BerkshireGrl that's funny!

Good morning! I've got nuthin' new this morning. Just popped in to say good morning.

:carrot:WoW!:carrot: Congrats! You know there is nothing sexier than defined muscles on arms. I am trying but I still have a little of that underarm flab, arghghgh.

Susan, great compliment!!

Nuttin' much to report here either... We had visitors and they are leaving early this afternoon. My DS's GF's parents, BFF and gramma were down from Hamilton ON this weekend for GFs grad and the gramma and BFF stayed at the house, the p'rents stayed at a hotel, we just don't have that much room here... They arrived Thursday late afternoon and are leaving this afternoon. The house has been busy but nice... I have been primal to a certain degree but it's been difficult, specialy with a desert on Thurs. nite and lotsa wine :cheers: ... So today will be 100% Primal, we are going out for a brunch at around 11am so I will start there... Spinach omelettte and bacon :hun:

Susan - That is a great compliment!

I love salsa. I should buy some peppers and make my own. I'm going to add them to my shopping list. :) I love making fajitas (steak or chicken) either on the grill or in olive oil in a cast iron pan, along with onions and peppers. My husband and kids will grab tortillas to eat with them. Shredded lettuce and tomatoes to go with it. I also usually toss in mushrooms. This week a friend brought me fresh spinach from her garden, so I think I'll toss some of the spinach in too. :)

Hi everyone. My nut addiction is still raging. I probably ate 50 cashews, 25 almonds and 20 walnuts yesterday. Other than that, yesterday I had a couple eggs, some sausage, a bunch of cabbage, some avocado salsa and beef strips. I'd being doing great without all the nuts.

Here's a recipe I hesitate to share because it might be evil and addicting:

Heat up a half cup of coconut oil in a small saucepan. In it fry a half a sliced banana and half a cup of walnuts. Let that cook for about three to five minutes, stirring it regularly. The smell is intoxicating. Turn off the heat. Add half a can of coconut milk and a 2 tbsp of good dark healthy cocoa. Stir that in until it is incorporated. Add the other half of the can of coconut milk. Stir it in. Bring to a brief boil. Cool. Freeze. Serve -- Chocolate Banana Walnut Ice Cream. It served 4 and got great reviews from little kids and little old ladies alike. I've seen a cherry vanilla almond version and a strawberry banana version. If you're an ice cream eater this is a craving killer. It may need a half minute in the microwave and a good stir to get the right consistency before serving.

I'm moving one ton of composted horse manure today with a shovel -- twice, load and unload. That should kill the appetite and keep me from sticking anything in my mouth for awhile.

Or it could make you eat like a horse! :joker:

p.s. I got the book in the mail this past week and it looks great! I love his casual and fun tone of voice in writing :) I look forward to reading it over the long Memorial Day weekend here!

Hehe. Somehow, I still managed to lose almost three lbs. in a week by ingesting massive amounts of fish and turkey and yummy greasy stuff. I'm pretty sure I'm back now to my weight as a 10-year old (I was a very tall kid, I had a massive growth spurt at that point. Then I stopped growing vertically and expanded only horizontally for sixteen years.) :dizzy: I've been doing less actual exercise lately and more walking around at a brisk pace while running errands and it seems to work better.

I've had dental work done this week and I'm a little apprehensive about chewing on my usual snacks of almonds or raw pumpkin seeds because the little bits get in every little nook and cranny and I have to be gentle on my gums for a while. Anybody know some acceptable replacements? I could snack on some of the less sugary fruit out there (cantaloupe is a favorite and I can never have more than a few cubes), but I was wondering if there are some sugar-free yet gentle on the gums snacks I may be overlooking.

Bob: I can relate to the nut addiction, they are so handy and I love the crunch! I do not keep macadamias in the house anymore, almonds I can pass by and walnuts, cashews I haven't bought lately but my hubby can eat those up in 2 secs.

So tonight we laughed at dinner because honestly who would have thought we could lose fat by eating fat? I'm so glad that I stumbled upon MDA 2 months ago. We had goat cheese bison burgers with sauteed onion/mushroom/peppers and roasted asparagus wrapped in bacon for dinner! YUM! The asparagus was dripping with bacon fat, we ate it up and loved every minute of it! I can't wait to go to Florida next month and share PB with my family, I have my dad started on it but he thinks when I'm there I can show him some new ideas and give him the extra push to be more 80/20 than 70/30.
We also went on a 3.35 mile walk this morning first thing, my son rode his scooter off and on so he wouldn't wear out, I jogged off and on, it was great! Can't believe I'm sitting here thinking of walking around my neighborhood before bed, you'd think I'd be tired, we'll see...depends on my 10m old boss lady!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Silly me for thinking I might make good choices at a buffet! Nope, I ate every meat even tho' it was doused in mystery sauce. And had some desserts ;)

It was fun though!

I've got called to work at 3 this afternoon. It's much easier to throw together a primal lunch than it is to eat in a restaurant :D

I've been doing primal since 9th May but have been trying to get fitter and lose weight since the end of January. Since trying primal I've lost 2lb each week and I am not hungry at all. I had one evening this last week when I had my first non-primal meal in the evening at a friend's house and what amazed me was that I was starving in the morning! That's the main difference that I've noticed, I don't get as hungry and if I am a bit hungry it's not the faint, sicky feeling that I used to get. Also, I am sleeping much better :)

What major differences has anyone else seen in the way they are feeling?

My GERD is gone, I sleep better, I have more energy, I am able to work harder for longer without it stressing me out, and my PMDD seems to have disappeared, but the jury is still out on that one.

The changes are so profound for me, that it seems as obvious to remain primal for life, as it was to quit smoking when I decided it was time for that.

I worked 15 hours on Friday (7 hours on the orientation manual for my floor and an 8 hour shift) and a 12 hour shift on Saturday. I slept well last night and am ready to play today! That would have never been possible before this way of eating.

Hi Sue,

I have a consistent and general feeling of 'wellness' that had been lacking for the past year plus. My blood pressure has dropped. A constant belly ache is 90% gone. I am more focused on both work and play. My BMs are no longer painful and time consuming. I no longer swell and bloat from water retention when doing minor exercise or physical labor. My dry skin and hair are both a little oily and much healthier. I used to get fierce headaches at night from eating too much sugar or grain, not sure which but they are gone. Sometimes they would delay to morning like a hangover, but not any more. Grocery shopping is a 15 minute activity now -- produce, meat, nuts, done. I've discovered some really fun new recipes, like homemade jerky, the above fake ice cream, using thinly sliced cabbage as a pasta replacement in carbonara, cacciatore, and linguine and clams. Using whole cabbage leaves as a pasta replacement in lasagna -- what hit that is. My kid is eating healthier.

If I am unhappy with the weight loss, I may change up a few things, but I am sure all sugars and grains, refined or not, will be extremely minimized for the rest of my life.

Bob,
How do you make that cabbage? You seem to come up with some interesting and tasty sounding recipes!

Hi wildviolets,

I'm Italian and can talk about food all day. :)

The discovery of 'cabbage as a pasta replacement' was out of desperation in my kitchen, but if you google the term you will find many were there before me. There isn't much to it at all.

Want lasagna? Use the largest unbroken leaves as you can to separate layers.
Want spaghetti? Slice the cabbage nice and thin. It even twirls around the fork, which is a key part of the ritual that needed duplicating.

Last night was another great example. My 83 year old mom doesn't cook much anymore but she gets in the kitchen on weekends to mark her territory. She is an incredible cook. She made meatballs, which I had to avoid because of the bread crumbs in her recipe. She also made pork chops and Italian sausages which I could eat. All three of these meats spend the day in her tomato sauce getting tender and delicious while flavoring that sauce to perfection.

When she started boiling the pasta, I took a half head of cabbage and sliced it very thin. I put what would amount to a healthy pile of pasta's worth in a frying pan with a little salt, pepper, olive oil and water and heated it up covered until the thin sliced cabbage was almost as soft and tender as boiled pasta. I covered that in her sauce and honestly preferred it to the pasta I used to eat. My daughter and youngest sister both tried my pasta replacement and loved it. My plate "looked" almost identical to theirs.

Tyler Florence's Carbonara recipe is about as traditional as you can get. You can replace bacon with pancetta to be perfect, but it's all the same really. I replaced the pasta with thin sliced steamed cabbage and for me it was an improvement on one of my favorite dishes.

I'm keeping cheese to a minimum, but I am looking forward to trying Alfredo with cabbage as pasta. For those with cabbage problems a vegetarian friend of mine claims a combo of super thin sliced celery, sweet onion, and bean sprouts makes a great spaghetti. She boils and drains it just like pasta.

Have fun.

Edit to add over at MDA there's a thread swearing by thin sliced zucchini for the the pasta replacement. All I know is like many of my ethnicity, I have run on pasta for most of my life and these replacements are a god send.

1. Alright...tomorrow is June 1st! I already know I've lost inches this month but only 7 lbs, not bad I guess but the 24 lbs in April had me doing some wishful thinking for May. But I will take inches any day! Last night I tried on a pair of jeans that I just couldn't part with so they have been in my closet for 8 yrs, the last time I wore them was about 7 yrs ago and I think they fit for 1 month! Well, they fit last night, couldn't believe it since I have been trying them on every few weeks and 2 weeks ago they were about 1.5 inches from me buttoning them, now they button and zip. They are still snug, so I won't be wearing them out in public for another few inches but I am sooo happy!

2. I am giving myself a 2 wk challenge starting tomorrow, no dairy! I want to see the effects of dairy on my weightloss and system. I'll just stick with my coconut milk in my espresso, goodbye heavy cream! ? Should I also drop the goats milk and chz? I know goats milk and cows milk have similar properties but at different levels but usually goats milk is an option for lactose intolerant people so I'm not sure if I should keep it or drop it. I usually have on average 1c of goats milk a week and maybe 3oz goat chz, so not much. What do you guys think?

3. Yesterday I made some addictive "cheesecake/fudge" minus crust. It was basically...2 T melted coconut oil, 2T melted almond butter, 2T heavy cream,2-3T 90% cocoa,2-3T soft cream cheese- I mixed it all together and then let it cool in fridge til it was almost hard, it was supposed to be for 3 servings, but it didn't survive!LOL! It was like a decadent cheesecake or fudge! YUM!