Primal Journal **Greensprout** page 157

[winencandy]

Day 24 and still on plan.

Very good!

Carbs are on the low end, and with influence from the Eat Moar Fat thread, I'm working at moving some of the protein calories into more fat in place. Can't hurt to give it a go. It's a bit more challenging, as for quite some time, I've focused on lots of protein. I've always been a meat kind of gal .

Hmm, I'll have to check out that thread. Less protein? Forevar I've been focusing on MOAR protein...seems everyone was telling me I wasn't eating enough...

I've gotten in the routine of 3 meals daily as per W30 guidelines, but expect I'll go back to 2 once this is done next week. And the odd IF as well, which I seem to do fine with. It's so much easier just to wait till midday to eat and not have to think about having a breakfast meal in the rushed mornings.

I agree. That seems to be the "natural" rhythm I fall into.

and will probably go strict again after we get home Thanksgiving weekend. I expect that will be in order after a week in Vegas!

Yup

2 pepperoni sticks. Those are not on plan, as they have nitrites, but they seemed like a good idea at the time.

I'm glad you are not obsessing over the small things on W30

We're planning on a nice bottle of wine next Friday, I may wait until next weekend to have something, but on the other hand, if a glass of wine seems right after Tuesday, it might happen. Abstaining hasn't really been as challenging as I thought it might be, it's become more of a routine than anything else, I suppose. And while I longed for cheese in the first week, that's been no big deal either. I do plan to reintroduce small bits of dairy next week (cheese) and see if there's any difference. I hope not! That would really be sad.

Yeah, wine can become a routine...I hope cheese is ok!

[Greensprout]

Today is one of those "I really don't feel like doing anything" sort of days. Consequently, I'm being lazy, lounging about looking at stuff online for the Vegas trip, puttering a bit, and eating. Yeah, it's also one of those "I'm sort of hungry and just want to nibble at stuff all day". So I am indulging in doing so. All on plan stuff.

Friday:
coffee only for breakfast, odd lunch of a tomato/cucumber/avocado salad, 2 slices of bacon, and some cashew butter/coconut oil. There may have been a pepperoni stick or two after work, followed by a late dinner of a grass fed sirloin, mushrooms, parsnip fries and sauteed peppers.

Saturday:
Up early for a long overdue hair appointment, those greys needed attention. I went more of an auburn rather than strictly dark, and I like it. Dry ends trimmed, all is good. Warned by my stylist that if I want to keep the red look, I'll need to come back more often than every 6 months, haha, as red fades faster than other shades.

Did some good shopping too. I've been wanting a Fossil bag for ages, but haven't wanted to pay the price. This week they are actually on sale, which is rare, so ended up with a bag plus a small purse, a tiny wallet plus 2 belts, all at 35% off. Kind of a splurge, but stuff I've been meaning to get for ages, so I'm pleased.

Coffee only until late afternoon, followed by 2 slices of bacon, a peach, and some pistachios. Dinner of dry rubbed oven pork back ribs with a salad of romaine and heirloom tomatoes. Followed later by raspberries & coconut milk with cocoa.

I do have a lovely free range chicken roasting nicely in the oven for today's dinner.

[Greensprout]

Today's eats:
black coffee, 2 soft boiled eggs, a peach, 4 small pork ribs, bit of toasted coconut
bunch of pistachios (the remaining 2/3 of the 250g bag I bought yesterday)
1 tsp of almond butter with 2 tsp coconut oil
D: roast free range chicken thigh (it was rather large), extra crispy chicken skin, cauliflower rice sauteed in some of the chicken drippings, garlic broccoli with ghee
2 club sodas with lime

I think I'm done eating for today, but not totally sure of that. Once it is all written down, it doesn't look like as much as it seemed during the day. I think that was the pistachios' fault.

Still feeling lazy, and kind of tired, though I was in bed by around 11 last night and slept until nearly 9. I had that draggy feeling again of a mild hangover like thing, though it's now 28 days into the W30 so that's not it.

I seem to be holding at around 7 lbs down in the past 4 weeks, not sure if that will change in the next couple of days, but that's pretty damn good, I think.

I bought some raw milk cheese in anticipation of resuming small amounts of dairy mid week. I'm looking forward to that. I think for cheese I should stick to the good stuff, not the regular cheddar I normally keep in the fridge that the boys like. And next week when my mom arrives (she'll be staying with the boys while we're away), she's bringing some of that nice fresh cream from her farmers' market. That will be a great treat.

Maybe a long relaxing bath will be a good way to end the evening.

[Greensprout]

Around 7 hours of sleep. Funny, that's on the low side after the past month of finally getting to bed earlier, when not long ago at all that would be a "good" night during the week. Energy level was decent today. The headache is less frequent, and mostly less intense when it does come around. I'm starting to wonder, with lower carb intake, am I in that "zone of misery" where it's not quite ketosis, just the macros in the wrong place. There's where the less protein and more fat thing comes in. I'll have to ponder this one and do some more self experimentation. Not sure if pushing for a ketosis trial in the next couple of weeks makes sense, as with the upcoming vacation, I expect to have a bit of a higher carb intake for the week. Not high, just more than I've been doing.

Walked at noon, bit over an hour, close to 5 miles. Chilly and cloudy, the park was nearly deserted apart from a few random runners, dog walkers and park workers. Fine by me.

Eats:
black coffee
pu'erh tea
L: cucumbers, chicken thigh meat with mayo, a plum
pepperoni stick
D: cup of fresh beef bone broth with some kale & riced cauliflower for a "soup", 5 small pork ribs
few licks of macadamia butter (was mixing the oil into a new jar)
small bowl of frozen blueberries with coconut milk

I'm quite full, I didn't really need the berries & coconut milk, but really wanted some, so I kept it to a small portion.

Did a run to Safeway for a couple of things, and while browsing the "natural & organic" section, saw that they had small jars of raw macadamia butter on for half price! Best before date is still next year, so I bought 4 of them, only $3 something each. Score!! I mixed some with coconut oil (instead of the cashew butter) to throw in my lunch for tomorrow. Yum.

Strained off the beef broth (with a few bison bones) that had been simmering for 3 days, it tastes rather nice and I suspect this one will gel nicely, there were some meaty bones plus a lovely ball and socket joint with lots of bits on it. I love when it has simmered so long that some of the bones actually crumble easily with a gentle pinch.

Hubby's away all week, and the boys are mostly doing their own thing. Since I've decided I'm done doing "stuff" for tonight, I'll plan to be in bed for at least 8 hours of slumber. Sitting through a course at work the next 2 days, so plenty of sleep should help with the attention span. I don't expect it to be all that exciting. Some necessary learning is all.

[NourishedEm]

I've been experimenting with the ketosis thing and I can now see why I've struggled with low-carb before. I have always eaten way too much protein and thus have remained firmly in zone-of-misery land. I'm making a conscious effort (and it does take one when you can happily pack away a pound of ribeye) to eat less protein and more fat while keeping carbs low and I feel amazing. It really does make a difference.

I agree that this would be difficult to manage while on vacation though. You may want to save that till you get back.

[Greensprout]

The W30 experience is done. It was much easier that I thought. I suppose, for me anyway, cutting the extras (dairy, sugar and wine) was more of a mindset, and is completely doable. I will include wine back into my life, and butter (though not necessarily every day, ghee is plenty fine for almost everything), and good cheese here and there.

Through the month, I've also been walking regularly, and made a conscious effort (finally) to get more sleep. Getting to bed earlier has not been a chore, and I feel better through the day on closer to 8 hours regularly, rather than the 6-7 that had become my norm. That's okay to function, but not function well.

As for quantitative results, here's the tally:

Day 1 ***************** Day 15************Day 30
Height: 5 ft 6 in
Weight: 150.6***********145.2 (-5.4 lb) *******143.6 (-7 lb)
waist: 29.5 in************28.75 in (-0.75 in)*****28.25 (-1.25 in)
belly (at navel): 33 in*******31.5 in (-1.5 in)******31 (-2 in)
hips: 39.25 in************38.5 in (-0.75 in)******38.25 (-1 in)
right thigh: 23 in**********22.5 in (-0.5 in).******22.25 (-0.75 in)

I'm pretty pleased with the results. I have seen the scale nearly another pound less (142.8) a couple of times, so that will come. Thinking that something like another 10 lb of fat loss will be about right to get rid of the remaining extra stuff. I plan to return to the plan after the vacation, and hopefully get rid of that last bit by Christmas. Finally. Probably aim for some sustained ketosis for a change and see how that feels.

I thought about indulging a bit tonight, but really wasn't interested. The raw milk cheese I bought on the weekend is still untouched. I looked at my dark chocolate stash, but that held no particular appeal. I did add 2 drops of stevia to the coconut milk I topped my frozen blueberries with tonight just to see how that was, and it was fine, but it's just as fine without.

I am, however, having a glass of wine. The homemade stuff we bottled about 3 weeks ago, untasted till today. It's good.

[Greensprout]

After 3 days post W30, I've mostly stuck to the same routine. Exceptions have been some pepperoni sticks (which I had added the last few days anyway), 4 drops of stevia, some wine, and a bit of butter in the red wine reduction for tonight's lamb chops. No cheese, no chocolate. Not particularly interested.

As for the wine, I'm feeling it more. I'm thinking I may not return to previous intake levels. I've had one rum & krisda cola tonight plus some wine, and think I'll be pouring the last glass down the sink, as I'm feeling rather toasted. I suspect I'll feel more of that tomorrow. Sigh. Ah well, it's a learning experience.

Hubby is home, says he bought some dark chocolate, and was satisfied well with higher cocoa levels than previously. And he has half a bar left, which is extremely unusual for him. Nice.

[Greensprout]

Today is son #2's 16th birthday. He chose a new had and cologne for gifts, and has decided on a Mongolian stir fry place for tonight's dinner. Should be okay as far as primal, just less than proper oils. I'll survive.

I tried a square of 87% Dagoba dark chocolate yesterday, it tasted pretty darn sweet. One small piece was plenty. I did also have a tsp of honey off the spoon too, just because it's been so long and it is lovely local raw stuff. Obviously damn sweet, and not as enjoyable as I had expected. Interesting. Added a touch of dairy back today too, some cream cheese with cucumbers and smoked salmon for breakfast, which was very good and felt quite fine afterwards. Smoked salmon is always nice with cream cheese.

I woke today after only 7 hours of sleep, and although I sure tried for another 40 min, couldn't fall back asleep. So up I was, earlier than expected. Hungry too, maybe that was part of the reason?

Went walking in the sun, but it was rather cool (enough to need light gloves) at 6C when I headed out. It warmed to about 11C. Almost 7 miles, and I would have gone a bit longer, but for the last 2 miles I had a very full bladder, and wandering through residential suburbia left no options to deal with that aside from heading home. I practically ran up the driveway by the time I got there!

Made baba ganoush for the first time, and it's really, really good. Will definitely do again. It will be nice with cucumber or celery for dipping for lunch. And sausage egg muffins are also freshly made today. Might make some lamb liver pate after we get home from the birthday dinner.

6 days until Vegas, hooray. I've been doing a bunch of researching for the trip. And only 4 workdays for me this week, I left Friday as a prep day.

[Greensprout]

While I was walking today, I started getting a bit hungry. For some bizarre reason, the idea of macaroni & cheese popped into my head and sounded damn fine. Not the packaged KD sort, but my Granny's homemade egg noodles from childhood, which we topped with butter (or more likely margerine) and cheeze whiz. My primal self was rather aghast at the idea, but perhaps it was more the memory of comfort food and Granny (who is now 93) spreading love through the foods she knew. I remember helping her make the noodles when she would visit, and tea towels of hand cut noodles drying all over the house. Very weird.

I wonder if this is why I decided to "splurge" and have a tiny bit of rice noodles in my dinner. They were okay, but not really worth bothering. Less than half a cup, I'm guessing. The other splurge was a bit of black bean sauce. I always used to use that with soy sauce as the basis for my stir fry sauces, along with toasted sesame oil.

Dinner was fine. The 2 boys tried to out eat the other, but each settled with 2 huge and one less large bowls of stir fry, of course with lots of noodles. And meat, plus a reasonable amount of vegetable. A reasonable choice for a meal, aside from the glaring presence of canola and other crap likely rancid seed oils. No room for dessert for anyone. I'm full, but not stuffed.

Today's eats:
black coffee
cucumber with cream cheese & smoked salmon
a peach
mug of bone broth
few spoonsful of baba ghanoush (yum)
Mongolian stir fry, lots of meat, assorted vegetables, some seafood, and gluten free sauces.

I will have a glass or two of wine, then back to teetotal for the work week. Or at least until Mom arrives on Wednesday .

Time to make the pate for my lunches this week. Pate & baba ghanoush along with cucumber and celery will make for a great meal.

[Greensprout]

Up and into work early today, as I had briefings to attend for the boss. I did get out for a nice almost 4 mile walk midday in the fall sun and falling leaves. The afternoon got rather busy and I ended up in the office half an hour late.

After dinner, hubby and I were chatting about potential retirement locations (yes, strange as it may be, it's coming up soon enough, at least retirement from the military, anyway, like in the next 5-8 years). We don't quite know where we want to end up. Financially, things are looking pretty good. The mortgage should be paid off by then, too, which is awesome. Then I checked my BB, being on call and all, and spent the next nearly 2 hours on urgent work stuff instead of more vacation prep that I had planned. Ah well. Still a full day to prep on Friday, and the flight on Sat isn't till midday.

Eats:
black coffee
"samuri chai green mate" tea
one egg sausage muffin, cup of bone broth
L: leftover steak & mushrooms, baba ganoush with cucumber & celery, a plum
D: roasted crispy skinned chicken breast, romaine & heirloom tomatoes with evoo/toasted cumin/sea salt.
glass of wine once the work commotion was all sorted out.
I may have one of the banana chocolate almond butter mug cakes, as there's a very ripe banana sitting out and I sort of promised hubby I'd make him one tonight. Don't really need it, but it's very tasty.

I need to be in to work early again tomorrow, and expect a very busy day. 3 more workdays until vacation...