Perennially Yours page 2

[jaysond]

awesome results! welcome!

[perennialpam]

There are social work event times when I need to participate in the event and still maintain my priimal choices. Gratefully I have had a menu choice that works regardless of the fact that it is fruit. I gained a pound the last two weeks and I know it is my fruit consumption.

Additionally, it is summer and Michigan's cherry crops will be arriving in early July. California is now supplying us with some really good cherries and I have been partaking very liberally. I have decided that fruit consumption will be my normal and if that means I gain a pound here or there - so be it. Although I'd still like to shed some weight, slow and sure is the best way to do it.

I remain sleeping through the night which occurred to me way back when. I am very happy about that.

Am entertaining this evening once again. Hard to do when one works full-time but there are not enough weekends so week nights need to be available too. Tonights beef kabobs with vegetables and, you guessed it, fruit salad and lettuce salad will hit the spot. They are teriyaki marinated which means I am using soy sauce and not totally primal. They are very tasty and my guests will love them.

[perennialpam]

Another thing is that I will be scheduling a good blood workup since my cholesterol numbers rose about 60 points in March. The prior test was in July. So, I will partake in a real fasting test to assure myself that how I am currently eating is not causing this rise.

[perennialpam]

Doing a fasting glucose, and cholesterol test tomorrow. Now I'll have a baseline from which to work. I believe I am just fine but with only one number and no lab results to compare, I cannot make a judgment.

Stressful weekend. Still am not 100% and do not know if it is the bite I received last weekend. I had said it was a spider bite but in all honesty I do not know as I did not see it.

Managed two bbqs over the weekend and stayed primal. What I find difficult is when I'm checking out the food and someone comes to help me. Then I need to start explaining "no gluten" and it becomes fairly clear that some people do not have a clue about which items are gluten. When it comes to Fish Camp in a couple of weeks, people will begin to understand and I can't wait to teach.

[perennialpam]

Since I've been concerned about my March blood workup, I decided to go for another one. This is due to the fact that I had started PB in late January and my cholesterol number came back at 218 apparently slightly high but in all actuality 60 points higher than in 2009.

Quite a leap although the dr. didn't think so. Naturally, I didn't inform her of my nutritional changes as i wanted to be free to continue with my own decision in that regard.

Some day perhaps I'll let her know the extent of my changes. What with CW on this topic, it may come to health insurers refusing to cover someone like me should they get wind of it. Don't know. I do know that some of my overweight, smoking, friends have been told to sh*t or pay more for their coverage. They have to show improvement.

So, did the fasting blood draw on lunch hour and have to wait 2 weeks to get the outcome even though the dr. will know tomorrow.

Another thing I have discovered since this way of life and eating in public, most people do know the CW nutritional information and question me about no grains. I imagine fairly soon they will be wanting more information. I'll be seeing a huge group socially for a camping week and that is when they will see what I actually eat vs. what they eat. So will I for that matter but I really already know.

[perennialpam]

Ended up at the drs. office over the weekend. Had some type of skin flare-up all down my left arm. Since I had been bitten by chiggers, tick and then something I never identified, I was scared the bumps were connected to one of those.

Good news was that, of course, they always weigh you. I was down to 129.5! I have now lost over 16 lbs at .5/month. Not a bad deal at all.

The best news is that the dr. could tell me the results of my blood work and said it looked great. Now to wait for the report so I know the numbers. I'm geeked. The cholesterol worry is behind me now as is the answer I can now give to people who worry about my nutritional intakes. They are all CWs and know the suggested intakes based on it.

Off on an almost 2 week vacation. Lots of camping. Moving 3 times which means setup and breakdowns - good workouts. Taking my goldfish again. Hope the bears don't smell him.

First part of trip is with the Wednesday Night Worm Whippers for Fish Camp near Mesick, MI. Then I move to the solo part of my trip (so needed) for a few days in the woods. The final leg of the trip will mean setting up a tent in the campground to beat the crowds and taking off down state to pick up my 17 year old grandson. Then mowing the lawn, refooding, watching his dad's softball game and driving back up to camp over the 4th. There is always a great fireworks display on Manistee's beach which we will attend. Last year both grandsons were with me and we sat on the beach near camp - no booms. Gotta have the booms!

[perennialpam]

Was really hoping to receive the report of my blood workup prior to leaving on vacation for 11 days. Nope/nada. Phooey.

Have been pushing myself lately to not sit down at home even when I feel worn out. The winter months are harder in that regard and I should begin considering ways to maintain activity during that season. Spring / Summer / Fall - gardening and being out of doors takes precedence with the addition of tent camping. Camping alone takes loads of pre- during and post- work.

The need to carry everything down and up stairs where I live also adds to the workout. I have never minded this and hope that I'll be able to continue camping forever. Most of my friends have graduated to campers and those that began in campers have graduated to hotels....no, I mean trailers or RVs.

Tonight I'll be putting up my tent in the rain (predicted) and crashing the minute I get everything settled. Hopefully I won't be poured on but I can handle that. In 5 days I'll break down and resettle in the woods along a 2-track road for free. I'll be 5 miles from a national forest campground and a Lake Michigan beach. 4 days later I'll break down, resettle at the campground, drive down to my grandson's home and back up for the 4th of July holiday. We'll be watching the fireworks from the beach in Manistee. Has been a family tradition for many years now.

I hope that Ryan will want to climb Sleeping Bear Dunes one more time. Not an annual adventure but as I grow older, there are things I want to do because I still can. Perhaps once I begin more of the PB Workouts I'll be able to do that forever too.

May drive by my son's former cabin to see if anyone is there or to see what has changed since last year. Sad to say, I wish he still owned it.

I am dedicated to this nutritional path. Camp may prove difficult in that we have teams that prepare a meal, clean-up and then are done during the week. I have brought along many eating alternatives that satisfy me just in case.

Been checking the scale every 2 weeks at the drs. office. Happy with the results. 1/2 pound a week. Slow and steady - like my workouts.

[perennialpam]

I realize I am mostly here all by myself.

Does anyone know a quick and easy way to figure out my body fat percentage? I am finally in the good BMI area. I really do see that different areas of my body are becoming smaller than any other time that I've dieted. I'm not calling this way of eating a diet, though, to be clear.

Any assistance with the BF% calc would be appreciated.

[perennialpam]

Before vacation I knew that my blood work was good but did not have the actual report.

Total Cholesterol - 165 (<200 Desirable)

Triglycerides - 78 (<150 Normal)

HDL - 53 (<40 Low/Undesirable)

LDL - 97 (<100 Optimal)

Can't wait for my annual physical next year to compare numbers. Hopefully, by then, I will have a better LDL number to boast about.

[perennialpam]

Vacation Synopsis

Due to the way Fish Camp (1st part of vacation) is organized, people are teamed up to provide either a breakfast or dinner. This provides some background for what came next.

I discovered the first meal was to be pancakes and decided rather than deal with all the questions, to go out to breakfast for my eggs and bacon. Having done this, though, it set up the remaining meals to be a source of questions about my diet and people's misunderstanding about what I was not eating. I found myself getting upset with the constant questioning at meal time as I really did want to enjoy the meals (what I could eat) and to simply avoid those items not on my intake list.

I would have been more than happy to discuss the diet other than at the actual meal times when everyone seemed to be listening in and offering their comments. However, no one asked any other time than when we were sitting down to eat.

People simply don't understand. They think that staying away from glutins is the sole goal. Then, when they discover the fat that is allowed, arguments (discussion) start.

Like my friend, with fibromyalgia, who says she needs to stay away from trans fats indicating that meat is the source. What has occurred during these conversations is for me to really learn the difference between trans, saturate and unsaturated fats.

I guess that is a good thing but I honestly don't like having to defend my nutrition guidelines. I try to silently choose those items I can eat and be done with it. This will be coming up again shortly on another group hiking vacation and I'm going to try silently choosing my meals without group discussions again. I'll see if that works. I'm on the Food Committee and will not be offering up any food suggestions other than more vegetable and fruit choices. In other words, I'm not going to discuss the PB nutritional guideslines when we sit down to eat. I may even take the list so I can hand it out and be done with any conversation about it. We have a couple of folks we try to accommodate as they are vegetarians, and conversations don't arise due to their food choices. I hope I can report back that all went well with the hiking vacation.

The remainder of my recent vacation involved a solo camp for a few days and a camp with my grandson. The solo camp, of course, was nutritionally very successful. The grandson camp had some eating traditions to deal with (we've been camping together for 15 years now). So, yes I did inhale some over the campfire pizza, an ice cream cone and some popcorn and too much tequila at Fish Camp. Not too detrimental in the realm of things. As mentioned here by others, I simply looked the other way when I didn't follow my plan and got right back on at the next meal.