Intro post. . . from the future!

Welcome! We're Lolo and Koko. No, those aren't our real names. You think our parents are nuts? Why do you want to insult our parents like that? To learn about us and this project, go here.

Koko Whole 30, Summer Edition

Day One of a new Whole 30 for me. Fasted until 3pm, with just green tea and water all day. Lunch was bacon and eggs with chard from our garden. Dinner was kelp noodle pasta with beef cheek and veggies. Lots of watermelon. Coffee with cocoa powder, coconut milk and stevia. Good stuff. Which reminds me. . .

While doing a Whole experiment, I cook with butter, use stevia (an herb rather than a synthetic sweetener), and chew sugarless gum. I don't use any other dairy. I like a bit of coffee. I breathe on people for work and I feel better doing so with gum in my maw.

More tomorrow. It feels good to be back in the saddle again.

Lolo - Knocked up Edition

So I don't want to turn this into a Paleo pregnancy blog. But I guess it's going to be at least 1/3 a paleo pregnancy blog.

So, I'm 3 1/2 months pregnant. Yay!  It's been complex in certain ways, but great in others. No morning sickness! But lots of belly aches and constipation. Also, I have been off and on out of control with sugar. I am never out of control with sugar when not pregnant. Of course when I'm not pregnant, I have 1-2 glasses of red wine most nights. And when I did my 30 days of pure paleo, I was out of control with fruit. Which I seem to be lately as well. I've been downing watermelon and mangoes and cantaloupe like I'm a tenderloin drag queen and fruit is a size 15 knock off Manolos.  But I don't want to be out of control with sugar anymore.  A few weeks ago, I tried a week of pure paleo but wound up losing a ridiculous amount of weight in less than a week. So that's not for me.
I know that I can get calcium in  ways other than dairy, but really, who wants to eat that much canned salmon? Certainly not me. But kefir has been doing me well. So, I plan on doing paleo and continuing to report daily on my food because I like that.
I also plan on having a non- Paleo day every once in a while (like today! and probably at least once a week) because it's cruel to deny a pregnant lady pizza and chocolate. However, I have noticed that when I eat like crap, I get horribly constipated. So, I would like to stay pretty close to Paleo. With the addition of cultured dairy, fermented foods (miso, sauerkraut, etc), some tofu-- I know that soy and pregnancy are not necessarily awesome together, but I've been having ridiculous tofu cravings throughout this pregnancy. So, tofu it is. And some beans and chickpeas. So, it's barely pure paleo, but it's right for me. I am hoping to get up to 150-155 pounds.
Unfortunately, I can't exercise because of some pregnancy complications. I haven't gone on a run since March 4th and I'm sort of going fucking crazy. I was hoping to run through the whole pregnancy. But now, it seems that I won't be able to run at all. I can't even swim or do anything strenuous. Very yucky.  Back when I was in high school, I was a competitive swimmer. After that, I took a little while off of swimming, but got back into it by my third year of college.  Strenuous exercise just makes me feel right. And right now I feel wrong. In fact, my body is all jacked up. I am in pain all up and down my right side. I feel like ass. I went to my chiropractor and for a massage, and I still feel like total shit. And I can't take anything for it. But I digress. Shit, this is becoming a kvetch blog. But anyway, yeah, I'll report in most days with food and all that.

exes and ohs-- Lolo.

Lolo Day - Days 12-14

All is good in Paleo land. Food is good, poopings good, (thanks to the magic of chia seeds) and I'm feeling a little bit more hearty these days, which is good. Decided to add some fermented dairy in (kefir) because it helps with my digestion in a way that sauerkraut just doesn't. In fact, sauerkraut has an unfortunate circumstance of making me nauseated. I actually think that one of the fatal flaws of the Paleo diet is no including fermented foods, which are phenomenal for keeping my digestion good and keeping me healthy.  So, I'm back to my daily glass (or two) of kefir per day which makes me happy. Of course I'm not adding honey to it, which makes me sad, but staying away from sugar is a better way for me to go. Okay gotta go.

xo,
Lolo

Lolo Day 9 & 10 Good Day 11- EPIC FAIL

Not a good day. For food, for Paleo. For ugh....  back tomorrow.

Lolo Days 7 & 8- taking a cue from Mr. Sinatra and doing it my way (or Sid Vicious)

Days 7 & 8 went well, except for probably eating too much on Sunday which gave me a horrible belly ache that lasted all day yesterday and it's finally starting to subside. I had a lovely chia pudding with walnuts and prunes and bananas and dates for desert on Sunday night and man, it did a number on my digestive track. I think I cleaned out years worth of intestinal debris over the past 30 hours.  Had dinner out with the husband at this cute little place and ate an artichoke stuffed with crab and shrimp and a plain salad on the side. Freaking delicious and very paleo. There was nothing suspect except for mayo on the side, which I gleefully indulged in. Oh wait, maybe that's what did it to my bowels... hmmm...
Yesterday was light on the food just because the belly was so very unhappy.
Lunch was some tofu and dinner was a delicious concoction of sweetpotatoes, red chard, onions, garlic, chicken, and chickpeas spiced with tumeric, cumin, and cayenne and a miso/tahini dressing that I made to dress it up. It was so good and even the Goose loved it. Of course sweetpotatoes are controversial in some paleo circles. But I think they're fine, I ate them in the last incarnation and will continue to. And chickpeas and soy (as in tofu and miso) are definitely not paleo in any circle, but as I said before, I've modified it to make it work for me, and moderate amounts of soy and chickpeas work for me. As a vegan I ate tons of soy, and then, I became vehemently anti-soy. And of course the Weston Price people think soy is the devil. I sort of agree. It's not super good for you in high doses, the way I used to eat it. But I certainly don't think that the one off stir fry with tofu in it is going to hurt me and it sits well with me. It's hard to piece all these things together. Like Weston Price is all about dairy, paleo is all about no dairy, Slow Carb is about no fruit or nuts, and lots of legumes, paleo is about fruit,
and nuts, but no legumes.  I think that no one outside of you can tell you exactly how to eat, you just have to figure out what works for your body. For me, fruit, limited dairy, limited soy, legumes, veggies and meat and seeds and limited nuts seems to work the best. Paleo wasn't great for me last time around because my hormones got all jacked up from all the coconuts and nut products. I had horrible periods and lots of eczema. But now, it seems to be working. I can't say that I'm pure paleo. I'm Paleololo and that seems to feel right. No intense cravings or weird hormonal shifts and absolutely zero eczema breakouts. So yay for that!

Koko - Day 7 Dream

Forgot to mention that I dreamed last night that I ate not one, not two, but THREE gigantic cinnamon buns. I kept thinking, "My god, I'll have to blog about these."

So here I am.

Koko - Days 6 and 7

Take me out to the baaaalllll game. With neither peanuts nor Crackerjack. Or rum in a flask, for that matter. I spent a victorious A's game eating carrots and healthy turkey meat dipped in guacamole. It was nice, though I do notice that pretty much everything I do is a tad less fun when I'm not drinking. Is that alcoholism, I wonder? Or do people drink for a reason? You know: because it's fun?

I practiced driving, from home to the Colloseum. The A's smoked the Mariners. It was Japanese Heritage Day and Matsui got his 2500th career run. I got a lot of reading done and felt happy to be in the sun.

Later, dinner at my dad's house. I am forever surprised by what people eat and call healthy. His wife is a smug Weight Watcher who has a bunch of digestive issues but is still very attached to fiber, whole grains, low fat and fake sugar. Yet she is also a totally self-righteous "real foody" and a quasi-vegetarian. It's fun eating and talking about food over there!

Dinner was burgers, grilled onions, avocados, cole slaw (lo-fat mayo, very sweet) and sweet potato fries.  God knows what my kid ate all day with them - he had explosive and mucousy diarrhea and kicked me and screamed in his sleep all night. Boo.

Cucu – Top O’ Week Two

Just a quick update regarding how I’m doing.

The scale this morning states I’m down 9 lbs., which is hard to believe, as I generally work out harder at the beginning of a weight loss endeavor. But after a week of clean eating and several light cardio outings, I’ll take it! Huzzah! Also, I do believe the fish oil has greased my joints a bit, so I’m feeling a smidge more spring in my step.

While I feel good, I don’t feel void of cravings—it took all the strength I could muster a couple nights ago to skip the Jack in the Box drive-thru for a mint Oreo cookie shake and head home for an apple and nuts. I will continue to monitor my cravings, and while I know they’ll never altogether disappear, my hope is they at least quiet waaaay down. Lastly, I'm feeling tired, but I suspect I will pep up once I start working out harder/sleeping sounder.

As for food, I was Pretty in Paleo but for a bowl of chili, one french fry and three Junior Mints (a birthday outing with my niece is to blame), a couple Starbucks coffees with ½ and ½, and gluten-free whey protein, which is either acceptable or not depending on which Paleo expert you’re reading. I think it’s also worth mentioning I'm overall enjoying the meal plan, and I kicked ass on a spaghetti squash and meat sauce recipe—that there squash will likely be a weekly staple. Yum!

So far, so goodness.

Smooches,
Cucu

Lolo Days 5 & 6

Day 5 was great, I discovered the best, but most ridiculously expensive paleo snack, made by Zen Monks in Detroit. I didn't know that Detroit had monks, but whatevs. Anyway,  I'll never buy these again because they're so damn overpriced. But so fucking good.  Delicious in fact. Yesterday,  day 6, my planned falling off went right according to plan. It was fine. Lots of motorloaf and scones and cream and jam and even going out to a bar where adult beverages were flowing and I even ate a whole burrito for dinner.  But back to it today.Yay for today!
I went to the doctor on Friday and discovered that I lost two pounds since I went last which was after our last 30 day Paleo challenge. I really don't want to be losing weight this time around, so I'm probably going to increase dairy.  Last time I went high on the coconut and nuts thing, but my eczema and my period were both awful and I don't want to trigger any weird hormonal shit this time. So, this time around, lots more dates and fruits of all kind and I'm gonna up my dairy and chickpeas. I realized that if you stick with Paleo pretty strictly and don't go nuts on nuts, weight just kind of falls off inadvertently. 
Okay, I'm off to whole foods to buy Kale and butternut squash and lots of other yummy stuff.

x's and o's

Koko - Days 4 and 5

One work week down. Going okay, wicked boo hoo pms not withstanding. I sat through two visits to the local ice cream parlor, dinner at this sweet restaurant, and the entire first half of a school play (which featured 4 year olds singing selections from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I kid you not), all without even one little nip of alcohol.

A bit of dairy has snuck in (the unasked-for bleu cheese on tonight's burger, a bit of half and half in yesterday's coffee) and I'm reminded that I can't have Lara Bars around. I ate two today, in lieu of food. And then I ate food. Otherwise, I'm on the paleo-la-la path (which is how I do paleo while also indulging my dorky francophilia. I'm reading this right now and really loving it despite near-constant references to patisseries.)

Exercise has fallen off this week so that's a goal to pick up again. I have other, non-paleo goals I'm working on and those are going well. One is to wear pretty underwear every day. Because, you know: I'm deep.

So sleepy. Off to dreamland pour moi.

bisous,
Koko

Lolo Day 4

Just a quick update because I'm exhausted.
Awesome day. Got flowers from a client and it was gorgeous out. I love the sun. Food was great.
breakfast was chia pudding-- chia seeds soaked in almond milk with walnuts and prunes and nutmeg and cloves.
lunch was tofu, seaweed, and an apple. I know that soy isn't paleo, but as I said before, this time the rules are less about what "the rules" are and more of what works for me. And sometimes I have crazy tofu cravings. I have no idea why, I just crave blocks of raw tofu. It's just yummy to me.
Snack was carrots.
Dinner was brussel sprouts with olive oil and cayenne, and a salad with avocado, romaine, tomato and a bit of bacon and hard boiled eggs and some tahini lemon dressing that I made which was yummy and another apple.
My goal here is balance, health and vitality. I definitely don't want to lose weight this time around. One thing that I loved last time around that I haven't been doing enough this time around is once or twice daily meditation sessions. I want to put that as a goal for tomorrow and next week. Helps me to just feel happy and peaceful for most of the day.

The Honeymooner - Day 4

Cucu here, doing the LoKomotion!

It’s been 3.5 days of blissful bacon and sausage, apples and semi-frozen berries, veggies galore, coconut oil and nuts (as in cuckoo, or Cucu!). I’m keeping it simple to start, and hoping long-term to whip up Paleo recipes with gusto and ease (think Julia Child with a duck), as well as up my energy, exit a nagging funk and trade flesh for flesh (sorry piggies, chickies, moo-moos and various sea critters!).

This journey starts at the tail end of taking very poor care of my body for quite some time, after success and equal failure with various diets, after major life changes. But more on that later—like the post’s title states, I’m in the honeymoon stage! It’s all enjoying the retraining of my palate, asking Koko (goddess of nutritional and other wisdom) annoying questions and tracking the diminishment of junk food cravings.

I feel successful thus far in keeping on track with my meal plan, getting in some exercise and strolling on by several sample stations at the grocery store featuring baked goodness, chips and cheese, with nary a second glance! Though it did take Herculean effort to not buy roasted-salted macadamia nuts (or put my mouth under the bulk food nozzle). Only raw nuts for me (that’s what she said).

I just wanted to say a quick hello, and thanks for inviting me to share here and there. And uber gratitude to Koko, for both introducing me to Paleo and giving me all manner of encouragement.

Well, like Little Miss Lolo, I like me a hearty poop. I’m off now, as Jerri Blank from Strangers With Candy once said, “to pass what will hopefully be a very memorable stool.”

Smooches,
Cucu

Koko - Day 3

Another fine day. Tons of sun here so I feel like my Vitamin D stores are getting stocked way up. More fruit than is probably good for me, I had watermelon, an apple, some raspberries (these frozen with half a LARA bar, a leftover kid-snarfed banana, some cacao nibs, and coconut: shredded and milk). I took the caveboy out for an ice cream and ignored his bossy 3-year-old dictate that "I have MANGO and YOU have CHOCOLATE, mommy." I, in fact, had none. I did have some eggs, I think some meatloaf? a LOT of pork roast, sauerkraut and charden from our garden, all covered in yummy pork roast drippings and full of garlic.

What else? Just some walking. I'm noticing that, historically, it may be that I get my exercise groove only after a couple solid weeks of the paleo eating. This seems to have been the case the previous two rounds - first I get the food sorted, then the manic nighttime running happens.

I don't know. It's a busy week. I have loads to do in life and jogs and thrice-weekly bar videos are not (yet) happening again.

I'm laughing as I reread the posts from last time: all enthusiasm at the beginning, full of "never again, this regimenting is stupid" as time goes on.

I realise I never feel on an even keel with food. I am either hungry but feeling light and energetic, or I feel slothy, full, ravenous and insular. I wonder what it would take to just feel even and good most of the time.

More sleep, to start.

good night.

Lolo Day 3- Accountability

Today was one of those days where I really wanted a bagel and cream cheese. And then I really wanted to go to Walgreens and buy 4 cream eggs and put them in the freezer and them eat them frozen. Then, after dinner, I wanted frozen yogurt.  But I didn't because of me and koko's new challenge.  I realized then that this is why we do it. Not to be insanely strict or to be obsessive, but to be accountable and get support for this. I already know that I'm planning on eating some bread on Saturday and perhaps having a Paleo grade drink on Saturday evening, and that's fine. It's planned, though not a planned binge, and this blog and our dedication to each other is what makes this doable. It's what makes me say, "no bagel today, no chocolate today. Not no forever, just no for now." And I like that. Especially these days when I'm having lots of anxiety. For various reasons, anxiety and I have become great friends in the past month or so. We spend all our time together, frolicking, canoodling, in fact, we hardly get any sleep and spend many nights awake just being with each other.
As for food, 'twas a nice meaty day today.
Breakfast was tofu and butter (wtf?) Tea with almond milk and a whole bunch of kelp
Lunch was Salad with chicken and balsamic vinegar and oil
Snack of maybe 3-4 handfuls of almonds
Dinner was a small salad, one whole avocado and a very, very, very large greasy burger with cheddar cheese.
I'm pretty full, but thinking I might have an apple before bed because lack of fruit = lack of poop and you know how I love to poop.

Okay. Lolo out!

Lolo- Day 2

Today was fine except for my little potato binge. The goose was eating a crepe and he doesn't eat the potatoes that go with it, so I got 'em. I'm not totally anti potato, but I can overdo them. So that can be problematic. But otherwise, good day, with lots of fruit, apples, dates, and lots of veggies, carrots, beets, kale and lots of salmon, almonds, and chicken. Plus a bit of dairy, some feta cheese and cream in my tea. Speaking of tea, who knew that Samovar had a paleo plate? Yum! It's kale, beets, carrots, smoked salmon (or tofu or chicken or whatever you want!). And tomorrow I'm going to make this Chia pudding for breakfast. I love anything that makes me poop.

Koko Day 2 - Now with Accidental Gluten?

Great day! I saw the Eadweard Muybridge exhibit at the MOMA and really enjoyed the homoerotic motion studies - barely clad blacksmiths coming at you!

I had a really good dance class in which I didn't feel like (much of) a total spaz, a had a short, nice conversation with a Tunisian cafe owner who has set up shop near a place I go every week. I told him I was glad he was saving me from patronizing Starbucks and we talked about Turkish baths, massage, and why my coffee choice (black, no sugar) made me "healthy, like a French person." Why, merci beaucoup, monsieur. You do go on.

I ate some meatloaf that was totally unpaleo, I'm sure. I ordered it at my favorite little coffee place near work before realizing that meatloaf is generally made with breadcrumbs, not almond meal, as it is in my house. So Day 2 and I'm imperfect already. But perfection is unrealistic and hardly my goal.

Home cooking tomorrow. This is key for me for keeping on track.

Lolo Day 1

So happy that Lolo and Koko are back. Have been feeling out of control with food lately and uncomfortable with sugar. Have been eating lots of ice cream and chocolate and cream eggs. Yummm... cream eggs.
My goal for this time around is not to get obsessive. I plan to eat a bit of bread on Saturday (though not go crazy) but then get right back on. I also will incorporate a small amount of soy and dairy and a very moderate amount of legumes (beans every so often, though not a ton) because for some reason I crave tofu and chickpeas often and I feel good when I eat them. This time I won't go crazy with coconut because it gave me f**ed up periods last time and I won't go crazy with nuts because I think it triggered my eczema in an intense way. But I definitely feel much, much better off of gluten and sugar and booze and caffeine. I've been mostly off the booze and caffeine for a while now though, so that feels nice. 
Am feeling good emotionally.
Food was fine today, after my weekend Ben & Jerry's binge.

Breakfast was 3 handfuls of almonds and an apple.
Lunch was a bowl of miso soup with seaweed in it and some of my leftovers from dinner last night.
Dinner was same as lunch leftovers from last night which was kale, onions, garlic, butternut squash, chickpeas, cashews and tofu sauteed in olive oil with sea salt, cayenne and tumeric. Pretty delicious.
That's all for now.

except that i wish cream eggs were paleo... le sigh...

Koko - Day 1

Strong start to the new Whole 29 thing. Meat, veg, eggs, half of the kid's banana and half of his clementine. Coconut milk in the morning coffee, some coconut oil to cook with, almond meal in the meatballs, black coffee in the afternoon, in the absence of coconut milk and committed again to see how I work with a strict no dairy policy. All of my potential bingey things were kept well in check. Even the Lara bars and chocolate atop the frigo were left untouched. So I feel good!

I do notice I feel more hungry right now, even though I'm well-fed. My body misses its preciousssss, the sugar, the sugar. I'm excited to feel the cravings die away, and happy to have more time to exercise in earnest later on in the week.

As for my specific goals for this time around. . . Well, my main goal is that I plan to complete the whole 29 days rather than fucking off the last several in a fit of the gimme-gimmes. And now, some after-dinner crunches and push-ups. Then: house cleaning! Tomorrow's impromptu landlord visit has my attention more than food, glorious food talk.

Lolo- Right Before Day One

Goshdarn sugar hangover... this has been a bad weekend with food. But that's okay. Happy to get back to a saner, gentler Paleo-ishing.   I'm also going to allow tofu and some legumes, like chickpeas both which i crave a lot.
March 27-April 26. Looking forward to it. Having tea with tea sandwiches next weekend. Won't restrict the bread, but will be moderate with it. Other than that, no exceptions that I can think of for the next 30 days.