Well Fed 2: Perfect Steak

Tonight, Livy and I made Perfect Steak from the Well Fed 2 cookbook. We also made cauliflower rice pilaf, roasted tomatoes, and roasted asparagus, but much as I love those delicious vegetables (and they REALLY good), the star of the show was the steak.

It was a hard road to get to it. First, we seasoned 2 large ribeyes and played Skipbo while they chilled in the freezer. When they were ready, we heated up ghee in a cast iron pan. It caught fire, like huge tongues of flame; we had a blaze in the kitchen. Did we panic? Not us. I put a cover over the pan and the flames went out. When I lifted the cover up again, the flames leapt up, higher than ever. I put the cover back on, Livy opened the door, and I put the pan outside in the cool rain.

It was a really good thing because Livy already knows a lot about cooking, and now she knows what to do about a fire. We had a refresher on general safety and looked at the fire extinguisher so she remembered how to use it in case the cover didn't work.

Then we got out our second cast iron pan and started again. This tme, perfection. We seared the steaks, then roasted them.

When we sat down to eat, Livy said several things that will help you understand how good the steak was:

"I would burn down the WHOLE house for this steak."

"What is better than steak? A trip to Hawaii? Close, but not quite as good as steak."

"I don't know how I will ever eat anything else after this."

It really was that good. Seriously. Here's a picture of my plate:

Carpool to the Colonies: Days 8 through Infinity (cause it's been that long since I blogged)

Day 8 (Washington, D.C.):

• Air and Space Museum (super crowded but we did see the Apollo exhibit, planets exhibit, and an IMAX about racing airplanes)
• ate awesome Indian food (We got extra Indian food to take home for the next day.)

Day 9 (driving in Pennsylvania):

• drove through Maryland and into Pennsylvania listening to The Logical Leap and arguing about induction and the history of science and listening to Over Sea Under Stone by Susan Cooper
• stopped in Bald Eagle State Park, hiked back to a gorgeous nature inn (which was sadly booked up), hiked along a butterfly trail (which should be called Bunny trail because we saw 14 bunnies on the trail)
• Livy and Aaron were tired enough and nice enough to wait for me at the car while I ran/hiked another trail in the same area. Sunsets over the mountains--gorgeous.
• We restocked our cooler at Walmart, got a hotel room, watched the end of Batman Begins and the beginning of The Dark Knight, and ate our leftover Indian food.

Day 10 (driving in Pennsylvania):

• Went to the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania (more formally called Pine Gorge) and looked at its gorgeous, glacier-carved depths from the overlook deck
• hiked down to a really pretty and less populous overlook of the gorge
• drove through lots of Pennsylvania listening to The Logical Leap and Over Sea Under Stone
• decided that PA is my favorite state
• stayed on the border of NY state

Day 11 (NYC):

• drove into Queens and checked into our hotel
• took the train into Manhattan and walked around near Times Square and the Empire State Building
• ate Thai food with Colleen and Travis and Alistair
• went back to their place in Brooklyn, had a beer, and chatted
• got confused riding home on the train because they switch them all up at night and ended up making transfers and shuttles and walking and riding trains for 3.25 hours
• drank several glasses of wine and passed out from exhaustion

Day 12 (NYC):

• ate Indian food for lunch that was pretty good, but not fabulous. I had chicken balti, but it wasn't London, that's for sure.
• went to the Top of the Rock and looked at the whole city. Livy much impressed by the Empire State Building, which was the main thing she wanted to see on this trip.
• rode the Staten Island Ferry. It was GREAT! We saw the Statue of Liberty very close, the Manhattan skyline, Ellis Island, a really pretty bridge, and an old fashioned sailing ship with several sails (maybe a sloop?). Livy loved it, and so did Aaron and I.
• ate Indian food for dinner at the best freaking restaurant! It was called Haveli, and it was mostly Pakistani. I had outstanding Kirahi, Aaron had Balti that was great, but not London, and Livy had Kurma that we all loved. We shared around and everyone enjoyed every dish. We hope to go back there one more time tomorrow before we leave.
• Now, we are back at the hotel, about to watch The Dark Knight.

Success at On the Border

Today, I went to lunch to study and eat yummy food that I didn't have to make at On the Border. This is a restaurant that I REALLY like. It's also a place where I often eat badly and sometimes avoid in order to eat well. But today was a success! Here's what I ate:

Guacamole (I asked them to add jalapenos and tomatoes to their regular stuff)
red and green pepper strips (instead of chips) to dip in the guac and the salsa
2 tacos (yes I ate the shells)

The tacos weren't perfect, I know, but this was so much better than what I usually eat there (a million chips) that I am very proud and uplifted. I know I can eat there without feeling overfull and lethargic, and next time, I think I will see how I do with the fajitas instead of tacos!

And I also went to the eye doctor today, another step in the direction of taking better care of my health. Yippee for me!

Making Taking Care of My Body a Priority in the Craziness that is Grad School

This semester has been SO crazy. I am loving it, doing all the things I love most (reading, writing, reading about writing, writing about reading, you know the super fun stuff), but I am busier than I have ever been with Livy and Aaron and ATLOS to think of on top of school and work.

Somehow in all the insanity, my healthy habits have gone away. I am never home during the week, so I don't cook. Instead, I've been eating fast food in the car and bar food at school WAY too often.

Instead of my long walks of last semester, I have been sitting on my behind, writing and writing and writing. When I have a break, instead of getting outside, I find myself frantically checking things off my to-do list. I'm getting about the same amount of sunlight as Aaron, for god's sake, and he's a computer programmer.

I've gained weight, and I feel yucky. I am pushing myself harder than ever before, and I am not fueling my body properly or exercising to relieve stress or sleeping enough.

So, I am making a change. I am unable to make a big change because I have way too much to do. But I am making small changes to get back on a healthier track.

I started a yoga class, which is active and also gives me some much needed stress relief (thanks, Tori!). I've been going one day a week for 3 weeks and like it so much that I am thinking of adding an extra day a week. As soon as Aaron sets up the DVD player in the new introvert-proof living room, I will add some weekend yoga with Livy.

I am going to start taking some shorter walks during my school breaks. Walks that I can do in 30 minutes. Walks that I can do in nice slacks or a dress. I do not have to walk for hours to make it worthwhile to do it. The perfect is the enemy of the good when it comes to walks (as  in so much else).

I am going to start packing food for the day. Today I brought a cooler with lunch and dinner in it, simple stuff that doesn't require cooking. I may have to live with less variety if I am not willing to cook, but at least it will be healthy food that can fuel the pace of this semester. Today, I have ham, cheese, veggies and hummus, a frozen hamburger patty, and a salad. Not perfectly paleo, but a lot better than Taco Bell.

I am going to try to get more sleep by going to bed earlier on Mondays and Wednesdays (the days before my earliest days). It's hard to do that and still see Aaron much, but even an hour would help.

I'm trying not to focus on the weight I've gained or how I want to look or how I want my clothes to fit. Those things are fine, but not the most important. In a semester this busy, I only have time to think about the things that I value most and ruthlessly cut out the other. So body image issues have to go. Instead, my focus will be on giving my body the food, exercise, and sleep it needs to make me the brainiest, most energetic teacher and scholar that composition theory and writing center studies has ever seen.

Ramblings on Memory, Sleep, Snatches, and Scallops

Good morning, and welcome to today's episode of "Random Stuff I Want to Tell You."

1. I cooked scallops yesterday, and they were awesome. I am kind of scared of cooking seafood, probably because I am new to it and it seems so complicated, but I am on a mission to add more seafood into my diet. Now is a good time because I can't cook Aaron anything he both likes and can eat, so I may as well please myself. So, I rinsed the scallops; put them in a pan; poured melted bacon grease over them; sprinkled them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder; and broiled them for 8 minutes. They rocked. I ate them all.

2. This morning in my Roman rhetoric class, we discussed memory, one of the 5 canons that Roman rhetoricians considered necessary for the art. It is less necessary for us with widespread literacy and internet access, and we talked about whether it is necessary at all. Clearly we have to be able to remember things to carry out daily tasks, but we were talking more specifically about memorizing texts, lists, poems, rules for composition, etc.

My main reason for defending memorization is fun; I think it's good and useful to have a store of knowledge with which to entertain ourselves in the absence of more passive forms of entertainment. Many a car trip has been filled by trying to remember state capitols, songs about specific rivers, or naming cities along a certain interstate route. Poems are friends I can visit in my head on the bus or when I hike.

But, I am not sure how important memorization is outside of this reason, which is a purely optional value. It can certainly give you street cred as an expert, as one of my classmates pointed out. Are there any non-optional uses for memorization that I am not coming up with?

3. Last night, I snatched 55#. For those of you who know how to do snatches, that probably sounds light. For those of you who don't, you have no idea what I am talking about. So my audience for this comment may be only 4 people. But those 4 people should know that I SNATCHED 55#!!

4. I am so sleep deprived. I have to get up at 5:50 am, but I cannot seem to get to bed by 8:30 or 9! It's so hard to be done with my day that early. I go to Crossfit at either 6:30 or 7:30, depending on the day, and that isn't changeable. I got to class at 8 am down in Atlanta, and that isn't changeable. I would like to sometimes see Aaron in the evening, and that isn't changeable. Does anyone else manage with naps? I might see how working naps into my days would change my sleep schedule and my feeling of being not-so-well-rested.

Whole30: What I am Actually Eating

It's super easy to focus on what you can't eat on the Whole30: grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol, added sugar, processed foods, and preservatives. Sometimes Aaron focuses on that (he's kind of picky to begin with) until I want to strangle him with one of the spaghetti noodles that I no longer have another use for. But this post is going to be about what you can eat, what I eat, in fact. I'm going to detail for you what I have eaten on my first 3 days on the Whole30 and some other things I usually eat. I find that it is much easier to eat healthily when I focus on the delicious, health-building foods that I love rather than on the delicious, but damaging foods I sometimes miss.

Monday

Lunch at my favorite Brazilian steakhouse, Picanha, to kick off my second Whole30: heaps of rump roast, garlic beef, and top sirloin; a huge spinach salad with pico de gallo and marinated onions, dressed with balsamic vineger and olive oil; and a big glass of water

For supper, I went to Moe's before the Cake concert. I had a bowl of grilled chicken, guacamole, pico de gallo, lettuce, onions, cilantro, jalepenos. More water.

Before I went to bed, I ate a spoonful of coconut butter, which feels like god has personally blessed your tongue.

Tuesday

Before class, I ate a few slices of ham and some coconut butter. I leave EARLY in the morning, so I wasn't all that hungry.

I carried my cooler with me, packed with all my food for my school hours. It included sugar snap peas and guacamole (really excellent made at Whole Foods), chicken stew with onions and tomatoes, a salad of lettuce, red peppers, onions, and tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, a sliced up piece of grilled steak, and coconut flakes for snacking.

I drank lots of water and a bottle of kombucha (from the store). I often make my own kombucha, but I am between batches right now. Kombucha is so delicious that I never miss soda at all.

Wednesday

Before I left for work, I ate a large handful of steamed shrimp - Whole Foods will steam and season them for free if you buy the shrimp - and a mouthful of coconut butter (Can you tell I am obsessed with it?).

I took a cooler of food for Livy and me to have at lunch at our homeschool co-op. I ate pepperoni made into little sandwiches with tomato paste, sugar snap peas with guacamole, and half a can of coconut milk. Livy had an orange, some blueberries, ham, sugar snap peas, and guacamole.

When I got home, I had a salad of lettuce, onions, tomatoes, red peppers, and shrimp, dressed with balsamic and olive oil.

Water and one bottle of kombucha today. I may eat something else before I go to bed, but it will probably be shrimp and coconut butter since they are by far the most delicious things in the house right now.

Tonight I am doing a big round of cooking so that I will have lots of freezer foods to take to school. I really like to have a hot lunch. I am making a beef stew with tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and carrots; grape tomatoes slow-roasted in bacon grease; and spaghetti sauce with beef, red and green peppers, and onions (I just eat it like Italian chili.) I'll make chili on Friday and roast a chicken. With all those meals in the freezer, I can have a hot, hearty lunch at school and not have to eat out. Plus all those things are super yum, especially the spaghetti sauce. For cooking and eating right away, I bought have some cube steak that I will coat in almond flour and fry in lard; I'll probably top that with some fried onions, as well.

For snacking, besides coconut flakes, coconut butter, and occasional nuts, I eat dried tomatoes (from the Just Tomatoes company), hard boiled eggs, and guacamole. I'm not a big snacker, though. I would usually much rather have a smaller portion of a hot meal.

I hope this list gives you some ideas of the kinds of foods that I think are delicious and paleo/Whole30 friendly. When I plan ahead and spend time in the kitchen (and as long as I have my Brazilian steakhouse for treats), I find that I can eat very satisfying foods and not feel too much deprivation and misery. Aaron, I hope you are listening so that I won't have to strangle you after all. :)

My Second Whole30

Today is Day 1 of my second Whole30. I feel less excited this time, but much more competent to actually get it done. Today, I have to go to the grocery store, stock up on all that good, real food, and then start cooking it. It's been quite a while since I cooked much, so it'll be a little hard to get my you-know-what into gear, I think.

Aaron is doing it again, too, but poor man has to eliminate nuts, nightshades, and pork. His stomach issues never resolved on the Whole30, so he is trying to figure out what he might be reacting to. Hope it's one of those three and that we'll know in 30 or so days.

I won't blog the WholeDamnedWhole30 like I did last time, but I do want to tell my dear readers about the workshop I went to yesterday. Dallas and Melissa, creators of the Whole30, did a full day talk at the Crossfit affiliate in Smyrna. They were wonderful - very good speakers - and I learned a lot about the science behind this way of eating. I haven't been convinced about dairy yet (whether to eat it or leave it out), but I have some new ideas to research about why it might be bad for me. I understand the whole lectins in grains thing much better than before. I'm interested in learning more about systemic inflammation, which is the basis of most of their dietary recommendations.

So, I'll go now and eat some meat and veggies. Oh, and as a side note, this post was typed with 2 spaces after the periods. I don't care one way or the other, so live with it.

My Whole30 Summary: Less Frodo Going to Mt. Doom (misery and pain) and More Sam Replanting the Shire (satisfying, hard work)

Now, about a month out from the Whole30, I think I can give a summary of what I did and what happened to me that might be useful.

What I Did:

Basically, for 30 days (with two evenings of eating less that perfectly at a rehearsal dinner and a wedding) I ate only meats, vegetables, nuts, and a little bit of fruit. I ate no dairy, no yucky oils, no alcohol, no potatoes, no added sugar, and no grains of any kind. I blogged the whole experience, and you can find my posts about it here. During these 30 days, I also did Crossfit 2x a week (except when I didn't) and was otherwise only mildly active with daily kinds of movement like gardening, cleaning, walking from the train to school, etc.)


How it Went:

For the first few days, I was excited, and sticking to it was fairly easy. I had recently quit smoking (a month before I started the Whole30 and now nearly 4 months), and I was way more confident about sticking to this month than I usually am when starting a diet. I mean, if I can quit smoking, I can do anything right?

Then came Days four and five. Suddenly, I hated all the cooking, I started having cravings, I felt like crap with no energy or happy feelings, and my Crossfit workouts became nearly impossible to complete. I had read to expect this, though, and my Crossfit coach seemed to think it was normal, so I just kept eating right and watched a lot of cheer-me-up TV.

After Day six, it was all easier. My body adjusted to the diet, and I had my energy and good mood back. Some of the highlights of the rest of the month were: greatly reduced PMS symptoms, improvement in my attitude and performance at Crossfit, managing a huge Halloween party without cheating and without too much misery, wearing my old pants, finding new foods to enjoy, and falling in love with a new paleo-friendly restaurant (a Brazilian steakhouse where actual Brazilians go, where it's affordable, and where the food is better than the big chains).

The Results:

Over the 30 days, I lost 15 pounds, dropped down a size in pants, dresses, and shirts, looked slimmer in my face and neck, and fit into my favorite bras again. My acne (which wasn't terrible, but it bothered me terribly) was gone, and my PMS symptoms were reduced. I felt better all around, including during exercise, with a clearer head and a little more energy (I was fairly energetic before). At my thyroid checkup, my doctor and I were happy to see that all antibodies pointing to Hashimoto's Thyroiditis were gone; he credits the gluten-free and the dessicated thyroid and iodine I take.

My Plans:

I was happier on the Whole30 than I thought I would be. I wasn't dying to go eat a big bowl of pasta on day 31. So, I think I will mostly stick with it. I'm going to allow myself alcohol at social events, but stick with the no dairy, no grains, no sugar. I am going to have a cheat once in a while; I can't imagine life without the potstickers at the Cheesecake Factory. But I don't mind giving up my daily crap. I don't need grains or sugar in my diet except for those occasional treats. When I eat them, I want it to be worth it. A slice of bread along with soup? Not worth it. High quality peppermint bark on Christmas morning? Worth it.

Last Observation:

I have had trouble in the past with an eating disorder, and any diet scares me. I don't want to become obsessed with the way I am eating like I was before. I don't want the process of making good changes in my nutrition to lead me to all kinds of self-hating mental talk. I want to continue to like my body and feel good about all it can do. For some reason, I had less trouble with the Whole30 than I have had before. I didn't focus on food every second of the day; I didn't start to hate myself more as pounds dropped away. For whatever reason, for the first time, I was able to remain rational about my body while following a food plan. That really might be the biggest benefit I have gotten from the Whole30.

Two Good Linky Things

1. I made Mark Sisson's brisket, and it was better than everything. Better than sex, better than peppermint bark, better than the two-hours-after-Crossfit high, better than Jane Austen. Just on the basis of this brisket, Mark is now my third favorite person after Aaron and Livy.

2. Here's a link to Ansley's YouTube, where she posted a video of me that you should all see. If you want to sum me right up, this video is it.

Oh Dear Jesus, I Just Had the Best Meal in the World

To celebrate the end of my semester (can I get a big hell yeah, from the academic girls like me?), Aaron and I tried a new restaurant. Well, new to us. I have been wanting to try Seasons 52 ever since it opened. They are one of the places I love that does seasonal food with interesting and witty combinations of flavors. Yes, food can be witty. I swear.

I had a salad of autumn greens with portabella mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, and truffle dressing. It was delicious. Aaron's salad was a little better because of his dressing. It was a very light and tangy balsamic dressing on spinach with pears, pine nuts, and Gorgonzola cheese.

He also had a bowl of buffalo chili with black beans and tiny corn cakes. It was awesome, really really awesome, but nothing like my meal. I ordered two appetizers. The very best was the Chipotle-grilled shrimp with guacamole and tomatillo salsa verde. When the shrimp and guac were gone, I actually used my finger to get the last taste of the tomatillo sauce. My second best (but better than everything else in the world) was mushrooms stuffed with crab and shrimp. The had bubbly cheese, and I were better than bacon, I kid you not.

I couldn't even talk while I ate this meal. I would finish off a mushroom and say, "God, this is good," and then keep on eating. Bite of shrimp, moaning sound, bite of shrimp, hands clenched in ecstasy. Conversation is for those who aren't eating at Seasons 52.

Whole30 Day 26: An extra benefit

So today is 26 days in. And you know what I discovered today? Pecans taste good. Not just good, not just nice like other nuts, but good with a rich, sweet flavor that I never noticed before. I think that getting rid of the preservatives and the sugar has let my taste buds really taste real food. I tasted the nuances of pecans, the slightly bitter peel and the fatty, sweet inside. It's better than red velvet cake. I never thought I would think so.

Whole30 Day 23: Plans for the Future

Today was day 23. Just to review, I am looking stunning and feeling even better. :) So I figure now is a good time to think about the future. When this challenge is over in one week, what am I going to do then?

There are a few things I really miss (a very few, which was a surprise), and I want to find a way to incorporate them. But mostly, at least while I still have some weight to lose, I want to continue doing the Whole30. I don't miss the grains or dairy, which I thought would be the worst parts, so I think I will continue to eliminate those. I don't miss the preservatives, either, so those stay gone too.

I do really miss alcohol, though. Not so much the taste, just the effects. I don't care about having a glass of wine with dinner or a beer in the evening with friends. What I miss is drinking to a minor level of intoxication at a party. So, I'm gonna do that, as all the people who love tweeting the things I say when a little bit drunk will be glad to hear. I'll stay away from alcohol except in that kind of scenario, and when I do go to a party, I will drink the lowest carb options that will get the job done (probably liquor either straight or mixed with water).

I also don't want to live for a really long time without any of my favorite bad-for-me-crap, so I am going to have 2 days between each 30 where I eat whatever I want. Those are the days when I can have a diet coke, eat Mexican food or Chinese, and drink a Malibu and cranberry. What's the good of living in 2010 instead of in 40,000 BC if you can't have a Malibu and cranberry once in a while?

Speaking of a great occasion for a Malibu and cranberry, I am going to a wedding this weekend, on day 28. Because I hate to be all dressed up and going to a place there is dancing and yet be a fuddy-duddy, I have decided to eat and drink reasonably at the wedding. I will have the beef ribs and drink wine, but I won't have cake or grains or Malibu rum (damn it). I am going to count day 28 as one of my cheat days, and then just hop back on the plan on days 29, 30, and 31.

So that's my plan. I expected to want to go out and eat bread the second the 30 days was over, but I'm happy to report that another 30 days doesn't sound so bad.

Whole30 Day 19: Like Old Hat

I haven't posted about the Whole30 in a while, mostly because I don't think about it all that much now. It's become kind of habitual. I'm in the rhythm of the cooking and shopping and choosing foods.

But it's old hat in a bad way too. We are eating the same things over and over. Steak, pork chops, spaghetti sauce, chicken stew, beef stew, salad, bacon, guacamole, sauteed veggies. These are all yummy things, but I am starting to feel that I need more excitement.

I found these delicious gluten-free, preservative-free sausages at WholeFoods, and they were a treat to eat. Cause they were different. So tonight, I did an experiment. I mixed green curry paste with coconut milk and cooked chicken and carrots in it. It wasn't fabulous; I really need to use a recipe (even if it does make me feel all J and oppressed). But it was different, and I enjoyed it!

So my goal for this next week is to eat different things. Tomorrow I am making chili. Livy and I are going to eat fish, as well, something we both like but rarely eat. Aaron, who is the pickiest adult on the planet, will have to eat one of our usual things, as he does not eat anything that ever put its foot into water. I am going to find some recipes for Thai food and try at least one. I just can't eat any more old hat.

One more cooking tidbit: I made my first (in several years) batch of homemade kombucha (fermented tea). I have been drinking a small fortune's worth of kombucha from the store, and now I can have my one drink a day without sending us to the poorhouse. Plus, when I see the colony start to grow on top of the tea, it makes me feel so successful. Bacteria and yeast bow to my will!

Whole30 Day 2

Well, here I am, well into Day 2. So far, I'm not dead or miserable. In fact, this morning one of my students used the word "dyke" in class, and I didn't even lose my mind. So that proves I am fine.

Aaron and I ate dinner last night at Longhorn, and it was good, though not as good as when they pour that buttery lemon sauce over the steaks and asparagus. Aaron whined a lot, but I placated him with my feminine wiles (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

I wasn't that hungry when I got up this morning, which was a bit of a surprise, so I had my usual early lunch at about 11 - my delicious homemade spaghetti sauce. It was so yummy, and I was reassured by eating some of my typical food.

I cooked a chicken between work and school, something I have never been productive enough to do before, so SCORE! I'll have the chicken, and the brussel sprouts, tomatoes, and onions I roasted with it, for dinner.

And as a psychological side note, I thought you might enjoy knowing how Aaron and I both approach diets.

I do really well for a day or two, and then slowly slip. I am more confident this time because I quit smoking a month and a half ago, and now I feel that I can do anything, even keep my head when people say bigoted things in my class. So, surely I can give up blue cheese dressing and cupcakes. Anyway, I am unanimously (the two of us) voted most likely to "forget" the Whole30 and eat a piece of red velvet cake and drink a glass of champagne. I am also the most likely to take some of these habits into my regular life after the 30 days are up. I am also the most likely to be tolerable as company during the Whole30.

Aaron is the one who will finish this 30 days with no cheating. He wouldn't eat a piece of red velvet cake if a criminal held a gun to my head said it was eat the cake or he'd shoot me. He would gnaw his own arm off and eat it (it's paleo, after all) before he would even sniff a red velvet cake. And, if I wasn't here, he would just buy 40 pounds of ground beef, cook it all at once and freeze it in small portions, and eat it at every meal for 30 days. He is voted most likely to be diagnosed with OCD and most likely to actually finish what he starts. He is also the most likely to eat 4 candy bars and a bowl of pasta on day 31.

Whole30 Day 1

Well, I'm gonna do this. Not cause I have thought it out or anything. In fact, I have Halloween, Jenn's birthday, and a fun wedding all during this 30 days. But oh well! I'm just gonna dive in and see how it goes.

So far, I ate a pork chop. I'm going the grocery store later, so I will get some variety. For now, a pork chop was pretty damn good.

Aaron is doing this with me, and he may drive me insane. We have been on this diet for 1 meal so far, and he is already whining and miserable. I may beat him to death with a pork chop. That would probably be sort of Crossfitty, right?

I'm gonna try to make daily entries about our progress, but they will all probably be just as flippant and helpful as this one. So return at your own risk.

My Paleo Kid

There has been some talk on OEvolve about how to help kids transition to a paleo diet with their parents, and the suggestions have been really helpful. But, I thought it might be useful to hear about how paleo works when you do it from the beginning, or at least how it worked for us. As a disclaimer, we are not 100%. We eat tons of things in our family that are not good for us, but we try to minimize those things and we know what things are bad when we eat them. :)

Livy (who is six) started her paleo journey in the womb. While I was pregnant with Livy, I ate meat, veggies, raw dairy including loads of butter, bone broths, some raw liver in smoothies, and cod liver and butter oil. I also ate some crap, but I did pretty well over all. Livy was breastfed for the first 3 years and several months of her life, and she was exclusively breastfed for about 10 months. While nursing her, I kept up that same kind of fatty and nutrient-dense diet.

I waited until Livy was actually interested in solid foods (in eating them, not just playing) before offering her any. At about 10 months, she started to try to get things off of our plates, so I would give her a big chunk of steak or a large carrot to chew - basically, real food, but nothing chokeable. She would suck every bit of juice out of the steak until it was grey. Steak has been her favorite food for all 6 years of her life. She didn't really ingest much solid food until she was over a year old and finally had some teeth. At that time, I would chew up things on my plate and then give them to her to eat or cut food up into tiny pieces. We did delayed the big allergens, but most of them aren't healthy foods anyways. She never had baby food, and she ate (and still eats) a wide variety of foods. She loves egg drop soup, any Thai food, beef and pork, chicken wings, grape tomatoes, salad (as long as it is covered in balsamic vinegar), salmon, and anything heated up in a bowl of homemade stock. But, as she has gotten older, she also likes pizza, cake, candy, soda, and innumerable other kinds of junk. I did not give her unhealthy foods when she was too little to want them; no need to give ice cream to babies before they actually want it. :) We did not give her cereals. It's just awful how little babies start their lives out with crappy grains, when they could be eating meat and broth.

Our policies about food are these:

1. Eat whatever you want whenever you want. I usually do not buy crap and bring it home, so her choices are pretty good. Sometimes I do buy things like popsicles and marshmallows, but not very often. She goes to the fridge, gets snacks or meals, heats them up, and eats when she is hungry. I like that this policy keeps her in touch with her body's needs and gives her independence. If I feel that she is eating too much junk, I look to myself first. Am I buying too much junk? Am I not preparing healthy foods that she likes? Usually, if I clean up my shopping or cook more, the problem is solved. Once I had to mention to her that I noticed she was eating a lot of sugar, and we talked about ways to cut down and still be satisfied. She was willing to work with me.

2. I don't prevent her from enjoying cake at parties, having chocolate milk at a restaurant, or eating candy on Halloween. She eats a healthy diet most of the time, and the rest of the time I try not to worry. She is usually very good about self-monitoring (much better that I am) and rarely overeats candy or cake. I want her to enjoy herself and not feel resentful about our diet.

3. We eat out a pretty good amount, so I guide her into making better choices when we are out. If she really, really wants macaroni and cheese, I let her have it, but I try to explain why steak or chicken wings or a cup of soup would be a better choice. She almost always chooses meat or soup because this is what she is used to.

4. We do not do "kids' food." I hate children's menus, and I hate the idea that kids will only eat pizza, mac and cheese, and hamburgers. Livy has always eaten adult food, and we rarely order off the children's menu. Instead we find smaller portions of regular food, like soups, appetizers, and small portions of meats. I do not cook more than one thing. If you don't like what I cook, find something else in the fridge for yourself. I do not leave out spices (though I am sensitive to her palate, just as I am to Aaron's). My idea is that Livy is a human person, and she can eat like one from the beginning of solid foods. Often, she and I split an entree, and that way, she tries many different delicious foods.

5. Exercise is optional. I do not force her to join a sport or anything like that. But, I try to make exercise fun. We have a trampoline; we go to the park; we ride bikes or scooters. She chooses to play soccer. I think, as in the case of diet, modeling is the best way for kids to make good choices. She sees me and her dad (particularly her dad) being active, so it seems like the way people should be. She can do pistol squats on either leg (for you Crossfitters), so I guess she is doing okay!

6. I do not encourage a small child to fast (obvious, I hope), but I don't make a big deal out of missing or delaying a meal. I see so many parents encouraging, bribing, forcing, or guilting kids to eat at regular meal times. I think this is silly. They aren't stupid; when they get hungry, they will eat. Today, Livy chose to skip lunch. No big. The human race has faced times when kids missed more than one lunch, and we all survived.

7. I teach about nutrition more than I legislate. Those of you who know me and my parenting are probably not surprised that I do not force Livy to eat or not eat according to my wishes. Instead, I have been teaching her about healthy eating since she was a baby, and I encourage her to eat well by my example, by my use of my money for healthy stuff instead of crap, and by putting the work into making things that she likes that I like for her to eat. I am not willing to make food a battle (partly because I don't want her to rebel and eat 2 tons of candy later and partly because food battling leads to the kind of disordered relationship with food that I have struggled with my whole life).

Now that I have rambled on and on about my principles, let me give you some specifics about what Livy eats. These are the foods she eats most often (some of these are obviously used by me in the preparation) and the supplements she takes: beef, chicken, pork, turkey, bacon, sausage, shrimp, and fish (all kinds of cuts and all kinds of preparation), stock (bone broths made from all kinds of animals), chili, meat stews, meaty soups, oranges, berries, apples, raw milk, butter, lard, coconut oil, bacon grease, olive oil and balsamic vinegar for salad dressing, salad greens, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, potatoes, eggs, cod liver oil, vitamin D, and a multivitamin. I even went to the kitchen to see what else might be added to this list and couldn't find much. Sometimes she eats Campbell's Soup (cause she loves it), and sometimes she eats popsicles, but I think that is about it. She will eat ANYTHING that we grow in our own garden or get from our beloved farmer.

For breakfast (when she chooses to eat it), she usually has leftovers from the night before. Lunch is more of grazing kind of meal - milk, fruit, lunch meats, etc - unless I cook. For cooked lunch or for dinner, I make meat and a veggie or a stew. When we eat out, she eats pretty much the same kinds of things (meat, veggies, soups), but I know (and she knows) that the fats and broth and meat are not the healthy farm and homemade kind. We like to eat ethnic food, and sometimes we can find restaurants (Thai especially) that use healthy ingredients.

I'll be happy to discuss any of the above with folks who want to ask questions, make comments, or criticize to kingdom come. :) Pictures follow.


Fat, healthy, breastfed baby


Livy, Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and fan of chicken wings



Livy eating turkey leg


Inevitable build of paleo child :)


Livy's actual body type - long and lean and muscular. Amazing how wrong all the people were who told me that breastfeeding, meat, fat, etc would make her fat. Just so everyone knows, I don't think this is the only natural body type, just hers. I suspect she inherited it from her dad.

Reduction Sauce Success and Other Tidbits of Less Edible Yumminess

One of my goals for my increased free time this semester was to learn to do reduction sauces like Richard Nikoley. I've been playing around with this, and tonight was my first big success. Let me tell you, even the fails were delicious. They just weren't the right consistency or other such nitpicky complaints. But tonight's dinner was perfect.

So what you see in this skillet is duck, onions, green beans, and a reduction sauce made of duck and turkey stock and butter. Making it was easy too; I used stuff just hanging out in the fridge. First, I put a whole bunch of duck stock and turkey stock into my skillet. I boiled it a long time (while drinking wine and reading Joy Hakim's The First Americans). When there was only a bit left in the skillet, I added green beans. When there was even less stock left, I added leftover duck and onions (I roasted them yesterday) and butter. I waited for it all to heat up and get all mixed in and delicious, and I salted and peppered to taste. Yum-my. (The hyphen lets you hear my Southern accent.) It was so simple, though I guess it takes a bit of work to have homemade duck and turkey stock in the fridge, as well as leftover roasted meat and onions. Not much though.

Anyway, now I am gloating over how good it was, while enjoying my roaring fire with Inuit and Anasazis, anticipating the arrival of some advanced, but kind of nasty Spaniards. I have been doing some of the reading I was hoping to do, worked a bit on my French today, and came up with a science fair project that met with Livy's approval. It was a good day's work.