Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Day Three

     Today was a much better day for me.

     I woke up with just a touch of a headache, but nothing like yesterday, thank goodness. A bit more energy, and fairly upbeat. I do find that I need about an hour more of sleep. I could barely peel my eyes open this morning. I am sleeping better overall (thank the Lord!), so I'm excited about that.  

     Can't say the same for the rest of the family, unfortunately.

    When I finally managed to get out of bed, Regina came into the room saying that she felt sick to her stomach, dizzy, and "really weird."  Then I walk into the living room and I see Veronica curled up on the couch looking like a sad little puppy. She too said she felt "a bit strange" and dizzy. Amy seemed okay, but you can never really tell with her. 

   I was hoping that the kids wouldn't have to suffer with Carb Flu. It really isn't any fun. I wasn't sure what to do... I couldn't send them to school this way, but they had to go to school after having so many days off for Christmas break. So I did what any good mother would do and told them to suck it up and get in the car.  Okay, no, I didn't. I felt terrible for them.

   I managed to find a lone container of oatmeal I had forgotten to toss out the week before. I made them each about a half cup of oatmeal mixed with coconut oil (for the fats) and about 2 teaspoons of pure maple syrup (antioxidants). 

   Now, of course this is not really allowed within the first three weeks of the Primal Blueprint, but I think kids do need some carbs here and there, so I figured 1/2 cup grains in three days wasn't going to kill them. It worked like a charm. They were happy and back to normal by the time we pulled into school.

   Even still, I went into the school and spoke to each teacher and asked them to please callme if the kids seemed too lethargic, or restless, or overly-emotional. I didn't receive any calls from them, so I'm taking that to mean the girls did just fine during the day.  By the time the arrived home, however, they were extremely edgy, yelling, crying... you know, all that fun stuff you just love to listen to. I just hurried to get dinner on the table and that really helped calm them down. 

  Tom was knocked out of commission today as well. I think he would have slept until noon on his own. I had to wake him though around 10:30... for most the day/evening he suffered with a headache, weakness, tired, etc. I told him to eat fat. He didn't believe me. So he felt worse longer than I did, which just confirms my belief that fat is your friend during the first week or so of this detox. He seems to be doing better now (late at night), but a bit tired. 

   The lunch boxes today consisted of: 
                         Breakfast: oatmeal with fat and antioxidants
                         Lunch:      Cold chicken and bell peppers (Amy had an ounce of peanut butter*)
                         Snack:      nuts and raisins
                         Drink:       bottled water

All lunch boxes came home empty!
*Peanuts are not really Primal approved, but we are finishing up some stuff we had already opened.


   Dinner (for the kids) was chicken breast strips (baked with olive oil, pepper, salt, onion and garlic powder, and a touch of oregano). And a side of cubed butternut squash, which was tossed with sea salt, cracked pepper, and a small drizzle of maple syrup, then baked for 20 minutes (at 350). When it came out, I added a few cranberries for color and texture. I'm not a huge fan of squash, but I thought it was decent. Three of the four girls loved it. Veronica hated the texture of it. 

 Wednesday is typically date night for Tom and me, so we ate a Mexican place. We ordered fajitas without chips, tortillas, rice, or beans (basically "no fun stuff, please!"), and ate it off the hot plate. We thought it went pretty well. Tom loves to eat the chips, so that was rough for him. I've yet to find a decent chip here in Kansas (why are they always stale or way too thick?), so I didn't mind so much. I did miss the rice and beans though. Upside is: we were able to eat most of the fajita mix this time around. Typically we get too full with the carb-y junk to finish off the really good stuff. I almost missed my Coke, but I found water with lemon was perfectly fine. What is this stupid diet doing to me?! Water over Coke? Bah!

   Then we went to the movies (saw Ides of March) and sat there without any popcorn, or drinks, or anything. Sad, sad, sad! Well, turns out the anticipation of not having those things was sadder than actually not having them. So, again, mental games will make this thing more difficult for you. Just take it one meal, snack, bite at a time, and it will be easy to handle.


   I'm hoping tomorrow is a better day for Tom and the kids. And I'm hoping I'm past my Carb Flu phase. I'm just a bit tired, but try to eat a small bit of something when that happens, and it generally helps. 

 Also, thank God for dark chocolate! It's allowed on the Primal Blueprint, yay! Everyone who eats all his/her lunch and dinner will receive one square of dark chocolate (don't even think about asking for seconds!). It's interesting, really. A week ago my kids (and myself) would have just said "ONE piece of chocolate? It's not worth that." And this week it's "WHOOOOAAA, really?! A.W.E.S.O.M.E."  Ahh, the small joys in life. 

  This week I am going to try to have a post containing just recipes that have worked not only for us adults, but also for the kids, and have been time-friendly.  

   Let me know if you have recipes you would like to add to it (and if you want your real name next to it) and I will try to work it in to the post. You can leave it in a comment box, or email me at hwoods2002@gmail.com

   Now off to bed for me!

9 comments:

  1. I went primal roughly three months ago. The results have been amazing. I've lost about 35 lbs and gone from a 42' waist to a 36'. The first two weeks are usually difficult, but if you guys stick with it, you'll start to see and feel the changes.

    Anyway, here is a low-carb pizza recipe I tried the other night. It's delicious.

    Blend 8 oz cream cheese and 4 eggs. Add a half cup of mozzarella to the mix, and bake for 25-30 min at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and add your favorite toppings. We used tomato sauce, cheddar, more mozzarella and pepperoni - total man food. Then, bake for another 10 minutes.

    The crust came out a bit thick for my liking. If you don't mind that, cool. If you do, try using one less egg and 4 or 6 oz of cream cheese.

    The whole pizza was 1900 calories, 56 carbohydrates, 86 grams protein. The only sugar in the recipe comes from the sauce.

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  2. That's awesome. Sounds like you guys are really doing it! Just got stocked up and have been doing lots of stirfry...sort of gearing up. Getting an idea of what my husband will and won't eat in the way of cooked and uncooked veggies. Picking it up on the fly, but we're heading in the right direction. Kids aren't hating life yet. Haven't entirely pulled the plug on them. Tomorrow is going to probably our first "real" primal day. Wish us luck.

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  3. I'm relatively new to the Paleo lifestyle, and with the schedule my wife and I keep, I needed one-pot meals that could be frozen and pulled out for dinner. So I found out that a Hungarian stew, Bigos, is really an ideal Paleo one-potter.

    Ingredients:
    1 head cabbage
    2 14.5 oz. cans of sauerkraut
    2 8 oz. cans of tomato sauce
    3 lbs. pork (butt or loin - whatever is on hand)
    1 lb. bacon
    2 lbs. kielbasa
    1 large onion, diced
    2 cloves garlic, minced

    1) Chop up the cabbage into strips and boil until tender. Drain and reserve.
    2) Boil sauerkraut in 2 cups of water. Drain and reserve kraut and water.
    3) Fry bacon, remove from pan. Reserve bacon fat.
    4) Cut pork into cubes and fry in the bacon fat.
    5) Slice sausage into bite-size pieces.
    6) In a large stock pot, saute onion and garlic in butter; when onion and garlic are cooked, add all remaining ingredients to stock pot and mix together. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer for 1-2 hours to let the flavors blend.

    The bigos freezes perfectly. It's also not sensitive to substitutions, in general - I like the kielbasa for flavor though. I've used chicken breast instead of pork, or just a few different kinds of sausage.

    best,
    Jeff

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  4. Heather, I'm a huge fan of Tom's, and now of you! It is so hard for me to change the way I'm used to eating, but you are an awesome example to me. Thank you! I wanted to share this video I saw yesterday, about a doctor who cured her MS by eating paleo and she laid out her self-designed diet (basically paleo,) and it helped me so much to think more correctly about eating-- its so easy for me to fall into the worldly way of thinking of food in the negative, what not to eat, so I'm not fat-- such a superficial way of thinking of food--> to focusing on what I should eat and how it will make me strong! We moms need all the strength we can get! After watching this video yesterday, I wrote on my fridge: 3 cups greens, 3 cups sulfur, 3 cups colors, meat and eggs (free range of course!) That will make sense when you watch the video.

    Anyway, I hope this video is encouraging and uplifting for you!

    http://youtu.be/KLjgBLwH3Wc

    Best wishes,
    Andrea

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  5. Good job on the diet! I changed the way I ate about a year ago and am surprised how much better I feel. Its hard at first, but if you stick with it, it is worth it. Over time it becomes habit, and in a shorter period than you think, you'll look back at what you ate and how it made you feel and wonder "Why didn't I do this sooner?"

    At least that's what I asked myself after about two months. Keep up the good work and don't hesitate to lean on your readers if you're having a hard time. We'll lift you up if you need it!

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  6. If you'll just hang in there, long term you'll be glad you did.

    What works for me is to keep learning. Then I understand why I am eating this way, rather than simply using willpower.

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  7. Thank you all for the great comments, recipes, and encouragement :O)

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  8. My wife and I went primal in August and have had great results. I struggle with the celebrations and excuses to eat one of my old foods, but even that has gone better than I anticipated. I have made modifications to some traditional recipes to make them primal - with very good success. If you have facebook, you can see pics of my food and message me for some recipes. Look me up: Wolfgang Grok. Thanks, and good luck!

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  9. We bought the Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals and it is fantastic! (www.amazon.com/Primal-Blueprint-Quick-Easy-Meals/dp/09822077)

    I'm on day 17 and have lost 12 pounds effortlessly, all while eating like royalty. Yes, there are tough days, but it is so worthwhile.

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