Writing on the Cave Wall - Cave Woman's Journal page 5

[theprimalcajun]

Hi Cave Woman! Just wanted to say I enjoyed reading your journal & the other's posts! I too am short...5'1". And am 2 years older than you. *sigh* I appreciate you mentioning the mag citrate...will have to see if I can find some.

I finally made it thru alllllll of Gay Panda's journal this afternoon! What a hoot he is!! (I think Gay Panda is a he...not sure tho! lol & of course it matters not a wit!) I started my journal today...a little shy about it...but now its out there! And what a wonderful community this is!!! I'm loving it!

have a good evening!

[Cave Woman]

magnesium oil. It's a supersaturated solution of magnesium citrate and water. It feels oily, thus the name 'oil'. We all need more magnesium than we get through our diet. It is a muscle relaxant, helping to regulate heart rhythm and keep your muscles running smoothly. You don't absorb a great deal of magnesium through your digestive system. Take too much and it relaxes your peristaltic muscles enough to give you diarrhea without really absorbing enough to help those overworked leg muscles. The best way to get magnesium into your system is transdermally. Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) baths are wonderful for this, but magnesium oil is great as well, and a bit more convenient. I mix it half and half with water in a spray bottle and spray it on my sore muscles. Your body will absorb all it needs in about 20 minutes, and then you can rinse it off. (Leave it on and you will feel sticky all day) Be careful with this stuff! If you blithely spray it on full strength it will BURN like hell! I think that is because your body is grabbing those magnesium ions so quickly and pulling them through your skin so fast that it hurts - maybe the citrate ions burn a bit, too. I have read that if you use the half strength spray daily for a month or so you will have enough magnesium in your system that it won't grab onto the ions so quickly if you move to full strength spray. Anyway, at our house magnesium oil has become a new ritual. It is lovely to rub on tired feet in the evening. Soooo relaxing before bedtime.

OOOPS! Everything I wrote about magnesium oil is correct, EXCEPT that it is a super saturated solution of magnesium CHLORIDE. Also called nigari. The citrate is fine for internal consumption, but won't make oil. Sorry for the mix up!

[Cave Woman]

Oh, yeah, coffee is the problem. I think it was in the book Protein Power that the researchers had people losing weight on a low carbohydrate diet but there was a small contingent of people who couldn't do it. They discovered that for those people caffeine, even the smaller amount in decaf coffee, disrupted their insulin regulation, making sugar cravings intense and weight loss impossible. I seem to be one of those people. I'm better now that coffee is not a longtime daily habit, but one cup is enough to make me go for the chocolate or a scoop of ice cream. This last week or so, as I've let coffee become a daily thing, my jeans are not as loose as they were after the first two weeks of being primal. Time to cut the coffee out. I must be cruel to be kind.

Last night we had a friend over for dinner and I had a hankering for one of the tastiest, richest dishes I know of. Morel Mushroom and Oloroso Sherry Gratin is an intense mixture of wild morel mushrooms, shallots, sherry, and cream. We pick and dry our own morels, so I just had to rehydrate these incredible treats to make this easy dish. I didn't have Manchego cheese on hand, so I used white cheddar and parmesan. I have never used Oloroso sherry, but instead a dry sherry and some marsala. In the past I have served this with toasted bread cruettes, and had those available for the bread eaters. I put mine on my grilled steak and it was heaven in every bite! So rich, so satisfying! The recipe says you can substitute crimini mushrooms, but it is not the same dish at all - it's just bland. You can mix the morels and crimini, but the earthy flavor of morels is essential.

[winencandy]

We are usually so last minute in our meals, though we always eat real food.

Us too

We all need more magnesium than we get through our diet.

The best way to get magnesium into your system is transdermally. Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) baths are wonderful for this, but magnesium oil is great as well, and a bit more convenient. I mix it half and half with water in a spray bottle and spray it on my sore muscles. Your body will absorb all it needs in about 20 minutes, and then you can rinse it off. (Leave it on and you will feel sticky all day) Be careful with this stuff! If you blithely spray it on full strength it will BURN like hell!

OOOPS! Everything I wrote about magnesium oil is correct, EXCEPT that it is a super saturated solution of magnesium CHLORIDE. Also called nigari. The citrate is fine for internal consumption, but won't make oil. Sorry for the mix up!

Thanks for the info!

- I was doing hand knee planks and found that my wrists were the limiting factor. I work with my hands and try to protect my wrists. I have no real problems with them, but they are not up to too much support activity. Too much and my hands go numb for several days and it's difficult to work. Hereditary thing. So I've moved up to forearm/knee planks and will skip hand/feet when the time comes and go straight to forearm/feet.

I had the same issues and solved them the same way (when I was doing planks - I really should start doing them again...)

Last night we had a friend over for dinner and I had a hankering for one of the tastiest, richest dishes I know of. Morel Mushroom and Oloroso Sherry Gratin is an intense mixture of wild morel mushrooms, shallots, sherry, and cream.

I must try this (in the spring, when I can pick some morels - they grow in our front yard )

[Cave Woman]

Winencandy, you won't be disappointed with the morel recipe! Morels grew in my lawn the first year I lived in this house, but only that one year. But they come up regularly nearby, so we have a steady supply.

Last night, still under the influence of caffeine from several days ago, I let myself get hungry and tried a piece of bread from a loaf of artisan bread. This bread was one of my favorites from a nearby bakery. Even slathered with butter it tasted like cardboard! My tastebuds have changed! Bread was no longer yummy! What a relief to find that it wasn't even worth eating! I really like the effects that the Primal Blueprint is having on me!

[Aila]

Hi Cave Woman,

I've been reading along in your journal, and only now have had the time to say hello! I'm also 5'2" and O neg. Of course, I let quite a bit more of the "fat suit" accumulate before I found Primal. Oops.

I also relate to your "random attacks of existential terror" and certainly notice that my overall mood is significantly improved when following this path.

Thanks for the information about caffeine; I had not read that research, and as someone who loves the smell, taste, habit and truly the entire culture of coffee, I wonder if I am in that percent for whom caffeine impedes weight loss. I am not doing any caffeine for now as I'm following a more strict protocol. But I do miss it. Like you, I feel the effects even from a cup of decaf, so that is out for now.

I'm enjoying your "voice" here. Welcome to the Forum!

[Cave Woman]

Welcome, Alia, and thank you for your kind words!

It is amazing that the more we share our "unique" and "bizarre" experiences the more we find others who have shared them. Just sharing them helps, and sometimes other people have discovered solutions worth trying.

I do wish there was a truly non-caffeine coffee that was worth drinking. I love the smell, the taste, the experience as well.

I have a friend who once was a serious asshole alcoholic. He eventually stopped drinking, but was still angry and cruel. He finally gave up coffee and is wonderful, charming, and fun to be around. Caffeine is a serious drug for lots of us. Bummer though that may be.

[Cave Woman]

Back to the morel dish. Oh my god, it is so good! I heated up the scant leftovers in some cream and put it in an omelet with bacon. Once again, HEAVEN!

[Cave Woman]

I'm being pretty good with the diet and exercise, though I did have some exquisite ice cream after dinner on Sunday.

Yesterday I did no exercise, but I avoided coffee and ate well. I went to a friend's party and just had salad, because all the other dishes were grain based. It was a good salad with lots of veggies and some feta on top. She had made flan for dessert so of course I had to have some of that. So good and not too sweet. I thought it was just wheat, but dairy makes me snore,too.

Today there is lots of fresh soft snow so I think it is a day for snowshoeing.

[Cave Woman]

I've spent so much time reading others' journals that I haven't had time to write in mine. We finally went snowshoeing yesterday. It was gorgeous out! Though cloudy. And with only my face exposed, I don't know how much vitamin D I got. Good thing for supplements.

I've been pushing my limits of wine and chocolate lately, though I am still losing inches. It's nice to fit into clothes that were too tight last month! The weight stays about the same for now. There are continued celebrations and birthdays around here through this weekend, but I will reduce my wine and chocolate consumption next week. That should bring me another breakthrough.

I can't do a pull up (or chin up) but in my dream last night I was so surprised to find myself doing one after the other! Don't you love being surprised by your abilities in dreams? I got up to about 24 before we moved on to something else. I was thrilled!

I really like the way that Winencandy and others write their journal entries is sections according to the PB Laws. I think I need to start that to give me greater accountability. I think I'll start after the weekend.

Grains always make me puffy - around my eyes, my fingers, my belly. And sometimes in my joints. Corn and beans together are just as bad. Now that I have not been eating grains I am noticing other sensitivities. Dairy makes me snuffly and slightly puffy. I'm not ready to give it up yet, but I will pay attention. Button and Crimini mushrooms make me VERY puffy! I'm not sure how much is the mushrooms themselves and how much is the other molds that can grow on them. I'll have to pay attention. I don't think that morels affect me the same. I will have to try different mushrooms and see the results.

I love pickled garlic. I have some around for now, but I want to make some of my own. I found a recipe that uses whey from home made yogurt to ferment vegetables.

With whey (or the commercial starter for yoghurt or kefir) you can ferment vegetables. Take some cabbage (white, red or any other variety), beetroot, garlic, cauliflower and carrot, slice them into nice mouth size pieces or shred them roughly, add some salt to taste and pack loosely into a wide-mouth glass jar. Take 1/2 litre of cold water and dissolve the contents of yoghurt or kefir sachet in it. Alternatively add 4-5 tablespoons of your homemade whey into the water. Add this water to the jar until it completely covers the vegetables (if the vegetables are not quite covered, just top it up with more water). Close the jar and leave to ferment at a room temperature for 7-10 days. Refrigerate.

A tasty way to get your probiotics. First I need to make the yogurt!

I've been breakfasting on wild huckleberries and Greek yogurt. And a smidge of honey. Huckleberries are like blueberries, but way better, and with more antioxidants. We picked several gallons last summer. Some people like to make pies from them. I like to dole them out in smaller, more frequent doses. I used to bake with them. Heaven!

Oh, last night I made mashed cauliflower for the first time. I looked around MDA for various recipes and ended up boiling the cauliflower, putting it in the oven to dry out a bit, and then mashing it with butter, cream, salt and pepper. It was excellent, kind of a mix between slaw and mashed potatoes. Next I'll try it with sauteed onion and garlic.