30-Day Challenge: Day 4

NEW GOAL:  Via Mark's Daily Apple, we're to come up with a 'self-experiment'.  Well, being on the Primal lifestyle now for about 6 weeks, I know I do NOT want to test the gluten issue nor the beans/legume issue.  I did realize yesterday, just how much time I spend on the computer.  A friend was telling me how she uses the therapy ball as her desk chair (duh... I know it's a great substitution...) and figured IF I'm going to be on the computer, THEN I will have to activate my core muscles by getting my therapy ball blown up.  So... tomorrow I'll blow up the ball and see how that goes as my first 'self-experiment'.  Secondly, going in the sun for 15 mins a day.  Sounds easy, but how often do I actually make sure the sunshine hits my skin for an entire 15 mins?  NEVER.  Not unless I'm at the beach, then I get burned and it's a nightmare...  So, outdoor activity.  Starts... TODAY. 

OK, non-run day... supposed to lift heavy things or do a moderate activity for 30 mins to 1 hour.  Well, GARDENING was my answer.  Remember the housecleaning answer?  Riiiiight... yep, same take.  I made sure I was engaging my abs while digging in the dirt and cutting the lower branches off the azalea bushes out back.  All-in-all I was outside for probably 2-3 hours.  However, being in the back yard, I did not get but maybe 10 mins sunshine on my skin.  Well, I came up with the sunshine goal AFTER I spend the 3 hours out back... so I figure that's OK.  :) 

Breakfast:  Considering how late I woke up (9am... HEY!!  I went to bed at 1am, so that's 8 solid hours!!  Well, except for waking at 7am to get my kiddo up for school...), I tossed back some flavored yogurt (nope, not a THING Paleo about that... but, low carb, so I went with it) and 1/2 cup coffee since I was in such a rush to get to my culture group meeting.  That was fun!  I met the group of gals with whom I'll be spending at least one day a month with and next time we meet we'll meet our Japanese counterparts.  I'm so excited for this culture group!!  I've been a member of a culture group for the past year, but I call that my "hoighty-toighty" one...  not that the ladies are snobbish, they're not.  Not in any way/shape/form.  However, we are generally in a very controlled environment with very structured programs and lunches.  This new culture group, I hope, will be more "down-to-earth" in the activities and lunches.  I'm hoping to truly get to know these ladies.  They know more English, from what I'm told, whereas the other group needs interpreters.  Nothing wrong with that, just harder to talk and hold a real conversation. 

Lunch:  Oh, YUM!  Leftovers from last night made into a salad!  I cut the steak up into bite-sized pieces and placed on top of salad greens with grape tomatoes, black olives, and Japanese pear slices.  On that, I put a Japanese sesame salad dressing.  I have no idea what's inside of it, but since they don't tend to use flour as a filler over here, I think I'm safe from gluten and the high fructose corn syrup found in typical American salad dressings.  

 
After lunch, I admit... I took a nap in the middle of watching "Fat Head".  I'm SO happy to say I was able to find "Fat Head" on hulu plus, so watched it for free (or that's what it felt like, however, I do pay the monthly subscription fee... so I guess it wasn't really 'free').  GREAT show and just reinforced my lifestyle changes.  :)  That makes me happy... yet in a way I felt cheated and duped all over again.  I mean, gosh... in PT school and over the 20-some years since, I'd been fed this 'Calories In - Calaories Out = weight gain/loss... deficit of 500 calories = 1 lb gained/lost' and 'eat your whole wheat bread, brown rice, etc, etc' diets... 'white is NOT right' BS.  Ugh... no wonder why I just gained weight unless I did some drastic diet like Michael Thurmond's 6-week body makeover (gosh, it's eerily similar to the Primal lifestyle for my 'body type') and the South Beach Diet (once again, first two weeks very similar, but you're allowed beans for the fiber).  I lost on both of those around 15 lbs in 6 weeks... but the weight always came back on as I was allowed the wheat breads and brown rice/long grain wild rice dishes.  I'm understanding more and more why that didn't work and the stupid... really, I mean it... the STUPID research and government interference that spurned my thinking (and in general, the American public's) toward higher carbs... just make sure they're "whole grain".  WOW... after gaining quite a LOT of weight, in the mid-section mostly, and getting so sick I had to have my gallbladder out, I FINALLY understand.  Thank you, brother-in-law for opening my eyes!!  (I'll email you later and thank you in 'person')  Anyhow, if you haven't seen 'Fat Head'... please watch it.  I know I found my copy on www.hulu.com, but you may have to rent it from a Video Rental site/store.  Here's the trailer... it is a comedic documentary:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgBLQIJEcbE

Well, after I finished watching and napping (that was a nice 30 min break in the middle of the show), I went outside to garden.  Here's what the overgrown bushes look like now (before):

 This one is the first bush I trimmed... the branches went all the way to the ground and I snipped them a few weeks ago to give it a main trunk appearance and let it grown higher.  I have to block the fence so the Japanese 'gardeners' don't come in and just trim them all back into marshmallow looking round bushes.  They're now taller than the 3 foot fence, so it's a victory... perhaps in 2 more years (after we're gone), they'll actually give some privacy to the backyard!!T

 That's a gardenia bush back in against the fence... I'd really like to move that one out front... hubby isn't keen on that idea! 

 Here's our lovely concrete pole... scarey during the earthquake as they just swayed and swayed!!  Oh, there's no grass disease... that dead grass is from my female dog peeing on it.  :(  Never knew female dog urine killed grass until we got Cheyenne...

This is in front of the bushes I'm cutting... that's a Rosemary bush!  AND... last time I came out to cut and shape the azalea, I also cut that hummer to 3/4 it's size!!  It's probably got about 4 more inches of new growth!  So... lookin' for rosemary recipes!!  Anyhow, 2 bags of tree branches and vines (yeah, there's a strange vine growing all through the azaleas... definitely got exercise pulling those hummers out!!) later and... crap, it was dark outside... photo will wait until tomorrow!!  Suffice it to say, the second azalea does NOT have a single trunk.  Poo... just a terrible looking bunch of branches sticking out of the ground!! 

Dinner:  ... was a little late-ish as I needed to get cleaned up, then figure out what to cook and then cook it.  I keep forgetting to take a picture of my place setting.  BUT I did remember to photo the cute cabbage salad I made!!

 
VERY simple salad:  1/4 head cabbage shredded, 2 green onions cut thinly, 6 stalks bok choy sliced, and the rest of that Japanese pear cut up into small chunks, mixed with 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1/4 c macadamia nut oil, 1 1/2 tsp powdered ginger, 1/4 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp white pepper and a bunch of roasted sesame seeds.  What a new staple that the whole family loves!! 

The rest of dinner was small little bits and pieces:  fried in coconut oil some previously made lumpia (thanks, Emely!!), sauteed small scallops in organic butter with some ground pepper and chardonnay, and 4 large shrimp in a shrimp salad manner.  My hubby said there was 'too much food'... but he obviously wasn't very hungry as my son and I ate, and ate, and ate... then we weren't hungry anymore and the dog got a shrimp and the rest of the left overs in the fridge for lunch tomorrow! 

What a great day!  I love eating and not feeling hungry a mere hour or so later!!  AND I had some great exercise cutting the branches, pulling vines and raking the leaves/debris under the bushes!! 

So, was today successful with my two goals?  Well, yes for the one of sunshine... no for the other as I still need to blow up that therapy ball... I'll keep you informed!  :)