Work Posture

I didn't have to drop the kids at camp this morning which meant I could get to the office a bit earlier than usual. For that reason, I decided to just pack up the leftover ribs as today's lunch and stopped to get take-out for breakfast instead of eating breakfast at home. If you've been following along with me this week, you probably have a good guess as to where I might go for take-out. Yep, LaFarm Bakery for a repeat of Sunday's breakfast (minus the prosciutto this morning). The latte was gone before I got to the office. I enjoyed my breakfast with another cup of coffee while checking my morning e-mail at the office. No picture of breakfast this morning. It looks just like it did Sunday and tastes just as good.

BREAKFAST
--------------------
Cheddar omelet with tomato and avocado
Small side of fruit (orange slices and honeydew melon)
Small whole milk latte
Second cup of coffee with organic half-and-half

Once I finished breakfast seated at my desk (I prefer to eat sitting down), I converted my desk to it's usual configuration: a standing workstation. A few years ago I suddenly realized how bad my posture had become and I set out on an on-going quest for improved posture with the hope that doing so would reduce my chances (or at least delay the onset) of osteoarthritis, a condition that effects many members of my extended family. That quest has led me to adopt two habits that I believe have been very beneficial to my health: regularly going barefoot and working as much as possible in a standing posture (with regular movement and stretching throughout the day).

It turns out that these are two practices that Mark Sisson also recommends. When I first started reading his blog earlier this year it resonated well with me because I was already following many of his lifestyle recommendations and I knew first-hand the benefits of those choices. It's the reason I was motivated to experiment with full Primal Blueprint. If I was already following most of Sisson's recommendations to great success, how might following his entire plan work for me? Turns out, it works quite well.

Anyway, several years ago when I was first motivated to try a standing workstation I was lucky enough to work in an office where pneumatic height adjustable desks were standard issue for each employee. With the push of a lever I could quickly adjust the height of the entire desk for either sitting or standing. (Oh, how I miss that desk!) I've changed employers twice since then and neither has provided adjustable desks. For good reason, they're not exactly a dime a dozen. But no worry.

If, like me, you're not lucky enough to have an adjustable desk, don't fret. As you can see in my picture, it's not that difficult or expensive to make your own modifications, especially these days with the ultra-light flat panel computer monitors. I use an upside-down, inexpensive plastic storage box to lift my primary monitor to standing height. I leave my secondary monitor on the desk and just tilt it up toward me. It's sufficient for my needs. I could always get a second box for the other monitor if I needed it at standing height. My keyboard and mouse live on a lap desk that I use for both sitting and standing posture. When standing, the lap desk rests on a short stack of empty boxes that lifts the keyboard to the perfect height for me so my shoulders stay back and relaxed.

It takes just a few seconds to switch between a standing and sitting work station. When sitting, I use the lap desk, as the name suggests, in my lap. To facilitate this, I removed the arms from my chair. Using the lap desk allows me to keep my shoulders back and down as I type on the keyboard in my lap instead of rounding my shoulders to reach out in front of me as I would be doing if the keyboard and mouse were on my desk. The lap desk measures 22" across which is comfortably wide, but still not ideal with a standard keyboard. The solution for me was the Microsoft Arc keyboard which provides full-size keys and all the functions of a standard keyboard but a reduced overall width due to the lack of a number pad. I find it a perfect solution.

I worked straight through the morning into the early afternoon and finally stopped for lunch around 1pm. I had some dark chocolate as a snack shortly thereafter.

LUNCH
-----------
Leftover pork ribs (sadly, there were only 2 ribs left)
Big salad: mixed baby lettuce, purslane, sungold tomatoes, avocado, green onion, blue cheese, dressed with champagne vinaigrette



SNACK
------------
Dark chocolate

It was just too hot for a long mid-afternoon walk break today. Actual temps were at 100°F with the heat index upwards of 107°F. I took a 2 minute stroll around the outside of the building and decided that was enough.

When I got home from work, my darling husband had already cooked up a mess o' greens for dinner. I love that man! I roasted some okra and whipped up a shrimp scampi to go with it and served it all with some fresh sliced tomatoes. Delish!



DINNER
------------
Shrimp scampi
Collards and Beet Greens with Smoked Turkey
Roasted Okra
Tomato Slices with Balsamic and grated Parmesan

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
-------------------
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
---------------------
-- 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
--------------------
dark chocolate
iced Darjeeling tea

SPRINT
--------------------
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
----------------------
Coconut water after my run
No dinner (Intermittent Fasting)

My Husband Has Started Smoking Again

And I'm so glad! We used to own a smoker (cooker) many years ago when we ate meat before we went vegetarian. We got rid of it once we realized we had little use for it. Now that we're meat eaters again (nearly a decade later), Ski went out recently and bought a new smoker. Tonight's dinner is thanks to his cooking efforts: smoked pork ribs and turkey legs!


DINNER
--------------
Smoked pork ribs from Cane Creek Farm
(Just a bite of the turkey, but not worth missing out on the ribs for more turkey.)
Heirloom tomato (also from Cane Creek Farm) with basil, balsamic vinaigrette and grated Parmesan cheese
Farm fresh green beans cooked with bacon fat
Just a bite of scalloped potatoes
Evodia red wine

Just a Sunday

My day started before 6am today. That's when my 6 year old son climbed into my bed and asked if it was time to go, yet. "Ahhhh, no son, go back to sleep." But he'd have none of that. There were plans to meet with his school friend for breakfast and a fun morning at the park, so sleep was now out of the question. I was able to put him off long enough to get about 15 more minutes of rest then I was up loading his bike in the car and getting ready to go.

The plan was to meet his friend and friend's mom at our local bakery for breakfast at 8am. If you think a bakery sounds like a poor choice for a Primal breakfast, you might be right. But this is LaFarm bakery (I mentioned them yesterday) and the siren song of their amazing lattes calls to me. Besides, they also serve wonderful omelets that fit well within the Primal Blueprint.

We arrived a bit early and our food got to our table before our guests, but we trusted that they'd forgive us for starting without them. Evan had already been awake 2 hours and was hungry for breakfast. As you can tell, Evan is NOT following the Primal Blueprint diet since French Toast with maple syrup doesn't fit in the plan. We've been slowly reducing the carbs in the kids' diets, but they're not yet fully on board and restaurant breakfasts will likely be the last place the carbs get cut. In any case, my omelet was fabulous and the latte was outstanding as usual.

BREAKFAST
-----------------
3 egg cheddar omelet topped with tomatoes, avocado and prosciutto
Small side of fruit
Small whole milk latte

PLAY
-----------------
The morning was spent on foot chasing two 6-year-old boys on bikes. Evan's friend learned how to ride his 2 wheeler during our morning outing, so there was a lot of stop and go. He did great! Evan, who recently learned to ride his 2 wheeler, would ride out and back while the rest of us slowly made our way along the paths. I covered around 2 miles on foot (barefoot, of course).

LIFT HEAVY THINGS
---------------------------
Early in the afternoon I spent about 20 minutes in the home gym working on the Essential 5 Moves from the Primal Fitness ebook (free download available). The routine is to do 2 sets of pull-ups, push-ups, squats, overhead presses and plank -- each exercise done to exhaustion. There are progressive levels for each exercise so you're always working hard and the routine only takes about 20 minutes, whether you're a beginner or an athlete.

I had a refreshing glass of coconut water after my workout and then finally got around to lunch at 2:30 pm. (That omelet was very filling this morning.)



LUNCH
--------------------------
Big salad made with mixed baby lettuce, purslane, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, green onions, purple pepper, local semi-ripened cheese, dressed with balsamic vinaigrette and topped with leftover bratwurst. Served with sparkling water.

Evening's Dinner

Two posts in one day. Am I starting to spoil you? Maybe you were just really curious to find out what I'd choose for dinner with so many tasty choices as an option. But you'll have to wait another second, because before dinner I had a snack.



SNACK
-----------
Fresh berries with creme fraiche

And now, for dinner tonight, drum roll please....



DINNER
------------------
Eliza's brats (cooked in Guinness)
Served over Bubbies sauerkraut
With Coleman's mustard
With fresh sliced tomatoes, basil, grated parm and balsamic vinaigrette.
Plus.... A beer! (Smithwicks)

OK, so I know that beer is absolutely NOT part of the Primal Blueprint, but I consider the occasional beer part of my 20%. Besides, there are some things that just aren't done -- and eating a beer brat on the weekend without an accompanying glass of cold beer is one of those things.

DESSERT
--------------
3 squares (1/2 serving) of Chocolove -- Almonds & Sea Salt in Dark Chocolate

ACTIVITY
------------------
No formal exercise today. I spent an hour walking around the farmers' markets this morning, straightened and vacuumed the house and cleaned and prep'ed all those veggies. Consider it Moving Frequently at a Slow Pace or consider it a Rest day. I suppose it's all on your perspective. Either way, it was enough for me today. I'll probably use the foam roller and do some light stretches before going to bed. Aside from that, I'm calling it a day! Thanks for following along with me today.

Farmers' Market Trip

Seriously? You actually checked back today? I wonder what's more surprising, that you bothered to come back here or that you actually found a new post. Well your faith has been rewarded. Here begins another day in the life of Karen.

Meet Farmer Eliza. Here she is with her helper, Brad. Eliza MacLean is one of the owners of Cane Creek Farm and one of the few farmers in the world to breed Ossabaw Island Hogs. Why does this matter? Because Eliza's Ossabaw hogs are the source of life-altering bacon! Yes, it is that good! And the pursuit of this life-altering bacon is what caused me to leave the house at 6:30am this Saturday morning and make the 30 minute drive out to the amazing Carrboro Farmers' Market.

My Saturday mornings almost always start with a trip to the farmers' market(s). I am lucky to live in an area of the country where there are several outstanding, year-round farmers' markets. The market trip is something I look forward to each week, usually sharing the experience with my 6-year-old son who took on the role of "Mommy's Farmers' Market Helper" a couple of years ago. This Saturday was no exception.

Before heading out to the markets (2 market stops planned for today), we swing by La Farm Bakery, our local artisan bakery, for one of THE BEST lattes in the world. The lattes are expertly made with locally roasted Counter Culture espresso and whole milk. I wish they'd use local / organic milk, but the fact that they use commercial milk is not enough of a deterrent to keep me from regularly treating myself to the frothy goodness of these lattes. Consider it part of my 20%.

I'm not particularly hungry this morning so the latte is all I have for breakfast. I do grab a second cup of coffee with a splash of organic half-and-half at the farmers' market later in the morning.

BREAKFAST
---------------------
small whole milk latte
second cup of coffee with half-and-half

Following breakfast we're off on our shopping adventure. First stop is the Carrboro Farmers' Market for Eliza's bacon. Yay, bacon! We also get some bratwurst, ground beef, steak and tomatoes from Eliza. Then we make the rounds and fill our basket with salad greens, collards, kale, beets, purslane, carrots, green onions, tomatoes, blueberries, blackberries, peppers, green beans, okra, basil, local cheese and fresh cut flowers.



Our second stop is the Western Wake Famers' Market, because we're running low on eggs and need to visit Farmer Austin from Two Bridges Farm for the perfect accompaniment to Eliza's bacon. If you've never had eggs fresh from a farm where the chickens run around all day and scratch for their food, you've never had *real* eggs. The yolks are an amazing orange color and the taste is incredible. I've been buying eggs like this from several area farms for years and they're all wonderful, but I've recently started only buying from Austin when possible. The eggs from his farm are the best I've ever had and well worth a second stop this morning on the way home.

All of this is way more effort than a quick trip to the corner grocery store for a bunch of packaged items, but I don't remember ever coming home from the grocery store inspired to take a picture of the day's shopping.

There was enough time after our shopping trip to quickly stash the food in the fridge before heading out for the kids' tennis practice and T-ball game. Both kids did great in their sports and had a good time. After all that, I fed the kids and started washing the veggies from today's shopping. I find that if I don't wash and store the veggies on Saturday so they're easy to grab and eat throughout the week, there's a higher likelihood that they'll never get eaten. After all of that, around 2pm, I'm hungry and ready for a big market salad for lunch.


LUNCH
------------
Salad made with mixed baby lettuce, kale, purslane, carrots, cucumbers, avocado, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, green onions and some Fra'Mani ham, dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette and served with some sparkling water.

No plan yet for dinner. I need to go take something out of the freezer. Check back later to see what I selected.

A Day In The Life...

"It's been about 2 weeks since I started this experiment and so far, so good. I plan to share more about the Primal Blueprint, my implementation and the effects in future posts. With any luck, they'll come more frequently than once every 6 months." (February 2, 2011)

Yeah, right.

In my defense, it hasn't actually been 6 months, yet. OK, so it HAS been over 5 months. But it's not 6! So there! The good news is that if you're a regular follower of my blog (chirping crickets), it doesn't take too much time out of your busy schedule to keep up with me.

I know you've all been waiting with great anticipation to learn how things are going for me with the Primal Blueprint. (more chirping crickets) Perhaps not, but I'm going to tell you anyway.

Fantastic!

What started as an experiment has quickly turned into a lifestyle. And not just for me. Ski (the hubby) hopped on the Primal bandwagon with me in March and we've both been amazed at the changes. We've both effortlessly lost 20 pounds so far this year! All with no hunger and no calorie counting.

We've had several friends and family ask about our food and activity choices. I've directed them to Mark Sisson's web site, but some have still asked for more specifics. Earlier this year Mark posted A Week in the Life of Mark Sisson to his blog. I'm going to attempt to do something similar, but not all in one post. For a while on a daily(ish) basis (or maybe once every 6 months, no promises) I'll blog about my food and activity choices and note how they fit in with the Primal Blueprint. The idea is to have someplace to point folks when they ask for more specifics about what I'm doing.

Today went like this:

EXERCISE
--------------
Woke at 6am without the alarm.
Rewarded myself with a morning run.
2.5 miles of barefoot walk/run intervals at sunrise. Ahhh!

BREAKFAST
--------------
Refreshing glass of coconut water after my run.
I wasn't hungry for breakfast so I opted to skip the meal.
I did, however, stop for a small whole-milk latte on my way to the office.

LUNCH
--------------
Went out with coworkers to a typical American eatery (unusual for me). I ordered a large salad topped with shrimp but didn't realize that the shrimp would be breaded. I ate the salad veggies (it was a big salad and very yummy) and I ate a few of the small shrimp, picking off as much of the breading as I could manage politely with my fork.

SNACK
--------------
Small handful (about 6) dark chocolate covered almonds
Cup of coffee with a splash of whole milk

PLAY
--------------
Some storms rolled through in the early afternoon. Once the sun came back out I took a 10 minute break from work, went outside and splashed barefoot in some rain puddles. (Seriously!) I came back into the office feeling refreshed and better focused.

DINNER
---------------
Scrambled farm fresh eggs with Fra'Mani Rosemary ham
Kale sauteed in bacon fat mixed with spinach and garlic sauteed in olive oil
Caprese salad (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, garlic, olives with balsamic vinaigrette)
Glass of red wine (Evodia)



Sadly, I'm not much of a food photographer. Dinner was a lot more tasty than the picture suggests. It was a mix of home cooked food and take out from a local pizza place. The base of the caprese came from the restaurant to which I added sliced cherry tomatoes. The restaurant also provided the sauteed spinach and garlic. I cooked the kale and added it to the spinach. I also cooked the eggs and ham. The ham (and wine) came from Whole Foods. The other ingredients I prepared came from local, organic farms. (And, yes, red wine goes well with scrambled eggs -- but only at dinner, not breakfast!)