Where was I?

When did I last post? Thursday or Friday? I don't know, who cares. We went to the cottage this weekend to do some fixings. I fixed nothing but a fantastic pot roast on Saturday. I brought up stupid almonds to snack on while everyone had munchies and beer. I almost cracked and had a beer. I was THISCLOSE to having one. Jamie said 'no, you're doing so good..' so I didn't have a beer. But I did have a glass of red wine with my roast dinner. It's kind of mandatory. SORRY!!!

Ok, let's take it from the top.

Friday night:
Almonds, cashews, olives.
piece of a huge honey crisp apple. FYI honeycrisp apples are the bomb.

WATER YAY.

Saturday breakfast:
3 scrambled eggs - I had to make my own since my brother puts milk in his. I was a snobby bitch.
Coffee
Almonds

Lunch:
cold cuts, olives, pickles?

Snack:
honeycrisp appleness

Let me tell you.. those beers looked like drugs. I died.

Dinner:
Pot roast, squash, peas, sweet potatoes. And that secret I mentioned earlier.

Breakfast Sunday:
scrambled eggs, butcher's bacon, coffee.

Someone posted a yummy tea on the CFQ FB page - coconut milk, earl grey tea, vanilla. Do I have EG tea? I'll check. Sounds goooood.

So, as far as food goes, I stuck it out and suffered all weekend. I weakened with the glass of red at dinner. If it makes you feel better, I didn't enjoy it as much because I couldn't drink lots of it.

Big salad at lunch w/stuff in it. I'm getting lazy right now. My writing class starts this Wednesday! New adventure. Do people bring notebooks to class these days? Or just laptops? I'm serious.

Ran 5k and struggled, but the weather was great for it.

Dinner:
steak and onion sausage + squash/sweet potatoes + spring mix

Later:
Coconut milk tea - steeped in a pot on the stove. I am going to Essence today to get some more decaf herbal tea. I know I complained about herbal tea, I've yet to find good ones. I like Rooibos though.. We'll see. I just like blowing money at that store.

Friday #2

3 more to go.

Sleep was medium. I woke up a few times to flop over here and there.

Breakfast:
2 scrambled eggs, 1/2 a red pepper sauteed.

Snack at work:
mixed fruit - from a platter: strawberries, melons, pineapple + maca butter. Like candy!!

Lunch:
TBD. I think I want a piece of chicken from FnW + one of their salads. We'll see.

Oh, we're going to the cottage this weekend. I'm not eating junk or boozing if that's what you're thinking.

Thursday #2

Only 3 more to go... UGH. I was invited to a creative beer sesh. How am I supposed to do that? I'll be so boring.

I'm a great person and I don't need alcohol to socialize. People like me I am funny.
Repeat.

Sleep was not good. Disruptive, too much on my mind.

Breakfast:
2 eggs, 1/2 avocad (had to finish it) + 2 meatballs. they're done now. Big breakfast.

Snack:
spoonful of cashew butter.

Lunch:
tuna salad from fusaro's. Hold the boccancini. :(

Snack:
boring tea

I'm looking forward to.. nothing actually. Weekend can kiss my ass.

Actual Snack:
bag of "lime" flavoured plantain chips from FnW. They're really good but a bit of an indulgence I guess.

At home "dinner".
2 pieces of banana bread. One had ghee one had coconut butter. I love the smell of ghee. it reminds me of brampton indian times.

Went to an engagement party, I drove since I'm not drinking. OK this non drinking is getting old. I'm almost over it. Seriously. But I do sleep much better - fall asleep faster without sugar in my life. That's awesome.

I had a soda water with lime at the 'do. Then when I got home I ate half a cucumber and some olives.

Wednesday #2

Sleep was ok.

Breakfast:
2 eggs, 1/4 avocado, salsa, bit of spinach

At work
zuch muff + maca butter (just a bit)

Lunch:
meatballs + stirfry leftovers

Snack
apple w/maca butter

I'm having a hard time not eating like I said I would. I'll have to cut back on the fats - i know fats are good but still.

Dinner:
4 meatballs, half a cucumber, 2 pickles, 1/4 avocado

I'm making banana bread. "paleo" - but really just grain-free, since baked goods are never really paleo. What's with me and baking when I'm on a challenge? I found a recipe online, I wanted to avoid using honey but I tasted the batter and it tasted blech so I threw some coconut palm sugar in it. Shit!

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Failing.

Recipe

make:

Banana Coconut Muffins

Ingredients (makes 12 small or 6 large)

- 2 Tbsp coconut oil
- 4 Tbsp coconut milk
- 1/2 Cup coconut flour
- 2 Tbsp raw honey or maple syrup
 or coconut sugar (as used on TV)
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp aluminum free baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 whole mashed bananas (very ripe)
Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350
2. In a bowl, mix together coconut flour, salt, baking powder, coconut milk, vanilla extract, bananas and eggs
3. Melt the coconut oil and honey/maple syrup (if using coconut sugar, simply add it…no need to melt) and then slowly add it to the mix.
4. Mix together thoroughly and pour into greased (use coconut oil) muffin baking pan.
5. Bake for about 20-30 minutes – check after 20 minutes because you might have a better oven.  You want to be able to stick a fork into the middle and have it come out dry.

Tuesday # 2

Sleep was meh. Got woken up by J coming home at like 3am - from work! barf. So, sleep wasn't optimal. Let's hope tonight is better. Not gonna eat so late again though.

Breakfast:
3 bora bora meatballs + guac + 1 tomato
coffee

At work:
zucchini muff + cashew butter

Lunch:
3 bora boras w/spinach and spaghetti squash.
too many bora boras?

Snack:
banana + MACADAMIA nut butter. ohhhh shiiiiiiiiiiiit. It's good. Naturally sweet.. I've gota cut back on the nut butters. Every other day starting NOW!

zucchini muff before CF.

Crossfit
Metcon kicked my ass

Dinner:
meatballs + stirfry (red pepper, onion, mushroom, garlic, water chestnuts - with flavours)

Note to self

I have too many bananas in my freezer and one on the counter currently ripening. I'm making paleonana muffins when my zucchini/apple ones are done. This recipe has very little honey in it. Might give it a whirl.

Week #2 - Monday

I'm ok with this suffering. I'm getting used to it actually. My only vice is booze. It's really hard to give up and I want it. Beer.. mmmm.


Sleep was kind of shit.. I blame the black tea I had and some sugars. FML. Also I was having crazy dreams, I dreamt I saw a plane crash in Brampton and it looked like it was around my parent's area. I woke up before I could call to see if they were ok. FRUSTRATING. Then a helicopter crashed right beside the bus I was on. I told the bus driver to step on it cuz I was afraid the helicopter would explode. Fucking scary stress dreams.

Breakfast:
2 egg omelette w/mushroom, spinach and guac
coffee

at work:
coffee + failed muffin w/bit of cashew buttah

Lunch:
leftover rogan josh - can't wait! omg I just realized it's 12 - this day is flying. GOOD.

Crossfit tonight + maybe some meatballs.

First Saturday Paleo Challenge

Breakfast:
"paleo" pancakes with berries and coconut milk.

Eating that is not ideal. It's high in (natural) sugars, I don't want to keep going through withdrawal. I won't make it again.

Dinner:
Moroccan meatballs from Well Fed.
Tomatoes/cucumbers/almonds

We had family over. There was a lot of temptations: cheese, chips, peanuts, hummus, red pepper dip, wine.. I refrained. It wasn't too hard.

But later on I had some red wine. I'd say about two glasses, maybe three. It fucked up my sleep and I woke up with a headache at like 6am. Not worth it. Not slipping again. I swear.

SUNDAY:

Stupid wine ruined my sleep. Fuck it!!!!!!! Why did I do that?! I'm way stronger than that and I'm using stress as an excuse. A poor, poor excuse. Not doing that again!! (during the challenge. Life... well we'll see). When I look back at the previous challenge, I spent a week in Jamaica. There was drinking. This time around, I only fucked up once. And I'm going 100% clean the next 4 weeks.

Breakfast:
leftover fake pancakes with coconut butter/almond butter.
coffee

We have a HUUUUGEE bag of "muchies" in the cupboard - like, a fucking club pack - I think it weighs about 4 pounds. I want to eat the bag. uuugggghhh. Also someone brought over smokey bacon Lays chips (I love those!!). It's not opened.. but.. I want that too. :( AND my mom made home made peanut butter cookies. I put them in the freezer, you're goddam right I'm eating those in one month. There is a home made 'pina colada' cake in my fridge too - didn't have any of that either. This takes strength, but I know it's not worth it at this point. One fuck up with wine is all I'm allowing myself.

I was a bit of a snacking pit Sunday. Healthy things, yes. Some dates, guacamole, carrots.. I made some paleo muffins (fail) they were zuchini/apple. I put one extra egg by mistake and fucked it up. I also might have been skint on the honey. Trying to not get into any sugars.

Dinner:
Beef Rogan Josh from Well Fed. SO GOOD.
with spaghetti squash and spinach.

had like two of those failed muffins. No regrets, they're small.

had two teas, both had coconut milk. I accidentally bought sweetened coconut milk. Ugh.

Paleo Challenge Day 6

Sleep was fine, can't complain.

Breakfast:

half banana, some berries and coconut milk protein smoothie

some stuffed pepper + cauli rice

coffee

At work:

coffee

fruit + cashew butter

Lunch:
piece of salmon
squash and other orange things salad

snack:
Apple w/cashew butter

had a few pieces of honey dew melon.

CROSSFIT
it was tame, no metcon and I suck at chin ups.

Dinner:
mashup of spinach, rest of stuffed peppers - fried up!

Note to self: cauliflower makes me gassy. It's either the cauliflower or the hot sauce. Stand by.

Day 5 - Challenge

Sleep was pretty good. No sugar makes me sleep better. Woke up at 6am (barf). My arms are a bit sore from benches/rowing.

Breakfast:
1 egg
kale + meat mix
1/2 avocado

At work:
coffee
few pieces of fruit from a fruit tray + cashew butter
warning: today contained a lot of fruit. :(
who knew fruit would warrant a sad face!

Lunch:
leftover kale slop + other half of stuffed pepper from yesterday
spoonful of coconut butter

Afternoon snacks consisted of:
1 chocolate lara bar
more fruit + cashew butter

Today was a bad day for snacking - healthy snacks yes. But high sugar if you want to get all paleo technical about it. I wasn't that busy so I ate. Maybe I should just be swamped all the time, then I won't eat things.

Crossfit kicked my ass. Front squats @ 85lbs.
The metcon was brutal:

5 sets for time:
10 burpees
20 Wall ball
30 double unders

I absolutely cheated on the burpees. I got to a point where I was just walking down to the ground and walking up. So, what's the point of doing burpees if you're not really doing them? Also, 100 wall balls?? Are you jokes guy?! I didn't cheat on the wall balls or jump ropes. It was the burpees. I'd still be there now if I didn't skip maybe..8 burpees :)

Anyway. My sugar detox is over. Or maybe all that fruit just restarted my fucking detox and I have to do it all over again. Who knows. All I know is my throbbing headache is gone and I have more energy than I did Mon-Wed. I don't know if that has to do with the amount of sleep I got or the detox. Whatever. Anyway... tomorrow's Friday! Going for a run with my friend Julie, I'm thinking we'll do a 6k.

Dinner:
Salmon
Spinach salad with apples
Leftover cauli-rice

small spoon of coconut butter! small!!

Off track

I am so completely off-track this week, it's ridic. I meant to go hardcore with fitness and food, but two super late nights at work smashed that dream. I'm going through sugar withdrawal like nobodies biz.. headache, depression, irritable, sensitive and TIRED. I haven't gone off paleo yet, but it's only been 4 days. I managed to eat good proteins and veggies regardless of having to buy food for dinner Monday and Tuesday. I'm lucky to have a pricey health store nearby that serves hot foods. A nice piece of fresh salmon and chicken fed me both nights.

Let's do Wednesday onwards, since Monday and Tuesday were a blur.

Breakfast:
Fuckall + coffee (woke up late, rushed out door - ungh)

At work:
Apple w/cashew butter. Cashew butter is the new almond butter. I think I prefere AB though.

Bit of leftover broccoli salad + few antipasto bits n bites.

Lunch:
Jamie made a great paleo version of stuffed peppers. They turned out really good.
Ate half of one + the cauli rice.

Snack:
Carrots + guac

Crossfit
Bench + rows. I was out of shape from my 3 week break, plus pounding headache from no sugar. Not giving in!!!

Dinner:
kale + ground beef + cauli (from the peppers)
half banana protein smoothie w/coconut milk and water

Went to bed at 10:30, probably fell asleep around 11.

Challenge Day 2

Sleep was ok but I was woken up by a 5am pee courtesy of JM. Couldn't get back to sleep, my mind wouldn't stop going so I friggin got out of bed at like 6. Fuhhhh.

Breakfast:
2.5 egg omelette w/mushrooms
handful sauteed spinach
dollop of guacamole I made yesterday

Snack:
espresso
3/4 apple with cashew butter. it was a big apple.

lunch
2 sausages, squash.

Snack:
carrots + guac

fingers crossed i can make it to cf tonight.

Paleo Challenge Round 2

Yesterday was supposed to be day 1 of the new challenge, but since a delayed flight made us miss our connecting flight home, we had to stay in London for a night. Which meant a free meal at the restaurant + free breakfast then airline food. I'll just consider that an extended vacation of one more day. I wanted to be strict with my eating the moment we landed but we were hungry and ended up getting portuguese chicken in brampton. I tried getting a quarter chicken with salad but they are the chicken nazis and it doesn't work that way. But I did get those little round potatoes. Paleo fail, but at least it wasn't bread or anything. IT's just a naughty vegetable.

So here's what I had the moment we came home onwards:

4pm:
1/4 chicken Portuguese Churresqueira dinner with potatoes. It's so good.
Tetley tea with a bit of coconut water in it (?).

I refrained from the cookies that were offered and booze. I drank some wine on the plane and ate their chicken dinner - which was a little piece of white meat, veggies, rice and gravy. Not horrible. But I are the oat cookie and pasta salad. All faileo but like I said, it's on NOW.

We have no food in the house, of course. Just things rotting in the fridge. I'm doing a healthy shop this afternoon, lots of greens, meats, eggs and maybe 2 avocados. I'm going hardcore guys, don't even think about offering me a sweet or a drink.

I plan on running today. I went to bed at 10pm last night and woke up today at 9:30. It felt really really good. I feel a bit groggy but perhaps a run will snap me out of it. I wanted to run with MA in the cemetery but she forgot her shoes at CF so I may go down to the lake. I need a good cardio session.

breakfast:
handful almonds, coffee (no food)

what shall I make for dinner? is it fall yet?

I went shopping, loaded up on my vegetables and meat for the week.

Afternoon Snacks:
some almonds, 2 pepperettes (which i don't recommend if you plan on running at all).
Carrots and guacamole

Ran 5.5k or so. I think it's actually 5.6, but I had to do some walking - not more than 30 seconds mind you. The whole thing took me like 40 minutes - yuck.

Dinner:
Butcher's sausage
roasted buttercup squash
spinach salad

I posted this on the challenge page, it doesn't look very appealing though does it? I didn't stage it properly. I should take fancy photos with my fancy camera and make everyone's mouth water.

When I make salads, I always make my own dressing. It is 3 parts olive oil, 1 part vinegar (so, 1/3 of the cup is vinegar, 2/3 is oil. just eyeball it.) Either balsamic or red wine vinegar and a teaspoon of grainy dijon, pinch of salt. If it's not made with those vinegars, I'll use a citrus fruit of some kind - but I don't add mustard to those ones, usually a herb of some sort like dill. The trick is to make sure your ratios are correct, you don't want too much vinegar, and you need to make it salty. The dijon is a must, and if you don't have any, use mustard powder - just a little bit though. yum yum.

For the buttercup squash, I got the idea from nomnompaleo.com,. It's a good resource for healthy gluten free, grain free, sugar free recipes. The only thing that doesn't work with me is that a lot of her recipes are sort of Asian - not that I have a problem with Asian foods, but I don't have some of the ingredients on-hand. Like fish sauce. But some of her recipes, like the asian beef ones look so friggin good. I just might have to get some of that fish sauce. Also she uses a dutch oven - don't have one. I'm sure there are solutions and alternatives I could look up, but once I see "dutch oven" in the instructions, I bail on the idea.

I'm glad I went for that run, it was beautiful out. Monday I crossfit. Also, I bought hairdye from shoppers thinking I'd dye my hair. Got red and black since I couldn't decide, both semi permanent. I didn't do it because I don't know if I want to yet. I can't even decide on semi-permanent hair dye!! Also you should know I'm sick of my hair cut. That is all.

I bought some home waxing strips too because going to get waxed is inconvenient. I've done it before, and succeeded - I mean waxing ALOT off and my upper legs. But this time was a fail, I don't know if it was the wax or what.. I used Veet wax strips. I think it was goopy or something and it was also scented. Not keen on that for sensitive areas...I kept hurting myself. Damn. At least I got my legs did though. Too much info? You want to know that anyway.

Happy week everyone and happy fall! I know it's not fall but school is on - FACK! subway.. ugh.

k bye.

Coming Home!

I will not even begin to try and tell you what I've consumed the past two weeks. Ok here is a brief summary:

Mussles, fries, croissants, mussels, fries, croissaints, eggs, bacon, ham, cheese, baquettes, cookies, fois gras, fish, wine, wine cider, cheese, wine, chocolate, cookies, chips, steak tartare, pizza, chips, fries, wine, shrimp, salad! creme brulee x2, ice cream, macarons, mini donuts..This was just France. Fack!

Fish, salad, oatcakes, cider cider cider guinness, wine, butternut squash, fries, chips, HOBNOBS, hunter's chicken (chicken with bacon and cheese) fries, chocolate bars, ginger beer a few times, calamari, meat pie, sticky toffee pudding, burger, risotto, ice cream, a pasty, banana, chicken curry, sushi.. that was Scotland.

I wouldn't be surprised if you don't recognize my fat face. The good news is in Edinburgh we did ALOT of walking, probably at least 20km accumulative. So perhaps I didn't gain too much here? I'm SO not reading that scale when I get home. Fuck that.

I'll blog my last day here, Friday September 14:

sleep was shyte.

Breakfast:
coffee
1.5 hard boiled eggs
2 small cookies. They are like chocolate digestives, but from France :)

Why do I feel I can be a gluttunous pig on vacation? I only pay for it when I get back. I hate it but I still do it. Not getting depressed about it though.

This will be a day of airport food and I'm NOT eating the meal on the plane. barf.

We're having a new paleo challenge at the gym starting tomorrow. Why am I so excited for this? I'm going hardcore, that's why. There are talks of going to Florida over the Christmas break (Orlando area, MA! with the kids and all). But winning the challenge is more of a priority than looking good in Florida, although it helps.

I'm excited because I think it's fall and I can do fall cooking at home but it's still like 30º there. Not complaining. Protein and vegetables is all I'm eating for the next 5 weeks. No booze. Watch me. Reeeeeen I'll need support, I'm planning on having abs by the end of this and you're planning on fighting someone. Let's enter beast mode.

Anyway, this will be all til I get home.