Oh yes! We'll be Primal in May!
 

Good morning this first day of May!

Here's my starters.

128.4 lbs
chest 34.5
waist 27
hips 36

I think I'm finally over what they call the "low carb flu" and feel pretty good all of the time. If I have a midafternoon dip, it's after work when I am, in fact, physically tired. When I feel like having a nap, I do fall asleep. I'm sleeping very well at night.
Now, I feel well enough to incorporate some heavy lifting. :strong: In fact this morning, I have a nice tired set of gardener's hamstrings :D

Ok! I am BACK, after a couple of weeks of eating CRAP! My stomach has been aching, my head has been killing me ... I'm not sure why I do it, but enough is enough!

Not going to measure or weigh right now - lots going on in my head - but my goal is to get into a pair of jeans by the end of this month. Right now, I can pull them on all the way but cannot button them up.

I went to a kettlebell class this morning, and going hiking this afternoon. No food really in my fridge right now, so I ate some crackers and cereal - but I will go shopping this evening, and have a perfectly Primal dinner :)

My goal is to get back to no grains, starting ... now!

Hello!
 

This is great. I've been stumbling around this site looking for this! I've been blathering on in the "avoid grains" thread in the support forum. Today is MAYDAY for me. I am starting a paleo diet today.

My current weight is 368 pounds. My goal is 198. I'm 48 years old, 6'2", and at my all time heaviest. I'm stil a junior member here, but I am really motivated and have been studying up on primal/paleo/low carb for a few months. I am going to follow the "get started" instructions at a blog called PaNu, so I am not following any "for sale" diet plan. Just trusting Dr. Harris has the right ideas for me.

Nice to find a support group. I'm going to go work on my gardener's hamstrings now.

Welcome Cheeky and Bibbob! The more the merrier!

I need to do my measurements, gotta wait for a spare moment when my husband gets home!LOL!

Today was another great day...

B:eggs, spicy ground beef,espresso with coconut milk
S:avocado pudding again!
D:salmon,goat cheese,green beans,90%dark chocolate

I can't wait for tomorrow, lots of activity planned! I am picking up a sledge hammer tomorrow, really liked the exercises with it I saw on the MDA forum, my husband will like them too and they'll be good for days we can't get to the gym...looks like it will work tons of muscles that get overlooked in standard weight lifting.

Hi folks!

Well, we'll call that the haagen-dazs experiment and declare it a waste of a loverly afternoon.
Despite a huge crash at about 4 (and it wasn't a nice primal tired) I did get lots of stuff done. My exercise was pushing a wheelbarrel full of bags of dirt.
I managed to fix my macros by eating bacon and eggs for supper.

Day 1 done
 

I'm stuffed so I'm done eating for the day. I did an unintentional intermittent fast skipping breakfast because the kid got pancakes and I passed. Then I got busy with work and skipped lunch. That led to deciding to take a long walk before eating, which got me almost to dinner. I had some almonds and celery as an appetizer, pulled a lovely round roast out of the crock pot and steamed a whole head of cabbage. I ate plenty -- filling up on the cabbage. I calculate my total calories for the day at about 1000 - 1100, total carbs under 50 grams, and I am sated. Feeling fine.

I don't have a scale that can handle my weight and I DON'T want one, so I am weighing in at the doctor's office on the first of each month. I prefer not obsessing over it every day or even every week anyway.

I like your menu koceank. But WTH is avocado pudding?

Stick with us Cheeky. You can do this. Bread is the poison of civilization, the agent of modern disease. I'm stuffed on wonderful food -- grain free -- heading into fat burning ketosis -- healing my metabolic syndrome -- gettin' happy! :carrot:

I ordered Primal Blueprint from the library and was just informed that it was "too popular" to loan out through Interlibrary loan. Our library staff, on hearing of the book has promised to put it on the purchase list. I'm sure I'll have bought and read it by then, but it was nice that they were so interested in the book.

I did something else "primal" today (sort of). Hubby and I went geocaching with a friend (wandering around the woods, hunting for hidden hidden trinkets).

I am so sore, I can hardly move. I wasn't moving fast (and I was using my cane for balance and support), but I was able to make it to two of the three caches (about 2 to 2.5 miles, in total, I think).

I am going to be very, very sore tomorrow. I had a minor allergic reaction to something in the woods (had to pop a benedryl and use my steroid cream on my face. My entire face turned bright, the skin swelled a bit and I felt like my face was on fire). Oh, and I had my first full body "tick check" (I'm a real Wisconsinite, now!)

If I can get out of bed tomorrow, I'll be surprised.

What does that mean? :?:

BibBob ... I've been a card carryin' member of calorie counters/fitday for so long that I've found myself pretty much unable to eat without tracking. :devil: So, most of the time I track my foods and percentages of fats, carbs and protein in fitday.com.
After the ice cream, my carbs were waaaay too high in comparison to my fats and protein ... so I ate bacon and eggs.

And since I'm up early and have lots of time ... I'll explain that a little more.
When I first started primal blueprint I lost several pounds fast. Out of habit and curiosity I tracked my foods and was amazed to find that someone my size could lose weight on 1600, 1700 or 1800 cals. And when my losses slowed, I was happy to have that reference to see what I could tweak. It's also been handy to have when friends ask about that sort of thing.

Hi Colleen! So nice to have you here!
As time goes by, I find myself returning to Sisson's website when I have question about primal. It's really comprehesive. I've jealously guarded my book for a couple of months but ... I caught a coworker researching fertility meds on Friday. I offered to give her some weblinks. She then followed me to a private corner to learn more. 35 y o already had a bowel surgery, her DH has a terrible family cardiac history (and a history of his own already)... I will lend my book to them :hug:

Cheeky ... you stick with us hon, we'll help you. Would you mind telling us your height and weight?

Cheeky definitely stick with it and do the besst you can right now, I'm a huge believer in this lifestyle for not only physical health but mental!

Bibbob- You did great! Have you been eating like this a while or just dabbling? You'll definitely notice a visible difference IMO without the scale, this lifestyle has helped me burn so much fat,especcially from my belly. Its great!
I saw on Marks site an avocado pudding recipe and gave it whirl, actually good! 1 avocado,1/4c coconut milk(or almond),.5 tsp vanilla,1 tsp fresh lemon juice and a smidge of your choice of sweetener(I used stevia) - Blend it all up with a mixer /food processor and enjoy!

Colleen: tick checks...aren't they a joy! Geocaching sounds fun, definitely primal, its like you were on the hunt!LOL!

Susan- Haagan-Daaz experiment didn't go so well? I am going on a few vacations this summer and have been talking with my hubby about whether I'll treat myself to any old treats(funnel cake on the boardwalk kind of stuff) but I'm not sure its even worth it...I can't help but think I'll end up paying for it and be so miserable afterwards that there is no point in even eating it. I don't feel deprived one bit eating the way I have been, so I think, why mess up a good thing!

Thanks for the welcome guys! I'm going to stick with it this month.

Susan - Due to some psychological issues I'm dealing with, I'm no longer weighing myself. I suspect I'm somewhere between 225-230 pounds, and I'm 5'7" - 5'8". I have a lot of trouble with numbers on the scale, so I'm tossing it!

Up, having my coffee, thinking I should scramble some eggs for breakfast and wondering what to do today. It's definitely time to grocery shop, so maybe I'll do that, come back here and clean my room (oh dear, does it ever need to be done!), and then I've got some plans this afternoon to tutor a student ... so that's going to be my day, I think! I'm pretty sore from the kettlebells yesterday, and I also went on a short hike with a friend (about an hour) - so probably no formal exercise today. However, a nice long walk at some point would be good ...

I love primal grocery shopping! Have fun Cheeky!

Oh and I only asked about weight and height because I think that fiddling with percentages and detailies is something that we don't need to worry about to begin a sizeable weight loss.

Thanks Susan. It was the term "macros" I was unfamiliar with, but I gotta say fixing the ice cream with bacon and eggs is so counterintuitive that it just has to be right! :D

Thanks for the recipe koceank. And yesterday was my first day of this lifestyle.

Brief confession that may only make sense to me. I decided on New Year's NOT to fly into another destined to yo yo and fail crash diet like I have so many times. I like fasting for quick weight loss, but long term it has not proven wise.

I write for a living, and I've found when researching a hot topic, like emerging accounting issues for derivatives and defense contractors (hehe), the fresh information itself is motivational for me. The better the new information the more motivated I am to get the story right. So, I developed this personal theory that if I was going to get healthy maybe I could apply this quirk of my personality to get myself right, rather than a topic. Weight loss inspiration has always come easy then waned. So my idea was Inspiration + Information = Lasting Motivation. Make sense? That led me to research everything diet related with a deep passion I never had before -- it became information, a research project, not just a pain in my fat butt. I did not diet during this process. I looked at 100+ programs/systems/diets over those 4 months. I read between 4-10 hours a day on the topic. I've mentioned in a few posts that I was prepared, even expecting, to emerge from this a vegetarian, possibly raw vegan from the data I started with. I set a date of May 1st to be informed and inspired and get this right for the last time. Man, I hope it works. Here's the real confession. For the last 10 days or so, I knew the paleo lifestyle had won me over after all that reading. So, during the final 10 days, I said goodbye to all the foods I was about to eliminate by indulging in them. I am sure I put on 15 pounds in those ten days. Ugh. Stupid, but it is what it is.

Susan -- Grocery shopping was shocking! 9/10ths of the store is poison!

SusanB - thanks for the website info, it will help until I finish the book (I'm buying it this weekend, I think. If B&N has a copy, otherwise I'll check amazon and have to wait a few days to get it). I've read The Paleo Diet, NeanderThin, The Paleolithic Prescription (that one was a long time ago, though) and also Refuse to Regain (in which the author refers to "Primarian eating") which all share a lot of the same premises regarding the most appropriate foods.


koceank29 Yeah I'm a scary hunter-gatherer, hobbling in the woods with my cane. It was SO fun (and I am so sore, but feel victorious that I can move - sometimes after unexpected levels of exhertion my muscles cramp up so badly I can barely stand up - I'm not so sure how straight I'm standing, but I can walk so I'm doing good). Funny though, I didn't even think of it, but my hubby is a big-time foodie and was pointing out the forest flora that were edible (such as the fiddlehead ferns, "taste like asparagus" he told us).

BibBob - Inspiration + Information = Lasting Motivation. Oh Yeah. I have to keep feeding myself information though, or I get sloppy. I don't think I've ever had "Lasting Motivation" and I think it's because I need a constant diet of information to stoke the fires of motivation. After all, I read The Paleolithic prescription nearly 20 years ago (sounded inspiring, but I yielded to the common wisdom of the day - that it was a "fad diet," dangerous because it eliminated the "food group" of grains).

Hey gang... I lost 2 lbs in April... I haven't lost inches though, but my client noticed this morning that I had lost weight, so that really counts for something :D in my book....

CheekyMo27 and BibBob :welcome: to Primal :wave:

kocean : what IS avocado pudding?... I had the best avocado yesterday, I cut it in half and took the pit out and then just added some sea salt and at it like that OMG it was good!

UN fortunately the weekend has not been very Primal :frypan: Supper will be though!

Here's quicky body fat calculator for you. Not very scientific, but better than nothing. If I could figure out how to program my scale ... ;)

http://www.easycalculation.com/health/body-fat.php

I don't know Susan, it says I'm 28.8% body fat, I'm musclular, but I think I'm more around 35%. One of these days I'll have a real test done!

So I can't find my measurements from March so I'm just going to have to start over on that part of things, I know I've lost a lot though. I lost 24 lbs in April, I can only hope and work hard in order to lose that much in May!

Had a BAS for dinner, it was my best yet! Arugula,Red Leaf Lettuce,Roasted Chicken,avocado,bacon,pepper,tomato,goat cheese,mushrooms,roasted almonds,White Balsamic Lemon Vinagrette(homemade) YUMMY! I'm already contemplating what the next salad will be in a few days! Tomorrow I'll be IFing half the day, from 5:00pm today till 11 or 12 tomorrow.

No that doesn't sound right does it. Sorry ... I guess I'll have to find my calipers or figure out my scale.

Well, I had a great weekend overall - not foodwise, but in terms of time spent outdoors moving around, it was great! Kettlebells yesterday, then the hike, and then 1.5-2 hours biking today. I'm a bit sore, but in a good way :)

I'm going to plan out tomorrow's menu. Actually, I think it will be my menu for the next 2-3 days, but lunch might vary a bit if I can find some decent celery tomorrow at the market, to use for tuna salad ...

Breakfast: 2 eggs, scrambled in butter. Coffee. Banana and/or yogurt.

Lunch: Salad with some kind of protein (will have to buy lunch tomorrow), and possibly a vegetable-based soup.

Snacks for work: Walnuts, pear.

Dinner: Making lettuce "tacos" - beef, black beans (not primal, but not looking to cut out beans just yet), tomatoes, onions, spices, cilantro, etc. Wrapped up in romaine lettuce leaves, sprinkle of cheddar. Topped with a mixture of mashed avocado and salsa.

just got back from Marks website. Awesome recipes. The first one I'm going to try is the Thai-inspired salad of Awesome!


http://www.marksdailyapple.com/thai-...ad-of-awesome/

What's BAS? sigh. I assume the S is for salad. Wait. Is it Big @ss Salad? :)

I make those sometimes.

I had a steak and three egg omelette for brunch; leftover roast and cabbage for dinner. Same approximate #s as yesterday. 1100 or so cals and under 50 grams of carb.

I'm experiencing something interesting. I feel hungry through my meals, and I am craving bread. It seems to stick with me for about an hour after eating then subsides. I feel like I haven't eaten enough, at the same time I know I have. No big deal because it's been cabbage for two days, but after that hour of craving I feel bloated. I wouldn't call this the cravings of carb addiction. I think that would be a little dramatic for what I am feeling, but it is causing me to pace a little. Also, my energy level seems low, not depleted. I feel sleepy every time I sit down too. I am sleeping "pretty good" at night. At least no different than before.

Just sharing what a noob is noticing after two days.

A study of one again (me) but I can't do cabbage. Too puffy gassy yuck!

My DH comes from a farm family background. Bread with every meal. Very shortly after dinner, he wanders into the kitchen searching. He's not even really sure what he wants :D Just lately he's been grabbing cheese or an egg and that's working just fine.

I grazed at first. That's a habit that I picked up trying to keep my blood sugars level. The first couple of weeks (I think I said it in the April thread) I wouldn't have dreamed of trying IF. That'll change. I can go hours without eating and not feel weak and tired now. Your body needs to get used to the fact that you're carrying an energy supply and it doesn't need a fast shot of anything.
I should go hunting and see just how long it took for me to get over that "low carb flu" thing but I'm afraid it'll seem frighteningly long for some folks. Rest assured that it was worth the wait!

I really struggled to get my cals over 1000 yesterday. Wanted to, didn't want to ... I was pretty physically active gardening yesterday and thought I ought to be hungry. Wasn't.
cals 1095
Fats 63%
Protein 23%
Carbs 6%
and a glass of wine

Today ... I'm having whipping cream in my coffee and an omega 6 capsule
lunch is a can of salmon and chopped up vegetables with almonds
supper is pork in the crockpot so far
oh and I have a couple of hard boiled eggs in my bag.

Today's menu so far:

B: 2 boiled eggs -- bowl of mixed fruits, bberries, sberries, rberries, spoonful of stewed fresh from the garden rhubarb that I made yesterday no sugar or artificial sugars added it's very tart but delish, 1T grnd flax, 1T sunflower seeds, 8 almonds, 8 walnuts, a dolop of yogurt ... Delish breakfast :hun:
S: celery and 2 triangles of laughing cow, last week I was only able to eat one triangle, I am getting fuller much faster these days...
L: BAS of lettuce, cukes, grated cabbage, oil, tuna or salmon canned...
S: probably last nights leftovers of green beans, salad, chicken...

Run this afternoon weather permitting, gym tonight as always :strong:

Cheeky: Sounds like you're doing great...keep it up!

Bibbob: Yep, you got it, BAS! Thats what they call it on the MDA site so I thought, describes it pretty good, it was big! You probably are feeling the effects of low carb flu kicking in, stay strong, once it subsides you will feel so great on the other end of it! 1 key to not getting so hungry is the fat, make sure you're eating enough or using enough, I didn't do so great on that the 1st few weeks and now I pay more attention to how much fat I get, it helps satisfy you for much longer.

Susan: You're inspiring me to get out my crockpot, so easy yet I don't put it to use enough. What are your favorite cuts of meat for the crockpot?

Today(I had planned to IF, but I woke up so hungry, salad from last night didn't tie me over enough)
B: Sausage,spinach,veggie frittata/espresso w/coconut milk
L: Salad with Mackerel
D: ?

Ilene: How do you prepare rhubarb? I'm a huge fan but have never done it.

I'm so glad to see some new people! I had intentions of starting my stricter primal diet on May 1, but just could pass up some temptation this weekend. Like a babyshower yesterday with the best cake. But, then I only had a ribeye steak and a couple of pieces of pork for dinner.

I'm starting today off right with two sausage patties (yeah! for finding nitrate free sausage) and 2 eggs scrambled in butter. I also bought a fancy new pill holder so that I can divy up all of my vitamins and actually REMEMBER to take them every day. I follow the vitamin plan from healingnaturallybybee website.

My plan for this week is to keep it at 100 carbs or less per day. After a week of being around 100 carbs, I want to drop to 50 - 75 per day.

Weight: 240

Hey everybody :wave:

Well, I managed to stay about the same during April which I'm taking as a victory given the craziness with the kitchen and whatnot.

But here we are - May - and I'm ready to roll! Primal all the way, baby. Plan for today:

B: coffee with coconut oil
L: bacon & eggs
D: beef/chicken/fish (haven't decided yet) with roasted peppers and onions
Snacks, if I need to, will be almond butter on a spoon - yum!

The kettlebell DVDs haven't arrived yet; maybe today, though.

Thanks for the flashy welcome Ilene. :) This is fun. I have four sisters so I'm used to being the one fat dude. We once all vacationed in Hawaii together and I vowed to never do anything like that again without male support!

Hi Wendy and Fressca. Fressca? Coffee with coconut oil? Wut the hey?

Wendy, I worry a little about nitrates too, but Dr. Eades at Protein Power seems to think the dangers are way over stated. Nice find on the sausage though. I'll go hunting and gathering for some soon. I can only find uncured bacon online so far.

Susan -- you supplement Omega 6? Wow. I need to boost my 3s. 2 pounds of wild salmon and 5 pounds of ling cod are in the freezer. I was going to grill one of them tonight, but I may just fast today.

I freaked out last night around midnight.:tantrum:

I don't know if I was truly hungry or just craving, but there was no way I was going to sleep without stuffing my face. Desperate I scanned the pantry. I have so much pasta and flour and bisquick and rice and potatoes, bad oils, meh. I feel bad that my kid is going to eat this stuff. In the fridge I found a package of kosher franks and ate 2 -- just munched them cold, one right after the other. Bah. 300 calories and I was not sated. I thought about bacon and eggs, but I hunted down a can of Costco's chicken breast. I dumped it in a bowl to make chicken salad, probably planning on bread with it, but my mayo is made from bad oil. So, I spiced up the chicken until it tasted not so bland, black pepper and tobasco, onion, garlic. It's pretty salty as is. I was going for hotwing flavor. I stuffed it in three large romaine leaves sat in front of this pooter and ate it all like three nice sandwiches. According to the can that's 210 calories of chicken. I slept fine and at 9am I am headed off on a 10 mile slow hike without breakfast. So I ended up over 1500 calories yesterday with some strange late night munching, but keeping it low carb.

Fasting is pretty easy for me generally, so I just may go without today, or give in at midnight for a 24 hour fast. I have water fasted for 7-10 days numerous times in my life. I actually like the process and feel awesome after 3 days until my body insists I eat. I never know when that will be. I went for 7 days this past February. I didn't weigh myself but the results were obvious. I have even juice fasted for 30 days. No solids at all. I lost 50 pounds that month and had ridiculously high energy throughout. Anyway, those types of "diets" make me very impatient to see results with anything else, because despite the nonsense about them slowing metabolism so you don't lose weight, believe me the weight melts off of starving people. I woke up thinking about taking off some fast easy pounds with a fast. It's just so unsustainable, it'd probably be a mistake. We'll see how today goes. I may be famished after this hike.

Hi Everyone!

BibBob - Crash diets might be tempting for some, but remember - slow and steady wins the race! I've never managed to keep weight off unless I did it in a sustainable way ... and that will hold as true for the Primal lifestyle as any other that I've tried. I think you're doing great. Keep it up!

Kara and Ilene - Your menus for today, especially your breakfasts, sound sooo yum. I don't know why, but I've been so turned off cooking lately. I gotta get over it and make some healthy breakfast foods!

Susan - I can't imagine ever getting to the point where I work my a** off like that without eating a thing ...

Cheeky I go through cooking phases...sometimes I skip dinner just so I don't have to cook, it can get to be a lot cooking 3 meals a day and the dishes...whew!

BibBob: 10 miles? that is impressive...I'm jealous! I hope it went well!

I just clean it, cut it and put it in a pot and let it simmer till it looks like apple sauce, I used to add Splenda or sugar but now I just eat it added to other fruits, like berries... It's very tart but yummy...

Nope, you're right. It's Omega 3's I take. Sorry. I'm so bad with either/or's

Crockpot? Fatty pork roasts, beef roasts ... I did a pile of chicken legs last week with spices. I'm experimenting. It's all good!

Gotta go pull some weeds. I'll post better later :D

It's good raw too (in very small amounts), if you like very, very sour things.

When my brother and I were kids, we had a big rhubarb patch in the back yard and when the rhubarb was ripe, we'd eat the stalk raw (sometimes we'd each get a small bowl with a couple tablespoons of sugar and we'd dip the rhubarb in sugar before each bite).

I always save at least one stalk to eat raw whenever I buy rhubarb (using Splenda instead of sugar). You don't want to eat too many raw though, as it can have a laxative effect (when we were kids we'd usually make ourselves sick with the first rhubarb of the season, forgetting every year how much was too much).

Thanks guys! When I was younger I lived in NY and my mom would always go this one farmstand and buy homemade strawberry rhubarb pies...I am going to attempt a Primal version. But I love sour and tart things, so rhubarb is perfect for me. Thanks for letting me know about the laxative effect, "note to self"!!!!!

It's not funny how many of my recipes include breading, or a can of soup loaded with carbs, or something sugary like bbq sauce. Is soy sauce out for primals? I'm about to cook some cod and debating how to cook it, so this will make an 17-18 hour fast. I have only had water today. Oh and a little hunk of provolone when I got in the door. See those are the things that we lose track of.

My go to cod meal would be fish and chips or fish tacos. Breaded and pan fried in olive oil and garlic topped with a lemon wedge has been requested. I guess I can do a few like that and do mine without the breading. Adding fries for the kid, slow roasted broccoli for both of us and a spinach salad for me.

Oh, the hike was great. My next door neighbor gave me ride at the 8 mile mark. It's getting hot here and walks like that will be few and far between very soon. I walk liesurely koceank so don't let the distance impress you. One of the paleo blogs has a long thread about long meandering walks being the most beneficial. It works for me. Keeps my back and joints from aching and I am lucky to have three hours in the mid morning to hunt and gather. I took a long break at five miles in an air-conditioned market. ;)

No coconut oil in this town.

Primal strawberry rhubarb? Be sure to report back on THAT one!

I got nothin' new kids. I'm nicely tired and am pretty much ready for bed.

Oh how about a recipe?

Those butt chops in the crockpot? I took them out when I got home from owrk and threw a can of kale in the drippings. I chopped up some of the meat and fat and slopped a big scoop of the kale over top. It was wonderful!

My brother and I used to do the same :lol:


Today's macro nutrients were : 1,242 cals, 86.6 fat, 61.6 carbs, 67.6 protein... I should eat more protein but I'm not hungry :shrug: ...

I had the best medley of roasted veggies tonight, broccoli, cauliflower, red and green peppers, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning with olive oil...delish :hun:

Hubby and I ate out today for both brunch and dinner. Breakfast was easy (gyro omelette with feta cheese and extra onion and bell pepper).

Dinner was even easier. We weren't planning on dinner out, but one of our errands today was shopping the asian grocery stores (found a new one which has a deli and a small dining area). I found my favorite smiling fish products (cheapest I've found in town, 85 cents a can instead of $1.00). Smiling fish is a Thai brand of canned seafood. They may can other things, but I buy the sardines and mackerel (often in flavored sauces such as tomato sauce, chili sauce, and curries). Some of the products are extremely low-carb, but some have added sugar so I have to read the labels carefully.

In the deli we bought food to take home. Both hubby and I made very primal choices. I had laab, which is a minced meat salad (the meat was beef, but it can be made with any meat) flavored with green onion, lime, chilis, cilantro, lemon grass, basil, mint and served with a large bed of lettuce (sometimes cabbage instead of or in addition to the lettuce). Slices of tripe (just the inner stomach, and cooked until very tender) and pork skin are sometimes added. Mine had tripe, but no pork skin (beef skin is more authentic, but pork skin is easier to get than beef skin, I've been told).

Hubby chose a thai-style sausage and a pork rib (a strip of boneless rib meat with a thick ribbon of fat covering the meat and the skin still attached).

I got a little bit of the rib (there was only one left or we would have each gotten one). They're awesome. Our friend Kia who owns a thai restaurant makes them better, but she hasn't been able to get in the pork with the skin attached, and you really want that strip of skin, because it's like a pork-flavored cross between bubble-gum and jolly rancher (the texture, not the flavor).

I know it sound weird, but it's a heavenly bit of porky goodness.

The sausage is an all-meat sausage with oriental flavors (cilantro, lemon-grass, fish sauce and garlic).

And we got everything for under $10. Can't beat that for dinner for two (and there is some of the sausage leftover, because it was over a foot long).

A little low on veggies today, so I'll try to pay extra attention to the veggies tomorrow. I made a huge pot of ground pork stir-fried with garlic, scallions, fish sauce and a huge mess of pea leaves.

Pea leaves are another great find from the asian markets. They're the young leaves of pea plants (the french restaurants call them pea tendrils and charge lots of money for them. In the asian stores and the farmer's market they're $1 a bunch. The leaves have the texture of delicate cabbage (raw). Cooked they're almost like spinach.

Also at the market I found garlic chive flower buds. Awesome. They taste like a cross between chive and garlic, but instead of having to peel them, you can slice them like regular chives (they're a little meatier than normal chives, almost like a super tiny green onion). The unopened garlic buds are very delicately garlic flavored. Sweeter than the youngest garlic clove you can imagine.

kaplods -- Wow sounds like you had a great time primal shopping :hun: you are definitely making me hungry!!