Sugar Monster Shrinkage

I’ve become master of myself. The frenzied outings for ice cream and cookies have ceased. And not just because I don’t eat that stuff anymore, but because the cravings have become manageable. Manageable means that they’re still there – passing the bakery on my way to produce or seeing desserts at a restaurant still gives me a pang of longing deep in my heart – but my mindful eating is no longer overruled by the sugar monster inside of me.

My rendition of the Sugar Monster. His needs are simple, but great.

I really thought this would be harder. Not to undermine other people’s attempts at getting off The Sugar, but it just so happens the longer I go without it, the less I want it. At the beginning of this cavewoman thing, I was seriously stalking cheesecake. Now, I could give or take it. Don’t put words in my mouth, I never said I didn’t want it. That creamy thickness, the tart and sweet happily marrying in my mouth, the sighing exhale as all stress and worry melts away from my body. Oh, I can vividly imagine it and if I were to take a bite right this second, I can promise you two things: I would not regret it for a millisecond and it would send my sugar monster over the cliff, gobbling up cookies, cake, brownies, and ice cream as it went.

So, is it worth it? Right now, the answer is no. Is life without cheesecake a life I deem worth living? Also, a resounding no. This Paleo thing was never about me stripping my life of all the foods that I love. I won’t ever feel bad about having a special occasion slice of cheesecake, but at the same time, I’m very grateful that I’ve found that life is not all about that sweetness that comes at the end of the meal. You can have sweetness in all other things if you just open your eyes instead of your mouth.

Dormant, just as a good sugar monster should be.

Fast Runs

You may be thinking to yourself, “I can tell by her blogs that she’s doing a lot of eating…and not a lot of training.” Well, pat yourself on the back; you’re right

I came back from Orlando at the beginning of the month with a sore throat. I knew I was getting sick but was cheerfully optimistic about recovery time. I trained through it like a zombie through a shopping mall. Put my head down, charged forth and kept on keeping on. You’d be correct to guess that this didn’t help me get over the plague. At. All. It continued to worsen to the point where I couldn’t work out and it would have been rude to do so (what with the coughing, hacking and mucus-ing everywhere). So I took a week off, and then a week easy. Now, I’m back into things.

Friday was a fast 7-mile run with Joe. Let me tell you a little something about Joe. When I agreed to train with him, I told him I was a slow runner. He said that wouldn’t be a problem because the distances we were doing required a slower pace. Perfect. Easy. Thanks, Joe. But now I have to rescind that thanks because none of the runs we have done have been slow. Or easy. I like to be pushed, but hope that here soon we are finally going to run those 10-minute miles I was promised. Joe? Did you hear that?

Friday: 7 miles on trail at an 8:32 pace. That’s fast for me even at 3 miles.

Saturday: (keep in mind this is after a fast run Fri night, then Kettlebell class an hour later) About 11.5 miles on trail at a 9:08 pace. Woo and hoo! What a great run. Though I did have to admit to Joe that there was one point I threw up in my mouth a little. He said he was close to the same. I think this friendship just may work.

Oh, did you think you were going to get away without a Paleo update? Un-pat your back; you were wrong.

The lightheadedness is gone and my skin is looking better. Not that I had yucky skin to begin with, but I’ll confess a semi-embarrassing secret to you: one of the major reasons I wanted to try Paleo was that I was waking up in the morning and looking old. Wait, wait, I know I’m not 18 anymore and I’m not trying to hold onto youth forever, but I’ll face the facts, it was enough to make me frown which wasn’t making me look any better.

Out of bed, I had puffiness, I saw dark circles for the first time and my skin was blotchy and ugh. After a couple of hours, the blood meandered back to my face or some other such science wizardry and I would look like myself again. I don’t know how I connected that to eating…salt and bloating or not enough nutrients or irritated skin, but I had an inkling that Paleo may just keep the puffiness at bay, which it did! It’s a miracle! These days I look the same out of bed as I do the rest of the day, my skin is getting glow-ier, my pores are less gunky and I feel more 28 than 40.

Because blogs are just better with photos, here is a dramatic re-enactment of my mornings before Paleo:

"Who is THAT?!"

"If this were Delta, I would get charged $75 for those bags!"

:(

And a mere 18 days on Paleo:

Rock on, cavemen.

The Fountain of Youth not enough for you? Well, here’s more: my teeth feel cleaner. Is that even a Paleo thing? I don’t know, but by the end of the day on Standard American Diet (yep, that’s right, the food that the rest of you are eating has an acronym that spells SAD), my teeth felt coated with a grainy film. Who’s the culprit? Is it you, Sugar? Or you, Wheat? Whoever dunnit, nowadays my teeth feel clean from brushing to brushing which I enjoy immensely. Yucky teeth are the worst.

P.S. I apologize for the bombardment of blogs. I’ve never subscribed to that theory that more is better. One blog a week is the perfect number for me, not too much for me to write, not too much for you to read. Believe me, I don’t fancy myself so important as to imagine you are just sitting there, refreshing my blog, on the edge of your seat as to what I’m eating for dinner. I’m just super jazzed about this Paleo thing; I want to shout it from my little blog platform! And when I get excited about something, I want to share it with everyone I love. So, consider this a big compliment that I love you and want you to be healthy too. Hopefully, once the novelty wears off, the blogs will taper back to a one-a-week deal, but also hopefully, I will never lose this zeal for Paleo

Another Paleo Update. (Don’t hate me!)

Geez, more Paleo?! Yes, this is my life now. Food was always my life, but now I feel as if I have justification to blog about it. Other people are interested in Paleo too, right?

My most recent Paleo complaint (luckily there haven’t been too many) is the clean-up. I hate to do dishes. Hate. It. Lucky me, my guy knows that golden rule: if one person cooks, the other cleans. Oh, how I love that rule. Unlucky me, my guy has been sick for the past two months. He’s been keeping up pretty well, but recently it’s gotten bad. So, that leaves me to cook AND do the dishes. As if cooking wasn’t taking up a large amount of my time, now I have to add rinsing and scrubbing to the list of things that keep me from bed and sleeping. Because, let’s face it, though I try very hard with the help of my Tetris skill, not everything is dishwasher compatible.

Complaint remedied: We went to Moe’s. Before going cavepeople, Jerritt and I ate at Moe’s about 2-3 times a week. More realistically, closer to the 3. So, we always knew the first flex meal we would have would be at Moe’s. But I’ve been wary about flexing. I’ve read that people feel worse than crap after eating grains and dairy while on Paleo. And it’s still close enough to Dec. that I remember how crap feels. I don’t really want to go there. At least, not yet. Surely, pizza or ice cream will lure me there one day soon. But back to Moe’s night.

This was Jerritt’s flex meal, though he didn’t flex too hard. He had a little cheese, and a little taco shell, but most of his cheat was sweet tea. For me, I did zero flexing. Unless you count the flexing of my awesome willpower. I had (I warned you this was coming…where I list out every morsel of food in my meal…) chicken fajitas with no tortillas. Sautéed green peppers, onions and mushrooms. Lettuce, pico, and sliced jalapeños. I dumped salsa on top, got a cup of guacamole and refused the chips. It was the best Moe’s meal ever. Better than queso-drenched nachos. Better than tacos with sour cream and shredded cheese. Better than that awesome taco-wrapped-in-a-quesadilla they have. Incredible – 1. I can eat at Moe’s without fear. 2. You can have Paleo food without feeling like you’re missing out. 3. Om nom nom nom. I did have a little stomach discomfort the next morning, but I’m hoping that was because of the half pound of jalapeños that I ate with my food. Scientific experimentation is the only way to find out for sure. Back to Moe’s!

I <3 Paleo

I have drunk the Paleo Kool-Aid and have found it most refreshing. I’m so freaking excited about this new lifestyle. I spend an obscene amount of time on Paleo blogs, I’m obsessed with everything coconut, and I’m looking at food processors that stray into the $300 range (a girl can dream…). Even last week, I felt myself become elated when while grocery shopping, I found a bottle of No Sugar Added Ketchup. Score. Why am I so excited about No Sugar Added Ketchup? I honestly don’t know. If I had to venture a guess, maybe it’s because I’ve always loved food and am always thinking about food.

This is how bad it can get: I love seeing food in movies. Sometimes, I will put in a DVD and flip to the scene where they are serving food. Don’t believe me? My favorite part of Ponyo? When they make the bowls of Ramen. My favorite part of Twister? When they go to Aunt Meg’s house and cook up steak and eggs. I don’t even like steak. Most likely, if I’ve seen a movie, I can tell you what foods were eaten in which scenes. I’m just weird.

Remember when I first started doing triathlons? The thing I enjoyed most is that we had to travel to Panama City or Jacksonville for the events. Panama City = Volcano Nachos at Margaritaville and Toasted Coconut ice cream at Kilwin’s. Jacksonville = what else? Cheesecake Factory. Please excuse my Homerism here, but mmmmglargerahhhh…Cheesecake Factory… Plus, food just tastes so much better after a race. It’s a fact.

So, is this Paleo thing just an excuse to feed my gastronomic obsession by looking at pictures of food, googling recipes, meandering down the produce aisles, or constantly shoveling massive amounts of fruits and veggies into my mouth? Perhaps. Is it a little over the top that I’m already deciding on what date-based delicious snack to prepare and stow in my suitcase for my summer trips? Likely. Is this an innocent way to spend my time and a healthier obsession than others? Definitely. I love these Paleo people, their Paleo food and their love of working out. I think we have the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.

P.S. Just a warning. I can definitely see myself becoming one of those people who take pictures of their food and blog or Facebook about it. You know those people. I just can’t help it. I love food.

Random pictures of me eating:

Volcano Nachos. Told you.

Massive food after the Death Race.

Flat Stanley. Wait, I didn't really eat Flat Stanley. No Flat Stanleys were harmed during the taking of this picture.

One 50K and lots of cooking.

I’m sponsored! Kinda. Sorta. Okay, here’s the deal. You know that Dawn and I have been working, working, working to get our BFF Dog Ranch off the ground. Well, it’s happening. This is going to be the magic year. And it may end up being only a moisture-wicking shirt to claim my pro status, but my New Mexico 50K is now a BFF event. The training plan has been made and the goal for this event is twofold: to finish and to train injury-free. You may laugh at me in my dorky 80′s-looking, soccer-wannabe compression socks, but I think my knees recover faster when I wear them. Also on the stay-healthy agenda is lots of active isolate stretching; ice, ice, ice; joint supplements; and anything else that may be suggested. Yes, I’m doing it all! For those non-athletes out there, this means for every 40min run, there’s at least an hour of follow-up stretching and icing behind the scenes. What can I say? I’m committed.

The one-week Paleo Diet review: Clean eating is being pretty good to me so far. It’s definitely a process with some ups and downs but in general, it’s not as difficult to do as I thought it would be. It’s a lot of money (more meat and fresh veggies than I’m used to buying) and a lot of time (cooking Every. Single. Night.). I’ve had some really yummy recipes (like this one: Fast Shrimp) and some not so yummy recipes (the oven is not always my friend). I’m not jonesing like I expected. Every now and then, I’ll think to myself how nice a bowl of ice cream or a slice of pizza would taste, but I haven’t fixated on one non-paleo item to the point of obsession. I’ve lost about 3lbs. To clarify, I lost 3lbs in the first three days. Everyone says this is the water weight. And my only complaint other than the time suck is that I’ve been lightheaded. Research turned up that this is due to my insulin level dropping (causing there to be less sodium in my blood stream) plus the drop in blood sugar equaling less blood volume thus lower blood pressure. The sources also say that this should go away after three to four weeks on the diet, which seems like a long time to me, but they also promise that after that initial period, I’m going to feel like a super woman. World, be warned!