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The entire chillaxing, Primal Blueprint and eating thing seems to be going well for you.  Sometimes I wonder if part of the trick is allowing things to be easier rather than harder.  Sleep really does make a huge difference doesn't it.  Glad you're doing well an I'm envious of your walk in the snow.

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The entire chillaxing, Primal Blueprint and eating thing seems to be going well for you. Sometimes I wonder if part of the trick is allowing things to be easier rather than harder. Sleep really does make a huge difference doesn't it. Glad you're doing well an I'm envious of your walk in the snow.

Easier rather than harder is going really well for me right now. That's a good way to put it! I am thinking about doing a short version of Whole 30 in December, but for now I'm trying to get exercise, eat well, and enjoy life.

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Took a few days off of tracking & controlling what I was eating to enjoy the holidays with family. Ended up eating lots of gluten and now feel really lousy. Digestive upset similar to what I experienced a few weeks ago after letting it all hang out.

So, tomorrow I'm starting a 21 day paleo challenge. Not whole 30 strict, but sticking to paleo. Looking forward to feeling better.

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“Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.† ~Wernher Von Braun

 

I feel crappy a lot of the time. My hormones seem to be getting weirder as I get older (I'm a woman in my mid-40s, with two children). I've gained some weight over the last year and a half (5-15 pounds; hard to tell because my weight fluctuates a lot), but I've always been within a healthy BMI, so I'm not so worried about that (though not in love with it either).

 

I want a stronger immune system. I get sick a lot. I flirt with anemia. I want more emotional resiliency overall, especially in winter (I live in a cold dark place for much of the year). And most of all I want some relief from the occasional depression that seems to increasingly accompany my hormonal cycle.

 

I've been feeling out the paleo thing for awhile. I did a Whole 30 in June, with mostly great results. I'm not interested in being 100% strict paleo – the occasional potato and whole gluten free grain seem to work well for me. Moderate amounts of local, grass-fed goat and occasional cow dairy don't seem like a problem. I believe in enjoying life and food and not being too dogmatic about either (and my system seems to support that). But my mood swings allow me to easily fall into bad habits, because who really cares anyway and the results aren't so bad…until all of a sudden they are and I feel like I got run over by a truck.

 

So here is an experiment:

 

For the rest of the year (November and December 2013) I'm going to focus on mostly eating high quality vegetables, fats, and animal protein, with the occasional gluten free grain, potato, or terrific local dairy thrown in. I'm going to try to stay away from alcohol and caffeine. And I'm going to continue with some amino acid supplementation as prescribed in Julia Ross's work on diet and mood.

 

I'm also going to follow the Primal Blueprint Fitness suggestions/program. I'm nursing my way back from a spinal compression injury, so I'll need to be careful about how I approach this, but the program is super adaptable  (and thoughtful exercise is an important part of my recovery). I bought a cheap ass door frame pull-up bar. I just started using a FitBit, because right now walking is one of the few forms of exercise that's consistently available to me and the fancy forget-about-it pedometer helps motivate me to work in more of it. So, I've also set a goal of recorded activity that adds up to 165 miles in November.

 

I will write about it here, as much as I can muster, at least until the new year. Then I'll assess and figure out where to go from wherever I land. Like a good researcher who has no idea what the f*ck they're doing.

I also don't know what the f*ck I'm doing, so I enjoy the thought of it being research.  You make me smile.  Thanks

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Back to logging, for today 12/1:

 

FOOD

M1: egg bake, sausage, beets, broccoli, sour pickles, kombucha & small square of dark chocolate

M2: cauliflower rice & shrimp/coconut curry with lots of vegetables

Stomach was still a little uneasy from yesterday, so skipped breakfast (a completely rare occurrence for me) and stuck to a cup of weak green tea.

 

EXERCISE:

Went for a hike with kids and dogs, climbing a small local mountain in search of a geocache (our new family hobby -- awesome). A beautiful day in the woods with a light snow.

 

RELAXING (have decided to add a category for this):

Getting back on track with my meditation practice. The goal of this for me isn't about relaxing, per se, but it's almost always a side benefit.

Going to bed early with books, a hot water bottle, and a heating pad. So warm and cozy!

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Today so far (12/2):

 

FOOD:

M1: Eggs scrambled with mushrooms, zucchini, arugula in cultured butter; olives; clementine

M2: Carrots 7 greek yogurt guacamole, leftover shrimp curry, almonds, spicy dark chocolate

snack: tart frozen yogurt with blackberries & kiwi

M3: Will probably be chicken breast and broccoli

 

Really under-ate yesterday, calorie-wise. I'm feeling extra hungry today as a result. That's a good thing, right?

 

Maybe too much dairy? I'm definitely going for paleo with some dairy and GF grains (maybe that's technically more 'primal'...whatever, I like Mark Sisson's food pyramid; working with that -- whatever that is). We'll see I guess. The frozen yogurt was an unexpected treat with kids. Not the best; not the worst. I really don't want to feel like that kind of thing isn't "allowed." On the other hand, I'm not sure how much good it really does me.

 

EXERCISE:

Good amount of walking about (will hit 10,000 steps). Played chase with youngest daughter while waiting for the bus. Will do some strength exercises (squats, push ups, planks) and PT core stabilization shortly. Maybe a little family dance party action. I bought a super duper pair of gloves at a huge discount. I am determined to have a sporty winter outdoors this year; it makes it so much more manageable.

 

RELAXATION:

Planning on a nice hot bath tonight. Meditated this morning, with an additional contemplation on gentleness. Worked my weekly short day today to spend the afternoon with kids -- had an awesome time tooling around downtown and getting not-quite-on-plan yogurt. It's so nice when they're fun.

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An afternoon with the kids sounds great!  I'm glad you enjoyed it.  I'm going to steal one of your relaxation items tonight and go to bed early with a book.  And I mean early!

 

ETA: I've been following along, so I thought I would speak up.

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An afternoon with the kids sounds great!  I'm glad you enjoyed it.  I'm going to steal one of your relaxation items tonight and go to bed early with a book.  And I mean early!

 

ETA: I've been following along, so I thought I would speak up.

 

Thanks for stopping by and following along. I've been following you too.

 

Relaxation thief whenever you want. Early to bed is the best. I have loved seeing my sleep averages slowly trend upward.

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Today (12/3):

 

FOOD

M1: Eggs & sausage scrambled with vegetables

M2: Leftover chicken, broccoli, cabbage & carrots w/ guacamole & almonds & clementine & very small piece of spicy dark chocolate

M3: Ground beef stir-fried with vegetables, topped with a couple tablespoons of cultured sour cream

 

I want to eat all the sugar tonight! Will settle for another clementine, maybe. Also, let myself have a decaf coffee today. Awesome, but a slippery slope. I've had green tea the last few days. Didn't sleep so well last night, so may have to let it go. I so want to be able to handle a little caffeine, but maybe I just can't?

 

EXERCISE

Not much! Was tentatively planning to go to the gym, but had some sort of weird allergic reaction all day. Finally took Benadryl and now too spacey to do much of anything. But I did force myself to take the dogs on a decent walk when I got home and walked to and from work, so I'm just shy of my 10,000 steps.

 

RELAXING

Took Benadryl, which did wonders for my kooky hives. Now I'm really sleepy and out of it and I'm going to give in to some TV on the couch. Sometimes it feels really good to do the easy thing. Was supposed to go to a meeting about the kids' school play and just...bypassed to deal with the crazy Itchville. It felt good to let it go, as I was originally planning to power through and felt really annoyed and martyred about the whole thing. No room for that!

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Today:

FOOD

M1: egg/sausage/vegetable scramble & olives

M2: work salad bar w/sardines, clementine, kombucha

M3: lettuce wrapped burger w/tomato & grilled vegetable, mayo (the cheap stuff), green beans, strawberries, seltzer

Snacks: decaf (sigh), little dark chocolate, few slices of cheddar

EXERCISE (& RELAXATION?)

Hardly any! I'm so tired these days. Not sure if it's winter or what. Maybe I have adrenal fatigue. Lately I've been fantasizing about what it would be like to rest until I stop feeling tired. I wonder how long it would take? Weeks? Months? Years? It's kind of scary. Anyway, I need to step it up a little -- back injury was flaring up today, which happens if I slack on exercise...just letting myself rest and sleep tonight & will try to regroup tomorrow. Scheduled a bunch of PT appts, which will help with accountability.

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There was an article I read sometime this past year on nytimes.com (I think) about the growing understanding of the relationship between the gut bacteria and the brain.  There was some discussion that gut bacteria might be the reason for chronic fatigue syndrome and other things where we are often told it's "all in our head".  I just tried looking for it to revisit what it said, but didn't find it (found a fun article by Michael Pollan though on why "germs are our friends").  I was reminded of this article when you mentioned adrenal fatigue.  Of course, maybe it is just a change in seasons, but feeling like you could sleep for days.....oh my gosh.....I just noticed you said you were super tired the day after you had Benadryl!  Whenever I have taken Benedryl I have had to take a super deep sleep nap the next day for three hours.  It's kind of the reason I avoid the stuff unless I'm scared I'll die.  But nonetheless, the article on nytimes.com was really interesting and I tend to think my bacterial flora are more like a bunch of derelict deckhands on a half ass pirate ship (sitting below deck playing cards, smoking, drinking and telling dirty jokes).  I'd much rather have some high quality deck hands on a really stellar pirate ship (sitting below deck playing cards, reading books, playing the fiddle, cracking some good jokes, and keeping things clean).

 

Our snow is all being rained away.  So much rain on top of so much snow caused the town to shut down.  Such uninspiring weather! :)

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I can be seriously sick for a week when I eat something (like mung bean chips or black sticky rice for the first time) that disrupts my flora ... Think severe SIBO so I am a firm believer in this stuff.... Also explains why breast fed babies do better even years later... They get better gut flora. I've also been reading about epigenics... How a parents health can switch on or off certain genes in their progeny which is being linked to the increase in food allergies and obesity etc... There is so much we haven't realised yet about our compromised diet.

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Today:

FOOD

M1: egg/sausage/vegetable scramble & olives

M2: work salad bar w/sardines, clementine, kombucha

M3: lettuce wrapped burger w/tomato & grilled vegetable, mayo (the cheap stuff), green beans, strawberries, seltzer

Snacks: decaf (sigh), little dark chocolate, few slices of cheddar

EXERCISE (& RELAXATION?)

Hardly any! I'm so tired these days. Not sure if it's winter or what. Maybe I have adrenal fatigue. Lately I've been fantasizing about what it would be like to rest until I stop feeling tired. I wonder how long it would take? Weeks? Months? Years? It's kind of scary. Anyway, I need to step it up a little -- back injury was flaring up today, which happens if I slack on exercise...just letting myself rest and sleep tonight & will try to regroup tomorrow. Scheduled a bunch of PT appts, which will help with accountability.

Considered a chiropractor?  What kind of injury?  I deal with that, too.   Adrenal fatigue is another thing I worry about.

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Well, I don't want my gut flora deckhands to be a bunch of elitists only talking about the newest museum exhibits, but I would like them to have a bit of finesse and zoro-ness in their daily battles in the trenches.

 

I laughed when I read your comments.

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Considered a chiropractor?  What kind of injury?  I deal with that, too.   Adrenal fatigue is another thing I worry about.

I have some complications from disc compression (nerve damage -- muscle weakness, leg goes numb, no fun) and have been working with a team of a brilliant osteopath, a couple of PTs and, more minimally, a neurosurgeon. Major improvements this fall, with some backsliding in recent weeks. It takes a lot of attention!

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Keep working at it Selene. I was diagnosed with a slipped vertebrae and had about 5 years of chiro and low impact activity only, then got so fit from walking I decided to take up running and my back actually improved as my core strength improved. I try to do Pilates and yoga to complement the running too and it seems to work.

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Keep working at it Selene. I was diagnosed with a slipped vertebrae and had about 5 years of chiro and low impact activity only, then got so fit from walking I decided to take up running and my back actually improved as my core strength improved. I try to do Pilates and yoga to complement the running too and it seems to work.

 

I actually had surgery for a ruptured disc about a decade ago and I've been thrilled to heal my current injury without having to go that path. but it requires constant vigilance. I do miss running and look forward to having it back on the table. Slow and steady...

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I've been eating healthy and about 80-90% on plan. Craving sugar like a mad woman; having a little chocolate here and there. Should probably give that up. Though I'm doing a pretty good job not letting it open the floodgates. But I find after eating it once I immediately want more.

 

I ate some brown rice pasta last night after being pretty rigorous about avoiding grain for most of the week. Slept really well and woke up with tons of energy. Ate oatmeal for breakfast and continued to feel good. Food for thought. I'm about to get my period -- is that the time that some people think it makes sense to go a little more carbohydrates in?

 

This dark freezing weather though. Holy bejeezus! I'm finding it really hard to get motivated to exercise. Still walking a good amount, but mostly just wanting rest, rest and more rest. I don't know whether giving in to that is a good instinct or not. I did manage to do both my meditation practice and PT this morning. Set me up for a much better day, physically and mentally.

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I've been craving sugar like a madwoman.  Well, I don't know if I've been craving it, but I've been eating it!  I don't think I have any excuses though I did knock off the honey from my tea today (and then later ate M&M's).  Hope things are going relatively well.

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