Welcome to the blog- if you are arriving from the Half Size Me Show

Hello! Heather of the Half Size Me Show interviewed me for episode 77. Here's the link in iTunes

Welcome to the blog. Check out the archives. More to come later in the the week.

New app and cookbook out from my favorite people

 Okay, my to-do list has tasks that are all lined up like these flowers. Taking a quick break to blog about these two things:

There's a new app out that even if you are not Paleo- you may like these recipes. The beef and chicken recipes alone are worth the $0.99 price, in my opinion. (not sure how long the price will last- so get the app fast).

Check out Caveman Creations on iTunes. More info on Abel James' website here.   I already have a few favorite recipes from George's site. I can't wait to try more from the app. Nicely done. Great photos, easy interface. Recipes right where I want them - iPhone in the kitchen.   Paleo or not (okay, unless you are vegan/vegetarian!) these recipes rock. I'll be able to make them for Jr. Family Member and friends, too.

Next,  arriving in Costco soon and Amazon now is Sarah Fragoso's Italian Cookbook. Again, you don't have to be Paleo to enjoy these recipes. The book is a cookbook and a travel log about smaller cities in Italy

I'll post a few reviews on recipes from both places. Flying off to do the rest of my tasks. Safe travels and more blog topics to come.

Getting unhooked off sugar and grains - broken down into workable steps

 I was typing a response to another blogger, Kari over at My Weighting Place about getting unhooked off sugar. I wanted to expand a bit on my response.
 I'm impressed that Kari is trying out clean eating ( see her original post here. Good for weight loss & maintenance and overall health. Even more awesome to get the family on board.

It's a lot of hard work to change things up, so kudos to Kari.

Okay, so for me- it really did start with food. I had to have many days (it was 8-10 weeks) of eating clean (no trigger foods, blog post about what clean eating is for me, tomorrow)

Getting unhooked off trigger foods was key. If I triggered myself with sugary or grain type foods it was almost impossible to have a clear mind for the work I needed to do. This applied to weight loss and weight maintenance. It does not end when you get to weight maintenance.

Here's a simple version of my thought processes to get unhooked. I'm reminded when I have to go to the regular grocery store and check out near the candy bars. I was soooo hooked. I won't even look at them now.  The process as a whole for permanent maintenance is not simple. But breaking down the steps in to action items can be. Make a check list out of it. Rinse and repeat.

Here's what worked for me:

0. Go back through the house and ditch or seriously sequester any junk food. If it's in my environment, chances are I'll eat it. Replace food with no sugar, no grains. Clean Eating how you define it.

1. Go to that good feeling you get and remember it with each clean meal. Say to yourself "I choose this"(I feel great!)

2. Start to pause before you grab the sugar -maybe M&M's and say "I choose this" (think "I choose diabetes and heart disease and obesity plus I'm going to feel like crap!)

3. You'll likely put the M&M's down and do something else. (think: What? I don't want those or to feel that way)

4. Go to bed each night after a whole day of eating clean and say, I feel great! I want this again tomorrow. (think, I'm hooked into this feeling and what I'm doing)

5. Wake up the next day and say, I want to feel great, just like yesterday. I choose this. I choose health and foods that make me well.  I'm so done with feeling like crap. This is a lot of work, but it sure is rewarding. I see/ will see results. Awesome!

Repeat daily, with each meal and each day. Hook together as many days as you need. Other changes will happen. The clear brain will take you far.  Super effective.

What did not work in the past:

0. I bought trigger foods into the house because I was eating them in moderation (they were in my WW points/Calorie range). Think 100 calorie snack packs, M&M's and candy bars on sale. It's very popular to eat a little bit in moderation. This thought process and my food environment kept me stuck. Sugar and grains were not effective for me to loose weight and keep it off.

1. There was no good feeling, just a sugar rush and eating more sugar to feel those endorphins that did not last long.

2 & 3  No pausing, just eating, and going back for more.  Not feeling well. Clothes don't fit.

4. Going to bed at night and feeling pretty bad and "promising" myself I could walk it off the next day, try to be good with my food, blah, blah blah. All the lies and excuses I told myself.

5. Waking up the next day tired, even more overweight and feeling really guilty about needing to get out to "exercise off" the food I ate the day before. Exercise never worked by the way. The damage was done. Eat, Repeat, Repent.  Oh and I'll make this whole grain waffle and top it with a ton of berries, low calorie margarine, and some cool whip light. And the cycle begins again.

Sugar and grains and moderation eating was not effective for me. Eliminating sugar, grains and processed food (eating clean) was so much more effective.

It is a significant and noticeable difference.

July 2004- 180 pounds

May 2013 -117 pounds

Busy summer July 2013- keeping food, sleep, and exercising as priorities

Holy Smokes. The summer of 2013 is busy. More so than usual, but also good. Food template is all dialed in. I'm about 95%  consider myself in recovery and fully transitioned from the root causes of the emotional/binge eating days. A few food thoughts come in and I let them go back out again.

It's been 2.25  full years since I started my weight loss. Maintenance, 17+ months. Lots of work happened 7-9 years ago. It's been a process, one I get the benefits from every day. So worth it.

What works:
Food:  I'm not tracking my food lately. Reason is I'm eating pretty clean low-inflammatory ( yes, Paleo- lower carb). The 85% chocolate and my coffee and the rare eating out are my off food template items. My weight is steady and right at or below goal. Awesomeness.

Cooking in the hotel, Seattle

 Sleeping: I'm sleeping much better now- going to bed sooner (reading blogs less, sad trade off but it's worth it). The lower carb food template is the best way to sleep better longer. I feel great during the day. Important since the days are jam packed.

Health: I feel awesome. Escaping the summer colds and pneumonia  that have plagued many people I know in real life. Everybody knock on wood! ;).  Pssst... living a Primal/Paleo, low inflammatory lifestyle has it's benefits and not getting sick very often is one of them. I recommend it. Vacation days are spent having fun and far, far away from the health care system. Co-pays become funds for vacation play.

Exercise: Still getting 10,000-12,000 steps per day. Impressive and I feel great.

Strength: Still hitting the gym 1-2 times a week. I could improve in this area.

Stress relief: Still taking photos, the walking is super relaxing, vacation done for the summer, getting ready for an 8 week, 8 minute meditation commitment.

Yummy seafood, Woodland Park Zoo

Motivation: Yes! I read a lot. I re-tweet articles and I have an Instagram account now, too. Podcasts daily. Enjoying Vinnie Tortorich- The Angriest Trainer Podcast. What a hoot after you've listened to 5-10 podcasts (it's an adult podcast- just warning you)

What is up next? The rates of chronic disease (especially for children) from bad science and big food and the Standard American Diet are creeping me out. Serious health and financial impacts. The best thing is to get yourself well, your family will follow, then be an advocate and spread the word- in my opinion.

What did not work in the past:
Food- eating in moderation, eating lots of sugar, cereal, and wheat & grains. Does not work for me. Kept me sick. Kept me really, really overweight, kept me sad and out of photos, kept me from enjoying my kid and my life.

Health: I got colds and sick way more often. It was not good.

Strength and Exercise: I couldn't lift things to do simple house hold tasks. Walking is much harder on knee's and joints.

Stress relief & Sleep:  Eating food to calm my nerves on a busy day only made it worse. So much worse. Feeling my feelings is so much less stress full than the emotional and physical pain of obesity. Getting enough sleep and snoring less (dairy induced) and sleeping deeper (lower carbs) keeps me making good choices during the day/week.

Low inflammatory, removing sugar, removing grains is not used often enough in long term weight maintenance and for overall health ,in my opinion. Looking forward to living, teaching, and being in the grass roots efforts to get things turned around. We are stronger together. Onward.

I'll blog when I am able. 

Lake Union, Seattle

What I ate 7/6/2013 in weight maintenance

Here's how I maintain my weight and feel younger than I did in my 20's. 

A stem of beautiful orchids

 What works at the moment: Grain free, dairy free, low inflammatory, lower carb, paleoish template. I drink  water, coffee and occasionally tea. I do weigh in daily. It works to stop my slippery slope binge/emotional eating. I could eat off the rails easily with one bite. I avoid the thought processes and food that combines to make the perfect storm for that. Always. I lost 0.6 pounds on 7/7/2013. Normal variation. Looking at weight trending over 1,2, 3 months. I fine tune the diet and try elimination diets 1-2 times per year.

What did not work in the past: Grains, Healthy whole grains!, Cereal was the WORST, high carb, drinking crystal lite and diet coke, avoiding the scale, eating emotionally, eating binge foods- yes, even one bite of ice cream or cupcake, not eating from a clean food template, not troubleshooting the root causes, not looking at my weight trending over 1, 2, 3 months. Not eliminating certain foods to see how they made me feel. It was more than the food, but getting well STARTED with the food. The rest followed once the sugar/carb fog cleared.

To sum it up: I eat protein, low starch vegetables, oils & fats (coconut, avocado), berries, occasional in season fruits, and some 85% chocolate. I sleep and de-stress as needed. I feel full, energetic, and I maintain my 70+ pound weight loss over 17 months.

Yesterday was a typical day, all meals prepared at home. Three meals spaced during the day, walked 10,206 steps, cleaned the house, did some computer work. Slept well.

Breakfast: Sliced cherry tomatoes, avocados, zucchini with onions, 1 egg, 2 egg whites, coffee. Pink sea salt and some coconut oil for sauteing. Coffee

Lunch: Red bell pepper strips, sauteed broccoli slaw, ground bison, White Linen Marinara sauce, garlic sea salt, coconut oil for sauteing, two hard boiled egg whites (pictured below). Coffee not pictured.

 Dinner: Heirloom cherry tomatoes, crock pot balsamic and onion beef roast, sauteed kale, blueberries, 4 squares of 85% chocolate (non-dairy). Coconut oil to sear the meat and saute the kale. Garlic sea salt to season the kale, pink sea salt to season the meat.  Pictured below: Chipotle SeaSnax (spicy!). Water not pictured, water through out the day.

Catch up photo: for lunch and dinner.  I do fewer egg yolks, my skin breaks out less.

17 month weight maintenance check-in post vacation

17 months in weight maintenance. Post vacation. Yes, still getting on the scale. Nice thing about setting in a food template: I can be pretty sure I'll be in my maintenance range 113-117 most days.  This photo is post float trip in Skagway, Alaska. Fun! Like the gum boots?

I saved for years to go on this trip. It was a great reward for taking care of myself and being able to cross Alaska off the bucket list. Hawaii, Greece, and Italy are also on the list. If I had not lost the weight, this trip would have been more difficult. And, more money would be going into my health care and not into traveling. 

Here we go: 1 month, 2 month, 3 months.  I'm maintaining at a lower level post the low-carb challenge. And my weight took a dip lower during the time my family member died. Could have been the guest scale? Could have been walking in Phoenix in the summer heat? (or trying to beat the heat, anyway).

It's a lot of work to eat within the food template while on vacation, but so worth it.  I feel great on vacation, no huge sugar rushes. If you eat pastries and doughnuts- well, the insulin rise and effects on your body are already done. No amount of hiking, walking running around, scale ditching , head in the sand,will reverse the those particular diet choices.  That's the past. There's only now and the future left. Inflammation, diabetes and heart disease do not take a vacation. 

Keep making choices that are in line with your goals. Your body always keeps track. It's been so worth it these last 17 months.

Onward!  I miss my morning windy cruise ship walks from last week. :)  More Alaska photos and scoop about eating and the cruise, soon.

Happy Canada Day, 2013- eh?

Happy Canada Day 2013.  Thinking of you today, Suzi from spunkysuzi  I was in Victoria, BC recently. Fun to walk through the Empress Hotel. I did not see a single on plan food item in the tea room. Not surprised there. The architecture and history was fantastic.

Earlier,I had a great, on plan paleo-ish  dinner with lots of protein, vegetables, and some olive oil. Fuel for walking around and exploring Victoria.

I love Canada for it's walk friendly cities and the walking/hiking opportunities.  I only wish I had more time to do more hiking in this coastal city.

What worked:
1. Deciding what to do, then doing it, and coordinating with Jr. Family Member while traveling. 
2.Lots of walking, sticking to a clean anti-inflammatory food template,

What did not work:
1. In the past, I would have done High Tea just because others told me it was something I HAD to do.
2. In the past: eating off plan foods because I was traveling. I did not feel well and it effected my trips.

I'm a little tea pot...

Awesome gardens- I want this!

The monkey on Emily Carr's back