primal journal - joan page

[joan]

day 1?

b: eggs, spinach, chard, hot dog, cheese

s: almonds, almond butter, kombucha

d: steak, spring greens mix salad, black beans, cheese, tortillas

exercise: vigorous dish washing and lots of walking at work (5 hours), walked around town a bit in evening

four days ago i chose to give up refined sugar, and i did it very publicly. told all my friends, posted it on facebook, am blogging about it every day, told coworkers. sugar addiction has been a lifelong struggle for me, and has persisted alongside a solid five years of big lifestyle changes. as soon as i started sharing this with others, i was told to come to mark's daily apple. i've definitely looked into 'paleo' diets before, and am establishing a lifestyle often seen as in line with similar choices.

i'm building a homestead on my own on six acres in missouri. though i'm sharing a house with friends in a small town nearby for the winter, the rest of the year i live in a three sided shed. i garden, plant lots of trees, scythe paths, walk everywhere, have no vehicle, no electricity, no plumbing. i build what i need using hand tools, and haul materials in rather than letting vehicles on the land. yes, i have dreads. and my goal is to sustainably provide as many of my needs as possible.

the road that led me to this lifestyle has added, bit by bit, to the vague heap of ideas that i now have about how i ought to be eating. and primal blueprint pulls all of that together into one beautiful practice. i love it. if i eat this way, i Will be able to provide for my needs on my own land. and so, while my current Main focus is to get OFF of sugar, i am claiming a secondary focus of adding in primal blueprint steps as i can.

i want to buy and use more fresh vegetables and meats, though high quality food is hard to find around here, especially in winter. and i want to be more active, especially since i have a dog who is very sad to be living indoors right now. i hope reading others' journals and recipes and success stories here will provide the support and push that i need to keep improving my daily routine bit by bit.

thanks for reading!

[Hedonist]

Various helpful people are going to tell you not to eat the hot dog (I hope you mean the wiener without a bun), beans, tortilla and maybe almond butter and cheese. I eat all of those things and do fine. And you do vastly more physical work than I.

[joan]

thanks hedonist =) i am aware that those things are not officially primal, and also that the almond butter contains salicylates and for that reason is not ideal. yes, i meant the wiener without the bun, and it's the brand with the least amount of crap that i can find at my local grocery store. like i said, i'm definitely not primal yet, and know it - i ate dinner at the restaurant i work at, and that was one of the Better meal options.

i'm starting today with plain cream top yogurt with almond butter mixed in, because it's dairy that i have on hand that i want to finish up. i'm also drinking some kombucha with a bit of dandelion tincture in it. i've been taking home made dandelion tincture every morning for a few weeks, and it has helped my energy levels quite a bit. i also take motherwort tincture before bed.

now i need to get someone to take 'before' pictures of me since my camera won't function unless i'm vigorously holding the battery door shut. makes it kind of hard to take full body photos. =D

and hopefully one day soon i'll start waking up with enough energy to go play with my dog some before work. she whines at me if i sit still for too long.

[joan]

day 2

b: plain, cream top yogurt with almond butter, and 1/2 cup of kombucha with a bit of dandelion tincture

(edit)s: i totally had some potato chips after work, when really i was craving chocolate. then my housemate offered me a date, says they help cravings. it was okay. dates are weird.

d: salad w/romaine, tomato, radish, chicken

s: popcorn (not the bagged stuff, actual popcorn) w/nutritional yeast and salt

exercise: five hours on my feet at work, either walking around or washin those dishes. hauled a wardrobe and a stock tank around some, too.

i went to the grocery store today so i wasn't stranded on christmas when everything is closed. bought a bunch of good stuff for salads, healthy snacks, etc. it feels good to know i'm only buying Real food and bypassing the baking aisle, candy, ice cream, chocolate milk...

reading the success stories and seeing the before and after pictures are great motivators for me. one of my housemates is going to take a before picture for me soon. i think i'm ready to give up grains and potatoes, but my housemate says i have to wait until she makes tamales for me next week. so i'm cutting down on grains a Lot and have decided not to eat at work anymore, period.

i also noticed that for the first time today when i got to work i was ready to go, and not slumping around still sleepy. by the time i get to work i've already been awake about two hours, but i usually still feel exhausted.

tomorrow my housemates (a family of five) and i are going out to the land (i live in community, as part of a land trust, so we do potlucks and stuff but live on separate leaseholds/homesteads/whatever) to do some work. i'm looking forward to walking a lot, getting out in the fresh air, running my dog around, and getting some work done on my place.

thanks for reading <3

[joan]

day 3

b: 3 egg scramble w/ tomato, spinach, chard, hazelnuts, hot dog, sunflower seeds and a bit of dandelion tincture

l: romaine lettuce wrap w/ radish, tomato, tiny bit of cheese. also almonds, banana, 1/2 cup apple cider

s: small glass red wine

d: almond butter, 1/2 cup apple cider w/ motherwort tincture

exercise: went out to my land, so walked a lot. i hauled my treadle sewing machine and a barrel of stuff out to the road, and a load of thatch from the bottoms up to the shed... so three cart trips, each about 1/4 mile total i think, with a rope around my waist as a harness. scything the thatch was an okay workout, too.

i had the glass of red wine at a holiday gathering, and avoided an entire table of sugary and grain-laden treats. i opted instead to do a massage trade with a friend =D that was a good choice.

i was outside working for three good hours, and got to lay out in the sun and watch it set. when we got home shortly after six i was tired, and decided to go to sleep early and see what time i woke up. i didn't sleep too well, but that's the first time since september that i've gone to bed with the setting of the sun, so i wasn't surprised.

will post a video soon of me hauling stuff, for some context =D

[Cassanina]

Good luck to you, Joan! I think that's insanely cool that you've built a place to live and thrive. You definitely have the lots of slow movement part of Primal down!

[joan]

hey, thanks Cassanina! i can't believe i've been doing it since april, and preparing since long before then. it feels unreal. the only downside is the lack of motivation/energy i have when i'm out there, and it's a disgrace to my dream and goals not to do anything about it. that's what i really want out of pb - more energy and Oomph.

[PeacefulWarrior]

Wow Joan...I didn't realize you were being literal when you wrote 'build your own homsestead'...That is awesome.
Yes, you will own the slow movement part.

That is also really great about giving up sugar. That 5hit is nothing but poison. I don't have a big sweet tooth, but have had dark chocolate a couple of times in the last couple weeks. We have really amazing clementines in season right now that taste better than any man made sugar product.

Good work!

[joan]

thanks peacefulwarrior, good to see you over here. yeah, i like to do things on my own, and i've finally found a place i can really live my dream life. problem is, the way i want to do it i really have to start from scratch. it's a good adventure though. here's a video of me yesterday, hauling that sewing machine...

day 4

b: 3 egg scramble w/ tomato, radish, spinach, chard, hazelnuts, hot dog (last one, on to better meats i hope), also dandelion tincture

s: handful of pistachios and golden raisins

s: 1/2 cup apple cider

d: (at a friend's house, rare) millet/bean/tomato dish, fresh greens salad with sunflower seeds and sesame oil/lime juice dressing, sweet potato fries, pickled carrots, 1/2 cup red wine, fruit compote made w/ honey, homemade plain yogurt

exercise: i 'moved' today from one room to another, so i moved some boxes, shelves, beds, etc helping switch the girls to their new space and me and my dog into our new space. brought my sewing machine in from the truck, too, and the barrel full of stuff. so a bit of lifting. walked a mile round trip to friend's house for dinner. that's about it.

the big difference i'm noticing since focusing on eating primal is that my poop has now changed. guess that means i'm getting Somewhere! oh, took 'before' pictures today, even though i'm a few days in. i'll do a new post for those. my housemate told me today that she was proud of me for avoiding all the desserts last night - that meant a lot. the family (of 5) that i live with has been gluten free for almost four years, and has been on the gaps diet for a good portion of that time (gaps is Very similar to pb - no sugar, little dairy, no grains/starches, be less clothed/get sun, swim in ponds for good bacteria, etc). they're good folks to live with as i start down this path. come january they'll be going back on full gaps diet for a bit and then transitioning to just gluten free with no dairy/sugar for at least a month, which'll make my life even easier, since there'll be none in the house.

[joan]

okay, so here's 'before' from october. doesn't show much, but i don't really have any shots from the last month or two that are better, and it's really been in that time that i've 1) continued my steady high sugar/junk intake And 2) been sharing lots of meals with the family that pumps me full of meat and fat and veggies. so it's only been since then that i've even put on the last ten pounds or so. i would guess i'm around 170, which i've only been one time before, in my late teens.

now i'm 5' 9", 24 years old, and i think about 170. my normal is 150-155. i would prefer to have a Bit less cushion and more muscle mass, but still decent cushion on my ass and thighs, cause i like being comfy to sit on




and here are my 'start' pictures, from today, which is day 4 for me of minding my primal foods:



sorry for the slightly different distances and fuzziness... my guy housemate took these, and his wife would have been significantly better at nice pictures, but she was out and i wanted the pictures over with. i think i look better naked, but i'm pretty sure i'm not allowed to post those