Organic Egg White Powder!

For those of you who don't know, my father is the senior VP of operations for a manufacturing company. They produce egg white powder amongst their many spray dried and processed foods. (Ever had a Snickers Bar? You've had their products.) I had asked my Dad if he could grab a few packets of the egg white powder for me on his next trip to the plant, and he did one step better: he got me the high quality, organic egg white powder.

One of the biggest challenges I face with this way of eating is the price of food. I need lots of protein in my diet to be sure, and meats, especially the organic, no hormone, no antibiotic meats that I purchase, are very expensive. Eggs are a great option for protein, but I want to be careful about how much cholesterol I am taking in.

Side note: I actually have very low cholesterol and almost medically treatable low blood pressure, so I'm not in danger of compromising my health by eating a bunch of eggs. I just want to be careful - even though it's not a problem right now, I know it could be if I start eating 4-5 eggs a day.

Of of my roommates makes shakes with flax seed oil and frozen fruit almost every day, and I decided that I would start buying Trader Joe's frozen fruit and do the same. I know it's not fresh fruit, and I would much rather put fresh fruit in my body, but I have to cut costs somewhere.

Tonight I made a shake with orange juice, frozen strawberries, a fresh kiwi and a tablespoon of organic egg white powder. I got a ton of fruit in there, and the protein from the egg white powder made it a realistic "light" meal. (I had had some chicken earlier, so it wasn't my only dinner, just a semi-late night big snack.... I'm not starving myself.) It was certainly yummy - thanks for the organic egg white powder, Dad!

Another side note: School and work have been dragging me down lately, and I was struggling to wake up in the morning. I'll have a cappuccino once and a while at the restaurant (after a long day in the library and before a long night slinging around drinks and sandwiches), but I don't like to have coffee at all during the week. Back to the old fix - I picked up some all natural apple cider and had a cup this morning before cracking the books, and it worked like a charm. :-)

A yummy dinner

Back to the grind - I need to keep eating this way.

It's difficult - it's expensive - but I need to get back on a more strict paleo diet so I get through this semester without any major health problems.

I had the flu last week, so I broke my no soda rule in a major way and had plenty of ginger ale, but that's coming to an end now. I also had plenty of crackers and toast - and that is also done and over with. Time to get back on the meat and (no potato) bandwagon. :-)

Tonight for dinner I cooked a half of a green pepper in some organic chicken broth, and cooked this amazing no hormone, no antibiotic, free range chicken that I get from the co-op in them organic chicken broth as well. It's certainly a yummy meal, and the chicken has so much natural flavor and it's so moist due to the addition of about a cup and a half of broth!

Yum!

Back in the "good" mode...

I haven't posted for awhile; things have been busy with travels and getting ready for the semester to start. However, with a snow day declared today, I have time to sit in my toasty warm room and write a bit.

I broke my diet some on my travels, but for the most part, especially when skiing, I followed the plans. Avocados, beef jerky, fruits, chicken, etc - only one splurge that weekend for a sushi dinner (and even then, it was only a small splurge). However, even with those few small cheats, I could tell they had taken a toll on me. I was eating whatever I had around the house for a few days when I got back, to avoid the grocery bill syndrome, but really started to feel ill again.

Can't explain it. I wish I could explain it. I just feel awful; I'm tired, I have headaches, I can't concentrate, I am listless and I just want to crawl up in a little ball and die. I just don't ever feel good when I'm like that.

So instantly, I bought some red meat and ate it all with some green pepper. I drank a lot of water, and have been eating fruit like there's no tomorrow. I feel 80% better already.

Good find, by the way: Lara-Bars. https://www.larabar.com/secure/index_.php

Amazing treats - try the Ginger Snap!

I'm hungry.

I had plenty of protein and veggies today, but I'm hungry. I want those little sour gummy candies and a cheesy enchilada.

At this point, I know that I've had enough calories today to completely sustain me - it's simply a munching thing that I want. I want carbs and sugar.

Argh. Sipping all this water sure isn't helping all that much!

Weighing in...

I weighed myself again this morning - I forget most mornings, but need to make it more of a bi-weekly habit to manage my weight. My target is to stay basically where I am. As an almost 5'10" woman, about the lowest weight that would be healthy for my frame (which is smaller than average) is about 128 lbs.

As of this morning, I have lost a bit of weight, but not much. I currently weigh 135.8 lbs. For a few splurges over the holidays, I have still racked up a net weight loss. The trick will be to stay steady in my weight WITHOUT holiday splurges (after all, I don't exactly party on Martin Luther King Jr. day in January - there's no excuse to eat holiday cookies now).

And, let's face it. I am cheap. I have nice clothes that fit me when I'm in the weight range of 132-138 lbs. When I get to the lower or upper echelons of that weight range, my clothes start to fit me strangely. I'm too cheap to buy new clothes; this is what has kept me from gaining weight in my adult life. (That and all that gosh darn running!)

I am concerned that this nutritional regime is going to compromise my weight - that I will lose too much. However, I am flexible - if my body is working properly at a lower weight, perhaps that's my true target weight and I've been a touch too heavy for the last few years.

We will have to see! I'm off to eat my avocado omelette and fresh blackberries for breakfast.

It's a new year, and I'm going strong.

After reading Dr. Cordain's book, I'm relieved that he suggests that the paleo eater have one to three open meals a week. After all, if you have 20 meals a week, if at least 17 of them are paleo, it's okay to have a "somewhat" paleo meal every now and them. Now, granted, this doesn't mean that it's allright to eat a whole pizza or a Big Mac and fries on these "open meals". Perhaps a lean ground beef hamburger and a small bag of potato chips, or a few slices of pizza.

That being in mind, I decided to stay strong throughout the week until last night, when I enjoyed an avocado and turkey sandwich on a 7 grain bread with steamed veggies. Technically, it wasn't a paleo meal, but I did skip the french fries and the 7 grain bread satisfied my bread craving. I was very happy with the meal!

Friends and I went to a party in Brooklyn after dinner in Manhattan (I went to NYC if you haven't figured it out by now). Thankfully, I had brought an all natural apple carrot and orange juice blend (my favorite!) and some soda water to make my own sparkling juice drink, so I stayed completely away from the alcohol. The gracious hosts had provided 3 yummy cheeses, hummus, veggies and other goodies. I was grateful for cucumbers and carrots to munch on, and even treated myself to a few bits of cheese and some fudge. Overall, it was a nice night (food-wise). (It was a great night non-food wise!)

I managed to enjoy my "open" night without splurging. Although I consumed a mionr amount of non-paleo food and no alcohol, I still woke up this morning feeling sort of off. I believe my body was confused as to why I gave it cheese and bread --- it hasn't had those two things in several weeks now! It didn't take me long to get back on track - I had a fantastic salmon with shrimp sauce and steamed veggies for lunch. (Lots of steamed veggies - seeing a trend here?)

I think I will stick to one or two open meals a week on this paleo plan, and I will be flexible about when they are. Dr. Cordain only says that two open meals should not be in the same day - and the more spread out they are - the better. We'll see what the weekend brings - I've been craving some Chinese lately. Perhaps I'll get some steamed chicken and veggies and indulge in a bit of fried rice one of these days. It's exciting seeing that I can have tastes of my favorite foods every now and then. Makes this whole process much more tolerable.

Reading, Reading, Reading....

I'm reading Dr. Loren Cordain's book, "The Paleo Diet" - he is considered one of the foremost experts on paleolithic nutrition, and the book is written in a way that I can understand.

I'm overwhelmed by the constant references to clinical trials, and all of the good and bad qualities of numerous oils, acids, etc. It's too much information, but he continually reinforces lean meats, veggies and fruits as the basis of the diet. The book has a ton of recipes, and resources for getting fresh game meats, etc delivered if you don't live in a hippie friendly city like I do. :-)

One of the most interesting tidbits I've learned from this book is the relationship between omega 6 polyunsaturated fats and omega 3 polyunsaturated fats. Omega 3's are found in fish, veggies, good oils, and walnuts (some other nuts are good, but walnuts are the best). Omega 6's are found in highly processed foods, and Omega 6 is contributed to the development of heart disease and certain forms of cancer - it also aggravates auto-immune and inflammatory diseases. The ratio for Omega 6 to Omega 3 fats should be about 2:1, but in the average American diet, that ratio is more like 10:1 or 15:1 - pathetic, huh? We wonder why we are so unhealthy...

I also thought that nuts, in general, were good for you. Not so - all nuts and seed, except for walnuts and possibly macadamia nuts have unacceptable levels of omega 6 to omega 3 fats. Pumpkin, sunflower seeds, almonds, and peanuts are the worst offenders - the ratio of sunflower seeds omega 6 to omega 3 is horrifying. Keep in mind that the desired ratio is 2:1; sunflower seeds boast a ratio of 472.9:1. Unbelievable. Does this mean that we should stop eating all of these nuts? Of course not; they do have healthful benefits for us as well. But it does mean that they should be eating sparingly, and used more as toppings for salads, etc, than eating plain by the handful.

One other statistic jumped out at me from the page while I was reading last night. The humane genome, according to carbon dating and DNA studies, has changed 0.02% in the last 40,000 years. Staggering. Even if you don't buy into evolution and carbon dating, etc - and think that the archeologists are 30,000 years off on the bodies that they are excavating and testing - fine. But you can't argue with the 0.02% change. It's amazing to see how in the last 300 years, most notably in the last 50 years, how much our diet has changed. It is making us sick? Are we betraying thousands of generations of wisdom?

For my health's sake, I hope that the answers to these questions are yes. I hope that by going through this crazy diet overhaul I'll eventually get better.