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Wednesday, May 8, 2013

New Eating Challenge- the Healthy Comedian May 2013

No nuts for my squirrel brain
For May 2013, I decided to take the  Health and Comedy- Low Carb challenge. Dan French, along with Amy Kubal and Corben Thomas , have a  the podcast of the same name. I've been listening and have picked up on the inside jokes over the last few months. I love that Dan, Amy, and Corben are talking about what they do, eat, and are sharing it with others. Humor is a great way to get people talking.

The rules for the challenge are on Corben's website -Paleo Life 365.

Why I did the challenge: I eat pretty clean Paleo to start with, but eating cleaner/low carb for 30 days is a good way to get a few pounds that I gained above my maintain weight range over the last few months. Plus, I was snacking on nuts, too much. Once I saw coffee was involved, I was sold!

What foods I cut out for the challenge:
Nuts! Almonds and macadamias are back in the shoebox with the note card on it.
Fruit Bars. I gave up most of my bar "habit" during the Whole30 in Jan 2013. You can still see a Lara bar lurking in the shoebox.
Salmon burgers from Costco: these processed salmon burgers have a bit of canola oil and other stuff in them. They are out for May.
85% Chocolate. Wahhhhhh, booooo hoooo.  There, 5 second whine. I'm OVER it.
Jerky with added sugar: an occasional snack, not hard to drop this for a month.
Two fruit servings: I can get by with one or none most days.
Foods not in the challenge
What foods I've added or eat more:
Vegetables: Yeah! I'm eating between 35-50 carbs a day or so all from vegetables and one berry serving a day. I still eat onions and a few carrots, and Brussels sprouts. Bell peppers, shredded cabbage, celery, broccoli slaw, big a$$ salads, cherry tomatoes, guacamole, fresh salsa. Bring it on.

More protein: I've probably upped my protein a bit for this challenge. I've been keen for the ground Bison from Trader Joe's and I picked up some grass fed beef at a Farmer's Market while on vacation. Yummy stuff and the relatives packed it back.  I'll do a separate post on this soon.

How's it going:
 Great. I've dropped down from 3 meals with 2 snacks a day to just 3 meals, no snacking.  That's been working well, so far. I'm fat adapted , so eating low carb helps with hunger between meals. I've been sleeping better, too. I stayed on challenge except for the one item below while I was on a weekend vacation. 

Not so great: I ordered breakfast from a farm food truck over the weekend. The eggs had some cheese in them! I figured it all out after I was back at the hotel. Dairy is not on the plan, so I picked out the cheese and ate the egg and spinach omelet anyway. It didn't effect me GI wise, and compared to a cinnamon roll, fig newtons, or any other off plan item, I'm doing okay. ;) Progress!

Onward

weekend walk photo







10 comments:

  1. YAY!! You're doing AWESOME! Keep the updates coming and thanks for doing this with us! -Amy

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    1. Will , do Amy. I learn so much from challenges. Good to keep my brain engaged in this stage of weight maintenance.

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  2. Hi Karen! As always, I come here to read your excellent analysis.

    :-) Marion

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  3. I love the shoebox idea! I have to rotate foods in and out, too. Sometimes, I can eat dark chocolate responsibly and do fine. Other times, though, it seems to trigger the urge to binge, and I have to put it away for a while. I like the literal-ness of moving the food to an off-limits location.

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  4. Thanks Marion and Kaki. I'll be very careful about bringing back in the off the nuts. I may not for a long time. Messes with my head sometimes. I'm down to only pacing 1 time a night in front of the pantry. :0

    I miss nuts more than chocolate. That's probably a big heads up for the future.

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  5. Hope all goes well Karen. I just love vegetables with meat and fish! This time of year you can't beat great salads and the variety you can make is amazing. I say this time of year because I do still relate summer to salads, well it will be summer soon in the UK - we hope. Must get out of that habit because you can eat salad at any time of year, just add different ingredients.

    All the best Jan

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  6. I read this yesterday but I forgot to say I love the box as well. :)

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  7. I like your plan for May. I would love to be eating this way and it is something I plan on working on. You sound very strong and I am sure you will have success in losing the few pounds gained recently.

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  8. I've seen that box before and I love it! Sadly, I'm not strong enough to have one in my house. Looking forward to following your progress on this challenge!

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  9. Leigh, as each month goes, the items in the box get fewer and fewer. I might do away with the box. But the 85% chocolate stays!!! :)

    Loosing the Rolls- glad you stopped by. Start by removing barriers in the way. Good luck.

    Jan- the in season veggies always taste better. So looking forward to the farmer's market. Glad it's warming up in the UK.

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