The Wife is RIGHT - Otter's Log page 2

[ottercat]

Oh yeah, agreed that guys are likely more interested in boobage than a 6pack. I just want to show him that if "this lazy girl" can do it, then he must be doing something wrong. An evil way to get the point across to him. (point being: if his diet and exercise is so good for him, then how come his muscles are covered in fat?)

Meowzers!, BTW, any chance to see a grown-up kitty photo...? I've got a ginger feline at home too!

LOL, whatever motivates us, right?

I have TWO Gingers!
Here is the Bebeh, all growed up


and Cattus the Elder (but not so old)

[Sanctus Real]

Sorry about my love of acronyms, ottercat!

I think it's hilarious you round your height up, too. I tell everyone I'm 5'2", but I'm really 5'1.75". We're both taking credit for an extra quarter inch.

BTW, your cats are adorable!

[ottercat]

FRIDAY
Once again, woke up at 2AM and had trouble getting back to sleep. Usually a bad night's sleep makes me hungry the next day (never try fasting on such a day), but it didn't this time.

Evil Otter tried to get me to drink Diet Pepsi Max so I spent some time reading about leptin and insulin.

I've decided to tell myself that the stress of excess toxins on the liver raises triglycerides and inhibits leptin signalling, i.e. Diet Soda makes me keeps me from losing weight. Plus, I've decided that my liver needs time to recover from all the abuse so I'd better keep it clean. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Bfast: leftover wings and cauliflower
Lunch: a few almonds, Tanka bar
"Dinner": 2 slices swiss cheese, blueberries

Exercise: none. Went to pick El Hubbo up at the airport in the afternoon. He was saying he would like to go work out, so I figured I would do some HIIT. However, the pool didn't open for another hour so we ended up going to see "Super 8" in IMAX. I did not get popcorn.

[ottercat]

SATURDAY

think I need to log food as I eat it....

AM: blueberries, coconut milk (a la Abstractpersona), leftover wings, a little grilled pepper and sweet onion; raspberry tea

Exercise: stationary bike - 2 rounds of Tabatas (20s hard:10s rest x 8), 4 rounds of 30:30, walk 1.5 miles

Lunch: 2 pieces swiss cheese, ~4oz stevia-sweetened ice coffee w/ cream, ~4oz chilled roasted red pepper soup, mini heart-burger and small green salad.
I think I need to have more easy to prepare foods on hand so I don't go grazing before I figure out what I want to eat!

Dinner: decided to go to a baseball game so I had a nasty, pink nitrate-filled hot dog with yellow mustard, no bun and a bottle of water. Not great, but could've been worse!

Snack: ~2T cashews and about 12 chocolate chips, small glass red wine. Tummy rumbling and unhappy about something, probably the sugar in the chocolate chips. Also - opened a can of Diet Pepsi Max (after much conniving and whispering from Evil Otter). Drank a few sips (less than half a can) and poured the rest down the sink. That has NEVER happened. Didn't want any after that.

I always found people really annoying when they had been eating clean for awhile then ate something like pizza and beer, got dramatically ill and declared they could no longer eat unhealthy food. I was always able to eat clean and then eat all kinds of crap with no ill effects. Now when I eat flour my ear gets inflamed and I can't hear out of it for a couple of days and sugar upsets my stomach. Next thing you know I'll be living in a cave clubbing bunnies for food.

[ottercat]

SUNDAY:

Bfast: almond flour biscuits (will share recipe soon!), runny egg and 2 slices bacon (from local, pastured, chem free, etc.etc. pigs). Iced coffee with coconut milk.

Exercise: play day - kayaked for about 1.5 hours while El Hubbo swam. Got some sun and some low intensity activity

Pre-dinner (~1 hour before, lolz): 1/2 almond biscuit w/ ghee, 4oz iced coffee with coconut milk

Dinner: teriyaki chicken drumsticks, sauteed veggies, salad w/ homemade dressing. Small glass of merlot.

Dessert: grapes

Today was a good day! I would just like to point out that Otter and Mr. Otter went to a little street festival after kayaking and I didn't eat anything. I enjoyed smelling all the yummy foods and looking at the menus, but I didn't feel any need to ingest any of it.

Mr. Otter had the most horrifying thing I have ever heard of: the Cake Shake. Cake, frosting, milk, ice, probably flavoring all blended up and topped off with sweetened whipped cream. All your hydrogenated fats, white cake flour, white sugar, and artificial flavoring in a convenient no-chew form.

Then we went to see my parents for dinner. Mama Otter always cooks up something yummy with two types of vegetables. I did not have any rice. You have to understand that as a Japanese person this is really deviant behavior! Maybe when I lean out a little I can have some on the pretense of carb-refeeds.

Then there was some apricot tart/cake for dessert and I didn't really want it even as I turned it down. Instead I had grapes, which are about my most favorite food in the world, but which I don't eat that often bc they're too sugary. What have I become???

Anyway - all in all a fairly successful week. I hit my workouts, managed to sneak in minimum 45 minute walks, even on no-exercise days and was pretty clean diet-wise. Usually I either do well workout-wise or diet-wise, but not at the same time. I didn't crave Diet Pepsi all day, which is some kind of miracle.

I can attribute much of it to thinking, "Well, shit, if I eat/drink that I'll have to 'fess up in my journal", so it's all thanks to you! Yes, YOU......right there, I'm pointing at YOU, yeah. So keep reading, it will only encourage me. Kitty/puppy pictures are good too! Maybe I'll get some recipes posted here as well (paleo halibut tom kha gai, anyone?)

[Sanctus Real]

I can attribute much of it to thinking, "Well, shit, if I eat/drink that I'll have to 'fess up in my journal", so it's all thanks to you! Yes, YOU......right there, I'm pointing at YOU, yeah. So keep reading, it will only encourage me. Kitty/puppy pictures are good too! Maybe I'll get some recipes posted here as well (paleo halibut tom kha gai, anyone?)

Accountability is good! Maybe I should aim for more of that stuff. And I'm always on the lookout for new recipes, especially a fish recipe (I have so few of those), so please share.

[ottercat]

MONDAY

Bfast: 2 boiled eggs, homemade lox, decaf with coconut milk + stevia, blueberries

Lunch: 2 chicken legs, 9 almonds, celery sticks, huge unsweetened iced tea

Snack: nori chips, ~10 chocolate chips

Dinner: cold roasted pepper soup, mushroom/onion/pepper/parmesan meatza!

Exercise: whole body kettlebells plus some glute-activation posterior chain stuff. 45 minute walk plus extra upper-body work flapping and swatting at msoquitoes

I have been lurking in the Leptin Reset Experiment thread. It's intriguing, but I know that I'm not organized enough to join them. However, the one principle of eating a big breakfast and spacing meals by six hours makes sense....two, TWO Principles of Leptin Resetting, arrrrr.

The bodybuilding thing about eating every 2-3 hours never made sense to me. I never looked forward to my next meal and I couldn't figure out why I'd want to be in "storage mode" all the time. I guess that's why you have to kill yourself in the gym with Cosgrove-type workouts.

This is what I'm going to add:
1) eat good breakfast when I'm organized enough to have it
2) dont' eat anything flavored in between meals (i.e. gum, tea, Diet Pepsi Max), but drink lots of water.

[ottercat]

Halibut Tom Kha Gai
~ got the idea off of Chowstalker, based on recipe from here

This really isn't authentic bc I didn't have all the ingredients, but it was passable, nay, tasty! El Hubbo hated it more for me

Combine and bring to a simmer
- 2c bone broth
- 1/2c sliced white or cremini mushrooms
- 1/2t dried ginger
- 2t lemongrass paste in a tube
- 1/2t srichra hot sauce (or to taste)
- zest of 1 lime
- 2T fish sauce (or to taste)

Then mix in
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1lb halibut cut into small pieces
- juice of half a lime
Simmer until fish is done. Taste and adjust flavors so you have a good balance of spicy, tangy, sweet, and salty. I actually added about 1T maple syrup to sweeten it up a little. Good bone broth makes it super silky. I think a lot of fish sauce has some sugar in it, but a little goes a long way so i didn't worry about it.

[ottercat]

TUESDAY

Bfast: 2 chicken drumsticks, 2 slices swiss cheese, mug of roasted red pepper soup, coffee w/ coconut milk

Lunch: leftover meatza, leftover pepper soup (the last of it, whew), beets (happydance!), coffee w/ coconut milk

"Dinner": unprepared and rushing off --> 1/2c blueberries, 1/4c mixed nuts, beets, few sips of diet pepsi

Exercise: skate outside ~ 2 hours

So I decided to cave in and drink a Diet, took it out of the fridge, set it down and totally forgot about it. Got another cold one and it tasted like nasty chemicals with a bitter, artificial aftertaste. What happened?? I have stopped drinking it for months at a time and it was delicious when I started up again! Oh well, cravings aren't very strong if I have a good breakfast for whatever reason.

[ottercat]

Based on this recipe, which I thought was excessively fiddly. My version is easier



Almond Biscuits

2c almond flour
1t baking powder
1/4t salt (omit if using salted butter)
3T COLD, unsalted butter
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven anywhere from 350 to 425 (I usually bake bacon while I'm preparing these and I can never remember which temp to use. It works at any of these temperatures, just watch that they don't burn).

Combine almond flour, baking powder, and salt and mix well.

Cut in cold butter with pastry cutter, knives, or whiz the whole thing in the food processor until butter is in small chunks.

Place the whole thing in the freezer until bacon is done (10+ minutes).

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove bowl from freezer, quickly fold in eggs just until the dry crumbs have been assimilated into the mass and you don't see streaks of eggs. No need to over-stir. It's ok if it seems like the eggs are freezing onto the flour, it actually makes the dough easier to handle.

Divide into 4 portions and pat into biscuit shapes.

Bake until toasty and brown (~12 minutes?). I would err on the side of toastiness because these don't really get dry.

TIPS:
- almonds aren't particularly low in carbs so I wouldn't indulge in these on a daily basis
- you can make up a couple of batches of the almond/powder/salt portion and store them in the freezer. Then when you want some biscuits, just fire up the oven and stir in eggs. Plus, this way you only have to clean the food processor once.
- try adding a little shredded cheddar, chives, paprika, or garlic powder for yummy dinner rolls
- these still taste good the next day
- I bet you could make paleo strawberry shortcake with these! i just thought of that