Flaura eats Fauna (and fungi) page

[Flaura]

Good Evening my fellow hunters and gatherers...

I think I stumbled into MDA a few months back when I was looking for Hunting/gathering blogs...does this require explanation? I suppose it does. I am a vegan turned hunter. Well, I suppose I was a hunter first. My dad was, anyway. At the age of 13 I lacked the maturity and desire to hunt, I thereby decided that I could not eat what I could not kill. This led to 10 years of vegetarianism which culminated in a year of veganism. My body handled this remarkably well. However, upon moving back in with my parents I began eating venison again. This transition was natural enough that I am tempted to call it instinctual. I have been adding more and more meat back into my diet since that time. Although factory farming is still a soap-box issue of mine. I intend to dedicate my life to increasing the sustainability of agriculture in the United States (or whatever corner of the country I happen to be living in).

Back to MDA/Primal Blueprint/etc
I've admittedly been reading the MDA for a few months now, and reading the forums religiously for a week or two. I've never been much of a forum joiner. After reading the forums for a bit, I've gotten somewhat comfortable with the idea. Thus I begin this journal with the intent that it will keep me on track, focused, inspired, and striving to live ever-more primally. I realize (from reading other journals) that there may very well be therapeutic for reasons for journalling other than just tracking food intake (which I already do). And I kind of want to participate in a community in which I already feel accepted and befriended, even if you don't know me yet. Weird? Weird. Cave-community instincts expressed through the internet.

April is a good month for starting out. I was born in April, and it continues to be sort of a power-month for me. So here's to April! Here's to starting out! Stats (for the record):
female, 26 YO, H 5' 2", W 154 lbs, Ch 38", W31", H 40"

I do not know my % BF and will probably continue along in my ignorant bliss.
I took a few pictures about a week ago, but do not feel compelled to post them yet.

I have mostly eliminated grains and sugars. It wasn't really as daunting as it sounded at the start. I have a long way to go though, mostly in the fitness dept., after all, I work a dreaded desk-job. Well, this summer there will be field-work. But for now, too much desk time.
That about wraps up my first post.
Thanks for reading y'all.

[Coconut Girl]

welcome! LOVE your journal title and appreciate your 'back story'... i am always grateful to connect with other women who are the same height as me and around the same weight... i know it sounds weird! i completely appreciate, honor and respect your intentions to increase sustainability in U.S. (or where have you) agriculture--it's something i value. is that the type of 'work' that you do?

[JTWolflied]

Awesome! Yeah, I did the whole vegan thing for like 6 months and called it because I was getting noticeably weaker. It did some great things though in my awareness, like the whole factory farm thing. My biggest challenge right now is finding good sources of meat and organs here in Phoenix. I can definitely relate to the community concept. Just from what I've read so far, there seem to be some seriously cool people on this forum. Good luck with everything and enjoy the results!

-Jeremy

[Adrianag]

You will be happy to learn that body composition is 80% due to diet, so don't sweat the exercise initially. Be sure to download Primal Blueprint Fitness.

[Flaura]

Thanks for the positive and welcoming response, all.

Yes, Coco girl, this is the kind of work I do, and happily. I did notice we are about the same size. I have enjoyed reading your journal.

Jeremy- while veganism may seem dumb looking back on it, I think that it did serve a meaningful purpose in my life. I am thankful that my body is a survivor and I didn't end up with any serious health consequences because of it. Veganism is one extreme, Primalism is another extreme. I sometimes wonder if I will be viewed by others as silly for swinging from one extreme to another. Ultimately it doesn't matter what other people think. I live according to my philosophy, I'm very literal that way. I think that the real turning point for me was reading Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. It made me realize that as long as I was consuming corn and soy in some form or another I was still fueling the root of the problem.

[Flaura]

Food
Breakfast: 2 C. Coffee w/2%milk, 2 C. OJ, 4 sausages
Lunch: 2 Kiwifruit, 2 Tsp. Coconut oil, 1 HB egg, 1/3 C. Cottage Cheese
Dinner: 2 glasses red wine, 5 oz. flank steak
Snack: Tea w/1 tsp. honey + 1 fl. oz. Coconut milk

Calories: 1,098
Carb:83
Fat:44
Protein:58


Activity
Cooked and served a Pancake Breakfast (yays) to over 100 people...kind of like playing waitress...
45 min walk on the beach

Sleep
Not as much as I wanted last night, had to wake up at 5 AM.Tired. Tried to take a nap, but was unsuccessful.

Notes about today
I think my sugar tolerance is significantly lower than it used to be. I always get sores on my tongue when I've had too much sugar. Today I noticed a sore on my tongue apparently from OJ, Kiwi, and honey.
I also appear to be breaking out a bit on my face...not really sure why. Probably hormones.

Incidentally I seem to be alternating between high calorie days and low calorie days. I am trying not to make judgements about weight, measurements, good food/bad food, calories, etc. I am just writing all this to record it and see what happens.

[Flaura]

Food
Breakfast: 2 cups of tea w/honey and coconut milk, 3 breakfast sausages, 1 hard boiled egg
Snack: 2 Tbsp. dried blueberries, 1 oz Hazelnuts, 1 tbsp. homemade nutella
Lunch: ~4 oz. Flank steak, Salad greens w/some wood sorrel I gathered, 1 tbsp. olive oil/apple cider vinegar, ground pepper
Dinner: ~6 oz. Flank steak, roasted turnips w/sea salt and olive oil, 1 glass red wine.
Other: multivitamin, D vitamin, fish oil

calories: 1,243
Carb: 43 - 15%
Fat: 76 - 58%
Protein: 79 - 27%
Did I mention that yesterday was my first time cooking flank steak? I marinated it in garlic, red wine, olive oil, and thyme, only cooking it 'til it was just done and still very pink in the middle. Delicious!

Activity/Play/Sun exposure/barefootedness
1/2 hour of yoga DVD.
About 1 hour long walk on the beach, barefoot. Sun came out for a little while.
I hula hooped for a while too for some play-time. But alas, Hula hooping isn't so fun without some fellow hoopers, or at least an audience

Sleep
I let myself sleep in this morning. I slept from 11 to 8. Still not really feeling like jumping out of bed...also I have bags under my eyes, it makes me look sleepy, even if I'm not.

Notes/Other
I'm finding it difficult to get enough protein in.
On the bright side...
I used to be addicted to Nutella. For awhile I convinced myself that it was OK (20% rule)but really, it's mostly palm oil and sugar. So it's not okay.
I love hazelnuts (filberts are what I grew up calling them), and since they are grown in Oregon it's pretty easy to get them fresh. Most of the ones in the store are rancid in my opinion. Anywho, I decided to try my hand at making nutella today, it wasn't too difficult. The end result was delicious! But not nearly as addictive as the stuff you buy in the store. Win-win!

[Flaura]

Food
Breakfast: 3 sausages, tea w/coconut milk
Snack: Coffee w/half&half cream
Lunch: 3 eggs*, scrambled, ~1 C. turnips w/butter, ~40 grams dark chocolate (70%)
Snack: 2 C. Green tea w/stevia
Supplements: multivitamin, D, fish oil, calcium/magnesium

Calories: 813
Carb: 31 - 14%
Fat: 70 - 70%
Protein: 37 - 16%

*local eggs, I can definitely tell the difference, the yolks were positively orange!

Activity
20 min of P90X back and legs in the AM, 1 hour after work.

Notes
Sleep last night was okay, I opened the window and I think that helped a bit, but the street lights are bright. So I'm still not jumping out of bed. And there's still not enough time to get a good workout in before work.
So today I read that you can reset your sleep by IFing for 12-16 hours. I decided that it's worth a shot. Starting today at 2:45. If I don't eat 'til 7:45 tomorrow it'll be a 17 hour fast. Probably could have planned it better, but let's face it, Grok didn't always get to plan his IF...and going 17 hrs w/o food is definitely not going to kill me. In fact if I'm not hungry in the morning I might see if I can last a full 20 hours. We'll see.

Sort of in a funk today. After work it's pouring down rain. I had wanted to go to the gym, but it appears there is some sort of class going on. Which I might have participated in if I had known about it. Decided to go home and do workout video instead. Just feeling dissatisfied right now. Too much indoor time, too much alone time, too much I don't know what to do with myself time.

In the past I've noticed I haven't been able to really lose weight unless I run. So it's frustrating that it's too wet to run. And I dislike treadmills. Excuses, excuses. Just want to feel in control again.

[Flaura]

Got such a good night's sleep last night!! And woke up to birds singing. Definitely going to have to IF more often, and keep sleeping with the window open! Today is going to be a good day...I can tell.

[Flaura]

Food
Breakfast: tea w/coconut milk, 3 pieces bacon, 1/2 yam w/butter
Snack:coffee w/half&half
Lunch:2 HB eggs, baby carrots, pepperoni sticks, sugar-free energy drink
Snack: coffee w/gross fake creamer, 30g chocolate (70%), 2 Tbsp. sunflower seed butter

Calories: 1472
Carb:85 - 24%
Fat :98 - 60%
Protein:58 - 16%

Activity
Walked to (and from) work

Notes
16 hour IF ended at 6:45ish. Had a good amount of sleep. Then a looong day at work led to questionable food choices. I really intended to come home an cook salmon and asparagus, but I'm not going to do that at 10:30 at night. I did resist pastries at the meeting I went to after work. Although someone at the meeting told me that I looked tired. I probably do.