Primal Journal (sbhikes) page 44

[Crabbcakes]

Hey sb!

I am by no means a kidney expert, but the soaking thing made no sense to me when I found a kidney and searched for kidney recipes, so I didn't - as my kidney offal didn't smell of much awful at all. I have read a lot of recipes that recommend also blanching chicken liver, which I also think is a rotten way of dealing with those livers, so I tried it once for kicks and it ruined my liver, so never again.

I did, however, slice the kidney in half and remove the fat core. Try them in several different ways - I liked my first attempt at sauteed kidney and didn't get the piss smell at all, so there is hope! You might try asking some of the Brits on the MDA via a recipes kidney thread - as they have the whole steak-and-kidney-pie thing going on over there. Oh - I had beef kidney, I think.

re sleeping outside - here are our nighttime visitors... possum, coon, chipmunk, mouse, deer, wild turkey, owl, snake, and bat. I know these are in the close environs, but haven't spied them close to the house yet (saw/see them after I leave the property) - coyote, skunk, groundhog, turkey buzzard, hawk. My girls are only really freaked out by... daddy longlegs!

I once pitched a tent in the front yard - it had a rain shell, and in the morning it looked like there was a whole longlegs convention in there, between the actual tent and the rain shell. The girls FREAKED. And I just thought to myself how much more work I have with them city chicks transplanted to the country...

[KerryK]

We've got all of those, too, plus foxes, but we rarely see the coyotes. A bear got stuck up a lamp post in a nearby shopping mall once (?!) but I've never seen one in my backyard. I am completely creeped out by possums. Those giant rat like things creep about and tremble slightly. Yeeeek! I laughed at your post sb and can't get the image of raccoons dropping avocados on you out of my head!

[Paleobird]

The place I can safely sleep outdoors is on my balcony in the hammock. I was out there last night until it cooled off enough to come inside.

Sounds like there may be hope for The Guy yet. Relationship salvation by bacon. But seriously, he may just be leveling off some blood sugar roller coaster highs and lows that can make a person grumpy and hard to get along with. I hope it works out.

[sbhikes]

He bought a feast of seaweed salad, squid and sashimi with chocolate covered figs last night. We are it outside. Maybe he's decided he likes this primal food.

As for the kidneys, I think most things can be improved with sautéed mushrooms and onions.

Went to a potluck breakfast this AM. If I had not brought an egg and sausage casserole there would not have been anything to eat for me. Except fruit and some really cute devilled eggs with little faces in them. So few of these I only took one.

It is too hot to do anything today. I have had a headache for three days, too. I wonder if it is a low carb headache. I've been drinking salted diet lemonade in hopes of helping it.

[sbhikes]

We went to the drug store today and my boyfriend decided to take his blood pressure. After he did his I did mine. I haven't had my blood pressure checked since before this diet. My blood pressure has always been 110/80, normal, not bad at all. It was 104/65. My boyfriend's was almost exactly the same. That's the lowest blood pressure I've ever had.

[sbhikes]

I must still be menstruating. I don't have a uterus so I don't know. Anyway, I've been feeling kind of insatiable the last few days and then suddenly at dinner I was so over-the-top full I was very uncomfortable. Today I am too full to eat breakfast and I suspect now I'm on some part of my cycle that has me on the down-swing as far as my appetite. Sadly, I'm all fat again. My stomach jiggles visibly as I walk. It feels horrible. I gained all the weight back that I lost on my vacation.

Our dinner last night was Chicken tika masala so I took all the leftover sauce and poured it on the kidneys in the fridge. Today I have warmed up the kidneys and sauce for my thermos and I'll have them for lunch. I hope I can eat them all. I'll never buy kidneys again unless I'm so poor it's all I can afford to eat. I'll eat wheat and soy before then, I suppose.

[InSearchOfAbs]

Hey, if it's any consolation, and you still have your ovaries, it could just be ovulation.

I'm one of the lucky few that gets insatiable hunger, the bloat AND the bitchiness, not only with
pms, but with ovulation as well.

Twice a month I'm a real piece of work.

And it sounds exactly like you describe: starving, you eat to satiety, then you're a bloated fat pig
for a few days, then you'll pee it all out in another couple days.

Keep drinking your water and that will help it all get out faster.

Oh and also, (cuz I'm a stalker like that) I read in PB's journal that you've been drinking crystal
lite with other stuff thrown in to get your hydration levels up.

I don't know if you like seltzer water or not (crystal geyser type), but Safeway (they have safeways
down south, right?) has their own brand of seltzer, in CANS and it's my new addiction.

12 cans, 2.79.

Flavors come in lemon, orange, lime and mixed berry.

No calories, no sweetness, no sodium, absolutely zero anything.

I'm up to about four cans a day now, even with my regular water drinking.

Bubbly enough to be a great thirst quencher, but not too bubbly to keep you from
drinking it fast.

I never really liked the crystal geyser stuff in glass bottles, but this stuff I LOVE... weird.

Okay, drive by over - hope you pee out that water lickety split and get back to your old svelte
self.

Julie

[sbhikes]

I hope so, too. I only drank the crystal light because there it was nice and cold in the fridge. I diluted it some. Drinking crystal light lemonade was a trick I used when I was hiking the PCT to help me drink more water. It can be hard to force yourself to drink a lot of water. The lemonade flavor makes it easier. Water sources in the southern portion of the PCT are typically about 20 miles apart, so I'd get to the water source, make a liter of lemonade, fill all my other bottles, drink the liter and be on my way with a liter stored in my belly rather than on my back where it hurts. The other day I knew I was somewhat dehydrated but I just couldn't drink more than one small glass. The lemonade helped a lot. I've never liked fizzy water.

[tomi]

If you still have your ovaries you will still get the signs and symptoms of having a period -- just no period. I'm sure at your age you haven't reached menopause yet. Maybe next time you have to have bloodwork done you should ask them to check all your female hormones. I'm 52 and my last lab test showed I'm fully post menopausal - flatline on the estrogen. Not suprising that I now need to use the Epilady on my face as well as on my legs! UGH!

Ditto on the water, but I like it nice and cold with nothing in it! yummy!

[InSearchOfAbs]

Oh I totally agree with the crystal light - I wasn't hatin' on it.

Too bad you don't like fizzy water.

Maybe you could just get ONE and try it.... just trrrrrrrry it.

My pushy drunken neighbor was the one that MADE me try it.

"Julie, these are really good, do you want one? Tom, no, thanks,
don't like charged water - my mother used to get crystal geyser
all the time, hate it, really."

"Oh but this stuff is so good"

Fine, if it'll shut your candy ass up, then I'll try one... so I did, then I promptly
sent my husband to the store to get some. HA!

It's something about the CAN... dunno.

Whatevs. If you don't like it you don't like it.

The only other way I've forced myself to drink a pile of water is
that I HAVE to down my 32ouncer on the way home from the gym - that's
my goal.

If I go anywhere else for the day, I fill it up and drink it on the way home
from wherever I am.

Works great because by the time it hits, I'm home, hydrated, and ready to spend
the rest of the day in the can. HAR!

All righty Ms. SB, I'll stop blabbering on in your journal.

Keep up the great work!

Julie