Re-organising my priorities in life!

I'm back!

Since this is my first post in over 10 months, I'm feeling excited but overwhelmed at the same time. I have had what only could be described as a 'hellish' time this past year, but am now finally feeling like I might be coming out the other side!
How do I know this? Well mainly because I'm now really keen to get my health and nutrition back on track. Like many women going through a relationship breakdown, I turned to comfort foods to help me ease my pain... My comfort of choice was chocolate, and lots of it... I'm talking mars bars, rocky road, milo - the works!

A mars a day does NOT keep the doctor away!

I certainly didn't forget my intolerance to gluten in all this, but the few times I did go all the way with my cheating, I paid for it in the days afterwards. If anything, it has helped to further cement my commitment to the primal lifestyle!
So now that I have removed all the distractions from my life and surrounded myself with people who are truly understanding of my choice to live this way, I'm hoping to get back on track. I wasn't necessarily wildly out of control, but I also wasn't completely committed to the cause. This is probably why my weight didn't actually change, so while I'm happy that chocolate didn't increase my paunchy stomach, I still know I need to lose about 15 kilos to get to a healthy weight.

Kick-starting towards my goals

In the last week, I've been rediscovering the absolute gold in the Marks Daily Apple forums and among other things, have stumbled across the Leptin Reset challenge. After reading all the info on Jack Kruse's site, I thought this sounded like a good way to kick start my weight loss again. And given that it is now 6 weeks until Christmas, it seems like the perfect time to give it a crack.
The general premise is that you eat your biggest meal at breakfast, eating no more than 30 minutes after waking, and making sure it's full of protein (at least 50g) and good fats. You eat a maximum of 3 meals a day and there is no snacking allowed. This includes coffees and teas unless you drink them black without milk and sugar (and who seriously wants to do that!) I think this is going to be the most challenging thing for me, as I am used to my morning cuppa at about 10:30am. Carbs need to be limited to 25g, which basically means no grains (duh!) and starchy vegetables. You should try to allow at least 5 hours between meals and not to eat 3 hours before bed (this is difficult for most people!) Exercise is discouraged in the initial stages, but I will still do my walking and light resistance training.
One of the tricks with the protein thing, is that it needs to be 50g of protein. That ends up being a lot of meat or eggs. For example, a 170g fillet of steak has approximately 42g of protein in it, and 1 egg has about 6g. So my breakfast this morning consisted of a 200g rib fillet steak and 2 x poached eggs with sliced avocado. I would usually chuck some vegies in there but was in a bit of a rush this morning. Other okay sources of protein include cottage cheese and tofu (no thanks!), and nuts have a small amount too.

Did someone say vegetarian?!?

What do I want?

I've got some short- and long- term goals that will help me to stay on track, particularly with the silly season nearly upon us! My major goal is to lose 15kg by 10 March 2012, which is when I take off overseas for 6 weeks. I'll be a bridesmaid at one of my best friend's weddings in Thailand, so I'm keen to look my absolute best. Considering that is 16 weeks away (I'm not counting the Christmas/NY week), I'm hopeful that that isn't too great a goal. And now that I've written it in the blogosphere, I've got a constant reminder! Along the way, the major things I'm hoping for are better sleep, improved fitness, no sickness, and more energy.
Once the initial 6 week Leptin Reset period is over (and I've survived Christmas!), I'm keen to start experimenting with IFing, and heavy lifting. Everything I read tells me that these two things could make an even greater impact on my health. I figure since my parents were once both bodybuilders, I must have the genes somewhere in there to be really toned!
In the meantime, I've subscribed to basically every Primal/Paleo blogger and have renewed my subscription to most of the primal newsletters. I'm also going to pledge to update my own blog regularly, if only for my own needs. And now that I have a Twitter profile, I'll have to learn how to use it!

The End of Joke January!

Joke January is a joke (haha) between my work colleagues that centres around the fact that January was a write-off. I know that excuses are always a sign of lack of commitment, but hey, a major natural disaster and big move aren't regular occurrences!
The floods hit us in the second week of January, which meant that my well planned start to the year was thrown into chaos! Certainly we were some of the lucky ones, in that the floods didn't get anywhere near our home, but they did manage to inundate the basement of my workplace... Our team had a lot of work to do and nowhere to do it!
My regular routine was disrupted and in the madness of having nowhere to go to work, my husband and I made the big move into our first 'house' together! Due to the floods, we weren't even sure that we would be able to do that up until the day the move was scheduled for... So it wasn't exactly a stress-free time.
I am still displaced from my workplace. While it's still disruptive, now that Joke January is over, I've really made an effort (psychologically) to turn February into a good month! I'm a bit disappointed that some of my 2011 bucket list has already been put onto the backburner, but I'm sure it won't take much to turn it around.
So, efforts towards a morning workout (either a walk or swim) will be stepped up and our eating habits will definitely improve! We've already joined the local pool as members and found some great local places that sell fresh food. I've started a pole dancing class with my friend (it deserves a separate post!) and found an adult education centre that offers music and sewing lessons!
Here's to February being fabulous!

What's the World Wide Web saying this week?

Here's some more mainstream advice that saturated fat may not be as bad as we think... Well, duh!

We've all most likely made and already broken new years resolutions and this article explains how our bad habits become ingrained in our brains. Don't give up though, you can get through it!

Among other things, this Birth Psychology newsletter reports on the impact of a mother's diet during pregnancy... It is interesting to consider that we can shape our child's eating habits based on what we do or don't eat during pregnancy. I can certainly vouch for my mum - she ate everything and has produced four children with amazing appetites!

As we warm up to summer, the 'sun smart' campaign would have us slip, slop, slapping all day long. John Herring argues this as another load of conventional wisdom gone mad in his article "The Skin Cancer Myth". I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to getting some real vitamin D!

The fact that this woman's stories continue to get air time is quite disgusting!

Finally some doctors and nutritionists are waking up to the idea that carbs are what's making us fat! Imagine if everyone caught on to this - it would be revolutionary!

A 2011 Bucket List?!?

Can you have a bucket list for just a year? I’m not sure, but hey, why not?! I am hopefully not anywhere near dying, so a ‘kick-the-bucket’ list is a long way off. Still, I was thinking last night about things I would like to achieve this year, so why not make a list?

I have the advice of many wise people floating around in my head too – set realistic and achievable goals. It’s no good saying “I will lose 20 kilograms this year” because, while that might happen, it doesn’t actually verbalise how you will actually do that! It’s much better off to say “I will eat no grains or sugar” or “I will do 30 minutes of exercise every day” which is measurable, achievable and should, if done right, lead to that 20 kilo weight loss!

My 2011 bucket list will not just be weight/health related, though I’m hoping that some aspect of my life will be improved by achieving them (duh, otherwise what is the point!). So, here is my list for 20-11…

• Eat no grains (this one starts on 3 Jan, as my previous post explained my unpleasant start to the year!)
• Learn a musical instrument (at this stage, I think it will be guitar, though I could do always do something really unusual – bagpipes perhaps?!?)
• Take a course in how to use my digital SLR camera (no point having it if I don’t get the most out of it!)
• Grow and maintain a herb and veggie garden (this one can start when we move into our house on 15 Jan)
• Learn pole dancing (I already have a friend on board to do this with me!)
• Get a membership at our local pool and swim at least 3 times a week (our pool at home is not quite big enough to do laps!)
• Start studying for my masters (the jury is still out about what my specialisation will be!)
• Eat seasonally (no more ‘fresh’ strawberries in winter!)
• Take a photo a day with my husband (an idea I read in some relationship magazine – this will have to start when I’ve discussed it with him!)
• Learn basic sewing (this might have to wait until I have a sewing machine!)
• Maintain this blog with at least one post per week!

Notice I haven’t numbered them. I don’t want this to become a tick and flick type list, and create that mental barrier that I have to complete number 1 before I do number 2 (especially since the eat no grains thing is a year-long attempt!).

I’m sure I will add to and/or change this list as the year wears on. I’d like to be able to look back at it regularly to remind myself of what I’m aiming for this year…. It will also be good to reflect on it at the end of the year and identify if any of these goals have led to other positive changes in my life. For example, I’m hoping the eating no grains and swimming will lead to some weight loss.  Possibly eating seasonally with a herb and veggie garden, and learning to sew will save us money! Who knows what else this could bring…

Now it’s your turn!

Happy New Year!

Yeah, I know I’m a few days late! Better late than never but… I actually started off the year feeling terrible, but not from what you might think. I had a couple of drinks on NYE but certainly not enough to make me drunk, or sick… I was horrified to wake up at 5am on New Years Day as sick as a dog then! Hubby joked that I’d had too much vodka, but I knew the culprit – NYE dinner and the chicken kebabs that obviously hadn’t been quite cooked…

While it was horrible at the time and not exactly pleasant looking back on it, there was one good thing about it. It cleaned me out! Seriously, I was an empty vessel on January 2, ready to start the new year afresh. I couldn’t stomach anything serious however and unfortunately settled for a small cup of oats with banana and milk. I know, appalling! But honestly, it seemed to balance out my stomach, so at the time I was quite thankful.

Hubby & I had planned to really kick into the 30 day challenge on Sunday, but my physical state didn’t quite allow it. I was left feeling very sore and sorry for myself, and I guess you could call it a fasting day (which is not a bad thing when you think about it!)

By Monday I had perked up enough to stomach a small serving of bacon and eggs for breakfast. Lunch consisted of meatballs and strawberries (served separately!), with chicken and salad for dinner. I knew that my stomach was considerably smaller than it had been at the end of last year, so I took it really easy to make sure I didn’t overdo it.

This led me to thinking that I should really make a conscious effort not to overeat. I should explain, I come from a family of overeaters. It was almost a competition, especially with 2 younger BIG brothers! I know that over the years, I have definitely maintained generous portion sizes with my meals. Why not use this as an opportunity to curb my ways? Combined with primal eating, this must be a good pathway to a healthier weight!

So combined with my New Years Resolution to eat no grains and minimal sugar, I’m adding watching my portion sizes and eating slowly. Defined goals that are achievable. I can’t guarantee that I’ll lose 15 kilos, but I can stick to my ‘no grains and sugar’ mantra!

Mangoes

I have a confession to make... Mangoes are my weakness! I could live on them, bathe in them, eat them for every meal of the day and not get sick of them! I like them in smoothies, with cream, in fruit salad, on pavlova, in a Weiss bar (as a treat!) and most importantly, by themselves!
There could be worse things to be addicted to. But in the Primal Blueprint frame of mind, mangoes should be a 'sometimes' food. They're definitely not one of the lowest carb fruit options available and because, to me, they taste so moreish, it's often hard to stop at one...
In the move up north, mangoes have become a lot more accessible and a lot tastier (not to mention a lot cheaper)! Bowens are my mango of choice. There's nothing better than slicing up a bowen on a hot summer's day and enjoying every last mouthful (and then sucking the seed dry!)
So it seems I have a choice to make. PB is important to me, but is it as important as going without my favourite food?!?!
There's a lot of pathways I could choose to go down. One would be to avoid mangoes altogether, but I have scratched that off the list. Honestly, PB is about eating food as close as possible to how nature intended, and it's not as though mangoes are a compeltely manufactured food! While it might not mean I see great weight loss results, it definitely would mean that I felt like I was missing out on something, which means I wouldn't be able to stick to it anyway!
The options I'm now tossing up between are either:-
a) Forget PB and eat as many mangoes as desired; or
b) Limit myself to one mango per day and moderate my carb intake.
I'm leaning towards option b, but will see how I go in the build up before Christmas!
We bought a tray on the weekend and so far I've been eating between 1-2 mangoes per day. I've tried to be aware of what else I'm eating and limiting other fruit intake accordingly. It hasn't been difficult but I also haven't been actively denying myself mangoes!
I guess what it comes down to is an informed choice. I know that mangoes aren't necessarily the best food to be eating if I want to lose weight, but I also know that if I try to restrict something in my diet that I absolutely love, I'm setting myself up for failure! Seriously, it would be better for me to allow myself a mango than to hold out and then gorge on something like chocolate-coated peanuts or rumballs!
So, I'm going to eat my mangoes. They're only in season during summer, so I have to enjoy them while I still can! After that, I can go back to berries being my fruit of choice!

Back on Track

It's been a month since my last post, and I'm only just now finding a small window of time to sit and write about my experiences (good and bad) since our big move, starting a new job, and aclimatising to Queensland weather!
As I've said before, moving is hard. It's doubly as hard when you move into accommodation that's not actually 'yours'. We have a beautiful apartment in an amazing area of town until we can move into our house, and although it is perfect in many ways, the fact that it's not ours has interfered somewhat with our way of life (pre-move!). An unfamiliar kitchen with certain essential utensils missing; and not knowing where to get the best, freshest food, has been our major hurdles. Not to mention living just up the hill from some of the best restaurants in Brisbane!
All of this has meant that I've been fairly lax in maintaining my Primal Blueprint eating plan. I've tried, don't get me wrong, but it's been difficult!
I've managed to steer pretty well clear of wheat products, and have been impressed with the gluten free options offered at most restaurants up here. There's certainly a greater awareness of offering gluten free menu options which has been good. My slip-up came recently at my cousin's wedding - a cocktail function with canapes. Not many gluten free options available, and I either had the choice to not eat (which would have been disastrous as there was lots of alcohol on offer) or to bite the bullet and try some of the different choices....
This was not a good decision, let me tell you! At least if I had just stuck to alcohol I would have enjoyed the night and been fairly sick the next morning, but would have bounced back pretty quickly. Because I chose to eat, I paid for it all week. I'm not kidding. It started the next morning with a terribly upset stomach and a week later I was still not well. Lesson learned, I hope!
It has definitely cemented for me the fact that Primal Blueprint is the best way of eating for me, if for no other reason than PB food doesn't make me sick! Everyone at my new workplace knows that I'm gluten-free (it's the best way of explaining it to people who you hardly know!) and I have learnt that if there are no PB friendly foods on offer, I choose not to eat! A bit of fasting does the body good!