21DSD - Follow-up

Well folks, I finished! I will admit that I didn't do a FULL 21 days. I made it to day 20. So in one way you could say that I failed because I didn't last the full time, but it wasn't like I gave in to a craving. One of the women on my crew team invited me to a crepe-making party at her friend's house on Saturday night. I was super excited to be invited and potentially start cultivating a new friendship, so I didn't want to go into my little spiel of "I follow this thing called the Paleo diet" as we stood outside of the Panera Bread where our team socializes after our Saturday and Sunday morning practices. And it's weird to say, "Yes! I want to go to a crepe-making party. Oh, but just so you know, I'm not going to eat any crepes. Or the fruits or cheeses that you want to put inside the crepes... In fact, just give me a bowl of meat and I'll be good." So I made the conscious decision to just eat crepes. They tasted pretty good, but it wasn't some mind-blowingly awesome experience for my taste buds. And by the time I came home, my stomach was super bloated. Bummer.

I cut out sugar for 20 days. And I decree that it was good. Here's what I learned, or re-learned, about myself (in no particular order):

1. I am so very much better at cutting things out completely than trying to do this thing called moderation.

2. I don't really crave sweets during the day. I mainly just crave distractions. For instance, when something particularly stresses, upsets, frustrates, or bores me, I like to have a mini break to give myself a chance to regroup, which usually comes in the form of a snack. It gives me an opportunity to get up, walk away from my desk, and possibly talk/vent to someone else.

3. I can have fun without drinking (like Memorial Day weekend).

4. I need to cut down on my consumption of nuts. I found that I replaced my fruits/sweets snacking with almond butter, which means I probably consumed too many nuts and my stomach didn't appreciate it. I must remember that while our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, they didn't have easy access to pounds of conveniently shelled nuts.

5. There are a few things that truly excite me to think about or talk about. One of them is Paleo; another is crew. And I'm loving that I'm doing both right now. Even though waking up early on the weekends is difficult to do because that means I have to restrain my socializing and night life a bit, I ALWAYS feel happier after crew practice. And I often find myself thinking about blog posts as I go about my day. I'll be walking to my car and thinking about how I want to write about the benefits of apple cider vinegar, or working out and thinking about analyzing the benefits of combining a good workout routine with Paleo and how it's hard an intense workout routine will affect how many starchy foods you'd consume while doing Paleo (i.e., sweet potatoes).

6. I still need to find a suitable balance of work, cooking, blogging, working out, and hanging out with friends. Currently, the working out portion has been absent from most week days. Maybe I just need to learn to blog faster? Is that possible? I don't often proof-read what I write as it is now. I'm not sure if I can speed that up.

7. I have a nervous habit. I pick at my lips... like literally pick at the skin of my lips, and if my lips aren't completely smooth, I end up pulling off any imperfections. I really dislike imperfections.

8. I have a hard time planning out food for the week. As much as I would love to cook everything up in advance and plan easily based on the foodstuffs that I have available, I still haven't perfected that skill. That's something I intend to work on.

9. I need to take a two-prong approach to caring for my body: internally and externally. Eating healthy is a good call, but I think it should be supplemented by taking care of your skin, hair, and eyes, so that you don't get sunburned, don't strain your eyes too much by too much sun or improper eyewear, and don't fry your hair with hair dryers, curlers, straighteners, etc. I've invested in castor oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, and additional coconut oil for a skin care regimen.

I'm sure I recognized/learned more things, but that's all I can think of right now.

Oh, and I apologize for not posting much last week. I tried to "catch-up", but I got distracted by prioritizing hanging out with friends instead of blogging. As much as I love talking about Paleo and how it pertains to my life, there are some times when I'd really like to talk (or write) to something or someone that will talk back. Sadly, or fortunately, my blog has not yet developed a mind of its own. So last Friday, I cooked this up for breakfast. Every once in a while, I like my breakfast to be all fancy-like: Lamb chops with fried egg, avocado, and bacon. Magic in your mouth!

I met up with my girl KAOS for Tex-Mex dinner. It took them two tries to get my order of carne asada right. The first try was some pork thing. Who knows. Anyways, she came over to chill with me while I started packing. We ended up watching a musical (singing and dancing) episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I first saw this episode three-and-a-half years ago at a Buffy Musical Sing-a-long, held at a nearby park. My college buddy MN was kind enough to let me drag him along so I didn't have to go by myself. (In case you haven't noticed, I really like going to random things like sing-a-longs, celtic festivals, and obscure sporting events.)

So that's some of things I ate this weekend. As well as a spinach and sausage crepe with a tomato paste-based sauce.

In case you're wondering what went into the crepes, we made neutral (neither sweet or savory) crepes. The recipe was:

1 kg flour

2 L whole milk

12 eggs

Pan fry with a little bit of vegetable oil. Easy, right? And TOTALLY non-Paleo.