Jain26

You may want to elaborate on what you and your wife are eating. My first thought is reiterate Raincloak's question. Are you eating enough fat? Healthy fats with your meal will keep you satisfied longer. So, don't pick the leanest cut of meat, but do go for grassfed to keep the fat healthier. Are you eating nuts and seeds? They help too, but don't go overboard since a little go a long way. Secondly, as your insulin levels recalibrate you're going to have some swings. It'll take a while to even out. Are you eating sweet potatoes and other roots/tubers or are you leaving those out of your paleo diet? I think it's a personal choice, but you may want to ease into paleo more slowly by including those now and eliminating them later. I seem to do best on paleo without them. I also have to be careful which fruits I eat. i avoid things like grapes, bananas and pineapple unless they're mixed with less concentrated carbs and protein. A long time ago, before paleo was popular, I read a book about low blood sugar problems. In that book, there was a suggestion to make each meal/snack a mix of protein, fat and carbs. That keeps you on a more even keel. Worth a try.

Continuing on from the last challenge, regaining my paleo diet, getting more sleep, limiting my commitments. I have been more tired over the past few months, probably due to drinking coffee again. Will try to limit to three days/week in the beginning and quit altogether by the end of the challenge. I have been better with my eating, and have been limiting commitments, but still am not getting enough sleep. So, to recap - focus on good sleep, healthy food at the right amount and quitting coffee (again...).

Finishing up six week challenge. I think I did okay with this challenge. I'll weigh in this coming weekend. I definitely was able to change my eating habits back to paleo (with the exception of a few bad days every couple weeks. What I did notice was how much better I feel when I stay on my paleo plan, vs. eating grains and sweets. When I did slip up, my punishment was at the very least, a night of intense reflux and heartburn, with maybe a headache and water retention/inflammation thrown in. I do think I accomplished something good. I have hope I can at a least feel better than I've been feeling. Sleep has been the hardest of my three goals to attain. Aside from the week I took off work, I'm only getting about 5-6 hours/night on weekdays. Diet has been better, even if I ate the same calories half the time, and cut back the other half. Schedule has also been quieter. I've been more aware of how many commitment I make, and allowing myself to have recoup time. I'm excited to start the next challenge, refine my diet and maybe add in some exercise.

Thanks Sunmage. Yes, the solution is "no excuses." I've been trying to make solutions instead of excuses. I've been drinking bottled water all week, and have a whole house water softener and kitchen RO filter being installed Monday. I couldn't bear to weigh myself at the start, but today I believe I am 4-5 pounds down from last weekend (assuming my weight hasn't changed much in the last month. It's been a rough week stress-wise, and somehow I did manage to stick to the plan. It's getting a little boring, so I guess my next hurdle is to branch out a little in the recipe area. A few times I had weak moments with macadamias and roasted almonds. So, I'm now stocking walnuts and raw almonds, which I could take or leave, instead. My current thought: if I wanted baby kale in my spring mix I would buy baby kale instead...

I decided to start this challenge on Dr. Oz Two Week Rapid Weight Loss Plan. I'm not a huge Oz fan as he is too mainstream at this point. I'm more of the Mercola-type. However, the plan seem pretty consistent with my paleo diet, except it says you can have 1/2 cup of brown rice and some rice protein in your morning smoothie, as well as some plain greek yogurt daily. I don't eat dairy at all. I might have the brown rice since it's only a 1/2 cup, and far less cheating than I've been doing on my supposed paleo way of living. I made the vegetable broth. I have to say, it tastes pretty good and is filling. You're supposed to have 3-4 cups of that a day, along with water and green tea. The instructions said to throw out the cooked vegetables afterward. Well, I spent $118 on most of the food for this plan, so those vegetables are in my refrigerator now to save as a snack, even if most of the nutrients are cooked out. I bought all organic produce. On a side note: I have the same beef with my juicer. It leaves a ton of edible pulp that is supposed to be trash. I've tried putting it in chestnut and almond flour muffins and breads, not so good. So, now when I do use my juicer I sadly throw away the refuse. I'm open to any other ideas on how to use it. So far today I had a cup of warm water with lemon. I also had a smoothie with 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk and a packet of Nutribiotic Raw Rice Protein (vanilla). I also had a cup of vegetable broth, and a 16 oz. bottle of water. Getting enough hydration is an issue for me since I moved. Not only do I live in a low humidity state, but my new house is in a water district with water hardness upwards of 600-800 ppm. That's not a typo. The carbon filter in the refrigerator takes out about 15% of that. I bought a Zerowater filter pitcher, only to find the filter only lasts a week or two, then produced this caustic, acid tasting poison water I have to ditch. So, until I have the $2400 to spend on a home water softener, I'm buying bottled. Too bad my favorite is Fiji. $$$. We do have Eldorado Springs here, which is very good, and about pH neutral. Some bottled waters, like Dasani are very acid. I'm very bad at policing myself when life is stressful, so noting what I do here may help a lot. I'm planning to have a garden salad with 3oz chicken for lunch, and then maybe a chicken/apple sausage, rice and half an avocado for dinner. This is easy at home. I have to wrap my brain around how I have time on a work-day morning to sip lemon water and make/drink a smoothie that leaves my teeth stained and full of berry skins...

Thanks for the welcome, Apprentice. I'm great at noticing problems, but not at fixing them - at least long term. More sleep is going to be the most difficult I have to get up for work at 4:00 AM. I've tried getting up later, but just can't get there on time. Most nights I don't get back home until 6:00, then study from 7 - 9:00. I prep meals and do a little tidying until 10:00 or so. A lot of the time I'm so tired I fall asleep on the sofa instead of studying, then have to wake up to do my prep before I can sleep again. I try never to do that, since it's so disruptive to good sleep. I'm getting better at it now that I have a couple months off school for summer, but I still find myself staying up until 10:00 or 11:00 because I feel like I get no "me" time after work. I need to do my next day prep while I make dinner instead of late, so I'm more free to go to sleep when I feel like it. I've been trying to cook so I can eat healthier food, but that seems to use up a lot of after-work time as well. We have a nurse help line through my work benefits. In order to get wellness points I had to make two calls to them last year. The nurse's response to this situations was that it's only a couple more years, and that she'd seen a lot of fat, unhealthy grad students... Staying calm and organized is, to me, about being mindful. At this point, I know my stress triggers and symptoms, and rather than falling into old behavior I should ask myself if I really want whatever long term effect my reactionary bad behavior is going to deliver. I have to practice self care to limit my commitments, stop running around at like Chicken Little when sometimes I really don't need to, and have some good old self control. When I'm moving more slowly I do a much better job at all of these things. Long term, many of my issues will resolve, or at least change. Once I graduate i can have more time for life. I can also get a job closer to home, or more specific to my interests. Until then, it's going to be more of a challenge.

I've been absent from this site for a while. In that time my fitness has really fallen by the wayside. I still work full-time, but am now also a part-time masters student in a sit-down major (Finance) and just spent months packing and moving. I'm mentally and physically exhausted and can't seem to recoup. I feel a good part of my problem is that I've abandoned my discipline in these areas: Sleep - if I'm lucky I allow myself five hours on a weeknight Diet - I'm eating double what I need due to stress, and have fallen off my paleo wagon Schedule - My days are over committed and extremely hectic If I can start reigning in these three areas I'll be on my way back to more optimal health. I'll address the exercise (or lack thereof) in the next challenge... Thanks for giving me a forum for accountability, and where I can take a good, honest look at my bad habits.

I had to go cold turkey on coffee a few years ago because i was drinking two or more pots of double brew a day to compensate for exhaustion, life sucks, disease and lack of proper nutrition. I still crave it when I smell it. I drank so much I think it stripped all the good bac out of my gut and really hurt my immune system. Hopefully, most people have the self control to drink less than that. A couple important things about coffee are to drink organic since it's otherwise a heavily sprayed crop. Also, don't brew it in plastics like K-cups or machines with plastic innards due to the estrogens and chemicals leaked from the plastics during heat exposure. SMe reason you don't microwave in plastic. You may think I'm being flaky, but just watch, in a few years glass and metal will be standard for coffee.

Have you had a full blood workup for thyroid and adrenal levels, say by a wholistic MD? Maybe, just maybe, you were compensating for a legitimate hormone/metabolic issue. I ask because I've been there too with paleo and thyroid. A wholistic or alternative MD will think outside the box on these, where a regular internist or endocrinologist will let you feel really badly as long as your numbers are even close to normal. Paleo and thyroid meds (Nature-throid) have really improved the quality if my life since 2002. It's worth a check.

Thanks for the support everyone! Kairial, yes, giving up chocolate is hard! I only eat dark, which while being healthier also seems more addictive. :-) Chanda, I used to be 10lb less plus have a lot more muscle. I was really active, horseback riding, mountain biking, hiking, gym... I came down with a pretty bad case of Rheumatoid Arthritis about 2 1/2 years ago. Since then it's just been a battle to exercise at all. So, I'm taking it slow. I'm also a single mom and work full-time. I am asymptomatic most of the time with meds, but when I do a lot there's always a risk I'll flare. Sometimes I can literally move a house and no flare at all. It's so frustrating because I can't really control when it happens. Last challenge I was really motivated for say the first 10 days, sticking with the yoga routine I picked. Then I flared for the first time in almost a year... Really set me back. I even started parking by the front door at work and taking the elevator. Very disheartening. Anyhow, as my topic subject suggests, I'm forging on. No more elevator, but will ease back into my yoga carefully... Not trying to make excuses. I've always been a stubborn person who kept at things even when defeat was obvious. Now, I need to be more realistic, and take things easier. Bah. Cavemom, you look great, but I totally understand that 10lb. battle. thanks. I'm short, so that up/down 10lb. makes me have to have two separate wardrobes... :-P Lame.

Continuing ahead on this new challenge... Main Goal 1: Lose 10 lb. so I am well under 130 lb. and would therefore be considered within healthy BMI for my height. Being the lower weight also seems to reduce my RA flares. I feel like I've lost these same 10 lb. 20 times in the past 10 years. I need to get off this roller coaster and keep more stable. Main Goal 2: Reduce my dark chocolate to one 500 calorie bar per week. Main Goal 3: Do yoga at least 4 times per week. This really energizes and calms me at the same time, plus reduces stiffness and pain, Side Goal 4: Work on my five year life plan. I'd like to buy a home, possibly relocate, and have my finances in better shape than they are now.

Grade: D+ I was very motivated at the beginning of this challenge. Unfortunately, I started my first rheumatoid arthritis flare in almost a year at about the same time. So, I was moving along great, lost 5+lb and wham, I was unable to do any more exercise, wanted to sleep all the time, flubbed on my food because pain makes me weak, etc. So, the past month has been me tiptoeing around this flare, waiting for it to pass - which it now has. I will start the next challenge, with the same goals as last time because I didn't hit them. "Let's-a-go!"

Thanks, J_addict! Today I had my first 100% pain-free day today in about a month! Yes! Tomorrow I have evening plans, but Thursday if all goes well I'm restarting my yoga routine. I found that not having any tea or chocolate after say 6:00pm keeps me from waking up in the middle of the night. I'll test the evening yoga to see if it was that or the caffeine giving me sleep problems. I'm really sorry to hear about the peanut and headache issue. I bet it is your prescription. That's pretty common. Peanuts and red chili peppers are one of the sure things that make me flare. I found that out same way you did... At least neither of us has an anaphylactic reaction to them. They have lots of molds in them. Cashews do as well. Anyhow, have to run but wanted to thank you for checking in!

Hi there, I took a break because I was having an RA flare. It was pretty disappointing because I was so motivated prior. I thought at first it was caused by my yoga routine, but I believe it really was the Dihydroxyacetone laced sunless tanner I dug up from my cosmetic discards. I've had that same tube for going on three years. In retrospect, RA was the worst when I was applying it the most. I rarely used it over the past 18 mos., and have rarely flared. So, when I stopped it Thursday after three weeks of pain, the flare subsided in 36 hours, and is gone completely now three days later. Why I didn't catch this correlation in the past I have no idea? I guess you never know what exacerbates your illnesses until you pay close attention.

Everything I read says yoga can be helpful for rheumatoid arthritis patients. Does anyone know anything about this?

I've been trying to capture my recipes, mostly paleo but some do have gluten-free grain, in this blog: http://greenberrykitchen.wordpress.com/. I'd definitely appreciate any feedback on the recipes or site setup. I'd also love suggestions for recipes you'd like to see modified into paleo. It's somewhat of a challenge for me. Thanks!

Since I don't have a grill I've found that an old fashioned cast iron grill pan (mine is Lodge brand) does a decent job at cooking burgers and steaks indoors. You just heat it on the stove top and sear the outsides, then finish in the oven. I also only cook my bacon in this pan. Why I haven't cooked bacon in the oven before I have no idea. It comes out perfect every time and doesn't curl up crazy. Then I save the bacon grease in a jar in the refrigerator. I'm just careful which bacon I buy. I try to find natural, uncured and/or pasture raised. I haven't liked the overpriced organic brands I've found, but I do love Beeler's. The best bacon ever.

I agree with privacy options. I've only been using the site for a week and some of my posts are already visible on Google. I went back and edited some of the more personal information out of them because when I wrote the content I was assuming only users who were signed in could see them. I guess that was incorrect. Thanks.

Day 9.

Thanks, Ultanboyd. I'm planning to buy a house by the end of next year, and a good patio for slow and low grilling is on the list! Sounds much better than the green salad I just ate...

Hi J_addict. Since I have autoimmune thyroid disease I've always been taught not to take extra iodine because it would make my hypothyroidism worse. Something about the immune component, but not all thyroid patients have that issue. If you're able to get your iodine levels checked by a holistic M.D. that might help. I've never had mine tested (to my knowledge). Maybe I should? In any case, I think iodine supplementation is sort of a fad right now. The paleo diet should help though.

Thanks very much! I'm going to try the Do Yoga With Me video tonight...