A Primal Dietitian??? Martha T.'s Journal page 21

[marthat]

So, I broke the Whole30 (actually Whole62) yesterday for Canada Day. Actually, the main cheat was before the Canada Day party, being about an ounce or two of organic Austrian cheese, hand-delivered by hubby returning from Europe. It was amazing! Then, at the party at friend's, I had about 4-6 oz wine mixed into club soda, one bite of a wheat-containing sausage stuffing (in pork loin roast - delicious!) and 3 pieces of dark chocolate almond bark. Those were my only cheats yesterday.

Today, weight was up 1 lb. Was it the cheats or was it because I didn't poop yesterday?? Who know, but I've stuck to Whole30 restrictions today. B: Bulletproof coffee. L: 2 home-made compliant burgers with onion and BBQ sauce flavoured Mayo over top, raw veggies, iced tea. S: An avocado with celery salt, more raw veggies, more iced tea. It's holidays, it's hot, I don't feel like cooking. Later this evening, I will have a martini with hubby, my first in about 3 weeks. Yummy!

I'm off to the Y now to run on the air-conditioned indoor track and then do some weights. I'm gonna earn that martini!

[marthat]

Ran (very slowly) over a mile on the indoor track (forgot to count laps because I could see my son in the big lane pool on every lap and got distracted). Then leg press, rows, chest press, lat pulldowns, ab curl machine and a plank. Had a quarter cantaloupe melon after workout. Now for the martini - yummy!

[marthat]

Reposted from the Whole30 in July thread, for posterity:

Today is my 52nd birthday. For my birthday, I have given myself my body back. I have dropped 13 lbs in the last 2 months, returning to last summer's (and the last 4 year's) weight range and the return of my body to the shape that fits my entire summer wardrobe. I have energy, I feel sexy and strong. I have Whole30 to thank for making that happen in the last 2 months.

I have further that I want to go with this. I want to stay off most grains, processed foods and sugars forever, only enjoy the best of dairy and alcohol. I love having no bloating, no daily gas issues, no blood sugar lows. But for now, I'm in a birthday-induced glow of good feelings and contentment. And I'm stuffed on lunch. A little bowl of very rich chicken bone broth (leftover from baked chicken a few days ago - the pan drippings looked and tasted too good to throw out), a zucchini and bacon stirfry, a few fresh peas. On the horizon for supper are Hungarian Stuffed Peppers, made by a little Hungarian woman at our local farmer's market. They have some rice (which I'm allowing myself during my not-quite-Whole30 week off), but look and smell amazing. And fresh strawberries with coconut milk (milk or cream for the guys). Doesn't that sound like an awesome birthday dinner??

[marthat]

Time for an update...

Since my birthday (see post above), I have not got back to Whole 30. In fact, I'm not even back to fully Primal. I have been letting a few bits of grain and sugar worm it's way back into my diet. Weight has been stable at 145-147 lbs, up from the lowest I hit at the end of the Whole60 - 141.5 lbs. But I don't feel as thin as I did 4-5 lbs lower, or as sexy or happy.

Tomorrow, we are hosting our annual ribfest. It's a month later than usual due to hubby being away over the summer solstice, when we usually hold our party. So we are having about 16 people over for dinner tomorrow - ribs that we make, potluck salads and desserts, lots of drinks. I'm making sangria, my favourite.

After this party is behind us, I want to get back to fully Primal and lose a bit more weight. I feel so good around 140, though it's not a truly lean weight for me. I would be sooo happy to be back there.

Today's success story was so interesting to me as a dietitian. Someone else trained in CW who has found her way to Primal lifestyle and reaped the benefits. Her level of " just a bit overweight" with bloated belly and chronic cardio, is almost exactly my story. I would love to be a success story some day - "middle-aged CW-trained Registered Dietitian embraces Primal lifestyle and lives the awesome life!" Could be??

[demuralist]

Only if you decide it is so! I am sure you will get there.

[marthat]

I've decided to fess up to the 21 Day Primal Challenge. Weight has continued to creep up as I have not returned to full Primal eating. About 50% Primal would be my best guess.

So I'm back on the bandwagon for the 21 day challenge. I had 3 small eggs and bacon for B, black coffee at B and mid a.m., salad with avocado and a tin of tuna in olive oil, and a wee yogurt for lunch. Fresh cherries in mid afternoon, one puffed corn cake (cracker) with cheddar before supper, then grilled lake trout and grilled corn on the cob with butter for supper. A peach now, then off to bed. No gluten grains, no alcohol, no sugar. Not a bad day.

Such excitement to report! I am now the proud mama to a flock of 6 backyard laying hens. They give me 4-5 eggs per day and are such a joy to watch and interact with. I've wanted my own chickens for several years and I've finally achieved "chicken homesteader" status - too cool! Several of the younger birds give me smaller pullet eggs, so I use three of them for breakfast. Lots of yolk, rich orange coloured, so flavourful.

And, more great news. We bought a Big Green Egg smoker and grill. It's deliciously amazing. Tonight's fish and corn were cooked on the Egg and the flavour is much different and better than on the gas BBQ. Great for protein and vegetables. Lots of cool options. I bought fish to try smoking, maybe this weekend.

Big goal of the 21 day challenge is to get moving on fitness. I have a buggered up wrist right now, tendinitis in my right wrist, and I'm right-handed. Means there are lots of things that I can't do without pain, or simply can't do, like push-ups or most strength training. Bummer. I'm actively trying to rehab it right now. But I want to return to running, with sprinting thrown in. That I can do, tendinitis or not.

[mommymd]

Tell me what's involved in the chicken raising? I'd love to do it. We stayed on a farm this summer where my boys collected eggs from the hens. Insect eating birds make the best yolks!

Good to see you are back here. Keep coming back, and starting from where you are.

mommymd

[marthat]

Sorry for the tardy reply, mommymd, but I've been away from the forums lately with other life stuff. Still have a buggered up right wrist (deQuervain's tenosynovitis), and it's taking forever to resolve. Younger disabled son moved out into his own apartment in town with Community Living support and tons of calls to mom. It's a good thing, but stressful for all of us. We were on a push to finish all the renos to his apartment (we own the house), so there has hardly been time to look up from work and all this other stuff.

But about the chickens... They are the greatest - like pets with benefits! When they are free-ranging around my yard, they follow me or my husband around, come when we call, look downright comical when they run, peek in our windows. They don't go too far afield, just into the next door neighbour's yard, and they come home and put themselves to bed every night. I feed them layer pellets, a small amount of "scratch" (cracked corn), which is like candy to them, and let them free range for a couple of hours every day to get their bugs and greens. They have a coop built into one side of my garden shed - 3 x 6 feet - and an attached, roofed outdoor run - 5 x 7 feet. All built like Fort Knox by my engineer hubby to withstand any predators. That seems adequate for 6 birds. They have 2 nesting boxes, but I occasionally find an egg on the floor, indicating that three of them got the urge to lay at the same time. As far as care, they are simple. I feed them every morning, though you can easily make or buy feeders that hold days and days worth of feed. I refill their large water containers every 4-5 days. I collect eggs every afternoon - 5-6 every day. Right now, I have a lightbulb on a timer to keep them laying through the winter. Otherwise they slow right down as the light fails. No heater in the coop, but the inside waterer has a heated bottom to prevent the water from freezing. We already have about 6-8 inches of snow right now, so the girls haven't been out running free for a couple of days, but it is supposed to thaw again and get mild in the next day or two, so I'll let them out again. They clamor to get out when they see me.

If you are living in the city, you would have to check the city bylaws re backyard chickens, but they can successfully live in very small spaces. If you want more info, check out the Backyard Chickens website. Raising BackYard Chickens, Build a Chicken Coop, Pictures of Breeds It's an amazing and seemingly exhaustive resource, with many ideas for in-town, backyard arrangements. You would never regret it!

[marthat]

I came back to the forums after a lengthy hiatus and the first thread I opened was about the Primal Potato diet. Intriguing, so I read all 20 pages. And decided to try it. So today is Day 2 and I woke up 1.5 lbs lighter this morning after Day 1 of "traditional" only potatoes diet. The back story to this is that I have been shedding bloat weight all week after a bad eating week last week, and started 5 days ago at 157. By eating about 80% primal this past week, I was able to drop like a rock - 155, 153.5, 152.5. So when I was down to 151.0 this morning, an additional 1.5 lb loss, it was surprising that I would be down that much more water weight after an all carb day. Very counter-intuitive...

I was fully satiated on 2 medium baked potatoes and a couple of cups of oven-roasted little red gem potatoes yesterday, about 600 cals, all carbs except for about a half tsp of oil on the oven-roasted potatoes. Weird! But great! I'm on Day 2 today. I can only do this until tomorrow night due to other engagements on Sat eve and Sunday, but I plan to start a group Potato diet week over on the Primal Potato Diet thread, starting Monday.

Can't wait to see what Day 2 feels like...

[marthat]

After Day 2, I am down another lb to 150.0 lbs. That's 2.5 lbs in 2 days of only potatoes, plus my usual Friday night martini with hubby. Pretty amazing considering that I was bloated to 157 last Monday, only 6 days ago. And I'm full! I've only used mic-baked or oven roasted redskins so far, and truth be told, I was finding it a bit hard to face potatoes again for the sixth meal last night. I will need to branch out to other options to be able to stay with this for more than 2 days. Any time I'm hungry, I've grabbed a cold roasted potato from the fridge. Feels sort of like snacking on mushy cookies.

I still plan to join the PPD group on Monday, but I'm going to eat normally for the weekend. That means dinner party with friends tonight and potluck lunch at church tomorrow. I think I might make a potato pancake with grated potato and eggs for breakfast.