Just. Breathe.

The crankiness is setting in just a smidge. Or maybe that's just my brain telling me to take advantage of it while I have an "excuse." Drinking iced tea instead of coffee in the morning. I tried hot green tea, but it was nasty without honey or sugar. I'm fine with unsweet tea -- that's all I've had for years -- so it's a little bit of caffeine to keep the headaches at bay. I've tried some fun new recipes, mostly from Well Fed by Melissa Joulwan. Last night was Pad Thai. I took a picture but apparently it didn't look very appetizing, so I'll use Melissa's instead. That way you can get the recipe, too. Melissa's pic. Mine tasted great, but I'm no food stylist! Tonight was an easy frittata, because I thought I would be leaving the house tonight. I planned an easy meal with beef I'd already cooked earlier this week. It turned out good, too. Basic recipe from It Starts With Food . I just grabbed some frozen Californ

  Day 1 is done and I'd call it a success. No coffee, but I survived.   Breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled with turkey and spinach, couple of strawberries and handful of raspberries   Lunch: Paleo chicken salad   Dinner: Smoked pork loin with zucchini noodles, and a couple slices of bacon as they came off the grill   Throughout the day: 2-3 raspberries at a time (I'm addicted), a small handful of almonds, unsweet tea.      We just got back from walking the dogs, and even that little bit made my knee twinge. I'm not supposed to ramp up the exercise this week, but I'm going to do something each day to try to get some strength back in this leg. All in all, a successful day 1. I wasn't TOO cranky (it was Monday, after all) but I am going to bed shortly -- about an hour earlier than usual for me. That's one of the goals - to listen more to my body for waking and sleeping. Right now it's telling me to go to bed!

I've mentioned the Whole30 Program I'm starting today. The creators of the program explain it way better than I ever could over on their site . I got Dallas and Melissa's book, It Starts With Food , and devoured it in two days. (See what I did there? Ha.) They give the science behind their philosophy, which is very much Paleo, with a little bit of other stuff thrown in. The Whole30 Program is basically a "reset" of your system -- designed to heal, "restore metabolism, and end unhealthy cravings, habits and relationships with food." Reading their research and experiences further convinced me that Paleo is right for us, and now I know a bit more about why. Here are the rules, and they are non-negotiable for these 30 days: YES : Eat foods that make you more healthy (what the first half of the book was about) - meat, seafood, eggs, lots of vegetables, some fruit, healthy fats. NO : Do not consume any added sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes, or dairy. NO

I really am not good at meal planning. I thought I was, but I've spent about 4 days thinking before going shopping and looking through recipes and trying to figure out what I could buy that I'd cook before I had to freeze it, blah blah blah... Anyway, it took me FORever to get to an actual menu. This should not be that hard, but I have a new respect for all those bloggers who put together menus and shopping lists for their readers. This is not that blog. I said a couple of days ago that I'm getting ready for a "Whole30" experience. That's what is all about -- for the next 30 days I'll be strictly meat, veggies, and fruit (Paleo). I know my success will be based on a lot of planning, and very little wiggle room in what I have around the house to eat. I'm technically not starting until Monday, but today was shopping day, so cooking started today. In planning what to cook when, I was trying to consider the fresh meat and veggies I just bought -- I

I'm back! We had a great time at the beach and would have loved to stay longer.  The seagull misses us. We had amazing food while there -- every family was in charge of one dinner, picking the menu and cooking it. We had a shrimp boil - potatoes, corn, sausage, and shrimp boiled together. Seriously yum. [Only half Paleo - didn't care.] Next night we had "Juicy Lucy" burgers. Apparently Tony watches Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives and got inspired. It's a bit of hamburger meat wrapped around a chunk of cheese (Velveeta, no less), then that's stuffed inside a 1/3 pound or so of hamburger and formed into a patty. When you bite into it, cheese runs out. Yes, I'm serious. In consideration of a few of us, he DID make some plain ones. We managed to snag the leftovers to bring home. On our night, we made chicken and beef fajitas with all the fixings -- rice, refried beans, guacamole, pico, onions and peppers. I had riced some cauliflower befor

It was beginning to feel like I'd NEVER get here. This week, I finally passed 30 pounds lost! That's about three weeks later than I wanted, but honestly, I can't feel bad about it at all. I've had very few "cheats" [I don't like that term - another post topic] and, until I hurt myself, was consistently working out. Now I've got to get back to it. But not right away -- because we're headed to the beach for a long weekend! And the food and beverages will be nothing like what we had in Haiti. This is vacation, baby! The group: R-Dub and me, Bug and her bestie, my sister and her hubs, my friend and her hubs, and R-Dub's best friend and his wife and their daughter -- 8 adults, 3 teen girls, one townhome with 4 bedrooms+loft+3 bathrooms, and the beach . I'm not sure I can explain how my summer isn't complete until I sit in the sand and watch the waves. I would love to live on a beach, but that's not in the cards right now. I set

It continues to amaze me how quickly a human can fall out of a habit. When I'm that human, I should enter myself in an Olympic procrastination event. I was doing great with my regular postings on Monday and Tuesday, but then I look at the last few weeks...yeah, yeah, I was out of the country, but I've been back almost two weeks, so no excuses anymore! Anyway, enough whining [maybe]. The update is boring -- I maintained. Given that I'd come back and started eating real food again, perhaps that's not a bad thing. I also haven't been able to get off the couch because the Olympics are on  work out because of my knee, so maybe maintaining isn't awful. It's boring, but it's way better than gaining. _________________________________ On to something more interesting...for me anyway. Before the trip to Haiti, I'd put some thought into what on earth I'd eat while there. We would have some control over breakfast, lunch would be at the jobsite with n

It's been a couple of weeks since I did a scorecard, and I couldn't figure out what week number I'm on! Here's what's up. For about six weeks, I've been battling the same 2-3 pounds -- I had a goal to lose 30 pounds before the trip on 7/19, and I couldn't get over 26. Back and forth, stuck in the low 170s on a plateau of my own making. So when Tuesday the 17th hit, I had no interest in reporting that once again I'd made no progress. I left for Haiti, and didn't worry about it. Then for a week, I worked harder than I have in a very long time, ate Paleo when possible, and broke the plateau. As of 7/31, I'm down 28.9 pounds, and I'm in the 160s for the first time in about 15 years! Woot! ____________________________________ If you've read any posts this week, you've seen the Haiti trip report. What I didn't talk about in either of those was the physical part of the trip. I had planned how to eat Paleo when I had no contro