Pretty mellow day today (especially compared to yesterday's hike). Got some exercise in by doing some yard work, and did ok on the eating side of things but was a little high on carbs.

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 avocado with Pico de Gallo
• Homemade meatballs made with grass-fed beef and pastured pork
• 2 oz cheddar cheese
• Banana with 2 Tbsp. peanut butter
• Green beans, wax beans and baby carrots with 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• Peach
• 1 Mike's Hard Lemonade

Calories 1759 / Carbs 80 / Fat 126 / Protein 68

My First Hike

I went on my first hike ever yesterday, and it was awesome! I joined a group that hikes with their dogs, in an effort to not only get more exercise, but also to socialize my shy dog. For this hike, there was only two of us, and three dogs, all little ones. When we started the hike, we planned on going 5-6 miles, on a basically flat trail. Well, we took a little detour down (yes, down, which means we had to come back UP about a mile to get back to the trail) to look at some falls, and by the time we were done, we covered 10+ miles. My ass is officially kicked! Even my pup is pooped! We had a great time, and I can't wait to go on the next one. Starting the day out hiking, helped propel me to a fantastic day eating-wise; it was perfectly primal.

• 34 oz Coconut Water
• 8 oz Carne Asado
• 1/2 avocado with Pico de Gallo
• Handful of almonds
• Organic Orange
• Larabar - Peanut Butter Cookie
• 1 oz Lime & Chile Dark Chocolate
• 2 oz cheddar cheese with 1 Tbsp unsalted butter

Calories 1585 / Carbs 137 / Fat 89 / Protein 71 -- The carbs are a bit high, but that is mostly due to the coconut water, which was greatly needed due to the sweat from the hike.

What I ate today:

• 2 free range eggs, with 1 tbsp mayo and 5 strips pastured bacon
• 6 oz grass-fed carne asada cut beef, with 1 tbsp butter. Big mug of homemade chicken broth.
• Slow cooked chicken, 1/2 avocado, slice of onion, diced tomatos, lime juice.
• Sliced jicama -- quickly becoming a favorite snack.
• 2 oz cheddar cheese
• 2 glasses red wine
• Coconut oil with 1/3 oz dark chocolate
  

I've discovered I am really liking the unsweetened herbal tea. I use any kind of tea that has a hint of berry to it (TAZO Passion, Celestrial Seasonings Wild Berry Zinger, and my favorite from Cost Plus Tropical Crimson). I never thought I would get off the Splenda bandwagon. I used to drink Splenda sweetened tea every morning, and have at least two diet Dr. Pepper or Coke Zero every afternoon. Once in a while I would treat myself to a Sugar Free white chocolate peppermint mocha from my favorite coffee place. Not any more. I would guess I've been off of sweetners for about two months. The other night I took a tiny sip of the Bret Micheals Diet Snapple (I can't remember the flavor) and all I could taste of the aspartamine. Icky!! These days I'm perfectly happy with unsweetened tea, seltzer with lime, and plain old water. Water can be livened up with lemon, lime, mint, cucumber or berries.

As you can see, I'm still having a bit of an issue sticking to Paleo. Primal......no problem. But Paleo, I can't seem to let go of butter, cheese, wine and dark chocolate. Granted, quantities are definitely going down, so that is an improvement. I gotta let go of these excuses and go just one week without them.

Day 2

Day 2 didn't go so well. I started off great, then went to do a happy hour review with some friends, and feel into the old trap of having a cocktail, which turned into another, and well, you know how that goes. Eating wise, I did ok. I'd say overall it was a decent Primal day, but no where near a Paleo day. Guess I will be starting Day 1 part 2 on Friday! Here's what I ate today:

• Grass-fed beef jerky (2 oz)
• Organic Granny Smith apple
• Organic collard greens made with pastured bacon, red onion and homemade chicken broth, and a 5-oz grass-fed steak burger
• Chop Chop Salad - lettuce, chickpeas, chicken, provolone, salami and vinaigrette
• 1 small square dark chocolate with sea salt
• 1/2 organic sweet potato, baked, with 1 tbsp butter
• 1 oz chopped pecans
• 4 cocktails - vodka with club soda and lime

Overall, not bad, but not even close to Paleo with the booze, chocolate and dairy. Not going to beat myself up too bad, since it could have been so much worse (like I could have had pizza and fried mozzarella when I was out but I didn't). No idea what the stats were.

Day 1 of Paleo Challenge

I've talked about challenges before, and I realize that I have given excuse after excuse as to why I didn't persevere. But after reading the Whole 30 challenge again, I ventured into Paleo today. My challenges will be giving up dairy, sweeteners and alcohol. These have obviously been a barrier in my quest to lose weight, and it's time to get serious. I love Melissa's "tough love" attitude over on the Whole9 blog. Her mantra? "Giving up heroin is hard. Fighting cancer is hard. Changing your eating habits is NOT hard."

Today started off with a bit of IF. I ate Tuesday night about 9:30, then didn't eat today until lunchtime. Here's what I ate today:

• Grass-fed, all beef hot dog with mustard.
• 6 oz grass-fed rib eye steak, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 baked organic sweet potato with 2 tbsp coconut oil and cinnamon, organic collard greens
• Chai tea with 1/2 cup coconut milk, vanilla and cinnamon.
• 10 local cherries
• Unsweetened herbal tea

Stats are: 1348 calories / 47g carbs / 109g fat / 54g protein

One day down, 29 more to go. :)

Fatty Fridays

Go check out this blog post....awesome idea.....Fatty Fridays!!!! Join the revolution!!

The Chocolate Milk Diet

Yet another sugar laced diet that consumers will fall for.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/54828/the-chocolate-milk-diet/

What is really sad, is that people truly believe this. How many times have you been in a restuarant where you've witnessed parents ordering chocolate milk for their kids instead of that "super sugary soda"? Guess which one has more sugar in it? I can only imagine how many people will be sucked into believing that chocolate milk is good for them, and start pounding their three servings a day, only to gain more weight as a result? And then of course, wonder what the hell happened?

Did anyone else follow Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? For the most part, I agree with what he was trying to accomplish. Especially getting real food in front of the kids. Granted, he is still part of the low fat movement, but at least he is trying to get real food out there, and get rid of all of the sugar. There was one episode where he was successful in removing the chocolate and strawberry milk from the elementary school lunchroom, only to return a few days later to find the flavored milk had reappeared. When he confronted the districts purchaser about it, she told him she questioned the state food program director about this and was told "It is more important that the kids get the calcium, and that is easier to accomplish with flavored milk." I know this will come as a shock to most Primal followers, but the government, the ones given the responsibility to provide food to our schoolchildren, believe that massive amounts of sugar really is ok for our kids. What is wrong with that picture? Real food people, it's all about real food.