Day 40 - Jn

Almost done. This will be the last day of crazy finals. DONE!

Love came over for dinner which was nice because she is pleasant dinner company and it meant I had to make real food and not eat leftovers. And then we helped a friend move.

Stuff still tastes bitter but it is getting better. Brassica veggies and apples are still the worst. I thought it was all sweet things but I had an orange and it tasted normal. Something about apples.

No Workout- unplanned 
Breakfast- LO Huevos, Frozenables fruit salad, 50/50 OJ, decaf coffee
Lunch- LO chicken on spinach with balsamic vinaigrette, more coffee
Dinner- Burgers with broccoli slaw thai something veggies, 3/4 of a pumpkin soda that Love did not care for as much as I did.
Work out - Move boxes for 4 hours
More food- finished off the apple bake from Sunday.

Rough Recipe: Broccoli Slaw Something
I make this all the time. 1 bag of Broccoli Slaw. Dump in to skillet. Add some olive and/or coconut oil and saute for a few minutes. Dump in some combination of lemon juice, orange juice and coconut milk. Add something like garlic, onion powder, ginger, coriander, curry, pepper, basil and/or mustard. This time I used jar garlic and cut up a green onion with scissors. Saute the whole mix until veggies are tender.

I have also done this with cider vinegar celery seeds and more Italian style seasonings and mixed mayo in when it was finished. That blend goes really well with fish.

Day 39 - Jn

Everything still tastes bitter. It was 2 before I got around to eating anything. Why would I want to eat if everything tastes gross. Anything apples is the worst. Ask yourself how often "apple" something comes up in my meals. :(

Also it's gonna be a LONG night again.

Lunch- LO chicken apple sweet potato skillet, 50/50 apple juice, decaf coffee
Snack- an apple and some mac nuts
Dinner- frozenables- Chicken with a sweet potato and a spinach salad, 50/50 apple juice, more decaf coffee
More food- frozenables- LO chicken apple sweet potato skillet, MORE coffee...with coconut milk in it this time.

Day 38 - Jn

I have no idea what I did all day. That's a bad sign.

The LT and I were supposed to go to Cheeburger Cheeburger to celebrate finishing a month last week but we had to reschedule. Then at the last minute we rescheduled again for today. It was fun but everything still tastes bitter.

No Workout- Unplanned
Breakfast- LO Huevos, frozenables-fruit salad, 50/50 apple juice, black tea
Lunch- the rest of the pepper slices
Dinner- Cheeburger- Mine was topped with garlic, mustard, and bacon and I had fries.

Day 37 - Jn

Awake, arise, go forth and accomplish much...Or something.

EVERYTHING TASTES BITTER. EVERYTHING! It's about the uncoolest thing ever. Web MD thinks I have cyanide poisoning. So I asked myself, "Self," I said, "do you feel like you are dying of cyanide poisoning?" But seeing as how I don't rightly know what dying of cyanide poisoning I couldn't exactly give myself a satisfactory answer. I checked the interwebs again later and clicked on a crackpot looking site because if I was going to die anyway it probably wouldn't hurt me. Seems I am suffering from cacogeusia which is as legit as it is obnoxious and apparently its a new thing? Sigh. I might not eat again ever. Oh yeah...it's from pine nuts, which are in the stir fry..which I have eaten for 3 days. Merrrrrr..... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20049580

No workout- planned
Breakfast- LO Huevos, frozenish fruit salad, 50/50 apple juice, TJs duchess grey tea
Lunch- Chicken Stirfry, peppers, Mate
Snack- Mac nuts
Dinner- Frozenables-Stuffed pepper, 50/50 berry juice, lavender tea

Day 36 - Jn

Thus begins the last week of finals before freedom. I am not off to a racing start.

My blood is all wonky. Hopefully that settles out. Also my skin is absolutely freaking out. Which... I am going to connect all this to the tempura Oreos. Hmm...I don't know if that was worth it. I am still deciding.

Also I took a timed exam last night and my body dumped a ridiculous amount of adrenaline into my system for no good reason. I donno what that is all about but I was wicked jittery for a while after the exam.

No Workout- Unplanned (hoping this isn't a theme for the week)
Breakfast- Huevos LO, grapes, Irish breakfast tea, 50/50 OJ
Lunch- Frozenables-LO stuffed pepper, an apple, generic lame black tea
Dinner- LO garlic chicken stir fry, pepper slices (no I did not eat all the pepper slices pictured)

Day 35 - Jn

Might be weird to keep counting days, especially since I probably need to reset to 1 after the cheesecake yesterday. Whatever. This is working right now.

I was in bed by 2 am. This is early considering. I went to visit the CSA farm with one of the roomates and we got plants for me to put in the dirt and apples for me to put into a dessert. I did both with great success.

And like all Sundays the Union Hill HC came over for a discussion and dinner. And it was (as always) the best meal of the week. Surrounded by family and good food. Nom.

No Workout- planned
Breakfast- Huevos Leftoveros, decaf coffee
Lunch- a pork chop and an apple while sweeping the floor.
Dinner- Garlic Chicken Stir Fry (I skipped the rice), Salad with green leaf lettuce, spinach, strawberries and mandarin oranges, Baked apples with a nut crust.


Rough Recipe: Baked apples
This one is more rough than normal because I was pretty much completely winging it.
"Crust"- Mix together slivered almonds, chopped hazelnuts, almond flour, coconut flour, half a stick of melted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and some coconut sugar. Press into a crust in the bottom of a glass baking dish. Bake for 15 min at 350. Peel and core ~10 apples and cut into chunks. Toss with cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla and some more coconut sugar. Dump in to dish containing crust. Cover with foil and bake ~30 minutes until apples are tender.

Day 34 - Jn

Guess who didn't sleep again? Well I slept some. But not like a normal human. My body got back at me later and I passed out on the couch while I was working. It seems I am not invincible. I can't wait for this semester to be over.

Lets talk about how I was well behaved and brought my own coconut aminos to sub in for the soy sauce and got only rolls that were crap free (save the rice) and then I at tempura fried cheese cake and fried oreos. But the rolls were amazing and are my new favorite. And so far as I can tell the binge didn't do any major damage. I also got this fun little seafood salad with nondescript seafood and cucumbers soaked in rice vinegar, sesame oil and vinegar. Good and interesting but not an every visit favorite.

Lunch - California Rollin with VW (not my car although my car got me there) - Sunomono Salad, Rainbow Roll (salmon, swordfish, and tuna), Pacific Ocean Roll- smoked salmon, bacon and avocado, Tempura Cheesecake
Dinner- Frozenables- Pork chops, spinach salad.

Day 33 - Jn

I know there are reasons why humans don't stay awake for 36 hours and sleep for 12 but MAN do I feel amazing this morning. Actually I fell asleep in the process of trying to set my alarm but I woke up when I wanted to 11 hours or so later. And I felt like I could wrestle a bear...and win! Then I pulled a muscle working out. Lame.

I was supposed to be eating new food for the next few days but the blended together yesterdays screwed me up. So I started pulling frozenable leftovers out. Lest you think this is premature I have 4 finals to complete in the next 2 days (I am writing here to avoid this) so I will actually have more time in 3 days when finals week actually starts AFTER all my finals are due. Hrumph.

Workout- Planned
Breakfast- Huevos Leftoveros, strawberries, 50/50 OJ, some random flavor of black tea that is weak and disinteresting
Lunch- LO shepherds pie (THE END!- Phew)
Dinner- LO Chicken Sweet Potato Brussle sprout skillet yumminess (frozenables!), 50/50 veggie juice, decaf earl grey

One of my roses exploded...so I ate atop rose petals and felt regal. 

Shepherd's Dog's Food

Why don't I like the shepherds pie? There was a lot of it. It got old fast. And I really don't like lamb. I just don't. And it was actually pretty fatty...because of the lamb. And it stunk...like lamb. And more than anything else because of the weird lamb taste and smell and I think the inclusion of the peas it reminded me of the homemade dog food that I made for Rent-A-Dog when I was in ID last. Granted my uncle almost ate the dog food because it looked like people food. And we had 3 piles (People, Dog, Garbage) for the meat so what went in to that dog food was still pretty high quality. Probably better quality that the ground beef most people buy actually. But all this week every time I heat up my food I feel like I am eating dog food with added onions (cause dogs shouldn't eat onions). I called it dog food in my head. I will probably make it again but with ground beef or poultry only and without peas. I think it would be worse with ground game. Oh well. 

Dog Food

Not Dog Food

Day 32 - Jn

Someone you know might not have slept.

Merrrr....

So one day bleeds into another and things get a little fuzzy. Then they get a lot fuzzy. But I got everything done and survived being awake for 36 hours with no major incidents.

Middle of the night things at various times- 50/50 juice, Gunpowder green tea, pistachios, coconut flakes, dried apple rings, apple sauce, grapes

No workout - Planned
Breakfast- LO Shepherds Pie, water, very strong and very dark decaf coffee (I could not conceive of eating eggs)
Lunch- LO Shepherds Pie, 50/50 juice
Dinner- LO Shepherds Pie, 50/50 veggie juice
More food- Chocolate cake with strawberries during class.

At some point during the day I also had some grapes. And the coffee....I nursed 2 cups of very strong coffee slowly throughout the course of the day and I stopped drinking it around 3ish. When I got to the last half of the last cup I topped it off with coconut milk too.

I would very much like to be done eating Shepherds Pie for at least 5 reasons. Tomorrow.

Day 31 - Jn

To celebrate I ate a whole pizza and a tub of Ben and Jerry's cookie dough ice cream for dinner! I'm so proud of myself!

Actually doing that might kill me. And I am in the death throws of finals. Crashing hardcore like that would be a HUGE MISTAKE. Lets keep things close to the new normal so I don't have any major issues until I am on the other side of finals shall we. Or possibly for forever. Good.

Work out- planned

Breakfast- Huevos de leftovers, strawberries, 50/50 OJ, Green Roobis tea, earl grey tea (yes 2 teas in one meal. get over it)

Lunch- Shepherds Pie, grapes, Cashews, hard boiled egg, 50/50 cranberry juice, black chai tea (I was HUNGRY)

Dinner- LO Venison Stew, spinach salad with strawberries, 50/50 veggie juice, white tea
More food- LO chocolate cake

Rough Recipe: Shepherds Pie
Original Idea: My roommate
Recipe quantities from here: http://civilizedcavemancooking.com/entrees/poultry/caveman-casserole-shepherds-pie/
And mostly the LT and I just made things up as we went along.

Brown 1lb each ground beef and ground lamb (2 lbs of ground meat...be creative. Try ground walrus!) When meat is almost done add in 1 stalk of finely chopped celery and 1 chopped onion and saute with the meat until translucent. Drain the meat reserving the juices. Dump the meat in a 13x9 baking dish. Add the juices back to the pot and saute a chopped green pepper (or 1 green and 1 red would be better) until peppers are crisp tender. Spread peppers over the meat and add half a bag of frozen peas. Peel and chop 2 medium sweet potatoes and spread those over the rest of the dish. Cover with foil and bake until the sweet potatoes are as tender as you want them to be. Makes at least 6 servings.

There will be a story about this later. When I am done eating it. Which is 4 more tupperwares.

30 Day Recap

The results are in. I lost 2 lbs. I know this isn't perfectly true because I weighed myself somewhere in the middle and I'd lost 5lbs and I know for a fact that I can swing 5lbs in a single day sooo I am going to say I am the same weight. Which is fine because I'm a healthy weight anyway. What I wanted to change was my body composition. When I compare before and after pics I think I look bigger now than before. But I know full well that I can do more and I have more stamina than at the beginning. And the issues with my hips popping out of place are calming down as I am strengthening the neglected core muscles that hold my joints in place. That's huge for me.

What else has changed/improved/calmed down. most of that list of maladies I posted here. The crazy depression, the mood swings and persistent crankiness, the ringing in my ears, the sugar spikes and crashes, the inability to feel full (now I know I am full and keep eating- this is still not good but very different.)- all of these things are gone. I know what I am craving and I may or may not give in to it depending on the type of craving. (Blueberries on a spinach salad- good idea, corn chips and salsa- bad idea). Sleep is better- still not great but better. My insides are much happier, the pain and bloating and other related unpleasantness is gone (Except when I eat something like 1 lb of kale and 3lbs of Brussle sprouts and some broccoli in a week. Oops). The generic pain all over and acute pain in my knees was gone in a week.

Have I mentioned that the unreasonable and scary depression is gone? That took 2 weeks. And I turned that corner when there was a blizzard outside so it certainly wasn't the return of the sun that did it. That alone is enough reason for me to pay attention to what I put in my body.

Going forward I will stick as close to this diet as I can. And if I put things back in and start feeling sick again I will have no problems going back to this to hit the reset button. I told the LT that I need to stop pretending that soy is ok for me. It really isn't. It really does make me sick. If I tell people otherwise I am lying. Potatoes and rice will come back in I'm sure in part because it makes it easier for other people to feed me. I might finally be over my love affair with corn of all types. I miss corn/rice chips with salsa but I would pick rice chips over corn any day. I stopped liking bread ages ago and I really don't miss other grains at all. Same for beans. And for dairy I really only crave cheese on burgers or pizza. (Pizza. In 3 weeks I will eat way too much Mexican pizza from 2nd Avenue Pizza in Sandpoint ID. It will make me very sick. It will be worth every bite. I know this from experience. And I won't have pizza again until I do the same thing in October.) The more I think about milk the grosser it seems. Sugar will go back in but not nearly as much in things I make for myself...and I didn't use that much anyway. More like I won't avoid brown sugar in Bacon and maple syrup in sausage because it's very hard to find it otherwise. I am going to add caffeine back in but I am waiting until the finals crunch to brew a cup of coffee. But tea...Ima drink what ever kind of tea I want and no one can stop me! I'm such a rebel with my Earl Grey. (Please note that the only Earl Grey I own right now is decaf.)

I intend to keep working out because I feel better when I do and I sleep better. I would love to find something else to do as well. Like something where I am getting exercise disguised as fun AND meeting people. Roller Derby is my first choice (yes seriously)...but I need health insurance first. There are lots of other interesting things I could do, I just have to pick one. (Krav Maga? Rock Climbing? Kickball?)

I still need to work on the sleep part of life. Part of it is just the discipline of going to bed at a regular time every night. You would think that would be easy. Not sure what else I can tweak but I am working on it.

I will keep posting regularly until I don't any more. The chances of me keeping this up while I am in Idaho are slim. That is also going to be where the desire to cheat is easy and the ability to not cheat is hard. But I am already making plans. We will see how it goes.

DAY 30! - Jn

I woke up thinking today was Wednesday. All day I have acted like it is Wednesday. I keep almost telling people I will see them tonight because I will see people on Wednesday. I do't leave the house on Tuesdays so I don't see anyone except for the backs of my roommates as they leave for work. TUESDAY. Say it with me TODAY IS TUESDAY. It's a miracle I didn't skip class accidentally. I also didn't eat what I was supposed to today. Here is what I DID eat.

No Workout- Planned
Breakfast- Egg Casserole, sauteed apples, 50/50 OJ, green rooibos Tea
Snack- pistachios
Lunch- LO Meatza, ginger tea
Snack- Cashews and applesauce
Dinner- Fake Shepherds Pie, ginger tea
More food- LO chocolate cake with strawberries- the LT gave me the idea. I think I like the cake the best when it is cold. Also some Kava stress relief tea

(Have I mentioned that I will forget to eat without a reminder if I am working in my room. I will eat more when I am working in the living room and I will eat WAY MORE if I am working at the dinning room table.)

Rough Recipe: Huevos de leftovers

I mixed the peppers and onions from the extra meatza topping with LO chopped up pork chops from the other night and the LO sauteed mushrooms I still had kicking around with about 6 slices of cut up (uncooked) bacon. I split this mixture between two smaller glass baking dishes. Then I scrambled 18 eggs and dumped them over top. I baked at 350 for who knows how long because I completely forgot about them. The top is toasty brown but thankfully not burnt. This will feed me for at least 11 breakfasts. One of the dishes has a lid so it gets thrown in the freezer for later. It's a nice system.