Primal

Yep. This cavegirl is going primal. Well, there's really all sorts of names for this way of eating, but I like primal best. Basically, it's eating how our ancestors long ago did. This means low carb, yes, but I will be getting plenty of fruits and veggies, just no grains. I've been poring over so much information on this, and it seems to just feel right and it 'clicked' with my brain. I will be eating plenty of animal too. This may turn off some readers and I totally respect that. It is a huge turnaround from the direction I was headed. I'm looking in to buying all grass-fed pastured beef and fowl.

I have read the science. I can point to several blogs that get all sorts of scientifical about the topic. Mark Sisson has a great one that a lot of people read, Mark's Daily Apple. Anyone interested in checking it out should start there. I'm not going to debate on end with anyone or try to 'convert' people. I'm just honestly too lazy for that! But I will be moving this blog to a wordpress blog, and if you want to follow me there, I heartily welcome all of you to check out this crazy chica's adventures! Primal Dawn.

I know this is a big turn off for some, so that's why I decided to move the blog. I don't expect everyone to follow and this is a chance to start over, clean and fresh! My workouts have changed as well. Lots of bodyweight stuff, less cardio. And yes, I've lost some weight, but I know for a fact it's just water weight right now. But changes are happening and I'm loving it. I'm sleeping, for one. Another thing is I seem to have a ton more energy! I was cleaning the house a lot yesterday, and I didn't even pass out on the couch at 8 like I always do, then wake up two or three times during the night. I slept all through the night last night and didn't go to bed til 10:30. I don't need my morning coffee, either. Do I want it out of habit? Sure, and sometimes I'll have a cup (with stevia still, thanks Sie!).

So, that's the latest and the greatest for me. I will still be reading my CR blogs, and as a matter of fact, CR is actually possible with this plan as well. So I'll be focusing on eating right and still counting those calories. What amazes me is that I can eat in the morning and now I don't feel hungry or like I'm battling hunger all day. I just fuel up, then forget about it til the afternoon. I'm not snacking or constantly thinking about my next meal. I feel free from food obsessing. I was honestly eating 5 or 6 times a day with my quasi-veggie-raw approach, and still feeling hungry. Now, I just eat my breakfast and am satisfied for hours on end. Sweet freedom!

If you feel like checking out some of the primal sites, I will be linking to them over at Primal Dawn. I do think that my readers and I have developed a mutual respect, so I'd love to see what you think, even if you disagree! I am not much of a debater, I'll leave that to others, but I will still find your thoughts interesting and worthy, be they cheering me on or shaking head in shame:)

Signing off now....Dawn.

Big Time Changes

Big changes to be announced soon. Will probably lose some of my legions of followers, hehe. All eleven that read regularly:) That's about as much as I want to disclose right now. I'm only 4 days into it and I'm loving what I'm experiencing.

It's a complete 180 from where I was. Sorry to be such a tease....well, no I'm not, really:P

"Running, running, running....

as fast as we can, do you think we'll make it?"- No Doubt

I restarted C25K today, week 2. It was easy. Yep. I pretty much killed it. All 23 minutes of it, ha. I did realize, however, that I need some new running music. I'm getting very bored of my stuff. Any suggestions??? I'm all over the map with music. Metal, pop, dance, rap....it's all good.

We may have people over Saturday. It's not definite yet. A couple, M's bff for years and his wife, and their 3 teen boys. I'm gonna need a lot of food, needless to say. And those boys and dad are not small peeps either. I will be grilling the usual stuff, burgers and dogs or something, and making some sides that I will chow on, some salads and fruits and such.

M and I have a Scrabble tournament for the weekend. We play best 2 out of 3 over the course of the weekend. I beat him down last weekend. Seriously, I scored 127 on one word! He's out for revenge.....

Foodie Goodness for me:
-coffee
-4 spring rolls and mock peanut sauce
-cherry/blueberry smoothie
-1 c pineapple
-that salad from yesterday, it was delish.....apples and walnuts and such.
-Raw curry cantaloupe soup
-avocado and tomato sandwich
-3 light beers

Grand Total=1675

Mmmmm beer:)

That's The Wrong Spinach

That's what I said to M when he returned from the market w/ regular ole spinach. I specified baby spinach. He said that's all they had. Well, I know that's not all they had, but he tried, so we'll let him think that's all they had;) I need need need some green for me smoothies!!! Just a li'l handful to toss in for extra nutrition. So I'll use the tough 'old bird' spinach today, but I'm getting to the store today for some supplies and you bet baby spinach is on that list!

It is HOT here. Like, my thermostat is reading 97 degrees hot. We have AC in our little office room so that's where we've been spending a lot of time. I've barely been keeping up with the dishes. That's how hot it is. No laundry, no cleaning, no nothing. Just keeping cool. So, I've gotten nowhere in my C25K lately. As soon as this breaks, which is supposed to be Friday or Saturday, I'll get back to it. My boxing career is in limbo. I can only go Sat. and Sun., because my little one has to catch the bus and I don't have time to go to class and make it back in time to feed him 'lunch'. I say 'lunch' with quotes because he eats it at 10am. The bus comes shortly after, and they don't give them lunch. So we do a Lunch Part I (before school) and Part II (after school). So I need to either get my butt out of the house at night....seriously I'm laughing as I read that sentence....or resign myself to two days a week boxing. Lame. But, I am aware that if I really want this, I need to make it happen, even if that means getting out of the house to work out at 5 at night. *Sigh*...... Why can't things just be easy??? Oh, I guess then I wouldn't want them as much then, would I?

So, food o' the day is going to look a little something like:

-coffee
-4 raw spring rolls and mock peanut sauce
-smoothie #1: Cherry/blueberry/water
-Raw gazpacho
-1c pineapple
-Smoothie #2:Mango/peach/vanilla hemp/water
-Salad from a recipe book: It's got baby greens, apples, walnuts, and an orange poppy seed dressing....I'll keep ya posted on this one.

Total Tally-1599

We'll see if I can actually eat all of this. With the heat, though, my appetite is hit or miss. I'm thinking since most of the stuff is cold, I can do it.

So, that's it for this girl, how u be???

4th

My 4th was actually fun. We aren't big celebrators here. For one, I grew up with the fun of fireworks in the driveway at home. We bought a big family pack of fireworks and after dinner would go and light up the night. Good memories. Except for sparklers. I was terrified of them. However, here in NY, it's illegal, so my kids won't have that experience. And I hate the beach, which is where one spends the 4th out here in my area. You just do. Or, at least everyone else does. But we don't. Usually. I say usually because yesterday we actually hit the beach. We live about 2 and a half minutes from the beach and never go. A friend was going and invited us along. This friend is moving very soon to Texas and I's gonna miss her terribly. But it's good for her family. I didn't have my older boy, just the little man. It was his first time at the beach. He was having a great time til Daddy took him to the actual water. Then he freaked:) Oh well, I guess when you're only up to most adult's knees, the waves and sounds can be a little overwhelming. But he had a blast playing with his new sand toys and going on the little playground. And neither he nor I burned. We're both very fair, him especially, and we had an umbrella and lots of SPF 50:) So it was a success.

I didn't CR yesterday. I haven't even punched the numbers in the 'meter' yet. I'll try to, just so I have an attempt at accuracy. I can tell you I had plenty of red meat and alcohol. And honestly, the hot dog and burger I had weren't even that good. I could have lived without them. Well, what I should have done is made some spectacular dish to bring along. Wowed them with my healthy culinary skills. But after getting everyone ready and the car packed and shopping for an umbrella at 8 in the morning.....I was done. I was ordered...er, asked....to bring the fruit. So that was a plus. Fresh watermelon and pineapple. Then we left before it was even eaten! Ha. But I didn't touch the mayo-and-sugar-laden potato and macaroni salad. So, could it have been better? Sure. But it also could have been worse. I'll take it.

Today is back to the CR grind. We are in the midst of a heat wave here on the east coast. It was 97 yesterday and supposed to be hotter today. So lots of water and fresh cold fruits and veggies for us. Curious? Wanna know what I'll be consuming? Huh? Huh? I thought soo....

-Coffee (should have made iced)
-4 raw spring rolls with mock peanut sauce (loving these)
-1 c watermelon
-Smoothie: Frozen cherries, blueberries, water
-Jerusalem salad w/ lemon tahini dressing
-MF mushroom lover's veggie burger, whole grain bun, 'special sauce'
-Raw gazpacho
-Panzanella....this is a delish italian bread and tomato salad. It's got a vinaigrette, olives, and some parmesan cheese shavings....mmmm. Oh, and basil. Lots of basil.

Grand Total=1678

Aiming Low

Yesterday I wrote about "aiming low". Well I aimed low alright. Low on the nutritional spectrum! Seriously, it's like I wrote everything out, plugged it into the CRON-o-meter, then just forgot it all and pigged out! I won't rehash the gory details, do I really need to? Nah. Just know I came in WELL over my 1700 calorie target. And there were cookies involved. Need I say more?

But do you want to know what I did? I went back into the CRON-o-meter and plugged every last bite into the program. Yep. If I want to track my calories properly and look at the averages and such, I need to be 100% honest, right? Right.

So today is a new day and a chance to start over. I had my coffee and one smoothie already. A yummy concoction of frozen cherries and frozen blueberries w/ a little water. Mmmm. And I have all the rest of my nutritious food planned. I also have the will and drive to stick to it today!

I have 4 boys at the house today. My two and two friends of my son's. It's a little crazy, you could say. They are upstairs, downstairs, outside, screaming and yelling. I had a nice easy day planned but that went out the window, to say the least. Their mother was having some issues today and needed help desperately. So I told her no problem. Even though the last time her younger boy was here (he was tagging along with his big brother) he threw a rock at his brother's head:( I'm hoping we can avoid any tears or injuries today.

So, the nom nom nomminess for the day:)

-coffee
-2 c watermelon
-smoothie #1: cherry/blueberry/water
-smoothie #2: pineapple/banana/baby spinach/water
-4 raw spring rolls and mock peanut sauce
-baby spinach salad w/ tahini lemon dressiing
-veggie burger, whole grain bun, ketchup and mustard
-raw tabouli
-grilled zucchini and peppers
-3 brazil nuts

Ok, that is honestly a ton of food, right???
The total? 1592- Yep. I still have room, people!!!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Yesterday I ended up switching up the food, again. After my run to the grocery store, I was the proud owner of some highly processed veggie "buffalo wings". Mmmmm. I regret nothing. I did come in alright though, about 100 over at 1800, but still in good shape.

I'll be doing Day 3 of my C25K today. Yes! The whole first week is the same intervals. Then every week after that is a different workout each day. The program only has you running 3 days a week. Which is great, cuz that leaves plenty of time for.....boxing!! I'm happy to report, we are a go for Sat and Sun boxing. Yay.

I don't have much inspirational or clever things to say today, so I'll just get to the food:

-coffee
-3 raw spring roll and mock peanut sauce
-jerusalem salad w/ tahini lemon salad
-2 c watermelon
-bean and kale minestra w/ 2 slices sourdough
-Smoothie o' the day: Frozen cherries, blueberries, and water....

I found some yummy frozen cherries and mango chunks at the market. I was probably more excited than anyone should really be over fruit:)

Total= 1520

And again, I'm aiming low, but I'll probably add a brazil nut or two or something....stay tuned.