Before I begin, I want to outline the ten "Primal Laws" associated with this lifestyle:
1) Eat lots of plants and animals
2) Avoid poisonous things
3) Move frequently at a slow pace
4) Lift heavy things
5) Sprint once in a while
6) Get adequate sleep
7) Play
8) Get adequate sunlight
9) Avoid stupid mistakes
10) Use your brain
I hope you enjoy this snapshot of one week in the life of someone who is dramatically changing how she lives. Or at least trying to.
DAY 1
8:50am - Finally roll out of bed with a slight headache. Don't know why. Oh well, I'm hungry and really excited to indulge in the spinach, tomato, and blue cheese omelet (with a side of bacon) cooked by my "also becoming primal" husband. Yum! Headache dulls, but it's still there.
9:50am - Head out to work a scavenger hunt in my Vibram fivefingers. I've seriously fallen in love with these shoes. So glad my husband turned me on to them.
10:15am - Try to mpark at the Metro station so I can read en route (Primal Law 10 - use my brain). No such luck. Punch the address into the GPS & drive to DC. At least my boss reimburses for parking.
10:45am - Get parked and walk to the meeting place for the hunt. Nobody else is there yet, so I decide to venture 5 blocks over to get some Starbucks. Feels good to do a bit of walking after 40 minutes in the car.
10:55am - After debating all morning whether to get iced coffee or an iced latte, I decide on the latte...with sugar free syrup. Doh! Primal Law #3 - avoid poisonous things - violated. Oh well. It was either that or have a drink with a massive carb count, thanks to all the sugar. Next time, I'll go for the iced coffee - although that's tough too because I like my coffee sweet. But at least that way, I can control how much sugar goes into the cup.
1:15pm - After walking around the mall (the grassy one between the capital and the Lincoln memorial, not the indoor variety), we arrive at the first check-in point for the hunt. Boss asks if I'm hungry and offers to buy McDonalds. Ew. No thanks.
3:20pm - Boss is warm, offers to buy frozen yogurt. Hmmm. Still no.
3:30pm - Feeling kind of dizzy. Not sure why. Hoping it's because it's hot and smells like fish inside the building. Weird since I've been feeling much better overall since starting the primal thing.
3:45pm - Watch a girl eat some sort of smothered french fry dish. Looks kind of good. I sometimes miss fries. But I like the way I feel now more than I like french fries. Try fantasizing about veggies....it sort of works.
5:00pm - Head to husband's restaurant for dinner. Steak salad with blue cheese dressing. Serious goodness.
5:45pm - Commence play time (Primal Law #7). Have an absolute blast goofing off with two awesome kids - 7 & 5 years old respectively.
6:15pm - Get coaxed into wine tasting next door. Trying to avoid alcohol, since I'm aiming for weight loss at this point, not just maintenance. But the thought of girl time outweighs that concern - we're going for long term change here. Indulge! In the future, I do need to remember I can dump the wine if I don't like it. But not this time - oh well, my heart and vision will thank me.
7:30pm - Finally leave the restaurant, with a bit of coffee for dessert. I only take 2 sips for a few reasons. 1) Primal law #8 - Get adequate sleep. 2) It has Splenda in it, and earlier in the evening my husband was discussing the research on Splenda - the healthier you are, the worse it is for you. Eek! Kinda makes me regret the sugar free portion of the latte earlier, but I still have the internal primal battle - "carbs" vs. "poison". The more I think about it, the more I'll choose carbs in the future.
8:00pm - At the mall (the indoor one this time). Find some bridesmaid shoes for the wedding in two weeks for only $18. Woo! And I get some more walking in my Vibrams done too.
9:15pm - At home. Cleaning. Realizing it's easier for me to indulge in sleep and play when the house feels clutter free. Need to seriously work on that.
10:10pm - Husband is home. Watch a movie, east some cheese, and a hardboiled egg for late night snack.
12:30am - Head to bed. I think this whole going to bed at an earlier hour without digital distraction right before bed is going to be one of the hardest part of this lifestyle. Hoping our camping trip for the anniversary next month will help.
DAY 2
9:25am - Roll out of bed. Finally. Hope some day I'll be able to wake up naturally...and refreshed.
9:40am - Iced coffee on the way to church. Dunkin Donuts french vanilla coffee, raw agave nectar, & organic, grass fed half and half from Whole Foods.
10:55am - As I listen to the post-Eucharistic prayer at church, I can't help but think of all the references to wheat, grain, etc. in the Bible. I don't mind ingesting gluten when it's the Eucharist, and in some ways, maybe it's more special that it's the only gluten I do intentionally ingest now. Just some thoughts...
11:50am - Leave church, just in time to go on a shopping spree at the farmers market.
12:30pm - Apples, pears, plums, eggplant, green beans, and kale. Oh my!
1:45pm - Sushi! I know it's not the most primal meal out there, but husband wanted some and I really missed it. Seaweed salad, salmon avocado roll, philadelphia roll (salmon & cream cheese), and some red snapper sashimi.
3:00pm - Arrive at home. Do some more cleaning and organizing so I can focus and work toward the uncluttered, less stressful life we really want.
8:00pm - Dinner time. Grassfed steak (in a not so primal, vegetable oil based, store-bought marinade), fresh green beans cooked in butter with salt and pepper, and sweet potato fries. For dessert, strawberries with farmers market peaches and whipped grass-fed heavy cream. I'm seriously loving this food, so good, and so satisfying.
10:10pm - My stomach isn't feeling the best. Not sure why, but I think I'm having some digestive problems. Took my Arbonne digestion supplement and almost immediately felt better. Should research ways to improve my digestive system...
11:30ish - Build our tent in the living room to test it out for the upcoming camping trip. Felt like little kids sleeping in a tent in the living room. Gotta get that play time in!
DAY 3
6:30am - Wake up to the sound of my cell phone vibrating. A bit soar from sleeping on top of my right arm all night. Decide it's time to go upstairs for a short stint of more comfortable sleep.
10:30am - Roll out of bed after a morning of cuddling and chatting with the husband.
11:15am - Breakfast. Spinach and blue cheese omelet, with bacon. Honeycrisp apple. Espresso shot over fresh whipped heavy cream. So. Unbelievably. Good.
1:00pm - Begin our camping trip shopping spree at Hudson Trail Outfitters and REI. Super excited for "campaversary" trip and how well it fits into the new lifestyle we're trying to achieve. (Side note: Vibram makes boots now. Heck yes!)
4:00pm - Hungry. Stop at TangySweet on the way to the movie, Crazy Stupid Love. Banana frozen yogurt with chocolate chips, toasted coconut, and strawberries. Definitely hits the spot.
6:50pm - Time for dinner at the Russia House. $20 off thanks to Groupon. Mango Martini - mango/orange/pineapple infused vodka, mango puree, raspberry puree, and cream - roasted lamb, pork pillows (in pasta - oh well), tomato/olive sauce. And I indulged in a few bits of bread. So glad I did - the butter was absolutely incredible.
8:15pm - After dinner, discuss dessert options for home. Make a plan to stop at Whole Foods if it's open. Gourmet cheese - plus we need half and half. Fingers Crossed!
8:43pm - Whole Foods is open! Score! Eggs, cream, half and half, arugula, and some cheese bites for dessert. (Side note: I love the whole foods cheese section - they have little bites of cheeses, small leftovers, for around $1. Great way to try all kinds of new cheeses without going overboard.)
9:30pm - Cheese, apples, and whipped cream for dessert.
10:00pm - After watching a few episodes of The Office, we get a call from husband's co-worker. He locked himself out of the restaurant. I drive the 8 miles there and back while husband starts reading for homework in the car.
11:30pm?? - Finally go to bed (in the tent again). Fell asleep in the living room with lights and television still on. Primal fail.
DAY 4
9:00am - Out of bed, make some eggs with spinach and iced coffee for breakfast.
10:00am - Leave for a few hours of errands on my day off from work.
12:30pm - Errands take a bit longer than expected. But I think my thrift store/mall browsing successfully counteracted some of the stress caused by earlier errands (primarily speaking of my dealings with a horrible un-named internet service provider). Mission accomplished.
3:30pm - After doing some on-the-phone errands and projects on the home front, I sit down to enjoy our FINALLY reconnected internet with some celery, carrots, and homemade (okay, husband's restaurant made) blue cheese dressing. Yum!
6:30pm - Time to get my butt moving with the one primal rule I've been seriously neglecting - exercise. Go to the gym and do 4 of the 5 body weight exercises. Almost 2 full cycles - fall a bit short on the squats. Then walk for 20 minutes on the treadmill while reading a chapter of my new book.
8:15pm - Dinner! Roast beef, wrapped in bacon. SO good. Plus fresh green beans in butter, and honeycrisp apples with almond butter for dessert.
10:00pm - Finally sitting down to get some things done on the internet. Will finish by 11:00pm and read before going to bed. Seriously need to get better about this sleep thing.
DAY 5
7:30am - Alarm sounds. Back to work. Yuck! I must admit, having the long 4-day weekend was a nice break from reality. Thankfully, it's a telework day - this should help ease the transition.
8:30am - Spinach, tomato, and blue cheese omelet. With bacon. (That is definitely our routine breakfast - when we have time in the morning). Never gets old. Oh, and hot coffee with cream and agave too.
9:00am - Hit the ground running with work after reading through emails while eating breakfast.
9:30am...10:30am - still working on a horrid spreadsheet for work.
12:30pm - go to the mall for lunch. Wanted to do some sprints today, but it's pouring outside and I really don't want to do my first set of sprints on a treadmill. Plus, shopping sounds like better therapy.
2:30pm - Finally eat some lunch. Spinach and tomato salad with celery and carrot sticks. Have a little left over roast for protein and dip the salad in a side of blue cheese dressing. I think I may be forming an unhealthy addiction to blue cheese dressing.
4:30pm - Still hungry. Still working. Still stressed. Have a honeycrisp apple with almond butter to curb the cravings.
6:20pm - Head to the high school to take pictures of a friend's volleyball game.
7:40pm - Is volleyball primal? Watching these girls play sure makes me miss it! Also reflect on today's work. Realize that I really need to start pursuing this photography business. I want to do something I love and stop working for the weekend...and vacations.
8:40pm - Get home from the game. Husband made me a salad! Love him! Baby arugula, green apple, raw cashews, flax seed, blue cheese (see a pattern?) and poppyseed dressing. This is what we affectionately refer to as "our salad".
10:00pm - Editing pictures while watching Law and Order: CI. Still hungry. What the heck? Snack on some gourmet cheese bites from Whole Foods. Finally think I'll be good til morning.
11:30pm - Seirously wondering how I can find a new job. Or be less stressed. Or both. Minimal BS (aka work) stress = uber primal. When I'm not stressed I eat better, play more, sleep better...you get the idea.
Day 6
7:00am - Wake my butt up around 7, after 30 minutes of the snooze button. Back to the office.
7:15am - SO thankful for my husband. He helps make me breakfast, lunch, and dinner...since I have photography class tonight. I have an Arbonne vanilla protein shake with frozen strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries blended in for breakfast; one of "our salads" for lunch; and for dinner...celery and blue cheese dressing, left over roast from 2 nights ago, and a peach. Whip together an iced coffee for the road.
7:20am - Weigh myself before getting dressed and heading to work. Notice I'm back to the weight I started at on Saturday morning. As of yesterday I had lost about 1.5 pounds. I know it's not about the "weight", but I'm not feeling as good as I have the past few days either. Attribute it to stress, since yesterday was my first day back to "work" after a 4-day hiatus.
8:30am - Finally get to work after nearly an hour in the car. The post Labor Day commute is always killer, and the seemingly endless rain for the past 3 days hasn't really helped either.
11:00am - Sitting at my desk with a growling stomach. My co-worker is not ready for lunch yet, so I bring the salad to my desk to ease the hunger.
11:35am - Co-worker is finally ready for lunch. Since I'm still working on my salad, we both head down to the cafeteria to get out of the office a bit.
11:45am - While eating in the cafeteria, I keep debating whether or not I should buy some coffee. My iced coffee this morning had Splenda in it (because we ran out of Agave a few days ago). Oddly enough, after several weeks without it, I can now taste the Splenda, so my coffee tastes like chemicals. Yuck! I feel justified in getting more coffee since I'll be "going" until 10:00pm tonight. But I decide against it, since I would be drinking it mostly for the effect, not the enjoyment.
2:00pm - Start a boring meeting, which goes until 4:00pm.
4:20pm - Notice that shortly after the meeting, I feel like I'm starving again. Oddly enough, I wasn't hungry at all before the meeting. Starting to think there is a BIG correlation between stress and my cravings. Dip into the celery and blue cheese to satisfy the urges.
5:45pm - Finally leave work to head to photography class. It's going to be a long commute as it is STILL raining. I do believe this is about the 3rd straight day, with hardly any breaks. I'm from Oregon and even I think this rain is just insane.
6:50pm - 20 minutes after GPS said I would be at school, I'm still on the road. I open the container with my leftover roast and begin eating it while driving. Feel like I look a bit crazy eating pieces of meat behind the steering wheel, so I try to only take bites when there are no other cars stopped beside me.
7:10pm - Finally parked and in class. Only 10 minutes late! Whew. Within the first 10 minutes, I'm already liking class better this week than last.
8:30pm - Break time. Eat my peach and refill my water bottle.
10:00pm - Excited to head home. It's been a long day!
10:30pm - Notice the part where I got stuck in construction traffic last week is empty because of the rain. First time all week I've been thankful for the percipitation. Will be home before 11. So excited.
11:10 - Get home and head straight upstairs. So. Tired. And still soar from my workout 2 days ago.
DAY 7
7:00am - Same kind of wake-up as yesterday. Hating life after 30 minutes of snooze. Make breakfast and lunch for the day - protein powder smoothie and spinach, strawberry, and cashew salad. Hot coffee with the new bottle of agave.
7:20am - Out of the house. Dreading the horrid traffic before I even sit down behind the steering wheel.
7:50am - Traffic is extra horrid, much worse than yesterday. 30 minutes in, I'm at mile 2 of my 15 mile journey. Call co-worker to let him know I'll be inexcusably late today. He suggests that I telework. I take the offer.
7:52am - Also hear from co-worker about the "boil water advisory" that was issued in the city where I live. Eeek! I had no idea! Hang up and immediately call the husband to warn him.
8:20am - Finally arrive home. Had to travel one more mile in the insane traffic in order to exit the highway and turn around.
10:50am - Head out to the grocery store to get some jugs of clean water. Get some Starbucks while I'm out, since I threw out my coffee due to the contaminated water. (The Starbucks I went to was outside the advisory parameters.)
2:00pm - Finally figure out that I was reading the advisory boundaries wrong - our water is ok. Oh well, we'll use the gallon jugs for our camping trip in 3 weeks.
3:42pm - Dig into my salad for lunch. Decide on a late lunch since I have to work an events gig in the city tonight.
5:45pm - Head into the city.
9:01pm - Open bar! I have one vodka tonic. At least it's not soda (more primal?). Don't think they had red wine, which would normally be my first choice.
9:10pm - Holy CRAP this music is loud. Poor, poor ears.
10:30pm - On my way home, get a call from the husband that brother-in-law is playing at a local bar tonight. Agree that I will pick him up at home and we'll head straight there.
10:37pm - Wonder if there is anything primal I can pick up at Wendy's on the way home. I'm hungry. Can't really think of anything. Oh well. Call husband and ask if he can bring an apple or something for me to much on en route to the bar.
10:55pm - Get to bar. Accosted by uber loud music again.
11:10pm - Husband and I order drafts of Shocktop from the bar. I know beer isn't very primal, but it's okay to indulge in such things moderately - in my humble opinion.
11:20pm - Am plugging my ears by this point. I can actually hear the music now! I don't know how these people do it without earplugs. Am also reminded of the article I read a few weeks ago about silence, and how it is really lacking from the way we live these days.
11:40pm - HEAD HOME. (Oh, sorry, just realized I don't have to yell to be understood anymore). So happy - felt SO out of place in that venue. But glad we could support brother-in-law.
12:10am - Have an avocado and some hard boiled eggs for dinner. Finally. After I eat, I almost immediately crash.
1:00am - Husband wakes me up from my nap on the couch so we can get upstairs. Still can't seem to get this good sleep thing down.
----------------------------------
Lessons Learned:
1) I eat WAY too much cheese. Especially blue cheese. I need to learn how to eat it more "moderately". I know I'll get there eventually!
2) I'm really having a hard time with this whole "get adequate sleep" thing. Need to really work on that as well. Perhaps get in the habit of reading (and using my brain/relaxing) before bed, instead of being online or in front of the TV.
3) I'm not so good at fitting in the primal fitness. I really need to make more time for exercise in my life.
4) I need to research some ways to improve my digestive system, even though it has been much better since I cut out the major carb culprits (bread, pasta, grains, etc.).
5) I've come a LONG way! And though I still have a longer way to go, I need to be proud of what I've accomplished. Making a lifestyle change is always hard, and after recording my thoughts for an entire week, I can honestly say I have changed. I still struggle, but at least I am observant of what I struggle with. I'm pretty darn proud of myself (which is not something I say often).
I hope you all learned a little bit about what I've been trying to do this month, and hopefully had your eyes opened to a different lifestyle. Whether you agree with it or not, I always think it's better to be informed than ignorant.
