The Magic Number

Some numbers are just too low.

Courtesy of the Powerhouse Museum Collection
via Flickr Creative Commons

I have a magic number. It's seared into my psyche, both beckoning and mocking me. The number is: 159.

When my first daughter was conceived, I weighed 159 pounds. It was a tall-ish and lean-ish 159 - I was a very committed cardio bunny and did light weight work, so I could wear size 8 pants and size 4/6 tops.

I'll bet big bucks that most moms out there can name their prepregnancy weights, too.

It's just a number, it's just a number, I tell myself. And yet...that 159 whispers to me. Almost every time I get on the scale, I calculate how much I'd have yet to lose to hit that number. This is absurd, because according to my body fat skin caliper tests I've gained somewhere around 15-20 lb. of muscle since I started Crossfitting last September. I'm the strongest I've ever been -- way stronger than those cardio bunny days. One of my last tests had me at 135 lb. of lean mass. If I whittled only fat down until I was 159 lb., while retaining that 135 lb. of lean mass, I'd be at 15% body fat, which is way, way, way leaner and more muscular than I was in the 159 lb. prepregnancy days.

All this to say, even though I should be reveling every day in my new strengths, my new wisdom, my new experiences, I have that magic number from the past haunting me. I have difficulty permitting the context of my current, very different state in life - avid Crossfitting, lean-mass-promoting diet, post-baby and lactation hormones, caregiving to small children, limited sleep - to soften the siren call of that old weight.

The closer I get back to 159, the more I realize that I might be riding an asymptote, and that my returns invested in training and eating right diminish, to the point where - unless I allow my hard-earned lean mass to drop - I may never see that number on the scale again.

Do you have a magic number in your head? Are you haunted by your prepregnancy weight, your high school weight, your college weight, or even another number like a former pants size or a long-ago-achieved personal lifting record? How do you deal with the magic numbers in your life? Do you believe firmly that you'll get back to them, or that life has changed enough that you've decided to allow yourself grace even while you pursue personal excellence?

~

On Extreme Couponing, and the One-Dimensionality of My Stewardship

A few years ago, from 2008 to 2010, I was an avid couponer. In some cases, when I was really on fire, you could have called me an extreme couponer. My basement shelves were full of cereal I had bought for pennies on the dollar, not to mention cake and cookie mixes and frostings. I also had huge stockpiles of various and sundry granola bars, candy (usually from CVS couponing), cereals, and Pop Tarts.

One of my old 2009 hauls from a double/triple coupon run.

Due to some double and triple coupon specials at a few local grocery stores, I was regularly scoring certain food items (especially BBQ sauces and salad dressings) for free, and I even had a few grocery runs where I bought in excess of $100 worth of merchandise for around $30.

Yes, I thought to myself, rather smugly at times, I am being a good steward! There was something that creeping up on me, though, rather uneasily. I was feeling bloated, definitely in the worst shape of my life. I was always hungry. I was perpetually cranky and had uneven moods.

As it turns out, I was only being an OK steward on exactly one axis - money-saving. But as I've found in some very humbling ways, being a good steward of what I've been granted does not mean being as shrewd as possible in only one dimension - of money. Squandering away my health and my body for the sake of us making a cheap or free breakfast out of processed carbs was not working out. I had to see my body and my health as other resources I'd been granted, and once that realization snapped into place, I've come to see stewardship as a multidimensional phenomenon, one that I am always trying to bring a little more into balance across its various axes. I definitely don't believe that I've nailed down this stewardship thing, not by a very long shot!

I do think it is still possible to save well with coupons on natural and organic items, including whole foods. But it takes a different kind of strategy, and a different knowledge set of the sellers - farms, markets, grocery stores, online vendors and other whole foods purveyors. And sometimes, the best deal just won't be found, and in those times I've often had to chalk up the higher expense to an investment in one of my other stewarded resources of health and a strong body.

What nonmonetary resources have you come to better value and steward over the years?

Delivering Moral Support Meals: Real Food for Really Intense Times

Folks in our lives need help. It just happens as a matter of course. Your friend just had a baby. Your family member just had major surgery and is recovering on the couch at home. An acquaintance you know through a group you've joined is going through a tough time.

Bring them a meal.

It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't even (gasp) have to be "perfect paleo".

Just bring them a meal! Make it mostly nourishing, make it today, bring it to them. Take one more thing off of their to-do list and make them dinner.

Here are some practical ideas for making them dinner:

• Ask in advance about allergies/dietary restrictions and the size of the crowd you're feeding. These are practical ways that you can make sure that the meal you prepare is appropriate to those consuming it.
  
  
• Bake and/or serve the items in disposable dishware. I get foil serving trays at Sam's Club for this purpose, and at about $0.30/each they really fill the gap. After baking something, all I have to do is pop a sheet of aluminum foil on top and it's ready to go. But though it's convenient for me - it's even more convenient for the recipient, who doesn't have to worry about washing or returning dishes to you.
  
  Avoid using plastic as a disposable option, unless you're using it to contain cold foods like hard boiled eggs, clementines, etc. that don't have an acidic sauce. (Acids in sauces and dressings can cause plastic to leach, especially if they're left in a plastic container for several hours.)
  
  
• Add any necessary instructions. Even a strip of masking tape on top of your pan of lasagna with: "30 minutes covered at 350F" can help later on when the family is figuring out how to reboot dinner.
  
  
• Serve it as fresh as possible. If your meal recipient is in your neck of the woods, making and serving foods the same day works for the best-possible taste. Most meals that were made a couple of days or more before might not be at their best.
  
  
• The slow cooker is your friend. I love slow-cooking meals I bring because it's the same amount of work to create a meal for my family and for the recipient family - I just double the quantities in my massive crock pot and divide once it's done cooking! You can also cook a large cut of meat with some veggies in the oven at low heat over the course of a day - this option being best left for cooler weather temps, of course. The doubling convenience works here as well - just double your ingredients and you've covered dinner for your family and theirs!
  
  
• Don't be afraid to stretch a nutritious meal budget-wise. Purists may disagree with me, but I don't think that there's anything wrong with bringing a family (especially one that you know isn't paleo / primal anyway) a side of white rice with their meat-and-veggie chili, or some organic corn tortillas along with their soft taco fixings. Also, when I deliver meals to others, conventionally sourced items often work just fine.
  
  There are three reasons why using budget-friendly meal stretchers can work for you if you're faced with a host of potential meal recipients:
  
  ~First, now is not the time that anyone would or should be convincing a worn-out family of the merits of going paleo.
  
  ~Secondly - most families receiving our meals already eat grains and conventionally sourced items on a regular basis; upping the sourcing standard for one meal isn't going to make any kind of practical impact.
  
  ~Thirdly - and this for me is the biggest factor - for the price of a single meal produced entirely out of organic pastured animal products and organic fruits and veggies - I could deliver three or four - or more! - meals that rely more on conventionally sourced products and maybe a bit of non-gluten grains added in. Ask me what I'd rather do in a given month with our extra resources: a) deliver to one large family a singularly perfectly-sourced meal, or b) deliver multiple homecooked often-conventionally-sourced non-industrial-oil-containing gluten-free meals to several families? In our current budget, we are fortunate and blessed to be able to chose option b) many months out of the year.
  
  
• Make them breakfast if they have their other meals being covered. Sometimes, breakfast isn't the most important meal of the day, it's the hardest to get off the ground, especially for a family with other concerns dominating. Bring a crustless quiche or two, maybe a bag of apples, a box of Larabars, or some fresh strawberries, or even a Chebe (taipioca-based gluten-free) batch of cinnamon rolls. A to-go box of coffee accessorized by a half-pint of half'n'half or (for the dairy-free) coconut milk creamer would have your recipients perking up in no time.
  
  
• Cover them with a freezer meal for "who knows when". You could make any of the following, and deliver it ready to be popped in their freezer (don't forget to label and add instructions!):
  
  ~ Eggplant lasagna. I cook up the slices in single-serve squares (about 3"x3"), and stack them 3 or 4 high layered with cheese and sauce (you could make it a meat sauce). This way, if the recipient needs only one serving, they can "break off" one serving of eggplant lasagna and warm it in the microwave without having to defrost/oven warm the whole thing.
  
  ~ Twice-baked potatoes. This make-and-freeze recipe from Joyful Abode lends itself well to a kitchen with a vacuum sealer.
  
  ~ Shepherd's pie, with either cauliflower faux mashed potatoes, mashed white potatoes, or mashed sweet potatoes. Mashed white potatoes are the most budget-friendly (even organic white potatoes are still fairly inexpensive) and the traditionally used item here.
  
  



Here, Primal Palate's Dark Chocolate Coconut Cake,
as made for my husband's birthday a while back.

• Add a sweet touch. It could be as simple as a bar of Green & Black's 85% dark chocolate to round out their meal, a drool-worthy fruit salad, or a batch of home-churned sorbet. Adding something dessert-y isn't always necessary, but I think that as the capstone to a warm, lovingly-prepared meal, a sweet finishing touch can help a frazzled family to feel a little more human again. Seek paleo and primal blogs with naturally, minimally sweetened recipes - by trying to keep refined sugars minimized or (better yet) out of the equation entirely, you'll ensure that you're not setting up your recipients for a sugar-crash.
  
  
• Offer other ways to help. As you deliver the meal, be sure to ask if there are other ways the family is needing help. Maybe an able-bodied adult could stop by one weekend afternoon and mow the lawn - or perhaps for their kids to come hang out at your place for a while one afternoon so that the grownups can rest. The meal delivery is multipurpose - you get to bring them needed food, but you also get to touch base and offer them some human contact.
  
  
• Make your delivery efficient. Though it's tempting to hang out and catch up for a spell, delivering your meal, offering to help in other ways, and letting them know with a hug that they are in your thoughts and/or prayers is probably the best way to go. A hungry family already worn thin by life's demands will be grateful for your quick visit, but even more grateful to then dig in to the meal you've prepared!
  
  

What tips and tricks do you have for delivering "Moral Support Meals"? Do you have any freezer-meal-friendly recipe links to share? Do tell! :o)

~

Staying Primal / Paleo with Healthy Eating During Church & Social Gatherings

I see primal / paleo-style eating as the best way to take care of the bodies that God gave me and my family; it's a matter of stewardship.

That said, it's not a huge leap to start wondering:

How do I keep to my primal / paleo-style eating goals within an active church and/or social life?

I've been what I'd describe as a fairly active churchgoer throughout my adult life, and the broad point is: in order to avoid blood-sugar-spiking grains and sugars, you plan. Here are some tips that dig a little deeper in this bit of advice on navigating church and social events that could otherwise derail your eating goals:

Teas, coffees, breakfast events: These are very common in American church life. Prayer breakfasts, men's sunrise breakfasts, pancake breakfasts, women's tea-and-testimonies, brunches, breakfast potlucks, and Sunday morning gatherings (like Sunday School/Adult Bible Fellowships) can be nutritional minefields. At best, you might find a relatively unadulterated fruit tray straight from the grocery store's produce section. But more typically, you'll find muffins, cookies (yes, cookies!), even cakes leftover from some prior event. Add to that pancakes, French toast, scones...sounding familiar? Get to the coffee/tea end of things, and what is on hand? Sugar, non-dairy creamer (which is full of hydrogenated oils, aka trans fats!), and (blech) Sweet'n'Low.

When you had a chance to plan ahead:

• Eat protein before you get there. Sure, you might find a sausage quiche or egg casserole at the event. But odds are good that it contains gluten via added bread or a crust. Save yourself the trouble by having a little quality protein before you leave. If it's an early event and you're pressed for time, plan the night before: make a batch of bacon so it's ready to grab and go, and you can even have a couple of pieces on the drive over. Other pre-event protein options are: a bowl of whole milk yoghurt or cottage cheese, pieces of cheese, or leftover meat from the night before.
  
• Bring reinforcements. A little bag of macadamia nuts. A Tanka bar. Whatever high fat and/or protein-heavy snack you need to nourish yourself! And if you're worried about others' reactions, don't. The truth is people are so preoccupied with their own meals/snacks that they are very unlikely to notice or ask about yours. And if they do? Shrug your shoulders and cop to having food sensitivities. You might get a few pitying looks, but the conversation is likely to move on from that subject pretty quickly.
  
• Bring your own coffee. Brew yourself some coffee at home in a travel mug or disposable coffee cup, add a hefty glug of heavy cream, and head to your event! You'll get a good dose of steady, filling energy.
  
  When you didn't get a chance to plan ahead:
  
  
• Eat condiments. Well, this sounds a little sillier than it is. But if you didn't plan ahead, and find yourself in a tight spot and feeling hungry and tempted, a few spoonfuls of the plain full fat cream cheese brought with the bagels, or the peanut butter set by the toast is way better than eating the bagels or toast themselves! (And yes, I know peanuts don't qualify as primal given their legume status, but they're still a whole lot nutritionally superior than sugar or grains for a person in a moment of weakness.)
  
• Fast. If you are used to primal / paleo-style eating, by now you might have had some success with fasting. Especially if it's an early-morning event, you might have luck with this. Say, "Hi!" to someone you haven't caught up with in a while when others are milling through the food selection. Or take your seat, and if grilled, just say that you sometimes don't get hungry until later in the morning.

Spaghetti Dinners/Bake Sales/Fundraisers: The carb train just keeps coming. And what are these events for? To raise money for very worthwhile causes. My advice? Just give the money, don't eat the food. You've helped them to raise funds and to skip the overhead of feeding you a whole load of cheap, insulin-spiking grains. Win-win!

Cookouts and pot lucks. From the first warm rays of spring through the start of the school year, cookouts and BBQ events abound. Here's how to handle them:

• Skip the buns. Bring a plastic fork if you have to, just don't eat the buns. Have your hot dog, brat, burger, whatever! Mustard is the safest condiment pick, blood-sugar-wise. Mayo is OK, but don't go nuts because of the omega-6-overloaded soy and/or canola oil that commercial mayo contains.
  
• Bring what you can eat. Some foil-wrapped salmon to set on a corner of the grill, a few premarinated chicken breasts, or whatever else strikes your fancy. Be sure to offer to do some time turning things at the grill yourself lest you saddle somebody else with the duty of cooking your dinner!
  
• Look for the veggie tray, then the chips and dip tray. There is almost always one of these around at a larger event. Stock up on those, especially the celery sticks that noone else eats, and then head over to the chips and dips. Skip the chips but load up on whatever dips you can judge as not containing gluten (queso, guacamole, salsa, etc.). Now dip with your veggies!
  
• Find the cheese and cold cuts. Even if you have to disassemble an unwitting catered Croissan'wich to get to the meat and cheese, you're doing yourself a favor! Chuck the carby outside and nosh on the fat-and-protein-filled insides. And there is no shame in taking just the cheese from the cheese and cracker tray.

How do YOU navigate these kinds of gatherings while staying true to your eating goals?