Little tweeks, big results

Little more than a week into my super clean committed eating and the results are quite impressive. In my early forays into Paleo the changes were slow to come. The scale didn't move much and although there was body composition changes (combined with CrossFit) I was frustrated that I wasn't seeing results akin to those vile 2AM infomercials. You know the ones...

This time around the scale is moving quickly. After 8 days I've seen a 5 pound loss. Now, I know this could be water weight and is definitely related also to hormonal fluctuations that we women are all blessed with but hey, somewhere in there is some unhealthy crap leaving my body and that is wonderful. #happycamper

Having been to the Paleo rodeo before is probably helping my pursuits. This time around:

 Fruit is in no way a regular item. I bought some medjool dates but am treating them like rare gold nuggets. I allow myself to eat one and savor every bite. My goodness, with making fruit a rarity these babies taste like the best French pastry! It's an awesome consequence. 

Also, veggies reign supreme. Many folks confuse Paleo as a spin-off of Atkins/Low Carb/Meatapalooza diets. Vegetables should be taking up way more room on your plate than anything else and we're really trying to make that a priority. Pack your freezer with organic frozen veggies and toss them in any stir-fry/grass-fed ground beef cookup on days when prepping multiple dishes for a meal just feels overwhelming. 

Those 2 tweeks plus lots of water and tea is really helping me. Being at home most days I would usually succumb to constant grazing but so far I'm really able to keep it together. I'm so motivated to meet my first goal of getting back into the 150's and that is just a few days' clean eating away :)

Have an awesome weekend and enjoy this photo from our Polar Vortex weather:

Are you snowed in tonight? Join me in the Frozen Apple.

It is very late here in Manhattan and so my sweet schoolteacher hub is fast asleep but I am gazing out at the white haze that is "Winter Storm Hercules." So far it isn't too bad. Although i'd like to share one of this city's many oddities: The Governor of NY has declared a State of Emergency due to the weather. 3 highways in the area have been closed due to hazardous travel AND YET: school is still in session! Our new mayor has told the citizens to stay inside during the storm but he wants teachers and students on their way tomorrow morning at 6am. Logical, right???  I'm hoping for a last minute dump of snow in the early morning so that maybe J will be allowed to stay home and play in the flurries with me. Snow in the city is a Godsend after all, everything is quieter and lovely. I'm looking forward to a long walk in Fort Tryon Park tomorrow to really enjoy the scenery. If you are ever on the island of Manhattan I suggest taking a stroll in this park that is often forgotten in comparison to the more centrally located (is that where they got the name?) Central Park. Tryon is much lovelier with grand views of the Hudson River and tons of small winding paths to follow.

ALSO, if you're ever in Manhattan check out HU KITCHEN.
New York City's 1st PALEO RESTAURANT!!!!!!!!!! Hu's team does a great job of really following Paleo food values. They even make their own almond milk so you won't find dairy or even carageenan anywhere. Their enchiladas are fantastic and they've got a great Thursday night Happy Hour with some pretty awesome beverages on tap including blackberry kombucha, which I have yet to try. It is pricey but the quality is there. If you need to eat clean and don't have time to prepare a meal then Hu Kitchen will keep you on the right path. I'm really proud of what co-owner Jordan (great guy, super fun to tweet at so give it a try) has done with this place and look forward to their growth both in popularity and in expanding their hot menu offerings. Hu's success is a great sign that Paleo is becoming mainstream and we are going to make true and effective change to the health of so many.

Today's noms included:
Brunch of 2 organic eggs with 2 pieces of uncured bacon plus half a cup of coffee with some grassfed milk.
Another organic orange and some dark chocolate.
Dinner was an awesome melange of grassfed beef with onions, turnips, small organic potatoes from our CSA and so many awesome spices.  Be well~*

Happy New Year!

The winter holidays are coming to a close. For J and I it has been delightful. We spent almost 2 weeks fully together enjoying Manhattan in its glorious Christmas season. We also decided, somehow, not sure when the train derailed....to buy a bag of flour (a first for me in YEARS) and do some baking.


I LOVE BAKING!

We made biscuits with fried chicken and gravy.
Blondies for a holiday party.
Sugar cookies for Santa.
Scones two ways with lemon curd and clotted cream.
Traditional meat pies.
More biscuits....

Not Paleo. Not even remotely healthy but oh so fun. Baking with traditional wheat flour is comfortably familiar to me. It's inexpensive, easy and for me serves as a creative outlet. Some people sketch. I bake. Hey, did I ever tell you that I won THE Bake Off contest for the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast in 4th grade? Cuz I did and it was a huge deal. Every year your age class would have a category (muffins, cookies, cakes, pies, etc) and each individual troop would have a baking contest. Those 1st place winners would then be entered into the annual bake off which included the winners from each troop in our whole region. Every year I wanted to win so badly but never seemed to make it. How my brown sugar topped blueberry muffins lost out to another girl's mealy yellow corn muffins still eludes me but I think it may have to do with the fact that the judges thought my mom was doing the baking for me and passed my Martha Stewart-esque creations over for a more believable entry *conspiracy*. But finally cake year ended up being my ticket to elementary school stardom. Everyone knew the cake category was THE one to win so when they called my name and I walked down that long auditorium to get my ribbon and gift while all of the girls cheered, damn it was good stuff. I was a very tall, very fat, very loud little girl. People don't give you standing ovations when you're that kid.So being the belle of the bakeoff for an afternoon meant everything to me. All that to say: I love baking. I'm good at it, my treats make people smile and give me compliments.
 Too bad WHEAT = DEATH

I was such a chubby Brownie GS that the uniform fits in adulthood. Check out my badges!

2013 was the first year I made no weight loss resolutions. I was the thinnest I'd ever been thanks to the wedding stress (literally, pounds DROPPED in the months up to the big day thanks to my Hell on Earth nightmarish wedding vendors at The Obici House and Ava Clara Bridal. Yes, they were that bad. But before I go down that rabbit hole: No weight loss goal was a great feeling. I was 100+ pounds down and I could find my size in any store. I even planned to gain a bit of weight. People close to me felt I was a bit too small and my once buxom bosom was a thing of the past. A little bump up the scale wouldn't be such a  bad thing. Trouble is I took way too much liberty and tasted my way around the 5 boroughs. It has been an awesome way to explore the city but I am feeling the consequences of the SAD diet and am all too happy to clean it up from now on.


OKAY, so, I'm up 25 pounds in 2013. Ouch. Oops. Did it to myself.
What am I gonna do about it? Eat the way my body needs me to.

So today we shared organic eggs, avocado and uncured bacon for brunch.
An organic orange was an afternoon snack.
Dinner was wild sockeye salmon with peas and rice mac.
Yes, rice mac n cheese is not Paleo. It is faileo. But it was in the cabinet so we used it as sort of a transition item/to get it out of the house. No more rice pasta for the rest of January, promise.

So that's me on this first day of the new year. Aiming for transparency, honesty about my feats and failures along the road back to ideal health and hopefully a few tasty food finds. Be well~*

HAPPY NEW YEAR