balanced. I worked in an air conditioned office all day. I spent some time outside when I got home. I'm worried about my metabolism at this job. I'm a bit concerned I might have low-level inflammation as I am often congested and my eyes are often reddish.
Overall awesome though!