Skinny girl to fat girl and back to skinny girl - for life page 10

[June68]

Thanks, AbigailLyn. I think a lot of people are determined to suck all the fun out of the room, you know? Damn, it's just eating. It's just food. Humans are so resilient and adaptable that short of eating rat poison almost nothing kills us or does us so much harm that we're going to drop immediately. Sure, crap in food builds up over time, like the fat on my hips, but to get so wound up that eating ceases to be fun, well that's just crazy. I'm sure a lot of people read my daily food lists and shake their heads, esp at my alcohol consumption, but screw them. If giving up my wine with dinner is the only way to do this diet the 'proper way', then I'm going to be improper and live my life, no proscribe it into little, dietaryily-correct chunks.

[June68]

So today I felt pretty shitty. Had a weird ache high in my right hip, down through the quadriceps and into my knee. Moving around or sitting didn't help, so I succumbed to 3 ibuprofen tabs. Also the coughing is worse. So I didn't do much today except go visit my FIL in the rehab facility (he's 91, lives alone and recently had a fall). Food has been still very primal. I've had no grain products now for 2 solid weeks. Just this afternoon it dawned on me that I haven't had any 'painful or rough digestions' in that whole time. Not like I used to have. Every week or 10 days or so I'd have this bout of near-cramping lower GI tract pain that I couldn't attribute to a specific food (like this happens whenever I eat X). I just chalked it up to how I am, but now that I've gone two weeks with no incident, I bet it was wheat/gluten in origin.



And so in light of my general malaise, I've taken it easy today and listened to a few podcasts from Abel James. Interviews with Mark, Rob Wolfe and Tom Noughton which remind me that these guys are not talking about always and never scenarios, but instead advise to adjust within the blueprint for your own needs and body. Someone said that the Paleo/Primal ideal is just a framework to work your decisions and I agree. I'd like to find a woman's blog/podcast that's as engaging and anti-BS and cupcake-y.

Anyway, today food went like this -
B | coffee | omelet w/bratwurst, spinach & cheddar | 4 oz V8
L | cuke & tomato & cheese | pistachios | 1 bratwurst
S | pepper and celery slices | cheese | pistachios | toasted nuts
PDD | 04 Marilyn Remark Petite Sirah
D | pork shoulder (pulled pork) roasted on the grill all day | salad | cauli/broc blend | some Pinot that we haven't chosen yet


And in a continuing saga of Stuff I should have Thought All the Way Through -

The human brain is mostly made up of fat.
Duh!!!
I know that to tan an animal hide, you need fat, but it's often streaky and difficult, but a slurry made up of the animal's brain usually does the trick with just enough material in the brain to tan the hide. Duh...of course it works better, it's still fat, just a different type. Ugh. I knew this, but didn't think it through.

[June68]

So today I felt pretty shitty. Had a weird ache high in my right hip, down through the quadriceps and into my knee. Moving around or sitting didn't help, so I succumbed to 3 ibuprofen tabs. Also the coughing is worse. So I didn't do much today except go visit my FIL in the rehab facility (he's 91, lives alone and recently had a fall). Food has been still very primal. I've had no grain products now for 2 solid weeks. Just this afternoon it dawned on me that I haven't had any 'painful or rough digestions' in that whole time. Not like I used to have. Every week or 10 days or so I'd have this bout of near-cramping lower GI tract pain that I couldn't attribute to a specific food (like this happens whenever I eat X). I just chalked it up to how I am, but now that I've gone two weeks with no incident, I bet it was wheat/gluten in origin.



And so in light of my general malaise, I've taken it easy today and listened to a few podcasts from Abel James. Interviews with Mark, Rob Wolfe and Tom Noughton which remind me that these guys are not talking about always and never scenarios, but instead advise to adjust within the blueprint for your own needs and body. Someone said that the Paleo/Primal ideal is just a framework to work your decisions and I agree. I'd like to find a woman's blog/podcast that's as engaging and anti-BS and cupcake-y.

Anyway, today food went like this -
B | coffee | omelet w/bratwurst, spinach & cheddar | 4 oz V8
L | cuke & tomato & cheese | pistachios | 1 bratwurst
S | pepper and celery slices | cheese | pistachios | toasted nuts
PDD | 04 Marilyn Remark Petite Sirah
D | pork shoulder (pulled pork) roasted on the grill all day | salad | cauli/broc blend | some Pinot that we haven't chosen yet


And in a continuing saga of Stuff I should have Thought All the Way Through -

The human brain is mostly made up of fat.
Duh!!!
I know that to tan an animal hide, you need fat, but it's often streaky and difficult, but a slurry made up of the animal's brain usually does the trick with just enough material in the brain to tan the hide. Duh...of course it works better, it's still fat, just a different type. Ugh. I knew this, but didn't think it through.

[cmlloyd]

I think you are right about how PB serves as a framework. I found in the past I would get so worked up over every little thing I put in my pie hole, I became obsessed. Then when things wouldn't work out, or I'd "slip" I would, OMG.
It is safe to assume we are not going to die if we have a sweet every now and again, it doesn't help if we are trying to lose weight, but it sure does help the OMG factor knowing that it's ok, and it's progress not perfection we are after.

[June68]

Some part of it must come from trying/doing every diet that comes along and failing. Like I said in one of my earlier posts, we always blame ourselves, not the food/regimen. So with PB/paleo we try hard to be perfect so we won't fail like we always have. That leads to counting, measuring and micro-managing and soon we're off the deep end again. Overcoming that behavior is tough I think.

Anyway, I'm almost too tired to type. Slept like a dead person. Woo hoo!!! Seriously I needed that. Don't know if it was the NyQuil or what, but I swear I didn't even MOVE all night and woke wedged in by cats. Nice. Wasn't hungry, but felt good so decided to do my weight routine and some sprints which looked like this -

5 mins Turkish Getups w/20lb db
2 sets 12(ish) deadlifts with 44lb kb
3 x 10 goblet squats w/20lb db
3 x 10 arnold presses w/20lb dbs
2 x 6 upright rows w/20lb dbs
3 x 10 chest presses w/20lb dbs
5 x 50 sets jump rope

I am dead.

But in a good way. Still not hungry enough to eat so I'll wait until I am.

B | 2 bacon strips | 2 hen egg scramble w/green onions & goat cheese over portabella mushroom cap | 8oz V8 | yogurt & berries
L | salad w/leftover steak | cauli mash | 1 sm piece dark choc

[June68]

am listening to an interesting interview with Chris Masterjohn about cholesterol, how it works and what the real deal is with heart disease. For something so scientific and techy, it's riveting.

It makes for another File Under Should Have Thought it Through - antioxidants. For years we've been told to eat more that they're good for cell health, preventing cancer, blah, blah, blah. I accepted it like a good citizen, just like everyone else, but I never thought about what was oxidizing and why we don't want it to. It's funny that we have this drum beating just as loudly as the anti-cholesterol drum, but they completely cancel each other out in terms of message. It's not the cholesterol in toto that is bad, it's the amount of time an LDL (low-density lipoprotein) particle spends in the bloodstream and how much it oxidizes there. Instead of worrying about how the cholesterol got there, we should be worried about where it's going, which is to deliver nutrients to cells (hence antioxidants improve cell health). I also learned that the liver produces cholesterol with a package of its own antioxidants and that these get used up if the cholesterol spends too much time in the blood and doesn't get taken up by the cells it's intended for. If LDL receptor sites on cells become resistant to taking up the cholesterol packet it needs, that's when LDL hangs out in the blood too much and becomes oxidized.

When a LDL particle becomes oxidized the Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the membrane are stripped off and transferred to LPa (lipoprotien A) and the particle becomes smaller and denser. Another thing that happens is the triglycerides (fats) in the LDL particle are removed and the particle becomes denser and smaller. Normal interaction between HDL particles and LDL particles also result in the LDL particle getting smaller and denser. The prevailing theory is now these tiny LDL dudes can penetrate the first layer of cells in the artery wall and cause the immune response of wrapping the cells in plaque. Too many of these plaque sites cause thickening and hardening of the wall itself (atherosclerosis). If the plaque builds up a lot, pieces fall off and lodge in the heart causing heart attacks, or lodge in brain vessels and cause strokes. So, it's not the amount of lipoprotein in the blood, LDLs specifically, it's the degeneration of lipoprotein in the blood. We should concentrate on trying to protect LDL particles from oxidizing and increase our cell's ability to receive LDL packets. So, preventing LDL from hanging out in the blood to become smaller and smaller is the solution as well as increasing the amount of antioxidants present on LDL particles.

Oh and I also learned why saturated (meat, animal products) and monounsaturated fatty acids (nuts, olive oil) are better for you than polyunsaturated fatty acids (vegetable oil). Apparently the nature of the molecules themselves is the problem; PUFAs are much more fragile and prone to oxidation than are MUFAs or SFAs. They're much more delicate and oxidize like crazy. In an oxidized state PUFA is toxic and it is what causes arteriosclerosis, not the cholesterol or lipoprotein by itself, nor even the sheer volume of either in the blood. So when the majority of the fatty acids in your blood are PUFAs, you'll be prone to have a lot of them oxidize on you. If you eat more MUFA and SFA you reduce that risk.

This is wicked simplified, but typing it out makes me understand it better. Phew. Class dismissed!

[jenn26point2]

Good analysis. Thank you.

[June68]

You're welcome. Techy nutrition stuff is fascinating, but confusing and there's a lot of jargon. Now I really need to digest and understand the whole insulin and fat storage deal. I think I understand it, but I can't explain it well which means I don't understand it enough.

[jenn26point2]

I can... if you keep insulin low, your body won't have the sugar it 'wants' and is accustomed to for functioning. You'll be tired for about 2 weeks. then all of a sudden things will click with your body and you'll start to use fat for fuel and will feel better because of it.

[June68]

yep, that's about how I'd explain it, but I want to know why. I also want to know the leptin/insulin connection and why we're develop resistance to them in the first place. I want to know what the metabolic shift is and what systems are affected in glucose to ketone nutrient uptake. I'm a nerd.