Until Later

I'm going to make a post today, and it's going to be awesome, but ATM I'm not feeling so awesome. Feeling kinda vertigo-y and blah. But it's important to me to post, because tomorrow I'm putting up a VERY special Mothers Day post that will remain up until Monday, so I need to blather on today so my thoughts are out of the way. Until later... stay tuned!

Better late than never.

So first thing I wanted to address was that my copy of Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso arrived 2 days early yesterday. Needless to say I was SUPER excited, as I've been waiting nearly a month for it to ship. Now call it hormones or whatever you want, but the opening she did (especially about her Mom passing away, and Sarah's serendipitous encounter with the 2 people that would change her life at her mom's favorite charity event shortly after her passing) was compelling to say the least, and I found myself tearing up in places.
If you are not Paleo/Primal, GET THIS BOOK! If you are, GET THIS BOOK! As in stop reading right now, and go GET THIS BOOK! It is fantastic and touches on why we eat Paleo, how to be Paleo, and how to help a family transition. Aside from the delicious recipes that I can't wait to attack, she has the phenomenal addition of a shopping list for 1 month, as well as meals, and what to send to school with your kids for lunch, making Paleo living entirely accessible to ANYONE who just happens to pick up the book out of the blue (HINT, HINT). She also has a complete workout plan to help you get going.

Sarah Fragoso, you are one of my new superheroes-- right next to Xena, and my smokin, drinkin, swearin, drivin, bubble-gum blowin' grandma (yeah, she was bad @$$-- God rest her soul til I get up there!)

Some more from the book. Primal and Paleo are cousins, jic you didn't know. One of the things I liked about the book (in addition to the aforementioned) was her list for a well stocked pantry, and it inspired me to discuss with you what our own personal Primal pantry looks like.

Ready? Here's what we like to keep stocked:

MEAT (Meat is like the ultimate black dress-- it goes with EVERYTHING)
Coconut milk (I go through a can every 2-3 days)
Broths and stocks
Coconut in various and asundry forms including, but not limited to: coconut flour, coconut cream concentrate, coconut butter, coconut manna, coconut oil (IMPERATIVE!), chipped coconut, shredded coconut, etc
Almond flour
Almond butter (yum!)
Canned tuna fish (which reminds me-- I made some chipotle mayo on Sunday, time to whip out some tuna fish!)
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Eggs (3-5 dozen every 2 weeks)
BACON (...makes everything better-- I always buy uncured/chem-free)
Stone ground mustard
Soy-free mayo (have some safflower oil mayo in the fridge that I chipotle-fied)
ALL VEGGIES
Some fruit (mainly for Grace, but I confess to being a total fruit fiend. I really shouldn't buy it, cuz I binge harder on it than any store bought candy bar)
Butter

So, yeah, that's what I eat. Meat, veggies, fruit, spices, bacon, and a butt load of coconut milk. I keep Greek yogurt on hand for Grace, and she likes cheese too. Deli meat is also in the fridge. I try to avoid dried fruits and dairy. Both are delicious, and a little bit kryptonian ;)
Same with nuts. I go crazy on nuts, so it's just best to not have them in the house except when we're having a meal that includes them as an ingredient (Waldorf Salad, for example).

Now that we got that out of the way, I wanted to mention that my awesome 2yo enthusiastically knocked over my 30 oz mug of water on to my laptop (this is the 2nd time this year its happened, ARGH!), and destroyed said Everyday Paleo book about 5 mins after I got it. I was writing recipes on our calendar, and I turned my back for 2 seconds and she attacked it with pen. This morning I woke up with a mild case of vertigo (I have noticed they're getting more frequent, and I should probably bring it up with a doctor), and Aunt Flo (hence the mention earlier of "maybe I was just hormonal...")
Awesome.

Further thoughts. I have been thinking about how awesome my Grace is. Here's the top reasons she's epic:

• She asks me to sing All Star by Smashmouth to her for a lullabye... regularly
  
• She knew what "rock and roll" was at 2, and asks for it often
  
• She always asks me for dark chocolate, even when offered milk chocolate
  
• She can spot a horse a mile away faster than I can (and that's saying ALOT)
  
• She rides her Breyers and stuffed horses-- daily
  
• She loves pirates and cars/trains just as much as princesses and ponies
  
• She's beautiful just the way she is!
  

My Favorite Foods

Shamelessly on a W30 forbidden food binge still, but enjoying it. Getting it all out of my system. Thought I would post my favorite foods list:

FAVORITE FOODS:
pizza
frozen custard or talenti gelato
Popcornopolis
white chocolate peanut butter (God bless Peanut Butter & Co!)
CHOCOLATE!!

FAVORITE HEALTHY FOODS:
meat (including bacon, brisket, and steak)
Fage Total Greek yogurt
almond butter (maranatha & Justin's are my fave brands)
macadamia nuts
CHOCOLATE!! (the darker the better)

FAVORITE VEGETABLES (hey, they deserve their OWN list)
peas
sweet potato (but not the orange ones)
cucumber
red bell pepper
cherry tomatoes (yeah, yeah, I know "tomatoes are a fruit". Whatev.)

FAVORITE FRUITS (nature's candy bars)
blackberries
strawberries
raspberries
mangoes
kiwi

what have I been going crazy on? Mainly what's in my house. Good thing 90% of it's from the healthy list downward. I made a chocolate chia pudding that's tasty, snarfing down the homemade grahams Grace & I made with lots of almond butter & white chocolate pb, and chocolate. Yeah, that's about as naughty as I've been. I'M GONNA GET SO FAT! lol

Whole 30 Over!

I'm sure you're all wondering by now, that is if you've realized today is May 1st, how I survived my Whole 30 experience.

Well, here I am. I survived. I admit to a few slips, but Whole 30 has done amazing things for me.

Biggest blessing:
Whole 30 helped me divorce my scale. I never have to see him again. He was mentally abusive anyway. Andy will weigh me in once a month, and log my progress for me. I will also weigh in whenever I see Clarene, approximately every 3 months.

Prior to Whole 30, I would weigh myself obsessively-- several times a day. "I went to the bathroom, how much do I weigh?" "I just got back from the gym, how much water did I sweat out?" "Leprechauns are outside, WHAT DO I WEIGH?!"
You get the idea. It was unhealthy, and doing things to me emotionally.
If you are reading this, thinking "That's how I feel" or "Hey, that's me", you NEED to do Whole 30 and DIVORCE YOUR SCALE!

So what else did I gain from Whole 30? More self discipline and better compliance. I've been waiting for May 1st for a long time. I wanted some bacon, gosh darnit! And Fage Total. So this morning I had just that. Delicious bacon (oh, baby, how I've missed you!), along with some egg white crepes, stuffed ala taco style with fage total and blackberries. YUM!
Now don't laugh about compliance here, but I launched into a binge. I admit to being completely jealous of hubby & Grace on Easter, so I started chowing down on Easter candy.
IT TASTED BLECH! Fact: Whole foods are better (and a heckuva lot tastier) than processed ones.
Knowing this, wholeheartedly, compliance is going to be awesome from here on out.

"But wait", my Mormon friends say, "it's fast Sunday, why in the name of Brigham, Parley, and Joseph are you eating?"
Okay, hang on. Don't go getting any celestial wedgies on yourselves just yet. On Wednesday, I ate breakfast at 10a. I walked to gym, I did weights, I did sprints on TM, walked on track, walked home, walked up and down my street. Rested, made dinner. Walked to Walmart for prescriptions, walked to Primary meeting, walked home. Did not eat until 10a the next day. I WALKED 15 MILES, PEOPLE! It was also a body-led 24 hour natural fast. Not once was I hungry (though I did think "gosh, a sprite would be great right now!" in the sunny warmth of the day). This experience taught me that while my mind is ready for a marathon, my body is most definitely NOT. I was SO sore the next day! This experience also drew me closer to Heavenly Father as I was thanking him over and over for the invention of both the heating pad and aspercreme!
So, in all fairness-- 24 hour fast, deep grattitude to the Lord-- I think I'm set for today. I had a double fast last month anyway :P

Anyway, back to Whole 30. I know you're dying to know the results:

WEIGHT LOST: 0 lbs (well, this one's actually kind of a trick answer. On My Fitness Pal, my last weigh in was February at 169 lbs. My weigh in on March 31 on Daily Burn was 178 lbs. Today I was 169.8 lbs. You decide the weight loss)
INCHES LOST: 1 inches from my hips. Everything else the same.
BODY FAT LOST: 1%. I was 36.4% March 31, and 35.4% today

There's the facts. I'm going to do Whole 30 again in August (no holidays, no excuses, phew!). In August, I will do a Bacon 30. It will be stricter than this round of Whole 30. I'll allow myself meat (including bacon), veggies, fruit, and butter. That's it.

Yes, I'm crazy... but you already knew that ;)

Note to Self

Note to self:

write a novel that divulges what happens after "Happily Ever After". Title it: "Undone" or "Unraveled".

Yummy Dinner

First of all, I just want to say that if you hate brussel sprouts, it's probably because you've never had them with ghee. Jus' sayin.

Tonight I couldn't finish my 1 & 1/4 lb tri tip steak. I was in tears. As in OMG, It's so beautiful! Double rainbows, and pansy-pooping unicorns. I put 7.4 oz back to make a killer easter lettuce wrap tomorrow!

We dyed eggs after dinner. It was Grace's first time officially helping. She picked her color, and her eggs, but was more interested in continuously mixing the dye while her egg sat.

Can't wait for tomorrow. Gonna hide the eggs for Grace to find. I wish I had boiled more than 6, and done brighter colors.

Easter Miracle

So happy today is payday! I dunno if I told you about my green smoothie incident yesterday, but today's breakfast pudding was infinitely more palatable. Blueberries, egg white, coconut milk, hemp protein, and cacao butter. It was more soup than pudding. After breakfast, I took Grace to the park. It was pretty outside but there was a breeze so I was cold. Was texting my mom back and forth while Grace played. Could barely feel my fingers. Grace hates leaving the park, so I bribed her with a balloon from Sunflower Market. We duck walked back to the car (cuz Grace insisted she was baby duck & I was mama duck), and headed off to Sunflower. Potty break, then the promised balloon. Grace was very good, and I got her a cadbury egg for her reward. I don't normally reward for expected behavior, but Mama Bear was feeling generous. Wait. First we were ducks, and now we are bears? I know, right?
Got 6 things of butter at SM! Sorry, but Darigold Chef's Choice (unsalted) is my favorite. In taste, I feel it beats out Kerrygold Grass Fed/Pastured Butter.
We went to Smiths afterwards, but I didn't have my new member card on me, so we left and went to Good Earth. Got some liquid stevia vanilla cream there, and one other item that I can't recall atm. After that, I swung by home to grab my Smiths card and put groceries away. Grace got a quick lunch of leftover turkey wrapped cheddar and a banana from breakfast. She was a good helper too, and even put stuff away where I asked her.
So we go back out to Smiths. So glad we went back, cuz the manager of the butcher counter was marking down critter EPICALLY! I got lots of beef at ridiculous prices. 99c for liver (yes, I am still feeling brave, venturing into the world of offal), $3 for ribs, $13 for a $21 roast. Yeah, it was fun. Also got our Easter ham *licking chops*. Can't wait to have some yummy ham shank marrow on Easter.
Went to Harmons afterwards and scored POPCORNOPOLIS! My most favoritest popcorn (not that I can have any, but hopefully there will still be a little left May 1, or I can get more next payday).
Finally we swung by Maceys. Now this, my friends, is the miracle part of my post. Grace wanted to ride in the cart that has the little kiddie car attached. The buckle wasn't big enough for her, so I asked her to sit down and behave. Like two-year-olds ever listen, right? After repeatedly asking her to sit on her bum, I finally grabbed her and put her up front. She refused, tried to plant her feet, and fell backwards into the cart, on to no less than 5 dozen eggs.
Guess how many busted.
NOT. A. SINGLE. ONE.
Not even a crack!
Seriously, I checked, like, 4 times.

EASTER MIRACLE!

Just got back about an hour ago (2 hours later than nap time), and put her down. Got the groceries put away, and am typing to you now. Going out to dinner to Dickeys for some righteous sliced brisket. Yum!

Must figure out how to manage the grocery bill better. I got just about everything we needed for $361. I'd like to try and get it back down to $250. Mind you, this is food for 2 weeks. I have been doing reasonably well about not shopping between paychecks unless desperate. All we have left to get tonight is an Easter dress for Grace, toothpaste, and some Easter basket goodies. I'd also like to go to IFA for some vegetable plants, and another carton of free strawberries. Grace has really enjoyed taking care of her little berries that are now just starting to turn red. She loves putting it out on the back porch every day, and singing to it when they come in at night. We'll have to see if our extra little splurges are in the budget. It's up to the man now.

Chow Time!

You've obviously noticed I like to cook. I also like to make people squirm with photos of what we eat in a day here. Whether that squirm is with joy or disgust is up to you. Last night we had bacon wrapped scallops with zucchini & summer squash. Here they are before going into the oven:

Tell me those don't look delicious without lying to yourself! ;)

For breakfast this morning I had a green smoothie, composed of coconut milk, mango, baby spinach, eggs, hemp protein, cinnamon, ginger, chocolate, and vanilla. It was... different. Bland, yet kinda spicy. It made me crave meat. Tomorrow I'm making a breakfast pudding composed of blueberries, coconut milk, egg whites, and hemp protein. Ah, adventures in raw eating land!

Off to make some of those graham crackers I told you about yesterday.

TODAY'S PRIMAL EATS:
Breakfast: Green smoothie
Lunch: IF
Dinner: Waldorf chicken salad

What Grace ate today:
Breakfast: Bacon & banana
Lunch: cheddar wrapped in turkey, blueberry chobani yogurt
Dinner: Waldorf chicken salad (hopefully. She's such a weird little partial-vegetarian)

EDIT: Gluten free graham cracker picture time!

Before going into oven:

Grace so giddy over cookies. She helped put brown sugar & allspice on at the end & wanted to devour immediately!

Fresh out of the oven:

Grace is one happy kid right now, chowing down on her righteous noms!