Paleo Journey to Health -- Food Log

Back on the Log

2010-05-20T05:35:00.001-07:00

Breakfast- (8 AM ish)
Kind of a weird combo of about 1 oz buffalo jerky, 4 strawberries, 8 "ginger snaps" (raw coconut, date, ginger, **not flax - sesame bite-sized "cookies" - and those are the only ingredients, nothing added to it), and an Americano with some half and half.

(11 AM)
Another small piece of jerky and 12 snaps. Feeling some low-blood sugar symptoms. (Need a little more protein and a little less carb for breakfast.) (20 snaps is probably 1.5 servings -- 155 cals/9 g fat/15g carbs/3g protein per serving)

(11:35 AM)
Buffalo tri-tip with about 1/2 a sweet potato and some kale (all stewed together yesterday low and slow in crockpot) for lunch. (Ate it around 11:35 - had half the meat serving that I put in the container - probably about 4 oz.)

(1:30 PM)
1 small box coconut water (pure - no added sugar or juice)

(2:20 PM)
4 oz 4% cottage cheese; 20 raspberries (I don't actually count them, I estimate by way of counting some of them)

(6 PM)
Rest of tri-tip roast - about 4 oz. 6 more "ginger snaps."

Oh, Food Log -- have I missed you?

2010-02-02T11:45:00.001-08:00

Earth Date: February 2, 2010

Breakfast: after 13 hours, 2% Greek yogurt, plain (7 oz., 130 cals), handful blueberries, handful raspberries, sprinkling of Truvia.

(felt like I had a blood sugar drop prior to eating this meal; would have been 3 hours after prior meal. Need more fat in it? 2% yogurt only supplies 4 g fat)

Lunch: after 3.5 hours, 6 oz. pot roast, kale (1 cup cooked), sweet potato (about 1/2 to 3/4 of 1 large).
(was feeling a little bloated after eating, but felt better about an hour after)

Snack: after 2-2.5 hours, 4 oz. cottage cheese (90 cals), handful blueberries, handful raspberries.

(I haven't actually eaten the cottage cheese yet; will in a bit)

Thus far, prior to dinner, 200 + 500 + 150 = 850.

Thinking 1400 calories a day is too high for me. Would like to stay around 1200 range. Usually end up at 1400-1600 according to Fitday (and not noticing changes at that level). I'm small with an inactive job, so this may be correct.

Will be noting my dairy and sugar intake. I don't know if I have a problem with dairy, but want to note how I feel when I have it.

Recommence Log

2009-11-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

BFAST
Opened cottage cheese and it was moldy (brand new container. Nice. Agribusiness at its finest). Thus, no cottage cheese. Instead:
1 hard boiled egg
1/2 - 3/4 c walnuts
handful pumpkin seeds
handful dried currants
(The nut mixture was supposed to be a snack in the afternoon or for a little extra breakfast. Oh well)

LUNCH
1 Bratwurst (check ingredients prior to purchase and no HFCS, only meat and spices with a bit of dextrose as last ingredient)
1 cup sauerkraut
1 avocado

SNACK
Was feeling hungry so:
1 Granny Smith apple
Cashews
(See photo. Best I could do at the snack bar. Did NOT eat yogurt. Tasted weird.)

As I Said...

2009-09-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

As I said on my workout page, maybe it's my diet. Here's what I ate yesterday:

sausage and one egg -- about 1/4 cup crumbled breakfast sausage
coffee with cream

1/2 c veggies and half a chicken breast with homemade dressing (walnut oil/EVOO, sav. blanc vinegar, mustard, herbs)

americano with cream

other half of sausage and one egg meal

zucchini (one, sliced, sauteed in EVOO), 1 salmon sausage patty (Weil brand), 1 slice avocado (leftover)
2 TBSP or so of Artisana Goji berry blend stuff (coconut butter with Gojis and maybe cacao nibs...)

Some water throughout the day.

Friday

2009-09-19T06:50:00.000-07:00

20 Hour Fast (except for coffee with cream)

Broke it around 3 PM with 1 hard boiled egg and about 2 oz. of steak (maybe, it was a tiny portion) (it's what was leftover at work from my week of lunches)

Around 5:30 or 6 PM I had another few ounces of steak (maybe 3 oz) and knocked back a few cashews that hubby bought (1 oz cashews, maybe)

1 AM (!) Pizza omelet (2 eggs, pepperoni, tiny bit onion, EVOO, mozz, parm, 1/4 c tomato sauce - Thanks to Dollface for this recipe! It was delicious -- the perfect after-poker snack!!) and about 5 more cashews.

Fin.

Out of Food = Meat Experiment

2009-09-18T03:44:00.000-07:00

Today - fasting (I hope).

Tomorrow - back on the meat experiment.

9-15 Debrief; 9-16 Plan

2009-09-16T03:19:00.001-07:00

Yesterday is as close to all meat as I'll probably get, at least for now. Looks to me to be very low carb. Nuts add a few carbs (I'm guessing I eat around 2 oz of nuts, generally) and the tomato sauce and veggies add a few as well - but I doubt all of that together is much more than 25 g.

Then factor in the honey (TBSP) and peach. Of course, the eggs aren't "meat," but they are all protein.

But that's really all the "non-meat" I'm eating at the moment.

9-16 PLAN

Not sure about eggs -- probably have a few.

Small tomato and cucumber salad today - I have a farmer's market tomato left.
Leftover filet from yesterday - probably 1 oz left.
Some ground beef special.
Nuts.

I'll need some other food to take with me today -- or go buy -- I'll be gone from this morning until after a clinic at which I'll be volunteering tonight, which ends around 8:30 usually. That is a mystery at this point. There might be enough ribeye left or, if not, I'll take all the ground beef special that is left and probably get something like a salad with some protein to supplement.

I would fast today, but I'm not feeling up to it at the moment.

9-15

2009-09-16T03:16:00.000-07:00

2 local, pastured eggs
4 slices local, pastured bacon
coffee with organic (but not grass-fed) cream

Plan today:
some of my ground beef special (beef cooked with veggies and tomato sauce - like meat sauce but no pasta :)

filet (not ribeye) for early dinner or late snack

some nuts for snacking (pecans and almonds)

**This is how it went down and then add this once I got home around 8 PM:

More ground beef special - the lunch portion was petite. This portion was regular. And a small peach.

I also had some tea (earl gray) with a little honey and a splash of half and half around 4 pm.

All Meat Is Hard

2009-09-12T16:27:00.001-07:00

It's kind of hard to eat all meat (or all meat and eggs) - partly because it's just hard to have that much meat at your disposal! I haven't been doing all meat, but the focus has been on protein.

Today I fasted through the morning -- went on a kayak lesson/tour - had about 1 oz of nuts at our break (noon or one) and then had some duck confit with a few cherry tomatoes, a square of chocolate and some coconut butter afterwards (around 3). So much for all meat :)

Around 7 I had some ground beef with sauce and a few vegetables cooked in, including some arame (seaweed). I should be done eating for the day.

I've definitely noticed a drop in consumption with more fasting.

Thursday's Menu

2009-09-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

BF:
3 eggs
1/2 avocado
small tomato
coffee/cream

12 PM Lunch:
Deviated from meat/fat experiment due to lunch out
Salad (ate half) with romaine, hearts of palm, tomato, cucumber, shrimp, avocado, asked for EVOO and balsamic and watched him put just that on it.

4 PM Snack:
Other half of salad
coffee/cream

7 PM Dinner:
2 sausages (same as last night)
bit of yellow zuchinni
small tomato
all cooked in a bit of tomato sauce (1/2 c maybe)
TBSP or so of coconut butter
handful each raspberries, blackberries

More diversity today, less all meat. Needed to satisfy sweet tooth this evening - think it was due to the salad, strangely enough. Also, ran out of "leftovers" meat early this week (eating more meat means I have to cook more of it!!) so fewer good choices within easy reach to eat!

Yesterday's Fill

2009-09-10T04:00:00.001-07:00

Fasted 21 hours.

2 PM
Steak
About 4-5 oz total, ribeye.
1 ounce nuts (this was a satisfaction thing)

7 PM
Sausages
1 Beef Brat (Hot dog size)
1 Chicken Sausage (a little bigger)
1 Avocado
1 Tomato "fried" with the sausages

I can admit to a handful of macadamia nuts and an oz of 86% chocolate.

Damn that chocolate!!

That's it.

A turn towards meat (and fat)

2009-09-09T05:46:00.000-07:00

Tuesday:
2 eggs with some butter-fried tomatoes, coffee with heavy cream

1 sausage (was supposed to go with breakfast, but ran out of time)

1 chicken breast (just water now)

1 sausage with 1/2 c tomato sauce (not measured), 1 avocado, handful macadamia/cashews, 1 square dark (86%) chocolate. More coffee with cream to keep me awake for the concert :)

These were all 'meals' a few hours apart, probably around 7 am, 11 am, 2 pm, and 5 pm.

I've fasted since 5 PM and am still fasting at almost 9 AM this morning. Holy crap, I have to get to work!

Brunch Dessert

2009-09-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

Who needs dessert with breakfast? Apparently everyone.

This was the brunch dessert, explained in the previous post.

Gluttony!

2009-09-07T06:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, it wasn't so bad in choice as it was in amount.

Today marks my sixth anniversary. I am lucky. While not everyone may understand my affection for my husband, we are perfectly matched. Soul mates? I'm not sure that exists in the way we would like it to, but we are as close as you can get, I think.

Anyway, we decided to go to an Inn in the VA mountains for an overnight with a 5-course meal and 3-course brunch as part of the package. Holy hell, what a quantity of food. I fasted Friday and then most of the day Saturday -- not really in preparation, but hopefully it helped offset the crazy. Here's how it went down:

3:30 PM Saturday
Wine and cheese upon arrival (the "limiting dairy" went out the window this day)
I had one glass of wine and probably 2-3 ounces of various cheeses plus a little fruit.

6:00 PM Saturday
Dinner
No bread for me except one bite my husband "made" me try
Beef tartar (which could have been my entire meal, normally)
Fish soup (a little breading on a few of the ingredients, not much, mostly seafood and a tomato broth)
Diver scallops
Cheese plate (there were some sweet elements to this - dried fruit and a bit of jam, not much)
Dessert - Chocolate 5 ways (yes, split it with husband and we ate it all. Included a small brownie, mousse, a chocolate crisp thing, and I can't remember the other 2 ways)
2 glasses wine
Decaf coffee

11:00 AM Sunday
Brunch
Poached lobster salad on salsify slaw
Steak and eggs (with a potato souffle of which I ate a bit and bacon and turkey sausage)
Skipped course 3 but had 2 bites of husband's chocolate mousse
Had a bite of scone and a bite of biscuit, totally worth it as they were the BEST ones I've ever had. Seriously.

So, debrief. Too much dairy, but I just gave up on that - the cheese was high quality so hopefully that helped :) Too much sugar, although I think I avoided most of the pitfalls, except, of course, that I indulged in dessert. A bit of grains - none in my meals (I avoided those choices) but did taste the bread offerings and eat a few small bites of the brownie.

I felt horrible after dinner. I think the sheer volume of food was the problem. I was hungry for brunch, though, and ate a moderate amount. I also then ate dinner on Sunday around 6 PM once we got home, regular stuff and regular portions at home.

I plan to fast until we do our cookout with friends today and then, when I eat, only protein!! And little or no alcohol.

And right now, I'm going to sprint.

Sneaky Sugar

2009-09-04T03:30:00.000-07:00

Food log from Wednesday something like this:

No breakfast (coffee with heavy cream)
Lunch out - Avocado Soup (really yummy, did not ask if it contained dairy, must remember to ask questions like this, but did eliminate the soy beans), braised BBQ Ribs and Slaw (also really yummy)
Dinner - yellow squash cooked in EVOO with a dash of parm cheese and pork chop.

I think not bad. How would I improve this?
Plenty of fat at lunch thanks to the soup. The BBQ sauce was REALLY SWEET. I think I'd go for something un-BBQ out from now on. The meat was delicious but probably included a ton of sugar.
Dinner didn't have much fat, except the extra EVOO I used, could probably add more. I'm low on food at home right now!

Depending if I get any responses from my main blog post on bloating and belly fat, I may have more to say over here about tweaking and charting my changes.

No Log - Thought on September Tweaking

2009-08-28T04:13:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling pretty good about where I am on the PaNu continuum, but I'd like to make a few more changes throughout September:

1) Find a CSA/beef source (trick: husband doesn't like the "taste" of grass-fed - ugh!)
2) Watch the O6 and PUFA sources - minimize
3) Watch sneaky sugars (like BBQ sauce and dressings) - minimize ("I'll take mine naked, sweetie!")

I think that's it. Otherwise, keep on it. I've minimized dairy (although not totally eliminated) and fruit this month and like the way I'm feeling.

High Fat is Where it is At (and staying Paleo at the Beach)

2009-08-10T04:25:00.000-07:00

The high fat experiment is a short-term success. Only, I have trouble getting enough fat. And -- OMG -- if I hear one more "Oh, I'm trying to cut back on fat" or "Well it's low fat, isn't that better?" or "That dressing spray is great if you are trying to watch what you eat" I. May. Scream. Rock, meet head. Head, rock. Now bash each other.

Okay, so anyway, I'm much more satisfied when I get the fat. And eggs are NOT fatty enough. I have to add avocado or bacon or something to that meal. And I feel much better without all the dairy. I knew it. I did. I just didn't want to give up my cheese! Oh well. I can splurge now and then, but it won't be a regular part of my diet.

I've been on track -- and I hate to even use these terms anymore. I mean, this is HOW I EAT. It's not a "diet," it's not a short-term thing. I DON'T EAT Grains. I don't eat POTATOES. I certainly don't eat cake. I'm sure I'll have dessert now and again, but it's not going to be a freaking grocery store cake. It'll be special and homemade and delicious. But I'm convinced grains - especially wheat and corn - are killing us or at least making us sick. As are processed foods. It actually hurts me to see what my neices and nephews eat and what they get excited for. Think they run for vegetables? No. More like from them. They stumble on each other to get some Goldfish crackers or grocery store cake. But ask them to eat a tomato...

Anyway, no cake, no fries, no beer, no sugar for me so far. I've had a little more fruit in the past few days than I did over the last few weeks (I was cutting down on fruit) - we got Carolina peaches and now there are some grapes I'm sure I'll eat. Driving day I fasted until dinner, which was taco salad. I made beanless meat for me, no chips (I take that back, I put three chips in for crunch), and I did use a little cheese and sour cream. Next day: eggs, gazpacho with crab meat, chicken salad (restaurant dressing), ribs (with BBQ sauce, I tried to take off some of the extra smearing), salad again, a peach, and some snap peas/hummus/guacamole. I have had a couple of glasses of wine both days. So there are a few transgressions - BBQ sauce, salad dressing - but nothing over the top awful.

It's not hard. It's partly a mindset. If you understand what that HFCS will do to you, you don't WANT to eat it. Peaches and grapes are just as yummy.

High fat experiment

2009-07-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

I noted on my workout blog that I'm doing a High Fat Experiment. I'm switching out some carbs for fat -- basically going pretty low carb and pretty high fat (limited to no dairy), although I don't always have a way to get it in my diet. Today, for example, I ate:

no Bfast
3 oz (?) chicken breast coated with about 1 TBSP EVOO and as much skin as was left on the chicken (like a bite) and an avocado

3-4 oz nuts over the afternoon

grass-fed ground beef with some sauteed veggies and tomato sauce - maybe 1.5 cups of that (?)

a few berries and 3 heads broccoli with pastured butter after evening workout.

Two days of high fat and I already feel "better." More stamina, less swings and hunger, less bloating. So far, so good.

IMG00031-20090727-0816.jpg

2009-07-27T05:20:00.000-07:00

What I will eat today. Salad with beef - veggies and cottage cheese - a few walnuts. Already had two eggs this morning.

July 21, 2009

2009-07-21T04:28:00.000-07:00

Breakfast of champions - fruit and coconut milk.

I stayed pretty primal all day:
2 slices of cheddar (dairy, I know, but it's leftover from a party)

a few pecans (ate a few here and there throughout the day)

1 breast chicken - 1/2 on salad greens w/avocado, tomatoes (with balsamic and EVOO)for lunch and half as snack later with a little more melted cheese

2 cups earl gray tea/coffee with heavy cream (not much coffee today)

zucchini, broccoli, and asparagus for dinner - no meat/protein, just didn't feel like it.
1 small square dark chocolate

July 19, 2009 - 2nd half of day - not as Primal

2009-07-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

My most non-primal meal in months...

1 small square dark chocolate (.35 oz)
hamburger patty with small amount of cheddar, a bit of mayo, ketchup, mustard, pickles (no bun)
ear of corn (!)
small bit of salad
small slice of cake (duncan hines or something)
homeade margarita (no mix, just lime juice, but did use Triple Sec)
1 glass red wine
1 more small piece dark chocolate

On the whole, still not too bad, but just should have skipped the cake. First treat like this in months, so I'm not feeling TOO guilty!

July 19, 2009 - 1st half of day

2009-07-19T10:41:00.001-07:00

workout fasted

3 eggs with a bit of parm, cooked in EVOO
Finished off the Artisana coconut butter - about 2 TBSP
1.5 c berries with 1 TBSP coconut milk and cinnamon

July 11, 2009

2009-07-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

Breakfast - 2 eggs and one small tomato; coffee with splash of heavy cream.

Lunch - grazing...1 small activia yogurt (lite) had leftover; 2 handfuls of walnuts; 2 TSP coconut butter; 4 cherries; tea with 1 TBSP honey

Dinner - one small chicken breast (with a bit of BBQ sauce), 3 slices of grilled zucchini, salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber (and one natural margarita (no mix, just lime juice, tequila, splash triple sec) and small glass of red wine)

Late night snack - 2 more TSP coconut butter

duck 7.10.jpg

2009-07-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

Getting the hang of pics from my phone. Notice on my plate -> no noodles!

lunch 7.10.jpg

2009-07-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

Lunch at my desk. Ugh.

July 10, 2009

2009-07-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

Fast until 12:44 (16 hours)

First Meal Lunch = Salad (see pic)

Second Meal Dinner (out) = Thai Hot and Sour Soup/2 chicken wings/Duck and bok choy (see pic).

At home, some whipped up cream with vanilla and a bit of Splenda with berries.

Fin.