3 Weeks complete...and a "cheat" :/

Hey everyone, thought I would give you an update!   I am 33 days into my health behavior challenge, and 26 days into my liver "detox"/paleo challenge.  It seems like much longer than that!   This past week I noticed that I felt hungrier, and was getting some cravings to eat junk.  I heard back from my naturopath and here was her response: 

"- re: thyroid hormones: they are normal on labs, but hormone resistance means that the tissue doesn’t get the hormone because inflammation from the diet and other sources can block it, causing thyroid symptoms with normal labs.

- I don’t have a number for carbs for you to hit. Generally if you take in less carbs that you burn then you will lose weight. but I want to make sure that you aren’t hungry (where the fat and protein come in).  I’m ok for you to eat some grains in moderation (quinoa, wild rice, teff, amaranth, brown rice, some sweet potatoes).

- because we are going for an overall diet change, a cheat wont’ alter the metabolism unless you do it all the time."

Pretty simple explanation, but I basically took this response as a "go ahead" to cheat if I REALLY needed to.  Unfortunately- I did.  :(   Friday night I went out with classmates, and although I told myself earlier that I wasn't going to drink, I decided I would have a "paleo" drink (it's called a NorCal margarita, which was created by one of the Paleo "founders", Robb Wolf).  Of course a night of drinks isn't complete without fast food, so I got Wendy's afterwards.  More details are in my journal posts below.

Anyway, I've been back to my clean Paleo.  Feeling good and fit, but the scale hasn't budged.  :/   I really don't get it!!  On a positive note, I went shopping today for new khakis and I now fit into a size 16 really well.  :)  Maybe come time for my next clinical in November, I'll be in a 14 or even better, a 12.  It may be slow, but I'm making progress.  I'm feeling good, I'm motivated and things are looking up.  

This week I'm going on a backpacking trip to 20 Lakes Basin, which is right by Yosemite National Park.  I'm super excited!! Although it's not the actual park, the scenery should be just as beautiful.  We are staying in a campground Wed night, then meeting about 30 other people Thursday morning to start our backpacking trip.  I believe it's a 12 mile loop around some lakes...supposedly easy/moderate terrain.  It will be 2 nights of backcountry camping.  I've been dying to get out backpacking again!!  Hopefully I meet some cool people who I can go on more trips with.  :)   My dilemma is food for the week.  I bought some dehydrated food today at REI, and although it's gluten-free it does contain some corn starch and soybean oil, and "extra" stuff that's not so great.  I'm making beef jerky right now in my food dehydrator, and I'll bring nuts, dried fruits, Larabars, and some almond butter.  I should stop at Whole Foods to get some dehydrated vegetables, too!  I just hope that I can stick to eating this stuff, and not "cheat" during the car ride up and back.

Here are my latest journal entries:

Day 18 (Fri, June 14):

            Still feeling good and motivated.  Had a busy day today with school, a student physical, and studying, so decided to take the day off from workouts.  I did walk down to the beach and walked in the sand a little bit, for about a mile.  That is a bit of a workout because it’s up and down some steep hills and also walking in sand is somewhat difficult.  I started a new batch of bone broth using marrow bones, that I’m cooking on low in the crockpot for at least 24 hours.  Hopefully it will gelatinize, and taste good when it’s finished.  Overall, things are going well.  I’m feeling strong, energetic and motivated.  At my physical in the student health department, the nurse practitioner mentioned that I was in the overweight category according to BMI.  I hate the BMI scale, it doesn’t consider muscle vs fat ratio.  I told her that I do exercise and I eat a paleo diet, which she seemed to be ok with, although she did ask me about my red meat consumption.  It is frustrating that health practitioners don’t agree with paleo because there isn’t any research on it yet.  I’m hoping that as time goes by, more people who have been living on a paleo diet will report the great health they’ve received from living this lifestyle, and that it will be enough to trigger a paleo movement in our society, and get people knowledgeable about it, and change the way we think about the foods we are eating.  It’s the media and pharmaceutical companies that drive what we eat.  We just believe them without even testing things for ourselves.  I’ve read books, personal stories, and many articles.  I was at first a skeptic, too, but now I’m a big believer.  My blood test results will prove my case for paleo.

Day 20 (Sun, June 17):

            Today I spent studying for my midterms this week, and I also had to go back to urgent care to have my wound re-packed.  This has put me in somewhat of a predictament.  I have to keep re-packing the wound for maybe two weeks, and I am not supposed to get the bandage wet.  Therefore, I guess I need to avoid getting sweaty, because I have to be careful taking showers, as to not get the bandage wet.  So I’m not sure what to do.  I want to exercise, but I’m afraid of getting sweaty.  This wound has me really freaked out, because I get queasy/scared easily.  I have to have my roommate re-do the dressing for me everyday.  L   On the other hand, I have 3 midterms this week and a lot of studying to do, so maybe it is best if I stick to some easy exercises where I won’t get sweaty- like a short walk or just some low-intensity strength training.  As for diet, today I didn’t eat enough.  I did make pork tenderloin, which I had for lunch.  I also made another batch of bone broth.  I’m making one more batch with the bones that I have had in the crockpot since Friday.  My first batch is in the refrigerator and turned into gelatin- which I believe means it’s full of bone goodness!

Week 4

Day 23 (Wed, June 19):

            Well the past few days have been a little stressful (comparatively speaking, since I’m not one to normally feel stressed).  I have my wound on my mind, as well as the fact that I’ve not been able to exercise in four days.  I also have midterms this week, so I’ve been busy studying and preparing for them.  I noticed that I gained a few pounds this week.  I’m hoping it is because I gained some muscle weight due to my strength training that I started doing again last week, although it seems too soon to see results that quickly.  I did lose an inch from my waist, but I gained half an inch from my thigh.  The numbers on the scale aren’t important; it’s inches/how my clothes fit, that really matter.  I need to always keep this in mind.  I decided to email my naturopath with my current concerns and questions, so hopefully she’ll be able to provide some answers for me.  I asked her if my calorie intake was too low, and if she thought that that could be hindering me from weight loss.  I also got my bloodwork results in the mail, but unfortunately she did not test my cholesterol.  I was really curious to see my numbers!  I guess I will have to wait until my next visit with her in 4 weeks and have her test it then.

Day 25 (Fri, June 21):

            Well I’m glad this week is over.  I’m feeling a bit upset with myself that I haven’t exercised in a week, though.  I could have at least done a short run or some lifting, but I didn’t.  My wound is now looking very good. The doctor said it closed up very quickly, so I was really happy to hear that.  Now I can relax and not worry about it anymore!

            Last night I fell asleep at 7pm and didn’t get up until 6:30am the next morning.  Today I ended up taking a nap this afternoon instead of going for a run.  I guess this week really mentally wore me out.  I emailed my naturopath doctor with some questions  that I had about how things were going, here are some of the important points to note in her response: “...In regards to a low calorie intake, you are correct in that a low calorie intake will gain more weight, especially if you are low in saturated fats. Saturated fats have to be high to heal the metabolism to start to lose weight.  I don’t have a specific number for you to reach for, but listen to your body.  Generally what you typed sounds great for the diet. Good job with implementing so much! Most patients don’t implement as much as you have. Make sure that your getting plenty of veggies, and use the fats to get the calorie content up.  I have had a few patients who notice that if they go cold turkey on removing all grains (rice, quiona, etc) that they do retain weight, so watch for that too.  Regarding the weight gain: it’s more from water retention from the beer and salt from eating out [from two weeks ago]. Water weight comes and goes fast. Muscle weight will be a more gradual incline. Take a picture of yourself in a swimsuit now, and then again in 4 weeks. You want to compare how you store the weight, which is more important than the scale.  You are being treated for both liver congestion and inflammation in the gut that is causing thyroid hormone resistance and weight.”

            I had mentioned to her that although I lost some weight the first week, I had gained a few pounds in the second week.  I guess this was because the beer and bad food that I had eaten a couple weeks before that had started to show their effects on the body.  That goes along with the idea that I’ve always noticed of things taking a few weeks to “show up”.  I also asked her if my calorie intake was too low, and if that could possibly cause me to hold onto my fat storage.  I guess she is saying that I do need to try to get more calories in, in the form of saturated fats.  That’s something a regular doctor would never tell you! I’m not sure why she says when she mentioned the thyroid resistance, because she said that all of my thyroid hormones look fine.  I am emailing her back in regards to that.

            Today I also decided to buy some of the herbs that she recommended- probiotics, turmeric extract, milk thistle, and resveratrol.  I found them all for good prices at Whole Foods, so hopefully they will be effective enough for me. Back to workouts tomorrow!!

Day 27 (Sun, June 23):

            Had a pretty good weekend.  I ran on Saturday morning and this morning I finally got back on my road bike for a bike ride.  Felt really good to be back out on the bike!  I think I felt a bit lighter, too.  Nothing else to really note.  I may have dropped 2lbs this week, which is good.  Hoping to lose more in this next week.  To get more calories and fat into my diet, I’m now putting a tablespoon of coconut oil into my bone broth. 

Week 5

Day 30 (Wed, June 26):

            This week I’ve felt pretty tired.  I haven’t been exercising like I had wanted to due to more midterms and feeling a bit unmotivated to work out.  I think I’m feeling frustrated that I’m not losing any weight.  I emailed the naturopath back last Friday about it, but still haven’t heard back from her.  I still think that it’s due to the fact that my carb intake is around 150 grams per day, which is considered “weight maintenance” by Primal Blueprint standards (a book written by Mark Sisson, which is a similar diet to Paleo).  Tomorrow is my last midterm, so I’m looking forward to having some free time to cook and exercise.  I’m trying to make plans for my days off over the 4^th of July next week.  At the moment, it looks like I’m going to be joining a Meetup group to go backpacking/camping near Yosemite, which I am super excited about!!  If I do go, I’ll have to really think about what I’m going to bring to eat.  I’ll have to make beef jerky using my dehydrator.  I haven’t made jerky in over a year.  I’ll probably end up eating a lot of jerky and nuts, maybe some bars that I found that contain nuts and dried fruits.  I’m not sure if I could find any dehydrated backpacking foods that are gluten-free and paleo-friendly.  For dinner I decided to order chicken lettuce wraps from a Thai restaurant I went to over the weekend.  I am pretty sure it’s paleo!  Later this evening I noticed some bumps/skin irritation on my forearms after taking my gummy multi-vitamins.  They may contain gluten? I’ll check later. 

Day 33 (Saturday, June 29)

Bad news- I “cheated” last night.  Although I really wanted to not feel like I had to drink when going to a bar with classmates, I ended up drinking.  I heard back from my naturopath, who told me that “cheating” won’t undo all the good I’ve done, so I guess that made me feel like it’s ok if I do have a little bit of alcohol.  So I ended up drinking “paleo margaritas”, which are made with agave tequila, lime juice, and club soda.  After a few of those, I wanted fast food on the way home, so I got a baconator and fries from Wendy’s.  See this is why drinking is no good.  It leads me to want to eat fast food after I’m done!  I woke up early in the morning with some stomach cramps, congestion and runny nose, and had to go #2.  I felt guilty and gross. During the day today I actually felt pretty good.  Climbed the sand dune and felt good, then was at the beach most of the day.  I did notice that I had a little bit of gas, though.  Otherwise, not feeling any effects of the gluten I consumed in the burger, or oils from the fries.  I’ll be curious if I lose weight this week.  It seems whenever I do eat junk, it stimulates my metabolism to burn more fat.  So maybe it is good for me to eat junk every now and then?  I hate feeling guilty, though.  It just makes me want to eat clean forever.  I’ll do my best to do so!

2+ Weeks Into my Detox

So I have some free time and thought I should check in with some updates!   Again, I'll go ahead and post what I've been writing in my journals for my class assignment.  It's easier to do that than to sit here and type out basically the same things.

Overall, things are going very well.  I'm feeling strong and disciplined.  This week I had a bit of a setback due to a minor "surgery" and midterms, that made me very tired this week and not want to exercise.  However, I am still doing well with my clean Paleo diet.  Tomorrow I'm getting back to daily workouts!  I take measurements again on Monday, so if I'm lucky, I'll have lost another inch! 

I emailed my naturopath doctor earlier this week with some questions that I had.  Here are parts of my email to her, and then the important parts of her response:
"Hi Dr. Jenny,
Just wanted to send you a note on my progress and a few questions/concerns.  I've just finished 2 weeks of the "detox." A week ago, my weight was at 194lbs.  However, this week I've gained weight- 197lbs.  I'm attaching the Excel sheet that has my exercise and calorie/carb intake for you to take a look at.  I feel like my calorie intake is too low, and that might be causing me to hold onto some fat.  This is something that I feel happens when I don't eat enough- what is your opinion on this?  Also, my carb intake is slightly higher than it has been due to the high carb content of my breakfast smoothies- about 50 grams.   Here's what I put in them:  1 serving kale, 1 serving flaxseed, 1 serving Vital Clear, 1 tsp Turmeric spice, 4-6oz Coconut Milk (unsweetened), about 4-6 of frozen strawberries, and either a half or whole avocado.  Sometimes I put raw honey in the smoothies, but not everyday.  As for other things I've been eating, I usually have 1oz mixed nuts as a snack, lunch and dinner has been a meat such as pork roast, chicken breast, Trader Joe's uncured beef franks, pork tenderloin, Hormel's uncured bacon, and a variety of vegetables:  asparagus, brussel sprouts, bell peppers, cucumber, radishes, steamed broccoli.  I'm eating raspberries, strawberries, and bananas on occasion.   I'm also drinking bone broth (my 2nd batch is from marrow bones) and half a serving of Kombucha daily (although I may have forgotten a day or two).  I've been out in the sun a lot, but only have gotten my torso sunned for about an hour, twice weekly (none so far this week).  I'm taking Vitamin D3 supplements ($15 brand I bought at Whole Foods- good enough quality?)
Overall, I'm feeling great.  My positive attitude is back, and I'm feeling very disciplined and motivated.  No health issues at all, except for yesterday I had a weird cramping/slightly sharp diffuse pain in my right lower abdomen that wrapped around to my back.  I was wondering if maybe I ingested some gluten.  The only thing I could think of is I had new cashews that are made with peanut or safflower oil, although I'm not sure that would elicit a response in me.  It was very minor, but noticeable.   I also had an abscess on my back drained this past Saturday, so I've been a bit "queasy" about it and trying not to get the bandage wet, therefore I've not exercised the past five days (but I also have midterms this week, so all of my free time is spent studying). 
My question really is regarding the weight gain- is it possible that only a few days of strength training/sand dune climbs/fartlek-type runs, can give me enough muscle mass already to make me gain weight?  I know I should never go by the number on the scale, but it really does provide motivation and I can't help but start to question the reasons for weight gain.   On the other hand, I have lost 1 inch from my waist (but gained 1/2 inch on my thigh- muscle, I hope).   
I have not bought the other products that you suggested, but if there is one you would say is the most "preferred" for me, I'll go ahead and get it.  Lastly, what would you say I am being treated for?  Leaky gut?  Liver dysfunction?"
Her response: 
“...In regards to a low calorie intake, you are correct in that a low calorie intake will gain more weight, especially if you are low in saturated fats. Saturated fats have to be high to heal the metabolism to start to lose weight.  I don’t have a specific number for you to reach for, but listen to your body.  Generally what you typed sounds great for the diet. Good job with implementing so much! Most patients don’t implement as much as you have. Make sure that your getting plenty of veggies, and use the fats to get the calorie content up.  I have had a few patients who notice that if they go cold turkey on removing all grains (rice, quiona, etc) that they do retain weight, so watch for that too.  Regarding the weight gain: it’s more from water retention from the beer and salt from eating out [from two weeks ago]. Water weight comes and goes fast. Muscle weight will be a more gradual incline. Take a picture of yourself in a swimsuit now, and then again in 4 weeks. You want to compare how you store the weight, which is more important than the scale.  You are being treated for both liver congestion and inflammation in the gut that is causing thyroid hormone resistance and weight.”  

Here are my latest blog posts:

Day 18 (Fri, June 14):

            Still feeling good and motivated.  Had a busy day today with school, a student physical, and studying, so decided to take the day off from workouts.  I did walk down to the beach and walked in the sand a little bit, for about a mile.  That is a bit of a workout because it’s up and down some steep hills and also walking in sand is somewhat difficult.  I started a new batch of bone broth using marrow bones, that I’m cooking on low in the crockpot for at least 24 hours.  Hopefully it will gelatinize, and taste good when it’s finished.  Overall, things are going well.  I’m feeling strong, energetic and motivated.  At my physical in the student health department, the nurse practitioner mentioned that I was in the overweight category according to BMI.  I hate the BMI scale, it doesn’t consider muscle vs fat ratio.  I told her that I do exercise and I eat a paleo diet, which she seemed to be ok with, although she did ask me about my red meat consumption.  It is frustrating that health practitioners don’t agree with paleo because there isn’t any research on it yet.  I’m hoping that as time goes by, more people who have been living on a paleo diet will report the great health they’ve received from living this lifestyle, and that it will be enough to trigger a paleo movement in our society, and get people knowledgeable about it, and change the way we think about the foods we are eating.  It’s the media and pharmaceutical companies that drive what we eat.  We just believe them without even testing things for ourselves.  I’ve read books, personal stories, and many articles.  I was at first a skeptic, too, but now I’m a big believer.  My blood test results will prove my case for paleo.

Day 20 (Sun, June 17):

            Today I spent studying for my midterms this week, and I also had to go back to urgent care to have my wound re-packed.  This has put me in somewhat of a predictament.  I have to keep re-packing the wound for maybe two weeks, and I am not supposed to get the bandage wet.  Therefore, I guess I need to avoid getting sweaty, because I have to be careful taking showers, as to not get the bandage wet.  So I’m not sure what to do.  I want to exercise, but I’m afraid of getting sweaty.  This wound has me really freaked out, because I get queasy/scared easily.  I have to have my roommate re-do the dressing for me everyday.  L   On the other hand, I have 3 midterms this week and a lot of studying to do, so maybe it is best if I stick to some easy exercises where I won’t get sweaty- like a short walk or just some low-intensity strength training.  As for diet, today I didn’t eat enough.  I did make pork tenderloin, which I had for lunch.  I also made another batch of bone broth.  I’m making one more batch with the bones that I have had in the crockpot since Friday.  My first batch is in the refrigerator and turned into gelatin- which I believe means it’s full of bone goodness!

Week 4

Day 23 (Wed, June 19):

            Well the past few days have been a little stressful (comparatively speaking, since I’m not one to normally feel stressed).  I have my wound on my mind, as well as the fact that I’ve not been able to exercise in four days.  I also have midterms this week, so I’ve been busy studying and preparing for them.  I noticed that I gained a few pounds this week.  I’m hoping it is because I gained some muscle weight due to my strength training that I started doing again last week, although it seems too soon to see results that quickly.  I did lose an inch from my waist, but I gained half an inch from my thigh.  The numbers on the scale aren’t important; it’s inches/how my clothes fit, that really matter.  I need to always keep this in mind.  I decided to email my naturopath with my current concerns and questions, so hopefully she’ll be able to provide some answers for me.  I asked her if my calorie intake was too low, and if she thought that that could be hindering me from weight loss.  I also got my bloodwork results in the mail, but unfortunately she did not test my cholesterol.  I was really curious to see my numbers!  I guess I will have to wait until my next visit with her in 4 weeks and have her test it then.

Day 25 (Fri, June 21):

            Well I’m glad this week is over.  I’m feeling a bit upset with myself that I haven’t exercised in a week, though.  I could have at least done a short run or some lifting, but I didn’t.  My wound is now looking very good. The doctor said it closed up very quickly, so I was really happy to hear that.  Now I can relax and not worry about it anymore!

            Last night I fell asleep at 7pm and didn’t get up until 6:30am the next morning.  Today I ended up taking a nap this afternoon instead of going for a run.  I guess this week really mentally wore me out.  I emailed my naturopath doctor with some questions  that I had about how things were going, here are some of the important points to note in her response: “...In regards to a low calorie intake, you are correct in that a low calorie intake will gain more weight, especially if you are low in saturated fats. Saturated fats have to be high to heal the metabolism to start to lose weight.  I don’t have a specific number for you to reach for, but listen to your body.  Generally what you typed sounds great for the diet. Good job with implementing so much! Most patients don’t implement as much as you have. Make sure that your getting plenty of veggies, and use the fats to get the calorie content up.  I have had a few patients who notice that if they go cold turkey on removing all grains (rice, quiona, etc) that they do retain weight, so watch for that too.  Regarding the weight gain: it’s more from water retention from the beer and salt from eating out [from two weeks ago]. Water weight comes and goes fast. Muscle weight will be a more gradual incline. Take a picture of yourself in a swimsuit now, and then again in 4 weeks. You want to compare how you store the weight, which is more important than the scale.  You are being treated for both liver congestion and inflammation in the gut that is causing thyroid hormone resistance and weight.”

            I had mentioned to her that although I lost some weight the first week, I had gained a few pounds in the second week.  I guess this was because the beer and bad food that I had eaten a couple weeks before that had started to show their effects on the body.  That goes along with the idea that I’ve always noticed of things taking a few weeks to “show up”.  I also asked her if my calorie intake was too low, and if that could possibly cause me to hold onto my fat storage.  I guess she is saying that I do need to try to get more calories in, in the form of saturated fats.  That’s something a regular doctor would never tell you! I’m not sure why she says when she mentioned the thyroid resistance, because she said that all of my thyroid hormones look fine.  I am emailing her back in regards to that.

            Today I also decided to buy some of the herbs that she recommended- probiotics, turmeric extract, milk thistle, and resveratrol.  I found them all for good prices at Whole Foods, so hopefully they will be effective enough for me. Back to workouts tomorrow!!

On a side note, I got my bloodwork results mailed to me.  I was really disappointed to see that she didn't test my cholesterol and blood lipid levels.  Those are the levels that I'm really curious about, to see if they are high or not due to my paleo diet!!  I will just have her test them when I get bloodwork done again at the end of the 8 weeks.  I am hoping they are great, so I can share with everyone that a diet of butter, saturated fat, red meat, and egg yolks do NOT raise your cholesterol and put you at risk for heart diseases!!  I want to be one of the success stories that I read about on Marks Daily Apple!

:o)

Week 1 COMPLETE

Hey everyone!! Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I guess I've been busy writing in my "journal" for my 6 week Behavior Health Change class assignment instead.  So I thought I would copy and paste what I've been writing, into this blog!  

I just finished Week 1 of my "Detox"/100% Paleo diet that the Naturopath has me doing.  I should be 2 weeks into it, but I cheated the first week when my friends were in town and had to start over.  :(   Anyway, I'm feeling great!!   Here are my journal entries from the past couple weeks:

Week 1

Day 1 (Tues, May 28):

            Today went well.  I had my detox smoothie for breakfast, and packed my lunch to take to school.  The only thing that I didn’t have prepared was dinner, so I got Quizno’s with a classmate- got a “paleo” salad.  I was in class from 11am-9pm, so I didn’t exercise today.  I picked my best friend and her 2-year old daughter up from the airport after class this evening.  I’m hoping that I will be able to stick to eating clean and exercising this week while I have visitors!

Day 3 (Thurs, May 30):

            Today I “cheated” and had a beer and a gluten-free pizza.  My friend’s husband flew in this evening, so we went out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants which has great beer, so I decided I would allow myself a few cheats this week while I have company.  I know I should be strong and stick to clean eating, but I also want to enjoy my week and not feel deprived while my friends are here.  So, I’ve decided I’ll stick to my Paleo diet as much as possible, and only “give in” a few times.  Since I am still at “baseline”, eating gluten and sugar this week won’t mess up my “liver detox” that the naturopath wants me to do.  I’ll just start it 100% on Monday. 

Day 5 (Sat, June 1):

            Feeling good this week- energy level has been consistent.  Having friends in town, it’s been difficult to stick to my Paleo diet since we’re going out to dinner every night, and they are beer drinkers.  Although I really wanted to resist and stick to my “diet”, I’ve decided to just enjoy this week with my friends and eat and drink with them.  I feel a little upset with myself that I couldn’t be disciplined, but it’s a little hard to eat clean Paleo all of the time, especially when on “vacation”.  We drove to Santa Barbara today.  Did some walking in Santa Barbara, probably walked about 2 miles.  Tomorrow we are going to the zoo and I’ll be doing more walking, so I’m glad that I’m at least getting some exercise while my friends are in town.

           

Day 7 (Mon, June 3):

            Friends flew back to Cincinnati this morning.  My little “vacation” that I had for a few days is also over. No more eating out or drinking beer!  My money will only be spent on quality groceries like meats, vegetables, and fruits.  Today I made sure that I had my meals prepared and planned out for the day, so that I could easily stick to my Paleo diet.  Tomorrow I will finish the pork roast that I made last week for lunch, and dinner I am eating out with a classmate since we have a long break before our last class at 7pm.  We are going to Freebirds, so I’m sure I can get a salad made with lettuce and meat, and maybe some guacamole.  

Week 2

Day 9 (Wed, June 5):

            Last night I was bad and got the 3-cheese nachos at Freebirds for dinner.  I had planned to get a salad, but couldn’t get myself to do it since I knew the nachos were so good.  I figured I would start my “diet” tomorrow.   So today I ate a clean Paleo diet and hopefully I’m getting myself on the right track.  I have to keep in mind that I am doing this not only for myself and this 6-week project, but for the naturopath.  She is expecting me to stick to this, so I can’t push back “starting” any longer.  Although I was feeling tired today and took a long nap, I made myself do a Crossfit workout.  Again, the naturopath is expecting me to workout 5-6 days a week, so I need to make sure that I’m doing that.  I also want to get back to strength training workouts, since I haven’t done much in the last 6 months due to half-marathon training.  I definitely feel stronger and more confident when I do my Crossfit workouts consistently.

Day 11 (Fri, June 7):

            I’m finally feeling like I’m getting back into the groove of Paleo eating.  I’m feeling better- skin starting to clear up, no GI issues, energy level is up, and my mood is improving.  I’m also feeling more energetic which makes workouts easier.  Today I did my 2^nd Crossfit workout of the week, which feels great to get back to strength training.  Eating clean and exercising consistently makes life a lot better for me.  I’ve been feeling a little depressed and homesick since my friends left on Monday, so it’s going to be very important that I keep my mood up by sticking to this behavior change.

Day 13 (Sun, June 9):

            Feeling really good this weekend.  Slightly sore from strength workouts, but legs feel good.  Today instead of doing my usual run to the beach, I decided to do it using sprint intervals.  I walked up the steep hills, then did intervals on the flats and downhills.  Felt really good, even faster.  I think I’ll do it this way more often.  As for diet, I am noticing that it’s not easy to eat low-carb due to the high carb content of my breakfast detox smoothies (46 carbs- without honey).  If I add honey to my smoothies or hot tea, that adds another 20 grams of carbs.  Also, I’m eating more vegetables than I am meat right now.  My goal for this week is to get more meat into my diet.

Week 3

Day 16 (Wed, June 12):

            I’m finding that eating is becoming a chore.  It’s not something that I look forward to, I only do it because I’m hungry and know my body needs the nutrients.  I am somewhat happy to feel this way, because it means that I am lacking the craving for any junk foods.  I do feel like eating this way is fairly easy.  The hardest part is the time it takes to prepare food.  I’m also having a hard time getting in enough calories.  I think I need to take in more calories so that my body doesn’t lower my metabolism due to a lower caloric intake.  Although I do think it is ok to eat low-calorie on occasion, I also think it is important to eat high-calorie every now and then so that they body knows it always has food available, and won’t store fat or burn muscle tissue instead. 

            Today I decided I’d try a new recipe- spicy ginger cashew chicken.  I made it paleo friendly by substituting with almond flour and coconut oil (in place of vegetable oil and some kind of starch).  It took about 30 minutes to make, but it tasted good and makes three meals.  Energy was a bit low this afternoon after I did my Crossfit workout, but probably because I was sitting at the computer for hours straight doing schoolwork.