Hello! 

My ketones were back up to 1.0 this morning, which was a nice surprise after they had been so low for a few days. I decided yesterday that I need to improve my stress management, and started yesteday with a guided meditation. I used to meditate daily and I really feel like it is effective in so many ways. I feel calmer, more productive and focused, and much less stressed when I meditate daily. 

I also have not been happy with my skating and feel that I do better when I am visualizing skating well and feeling confident, so I need to write out a new roller derby visualization to practice. I also have been finding myself annoyed with people when they suggest things I can do to improve. I get annoyed with people because I am already really hard on myself, and chances are I have already been beating myself up about whatever it is that I did not do well or need to improve on. That said, I know suggestions are intended to help me and I realize getting annoyed when people try to help me is not acceptable. 

The font that I have been using on this blog is pretty hard to read, so I think I am going to go ahead and use something different. 

Something else that bothers me is that I sometimes act like a know it all. I  have a hard time letting things go when I know someone is wrong. I will start out polite saying something like "I don't think that is how it works" but when they insist that it is I usually have a hard time leaving it at that instead of setting them straight. 

Work is busy right now, and I am getting ready to go play OKVD so I need to actually get pretty far ahead. 

Speaking of work- I had better get at it. 

♥
Erica

Enjoy the guided meditation I did this morning: 

Food Journal
Yesterday
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breakfast 
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.
( I noticed some add supplements. I take Vitamin D, Multivitamin, Potassium, Magnesium and desiccated liver) 

Lunch
not hungry

Snack
2 oz cheese (a variety of what I had small thin slices of: raw cheddar, robusto, dubliner. Yum. ) 

Dinner
5oz chicken tikka masala, less than 1/2 cup sauteed squash, 1 cup salad (mixed greens, dressing, olives, sprinkled with Parmesan) 


Calories:1238 Carbs: 16 Fat: 92 Protein: 73

Water- about 7 large glasses.

Hola! 

I am feeling much better today!

I checked my blood ketones yesterday and they were extremely low. Since I do not seem to be eating to many carbs, or too much protein I think I may need to manage stress better. My husband is convinced that we both should probably also be eating a bit more.

It seems like so many people are so obsessed with calories, and I find it frustrating. I feel like it perpetuates this idea that if you eat a starvation diet  you will get thin- which is not necessarily the case, and it can be more harmful than beneficial. I try not to get annoyed, but it makes me angry that this calorie theory has really made such a mess of my health, and I am probably not the only person experiencing this.

I spent 10 minutes meditating this morning to attempt to decompress a little and asked online for some advice on how to reduce stress. One person suggested yoga, andI really think I would like to try that. I need to find a studio with childcare, but I am sure that is doable.

Take care for now,

♥Erica


Food Journal
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Yesterday

breakfast 
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.

Lunch- 1c broccoli cooked in butter and herbs, one pickle, 1oz robusto cheese

Snack- Keto lemonade (2-4 drops liquid stevia, apple cider vinegar, lemon wedge squeezed in) 

Snack- beef bone broth

Snack- 2 more slices of bacon after practice ♥ 

Calories: 994 Carbs: 16 Fat: 79 Protein: 37

Water- about 10 large glasses. 

Under on protein again

Good morning! 

Yesterday my vision got spotty in the afternoon and it was followed by a mild headache. I Used to get the spotty vision thing pretty regularly, my husband thinks they are ocular migraines... but this is the first time since in keto. I started feeling a little ill after that and this morning, so I may be catching something. I have felt so invincible lately that this surprised me.  

I also woke up to ketones at 2.2 this morning. I have not eaten anything off plan, so I wonder if it was stress, or because I may be catching something? or maybe I felt unwell because I was kicked out of keto? I don't know. I have been eating more protein, so I may be over- shooting.

Food Journal
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Yesterday

breakfast 
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.

Lunch- Keto Enchilada (1.5 oz raw sharp cheddar, 2 oz chicken, 1 serving green chili sauce, put in oven and broil for a few min. yum) 

Snack- Keto lemonade (2-4 drops liquid stevia, apple cider vinegar, lemon wedge squeezed in) 

Dinner
Broccoli cooked in butter and herbs, Small grass-fed burger topped with pickles. 


Calories: 1257 Carbs: 19 Fat: 85 Protein: 74

Good  Morning! 

I don't feel like I have much to say... so lets see where I go. 

I entered the food I ate last week in to a food calculator. My calories were suprisingly consistent, so that was cool. I did notice I was way under on protein, so I am going to try to step it up. I did well with that yesterday. 

I feel pretty good, but I am bummed out that I seem to be stalling. I am thinking about starting a youtube video blog because I find the vlogs I have seen about others on the keto diet to be really inspiring. I just worry because it seems like people can be pretty cruel on youtube and a lot of people seem to troll around there.

The kids made a huge mess upstairs in their rooms yesterday, so that was disappointing.  I did not see it, but when Adam put autumn to bed he said it looked like they spilled a whole gallon of water on the floor.

I made a new design yesterday, maybe I will post it on my other blog... it is a drawing of one of our cats wearing a crown :)

I am feeling a little apathetic today. I would like to feel happier. I guess the best way to do that is to get happy- I strongly believe we create our lives and are in charge of our emotions ( for the most part, of course, I have also suffered from severe depression, etc. so I know how that feels uncontrollable) .

So... lets end this post with five things that make me happy...

1. My awesome, sweet, handsome, wonderful husband
2. My Children (when they are not driving me crazy, lol)
3.  Cats. I love cats.
4. Being self employed.
5. Playing roller derby.

Life really is pretty awesome.


Food Journal:

Yesterday

breakfast 
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.

Lunch- Still working on that roast chicken, Skin on 1/2 serving (4 small squares) of lillys dark chocolate (no sugar, stevia sweetened) 

Snack, Fatty chai

Dinner
1/2 cup sauerkraut (leftover from yesterday, Brats were cooked in it) , 6 uncured pepperoni slices(large) 1.5 oz Robusto cheese. 1/2 avocado

Calories: 1358 Carbs: 15 Fat: 117 Protein: 70 

I did much better on the protein !

Good Morning!

I had a pretty good weekend :)  Practice on Saturday was fun, but really hot. I enjoyed my bike ride. I weighed in, but I am confused because I actually gained a lb. It reminds me of the last 5 years. Ok... Not really. I am hoping it can be attributed to muscle gains.

Adam and I slept in really well on Saturday and Sunday, so that was really nice. We get 8 hours of sleep every day, but sometimes it is nice to sleep a little extra :)

Last Week Summary:

Monday

Bf: 2 slice bacon, 2 eggs, sprinkled with a little cheese and green chili, fatty coffee

L: Sardines (about 1/3 container), small Salad with oil &vinegar and a little cheese, 1/2 avocado

D: Wild pronghorn Tenderloin Chops... about 3 oz (omg, the pronghorn cut was amazing, Adam was given these at work) Kale cooked in grassfed butter with almonds mixed in.

Fatty Chai. Keto Lemonade (water with a good squeeze of lemon, a little apple cider vinegar and a few drops of liquid stevia)

beef bone broth... not full fat, due to taste

Calories: 1324 Carb: 16 Fat:110 Protein: 52

(carb count is a little funny, the calculator I use has net carbs on some things and total carbs on others)

Workout: 10 min morning intervals and planks, Speed Skating Class 1.5 hr, .5hr of that is off skates (Should be over 800 cal burned, if it mattered, and I don’t think it does)

Tuesday:

breakfast

2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese

2 slices bacon

1 cup fatty coffee.

Late Lunch

Small Salad (1cup spring greens, sprinkled with cheese, topped with goddess dressing)

1/2 avocado

small pieceof salmon broiled in butter. (3oz)

1/4 cup of sauerkraut

No dinner, not hungry, had to go to practice, but I did have some bone broth.

Calories: 906 Carb: 11 Fat: 71 Protein: 40

(carb count is a little funny, the calculator I use has net carbs on some things and total carbs on others)

Workout: 10 min morning intervals and planks, Derby Practice 2 hr (Should be over 1380 cal burned, if it mattered, and I don’t think it does)

Weds:

breakfast
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.

Lunch
Broccoli cooked in a little grassfed butter
one egg scrambled

Snacked on 4 slices of large pepperoni in the afternoon.

Bone Broth Before Practice

Dinner/late snack after practice... 2 slices raw cheese a little carne asada (bought a total of .3 lbs and used less than 1/3 of container... so whatever that is) and 1/2 avocado and fatty chai.

Calories: 1490 Carb: 16  Fat: 140 Protein: 52

(carb count is a little funny, the calculator I use has net carbs on some things and total carbs on others)

Workout: 10 min morning intervals and planks, Derby Practice 2 hr (Should be over 1380 cal burned, if it mattered, and I don’t think it does)

Thurs:

breakfast
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.

Lunch
1/2 avocado (salted) Small Salad (spring mix, dandelion, cilantro, a little cheese, pepper dressing) 3 oz carne asada

Dinner
about 2 oz bison liver, cooked in grassfed butter with onions, Green beans cooked in grass-fed butter and herbs 1/2 avocado and fatty chai.

Calories: 1345 Carb: 20  Fat: 113 Protein: 42

(carb count is a little funny, the calculator I use has net carbs on some things and total carbs on others)

Workout: 10 min morning intervals and planks other than that, off

Friday:

breakfast
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.

Lunch
1/2 avocado (salted) 1/4 cup sauerkraut

Dinner
Small salad with goddess dressing and cheese, Hamburger, no bun, pickles and lettuce and fatty chai.

Calories: 1150 Carb: 14  Fat: 96 Protein: 30

(carb count is a little funny, the calculator I use has net carbs on some things and total carbs on others)

Workout: 10 min morning intervals and planks, stretching via 1 hr light yoga

Saturday:

breakfast
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.

Pre- workout I had a cup of bone broth. It was my long day, ended up being about 6 hours including the bike ride to practice.

Lunch
N/a- workout from 10am -4pm but did eat about 1/2cup of sauerkraut when I got home... and a lot of water...

Dinner
Very small pour of dry red wine, 3 oz grassfed tenderloin, green beans cooked in butter and herbs, topped with Parmesan, 1/2 avocado (salted) This dinner was AMAZING.

I also made some whipped cream stuff (heavy whipping cream, cream cheese, vanilla extract and a little stevia) and had a little of that. Maybe 1/4 cup if I am over estimating.

Calories: 1384 Carb: 26  Fat: 112 Protein: 48

(carb count is a little funny, the calculator I use has net carbs on some things and total carbs on others)

Workout:  4 hours skating 2 hours biking to and from practice.  (should burn about 3300 calories)

Sunday:

breakfast

2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese

2 slices bacon

1 cup fatty coffee.

Lunch

1/2 avocado and about 2-3 oz skin on chicken breast. 2 small slices of robusto cheese (less than one oz)

Snack- 1 Cup of bubbies pickle juice

Dinner

1 cup sauerkraut and 1/2 an elk brat.

Fatty Chai

Calories: 1304 Carb: 15  Fat: 105 Protein: 57

(carb count is a little funny, the calculator I use has net carbs on some things and total carbs on others)

Workout: None, but it is an active day, we clean the house, play games with kids, etc. 

I am feeling pretty great in keto. I still think I may be more tired in the afternoon than I should be, but I attribute that to not getting enough salt. I seem to only make a real effort to get it in when I am working out hard. Thursday and Fridays I don't have practice so I tend to take one day off and one day I spend stretching via a light yoga or Pilates workout video. Since I don't feel the pain from not salting up I sometimes just don't. I still get less of a dip in energy than before I was in keto- but before keto I kind of felt like death on a lot of levels.

I finally watched Forks Over Knives online. I have been putting it off as if I expected it to shake the fundamentals of what I believe to be a healthy diet. In reality it just confirmed to me that the culprit of this dietary disaster is largely processed foods (refined sugar, flour and hydrogenated oils) and people see health benefits when they eliminate them. I have also read Denise Minger's amazing rebuttal of The China Study. Additionally I know that cholesterol and animal food do not lead to heart disease or cancer, so it felt like a very weak argument against eating animal protein. I am glad I watched it though, I think it is important to listen to opposing arguments that others find compelling, to ensure one is on the right track. I do think when it comes to cancer you can starve it by not feeding it sugar or you can starve it by not feeding it fat and protein, but not eating protein fat and cholesterol is more likely to cause some harm to the rest of your body. At least that is what I am taking away from the info I have seen. Both methods seem to be having great success treating cancer.

Weight-loss is good. I weigh in on Mondays. I had a huge loss three weeks ago, then gained two lbs the week I started my period and lost two this most recent Monday making the three week average a little over 2 lbs a week, even though the last two weeks were a wash. It is funny how that happens. I am down a total of 22lbs and about 5" just on my waist. I still have a long way to go but I am pleased with this progress.

Adam (my husband) had a meeting this morning and did not have to drive out to Laguna so we slept in about an hour later than usual, and I enjoyed that. I forgot to ask if he will be home early, too... that would be nice ... even if I will likely still have work to do.

In other news, I found myself grumbling about things in the shower first thing in the morning so I have been practicing starting the day with a more positive outlook. It is hard to really recover from that kind of negativity in the morning, and that is not how I want to shape my day.


Take Care Friends!

♥

Yesterday's Food Log

breakfast
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.

Lunch
1/2 avocado (salted)  Small Salad (spring mix, dandelion, cilantro, a little cheese, pepper dressing) 3 oz carne asada

Dinner
about 2 oz bison liver, cooked in grassfed butter with onions, Green beans cooked in grass-fed butter and herbs 1/2 avocado and fatty chai.

Yikes! I missed my post yesterday!

My kids were out of the house for a few hours and I really wanted to take advantage of the peace and quiet and write then without distraction. Unfortunately the time they were gone flew by, as did the rest of the day. I feel like I have been annoyed lately, and I would really prefer to focus on the things I am happy about rather than the things that annoy me. Lately I find myself in the shower bitching in my head about one thing or another. Yesterday it was calories. I think calories are stupid. I spent a while ranting in my brain about it. I planned to continue the rant here, but did not get around to it.

Today it was last nights roller derby practice.

Suddenly, while scrubbing my knees, I realized that bitching- about anything- is a really shitty way to start the day. When negativity is the first thing that pops into my head, it seems that is likely to continue as the day progresses. I changed my focus to  the many things I am happy about and thankful for in my life (my amazing husband, kids, having an awesome house and everything we need, loving my job, etc.) and I hope to do this more often when I a catch myself falling in to a negative mindset.

So... for today I would really like to... STAY POSITIVE!


Food Journal For Yesterday
----------------------------------

breakfast
2 eggs scrambled with green chili and cheese
2 slices bacon
1 cup fatty coffee.

Lunch
Broccoli cooked in a little grassfed butter
one egg scrambled

Snacked on 4 slices of large pepperoni in the afternoon.

Bone Broth Before Practice

Dinner/late snack after practice... 2 slices raw cheese a little carne asada (bought a total of .3 lbs and used less than 1/3 of container... so whatever that is) and 1/2 avocado and fatty chai.