Primal Journal (SarahChzBurg) page

[SarahChzBurg]

I started my primal journey about 3-4 weeks ago, and think this journal will be really helpful if I remember to update it! I'm loving the lifestyle so far. Any feedback is more than welcome!
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B: Coffee with cream, Leftover bacon cheeseburger and baked sweet potato fries
S: Smoothie (kale, spinach, little banana, blackberries, peaches (not too much fruit, i swear), and coconut milk)
L: A ton of spaghetti squash with meat sauce. YUM.
D: We're going out (my husband is a teacher and a local place is having spirit night for his school). Hoping I can swing a steak fajita salad or something like that if it's in the budget. If not, i have some salmon and asparagus at home.

Do you make smoothies? What do you put in them? I want to switch to a mostly veggie blend. Thinking of carrots. Have you tried? How was the texture?

[SarahChzBurg]

Last night I got the chicken and beef fajita skewers with veggies and a little bit of pineapple - delicious! I was able to sub out the rice and beans for sliced avocado. Baby Luci made me share that with her...
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B: 3 eggs, 4 pieces of bacon, coffee with cream
L: Carrots, almond butter, 2 hard-boiled eggs (no leftovers since we ate out last night)
D: Salmon, asparagus and carrots

[SarahChzBurg]

Are you people out there? Haha...(awkward pause) here we go.

Bah! Feel like I screwed up last night. I ate all primal stuff, but pigged out on sweet things...at least that's how I feel. For dinner I had carrots and salmon (delicious with balsalmic/OO marinade with a touch of honey and some garlic). After dinner, though, my old habits kicked in and I felt myself desperately craving some dessert. I made avocado chocolate pudding, which was pretty good. And I actually didn't eat THAT much of it. Throughout the evening I also had a square of dark chocolate and some chicken that I was grilling for lunch. Once I type this out, it really doesn't sound that bad! (Comes back to this paragraph after writing rest of post)OH...now I remember what else I had! I've been making this primal banana bread. I make a loaf, slice it, and freeze the slices so that it's not sitting out tempting me. It's made with coconut flour, coconut oil, bananas, a few squares of dark chocolate, and some walnuts. Last night I ate a slice of that smothered in butter. So that may be why I felt like I "cheated."

How often do you, people who have great success with PB, eat baked goods that are from coconut/almond flours? Like any baked goods I feel like I shouldn't over-indulge in these, but how much has been too much, or just right for you? Right now I'm having a piece of banana bread 3-4x/week and pancakes about once a week.

I read somewhere on the board (maybe on a post on Primal Papa's journal, which I've been devouring), that you shouldn't have cheat days, because then it's like you're on a diet. You just have primal days and non-primal days. Maybe that doesn't exactly apply to this, but I still really like it!

I am trying to stay off the scale because I know the pounds fluctuate a lot and don't really matter. But I feel like if I went on right now, I would still be the same weight as I was after my first big drop. I dropped 7lbs the first week doing primal, then basically maintained that weight for 2 weeks(including Thanksgiving, my husband's birthday, AND another birthday at a Mexican restaurant!), then put the scale away so I wouldn't obsess. I was thinking I should maybe cut dairy to see if that would help, but I really don't feel like I am eating enough dairy to make a huge difference. Plus I feel fine and am mostly regular ;) I have some cream in my coffee every morning (maybe a tablespoon, but I don't measure) and occasionally put some full fat cheese on my eggs. And of course, I greatly enjoy butter.

Anyway, that's where I am today!
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12/6/12
B: Primal Breakfast Lasagna - I modified this to include cream, asparagus and spinach and took out the mushrooms (because I didn't have any). I also mixed the egg and coco milk/cream together, poured it over the top, and let it sit overnight, baking it this morning. It came out pretty well, but I will make a few adjustments next time. The first will be to either use real whole milk instead of coconut milk, or to use canned coconut milk (where do you buy this?). Secondly I will bake my sweet potato slices for a bit before putting them in the lasagna. The slices in the middle were not cooked enough for me! But it was delicious.
L: Another serving of the breakfast lasagna
S: I packed 2 hard boiled eggs and some chicken thighs
D: Not sure! Was going to make zucchini lasagna, but I'm not sure we have time...if not, I'll probably grill some chicken thighs or we'll have pancakes or omlettes.

Until next time...

[SarahChzBurg]

I notice a lot of people mention they go much longer between meals on primal w/o being hungry. Tomorrow starts my 4th week, and I still feel the need to eat every few hours. Do you think it's because my body is just used to that, or that I'm not getting enough fat during meals? Also, is it something to be concerned with (like does it really matter if I eat every few hours?)

Here's a typical timeline of a normal work day and hunger patterns.
Wake up between 5 and 5:30 a.m. Usually hungry for breakfast during the course of getting ready for the day.
Around 6:45 a.m. comes breakfast - 3-4 pieces of bacon, 2-3 eggs cooked in butter or bacon fat, spinach or other veggies in eggs.
By 10 or 11 a.m. I'm hungry again. I usually eat a snack here. Basically I break my lunch into two portions because I think if I eat it all at this time, I will be starving all afternoon! A typical snack would be some buts and dried fruit (a handful maybe) or a hard boiled egg and some meat (chicken thigh today). On occasion, a mostly veggie smoothie.
By 2 p.m. I want the rest of my lunch! Maybe another HBE and some meat, or leftovers from dinner. Plently of veggies and meat, like spaghetti squash with meat sauce, or a spinach salad with steak or chicken.
Hungry when I get home from work, around 6. Might have a snack (nuts or primal banana bread) but I don't start dinner unitl I get some time with my baby before she oges down. Dinner by 8 p.m.
After dinner, I'm not usually hungry, but might munch if I'm grilling meat for the rest of the week!

Any feedback would be great. Thanks!

[Primal Papa]

I would LOVE to just throw my scale in the trash.

My weight loss has been slow, but hopefully I start getting some dog walks ( I know you read my journal, thank you ), and I will HAVE to do more exercise than I am doing now. I think that's the key for me.... more exercise.

[Primal Papa]

Speaking of smoothies, well, at one point I was on a veggie kick... almost a year ago. Go to youtube and search for "Blended Salad"...... I don't know if I would eat those again, but I do know that I did like how, with one meal, I knew I had pretty much all the vitamins I would need for a day.

I really have not had a smoothie since going primal. The thought really just never popped in my head, probably because I would use too much fruit. However, I never made a smoothie with coconut milk before, and maybe I might like that.

[canio6]

I notice a lot of people mention they go much longer between meals on primal w/o being hungry. Tomorrow starts my 4th week, and I still feel the need to eat every few hours. Do you think it's because my body is just used to that, or that I'm not getting enough fat during meals? Also, is it something to be concerned with (like does it really matter if I eat every few hours?)

It could be either one. I know it took me a while to break the habit of "Oh, it is 1000, time for a snack!" That said, there are days when I am just hungry and will eat something. I'd try eating a little more at meals (perhaps adding more fat) and see how you feel. If you are still wanting to snack it is probably an old habit.

As for being worried about it, is it derailing your goals? If not, I wouldn't stress.

[Primal Papa]

Oh, on baked goods... I was eating them a lot the first few weeks, but haven't had ANY since. I really don't like coconut flour, and almond flour locally is way too expensive.... $12 a pound! But I now have an online source for less than half of that. I don't love almond flour either, but I like it way more than coconut flour. I don't really love coconut milk either, but I absolutely love fresh coconut.... go figure. Oh, and I don't especially like coconut oil all that much.

[Primal Papa]

Have you left the forum?

[SarahChzBurg]

Hi Everyone! Thanks so much for the replies! My daughter (8 months) had a small surgical procedure for tongue tie on Friday morning and the rest of my weekend was pretty much consumed with trying to help her get to sleep...so I definitely didn't post! I was happy to come on today and see so many replies! Yippee!

I did pretty well this weekend. My husband and I don't eat out a ton, but went to a gourmet burger place we like. I was excited because I know all of the servers are very knowledgeable about the menu, ingredients, etc. As all of the crisp sides are fried in canola oil, I decided to forego them and splurge on a DOUBLE burger. It was amazing. Akaushi beef is SO GOOD! Apparently Texas is the only place you can find it outside of Japan due to a past trade agreement. So good. So so good. I did eat sweet potatoes and a regular potato at home this weekend, so I'm not particularly proud of that, but as a whole I think I'm doing well.

We had THE BEST dinner the other night! I made these salmon patties and served them over fresh tomato slices, topped with 2 fried eggs. NOMZ. As a side we had sweet potato hash over spinach. It was so great and so so easy!

Booo I want to insert a pic of my awesome dinner, but I don't know how! Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I decided to try and track what I'm eating on fitday.com to see if I like that. SO far I'm pretty "meh" about it. I want to just eat and see success! But so far the weight definitely isn't melting off, so I figure I'd better keep an eye on things in case I want to look at the data later. I've also decided to cut the sugar this week. I won't be eating fruit and won't be using maple syrup or honey in things I cook, unless is't something that is a mild to moderate amount for a huge batch (like one tsp of honey in a huge pot of meat sauce.)

I'm also planning to make meatloaf if I have time this week, and I can't wait!
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12.6.7
B: I can't even remember if I ate breakfast yesterday! Definitely had coffee...
L: Large serving of Primal Zucchini Lasagna (linked in earlier post)
D: Amazing. Real potato hasbrowns cooked in bacon fat, scrambled eggs and spicy sausage. YUM. We love breakfast for dinner.
"Cheats" - ate like 4 fries off a friend's plate watching the Texan's heartwrenching loss.
12.7.12
B: Coffee with cream. Didn't have time for eggs or leftovers but I ate half a banana! Forgot about the sugar thing. Momentary lapse...
L: Sweet potato with butter
D: Planning on chicken thighs cooked in coconut oil or a balsalmic marinade, broccoli, and some other mixed veggies.