Sad to disappoint but my first journal entry is just an intro and delving into stats that I'd rather not disclose.  I'm 30 years old, a working mother to two boys (19 months and almost 4).  My DH works a ton and travels on a fairly regular basis so I'm on my own a lot.  We belong to a wonderful CSA, buy all of our meat at a local farm that produces grass-fed beef, pasture raised chickens, pork, lamb, raw dairy and cheeses as well as some charcuteries, amazing bacon and handmade sausages.  I make no promises of perfection, never been good at orthodox approaches to anything I plan on incorporating some dairy into my diet and am open to dropping and adding things as I progress.

Here are the nitty gritty stats (sigh):

Age:  30
Weight:  164
Height:  5'3"
Measurements -
Waist (natural)  34
Abdomen (at belly button)  37.5
Hips  43
Thigh  22.5
Calf   14.75
Arm   13
According to the P90X calculations I'm 42% blubber

For exercise my DH and I are doing P90X, scheduling it is hard since we usually end up doing it at 9+pm, shower and finally get to bed around midnight.  I work at 6:30 so the reduced sleep is definitely wearing on me.  I used to take yoga and am hoping to reincorporate that into my life in the future. 

I'd love to add another child to our family but right now I need to focus on getting back to a healthy state.  I never managed to lose the weight from my first two (about 30 pounds total) so I need to get back to a 'normal' weight before I can even consider adding another.   

Looking forward to you input, criticism (be nice!) and most of all knowledge.  Can't wait to get started!

For anyone that wants to check out where I get my food...
My meat - http://www.hendricksfarmsanddairy.com/
My CSA - http://www.bloomingglenfarm.com/
My secondary meat source (rarely) - http://www.tussocksedgefarm.com/

DH = dear husband, I'll just call him Dan from now on .  Commonly used in the forums dominated by women, guess not so much with the men huh? 

Thursday August 26 2010

My meals may be a bit boring until I can make my way to the farm to stock up again.  Going to try and make jerky, but have to go get a proper cut of meat - I've heard London broil & flank steaks are best so we'll see whats available.  My menu thus far today:

*3 hard boiled eggs
*green tea
*big salad - romaine, chicken, bacon, cucumber, red onion & sunflower seeds
*1/2 oz. walnuts (I do measure these, it's very easy for me to eat way to many) 
*NY strip au poivre:  season steak with salt, cracked pepper, garlic, pan cook in butter (2+ Tbsp), when cooked to desired doneness remove, then add a dash of sherry or marsala wine to the pan and let it cook off, add ~1/4 c. heavy cream, season to taste and pour over steak (disclaimer - I already said I'm incorporating some dairy)
*tension tamer tea before bed

I need to drink more water, had some today but definitely not enough.  Even more important because the soda withdrawal headaches have already started.

Unfortunately the salad was at the mall so definitely not organic, and they had no oil dressings, all creamy so I got full fat franken-ceasar dressing.  Figured high fat was probably a better choice than the low-fat, no-fat dressings.  I asked but they didn't even have just oil and vinegar.

Update:  Made it to the farm before I picked up the kids, spent 130 bucks but I've got Delmonico steaks, London broil (for jerky), skirt steak, chicken thighs & drumsticks, bacon (x2) and pork breakfast sausage. Also, a first, beef short-ribs.  I think I saw an Alton Brown show with them and they looked pretty darn good - that's my experiment for the weekend.  For everyone trying to find offal, they've got it all, liver, kidneys, tongue, heart, oxtail - gotta grow a little chest hair before I delve into the world of organ meats. Baby steps right? Picked up a nice NY strip for dinner, it was huge and I ate it in it's entirety, fat and all!

Warren - the P90X workouts are intense, 6 days/week - that's asking a lot of a working parent so I'm not worrying about it when we miss a couple here or there.  My goal is not to get ripped like their 'testimonials' just to be healthier (and after 2 babes my abs are in a bad state of affairs!).   

Saturday August 28 2010

     Working this morning so it's going to be an unintentional IF until I get home, probably ~15-16 hours or so total.  I'm not hungry so it should be fine.  Nothing planned yet for the day - hopefully some time outside with the kids and some good food.

*2 chicken thighs & 1 drumstick
*the cheese, pepperoni & sausage off my sons small pizza slice
*delmonico steak with sauteed peppers, onions & garlic (I'm eating nightshades)

Confession - I had a small ice cream cone (gasp!) we went to a local farm for the afternoon (which has a creamery) to look at the animals, I feel really guilty about it since I've been doing really well.  Everyone else had fresh corn and wild rice pilaf with dinner, except me, so that was a small victory.

Sunday August 29 2010

*2 hard boiled eggs
*latte (non-paleo)
*4-5 slices bacon
*chicken leg & thigh
*handful of nuts (almonds, walnuts & sunflower seeds) w/ dried cranberries
*braised short ribs (which by the way were amazing) - the marinade did have a little brown sugar in it

Went for a walk after dinner so got a little light exercise in, trying to finish up the mounds of laundry so we can get to bed at a decent time.

Tuesday August 31 2010

* 1 1/2 oz nuts & a few raisins
* gazpacho
* waldorf salad:  organic spring mix, apple slices, raisins, pecans w/ apple cider vinegar & oil dressing
* beef jerky
* 1 oz cheese
* 2 eggs cooked in butter, 4 slices bacon

  I found it kind of funny that the gazpacho and salad were from a organic raw vegan restaurant/health food place.  I was perusing some of the books and there was a kids healthy eating book - it was kind of a a superhero vs. villains thing - there was a meat monster, and a fat monster - I had to laugh a little to myself.  Feeling a bit worn down today, need to try and get to bed relatively on time tonight. 

Hi emiloots - I wouldn't recommend london broil or flank steak for jerky just out of the sheer cost.

You can get eye of round for cheaper. It also is very lean and easy to trim... my directions are here: http://joshua-davis.blogspot.com/2010/07/beef-jerky.html

Ahhh!  Where has the time gone, Dan was away on business for almost two weeks, then we went on vacation to the Outer Banks for over a week - I have been so absent and so so bad.  I must admit vacation included ice cream almost daily (I don't keep it in the house for that very reason!) a decent amount of beer and some not-so-paleo foods.

On a positive note my husband and I have decided to start trying for baby #3 (please let it be a girl!) so I'll be a preggo-paleo hopefully in the near future    I'll start posting my food tomorrow, for now it's off to bed - I should have been sleeping two hours ago!  On a side note the weather is freaking amazing - I love fall!