Still primal

Soooo cavegirls didn't drink wine -dammit!  I'll tell you something else, they don't like Crown Prince Albert  squash despite what Hugh Weirdly Eatitall says about them. He was waxing lyrical about their sumptuous taste and their beautiful blue colour and all I can say is bleurgh!  I thought I was being so clever - had an impressive meal planned for a boy (yes... a male one, who had been enticed into my cave) which was going to be lamb chop, curried leek and kale in coconut milk, and mashed Crown Prince Albert squash.  

 The squash was not a success, bland, dull, insipid, tasteless.....you get the picture.  Bit embarrassing after I'd made such a fuss about this exotic blue squash that we were going to have for dinner *sigh*.
  And it's not me just being a fussy thing - squash hasn't fared well in the opinions of the paleo facebook group either - in fact the reactions have varied from "it's going in the compost" to "sod them, they can bugger off".  ( I did try again and made spicy roast acorn squash today and it is actually really yummy so I think I'm going to persist with the squash but only roasted with lots of crushed cumin, coriander seed and chilli - and that's all I shall say about that!)
Crossfit has persisted in leaving me in a semi- paralysed state - 60 pistol squats....on EACH leg - seriously - how the hell are you supposed to get home after that??  That was in addition to a warm up of 50 press ups and 50 squats - scaled muscle ups and pushpresses.  So couldn't use my arms either!  The painball certainly came out after THAT session.
I had intended to be strictly primal this week but I have a friend who thinks it's funny to hide Lindt chocolate bars around my flat - and as I have the breaking strain of a soggy kitkat I "may" have eaten a fair bit - hey I'm supposed to be hunter-gathering right??
Apart from the chocolate fail I have been pretty good.  Now that I'm half way through I can share some of the things I have learnt along the way.  You CAN eat too many roast parsnips, squash only tastes good if you roast it with lots of spices, it's amazing how many eggs you can get through in a week,  Becky may be built on bacon but I'm fueled by chorizo,  I haven't yet got bored of roast chicken, Nando's is my friend.  I have found the facebook support page invaluable for inspiration (thank you Cathie, Becky, Jules and Cherie in particular) - I LOVE huevos rancheros, and my slow cooker is a godsend.  The only thing I still crave is chocolate (and occasionally martinis).

I have noticed that while the weight hasn't dropped off as I had hoped - I am slowly getting less wide and my double chin is receding.  And while I'm not bouncing around like Tigger with energy I have stopped needing to take an afternoon nap when I'm "working from home".  I have managed 3 crossfit sessions this week (which is a first for quite a while) and while I'm aching I'm not crawling along the floor begging for mercy.  I managed PBs on back squats, shoulder presses and deadlifts today and have gone down to a green band for my pull ups.  After 3 weeks I think I can safely say that despite my initial scepticism I am enjoying being primal - I am eating more vegetables than I had ever though possible and am taking pleasure in finding new and interesting things to cook.  I quite like being a cavegirl (as long as she can occasionally get upside down drunk without being squashed by a woolly mammoth)

Going loco....

Yup - who'd have thought that I would wander into M&S and pass the chocolate and biscuits aisles without a sidelong glance and go straight to pick up lamb koftas and a little pack of fruit and nuts!   I have a Nando's loyalty card and a vegetable rack brimming with, well er... loads of vegetables.   I have to admit that squash week was a little bit of a disaster.  I had it all planned - I was going to buy lots of different and exotic squash, cook them in clever and innovative ways and then write it all up here to show what a clever little cavegirl I was.  It all started so well when my sister and I wandered past Reg theVeg in Clifton village and noticed a big basket of different and exotic squash(es?)  A lovely French lady then talked to us about the different types - I particularly wanted spaghetti squash as I wanted to try to make paleo spag bol.  Luckily they had one, they also had a Crown Prince Albert  squash about which the lady waxed lyrical so I bought that too - my sis bought 2 little acorn squash(es?) for the kids as we had been told you could eat them for dessert - roasted and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.  So far so good - I also had a butternut squash at home that I was going to spicy roast and make into frittata with some chorizo for my sailing weekend.

The spaghetti squash was easy - stab it a couple of times with a knife (or a fork) and bung it in the oven about 180degrees C and leave for 40mins to an hour - (but DON'T let it roll to the back of the oven and get jammed between the shelf and the oven wall so it burns and fills the flat with a putrid smell!).  Luckily I noticed before it was too late (I just cut the burnt bit off later).  I was supposed to be cooking a meal for a couple of mates that night so bought a roast chicken and had that with the spaghetti squash fried up in butter with bacon bits and kale. (Once the squash is cooked -cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and with a fork pull out the squash flesh from the skin - it goes into strings like spaghetti - hurrah!)  Next time I would use some stronger flavours such as garlic but I was cooking for a fussy boy who doesn't like it.
The frittata was awesome and a very welcome alternative to the sandwiches, pies, pasties and sausage rolls that tend to get eaten on the boat while we're sailing.  It was a hell of a weekend - top end  gale force 8 as we struggled towards Southampton for a party.  It took 2 hours for my hands to defrost and I was very grateful for my first glass of wine in about 2 weeks.  Unfortunately I didn't manage to stick to 1 glass and although I managed to eat as clean as I could during the crew chinese meal I did seem to inhale the best part of 2 bottles of wine!
Despite feeling quite special (and f*&^ing freezing) in the morning I avoided the bacon sarnie and ate some chorizo instead but couldn't resist yorkshire pudding with my Sunday roast.  By the time we had delivered the boats back, sorted out everyone's kit it was late and we were all knackered - I still managed to turn down the offer of a Burger King on the way home but had a small chocolate bear and M&S pad thai for dinner as I hadn't prepared for Sunday night (doh!).
I have to admit that  the scales have been a little cruel to me post  the weekend but I have knuckled down and got primal again.

squats or squash (your choice)

Sandwich - what kind of a name is that for a WOD for people who aren't allowed bread?? I dreeeeeeeem of sandwiches but after that session - not anymore (......ah now I see the logic!!)  800m row (achilles too sore for the run), 21,15,9 wall balls (3kg) and american swings 16kg, 800m row.   Finally just cos he could, Andrew finished us all off (literally!) with a team 2500m row (500m each) bleurgh.  Unfortunately my overenthusiastic hip thrusting (probably without engaging my core sufficiently) during the swings did something horrid to my back- so back to the physio for me!
I failed at the first hurdle in apple rolling (again literally) - apple was too big and not round enough (note for next year!) so it wouldn't go under the apple limbo bar. I scampered lumbered off with my tail between my legs to put a heat back on my back.

Now it's at this stage that all the primal beings out there will be squawking about sitting - apparently spine wizards osteopaths will tell you that sitting is to your spine what sugar is to your teeth (or in fact your tummy).  Mobility WOD had plenty of posts on squatting and there's a rather amusing video on You Tube for any of my time-rich friends regarding the advantages of squatting over sitting.  Moral of the story - must squat more.  OK I get it! (and I might even don the fetching attire seen in the photo!)

Was a good cavegirl for the rest of the day despite being tempted to rip the hands off anyone I saw holding pastry (obviously cured of my sandwich addiction since the morning) and made some more submlime moroccan tomato stew.
Had some epic minor fails over the next few days by succumbing to dark chocolate and a couple of martinis when a friend came to visit on Sunday evening although I also made an amazing kick ass slow cooked pork shoulder with ginger and apple along with Jamie Oliver's spicy roast butternutsquash.  More moroccan eggs for brekkie with the rest of the spring greens followed by an unpleasant trip to the physio.  Went to St Nick's market to the new Grillstock food store (perfect for salivating caveboys and girls) and had their pulled pork and coleslaw bun without the bun  (almost as good as mine but not quite) and then proper steak from the lovely butchers at Ruby and White with asparagus and bearnaise sauce for tea.

Apart from the chocolate I'm on a roll (mmmm bread!) so had bacon, eggs, courgette fritters, asparagus and bearnaise sauce for brekkie and Chorizo and salad for lunch.  I've been sagely following the advice of coach Andrew to concentrate on eating  more green stuff rather than trying to find grain free alternatives to pancakes and muffins and bread and cake and... ok I'm going to stop now. Minor problem is that I'm not a great fan of green stuff so I set about searching for some recipes that might encourage me or give me inspiration.   Hugh Weirdly-Eatitall's book Veg every day has a few paleo recipes but a curried leek and kale recipe (cooked with coconut milk) particularly appealed especially when I thought I could add some diced bacon.  Et voila - supper of leftover slowcooked pork, leftover squash and some super yummy curried leek and kale with bacon - stuffed!

As it's coming up for Hallowe'en I feel slightly obliged to start mining the squash mountain.  Also I have to admit to still missing the idea or maybe the texture of carb side dishes.  Unfortunately I can't bring myself to eat cauliflower *hiss* devil's food -which can be mashed to make faux rice but I've seen recipes involving spaghetti squash and mashed pumpkin that might kid my brain into believing pasta and mashed potato. I saw some cute teeny pumkins in the supermarket so I shall get one and see how I go (it may get boring as I may well get ever so slightly obsessed for a week)

Cavegirls definitely had boobs

If I haven't lost weight after a week doing this I shall be bloody very pissed off annoyed!!!  I think I'm going to have to stay indoors for a week as I still haven't got over my cravings for sweet things, but at least I have no posh dinners next week although I think I can't avoid socialising totally.  I shall just have to hope that people don't notice my diet or are sympathetic to my  wish need to lose some lard.  As I'm allowed to eat healthy fat I'm hoping that losing weight won't involve losing my boobs (I know there are some of my friends who have been very concerned about that aspect!)  and it sure beats some of the crazier ideas I've heard about (apparently rowers swear by ambrosia rice pudding - which isn't paleo and is in any event the food of the devil!)
I'm amazingly thirsty considering the amount of water I've got down my neck in the last 48 hours while everyone around me has been drinking champagne and wine, but I'm hoping that is just my body's need to flush out fat or toxins or whatever it is and that when I step on the scales on Tuesday that I don't have to throw them out the window!

Had bacon, scrambled egg and broccoli for breakfast and a huge chicken and roasted artichoke and avocado salad for lunch.  I have a recipe for moroccan stew to make up for this evening, which you can then cook with eggs to make a spicy breakfast like huevos rancheros - but I will have some of it tonight with steamed broccoli and asparagus and whatever meat I have in the freezer and then have it with eggs and bacon (or chorizo) tomorrow morning after cross fit and before I go apple rolling.

I am going to make some more courgette fritters to take with me sailing on sunday with some beef jerky and hard boiled eggs plus a small tub of almond butter to eat with an apple (hopefully a world champion apple) -well that's the plan - we'll see if it works out!
I have to admit that despite all my moaning I haven't been hungry yet, but I do feel lethargic (although that's actually nothing new!)  I am desperately trying to get myself to the gym for a swim cos my ankle is killing me but I may just end up doing a session with the pain ball and try and do some mobility WOD stuff as I could do with working on my achilles, feet, and shoulders.

Postscript:
I was a little scared to weigh myself because if I hadn't lost weight I was really going to struggle to keep going with paleo, but I also needed a bit of encouragement to keep at it so I bit the bullet and stood on the scales of death.  I have lost 2.75 lbs since Tuesday so less than a week.  I haven't yet broken the 12 stone barrier but I am hoping that by next Saturday I will have done that.  I guess I shall just have to take this a week at a time and see how I go until it becomes easier or more natural.  At the moment I'm still gazing wistfully at every cake that I see and I nearly walked into a lampost as I rubbernecked a bottle of wine in a pub window yesterday (I'm just glad I don't have a telly so I'm not constantly bombarded with adverts for fast and sweet food).  Hopefully I will get over this phase soon and I will be swooning over cavolo nero and tenderstem broccoli instead (sorry that was said with my tongue inserted so far into my cheek that I couldn't breathe!)

cavemen didn't wear blacktie

Days 3 and 4 of the challenge have been difficult because they required me to head to 2 posh work dinners.  I couldn't drag myself to cross fit on Wednesday morning because I ached all over and slept terribly.  I made myself a fab breakfast of bacon, brocolli and bearnaise sauce and hopped on the train to go and see my mate Woodsy before going to my first black tie dinner of the week.  I had briefed her on my weird diet and I was rewarded with pesto chicken, and salad - I must buy balsamic vinegar as it really made the salad taste lovely - I even ate cucumber which is one of the foods of the devil!

After lots of chat I realised I was late so bunged on some lippy and a frock and skipped down to Richmond to get the train to Waterloo.  It's funny but in London no one bats an eyelid at people in black tie on public transport (even if they are cavegirls in disguise).  I had hoped to time it so I missed the drinks reception (less temptation) but had to wait around for half an hour drinking fizzy water while everyone drank champagne (I think people thought I was either ill or pregant!)  The dinner was in the London Film Museum and there was a caveman film showing on the wall (yaaay).
I cheated a little because the starter was baked fig with mozarella (shall have to go dairy free in a couple of days) and then we had a huge wodge of overcooked beef with 4 julienne sticks of carrot and potato dauphinoise (my absolute favourite :-()  I gave it immediately to my neighbour to avoid accidental hoovering and while cursing under my beath vowed that I would eat dessert.  Actually dessert was 3 tiny bits of mango and chocolate mousse - I ate two spoonfuls and then stopped a) because I felt guilty and b) it was toooo sweet.  Dinner was uber dull especially without the lubrication of alcohol.  So I scampered off as soon as possible to get the last train back to Bristol - got to bed at 2 with a massive headache.
Day 4 and I woke at 10 (paleo says to wake without an alarm clock :-D )   went off to get eggs but as it was so close to lunch I had spicy roast chicken thighs and salad with roast artichokes and pinenuts instead of bacon etc.   I was planning for the next day's breakfast and lunch on the move and was looking at having hardboiled eggs, chicken breasts and salad - in the end my trip to leicester got cancelled so I might look at one of these cool soup recipes; spiced pumpkin or creamy tomato.  As I had homework for running club I went out in the rain (yes you read that right!) to do my 5 x 5 minute runs, picking up my knees and flicking my heels - managed 2 x3 and 2 x2 and 1x5 minutes and despite being cheered on by some welsh workmen, gave up because my left ankle was hurting (yeah I know I'm the excuses queen).  Weird because it's usually my right achilles that hurts but it's the inside of my left ankle.   Got the pain ball out and did some stretches and some massage which was excrutiating and went to shower and get ready for black tie dinner number two *sigh*. I had eaten a naked bar earlier and a handful of nuts/fruit/seeds so I baked 2 figs and then grilled them with some stichelton to keep hunger at bay.  Got a cab because it was hard to walk in the heels (and it was raining) - again timed to arrive after the drinks reception and straight into dinner.   I had tried to play it safe by asking for a wheat free, gluten free, dairy free meal so got melon and strawberries to start rather than mushroom ravioli (hate mushrooms - food of the devil) and some beautifully cooked lamb with roasted root vegetables and boiled potatoes rather than the mash that my neighbour got (he also got my potatoes).  The wine was (unusually for these gigs) pretty good stuff so I was gnashing my teeth as I drank tap water with some strawberries (?) floating in it.  Desert for me was sorbet compared with a rather lovely looking lemon tart (food of the angels).  I ate a few spoonfulls but it was sweet so I gave it to my neighbour in exchange for a sip of his wine.  I also caved in a stole two chocolate truffles and ate some grapes and cheese with a sip of dessert wine.  I left as soon as possible after encouraging everyone to come to the world apple rolling championships on Saturday and nicked an unopened bottle of red that no one wanted ;-) (it's amazing what you can fit in a little evening bag when you really want to).  (Ankle still hurts :-( )

got my measure!

I dreamt about roast chicken last night - with crispy spicy skin, mmmm....Sorry I'm not going to go all Freudian on you (and I expect my ruder friends are spitting out their coffee at this moment!)  I have weighed and measured myself so I can see whether the change in lifestyle is making any difference (I've drawn the line at photos to avoid sending small children screaming from the room).
I had a lovely breakfast of bacon and poached eggs with asparagus and courgette fritters and then had a look for recipes for mayo and hollandaise sauce as I'm pretty sure they must be paleo.

For those who fancy learning a bit about paleo, here are some videos by the lovely Andrew from Crossfit Avon, explaining the basis of the lifestyle.
I scampered down to crossfit armed with lots of water and a naked bar.  Andrew was on good form after his trip away to Barcelona and set us off warming up with kettlebells and a weird one legged deadlift which really targets your but (when you aren't wobbling or falling over.....it's all in the core).  Then we did some kipping practice - for those who aren't clear - kipping is a movement to generate momentum to help make pull ups easier (that's the theory but I just look like I'm having an epileptic fit).
Today's session wasn't helped by the fact that I was being a biff and almost managed to miss the bar when I went to do pull ups and then did manage to get the band stuck between my legs - so elegant and not altogether comfortable! ( I'm blaming the sugar DT's).  The trick requires a strong core so you get to work on the muffin top without even realising it.  I gave up with the band and just practiced swinging on the bar - I'll get it one day!
Then we practiced squat cleans, still got a problem with wrist stength and allowing the bar to rest on my shoulders (again rude friends watch out for coffee!), but was very much helped with the technique by Andrew's suggestion to imagine killing pixies with our elbows.......??!!!
Elizabeth is a WOD requiring 21,15,9 squat cleans and ring dips.  RX for women is 40kg - I managed 22.5 and boy that was hard, especially trying to get onto a band for the dips afterwards (more epileptic fitting!).  Finished in 10:58 and wanted to throw up. Of course, luckily, today was also the first day of the 8 week zero to hero running club at Moti run by the lovely Nina Killick so by the end of that session of high knees and heel flicks and sprints (sprint may be an overstatement as several small toddlers passed me) I was crawling on my knees and my arms, butt and abs were screaming. 
I had a naked bar after Crossfit and then a chicken breast and salad with avocado oil mid afternoon.  Dinner was the rest of the steak from yesterday and broccoli.

 I haven't learned to love broccoli so I made  bearnaise sauce to bring on the love and..... because I could. It was yummy and I have enough to go with asparagus and bacon and courgette fritters tomorrow - no eggs because I used the yolks for the bearnaise, although I could always try and make my first ever egg white omelette (very LA ;-) )

ugh - day one as a cavegirl

So day 1- and I woke up with a carb hangover after a mahoosive yorkshire pudding and beef sunday lunch and pizza for dinner.  It's always difficult to eat healthily when you're away from home and travelling by train and unfortunately the paleo thing just adds another dimension of difficulty, but I had planned ahead and bought some chicken breasts and avocados - so until 5pm I consumed 2 chicken breasts and an avocado.  While I like both those things I was feeling a bit sorry for myself by the time I got home so I cheated a bit and ate some little sweet chilli peppers stuffed with cheese that were in the fridge and a chocolate orange naked bar.
 I have been doing a bit of research and found a website called paleo plan which has loads of paleo recipes and because I bought an industrial quantity of courgettes last week I decided on the paleo courgette fritter recipe using coconut flour instead of grain flour.

It's blindingly simple (might be mixing my metaphors a little there) grate 2 or3 courgettes, mix 1tbs coconut flour and 3 eggs into a batter and mix in the courgettes - fry blobs of the mixture in coconut oil to make fritters. They are truly yummy and I had mine with some steak and asparagus.  It's important to sprinkle salt on the grated courgette and leave it in a sieve for about 20 minutes - then squeeze it to remove the excess water (you'll be surprised how much comes out) or you'll get soggy fritters.  I always like a bit of spice so I added lots of pepper, some chilli flakes and some ground cumin ( you could add pretty much any herbs and spices - I reckon they would be nice with mint or chopped spring onions.) I am saving the rest for brekkie tomorrow with bacon and poached eggs.  These are going to be a staple for the next couple of days but I'm pretty sure I'll get bored of them before the 6 weeks is up!  So I shall have to keep experimenting so I don't fall off the wagon - luckily I have now downloaded the kindle books I bought so I shall have an interesting few days trawling through paleo recipes to find ones I like that don't involve cauliflower, beetroot or mushrooms :-)