W30D17

Hey, guess what? I just realized that we're over halfway through with this Whole 30. Rock on! It hasn't been too bad so far, if you exclude my Saturday Irish stew consumption, but that was a brief hiccup. I have to admit that I've been fighting off the urge to sneak a piece of dark chocolate. Notice that I used the word "sneak," because I know that I shouldn't be eating it so I feel like I'd need to hide it. I've fought off the urge for the past two nights. Want to know my motivation for saying no? Of course you do... It's the fact that I'd have to call up Jay and confess that I ate dark chocolate during a Whole 30. That's a definite no-no. And after I called him, I'd post it on here. For all of you to read. Yeah, it's good to be held accountable by someone other than just yourself.

I really need to start going to bed earlier. I'm not sure how exactly to make this happen, because I keep finding myself writing these posts and finally replying to emails at the end of each day. Because I stayed up till 11:30 last night, it took me a while to get moving this morning. I snoozed my 5:00 a.m., 5:15 a.m., and 5:30 a.m. alarms, and finally got up at 5:50 to shuffle over to my rowing machine and get a morning workout in. Note to self: Don't get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom... There is a 7' long rowing machine in your way.

Now on to the yummy stuff.

Rosemary Lamb Chop

1 lb lamb chop

4 Tbls olive oil

2 Tbls chopped rosemary

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

1. Mix 2 Tbls olive oil, rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper together. Rub mixture into the meat, cover, and let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes or more.

2. Heat the remaining two Tbls olive oil over high heat in an cast iron pan (or something capable of going into the oven). Once hot, add the lamb chop and sear on each side for 3-4 minutes.

3. Transfer to 400 F oven and cook for 4-5 minutes. (optional)

4. Move the lamb chops to a plate or cutting board and cover with tin foil. Let rest for 5-10 minutes. Then eat up.

ECD9: 45 minutes rowing + 15 minutes practicing inversions (a.k.a. head stands). I'm getting closer to being able to hold it for more than 5 seconds.

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.

21DSD - Days 16, 17, and 18 - External Health

It's back to work, my friends. The glorious long weekend has passed and it's back to that same old grind, though a bit more intense right now because we're rushing to meet deadlines. I mean, we're always doing that, but one of the upcoming deadlines is a BIG one. With the rushing around that I've been doing throughout the day, I haven't been eating so great. I'm still 21DSD-acceptable, but not balanced. Let me share with you what I have been eating.

Tuesday: Breakfast: 2 eggs and 2 strips bacon, Lunch: Garden vegetable soup, Dinner: Lamb Chop (see below)

Wednesday: Breakfast: N/A, Lunch: Almond butter, carrots, and celery, Dinner: Pistachios

Thursday: Breakfast: Chili with poached egg and avocado (see below), Lunch: Chicken breast and avocado, Dinner: Chicken breast

So where's the veggies? And seriously, on Wednesday I ate nuts, nuts, carrots, celery, nuts, nuts, and nuts? What was I thinking? Bad idea. My stomach was angry, and I've realized that nuts make my face break out. Boo. Sadly, this is what happens when I go out of town, get sunburned, and not want to move. Lesson learned.

My sunburn from this past weekend got me thinking about how I take care of myself internally (I've changed the way I eat to make myself feel better), but I'm obviously not taking good (enough) care of myself externally. Sunburns are bad! Sure, the burn fades into a tan and then I look "healthy," but how is increasing my risk for a melanoma healthy? Oh wait, it's not. But Vitamin D is good for me... or at least that's what Mark Sisson keeps telling me (he's got a few posts about it). From here on out, I'm going to try to be more conscious of the condition of my skin, and to try to reapply sunscreen more frequently. I'll wear larger hats and sunglasses to protect my face, shoulders, and eyes. And I'll look into sun shirts, that I can possibly manage to wear in the brutal Texas summer.

Anyways, it got me thinking about my skin in general. I already posted previously about how I've started using coconut oil for my face and hair. And as I was thinking about my skin care regime, I realized that I had started going for the more natural/organic face washes and lotions, without truly making that my intention. As I pondered this gradual change, I decided that it made sense. Here I am, eating all of the grass-fed, free-range, organic meat that I can find, and scouring through ingredients lists to find Paleo-friendly foods with the least amount of ingredients, why wouldn't I start doing the same thing for my skin and hair?

I also happened to read a post from Hayley of Food Lovers Kitchen (http://www.primalpalate.com/blog/bye-bye-rosacea-glowing-skin-for-the-bride-to-be/) about skin care for her upcoming wedding to co-blogger Bill. She shared her skin care regime and mentioned something called oil cleansing. I know what you're thinking... how do you wash your face with oil? Here's what you need for an evening skincare regime:

Cleansing oils: Castor oil, mixed with sunflower seed oil or grapeseed oil (~1:2 ratio of castor to sunflower/grapeseed)

Moisturizing oil: Coconut oil or jojoba oil

The recommended procedure: Start by rubbing the "cleansing" oils into your skin for a few minutes. Then hold a washcloth under hot water. Wring out the cloth and apply to your face, thus "steaming" your face (if you've ever gotten a facial, you've probably had this steaming method done). Once the cloth has cooled, wipe off the oil from your face. Repeat if desired. Finish off with a thin layer of the moisturizing oil. Sleep on it. In the morning, you can either just splash your face with water, or use a mixture of water and baking soda to lightly wash your face

Personally, I don't own castor oil, so I've just been using coconut oil. Which means that my evening skin care prep before bed goes a bit like this...

1) Rub coconut oil onto face and wipe over eyes as makeup remover.

2) Place a hot washcloth on face for ~30 seconds. Wipe away makeup.

3) Rub coconut oil onto face.

4) Place a hot washcloth on face for ~30 seconds. Wipe clean.

5) Rub coconut oil onto face.

So in one evening, I use coconut oil as an eye makeup remover, a face wash, and a moisturizer. You gotta love those multi-purpose tools, or oils, as the case may be. The next time I head to the store, I plan on picking up some castor oil. But I've been doing this for 5 nights now, and so far I like it. My face feels clean, and when I wake up, even if I didn't do step 5), my face is super soft. I'll keep you posted on how it goes after more than just a few days.

For more information, check out Liz Wolfe's post here: http://cavegirleats.com/2010/12/29/cleansing-redefined/

Or find even more detail with: http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/

And to finish off with food... here's how I prepared my lamb chops:

Lamb Chops

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Season lamp chops with salt and pepper.

3. Cook in oven for 9 minutes per side or until internal temp reaches 140 F (if you want it cooked medium).

4. Remove from heat and let rest for 8 minutes.

Paleo Gyros

Paleo Gyros

1 lb meat (beef, lamb, etc.)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 Tbls marjoram
1 Tbls dried rosemary, finely chopped or ground if you can
1 tsp sea salt
5 leaves of red butter lettuce, washed and carefully separated

1. Mix together the olive oil, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, and sea salt.

2. Place the meat in a plastic bag and pour the olive oil mixture in as well. Shake the bag to coat evenly. Let rest in the fridge for a couple hours.
3. Cook the meat on a pan over medium heat for a couple minutes per side, or until cooked to the level you desire.
4. Slice the meat and serve over red butter lettuce with cucumbers (and tomatoes if you want).

P90X - Day 5

Day 5 is Legs and Back. This work out consists of 23 exercises, with the general format for area of focus being a leg-leg-back pattern. In other words, two leg exercises, like balanced lunges and calf raise squats followed by reverse grip chin ups. I like this workout. It makes my quads burn. Burn, baby, burn!

I think my body is getting used to waking up at 5:00 a.m. again. It's been a while since I've consistently woken up at 5, and I have to say that I like it. I always feel accomplished when I work out in the morning.  Of course, this is after a decent night of sleep; I'm sure I wouldn't be so happy if I hadn't gotten 7+ hours of sleep.

Here's what I ate yesterday: 

Breakfast (@8a.m.): 1 tbls almond butter, leftover sausage, brisket, and bbq chicken

Lunch (@11a.m.): Sliced turkey, lettuce, and 1 slice provolone cheese (yeah, yeah, it's dairy...). I was in a lecture during lunch about Piping and Relief Systems (thrilling, huh?) and the lunch that was provided was a boxed lunch of a sandwich, potato chips, and a cookie. So all I could eat was the inner parts of the sandwich.

Snack (@3p.m.): Apple, 2 more slices of leftover sausage and 1 slice of brisket

Dinner (@9p.m.): Rack of lamb with ginger beets, steamed vegetables, and a butternut squash salad.

		Goal	with Exercise	Actual
Calories	kcal	1,330	2,133	1,510
Carbs	g	183	293	70
Fat	g	44	70	81
Protein	g	50	80	113
Calcium	g	100	100	29
Fiber	g	15	25	13
Cholesterol	mg	-	-	181
Sodium	mg	-	-	1,510
Sugars	g	-	-	34

P90X - Day 4

Yoga. Oh my gosh. My least favorite of the P90X routines. I know that yoga is supposed to calm the mind or something similar to that, but it doesn't quite work that way. A full 90 minutes of yoga can be exhausting and exhaustingly boring. And when I'm already tired and wanting to go to bed, it really makes me want to crawl back under the covers. I do enjoy the end of the yoga when Tony tells me to do Corpse pose (a.k.a. lay flat on my back and breathe) and then tells me to roll onto my side into the position that I normally sleep in. I finish off yoga feeling calm and ready to go back to sleep, the former of which goes away shortly after getting to work, and the latter is not ideal for waking up in the morning.

It was a later start than I intended, because I fell asleep after my first alarm, despite being half-awake for 10 minutes before my 5:00a.m. alarm went off. So I didn't roll out of bed until 5:30a.m. when alarm #2 sounded. I debated just getting ready for work and skipping yoga, but I knew my schedule for the day and I knew that I would end up not doing yoga at all if I didn't do it yesterday morning.

Here's what I ate yesterday: 

Breakfast (@8a.m.): 1 tbls almond butter, dark chocolate (healthy breakfast? not so much.)

Lunch (@12:30p.m.): Rack of lamb with balsamic glaze, Brussels sprouts, and mixed greens

Snack (@2:30p.m.): Fruit Tray for my birthday celebration at work. Yeah, it's a week late, but I like to keep the celebrations going for as long as possible. I've already gotten a request from one of my friends to have a one-month anniversary celebration of my 25th birthday. I think I may have to oblige. (OMG. I'm 25, how did that happen?)

Dinner (@6p.m.): Chicken and Vegetable Soup
Happy Hour (@7:30p.m.): Gin and tonic

		Goal	with Exercise	Actual
Calories	kcal	1,330	1,612	1,345
Carbs	g	183	221	147
Fat	g	44	53	49
Protein	g	50	60	68
Calcium	g	100	100	22
Fiber	g	15	19	20
Cholesterol	mg	-	-	164
Sodium	mg	-	-	965
Sugars	g	-	-	87

So a random annoyance of mine is when people who are clearly not handicapped, nor have their hands full in any way, decide to use the automatic doors provided for physically disabled individuals. Is there a reason why they can't push or pull the door open by themselves? Are they too weak to open the door? Well, I can recommend some exercises and weight-lifting they can do to improve upon their upper-body strength. I know that the doors at the entrance of my office building are a bit on the heavy side, but they're not that difficult to open. Though I have had co-workers comment to me about how strong I must be to barely break stride in order to open the door. "You must workout a lot." True story. Still I feel that if you are an able-bodied individual, you should stop being so lazy and open your own door. Just saying.

And now for a random tidbit of knowledge: How to get a boy into your room according to Mad Men, Season 1: "The light fixture in my room is out... could you change it for me?" Smooth. I'm sure the poor fellow had no idea (yeah, right...) what was going to happen after that.

P90X - Day 3

Day 3 of P90X: Shoulders and Arms

4:45a.m.: Wake up 15 minutes before my alarm and begin internal debate regarding whether I actually want to get up.
5:00a.m.: Alarm goes off. Debate continues.

5:05a.m.: Willpower wins.

5:10a.m.: Start P90X. Let the pain begin.

6:30a.m.: Done!

Yesterday when I got into work, I had to walk down two flights of stairs (for some reason the elevator in the parking deck only goes up to the 5th floor, despite the deck being 8 levels - I work at an engineering company. You'd think that we'd have a better parking deck design, right?). While going down the stairs, I felt like my right quad was going to give out on me. It was shaky and weak, and I was concerned as to whether I could continue . Don't worry, I didn't crumble and fall, but I did walk pretty slowly and held onto the hand-rails with both hands.

Here's what I ate yesterday: 

Breakfast (@7:30a.m.): Rack of lamb with a balsamic glaze, served over mixed greens, and topped with a poached egg. Yeah, I like to eat fancy food, even in the morning.

Snack (@10a.m.): Orange, Dark chocolate with cacao nibs 1/2 serving.

Lunch (@12p.m.): Chicken and steak faijitas with guacamole thanks to a lunch meeting (though I should have just stuck with the food I brought from home - compared to breakfast and dinner, lunch alone had the same number of calories, three times more carbs, the same grams of fat, and 1/3 the protein - eating out is gross sometimes!)

Snack (@4p.m.): Apple

Dinner (@8:30p.m.): Rack of lamb with Brussels sprouts and artichokes

Nutritional data:

		Goal	with Exercise	Actual
Calories	kcal	1,330	1,932	1,625
Carbs	g	183	265	124
Fat	g	44	63	75
Protein	g	50	72	69
Calcium	g	100	100	11
Fiber	g	15	22	18
Cholesterol	mg	-	-	359
Sodium	mg	-	-	1,261
Sugars	g	-	-	39

Sometimes I get cravings. Usually I succumb to them. I'm a firm believer that my body will let me know what it needs. Obviously it does that already: when your body needs water or nutrients, you feel thirsty or hunger, respectively. There was a week of my freshman year at Georgia Tech during which I craved green beans (obviously prior to Paleo). I had green beans at every meal, including breakfasts, from Monday through Friday. My breakfast was half of a can of green beans; lunch was a side of green beans; and dinner was green bean casserole. And the week progressed in much of the same way. For some reason, every meal of my meal plan contained green beans that week.  It was more than just me wanting green beans. But most of the times that I claim I'm "craving" something, it's usually just me wanting to eat something like chocolate or sweets. So here are my levels of "craving," 5 being the level where I feel like my body is craving it, not my mind.

0 - No way

1 - I wouldn't mind it

2 - I'd like it

3 - I want it

4 - I really want it (usually stress-related)

5 - I crave it; I need it; I have hunger pangs for this particular food.

So see below for an explanation of what your body is trying to tell you: