The Journal of Campanella page 3

[campanella]

I think I have to get used to restricted calories again. The trick is eating a lot of fat to stay full. Yesterday was 8 oz delicious greek yogurt and local blackberries, then grilled chicken with lettuce, cucumber, tomato and an apple, and dinner was chicken and fresh zucchini sauteed in butter - the zucchini was outstandingly delicious. I've definitely developed a huge taste for vegetables since going primal.
I think, considering that it makes up a pretty fair sized percentage of my calories when I'm under maintenance, that a cup of blackberries and a whole apple every day is a lot of fruit. Yesterday I tried to just eat half the apple but I really couldn't. I already had blackberries today, so I'll try to avoid the apple later, but I may end up eating it anyway. Well, after today I'll just have to not buy berries when I have apples, and vice versa.
More delicious greek yogurt this morning from a local dairy. I bought some ground sirloin and haven't cooked it yet, so maybe this afternoon, I will put that on the grill with some yellow squash I haven't finished yet.

[campanella]

I think some of the fatigue is from a sunburn, not from my diet change. I have, by the way, lost at least 1 or 2 lbs this past week (not certain, due to poor recording skills beforehand!) I think the refeed worked very well.

Yesterday, yogurt and blackberries, then grilled chicken breast, chicken soup and dill pickles. Dinner was meatloaf from ground sirloin, sauteed onions and bell pepper. Also I sauteed yellow squash in butter with onions and fresh mint - very tasty. Herbs make the food self-limiting in a way, because they are so delicious, but not something you want to overdo.
This morning, my grass fed yogurt and also a 2 egg omelet with tomatoes and mushrooms. Lunch was a lot of leftover meatloaf, plus a cucumber and an apple.
For dinner tonight - fresh broccoli from the farm stand, probably sauteed chicken, maybe another vegetable, maybe zucchini with curly leaf parsley.

[campanella]

The broccoli was an outstanding highlight, so fresh. I ended up with more leftover meatloaf for dinner And I sauteed zucchini with butter and parsley - yum.

I have never made chili before but I want to try it, maybe tonight. Also I have beautiful cauliflower, yellow and white, which I would like to roast if my oven wasn't broken... I will find some solution anyway :/ And lots more zucchini still. Beets and carrots, too.

Despite a fair sized dinner last night, I woke up rather weak and hungry feeling this morning. Not good. I don't like the calorie restriction I'm doing. If I had the time and resources for real exercise, I wouldn't have to bother with this. Probably Monday-Tuesday I will do high carbs/high calories again.

[campanella]

Yesterday I made chili! It was my first time making it. I like it mild and with no beans, so the beanslessness fits into primal.
It was delicious! I used fresh oregano, cubed sirloin because I was short on time, ancho chile powder, ground cumin, Hungarian paprika. I finely chopped fresh farm market tomatoes and a green bell pepper, and sauteed them with chopped onion and minced garlic, until the onion caramelized, sauteed the meat in some butter, added a little water to the meat pan to have some gravy, and combined the two with the spices and herbs, added some strained tomatoes. It was delicious. Next time, I'll do more oregano, and use chuck instead of sirloin, because I think it is tenderer and also, when slow cooked it will better absorb the flavors instead of just sitting in the sauce. It was a very fun experiment.

[DCarr10760]

Wow, the Chili sounds great! Might have to try that this weekend! I think I have all the stuff!

[campanella]

I recommend you do, it's something you definitely get better at with practice, but it is lots of fun to put together.

Today and yesterday both I went a little overboard and had 3 eggs for breakfast both days, due to a confusion and not expecting to have an omelet after my hard boiled egg, but then having one anyway... but lots of spinach and mushroom too, and very tasty. Lunch was makeshift, some cucumber, avocado, plain chicken broth, but tided me over well. For dinner I'm sauteeing more zucchini with curly leaf parsley in butter - a wonderful combination, I slice the zucchini in discs and let them turn just translucent and fork tender, then flip, and I have a very responsive stovetop so it is easy to see when the discs curl up a tiny bit at the edges and are perfectly done. Also I ordered out some meatballs from a favorite Italian place. Probably a few breadcrumbs, but they are tasty and simple, and good quality meat, and that is what really matters.

Oh, and last night I went out for a wonderful dinner out with family, salad with olive oil and vinegar, parmesan cheese, all very fresh and delicious. I LOVE when the restaurant just puts jars of oil and vinegar on the table and lets you pour and mix yourself And so delicious! A garlic and rosemary chicken dish, bite size pieces of light and dark meat chicken in a butter sauce, and brussels sprouts and snow peas on the side, all so delicious, I have a soft spot for dark meat chicken in an herb and butter sauce...
I think there is something appealing about the person who eats a comically huge amount of dinner and isn't interested in dessert... our old style italian waiter was fairly charmed by my enjoyment of the chicken special and subsequent pass on dessert

Tomorrow, I will start another refeed. Today I started craving all kinds of carbs, which hasn't happened all week, so I suppose I'm about ready for another refeed. I'm planning lots of sweet potatoes, and some nice russets I still have from the farm stand, and possibly some butternut squash. I'm also looking forward to my nonfat Fage... which I only eat on refeeds, due to the horrible quality of fat-removed yogurts, but I love the texture and enjoy it anyway.

[campanella]

Wow, it's been some time!

I've had a bit of a rough time with my last carb refeed on the weekend. I had been having trouble staying at any calorie deficit and I figured if I ate as much as I wanted over the refeed it would be the right time to satisfy myself, and it may be good for my metabolism. I ate a little too much without exercising and I gained a good two lbs. Well, what's done is done and I'm glad to be back to my regular eating plan now, lots of fresh avocado, pastured eggs. For lunch today I stopped by a favorite cafe to pick up roasted broccoli with garlic and herbed chicken breast which I had with half an avocado, and later on today half a boiled egg.

I just bought my first olive oil and red wine vinegar. I love evoo and vinegar on salads but somehow never came around to buying any. I'm very excited to try it.

Culinarily speaking, over my refeed I bought several yams, boiled and mashed them with egg white, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, cloves. Then I cooked them in a pan like pancakes... yum, yum. Another culinary adventure is a 100% cacao bar, with crunchy bits of nibs in it, that I found recently... delicious!! Very strong and not sugary, but I loved it. I think it may just become a "staple indulgence" :-)

I'm thinking I may go out to dinner tonight with family, looking forward to my favorite mushroom and artichoke salad, sauteed spinach with garlic and oil and maybe some roasted chicken. I'm trying to move away from poultry and towards ruminants with a more favorable 06 balance, but there's something about chicken roasted with rosemary and garlic...

On a side note, I've started washing my hair with a bar of soap from the company "skinny skinny," lavender and black pepper.... I LOVE this smell, and my hair has certainly never been softer, less tangled or had this shine. It is made basically of coconut oil and some other oils and essential oils... as natural as possible, and it feels and smells wonderful.

[campanella]

Wow, I feel stuffed. I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. I just eat such big portion sizes, I somehow have this subconscious mindset that healthy means eat as much as you can put in your mouth, and as it is I still need to lose about 5 lbs and learn how to keep it off for good.

Also, I'm having a few sugar/dessert cravings I have not felt in months and months... lemonade, cookies, cakes, something sweet or sweet and savory, delicious bread. It's been a long time since I felt this hankering and it is not welcome back!! I'm unsure of the cause.

In the near future I'm definitely going to do some research and self experimenting regarding whether it is better to substitute starches for fibrous greens, exactly how important is it to coddle your gut flora, etc. I want to try more fermented foods, too.

And yes... portion sizes. I have to work on that.

[Knifegill]

I eat large portions - once a day!

[campanella]

It has been a long time again!

Knifegill, I have immense fun on the (infrequent enough) days when I don't feel like eating anything until lunch or dinner... but have yet to get to the point of planning that in advance!

Tonight is ground round on the grill, fresh broccoli from the farm stand, zucchini and squashes on the grill with tomatoes and bell peppers. Yum. Lunch was squash and grilled chicken. I have asparagus for tomorrow night which I'll roast with olive oil and purple scallions.
Yesterday I did a 1 day carb refeed, the first in a while, delicious roasted beets, and carrots cut into sticks and roasted with olive oil, sea salt, flat leaf parsley, purple scallions - delicious! And baked russets, so creamy. The night before, out to a restaurant, and I had sauerkraut and a lovely German dish - thin beef rolled around onion, pickle, and a big chunk of bacon. All smothered in gravy. I completely forgot about the baked potato and then was a little too full to want it

Sprints in the pool yesterday and today two walks in the perfect weather of late summer, early fall. Late strawberries from the farm stand are still creeping each morning into my yogurt, and I picked up a bag of Paula Red apples with a tasty crisp tartness and a round overtone that has seemed all the sweeter to the Primal-accustomed taste.