CakeBanisher - Banishing Fear

[MadScientist]

One thing I've noticed is that I tend to not really feel full unless I've had some form of carb.

I wonder if this is a form of "low-carb flu" and it will go away when you get more fat adapted.  I have had the same problem and it does tend to go away, but can take a month of hard-core low-carb eating.  By that point, I start to feel really great.  Now if only I could remember that and not go face first in the chocolate chip cookies...

 

I have not heard of Scrivener, but it looks nice.  Go for the thirty day trial.  Even the $40 price does not look too bad.  You may want to look at Celtx or Storybook, as well.  Thanks for piquing my interest.  I have a son who is into writing and I will point him in one of those directions.

[CakeBanisher]

I wonder if this is a form of "low-carb flu" and it will go away when you get more fat adapted.  I have had the same problem and it does tend to go away, but can take a month of hard-core low-carb eating.  By that point, I start to feel really great.  Now if only I could remember that and not go face first in the chocolate chip cookies...

 

I have not heard of Scrivener, but it looks nice.  Go for the thirty day trial.  Even the $40 price does not look too bad.  You may want to look at Celtx or Storybook, as well.  Thanks for piquing my interest.  I have a son who is into writing and I will point him in one of those directions.

 

I hadn't thought of "low-carb flu."  My mom had that when she did Atkins a few years ago, but she honestly felt sick.  I just keep feeling hungry until I eventually cave.  But if I eat a little of something with a high carb content along with my meal (even just a couple bites) I stay full for hours.  Hmm...I will continue to monitor this.

 

I looked into Celtx at one point.  Storybook I hadn't heard of.  I have the trial of Scrivener, and I quite like it.  Especially for a writer like me, who plans a fair bit, and has control issues on organizing my writing.  It allows for all that, and does it very nicely.  I was planning to ask for it for Christmas, but I may get it sooner...we'll see.

[CakeBanisher]

Challenge update!

 

I tend to forget about meditation.  But I really like doing it, so I'm hoping this challenge will help me work it into my life  I am continuing to track stuff, so that goal is going well.  And my writing has kind of taken over in the past couple days, which is fun.  I signed up for nanowrimo, which is exciting and somewhat terrifying

 

I've been experimenting with intermittent fasting.  Basically, I've not been eating before 2:00 p.m. or after 10:00 p.m.  Originally, I tried noon to 8:00, but this seems to work better for me, even if it does seem a bit odd.  I actually like it.  I thought I'd hate it, but figured I'd give it a try, just to see.  I think it's working for me.  At least, I feel better than before, even though I haven't changed my eating too much.  It keeps my energy higher throughout the day, which is not something I expected to happen.  I'm curious to see how it feels if I do it long term.

 

Anyway, I just took my geography final, and will have about 99% in that class, which makes me happy  I'm almost finished with my other two classes as well, and trying not to think about how close that means the start of the fall semester is.  For now, I'm about to head off to do some swing and ignore anything school related

[The Borg Queen]

Low carb flu! I had that when I started paleo, and bad! If it's happening to you, the cure is to eat something salty, such as chicken soup. However, it generally does't last long, so you might be over it by now.

 

It seems like you are breezing by your diet goal this challenge, which is great to see. I'm glad you've found something that works for you.

 

I'll look forward to reading your notes about IF. It works really well for some people, but I've never gotten it to work well for me on a regular basis.

[AverageJoe]

It sounds like you're really rocking your goals and beginning to fine-tune your diet to your body.  Historically I've had a hard time accepting that a diet plan that works for "everyone" else doesn't work for me.  You're excelling at tweeking your diet habits for maximum success, Keep it up!

[LittleTurtle]

I've been experimenting with intermittent fasting.  Basically, I've not been eating before 2:00 p.m. or after 10:00 p.m.  Originally, I tried noon to 8:00, but this seems to work better for me, even if it does seem a bit odd.  I actually like it.  I thought I'd hate it, but figured I'd give it a try, just to see.  I think it's working for me.  At least, I feel better than before, even though I haven't changed my eating too much.  It keeps my energy higher throughout the day, which is not something I expected to happen.  I'm curious to see how it feels if I do it long term.

I've been contemplating on starting to do this as well.  I've never been much of a breakfast person, but always force myself to eat a little something because it's what I thought I should do.  I'll be curious to hear your thoughts in the future if it's still something you're still doing.  It's kind of liberating to think I can free myself from the guilt I have if I miss breakfast!  Thanks for the inspiration!

[CakeBanisher]

Low carb flu! I had that when I started paleo, and bad! If it's happening to you, the cure is to eat something salty, such as chicken soup. However, it generally does't last long, so you might be over it by now.

 

It seems like you are breezing by your diet goal this challenge, which is great to see. I'm glad you've found something that works for you.

 

I'll look forward to reading your notes about IF. It works really well for some people, but I've never gotten it to work well for me on a regular basis.

 

I had it once, but all the other times I've gone low carb, I didn't have any negative symptoms.  And I've done it enough times.  I had a dietitian advice me to basically eat Atkins, so did that a number of years ago, and have experimented with it on and off over the years, and never had low carb flu.  Which is probably why it didn't occur to me that maybe that's what was happening.  I'll try the salty trick this time  I do like salty things...

 

I haven't been doing it for too long, but thus far am quite taken with IF.  Much more so than I thought I'd be.  I thought I'd stick with it for at least a week, just to try, and hate it, but I'm actually thinking I may adapt it and work it into my life in a much more permanent way.  We'll see.  I'll try and keep doing it for the remander of the challenge, and let you guys know what I think

 

 

It sounds like you're really rocking your goals and beginning to fine-tune your diet to your body.  Historically I've had a hard time accepting that a diet plan that works for "everyone" else doesn't work for me.  You're excelling at tweeking your diet habits for maximum success, Keep it up!

 

I'm a weird combination of not being able to accept that what works for "everyone" doesn't work for me, and tweaking my habits almost obsessively.  I think I'm finally finding a happy medium between the two  Because I'm tracking what I eat, I can passively look back later and say, okay, this is good, something is weird with this, what should I try differently, etc.  And I discovered we have carrots, which is also helping on the diet goal front

[starbon]

hey man whatever works is the bestest plan for you! and it takes serious effort to find that, so don;t be discouraged and just keep on experimenting (within limits of course)

[I am Eve]

Hi there CB!

Soooo, a lot of exciting things going on here, and I think you are doing really well. The thing about challenges I think is keeping them real, and that is just what you are doing:-)

[fearlesscreek]

youre doing awesome, girl!

 

so happy to hear about your 99%, and the if success!

 

keep it up... i, for sure, am very motivated reading your thread!

[L'irlandaise]

Congrats on the Geography results and for continuing on your quest for better understanding of what makes you tick (and sparkle )

 

In my book, little tweaks = big changes over time. The key is resting with each tweak long enough for it to have a chance to work. But you're gaining a better understanding by really listening to your body - just let it be your guide.

[CakeBanisher]

hey man whatever works is the bestest plan for you! and it takes serious effort to find that, so don;t be discouraged and just keep on experimenting (within limits of course) 

 

I have come to realize that what works for other people may very well have no bearing on what works for me, and I am okay with that  So I fully plan to continue tweaking my routine to find/maintain something that works for me.  Thanks for the encouragement!

 

 

Hi there CB!

Soooo, a lot of exciting things going on here, and I think you are doing really well. The thing about challenges I think is keeping them real, and that is just what you are doing:-)

 

Thanks!  For me, these challenges are really good because they put a solid sort of grounding on my goals.  Otherwise I get excited to do a million things at once, then just sort of lose track of them all.

 

 

youre doing awesome, girl!

 

so happy to hear about your 99%, and the if success! 

 

keep it up... i, for sure, am very motivated reading your thread!

 

Thanks so much, Fearless!  Overal, I think I'm doing pretty well.  And the stuff I'm doing is making me happy, so that's always a good thing

 

 

Congrats on the Geography results and for continuing on your quest for better understanding of what makes you tick (and sparkle )

 

In my book, little tweaks = big changes over time. The key is resting with each tweak long enough for it to have a chance to work. But you're gaining a better understanding by really listening to your body - just let it be your guide.

 

Thanks  One exam down, two to go...

 

I agree that little things build up to big ones if given the time to figure out how to get them to work.  And listening to my body has really helped me regain a lot of confidence as I realize I am not, in fact, going to break myself, which is nice

[CakeBanisher]

So.  Update!

 

Writing and meditation are still going well.  However, I had a slight kink thrown into my plans over the weekend in that I found out Friday night we were going to a friends party and potluck Saturday, and coming home Sunday.  I had no time to come up with a decent plan of dealing with the junkfood.  So, I just kind of went with it, and tried not to go too crazy.  I wasn't realistically able to track things while there, so only have a vague record of things, not specifics.  But that's okay  Now I'm home, I am looking forward to returning to cleaner eating, as I can feel the junk I ate yesterday and this morning and will be quite happy to have that feeling go away.  I'm also looking forward to a good yoga session

[The Borg Queen]

Sounds like a fun party, and a good opportunity to start fresh on your eating plan. I had a day like that today. I wish I couldn't remember the things I ate... but I do, and I did. We can both start over at the same time

[AverageJoe]

Sometimes it's good to 'cheat'.  It gives a reminder of why we're doing this.  Great job rolling with the punches and hoping back on the wagon.

[keliswicked]

Ahh I feel your pain! I was on vacation the last few days and ate soooooo much non-Paleo food =)

 

I am also looking forward to a good healthy yoga session tonight to get my body back into the swing of things.

 

What is it about Scrivener that you really like?  I find that a lot of my ideas and short writings get lost fairly easily, does it help to organize and sort through everything?

 

Also also, I love your meditation goal!  It's something I want to add into my life as well =)

[peggysr]

So glad to see you're staying on track!  How's the pain playing music going?  I'm hoping that exercise and clean eating help that some.

[CakeBanisher]

Sounds like a fun party, and a good opportunity to start fresh on your eating plan. I had a day like that today. I wish I couldn't remember the things I ate... but I do, and I did. We can both start over at the same time

 

It was a lot of fun  And I agree that I wish I couldn't remember the things that I ate...I wish my body couldn't remember the things that I ate...  But oh well, it was a fun time

 

 

Sometimes it's good to 'cheat'.  It gives a reminder of why we're doing this.  Great job rolling with the punches and hoping back on the wagon.

 

The occasional cheat day isn't too big a deal, and I agree that I can remind us of why we're doing this.  It certainly drove home to me why I prefer not to eat junk food  I'm trying to find a happy medium between just going with it, and stressing just enough to stick with it when the going gets tough.  I only seem capable of one extreme or the other just at the moment...

 

 

Ahh I feel your pain! I was on vacation the last few days and ate soooooo much non-Paleo food =)

 

I am also looking forward to a good healthy yoga session tonight to get my body back into the swing of things.

 

What is it about Scrivener that you really like?  I find that a lot of my ideas and short writings get lost fairly easily, does it help to organize and sort through everything?

 

Also also, I love your meditation goal!  It's something I want to add into my life as well =)

 

I ate pretty well paleo while I was home after the party...but now I'm at another music festival, and am totally at the mercy of whatever food is available because we were unable to bring our own.  So we'll see how that goes...

 

I like Scrivener because it really does help organize stuff, but also because you can set things up exactly as you want them.  I can be both extremely linear and incredibly abstract in my thought processes, and have always needed multiple documents to keep everything straight.  Scrivener lets me put them all into the same document, and has a lot of little features that make everything much easier.

 

 

So glad to see you're staying on track!  How's the pain playing music going?  I'm hoping that exercise and clean eating help that some.

 

Thanks!  The pain is doing a lot better.  In fact, I was called away in the midst of packing my violin and my shoulder rest (which I NEED) was left behind.  I used a folded up jacket instead, and in the past would have been in incredible pain within two songs, but was able to play all evening with almost no pain.  Huzzah! 

[CakeBanisher]

I've been radio silent again.  Whoops.  

 

So, I've done well with the challenge since getting home.  But we left again today for another music festival.  I knew going into this that I'd be pretty much at the mercy of whatever food was available, as we are completely unable to bring our own food to this one.  I'm doing my best, but there is no way I'll be really paleo until I get home Sunday evening.  Oh well.  This is the last big festival until next summer, so I plan on enjoying myself  I also plan on doing my best with the rest of my goals, in particular writing and meditation.  I'll keep general notes about what I eat as well.  The food wagon they have this year is mostly Greek food, which is miles better than "Joe's Fries" that we've had in the past.  And the canopy we jam under has enough lights that I'm pretty sure you can see us from outer space

[AverageJoe]

Sounds like you're keeping up with your goals and staying practical about eating "on the road".  All the music festivals must be pretty fun.  Hope it goes well, give us an update when you get back.

[MadScientist]

An occassional fall from primal food grace will not hurt you.  I eat pizza and drink beer at our annual company science fair and usually show no ill effects.  But it's once a year.  You know the drill and pretty much nailed it.  Nice.

 

The music festivals sound like a lot of fun.  It has been a long time since I went to one.  My kids are rapidly leaving the nest, so it may be time to start that up again.  Sorry about the shoulder rest.  But you improvised and did fine.  Excellent job!

[starbon]

the last hurrah before the cold dreary weather hm ? yay for the semi healthy food ! and double yay for the music festival. somehow I think the feeling that something will be the last for a long time makes it somehow more enjoyable, maybe to get over the tiny twinge of sadness that accompanies the feeling. In any case, jam on and keep eating healthy !

[CakeBanisher]

So, the music festival was a blast  Played a lot of music, wrote some, the earliest we ever got to bed was 1:00 in the morning, all that good stuff.  Plus I got a ton of writing done.  Then I got home, only to discover our internet was totally dead.  I kept wanting to google things, only to remember I couldn't.  It was somewhat disturbing to realize how much I rely on having internet, and how many other things require internet to work.  

 

Also, OMG the junk food...I have not fallen off the wagon this spectacularly in quite some time.  And my allergies are so incredibly bad right now, it's like they have leeched away all my willpower.  I'm working on getting it back, but it's still being a bit evasive.

 

Grades from last week:

 

Ease into paleo - C

Track stuff - A

Meditation - A

Writing - A

 

Other than the eating front, I'm doing really well.  I really think I would succeed better if I were in charge of the food that comes into the house.  But I'm not, and can't be, so I have to work with what I've got.  And, when I'm in one of my omg eat ALL the things phases, I can go just a tad crazy...

 

Also, I have a meditation question.  Well, maybe not exactly a question more a curious observation.  I'm meditating between five and six minutes at a time in general, and while my mind would initially leapfrog all over the place if I lost focus (I focus on my breath) it now latches quite firmly onto anything that's worrying me.  Which means instead of finishing my meditation feeling calm, like I did at first, I finish with this sort of nagging uneasy feeling.  Is that sort of thing "a phase" if you will?  Do I just need to practice keeping my mind quiet more?  I intend to continue meditation, at a minimum for the remainder of this challenge, so we shall see what happens

 

I'm hoping to catch up with everyone soon, but I'm not exactly sure when I'll be able to.  

 

As always, thanks so much for the support!

[MadScientist]

I can sympathize with "eat everything in sight" syndrome.  When I get in that state, it doesn't matter what I want to do.  So I try to avoid sugar, just like you do.  Get back on the wagon when you can.  It will happen.  Don't let it throw you.  You are rocking the rest of your goals.

 

For meditating, if I am having an issue with meditating on something I shouldn't, I find something mildly interesting and watch it.  I have used tropical fish in an aquarium, the birds outside on my bird feeder, waves on a pond, and the words of a familiar prayer to good effect.  Clouds would probably also work.  Try it if concentrating on your breath is not working.

 

Keep up the good work!

[LegoLady45]

I can so relate to the "omg eat ALL the things phases" you describe.  Those days when you cannot follow your eating goals, and everything looks yummy.  I am not sure how to deal with those, how to avoid sugar when it's right in front of me or my body is howling for it.

 

I would agree with MadScientist that if your mind is getting stuck on a troublesome thought, try to replace it with a calm thought, or a vision, something that will not allow the troublesome thing back in.  Love the idea of watching fish, or clouds, both pleasant and benign things to occupy your mind.

 

Keep it up you are doing great!