Stair Climbing

I got out the door relatively early today (9:15am) to beat the summer heat. Headed over to my favourite set of stairs and ran 7 sets of 148 steps with my dog (1036 stairs). It’s a shaping up to be a very hot day here in Calgary and a perfect day for the official start of Stampede. YAHOO!!

Here’s a song for this wonderful day – Willie Nelson’s version of “Bring Me Sunshine”. 🙂

Happy Birthday Canada

Whole30 – Summary

Taking part in the Whole30 challenge from May 16 – June 14 served to solidify my commitment to a Primal Lifestyle as opposed to a Paleo one.

I saw no obvious physical benefits from sticking to a strict Paleo diet. My weight remained the same, although I did feel leaner, this was not reflected in my weight or composition. There were definite and obvious physical benefits when I switched from the Standard Canadian Diet to a Primal 80/20 diet in January of 2009.

A strict paleo diet would never work for me on a long-term basis. I would be setting myself up for failure. Perhaps, if I had health issues, I would be a motivated to stick to a strict diet but I like 20% of my diet being made up of foods that would be off-limits.

Does that make me weak? No! I believe that makes me realistic. I know what works for me, I’m a Quasi-Primal Girl. I like pizza, beer and fresh-baked cookies once in a while – the key for me is knowing that eating these not so good foods, once in a while, is not going to be disastrous.

What is disastrous for me is constantly thinking about foods that are off-limits. It sets me up for failure before I even begin. If I know that I can have that pizza on Friday night with a beer and it’s not going to hurt me I’ll be more apt to stick with the plan the other 80% of the time.

The bottom line: I’m back to my Primal Life and happy to be there. I’ve found what works and I’ll keep doing it until it stops working for me – making adjustments along the way.

FitDay Summary May 18 – June 14 (No option for May 16 – June 14):

• Calories Burned/Day: 1965
• Calories Eaten/Day: 1854
• Fat/Day: 127.2 grams 60%
• Carbs/Day: 67.8 grams 14%
• Protein/Day: 115.6 grams 26%

Whole30 – Day 30

I came down with a brutal cold last week that left me very fatigued.  The cold became a great excuse to take a break from blogging, exercising, and even eating right. I did complete the Whole30 challenge and am very glad to have it behind me.

Day 30 (June 14) was a day devoid of all activity, unless that activity was lying around and watching TV. I did manage to finish the challenge eating clean, even though I had cravings for carbs galore and not the good kind of carbs. It’s a good thing the cold hit at the end of the challenge or I wouldn’t have been successful.

On this last day I encountered a strange phenomenon – after having some papaya, my sore throat symptoms abated – apparently, papaya offers sore throat relief. Curious as to whether or not there was some validity to this, I did a quick google search and lo and behold, papain, a papaya enzyme, appears to work magic:

Papain can also work wonders for sports injuries such as bruising and swelling because of its ability to reduce swelling and thin mucous. Papain can be used for reducing the swelling of a sore throat and can help to alleviate sinus pain caused by blocked or swollen sinuses. Many people have reported a rapid reduction in symptoms of sore throats and sinus pain after taking papain enzyme.

via Benefits of Papaya Enzymes

Wow! It seems that food truly is the best medicine.

“Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.”
Hippocrates

My food in the last 24 hours of the Whole30 challenge:

• Breakfast 11:00am: 4 fried eggs, papaya with a squeeze of fresh lime juice, avocado, cod liver oil
• Lunch/Snack 3:00pm: frozen blueberries with coconut milk, dry roasted almonds herbal tea with coconut oil
• Dinner 5:30pm: Valbella smokies, raw veggies with salsa – carrots, celery, cucumber, jicama, papaya with a squeeze of lime

Whole30 – Day 30 – FitDay Nutrition Log:

Whole30 – Day 29

Day 29 (June 13) and the weather was fantastic – sunny and hot. My husband and I enjoyed brunch on the back deck and I overindulged in fruit – 60 grams of carbs, mostly from fruit, in brunch alone.

I walked downtown to Prince’s Island Park and back with my husband and our pooch, Kembali. Roundtrip was about 100 minutes and over 7km.

As the day went on I started to notice the telltale signs of a cold – sore throat, sinus congestion. I headed to bed early in hopes that a good night’s sleep would help in warding it off.

Challenge Countdown: 24 Hours Left 🙂

• Pre-breakfast 9:00am: coffee with 1 tablespoon coconut oil, 1 teaspoon cod liver oil
• Brunch 12:00pm: Bacon Egg Avocado & Tomato Salad (recipe from Mark’s Daily Apple), papaya, cantaloupe and cherries
• Snack 4:00pm: shrimp, olives, dill pickles, dry roasted almonds
• Dinner 7:30pm: Pork Loin with Coleslaw (recipe from GavanMurphy.com)

Whole30 – Day 29 – FitDay Nutrition and Activity Logs:

Whole30 – Day 28

Day 28 (June 12) was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, with a big blue Alberta sky. Went out for a long walk with Kembali (my dog) over to the Elbow River. There is nothing like a sunny day to lift the gloom. I actually got to wear short sleeves and shorts for the second time this spring.

It was a great night for a BBQ with friends. Sat out on the back deck enjoying the mild evening and had the first bonfire of the season.

Retro Sunday

A look back at the Beach Boys and Surfin’ USA.

Whole30 – Day 27

Day 27 (June 11) was much warmer than the last few days and Calgary’s forecast for the weekend is looking great – could hit 26ºC on Sunday.

I had a difficult time getting motivated for any activity today. I did an abbreviated P90X legs workout (30 minutes) – skipped the warm-up, stretching and pull-ups. I also got out for a quick 30 minute walk with the dog.

Challenge Countdown – 3 days or 72 hours left to go.

• Pre-breakfast 9:00am: coffee with 1 tablespoon coconut oil, 1 teaspoon cod liver oil
• Breakfast 10:00am: 4 fried eggs, papaya with a squeeze of fresh lime juice
• Post-workout 12:00pm: coconut apple custard ( see day 25 for recipe)
• Dinner 5:00pm: chili (leftovers) Caesar Salad with chicken breast, frozen blueberries with coconut milk
• Snack 7:00pm: dry roasted almonds

Whole30 – Day 27 – FitDay Nutrition and Activity Logs:

Whole30 – Day 26

Day 26 (June 10) was cool and rainy once again. I took the day off from exercise, including walking the dog. I just couldn’t bear the thought of putting on the gloves to go for a walk in JUNE!

My husband figured it was the perfect day, since it was cold, for chili. He prepared 2 batches of his recipe for dinner. A batch without the beans for me and with beans (and some other stuff) for my daughter and himself. It was a delicious mixture of ground beef, hot chorizo sausage,  sweet red peppers, onions, Serrano peppers and pineapple tidbits (drained). I didn’t miss the beans but I never was a big fan of them.

Only 4 days or 96 hours left in the challenge. YAHOO! 🙂

• Pre-breakfast 7:45am: coffee with 1 tablespoon coconut oil, 1 teaspoon cod liver oil
• Breakfast 8:30am: scrambled eggs, papaya
• Lunch 1:30: chicken breast, carrots and celery dipped in salsa, olives, bacon (leftovers)
• Tea 3:00pm: black tea with 1 tablespoon 2% milk (I can’t drink black tea without cream or milk.)
• Dinner 6:00pm: Chili without the beans

Whole30 – Day 26 – FitDay Nutrition Log:

Saturday Soupçon

The Swimming Song – brings back wonderful, childhood memories of summers at the lake. 🙂