Catching up 12/2010 to present!

Blessed Solstice! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Oh....wait a minute... Did I miss all of that? Yup. Sorry about that.
I guess I got so caught up in he season I just never had time to post here.

Where to begin? It's taken about a month to recover from the Thanksgiving gluten exposure. I'm just now starting to feel better. That Thanksgiving debacle really made the Big Guy and I much more conscious of our food choices over the rest of the holidays, so we had no more bad episodes. Even The Aunt-in law was supportive and cooked up a gluten free feast that rocked. In fact, she went gluten free for the month of January, just to try it out and see if it helps her out. Huzzah!

Our usual junk food infested New Year's Eve was replaced with all home cooked, paleo treats: beef meat balls with fresh basil, garlic and home made sauce; skinless gyoza (pork dumplings) a la Mark's Daily Apple (there's a video of the recipe on youtube, just seach for 'skinless gyoza') and bacon wrapped chicken thigh pieces with honey mustard dipping sauce. Some hard cider for me to wash it all down. The Big Guy had 1 can of Coca Cola. He gave that up entirely this past year, so that was a huge treat for him.

We both felt great the next day, instead of bloated, gassy, tired and achy. So we hit they gym together and had a fantastic training session.

Also, I reached my goal for the 2010. I had decided at the beginning of the year that I'd shoot for a 1,000 lb leg press. I did a 1,038 lb press on December 19th! Whoot! Actually, I did a set of 10 presses. So happy! Then the Big Guy decide he should do a set also, and he did! Amazing!

The wheels fell off my Paleo Wagon when I got hit by the Gluten Bus.

I knew that if I went off the Paleo wagon for Thanksgiving I wasn't going to feel well at all. I had no idea that I was going to feel this bad. Planning ahead for how I was going to handle the holiday, I wasn't too worried. For me, Thanksgiving is one of the easiest holidays to accommodate a wide variety of food needs. (With the exception of v*gan, since butter seems to creep in to everything!) I was a vegetarian for years and never panicked about Thanksgiving, since there's such a variety of foods to chose from.
So, with that being said, the wide variety of food choices is only good if you have the sense to not eat the stuff that's going to make you feel like doodie. The food we ate was all super high quality, fresh, gourmet and delicious. It was also full of grains in a multitude of ways. From the cheese biscuits and gravy that I made, to the hot clam dip & crackers, to the desserts.... Oy. There was plenty for me to chose from that was "safe" but I chose not to do that.
I felt ok after I ate, no indigestion. I had a happy stomach. I didn't eat too much. I was satisfied. So far, so good.
Friday morning, the sharp hip pain that has been my enemy for many years was back with a roaring vengeance. My hands felt hot and swollen, hard to make a fist, shoulders sore, pretty intense back pain. General feeling of aching in my whole body.

I have learned my lesson. The take away from this experience is that I didn't realize how much better I felt eating Paleo. I knew it was good, but you kind of forget what the discomfort level was when it goes away gradually. I'm horrified that I used to feel like this all of the time. The big guy and I got right back on track on Friday. Lots of good healthy foods and good healthy fats. A big veggie & chicken stir fry for dinner. When we went out to the Roller Derby on Saturday, I packed a dinner of roast pork, sweet potatoes and asparagus with lemon. Sunday was our annual household "Thanksgiving, Part II, the Slaughter of the Lambs". (It's our private feast of Pommes Anna, rack of baby lamb, roasted duck, butternut squash & apples)

I can't wait to start feeling better!