Calculated cheating

I was going to try another whole month of fancy eating with no cheating, but I changed my mind (no, not "slipped up," not "broke down," not "failed"…changed my mind). It's because of good news: This week I sent out the invoice that means I've made 100% of the income our family needs for the year, so we decided to have a "hundred percent party" on Thursday night. We went out to a Mongolian grill place, where it's pretty easy to stick to meat and vegetables—but all the sauces have either soy or peanuts. So rather than go flavorless, I had soy and peanuts.

And while I'm confessing, I'll let you know that I'm planning to "cheat" again tonight. My husband and I are going to a concert and then out for pizza, and this time—rather than turn a fun night into a big pile of difficulty and annoyance—I'm going to actually have pizza. (It will be my first wheat since August 31.)

I still want to finish out the rest of this month eating almost 100% primal, but I've been doing a little calculation. I eat four meals a day, so about 120 meals in a month. If I want to be at least 90% primal, that means I have 12 meals a month—or about three a week—where I could eat less than optimally. That's a lot. I don't think our family eats out three times a week even in our busiest (laziest) weeks.

So that means this is going to be easy. All I have to do is eat primal at home and try to make relatively sensible choices at restaurants and in other situations. And I won't have to make any little charts or anything to keep track, either.

Blood work

My mom emailed me the results of her and my dad's recent blood work. (My dad did not go 100% Paleo, but most of what he eats now ends up being Paleo anyway, because my mom does so much of the cooking.) From this time last year, her cholesterol level went from 232 to 198, and his went from 241 to 198, with less than 200 being "desirable." Her triglycerides went from 111 to 102, and his went from 241 to 143, with less than 150 being considered desirable.

Pretty impressive, huh? It makes me wish I had some before-and-after medical tests of my own, but that would have required going to the doctor, which I avoid.

My still-unconverted (ha ha) sister just commented that she was waiting for all of us to figure this out before making any dietary changes in her household. Well, as far as I'm concerned, it's a done deal! I'm convinced that I need to keep eating this way, and the blood work just confirms for me that there's no reason to worry about clogged arteries. Really the only thing left to figure out is how to steer my kids in a primal direction, too—but I guess if I could eat junk for 40 years and stay as healthy as I have, then they will probably survive their childhoods if I just do the best I can and don't annoy them too much with my "weird" cooking.

On the plus side, this morning my youngest put in dinner request for what he calls "death by tasties" (translation: mashed cauliflower, potatoes, and garlic). I think I'll make it DBT and meatballs, and see if anyone even notices that they're eating a darn-near-100%-primal meal.

Sprinting

I just realized I could backdate today's post and make it seem like yesterday's post so I could use today's post to whine about the swim I did this afternoon. (I didn't want to have two posts in one day. THAT WOULD BE SILLY.)

If I'm acting a little loopy, it's because I'm so darn tired from swimming.

I did only 1,000 yards total, but the main set was a 400 IM broken into a set of sprint 25s. And in the spirit of the primal exercise philosophy, I gave it my all. Like I was being chased by a killer eel. (Or any eel. Ick.)

And now I see why you're not supposed to do sprint workouts more than once a week. Because I will probably have to psyche myself up just to lift my hands off the keyboard and onto the mouse to hit Publish.

3…2…1…Publish. Oof.

Saturated fat links

I've been researching (okay, just Googling; I guess there's a difference) the role of saturated fat in heart disease. It seems to me that the federal food pyramid and even groups like the American Heart Association are way behind the times.

There's lots of interesting stuff out there, but the take-home message, which is so counterintuitive that a lot of people simply can't accept it, is that fat does not make you fat. See also this, this, and this.

(Don't ask me how I became a primal eating evangelist. I'm not sure myself.)

But I'm suddenly wondering why federal guidelines haven't changed to reflect the evidence. Is there actually a sinister wheat-and-corn lobby at work?

A pep talk

I just got off the phone with my mom. She's happy that she's now lost 14 pounds eating Paleo but says she's sick and tired of it. She wants some bread. And some pasta. And some pizza!

I don't feel that way at all. (Well…if you know me, you know I want pizza.) But it seems like almost every day I get an idea or two about something new to cook. And since my husband is eating semi-primal with me now, we can cooperate on meals, which makes life a lot easier. Really, though, the most helpful thing is that I like what I've been eating. That must be what happens when you put a lot of thought into your food versus just microwaving the first edible thing you find in the fridge.

This is a huge change for me. Make no mistake: I was the queen of microwaving the first edible thing I found in the fridge. (I also ruled at pouring bowls of cereal.)

So for example yesterday I made these hamburger buns out of—no kidding—nothing but eggs and cream cheese. It was amazing. They went into the oven looking like white blobs of meringue and came out looking like the picture in the link. Now, mine were perhaps undercooked and actually MELTED when I tried to put hamburgers on them, but that's beside the point. The point is that trying stuff like this is fun. And when you hit a home run and get something new to add to your repertoire, it just makes it that much easier to stick with it.

A funner kind of fun

I feel like I've spent the past six weeks glued to the computer—and way too much of the time just waiting for the stupid work to show up. But no more! I should be free again tomorrow, and I'm turning over a new leaf. I'm getting out of the house more. I'm doing more yoga. I'm going on more walks. I'm going to run, bike, OR swim every week.

This fits well with the primal philosophy toward exercise, which is to not do just a bunch of mindless cardio (hello, Ironman training). Instead, you're supposed to do resistance work (I'm counting yoga in that category), a lot of very light exercise (the walks), and the occasional bit of sprinting (the weekly run/bike/swim). And also to do stuff that's fun.

My new plan should qualify there. I know it's going to be more fun than five-hour trainer rides, although those were sort of fun in a twisted kind of let's-see-how-much-misery-I-can-stand sort of way.

Kona love

I thought I had the Ironman bug out of my system and had moved on. Didn't stop me from spending all day watching Ironman Kona online! The pro race was great, but I'm getting jazzed watching the middle-of-pack finishers cross the line, too. I don't suppose my husband will let me stay up five more hours to watch the mighty stragglers…