Sunday Letters

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

Primal Day 5

heather

Heather Fail.  I didn’t make a post last night.  The evening just kind of got away from me, all sneaky like.  Next thing I know, Tim’s falling asleep while watching Star Trek TNG, and it’s time to hit the sack.

Breakfast was the usual.  I got kind of lazy and didn’t want to dirty a bowl, so I dropped 2 eggs right into the sautéed spinach, leeks, and onions, and then scrambled them together in the frying pan.  It wasn’t as tasty as doing a real omelette, but it will do in a pinch.

I met a few friends for lunch at Granite City.  Of course they mocked my new healthy habits. I told them that it will be I who has the last laugh, when I’m all toned and healthy, and they are still pasty and pudgy.  Well, I didn’t call them pasty and pudgy, but I should have for making fun of me.  ANYWAY, I got the Bruschetta salad with no bread (the bread is the tastiest part of the salad – thin slices of French bread, spread with butter and toasted cheese.  Sigh).   The salad had greens (of course), olives, feta, onions and chicken.  It was really tasty.  It came with a free soup, which caught me off guard, so I ordered the clam chowder.  It was creamy, rich, and delicious.  I basically just dunked my spoon in and licked it off, I did end up accidentally eating one of the potatoes in it.  Plus, I probably ate a good amount of cornstarch.  But it was soooo tasty.

For a snack, again I had a couple of kiwi (I just remembered that I left one on my desk at work.  Hope it doesn’t get too disgusting over this 3-day weekend…) with macademia nuts.  With not eating a lot of sugar, they seem soooo sweet to me.  They are organic, so they shouldn’t be modified to be sweeter.  Well, I guess they could be bred to be sweeter.  Anyway, I think I’ll stay away from kiwi for now – makes me all phlegmy.

For supper, I basically cleaned out the cupboards and fridge and threw everything into a stew pot – the rest of the arm roast with bone and broth, 1/2 a head of cabbage, some leeks, onions, celery, a can of chicken broth, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, 4 gloves of crushed garlic, garlic power, a little thyme, a little basil, salt, pepper, and you got yourself a stew!  Tim and I both added a little Tabasco to our bowls, and it was pretty good for a kitchen-remnant stew!

Since it’s Friday night, I did enjoy a glass of wine – Tim picked up a Tempranillo from HyVee.  I restrained myself to one glass.  It was very nice.  It helped calm my mind down before bed-time.

My allergies since Monday had been fantastic – until last night.  My eyes were itchy, I started sneezing a lot, and the roof my mouth got all itchy.  Was it the wine?  All those tomatoes?  I don’t know, but I don’t like it.  I’ll have to see how today goes.  I will probably be drinking more wine (our company party is tonight), and I’ll eat some of the leftover stew.  So maybe I’ll have to see how tomorrow goes instead.

This morning for breakfast I am going to make pancakes with coconut flour.  Tim is going  to get us some bacon and berries from HyVee.  I can’t wait. After that I’ll have to make a trip back to the Farmer’s Market to restock on eggs and grass-fed meat.

I woke up this morning from a fevered dream about shopping at Sephora. I had stopped really quick over my lunch hour, to search for just a few things.  Of course, they didn’t have any of the things I wanted, the store was all disorganized, and the stuff I did find, I kept losing somehow or realized after I had in my hand for awhile that it had already been opened and used.  It was a bad, bad dream.  So I woke up and came out to our frigid living room and wrote a blog post.

So that’s the story for yesterday and a little bit of this morning.  Hopefully I can stay pretty much on the wagon today, despite this party tonight.

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

Primal Day 4

heather

See now, doesn’t that look delicious?! It was delicious.  I couldn’t eat it all, though.  I think that eating primally has made my stomach smaller, which is yet another good thing I’ve experienced on this ‘”diet” in the four days I’ve been on it.

For lunch today, I had to get creative, as I went out to Azteca with my boss and our friend, Gus.  I ordered fajitas with chicken and steak.  I topped it with the lettuce & guacamole and left the rice, beans, and tortillas untouched.  Next time I’ll have to tell them to not even bring those things out.  Even though I only ate 1/3 of the food proffered, I was still full at the end of lunch.

For a snack I ate two kiwi, which from all accounts is a magic superfood, and a few macademia nuts to mellow out the sugar rush.

Marta and I were going a little stir crazy on account of the bad weather preventing us from taking our morning and afternoon walks, so instead we hit the stairs and did 5 loops from the east stairwell, down through the main floor atrium, and up the west stairwell.  We got a few queer looks, but it will be we who have the last laugh – what with our healthy bodies and toned calves and whatnot.

After our stairwell trek, we got back down to business, which this afternoon consisted of planning a bake sale fundraiser for our Junior Achievement bowling team.  It’s going to be a doozie of a bake sale.  One of our teammates makes these awesome gourmet cupcakes.  Once the cupcakes even had an Oreo in the bottom of it!  It was a delightful surprise.  Of course I won’t be able to eat any of them, but I can sure sell the heck out of them.  I will be making my world famous (at least family & work famous) chocolate chip cookies, and I’ll also be selling my hand-made crocheted coozies for $5.  The lighting in here sucks right now, but you get the idea.

They are delightful.  Hopefully people will buy them and give me tons of orders for more, so I can quit my job and start crocheting coozies for $10 an hour.

If you care to make a donation to my team, you can do it online here.  We need to raise at least $300, and we’re about 1/2 way there.  I have a feeling that our awesome bake sale will raise like $40.

Okay, I’m back from that tangent.  As I mentioned yesterday, I was going to cook a roast today.  And I did!  It didn’t turn out half-bad.  It may have been slightly overcooked, but it was still tasty.  I re-heated the leftover brussel sprouts from yesterday and steamed a head of broccoli.   It was a very good meal.  I may have to resort to have some chocolate for dessert tonight, though, because Tim is torturing me by making cookies.  I will have to substitute.

On to another tangent, it snowed today!  Look at poor Lucent.

And finally, in regards to exercise.  I was supposed to do 20 to 60 minutes of cardio today, but, well, it snowed, and I didn’t want to go to the gym.  So there.

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Uncategorized

Primal Day 3

heather

Today overall was good.  Had another omelette for breakfast and a big-ass salad for lunch.  I got snacky this afternoon and discovered a delicious treat – celery with macademia nuts.  Take a bite of celery, a piece of macademia, and chew together.  Delicious.  I also had wwwwaaayyyy too many pumpkin seeds.  They were so salty and delicious.  I ate too many.

For supper I tried a recipe from the Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals – sautéed brussel sprouts with pork chops.  I’ve never made brussel sprouts before, but I was willing to try it.  In this recipe, you shred the brussel sprouts in a food processor.  All shredded they look like this:

It makes a mess, but it’s done in a jiffy.  You warm up 1/4 cup of olive oil in a pan, and sautee the sprouts until they start to turn brown.

While those were cooking, I rubbed some pork chops with Spike and then cooked them in some olive oil in a cast iron skillet.  Tim made brown rice to carb it up, but I didn’t partake. By the time the meal was cooked, the kitchen was disaster.  Tim is cleaning it up right now, sweetie pie that he is.

The meal was absolutely delicious.  The brussel sprouts were kind of sweet – tasted like delicate cabbage.  I’ll definitely make that again.  They paired well with the pork chops too.  The pork chops were not grass-fed.  I haven’t found any grass-fed pork locally yet.  Might have to order some on the internet.

Tomorrow I am making a grass-fed arm roast.  I’m already looking forward to it.

The challenge today dictated a “Full length PEM workout.”  That means that I should do 2 sets of the following: 25 pushups, 5 pullups, 2 minutes plank, and 50 squats.  Fortunately Mark recommends “progressions” of these exercises for those who, like me, cannot even do one real push up (yet).  So I did 30 wall push ups, 0 pulls ups (we ordered a Power Tower from Amazon, but it’s not here yet), 1 minute planks and 50 wall squats.  For the 2nd set, I did about 1/2 of everything.  It was exhausting, especially with my legs being super sore from running yesterday.

But I have good news – it’s not all pain – I weighed in at 145.9 today!  Three pounds lighter than Monday.  The large variance is probably due to water weight, but I’ll take it!

So we’re supposed to finally get a few inches of snow over the next couple of days.  I think it’s about time, but I will definitely miss the 50 degree weather.  I’ll have to go back to working out in  a stuffy old gym.  Bah.

My energy level today was not as good as yesterday.  I didn’t sleep well last night, so that could be it.  Maybe my body is adjusting to the lack of carbs.  We’ll see how the rest of the week pans out.

So, take care, and go out in play in the snow tomorrow, if we really get some!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

Primal Day 2

heather

As promised, I will not bore you with pictures and extensive details of everything I ate today.  Here are the quick highlights.

  • I didn’t weigh myself this morning.  See,  I didn’t take a shower this morning, and I only weigh myself before I’ve eaten anything and when I’m nekked.  I don’t want clothing to tip the scales at all.  So, no shower, no weigh-in.
  • For breakfast I ate a super delicious omelet of sautéed (in coconut oil) leeks, spinach, and onions, with 1/4 an avocado.  For those of you who think I mis-spelled “omelet” I direct you to Wikipedia, which says you can spell it “omelet” OR “omelette.”  Tim and I just had a 5 minute discussion about it.  But, I’m off topic.  After breakfast I felt, to borrow a phrase from my brother, Nate, “amazing.”  I had a ton of energy and felt as if I could take on the world.  The sky was prettier, Lucent was cuter, the air was sweeter.  You know – all sorts of good stuff.  My general mood and feeling of well-being could have been enhanced by my visit to my chiropractor last night, admittedly.  She uses the Lifeline Technique, which to quote her website is, “An amazing tool that taps into our subconscious mind to find the causes behind symptoms and unlocks the mysteries to your health’s unanswered questions.”  It sounds a little far out, but it really works for me.  It’s good for what ails ya.  Or me, at least.  OK, back to primal.
  • Lunch was complicated today.  I attended a Chamber luncheon function, which fortunately consisted of salad and then the fixings for sandwiches. I got some salad and a couple slices of roast beef, a pickle, and a tomato slice.  As we were already the first ones in line, I didn’t want to look ultra-greedy, so I took a very modest amount.  It did not fill me up.  So I was snacky this afternoon, but I only ate pumpkin seeds and macademia nuts.
  • That late afternoon snack really energized me.  I took advantage of our 50+ degree weather and went for a walk after work.  I intended to just walk, but once I hit the bike path, I was all like, “Hey, let’s jog.  Why not?”  And I ended up running for 2 miles!  Albeit at a very slow pace.  But, I haven’t jogged since, I don’t know, early November, maybe?  I felt as if I could have gone another mile, but at 5:15, the darkness was already settling in, so I headed home. It was so beautiful being out at that time, though, as dusk was settling in, the sky turning orange and coral and mauve.  So beautiful and peaceful.  Almost peaceful enough to forget that the atomic clock got moved forward a minute.  Sad face.
  • As I mentioned yesterday, I forgot to take meat out of the freezer in time, so we didn’t really have a good entree.  Tim ended up making a monster salad, and I sautéed spinach, celery, leeks, onions and broccoli in coconut oil, and then tried my hand at another omelette (I spelled it the other way, just for you).  It seems like such an easy thing to make, but it was giving me fits.  The eggs got cooked eventually, but it wasn’t pretty.    It was an OK omelet, not as good as this morning’s though.  Maybe too many ingredients?  Too busy?  The broccoli had no place in that omelette, really.   Seems so obvious now.
  • For an after-dinner dessert, I had a small square of a Green & Black Organic 85% dark chocolate bar.  Yes, the bar cost almost $4, which the clerk at HyVee was gracious enough to point out when we commented on ample size of our bill.

And that brings us to right now.  I am drinking tea and writing in my blog.  Oh, we watched an episode of Lost too.  What in the heck is going on in that show?!

Mark Sisson recommends adjusting your schedule to the sun’s natural rythms – wake up when the sun comes out and go to bed, or at least wind down (no digital stimulation) after dark – use candles if possible or yellow bug lights or dimmer switches.  It’s obvious he lives in California, because if I tried that in Iowa, I would be getting up at 7:28AM and going to bed at 4:51PM (thank you to Tim for the exact sunrise & sunset times).  That’s not really feasible to me.  I may try the yellow lights in our lamps and see how that goes.

So, Day 2 is behind me.  Only 19 more to go!  One of my friends at work has promised to bring me in some deer meat, so you get to look forward to my review of that.  Bet you can’t wait.

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

Primal Day 1

heather

I started out the day in a depressing fashion, by taking my weights and measures.  Ugh.  My weekend of debauchery (aka eating pizza and pasta and drinking beer) definitely took its toll.  I weighed in this morning at 149.3, which is higher than I have been in at least a year.  I’m hoping it was mostly water weight, and I’ll be back down to 147ish, which is where I’ve been hovering lately.  And for the measures – 36-31-43.  Sigh.  I have my work cut out for me!

Breakfast!  I sauteed cabbage & Swiss chard in coconut oil, fried 2 eggs over-easy, and added some avocado.

Lunch!  I made a delicious salad of organic herbs and greens, with green peppers, avocado, walnuts, sardines, olive oil and apple cider vinegar.

For supper I made what was essentially a taco salad.  I cooked up a pound of grass-fed meat, adding home-made taco seasoning and used it to top off a salad of romaine hearts, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, and avocado.  I have to say, it was not my favorite meal.  I think I broke up the hamburger into pieces that were too small – kinda got lost in the shuffle.

So, the day in retrospect – My stomach felt good.  My energy was good all day.  I didn’t get hungry between meals really.  After lunch I got snacky, but that was more psychological than pysiological.  I ate some pumpkin seeds, and they were delicious.  In my limited experience eating primally off and on over the past month or so, adding good fat to a meal really does make it last longer.  I used to always eat oatmeal mixed with raisins and cinnamon for breakfast, and I was always hungry by 8:30AM.  For exercise, Marta and I took two walks around the bank, and I took a walk around the block over lunch.  I am wicked sore from doing planks & squats yesterday.  Ouch.

I think it’s going to be a struggle to plan ahead and to have the right groceries in stock.  Already, after Day 1, I’m a little screwed.  I didn’t take anything out of the freezer yesterday, so I’ll probably need to go to the store for some meat tomorrow.  Also, I wanted to make cabbage pesto slaw.  I got half the ingredients, but the recipe called for 4 cups of basil, which would cost like $12 at HyVee.  So I have cabbage but no pesto.  Have to figure that out.

I’m sure this will get easier eventually.  Hopefully.  As for tracking the progress on the blog daily, I’m going to have to reconsider that – at least reconsider the level of detail.  I’m already bored just writing about 3 meals.  No one is going to want to read that everyday.  So, going forward, I’ll just hit the highlights.

Day 1 down, 20 to go!

Health & Fitness

Primal!

heather

Starting Monday I am doing the 21-Day Primal Challenge.  Basically that means no grains, legumes,  peas, corn, or beer.  I’ll be eating mostly grass-fed meat and organic veggies, with some nuts, seeds, and fruits to fill out the day.  I’ll be doing pull-ups, planks, squats, and push-ups plus non-chronic cardio.  For 21 days.

Why am I doing this?  My health is good, by all standard measurements.  But I’m scared by the random arthritic twinges, the size 10 jeans that are starting to feel a little snug, the constant allergic reactions to *something* every evening and morning. I’m hoping that by eating a diet of chemical-free veggies and meat, I’ll be able to overcome some of the maladies I feel onsetting me and stave off others by which I have yet to be afflicted.

I figured I can try this for 21 days, and if I don’t feel better, I can go back to my old ways, no harm, no foul.  But, if I do feel better, healthier, more vibrant, more energetic, then thank God.  And if my pants fit better as well, so be it.  Man, do I ever hate tight pants.

So my blog is going to become a record of this challenge for the next 21 days. I expect to post pictures of my delicious, primal meals, along with a quick synopsis of my overall health/wellness for the day.  Admittedly, this may be boring to many readers, and for that I apologize. However, being a weak, easily-distracted girl of almost 35, I need the added  inducement of being held accountable for my resolutions by the 6-10 people who read this blog.  So, thank you, and I’m sorry.

If you think that I am taking advantage of this weekend before the new eating plan starts to drink beer, eat pizza, and to otherwise enjoy all sorts of unhealthy behavior, you would be entirely correct.

Take care, and I’ll see you tomorrow when I plan to post pre-primal stats.  Hopefully in 3 weeks, I will be healthier, happier, more focused, and more energetic.

If you are interested in the primal “movement” and what it all means, check out these sites:

www.marksdailyapple.com

http://www.uiowa.edu/be-remarkable/portfolio/people/wahls-t.html

Uncategorized

4.5 Day Weekend

heather

Ah, weekends.  Long weekends.  They are the best.  I took off last Thursday at 11:30 and didn’t return until this morning.  We toyed with the idea of going somewhere and doing something with the extended time off, but we ended up staying pretty close to home and just chilling.

We went to Iowa City on Friday, ate some deeeeeelicious falafel from Oasis Falafel, got a couple of pints at Deadwood, looked at Dick Blick wistfully, as is my wont, and then came home.

We ate, we drank, I beat the pants off Tim at Scrabble. We made good food – good kimchi, good cookies, tasty pork roast, etc.  We watched some movies, slept in until 7 or 8 each day, went to the gym a few times.  Just enjoyed the time off and eachother, basically.

It’s so rare to be able to just spend time at home.  I always feel like we should be out DOING something.  Going somewhere, meeting people, making an effort.  Sometimes it’s just nice to veg out for a few days and enjoy our little house and our little dog.

When I came home for lunch today, I realized that I was a little homesick already.  Tim and I are already pretty dedicated homebodies, which is something we need to keep an eye on, but for 4.5 days, it was nice to just give in and be cozy.

Books

The Hunger Games

heather

On the recommendation of a countless number of people, I read The Hunger Games.  I just finished it up on Sunday, and I’m still trying to figure out what I think of it.  Please note – spoilers will follow, so don’t read this if you want the entire book to be a surprise.

The book reminded me of Harry Potter and Twilight, in that it’s a quick, engrossing read.  You don’t want to put the book down until you find out what happens.  The language is easy to follow and fairly simplistic.  The concepts are more complicated however, as the book is about a gruesome fight-to-the-death and 1984-like government oppression.  It’s very gruesome, in point of fact.  One of the participants in the “Hunger Games” gets attacked and eaten by a pack of wild dogs that are really resurrected former Games players.  Dark.

The true thread of the story though, is the story of Katniss, the girl hunter who wows the crowd and makes everyone fall in love with her, including the fellow tribute from her home district, District 12.  This boy, Peeta, has been in love with Katniss since the age of 5, a fact that the organizers of the games choose to exploit for viewership and interest.

Despite the history and actions of Peeta over the course of the 10 years they’ve known each other, Katniss prefers to assume that he is just “acting” in order to win the games.  I can’t believe that a 16-year-old girl would be that dense.  She is conflicted by another sort of love interest, her hunting partner, Gale.  They never were anything but friends, but the faux romance with Peeta (for the benefit of the games) makes her contemplate her relationship with  Gale.

A movie is being made of the book.  I read a review/preview, and the writer was lamenting that it seems as if the love triangle (ala Team Jacob/Team Edward) was going to play center stage.  In my mind, however, that IS center stage.  The relationship between Peeta & Katniss is the main motivating force of the story.  Without that, it’s just a death match.

Which brings me to my point, that this is really a love story, which is not what I thought it was going to be.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  I love a good love story.  But, this one annoyed me.

Katniss is so mean to Peeta.  She is cold, and he is sweet and caring and self-sacrificing.  Sure, Katniss puts herself on the line to save Peeta, but it seems as if the ONLY reason she is doing it, is to survive the games.  The Gamemakers make a rule-change stating that unlike past years, this year two tributes can “win” the games, as long as they are from the same district.  Once that announcement is made, Katniss is all for playing up the romance with Peeta and taking advantage of all that means.

I really did not like Katniss very much.  Of course she will do anything for her family – she volunteered to be tribute in lieu of her sister, in fact.  However, she seems narrow-minded and harsh – disingenuous even.  And she hurts Peeta in the end.

I haven’t read books 2 or 3, so maybe things turn out all right, but I don’t seee how they can, if Katniss remains true to the character developed in the first book.

All-in-all, the book is good, especially for a young adult book.  The theme is very timely – oppression by the government and the desire to remain true to oneself in the face of that.  Those concepts are good.  I just was not a fan of Katniss, which is unfortunate, since she is the main character.  It is nice to see a strong, female lead – a girl who can take care of herself and others in her life, however.

Read it, and tell me what you think!

Health & Fitness

Turmeric Terror

heather

I read somewhere, I don’t quite recall where, that you can make a refreshing face mask out of yogurt mixed with the spice turmeric.  Well, I was cleaning out the fridge today and found an expired container of Fage.  I scrounged around and found some turmeric from who knows when, mixed the two of them together, and presto!  Cheapo face mask.

I slathered my face in the orange paste and let it harden into the consistency of sunbaked clay over the course of 20 minutes. Then I washed my face.  Or attempted to wash my face.  The mask was pasted on.  After a lot of scrubbing, I brought my face up to the mirror, hoping, nay expecting, to see baby-soft, glowing skin.

Instead I saw screaming, angry red blotches all over my face.  In fact, there was a clear line of demarcation on my forehead where the mask stopped and the unassaulted flesh began.

My face, everywhere the mask had been, was bright, sensitive red.  Oh my god, what had I done?!

I rubbed lotion all over my face to no avail.  The heat, my God the heat!

I doused a washcloth with milk and rested it over my skin, dabbing at the injured flesh.  The milk cooled it down, but the redness was only slightly reduced.

I started thinking of reasons to call in sick to work tomorrow.  I can’t very well tell my boss, “I seared my flesh with a witch’s brew of yogurt and decades old turmeric.”

Eventually, however, the tightness and redness started to simmer down.  And now, 5 hours later, the only traces of my brush with a Phantom of the Opera-like visage, is baby soft, glowing skin.  It just took awhile.

So, lessons learned?

1.  Maybe don’t experiment with home remedies on the most obvious part of  your body.

2.  Maybe don’t leave a mask on your face to the point where you almost need a jackhammer to get it off.

3.  Eat yogurt.  Don’t put it on your face.