Primal Journal (Ecks) page 3

[ecks]

HI, I just read this thread from start to here and thought I"d join in. I have 10 lbs I want to lose and I know that doesn't compare to what some of you here are doing, but I think we can all empathize and support one another. I'm doing the 21 DAy transformation - read the book yesterday and today is Day 2. Like you others, I have the tendency to get obsessive over the scale. I am just weighing myself once a week - on Sundays - today's the day. I started Primal on Jan. 1 but I didn't understand it fully - have been learning as I go - so I ate a ton of fruit and peanuts and peanut butter and I gained weight so far. I'm committed to stick with this Primal thing all the way for 12 weeks and reassess. My overall goal is to not have the carb and sweets cravings, not be obsessive and feel restricted all the time, get rid of arthritis in my toes (already that is getting better) , and overall be healthy and not so driven to extremes (binges followed by fasting). I wish everyone a really great day and I'll check back soon.

Hey!! I'm so glad that you posted on my wall! :P After 4 weeks you'll never turn back. I've been at this since mid november (so roughly 2 months) and I'm proud to say I've lost 34LBS so far (keep in mind I'm a very big guy). I noticed you haven't started a primal journal yet. It's a great way to keep on track and stay accountable. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I know I haven't been on it for too long but I literally spend the majority of my free time researching what's next. I started the paleo/primal lifestyle because I was showing signs of diabetes in early november (going blind, peeing every 35 minutes to an hour, constantly tired.) and those signs are completely gone. I may still be diabetic (I never went to find out) but I sure as heaven don't feel it.

I'm going to leave you with my fave MDA article. The one that kind of hit home for me but more so made EVERYTHING make sense. The "My Pyramid" link part way through the second paragraph is the mate article to this one. You need to read both in order to really understand the food portion of the primal lifestyle.

The Best Way to Get Diabetes: Follow the Diabetes Dietary Guidelines | Mark's Daily Apple

[Lex26]

Weighed in this morning after a week without a scale. 299 down from 302! I'm not gonna celebrate the 200's just yet until I get a little further away from the big 3 but I'm definitely excited to see it. I haven't seen a 2 at the start of my number in 3 years.

You know it feels good! That's great!

[ecks]

Food quick post...

Breakfast (and I have to include the photo) a Latke pizza and mixed blackberries and blueberries!
Pizza- Turnip latke topped with tomato sauce, mushroom, green pepper, cherry tomatoes, organic chicken chapoltle sausage, and goats cheese.



Lunch- Leftovers from breakfast.

Dinner- (Photo op for this one too!) Goat cheese and sundried tomato stuffed chicken thighs wrapped in bacon and a big salad with purple lettuce, green peppers, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, and some apple.

[SJean]

Ecks have you thought about becoming a Paleo personal chef? Your food looks excellent.. Congrats on all the wonderful changes you've been making. I kind of have a Primal journal going on Starting the New Year Primal thread-- I didn't want to do it by my lonesome so it's a little group of whoever posts who has just started with the new year. Thanks for the articles - I'll read them!

I'm doing the 21 DAy transformation book/workbook and today's assignments are to extend dinner invite for days 6-7 (I asked sig. other to ask one of his friend's and his friend's wife - he knows them - I don't - to see if they can come this Friday); Boycott industrialized food - strive to completelyl avoid eating at fast food chains or any other processed or frozen meals from multinational corporations - today and for the duration of your 21 Day challenge -- this won't be hard for me - I don't live or work near fast food and am not in the habit; "Today make a specific statement in favor of your health and against the industrialization of food by planting a few seeds in your backyard garden, finding healthy local or direct-order alternatives to mainstream sources, or perhaps selling off any holdings you have in Nabisco or McDonald's." Ok this one is tough for me-it's 4 degrees out so no chance I'll be able to plant anything in the backyard. I will look into some direct-order pasture fed meat. The selling off of stocks though --- in my divorce settlement I got a bunch of stocks from a major player in the industrialized food industry - in fact I only earn about 30% of what I live off day to day - the rest is the money that comes from the stock portfolio (married a trust fund baby whose last name is the last name of said food co. - I won't divulge because I don't want to break his privacy nor mine). Anyway...I will vote at shareholder meeting about more environmentally and health sustaining product development....I also own McDonald's stock because it has a high social responsibility rating -they employ and promote minorities at a higher rate than any other US co I believe - though sadly the food is horrific....

[ecks]

Thanks for the huge complement on the food! Cooking has become a passion over the past 2 months of going paleo. I've got a ton more photos up on facebook of meals I've made. I didn't mind cooking before but now I can put more energy into it and the "restrictions" have made me think outside of the box for meals.

I think the dinner party will be a cool opportunity to help you think of cooking paleo on a larger scale. I could see why dropping stock would make sense. In a way we shouldn't be supporting companies that could be making the people around us sick. Though I do like the idea of voting for healthier options. Granted sliced apples that you dunk in caramel is considered one of their "healthy options".

I'd love the link to your journal if you are comfortable sharing. And if you need ideas for stuff to cook for your dinner party I'd be more than happy to offer recipes. (I also suggest thefoodee.com as they do daily paleo recipes from around the interwebs)

[ecks]

B- Mushroom and Tomato omelet, bacon fried hash, chunk of spicy chicken sausage topped with dijon mustard

Lunch- Left over dinner from last night (goat cheese and sundried tomato stuffed chicken breast wrapped in bacon and some more salad)

Snack- celery, 1/2 cup blackberries and raspberries mixed, 1/3rd cup of raw almonds and walnuts mixed.

After work snack- 1/2 cup baby carrots

Dinner- 1/2 a striploin steak, 1/2 of a stuffed/wrapped chicken breast, another 1/2 cup of baby carrots

Dessert- 4 sections of Green and Blacks 85% dark chocolate.

Green/Mint tea before bed

[SJean]

Not sure how to copy a link - the way I find the journal is by putting Starting the New Year Primal in the search box and it's there.

[ecks]

Story time! Because who doesn't love a good story. When I started this journal I started into my story but didn't get very deep. Since I've only been food blogging the last few days I figured now would be a good time to share more.

Those just starting to read form this point my story started like this:

I've always been a BIG guy. I first realised that I was overweight when I was 6- coming in at a whopping 98lbs I can still distinctly remember the moment...


I was in my grade 1 classroom (Room 4, mrs. rapcoski... I have a good memory) and I remember we were watching a video on penguins... I though they were the cooliest thing ever! As the video went on I remember thinking "they're huge!"... that's when the narrator mentioned that "penguins can grow to be up to 98lbs"- I at the time being about the same weight came to the realisation that I was huge. It never bothered me though...

My dad for 2 years of my childhood had been laid off from his job in a car seat factory. In that time he got another job in a cookie factory. We were never good at connecting- but he knew we could bond over food. He used to bring home these 2 inch chocolate covered wafers by the box and I'd go to down on them. Meanwhile on the flip side my mom was taking me to a nutritionist who had conventional wisdom down pat... Guess who got even fatter... Check out this bad boy below! Yep! That's how they wanted me to eat...



I honestly don't ever remember seeing 120, 130, 140, or 150 but by grade 5 I was about 160.

That's enough of the story for now.

Breakfast- 1/2 portion of steak, 2 eggs.

Lunch- 1/2 portion of steak, 1/2 portion of that awesome bacon wrapped stuffed chicken, Big Salad

Snack- 1/2 cup baby carrots, 1/3 cup mixed hazel nuts, almonds, and pecans

After work Eats- 1/2 striploin steak

Pre Game snack - 1/2 cup mixed berries, 4 squares of Green and Blacks 85% cacao organic chocolate

Post Game meal- 1 chicken thigh, 3 slices of bacon, coconut milk shake (coconut milk, blackberries, cinnimon, banana)

[Lex26]

Man, your mom even took you to a nutritionist. That makes me worry about the kids who will be participating in all this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/he...e-lean.html?hp

Ever feel like you need to do well on paleo/primal not just for yourself, but for the good of humanity? Sounds over the top, but I don't think it is.

[ecks]

Especially with the whole weight watchers deal... I tried weight watchers when I was in grade 9... 26 lbs off in a summer... 30 back on by the end of the year.

Our grandparents never got that fat and the difference between then and now is refined sugars and emphasis on carbohydrate based meals. I get it bread is "light" so how heavy could it get on our bodies? It almost makes sense when you think about it but that's the change that is killing this generation. And now we have parents who don't know how to eat feeding kids. I see how my sister feeds my niece- That 8 year old can suck down a big mac and large fries (our large is the US medium) and still have room. That's gross on too many levels. Now she clearly takes after her father for metabolising food. She's still small. He could get away with eating anything... that is until this past year where he started to balloon. I'm scared she's going to turn out the same way I did. And well my sister too. My sister was thin right up until her pregnancy. She's been growing since and hasn't stopped...