First BBQ of the year!

Work has been insane. So insane that I've barely had enough time to eat which makes my blood sugar drop and energy drain away. Thankfully I got an invite to a BBQ that would pick my spirits up!

My first meal of the day: macadamia nuts and Clementine's. Unfortunately the oranges had gone bad after being in my lunch box for a few days. Oops.

Small meal #2: kiwi and a hard boiled egg.

I met up with friends and had a lovely evening. The thing with parties that I forget is that not everyone eats like me. I think I'll try to bring veggies for dips instead of using the chips or bread that is offered. Once I start eating chips I just can't stop! And although it is delicious, it gives me such a headache! Worth it.

That being said,  I ate a ton of pita chips and hummus, a cheeseburger  pasta salad, green salad and teriyaki chicken and pineapple kebabs.  All very delish, but so not Paleo.  I vow to be better prepared next time! My problem is that I will not ever say no to food offered.  I'm like an alcoholic, but with food! Just say no. The truly sad thing is that I know exactly how each food is going to make my body react and I STILL eat it.  Happily. Until the next day. Ouch/Itch City. 

Going grocery shopping tomorrow afternoon and will stock up on all the regular Paleo-ness I typically buy and will be taking photos (if I can remember to) along the way.  I found a fancy new grocery app that I am going to try for the first time and am super-stoked about it.  More details tomorrow.

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My Refrigerator & Grocery Shopping Tips

Why can't Seattle be sunny more often?  Yesterday we had an extremely rare sunny Saturday (for March anyhow).  It was fabulous! I was able to get some pruning done in our jungle of a backyard.  It's been almost 100% neglected since we moved in in November. But yesterday I got out there with my loppers and shears and filled the yard waste bin (you know you live in the city when...) with errant branches and dead twigs.  It is interesting to think of how the back garden came to be; the previous owners (who were here since the '60s) planted the trees, bushes and flowers to their taste and bringing them back to their intended glory is my goal. I think a few of the Rhododendron's need to come out - they are just too tangled and disorderly.  It's too bad because I love Rhododendron's when they bloom.  So pretty.

Tom and I went to lunch yesterday and gave in to our cravings and had ourselves a cheat day: real pizza from Zeek's.  It was amazing.  I don't want to elaborate too much because I'll get hungry, but it was a super-fun treat.  I'm so lucky to have someone that rolls with my food choices and various kitchen experiments without complaint. We both weren't feeling well afterwards, but cheat days are needed.  I'd go nutty without them!

I love Pinterest. I get so many of my ideas from it. It's especially fun to find a recipe, tailor it to our eating habits and create something delicious.  One thing that does get to me, however, is the amount of 'diet recipe' pins that consist of ingredients that are awful for you.  Lots of non-fat dairy this, and diet soda that.  To keep my food rant to a minimum and as a rule of thumb: 'non-fat' = sugar added to make up for loss in flavor from fat and 'diet' = chemical crap-storm. Drinking diet soda is like smoking 'low tar' cigarettes: not any healthier. And like smoking, the best thing to do is quit.  Stay away from this stuff; it's not good for you and, for me, exacerbates tummy troubles.  

One thing that took me a long time to realize when we changed how we eat was this: forget about trying to find packaged or pre-made foods that fit our healthy, whole foods eating plan. And contrary to what most people think, meals made of whole foods don't take any longer to make than throwing a frozen lasagna in the oven for 45 minutes.  Many of my meals take much less time, in fact. I wanted to therefore share what my refrigerator looks like and what a typical shopping trip brings home.

My refrigerator, as I've joked before on Facebook, looks like a mini-produce stand.  I like to keep everything open and accessible.  I take baby oranges and carrots out of their bags and cut the top of the strawberry and grape clam shell packages off for easy grab-n-go snacking.  And I buy a lot of these easy snacks because, lets face it, who has become unhealthy from eating too many fruits and veggies? Plus, fruits and veggies fill you up better than any bread or cookie-based snack ever could. Win-win in my book.

I've also used clear drawer divider bins from Bed, Bath and Beyond (they are cheaper than the refrigerator ones and achieve the same result) to make everything look 'pretty'.  When things look nice and organized they also look more appetizing.  It's all about presentation folks.  Each week when I get home from shopping I toss anything that has gone off and wipe out the bottom shelves and bins.  And, yes, the bottom-most shelf is where the 'beer drawer' used to be, but I got rid of it and use it as added storage.  I don't like drawers in general - if I can't see it, I will forget about it, and forgotten fruit/veggies are not a pretty sight once they are remembered a week after they should have been. Ew.

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A typical Monday shopping 'haul'.  Very little meat protein and lots of fruits and veg. The cans in the right-hand photo are Alaskan salmon - emergency protein I take for lunches when left-overs are not available.

                                                                         

Costco is my go-to and fantastic for large packages of fruits, salads, and meats.  Not everything is available here in an organic option, however. More recently I have limited my shopping at Costco to only organics and those foods that are on the 'clean 15 list' and I get the remaining items on my list in the organic sections of either Whole Foods, Fred Meyer or my local Red Apple.

All in all my message is this: eat clean. Get it out of your mind that you are going to find packaged or processed foods taste good and are truly healthful. There are exceptions to this that are tasty, but they are expensive and hard to find.  Stick to the stuff that nature has provided, your tummy will thank you.

Hot Chocolate 15k

Betsy and I at the start line.

This weekend was the big race! If you didn't already know, 15k is 9.6 miles. And when you are running a 15k, it feels more like 20 miles.

I agreed to met up with everyone at 6am to head in to town.  I didn't wake up in time to eat skipped breakfast, threw my race gear in a bag and headed out.  I took one Honey Stinger gel packet and gulped that down 40 minutes from start time.

In retrospect it was not that bad, but the hills! So many gradual hills! I suck at running hills.  Like, me running a hill is just barely faster than an old lady walking the same hill.  So. Slow.

But the end came after an hour and forty minutes and then it was chocolate time! We got a cup of hot chocolate as well as special sectioned mugs with chocolate fondue in which to dip pretzels, rice krispies treats, wafer cookies, and anything else you could find.  I ate all of it.  I knew it was going to make me ill, but I earned it darn it! And, yes, my stomach still hurts as I am typing this. Worth it.

After the race I headed home and went back to bed and slept most of the day away.  Running and laziness: a match made in heaven.

My Favorite Bloggers

I went for a pre-race run on Sunday purely to prove to myself that I can run 9+ miles and not die at the finish line.  The Finish Line is the important word here because Monday was Hell.  So, so, sooooo sore! My left leg felt like it had been ripped off and reattached by a 5-year-old. It was painful to walk, turn, stand, sit down, all of it. So grateful we no longer live in the three story townhouse because stairs were completely out of the question.

I also broke down this weekend and had a cheese burger. No fries though, and only half of a soda.  Regardless, my stomach hurt is still hurting. WORTH IT! This was after our trip to Lowe's to get gardening tools and other random home needs.  We were both hungry and a burger was going to fill our bellies and perk up our spirits.

Anywho, I wanted to start sharing some of the books/documentaries/clips/blogs that I have found to be the most helpful in my food and exercise journey. As most know, I am absolutely a fan of the primal movement or 'eating like a caveman'. I like to think about what it would be that I would have access to if I were to live in a tribe in the wilderness.  What would we find? What would we catch? For one, gathering/finding is WAY easier than tracking, chasing, killing and skinning so we would probably eat much more fruits, nuts and veggies than anything else. Meats would be shared by everyone and therefore would not consist of giant portions on a daily basis. I could go on, but the gist is there.

The philosophy, however, was the easy part.  Its the 'figuring out what to make for dinner tonight' part that is the challenge.  Without further ado, I want present to you the bloggers that I adore get my inspiration from:

Nom Nom Paleo has some wonderful fast recipes and fantastic pictures.
PaleOMG is great for her humor and sweet treats and breakfast ideas.
Against All Grain is a blogger I just began following and her photos are amazing.
Comfy Belly is another blogger I just began following.  I love the name!  So soothing - just what I need.

I use Google's reader app on my Chrome browser to check out what is going on at these and other websites daily.  They keep my brain moving and help the creativity flow.  I post a TON of the recipes I find on Pinterest and love to reference back to my 'Paleo Ideas' board whenever I'm in need of a desert or new meal.

A Burger Haunting

So I had a very strange dream last night:

I was on a beach and had just returned from getting food.  I had a bag full of cheese burgers.  I'm talking a paper sack stuffed with greasy, delicious Scott's Dairy Freeze burgers.  Specific? Yes. Why? Because they are delicious.  I mean, look at this thing....

...if you have not started drooling there is something seriously wrong with you.

In this dream, I knew I had to get my stash of burgs back home to be devoured, but I decided that I should just have one bite to 'tie' me over (I say tie, not tide. Get over it).  So I had a bite.  Then another. And another.  I couldn't stop myself as hard as I tried.  I recall looking at an almost gone burger and thinking "I can stop here. Oh, screw it, it's almost finished anyway." 

Granted, we are talking about an imaginary burger here, but I felt so guilty! And hungry for a burger. Ugh, not the way to wake up in the middle of the night. I have no clue what this dream means.  All I can think is that my subconscious is telling me to get up to North Bend and get me a burger. NOW.  I think I feel a 'cheat' day coming on...