Caprette

So last night I went to a friend's place for a board game night, and totally had a sugar binge. I've been probably about 90% strict paleo for the last several weeks, but last night... there were cookies, and brownies, and to top everything off, the host made pasta with an herb-butter sauce for dinner. No alcohol was involved--we all wanted to concentrate on the game! But there was lots of sugar. I went to bed feeling a little gross, but I've been eating so healthfully in general lately, I didn't want to beat myself up over just one day. This morning, I woke up with a terrible thudding headache that felt all the world like an awful hangover, despite the fact that I consumed zero alcohol yesterday. It even responded pretty well to my normal hangover routine (lots of water, Emergen-C, a nutritious lunch, an afternoon nap) and I'm feeling maybe 80% back to normal now. This definitely gives me more incentive to stick with paleo from here on out! So I guess what I'm asking is... are sugar hangovers a thing, or was this just a coincidence? Has anyone else had this experience? (And if they ARE a real thing, I'd be curious about what the mechanism is that causes the headache, and how it compares to a normal alcohol hangover.)

I've also been wanting to experiment with offal. I saw a good recipe for chicken liver pâté somewhere that looked like a good place to start. I might also ask some of the meat vendors for some "unusual" cuts next time I make it to the farmers market.

I'm actually pretty unconvinced about local food as being "better" from a carbon standpoint. Transportation is responsible for a relatively small portion of the total emissions for almost any given food item. When I lived in Washington DC, nearly all the supermarkets sold local eggs--but these eggs came from the large-scale battery cage operations that are all over rural Maryland. Local, but not sustainable. Eggs from chickens on well-managed pasture, even if they have to be shipped from farther away, are almost certainly more sustainable. I still do shop at farmers markets and belong to a CSA when possible, but not because of the food miles issue. I try to seek out food produced on farms that grow many different crops and minimize the inputs that must be purchased from off the farm. Often these farms are relatively small-scale and don't have enough volume to sell to a grocery store chain. Farmers markets are a good way to access these kinds of farms.

I've been thinking a lot about this topic lately, and I wanted to see if any of you had some thoughts, especially from a primal/paleo perspective. Last week, I went to a really interesting lecture by a professor of nutrition. His argument was that a healthy diet is automatically also an environmentally-friendly diet. Now, on the surface, that idea has a lot of appeal. I think almost all of us would agree that a healthy diet consists primarily of minimally-processed, whole foods. This also probably be a pretty sustainable diet, since you'd be avoiding the waste and greenhouse gas emissions from all the extra packaging and processing. The problem with his analysis was that it assumed that both a healthy diet and a sustainable diet require minimizing or eliminating meat consumption. Now, I personally disagree with this from a health perspective. I eat mostly primal, and I am much healthier as an omnivore than I ever was as a vegetarian. I know that there are a lot of other folks out there in the same boat. So then the question becomes, how bad is meat for the environment? And if it is unequivocally bad for the environment, how should we think about environmental impact vs. personal health? There are some pretty compelling life cycle assessments out there indicating that meat, especially beef, has a pretty significant negative environmental impact, at least from a greenhouse gas perspective. But these studies tend to only look at conventional CAFO meat, and tend to draw the boundaries fairly narrowly. I know there is some work being done on the degree to which well-managed pasture land could be a carbon sink. I also wonder if any of these studies consider the savings from using manure on-farm as an alternative to energy-intensive synthetic fertilizer. I'd also be REALLY curious if anyone knows of any LCAs that compare small scale, diversified, pastured meat production to CAFOs. And then there's the fact that environmental impact is more than just greenhouse gas emissions. I think it's important to think about stuff like land use and biodiversity, too. Do any of you consider environmental impact when you decide what or what not to eat? How? And do you feel that it is in line with a diet that is healthy for you, or do you feel like you need to make compromises? It's a really complicated issue and I'm still trying to figure out the right thing to do in my own life. TL;DR: I want my primal-ish diet to be both healthy AND good for the planet, but some science suggests it isn't so great for the planet. What should we do?

I don't find that it gets lumpy. I put the egg in the bottom of a mug or mason jar, then blend with an immersion blender. I then sloooowwwwly pour in coffee, blending the whole time. (You need a tall jar because this can splash.) It thickens, but doesn't set or get lumpy. This is very similar to the way you would make custard, except instead of using hot cream you are using hot coffee, and you don't cook it further. If you want to be fancy, you can call it zabaglione al caffe . (Though this uses whole eggs and not just yolks, no sugar, and a higher proportion of coffee to egg than the traditional version.)

How about some smoked salmon/lox? Or roast turkey from the deli counter (make sure it has no weird ingredients) rolled up with some veggies and mustard?

I haven't tried bulletproof coffee yet, but I sometimes do something that feels a little similar, where I blend a whole raw egg or two into my coffee in the morning. It tastes creamy/custardy and not eggy, almost like a latte. It's also great with a pinch or two of cinnamon! It (obviously) has more protein in it than bulletproof coffee so it doesn't have quite the same benefit for someone in ketosis and/or doing intermittent fasting, but I'm not quite so comfortable drinking quite so many calories of pure fat in the morning. I find that egg coffee really keeps me alert in the morning, and I don't get hungry for lunch until mid-afternoon.

I am no longer allowed to buy dried mango in family packs or in bulk. It is technically paleo (because I don't like the kind with added sugar), but I ate a package that was supposed to be 9 servings in 3 sittings. Not too terrible in the grand scheme of things, but it's still a LOT of carbs. Otherwise, things are going pretty well over here. My fridge is full of chicken and mushroom soup. It's pretty tasty, but next time I want to boil down my homemade stock before adding it to the soup to concentrate the flavor more, and possibly add a little wine. It's also super low-fat, which is not ideal for paleo, so I added a bit of butter at the end. I may pour a bit of olive oil on top after I reheat some for dinner. Tomorrow is my first rock climbing class. I am excited!

I'd really love to hear about your walking adventures! I'm sure you can find some really interesting things to see by going for walks through Tokyo.

So, I just got back from skiing and I had a blast! It was SUPER COLD in Vermont, but I wore about 5 sweaters under my jacket and managed. I wasn't able to ski last season so I was worried about how I'd do, but aside from being a little less confident on steep terrain than I used to be, it went really well. A day skiing really is a workout. Carrying skis from the car or hotel to the slopes wearing heavy ski boots is extremely tiring, and making big, fast turns on steep terrain is a real leg workout. That definitely counts as an A for workouts this week! I also made an appointment at the climbing gym for the 2-hour belay class for Wednesday night, so this coming week is looking good, too. Food-wise, I think I get an A-. When I was in Vermont, I actually did pretty well. Breakfast was black coffee and a Larabar, lunch was salad with veggies, chicken, and almonds at the base lodge. Dinner was trickier, but at a Mexican place I could get a chicken plate with extra veggies and no rice or beans, and at a farm-to-table restaurant I had a pork chop with apples and braised cabbage that was labelled gluten-free on the menu (the cabbage and sauce probably had added sugar, but the portion was small). But afterwards I spent a night at my parents' house before driving back up to school, and my mom made daube de boeuf with pasta cooked in the sauce. Normally my dad does all the cooking, so I didn't want to not eat something that my mom had gone to a lot of trouble to make. I guess that counts as my cheat meal for the week. Today I drove back up to school, and on the way I went grocery shopping with a Whole Foods gift card that I got for Christmas, filling my cart entirely with paleo foods! (I made a small exception for some aged clothbound cheddar and some Parmigiano Reggiano ) Now I have a pot of chicken stock simmering on the stove, which I will use tomorrow to make some chicken and mushroom soup. I got a lot of Swiss chard because it was on sale, so I might add some of that too. If it's good I'll post a recipe. For tonight, I'm going to broil a small piece of wild salmon and have a salad on the side.

Hi Bean! Thanks for the suggestions. Sleeping Giant was already pretty high on my list--back in September a few people from my program rode their bikes out there. I didn't go with them because it sounded too far for me to bike and then hike, but it sounded like fun. I haven't heard of Devil's Hopyard, so I will check it out!

I agree with jfreaksho about Mark's Daily Apple. I think there is a tendency in the paleo community to freak out over some relatively innocuous stuff (OMG I can't eat that charred steak because CANCER!!!1!). Mark does a good job focusing on the big picture, but still giving good, well-founded advice to support lifestyle changes.

I do a crust like this with coconut flour all the time and it works pretty well. (Actually, I usually do Paleo pork tonkatsu with coconut flakes on the outside, but the principle is the same.) First, coat meat/fish in coconut flour, then dip in beaten egg, then pat on your crust to get it to stick.

Hi all! I'm really excited to spend 2015 focusing on health and fitness. I've never been an athlete (always picked last in gym class, etc... I'm sure many of you can relate) but at various points I have been in fairly decent shape. Now that I'm in grad school (I'm getting a master's in environmental science), I spend a lot more time at the library than at the gym, and my weight is starting to creep up on me. My goal is to treat fitness as something FUN. In the past I would go to the gym or go for a run like it was a chore. I liked having done it, but I didn't like doing it. The athletic-type things that I enjoyed doing (hiking, skiing) were either too expensive or required too much travel time. I briefly joined a CrossFit gym and LOVED it, but had to stop after a few months because it was too expensive. I just got a car of my own for the first time ever (at age 26!--before now I've always lived in big cities with extensive public transit), which paradoxically I think will help me with my health and fitness goals because it will make it easier to access fun fitness activities. With the car, I can now easily go hiking on weekends, head to the climbing gym, or go to the "real" grocery store to get fresh meat and veggies. I also REALLY REALLY love cooking. I hope to exchange some tasty, healthy recipes with some of you! Also, if anyone is familiar with southern Connecticut, I'd love some ideas for places to go hiking. I live in New Haven.

Hi all! I'm Caprette, your local friendly woodland creature. I've been lurking around these forums for a while, but I've decided that it's time for me to actually join a challenge. I've never been super-athletic, but I've always enjoyed outdoor activities like hiking in the woods, long walks in the city, camping, and skiing. Right now I'm in grad school, which has led to a more sedentary lifestyle (and a lot more beer and pizza), so my weight has crept up more than I want it to. ETA: quest measurements/grades, in the interest of having concrete measurements for SMART goals. I will allocate attributes later once I have all that figured out! Main quest: Go from size 10-12 pants (my current size) to size 6-8 pants (my size from 3 years ago). Quest 1: Rock climbing. I've climbed casually in gyms a few times and it was always super-fun, but until now I haven't lived close enough to a gym where it made sense to go on any kind of regular basis. I plan to sign up for the belay and intro to climbing class and climb with a partner or boulder at least 1x/week. I won't be able to start until next week, so this covers 5 weeks of the challenge. A: Complete belay technique class, go to gym 5 times (1x/week) B: Complete belay technique class, go to gym 1-4 times C: Complete belay technique class but don't go to gym again Quest 2: Eat (mostly) Paleo. The thing that matters most for me is eating whole foods and avoiding starchy and sugary foods. I'm not going to make a fuss about small amounts of gluten or soy and I am totally fine eating dairy. I cook almost all my meals from scratch anyway, which makes this easier, but on a grad student budget it's harder to fight the urge to stretch a meal with a pile of rice or couscous. I will make an exception for beer--I am allowed to have up to 3 beers per week for the sake of my social life. The hardest part will be this weekend, because I'm going skiing for 3 days and will be eating only restaurant meals, but I'm going to do my best to stay on track. A: 6 or fewer total "cheat" meals (other than the exceptions above) B: 7-12 total "cheat" meals C: 13-18 total "cheat" meals Quest 3: Work out regularly. Most importantly, the workouts must be FUN. Examples include a trip to the climbing gym, a hike, a yoga class, or a day skiing. I plan to do some combination of these 3x/week. A: 18 workouts B: 12-17 workouts C: 6-11 workouts Motivation: Have energy to play hard. I'm in an environmental science master's program, and lots of the other students are into sports like hiking, kayaking, climbing, and skiing. I don't want to have to say "no" when someone asks me if I want to go to the mountains for the weekend because I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up. Life quest: Be awesome at grad school. I'm in a master's program now, but I want to get into a Ph.D. program afterwards. That means I need to go above and beyond and really impress my professors. There's a lecture series on Fridays that is highly related to my area of study, but last semester I always overslept and never went. I want to attend at least 3 of these lectures over the course of the challenge. If I can't attend for one reason or another, an alternative is to read 2 articles or 1 book that have not been assigned for any of my classes, but are related to my area of interest. A: 3 lectures (or article/book equivalent) B: 2 lectures C: 1 lecture