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Monday, August 29, 2011

Bacon 30, Day 29

Kind of proud of myself. Have been balking at bountiful baskets for several months now. The process kind of intimidated me, since I didn't understand how it works. Tonight I was beckoned by the promise of tropical fruit and vanilla bean pods and signed up for the organic basket. Excited now. I hope this leads to a reduced monthly grocery bill.
I get brownie points for doing my first primal basket of organic co-op produce, right? :)

Anyway, tomorrow is Grace's 3rd day of preschool. I've been concerned about her not eating breakfast before school last week. She tells me "No, thank you, Mommy. I just fine." when I ask if she wants to eat something.
I'm not trying to force her to eat, but the mom in me is desperate to make sure she gets off on the right foot. I know when I'm hungry, my ADD goes into overdrive and I can't focus on ANYTHING. I don't want that to be an issue for her.
Anyway, I picked up some protein powder today with the purpose of making her some protein cookies. Cuz, hey, what kid can resist cookies, right? And for breakfast! It will be a novelty for sure. Going to use eggs, peanut butter, protein powder, maybe some applesauce, and chocolate chips. I will get fat and protein into this kid before school if it kills me!

I know technically this is a 30 day challenge and tomorrow should be the last day, but I am going through September 1st. September 1st, it's fair game again. Cuz I'm awesome... and more or less largely crazy.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Bacon 30, Day 28

Sorry for the delayed update, I've been a little overwhelmed the last week. My check up went okay. My blood sugar is amazing. My hA1c was 5.5 off of drugs. Yay me. Unfortunately, my cholesterol is pretty elevated, despite my best efforts to eat leaner cuts of meat. My total cholesterol was 247 (where 240 is generally acceptable), however my HDL is frighteningly low, and my LDL is freakishly high. It was suggested to me that I should cut back on fish oil, and I also read that copper may help, so I will try that. Going to try to tone down the bacon consumption while continuing to enjoy other healthy fats like avocado and coconut.

Went and saw The Help with my friends Thursday evening. Good movie, worth the full price, go see it! Don't think about it. "RUN, GIRL, RUN!"

Also went to my 10 year high school reunion on Friday... with a class I didn't graduate from. I went to grade school through jr high with them, and they welcomed me to the reunion. That really meant a lot to me.

Another thing I've been trying to improve is our grocery bill. I think last paycheck we were getting closer to that $250 goal, but still around $300. I've already spent $204, and I'm going to try to stick as close to I can to $50 on actual groceries next week.

So glad my self inflicted challenge is nearly over. I have missed heavy cream. I promise not to binge! I just think heavy cream is a viable way to get a good dose of fat.

Will be blogging about protein powders soon. There are a few that are low carb and I think they might make a viable pancake/waffle batter.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Bacon 30, Day 18

Sorry I'm such a slacker. Still trucking along with my August challenge. I confess to some slip ups, though. I accidentally ate a slice of of tomato when we went to dinner last week (Red Lobster-- I had lobster. It really hit the spot), and we had cucumber in our shrimp salad. Why are these slip ups? Both are cucumbers & tomatoes are nightshades. I've also used pepper (red, cayenne, and black) a few times. The issue with my knee has improved with nightshades out of my diet, and I asked Andy if we were eating a lot of bell peppers in the last few months. He confirmed that we were. So, huh, I wonder if it was bell peppers causing some inflammation? Cuz the cucumber, spices, and tomato haven't bothered it. Will have to do a bell pepper experiment next month to see how my knee reacts.
Isn't it fascinating how our bodies react to certain foods?

So on a good note, I dropped 4 lbs last week, and I'm hoping to see the 170s again by Sunday. I go to Clarene for my 3 month check up on Tuesday. Had blood work done yesterday. I hope I have done enough to lower my cholesterol.

Grace officially starts preschool on Tuesday. I have been getting into a rhythm of going to the gym on Tues & Thurs since that's when she'll be in school. Unfortunately, the gym is closing for maintenance from Aug 22-Sept 5th. Great. Just when I get into a rhythm!
Trying not to sweat it.

WHAT I'M CRAVING THE MOST:
Heavy cream
Peanut butter
Ice cream (primarily b/c of the heavy cream, aaaaand I found a sugar free Egg Nog flavored syrup I wanna try)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Bacon 30, Day 9

Don't worry, I haven't fallen off the wagon. The weekend got a little busy and I've been kinda tired. Like I just want to sleep... ALL. THE. TIME! And moody. And crampy.
It's nothing. Shut up.

Have been enjoying awesome fasting blood sugars since Saturday. Almost all of them in the 90s. Today's was 101, but I tested after tasting my lunch and a good work out, so it was probably a little elevated.
Yesterday Grace and I went up to Bridal Veil Falls for a little nature walk. A bunch of people were playing in the pool at the base of the falls (I don't mean swimming pool. More like local watering hole with pretty, clear water). Grace walked probably a mile before complaining she was tired. I bribed her with a little swim if she would walk back. We both dipped our feet in the water. Holy Hannah, was it cold! It took less than 5 mins for our skin to turn bright pink.
Today I went to gym. Lifted weights then did elliptical for half hour, and a 5 min cool down on treadmill.

Have been limiting my eating window to noon to six. Clarene will probably holler at me, but so far it's the only success I've had with decreasing fasting blood sugars.

TODAY'S NUTRITION:
1559 cals, 72 protein, 133 fat, 40 carbs, 771 sodium
(72.82% fat, 9.72% carbs, 17.46% protein)

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Bacon 30, Day 4

I confess I had a little slip up today. Grace didn't want the last bite of her chocolate chip larabar, and, without thinking, it went to my tummy. There, I'm glad that's off my chest. Technically, I should reset to day 1, but I'm hoping to stay on the Bacon 30 wagon much longer than August.

This morning I got Grace ready for camp/preschool and dropped her off. Hit the gym afterwards and did weights, then knocked out two miles on the treadmill.
Now usually I'm ravenous after the gym, but today I didn't get hungry til 3 (hence the larabar). I did have some haupia before taking Grace to school, so maybe that was it. Had some tuna fish, and then had dinner. Enjoyed a chicken breast stuffed with asparagus and chopped ham steak. The only thing that would make this dish any better is a cream sauce.

After dinner I heard the evil sugar monster calling my name. I tried to resist, but couldn't. My brain justified that I had hardly eaten anything all day and was sitting at very, very low carbs. I found this recipe:
http://lifeasadreger.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/paleo-coconut-blueberry-bark/

It looked perfect. Chocolate + fat + sugar free. How could I miss? So I made it! Only I took a few liberties and added cacao butter to it (really, if you're gonna put cocoa powder in, you might as well go full monty, right?), and used blackberries instead of blueberries. To my surprise, the frozen blackberries turned into fruity whopper candies. *dance of joy, even though I've always sort of hated whoppers*. The whole recipe made me 4 big servings, and I am totally content now. Can't wait to have a little more tomorrow.

Off to bed!

TODAY'S NUTRITION:
821 cals (you see how I justified dessert, now, right?), 67 protein, 53 fat, 26 carbs, 473 sodium
(56.25% fat, 12.26% carbs, 31.49% protein)

WHAT I ACCOMPLISHED TODAY:
2 loads of laundry-- \o/ YAY!
Sprints at gym
still have yet to use butter. Just barely ran out of ghee. Butter sounds tasty, but... meh.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Bacon 30, Day 3

I went to gym last night, hoping it would help my fasting blood sugar this morning.

To my delight, my fasting sugar this morning was 113-- the lowest it's ever been off of drugs.

Note to self: spend more time at gym!

Took Grace to doctor this morning. She has been running a fever in the evenings and sprouting target/chainlink shaped rashes before bed. I was worried it was something terrible like lyme disease or cellulitis. Doc said it's viral, and everything else looked good. So relieved. Funny how we always assume the worst, yeah?

TODAY'S NUTRITION:
1237 cals, 90 protein, 88 fat, 26 carbs, 1075 sodium
(63% fat, 8% carb, 29% protein)

I keep having dreams that I do terrible things, like eat an entire bag of M&Ms, lol.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Bacon 30, Day 2

I feel like I have lock jaw. My mouth is pretty tender and I can barely get my hole open to feed myself. That said, I didn't even make it all the way through my protein custard last night. I finished it for breakfast this morning, then went grocery shopping. Made myself a BAS when I got home, with bacon, shrimp, avocado, baby lettuce, EVOO, apple cider vinegar, key lime juice, and lemon pepper. Worked through it slowly, but it was tasty.
Not sure if I'll have dinner tonight.

Pulled my yogurt out of the crock pot. It's separated into 3 layers. I'm not sure what that means. I put it in the fridge as recommended and ran one through a nut milk bag (trying to make Greek yogurt). At this point, I think I just have kefir, if that.
If you have experience making yogurt, can you tell me what is up? It's a white layer (coconut milk), beige liquidy layer, and another thin white layer.

TODAY'S NUTRITIONAL INFO:
2,022 cals, 101g protein, 165g fat (the bulk from coconut milk & avocado), 52g carb, 2033 sodium
(71% fat, 10% carbs, 19% protein)

Monday, August 1, 2011

Bacon 30, Day 1

Rabbit rabbit, everyone! That's my way of saying good luck on all your endeavours this month.
I'm off to a good start, nutritionally today. Although I'm very unhappy with my fasting sugar. My last meal was noon yesterday (a homemade Italian soda made with sparkling water, heavy cream, and some sugar free Torani raspberry syrup) and corned beef. VERY low carb. Fasting sugar this morning: 150.
WTH?!
*insert frustrated cursing here*

Anyway, moving on. I am doing all I can to help my body achieve low blood sugars, but it's fighting me worse than my weight.

Dear Body, WTF is your problem? I feed you good. We go for walks. We get plenty of sleep and take nice vitamins. Why can't you get it together?!

So after the drama of high blood sugar this morning and a weight gain (blah, I hate you, Body), I had some breakfast before going to dentist. I scrambled some eggs with leftover corned beef, and had an avocado. Mmmm.
Off to dentist to get numbed up (I'm so sick of being numbed up every time I go), and get cavities filled.
When I got home, I made myself my dinner-- protein pudding using coconut milk, eggs, gelatin, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and allspice.
And I also buffed up my courage and started making my very own homemade coconut milk yogurt. (Shut up. I'm putting it into my allowable pudding categories, okay?)
One bottle will be yogurt, the other will be Greek style yogurt. They should be ready to go at this time tomorrow. I hope they do okay. I wrapped the bottles in clean spit up rags and placed them in my crock pot on keep warm, and covered the crock pot with an old towel.
If all goes well, I will be having some yummy yogurt for breakfast one morning.
Will update you tomorrow with results!

TODAY'S NUTRITIONAL INFO:
1325 cals, 64g protein, 111g fat (the bulk of it is from coconut milk), 33g carb, 1725 sodium
(72% fat, 9.6% carb, 18.4% protein)