Living Primal in Vermont page 2

[PrimalPumpkin]

Hi there. Another fellow Vermonter here. I live in Chittenden County right now but I am moving toward the North East very soon. I am going to try and get back to primal eating with my kids when we move. It did great things for our health and our weights. My boyfriend thinks I am a bit nuts and does not understand the whole "no grains" concept.

How are your chickens laying with winter? My boyfriend and I are getting chickens together to raise on his little homestead. I am so excited to have my own fresh eggs again when they start laying.

Oh and I have a tip for hunger. Eating fat is super important BUT another tip is to eat seasonally. Our bodies don't really want a salad and summer berriers in the winter, especially up here in the frozen north. Try eating heartier things like root veggies, cabbage, kale, squash. You know the things our more recent ancestors would have stored in their root cellers. Salads and berries are great but I just don't find them satisfying in the winter.

Have a great day. I am off to the farm show!

[MarieGray]

vt huskies: Thanks for the tips. I found that today I brought way too much food for lunch, I couldnt' even finish half of my salad....I think I need to look at some more sample menus....and jsut keep reading. I agree about the workouts..though I did go back through the book last night and I think I understand a little bit better now......

PrimalPumpkin: I love your screen name. My chickens (aptly named SPider, Speck and Oreo by by my 10 year old daughter) do FAIR in the winter. THey have a pretty rustic coop. We have insulated it but we have beent old that insulation wasn't necessary. We have hearty breeds, Reds and Rocks. WHen it's super cold they collectively lay 3 eggs every two days. When they are inside for days on end they wil lay an egg each every day. They seem to pretty happy...almost all of the time. I never thought about eating seasonally to avoid hunger, very smart thinking. Have fun at the farm show.

[MarieGray]

January 25, 2012 Wednesday

I don’t care if you are eating Primal, or sticking to Atkins or South Beach Diet. Change is hard. No, I’m not whining, I’m just stating the facts ma’am…it’s freaking hard.

Having said that, I’m pleased that I have avoided splenda for two days now, I’m 18 days without diet soda, and I avoided 25 Dunkin Donut’s munchies this morning, when I maliciously and hypocritically brought them in for the crew. (Bad girl)

Today I’m feeling strange. I woke up feeling so sleepy and tired, and achey. I have a stiff neck and some touchy back muscles, I feel bound up and clenched from waist to skull. I brought a great big salad for lunch this time topped with a sliced up chicken breast… and a couple of deviled eggs. I couldn’t even manage half of it. Weird.

I’m off to read some more PB journals and recipes and menus. I feel like I’ve got one good foot forward, two good days under my belt, and I’ll be ok with this lifestyle. It’s what feels good in my “gut”

**7:51pm. What a day. Stress and tension at work....both good and bad. Basketball game, kids got stomped, but I got to catch up with the ex on kid issues that have to be dealt with tomorrow. My stomach was feeling weird at lunchtime, I didnt' finish my salad......i was SO hungry when I got home but i could NOT stomach the idea of venison stew again, so I scrambled up two eggs, topped them with cheese (not my best choice but better than rooting around for hubby's cookies) and ate them with a side of sausage and blueberries. Having a cup of tea now. My 10 year old is sitting next to me doing word problems, that's enough to make my stomach feel even worse. I need this day to be over. Like, Now. Well, maybe after Ghost Hunters it can be over.

[MarieGray]

January 26, 2012 Thursday

Well, I unintentionally tired out IF this morning, for about 14 hours because I was NOT feeling well. I drank chamomille tea all morning. I broke my fast with bit of oatmeal raisin cookie but then thought better of going back for more. Ok, I went back for more, but they were gone...Thank god! This was about 10 am. i had an appt. at the dentist at noon. I figured if I could hold off until then I'd stop for a healthy lunch on my way back to work. i was.in.luck! So much luck! The deli between points A and B had roasted chicken....skin, bones, et al. YUMMYY!!!!!!!!!!! It was so good I contemplated going back for a big ol' box for supper, but I already had turkey breast out for dinner. (I seared it in bacon grease and montreal steak seasoning, waiting to finish it off in the oven when the baked potatoes are done. I have a big pot of brussell sprouts and green beans on stand by to steam, and finish in a hot pan wiht butter and garlic. GOD I'm hungry.

I find myself very disheartened today by the 1st Lady's new school lunch plan being rolled out. Granted anything is wiser than calling ketchup a vegetable....but the emphasis on grains really.is.upsetting. Am I the only person who struggles with this on a daily basis? Why is it healthier for me not to eat pasta and wheat bread but it's ok for me to feed it to my family? Before I came here, and started out on the primal path, I just thought if I forced them into a "low carb" diet, they'd all be thin and unhealthy, but it was good for me, because I wanted to lose some fat. hmmmph. I'm thinking differently of that now, and I plan to educate myself much better on this topic.

Part of my conundrum lies in the fact that my youngest lives a week here with us, and a week with her Daddy. Before you go judging (because someone always does) we have been doing this for six years, and we have two very well adjusted kids. We live 8 miles apart. It works for us. Anyway, their Dad is a real carnivore. (not the problem, bear with me) He's also not a chef, or a shopper. They eat out a lot. It's worrisome how much they eat out. My latest attempt to healthify them on Daddy weeks is to cook for them on the weekends and ship the food over on Monday morning so they have healthy stuff to eat all week. While she is here however, I'm going to wean her into a more primal lifestyle. I feel really good about this decision. I can make this work. My daughter (who is heading into puberty, already is developing and has her period at 10 years old) already thinks that fat is unhealthy. Eeeek! Gotta find her a childrens book on this topic, and get her headed in the right direction, so that she isn't like her Momma when she's 36.

Todays food:

1 bone in skin on chicken breast half, roasted with spice coating
3 cups of vegetables (broccoli, carrot, lettuce, cucumber) rolled up turkey and cheese, sprinkle of cheddar, and botled bleu cheese dressing.
diet pepsi

tbsp dark chocolate chips
glass of Melaleuca Splash 2-O lemonade (sugar free)
3 slices dried beef

1 turkey breast filet
2 cups brussell sprouts/green beans
butter
garlic

Granted this day was not 100% primal, but it was pretty damned good.

Over and out.
1 cup chai tea with water/cream boiled

[MarieGray]

why are my posts being moderated all of a sudden????????????????????????//

[MarieGray]

Friday January 27, 2012

Well, my THursday post is still lost in moderation. I'm not sure why. That was strange. Today I converted my desk at work to a standing desk. My feet hurt...but this too shall pass. Everyone is like, are you SURE You want to do this? I am sure. Did you know that a 200 lb person can burn 1673 calories for an 8 hour standing work day? Come on.

I made a poor choice this morning, and then multiplied it by three, and I dont' want to talk about it. What I do want to talk about is my lunch, turkey breast filet, about a cup of leftover green beans and brussel sprouts, and an avocado with salt and 16oz of water. I'm full.

This is a no kid weekend. Oh how I relish those. I am going to make bone broth, and my own chai tea mixture. I'm going to stock up on some PB foods, and I'm going to start "Lifting Heavy Things"

THe weather here is miserable too....I could go for some sunshine!

Cheers!!!!!

[Gay Panda]

I made a poor choice this morning, and then multiplied it by three, and I dont' want to talk about it. What I do want to talk about is my lunch, turkey breast filet, about a cup of leftover green beans and brussel sprouts, and an avocado with salt and 16oz of water.

Here, I'll talk about my Breakfast Fail: chocolate chips straight from the bag. It's just one of those days.

Have a lovely weekend and send your icky weather here . . . we need rain and all we're getting is sunshine!

[MarieGray]

Here, I'll talk about my Breakfast Fail: chocolate chips straight from the bag. It's just one of those days.

Have a lovely weekend and send your icky weather here . . . we need rain and all we're getting is sunshine!

Sheesh I feel so honored, a visit from Gay Panda. I ate those this morning too and that wasn't even the thing I was talking about. Oh well. Every moment affords us the opportunity to move on doing things correctly.

Have a great day.

[MarieGray]

The sun is shining. Thank the gods! (They are in charge of the sun right?) We have had nothing but drizzle and rian and slush and ice for the week. I am recovering from a Friday night binge. I'm not going to dwell on it, but this does seem to be a Friday night pattern for me. Armed with that realization, I need to prepare for it next Friday and meet it with primal force!!!

There was something I wanted to write here....I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about it, and now it escapes me. *update* I remember! I was going to say, I spend an awful lot of time "starting over". I hate starting over. I dislike taking two steps forward and 3 steps back. I'd really like to stop doing that.....one bite of food at a time.

I'm not going to eat today until lunchtime, give that junk in my system some time to filter out. I have some shopping to do today, arm myself a little better to eat PB all week. I would really like to lose 30 pounds, but what is equallyif not more important is that I'm eating natural, from the earth, non processed foods. *update* this didn't happen. I broke my fast with dates/coconut around 10 am.

*update*
I just returned from a morning of hunting and gathering.
From Jersey Girls Dairy, a half gallon of raw milk for the fam.
From WeAreAllWhatWeEat (WAAWE): beef soup bones, pork sausage, stainless steel milk pail (score!) little buggers are spensive! $45.00!
From CoOp: Roobios tea, cardamom pods, Garam Marsala, Vanilla Hazlenut Yogi tea, discounted chicken thighs, 85% dark chocolate bar, dates rolled in coconut. OMG those are good. coconut oil, good olive oil and balsamic for big ass salads, pecans, macadamias (stale) and almond butter. I also got some strawberries, blueberries and greek yogurt. I hate how hard it is to find full fat dairy items.

From Hannafords: pork shoulder, brisket, roaster chicken, skin on thighs, red and green leaf lettuce, swiss chard, brussel sprouts (oh shoot I forgot to get lemons ) tomatoes, avocadoes and spagetti squash.

I'm going to try a few new recipes this week in grand PB style. Feeling good. Took a diet pepsi out of cooler at grocery store, remmebered my water bottle in the car, put it back. I've got a huge bowl of greens prepped for the week, swiss chard cut up for egg muffins tomorrow, sausage thawing for Scotch eggs, and a husband who is willing to start trying some grain free foods. Woot!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All in all, a good good haul today. Very happy girl.

[MarieGray]

Success!! Dinner out last night.....Mexican....had carnitas (wicked salty, so I'm probably up in weight this am) with peppers and onions. No chips, no soda. Wooooooooooooooot!

I have lots of cooking planned today.

• Beef Bone Broth
• Scotch Eggs
• Smoked Shoulder
• Egg muffins (egg, sausage, onion, broccolli, swiss chard)

Gotta get this, plus chores done by 3:15 so we can leave for our 4:00 movie across the river. We're going to see "The Grey" Looks scary to me. Waiting for my cup of Vanilla Hazlenut tea to brew, I'm going to do a couple of days of menu planning and get cookin'. Happy Sunday !!!!!!!


Am I eating too much:

Breakfast:
3 slices bacon
2 large eggs
2 tbsp coconut milk (in tea)
1 cup spinach
1 slice swiss cheese

Lunch:
1 cup each red and green lettuce
1/4 c chicken, broccoli, cauiflower
5 cherry toatoes
2 tbsp blue cheese
2 slices bacon crumbled
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp balsamic

Dinner:
1 cup shredded pork

Dessert:
1/24 serving of 85% dark chocolate.
1/8 cup greek yogurt
3 strawberries

I'm @ 2600 calories
7% carbs
69% fat
23% protein
Really kinda freaking out about those calories. I will burn 400 more today than I take in.....IDK. End of freak out. Think I will IF between supper tonite and lunch tomorrow. That will be 15 hours.


I performed my first strength workout today.
I was surprised at how hard it was to do 40 wall pushups! i did them anyway, had to break a couple of times for half a second.
I did 50 unassisted squats. Those were "relatively" simple for me. I squat a lot already whenever I can to try to strengthen those muscles.
Overhead press, wow. awkward. I did 20 of those.
Plank for 90 seconds. My whole body shook uncontrollably while holding that one.
Pullups nada. We have no bar. Yet.

I'm still confused about how this works. I continue on as above until they are simple and then move on to master the next? Except for the plank, there is no specific amount of time that you use to perform these?