Monday At The Office

I started my morning at home with some freshly ground coffee in the French Press. I'm a serious coffee lover and very picky about the quality of my coffee. There are several excellent local roasters in my area and I tend to keep a variety of coffee beans on hand. This morning I select my very favorite beans which come, surprisingly, by way of my local wine shop. It is a custom blend of beans created especially for Sip, A Wine Store by local coffee roaster Carrboro Coffee Company. I enjoy the coffee at home while getting ready for the day and wait until I'm at the office later in the morning to have a small breakfast of Greek yogurt with fresh berries.

BREAKFAST
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Large cup of coffee with organic half-and-half
Fage Total Greek yogurt with fresh blueberries and blackberries


Later in the afternoon I fix a large green salad with veggies that I brought to the office from home. I mix some canned salmon with organic mayo and serve it on the side. Organic or not, the store bought mayo still contains vegetable oil (soy and/or canola, in this case) which is NOT part of the Primal diet, but I count this small serving as part of my 20% and don't worry about it. The rest of the meal is high in omega-3s which will balance out the omega-6s in the mayo.

LUNCH
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-- Large can of Vital Choice sockeye salmon (skinless, boneless) mixed with Spectrum organic mayo. (Yes, I know Grok would eat the skin and bones, but it's just not my thing.)
-- Salad made with mixed baby lettuce, purslane, sungold tomatoes, purple bell pepper, carrots, avocado, basil, green onion and local semi-ripened cheese (similar to brie) all dressed with a champagne vinaigrette.


I took a 10 minute break from work in the afternoon and went out for a short barefoot walk. I came back in and treated myself to some dark chocolate as an afternoon pick-me-up. An hour later I brewed a cup of tea.

SNACK
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dark chocolate
iced Darjeeling tea

SPRINT
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I got home with just enough time to change clothes and dash out the door for a short sunset run. 2.5 miles of walk/run/sprint intervals. It started out as one of the best runs I've had in a long time, effortless and fun, so I opted to add in some short sprints. Just before the 2 mile mark I noticed I was getting a small blister between my toes. Must have been the sprints. I opted to walk the last 1/2 mile, smiling the whole way, watching the sun set behind the trees. Oh, and for what it's worth, my sprints are probably slower than most runners' easy runs, but that's fine. I may not run far or fast, but I always run happy!

I rarely have an appetite after a run and tonight was no exception. I had been looking forward to some leftover ribs for dinner, but it looks like they'll be my breakfast. I did have a cold glass of coconut water after the run. That seems to be enough for now, so consider this some unplanned intermittent fasting. It's all good. I'll likely make up the calories tomorrow or the next day.

One of the things that has really surprised me about this change in diet is that when I'm not hungry, I'm REALLY not hungry. There are hardly ever any food cravings and there are times when I simply don't feel like eating. You always hear about only eating when you feel hungry, but I don't think I ever knew what that meant until now. My hunger cues have been very different for me since going Primal. It seems that what I used to consider "hunger" was either a food craving or a shakiness due to a sudden drop in blood sugar. Now that I hardly ever experience either of those sensations I have a completely different (better?) sense of hunger. It's not something I expected when I started this experiment and it's one of the main reasons why this eating style seems to work so well for me.

DINNER
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Coconut water after my run
No dinner (Intermittent Fasting)