Primal Journal **Greensprout** page 26

[Greensprout]

Continuing on the suck it up for leg stiffness. When I climbed out of bed this morning, I was hobbling like mad until I loosened up a bit in the shower.

Eats:
B: coffee, one with coconut milk, one with HWC
L: yesterday's turkey curry soup.
S: few nuts after work. Not as many as I used to grab on many days. Walnuts & raw almonds.
D: Fried up some bacon that needed cooking (ate one slice, saved what the kids didn't grab). Fried in the bacon fat 2 porkchops (pastured) and 2 lambchops (pastured, all grassfed) which I split with the boys, and some creamed kale. Mmmmmm.

Not so great on the sleep this week, or rather, sleeping well but just not going to bed early enough to get more than 5 1/2 to 6 hours. I really feel it by the end of the week when I do this too many days in a row. Once again, add sleeping more to the "to do" list.

[winencandy]

now I know what it's like to have your teenager escorted home by two handsome, burly, body armored police officers

Just one of the many joys of teenage boys I haven't had that particular experience, but I've had tons of others (3 boys, the youngest is 18).

I'm sort of disappointed, since it has been his focus for years, but when your 14 year old claims seriously that he's lost his love for the sport, how can we make him stay in the intense program with 20 hours per week of training, while going to a new school too??

I'm glad you supported him on this. Sports should be fun. And their choice.

One of our boys played hockey from age 6-14. (We were not going to be hockey parents, but he had a stick that he grabbed every time he went outside the door, and he played mini hockey in the living room. When he started to sleep with hockey gloves on, we finally caved and took him to the arena.) At 14 he quit to ride motocross for a couple of years. At 16 he decided on his own to go back to hockey. He loves it.

Maybe the coming week will be less eventful??

I think you've had enough excitement to last the month. May you have smooth sailing till Christmas.

[Greensprout]

No big excitement today, whew.

Winencandy, thanks for your thoughts. Younger son does seem happy with his choice, I got him all sorted out with the new school to start on Monday today. Older son is dealing with his grounding with minimal complaints. Had his parent-teacher interviews today, he's in several AP classes and an honour student...so I believe his 'walk on the dark side' is more of an expected period of teenage experimentation, rather than a path to nastiness.

Eats:
B: 3 slices bacon, 3 jumbo scrambled eggs. Coffee with HWC.
L: coffee with half and half (the best I could find at the time)
S: 7 almonds and 4 walnut halves. I counted after grabbing, just for fun.
D: grassfed rib steak, grilled, topped with garlic/rosemary/parsley butter, sauteed mushrooms, grilled asparagus. Big glass of red. Mmmmm.
Later: tart apples from friend's backyard sauteed in unsalted butter with cinnamon and a tiny splash of maple syrup, topped with a blob of Devon double cream. First time I tried this, and it's truly fabulous. Hubby and son were impressed too. Nightcap of cognac.

Hubby had a medical today, with great results on his bloodwork. He's been mostly primal for 6 months. He didn't get his actual numbers, but although total cholesterol is slightly up, HDL is up, LDL is lower, triglycerides lower. Convinced the doc to decrease his lipitor dose by half, doc says to give it 3 months as a trial, if numbers are worse he'll re-up the dose, but given strong family cardiac history, is unconvinced to give up the statins altogether. We'll see. I work with this doctor, and know he's pretty much CW driven. Looking forward to the next round of tests. I haven't had labwork myself this year, though all my numbers were stellar last time around when I was still all about low fat and whole grain.

[Greensprout]

A noneventful weekend, which is fine by me. Saturday was up for a run to the farmers' market (only 2 more weeks left, season closes at the end of the month). Now that we're very much into fall, the produce is showing it...lots of root veggies and squashes, less for leafy and green stuffs. I picked up baby bok choi, some sort of pumpkin like squash, a small pumpkin, onions, broccoli, brussel sprouts on the whole stalk, and best find was some veal shanks so I can make osso bucco next week, and some more ground veal. Still have plenty of eggs to last till next weekend. More errands, and then by mid afternoon, I felt very tired and my stomach was a bit off for some unknown reason, so I took a long nap. Must have needed it, as I was lying down for nearly 3 hours.

Saturday's food:
B: coffee with HWC
L: really can't remember. A few random bites of this and that, not much. Primal, nothing noteworthy. A few macadamia nuts I think.
D: meatza. Mixed pork and grass fed beef crust, mozza, green pepper, tomato, mushrooms. A couple rum & diet coke. Later some pork rinds.

Today:
B: coffee with HWC, couple of macadamia nuts
L: slice of leftover meatza
D: will be a homemade caesar salad. Already cooked bacon crumbles, have the thanksgiving bird breast thawing for on top. Just sipping a small gluten free beer, not too bad.

I've been trying to do homework today, but it is more dry than usual...having trouble getting through the long readings. So have done laundry, made batty's blueberry butter balls, and some mayo.

Another trip for work coming up this week, off with the boss and a few others on Wed, fly home on Fri. Hopefully the restaurants we find (will be in a very small city) will be somewhat primal friendly.

[Suse]

a gluten free beer... interesting!

[Greensprout]

I found 2 brands of gluten free beer at the local store, both quite light, a lager or pilsner style. Not bad, one was tastier than the other.

Up too late last night, not atypical for a Sunday night. Consequently not as clear and energetic today as I would like on 5ish hours of sleep.

Food:
B: 2 jumbo double yolk eggs fried in butter and bacon fat, few slices of steak. Coffee with HWC.
L: coffee with cream, 2 batty's blueberry butter balls.
S: few macadamia nuts after staying late at work
D: wild salmon, sauteed in olive oil/butter, sea salt & pepper, topped with butter & fresh dill, carrots with butter & dill, baby bok choi with a touch of sesame oil and braggs soy sauce.

Just had an apple with some really good cheddar, a lovely treat. Funny how even a tart apple can taste so sweet these days.

Today was a ruck march day, so we did about 5 km with 30 pound packs. Cool and sunny, it was pretty good but am feeling well used now. The evening was a bunch of online research for the next homework assignment, which has gone in circles and not produced anything of note. Ho hum. Hence a glass of wine. Busy day for work tomorrow, lots to get done before we're away for the rest of the week.

Need an earlier bedtime today.

[Greensprout]

Nothing too exciting to report, which is fine. Busy work day, and son #2 is happy with his choice and starting at the new highschool this week where his buddies are. He even went to the school soccer tryouts, the older boys know him from his elite training, and there was allegedly already a "spot" held for him once people knew he was transferring. He had fun and is looking forward to playing in a less pressure environment.

Eats:
B: coffee with HWC
kind of grazed between 9-11am: 3 small batty's blueberry butterballs, some macadamia nuts, turkey breast with grainy dijon, small tin of tuna in olive oil, a babybel cheese. Several cups of green and yerba mate tea.
D: mushroom & red pepper frittata with aged cheddar, small bit of smoked sausage, healthy portion of crispy pork belly.

Not much luck engaging on the homework today, I realized the next assignment is due this week, not next like I thought. With my travel this week, I bothered to ask for an extension, and lo and behold, it is no problem. Still need to get rolling better on that. Thinking about packing, but will do that in the morning, as I am not leaving until close to noon and am not going in to work first. Hopefully it will be a productive trip, and not a waste of time.

Invited to friends' for dinner on Fri after getting home. I gave then a copy of PB a couple of weeks ago, they could really use it, and I think they've been following. They have been accommodating our food habits for months now, but still using lots of less than primal ingredients. Will be interesting to see any changes they have made. This is the couple we're going to Vegas for a week with next month, and I know she was really hoping to lose a few pounds before the trip. PB should help immensely!

[winencandy]

Nothing too exciting to report, which is fine. Busy work day, and son #2 is happy with his choice and starting at the new highschool this week where his buddies are. He even went to the school soccer tryouts, the older boys know him from his elite training, and there was allegedly already a "spot" held for him once people knew he was transferring. He had fun and is looking forward to playing in a less pressure environment.

And he will rediscover his love of the game. Or he'll get so frustrated with the lower skill level of play that he'll want to go back to the elite team

Eats:
B: coffee with HWC

a stupid question: What is HWC?

kind of grazed between 9-11am: 3 small batty's blueberry butterballs, some macadamia nuts, turkey breast with grainy dijon, small tin of tuna in olive oil, a babybel cheese. Several cups of green and yerba mate tea.
D: mushroom & red pepper frittata with aged cheddar, small bit of smoked sausage, healthy portion of crispy pork belly.

Sounds wonderful.

Not much luck engaging on the homework today, I realized the next assignment is due this week, not next like I thought. With my travel this week, I bothered to ask for an extension, and lo and behold, it is no problem. Still need to get rolling better on that. Thinking about packing, but will do that in the morning, as I am not leaving until close to noon and am not going in to work first. Hopefully it will be a productive trip, and not a waste of time.

Invited to friends' for dinner on Fri after getting home. I gave then a copy of PB a couple of weeks ago, they could really use it, and I think they've been following. They have been accommodating our food habits for months now, but still using lots of less than primal ingredients. Will be interesting to see any changes they have made. This is the couple we're going to Vegas for a week with next month, and I know she was really hoping to lose a few pounds before the trip. PB should help immensely!

Good luck on both the trip and the dinner. Hopefully they will have made some changes.

I haven't told anyone yet what I'm doing. I'm waiting for some obvious results first before I freak them out

[Suse]

been meaning to ask GS, are you still poo-less and loving it? I'm going to colour my hair again tomorrow and then I'm wondering if I have the guts to give it a go....

[Greensprout]

Got home yesterday, the trip was worthwhile from a work point of view, and we ended up going out for two amazing meals. First night I had a salad of beet, avocado, feta & arugula in a raspberry vinegrette (excellent), main of duck breast with sauteed mushrooms and peppers. Dessert of dark chocolate mousse that was nice and not too sweet, an espresso, and shared a bottle of valpolicello with the boss, as it was her birthday. Next night was even better. Starter of smoked salmon with horseradish, grapefruit & capers, main of rack of lamb with sauteed peppers & zucchini, wilted spinach. Dessert of pumpkin cheesecake, didn't eat the crust. Did have several glasses of a fabulous amarone and one spanish coffee (with cream but not sugared rim). Who knew Thunder Bay had such great chefs?

Home midday Friday, errands for the afternoon. As we went to dinner at friends, I found out they've been following PB for the past 3 weeks since we gave them a copy of the book, and they've ordered their own PB cookbook. She's lost 11 lbs, and he's lost 7. Awesome. Dinner was grilled beef tenderloin, steamed asparagus with butter & almond slivers, carrots with butter & dill, salad with greens, avocado, mandarin orange & almonds. And dessert was the PB chocolate custard, which was suberb, topped with vanilla whipped cream and fresh berries. She did note that the ramekins required about double the cooking time from what was stated in the cookbook. Lots of wine, then a cheese plate with apples and nuts. Needless to say, today was at slow speed.

Winencandy; HWC (heavy weight cream) is what I'm calling whipping cream (35% MF). Maybe not quite accurate a term, but much nicer than the 18% MF coffee cream.

Suse; yes, I'm still 'pooless after 12 or so weeks. Some weeks I think my hair looks amazing, other weeks less so. The past couple of weeks it seems a bit heavier at the roots, I've heard about a 'second transition', so maybe that's it?? The only shampoo in the whole time has been my one trip to the salon for a trim. Need another visit soon, as it's been months since a colour touchup (longest I've gone in a few years)... and the grey bits are much more than they used to be...still here and there, not crazy, but somewhat concerning. I have found that the natural wave in my hair is really quite curly when I leave it to air dry...an interesting development. Still not quite in a good rhythm with the BS wash/ACV rinse, and sometimes I trade the BS for egg yolk instead. The potential problem with the egg is that it needs a really cool and thorough rinse, or you end up with eggy bits after drying...not so nice. Still hanging in there, and though I've had the odd doubt, I am not ready to go back to regular shampooing. Also still using the boar bristle brushing at least once daily, which adds a lot of body and shine.

Today's eats;
B: coffee with HWC
L: 2 jumbo egg omelette in butter with mushroom, spinach and boursin
S: few macadamias and almonds
D: dry rub ribs, caesar salad.
couple of glasses of chardonnay.

I think the upcoming week is deserving of some IF time and less dairy and wine. That, and homework and some exercise.