Livin' large...

I'll put it out there. I'm fatter than I want to be, and much less fit than I'd like. I used to be super fit - running 3 times a week without fail, some low level cardio and weights - all in all, I worked out 5-6 times a week. But then something happened - I got sick. Again and again and again.

It started with coughs and colds, runny noses etc. There was always the background noise of stomach pain, digestive issues and just generally feeling under-nourished and super hungry - so hungry that I'd feel like I needed to run another 5km just to work off what it took to fill me up.

When I slowed down, inevitably I began to gain weight. Now I'm at a point where my health is much better than it has been in ages, save for a few hiccups here and there, and I feel like I'm ready to lose the extra pudge. 10kg to be exact.

I have been working on implementing more Primal movements into my week. I love Mark Sisson's Workout of the Week posts - they are functional, easy to start but challenging to complete workouts that don't take ages! I'm being as diligent as possible (the crazy Sydney weather is my nemesis currently) with walking the dogs as well, which gets me about 30-45 minutes of low-moderate cardio daily. But what I really want, and what I'm struggling with, is to run. I LOVE to run. But the Primal Bluprint is really more about some sprint sessions and the rest low to moderate cardio.

Mark says it is ok for me to have some running sessions a few times a week. My friend (and running buddy) still goes out twice a week and I'd be fine to go with her - but I'm worried about the stress response and what it will mean for my weight loss efforts. Of course, worrying is probably not helping me either. I think since they are only 5km lunch time runs, they will probably be ok, and fall outside of the "chronic cardio" realm - or does it? It seems to me that almost any and every exertion above a stroll is too much on the cardio side. So maybe I am better off huffing and puffing through a fast moving weights workout...

The other challenge I have is that if I run and I have committed to joining my friend, I know I will most probably go and do it, as long as nothing crops up at work. However, it is very easy to sit on the couch and not do anything when it comes to my low to moderate workouts. So is nothing at all sometimes better than a run twice a week?

I'm raising more questions than I am providing answers... Time for some more research. I'll return more scholared than ever before.

Recipe: Multi-coloured Semi-Primal Moussaka

Moussaka is something Mark & I love to eat, and I think I make a pretty good one. Since we've been together I've only made it once - because that time, it was too heavy and I managed to burn myself taking it out of the oven and drop the whole dish upside down on the oven door. It was covered with foil so salvageable, but needless to say it was just a pile of mush! 

Multi-coloured Semi-Primal Moussaka

Ingredients

1 large Eggplant

2 Capsicums (any colour)

2 Carrots

2 Zucchinis

3-4 Yellow Squashes

1 medium-large Sweet Potato

1 medium Onion

1 clove Garlic (finely minced)

Approx 700-800g Beef or Lamb Mince 

3 rashers Free Range Bacon

2 tsp Coconut Oil (Or other oil you prefer - Coconut is the best for cooking but Olive Oil is ok if that is your preference)

140g Tomato Paste (Organic if you can)

400g Tinned Tomatoes (Organic if you can)
500g Cottage Cheese
1/4 cup Mozzarella or other shredded cheese

Tabasco Sauce to taste (Optional)
Chilli Powder (Optional)

Basil & Oregano to taste (Or you can use any herbs you like)
Salt & Pepper

Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced oven). 
2. Chop the bacon into chunks and roughly dice the onion. Heat 1 tsp Coconut Oil over high heat & fry off the bacon & onion till browned. 
3. Add the mince & cook for about 1 minute. Add herbs, tomato paste, tomatoes & Tabasco sauce. Allow to cook on high heat for a couple of minutes then turn down to low heat. 
4. Grate carrot and add to sauce. Allow sauce to cook for 20 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally. Season to taste, add chilli powder if desired. 
5. Meanwhile, slice the eggplant & sweet potato into 1/4 inch thick slices. Thinly slice zucchini and yellow squash.  Cut capsicums into 6ths and then trim edges to make pieces nice and flat.

6. Lay eggplant out on flat plate and cover generously with sea salt. This will draw the water out and the eggplant will be yummier when you grill it! Leave to stand in the salt for at least 15 minutes, then rinse off and pat dry with a paper towel.
7. Grill all the vegetables until cooked. Start the capsicum skin side up and grill till the skin browns and blisters.
8. Once all vegetables are grilled, grease a 2.8L baking dish (any smaller will be too small and you will have to make 2 batches) with the remaining coconut oil.
9. Now the layering begins - I began with sweet potato on the bottom but you can really do whatever you like! Next I put on a layer of 1/2 the cottage cheese, followed by 1/2 the meat sauce. Then grilled eggplant, all of the zucchini/squash/capsicum, then the remaining cottage cheese, followed by the rest of the meat sauce. I had a few bits of eggplant left, so I arranged them in a pretty pattern on the top and topped with the grated mozzarella.

10. Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes or until cheese on top is melted and browning.

I love all the different coloured veggies in this dish. It's definitely one for a cold day - very warming and comforting without the load of a heavy lasagna full of non-Primal nasties! It's great served with a salad, or you can just gorge it on it's own - it's full of vegetables anyway!

Recipe makes 8 serves.
Nutrition Per Serve:

• 371 calories
• 16.4 g Carb
• 40.4g Protein
• 14.7g Fat 

Ah, THAT's better...

My food day yesterday was MUCH better in Primal terms. I wasn't particularly hungry, so I didn't actually eat anything until about 4pm. When I did eat, I had a naked burrito - basically yummy slow cooked pork with spices etc, salad, guacamole but no wrap. It wasn't perfect - it had rice & black beans in it - but it was much much better than what I'd been having. We went out for dinner with some friends (who brought me some lovely flowers, wonderful wonderful friends that they are - thank you so much again, you made my night!), and I had grilled chicken with bacon, more guacamole, Neapolitan sauce & grilled cheese served with veggies and mash. I left the mash and the corn but ate everything else - and I was quite pleased with myself!

Yesterday afternoon I did a load of gardening. I've always loved to garden - when I lived in an apartment a few years ago I had a million pots all over the place with this plant and that. I was always trying to grow something new. I'd let it fall by the wayside, and had actually left some of my favourite plants at my parents place. When I discovered they'd managed to kill my beloved Poinsettia, it was a call to action for me. Mark and I staged a coup and reclaimed all my plants so they are now safely living on the front balcony where the dogs can't eat them. 

(Just to be clear, my parents didn't care that I was taking the plants back. I think they were glad to be rid of them, and are now hoping it may lead to me also taking my worm farm. Which it will. In time.)

In my gardening frenzy, we went to the big hardware store down the road and I bought a load of seedlings to get my little garden going, and a bunch of packets of seeds to grow from scratch. I re-potted all the seedlings yesterday, and today I am planning to get my little herb garden going. 

I bought a pink Gerbera plant to add some colour while none of my others are flowering. The Frangipani is looking a little sick but since it came home it has perked up, and even has some new shoots coming out. I re-potted the plants on the far left and right into bigger pots and they seem much happier since I did. Gardening relates to being Primal for me because it's my play time - I find it so relaxing, sometimes physically demanding when lifting heavy bags of soil or re-potting plants.

I have 4 different types of tomato plants, 2 chilli plants, a capsicum plant and I've planted Rocket & Cos lettuce seeds so hopefully they'll come up all nice. I'll be using Seaweed fertiliser if necessary, and no pesticides etc. I did buy seed raising mix and I'm not sure what that has in it, so my produce probably won't be 100% organically grown - but pretty close! 

Today is SUCH a miserable day weather wise. I'm thinking about doing some cooking - maybe a fabulous Moussaka. If only my herb garden was up & running already! The dogs were big wet-heads this morning so I dried them off before they came inside. Jeff is the worst in wet weather - he just goes about his business in the yard as if it's not raining, so he ends up completely drenched and wondering why he's not allowed in the house! He's all dry now though, but a little unimpressed by the horrible weather after yesterday's beautiful, Vitamin D rich fun in the sun.

Highland Farm ROCKS! (Or Groks, for the Primal Blueprint lovers.)

This morning we got our meat delivery. 1/8th of a cow always astounds me with how much meat it is! I was pleased to meet Paul - he's the only one, apart from the young delivery driver who's delivered to us a few times, that we've had contact with at Highland Farm Meats, so it was good to put a face to a name.

Here's what we got:

Some bones for the dogs. When Paul arrived, Jeff & Arnie were inside hanging out and they went to the door to greet him. Needless to say, he instantly became their best friend given the bag'o'bones he was holding. A lovely Primal treat for two smelly dogs on a sunny Saturday morning!

Now for the people food - look at it all! It had to be spread across two photos!

All the cuts - rump, scotch fillet, beef ribs, osso bucco, diced chuck, mince, roast. All this tends to last me & Mark about 2 months, but since we're Primal fiends, I'm thinking we may get about 6 weeks out of it. All for the bargain price of $220!

It's surprising how much can fit into a small space as well - I thought we were going to have to turn the freestanding freezer back on, but it all fit in the top shelf of the freezer - apart from the dog bones. Those boys will give them a good home over the next few days.

 Jeff can't get enough! He does make the mistake of leaving his bone if he catches a glimpse of me through the door or if I go outside. Arnie is quick off the mark to steal and and double his fortune in a matter of seconds to TWO bones!

Arnie polished this off in a matter of minutes...

then waited patiently at the door for another. What a cutie!! Because he's a large breed, I fed him a little bit more but Jeff didn't need any. When Jeff realised there was kibble floating around, he came to investigate - leaving his bone open to thieves. Don't be fooled by the cuteness of Arnie - he is quite the thief!

Thanks so much Highland Farm Meats! We've had a great Primal morning, and we're all set for the next 6 weeks with some awesome meat!

Ok, so it didn't go quite as planned...

When I arrived home last night, Mark had been working from home all day. He'd also managed to commence a long overdue clean-up of his office. This had rendered him tired and unexcited about the prospect of cooking dinner. I felt much the same, after my 70 minute commute home and some time spent tending to the plants I recently rescued from my plant killing mother.

So we bought Indian from a place we've been to a few times down the road. In general, it was OK - not the worst in the world. But it did include bread, rice and papadums which are not primal at all. And I'm hoping they use Ghee for their curries - but they probably use canola oil or something, again, not primal.

We also didn't do our low level cardio. I had a stroll in the sun at lunch time, but I'm pretty sure Mark stayed in doors most of the day. Though to be fair, I was in hospital with gastro earlier this week, and Mark is all fluey now (possible from sitting next to me in the emergency room surrounded by sick people). So the exercise thing is probably somewhat excusable - though I am loathe to be bogged down by excuses and yearn to be a "Just do it!" person.

Let's hope today can be better. So far, I've had only water for today. I'm going to do a little IF this morning to try and settle my stomach (it's still a little gurgly - Indian probably didn't help...). A nice long walk for the dogs is what is in order this afternoon too.

On another note, a few weeks ago when Mark & I were just Primal dabblers, we came up with this wonderful, wonderful meal idea... PIZZA STEAK!! It was awesome.

Mark flattened out a yummy piece of rump steak to form the pizza base.

We cooked it a little before we topped it with all sorts of yummy pizza toppings including tomato paste on the base and some cheese to make it stick to the steak.

Into the oven and an excruciating 20 minute wait while it all cooked! But well worth it - check this out!

This is something we'd definitely do again!! Though next time it might have to be raw cheese to be Primal friendly - dying to try raw dairy ASAP!!

The beginning...

About 6 months ago, I started to think something was really very wrong with me. I was working a fairly stressful job, getting sick a lot and displaying a range of symptoms from exhaustion to bloating and cramping. I have a wonderful, health conscious boyfriend who immediately began researching - scouring the Internet for what was making me so sick and miserable all the time.

As I bounced from doctor to doctor, I was referred at one stage to a Geriatrician. Yes, a doctor for old people. This was a turning point for me in some ways. I am 27 years old. I should not be having appointments with an old people's doctor. I should not be displaying symptoms that an old person displays. There had to be an answer. I was tested for coeliac's disease - I had all the markers, the high immune response. But the internal examination came up negative.

But I cut out gluten anyway. And a strange thing began to happen - I started to feel better! I was less hungry all the time. I was less gassy, I could get out of bed without feeling like I needed another 100 hours of rest before I could feel human.

So we delved. Mark had read a lot of stuff on Mark's Daily Apple and ended up buying his book. The idea of eating like our ancestors - free from chemicals, processed foods and things so far from what they were when they were natural that they could no longer even be considered food - struck a chord with us. As we did more research, we realised that the diseases that plague our society and are all over the media like obesity and diabetes are new (evolutionarily speaking). As our methods of eating and living have changed so have our abilities to...get sick and die.

So this is our new beginning - our change hopefully for the better. We are going to be as strict as we can. We are going to do lots of low level cardio, sprints with our dogs, lift heavy things. We are going to enjoy natural foods that we love like fresh fruit and veggies, beef, pork, chicken, nuts and seeds. I'm going to search out some raw dairy and see how that sits with my sensitive tummy.

We already get our meat delivered from a wonderful farm not far out of Sydney called Highland Farm. Our next meat delivery is this Saturday so I'll post some photos of the beef we are getting (we've ordered 1/8 of a cow).

I'm looking into getting organic produce delivered as well directly from the Farmer's Markets. I've found the organic produce in supermarkets terrible - the range is poor and the expense is huge. Plus, if we don't have to go the the supermarket for fruit and veggies, we really don't need to go there more than once every few months or so! This is a dream come true for us - we both hate shopping!

I'm looking forward to moving towards a life that is healthy, fun and fulfilling. I'm committed to all of the The Primal Blueprint's rules - not because I'm jumping on a bandwagon, but because for the first time in my life, I've found something diet & food related that actually makes sense! After trying everything from Weight Watchers to the V-diet - The Primal Blueprint strikes me as something I can stick to, is healthy and could lead to great, healthful results. Plus, the feedback from people who have followed it is amazing.

So no more excuses Bec & Mark! It's time to get PRIMAL.