Delicious dessert: whipped coconut cream and melted 72% dark chocolate.

 It has Amy's vote!

Regina loves it too!

Veronica says "Half good. Half bad."

Day Ten

Nothing too exiting today, I'm afraid.


Today I went grocery shopping. Typically I really hate it. The menu planning, the list making, the shopping, and the making sure I got everything... putting it all away... argh! Hate it.


Interestingly, Going Primal saves a ton of time in the grocery store. A friend of mine (hi, Sarah!) gave me a great tip: No menu planning is needed. Since most meals are a meat with vegetables, almost anything goes, so just shop the perimeter of the grocery store, and stock up on what's on sale, or the things you really want. Through together when appropriate. Awesome!


I start in the produce section, go to the Organic section, and throw stuff into the cart. There are some things I need that I am unable to get at my local grocery store, so while I try to stay as clean as possible, I can't at all times... but I figure a non-organic cherry tomato is much better than a box of donuts. Well, that's what I tell myself. I don't know that my mouth believes it.


Then we get the cheese, broth, and other misc items needed. Onto the meat... I grab a few things, whatever looks good that day. Then I hit the egg/dairy section, and just toss in a few things. Then we're out the door!  It takes about 35 minutes. Pre-Primal trips took closer to an hour to go through the store, then another twenty to check out. 


And I might add I am only paying approx. an extra $20 per week. Well worth it to me ... no menus, and extra time to boot!


The one issue that does take a bit of time is the cutting up of all the produce once you get home. You will say "there goes the saved time!" but, not really. If you're like me, you can really multi-task while you're at home. Liiike, you could chop celery *and* watch Dr. G on TV. Or skype with your sister while you're slicing up the onions. Can't do those things at the grocery store!


Okay, so the kids went back to school, so it's Lunch Box time!


Breakast: Fruit and nuts
Lunch:  Grilled chicken breast
Snack: a few fresh vegetables


They had a light lunch box today since I hadn't been to the grocery store at the time of packing them. They seemed fine with it though.  They were hungry when I picked them up. So the quest of "what to pack that they'll like, and will last them all day" is still underway.  PLEASE, give me suggestions! Not just "kids like" but what packs the most filling punch within the smallest package. They don't seem to eat a whole lot at a time. And they don't have many other chances to eat throughout the day.


I was headache-free for most of the day. It seems to come back around 6ish pm, but nothing terrible. And today I've just dragged. But! I still feel better overall than I did Pre-Primal.


The kids seem to be doing a bit better today as well. Woohoo!  And I'm still waiting on a report from Tom. He did make all his own meals today, which is great, because I didn't have time to do it. And we don't want him to starve.


I guess there is a light at the end of the tunnel  :)

Days Eight and Nine

So we have to double this post since I was driving from Oklahoma to Kansas last night and didn't have a chance to blog at all.

So day eight (Monday) I *still* had a headache. Nothing horrible. Just annoying. While the kids and I visited the grandparents, we brought our stock of fruits, vegetables, yogurt, nuts, and a rotisserie chicken. We would just graze on these things throughout the day, and it really kept us satisfied! 


For dinner that night we had dinner at a nice Chinese buffet. I warned the girls before hand that there would be nothing fried, no noodles, no canned fruits and definitely no desserts. They really weren't too happy about it--they love Lo Mein.


Once we went up to the buffet it really was fun watching the girls talk to each other about what they could and could not have. They would discuss which dishes had grains, and which ones had protein, and how they wish they could eat some noodles, but they don't want to get a stomachache. They were perfectly happy with their selections, which included: Beef and broccoli, roasted chicken, pork steak, steamed vegetables, fresh fruit, shrimp (ew!), etc.  One of the great things was most of the dishes had no MSG, and really had nice, clean flavors. (One thing I've noticed since going off grains is I can really taste food now. I can taste cinnamon in a dish I previously had no idea had any additional flavorings. I'm not sure why it's working out this way, but I'll take it!)


The difficult part came when the waitress brought us fortune cookies. The girls pleaded with me ... couldn't they have just one fortune cookie, please?! It killed me to say no. They really almost cried (and I felt their pain). I made it better by promising to make them a Primal-approved Chocolate Mousse as soon as we got home to Kansas.


We left feeling full and satisfied, but not feeling bloated and tired. It really is worth going Primal, everyone! 

DAY NINE

FINALLY, I woke up without a headache! I've had a constant headache since Day 2, and I was just beginning to think it was never going to go away. It really was getting me down. The achy muscles are about 80% better.  I don't know what to credit it to for sure, but I've been drinking about 90-100oz of water a day, and eating as soon as I felt the pain getting worse. It seemed to help a lot. For those of you who think it would be impossible to drink this much water, it really isn't a chore. I carry a 25oz water bottle (from Tupperware, because they never, ever leak) everywhere I go, and I find I drink it without giving it a lot of thought. I can drink one full bottle of water while driving to-and-from the grocery store. Mindless, really. And water flushes fat, toxins, and gets all your cells working more efficiently. 

Just so you know: You really should not chug water. I don't remember the various sources I've seen this in (and I'm not a professional blogger, so I don't have to. ha!), but it is said your body cannot effectively handle  more than 2 cups of water at one time. And you should wait 30-60 minutes before drinking another two cups. I, myself, like to just take a gulp or two every 10 minutes or so. It sounds crazy at first, but just start carrying a water bottle around, and within a few days I bet you notice it becomes one of those things you do just because it's there (kind of like eating M&Ms if they're just sitting on the counter.)

We had our final hotel breakfast this morning. Eggs, yogurt, fruit, and water. As soon as we arrived in Topeka, we headed to the Mexican food place we (sorta) like, and had lunch. I knew I had nothing at home, and cute as they may be, I was not about to go through the grocery store with all the children.

I ordered two large (!!) orders of fajitas... one chicken, and one steak. I thought I would order extra so we could double it for school lunch tomorrow.  I asked the waiter to please NOT bring the chips, rice, beans, or tortillas. He literally looked at me like I had lost my mind.  I wanted to affirm him in his belief (because really I would have killed for some chips) but decided against it.

Between the kids and I we ate both of the fajitas. Every piece of meat, every slice of pepper, and not even the onions survived. I. Was. Shocked.  Little pigs! We even at the lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and avocado. There was nothing left. At all.  Wow.  This was at 11:30 and I didn't hear the phrase "can we have a snack" until 4pm. So there ya go. Feed them like pigs and they stay full for a long while. Nice!!

We attended a basketball game at the kids' school and then Tom took them out for dinner, while Eliabeth and I headed home (it was her bedtime). While they family was out I made their chocolate mousse. (Recipe and photos to follow tomorrow, hopefully.) Regina and Amy loved it. Veronica did not. Poor thing.

The kids still seem to be kind of down and tired. I'm hoping they perk up soon. Maybe this weekend we can experiment more with foods they really would think are fun to eat. They are great sports though. A bit of complaining here and there, but overall very compliant. 

Tom stayed on diet while we were away! I didn't even want to ask him because I thought if I asked, and he said he cheated, it just might end the marriage. And I'm only half-kidding. It was so very difficult to stay on diet (being the first week of it) while being out of town and worrying about kids, social engagements... all that jazz, I would have been really upset if he hadn't been able to keep on track. He did it though. I'll have to get a run down of the types of things he's been eating, so I can pass that along to those of you who travel a lot, and need quick on-the-go meals and snacks. 

Tom seems to be still suffering a bit from Carb Flu, or the emotional side of it... whatever we want to call it. I personally think it's because he's not eating enough fat and not nearly enough water, but what do I know? 

Now we're sitting in bed going through a Primal cookbook so we can come up with a shopping list for tomorrow.  


Wish us luck!

Be Right Back!

We've been on the road! We left Oklahoma round 9pm last night, stopped in Witchita at Midnight, and left the next day 9:30am.


I will give an update about being Primal yesterday and today tonight once kids are in bed, and suitcases are unpacked.  


Thanks! :)

Thank you!

 To all my new readers who have joined me today!  Thanks especially to my dear husband, Tom who sent me a lot of traffic. Many thanks also to Mark Sisson who mentioned both Tom, and my blog, in his weekly newsletter. 


Thank you for all the great, insightful comments by the many readers we had today. I'm sorry I didn't spell-check the posts, but I didn't think I'd get but more than ten readers when I first started this. And today we hit 1000 views!


Please keep the great ideas and comments coming in. They are really helping me to fight through this not-so-fun phase. We are really looking forward to come out of the haze. Hehe

Good night!

Day Seven

Hi all! 


 The girls and I are still in Oklahoma having a great time visiting with family. We head home to Kansas tomorrow after lunch. Woohoo!


We didn't have a great first-thing-in-the-morning breakfast, because we had about 20 minutes to get to Mass at 8am (UGH), so all I could do was push the girls out the double glass doors in the hotel, while I scooped up four yogurts and spoons, so they ate this as their snack while riding in the van to Mass. After Mass was over, my bestest cousin in the world (and her small daughter) came with us to IHOP for a breakfast, we ate around 10:15. I ordered each child three (three!) eggs with bacon and fresh fruit. They scarfed it down in about five minutes... and then asked for more! I've never seen them eat that much protein that quickly. I pondered how much food I'm really supposed to give them as they repeatedly asked for more... but before I could figure out what to do, Elizabeth threw her cup at a lady sitting behind us, and I decided it was time to leave. 


Then we went to Wal-Mart (which stinks if you want real food!) and stocked up on the best I could get fruit and vegetables. We even found dried bing cherries with no sugar added, walnuts, and full-fat yogurt. Score! 


The girls, our food (that's right, it's now it's own entity) and I spent the afternoon with the grandparents, my mom, and siblings. Everybody gave us a hard time about the food we had on hand. In a good-natured way, of course. We watched while everybody else munched on pizza, chips, soda, etc. Of course we really wanted to be eating that stuff too, and really, bell peppers just don't sound as good as nachos, but we stuck to it! The kids have a snack of grapes, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, cheese, and nuts with a "fruit dip", which was plain greek yogurt with a smidge of honey. They seemed content with it all. Even my girls who think greek yogurt is "like eating sour cream", ate most of it. 


I hadn't even noticed (nor did the girls) that we didn't have lunch until about 5pm! The breakfast combined with the fruit/cheese/nut plate had really kept us satisfied for quite a while. Then we munched on various vegetables for a while. And finally we headed out for dinner at a mexican food 


We ordered the double fajitas (steak and chicken), two order to be precise, and they kids ate every bit, and then asked for more! I am now beginning to see that what would already be double their intake, needs to be tripled at least. I can't believe how much the chips, the rice, and the tortillas (before going Primal) had filled them up! We never could finish our ONE meat/vegetable plate before, and now we've polished off TWO plates. Amazing. And, right on cue, Elizabeth decided that an hour of crying, wanting to be held, and generally making me look like a terrible parent was enough, and we had to get out of there!


The kids were devastated not to have had the chips though. I really was very sad for them... and I wanted a Coke! I have to say I'm really proud of the kids. They did get a little moody about the no-chips, but they quickly accepted it and went on to eat all of their dinner happily.


We headed back to my grandparent's house and I made a snack tray of cut up vegetables, nuts, and the last of the fruit. It's more fruit than I really want them eating in a day, but the packaging wasn't the best, and I didn't want it leaking all over my car on the return trip home.  They loved most of it. Amy, 5, is my oddest eater by far... she prefers raw mushrooms to peppers or carrots. What the heck?!


So we feel like we grazed all day. I know now I need to plan on each child eating about double, if not triple, the amount they used to eat in the way of fats and protein. And I probably need to eat a bit more as well. That sounds so weird...!


I still have the headache. I hear ya when you say to cut back slowly, but I was/am a true addict to the stuff, and that approach just doesn't work for me. It's all or nothing. 


I am still achy. I think I will probably just feel this way for at least another week or two. Thank you ALL for the kind words of encouragement, as it has really helped me to stay focused and to not cheat (not even once!) since last Monday. 

The upsides: Still the same. I am able to focus better, I am able to tolerate craziness a bit easier, and I generally feel happy, even though my head hurts. So success once again!


The kids are still kind of zoning out at times and a little more emotional than usual, but overall, they are great kids who really do well with change. 


 I brought the kids back to the hotel around 10:30. By 10:33 they had changed into pajamas, fell into bed, and by 10:34 they were sounds asleep. 


Now... where's my dark chocolate?

What day is it again?

I think it's day . . . six?  Here's how I feel about it: ARGH!


Though, to be completely honest, I feel healthier, so I am going to say it's been worth it. 

The girls and I started our day at the hotel breakfast nook, which was surprisingly fresh and yummy. There were *fresh* bear claws, blueberry cake donuts, and freshly made waffles. So. Delicious. Looking! (and smelling). 

We, however, had the hard boiled eggs, bacon, yogurt, and grapes. Two of the kids had some milk, the others had to wait it out since all they had was juice or coffee (no water?!). 

All of us made googly eyes at the pastries. "Please, can't we just share a donut? That way we'll just have one bite!"  Nice try, kids.  

So here I feel I should defend myself from all of you now thinking "oh my gosh, like one bite of a donut is going to really hurt them!" -- Actually, it would.

I suppose I haven't explained it very well when in comes to Primal and the girls, so here goes! 

All of my kids (ages 2-8) have some sort of food problem. Whether they have one issue, or several each, it's incredibly difficult to manage. 

Some parents say they don't have the time to deal with food issues and simply do not. Others spend their life searching for a cure so little Johnny can once again chow down on a peanut butter sandwich. Me? I accept that they have allergies/intolerance/what have you, and I do my best to come up with meals that is pleasing to the family as a whole, and yet does not exclude any one member. When you have to cook around at least six different food allergies, it gets ... well, overwhelming. That in itself is a full time job. Now add to that a constantly crying 2 year old, a huge house to maintain, and a husband who forgets to eat and drink on a regular basis... it's kinda hard, people! 

Not that I'm complaining. For the most part I'm good at it, and while it can be annoying, I enjoy it.  So keeping all that in mind....


When Tom found The Primal Blueprint, my first thought was "Yay, we can finally get healthier together!" and then it was "Hey, this is the kind of diet that is said to help heal/minimize allergies. I'm in!"  

There's a lot of medical speak and gross-out factors and what not when it comes to allergies, but some allergies are caused by holes in the lining of your intestines, which allows small food particles to get through, and then your brain tells your body to invade the foreign suckers! So it does, and voila! you have allergies. Kinda cool in a Scientific sense, but not so much fun to live with.  

What helps repair these holes? I'm glad you asked! Lots of good probiotics. Going off the offending foods for a while. Annnnnd, staying away from grains, carbs, and sugars. Why?  Because grains, carbs, and sugars feed yeast (you have good yeast and you have bad yeast. A yeast infection is the result of your good yeast being outnumbered by the bad yeast. And that, my friends, leads to your worst enemy: Candida (click the word to get a brief description of this beast.)

According to all of my readings, talking with people, and with some doctors, I have found that you must, must, must refrain from eating grains and sugars for at least two weeks (maybe longer if the overgrowth is terribly bad) for the bad yeast to die off. 

If, during this time, you eat a bagel, or cookies, or whatever else, you have just given a life line to the dying yeast.  So, YES, I have to be sure the girls are staying on track and not just prolonging their suffering by sneaking foods. Heck, I'd much rather have one bite of a donut than nothing at all, but I wouldn't do that to my kids. 


If my kids were completely healthy and had no food issues, then I would revamp what I'm doing. I would absolutely give them some type of carbs (not overload them though) every day. Kids are growing and can handle things we as adults cannot. So once my girls get past the first 21 days of Going Primal, they will be allowed to have things (in moderation, of course) that they cannot have now.

And we fully intend to make use of the 80/20 rule. Once a week I intend to have whatever it is I want to have that day... but you really shouldn't do any cheating within the first three weeks of the "diet", so my family will not.  

If your kids are not overweight, and have no food issues, I would suggest you maintain some form of carbs in their daily diet (whether it's whole grains, sweet potatoes, bread, etc. is up to you), and give them fruit! It will satisfy their sweet tooth in a way that candy is unable.  Just do you research and come up with what works for your family best. 


Anyway... we went to the Children's Science Museum with Aunts Mary and Beth, and had a great time (until we couldn't find two kids. but that's a story for another time)! Then, the dreaded "I'm hungry!" came. I haven't been able to get to a grocery store, so we've been eating a lot of what I had packed for the car trip. I didn't know I could bring food into the museum, so we had to eat at the cafe. I was really kind of scared given that it was a kids place...what could I feed them?  Turns out, there was a grilled chicken salad so I ordered two and a cup of veggies (turned out to be just carrots. hmph) and since Amy hates chicken. I ordered a hotdog, and gave it to her without the bun. It wasn't Primal approved in the sense that none of it was organic, home grown, or clean, but we stuck to no grains, and only water to drink. I think we earned a few points for this. 


Dinner was very enjoyable. We went to a Chinese food place with my lovely grandparents. It was the biggest spread I've ever seen in a Chinese restaurant. I had warned the kids before hand that they could have rice, noodles, anything fried, and only water to drink. We all went in thinking "what can we have?!"  Turns out, there was plenty of fresh food, without MSG, and it was really great tasting. The kids didn't complain once about not having grains/carbs. I was really very proud of them. And it showed me that while I may not be able to be 100% on target with being Primal, that I could make the best of what I had and still feel good about it.


We had a late night snack of apples and beef jerky. Kids are weird. Why they like that stuff, I don't know. And now all kids are in bed sound asleep.  Thank the Lord!


Now I still have the same headache I've had for five or six days now. I'm really achy. And I just want a piece of cake. Honestly, the only thing that is getting me through this is the support I've received from everybody and hearing from those who have been down this road and have told me it does get better. I hope so! It's a lot of work. And I'd rather not feel like a zombie, but if it means in two more weeks I'll feel and look better. I can stick it out that long. 


The upsides so far: Sleeping better. More patient throughout the day. I feel happier (most of the time). And I can now get out of bed and stand up immediately without the "Oww, I'm so sore!" feeling in my back. So... must be doing something right. 


Good night!