Week 3 - One oops and I'm paying for it

My apologies for the late post. This has been one heck of a busy week for me (in a good way!). My son turned five on Tuesday so we threw him a birthday party at the local wildlife refuge on Sunday. There were 17 kids there, mostly from his preschool class. All I could think was "boy am I glad we had the party here instead of at the house." Everyone had a great time. The turtle and snake were very popular and everyone enjoyed the quick hike. Thankfully, the rain held off.


On his actual birthday my husband took the day off from work and drove us up to New York City to go to the American Museum of Natural History. What an amazing place and what a treat for a five-year-old boy who loves dinosaurs. We saw the skeletons of many kinds of dinosaurs including a tyrannosaurus rex, stegasaurus and a saber tooth tiger.


We attempted to see an IMAX film but it was too loud for my kids. Money down the drain but we were okay with that. My son also enjoyed the musuem's discovery room which was geared towards kids his age and then we got in the car to go to a restaurant. Well, the excitement of the day must have gotten to my son because he threw up as soon as we got back in New Jersey. So, no restaurant trip for us (I was so looking forward to those ostrich medallions!) but he was all recovered by the time we got home and enjoyed a very big piece of birthday cake.

Obviously, this was a trying time to stick to the paleo diet but I managed to avoid the pitfalls (mostly). I only had a small lick of the frosting and didn't have any cake or cupcakes at all (I was quite tempted too!). I told myself that if my son noticed my not eating cake I would have a piece. However, he was too involved with his yummy treat to notice that I only had some dried figs. I did give in on the trip home from NYC to have a cup of Starbucks coffee. I got a small white chocolate mocha. The first two sips I was in heaven but after a few more I was kind of repulsed by the sweetness of it and the dairy taste. Remember I haven't had any dairy or sugar in three weeks (honey in two weeks) so my tastebuds have acclimated to appreciating the sweetness of things like fruit and sweet vegetables like carrots or winter squash. The next day, I had pimples on a face that had mostly cleared up and I was completely exhausted. I'm not sure how much of that can be attributed to all the walking I did rather than the coffee concoction but I don't believe that the coffee had any positive effect on me.

The good news is that at the end of three and a half weeks on this diet I have lost 9.5 pounds. My clothes feel somewhat looser on me and my husband has definitely noticed the change in me. He tells me that I look so skinny and that it makes him want to start losing weight too. I see most of the change in my face and my belly. I still have some mommy tummy going on but I no longer look four months pregnant. Hooray! In addition, my energy levels have been somewhat better. I found myself doing a lot of cleaning and organizing last week when I had my period, a time I'm normally completely drained and sloth-like. I'm not as irritable and I have been spending more time with the kids. They still annoy the heck out of me a good deal of the time but I'm not losing my temper quite as much. All positive changes that are encouraging me to stick with the program. I'm hoping that next week I can switch my Wii Fit to EA Active. I'm able to do 30 minutes in the afternoon on Wii Fit and I'm not sore so I think that's a sign I need to do something a little more strenuous. Oh, I saw the chiropractor last night and he had a lot of positive things to say about my spine. Of course, he attributed it to the work he's been doing but I think a good part of the improvement is due to my stretching and doing yoga in the a.m. They've helped to get the nighttime kinks out of my back so I'm not quite as disabled first thing in the morning.

In terms of food, last week I made a yummy beef stew. I used a lot of turnips and rutabagas to make up for the lack of potatoes. Frankly, I didn't miss them. I do still have cravings for french fries and I probably always will. However, everytime I'm tempted I think how poorly I felt about myself when my "big girl clothes" were getting snug. That's enough to keep me in line.

Two weeks down of the Paleo Diet!

This is getting easier now. It's been two weeks since I've started the Paleo Diet. So, that means, I haven't had any grains, dairy, soy, potatoes, sweet potatoes, legumes or coffee in two weeks. I haven't had any processed foods at all. In addition, I've eliminate sugar, stevia, maple syrup and honey from my diet. I think that honey or maple syrup will occasionally make it's way into my diet but for now it's out. In addition, I've tried increasing my activity level. In the mornings I wake up and do some stretching, crunches and push ups and some strength training with some light weights.In the afternoons I do some Wii Fit, trying to get a balance of cardio, strength training and yoga for about 30 minutes. The end result has been a weight loss total of six pounds and counting. I feel less irritable and my clothes are starting to fit a little better. To celebrate I had one itty bitty square of dark chocolate this afternoon. Since it was nearly 80% dark cocoa I felt satisfied even with such a small amount.

I do have some small cravings and I have to fight some bad habits I used to have. The other day there was a smidgeon of homemade bread left on the counter. Like I did in the past, I picked that piece up and started to pop it into my mouth. I stopped myself in time and put it in the trash instead. Another time I nearly cleaned a serving spoon off that had some brown rice on it. Again, I stopped myself before I ate it. However, this made me reflect on something. Whether or not I believe that grains have a negative effect on my body it certainly wasn't helping my weight to be popping a little smidgeon here or a spoonful there of stuff into my mouth. Little things like that really add up over the day. It pays to be conscious of what we're putting in our bodies and to really think about what we're eating.

I got a little creative with my lunch today. It's a cold, rainy day here and I simply couldn't bear the idea of a cold salad - my usual lunchtime choice. So, I opened the refrigerator to see what was there and ended up making a kale soup instead. I came up with this without the help of a recipe and I'm happy to say it was delicious. I heated up two cups of frozen turkey stock (thank you Doug for going to the trouble of making that from the turkey carcass last Thanksgiving and freezing many containers of it), added a choppped up onion, a chopped up garlic clove and a chopped up carrot. Let it cook until those vegetables were tender and then added a whole bunch of chopped up kale, covered it and simmered for about 10 minutes. Then, I added some chopped up turkey bacon (nitrate free!) at the end just long enough for that to get warm. I felt so full and satisfied with this lunch and it was nice and soothing on such a yucky day. This is what my bowl of good stuff looked like:


Here's hoping I'll be posting a similar success story next weekend. My son is having a fifth birthday party on Sunday and I'll be making cupcakes for him and his friends. It may be very difficult to resist that tempation. Regardless of how I do that day I am going to allow myself a small piece of cake on his actual birthday. It will be interesting to see how I feel the next day.

Update on Paleo Diet - One Week Down!

As I brew my umpteenth cup of tea, I thought I'd sit down and write an update on how the paleo diet is working for me. In one week, I've strictly adhered to a diet of poultry, meat, veggies (excluding potatoes and sweet potatoes), and fruit with a small amount of walnuts thrown in. It's been somewhat easier than I'd imagined. I suppose since I'm already used to cooking most foods from scratch it wasn't too much of an adjustment. For mealtimes, I just give myself an extra vegetable instead of the grain or potato I'm feeding the rest of the family. I've lost about four pounds and I think my face looks a little leaner. I've been doing Wii Fit for five days and have managed to do my little calisthenics, yoga and strength training routine every morning except for Saturday. I've found that I enjoy that time to myself and it helps me to wake up slowly. I'm drinking a lot of tea (mostly herbal) but have not had a single cup of coffee. Something I'm even prouder of is that I haven't had any sugar or stevia all week and, starting yesterday, I gave up the honey.

So, how am I feeling? Pretty good considering that I started this whole quest with a nasty chest cold. Doug has been diagnosed with bronchitis and it's pretty likely that I have it too. However, it seems to be getting better on its own. I've been sleeping good at night and my aches and pains are reduced a bit. I'm still looking forward to my chiropractor appointment tomorrow evening but I'm not going to be as desperate for it as I was earlier in the week when I had what Doug diagnosed as sciatica. I have been hungry at times but I'm not getting the irritable hunger that I had from the sugar crashes. I'd say that overall my mood has improved. What's most amazing to me is that I took a look at my tonsils today and I couldn't see them. For the past year they've been enlarged and usually had some kind of crud packed in them (how's that for gross-out factor?). The fact that they've reduced in size has to be a good sign.

One thing that I have found to be critical for my success with this plan of mine is to make sure there is something prepared for breakfast the night before. Most mornings I'm having some kind of leftover greens (i.e., kale sauteed with garlic and onions) and a few slices of turkey bacon. I love butternut squash in the morning as it satisfies the sweet craving I have at that time of day.

And, in case you think I'm suffering with bland choices look at what I had for dinner tonight - half a roasted turkey thigh, a cup of acorn squash covered in sauteed onions (cooked in olive oil), and a cup of broccoli.


I left the table with a very happy tummy. For my snack tonight I'm going to have a banana, 1/2 an apple and 1/4 cup of walnuts with my cup of tea.

So, I am going to continue with this eating plan for the foreseeable future as I think it's working for me. I've been tracking my nutrition online and the only thing I'm consistently coming up short on is iron and calcium so I'm taking my supplements for those. Frankly, I wasn't doing too good with those nutrients before I started this diet so I'm not all that concerned.

I will continue to keep you updated on a weekly basis as I continue my pursuit of better health.

Happy new Year!

Yep, it's that time of year again. Time for a new resolution.
“New Year's Day - Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” - Mark Twain

However, this time I do have a plan and the intention of sticking to it. I know, I know, enough of the gab, let's get to the resolution.

Well, as a background, I've done some reflecting and discovered that I have an unhealthy addiction to coffee, chocolate, simple carbs, especially sugar, and dairy. When I get angry, depressed or happy I reach for a piece of chocolate, a bowl of mac n cheese or something like that to celebrate or help me get through the rough patch. I need coffee to function in the morning and mid-afternoon. This can't be healthy.

Symptoms I've experienced over the years include fatigue, muscle and joint aches, dizziness, mental confusion and forgetfulness, sleep problems, anxiety and depression. This past year everything has just become magnified in intensity especially right before my period. In addition, I've experienced a lot of bloating/puffiness and just look pasty and ill. I've been sick almost nonstop since September with colds and infections. This is not the way I want to look or feel and eating the way I have been may be contributing in a small or large way to my symptoms. I eat the food I love and instead of feeling better afterwards I feel unhappy with the choice I've made, the amount I've eaten and the numbers on the scale. I've also had some sharp stomach pains and my face and ears flush and feel really hot. It's time for a change.

A few years ago when Joshua was over a year old I started seeing a health practioner who advocated a diet that eliminated dairy, grains, starchy vegetables and sugar, and all processed foods. I should eat fruits, vegetables (except for potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams), meat and fish. I could use honey for sweetener and coconut and olive oil but no other oils or sweeteners. It sounds crazy but my nutritional needs were being met on this diet (I tracked everything I ate using an online tool called www.fitday.com) and I think it would've worked really well for me. I lost almost ten pounds in two weeks and lost a lot of my puffiness. However, I was still breastfeeding Joshua at the time and I just didn't feel strong enough to overcome my addictions at the time.

I'm ready to give this another shot now. Starting tomorrow, January 3, I will eat only fruits, vegetables, meat and fish, and olive oil. I may try out eating walnuts when Joshua isn't around as I'm worried about exposing him to tree nuts (he's allergic to almonds and his doctor told me to limit his exposure to other tree nuts and seeds). Unfortunately, I'm allergic to eggs otherwise they would be a great addition to this diet. However, I'm confident that I can still do this. I'm going to give it a full month's try to see how I feel. I also plan on making some lifestyle changes to see if they'll help too. In essence, here is my plan for each day:
Wake up at 7:00. Do some yoga, push ups, sit ups and some light weight lifting - alternating arms and legs days. Shower afterwards.
Breakfast
A.M. snack
Lunch
P.M. snack
As I feel better I hope to do some cardio in the afternoon. I'll probably start with Wii Fit and work my way back into doing EA Active on the Wii. When the weather gets nicer, perhaps a walk outside.
Dinner
Meditation, writing, sketching or painting (to nurture my soul and help me return to more of the person I value)
Evening snack
In bed by 11.

My goal is that by the end of two weeks I'll have gotten over my cravings and will have lost four pounds. I'm hoping for more energy, reduction in puffiness and over my coffee addiction. At four weeks (end of January) I hope to have lost eight pounds and to have more energy, less aches and sleeping better. By June, I hope to have lost 15-20 pounds, to have more lean muscle and to fit into my vintage Van Halen concert T-shirt that I haven't been able to wear since 2004. Hey, it's the little things. LOL!I want to have the energy to play outside with the kids for more than just 30 minutes at a time. By the end of December, 2010, I hope to have found my ideal weight, to be stronger and healthier. I would love to see my thyroid healed but since I've had this problem for 12 years, I understand it may take longer than a year to heal completely. I don't dare to hope for a cure of my chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia but it would be nice to see a huge reduction in my symptoms with less flare ups.

Basically, I'm going to be following what's called the paleolithic or caveman diet. A great source of information on it can be found at http://www.paleodiet.com/. One thing that appeals to me is the argument that it has been successful in healing autoimmune diseases. I have autoimmune disease of the thyroid and lately I've been fearing that I have more autoimmune issues going on.

Anyway, I know this will be hard to maintain at first with two little ones in the house but I'm going to give it my best shot. It's high time I took my health into my own hands. I don't want to continue down the road I've been traveling. It's not working for me and I'm cheating my husband and kids of the wife and mother they need. I will try to update you on my progress every couple of weeks as I take this journey.