Sunday, September 30, 2012

Craving pancakes...something sweet?

What do you do when you feel like you NEED something sweet. Like pancakes and sausage. with butter and real maple syrup?   So far I settled for half an avocado. Hope that does the trick. SO far I have found that cravings are caused by the need for more fat. Cold and creamy.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Ketosis!!! Bullet Proof coffee works!

 I woke up today at 6 am.  The test strip showed I was in Ketosis...YAY!  That does not happen too often. It made me happy to see. I often  wonder if I am. It is happening so slow that I do not see a scale weight change for days.

  I drank some bullet proof coffee this morning and then set myself up outside to scrape and paint windows.I don't need to place pretend spider webs on my house for Halloween, My house is covered with them already.  I cleaned a zillion spider webs, spiders and eggs off of the windows before I could scrape them. I was covered with spider webs. All day I swatted my head and neck. I was sure they were crawling all over me.  I worked at it all day. At 3:30 pm my husband pulled into the driveway. I realized that I did not eat all day long. I did drink a little water. Bullet proof coffee is the bomb.  I scraped and painted and washed the windows. Next I painted the garage door and trim. I painted the back door to the garage and the trim around it. Now both doors are dark  Brick red. The same color as the shutters. I love the way they turned out..

Amazing day. I got a lot accomplished.

When I was painting the outside of the windows I noticed that the wood on the inside windows in the triple track has peeling varnish. So I need to urethane them all. That means taking the triple track windows all out to get to them... Gonna be a long day tomorrow. I need to take them all out from the inside and leave the windows slightly open, then go outside to urethane the wood.  While they are all out, I can wash the rest of the windows and clean the dead bugs out of the window sills. ( I really do not want to do it) Triple tracks are not air tight . I even find small tree frogs, (dead and dried up) between the windows sometimes. creepy.creepy creepy. When it is done, I will be glad I did it.

I ate grilled sirloin and broccoli for dinner and later had half a can of macadamia nuts.

Went to a women's bible study on the book of Romans ..Good study...

That's about it. I did not work out today...I th ink my painting WAS a workout.


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

SUP on Stone Lake today

After a morning of mowing, trimming more hedges and edging the driveway and parking area. I dumped 10 contractor wheel barrow's of trimmings.
It took  me an hour to paddle 2 miles. One way was against the wind.  The going was hard. The wind was chilly but I was sweating. Some fishermen were in hooded sweatshirts with jackets over them. They called out to me and wanted to know how I could be out in a tee shirt in the cold wind. I told them I had worked up a sweat. I was too hot to leave my life jacket on and had it at my feet.

Right now I am aching...My head is stuffed up. I believe I have a virus.  Ugg...How do you deal with a cold Paleo style?

Monday, September 24, 2012

Mid 70's tomorrow...may be last day to SUP

SUP is so addicting... I have been sad this week. We turned our furnace on last night. Frost warnings were out. I thought my SUP days were done for the year.
Tomorrow will be mid 70's Gotta take them when they come. Tonight I trimmed hedges and wheeled wheel barrows full of the stuff well after dark, so that tomorrow I won't feel guilty. I plan to take advantage of the beautiful day.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

A new grandblessing on the way.

I am excited. I am going to have a new grand blessing.I could not be more happy about it. My little girl is gonna be a fantastic mama.  I'm headed to St Croix in February to help for a week or so.I am really looking forward to cuddling little Orion.

 I am  57. By the time this baby is 20, I will be 77. My parents age now. What shape will I be in? Will I still be paddle boarding with my grand blessings? Hiking 5 miles a day?  . I definitely don't want to be on the porch in a rocking chair. 

For today...I'll be out walking if you need me. (I am SO excited!!!)

Friday, September 21, 2012

When you finally get it....it works...

September 8


I still find this unbelievable. I measured today and have lost 9 inches from around my rib cage area.

 April 4, 2012

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Experiencing a baby shower...that I gave

Today I , with the help of my sisters and mother, gave our baby sister a baby shower.  She is 44 and this is her first baby. We could not be more excited...
We had loads of food. Some of it was not Paleo, or low carb. I stuck to the fresh raw vegetables, a few bites of coleslaw, a few strawberry slices  out of the fruit salad ,and the deviled eggs. I also ate a couple skewers of grape tomatoes and mozzarella cubes with olive oil and fresh basil drizzled on them . I by passed the punch, the sliced wraps, the beautiful sunshine cupcakes and the brownies, the jello, the white chocolate dipped grapes with chopped nuts, the individual layered  taco dip, It all looked good, but ketogenically speaking , I did not feel hungry for anything that would spoil my keto adapted body. Wha hoo.

The baby shower was awesome. Jenny received many beautiful things. I was so glad to visit with her. She lives 12 hours away. It was nice to see cousins and Aunts and nieces and tiny great nieces and nephews.

I am exhausted from running up and down stairs, at my mothers home, and glad to be home sitting at  the computer. It feels like midnight already. It's only 8 o'clock.

I sent EVERYTHING except the raw vegetables home with my grand kids and others.

Friday, September 14, 2012

We looked at the house

We looked at the house with 6 acres. It is passable. Meaning, I can breathe in it. There is no mold. It is a tad bit small...but trading a house in town for 6 acres in the country not far from town my make it all worth while. It'll take $5000.000 to fence around 4 acres. Sheesh...I had no idea it cost so much for fence.

Next week we are looking at a house on 12 acres. The neighbor wants 6 of it which will bring down the price so that it may be perfect...almost an even trade.... I feel like I am looking at the land and that the house is incidental...Can we plant a garden here? Is there a barn? This one has a huge barn at the back. The neighbors would not even "see" a cow if we raised one. We could raise two or three on 12 acres. I believe we need 5  acres to have a cow. I don't think it matters when you have chickens or rabbits. I have raised both chickens and rabbits before. I have owned a horse for 6 years. How different can a cow be? Enough space to store hay and keep him or her warm at night. I have a friend who raises black Angus. maybe he will sell me a calf and then I can pick his brain to raise him. Stay tuned...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Change of lifestyle could mean a move..I really do not like moving..

Being that is is challenging to find grass fed beef, organic produce and the like....We've been thinking of moving.  We do not like moving. We have our eye on 6 acres. A brick ranch with a walk out basement  that has a basement canning kitchen, a huge 32 x 48 barn and a 14 x 30 shed, just may fill the bill. Small enough to take care of but large enough to fence in and raise our own cow, chickens, and produce. There are fruit trees on the property and only a mile more for hubby to drive to work.

There is always so much work to make something "ours"  We rip out carpet and install hard wood for my allergies. We do lots of hard scape and landscape. There is barely any land scape at this house.
The prospect of an organic garden and a place to raise animals is cool. A mini farm would be awesome. I have been thinking of taking an acre and growing blueberries....

Now to find out what our house is worth and see if the move is possible or worth it.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Comfort food

      We  had our first below 60* night. The next morning I was in the mood for homemade chicken soup. I really miss the lovely chewy  bran muffins I used to make to go along with them.
       My friend Margot is experimenting with some Paleo recipes.  Many of the Paleo foods  she makes I usually do not make, because some of them are a little higher in carbs than I can go.
      This bread recipe from Elanas Pantry is worthy of  a splurge... Certainly Greg can have it. His carb count does not have to be as low as mine.

     Kudos to you Elana! :)  Thanks for the hard work of experimentation. Here is the link to her recipe.

http://www.elanaspantry.com/paleo-bread/#comment-81207



Excellent!  I even made a little ham and cheese sandwich with it. The bread is moist and holds together. It is very filling .  A couple of small slim slices are about all I can handle.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Keeping the monster asleep...5 months of N-1 experiments

April 4th to September 4th

I spent this summer out on the lake almost daily on my paddle board and researching Paleo/low carb. What I found  particularly helpful is Jimmy Moore and his N-1 experiment on himself. I thought..why not do the same thing?

I read the The Art and Science of the Low Carb Lifestyle, Good calories, Bad Calories...among about 20 other books , countless blogs, Marks daily apple, Diatruth.com. . I listened to countless helpful podcasts.There had to be something that would work. Other people achieve good health... I refuse to give up on myself or get discouraged. I no longer take allergy meds.My pain and inflammation was nil.  My blood pressure was better but my belly fat was tenaciously sticking to me. 

One thing  this summer that  struck a chord in me was..."it takes about 3 weeks to become Keto adapted. After that my body begins to burn it's own fat for fuel.( Ketogenic) . When I  switch over to eating anything that causes a blood sugar rise  again...my body  must become Keto adapted all over again."   Some where in all the blogs, books and podcasts, this theme has begun to make sense.

  My weekly  free days  were messing me up. Stopping fat from burning...Keeping insulin too high in my blood stream ....So the free days became  free meals, then they turned into one free food/ week... and finally in August....they turned into NO FREE ANYTHING. Keto adaption for me has to be under 30 carbs. Somedays I go under 20 and some days  I have none.  The carbs I eat are basically raw, fresh, dark and green.   I put a quarter stick of Kerrygold unsalted butter in my coffee (bulletproof coffee) and  I eat avocado and coconut oil daily.


September 4 2012
 April 4, 2012
The results are finally beginning to show... most of the fat  loss has occurred after August 1st, when I really buckled down  to try and get keto adapted. I also cut my protein portions in half and upped my daily fat. I just never realized that I needed to go so low with the carbs, and never "cheat"  Cheating for me can just be eating a small dove chocolate. That is all it takes to Wake the Monster. Everyone is different. N=1 is finding what works for you.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Meanwhile....back at the ranch

      I took a break from blogging this spring.... Apparently I could not keep the monster asleep. I was working on it, but the monster was alive and well as well as my mindset that a little bite wont hurt . I liken myself to an alcoholic who binges after 10 years sobriety. The monster will probably be forever lurking and I need to face the reality of it, just as former alcoholics do.

     Fortunately I kept reading and listening to blogs like Jimmy Moore, Mark Sisson, Dietruth website, Latest in Paleo, and many more. I believe this is the right way to eat based on my blood pressure readings being down to normal and my inflammation levels becoming nil. Now I want my blood work to reflect that. I am working at being consistent so they will.

        I have been studying a book in the past couple months by Authors  Stephen D  Phinney ,MD,PHD, and Jeff S. Volek,PhD,RD. "The Art and Science of Low Carb Living." It talks about the ketogenic diet research that they are doing.   Last month  I began  my  n=1 experiment.
  So far, in the month I have been actively pursuing this, I have been able put the monster to sleep.  I  have started to lose inches. Some days weight loss does not show up on the scale. It  consistently shows up on the measuring tape. For the first time in a long time, the measurement around my rib cage shows fat loss. I measured 35" this morning. In June the measurement was 40". My back has always looked like a stuffed marshmallow in pictures. Even with lifting weights and working out.  I seemed to be unable to rid myself of my back fat and lower abdomen fat. The fat loss is not rapid, but it is happening. I have been stand up paddle boarding a couple of miles a day or more all summer.  On breezy days, up to 6 miles. Stress relieving,  yet challenging. Also I have been doing body weight exercises like pushups, crunches, dips and squats every other day and this week am adding weight lifting back as I feel my body has shifted to burning fat for fuel as the carb flu ache is gone

After reading Phinney and Voleks book I discovered that part of  my  problem with a low carb diet is the thought that protein sizes do not matter as long as carbs are low. I began using  a blood sugar meter, I found that a steak larger than 6 oz raised my blood sugar, which also "Wakes the Monster" The insulin monster that stores fat and will not allow fat burning to take place. . I have found that 4 to 6 oz  of protein per meal is adequate. Getting at least 30 gms of protein 3 times a day at separate meals is very important to sustaining muscle. Most people average 12 at breakfast and 15 at lunch and then 65 at dinner. My switch was to balance 90 - 120  gms of protein throughout the day in equal portions, keeping the grams at 30 to 40 per meal. My carbs are @ 20 per day.   A couple of times this month I have eaten  more carbs in the form of melons during a summer cook out . Other than that the carbs are limited to greens, spinach, and organic low glycemic vegetables.
    I  began reading " The bullet Proof Executive" blog and started drinking  bullet proof coffee.  Bullet proof  coffee has become very helpful  for stopping mid morning  cravings. 3 tables spoons of  Kerrygold unsalted butter in my coffee.
   In order to stay in a ketogenic state ( a state of fat burning vs sugar burning) I am dedicated to no "free days"  "free meals" of even "free bites". Every time I have a "free meal" , even one dark chocolate dove square, the monster wakes up and I struggle with cravings.  I can tell when my body is back to being a sugar burning and storing fat, not allowing  fat to be burned for fuel, because I become incessantly  hungry. Food thoughts interrupt my mind while I am thinking  of other  things. When I am in a state of ketogenisis, Food rarely crosses my mind. I forget to eat.
   I have changed my way to eating to a Paleo, whole foods diet with only 20 max grams of carbs.. No grains, beans, sugars, or fruit, except for a handful of berries now and then.  My energy has returned. I am sleeping better. My joints do not ache. No hot flashes. No cravings for food or alcohol. I get antsy to be out on the SUP (Stand up Paddle Board)  My new addiction.

By the way...in  the last two weeks  of achieving ketogenisis, I have lost 6 pounds.  I have lost -2 " around my ribcage,    -2.5"   belly fat ,  .5" hip,   -1" each thigh,  -1 " each arm,   -.5 inch neck,    -1 " waist (3 inches above bellybutton)