August 2011?  Obviously I didn't have much discipline sticking with the Paleo diet.  The weird thing is that I really did feel better when I cut out all the grains and processed sugar.  But here I am again wondering how did I get so far off track?  I know what I need to do but I can't convince myself to do it.  Maybe I need to think of it as a job.  Maybe someone would pay me to get back on track?

Day (what day is it anyway?)

Wow... Did I take a break? My folks don't have wifi at their house so I couldn't use the good old iPad to write my blog. And doing it on the work computer was such a hassle... Thus my break. my visit to Connecticut was good. I managed to go a whole 48 hours before I had a grinder (it's Connecticut's version of a sub sandwich). And in the 8 days I was there I only had a total of three grinders... There have been some trips up where I have managed to have grinders for every meal! I tried hard to follow my cavewoman regimen and mostly did well. But there was the pizza party one night. How could I refuse pizza? And then there was the trip to Sea Swrirl (soft serve ice cream from heaven). I did manage to have mussels and a hot lobster roll without the roll and butter. And I managed to avoid gaining any weight while I was there. Woo hoo! That actually might be a first for me (I usually gain at least five pounds when I visit CT).
After my return to good old FLA, I jumped right back on the cavewoman bandwagon! I've lost a total of ten pounds in a little less than a month. I do have to say that although the planning of meals sucks (no more stopping by Evos or Chipolte for meals), I do feel much better eating this way. This might turn into more than a 30 experiment...

Day 15 and 16 (salt, turkeys and basketball)

I made it up to CT to visit my family.  I was out of bed yesterday at 4:30 AM so I could catch an early morning flight to Providence.  I thought I was organized (really?) but of course I left the house without making anything for breakfast.  We turned around and I gathered cherries (because you know I am a hunter-gatherer now) and ran out the door.  Oops.... no protein.  So naive me thought sure they'll have hard boiled eggs somewhere at the airport.  Ah.... no.....  I did manage to find a place that had scrambled eggs.  However, when I opened up the container the eggs were slathered with seasoned salt.  Have I mentioned that there is no salt on the Paleo Diet? 
The flight was uneventful. I arrived in Providence and my mom picked me up at the airport.  She had to go to work, as did I, so I dropped her off at work and continued on to my childhood home.  Of course it's around lunchtime and all I've had so far is scrambled eggs covered with salt and a bottle of very expensive water from the airport.  Bless my mom's heart that she stopped at the grocery store before picking me up and bought some salad stuff and fruit and eggs.  But bummer... no meat.  So there is a lonely package of sliced chicken breast in the fridge.  Oh well... have you ever read the ingredients on packaged deli meat?  I think salt is the number one ingredient, followed by sugar.  I had a couple sliced because my only option is a slice of knockwurst (oh gross) and a slice of ham (can you say salt?).  I also made a little salad and I ate the cherries I gathered from home (the Florida home).
Later I was wandering about the house trying to find more Paleo food to eat and I look out the window and there are these two strange birds by the bird feeder outside.  Big birds...  then a few more come by... what kind of birds are they?  Then two big old birds come by and I realize they are turkeys!  Wow, wild turkeys in the backyard.  I wonder what wild turkeys taste like...  I wonder if I could shoot one (darn there are no guns in the house) ...  I wonder how hard it would be to clean a wild turkey.  If I lived up here, it would be perfect... wild turkey, bunnies (I've seen a bunch of rabbits in the yard), deer (yes they roam around the backyard too)... all Paleo food!  Woo Hoo!
I digress (or regress).  At any rate, after the shock of seeing the turkey wears off, I retreat to my temporary cave office and work until the rest of the clan arrives home so we can go venture off to see the Connecticut Sun play basketball.  I love women's basketball.  Of course, we didn't plan very well and didn't eat anything before going to the arena.  I told my mom that I would find something.  I lied (sorry Mom).  I don't think there was a vegetable to be found in the whole arena.  And can you say processed meat?  So I got a hot dog and salted peanuts (man, there is that salt again).  Needless to say, I woke up this morning and my feet and hands had swollen up to the size of small balloons.  Salt is evil.  I've managed to avoid any added salt today but my swolleness has persisted.  Maybe tomorrow will be a better day (or I could call in sick and go sailing -- I'm sure that would make the swelling go down!).....

Day 14 (temptations)

The chicken cacciatore was awesome! I'm going to have to try some of the other recipes in the book. All in all, the weekend was pretty good. I got on the scale this morning and the number hadn't moved much (although Kay thinks my pants are getting baggy). I keep telling myself I'm not really in it for the weight loss.... But some weight loss would be nice. Since I'm leaving to go to Connecticut to visit the family for a week, Kay thought it would be nice to go out to dinner -- to Bonefish Grill. Can you say Bang Bang Shrimp? Needless to say I politely declined. I had visions of an order of bang bang shrimp going by and me tackling the waiter to eat it all up.... But bang bang shrimp should be the least of my worries. Tomorrow I face grinders and pizza and Buford's Family Restaurant (or what Kay calls pork fat heaven) and Sea Swirl (the best soft serve ice cream on earth) and mussels with butter... Wait, I can have the mussels without the butter. Maybe there is hope for me.....

Day 13 (bottomless pit)

The paleo fish tacos from last night were a success. The only issue I had was that I packed the lettuce wrap too full and it fell apart. No mind though because I've been embracing the paleo diet 100% and I'm practicing eating with my fingers at every chance I get! For breakfast, before the bike ride, I had fish and fruit. I have to say, eating fish for breakfast will take some getting used to. And since I didn't leave myself enough time this morning, I had to eat it cold in the car (have I grossed you out yet?). We did 55 miles on the bike today. I think it was my longest ride this season... I didn't bonk (for all you non-endurance athletes out there, bonking is when you don't eat enough and you run out of fuel to move your legs or arms or whatever) but I can't say that I felt all that wonderful. Right after the ride, I had fruit. Then I ate chicken and salsa lettuce wraps. Then I ate more fruit. Then I ate nuts. Then I ate some veggies. I can't seem to fill up.... So I chopped veggies, skinned chicken and assembled the chicken cacciatore for tonight's dinner. The recipe called for two whole chickens cut up. I guess these cave people had large families... I got my first whiff of it cooking and I'm thinking we should skip World of Beers tonight before dinner (Seriously do you think I could skip my Sunday beer at WOB?).

Day 12 (creative Mexican)

The adventure run went well last night. Aside from the mosquitoes that were lined up in bombing formation and the rain that came to get things just wet enough to produce an abundance of mud, it was rather fun to run around the island, including slogging through the mangroves and wading out chest deep into the bay. And as a reward, we stopped at Jimmy Johns for an unwich. Man I love that place!
This morning after my run, I went on my hunter-gatherer trip to the local grocery store. I did get the stuff for chicken cacciatore. But I was inspired by my unwich last night and thought I might try using the lettuce wrap concept for fish tacos. I made up a big bowl of pico de gallo and doused the fish with Mrs. Dash's southwest chipolte seasoning and am about to cook now. Of course I'm going to miss the tortilla wrap and tortilla chips....

Day 11 (dinner anyone?)

I got home from my hair appointment last night (yes cavewomen need to visit the hair dresser) and I didn't really feel like cooking.  So without cooking, it's kind of hard to eat meat -- unless it's sushi (which is fish mostly).  I opted for almonds, raisins and cucumber slices.  It was a very interesting dinner...  Oddly enough I didn't wake up starving.  I had eggs and fruit for breakfast (that is really getting boring...) and guess what for lunch?  Yup, you got it -- chicken and salad.  This weekend I was hoping to try the "Chicken Cacciatore" recipe from the book. 

Tonight I'm going to run in my first adventure run. Kay has done a few (I've gone with her to be the photographer) but I think it's time to try it out.  Of course I doubt they'll have any caveman food at the end of the race -- are hot dogs paleo food?  No of course not!  Salt, fat, processed -- all no no's!  Maybe I can coerce Kay to stop by Jimmy John's for an un-wich after the race!!