Day 48

Meal #1 8:15am
two eggs
vegetables with turmeric
cranberry sausage
banana



Comments:
I've been up since 5:20, when my leg pain was so severe it woke me up. I put a 1/4 tsp Natural Calm into a glass of water and chugged it. I paced around for 20 minutes until I was so tired, I had to lay back down and then I was in and out of sleep until 6:45. My legs still hurt so freaking much, the right one more than the left.

Breakfast is the same as what I made last night. I wasn't in the mood to try to come up with something else and I didn't feel like standing there to make bacon, not that the pain is eased at all when I sit down.

I'm toying with the idea of Restless Leg Syndrome or even a vitamin/mineral deficiency. Nothing is off the table at this point. I'm going to keep doing things in hopes of alleviating the pain as quickly as possible, and then work toward keeping it away for good. It hurts exponentially more just sitting here though, so I'm going to go stand and eat.

Coffee 10am
heavy whipping cream added

Meal #2 2:45pm
leftover chicken soup
four slices of bacon
baked sweet potato with butter, cinnamon and nutmeg
coffee with hwc



Comments:
I'm still trying to take it easy with food. I have a lot of meat and vegetable ingredients I need to start using up, but it'll be time consuming. Dinner tonight will probably be the start of some new foods.

I wanted more coffee. I was surprised to have finished my coffee earlier and more just sounded really good.

Barely Snack 5:30pm
half mini box of raisins

*no picture*

Comments:
I was starting to feel that too much water/not enough food feeling, but I was in the car. The only thing in the car was a box of raisins.

Meal #3 6:15pm
grass fed burger of perfection
whole red pepper
3/4 of a perfect avocado



Comments:
So perfect.

Snack #1 7pm
apple



Meal #4 11:15pm
tuna with homemade mayo, pepper and turmeric
pepper slices and cucumber (only ate half of the cucumbers)



Comments:
I went to eat at 10pm, but got sidetracked with cleaning out the fridge. I didn't go to sleep until 1am maybe, though so it wasn't too big of a deal.


NC 1/4tsp:
5:30am
2:30pm
11:40pm

Day 47

Meal #1 12:45pm
banana and pepper slices



Comments:
I woke up this morning and felt awful. That full of water and nothing else feeling from last night remained and my legs hurt a lot more than they have before. I tried to eat these peppers at 9am, but after one slice, I thought I was going to puke. I went back to sleep. I haven't felt that bad in awhile.

The sleep helped the nausea, but I still want to be careful. It's hard to find normal "I don't feel good" foods when you're Paleo. I can't have toast or crackers, rice or spaghetti. I wasn't keen on the banana with its high sugar content, but I knew it would be mild enough to potentially keep down at least.

Meal #2 2:30pm
smoothie*
chicken soup
three slices of bacon
orange juice*





Comments:
I only drank a small portion of the smoothie. Not even a quarter of it. It was just too sweet and too...I dunno. It just wasn't going to sit well. So I thawed out the leftover chicken soup and made some bacon, which did sound good, surprisingly. I tried to drink orange juice with it, but my body was rebelling against more fruit at this point, so I only had half the glass.

While my head is starting to feel better, my leg pain is otherworldly. See EotD Comments below.

Meal #3 5:45pm
Chipotle salad with:
Romaine, carnitas, and limited cheese, mild salsa, sour cream and guacamole



what I threw away




Comments:
So this was all mostly Paleo. I barely ate half of the last four ingredients listed. I didn't get the hard tacos which, in the past has been my staple. No grains, especially today.

I should also mention that this was so freaking tasty. I love Chipotle.

Snack #1 7pm
2.5 slices of bacon
a whole pepper

*no picture*

Meal #4 10pm
two scrambled eggs
vegetables with turmeric and pepper
cranberry sausage



Comments:
When did I stop using turmeric on my vegetables in the morning? I don't think I documented it. I don't even know why I did it. All I know is that I haven't been doing it and now I wonder if that has contributed to my leg pain. I doused my vegetables in it tonight. I'll see how that goes.

Snack #2 10:45pm
small baked sweet potato with butter, cinnamon and nutmeg



Comments:
I read today that sweet potatoes might help with leg pain. I'm really just covering all my bases at this point.

Snack #3 11:30pm
banana
two square Green & Blacks

*no picture*

Comments:
I just kind of wanted something else.

EotD Comments:
The pain in my legs was unbearable by 3pm. After two hours of crying hysterically, I finally caved and took an Advil. The pain in my left thigh intensified and the pain in my right leg extended from my hip, down through the front of my thigh, along the right side of my knee, down through my calf and into my ankle. Pain from hip to foot is so much more horrible than the localized pain in my left thigh. Also my right arm started hurting a little bit too.

It was like this deep ache that engulfed my limbs. I don't know what's wrong with my legs, but I couldn't tolerate that kind of pain after so many hours. I haven't been in pain like that since elementary school when I was "diagnosed" with growing pains afters months and months of testing (with results within normal limits and months and months of the worst pain I had ever felt. I loathe that kind of debilitating pain.

I bought some Natural Calm today (a recommendation from Robb Wolf and various people at PaleoHacks)and have already taken a dose. I'm hoping the magnesium supplement will help. It's on my agenda this week to get a Vitamin D3 supplement as well. I need to be able to fix this and I refuse to overdose on Advil to dull the pain and cause a crap ton of other ill effects in the process.

I've spent a lot of time today doing leg pain research, but it's a broad subject matter with limitless possibilities. I limited it to Paleo to see if maybe there was any correlation. It could be a decrease in carbs or a mineral/vitamin deficiency. It could be an absorption issue causing the deficiency. It could be something more life threatening and less easy to treat. I just don't know yet.

So far what I do know is that I'm going to take the magnesium and Vitamin D supplement. Also, I read that eating sweet potatoes might help. I'm going to try to get better sleep and I'm going to take it easy working out. I'll start using turmeric again and probably more cinnamon as well. And then I'll see.

Day 46

Meal #1 9:30am
eggs
vegetables
4 slices of bacon
orange juice



Comments:
The bacon just gets better every time I use it.

Meal #2 12:30pm
hamburger
avocado and pepper slices
asparagus, onions and mushrooms
slice of bacon



Comments:
When I got home from the farmer's market, I was so hungry. This was a good leftovers meal.

Meal #3 3pm
mini burger
leftover chicken with bbq sauce
Sticky Sticks sans the raisin
apple peel from 1/2 apple (and two small slices of apple with Sunbutter)



Comments:
I was just going to eat some apples with Sunbutter, but the kids snagged the apple, so I made a real meal before my walk instead.

Meal #4 9pm
buttered cod
salad with spinach, peppers, onions, apples, cranberry chicken sausage and bacon fat dressing



Comments:
I felt so ill earlier. I had this moment when I thought "Why am I even eating Paleo if I feel this shitty?" I don't think it honestly has anything to do with paleo one way or the other, but if I was going to feel all gross, I should have at least had Reese Sticks or pizza or something.

So I walked for over an hour and a half, but really didn't feel much better. I skipped dinner.

I'm going to blame the Sunbutter. Not necessarily because I think it's the Sunbutter, but definitely maybe the quantity. I know better than to keep eating it like I have been, and the same goes with the extra fruit intake. No more Sunbutter. No more excess fruit. I shouldn't have to remind myself of this every week.

Here it is now 9pm and I'm hungry, so I made food and gosh this is some good eats. The problem with the cod the first time was the lemon flavor. The second time was the wine flavor. This time I went for just butter, salt and pepper and it's phenomenal!

Snack #1 12:30am
baby carrots and cucumber slices
slice of bacon
2 fried eggs





Comments:
I've had a lot of water in the last two hours. Six to eight glasses. I wasn't thirsty—I haven't been thirsty, but I also haven't been drinking like I normally do. A lack of fluids may be one of a few things causing, or at least have a hand in causing my leg pain. We'll see tomorrow.

With so much water intake, I kind of have that sick, full on nothing feeling. I'm tired, but I still have to be up for a little while more, so I thought eating would probably be a good idea.

I left seven carrots. They just weren't really doing it. I made a couple eggs instead.

Day 27

Meal #1 10:45am
2 baked egg scrambles
pepper
2 slices of raw goat milk cheese
orange juice
~12 ounces of coffee with a minimal amount of heavy whipping cream



Comments:
I made crock pot chicken soup this morning. It's chilly outside. My legs hurt again. I don't know if I'm getting sick or not, but I figured I'd make chicken soup before I did.

Breakfast was good. I needed something quick and easy.

Coffee sounded good today. I had it over the course of an hour or so around 11 or 12pm.

Meal #2 2:15pm
leftover steak
squash with cinnamon
pumpkin puree
Sticky Sticks



Comments:
I am just not a fan of squash. The pumpkin puree was still really good. I think that's what I'm going to have in place of mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving.

Meal #3 7pm
Chicken soup



Comments:
I paid extra for the organic chicken. It's the best I can do right now. The soup turned out really good this time. I still needed to add a little bit of salt, but otherwise it was perfect. The chicken and organic celery totally make this soup.

Pie! 8pm

*no picture*

The pie is so much better the second day. The crust is still a tad bit too salty and I'm still not especially a fan of the pumpkin pie spice, but to its credit, the pie is actually really good today.

Meal #4 9:30pm
tuna with mayo
peppers and avocado
cantaloupe
small smoothie with 20 assorted nuts





Comments:
I ate a couple pieces of cantaloupe, but I wasn't enjoying it like I had thought, so I made a small smoothie instead.

EotD Comments:
This is the last week if September. Part of me feels like something is coming to an end, but mostly I'm not fazed by the end of the month. Yes, October will bring warm apple donuts from the orchard and Spumoni from the best ice cream parlor ever before both places close for the winter, but otherwise I'm not going to change anything.

I enjoy eating this way. I enjoy the progress and I especially enjoy how I feel. I can't imagine being any other way.

Day 26

Meal #1 1:30pm
two baked egg scrambles
20 assorted nuts
orange juice





batch of egg scrambles



Comments:
These were filled with red peppers, carrots, bacon and spinach. They were kind of tasteless. I'll have to mess around with them. They were perfect for today though because I'm still not feeling 100%. I do feel a thousand times better though.

Meal #2 3:15pm
tuna with red pepper
sticky sticks



Meal #3 7:45pm
bowl of leftover broccoli and cauliflower
strips of raw goat milk cheese
hard boiled egg with red pepper





Comments:
I scarfed down the bowl of vegetables and goat cheese. It's been such a busy day. When I had another chance to eat, fifteen minutes later, I had the egg and pepper.

I'm making pumpkin pie!!

Pie! 8:30pm



Comments:
So. The pie. This pie is incredibly salty. It was delicious, but too salty. I'll review it, but I'm also going to make another one in October (after I won't feel as guilty for eating a whole damn pie) and I'll add (non-guestimate) modifications to the recipe then.

Also, I actually had two pieces of the pie, both about this size. It was a salty salty pie, but it was still pie, and a good pie despite the salt.

Snack #1 9pm
hard boiled egg

Comments:
Have I mentioned the pie was too salty? I had a hard boiled egg to "complement" the lingering salt taste.

Day 25

Meal #1 12pm
thinly sliced steaks
one and a quarter slices of bacon
leftover cauliflower and broccoli
pepper slices



what was left



Comments:
I went mostly unplugged this morning. I spent a couple hours cleaning and going through papers. Being productive around the house has been a good alternative to being productive with fitness. I've found that I'm better able to just sit and go through stuff than I used to be. It's an interesting dynamic to be able to slip so comfortably between "boring" downtime and energetic activity time.

I made more food than I was hungry for. I figured that out as soon as I looked at my plate. The best part though was that I decided to stop eating when I felt myself becoming content. I knew I could eat more later if I wanted to. I didn't have to finish the bacon just because it's so freaking good. I knew I didn't have to eat the last piece of steak.

Meal #2 2:45pm
mini smoothie
mini burger
avocado and pepper slices
piece of bacon



Comments:
I wanted a smoothie. I wanted bacon. I wanted a burger. I compromised.

Meal #3 6:30pm
egg salad with pepper basil and chili powder
organic celery almond butter and Craisins
olives
acorn squash with butter, cinnamon, salt and pepper



Comments:
It is apparently hodgepodge day. I'm really rather enjoying Hodgepodge Day. In fact, I'm going to make Hodgepodge Day a weekly (or biweekly) event.

This meal was actually really freaking good. It was this weird combination of sweet and salty and spicy and savory. The Sticky Sticks (I'm on a roll with this naming stuff today) were this perfect dessert, without actually being any kind of dessert.

I haven't been hungry today, except the times I've eaten. Snacks seemed kind of silly when I knew I was hungry enough to eat a full meal. Eating a little bit, knowing I'd have to eat again within the hour seemed pointless. I'm sure part of this is the fact that I haven't been working out as hard consistently, but also I think the primal/paleo stuff is really solidifying for my body. I've grown accustomed to this lifestyle and this food. I'm comfortable with it. I'm comfortable now letting my body guide me instead of my head.

Hodgepodge Day is the new Breakfast for Dinner.

Meal #4 9pm
burger
squash with butter and cinnamon



Comments:
I got really hungry all of a sudden. Now that I've eaten, it dawns on me that I would have preferred to have tuna, but forgot about it. Oh well. I'm actually still kind of hungry. Well...maybe not hungry per se, but I want something. I want apples with almond butter. I'll work out first. I don't feel like working out. I'm going to suck it up anyway.

On a sidenote, butter. I don't like butter. I was thinking before I ate it tonight that it was time to come clean about my feelings for butter. How I don't actually hate it. How I find the concept of it revolting. How it's greasy and gross and how it makes things taste so freaking good. But now that I've eaten, I am reminded why I always say I hate butter.

I very rarely eat butter. I'm one of those people who doesn't spread butter on their pancakes or waffles. I barely scrape butter on toast. I don't like butter on corn on the cob. I won't eat butter on hot blueberry muffins. It's not that it doesn't taste good sometimes (on hot blueberry muffins, for instance) but I just can't bring myself to eat it.

So tonight was big for me that I had some on my squash. It did make it taste good. I'll admit that. But now I feel...heavy. Greasy. Buttery. I don't know. I can't explain it right. It's just too much. I like simple. I'm a raw red pepper girl.


Snack #1 10:45pm
half apple/half banana with almond butter



Comments:
I set out to do four sets of my workout and ended up doing seven. I needed to eat afterward. I am full and sore. It was a great workout though.

EotD Comments:
My body isn't happy with me. I don't know if it's food or the workout. Something feels wrong though. I'm going to go to sleep.