Category: Health & Fitness

Health & Fitness, Paleo, Uncategorized

Primal Challenge – Day 1

heather

I have a new recipe to tell you about.  I made this tried and true garlic pulled pork recipe on Sunday.  Since we were going to be home almost all day, I cooked it in the oven instead of the crockpot like I normally do.  It turned it sooooo much better – very tender and butter-soft.  To get an even healthier dose of the super food that is garlic, I paired it with Couve a Mineira and a side of avocado.  It was delicious!!  And cheap!  Collard Greens are only 59 cents.  Bonkers.

Anyway, here’s the super exciting food/exercise details of Day 1.

  • Meditated 5 minutes using Mindfulness app.
  • Breakfast
    • 2 cups of coffee with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil.
    • 2 eggs with red peppers & kale sauteed in bacon fat, and squash seasoned with s&p and turmeric. Ate 1/2 at home and 1/2 about an hour later at work.
  • Lunch
    • Salad with organic lettuce, albacore tuna, red peppers, walnuts, mushrooms, green onions, and cucumbers, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
    • 2 slices of bacon.
  • Snack
    • Organic apple, 1 piece of celery, 1 carrot.
  • After-work snack.
    • Two pieces of celery with almond butter.
  • Supper
    • Leftover garlic pulled pork.
    • Salad with red peppers, green onions, and cucumbers.
  • Drinks – all day long lots of herbal tea.
  • Exercise – Did 10 pushups, 3 pullups, did 10 flights of stairs at work.
  • No improvement yet in allergies/joint pain.

I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to keep a food log.  I have the Evernote Food app, where you can take pics of your food and then make comments on it, but I’m not liking it so far.  It’s too complicated for what I need.  I also don’t like typing my food into my phone and then retyping it here.  I might just resort to a little old school notebook.  We’ll see.  Logging food is pretty tedious, but lots of folks say it really opens your eyes as to what you really eat in a day.  We’ll see!

Health & Fitness, Paleo, Uncategorized

21 Day Challenge Reboot

heather

It’s January 2014, and you know what that means – resolutions!!  I won’t share all the nitty gritty details, but like most folks, my resolutions revolve around living a healthier, more fulfilling, happier life.  To start the year off on the right foot, I’m doing another 21 Day Challenge.  Why would I do this after being paleo for almost 2 years?  Well, the whole 80/20 thing is a slippery slope, for one thing.  It’s very difficult to be specific about what 80/20 means.  In theory it means eating a cookie maybe once a week, or having a beer here and there.  In practice, however, for me at least it means eating too many sweets, too much gluten, and drinking too many drinks, all under the guise of “20%.”

So I’m doing the 21 Day Challenge again for several reasons.  I want to reboot my system to reduce sugar cravings.  I want to eat clean for 21 days and see if my allergies (which still bother me a little) and skin improve.  Also, in winter I tend to eat just as much as I do in the summer, but my activity level is much, much less (due to days with only 11 hours of daylight and sub-zero temps).  Over the past couple of months I’ve seen the effects of this, not in any weight gain, but in body composition.

With those goals in mind, I’m starting the 21 Day Challenge tomorrow.  To help keep me on track, I will post my food diary and exercise log here on this blog.  To most people I know this will be boring, but for those wondering what a primal lifestyle looks like, it might be helpful.  Plus, selfishly, posting this information publicly will help keep me on the straight and narrow.

With that said, I better sign off, so I can get my solid 8 hours of sleep tonight!

Health & Fitness, Paleo

Vacation Woes

heather

Teem and I just returned from a monster road trip to Phoenix.  All of Tim’s family lives down there, and it was time for us to visit them again.  We looked at plane tickets, and when we added the cost of the tickets to the cost of renting a car, we were looking at an outlay of $1100.  We knew we could drive it for about $400 + 2 hotel rooms, halving the cost of the journey.  Plus, if we drove we could take our ancient chihuahua, Lucent, and our bicycles with us.  So drive we did.  Over the course of 8 days we drove 48 hours.  We drove for a full-time work week.

We drove down on Christmas day.   By the time we arrived at our stopover town of Amarillo, the only restuarants that were open were Denny’s and IHOP.  We strolled into Denny’s at 9PM, expecting to be able to sit down, relax, and recover from our road weariness.  Instead, we walked into a packed entry way, no hostess in site, and all the tables filled with patrons waiting for food.  WHY was everyone in Amarillo eating out at Denny’s at 9PM on Christmas??  We said, to quote my mom, “Nuts to that noise,” and drove over to IHOP.  The situation was only slightly better there.  The hostess was in effect, at least, but she informed us that there would be a 45 minute wait.  We turned around and headed back to the hotel.  In an attempt to not go wholly off the rails whilst on vacation, I had packed road trip snacks – nuts, dark chocolate chips, figs, grapefruit, hard boiled eggs, and oranges.  We had already plowed through a lot of the food, but we made a bastard supper of grapefruit, eggs, and free cookies from the front desk.  By this time of the evening, we were both tired, hungry, irritable, and full of a weird mish mash of food.  Fortunately, our moods were better in the morning, and we made short work of the remaining trip from Amarillo to Tempe.

Once we arrived, we welcomed the sun, the warmth, and the family.  We had a good time over the course of the next few days – biking, running, hiking, playing games, and shopping at all the stores we don’t have here (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, etc.).  We also ate A TON of food.  Since we were on vacation and since I’ve been more lax in my diet lately in general, I pretty much ate whatever I wanted.  The day after we arrived, I had low-gluten pancakes for breakfast and then for supper indulged in bites of fries, bites of home-made pop-tarts, 1/2 a cookie, 1.5 slices of pizza, a sweet digestif, wine, a manhattan, a paleo cookie, etc.  By the time we got on the light-rail train to head home, my stomach was feeling pretty off.  I was also feeling pretty hot.  I have a history of passing out, and I quickly recognized I was in danger.  I moved over to an empty seat, took off my coat and sweater and fought furiously to maintain consciousness.  Tim saw the sweat start to soak through my shirt and watched the blood leave my face and came over to fan me.  Eventually the tunnel vision cleared, and I was able to focus and hear again.  Ugh.  This is what happens when I don’t treat my body correctly.

I ate much better over the course of the next few days.  I still didn’t feel awesome just because when you are with a varied group of people, you want things to be easy as possible, so you make compromises.  Also, it’s hard to poop at other peoples’ houses.  Especially when you don’t get your coffee & coconut oil when you wake up.  🙂

But now we are home.  We are still in leftover vacation mode, but starting on Monday we are doing a clean up.  I’m looking forward to it!!  Our gym membership expired in December.  It’s super expensive to renew it, so we are going gym-less for January, and then we’ll sign up for Feb – May, so that we can train at the pool for the triathlon in June.  So we’ll really need to eat better since we won’t be able to work out like we want.

Today is going to be the nicest day for the next 4-5 days (30 degrees), so we are going to run today.  And then we are going to hibernate until at least next Tuesday.  Over the next few days it’s supposed to get to something like 40 below with the windchill.  UGH.  The only thing keeping me sane is my faux sun-light and the knowledge that every day, even if it’s insanely cold, is going to get longer and longer.  Eventually I will feel sun on my arms and legs again!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

The Perfection of Simplicity

heather

Today was a day for simple, tasty, home-cooked meals.  For breakfast I just scrounged around in the fridge and ended up sauteeing cauliflower, green onions, and garlic in olive oil.  I added some turmeric and salt and pepper.  Once that was done, I fried two over-easy eggs and added that to the top of the veggies.  DEEElicious.

For lunch we had another simple, yet delicious, meal.  My mom gave us a whole flat of homemade canned tomatoes.  When we were kids I remember dumping a jar of tomatoes into a sauce pan, and once they were hot, dousing them with pats of butter and tons of salt and pepper.  I followed that tried and true recipe today, with a few minor exceptions.  I added some basil and garlic powder to the tomatoes.  Tim fried up some grass-fed hamburgers, and when those were done, we chopped them up, poured the soup over them, topped the soup with some grass-fed butter, and wow.  Super tasty, super easy, super perfect Saturday afternoon lunch.  And cheap too!  Especially since the tomatoes were free (thanks, Mom :)).

For supper we hit up Granite City, intending to go to a movie afterwards.  Tim got a salad, and I got chicken wings. He got one drink, and I got two.  Forty bucks later, and we are both slower, poorer, and likely unhealthier.  But we did have fun together, which is definitely worth something.

In January we are going to try to follow a stricter budget.  We want to see if we can afford a slightly bigger house (with a bigger kitchen – yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!), and we also want to save for a trip to some tropical location with oceans and beaches and lots and lots of gorgeous, uplifting, make-me-happy sun.  As a result, we’ll need to watch our food budget much more closely. In my brains I know that eating at home is much healthier, and much cheaper, but in my vane little heart I like to go out, be around people, see and be seen and spend $40 eating sometimes tasty food.  I need to make up my mind where my priorities lie!!  Money, unfortunately, is pretty much a zero-sum game.

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo, Uncategorized

Fall Cookin’

heather

It’s Fall.  That means:

1.  I want to bake all the time.  I made these pumpkin muffins again on Saturday, and by Sunday evening they were goners.  I found this article with 33 recipes that all sound fantastic.  I think I’m going to have to make this one tonight.  I’m in love with pumpkin.

2. It’s dark.  Like all the time.  I packed up my backpack last night with every intention of hitting the pool this morning before work. But, I woke up, and it’s cold and dark outside, and I decided that shopping for boots was a better use of my time.  I saved $80 by shopping this morning!  Amazon is offering 25% off boot purchases over $100, so I ordered these. If they end up working out, they will be my 4th pair of Fryes.  I have their Carson Oxfords, their Carson Ballet Flats, and the Campus Boot.  Yes, they are expensive, but I have yet to actually wear out a pair of their footwear!!  We’ll see how these boots work out.  I’m going to NYC on Thursday to visit my bros, and I NEED some awesome boots with which to impress them.

3.  I want to eat all the stuffs.  Our office is rife with leftover Halloween candy.  It’s horrible.  Fortunately this insatiable desire to eat has motivated me to try some new recipes.  I made this Primal Ham Bone Soup on Sunday.  My mom got us some beautiful, unique squash (squashes??), so I chopped some of those up and put them into the soup.  I also added some smoked ham hocks.  I put the works in the Nesco at about 7AM Sunday morning, and by 2PM, we had delicious soup.  The squash completely disappeared!  I think it melded with the broth.

I wanted to make buns to go with the soup because there isn’t anything better than buttered buns and ham soup.  This Paleo Dinner Rolls recipe sounded delicious, and the picture of the rolls made my mouth water.  Well, I broke our 1 cup Pyrex measuring cup, so I had to use our 2 cup measuring cup.  The measurement indicators are, to say the least, confusing.  I think I ended up adding twice as much water & oil as required.  The dough was not doughy AT ALL.  It was barely the consistency of go-gurt.  I tried to salvage the concoction by pouring the batter into a loaf pan and baking it. I baked it for 60 minutes.  The top and bottom paper-thin layers were salty & delicious, and the middle was just straight up gelatinous.  Gross.  I will have to try these again with the proper measurements next time.

Hopefully we’ll have an easy winter this year, so that we can still get outside and exercise and see the sun.  I’m already getting depressed, and it’s only November 4.  I’m doubling up on my Vitamin D supplements to see if that helps.  I think a contributing factor to my downsies is the fact that I just finished a huge project at work and am feeling rather listless.  It was nice, albeit stressful, to have something all consuming in your life for awhile.  It relieved me of the need to think about and plan out how to spend my time.  Now I have no excuses!  Maybe I’ll take my new-found mental freedom and watch seasons 2 and 3 of Downtown Abbey.  I do have an afgan that needs crocheted!

And that’s it for the evening.  I’m taking my boot-shopping, TV-watching, dessert-baking self to bed.  Adios!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

And suddenly it’s Fall

heather

Last week was H O T.  On Sunday it turned C O L D.  As in, I think it might start snowing any minute.  The good thing about the drastic temperature swing, however, is that I’m in full-on cooking mode.  Tonight I prepped pork ribs for the crockpot tomorrow, a whole chicken to bake Wednesday night, and I’m currently baking the awesomest muffins ever:  Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins.  I made a batch of them on Saturday, and they were obliterated by Sunday morning.  So I’m making batch #2.  These are awesome.  I really shouldn’t be making them because they have quite a bit of sugar in the form of maple syrup, and sugar often makes me inexplicably feel like crying.  But I’m so happy when I eat these – maybe it all evens out.

Tomorrow will be my first attempt at ribs!  I put the spice rub on them tonight, and I will put them in the Nesco Roaster all day tomorrow, and then when I get home from work tomorrow night I’ll make the paleo BBQ sauce to slather over them.  Hopefully they turn out well.

I tried a new recipe last week:  Greek-Style Lamb Meatballs.  These were good, but if I’m going to make lamb meatballs, I’m going to make these:  Ginger & Lemongrass meatballs.  They are AMAZING.  Like you can’t stop eating them.

I also made a tried and true recipe – Heavenly Paleo Meatloaf.  I can’t find the recipe online anymore, but if you want it, leave a message in the comments, and I’ll type it up for you.  Tim and I are both huge fans of this.  We ate the last of it for supper tonight -mashed up with Tim’s homemade sauerkraut and sliced Claussen Spicy Dill pickles.  So tasty.

Oh man, our house smells so good right now.  I wonder how long it will be before we get sensory blogs – where you can *smell* the food people write about?

And with Fall comes more time for reading!  I’m almost done with A Guide to the Good Life:  The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy.  This book is so good that I got overdue library fines on it and then went out and bought it anyway.  The book is an explanation of the philosophy of stoicism, and stoicism is not what you think it is.  Stoicism is not about being reserved and controlled, it’s about learning to be happy with what you already have.  It helps you break free from the cycle of consumerism and from constantly chasing your insatiable desires.  Once I finish it, I’m going to re-read it and then make everyone I know read it.

I also just bought a book (for $1.07!) by Margaret Atwood at the used book store.  I ran across an article about her on Lifehacker, and it piqued my interest.  She is friends with Ursula K. Le Guin, who I really like, so I figured I would try her out.  My brainy Facebook friends highly recommend her as well, so I’m excited to start the book.

And despite the shorter days, coolers temps, and copious amounts of food, I’m still trying to stay on top of my fitness regime.  Our biking has definitely slaked off, but we’ve had some nice, long runs.  Our next race is the 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.  My bros are doing with us, so I am really looking forward to it. I need to start swimming again too, lest I forget how.  Tim wants to do at least 1 tri next summer, so I need to keep working on my swimming skilz.

And, now it’s time to r e l a x.  Have a great evening.  And go buy A Guide to the Good Life. I command thee!  And read it post haste.

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

Tastiest Supper Ever and Festmasters and Their Slutty Wives

heather

I made this tried and true Garlic Pulled Pork recipe yesterday in the Nesco Roaster.  As usual, it turned out fantastic, albeit a little on the dry side.  I think I cooked it a little too long, which is what I get for going out for drinks after work.  To moisten it up a bit, Teeeembits had the brilliant idea to mix the pork with his homemade sauerkraut.  Brilliant.  Absolutely brilliant.  This will definitely be one of the signature dishes when we decide to quit our lame jobs and open up the Sleepy Choo Paleo Palace of Deliciousness.

Perhaps we were inspired by our trek to the Wisconsin Territory for the Lacrosse Oktoberfest last weekend.  Admittedly, the trip got off to a rough start.  We arrived in Lacrosse at about 12:30 or so, checked into the hotel, and tried to figure out where, exactly, the Oktoberfest was.  No where on the website could we find the specific address of the Fest grounds.  We found a map of the grounds and deduced the location from the cross streets.  We then piled our road-weary, starving selves into the Fusion and headed downtown.  Unbeknownst to us, we were hitting downtown right as the parade was ending.  The streets we planned to use to get to the grounds were all blocked for the parade.  The other streets were all full of extremely drunk individuals with no regard for traffic signals or multi-ton vehicles who could squash them into smithereens.  We kept driving around, expecting to see signs directing us to the Fest and/or a parking area.  They were no where to be found!!!  We eventually, after 45 minutes, found a parking area, paid our $5 and finally unfolded our weary limbs in search of beer and brats.  Of course, it began pouring rain.  And we had no umbrellas.  Tim didn’t even have a hat.  We wandered off in the direction of the crowds, only to find more drunk people camped up along side the road.  We didn’t see a “Fest” anywhere!  We decided to just find food in a restaurant somewhere downtown.  Of course, thousands of other people had the same idea.  It was hopeless.  Hungry, cranky, wet, and extremely frustrated, we returned to the car and began the arduous task of winding our way out of the area, trying not to hit any toasted pedestrians.  We finally broke free and headed to the hotel area for food.

We used Yelp to find a good Mexican restaurant, and after some guacamole and margaritas, we were feeling much more sanguine.  We hit up the local Woodmans to stock up on beer and cucumber vodka and then returned to the hotel.  We relaxed in the hot-tub, watched horrible cable, and then worked up the energy to take the shuttle (which started at 4PM) from the hotel back down the the so-called Oktoberfest.

THAT was definitely the better way to experience the Oktoberfest.  The bus dumped us out at the entrance to grounds, and after paying $20 for our buttons, we were soon in line for some tasty local brews, listening to some cheerful Bluegrass music. We supplemented the beer with some brats and potato salad and really started to enjoy the evening.  We wandered over to another area of the Fest grounds, intrigued by the flashing neon promising FRIED CHEESE CURDS.  We got another beer and ate up the delicious, salty curds, while listening to an extremely talented polka band/family.  We were soon joined by a random gentlemen, keen on describing his maltreatment in the other beer tent.  It appears that some of the Festers were not respectful of his age.  We distracted him with cheese curds and questions about cycling (he was wearing his version of “drinking gloves” – bicycling gloves).  He repaid our attentions by introducing Tim to the Festmaster, whose wife bestows Festmaster buttons on to Festers.  He promised Tim that the Festmaster’s wife would slip him the tongue when she gave him a button.  Tim was not interested in the tongue (or so he said), but he WAS interested in meeting Festival royalty, and so he did.  I have pictures to prove it.

All-in-all, it was a really great, fun day – good music, good food, good beer, good people-watching.  And the drive to and from Lacrosse was absolutely beautiful.  We went up 61 on the way there and came home along the Mississippi on the way home.  Both routes were gorgeous.  I would travel to Lacrosse again just for the scenery, but probably not for the Fest.  Now, if they had a vodka or whiskey Fest, I would be there in a heartbeat.

Well, it’s bed time, and I have a long, arduous day tomorrow, so I better sign off.  Hope you have a wonderful evening.  🙂

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

I knows youse kids like em sloppy

heather

I made Paleo Sloppy Joe Sweet Potatoes last week, and they turned out super delicious!  At first I was wary of the recipe.  It wasn’t smelling super delicious, and when I initially tasted it, it was just OK.  But I let the concoction simmer for 15 minutes, and out came delicious sloppy sloppy joes!  I used a red onion (I don’t think you are typically supposed to sautee red onions, but they turned out good in this recipe), a red pepper, coconut sugar, and our local favorite mustard, Boetjes.  For the meat I used a pound of ground pork from our hog.  Added to a baked sweet potato, this made for a hearty, delicious meal.   To simplify the meal, I did not scoop out the insides of the sweet potatoes and combine it with the meat sauce and then put it back into the skins.  We just put the meat mixture right on top of the cooked potato.  We ate the leftovers with over-easy eggs and avocado.  Again – delicious.  Try it!!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

Pork Foray

heather

We recently took our first foray into the world of buying meat in bulk directly from the farmer/butcher.  One of my friends on Facebook mentioned that he had purchased a hog from a local farm, and that the meat was great.  I got the details from him and contacted the farmer on Facebook.  They explained the process (which, simply, is you send them a check, tell them where you want the hog butchered, and they drop it off there within a week or so) and sent me an article to help fill in the details.  Tired of paying $9 for bacon at the Farmer’s Market, we decided to take the plunge, splitting the risk by splitting the hog with a friend.

The cost of the whole hog (non-confinement, no antibiotics, varied diet, humanely treated, etc.) was $350.  We got 145 lbs of meat from it, and the cost of processing (including offal charge, smoking, sausage, brats, lard) was $159.90.  So the meat cost $3.52 per pound, on average.  And it is DEEELICIOUS!  So far we have tried the ground pork, bacon, brats, and pork chops, and it has all been good.  Our friend who bought the other half said the ribs are fantastic.  We have yet to try the smoked ham hocks, lard, hams, ham steaks, and pork loin.

We did have to buy a freezer to hold the meat, however.  We opted for an upright freezer, based on recommendations from friends.  Also, we thought it would be easier to not lose meat deep in the depths.  The freezer was around $430, but that’s a one-time expense that will enable us to take advantage of more bulk meat purchases.  We are considering buying 1/2 a cow and possibly a lamb.

If we had to do it again, what would we do differently?  I would ask more questions about the processing.  The offal processing cost $29, which seems expensive for heart, tongue, and liver.  I know that organ meats are super good for you, but I can purchase those at the Farmer’s Market for much less.  Also, I wish we would have gotten the pork belly.  I’ve ran across 2 recipes on www.marksdailyapple.com that sound fantastic.    My friend who told me about the farm also recommended getting the pork jowls smoked, but I forgot to ask for that.  Next year I’ll get my act together 🙂

In the meantime we will be enjoying delicious, locally raised, non-factory farm, inexpensive meat.  Just pray that the power doesn’t go out for an extended period!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo, Uncategorized

Mini Octoberfest and Buttery Turnips

heather

I recently ran across a recipe on www.marksdailyapple.com that, as a spawn of Hagemans and Zimmermans, piqued my curiosity – Sauerbraten:  A Classic German Pot Roast.  I had never heard of this, but it sounded interesting, and it provided an excellent excuse to have people over, as I am wont to do.  So I bought a huge beef roast, plunked it into a funky marinade, and sent out the invites to friends for a Mini Octoberfest/Beer Swap.

I learned a few things during the experience.  People are busy.  It’s hard to find an evening where the majority of my 20 or so acquaintances can all gather at the same time.  We ended up with a showing of about 9 folks, who contributed beer, Black Forest cake, coconut bars, potato salad, and cucumber and onion salad to the festivities.  It was a fun evening.  The sauerbraten turned out okay, I think.  Not ever having it before, I did not know how it was supposed to taste.  It was very…tangy.  The sauce when I first made it was absolutely TOO tangy, so I added a tablespoon of coconut sugar and 2 tablespoons of full-fat Greek yogurt.  That thickened and sweetened it up.  Tim was not a fan, but everyone less liked it, or at least SAID they liked it!

We ate supper, dessert, and then sat by the fire and enjoyed the late summer evening. We were in our PJs by 8:30, which is a perfect time to end a party, in my opinion.  :).

Would I make the sauerbraten again?  I don’t think so.  It was an interesting experiment for a party, but it’s too much work and expense for what it is – a sour tasting pot roast! Plus I burned my hand on the dutch oven lid, so I’m a little pissed at the roast.  Actually, overall it was a dangerous cooking weekend for me.  Saturday morning I was attempting to shake hot sauce on my awesome breakfast when my sensation-less fingertips lost their grip, sending the class bottle into a collision with the Corelle plate.  The plate ‘sploded.  All over the table, floor, and my legs.  I have Corelle shrapnel in my legs now.  It was very traumatic.

I recently read an article by Mark Sisson about the importance of socializing with people you really care about.  While hosting gatherings is a royal pain in the ass, with all the cleaning and prep and frustrations of dealing with peoples’ schedules, I’m glad we did it.  It’s good to be with people.  We all need our tribes!

I tried one other new recipe this week: Turnip and Bison Scramble.  I didn’t have any bison, but I did have pig, so we ate this with ground pork.  It smelled a little weird when it was cooking, but it tasted delicious garnished with some avocado, hot sauce, and green onions.  Of course, anything cooked in 2 T of butter would probably be delicious!

So we started off the weekend right – with a party and tasty food, and we ended it well – by taking a 20 mile bike ride, drinking delicious pale ale from Bent River, and sitting outside for 2 hours reading and soaking in the vitamin D.  We have a big event this week at work, so I’m going to be trapped inside for the next SIX days.  I had to get a lot of outside time in this weekend.

Hope you had a great weekend!