I did what??

I spatchcocked a chicken today!  I bet not many people can claim the same thing...

And it was very tasty! Recently I've started to eat meat obtained only from animals that were humanely treated and not fed hormones and antibiotics.  I initially made the switch mostly for ethical reasons (I read an article that I probably shouldn't have read ... but that's not something I'm going to get on a soapbox about here) but was completely surprised to find that the taste and quality were much better than what I was used to getting from my local Target or Jewel.

I've been getting my meat from two different sources:  Whole Foods (because they rate their meat based on how the animals were treated) and from Wallace Farms (thanks for the recommendation, Janet!), which is a family farm located in Iowa that has a distribution centers here in Illinois.  And yes, it kind of sucks having to make specials trips just to do my meat shopping, but we all have our #firstworldproblem burdens to bear.

Honestly, I never thought I'd taste a difference -- my palate isn't all that discriminating and I'm not drawn to high-brow food or anything like that. I gotta figure that if I consider Kraft American singles to be pretty tasty cheese, then it's not like I can claim to only want the finer foods in life.  But - surprisingly - there is quite a difference.  I suspect that if you catch your local supermarket just at the right time with the right cut of meat, it could be as good, but I haven't had anything from Whole Foods or Wallace Farms that I even thought was just average, much less subpar. And that's certainly happened more than once with supermarket meat.

Is it worth all the extra money?  Maybe.  Maybe not?  I suppose it depends on your budget and beliefs and the availability of choice in your neighborhood and even whether it's something that you think tastes better than the supermarket alternative.  For me, I'm convinced that this is something I want to add into my lifestyle.  It means that I don't buy as much meat, but what I do have, I thoroughly enjoy.  And one bonus for me -- because of the cost, I will *never* let it go bad and not use it.  I'm notorious for buying food and letting it go bad sitting in the fridge, sadly waiting for me to do something with it, but when I'm paying sometimes as much as double the cost for a cut of meat, you can bet that I'll be going all Julia Childs on it. 

So, what started out as me getting on a moral high horse, ended with me simply opting to pay more for something that I think tastes better, morals be damned.  It's a happy coincidence that both my morals and my taste buds like the same thing. 

Sunday Funday: Week 21 Review

Posting has been a little light around here lately -- with the cold weather, I oftentimes have dogs snuggling with me rather than my laptop keeping me company.  And who can say no to doggie snuggles?  I certainly can't.  I'm a pushover like that.

Enough of the excuses (well, there will be more down below, but you'll get to those parts soon enough...), let's review, shall we?

Measurements:
A flip of last week -- weight stayed about the same and measurements dropped a little bit. I'm determined to make it to the 10 pounds down mark by Christmas.  It's my gift to myself.

Workouts:
Bad week for me.  Because Clarke the Brainiac Tail-Chewing Dog needs constant supervision, I haven't really been working out (see, another excuse). I kind of miss it, though I have to admit that being lazy suits my personality as well (though that's how I got into this mess to begin with!).  

Primal(ish) and Intermittent Fasting:
The Primal thing hasn't really stuck, to be honest.  I'm still paying more attention to eating clean, but I find myself bored by the whole meat/vegetable thing (excuse #2).  On the other hand, IF is working out really well.  I don't even really think about it much anymore, it just happens anyway.  I don't do it everyday -- usually schedule-dependent -- but do it most days and am finding that it really cuts down on the eating-for-no-reason noshing. 

Habits:
The whole targeted recovery thing is the habit this week, and I can't say that I'm doing a whole lot with it.  I am foam rolling and stretching more -- especially important because my lower back has been a bit sore -- but haven't really done anything else.  Of course, I haven't been actually working out, so there's no need to do anything to recover from nothing, right?

Habit Log:
Weeks 1-2: Fish oil and probiotic
Weeks 3-4: Eating slowly
Weeks 5-6: Stop eating at 80% full
Weeks 7-8: Lean protein with every meal
Weeks 9-10: 5 servings of vegetables a day
Weeks 11-12: Make smart carb choices
Weeks 13-14: Plan Meals
Weeks 15-16: Log all food
Weeks 17-18: Create a sleep ritual
Weeks 19-20: Drink only zero calorie beverages

Week 21:  Use targeted recovery strategies

Sunday Funday: Week 20 Review

Between the Christmas music in every store and commercial, and the frigid weather outside, the holiday season is in full swing.  Along with that are the dinners out, the drinks with friends and the holiday goodies at every turn.  This is certainly a challenging time to stick to healthy eating, but if I can do it now, I can do it anytime, right? This week has been pretty good overall -- tinkering with my eating habits has been fun. I'm a living, breathing science experiment with n=1, and it's interesting enough to keep me focused on doing things the right way (for the time being... the Christmas treats haven't been substantially tempting yet...).

Let's review, shall we?

Measurements:
Weight is down as low as it's been since I started Lean Eating.  YAY.  Even though I've been doing Intermittent Fasting this week, I was surprised because I'm also dealing with hormones which historically don't play nice with the scale.  Measurements are the same, but hopefully they'll nudge down next week.

Workouts:
The new set of workouts that were assigned two weeks ago are KILLER.  There are fewer exercises, but they're harder and I'm pushing more weight. After the 30-40 minutes it takes me to complete them, I'm absolutely dripping with sweat. Which is all sorts of awesome.

Primal(ish) and Intermittent Fasting (IF) experiment:
Like I was saying the other day, the Primal experiment has definitely had a good dose of the "(ish)" in it.  The new Belgium waffle maker in the house has been a huge downfall (there always seems to be already-made waffle batter waiting in the fridge for me, too) and I'm just trying to contain the damage.  Other than that, though, I've been eating pretty clean and with an eye towards being Primal(ish).  IF has been going really well and has been quite an eye-opener for me. I'm naturally eating less and not having to think about having healthy snacks available is one less thing to worry about. I think IF has a good chance of becoming part of my lifestyle.

Habits:
Still doing the "drink no calories" thing.  I'm ready for it to be over so I can taste the Vanilla Cinnamon Bailey's that I bought on impulse today. I mean, how could that be bad, right?  

Habit Log:
Weeks 1-2: Fish oil and probiotic
Weeks 3-4: Eating slowly
Weeks 5-6: Stop eating at 80% full
Weeks 7-8: Lean protein with every meal
Weeks 9-10: 5 servings of vegetables a day
Weeks 11-12: Make smart carb choices
Weeks 13-14: Plan Meals

Weeks 15-16: Log all food

Weeks 17-18: Create a sleep ritual
Weeks 19-20: Drink only zero calorie beverages

IF

IF, what?  Intermittent Fasting, of course.

So, I've been experimenting the last few days and I've come to some interesting conclusions.  But first, some of the reasons that I decided to give this a try:

1. Just like with Primal(ish) eating, there's a ton of anecdotal evidence out there that shows people not only lose weight using this tactic, but gain control over their hunger as well.
2. It simplifies life -- by fasting from dinner until my mid-morning breakfast, I no longer have to find something in the house to eat in the evening, and I can forgo my protein shake in the morning (or whatever I have for my "first" breakfast of the day).
3. It simplifies decisions -- is it after dinner?  Then, no, I cannot have a snack.  Is it 10am yet?  Then no, I can't eat whatever might be laying around the office.
4. It's a very black and white strategy, which might prove useful for this very black and white girl.
5. Curiosity.  It may have killed the cat, but hey, who likes cats anyway? (I kid! I kid! All you cat lovers out there don't come after me...)

There are a couple of different methods of IF.  You can do anything from a full 24 to 36 hour fast every few days to doing it the way I chose to -- a 14-16 hour fast by eating dinner and then not eating breakfast until mid-morning the next day.

I was a little dubious going into it -- I had always bought into the "eat every few hours" advice that's been floating around for ages now because it seemed to make sense.  I mean, it seemed like every time I ate a little meal, it wouldn't be long before I was hungry again and looking for food.  So how would I be able to go that long without any food?  To give you an idea, when doing the food every few hours thing, I'd often eat right before bed and still wake up hungry (whether or not that was exacerbated by poor food choices, I won't touch on right now).

The first night it was difficult to not snack in the evening -- it was habit to have something to nom on while I was watching TV, reading or working on my computer.  But I'll tell you -- it felt good to abstain, especially since I knew I had enough for dinner and shouldn't need anything more.

The next morning I woke up a little hungry, but not as bad as usual.  And all morning my stomach was a little grumbly, but if I was busy working on something, I didn't even really notice.  Turns out that waiting until 9:30am or so to eat (depending on what time I finished dinner, of course) wasn't all that difficult.  

And then once I did have that meal -- and it was fairly substantial (eggs, piece of fruit and some cottage cheese) -- I wasn't really hungry until lunch rolled around.  Of course, by this time I'm not technically in the "fasting" stage, but it wasn't hard not to snack between meals.  And if I'm not snacking because I'm not hungry, then those are calories that I didn't need anyway that I'm not consuming (did you follow that?).  #FTW

I've been keeping track of my weight, and it's been slowly inching down.  Perhaps this might be a strategy that helps me reach my goal?  It'd be nice if it was, because it's not all that difficult to implement and -- ironically -- I don't feel like it's at all restrictive.  All I have to do is not eat when I'm not supposed to. Even my pea-brain can handle that.

As a footnote, I'm more "-ish" than Primal these days.  Perhaps I didn't give it a fair shot, but I really do feel more satisfied when I add some carbs into my diet.  For what it's worth, they are mostly "smart" carbs (fruit, sweet potatoes, more complete grains like quinoa and wild rice) and I'm otherwise eating pretty clean.  There's something to be said for feeling satiated, which strictly Primal doesn't seem to do for me.

So - onward.  I'll keep tweaking what I'm doing, figuring out what works for me and what doesn't.  In LE terms, I'm starting to write my owner's manual, documenting how I run best (though I think that's a book that will never have a "The End" tacked onto it... well, at least not until I cease to need an owner's manual...).

Sunday Funday: Week 19 Review

I suppose this is the Thanksgiving edition of my weekly review, eh?  It's been a weird week, with having the one day off in the middle of everything.  While I prefer the weeks with the days off and such, it'll also be nice to get back to normal for a few weeks before the Christmas holidays come around in earnest.

Measurements:
Weight is a tick down, measurements were pretty much the same.  Things were going well and then I hit the Thanksgiving roadblock.  That's okay -- nothing went UP so I'll take it.  Now's the time to get serious, though, before all the good holiday food starts popping up left and right.

Workouts:
We got a new set of workouts which are different from what we've had so far.  This time around the workouts are set up as more of a progression -- each week we are supposed to try and lift more in fewer reps to build strength. Personally, I'm a person who likes to push heavy stuff around, so I like those kinds of sets (of course, my lower back isn't such a fan, though).  And the interval workouts up the ante as well:  a full minute of work with only a minute of recovery (see what I did there?).

Primal Experiment:
This has been okay.  For the first part of the week, I was really good.  Since Thanksgiving, I've been mostly good.  My roommate got a Belgium waffle maker at a black Friday sale and what can I say -- it'd be rude not to eat what she's cooking, right?  But really, aside from that, I've been pretty on target.  I think this is really going to help kick start some weight loss. 

I'm also considering tossing in another aspect of Primal -- intermittent fasting (IF) -- where you fast anywhere from 16 to 24 or 36 hours, but otherwise take in as many calories as you usually would.  IF has a lot of anecdotal evidence that it does a lot of good things for you, both physical and mental.  LE's take on IF is here  -- John Beradi, the top dog of Precision Nutrition, is a proponent of IF, though he says it's just another tool that may or may not work for people. So - I'm curious.  More on this later.

Habits:
This week started a new habit of not drinking calories.  Aside from a few glasses of wine with Thanksgiving dinner, I've been good about this.  The next step will be seeing if I can ditch my morning Diet Pepsi to see if that plays a role in the sugar/carb cravings I still seem to be having.

Habit Log:
Weeks 1-2: Fish oil and probiotic
Weeks 3-4: Eating slowly
Weeks 5-6: Stop eating at 80% full
Weeks 7-8: Lean protein with every meal
Weeks 9-10: 5 servings of vegetables a day
Weeks 11-12: Make smart carb choices
Weeks 13-14: Plan MealsWeeks 15-16: Log all food
Weeks 17-18: Create a sleep ritual

Week 19:  Drink only zero calorie beverages

Happy Turkey Day

It's Thanksgiving -- one of my favorite holidays of the year.  All the good food of Christmas without the hassle of gifts and tinsel and the Little Drummer Boy played so often it feels like he's pounding on my head.

This is going to be a cheat day of sorts for me.  I will almost certainly not be doing my Lean Eating habit of only drinking non-calorie beverages -- I'm pretty sure there's an adult cocktail in my near future, and if not that, then the wine at dinner will be hard to pass up. And this is where the "ish" of my Primal(ish) experiment comes in.  I'm going to try and load up more on turkey and vegetables, avoid the bread, but I'm not going to forgo stuffing or potatoes or -- my favorite -- pumpkin pie.  It's a holiday, right?

Instead of focusing on what I should and shouldn't be eating, I'm going to concentrate on some of those habits from months long past:  eating slowly and quit shoveling the food in BEFORE I'm full.  Almost always, I'm the first one done eating at any holiday meal -- I always thought I just was more skilled and motivated than anyone else -- and this year I intend to be one of the last ones done eating.  That's my goal.  And no second helpings unless it's turkey or vegetables.

Because I can't seem to get enough of challenges, I've also joined in on a friend's challenge she has going with her family to run a mile a day from Thanksgiving until New Years.  One mile.  Somewhere between 9 and 15 minutes, depending on how fast I want to run/walk. I certainly can find time in my schedule for that, right?  Worst case, I can always brave the cold and walk/jog the dogs -- multitasking at its best!

I hope the holiday finds you happy and healthy and able to sit down after dinner without needed to unbutton your pants.

Sunday Funday: Week 18 Review

Another phase done.  Phase 4 is in the books and tomorrow it's onto Phase 5, which is a longer 6 week phase.  I'm looking forward to starting fresh with a new set of workouts since I had so much forced time off during the last couple of weeks.

And Phase 5 will be my Primal(ish) phase.  My goal is to keep at it for the entire phase and then evaluate. The president of PN says that we should always be asking ourselves, "How's that workin' for ya?"  Is Primal(ish) helping me accomplish my goals?  Is it me just spinning my wheels?  I figure 6 weeks will be enough time to make a decision.

Because I know you're only here for the review...

Measurements:
Pretty much the same from last week.  Weight is up a tick, measurements are exactly the same and my photos look like they did a month ago.  This turned out to be kind of a throwaway month for me in terms of measurable progress. But - and I need to remember this - in the past this likely would have spiraled down to me giving up on nutrition until January, but this time I turned things around faster without quite as much damage.

Workouts:
I'm back to the program.  Still taking it easy with the amount of weight I'm slinging around because I'm scared of re-injuring my back, but otherwise going at it 100%.  And you know what?  It feels good to be back at it.  Today I hit the treadmill to get my interval workout done, and you know what else?  Running actually didn't totally suck.  It was almost good, even.  Makes me want to do it again.  Whodda thunk it.

Habits:
Creating a sleep ritual is pretty much old hat.  I still have to make sure I get to bed on time, but I feel like I've got this one under control.  New habit tomorrow -- I haven't yet peeked to see what it is, but I'm looking forward to moving on to something new.

Habit Log:
Weeks 1-2: Fish oil and probiotic
Weeks 3-4: Eating slowly
Weeks 5-6: Stop eating at 80% full
Weeks 7-8: Lean protein with every meal
Weeks 9-10: 5 servings of vegetables a day
Weeks 11-12: Make smart carb choices
Weeks 13-14: Plan MealsWeeks 15-16: Log all food
Weeks 17-18: Create a sleep ritual

Reasons why

So, today was my first Primal(ish) day, and it didn't go too badly.  I think I need to eat more, though -- I'm pretty hungry still.

For lunch I made a spaghetti squash and ate that with marinara sauce and parmesan cheese, which was pretty damn good.  No one is going to mistake it for pasta, but with the sauce and cheese, it gets you in the neighborhood, for sure.

Imagine this with purple cabbage

Dinner was a very easy and very surprisingly good sausage and cabbage casserole. Found it in my Primal Blueprint cookbook and made it mostly because it was incredibly easy and figured it wouldn't be too expensive an experiment.  I bought a purple cabbage and some Cook's Test Kitchen recommended turkey kielbasa and pretty much all you do it cut up all of it, put in the cabbage in, the sausage on top, put a few tablespoons of water in and then drizzle with olive oil.  Stick in the oven.  DONE.  And really, really good.  I didn't anticipate liking this ... or at least I didn't anticipate liking it this much.  This recipe will become a staple, I think.

Yesterday I alluded to other reasons why I wanted to try going Primal(ish) -- in the past few months, my finger joints have been very sore.  I'm guessing arthritis -- it runs in the family -- but I started wondering if something in my diet (grains, specifically) were causing inflammation that might be exacerbating the condition.  And when my thumb joint joined the party with being swollen as well, I decided I needed to do something to try and help myself.  It might not work, but it can't hurt, ya know?

Also - I thrive when I'm on a plan.  It's why I'm good at counting calories -- that keeps me accountable and structured. Of course, I always get to a point where I don't want to count calories anymore... so I don't... and then I gain the weight back.  Primal(ish) will be different in the sense that if it works, then all I've done is changed what I eat and to keep it going, I just need to keep doing the same thing.  There's no inconvenience to it (like counting calories).

I'm curious how this will go.  I always feel so much better about myself when I'm following a plan (and sticking to the plan, of course).  I'm going to try and make sure I get carbs into my diet -- Lean Eating would call them "smart carbs" -- like sweet potatoes, beans, and even some grains like steel cut oats or quinoa.  I feel better when I have them in my diet, for sure.  Vegetables and lean meats just leave me hungry.

There you have it.  It'll be tough with the holidays coming up (and honestly, I won't be complaint on Thanksgiving, I can guarantee you that), but this will be good for me.  And not only in an "it builds character" kind of way.

I'm goin' all Flintstone on ya

I've decided I need a change.  As much as the LE program preaches moderation and such, I think it's time that I made a wholesale change in my diet:  I'm going to go Primal(ish).

In a nutshell (ha! that's a pun! you'll understand in a moment...), eating Primally means eating lean meats, lots of vegetables, good-for-you fats, some fruit, some dairy/cheese and pretty much no grains (pasta, rice, white potatoes, bread, etc).  It's not intentionally low-carb -- you do get carbs via fruit and some vegetables and sweet potatoes -- but does end up being protein-heavy.

I've toyed with the idea of going Primal since I started LE, since the tenets of both have a lot in common, but didn't want to give up my sweets and grains.  But recently I've been craving carbs -- and mostly processed carbs -- like there's no tomorrow and that needs to stop. And the only way that I know of to stop those cravings, is to stop eating sweets and grains cold turkey, at least for awhile.

One caveat:  while I'll be pretty strict, I likely won't be "to the letter" Primal.  Meaning, I'm not making all of my own salad dressing or giving up beans and corn and things like that.  Keeping it healthy, though, and staying away from the processed stuff as a main part of any meal.

So tomorrow it starts.  I have planned out a menu for the week which is something I've tried to wing on the fly, but never wrote down and so it was easy to ditch the plan (since it wasn't never really a fully-formed plan) and eat out or eat crap.  But now?  It's all on paper and ready to go. Set in stone, baby!  I've got my shopping list for tomorrow morning and I'm looking forward to some of the food I'm going to be cooking.

I've got some other reasons for wanting to try Primal for awhile, but I'm too tired to go into that now.  Nighty-night!  More tomorrow...