Today is Day 5! and, Physical Activity

Today is Day 5 of eating Primal . So far so good! I have been keeping track of my intake in FitDay just to make sure I get balanced nutrition and to ensure I stay honest regarding starchy tubers and fruit (I'm allowing myself to eat these things - just not going overboard). There are a couple of things that are kind of surprising to me:

• I'm basically staying under 150 g. of carbs per day without even trying very hard. I'm sort of trying - I mean, I check the carb-protein-fat balance and am aware of it, so I'm trying a little. But it's just kind of happening. Neat!
• I'm staying around or under 1500 calories daily, again, without really trying. In fact, it's kind of a challenge to eat MORE calories without eating butter straight or eating a ton of cheese or etc. I think this is because...
• I'm not that hungry! I mean, I get hungry when it's time to eat, but I don't get that feeling of "oh, I could eat all night" that I usually get.
  
• A huge portion of my calories are coming from fat (like, 50%). This doesn't really bother me - I like fat and I'm not afraid of it. But I guess some of the low-fat indoctrination crap has wormed its way into my psyche, 'cause that seems like a lot.
  

I'm pleased with how this is going. Not missing carby stuff itself much - just kind of missing the role it plays against proteins and such- sopping up juices and egg yolks mainly. But...seeing as I live alone, there's nothing to stop me from just licking the plate. :) Not a bad solution.

Anyhoo. Enough of that. Physical activity! I'm not brand-new to it, but I am kind of a newbie at deliberately planning my exercise. Right now, I'm just focusing on getting to the gym, getting moving, and challenging my muscles a bit. I'm doing cardio every day because it makes me feel good mood-wise, but nothing excessive - 30 min. daily, maximum. As for lifting heavy stuff, I've never done it before and I'm doing this alone - so I'm being cautious and starting small/unweighted. I've also had rotator cuff issues in the past, so rather than jumping into major upper body work, I'm working on posture and stabilizing the shoulder first.

So the physical activity I'm doing is not supa-primal yet, but it's a start. At least I am moving around again! I'm going to keep cautiously experimenting and see how my body responds.

Resurrection! and eating with new purpose

Well, after over 2 years of dormancy, it's time to re-open this blog, albeit with a different focus. Strangely enough, the title still applies nicely!

I've decided to start blogging here on my experiments with primal/paleo eating and living. There a crapload of variations on this theme out there, and I've been reading up on them for over a year. The more I read and experience, the more primal/paleo eating and living makes sense to me.

One of the reasons I'm going to try it is that this way of eating is said to reduce systemic inflammation in the body. I have a couple of minor autoimmune issues that I've had all my life, and that haven't really responded to anything permanently. I want to see if primal living can help to address them. Also - I've done a few short-term experiments with cutting out sugar and high-carbohydrate foods. What I've found is that I feel better when I don't eat a ton of carbs. Better energy, no feelings of hypoglycemia, etc.

I also recently came to realize that I'm not getting any younger, have chosen a career with a lot of sedentary time built in, and am not magically going to get in shape by thinking about it. Basically, I need to be more proactive about taking care of myself, and I'd like to choose a plan that I can stick to indefinitely.

Enough introduction for now; I'll have a lot more to say later. The short version is that I've taken the plunge and am going to try and eat "primally" for the next 30 days. As I said, there are a lot of interpretations of this out there. For me, for now, this means:

• no sugar (or honey or other sweeteners!)
• no grains
• no legumes
• limited amounts of fruit and starchy vegetables
• limited amounts of dairy etc.
• meat, eggs, poultry, fish, LOTS of vegetables!, nuts, seeds, etc.

I'm still going to be concerned with finances, of course. Cutting out beans and rice and pasta makes this more challenging! However, I'm confident that with good planning, I can eat this way and still remain frugal.

In addition to this, I just joined the local Y (YAY!) and am going to start working on 1) training for a 5K and 2) developing some greater strength overall.

I began my eating plan yesterday. So far so good (even after standing next to a cartload of fresh-baked bread for several minutes at the Co-op this morning!).