Greetings! Shifting I do…

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A while it has been since last I posted and a few updates for you I have.

Speak as Yoda does all the time I cannot

I’ve been trying to do this in Yoda-speak and it is difficult sometimes. In the past, I had posts I wanted to make and when I sit down to write them, it takes 3 times as long because I am trying to translate it into Yoda’s style of speaking. This is tedious and time consuming so I will no longer being doing it. I will try to throw some in here and there, but the majority of the posts will be in plain English.

Where have I been?

I’ve been working in landscaping for almost a year now and it keeps me very busy and very tired at times. It can be hard work and when I come home in the afternoons, I am tired! 😉 Typically, I come home and veg out. The typical response when a coworker asks what I’m doing after work is “Shower, eat, sleep.”

I decided I need to get back to doings things like posting to this blog and getting back on the path to good health. I fell off the wagon as far as my smoking and I also need to cut out the adult beverages. One thing about landscaping: we work hard and we party hard. This needs to stop so I can move forward with fat loss and attaining peak health. I plan to quit smoking again and make it stick. I may return to alcohol on a limited basis at some point in the future, but for now, I’m cutting it out.

What’s next?

Last fall, I started following a fat loss protocol called AltShift. It was created by Jason Seib and it works. I was doing well but things over the winter got out of hand and I stepped off the path. I’m getting back into it again and am going to stick with it for the long haul. I think one of the reasons I slipped was that I was getting tired of all the food prep and spending half of Sunday cooking. In the future, I plan to keep it simple and just do it. Being tired of cooking is not a valid reason to avoid eating healthy. Time to step up and get it done.

More on AltShift to come.

Soon I will see you and more updates I will have.

-PY

An Open Letter to Best Express Foods, the Makers of “Aussie Bites”

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HI! I love the Aussie Bites but won’t be buying them again. You use canola oil. Organic or not, it’s shit. Before steam engines went the way of the dinosaurs, canola oil (rapeseed oil) was used as a lubricant. Once the steam engines went away, it was discovered that with WAAAYYYY too much processing – using poisonous chemicals – it could be made “safe” for human consumption. Me? I would prefer not to ingest it at all. In fact, your use of this oil is the ONLY reason I will not buy them again (or any of your products, for that matter).

I implore you to switch to a healthy alternative like coconut oil. All of the other ingredients are A-OK! But, the canola oil must go!

At this point, while they are delicious, I can not consider them healthy since you continue to use a steam engine lubricant as an ingredient. Please consider my alternate, and truly healthy, ingredient.

Planks

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Something I’m considering for the New Year:

The 30 Day Plank Challenge will send your core strength through the roof! Yes, all you have to do is HOLD this position, nothing else! It looks pretty easy, but it isn’t!

Day 1 – 20 seconds
Day 2 – 20 seconds
Day 3 – 30 seconds
Day 4 – 30 seconds
Day 5 – 40 seconds
Day 6 – REST
Day 7 – 45 seconds
Day 8 – 45 seconds
Day 9 – 60 seconds
Day 10 – 60 seconds
Day 11 – 60 seconds
Day 12 – 90 seconds
Day 13 – REST
Day 14 – 90 seconds
Day 15 – 90 seconds
Day 16 – 120 seconds
Day 17 – 120 seconds
Day 18 – 150 seconds
Day 19 – REST
Day 20 – 150 seconds
Day 21 – 150 seconds
Day 22 – 180 seconds
Day 23 – 180 seconds
Day 24 – 210 seconds
Day 25 – 210 seconds
Day 26 – REST
Day 27 – 240 seconds
Day 28 – 240 seconds
Day 29 – 270 seconds
Day 30 – PLANK FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!!

A Call to Arms

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First off, I have to can the Yoda Speak. Fun it is on Twitter. In a long blog post, tedious it is!

Some of you may know that I am a regular user of TwoGrand. I love this app. It’s a constant reminder of how awesome the path is and that one should stay on it. Healthy eating is one of the four pillars to awesome heath (the other three being sleep, exercise, and stress management). I tried to post the following on TwoGrand but the app told me to cut it to less than 1000 characters. I have no idea how many characters are in the below post, but I scrapped it and decided to post it here:

———

I’ve been feeling pretty good about my eating this year, but I feel it is time to confess and do a solid reboot. I’ve been eating paleo/primal for the most part. For the last few months I’ve been cheating once a week. For the math nerds, that’s 1 meal out of 21, which is about 5%. 80/20 is usually a good rule and I’ve been holding to 95/5.

That being said, I need to stop the cheats. Those doughnuts and Ben & Jerry’s, while tasty, aren’t helping the cause. In January, I lost ~25#. Counting that month until now, I’m averaging 10# a month. While still decent, I wonder where I might be now if I had not stumbled.

I will be making a few major changes over the next week:

1. I will be going back to 100% paleo/primal. Along with this, I will be cooking more. I miss the good paleo/primal meals and need to do this as not preparing makes it easier to cheat.

2. I will get back on the wagon. While I haven’t been drinking to excess, I have been enjoying paleo friendly adult beverages here and there. My largest weight loss period this year was the first two months of the year. I did not drink during that period. I also know I will sleep better without it, especially since I’m working nights right now.

3. I will quit smoking. Again. Sigh. I quit spring of last year and made it about 7 months but then bad decisions over the holidays led to my backslide. I want to be done with them.

4. While I am on my feet 8 hours a day (night) at work with lots of walking and some heavy lifting (up to 50#), I want to start other physical activities: I plan to install the new parts on my old Model B Concept 2 rowing machine and start REAL heavy lifting at home. I have the weights, just waiting on a bench/squat rack. For the record, the current night job made a huge impact on my weight loss when I started it. Leading up to it, I was losing about 1-2# a week on nutrition alone. My first week on the new job, I was down 8#!!!!

I am only 75# from my goal weight. But as the paleo/primal gurus say: it’s not so much the weight but how you feel. I want to feel good and look good naked. I’m not there yet but I’m close enough to know that it is within my grasp if I recommit myself and just stay the course.

That is my plan. I post it here to remain accountable. I want to weigh ~200# before the end of 2014, with MORE muscle!!

-PY

ps. One good thing about the last 4 months is that I’ve learned what I can get away with while not adding weight. Once I reach my goal physique, I’ll not have to worry about keeping it. 😉

Paleo Taco Salad

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A favorite of mine this is. Have it for lunch I do. Quite often. The basics? Salad with taco meat, organic salsa and guacamole.

The Salad

Simple it is with romaine, baby spinach and kale. All organic.

The Taco Meat

Make this in 3 pound batches I do, so always on hand it is. Easy to reheat for lunch. Grass-fed beef I use. Season it I do with this taco seasoning recipe.

The Salsa

Simple this is again. Make my own I will some day, but for now, use Safeway’s Organic brand I do. Tasty it is and all organic. Their pasta sauces I also enjoy, but not on pasta. 😉

The Guacamole

One of my favorite dishes. Grew up on Mexican food I did. From California I am and obligated by law I am to love avocados and guacamole. Not really, but love them I do anyway.

Use Alton Brown’s guacamole recipe I do. Spicy and delicious! Enough one batch is to cover a week’s worth of taco salads. While cooking the meat is, making guacamole I am.

Add them all together and a paleo taco salad you will have! 😀

Enjoy it you will

-PY

LazyYoda and a Meditation Haiku

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Long have I been away from here. A new job I have started. Physically demanding it is. Great exercise as well. Combined with my primal diet, help me lose 30+ pounds it has since the New Year started. Tired and sore I feel at the end of the day, but very good, too!

Back to meditation I have come and helping it is. Calm Yoda is. 😉 A haiku about meditation I recently wrote:

Thinking constantly
Catch and release, watch them go
Focus on breathing

And that… meditation is.

Write more often I will.

Chocolate

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In past months, learned to love dark chocolate I have. Before paleo, handle it I could not. Now, love it I do. 90% cocoa… wonderful it tastes and relish it I do. BUT, limited quantities I eat and easy that is to maintain now that paleo I am and avoid sugars I do.

Since trying dark chocolate, dark chocolate with chili I have wanted to try. Find it locally, I could not. The other day, saw it I did whilst buying 90% and buy a bar I did.

On a hot, humid planet I live and believe I do that all cultures that live similarly love spicy foods. Suspect I do that it is to make them sweat when spicy foods they eat. Feel cooler in the heat, when sweat they do. In my heart I know this. Consequently, spicy foods I love as well.

When I found the dark chocolate with chili, happy I was to finally try it and try it I did. Odd it was to feel the spice after the sweet. A bad combination? Think not I do.

But a problem I found…

For months now, 85% or higher was the cocoa I tasted. Used to it I was and no other sugars did I eat. Love this cocoa I do now. But when trying the dark chocolate with chili, too sweet it was. At the package I looked and only 45%* cocoa it was. Over three days, finish the bar I did, but buy another I will not. After months of walking the paleo path, overly sweetened chocolate I cannot eat. To my tastes, too sweet it is. Almost, I did not like it. Honest I will be and say that almost I did not finish it.

Glad I am to have tried it. But again I will not.

Do not be afraid to try new things. But know that on the paleo/primal/JERF path, straying to old ways… not the same they will be. Comfort they may sometimes bring, but more often I think, make you see the boundaries of the path they will.

Along the same lines, indulge a little I did during Thanksgiving. A couple pounds I gained (and lost them again I have). These last few weeks, served me well they have in spite of these stumbles. For shown me they have how much a little waiver in walking the path can affect my goals and my tastes. The hard boundaries of the path they have shown me and easier it will be to follow.

If weight-loss your goal is (as mine is), then stay on the path you must. Say some will that 95% is ok, but sometimes not enough it is. The weight I gained, because very little I strayed and immediately to the path I returned, lose it again I did. But, on the path had I stayed, then where gain and loss there was, there would only be loss.

These past few weeks and the overly sweet tasting chocolate (which to those eating SAD**, too much dark chocolate they would have tasted), while tasty they were, help MY goals they did not. The only good thing I see: reaffirm my faith they have.

Stay on the path and MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.

*at best
** Standard American Diet

Breakfast: Chorizo and Eggs, Yoda Style

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Breakfast for the next 4 days I just made. Last time a frittata I tried to make, but too much filler and not enough egg. More like a meat pie it was. Tonight, this theme I continued…

chorizo-eggs-breakfastIngredients:

  • 2 packages Mexican Chorizo (10oz each)
  • 8 eggs
  • 1 sweet potato, grated
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 green pepper, diced
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • a little coconut oil

Method:

The oven, preheat it to 400 I do.

The chorizo, browned on low heat it was and removed from cast iron skillet. Next, melted coconut oil I did and onion and peppers I sautéed. After a few minutes, the sweet potato I mix in. A few more minutes and the chorizo I put back in. Drain it a little first I do. All of it mix together I do. Then, 4 shallow areas do I make. Into each, crack 2 eggs I do.

Carefully, place it all in the oven I do and let it cook. Remove it when done the eggs are.

Tasty this is and filling as well! From this, four meals I will have.

Soon will I rest, yes, forever sleep. Earned it I have. Twilight is upon me, soon night must fall.

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Sleep

Important it is and ignore it you should not. Many articles there are on the importance of it. Value it I do in my life. Used to be always I did not sleep as I should. Understand it better I do now and an effort I make daily to attend to it. Staring at TV or computer all night, help they did not. Learned I did that blue light they output and tell your body it does to not make melatonin. Necessary it is to make one feel sleepy. If exposed to blue light you are after dark, then melatonin you will not make and tired you will not be at bed time. Toss and turn you will.

Three changes I have made and help me they do. With these changes, sleepy I feel before bed. Quickly fall asleep I do and soundly I sleep.

Help me these three things do…

F.lux

Installed this app I have on my laptop. As sun sets, change my color settings it does. Slowly, it removes blue light. On the first night, yawning I was before dinner. Good this is. Found it through Mark Sisson I did and grateful I am for it. Use it daily I will and just now I realize available for iDevices it is. Install it I must!

Uvex S0360X Ultra-spec 2000 Safety Eyewear, Orange Frame, SCT-Orange UV Extreme Anti-Fog Lens

Same purpose these serve as F.lux, except work on all light they do. Put them on I will after dinner. Wear them I will until I turn off the lights for bed. Even wear them while reading I do. The blue light they block and sleepy I become. Only will I wear them at home. Self-conscious Yoda is. mmm ehHEHEHEhehe.

Make Time for Sleep

Turn things off and go to bed I do now. Used to be watch TV until tired I felt. Sometimes, long it would take. Now, turn things off. Only watch programs I want to watch. No more watching tv because bored I am. DVR, freed me it has from commercials so less time it takes to watch. Every night, turn devices off and read before bed I do. Heavy the eyes get. Good this is. Consciously, these decisions I make and time I set aside for sleep. When combined with JERF and some exercise, sleep soundly I do. Awake I do in the morning ready for the day. Groggy Yoda I am no more!

Other Changes

Can not sleep on my back. Never liked it have I. Uncomfortable I feel. Always slept on side or partial stomach. Always had arm under pillow, under my head. Shoulder pain I started to develop this year. Watch this I did from Kstarr (another great teacher!) on pillow and neck pain. My pillow I folded in half, length-wise. No longer do I need arm under it. High enough it is to support my head. Gone my shoulder pain is and better I sleep now.

Lastly, block lights and sounds I have. Very dark and quiet my room is. Cool as well. Keep the temp in high 60s to low 70s.

Take the time and effort you must in order to sleep properly. Help you it can for this is when the body heals and if deprive yourself of this you do, then suffer you will.

If PaleoYoda Look Good Does Not…

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… then look good you do not!

hmm ehHEHEheheheh, made a joke I have. Hmphf! Maybe funny only to me it is. Heard of Vidal Sassoon have you not? Regardless, time I waste.

Hair Care

Stopped using shampoo I have. Long time used Head & Shoulders I have. Recent years past have found my hair feeling oily after washing. Like it I did not! So stop I did.

“What do you use now, Mater?”

Now, use baking soda and apple cider vinegar I do. And easy it is! Two squeeze bottles I use: into one add 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Into the other pour 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. 1 cup of water to each I add. Marked the levels on each bottle I have so easy to fill they are in the shower.

In the shower, baking soda you will use first. Rinse. Then vinegar. Let it sit I do for a minute or two, then rinse. Clean my hair feels and for longer, too.

Before, greasy my hair would feel 2 days later. Stand up it would upon awaking in the morning. Now, far less greasy if wash it I do not. Look good it does when wake I do. The cats I no longer scare!

Items I use:

Last almost a year they should because every day washing, needed it is not.