Fasting and paleo

When I was on my old way of eating (high-carb), I had extremely difficult time with any kind of fasting. When I tried to fast a whole day (for religious reasons, like Yom Kippur), it was a nightmare. Very soon after waking up I would already start to feel bad. A few hours later I would have no energy, had problems with moving my legs fast, my head would feel as if made of lead with pounding pain. Toward the end of the day I would be lightheaded, dizzy and sometimes close to fainting. I thought it was just my nature...

On Monday we had "Back to School Night" about which I completely forgot. It meant that instead of going home before 5pm I made it at 9pm. With no extra food, on some eggs, coffee with cream and protein shake. Hardly any hunger, no headache, energy and full mental attention.
I used to say how I simply couldn't not eat a breakfast. I would be sick and nauseated with this deep, painful need to eat at that right moment. Nothing like that anymore - when I am hungry, it's a normal signal, no attack from inside. It's fascinating to me how all of that has changed.

Yesterday I did my "refeed" dinner. And I had too much. I see on other blogs how people make these humongous meals, sometimes calling them variations of "refeeds". How do they do it? I tried three beef sausages, three eggs with two extra yolks and a bit of veggies (broccoli, green beans, mushrooms). I felt full one third in. I wasn't sure if I should just stop or try and force to eat more. I decided to try and it more, because I don't want my body to think I am starving it, so it would go into starvation mode or something.

Each day this week I came back late from work, so no workout yet. And tomorrow I will be even later... Friday it will be, then. And maybe Saturday as well. I have to do a good strength workout and practice more on pull up bar. I am beginning to being able to do pull up! I have big problems with that... I try with support, and it gets better. chin ups get better as well, now I can do 3-4, and same with parallel chin ups.

Delicious hot cocoa/protein shake

I just made myself a delicious protein shake. I was getting tired of the taste ("gourmet vanilla"), I don't like very sweet things. I was generally diluting it with much more water than asked for, but my body started to rebel.
So just now I decided to add some cocoa and cinnamon.  It was very hard to mix it, so I warmed it up in the microwave a bit. To make it just perfect I added about one tablespoon of heavy cream. It's delicious!

I am planning on doing a few push ups just to remind my body I need all the protein I eat, so it will (hopefully) keep burning body fat. I am cooking now some chicken quarters (without skin) for the next few days. I can't switch to white meat, never liked it. It's just too dry! I was a passionate chicken leg eater since my early toddlerhood, so it should stay that way. I think it's very low on fat anyway (I can't believe I am actually saying this!).

PSMF

I continue on the PSMF track. I try some variety, so I won't get bored or tired of the routine. My biggest challenge isn't hunger, it's the fact that I simply love eating. I also have difficulties with social gatherings, especially where there are people whom I don't know that well.

I generally eat only in the evening with small snack (2 boiled eggs for example) during the day. I also drink one protein shake.
Today to change the routine a bit, I mixed two hard boiled eggs with a can of water-packed sardines for brunch. I really want to include sardines more, as they are not only packed with Omega-3 like many other seafood, but also are great source of calcium and other beneficial nutrients. They are also, similarly to other small fish, much less polluted with heavy metals. Because the sardines were in water and not oil, the mixture was very dry. I decided that adding some sour cream shouldn't be that bad. Two spoons of sour cream later I had really tasty dish. I think I will make it more often to take it with me to work.

I haven't done any measurements yet, I am leaving it for Sunday. I don't see any big changes yet, but I feel good and I know I need to be patient.

In terms of supplements, I take Krill Oil in the morning, magnesium in the late afternoon and D3 (5k) every other or every three days.
I am running low on my magnesium and so I need to replenish. I found in Trader Joe's magnesium together with calcium and zinc. Isn't that wrong? I think calcium negates the magnesium, that it prevents its proper absorption? I am also conflicted on the kind of magnesium that's best for the body. The one I had till now is "oxidate" which I thought was the best form, but recently I read somewhere that oxide is useless. I am really confused and have to make some research.

struggles

Yesterday I went for a holiday dinner. There was a number of people present, some of them I didn't know. And because I felt it would look bad to not eat at all, I decided it would be my "refeed" day. I have to have them anyway once in a while. Well, I ate too much. And the wrong stuff - rice, for example. I did resist the deliciously smelling challah and didn't eat the lentil soup. But I ate definitely too much. And as much as I am glad I didn't touch the brownies (gluten-free, but with peanuts and sugar), I took a few pieces of fruit. And either the slices of apples, peaches or orange-spice tea caused my stomach to hurt suddenly, the way it hurts after almonds. I read it as allergy reaction. I had sometimes light allergy reactions to apples and once to a fruit-herbal tea.

Anyway, with all of that I felt miserable yesterday night. I feel better today, and will be back on the PSMF track. I just hope that it didn't erase the efforts of three previous days!

I was talking a couple of days ago with a friend who said that a common friend of ours was diagnosed with fibromyalgia recently. She is also depressed and have issues with anxiety. I told her how great I feel after switching to paleo, how my fibromyalgia's symptoms become very mild and some completely disappeared. She will put her in touch with me. I hope I will be able to convince her to give paleo a try. The other friend was also interested, she struggled with weight for a long time, lost quite a lot of weight watchers, but can't move on beyond what she is now despite all the effort and serious exercises. Maybe I will be able to get her out from the low-fat low-calories no-way-out rout.