Snowed in on Super Bowl weekend! Husband and I went on a tromp around the neighborhood. Because he has proper snow attire, he could play in the deep snow. In corduroy pants, I was cold and confined to plowed areas. We walked around a playground, made creepy by the quiet and giant monster snow shapes, and then headed to the grocery store:

The grocery store wasn't much help (we came home with a tin of anchovies, dried apricots, a dark chocolate candy bar and some diet soft drinks. You know, the essentials). We did pass a restaurant that was open (!) and stopped in to thaw a bit and savor a pizza and beer.

I know, I know. What did I just say? Just yesterday, I was so grumpy because I can't get control of my diet, and here I am eating pizza and beer. Ah, well. They were both spectacular.

I made my favorite pound cake during the last snow storm (in December, before My Paleo Year began). I feel a strong urge to get it the kitchen and bake delicious non-Paleo treats. I'm really not sure how to spend my snow weekend, if I can't spend it baking delicious treats...

I did make another batch of the Sweet & Salty Granola today. (That's what the dried apricots from the grocery store were for). And we're having Primal coconut pancakes with bacon and eggs for dinner tonight.

I've been cruising the paleo/primal recipe sites for the last hour or so, and have a stack of recipes that may satisfy my desire to bake and keep within the limitations of the diet. Fingers crossed!

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Five weeks into this adventure, I'm a bit disappointed with my progress. If ever I were to be hardcore about this project, it would be at the beginning, when inspiration is fresh. I've had far too many cheats and haven't spent enough time thinking through the finer points of the project.

I lost seven pounds in the first two weeks of the year, and have maintained since then. I'm happy with that progress. My primary goal isn't weight loss, but that's an easy way to measure progress. My goal is to improve my health and quality of life. My sleep has not improved. My energy levels don't seem to have changed. I drink far too many diet soft drinks. I haven't exercised, yet I'm really sore. I'm rarely hungry, which means that I rarely eat. When I am hungry, I'm too hungry to cook, so I binge on nuts. I had hoped to have my diet dialed in by now, so I could turn my attention to other areas for improvement. I guess this is the area of disappointment.

I spend the weekends planning and preparing meals and snacks for the busy week ahead, but I rarely get it right. I make beef jerky, which sits in the fridge until mold (?) grows. I make omelet muffins or caveman cookies, and then eat them all right away.

My goal for February is to get my diet under control. No more nut binges. No more unscheduled cheats (only one cheat scheduled for this month, on my birthday). I need to find some sort of healthy snack that isn't so delicious that I eat it until it's gone. Jerky fits the bill, but I usually choose not to eat than to eat jerky.

I think I'm grumpy today.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 04:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not 20 minutes after I posted yesterday's entry, I found myself standing in the pantry, ravishing the chocolate. Repeatedly.

I had trouble falling asleep last night, and even greater trouble waking up this morning. I spent most of the day avoiding the chocolate's allure, but after dinner, I thought I'd take a little nip, just a taste of the dark chocolate, and ended up eating until my belly aches.

Mark Sisson says dark chocolate is OK; he even lists it first among sensible vices. But I cannot be trusted to be in the vicinity of chocolate. I need a restraining order.

Willpower never used to be a problem for me. I could keep a large box of scrumptious dark chocolate truffles in the house and limit myself to just one per day. Sometimes I even forgot about them! I recently read an article that suggested that willpower is a finite resource. We have only so much of it available each day, and once we use it up, that's it. I don't quite believe it is that simple, but I do agree that stress and daily demands tend to wear down even the best of intentions.

I had hoped to nail down my new diet this month, and turn my focus to other aspects in February, but I can see that I'm not ready to "coast" on this diet yet. I lost eight pounds in the first three weeks of the diet. Since I discovered the chocolate (two days ago), I've gained two back. This isn't really a big deal, but it illustrates how a small setback (the baby pound cakes) easily turns into a delicious downward spiral into sugar addiction.

So, rubbing my aching belly, I mustered tremendous fortitude and threw out the chocolate. Gasp! Knowing the depravity I am capable of when in the desperate throes of sugar craving, I knew it wasn't safe just to gingerly place the chocolate in the trash can. No, I mixed it in with the cat litter and marched it down the hallway to the trash chute. It was the only way I could save myself.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 09:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm not the kind of person who can hide things from myself. So, imagine my surprise when I came across 3# of highest quality chocolate while flinging junk out of the hallway closet. I bought the chocolate (1# white, 1# milk, and 1# dark) from the chocolatier where I took a truffle making class in December. Inspired by the class and wild truffle flavor ideas, I intended to make truffles for everyone for Christmas. Alas, I never had enough time, and now inspiration has moved on.

I have a bin of special flavorings, extracts, liquors, flavored sugars, paper truffle cups and bags and boxes for packaging. Even a special truffle-dipping tool! Everything I need, except the inspiration and ability to eat the truffles.
Sigh.

So, what to do? The chocolate will "bloom" if I don't use it (eventually). It was quite spendy, so I don't want to throw it away, or even give it away. I really, really, really want to eat it. I've been sitting at my desk all day, just two rooms away, thinking of all that delicious chocolate sitting on the shelf, wrapped prettily in red shiny bags with gold ties.

I wouldn't be surprised if my chocolate-thoughts slipped out into some of the emails I sent today.

"I received your creamy registration." "Thanks for your smooth." "Please let me know if I can help you with any chocolate."

I can't concentrate with it in the house. I won't be able to sleep tonight, either. But I can't bring myself to get rid of it. Guess I'll have to eat it, and hate myself for it.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have the perfect pound cake recipe. Perfect because it consistently produces the best butter pound cake you'll ever taste, and also perfect because the recipe makes just too much batter for my Bundt pan. I put the excess batter in a mini loaf pan and make a baby pound cake for me, and a big beautiful cake to serve or give away. Perfect...

...except that pound cake is not primal/Paleo. (I did make the wonderful discovery that replacing the shortening with coconut oil yields a lighter-texture pound cake without altering the buttery flavor, but the flour and sugar still make this a no-no).

I baked two pound cakes this week, so had two baby cakes that I was able to resist for about ten minutes. This setback derailed my diet for the next day and roused my sweet tooth. Going sugar free is really difficult. "They" say that after a while, I'll lose my sweet tooth. I hope so, but I'm doubtful. Even a little slip-up wakens the slumbering sugar monster within.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Although I don't consider myself a "foodie," I do derive great enjoyment from eating good food. Chris and I like to try out new restaurants, if not weekly, then monthly. A lot of our meals are casual, and easy to make primal. Last week, we ate at a grill and I had steak fajitas. I ate the filling with a fork and left the tortillas on the table. But sometimes our meals are indulgent.

We lucked into some reservations for dinner at Cafe Atlantico on Tuesday night. This is restaurant week, and the restaurant had a prix fixe menu that included an appetizer, entree and dessert.

We started with guacamole prepared tag-team tableside. I ate most of my portion with a fork, but did try one overloaded tortilla chip. I never noticed before what a nice nutty saltiness the tortilla chip adds. Such subtleties are overshadowed by the shoveling approach to appetizers.

Appetizer:

Me: Roasted Beet Salad (seasonal organic baby beets, oranges, cotija cheese, sherry vinaigrette)

Chris: Tuna Ceviche (coconut milk, avocado)

Entree:

Me: Grilled Flat Iron Steak (creamy whipped potatoes, green beans, porcini mushrooms, wine reduction)

Chris: Duck Confit (parsnips, dried cherries, fresh herbs, almonds, horseradish yogurt)

Dessert (yes, we ate dessert!):

Me: Mango sorbet

Chris: Molton Chocolate Cake (banana cream, bananas)

Dinner was fantastic, and especially so because our table was on the edge of the 3rd story of the dining room, overlooking the kitchen. I had a nice perch from which to watch the chefs prepare, taste and plate food. Everyone was so relaxed and fluid, carefully navigating narrow passageways between flames, sharps and delicately balanced edible creations. It made me nostalgic for cooking school and cooking.

I've been primal for only three weeks, and had a few cheats already, so I have not developed a highly sensitive insulin response. But three weeks of being 90% sugar free has made me sensitive to sugar. I thrashed around in bed all night, with too much energy to sleep. Those desserts may very well have been worth a sleepless night.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I did not eat enough yesterday, and was cranky and sluggish. I wasn't hungry at all, though. Maybe I just couldn't muster the energy to create hunger pangs?

Big eating today = excess energy.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My biggest problem so far seems to be finding things to eat when I'm ready to eat. I no longer eat by a clock, but by the rumblings in my belly. Problem is, I rarely plan ahead, so when the hunger pangs start, I'm often not near food or don't have the opportunity to make anything. I eat a lot of raw nuts, which is not necessarily a good thing. Nuts are very caloric, and while they contain good fats, many are also high in Omega-6 fatty acids (the exceptions are walnuts and macadamia nuts).

I'm trying to decrease my intake of Omega-6, but my nut-heavy diet is not helping. There have been many days last week where I ate only nuts during the day, and then a normal dinner. (Well, except last night, when Chris was skiing and I was on my own for dinner. I ate roasted nuts and a hunk of Parmesan. Not good.) I'm still figuring out this diet.

So... this weekend, I fired up my new dehydrator and made some beef jerky (Beef Jerky Snackdown has begun!). I'm dehydrating some wild blueberries right now. I roasted some almonds with Borsari seasoned salt. And, I made a sweet-and-salty primal trail mix. Chris hard-boiled some eggs. I bought an oversized bag of baby carrots. Primal snacks abound. Let's eat!

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 03:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night I saw a kid toting a box of Honey Nut Cheerios around the store. I can't remember the last time I ate Honey Nut Cheerios, but it made me sad to think that I may never eat them again.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have not been good at blogging this week. Reading over some of my old posts, I'm surprised at how many posts begin with an apology for the irregular posting schedule. I'm not going to apologize for gaps in my posts anymore. I get busy and will not be able to blog at times. Life happens.

This past week has been one of the busiest and most stressful weeks, workwise. I spend a lot of time at my computer for work, and when I'm done working, I want to move around, go outside, cook something. I don't want to spend more time at my computer.

I'm happily surprised at how well I was able to keep up with my diet during this busy week. I did have two cheat days, but they were scheduled cheat days, set at the beginning of the year. One was because I knew that I wanted to make the best poundcake ever for a work-related party/meeting. This poundcake recipe is a favorite of mine, and is the antithesis of paleo. Unfortunately, I did not confine my cheat to just a piece of the poundcake. Once I allowed a cheat, it was easy to justify other cheats (a slice of pizza, from one of my favorite pizzerias). This was one cheat day.

The next cheat day, also predetermined, happened to be the very next day, so I guess you could call it a 36-hour binge. I was at the theater all day long for a performance. I provided the food for the performers and staff, and included lots of primal-friendly foods: meats, cheeses, hard-boiled eggs, a veggie tray (that I threw out b/c it smelled bad), nuts, and a variety of fruits.

I started out the day right, with fruit and a hard-boiled egg. But I had also baked lots of goodies and comfort food for the performers, and I had to try a bite of everything I made, to make sure everything tasted good enough to share (cranberry-walnut bread, chocolate-cinnamon bread, ham and cheese pinwheels, spinach and roasted red pepper pinwheels, haystacks, Rice Krispy treats).

There was also a chocolate bowl, full of mini-size candy bars, and treats brought by performers. Each time I walked by the food table, I looked longingly at the chocolate bowl, and found myself lingering close to the table, and finally hovering over the bowl. Finally, I took a Reese's cup and a Snickers, so I could leave the food area and get back to work.

So, my cheatin' days are over, at least until the next scheduled cheat day. I'm actually pretty happy with how well I contained my dalliances, and how easy it was to get back on track. I don't think I'm far enough along in my primal ways that a cheat of such magnitude would make me feel bad, sick, bloated, sluggish, etc. I hear that's what happens, but I felt fine. Great, even.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)