Operation Move It- Week 2

I took "before" pictures last night. I am still traumatized. I think I may have looked better before my "before"- if that makes sense. Deflating quickly isn't the most flattering thing when you're going to show some skin.

I already said this on Facebook, but hey, I am gonna say it again. Measurements are the way to go. The scale- particularly when you bump up exercise- can pretty much be a lying ho. 

I weigh myself daily, but only count the result I get on Monday AM. So for the week, results are as follows:

Down 1 lb.  Lost an inch in my hips, ribcage, and bust, and 1.5 inches in my waist. Woohoo! Also down 1/2 inch each on upper arms, biceps, and thighs. That's...well, pretty phenomenal.

I told my acupuncturist, and he said it was probably just water loss, and then I punched him in the face stuck my tongue out at him. And he said my tongue looks better, which in acupuncture speak, is good, but coming from him, means I am practically one step away from immortality, because the most I have ever been able to get out of him is a grudging, "not bad".

Anyway. I am trying to follow the exercise schedule detailed by Mark. I am dialed in with sprints, I am dialed in with "fun" (Zumba! Walking! Bike rides! etc.) But weight training is, and I suspect will always be, my Achilles heel. It does not help that I belong to Gold's Gym, and there are always huge sweaty guys on the weight machines.  And I am not so secretly afraid of looking stupid. Our home is tiny, with zero backyard. So that nullifies a lot of options.

I looked up Mark's list of W.O.W.'s. There are a couple that are in my realm of possibility. Most of them are pretty "manly" though. For example, one involves pushing a car around- I think I would rupture something if I tried to push anything other than a SmartCar! I also threw some stuff onto Pinterest to look at later- convict conditioning (ie, body weight exercises) and Shovelglove stuff. I actually have my own sledge (named Towanda) around here somewhere. And I downloaded a book,  You Are Your Own Gym, which is highly recommended on Amazon- more body weight exercises, AND apps for both Android and iPhone if you choose to do that.

According to my schedule, tomorrow is a "Lift Heavy Things" day. So I had better figure things out fast! Today was already not "perfect". I was supposed to go to the gym and get back on the elliptical, but I ran out of time (since I am now trying to religiously eat breakfast) and realized I wouldn't be able to get a good session in between finishing my meal and the acupuncture appointment. And I am not supposed to exercise for 6-8 hours after the appointment. So I ended up with 40 minutes before I had to leave- I was already in my gym clothes, so I set out to run/walk intervals through the marsh behind our house. While it wasn't what I wanted to do, it was still hard work!

The whole "No 'Poo" experiment is still going strong. I am really happy with it, and am getting into a routine. I also decided to try cassia, which is like clear henna: it's a natural, monthly hair treatment. I smooshed it into my hair tonight and let it sit for an hour, and I am really pleased with the results! Lots of body and shine. It also seems to have defined the waves in my hair quite a bit.

Books! We've got books here! (Make It Paleo)

If you've been reading this blog: you know. I love me some books. Big Books. Little books. Books that climb on rocks. Digital or papery, don't care, love them.

Naturally, this has led to a dependence relationship of sorts, with Amazon.com.

So here I sit, with all these new Paleo cookbooks surrounding me. Where to start? I should review them. I will review them.

And ironically, the first book I am going to review is one I bought from Amazon right when it came out. I have mentioned it here, briefly, and reviewed it online, and when The Food Lovers Kitchen offered Paleo bloggers the chance at a free copy of "Make It Paleo" in exchange for a review, I thought: Well: why not? (Plus, you all said, "Do it! DOOOO IIIIIT.")   And the best part is, I now have an extra copy to give away!

OK. Here's the dealio- initial reaction (shamelessly cut and pasted from my Amazon review):

All from "Make It Paleo" - except the piped frosting on the cake!

"When Make It Paleo showed up, I was initially a little taken aback by the weight of this thing. It's definitely a beast, but once I started flipping through it, I actually wished that it were longer. The photography is wonderful, and the recipes live up to or exceed expectations when you make them.

My favorite aspects: They make it look easy, and it is! Thoughtful, well detailed and explained instructions accompany each entry. I also love that there aren't any really puzzling ingredients: if you have a well-stocked Primal/Paleo pantry, you'll be able to find something you can cook easily, and avoid the trip to the grocery store. But I especially love their section on baked goods, specifically desserts. Gearing up for holidays with my extended family shouldn't be any more stressful than it already has to be, and I love that I can be confident that the Chocolate Chip Cookies will be OK for an occasional splurge, and will blend in with all the other more conventional treats on the table; people will probably have no clue that they're "special" unless you tell them. (My husband took a batch of them along on a trek to see his parents, and my non-Paleo father-in-law got on the phone at one point to tell me how delicious they were.)

There are lots of cake options as well, and they all look scrumptious. Those birthday occasions just aren't the same without cake! And if you want ice cream to go with it, that's an option too. It was a relief to tell my mom that I'll just bring my own cake this year: I know it will be much more delicious than the dark chocolate "flourless cake" that they got from Whole Foods last year.

This cookbook is giving me a reputation as a "foodie" that is pretty much undeserved. I have pretty much every Primal and Paleo cookbook out there right now, and this is the one that inspires me most. If you're in a rut but need to get motivated to dive into the kitchen and come up with something scrumptious, this book is a must-have. I keep posting pictures on Facebook of "what's for dinner tonight", and the overwhelming (99% Non-Paleo!) response is, "I'm coming to your house!" Definitely a winner, this one is in heavy rotation in our kitchen- an instant classic. Love it."

OK: now we are back in the present time. I have had this book for almost a year, and it is the one I turn to for "special occasion cooking"- namely, treats. Most of Thanksgiving last year depended on recipes from this book- Christmas, too. I felt prepared, armed with a gorgeous grain-free pumpkin pie for SG and I, not to mention the chocolate chip cookies. Which incidentally, disappeared off the cookie table before anything else did: they were dense, chewy, and delectable. And yes, that is my birthday cake in the photo at the top! Be warned: Paleo treats are yummy, but also calorie dense- and unexpectedly, super filling.  I know I seem to dwell on the desserts: when this came out, a cookbook with a vast dessert recipe section was a BIG deal. I shouldn't neglect the more standard entrees though: This book doesn't appear to have a dud recipe in it.

 So...do you want to win it? 

1. Comment on this blog post, 2. Post something amusing on my FB page to the effect of "Pick me!" and why : and 3. make sure you've "liked" the Lady Grok FB page. Yes, all three of those things: if you do all three, I know you really want an awesome free cookbook! I will do a random drawing and notify the winner this weekend. Good luck!

Keeping up with the Flintstones

As weeks go, last week was pretty much devastating. I spent most of the weekend recovering, and yesterday, I got back on the horse. More research. More phone calls. More questions. And soon, I will be out of this horrible cycle and back to my old snarky self again.

Today SG and I headed to Costco, where we has a Paleo book sighting in the wild:

 It's exciting to us- where we live seems to be some kind of vegan mecca, and going to the local bookstore can be stressful. Actually, any shopping here is stressful: the amount I spend at amazon.com is outrageous, but it's worth it not to have to deal with people looking through you at the grocery store and then having several traffic-related near-death experiences on the way home. Let the UPS guy deal with that crap. (Sorry, UPS guy. I know you think it's funny that you have a shelf in your truck dedicated to my own personal use.)

So: the bookstore. I wanted to get a copy of The Vegetarian Myth a few months ago: which is a pretty amazing book. HOWEVER. I couldn't find it anywhere. You see, the B&N near us has a pretty creative way of shelving books. So after much fruitless searching, I went to the kiosk, and asked the woman there where it was. And she became absolutely enraged. It was like I had requested a copy of "Killing Babies For Fun And Profit." The least obnoxious thing she said was, "I assure you, I am a vegan, and we DO exist."

The old me would have rolled my eyes and left. However, the grass-fed beef must be doing something because I retorted, "You know what? I don't come here to be judged for my taste in books. I do plenty of shopping online, but I thought I'd help stimulate the local economy. Amazon certainly doesn't judge me: and I doubt your manager would, either!"And I stalked off, with her following behind me with a flurry of apologies.  And I did eventually get the book, which she made a point of telling me, was in the "Theoretical Fiction" section- or something similar. Right by Religion.

And of course, she seems to be there every time we come in: long limp grayish hair, sallow skin, stooped posture. And every time SG pokes me and says, "There's your friend." And I wonder, kind of sadly, how much of that is due to her vegan diet.

We went to that same B&N over the weekend, in an effort to cheer me up, and did our usual rounds- magazines, Photography (SG) Knitting and Crafts (me) and then we meet up in the Cooking and Food section. And (unlike our Costco sighting) it is like PULLING TEETH to find Paleo cookbooks. There will be a few of them together- but typically, they're dispersed throughout the Gluten free section, or the special diets section, or the diet and fitness section. I know there are other local Groks besides us though: I keep seeing tidy stacks of Paleo books set out together on the "new releases" tables: even stuff that's not new, and obvs not supposed to be there, so I know it's not stocked that way. I have noticed that Paleo magazine is also more prominently displayed- we used to really have to dig for it.

Anyway, I had a huge stack, and SG had one of the leather bound reproductions of the classics he loves so much. And I said, "Hey, Steven Rinella has a new book out! I think it's called Meat Eater?! Let's get it." And we looked. And looked, and looked. And then I had to admit defeat. Ugh, I didn't want another scene. So I sidled up to the kiosk and asked the young man (very softly) "Do you have "Meat Eater" by Steven Rinella?

He crinkled his brows. "OK, let me look it up."  And did some typing. And then said, "We don't have a book called, "We Meet Here"."

So I upped the volume a little bit, and explained my rabid vegan story, and he laughed, then rolled his eyes and said, "Don't worry; I had ribs last night, and they were DELICIOUS." Whew! It was like a secret handshake.

As it turns out, Meat Eater is in the Sport and Recreation section.

Cooking up a storm

Yes, there were a ton of pics that went with this! I got so obsessed with photo editing,I  fell into the dark world of Instagram et al. Then I realized I was taking days to just out this post up, and then I thought- well, while photos are great, I am procrastinating. Screw the photos. They know what they did.  So here this is: light on photos. But it's HERE. VICTORY!!

I have been going crazy with the new addition to our family: The Vitamix. This blender has been on heavy rotation. I am having to curb my usual slovenly "I'll just soak it" excuse, and have made a rule with the VM AND the Cuisinart that I have to wash everything out immediately. While it's irritating at the time, it makes life a heck of a lot easier.

So far, the Vitamix has pulverized multiple smoothies, blended coconut ice cream, coconut milk, apricots (for apricot chicken on Monday night!) and probably other things I can't remember. My fridge is filled with tiny containers with colorful pureed masterpieces nestled within.

So I was pretty confident when I decided to roast two bags of sunflower seeds and frappe my way to homemade sunbutter.

One thing: making nut or seed butter with the VM is more challenging than just throwing the stuff in and hitting a button. My blender would go for fifteen or twenty seconds, and then the "emergency overheat" feature would kick in. If you think this is annoying: well, you would be right. I was beginning to think my new Precious was defective. But: BEHOLD!!! For future reference, this is the magical VitaMix nut butter procedure:

"You should always start the machine on variable #1 and very quickly increase the center dial to #10 and then immediately flip the left switch from variable to HIGH. This operation should only take 3 seconds. If you are running the recipe on the variable low settings as you are describing below the machine overheats at about 15-20 seconds and shuts down.

Try making the recipe with the appropriate settings and you will see that the appliance will produce the most awesome almond, peanut, pecan, and cashew butter. For best results you should you no less than 4 ½ cups of raw nuts and 3 tablespoons of oil. Additionally, please make sure that you are using the tamper. "

So it has been written. So it shall be done.

The kombucha is just sort of sitting in the cabinet, looking inscrutable and completely unchanged. I am not sure what I am waiting for....although signs of cultures forming will be nice. I am thinking that as experiments go, I am way too impatient, and not quite forgetful enough.

Last night was another cooking bonanza: I am out of my funk, but it's still hot here, so SG was assigned to make hamburgers outside on the grill, and I made Paleo Burger Buns, cranked out hand cut sweet potato fries, came up with a recipe for macadamia pesto pretty much on the fly (the one I linked is similar: I cut out the cheese and doubled the macadamias, as well as adding a little more olive oil to part of the batch to make it "drizzley"), and sliced up some veggies to go with.  My mandoline either needs to be sharpened, or it just doesn't like sweet potatoes, because trying to use the fry-slicing feature was a nightmare. I just ended up slicing them by hand.  I see now why frozen fries were such a popular convenience food.

This has been an interesting week, food-wise: I am spending a LOT of time on FastPaleo, which even has an app, and also discovered something I have been searching for forever: Eat Your Books. It's a fantastic resource for keeping track of recipes- I have so many Primal/Paleo cookbooks now, and can't for the life of me remember the source of recipes anymore. Was it on the web? Did I save it to Pinterest, and if so, to which board? If it's in a book, which book? I desperately wanted to make my cookbook collection searchable- by recipe title, or main ingredient, course, whatever. And this seems to be a really seamless way of doing all of that: it pulls indexes from books, magazines, and blogs, plus you can add your own recipes.  AND it seems to have indexes, cover photos, and info for all the recent Primal/Paleo cookbook offerings on the market. Wooohoo! I used a coupon code to get the first three months free. I tried a few codes before I found one that worked: if you want to try it out, you can send me an email here or PM me on Facebook (Maybe throw me a "like" on there, if you haven't already ;) and I'll hook you up. Cheers!

O Muse...

Buy This. Seriously, Buy it now.

The Food Lovers Make It Paleo arrived on Friday.

It's one of those books that is inspirational, aspirational, and of course, delectable. I love the photography, perhaps TOO much- My eyes are literally bigger than my stomach! I have leftover bison spaghetti and a little bit of frittata left, as well as a bunch of odds and ends on my fridge. LG is heading out of town on a business trip and will be gone for two days, so it is just me. I really want to roast a chicken, but it's not the same when he's not here to share it with me. I do need to start emptying the fridge though: after that bonanza at the Farmer's market, and a trip to Costco, our puny refrigerator is bulging at the seams.

Delectable. Cookies. OMG!!!

In the interest of science, I made the Primal Palate Chocolate Chip Cookies as a special treat: They get two thumbs up. They're the first cookies I have made in nearly two years! I found them amazingly (and shockingly) filling and satisfying. I admit, I was a little scared to make them, for fear I would inhale the whole pan. I was able to stop at three: and I had IF'd lunch, so I feel really good about adding these to the repetoire.

Booty from the Farmer's Market!!!

We also went to a small Farmer's Market- just a few stalls, but one of them was Fallon Hills: we got some grass-fed lamb and beef, as well as pastured eggs. We also made a big dent at one of the organic produce stands. Three pomegranates, a Buddha's hand, fragrant strawberries, champagne grapes, and some lovely mixed radishes later, we ended up striking up a conversation with the seller: who as it turns out, is from our hometown.

Farmer's Mkt finds + Trader Joe's= Voila!!

It's a small world that we live in, and so wonderful and refreshing to meet the person who raised and nurtured the ingredients in some of your meals for the week. I also had an ulterior motive: I really want to buy pastured meats in larger quantities, and LG has been balking at the cost. Food costs so much more here in the Bay Area than it did back home,  and he has been nickel and dime-ing me on the food budget lately.  Buying a few grass-fed shanks and a roast by themselves really showed him how far I have been stretching to make things work out. When we did the math, he had to agree that we do make up for the extra grocery expense by not going out to eat as often. And who wants to eat at Denny's, when you can get sumptuous breakfasts (like the one on the right) at home?      

Not only that: what is it about eating this way that makes me  covetous of every kitchen gadget known to man? I just bought a new set of stainless steel heavy duty measuring cups and matching spoons, along with my new favorite toy: Fruit Scoops. I actually use the medium size one the most, and love it to scrape the strands out of spaghetti squash: it works like a charm. To be fair, I think I paid $3.99 for the set of 3 at Marshall's, but I think they were more than worth it! I can see them coming in handy for kiwis, avocados, mangoes...things like that. But the real test will be the pumpkin we'll be getting in the next few weeks.

When it rains...

I decided to forward the link to my local News affiliates paleo segment to my parents last night.
They are both products of the SAD: both on Lipitor, both with cholesterol issues, among other things. Two years ago, Dad ended up in the hospital with a blocked circumflex artery; he now has a stent. High cholesterol runs in my family, as well as cardiac issues and Alzheimers.  I've brought up my concerns before, but I am hoping that the video will speak to them more effectively than I am capable of doing. I haven't heard back yet, but I didn't expect to.

And then there's LG. He's lucky, he's a big guy: when you're tall, you can get away with eating the way he eats, and he carries it well. But both his parents are Type 2 diabetics. I do my best not to nag, and just try to set a good example, but I know that when I am gone, he's like Templeton, the rat from Charlotte's Web, at the county fair. Beer, pizza, fast food, and Halloween candy...

I also know that when he does eat Primally- never 80/20, more like 60/40- he drops weight seemingly overnight. I try not to begrudge him. And I also know I have been needing to tighten things up for awhile.
So today, I flipped through Mark's new book and thought: this may be the ammunition I need! I have never gotten him to read the PB, although he does like the Before and After stories on MDA.  While I already knew most of the info in the book, I did love that it was like a clear and concise action plan, and I felt that the direct approach would be much more effective for the way that he processes info.

So he has promised to read it: I have already seen him flipping through it, so I am excited. We will start our 21 day challenge together when he gets back from a business trip next week. And I am hopeful that when he sees his parents next week, the subject may come up. Once again, it would be better coming from him than me!

In the meantime, my lack of weight loss has been bothering me. I have benefited so much from changing my diet: the occasional indulgence shouldn't be a problem. And I don't think I am eating too much: if anything, I tend to IF past noon on most days. Which is why a post caught my eye when I was looking at the forum on MDA today, and another woman: in much better shape than I, with  lot less weight to lose, complained that she was gaining. Another member pointed her towards this site. So I am hopeful that with some tweaking, I can maybe get things moving again. Considering that he advocates eating a low carb breakfast first thing in the morning as the big number once recommendation, and there's plenty more that I can change and still fall well within the scope of the PB, I feel good about it.

So many questions...

Imagine my surprise when I was flipping through channels last week and saw the tease for the "Eat Like a Caveman" on the local Bay Area news. L.G. and I watched in amusement as they reported on the dramatic changes following a Paleo diet made in the subject testing it out: and she wasn't even shooting for weight loss in the beginning, but her blood pressure dropped into the healthy range, cholesterol dropped 30 points, and he pre-diabetic status reversed itself: In less than two weeks.

In the end, she's kept it up for a few months, her numbers had improved even more dramatically, and she's lost 30 lbs and 2 dress sizes.

So it's definitely hitting the mainstream. And being home and spending time with my family, suddenly, they are asking a ton more questions: after a year and a half. To be fair, I know my choices seem arbitrary to them: they've watched my battle with the scale since I was 12.  So this has been viewed as just another fad diet that I am on. And when I am around them, I tend to eat more liberally, so as not to rock the boat. But when we went out for dinner with another couple they are friends with, it was incessant: "So...can you eat beans? What about rice?" And I just tried to be as concise and non preachy as I could. Since we were eating at a Mexican restaurant, they were attacking the corn tortilla chips while we had our chat.

And after a lot of hemming and hawing, I think I am going to make sure my family has copies of Wheat Belly and The Primal Blueprint to look over. And maybe send them the link to the "Eat Like a Caveman" news segment as well. It certainly can't hurt!

In other book news, I decided to take advantage of Mark's offer and buy his new book, The Primal Blueprint 21 Day Body Transformation.  Between that, and the fact that Make It Paleo shipped today, I am going to have a lot of reading to do!!! L.G. hasn't really read any of the books, but I think he is on board with the concept, and I could probably use a kick in the pants to really tighten up my eating. Some weight loss would be nice as well: while I am thrilled with how much my life and health have already changed, I am still far from my healthiest weight.

Part of the battle has been the fact that I am under "orders" not to run or do any major core work, but I finally confessed to my Dr. that I missed dance and more challenging exercise today. He said that cycling would be ok, running should be minimal, and that the belly dancing class that I want to take is strictly verboten. BUT, ballroom dance got tentative approval. Now I just need to get L.G. to agree to go with me!