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
----------------------------------------

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.

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 !

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.

Hello.

Good morning!

This morning I am starting this a little late today because the kids wanted me to take photos of them. Since I needed some shirts modeled, that worked out well.

So, my thoughts right this second... I am so glad not to be a super-smart, informed, reformed vegan. The vegan community that preaches love and compassion has been so hateful to people who decided to return to eating meat for health reasons. Seeing that kind of hate is upsetting for me-  no matter who it comes from. I understand believing with your entire soul that what you are doing is noble, righteous, and best for optimal health, because that is what I believe about my paleo diet with all of my being. I just really do not like seeing hate spewed and then spreading like wildfire from either side.  I feel like every time I try to get away from this, I find another thread on the etsy forum where someone is bashing people for eating meat, or click on a video that is supposed to be a paleo lecture and end up looking at a film intended to scare or shame meat eaters. I don't believe in factory farming either! Sometimes I listen, hoping to hear a good argument just so I can really consider all options, but I have never even heard a valid argument for it (although I have heard many very compelling arguments that have good intentions but no facts to back them up.) In general I feel like both groups are supporting health, compassion, sustainability, and eating whole foods... we just have different opinions on what that means. I believe in compassion for animals and for people. I also believe that MOST OF US on both sides feel this way, and do not hate the other side. I do not hate vegans/vegetarians. I think really, a few bad apples...or bananas... are making one side or the other look bad.

I also don't like seeing so many lies about health thrown around like gospel. For example, dietary natural fats and cholesterol are good for you. They are not bad for you. They have never been bad for you. Unfortunately, it was pounded in to our heads for so long, that even knowing better it is hard to come to terms with.

I remember when I was in high school, I decided I needed to lose weight, so I went on a very low fat diet, because fat was the villain. I bet I ate less than 10g of fat a day, and my diet consisted mainly of rice-cakes and fat free candy. I lost a lot of wieght, but obviously that was not an optimal human diet!  I also think some of these choices helped create the carb intolerance that I have today. That is another lie. "There is no such thing as carb intolerance or insulin resistance." Ugh. I wish that MORE people know about carb intolerance and insulin resistance. It would have made this journey to reclaiming my health much less frustrating. I understand why people who have not experienced it directly, or second hand may not understand it. It challenges the fundamentals of the conventional wisdom on nutrition. After experiencing it first hand it is very clear to me that it is real.

Anyway, I should get on with things.

Yesterday's food:

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

I did have a roller derby practice yesterday also. 

Good Morning!

I still have not managed to avoid my email before making it here... I suppose if I want a really good journaling experience I should probably do it on paper, which has a nice visceral feeling to it anyway. I have spent long hours writing in journals by hand, but as an adult I really like the spell check that comes with computer writing. I just looked up a word and it made me realize that kids probably look up definitions on the internet these days instead of in the dictionary. We have gained a wealth of information that is such an ease to accumulate that I wonder how long people will posses the skills to read a map or alphabetize.

I am loving ketosis, as always. My fruit debacle has inspired thoughts of wild foods. Most produce we find in the store is not really as healthy as we give it credit for, at this point much of it has been grown for look or flavor rather than health, and are basically frankenfoods, like wheat.

I have started listening to biochemistry lectures while I work, so that has been interesting.

Until Tomorrow,

♥Erica

Everything is going well, and like most people, I tend to stay more quiet when all is well. I am going to try to write in this every day- not sure that is likely, but I am hoping to spend just a few minutes here every day before I check my email and my orders. Unfortunately, today was supposed to be my first day doing that and I already failed! I have already checked and answered my personal and work email, my etsy shop, my facebook,  and two message boards I look at (a low carb one and the etsy one). So, tomorrow I hope to do a little better.

My weight loss journey is going well, generally. I have lost over 20 lbs in about 6 weeks rather effortlessly. After trying for over 5 years with no improvement I am extremely pleased with that. I still have a long way to go, but I am making great strides towards my goal, and my overall health has improved dramatically. I have energy, my skin has improved, joint pain has gone away, and my teeth feel strong and look healthy and white.... just to name a few ways I feel better.

I love ketosis.

Unfortunately, I learned for the third time yesterday that my body can not tolerate fruit.  After having a PAPER THIN slice of watermelon that was LESS THAN AN INCH, square I noticed keto-flue symptoms, and when I checked my ketones I was barely in ketosis. Yikes. I should add, that was eaten with a meal. I find it really amazing that such a tiny amount of fruit and carbs could have such a huge effect on me. I think it is the fructose, our bodies metabolize fructose differently. I am shaky on the facts, so I will listen to more talks about that today while I work.

Speaking of work, I should get to that...

Take care !

♥ erica

I got in late last night from Tuscon, where I had attended the Dust Devil  roller derby tournament and skated with my team, the Munecas Mueartas. I have mixed feelings about the weekend. I did not get enough sleep, and I am feeling the effects of that. I know that it is super important and am not feeling like I am functioning as well without it. I also did not have the concentration  wanted to have. I also noticed I was not able to hit out some girls when I wanted to. I think I need to practice some jackhammer style hitting and also work on strengthening my core.

On the other hand, my body felt amazing. I felt like I could seriously go forever, even after the third game of the weekend.  I do really love how ketosis feels.

I started making bone broth last week, and I think that really helps me get a nice dose of sodium, potassium and other nutrients much better than the store-bought broth. It is pretty tasty, too. My salt intake seems to have a very direct impact on how well I skate and feel doing exercise.

 I feel like I am starting to find my glow again, so I love that. I have been so unsatisfied with myself and full of disdain that have not really been seeing a positive reflection of myself in my interactions with others. More often I feel like I am giving off the glow of self-love and confidence, and it seems to be engaging people

I lost about three pounds this week, and I weighed a week early, so that is awesome. My ketones read the highest yet, 1.4 mm. So that is awesome, too.

In other news, I have been really enjoying listening to the relentless roger and caveman dr podcasts :)

I am still a bit behind from the crazy derby weekend, so it is time to get back to the grind :)

♥Erica

Hi All!

I am still loving Nutritional Ketosis, or  LCHF if you are outside of the USA.

My weight has been teetering between 231 and 234 for several days, but I think I have also gained quite a bit of muscle, so it is all good. Last week I was struggling through workouts, but over the weekend it felt like I had a breakthrough, and felt pretty awesome through two hard fought derby games. I also felt pretty good yesterday at my speed skating class.

Here are my top five favorite blogs about Nutritional Ketosis, in no real order:

1. http://www.dietdoctor.com/
2. http://www.grassfedgirl.com/
3. http://eatingacademy.com/
4. http://www.eatlowcarbhighfat.com/
5. http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/

Up next I really want to figure out how to get myfitnesspal.com set up for ketosis.

In other news, my husband, who does not need to lose weight is doing LCHF with me, and starting to sprout a 6 pack. Damn his superior genes, we should all be so lucky! ♥   I am a tad jealous that it is so easy for him, but he is a sweetheart and a very very handsome man, so I forgive him.

So, a few days of food:

Sunday
Breakfast
3 oz green juice 2pc bacon, Scrambled eggs
Snacked on some salami from whole foods during the day
drank some coffee with butter
had a cup of broth
for dinner I attempted keto pizza, which was delicious, but fell apart when we ate it. We had that with a salad.

Monday
2 boiled eggs and green juice
snacked on a few bits of cheese
2 cups coffee with cream, butter and coconut oil
dinner was a filet wrapped in bacon with a salad

Today so far:
bacon, scrambled eggs
1 cup butter/coconut oil coffee
snacked on some pepperoni from whole foods
Steak smothered in butter and mushrooms


Take Care !

♥Erica