Tag: primal challenge

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

YTT and Miscellaneous Update

heather

I know it’s been ages since I’ve written anything.  This is a function of two things:

1. Yoga Teacher Training (YTT). I’ve been through two weekend sessions so far.  The class started in January and ends in June.  We meet Saturdays 12-6 and Sundays 9-3 once or twice per month.  The first class was seriously awesome, albeit seriously exhausting.  We learned A TON.  We learned about chanting, anatomy, pranayama (breathing exercises) yoga philosophy, yoga history, the 8 limbs of yoga (asanas are just one small part), etc.  We also spent lots of time practicing asanas and learning how to adjust our fellow students.

The second class (this weekend) covered a lot of the same general topics, but the specifics were different.  We spent time this weekend learning about the major joints in the body, and then we spent several hours learning more about specific postures and how to modify them and adjust them.  We did a lot of work with shoulder stand, double pigeon, side angle stretch, and several others that I can’t even remember.  Then we spent about 3 hours today covering yoga philosophy in more detail.

I’m a little freaked out by the fact that a lot of the reading and self-exploration I have been doing over the past 3 years is all tornadoing together and striking the same spot.  From varied bloggers I follow, I’ve been introduced to the philosophy of stoicism and Eckhart Tolle’s works.  The subjects/books really resonated with me, and now as I learn more about yoga philosophy (something I knew NOTHING  about when I signed up for YTT), I realize that stoicism and The Power of Now are both just reiterations of this yoga philosophy that is thousands of years old.  Not to get mystical, but it seems as if the various currents of my life are all drawing me down the same path.  It’s a comforting feeling – receiving confirmation that you are moving in the right direction.

Anyway, I could write reams and reams about what I’ve learned at YTT, but I don’t want to bore you to death, so I’ll move on to my second excuse for being vacant on hlodecello.

2.  I’ve been participating in a 21-Day Primal Challenge with several friends.  I set up a Facebook Group for us to all communicate. It’s been working really well, but it means that I share my recipes and meal ideas on there instead of here.

Oh, and a 3rd thing. I got a promotion at work, which means I’m managing our programmers.  They are all awesome people who I love to work with, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around managing people for the first time. I want to do a good job, even though from what I’ve read, that’s almost impossible when you first start out.  But I’ve been putting a lot of mental energy and time into figuring that whole situation out.

So that’s why I’ve been silent lately. Once the challenge is over, I will write more.

Take care, and have an excellent Sunday evening. 😉

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo, Uncategorized

PORKIN!

heather

Ha – gotchya! This post isn’t about what you thought it was about. You pervert.

One of the benefits and drawbacks of buying a whole hog is that you have tons of pork to eat.  I love pork, but we probably eat too much of it.  We need to widen our horizons as far as meat is concerned, but it’s hard to do when you have 100 pounds of pork chilling in the freezer.

I used a few pounds of it this week in a couple of new recipes:

1.  Beyond the Bite Hawaiian Pork Roast.  This recipe was very easy to make, and the flavor of the roast was delicious!  However, the cabbage got a little overcooked, so its texture and color were a little unappetizing; although, the actual taste of it was good.  Even though the recipe only calls for 3 T of ginger, the whole roast had a really nice ginger tone to it.

2. Easy Glazed Pork Chops.  This introduced me to a new way of cooking pork chops. We usually either grill them or fry them on the stove.  With this recipe, however, you cook them on the stove for 4 minutes on each side and then bake them for 6 minutes.   They end up cooked perfectly!  I would definitely make pork chops this way again, but I would not make the glaze.  Tim HATES vinegar, and this sauce was super vinegary and made the whole house smell like vinegar. I personally liked the flavor, but I won’t subject Tim to the vinegar scent again.

And today is Christmas.  Tim and I are going to head out for a run shortly, and then we’re going to play some cribbage, eat some homemade stew, draw, bake cookies, watch some Lord of the Rings, and crochet some slippers.  Sounds like a perfect Thursday in my opinion!

Oh!  And one more thing to note.  Some friends of mine and I decided to do another Primal Challenge in January. It’s kind of become a tradition at this point. I originally started the primal diet 3 years ago in January, and for the past 2 years, I have re-done the challenge to help myself get back on track and to help introduce some friends to the diet.  This year we are making it a little more official. I set up a Facebook Group here for us to communicate and encourage each other.  We are doing it 1/11 to 1/31.  If you are interested in joining up, hit me up on Facebook. I’m excited to see how it goes (and I’m excited to have a strong excuse to turn down delicious (but super unhealthy) treats at work!).

I hope you are enjoying your day off and can get outside and revel in the cold sunshine.  Thanks for reading!!

 

Health & Fitness, Paleo

Primal Challenge – Day 4

heather

Here are the detes for Day 4.

  • Did 10 pushups, 3 pullups, did the stairs at work 3 times, and JOINED THE GYM!  If I wasn’t such a pussy I would go to the pool tomorrow morning and start swimming.  BUT the pool has a freaking glass wall so that everyone in the lobby can see you.  Also, I’ve never been there before, so what if I do something embarrassing because I don’t know what I’m supposed to do and everyone sees me?  Mortification!  Tim and I will go on Saturday and scope it out together.  Plus it’s supposed to be icy tonight.  I’m sure the roads will be too bad to go to the gym in the morning.  Ya, that’s right.  That’s the ticket.
  • Breakfast
    • 2 cups of coffee with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil.
    • Homemade chorizo and a whole avocado.
  • Lunch
    • I met friends for lunch today, so I am better socialized but poorer by $13.  I had an unbreaded pork tenderloin and a side salad with oil and vinegar.  I find when I eat out that it’s hard for me to get full, and my budget suffers immensely.  However, meeting friends, keeping up relationships, etc. is supposed to be really good for your happiness and health.  Quandary.
  • Supper
    • Since we signed up at the Y tonight, we didn’t really have time to cook at home. Instead we picked up Chipotle.  I got a salad with barbacoa, veggies, mild and medium salsa, and guacamole.  It’s all good ingredients, but for some reason it always bloats my stomach.  I wonder why.  Do they cook their meat in rancid canola oil or something?
  • Snacks
    • I was hungry again today!  I ate a bunch of walnuts, mixed nuts (no peanuts), dark chocolate, and some coconut butter.  It seems as if I ate a lot today, but according to MFP, I only ate 1500 calories.  I’m not sure how much stock I put in these measurements.
  • Drinks – all day long lots of herbal tea.
  • Tim and I both have stiff backs today, but my mood was great!
  • Verdict for the day:  Success!
Health & Fitness, Paleo

Primal Challenge – Day 3

heather

Here are the detes for Day 3.

  • Did pushups, pullups, squats, planks, lunges, and bear crawls – which burned all of 16 calories according to MyFitnessPal. Shenanigans, I say.
  • Breakfast
    • 2 cups of coffee with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil.
    • Hard boiled egg, 1/2 an avocado, homemade chorizo
  • Lunch
    • I had lunch with my old boss today at Exotic Thai.  I had the Kang Dang Curry, which is delicious as always.  I ate maybe 1/4 cup of white rice with it because sometimes straight coconut milk will upset my stomach.
  • Supper
    • I tried a new recipe tonight:  Hamburgers with Mushrooms Provencale Style.  I undercooked the burgers.  For some reason I have a hard time cooking non-ground meat on the stove. Tim usually grills it for us, but it’s damn winter here.  Overall, this recipe was tasty, but it is not one of my favorites.   It will not get put it into the rotation.
  • Snacks
    • Apple, 2 hardboiled eggs, 1/2 avocado, celery, Kombucha.  I was pretty snacky today!  I think it was because I ate liquids for lunch.  Coconut milk is pretty high fat, so it should have kept me full, but it never does!  Liquids NEVER fill me up.  Besides beer.  Beer fills me up something fierce.
  • Drinks – all day long lots of herbal tea.
  • Still have a little joint pain, but my stomach is getting back to normal, and my mood was better.
  • Verdict for the day:  Success!  Still resisting sweets and alcohol.

We still haven’t joined a gym, and Tim and I are really getting antsy.  The weather is warming up, but I think it’s supposed to be icy now.  Bah!!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Uncategorized

Primal Challenge – Day 2

heather

Here’s the detes for the day.  I started tracking my food on MyFitnessPal, per the recommendation of a friend.  I know it’s not 100% accurate (partially because I estimate the amount of food and partially because you can’t always find exact matches), but it will at least give me an idea of where I am getting most of my calories.  Today I’m at 67% fat, 23% protein, and 10% carbs (it was a heavy bacon day).  I’m at 1719 calories for the day, which I think would be low for me in the summer but is probably pretty accurate for me in the winter time.  I’ll keep using this for a few days and see how it works.

  • Did 30 minutes of yoga.
  • Breakfast
    • 2 cups of coffee with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil.
    • Sauteed broccoli, red bell pepper, and kale in bacon fat, 2 pieces of bacon
  • Lunch
    • Salad with mushrooms, sardines, cucumbers, walnuts, red bell pepper, and olive oil and ACV
  • Supper
    • Grilled eggs with chorizo with 1/2 an avocado
    • I think the Fitness tracker probably WAY overestimated the fat & salt in the chorizo, because I used homemade chorizo.
  • Snacks
    • 2 slices of bacon, 2 carrots, handful of walnuts
  • Drinks – all day long lots of herbal tea.
  • No improvement yet in allergies/joint pain.
  • Verdict for the day:  Success!  I resisted 20th anniversary cupcakes, a veiled insinuation that I should go out for drinks after work, and a counter-top full of toffee and peanut butter cups.  So far I haven’t been seriously tempted, but that’s probably more hormonal than anything.  You girls know what I mean.  🙂

Our gym membership lapsed in December.  We really only need a gym Feb – May, so we can train for the triathlon (pool).  We were going to save some cash and sign up next month, but we are already going stir crazy.  I know the primal community is not big on running, but Tim and I miss it.  We can run when it’s 30 outside, but not when it’s 30 below.  We’re going to have to join up somewhere so we can get our bodies moving again.

Life is ramping up to be busy again.  I start a new class at Iowa State on Monday. It’s a programming class, and I have NO programming experience.  I just read the syllabus, and we have a GROUP project.  Bah!!  That’s going to be no fun.  Hopefully I’ll get lucky and group up with a brilliant programmer.

So between projects at work, school, meal planning and cooking, ramping up training for the tri, and crocheting a scarf (which is turning out super cute, btw), I’m going to be one busy Hlo.  But happiness is growth right??  Hlo in June is going to be happy that Hlo in January was miserable.  You are welcome, future self.