Lois' Journey with the Primal Blueprint :) page 2

[Lex26]

Man, we do have a lot of similarities. You're luckier than me because I think you're going to shape up to your goal weight a lot faster, but diet and stress-wise I think we're facing some of the same problems. Like with FODMAPs, I found the same thing. I don't feel any ill effects of broccoli, but too many onions really make me act up. I've since noticed I don't think I have to ban onions, I just have to make sure I don't overdo it. Like a 1/4 cup doesn't make me super gassy or cause GERD. But a meal with a whole onion in it is too far!

I feel the same way about sleep too. One nice thing about unemployment is I've for the most part not needed to wake up to an alarm. Alarms are the devil! They don't just wake me up - they give me freaking heart attacks. Life without alarms is definitely a wonderful thing.

Hopefully both of us see some progress sometime soon by eating balanced and thinking better. I do now think psychology has so much to do with the rest of our body works.

[lolo66]

Afternoon- kale chips sprinkled with nutritional yeast and curry powder and a protein shake. Wasn't overly sure if I liked the kale chips or not. Think I might need another go with them. I felt a bit like I was eating dried leaves, but they tasted ok. I'm also being a bit cautious with cabbages as they're a fodmap food, and did get a slight pain in my stomach afterwards. It may have been from the protein shake though, as it has some dairy in it, and my body never reacts well to that.

Had a scrummy dinner of local beef hamburger with a fried egg and lots of vegetables. Will definitely be making this one again! Having a small glass of red wine tonight, i'm really craving the haagen dazs, so I thought this would be a better option. It's hard living with family at the moment as there's so many things in the cupboard that I usually wouldn't buy, but i'm used to having to resist things on the candida diet so my willpower is quite strong. I've managed to resist the ice cream and treats so far, and the more I do it, the easier it becomes.

Did my first bit of meditation today, and really enjoyed it. I know a lot of people meditate and push everything out their head, but I just sat and really thought lots of things over, and it really helped settle my thoughts. I felt a lot more enegized afterwards as well. I haven't really researched anything about meditation recently. I tried meditating before following 'instructions' and it didn't work for me as I felt too restrained, if that makes any sense at all? I'm kind of making my own rules and may look into it a little later and see what has worked for different people. Thinking things over in the day is really useful for me as it saves me having to do it before going to bed and not being able to sleep properly from it!

Thoughts for tomorrow;
B- usual
L/afternoon- bacon/roasted peppers, anything i can scrounge from the kitchen!
D- a piece of fish: wild salmon or cod

note- make spinach bread again next week for afternoons, mix in some nutritional yeast for added b vits.

[lolo66]

Welcome to the journals, Lois. It is really a great place to keep yourself going when things are hard.
Yes, eat the skin! Get free-range if you are worried about omega-6.

thanks for the reply Sabine Ah that's good, I do love eating crispy chicken skin! I do always try to buy organic or at least free range if possible. Food over here is soooo expensive at the moment. I do eat plenty of oil fish and take a fish oil supplement every day so the o3 to 06 ratio should be fine.

[lolo66]

Thanks for the reply Lex. It's really strange that I just happened to pick your journal out of a whole list. I'm quite new to all this and haven't really read many journals yet, but yours was the first I ever read. Must be fate...

Yeah my digestive issues are atrocious at the moment. I can't stomach any onion at all, they're one of the worst foods for me (primal approved foods anyway, my stomach goes haywire if I touch wheat or dairy, I shudder just thinking about it!) Milk and caffeine really hates me I'm hoping that by cutting these out my skin will really improve. I noticed that you said your acne cleared up a lot from changing to this lifestyle. I've always had greasy spotty skin, but it went away about a year ago, but since starting uni and having the candida it's really flared up- it's now the worst it's ever been. I have it mostly around my mouth, which apparently is due to digestive issues, and also on my forehead which is down to stress. I'm dealing with all these things, and eating lost of vit B and zinc rich foods so I really hope it clears up! I have bad scaring from it now as well.

I'm fine with brocolli as well, it's one of my staple veggies. Yeah I HATE the sound of my alarm clock, it used to give me a mini heart attack every morning. If I ever have to set an alarm now, I always use my phone, as the ring tone is a little more subdue.

Yes i'm really working on meditating and deep thought at the moment. I have a lot of thoughts swimming around in my head- well more than normal anyway, and i'm hoping that thinking about them during the day will help me sleep better at night. I have a lot of negativity going on in my head at the moment that I really need to address. It's getting a lot better though.

[Lex26]

I love kale chips and nutritional yeast too! Are you putting salt on the chips? Sometimes I forget and I'm like why so bland - oh yeah!

Glad to hear you're working on meditation. Do it your own way - whatever relieves stress! That's the whole point of doing it. Personally I feel like it's easier for me to do after yoga. To think through things, I love walking the most though. It's like there's something about literally moving forward that helps my thoughts and emotions also move forward ... or like there's literally more oxygen getting into my brain and making it work properly

[lolo66]

Food for today:

B/L- Usual 2 egg omelette with veg and ham, 2 slices so bacon (so yum <3) and a side salad with cucumber and tomatoes.

D- Sunday Roast Dinner, with lamb leg, roast potatoes (upping my carbs a little at the moment) leeks, broccoli and cauliflower.

So proud of myself today that I resisted from eating between my two meals. I usually have a small meal, or a protein shake so this was a breakthrough for me today, and I was really hungry this morning. So ate brunch at about 11, and dinner at 7, very happy! I have also resisted the haagen dazs for another day, i'll be so happy when it goes. Ice cream really is my weakness, but I just keep thinking how it'll make me feel inside and that puts me off from eating any.

Went to the farm shop today and picked up 30 more eggs and some parsnips and sweet potatoes, as we have no starchy veg in the house at the moment (apart from potatoes) and I don't want to rely on those too much. I'm hoping i'll sleep better tonight from eating more carbs.

Food for today
Around 1100 cals
68g protein
71g fat
54g carbs

Thoughts for tomorrow
Omelette in morning
roasted peppers/seeds/bacon for snack. Need to look into beef jerky, not sure if it's so popular over here. I'm really trying to resist the protein shakes atm as i don't think they completely agree with me.
Prawns and stir fry veg for dinner

Overall a fairly relaxed day and feeling quite bright and happy. I want to go into the local charity shop some time this week to see if they need any volunteers. I have a lot of time on my hands at the moment and not a lot to do. I hope that it'll give me some more structure in my day, if i have to get up and be somewhere on time.

I also have to make brownies for my sister's school tomorrow. I know I won't eat any, but it'll be interesting to see how tempted I become. I do make really good brownies!

[lolo66]

Sleep: at least 8 hours. Woke up at 9:30 (a lot earlier than usual) and felt goood. No headaches and felt fully awake. My goal is to be able to wake up with the sun, but i'm having troubles getting off to sleep at the moment and waking up at 6/7am wouldn't allow me to get enough sleep.

Food:
B/L- Usual omelette with veg and side salad
Afternoon- Some olives, 2 slices bacon, 2 choc buttons, Vanilla Haagen Dazs, a teaspoon of coconut oil and cocoa
Dinner: Amazing sirloin steak, green beans, potatoes, salad, cucumber, tomatoes.

I felt more hungry than usual today and had a bit of a treat day. I didn't have any bacon for breakfast as I didn't feel hungry enough for it, but I wish I had now, as it would have maybe prevented my from having the ice cream. I tried to fill the gap with some olives but they just weren't cutting it today. However I thought consciously about it, felt that I deserved a treat considered that I'd managed to resist the ice cream and other treats in the house for a while now. And I thoroughly enjoyed every spoonful. I am proud of myself that I didn't get carried away and stuck to eating 1 portion, not half the tub. I think the fact that it was sunny today made me want ice cream as well. Anyway, I enjoyed it and won't eat any more until my sister's hoovered the lot!

I had a few too many potatoes with dinner. I'm allowing myself carby vegetables at the moment, as i'm trying to up the carbs to around 50g but they tasted so good, and I was listening to my brain and not my stomach. I'll learn next time. I've got a bit of a stomach ache at the moment. My mum put onions in the salad which I tried to avoid but I may have eaten some by accident. But it's most likely the potato overdose as i'm feeling very full with it as well. I won't have any more white potatoes until sunday, where i'll have a few with the sunday roast. I've bought a sweet potato and some parsnips from the farm shop that i'll have during the week.

I've just been reading some other journals and one person listed all the improvements that they've noticed so far, so I thought i'd do the same, to keep a record:

* The first thing I noticed was my skin feeling a lot softer and smoother, particularly on my stomach and thighs. I'm guessing this is from the high fat content.
* The spots and scarring on my skin has improved a little. Still getting a few breakouts of small whiteheads, but I think this may be due to the past candida as well. I've read that during the candida die off stage, you can break out from where all the crap is trying to get out your body.
*When a spot accidently breaks, the scar left behind is healing a hell of a lot quicker than it usually would.
*The bloating in my stomach has drastically reduced. When I eat something that doesn't agree with me, my body tells me straight away, it is so sensitive at the moment. Whenever I eat something that doesn't agree with me, I bloat up straight away and feel horrible.
* I can't eat as much of the bad things as I usually could. Take today for example. Usually I could stomach a lot more ice cream, but I felt that I had eaten too much from 1 portion. Usually I wouldn't think about eating that many potatoes but I feel really full to the uncomfortable stage.
* Foods with vegetable oil or the like smell horrible to me now. Wheat products no longer appeal to me.
* My taste buds enjoy all the foods i'm eating. I'm tasting things a lot better.
* My energy levels are improving, still not quite there.
* I've lost a little weight. 0.1% according to my body fat machine, but I definitely feels more than that.
* Hair is softer and shinier
* I no longer have white flecks on my nails
* The broken skin around my nails has healed and is almost completely gone.
* I don't think about food as much during the day. I'm not looking at the clock the whole time telling me when I can eat, but am listening to my body instead to tell me when to eat. I generally have a 8 hour eating window, which I never could have done before.
* My stools no longer smell at all, no longer have any wind.
* Head is clearer.
* I'm not frantically counting calories and i'm more relaxed about food. I'm not worried about portion sizes as I just cook enough to make me no longer hungry.
* My eyes are brighter and more shiny )))
* My waist and rib cage feels slimmer


Still to go:
* Heal skin completely
* Improve sleeping so that I'm getting to sleep straight away like I used to
* Continue losing more weight
* Heal my leaky gut so that i'm not sensitive to so many foods.
* Play more
* Make sure i'm not eating out of boredom. Find things to do with my day. Which leads to next point
* Start voluntary work.

Thoughts for tomorrow:
B/L: Usual
Afternoon: (choice) Can of tuna/broccoli and tahini/seeds/boiled egg/bacon/kale chips
D: Prawns, beansprouts, courgette, sacla sauce, bamboo shoots, peppers

If it's sunny again tomorrow I want to go for a walk, if not I may try and do some weights.

[Lex26]

Sounds like a plan. Yeah, structure to your day probably helps a lot and I haven't had that in a while either. I'm betting I'll drop some weight when I start my new job next month just because of that. It's so hard sometimes to strike a balance between thinking enough/not thinking enough about food. To eat healthy, you have to plan ahead to make sure you don't give into other temptations. But then having enough time on your hands to think about what you should be doing about food next isn't good either because just thinking about it could fool you into thinking you're hungry.

By the way, I love the sound of "farm shop." What is a farm shop? Is it just what you call a grocery store or is it like a permanent farmer's market? Around here we only get to buy things directly from farmers maybe once a week during nice weather. The food you're getting sounds goood.

Also, you mentioned acne somewhere on your journal. I think the two things that helped my face out most were a) more sleep and b) no dairy. Both have a huge effect on insulin/blood sugar levels and the rest of your hormones because of it. I'm not perfect about sleep yet, but I am getting a lot more sleep than I used to. During school or my last internship, I'd often do overnighters or run on 4 hours sleep. I'm at least regularly getting 6-8 hours now. No dairy is really important too, but it might take a month or so for you to notice. I swear, I'm turning 27 this week and the last three months are the first time my face has been clear since I was 14. I still have some small breakouts around my chin every now and then - probably because I haven't been perfect on sleep and no dairy - but the cystic acne that made me feel helpless for so long is just freaking gone.

Also, once my skin started clearing up and I wanted more clear skin momentum, I started using a wonderful mask that will just liquify any oil plugs left on your skin without drying it out at all: Hungarian Herbal Mud Treatment Masque - 247 - - by Eminence Organics of Hungary - A Clarifying Hot

I put it on at the end of a shower when my pores are more open. It burns a little, but nothing scary and then it cools down. I'll put some pure aloe vera after I wash off the mask and my skin is super smooth and clean and happy the next day.

[lolo66]

@ Lex
I feel like my lack of energy is starting to go now, and i'm starting to feel motivated to go out and do things. When I first came home from uni getting out of bed in the morning was effort and I had no reason or wanting to. Now that i'm going out, seeing people and planning things, shows i'm on the mend. I'm going to visit my nan and grandad who I adore in a week or so and i'm really looking forward to the change of scenery and company. Plus i'm hopefully going to get my hair cut and coloured while i'm down there- haven't had it done since Christmas- yikes!

Yes a farm shop is a permanent shop where all the local farmers can sell their produce. It's fantastic but not cheap (but oh so worth it!) Some just sell vegetables and eggs and locally baked goods like bread and pies (which I obviously always sidestep) but there's one local shop that has a meat counter and the meat is always amazing. I'll see if I can take some photos on my phone next time I go. I've also been taking photos of my meals, when I remember to. I can't quite remember but I think you said that you were doing that too? I always do breakfast but forget the others meals, and breakfast is the meal that's always the same!

Thanks for your advice on the acne issue. It is definitely getting better and I know that it'll take a while to heal so i'm being as patient as I can with it. I've had skin issues most of my teenage life, so i've gotten used to it now and I try not let it bother me too much. THe fustrating thing is that before uni and up to christmas, my skin problems had pretty much gone. Had the odd few but nothing that cover up couldn't fix. I'll have a look at the product you recommended. I'm using dermalogica at the moment, which is brilliant. I'm not sure if it's available in America- it's a massive brand so i'm sure it is, but it's the best thing i've ever used. I use Jason Vitamin E moisturiser from a brilliant health shop which i'm practically living in at the moment.

I do find that i'm thinking about food so much at the moment. I think that's just because i'm bored at home and have nothing else to think about/plan! But as I said, i'm starting to gain more strenth, physically and mentally, and I will be changing my routine up. And I think it's natural to think about food a lot in the beginning. I'm quite new to this, and am still researching and learning a lot. I've read the PB book and have scoured this website, and am now branching out and looking at different web pages. I'd quite like to read Gary Taubes' book if I can get my hands on it. Food, movement and sleep, as well as all the other important factors that make us healthy, is such an important part of our life, that i don't think we should ever feel guilty about planning and recording things too much. If we don't have our health, we don't really have anything. I've learnt this first hand over the past few months. It came as a bit of a shock to be ill, as i've never been ill before, nothing more than the common cold luckily, and I suppose I took my health for granted, as something that I always had. My illness wasn't bought on from unhealthy eating, but from overstressing myself and not allowing my body the rest and recuperation it needed. My CW diet probably wasn't helping things though, but luckily being on the candida diet at the time, I couldn't consume a lot of grains and no fruit or sugar at all. It made the process to eating primal really enjoyable as i'm eating more now than I was before. As I mentioned briefly before, I completely burnt myself out, and started having depressive mood swings, which is so unlike me. I'm normally a very happy, bubbly chatty person, so it was a real shock to feel like this, and I didn't know how to deal with it as i'd never experienced anything like it before. Luckily I came home in time, and I'm on the mend now.

[canuck416]

Hi Lois...I just read through your journal and it seems you are doing quite well, congratulations with your consistency. I went strict Paleo on March 4th of this year, starting at 213lbs. I currently weigh in at 185, so that is a 28 lb weight loss over the last 7 weeks. I have included HIT training and low heart rate jogging and walks and started to include IF in the last couple of weeks. Just a word of caution on the body fat machines they tend to be inconsistent. Make sure you use them the same time of the day, first thing in the morning is best, before you eat. Looking forward to tracking your progress - good luck!