Vian

This^ (emphasis added) Also, Alien_jenn is my role model!

Felt kind of groggy this morning and had a very mild, subtle headache most of the morning. I was a bit cranky too, but that could have been PMS, or having to do something really crappy and frustrating at work just as easily as the "kill all the things" phase. On the bright side, my breakfast kept me satiated all the way to lunch. About 15 minutes before lunch I started to get really hungry. M1: one egg, 4 oz. home made breakfast sausage, 1 small sweet potato with ghee M2: Leftovers from lastnight's dinner, plus HB egg and half an apple. M3: Apricot chicken with spinach and roasted butternut squash. Glass of kombucha.

Did well today. I was a little foggy and slow today at work, but part of that was the computers fault because it was really slow and I couldn't get a good rhythm. I wasn't tempted at all by the chocolates and cookies in the break room though! Getting a bit of a headache now at 9pm and kind of hungry...really tired of being hungry all the time! M1: 1 small crock pot sweet potato with a pinch of Himalayan salt and a spoonful of ghee, 4 oz. home-made breakfast sausage crumbled up and sauteed with kale and ghee, BP coffee Snack: 1/4 of an apple and HB egg M2: Leftovers from dinner lastnight M3: Lamb and beef mixed with dill, garlic powder, salt, pepper, a dash of Red Boat fish sauce, lemon juice, and a little avocado oil formed into patties and pan fried. A mixing-bowl salad with kalamata olives, cucumbers, and dressing made with red wine vinegar, lemon juice, avocado oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, mustard and dill. Cup of kombucha.

I've actually done one whole30 before. I lost 6 pounds and felt really good. It's how I discovered I was gluten intolerant. I feel like I did decently today. I was hungrier than I expected and started to get a headache mid-afternoon. Not sure why. It's too early for carb flu. It could have been less caffeine than usual, but I don't think that's it either because I had my morning coffee like normal, and don't usually have any soda until I get home from work at 5:30. It could have just been hunger though. M1: Egg Foo Young and BP coffee with a couple tablespoons coconut oil, some home-made almond milk, and some coconut milk, and about half a cup of blackberries with about a 1/4 cup coconut milk on them. M2: Mixing bowl salad with pan-seared chicken breast, kalamata olives, and home-made dressing of red wine vinegar, avocado oil, compliant mustard, and salt and pepper. Had a small handful of raw almonds too. M3: Pork Siu Mai Meatballs and Spicy Garlic Green Beans and Carrots and a glass home-brewed kombucha I got my kitchen all cleaned up after the disaster I made of it the last two days, made about 2 1/2 cups ghee, and made fresh fruit fly cultures for my poison dart frogs, so I feel fairly accomplished today

Starting a whole30 tomorrow. Melissa Joulwan posted this great blog post today that I really identified with. http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2013/12/31/version-ourselves-2014/

For many people grains actually cause a lot of health problems. Grains contain phytates, which are anti-nutrients that prevent your body from getting any nutrients out of the grains. They also contain proteins such as gluten that can cause inflammation and immune responses that cause the body to attack itself, leading to auto immune diseases like psoriasis, chrones, IBS, RA, and many others. Besides even all that, a high carb diet promotes inflammation in the body by creating high blood sugar and high insulin levels (both of which are highly irritating to the inside of the arteries and cause lesions that are scabbed over with cholesterol and plaque) and ultimately leading to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Even if you don't buy into the whole "caveman" theory of the paleo diet (which I don't) the foundation is a low-inflammatory diet that removes foods that frequently cause allergies, auto-immune responses, inflammation, and various digestive issues in many people.

All Hail Catspaw! It was by the wisdom of the Great Catspaw that I was able to make perfect medium rare steaks for the great feast of Christmas night using this technique: http://4505meats.com/the-perfect-steak/

I have no idea, I've never made a pizelle (I had to google it just now to find out what it was). You'll have to experiment and see.

I've decided to do a whole30 starting January 1st. I think I need the structure of the rules.

I try to eat Paleo, but these cookies are Christmas to me. My Grandma made them when my mom was little, and my mom made them when I was little. They are the only Christmas cookie my family makes, and we only make them at Christmas. I have to have them every year. It's tradition. So, since I am gluten intolerant, I wanted to at least make a gluten-free version. I also wanted to send some to my cousin, who is both dairy and gluten intolerant. I didn't think I could successfully make them paleo with almond and tapioca flours and the like and maintain the character of the cookie, so I decided to just make them gluten and dairy free. I found a gluten-free baking blend flour at the store with sorghum flour, rice flour, buckwheat flour, potato starch, tapioca flour and other flours all mixed to theoretically make something that would behave like wheat flour in baked goods. I have to say, they turned out quite good. They are tender and crispy, though more brittle than the wheat flour version, and the flavor is very good still. Anise Cookies 1 c. cane sugar 1 c. brown sugar 1/3 c. coconut cream (or let coconut milk sit in the fridge, then skim the thick part off the top) 3 tbs. molasses 1 egg ¼ tsp. salt 4 c. gluten-free flour baking blend ½ c. ground anise seed Preheat oven to 375. Sift the sugars to make sure there are no clumps. Cream the coconut oil, sugars, coconut cream, molasses, egg, and salt in a bowl with a hand mixer until well mixed and slightly lighter in color. Add the ground anise and flour and mix with a wooden spoon until just incorporated. If using a cookie press, use the disk shaped like ^^^^^^^^^^^^ and squeeze out in long ribbons on a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with colored sugar and bake for 10 minutes. While still hot out of the oven, use a spatula to cut the ribbons into 3-4 inch pieces, then let cool on a piece of newspaper. They will crisp as they cool. If you don’t have a cookie press, roll the dough into a 2-2.5†thick log and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight until firm. Unwrap and cut the log into 1/8†thick slices and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges just begin to darken, and let cool on a piece of newspaper.

High cholesterol is a marker for chronic systemic inflammation. Acute local inflammation is like when you break a bone, strain a muscle, bruise something, etc. It is the bodies response to trauma and is very healthy and healing. Chronic systemic inflammation is when there is inflammation happening all over the body all the time, and it is very detrimental to health. I am of the belief that all disease comes from chronic systemic inflammation at the root. Both sugar, and insulin in the blood are very irritating and inflammatory. The body uses cholesterol as a patch or scab to cover lesions on the insides of the artery walls caused by chronic high blood sugar and insulin resistance. The body can get cholesterol two ways: from the diet, or it can be manufactured in the liver. If you have lots of inflammation, your body will make it's own cholesterol to try and scab those lesions, whether you consume a lot of cholesterol or not. That is why people in excellent shape who run every day and eat tons of "heart-healthy whole grains" and avoid red meat and eggs like they're poison drop dead of heart attacks and strokes. Because those grains are carbs that raise blood sugar. Most of the fat in our own bodies is saturated fat. Saturated fat is used to make cell walls, skin, hair, and nails. The myelin sheath that surrounds neurons is made from saturated fat and there is research that shows a lack of saturated fat, and high-quality fat in general can cause alzheimers and dementia, as well as MS and other neurological degenerative diseases. Saturated fat from high-quality sources such as coconut oil, grass-fed ruminants (beef and lamb), butter and heavy cream from grass-fed cows, and eggs from pastured poultry, is a natural source of energy that humans have prized for millennia. Our bodies know what to do with saturated fat because it's what most of our own fat stores are comprised of. There is tons more information, but I need to go to bed. Check out the book It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. It has several chapters that explain all the science behind the paleo diet like why polyunsaturated fats are really terrible for you, and saturated fats are really good for you, as well as all about chronic systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, and high cholesterol.

I've done crappy the last few days. Though I have been working out most mornings and I'm past the initial "OMG my muscles hurt so bad I can't walk" beginning phase. I had two christmas parties in the last week, one of which involved not nearly enough gluten/grain free options for food (and my parents were in such a rush to get there I didn't get to eat before I left) so I ended up snacking on cheese and deli meat most of the night. The other one was for work and several of my coworkers are gluten intolerant/celiac so that was much better, but they all still eat grains, and there were lots of gluten-free deserts, so I ate way too much sugar. However, this picture is my motto for the week. Every day I want to try and do better than yesterday.

No workout today, still too sore, I think I overdid it... Breakfast was BP coffee, 3 eggs, a small sweet potato with 1/2 slice of bacon crumbled into it Lunch was leftovers from dinner the night before. For dinner, I made beef stroganoff with onions, mushrooms, peas, half and half, and sour cream. Also drinking some kombucha. Managed to get by without a snack today. It seems like some mornings my breakfast holds me better than others.

Thanks Liberator. I think I'm finally re-motivated enough to really push for my goals this time. This morning I woke up really sore from doing squats and lunges yesterday, so I skipped them, but did some push ups against my kitchen counter (trying to work my way down to a real push up). For breakfast, I had BP coffee with pastured half and half, coconut oil, and a little vanilla, 3 eggs, and a small sweet potato with cinnamon on it. Lunch was leftover sugar snap peas and carrots (with butter) with a chicken leg and thigh (with skin) Had a few pieces of apple and a couple ounces of sharp cheddar cheese as a snack because I was starving. Dinner was my Pork Siu Mai Meatballs with Spicy green beans and carrots and a tall glass of home made kombucha I feel like I eat a ton, but I still get really hungry sometimes, not sure how to cut my calories, but still feel satisfied.

+ 1 Loren The book by the creators of the Whole30, It Starts with Food, has some great ideas for turning "ingredients" into "meals". Also, Well Fed by Melissa Joulwan has a section in the front for how to make what she calls "Hot Plates" which is basically just pre-cooking meat and veggies and keeping them in the fridge, then when you want to make a meal, just take meat, veggies, and seasonings, heat in some fat in a pan, and voila! Dinner in like 10-15 minutes. What I tend to do is spend saturday morning putting together a list of recipes for dinners for the week. I have a cache that I pull from, but I also am always on the lookout for new recipes. Then I make a shopping list from the recipes based on what I don't have on hand already, then I go shopping for those things.

Carb flu isn't caused by a calorie deficit, it's not the same as what crash dieters experience and paleo doesn't replace grains with veggies, it replaces the calories of grains and starches with fat, because veggies don't have many calories at all. When you are eating 40% of your calories as grains, sugar, and starch, your body relies on that quick energy. Your brain requires carbs to function and on a standard diet, your body has plenty of them. When you remove those things from your diet, suddenly your body doesn't have all that quick energy to burn and it takes anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks to convert to a different energy source: fat. In the mean time, your brain is screaming for it's usual dose of carbs and you experience fogginess, lethargy, and headaches, among other things until you become fat adapted. Once you become fat adapted, your body can then shunt the carbs you get from veggies and fruits and the other carby things you eat straight to your brain and fuel the rest of it's activities with fat.

Costco sells Chosen Foods Avocado Oil. On the Whole9 forum, one of their reps posted on a thread I started asking about it and provided some great info. http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/14617-avocado-oil-for-mayo/?view=findpost&p=156665 It's more gently refined to preserve nutrients, but still has a very neutral flavor that works great for mayo.

I had an episode like that once as a reaction to a medication. I was sitting in a recliner watching TV, doing absolutely nothing, and out of nowhere my heart started pounding, I could feel it when I put my hand on my chest, really hard and fast. After about a minute I was fine, but it was SO SCARY, I can't imagine how terrifying it would be to have that happen on a regular basis! I am not one to make use of modern medicine lightly. Everything has risks, side effects, consequences. Some doctors are irresponsible, over prescribe various medications for conditions that don't warrant it. But on the other hand, modern medicine saves lives, prevents horrific diseases, and allows people to overcome debilitating conditions. I think there is a balance between taking the natural route, and using modern medicine when needed. Doctors always look at quality of life. What would your quality of life be like if you just gave in and stopped exercising? It sounds like you'd be pretty miserable. But this surgery could give you your life back, and while yes, surgery is scary, if you trust your surgeon, and he says you are healthy enough to have it, the risks are very minimal. In the past 5 years, both my mom and dad have had major surgeries. My dad had a quintouple bypass on his heart, and my mom had a meningioma the size of a lemon removed from her brain. It was scary, but they are both totally fine today, and their quality of life is much improved as well. Good luck, we are all rooting for you!

Last year when I turned 27, I had a bit of a meltdown. At 17, I graduated highschool, then I made a bunch of mistakes with my life, got stuck in a dead-end job, gained 70 pounds, and 10 years later at 27, I felt like I'd done absolutely nothing with my life. Where had the last 10 years gone? They'd been a total waste. While thinking more clearly, I know that's not true. I learned a lot about myself and I changed in those 10 years, and I know I'll never make those same mistakes again. But at the same time, it took me 10 whole years to figure that out and learn those lessons the hard way. I lost my job, but turned that into an opportunity to go back to school and get a certificate and now I have a job I'm much happier with, plus I lost 60 of those 70 pounds. I'm now 28 and while I'm happier with my life than I was a year ago, I still have a long way to go, and I certainly don't want to spend the next 10 years the way I spent the last 10. Turning 30 is usually a big age milestone for people, and I think around 2 years is a good span of time to be able to make many of the changes I want to my life. So, instead of a bucket list, this is my before-I-turn-30 list. I will try to update with how I'm doing on my goals as often as possible, as well as plans for how to achieve my goals. Goal 1: Get Fit I lost those 60 pounds by counting calories and exercising every morning. I got sick about 10 months ago with a virus that really messed me up and have been having anxiety and heart palpitations that make me afraid to exercise and stress my heart, so I've lost a LOT of condition in the past 10 months of doing a whole lot of nothing. In January I will have health insurance again, and I plan to go see a doctor and get a full workup to make sure my heart is healthy. I've already started doing some bodyweight exercises in the morning, trying to build up my muscles so I can do some squats and pushups and situps, but I really need to work on my cardiovascular fitness...I get out of breath really fast and my heart feels like it's going to explode if I run or do any cardio. Ultimately, I'd like to get fit enough to do crossfit again. Goal 2: Eat Clean I used to kind of like counting calories, but it does get in the way of...living...when I was a student and had more time it was kind of fun (I'm a planner) but now that I have a job and get home tired and just wanting to veg out, it's a lot less fun. Plus I discovered paleo and love eating that way, but I keep cheating and succumbing to peer pressure to eat junk. So I would like to do something like a primal whole30. I know that unless I follow the whole30 rules, I can't really call it a "whole30" but I plan to do my own modified thing borrowing some of their rules. Basically, I love dairy. I did a whole30 and followed all the rules, and giving up dairy was the HARDEST THING. I missed it so much. I re-introed dairy and tolerate it just fine, so I'd like to keep it in my life. However, I will not eat: grains of any kind, including wheat, oats, barely, rice, corn, spelt, or pseudo grains like quinoalegumes. Exception: green peas, green beans, snap peasprocessed foods including Ice cream, potato chips, soda, fast food (Chipotle is allowed)sugar - I will allow small amounts of added sugar in prepared products like curry paste and the like, but I won't make sweets with honey or sugar, or eat sugary junk food.Goal 3: Move I love my parents. They've helped me so much these past 10 years. But right now I live next door to them (they own the duplex I live in and live in another building on the property). I pay rent, and have my place to myself, but I go to their house every day, and they do kind of invade my life. I would really love to be an independent adult doing adult things. That's hard when you still feel like a teenager in highschool and live with your parents. So I would like to move, somewhere in the same city, but another part of town. Goal 4: Be more social One of the mistakes I made in the past 10 years was getting married. I'm now divorced and have been for 5 years...and have not been on a single date. So while I don't expect to be in a long-term relationship and on my way to getting married again by the time I turn 30, I would like to at least be on my way towards that by getting out and being more social, meeting people, making friends, etc.

It's cold here right now, and I know most of the country is experiencing far colder than average temps at the moment, so what are your favorite cold-weather recipes that fill the house with heat from the oven and wonderful smells?

Carb flu. When you cut grains out of your diet, you automatically end up consuming a lot fewer carbs than usual. Your body goes through an adjustment period where it switches over to burning fat for energy instead of all the easily digestible quick energy in carbs. Make sure you are eating plenty of fat. When you cut out grains, you have to make up those calories with something else, and fat is the best thing. Go with healthy fats like coconut oil/milk, avocados, grass-fed butter or ghee, pastured eggs, and fatty grass fed/pastured meats. Also, you should have some protein with breakfast

I used to love Dim sum. I'd never heard of it before until my friend moved here from Texas and stumbled upon a Chinese restaurant that served it. We went, and the best thing we ordered was the Pork Siu Mai. Randomly the other day, I thought it sounded really tasty, but alas, Dim sum is not paleo and there is lots of gluten and wheat products. The Pork Siu Mai has gyoza wrapper around it like a little basket normally, but I never really noticed the wrapper. It was just there, the deliciousness was in the filling, so I decided to make my own! Meatballs: 1 lb. ground pork 1/2 lb. shrimp, thawed, peeled, and deveined (take the tails off too) 1 tbs. grated fresh ginger 1-2 tbs. coconut aminos 1 tbs. fish sauce 4-5 green onions, diced 6-8 whole dried shiitake mushrooms + 1-2 cups boiling water 1 tsp. sesame oil 1 tbs. rice wine or dry sherry (omit for whole30) salt to taste Spicy Garlic Green Beans and Carrots 1.5 lbs. hericots verts (small french green beans) 3 medium carrots 1 tbs. fresh grated ginger 2 cloves garlic, grated 1/4 c. coconut aminos 1 tbs. fish sauce 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes 1 tsp. sesame oil 2 tbs. cooking oil 1/2 tsp. salt or to taste For the meatballs: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the dried mushrooms in the boiling water and set aside for about 15 minutes while they reconstitute. Meanwhile, process the shrimp in the food processor until ground, then place in a mixing bowl along with the pork and seasonings. Cut the tough stems off the mushrooms and process them in the food processor until finely chopped (or chop by hand) and add to the meat mixture (bonus! save the broth created by the mushrooms to add umami to other dishes, or add it to bone broth or soup for extra flavor). Add a pinch of salt if desired, then mix well and form into small 1-1.5" balls and arrange on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes until the center of the meatballs are no longer pink. Alternately, the meatballs can be steamed for about 15 minutes (pork siu mai is traditionally steamed). For the green beans and carrots: Peel the carrots. Use the peeler to peel long, thin ribbons from the carrots until they are nearly gone. Place the green beans and carrot ribbons in a large pan (I use a large 5-quart skillet thing with high sides and a lid) Mix all the ingredients for the sauce and pour over the veggies and put the lid on. Turn the heat on to medium high and let them cook for about 10 minutes until the beans are a bright green, but still very crisp. Remove the lid and stir gently, letting the sauce simmer around the veggies and reduce while coating the veggies in the sauce. I'm a little strange in that I like my green beans to be just barely over cooked. I like them tender, not crispy or al dente. Reduce cooking time if you prefer them to have more crunch. Serve along side the Siu Mai Meatballs. I'm really pleased at how this recipe turned out, it will definately be in the rotation. Also, the meatballs can be made ahead and frozen, then just pulled out to thaw and tossed in the oven.

Awesome job! I loved taking riding lessons when I was a teenager, wish I could still do it. I remember how excited I was the first time I got a somewhat stubborn horse to canter one full lap around the arena at a steady pace. It's totally not as easy as it looks! Keep it up!

I don't hunt, though I wouldn't be opposed to the idea. I do have a Taurus .357 magnum revolver in my bedside table loaded with zombie rounds though... I've taken a 5 hour Women and Guns class at the local indoor range (which is owned by a woman) and gone shooting there a few times. Back when I was married I had an old .22 mossberg rifle that I took to the outdoor range and spent several hours shooting. I taught myself how to take it apart and clean it too. Still haven't gotten around to getting my conceal carry permit, but I don't really go anywhere that I could carry it anyway...

I dice up about 4 ounces of bacon and throw it in a cold skillet. Turn on the heat to medium and let the fat slowly render. Once the bacon is getting a little crispy, I add a diced onion and a little salt. While all this is going on, I take a pound of brussels sprouts and cut them into thin strips, discarding the stem-end. Once the onions have turned translucent and the bacon is crispy, I add the brussels sprouts and possibly a little extra fat and some more salt and pepper. Sautee until the brussels sprouts are wilted and getting a little color on them. Then I throw them in a tupperware and into the fridge. When I'm ready to make breakfast in the morning, I take a scoop of the brussels sprout mixture and heat it up in a pan, tossing a few times, then put it in a bowl, then add some fresh fat to the pan and crack in 3 eggs. I like mine with a runny yolk, so I do them over medium, then place on top of the brussels sprouts. The yolk makes a nice sauce for the sprouts. A variation is to sautee zucchini in butter with salt, pepper, and garlic powder until browned and top with fried eggs. I generally do something with eggs for breakfast every day because I love eggs, and use leftovers from dinner the night before for lunch.