We interrupt your regularly scheduled post for this announcement.

I have had such a long week. I just spent the last two hours catching up on three days worth of internet stuff and now I still need to update two days on here. I feel so behind.

There's one thing I want to comment on first though, because it's kind of huge at the moment. I decided to have ice cream (which you already know if I got around to the update before you got around to reading this), and then I decided to hop off the train for a little while. For me, there's no "cheating" or "falling off the wagon" in regard to being Primal. It's just not how the lifestyle works for me. I made the conscious decision to eat what I wanted and I take full responsibility for that.

I do have a list of things I will absolutely not consume, as well as a list of "I need huge reason to ingest this, but if it's worth it, then maybe." I won't have high fructose corn syrup. I won't have partially hydrogenated oils. I won't have artificial sweeteners. If I choose, I won't have natural flavoring or coloring, but sometimes there isn't a good way to get around that.

Tonight I really wanted cookies. I saw Keebler Elf cookies and had talked myself into getting them, until I remembered about my "absolutely not list" and saw that they have hydrogenated oil. No go.

I did get some rice cracker/chip things, which I've had multiple times in the past and usually scarf down a bag. They are great chips for Mexican. They already come salsa flavored. The bag even says "guilt-free indulgence"! Ha ha.

So I had maybe a dozen of these small Dorito look-alikes. I melted mozzarella cheese on them and added organic sour cream (so good) and some fresh (although it's store bought) salsa. I decided it would be worth it.

Honestly, there were so. freaking. good.

Within ten minutes, I was hugely bloated—to the point of impressiveness. It wasn't until an hour or so later though that I started feeling really sick. (The jury is still out on whether or not this was from the pumpkin pie I made tonight. ...yeah...I know...I made another pie. It happens.) So now, four hours later, I'm so sick.

So. Sick.

So unbelievably ill. All I want to do is go sleep it off, but I need to remember this moment.

I've read stories and comments about food reactions, but I, for some reason, thought I'd be this weird exception. Even the ice cream I had last night didn't have any huge effect on me. This rice flour, or whatever ingredient it was, really freaking hates me though. I feel awful. I'm bloated and my chest is tight and...gosh, did this always used to happen and I never noticed?

I need to sleep. I have—for the most part—still been documenting my food intake. I have pictures of my meals (with a few exceptions) or notes here and there that I took down. The last two days have been crazy with my garage sale and real life just got in the way of blog life. Tomorrow I am taking a schedule day off from the blog. After tonight, I will probably be as 100% tomorrow as possible. If I fall into the 80/20, it will still be 100% grain-free.

I wonder how long I'll have to endure this. I guess I had to learn sometime.

I'll be back on Monday with a three day weekend update and maybe a new recipe. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Friday Desserts and Realizations

I started out at a grocery store tonight that doesn't carry coconut milk ice cream. I was checking the ingredients in the ice creams and it's baffling the amount of crap that goes into ice cream. It's also interesting to note that there are just some ingredients I will not ingest no matter what. I can't turn that part of my brain off anymore. I know I won't ever knowingly ingest some ingredients again. High fructose corn syrup, regular corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, artificial dyes, artificial sweeteners. The moment I see these ingredients, a product is automatically off limits. It's strange. I never thought it would be this easy.

Since starting the primal/paleo* thing, I've quickly grown accustomed to no legumes, beans, milk, dairy, gluten, grains. I've still only skimmed the surface of the Dos and Don'ts, but I've been kind of busy. I'll get there. So far there are some things I like and some I don't like. My body is still adjusting. I've felt weirdly bloated today and that doesn't seem right. We'll see how the weekend goes.

Occasionally if I want something and it's not time to eat yet, I'll have some Glee gum. It doesn't have the normal store bought ingredients in it. I try not to chew it a lot, but sometimes a girl just wants a piece of gum. Anyway, I found yesterday that I was maybe getting bloated after the gum. It's just something I wanted to note.


*I haven't officially decided on going Paleo. I'm weighing it as an option and following some of it for now, but I'm still researching both Primal and Paleo lifestyles.