More Tweaking

I've been doing some tweaking with my diet as of late.  After doing some further research, I decided to add more "safe starches", as The Perfect Health Diet calls them.  Their blog/website has some really good resources and PHD is very similiar to the Primal Blueprint/Paleo way of eating, but with more starches.  These include, white potatoes (without the skin), sweet potatoes (for now), white rice, tapioca, and others that I can't remember at the moment.

One blog post of theirs talked the body's immune response to fungal infections being dependant on glucose levels, and how very-low or low carb dieters can be prone to them.  Having read this blog and that white potatoes digest into only glucose, while sweet potatoes digest into a combination of glucose and fructose (something we want to limit our consumption of), I decided to try adding one white potato a day to my meal plans to help fight the fungal infection on my legs.  I've also started putting coconut oil on the effected area twice a day as I've read coconut is a natural anti-fungal.  It seems to be helping, abate, at a slow pace.  The effected areas have not got worse or spread, but not getting better as quickly as I'd hoped. 

Now, this could be the safe starch I'm using.  Potatoes are also nightshades, plants that need shade to grow and have low levels of neurotoxins in them.  I've notices red spots on my right arm recently and am wondering if they might be a delayed allergic reaction to the increase in potato consumption.  I only have three left, so I will finish those off and switch to white rice for 30 days to see if the spots go away,

On another note, I've discovered that dark chocolate may be causing me indigestion.  I ate only half a bar of Trader Joes 72% Cocoa Dark Chocolate bar yesterday morning around 9:00 am,  A half an hour later, yep you guessed it- indigestion.  Looks like I'm going to have to cut out dark chocolate for awhile.  So much for that Pound Plus 72% Cocoa bar I bought!  Oh well, it's not that big a deal.  I needed to cut down on bother the amount and how often I eat it anyways.

That means I need to find other ways to manage my stress levels, particular the stress coming from one of my jobs and dark chocolate has become a bit of a "comfort" food for me since going Primal.  The owner of the store and I just don't quite see eye to eye and he seems to be one of those people who is always right and everyone else is wrong.  I know he's the owner and there's really nothing I can do about it, yet he always seems to get some sort of reaction out of me.

I'm working on not being so reactive to his craziness and finding another job.  One where I get the money I earn on time, a schedule more than a day or two in advance, and isn't nearly as stressful.  The stress from this job will often add to the temptation to eat thing that are not good for me or eat more than I need to or when I'm not even hungry.  This usually results in weight gain or stalled weight loss and feeling like shit/lower energy levels for the next day or two.  Not something I want since I've not reached my goal weight (I've got 20ish more lbs to loose) and I want to feel healthy with lots of energy to get through each day.

I hope to get through the holidays without consuming too much food.  We shall see how I do.

Sayonara

Stress Management

It has begun to consciously drawn on me, how stress can affect one's diet.  It was in the back of my mind, but hasn't really come to the surface until a week ago.  I had been 3 months into eating based on Mark Sisson's The Primal Blueprint, when I started to slip.  Gluten and refined sugar started to re-enter my diet.  Granted, I was choosing options that had the least amount of carbs in them (funny isn't?), but that's really not the point.  It has been little things so far: a packet of Little Debbie doughnut gems, a raised doughnut(or two), or a cream cheese croissant a day.  Not too bad considering I'm still losing weight. 

However, I'm going to quit this annoying little habit beginning to re-develope.  As of today, I'm cutting the grains and refined sugar out (again).  I've started making my own food again and bringing enough with me in case I need a snack etc.  All foods I've made today are primal (no grains, no refined sugar).  I'm re-setting my goals reguarding my eating habits.  Grains, sayonara!  Refined sugar, sayonara too!  Out of here.  Gone.

Another thing I need to work on is make sure I eat what I buy.  There are times where I'll buy something thinking I'm going to use it and then it just sits there in my frig, roiting away.  If I would just eat the damn thing, I'd waste so much less money.  And, I'd feel so much better if I just continued to eat primal foods.

Kinda of a bit off topic form the pervious entries, but you will all just have to deal with it.

Sayonara