Sunday Letters

Uncategorized

Ocracoke, NC — The good, the bad, the ugly

heather

Tim and I have been on vacation since last Saturday.  We drove from Davenport to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We’ve been on Ocracoke Island since Monday.

A few comments about Ocracoke.  The beach is super beautiful.  Super beautiful.  Up until this point, I thought Nantucket was the prettiest beach, but I’ve changed my mind.  Ocracoke is the best.  And part of what makes it the best is the people here.  The people in Nantucket are too rich.  This is a more blue-collar kind of place – lots of families and retired folk.

What’s also nice is that Ocracoke is tiny.  You can bike the whole village in about 30 minutes.  No restaurant is more than a 15-30 minute walk away.  The town is clean and pretty pristine.  Biking/walking/golf-carting is encouraged.  It’s an easy place to stay active.

If you are looking for lots of night life and crazy parties, I don’t think Ocracoke would be your place, but for people like Tim and me, it’s perfect.  We’re early risers (especially here, where one whole side of our hotel suite is windows, so our room is bright with sunshine at 5;30AM), and early sleepers.  Ocracoke suits us.

Hmm… what else do we like…  Dogs are allowed on the beach here, which is awesome (sorry Lucent!).  There are funny surfer dudes working at this great local coffee shop.  Yesterday one said to a customer, “I’m slighly bipolar, but in the good way.”

What don’t we like?  Well, two main things.  1.  It’s SUPER hard to find a place that serves whiskey.  According to our server at a local restuarant, serving hard liquor just recently became legal in the county.  Beer and wine are the order of the day.  We finally found a place last night that serves whiskey.  My single whiskey and soda cost EIGHT DOLLARS.  No good.

Number 2 – the mosquitoes on this island are a thing of legend.  Actually, I think they are a problem all along the Outer Banks, due to the marshes that line the ocean.  We tried to do a marsh hike on Pea Island on the way down here, but the mosquitoes were literally trying to eat Tim alive.  For some reason, they really love him.  I’ve been hit maybe 2 or 3 times, but Tim has been bitten dozens of times.  We have to spray him head-to-toe with bug spray any time we leave the house.  They are insane.  We ran yesterday along Highway 12, and they were tailing him as he ran.  Crazy.  They are so intense that I don’t know if we would vacation here again.  We planned on doing some hikes while we are here, but changed our tune after the Pea Island experience.

All-in-all, it’s been a fantastic trip – lots of beach time, lots of biking, lots of walking, lots of relaxing.  Tomorrow we head out to visit my cousin on the mainland, and then it’s back to Iowa for us.  At least we have a trip in July to look forward to; otherwise, I would be mucho depressed.

I am looking forward to getting home for one big reason, though.  I’ve been eating totally non-paleo this trip – lots of tasty fried food and carbs.  My shorts are getting tight, and my energy is waning.  I can’t wait to start eating my avocado and eggs and veggies and grass-fed meat again. I need to CLEANSE.

In a nutshell, Ocracoke = good times

Health & Fitness

Two PRs in One Weekend

heather

The Timmy Tee and I ran the Race for the Cure yesterday.  We’ve both been exercising more than normal, so we were hoping to have good times.  My time from last year was going to be easy to beat, since I mistook where the finish line was and stopped running about 50 feet too early.  However, I was still hoping to beat previous years’ times (around 33 minutes).

We both did pretty well!  My time was 29:06, a personal best.  Tim’s time was 26:01, a personal best for him as well.  You can check our progress here, if you’re interested.  We’re solidly beating our 2009 selves, which supposedly were younger and faster, so that’s awesome!

It was a HOT race too, especially on the eastward loop.  So much sun.  So much heat.  Bah!     But we did it.  And to top it all off, after breakfast at Village Inn and a little putzing around the house, we went out for a 20 mile bike ride.  And, yes, it was still HOT.  It was a good ride, though.  I was utterly exhausted afterwards.  Today I am wicked sore in my hamstrings.  But, it’s a good sore – a sore that reeks of success.  Reeks.

Today was supposed to be a rest day.  Tim has been training really steadfastly for the West Lake Triathlon next weekend, and we figured he needed to take a break to give his body time to recoup.  Well, we ended up doing some of our floor exercises – planks, push-ups, leg and arm exercises, etc.  I also attempted and succeeded in doing a real pull-up!!  I’ve just been doing the flexed arm hang for the past month, but I figured I would try one today and see what happened.  Admittedly, I stood on the bottom run of the later (about 6 inches off the ground), so I had a little boost.  But I did it!  I was able to lift my chin up and over the bar.  I was so happy!! I didn’t think I would ever be able to do that!  I couldn’t complete a second one, but I’m sure that will come in time.  It’s just so nice to see some progress.  Time to start selling tickets to the gunshow!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

Tasty, Easy Sunday Supper

heather

Sundays have a way of getting away from you.  We woke up today at 5:50 AM and now, all-of-the-sudden, it’s 6:46 PM.  Where did the day go?  We got some cleaning done, lawn mowed, checkbook updated, lunch at Bent River, and poof!  It’s gone!

But we’ve been eating out quite a bit lately, so I really wanted to make supper at home tonight, so I picked a quick and easy recipe I’ve made before – Asian Pork Meatballs with Dipping Sauce.  They are super easy to make and very delicious.  The recipe calls for mayo, and I know the Hellmans has all sorts of badness in it for you.  But it is oh, so tasty!  Plus, the recipe called for 1/3 a cup, which is all I had left.  So now I have no mayo in the house, which is a good thing.  Next time a recipe calls for it, I’ll make to make it from scratch from avocado oil, which I hear is ultra tasty.  I’ll have to search for a good recipe.

Anyway, I digress.  To accompany the meatballs, I baked some sweet potatoes in our roaster oven.  I made an extra one for breakfast tomorrow.  I’m getting to be so resourceful and foresightful!

The combo of the meatballs, sweet potatoes (and a little sliced avocado) was delicious.  I’m looking forward to sauteeing up the leftovers tomorrow for breakfast with some fresh herbs from my mini herb garden, along with some broccoli, cabbage, and red pepper.  I’m eating out for lunch and supper, so I have to be sure to get a good breakfast in.  I love meals that produce awesome, tasty, healthly leftovers.  Thanks, Health-Bent!

Health & Fitness, Uncategorized

A Primal Primer

heather

I’ve had a couple of friends who are interested in this whole primal/paleo thing.  So I thought I would write a quick post about how to get started, based on my 5 months of experience.  Here are my favorite books, sites, and primal/paleo products.

Good books

  • The Primal Blueprint 21 Day Total Body Transformation – This is the first book I read, and it was a great, simple introduction to the primal lifestyle.  The author, Mark Sisson, doesn’t just talk about how to change your diet.  He talks about how to re-approach your life – get outside more, disconnect from technology, play, focus on the present, etc.  He also lays out a 21-day plan to help you get on the primal path.  I keep promising to send this book to my brothers, but I just can’t let it go.
  • The Paleo Solution:  The Original Human Diet – I just finished this book by Robb Wolf last week.  It’s a more technical, in-depth book on paleo.  If you want to understand the science behind why the paleo diet works, this is the book to read.  Robb also provides meal plans for 30 days and a pretty detailed weight lifting section.  It’s also a pretty funny read.

Blogs:

  • www.marksdailyapple.com – Mark Sisson’s blog – chock full of health information and good recipes.
  • www.robbwolf.com – Robb Wolf’s blog – also chock full of great information and resources.

Recipe Blogs:

Ingredients

Here is a list of the stuff I always like to have in the fridge or freezer:

  • Grass-fed ground hamburger (from our Farmer’s Market.  If you don’t have a local producer, you can buy it online from US Wellness Meats)
  • Frozen wild-caught salmon (from Target)
  • Canned tuna or sardines
  • Fresh veggies – spinach, kale, avocado, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, peppers
  • Frozen fruit – excellent defrosted with some coconut milk drizzled over them
  • Pastured eggs
  • Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk
  • Nuts – Macademia nuts supposedly have the best omega 3 profile, but I find them a little rich.  I eat a lot of pistachios, almonds and walnuts.
  • Gerolsteiner Mineral water – good source of magnesium.
  • Avocado oil
  • Coconut oil – I LOVE this stuff.  I put it in my coffee and cook with it all the time, and it’s the bees knees.
  • Dark chocolate – I love the Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Chips.  They don’t have a great cocoa content, but they are perfect for snacking.
  • Carlson Super D Omega 3 Cod Liver Oil
  • Magnesium Lactate

Keep all this stuff on hand, and you’ll have everything you need to make a tasty primal meal.

So, that’s an introduction in a nutshell!  Hopefully you found it somewhat helpful.

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

Primal Tasty Dessert – Coconut milk with berries

heather

As I mentioned in my last post, I have the occasional ice cream cravings.  I AM a hot-blooded American woman for crissake.  Well, I’ve discovered a pretty tasty, primal-aligned alternative.  I’ve been defrosting frozen organic berries, mixing them with fresh-sliced kiwi and copious amounts of coconut milk, freezing it until it’s slushy, and then eating the heck out of it.  It’s SUPER delicious, at least if you love coconut milk and berries.  If you don’t like those things, you will not like this dessert.  I really, really love coconut milk.  I need to move to Hawaii so I have access to more coconut products.

Uncategorized

Biphasic Sleep, or Why I wake up at 3AM

heather

For the past few weeks I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night.  I’m usually awake for an hour or two, but I usually fall back asleep until I need to wake up for the day around 5 or 5:30.  This pattern has been starting to frustrate me, as it sometimes makes me tired in the afternoon.  And, as anyone knows who works in a cubicle at an office job, sleepy afternoons = sugar cravings & trips to the vending machine.

I ran across this post on MarksDailyApple.com this morning, though, that made me look at this sleep cycle in a different way.  Evidently, it was common for our ancestors to wake up in the middle of the night.  This hour of wakefulness was used for meditation and contemplation.  I love this quote from the article:

Robert Louis Stevenson liked the idea, too. Sleep historian (awesome-sounding job!) Roger Ekirch writes of Stevenson who, in the fall of 1878, while trekking through the French highlands on foot, alone, made a remarkable discovery. As anyone who backpacks or spends time outdoors will corroborate, Stevenson found himself drifting off to sleep shortly after sunset. He awoke around midnight, smoked a cigarette, and, only after “enjoying an hour’s contemplation,” fell back asleep. That hour, that “one stirring hour” moved him; Stevenson had never before experienced a “more perfect hour.” He had awoken not because of an interloper, a night terror, or any other external actor, but because of what he later described as a “wakeful influence [that] goes abroad over the sleeping hemisphere” and is unknown to “those who dwell in houses.”

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/biphasic-sleep/#ixzz1vyifI7dM

The article goes on to say that like most things, perception affects your reality, or makes your new reality.  If, instead of getting frustrated and worked up about the 2 or 3AM wakeups, you view it as an opportunity to relax in a different way, the interruption in your sleep can actually be a good thing.

I’m going to have to try this approach when I wake up tonight at 3AM again.

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

Ad Hoc Veggie Salad

heather

I bought a bum bag of organic salad mix this week.  It did not look appetizing for lunch, so I just pulled everything tasty looking out of the fridge and chopped it up.  Here’s what went into the lunch salad:

Half-can of tuna, 1 hard boiled egg, a couple pieces of cauliflower, a few broccoli florets, a carrot, 1/2 a stick of celery, 1/3rd an avocado. I diced up all of that and added some avocado oil, 1/2 T of apple cider vinegar, copious amounts of salt and pepper and turmeric, stirred it all up and nom nom nom.  You can see a picture in my Instagram feed to the right.

In fact, it was so tasty that I repeated it for supper, less the tuna & egg and plus grilled chicken.  Very delicious.  I couldn’t eat it all, and I’m already looking forward to tossing the whole leftover mess into the frying pan tomorrow morning with some coconut oil for breakfast.

On Sunday I spent maybe 45 minutes cutting up cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, & celery.  I feel bad using a bunch of plastic bags for this, but it makes life sooooo much easier during the week.  Plus, as Tim says, we’ve already done our part to protect the environment by not having kids.  Anyway, I take a baggie to work with me too, and instead of hitting the vending machine for a Take 5, I hit the fridge for some carrots.  It really helps stave off the cravings.

 

Health & Fitness

Cheating never pays

heather

I foretold that I would regret eating the pizza.  Well, I did.  I don’t know if it is the simple carbs and the wine last night, the cloudy, chilly weather, the lack of sleep last night, or what, but I am insatiable today.  And we have TWO different kinds of cookies in the house.  This is not good.  I feel like sitting on the couch, eating 10 cookies, drinking tequila, and watching the rest of the Bones season.  Hopefully I do not succumb…

Health & Fitness, Uncategorized

The 21-Day Challenge, 16 Weeks Later

heather

Yesterday I bought my first pair of size 6 pants.  Ever.  Ever since I can remember, I have never, ever been able to fit into a size 6.  So I figured it was time for an update as to how I’m doing on the primal diet.  In a nutshell, I’m doing great.  My energy is good.  My allergies have moderated – I still have them, but they aren’t as bad as they once were.  I am no longer churning through copious amounts of tissues each eve and morn.  I have abs now!  They aren’t crazy defined or anything, but they are there.  At least I can see them.  🙂

Overall, I’ve just been following the 21-day Blueprint over and over again, with a few mods.  I haven’t been religious about the sprint workouts.  I DO want to do them, but I just don’t remember to, in general.  My exercise plan looks something like this – run every other day and do the PEM exercises on my non-running days (pushups, pullups, squats, and planks).  If I don’t feel like running, I walk speedily on the grass alongside the bike path (whilst listening to the Paleo Solution podcast).  I find that walking in the grass really works out my legs and butt – almost more so than running.  Tim and I have recently starting biking too.  My coworker and I are going to start doing Hatha yoga on Monday nights as well, so hopefully that will help me build up flexibility and core strength.

I’m up to running 2.5 miles.  I can do 15 modified (knee) pushups.  I still can in no way do a pull up, but I can do a flexed arm hang for 30 seconds and lower myself to the ground in a controlled fashion.  I can do an elbow plank and side elbow planks for 60 seconds.  I’m still far behind where I hoped I would be based on the guidance in the 21-Day challenge, but I’m not disappointed because I am definitely improving.  I could probably push myself harder and get better results, but I’m in for the slow, long sustainable haul.  I’m actually considering joining the local Crossfit gym.  I don’t have anyone to go with me though, and I’m scared to go alone because I’m an intimidated baby.  Maybe I’ll work up the courage.

I’ve been eating at least 80% primal, I would say.  Tonight I’m going to eat pizza, but I don’t eat it often – maybe once every other week.  For cheats I eat A LOT of dates and A LOT of pistachios.  I need to find a cheaper pistachio source.  I also still drink pretty regularly.  However, I’ve noticed my body DOES NOT like beer, which is sad.  I feel best on red wine, second best on whiskey and club soda, which has become my go-to drink at bars that don’t serve good red wine.

I’ve found that I really don’t miss bread or desserts in general.  I know that I’ll feel bad if I eat them, so that helps me stay away from them.  I still crave ice cream about once per month (hmm, wonder what that could be).  I got some Ben & Jerry’s Greek frozen yogurt last week.  It tasted pretty good until I read the ingredients and saw corn syrup on the list.  Blast.  Being able to eat as much healthy fat as I want really helps curve the cravings. I put at least 1/2 a teaspoon of coconut oil in my coffee each morning, and I’m very generous with the avocado, coconut and olive oil when cooking.

So, down to the details.  Here is my starting and current stats:

Starting: Weight 149.3  Bust 36  Waist 31  Hips 43

Current: Weight 132.9   Bust 34  Waist 28.75  Hips 40.75

Thus, the size 6 pants.  Admittedly, they are a little snug, but they have that dumb two-way stretch, so I think they’ll be alright.  Also, in the interests of full disclosure, while my starting weight was officially 149.3, I was typically hovering around 147 when I started the primal blueprint.

I’m going to sign off and go eat my Mama Bossos pizza, which I’m sure to heartily regret tomorrow, but which will taste ultra-tasty tonight.  Good night everyone, and if you have any questions or curiosities about the primal diet/lifestyle, hit me up in the comments.

Links referenced above:

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hlo06-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0982207778“>The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation

The Paleo Solution Podcast