Primal journal : Coll page 48

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Exactly Judg We are headed off to a Wildlife sanctuary for the day! Sounds pretty interesting and I get to do school without having to push when no-one wants to do writing practice etc. Yee ha! We all love wildlife and the stories of how all these different animals came to be at this place are fascinating. They have a 720 acre farm that is set up for rehabilitating rescued animals. Will be sure to have pictures to share If you could imagine me sharing pictures that is

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Well, long day done. It was very sad seeing so very many animals coming from so many horrific situations and now just living out their last days on this farm. The girl who registered us and we had contact with during the day was rather obnoxious so that flavored our time there somewhat... Loads and loads of tigers, African lions, wolves and wolf hybrids, cougars, leopards and panthers, etc etc. It was only about 70F today but we got really hot. It is out on the plain with barely a tree in sight and there was a walkway about 20 - 30 feet up in the air that you could walk around and view the various camps and enclosures. It is always so depressing seeing the results of human nastiness ... sigh. It was very educational and DD especially, was deeply touched by the plight of the animals. She was reading all the stories about the rescues and her dear soul was totally incredulous to hear of the atrocities. Our kids are very sheltered from that side of things still, so it was a real wake up call for her. She was ready to come home and send all her money to help the animals - especially the lions.

Lots of walking, which woke my heel up a bit. It started to whine by the end of the day, but that is a sight better than limping around all day long. And even though it was hurting I was still able to walk normally. That is a huge improvement. I was so happy that it was warmer today as I don't have any shoes that are suitable for colder weather and that don't hurt my heel.

I was just thinking today ... what kind of calorie intake should one aim for? I have generally been aiming to get about 1200 a day, but despite eating a lot yesterday the scale didn't move this morning. My carbs were low but the overall calories were pretty high. Today I had about 1700 calories, a little too many carbs 68g which I consider not bad for eating on the road. Protein 98 g, fat 112g. As you may have noticed I really don't have any problem with getting enough fat!!!! I don't want to overdo it though. I am 5'7" and of medium build, pretty muscular under the fat. What is a good range for me? Where do I find this? Some days I do fine on 1200 or less even but that usually gets followed up in a few days with a higher calorie day. Of course this is probably why I have not made much progress on my weight loss too! Just don't want my body to think it needs to hang on to the fat or give it too much either. I haven't quite found that sweet spot for me.

[Siobhan]

Here's Mark's take on this - it is what I use.

How to Eat According to the Primal Blueprint | Mark's Daily Apple

I'm with your daughter on the lions - quite a few of my charity dollars go to the big cat programs.

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Thanks Siobhan, that page is helpful. I don't feel like I am too far out of whack then. As long as I keep my carbs down and make sure I don't go too heavy on the fat I think I am good.

DD was thrilled as a number of the male lions were of a distinct type that is close genetically to the extinct Cape Lion. I was intrigued as to why so many of them had that particular type of mane and hair. Wonder if someone has been breeding for that and if it brings more money to the sellers!!

[Judg]

You might like today's post on MDA. You might actually be suffering from too few calories and pushing yourself into famine mode. I would suggest never going beyond three weeks of calorie deprivation at a time.

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I'll have to go and read that post Judg. That is exactly what I was wanting to try and avoid, just was wondering if I was walking too close to the line there. Going to keep experimenting with my macros and see what happens.

I had a rounded half a teaspoon of CO this morning that had a hard time going down! I need to try your trick of mixing it up Judg. I definitely had a bit of reaction, headache, nauseated until about 2:30pm and I definitely had a buzz of energy in the midst of that - weird feeling! Felt hot and flushed and just not right. Still have a headache this evening and get really thirsty too. Drinking lots - I know that also goes along with the ketosis, feels like a double dose today. So tomorrow I will go for the same amount until I don't have a noticeable reaction or very minimal one anyway. THen I'll up it again.

Right now my overall intake is more than it was, but my carbs are staying under 50g and I am feeling pretty good (aside from the CO ) We'll see in the next few days whether it is right for me. If I start gaining again I'll know to cut back somewhat, and if I lose again I guess I know that I am pretty close. Kind of interesting, I have never taken the time to experiment on myself. Always been afraid that I am not losing fat fast enough and that I might gain a whole bunch overnight - so silly when I say it, but that is the feeling that lurks at the back of my mind. So this is my first real experiment as far as the fat loss goes. I am not doing much exercise at all right now - just walking really and my daily chores (plenty of slow movement there) It was mentioned that if you are reacting to the CO (or anything else) to take it easy on the exercise until it settles down, rest lots and drink lots. So that is what I am trying to do.

Had breakfast, 2 fried eggs and a tin of sardines, 1/2 avo. Tea with cream x 3 today. Lunch skipped except for a small piece of gouda. Dinner - about a 1/4 of a steak, about 3 oz of pork chop, raw veg and 1/4 avocado. Feel pretty good right now. Had our last chiro appointment for now!! Been going for the last 18 months and we have a ginormous bill to get rid of now. However, DS who was in a really bad way when we started there is now a normal healthy little boy who runs and jumps and plays with gusto! What a blessing to watch him now. He used to be like a little old man and was in constant pain, always crying and unable to run except in an old man hobble. It was so pathetic - just broke my heart to see him. He could never sit at the table to eat, he'd take a bite and then lie down on the floor. Of course dinner time was the worst because he was really tired by then. I do feel that part of what helped was our diet change too. The kids have both had a big growth spurt since we changed to the primal WOE. Just seems that it all came together to help. The chiro was commenting on how much better my skin was so that was very encouraging. Always nice to hear an outside perspective on that. Funny, I was telling him about the CO that I am using and the effects and he confessed that he knows he had an issue with yeast and fungus in his gut and he knows that he should clean up his diet and do a cleanse - but he is putting it off because he knows he is going to feel worse before he feels better! I was teasing him and telling him to be a big boy and bite the bullet - funny. He is always ready to lecture me, but he isn't doing it himself! Guess we all do that huh?!

I got a bunch of chores done today that I haven't had the energy for in ages. Good sign, if I can do it again tomorrow I am going to be happy indeed!

Sleep well all, I am looking forward to that bed of mine!

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OK, so this morning my weight is still at 190lbs so I think I need to ease back on my fat consumption (less cups of tea with cream in I think!) and see where that gets me. I need my body to start using up my fat so want to hold back slightly there - since I started tracking my macros again it seems that my fat consumption is, ahem, VERY healthy, shall we say So going to have one cup of tea with cream today and do herbal tea after that if I want something hot to drink. Supposed to be beautiful weather again today, 72 F, and I am really wanting to do some kind of workout. I think I might do the LHT workout today. DH is home with no jobs at the moment so maybe he'll be able to set up a pull up bar somewhere for me! We have a broken porch swing (the wind did a number on it) but it still has a good bar that could possibly be adapted for pullups. I am off to make breakfast and eat some coconut oil! Deep breath and brace myself...

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Well, today was pretty much a wash! Going to leave it behind me and move on. Stress all day - nothing bad happening just feeling stressed about our living situation and a myriad of other things. Never feel caught up on all the things I am supposed to be doing! Oh well, we had a fun evening sitting around a fire outside and had a lovely primal dinner which felt good. BUT I also had a few CW chocolates and felt totally crappy!! Sigh, just pathetic. Try again tomorrow!

[Judg]

I'm trying to avoid cream and milk products (not entirely successful) because of the milk sugar content. Kefir is a different matter, of course... What I'm particularly avoiding is fruit and starches, although I did succumb and eat some lovely beets the other night. Practically candy. I'll blame it on the organic farm that keeps sending them to me. LOL!

If the coconut oil is bothering you, why don't you just back off altogether for a while? And then try it in very small amounts. These things do have to be tailored to our own individual needs, after all.

Nice your chiro noticed your skin. And I'm so happy your little boy is doing better. Were you guys in an accident or something?

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Thanks Judg, sometimes it just helps to let it all out here. I am going pretty slow with the coconut oil, but I think that while I don't feel great after eating it, it is helping me to get rid of something undesirable inside my body. The chiro was agreeing with me about my skin issues (not the DSAP) like the cracking, peeling feet, skin tags, warts and dry skin are all symptoms typical of either yeast or fungus. So I am taking very small amounts of the CO and when I feel better on that amount I increase it slightly and stick there until that amount is ok too. Supposedly if I stick with it I will ultimately see an improvement in a lot of areas. I want to try it for a little while before deciding to skip it for a while. I am up to about 1/2 teaspoon of CO now and the reaction seems milder than it was. Nothing particularly bad - just headachy and feeling kind of oversensitive and have some odd sensations for a while after having it. But it seems to be less extreme than it was - of course it is much smaller amounts.

We don't really know why our son's back got so bad. I remember when he started walking I was happy because he walked so straight - but somewhere along the line something happened and he was walking with his one foot pointing quite obviously out to the side and couldn't really run. Just a lot of pain in his lower back etc. I imagine he may have had a fall that we didn't know was a problem and that just set things off on a downward spiral... whatever it was I am very grateful to have a healthy active little boy again. Before he spent a lot of the day lying down trying to relieve spasms in his back - buckets of tears were shed and it was heart breaking seeing him like that.

My hormones seem to be out of whack - this last cycle very short and was suprised today with the arrival of Aunt Flo! No wonder I have been craving the carbs and my weight was not moving! Oh well, good to know the reason for some of this stuff. I think I am not far from the wonderful stage of menopause! Crazy to think - I still feel way too young to be wandering into this territory!

The kids and I had great fun this morning - we took a nature walk near the river and lake. Found bird nests that we want to watch next spring (assuming we are still living close enough to do so) and found a section of the river bank that has been washed clean of all the ash from the fire. I had a blast collecting lovely smooth river rocks and pebbles for painting on. I could have sat there all day picking through the rocks I did lots of squats and bending and walking.

I skipped breakfast - just really not hungry. Two cups of tea with cream today. About an ounce of cheese and a small apple for lunch. A bar of chocolate!!! The good kind, but still ... :0
Having meatloaf for dinner and sauteed cabbage.

On a different note, I was given an old stamp collection today (good old craigslist!) by an older lady who wanted to find a home for it with a collector! Some stuff there from 1918!! I am thrilled to bits! I have collected stamps since I was a kid - but having grown up in South Africa I have very few USA stamps. So this is a wonderful blessing - very unexpected, and free!