Entries Tagged 'Food' ↓

The other day, I decided to make some chili verde with a bunch of tomatillos and chile peppers I’d wound up with via Bountiful Baskets. I’ve never worked with peppers before, save the occasional bell pepper.

So, I didn’t know I should oil my hands beforehand, or–even better–wear gloves.

OH. EM. GEE.

About the time I finished my pepper-cutting, I noticed my hands were sorta tingling. At first it was just amusing and not very bothersome, kinda like Icy Hot. As time went on, however, it proceeded to burn hotter, and hotter, and hotter. Eventually, I thought I was going to lose my everloving mind.

For the record, to cleanse and soothe, I tried:

– Dish soap and water
– Baking soda
– Vinegar
– Milk
– Sour cream
– Bleach
– Hot water
– Cold water
– Purell
– Rubbing alcohol (topical)
– Whiskey (ingested…WHAT!? Don’t look at me like that.)
– Solarcane
– Vicks (BAD IDEA)
– Witch Hazel
– Foaming engine degreaser
– Oral analgesic gel
– Sugar and milk

ALL OF THESE THINGS WERE BULLSHIT. I was so confused, because most of them came from the internet, SO THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TRUE.

You know what fixed it, in the end? Whimpering, Tylenol 3, and sleep. Oh, and a fit of hysterical laughter over the multiple stories male friends told me of learning the hard way not to cut peppers bare-handed and then handle their junk.

Last week, a friend told me about Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op. I gave it a try this weekend, picking up a conventional basket as well as an Italian-themed veggie add-on.

The cost breakdown was:
$15 for the main basket
$8.50 for the add-on
$3 one-time sign-up fee
$1.50 recurring processing fee
TOTAL: $28.

Because I’m a total dork for this kind of thing, I recorded, photographed and weighed everything I got, then went to Safeway today to do a price comparison. (Yes, Excel was involved. Dork, dork, dork.) I found that buying the exact same items in the store this weekend would have cost $37.74 for the conventional basket, and over $19.98 for the extra veggies. That’s a savings of over $30 total. (Safeway didn’t even have eggplant or cilantro, which were included in the add-on and would have added additional cost.)

The produce is all fresh, there was a nice variety, and the herbs included in the add-on were an especially killer deal. (Though, I’m never going to be able to use them all while fresh, so I guess I’ll fire up the dehydrator for the excess.) I will definitely be going back next week.

Basket sign-up/payment runs online from 12pm Mondays to 8:30pm Tuesdays (or until they sell out; times are Pacific, and Utah baskets go on sale at 10am). There are locations ALL OVER THE PLACE, and you can start your own location if one doesn’t already exist. As it is a co-op, participants are asked to volunteer once every 6-8 times you buy a basket.

Soooooooo. Flying is going well. I’m probably another ~6 hours from soloing, though my hold-up at this point is more my need to study ground stuff (eff you airspace, eff yooooooooou) than my actual flying. I’m doing almost everything unassisted, including my landings, which don’t suck. The only part my CFI is helping with at this point is the flare; I need to be a little more aggressive with my control inputs, especially back pressure, as I come in kinda flat. I am confident I could now land a C-152 without stuffing it into the ground, however, which is reassuring.

———————-

I am three credits away from officially graduating. I had to complete nine this summer, post-commencement. The three I just finished were an online version of Abnormal Psychology. Now, allow me to bitch about the utter bullshit that is a college “education,” at least at my dear alma mater. A traditional three-credit class should require approximately 150 minutes of classroom education each week, for approximately 18 weeks. That comes out to about 45 hours of in-class time. On top of that, “they” estimate one should spend about three hours per credit, per week, studying. That’s 162 hours of study time, for a total of 207 hours of time invested.

The Abnormal Psychology course I just took was graded on the basis of three 50-question exams. Theoretically, I was supposed to view online lectures, plus read a textbook. However, the professor emailed exam review guides that basically included every single topic on each exam, which were open-book/open-note and unproctored. The professor warned that students should not attempt to look up the answers during the exam due to time constraints, but I had two hours to take each exam.

For the first, I studied (i.e. looked up all the topics on the review) for about an hour and took about an hour to complete the exam–98%. For the second, I did the same thing–96%. For the third, I started to study and then figured meh, screw it, since I only had to get a mid-70s score for an A in the class. I completed the test in 45 minutes, which included time spent looking up a bunch of the answers, and got an 86%. Overall, 93% average in a class for which I spent less than 6 hours of total effort. Three upper-division credits in the bag. Gosh, I’m sure glad I’ve paid them for a piece of paper saying I did four years of that.

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So, I haven’t been as strict on paleo as I’d like, though I can’t really recall the last time I ate grains, aside from some breading on some fried stuff. Beverage-wise, though, my main weakness has been the last word in the title of this blog. Funny how my taste for the stuff suddenly returned when the weather turned sunny!

Anyway, it’s amazing how rapidly I notice a difference in my body composition when I’m eating paleo. I’ve pointed this out before, but eating paleo makes me feel and appear leaner, within a day or two. I’m not bloated, I don’t retain water, and I think I have generally less inflammation.

I discussed a couple of issues in the comments to my last paleo post, which I’d like to revisit here.

Point the first: The Inconvenience and I used to get heartburn A LOT. Like, almost every night in his case, and probably 3-4 times a week in mine. We went through Tums like crazy. He’d tried Prilosec several times, to no avail. Eating Paleo cures us both, almost completely. We’ve gone through a handful of Tums betwixt the two of us since April. Maybe we’re two evolutionarily-backward freaks in a world of people suited to eating grains, but I can tell you a grain-heavy Standard American Diet makes the two of us sick, and there’s your proof. (Note: Rectification of chronic heartburn/reflux is actually a pretty common side-effect of paleo eating, per what I’ve read around the interwebs, anyway.)

Point the second: A commenter suggested I ditch the fad diet junk science and just eat a calorie-restricted diet (1500cal/day). Point the first explains the chief medical reason why I’m not gonna do that, but wait–THERE’S MORE!

I had that for breakfast, plus some black coffee. For the record, you’re looking at sweet potato hash browns fried in walnut oil, butter-sauteed mushrooms, baaaaaaaaaacon, and a fried egg. I haven’t a clue how many calories were in it, nor do I care. I don’t care because I don’t have to care. I can eat like that and lose weight. Even better than losing weight is shedding that bloating/water/inflammation so I feel and look lean.

I don’t have to weigh, measure, or track a damn thing. I can also go to a restaurant and not worry about estimating portion sizes. I get to eat copious amounts of meat, vegetables, some fruit, and glorious fat, limited only by my appetite. Oh, another cool thing? I can absolutely stuff my face and yet I never get that bloated over-full feeling like if you eat too much bread or pasta. I tested this theory once by, being a glutton for punishment, eating a boatload of bread. Yuuuuck. Yet, I can eat and eat and eat protein/fat/veggies just for the sheer joy of eating, and never feel like that.

That one was dinner the other night. It’s pan-grilled asparagus with a sausage-stuffed portobello mushroom. It was all drowned in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

So, all that gives me plenty of energy, feeling great, no heartburn, and…

Be still my heart, it’s a jawline! I have always HATED my chin/jawline. Like, “If there’s one thing I’d get plastic surgeried…” kinda hated. That’s the lean thing I’m talking about.

And this?

That’s a dress I haven’t worn since August 2004. Interestingly, I think it fits me better now, despite the number on the scale being higher. For one, I’m shapelier, and for two, again: leanness. I’m on my way to getting rid of the dreaded skinny-fat, which was pretty much how I always was. I used to be quite slim, but I was never in shape. I’ll admit that the exercise side of fitness is still my sticking point, but making so much progress with unfucked eating habits alone is a great motivator.

So is seeing this:

My only exercise has been basic daily activities/farm chores. I haven’t done anything special other than change the way I eat, and that’s the back/shoulders I have at the moment. (And yes, I was changing baler teeth topless. Living in the country rocks.) What a great foundation to start from when I actually get motivated to do some lifting, eh?

So, there’s my daily dose of vanity. I’m not gonna shove paleo down anyone’s throat; I’m just putting my progress out there as evidence it works for me. If you’re the type who gets off on points/counting calories/whatever, and that works for you? Stick with it. The only thing I really encourage, based on the experience of myself and many many others, is giving yourself the opportunity to try an elimination diet. Take 30 days or so and eat the most basic of meats/veggies/some fruits, and then reintroduce foods at the end. Maybe you’ll discover you’re actually really sensitive to dairy, or maybe you’ll discover you aren’t bothered by grains at all. One way or another, I think you might be surprised.

They’re doing a local “best of” contest, which the sister’s delicious, open-carry-friendly BBQ joint is in.

Because y’all love me, food, and freedom, go here:

http://dnewscontests.com/

Register. (Yeah, I know, it’s annoying.) Navigate to the “Best BBQ” category. Vote for CD’s Smoke Pit. Repeat daily until June 10th.

If awesomeness isn’t enough of a motivator, you can join with me in voting out of annoyance. For some inexplicable reason, CD’s wasn’t included in any of the other categories (like best sandwich/lunch/family restaurant), and their “competition” in the BBQ category is Hawaiian BBQ. Like, a plate lunch kinda place. If that’s BBQ, they should have included Mongolian BBQ in the same category, because their idea of BBQ is effed.

Breakfast/lunch today:

That’s leftover asado borracho from last night’s dinner out, plus a fried egg and about half of a yellow onion. The egg and onion were cooked in a little bit of bacon grease. I’m also drinking black coffee, which leads me to my first subject: managing my vices.

At one point, I probably would have considered bread a vice. Maybe not the best choice, but not something I’m willing to live without. However, now that I have lived without grains, and not only survived but thrived, I realize I much prefer how I feel when I’m grain-free. I prefer it even to the pleasure of eating bread.

So, I try to restrict my “vices” to things I could live without, but don’t really want to… BUT–and this is the key distinction–only if they don’t have an obvious ill effect on my health. I will acknowledge some of this is an instant gratification kind of thing, since I might have vices that cause damage in the long-term without impacting how I feel today. Thus, I try to take everything in moderation, and I think I’m okay with trading a few years off the end of my life for enjoying more than austerity in the meantime.

I, personally, do not appear to suffer ill effects from coffee (no more than 2-3 servings, only if consumed alongside some fat/protein to avoid jitters, and caffeinated only before noon so it doesn’t impact my sleep), moderate amounts of dairy, or BACON!!!, which is just staying, period. I also don’t feel moderate amounts of wine or liquor bother me.

Grains, on the other hand, officially make me sick. And fat. I don’t know if it’s all grains or if some are worse than others, because I frankly don’t really care. I don’t miss them. I don’t miss the heartburn I no longer get, ever. I don’t miss the 12+ lbs I’ve lost. I miss the social aspect of beer drinking, but I had a few the other day and felt bloated, sluggish, and dissatisfied by the taste.

I don’t really know what sugar does to me other than taste TOO sweet, now. My taste buds have acclimated to a much milder sense of sweetness, and anything with added sweetener is usually downright cloying. I’m okay with fruit when I need a hit of sweet.

So, you may be wondering why I feel the need to follow any particular rules when I seem to have a good grasp on what works for me and what doesn’t. The answer, and your mileage may vary, is that I operate best with defined rules. If I have the leeway to “cheat,” I will, and entirely too often. It is much easier for me, psychologically, to have can-eat and can’t-eat than it is to have can-sometimes-eat.

Thus, my rules for this 30+ days are going to be pretty similar to the Whole30 program, without the restriction on weighing/measuring. I think I might keep whiskey, too. I want to work on continuing to redefine the way I eat, rather than try to replace junk with “healthy” junk. As an example, I’d like to get pancakes out of my routine, instead of making them with coconut flour and agave and bananas and calling it good. I want to drink more water, all the time, instead of replacing milk with almond milk and drinking too much of that.

I don’t feel deprived when I eat this way. I think that’s a major point to consider, and where I draw a distinction between a “diet” and a way of living. I might take this 30 days at a time to tweak and experiment, but the principles are something I intend to live by permanently. I don’t have to weigh my food, count calories or points, chart or log anything. I eat until I’m full (sometimes more, if I’m really enjoying what I’m eating) but never wind up feeling overfull and sick like I do on a grain-centric diet. The whole notion of “portion control” is a non-issue, because it comes naturally when I’m eating satiating, rich foods. I, personally, find it much less mentally taxing to have categories of food I can consume in essentially whatever quantity I want, rather than try to eat anything and everything but worry about how much is too much.

Anyway, I don’t know how the next 30 days will impact my body composition, since I already made some major improvements in the first go-round. (I’m about to violate every rule of femaledom, oh em gee!) I didn’t weigh myself right at the beginning of paleo, but I was right around my highest weight, which was 154. My lowest since was just a shade under 138. Today, my start number for this 30, I was 141.8. That’s what I get for “cheating” – see why I’m a good candidate for rules?! Some other numbers, for stats nerds:
Waist (narrowest) – 28.5″
Waist (navel) – 33.5″
Hip (widest) – 39″
I don’t know why they call it your “hip” measurement when really, it’s your ass, but whatever.

My first go-round, I very obviously lost weight in my face, upper chest/collarbone area, arms, and hips/thighs. I say “very obviously” because I have weighed this much before and yet NOT noticed a difference. I think that lends some credence to the idea your diet can affect your body composition, not just the number on the scale. I also think there’s something to the idea of reducing inflammation, because I feel/look fat if I’m all bloated and sluggish, no matter how much I weigh at the time.

I took some pictures today but I’m totally not posting them. Y’all might get after shots, though, if I’m feeling froggy.