17 days and Counting!

First of all, welcome to our new friends who are just now joining us on our Primal journey! And much appreciation for Lew Rockwell's posting of our blog on his blog! See it here: Click me!


Let's see... I started off the day with a three-egg omelet ( I always want to spell "omelet" with two "T"s, I think it looks better that way) and a few slices of bacon. Yum! This breakfast always keeps me full for at least four hours. Definitely worth the time and money (which is really not all that much).

And then I shopped around town to find some organic, clean ingredients to make a cake for Elizabeth. This takes a lot of time when you live in a place that is restricted in healthy foods. If you want to eat a lot of fast-food with little nutritional value, this is place to be! 

I found some coconut flour and coconut chips (shaved coconut) and a few other things... like, who knew there was such a thing as bottled avocado oil? Well, I'm sure many of you did know this, but it was news to me. I had to buy it of course.  Now... how to use it? Is it used to drizzle on salads, or mainly to cook with, anybody know?


Tom and I opened the coconut chips, just to try it out, and now I think I'm addicted to them! They are very versitile too. Add it to trail mix, to steamed vegetables, as a cupcake topping, or just on its own. The kids loved the crunch of it. And while I've never been a fan of coconut, this organic stuff is sooo different than anything else, it's really a subtle flavor, and it tricks your mouth into thinking it's having a sweet treat. Win. Win. Win. 


After the omelet I don't think I had lunch. I just wasn't hungry. I had some the coconut chips, and about 2 ounces of trail mix (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and a few (as in maybe one in every handful) dried cherries) and lots of water.  I was starving by dinner time though, but I find it comforting to actually feel 'real' hunger for a change. 


Dinner was a roasted turkey breast (I made about seven pounds of turkey breast the night before) and fresh green beans (a ton of them!) which were heated in bacon grease, and had coconut chips added in, and some sea salt.  It was so good!  I admit, it's still weird to have "just two things" for dinner. We're used to a meat, a starch, a veg, and rolls or salad. Nobody left the table hungry though, so I think it will start to seem normal soon. 


Also, for kids who are a bit resistant: I bought the kiddie paper plates which are cartoon animals (don't know what they're called) and started serving food on this. I want to experiment and see if it makes a difference in how the kids perceive the food or not. I'll keep you posted! 


And I would suggest buying the smallest paper plates you can find (or using your tiny salad plate) as your new dinner plate. The smaller the plate, the easier it is to fill the plate with just a meat and veg (or whatever it is you do) and trick your brain into thinking it's still a full dinner... well, it is a full dinner, but ... you know what I mean. 


We now keep olive oil and butter on the table as regular condiments to drizzle on just about anything. That's also taking a little getting used to--getting past the "it's bad for you" hype--but really, really yummy! 

I think Tom ordered a Ninja blender last night, and I can't wait for it to arrive! The smoothies are the quickest breakfast by far. And giving the girls eggs in the mornings is time-consuming and I am running out of eggs frequently.


So the girls had four eggs each for breakfast today. I mixed in butter and some coconut oil in hopes of it keeping them full.  I think it worked too well. They weren't that hungry for lunch. Oops. 


Lunch Boxes:  
Breakfast: scrambled eggs and a small handful of grapes
Lunch: 2-4 pieces of leftover meat, a bit of cheese (cheddar or feta) and a handful of cut bell peppers
Snack: Pistachios.


They were hungry when they came home, but I think more out of habit than real hunger.  I really need to figure out how many calories they need to be taking in, and if it is matching up with what they are being given. The trouble with being in school is there are designated times to eat and I can't force them to eat when they'd rather be playing with friends (during lunchtime).  I may have to make breakfast their highest calorie meal, lunch the fewest calories, and dinner pretty hefty as well. All of my kids (except Elizabeth who is a tiny little thing) are right in the middle of healthy BMI range, and I don't want them losing weight.  


BMI calculators can be a good tool to gauge your or your child's health. Try it out!

 This link is for adults.                 And this one for children.


Not sure what Tom had for breakfast, but for lunch he made avocado deviled eggs. He says he really enjoyed them. He did not take a photo of them though. :\


If you're interested, here is the recipe.  Let us know what you think!


So happy birthday to our little Elizabeth and good night!

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to our youngest daughter, Elizabeth!

                                                                             Elizabeth, two years old

She turned two today! My primary goal for today was to find a Primal-friendly cake to make for tonight. I found many interesting look recipes, but all of them wanted anywhere from 1/2 cup to 1.5 cups of maple syrup, agave sugar, or other sugars I've never even heard of. I think that's too much, especially for being in the middle of the Three Week Challenge.

I was really sad thinking she wouldn't have a cake. I know there are all those "but she's so much better for its" and "a bowl of fruit is just as yummy!"  comments, but cake is a tradition and that does count for something. I had decided I would just have to make a coconut mousse and call it cake. Then... I remembered a friend had sent me a link for lemon poppyseed muffin.

Well, I didn't have any poppyseeds, and no time to go buy them, so I thought I'd just make the lemon muffin part and then top with heavy cream a bit of melted dark chocolate. Turned out well!

The recipe does call for 1/2 cup raw honey, but I'm still unclear on if we can have honey during the first three weeks or not, so I cut that down to 1/4 cup, which came out to roughly 8g of (natural) sugar per muffin. Not bad!  And, raw honey is said to help with candida IF taken in moderation. I don't have any sources that can pin that down definitively, but it is such a trivial amount, I felt okay about it.

Here's the recipe (thanks to Elizabeth Imeson!)

•  Grain Free Lemon Poppyseed Muffins 1/4 cup coconut flour
  4 pastured, local eggs
  1/4 cup local honey of choice
  1/4 cup expeller pressed coconut oil or butter
  1/4 tsp sea salt
  1/4 tsp baking soda
  1 TBL poppy seeds
  1-3 TBL fresh lemon juice (adjust based on how lemony you want the muffins to taste)
  Soften coconut oil or butter and blend all ingredients together in a bowl until smooth.   Bake at 350F for about 10-12 minutes.    Makes about 20 mini muffins.
  
  find more at www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com
  
  
  
    
  Lemon muffins with a simple ganache and shaved coconut
  
  
  Everybody loved them!

Tom's Update--two weeks in

Overall I'm glad we've decided to do it. I wasn't the worst eater in the world, but I had been getting progressively worse over the years, as a sweet tooth I didn't have as a young man really came to the fore. And now that I understand food better, I realize that even my non-dessert eating was far from ideal. So I know it's a good and important step forward to move away from my old habits.

Still, I am torn. For one thing, I'm not very handy in the kitchen, and if you're going to have much variety with this approach you will need to be, at least more so than I am. That's fixable in time, of course. Another is that I feel I need another 5-10 good recipe ideas that are relatively non-time-consuming, both for lunch and dinner. I'm in the process of gathering them. I'm not as enthusiastic about salads -- although I do eat them -- as most of the people who eat this way seem to be, so I need something else.

Another thing is that traveling while doing this is very difficult. Airport restaurants seem calculated not to support you.

And frankly, I very much do miss pizza and desserts. Not to mention that bland beverages are no substitute for the Coke or orange juice I used to enjoy.

Now I do realize these things are bad for me. But I think people understate how difficult it is to give these things up. Or maybe they didn't care for them as much as I do. I still want a big plate of macaroni and cheese. And I like munching on something in front of a movie. Someone actually suggested I dump popcorn for kale chips. Kale chips?

So I do appreciate the health benefits of this, believe me, and I know there are lots of delicious foods we can eat without counting calories. All of that is great. But I still crave a calzone -- from the local joint, and not made from scratch with almond flour after an hour's worth of effort.

One consolation is that I live in Topeka. To paraphrase my friend Bill Kauffman, finding good pizza in Topeka is like looking for the Juice Newton wing in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So my biggest temptations aren't exactly staring me in the face.

I imagine myself sticking to it, but looking forward to the 20% deviation in the 80/20 ratio.

Day 16 and Still Kickin'

 Well another day successfully down!


I spent four or five hours in the kitchen today. I did a lot of chopping, bagging, and labeling...  but now my fridge is wonderful rainbow of colors!  I thought about taking a photo... so I did... but now I'm too tired to go into the kitchen and find the camera to upload it here.  It's pretty though! I keep opening the door just to look at it. 


Okay, moving on.... 


Let's see, what did we do today (other than chop vegetables)?  Not much, really.  


Let's start with Lunch Boxes:


Breakfast: 4oz Greek yogurt with 1/2 tsp raw honey, and 1 tbsp coconut oil, and a handful of blueberries. 
Lunch:  Salad (greens, peppers, carrots, celery, cucumbers) with strips of steak (cooked the night before). Salad dressing was the lemon juice and olive oil. 
Snack: Trail mix 


Okay, they *hated* the breakast. They will eat Greek yogurt perfectly well if they think it's sour cream, but they refuse to eat it otherwise.  :::sigh:::  Breakfasts are so annoying when you have to rush out the door. 


They were hungry when they came home from school. I thought that was odd, but figured out because they "just didn't have enough time to finish our salad."  Gah


 I had a fruit tray waiting for them as an after-school snack (apples, blue/ras/black berries, and leftover cantalope). I wanted some fat to go with it, but I knew yogurt was out as a base. So I thought and thought and came up with this: Coconut Cinnamon Butter Dip.  They absolutely loved it. 


CCBD


2 sticks butter (organic of course)
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
a smidge of honey, but not too much


Put all ingredients into a glass bowl. You can either microwave or steam the bowl until it's all melted. Stir together well. Then stick in the fridge until it starts to set (but not too much)...stir and serve. 


It was very buttery, but the cinnamon and cloves gave it a nice warmth and hints of sweetness. Try it! Lots of good fats, good brain food, and it really helps curb hunger. 


Dinner was mashed cauliflower (steamed with garlic, mash with butter, a bit of salt and pepper) and pork medallions (which was leftovers from lunch the other day). And a side of orange bell peppers. 


They didn't care for the cauliflower this time around, but too bad, they had to eat it. 


Then they wanted pistachios. Is there anything wrong with pistachios? Probably, since it's one of the few foods everybody likes and nobody is allergic to.  I gave them a few each and told them no more food until they drank a lot of water. 


My (ex)doctor a few years back told me that children (and often-time adults) confuse the feeling of thirst for hunger. I have really found this to be true. I always have them drink at least six ounces of water, and then wait about twenty minutes before they eat. After the water, they either forget they were hungry, or they eat less than they otherwise would have. 


I basically had the same lunch as the girls did, but mine was much bigger, which was a good thing because Elizabeth came along and ate half of it. 


Oh yes, Elizabeth... well, she's been extremely difficult to deal with the last ten days or so. She's always been high-maintenance, but man is she cranky and clingy lately. She's refused to eat anything except yogurt and some fruit for a good two weeks now. I always give her a plate of whatever it is the rest of us are having, but it usually ends up on the floor. Anyway... she was a moody monster this morning. I put her in for an early nap and she slept for three hours! She usually wakes up crying from her naps, but today she was all smiles "Hiiiiii!"  She was really happy, bouncy, and then ate half my salad!  I am thinking the worsening of her moods and food issues were caused by yeast die-off. I really hope we have turned a corner with all the kids at this point. 


Tom and I went to the movies, and then had dinner at a new (to us) steak house around here. I ordered extra steak so I could bring it home for tomorrow's breakfast. Score. While the steak and steamed squash was decent, both Tom and I agreed that we miss potatoes with steak. At the same time I wasn't really tempted to eat them, but I did miss them. Not sure that makes sense.


 My resolve for this week is to get more sleep. Going to bed at midnight, then getting up at seven is just not cutting it.


The 25th is Elizabeth's second birthday! Tomorrow's goal is to find a Primal friendly cake (of sorts) I can make (without too much labor/time) for her. I still haven't figured out if we can have desserty things during the three week challenge or not.  Anybody know?

Day 15

 Well, I feel like I can start to relax a bit. Really, no matter how much people say "it's no big deal. It's easy!"  It's not. Anytime you have a major change in your routine, it's a bit stressful. However, it is extremely rewarding. So do it! 

The kids woke up today all crying, saying they were light headed, and they just didn't feel right. So I panicked, wondered what I had done to my dear children, and then... I fed them a banana and told them to get dressed. They ate the banana, and ten minutes later, they were smiling and bouncing off the walls. I think it's too much on them to cut out fruit. They're kids. They can take it. And they need it. I want to focus more on them eating real foods, rather than just filler snacks. Although, I don't want them to have as much as they had been having. 


I woke up early (blah!) today so I could take the new blender out of the box and get it ready to make coconut smoothies for the girls' breakfast. The stupid thing was not able to crunch through six straberries and mango pieces. Piece of junk. So back to the drawing board on which blender to buy.

Any suggestions?

I bought each girl a special "sweat free" cup with straw that we will use for smoothies. They were very excited. Kids are so cute sometimes. Anyway... they drank the smoothie (I really hate the word "smoothie" by the way) and seemed satisfied. It had lots of fat, protein, and lots of vitamins/minerals. And they *loved* it. 


Lunch was a salad (I bought special "salad on the go" containers which hold dry salad, and a separate container for dressing): Romaine lettuce, cucumbers, bell peppers, a few carrots, sunflower seeds, bits of ham, and a pinch of cheese (for Amy). The dressing was one part lemon juice and two parts olive oil. 


For snack I gave the a two ounce serving of homemade trail mix. 


I volunteer during lunch time at the kids' school on Mondays, so I was able to keep an eye on how much they ate, and if they liked it.  Amy and Regina loved it all. Veronica says she tired of salad. I laughed saying this was only the third (traditional) salad she's had over the last two weeks. Apparently, she's still angry. Oh well. Her salad cup was empty by the time she walked in the door to the house. Nice. 


Annnnnd, there was no "we're just so starving!!!"   FINALLY!  Thanks to all who helped with high-fat ideas, and limited fruits during the day suggestions. :) 


Dinner was a Taco Salad.  Ground chuck, tomatoes, guacamole, lettuce, greek yogurt, and about a half ounce of cheese (Feta for the allergy kids). All of them had seconds, and Veronica had thirds! I'm not much of a fan of ground beef, but it was good enough. We needed some salsa with it though. I bought some pork rinds, thinking the kids could use it as a chip/dip type deal. Veronica is the only one who liked them. Ahhh, trial and error is the name of the game lately.


Anyway, before bed they asked for a snack, which was about an ounce of trail mix. They seemed happy going off to bed. 


Veronica seemed (other than the salad thing) much better today. I'm hoping it's the increase in fats and it will continue to get better. 

Tom has exactly 24 hours to get me his update, or I shall start revealing one secret after another until I do get the update.  

My headaches have been mostly gone. I find they come back if I go too long without eating though. So I definitely don't starve myself. And I do need to work in some form of exercise. I'm still trying to work out something that compliments our family schedule. So far I run from 7am til about 9pm and I am not exercising at night. Anyway... we'll see what happens on that. 

Oh, my blood pressure has dropped TEN points. BP issues run in my family from the time we're young (18 or so) and kinda just hang around. I'm excited about this and I hope it continues to decrease. 


Anyway, I'm beat. I was up doing housework until about 1am and then have to get up six hours later. Ew. 


Thanks for joining us this far!

First Official Weigh-In!

:::Drum Roll please:::


I have officially lost 7 pounds, 2.5% body fat, and 2 inches around my waist. Ta-daaa! 

It's like magic. I've never been hungry (except on purpose: choosing to wait an extra half hour until dinner), I don't feel deprived (except of Coke), and I feel so much better!


I have a lot more patience. I can wake up much more easily (which is huge because I *hate* mornings). And I find myself sleeping better, more productive, and just generally more happy.  


I am going to call this success! 


Tom has lost .... 7 pounds as well! I don't know about the body fat and such, but his stomach is flatter! 


None of my girls have lost weight. A very good thing :)  I asked each child what she liked about the diet and each one said great things. 

Regina: "Oh I sleep much better. I used to just lay there and it would be really late before I could fall asleep. And I can wake up and not be so tired." 

Veronica: "Well... I still want cookies. I fall asleep right away now. And I don't have to spend a lot of time in the bathroom anymore! 


Regina: "Yeah, me either!"


Amy:  "Well, I used to toss around all night, and I don't do that anymore."   


I can say that all three of them have been less moody overall. They do have their days though where they really hate the "diet" and we have a couple of meltdowns every once in a while, but overall, everything is going really well!


That's it for now. Be back later tonight!

Food Photos! (day 14)

Hm. thought I had more than just the lunch photos. Oh well. Here you go anyway. Tell me it's not a pretty lunch!

Bacon/brussel sprouts/bacon salad!

 Veronica says she is too hungry to wait.

The girls being Primal.

Voila!

The uneven bacon coverage is bothering me