TIGER BLOOD! March : Days 4 & 5

Day 5 is coming to a close, and we are still alive and functioning, squee! According to the Whole30 folks and their timeline, days 4 & 5 are the "KILL ALL OF THE THINGS" phase, during which time you are supposed to be a major grump because you are being deprived of tasty treats and thrown out of your comfort zone and getting your hormones regulated, etc.

Well, we managed to stay pretty grump free, and didn't kill any of the things! Hurrah! Maybe a few grumblings here and there, and I may or may not have almost snapped Phil's head off for a benign, Candy Crush related comment.  Phil said it best, though, when I asked him if he wanted to kill all of the things... he said "No... I more just want to push all of the things over a little."  I imagine a grumpy little kid pouting and shoving their playmate down in the sandbox for stealing their toy. Sounds about right.

However, it has been hard to feel deprived when indulging in tasty comfort foods like this....

(Spaghetti squash with italian meatballs in marinara sauce - umyums. We would happily eat this during non-paleo times as well.)

The most noticeable thing I've noticed (yes my mastery of the English language is astounding) is how not hungry I've been (which I alluded to in terms of how filling paleo is and how easy it is to stop eating when full here).  I've actually had to worry more than anything that I'm not getting enough food throughout the day - and not because I'm intentionally depriving myself, but because I just haven't gotten as hungry.  I'm sure this is because I'm eating more filling foods that provide more sustainable energy and fulfillment than usual, and food is no longer viewed at as a pleasurable thing to be endlessly craved and indulged in.  It's just an interesting observation, and fascinating to have a mental and physical switch of thinking of food almost purely as fuel.  Learning. Growing. Continued.

Oh and I also discovered that I find kombucha delicious, which is nice, since it is not only paleo-approved, but paleo-recommended (probiotics and such).  I just have to not at all think about what it really is (mushroom-fungus-jellyfish-water) when I drink it, otherwise I'd blow mushroom-fungus-jellyfish-water-chunks (how's that for a delightful image?!).

Also, thanks to paleo, I cooked and ate beets for the first time ever! And they were tastycakes.

Beets, beans and beef! Alliteration: a great way to make your lame paleo meal seem more exciting.

TIGER BLOOD! March: Day 3

According to the Whole30 folks, day 3 should be a continuation of the detox hangover that started around day 2.  I'm happy to say that I felt much better today than I did yesterday, my headache is gone and I feel pretty energetic (could be because I've been working on making my coffee drinkable, thus maintaining my caffeine intake much better today than yesterday, which I will write more about later once I've perfected the art of delicious paleo coffee).






Having just eaten lunch, one thing I've noticed is how filling paleo food is.  Today is the second day in a row I haven't been able to finish the food I brought for lunch because I felt so full.  A lot of people fear feeling so hungry if they eat this way, and while I definitely have times throughout the day that I'm hungry (but no hungrier than normal), by no means following a meal do I feel unsatisfied. 






This concept brings to light just an interesting observation about the kind of food we eat and how our bodies and brains react to it.... there are many times in the past when I have been at the brink of feeling full or stuffed to the brim, and have happily continued eating.  Because when you are eating deliciously processed food, your mouth and brain just wants wants wants more more more.  When you are feeling full, that next bite of cake or pizza still looks delicious and your craving to continue the yums overpowers your body's signal that it's down for the count.  (I know there's some neurosciencey explanation for this - my best nonneuroscientist explanation is sugars/processed foods activitate pleasure centers in the brain, release endorphins which make you feel good, and your brain says OH give me some more of THAT good stuff!! And so on and so forth... some would say this is even akin to the way your brain reacts with an addiction. Food for thought [harhar]). 






This doesn't happen on paleo.  When you are full - that last steamed carrot or next bite of ground beef just isn't appealing.  Not because it doesn't taste good, but because you just simply feel done eating. (See: neurosciencey stuff - pleasure centers not activated so brain isn't called into action to crave more food, it's just responding purely to the body's responses for a change).  It been shockingly easy to just put the fork down, bag up my leftovers and call it good.  It's all of a sudden magically simple to listen to my body when it says it's full, instead of my brainmouth (yes that's a thing now) that says "MORE MORE MORE."  I guess this is stuff I've read about and known about as far as how food and our brain and cravings work, etc., but it's just fascinating and enlightening to experience it directly.




In addition to paleo balsamic vinaigrette that Phil whipped up on day 1, I've now also mastered paleo mayonnaise (recipe from this cookbook)...

I was intimidated by all of the cooking and preparation, but so everything is really simple to make (mostly just involves throwing stuff in a blender), and I won't lie, it's been kind of fun experimenting and learning how to make this stuff (which is a shocking statement coming from me, the person who probably hates cooking the most in the universe). Learning. Growing.




ALSO - it's great to now have validation for my jar hoarding.  I started keeping empty jars a while back thinking "we'll have a use for these some day," and voila. Someday is now.  It's great having random jars on hand to fill with things like mayonnaise, date paste, and coffee creamer (more on that soon).




On to day 4!

TIGER BLOOD! March: Days 1 & 2

Well it's finally arrived - TIGER BLOOD! March commenced yesterday.  I'm trying to juxtapose my experiment with the 30-day timeline that the folks over at Whole30 created, just to see how my experience is stacking up to what seem to be the most commonly experienced phases...

DAY 1
According to Whole30 day 1 has been deemed "So, What's the Big Deal?" during which time you are supposed to have a pompous sort of confidence of your ability to seamlessly eat paleo for the next 30 days (or more).  For myself, I would rename Day 1: "Crap, This is Actually Going to Take Work?"  Beyond doing lots of research and buying out the entire contents of Whole Foods, we did little to prepare, perhaps expecting the pompous confidence of Day 1 too much.

Breakfast was easy - eggs. Duh.

Lunch was a bit harder, given I wasn't going to be home. So I packed up some sliced fruit and veggies and some almonds and figured it wasn't too bad.  I actually didn't get around to eating any of it until I got home later that day, so I swapped the almonds for an apple and almond butter (which just so happens to be my favorite snack of all time so I am thrilled to have a green light to consume it).  Ideally, some form of meat would have been ideal here, but that's where our poor planning came into play. No cooked meat to be had.

Dinner was also a bit of a challenge because we ended up joining my family for dinner at my parent's house.  Luckily they let us cook fajitas for them, and we just said a tearful "no, thank you" to the tortillas and cheese, and chowed down on as much chicken, steak, peppers and onions as we could muster.

We both left dinner still somewhat hungry and not sure what to do about that.  Are we supposed to be hungry? Is this our body still adapting to the new way of being fueled? Did we genuinely not eat enough? We both had a small snack (cashews for me, grapefruit for Phil) when we got home, and called it a night. All in all, not too bad. We survived.

The real snag came when we started thinking ahead to the rest of the week, though.  Lunch, at work, in particular, feels challenging. So we ended up doing a bit of the "Sunday CookFest" thing that we've heard so much about.  We cooked up a bunch of ground beef, steamed some veggies, hard-boiled some eggs, made some (shockingly delicious) paleo-friendly salad dressing so that we'd have some easy grab-and-go options for the next day or two.  Then we also made a running list of what we realized we'd need that we forgot/hadn't realized we'd need. A learning process, it most definitely is and will continue to be.

So all in all, I'd say day 1 was totally successful, but came with a bit of a reality check as far as the amount of planning/prepping and overall effort it will take (which we already knew about and expected, but you know.  Reality and stuff.)

DAY 2
According to the Whole30 folks, this is supposed to be the onset of a two-day hangover, during which time you are essentially detoxing from all of the crap you ate right before starting your paleo experiment (which, for me, was an immense amount of crap).  I'd say I started feeling the hangover late in day 1, with a headache that has lasted through to the end of day 2.  Of course, my headache may have been in part due to caffeine withdrawal due to struggling to find a paleo-friendly way to make my coffee palatable (more on that to come!)

Feeling much more "So, What's the Big Deal," today after our CookFest yesterday, given packing up breakfast and lunch today was a breeze (hardboiled eggs and berries for breakfast, leftover fajita chicken and steamed veggies for lunch, almonds and fruit for a snack).  Dinner was a quick and easy salmon and brussel sprouts.

And, of course, the mid-day reminder that having a compadre in this experiment is priceless!

TIGER BLOOD! March: T-Minus 1 Day

What a great send off to gluteny, sugary, processed deliciousness on our last day before embarking on our paleo experiment...

Goodbye, pizza. Goodbye, beer. Goodbye, cake, I hold you dear. 

TIGER BLOOD! March: T-Minus 2 Days

Sunday is the big day, day 1 of "TIGER BLOOD! March." As such, I spent far too much time and far too much money at Whole Foods today stocking up on some essentials and getting ready.

How much money do you think is in those 3 bags? Trust me, you don't want to know. Damn you Whole Foods. 

Here's what I hauled away. Some basic staples like coconut oil, ghee, coconut milk, almond milk, etc., plus some meat options, veggies, fruits, nuts, and then some paleo-friendly bars and sauces. We get an organic veggie and fruit box delivered every week, and already have a freezer full of chicken and salmon so luckily I didn't need to go too nuts in those areas. 

I cleaned out and re-organized the pantry, and found it interesting to see how many fewer "pantry foods" we'll be eating...

The bottom two shelves are our non-paleo foods... Everything else is our paleo stuff (including a whole shelf of just teas). Interesting to just have a visual reminder that we won't be eating stuff that sits on a shelf and comes out of a box. 

So anyway, we're ready for ya, paleo! Just 48 hours of beer, pizza and cake stand between us. (Side note: after allowing myself to indulge these last weeks, I'm really ready to put an end to it. I'm feeling the junky food, and ready for TIGER BLOOD!)

TIGER BLOOD! March: T-Minus 6 Days

With 6 days left before the start of what in our house has now been deemed "TIGER BLOOD! March," I've found the process is already getting started, as far as the mental shifts related to food.  In preparation for our first venture into paleo, I've let myself indulge in many tasty, gluten-y treats.  Having just recently completed a strict 30-day gluten free experiment, it's enlightening to have the direct contrast (and will be enlightening to see the direct contrast with paleo).  In the past week or two that I've been indulging, I've noticed significant changes in the way I feel.  First off, my skin problems came back with a vengeance.  My digestion is incredibly cranky.  And I've found I end more days feeling run-down, exhausted and just yucky feeling. 


Aside from being educational (as far as highlighting the fact that, at the very least, increased gluten consumption does bad things to my body), it's also serving to motivate me and get me excited to try this paleo thing (because I don't know about you, but I don't like feeling gross).  We'll be starting on March 2nd, because we decided to try to squeeze in a cake tasting for our wedding on the 1st.   So we will have quite a send-off to deliciously processed foods by not only hitting up a cake tasting, but also indulging in what the closest thing to Chicago-style pizza we've found out here so far (and hopefully hitting some favorite beer spots).  We will have quite the detox to go through once we get going, but as food and beer-lovers, we're willing to deal with that in order to get in a few last indulgences.  


For anyone curious, so far my resources in getting ready for this process and researching have been the following:

• The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain
• Your Personal Paleo Code by Chris Kresser (my favorite so far - he's got a good head on his shoulders and is really realistic about the whole concept)
• The 30 Day Guide to Paleo Cooking by Hayley Mason & Bill Staley
• The Whole30 Program
• The interwebs.  Seriously just google "paleo" and you'll find more blogs, recipes and articles than you'll know what to do with. 

One tip for anyone starting to research this stuff: you've got to be able to decide for yourself what you believe.  There are obviously a lot of people who believe paleo is ridiculous, or even bad for you. And even within those who are pro-paleo, there are a lot of conflicting opinions.  If you read all three books I listed above, you will get three different perspectives and opinions on what you should and should not do.  You've got to be able to read it all and decide for yourself what works best.  For example, we are going to eat unlimited eggs (something Chris Kresser says yes to, but Loren Cordain says no to) because we love eggs and know it's an easy and accessible food option for us.  We will also long-term plan to follow the 80/20 rule (something Chris Kresser and Loren Cordain both say yes to, but Hayley Mason and Bill Staley say no to), because we believe enjoying an indulgence every once in a while is important to enjoying life and maintaining sanity.  It's your life, your body, your health, your mind - you've got to just take all that info out there and find a way to make it fit for you. Because if you don't, you won't be able to maintain it anyways, so why bother?

Diverging

Up until now this blog has been focused on house-related endeavors, with a few random crafty and crochet related things.  I've decided to expand out a bit, though, and use this as a forum to share my experiences with food.  Because I'm about to give something a whirl that is going to be extremely difficult and (hopefully) enlightening, and I'm sure will be fraught with "oopses" (yes, the plural of oops is oopses, obviously).


So, without further ado, I present to you my newest endeavor: paleo eating.  (I'll give you a moment to get the eye-rolls out of the way... are you good? You sure you don't want to get one more out, just for good measure? Go ahead, do it. Roll 'em. There. Now we can move on.).  For those of you who don't know, paleo eating basically means cutting out all processed foods - anything that our ancestor cavemen people wouldn't have been able to get their hands on.  So this means eating only meat, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and oils.  The theory, in a nutshell, is that our bodies are still genetically coded to most efficiently and effectively process these foods, and the crazy-processed-man-made foods (that really barely resemble "real food" by the time they make it to our salivating mouths) that make up the vast majority of what we eat nowadays negatively impacts our overall well-being and increase our risk for certain ailments. 


I know that this way of eating (I refuse to call it a "diet," because that insinuates that it's only about losing weight, and while that can be a nice little side effect, that is not the main purpose), is increasingly "trendy" right about now, and I promise you I am not the type to follow a trend in any regard, be it food, music, clothes, opinions, etc.  If I find something that works for me that also happens to be "in," great. If not, I couldn't care less. And I'll be the first to admit that I'm not 100% sold on the whole paleo thing, either. I have my doubts, for sure. And lord almighty do I loves me some bread, cheese and potatoes (ooh ooh, and beer! Oh, the beer)!! Hence, why I am trying it. I'm one of those people who needs to experience something directly in order to buy into it fully.


Why paleo, do you ask? Well, I have many reasons, really. I already know I have a gluten intolerance that has taught me a bit how certain kinds of processed, man-made foods can negatively effect my body.  I also struggle from some chronic skin issues that some people swear are exacerbated by processed foods, dairy, etc., and can be majorly helped by this way of eating (acne and eczema would be my skin ailments du jour).  Lastly, and more importantly, I do have a family history of cancer... seems like just about everyone in my family has had some form of cancer at some point in their lives, so I sometimes feel like a ticking time bomb.  I try to maintain a healthy lifestyle to try to reduce my risk, and figure that taking my eating habits one step further in that direction could possibly make me feel even better about what I'm doing to reduce my risk.  Many people swear that eating this way can indeed reduce many risk factors when it comes to cancer, particularly breast cancer (which my mother and grandmother have both battled), due to the way processed foods (and particularly dairy) can impact your hormones (and breast cancer is often linked to hormones and whatever it is they do in your body.  Yes my science knowledge is vast, I know).


Phil is luckily on board to try this experiment with me (thank goodness, because I think it would be extremely hard to live with somebody during this time who was helping himself to fresh-baked chocolate chips on a regular basis).  His reasoning lies behind more of a general desire to be healthier, and he's always been curious about healthier ways of eating.  He's particularly interested in the "TIGER BLOOD!!" phase, and feeling more energetic overall.  In reading up about some of the benefits of eating this way, however, I found a few chronic issues he deals with that could be helped, such as chronic sinus congestion and chronic muscle/joint inflammation/pain/tightness.


So, the plan is to embark on this experiment on March 1 and try to stick with it for the entire month (anybody got a good, catchy name for this? So far all I've come up with is "ALL OF THE MEATS March"... or how about "Masochistic March"?).  We are going to try to eat strictly "paleo" for one month, to see how it affects us, and then evaluate at the end to see what we'd like to do long term.  I know we won't be super strict about it forever, and if we do decide to eat this way long-term, we will allow ourselves a few chances to "cheat" each week (otherwise we'd go insane and probably be in the "KILL ALL OF THE THINGS!" phase forever.)


So that's that.  I'll plan to share on this blog how it's going throughout the month. In the meantime, we've got about 2 weeks left to binge on all of our favorite processed foods. If you are made in a factory and have ingredients I can't pronounce.. be afraid... be very afraid.