Primal Journal (Judg) page 4

[Lex26]

Hey Judg!

Just wanted to welcome you to the forums. A lot of us - in varying degrees - are dealing with adrenal fatigue. I tried pushing myself with exercise intensity earlier this year with zero benefits and a lot of drawbacks, which just convinced me further that in order to have progress, I have to go easier on myself. Overall, I've found the things that can drain me or make me really off-kilter are dairy (wipes me out because it jacks up insulin, then blood sugar), caffeine (just gets me jittery and ineffectual), lack of sleep and refined sugar. Don't go VLC (very low carb) though! Keep some nutritious carbs in there or that could stress your body out even more. That's one lesson I've gotten down since becoming primal.

[Judg]

Reading this over has given me a craving for olives and there are no olives here! I do have some olive oil, that will have to do.

Note to self: Buy olives.

Mmm, olives.

Hey Judg!

Just wanted to welcome you to the forums. A lot of us - in varying degrees - are dealing with adrenal fatigue. I tried pushing myself with exercise intensity earlier this year with zero benefits and a lot of drawbacks, which just convinced me further that in order to have progress, I have to go easier on myself. Overall, I've found the things that can drain me or make me really off-kilter are dairy (wipes me out because it jacks up insulin, then blood sugar), caffeine (just gets me jittery and ineffectual), lack of sleep and refined sugar. Don't go VLC (very low carb) though! Keep some nutritious carbs in there or that could stress your body out even more. That's one lesson I've gotten down since becoming primal.

Thanks Lex. My main focus is cutting out grains, although I have retreated a lot as concerns dairy. I'll try to keep an eye out for any ill side effects with it.

I do have to be careful with exercise, and that is typical of CFS. It's important that we get some, but overdoing it, even by a little, will set us back for weeks. I have learned that the hard way, but I still have trouble curbing myself when I'm feeling a little better.

Not trying to do VLC. I'm quite content with a slow weight loss and I have never been comfortable with fanatical diets. It took me a while to rally to the idea of eliminating grains as is, LOL! For the time being I want to purge them pretty well entirely as a kind of elimination diet to test for intolerance. But I don't shy away from fruit and sweet potatoes and such.

Gotta run!

[Judg]

Fridge is full to bursting. Fresh produce takes up a lot of room, especially for more than one person. But we ran out of so much this week, I didn't want it to happen again. I think we're safe this time...

Salesman for organic meat came to the door the other day. I got a free sample of ground beef and the pitch for buying a year's worth of meat at once. I'm still debating it. Made two batches of meatballs today with identical recipes, one with the organic, one with what I already had in my freezer. Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference, taste-wise. I know there's a lot more to it than that, but I rather hoped I would be blown away.

My son is getting positive reinforcement from his trainer at the gym. "Grains are the most over-rated food around." Somebody should give that guy a raise.

B: home-made trail mix while grocery shopping. Couldn't believe how even my energy stayed this morning, despite the fact I didn't start nibbling till I was almost at the cash.
L: Omelet with onions and red peppers and cheese, with guacamole on the side. Prepared by my son.
S: Meatballs (well, really, what else did you expect?) and tabouleh, minus the bulgur or quinoa that I usually put in it.
My usual drinks, although I had a couple of ounces of cranberry-pomegranate juice at lunch. The jug is almost empty, and then it will be used up.

[winencandy]

Hi Judg!

Throw away junk foods and grains like wheat (actually, give to food closet.) But don't don't don't throw out homemade cabbage rolls wih rice.

this!!!

While I'm on the subject of sweeteners, are maple syrup and honey in very small amounts considered an indulgence or are they respectably primal? Or somewhere in between, as lesser evils?

Don't you DARE throw away your maple syrup!!!
As for the honey, is it local? or is it a big name brand - possibly from China???
If it's local, keep it. If you didn't buy it from the beekeeper, toss it.
You can get pasteurized honey from a local beekeeper (I have some), but I prefer the liquid gold.

I'm feeling draggy and discouraged and downright snarky.

This post made me smile

What the heck is 'low-fat cream'? How is that possible?

???

And now would somebody please scrape my jaw off the floor? My youngest son, who lives at home again (at my invitation) and who has been working on losing weight and getting fit asked me what my new eating plan was. So I told him. He listened for a few minutes and said, "Okay, I'll do this with you. Just don't make anything gross."

Excellent!!

[Judg]

Well, thank you for stopping by, Winencandy. (I was going to shorten it to WC, but thought better of it...)

I ate all the cabbage rolls, kept the maple sugar, but have not yet chucked my honey. I checked it instead, product of Canada. That doesn't surprise me: we have a thriving honey industry in Saskatchewan, of all places. I will check into local organic for the future: with my consumption presumably going down, I might be able to afford more expensive stuff.

And now for yesterday's report. I had a friend over for a late supper, and she got treated to her first primal meal.

B: Greek yogurt with walnuts, blueberries, flaxseed and hempseed
L: leftover pork liver with onions, green peppers and salsa. I really wish I liked liver better.
S: latte with real milk and honey. Yes, it was my cheat.
D: baked sole with roasted curry cauliflower and tabouleh. "Primal" cookies for dessert.
Black coffee, herb teas, mineral water to drink.

The cookie recipe I got from thisprimallife.com. Another almond meal recipe that I made with maple syrup, butter, and cinnamon. Not as sweet as ordinary cookies (good thing!) but very pleasant. I do have to back off on my fondness for sweet things, which was not an out-of-control forest fire, but more like one of those smouldering ones that refuses to be put out. It obviously wasn't preventing me from losing weight, but I'm getting increasingly concerned about the health effects. Backing off gradually tends to work better with my personality, and I've been doing it for quite a while and plan on continuing. In that spirit, I only had two small cookies, and will do my very best not to binge on them, greatly aided by the fact that the ingredients are more expensive than standard cookies. My cheapness is often a valuable ally...

Sunny out finally but still cold. The sun will make it easier to want to exercise.

I have been noticing that my skin is getting softer and feeling healthier. I sometimes catch myself cupping my face in my hands, just to feel it. This is a very good sign that it's not just my imagination, just like putting my hands on my hips and being pleasantly surprised is a better sign that the weight is coming off than the number on the scale. The number on the scale can jump all over the place depending on the current contents of my digestive tract, but the hands on the hips test measures fat and muscle definition... That is a very recent development, realizing I have muscles in my waist area. Who knew?

[longing2bfit]

Food journal for the Paleo Diet - PaleoTrack

Hi Judg thought I would leave this here for you So you can at least check it out. It has been a real 'diet' saver for me these last few days trying to get my eating dialed in. When I first started I was stunned at where I was compared to where I believed I was. I have been eating grainfree, legume free, sugar free, processed free etc for well over a year and had started going backwards and was having the hardest time figuring it out. It really did come down to not only calories but the proper macros! I resisted tracking so hard that the stress of resisting I think caused a weight gain!!

I read your entire journal and was so nodding my head at some of it especially this, " I expect a reward for all the hard work" I wrote an entire page disertation on this subject a few weeks ago!! So baby you can trust that I understand this one..

I think it's awesome that your son is on board. I was thrilled when our 22yr old son and 25 yr old daughter jumped in and even my 4yr old GD is in the game now and what a miraculous change in her disposition!!

My IBS completely cleared up eating this way and within months I was off all of my long-term medications so I know it is about much more than just the weightloss but man it was hard to accept the regain! I am in a much more positive place right now and thanks to paleo track I am more ready to track for a bit to get things tightened up Good luck and welcome!!

[Judg]

Thanks for the kind comments! Yes, weight gain has the advantage of something we can put numbers to and that everybody else can see, so it's easy to let it take centre stage. I am glad to hear you have reaped other very tangible benefits too, both for your sake and my own encouragement.

Son is on board but will be moving out in a couple of months or even weeks, depending on how things work out. Ah well, it will mean less cooking for me, LOL!

Even my husband (who works in the States) is getting intrigued. He's now planning on switching over to Greek yogurt and berries for breakfast instead of his standard granola. It's a small step, but that's fine. Hopefully by the time he's home for the summer he'll be ready to eat as I do, which will save me double meal preps and mean that I will finally be able to purge my pantry.

[Judg]

Quick report for Saturday.

I slept very badly, waking at around 2 and staying awake till well after dawn. In spite of this, I was not dead, like I usually would have been, and was able to put in a full day. I kind of crashed after supper, but not too hard, just enough that I knew I really had to stop trying to do things. I walked to the shopping centre, about 2.5 km, rested in the coffee shop like normal (just black coffee), then did my errands without feeling tired. Wow. It was a crisp day - apparently the last - but lovely and sunny, so I was even tempted to walk back home. I wasn't that stupid. Good thing too. My energy did run out a little later, but I hadn't pushed it too hard so the landing was soft.

B: black coffee, smoothie with banana, blueberries, spinach, 2 eggs, hempseed, flaxseed, almond drink
L: Tabouleh (no bulgur) and four small meatballs.
S: nibbled on a few nuts I have in my purse while I was out, but it was a very small number
D: primal pizza (recipe on MDA). Meh. I did something wrong, it didn't turn out at all like in the video. I'll try again though. It was edible, but not a keeper till I get it right. One of yesterday's cookies for dessert.

I can say that my energy levels are definitely more constant, and even a bit higher than they used to be, so I am encouraged to continue the primal experiment. I am quite happy to accept incremental change, and this is really quite good for just 10 or 11 days.

Other benefits I have mentioned before, diminished IBS and softer, smoother skin. I have ultra-sensitive skin and any problems I have always show up there, in one form or another: rosacea, rashes, hives, scaly skin, I do them all. Even my dust allergy makes me itch more than it makes my nose run. Which means that improved skin texture is a clear (pun not intended, heh) sign that I'm doing something right.

And now I'm going to bed. I'll check everybody else's journals tomorrow or Monday (Sunday is a busy day with church and family) as I really should get to bed early tonight. I'm wiped. I don't want to be obliged to stay home in bed tomorrow, as sometimes happens.

[lopisheep]

Hoping you have a super night's sleep tonight and a very happy day tomorrow. I think I had too much sun for most of my life (Southern California), and now I seem to be allergic to it. Makes me itch and stuff like crazy. One nice thing in the Northwest -- we can go months without sun. Well, I do exaggerate here, but not by much. So glad you're on this forum.

Sweet dreams!

[Judg]

Hoping you have a super night's sleep tonight and a very happy day tomorrow. I think I had too much sun for most of my life (Southern California), and now I seem to be allergic to it. Makes me itch and stuff like crazy. One nice thing in the Northwest -- we can go months without sun. Well, I do exaggerate here, but not by much. So glad you're on this forum.

Sweet dreams!

Very sweet of you, Lopi, thanks!

I was raised a prairie girl, the thought of living in your area (and it has been considered) depresses me immensely. I had enough trouble getting used to the grey days in the East. They used to be a nice change of pace, now they are something to be endured. Light deprivation really gets to me, something I realized before there was any media buzz about it.

My DIL also has a sun allergy. She covers up with light cottons so she can still get out.

I did sleep better last night, so much so that turning off the alarm wasn't enough to let me go back to sleep. LOL!