Free is fabulous!

Just a couple of pics of some recent freebies:

I scored this pair of ... what are they called? Beach shoes?  Pool shoes? for FREE and they were in my size!  Only drawback ... they're pink.(Yes those are my fat feet. I was a size 81/2 before five kids and 150lbs of lard gained and lost. *sigh* now I wear a TEN! Oh, and that's my 35lb kettlebell.)

They're not VFFs but it's better than *shudder* conventional thick / hard soled shoes that are death on your feet!  I now only wear flip flops, pool shoes, moccasins, my mock Crocs (when it's cold and wet) and my new Invisible Shoes (pics up when the weather gets warmer!)

(*snort* Blimey, am I the height of fashion or what?  Sweatpants, white socks, and pool shoes. Wal Mart here I come!)

I also got these:

Three dozen pink roses.  Out of a dumpster.  Awesome.  My dumpsters love me!

And now, a completely gratuitus pic of my youngest son, Fiver:

Known as "the melonhead" for a reason.  Look at that noggin!

His cast came off Monday, BTW and the Ortho said the bones look great. *whew*  Of course he also said: "keep him off of high objects and don't let him play rough for a week or so." Both Bodog and I burst into laughter.

Have you gotten any cool freebies lately?  What about my Paleo tweeps?  Free meat?  Yard sale minimal footwear?  Thrift store weights?  Tell me about them!

Just a couple of links today:

An excellent review of Gary Taubes's Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It
by John Durant is here.

I haven't read this yet (or Tim Ferris's The 4-Hour Body) as I am awaiting my February cheque so I can buy both on the Kindle.  I'm already a Good Calories Bad Calories fan (Taubes's longer, more science-packed version) so I'm sure I will enjoy the book, but I also trust Durant's opinion.

I generally like most of the people in the Paleo community - although there are a few who lack any sort of social skills and can be pretty arrogant and rude (thinking of a few "my version of Paleo is the best" people on PaleoHacks and the AP mom who thinks she invented mothering *snort*).

But I really like John Durant. He's cheerful, smart, and doesn't get in anyone's face; I consider him an excellent spokesperson for Paleo.  It helps that he's gorgeous as well. Very easy on the eyes is John.*

Anyway, I can't wait to read Taubes's new book! I think it will be instrumental in getting some folks who have been blinded by mainstream crapola diet advice. You can get the book here , BTW.

Also, I wanted to post this link from over on gnolls.org and what I consider to be the best intro to Paleo that I've seen. As soon as I have two seconds to rub together, I'm going to make it a permanent link on this blog and on my Paleo pages.


*There are a good number of blokes in the Paleo communnity whom I consider very good looking (as well as some intimidatingly hawt chicks).  As a person who is interested in human genetics and evolution I think that my reaction is purely natural. We evolved to spot healthy potential mates and to consider them attractive. These Paleo guys are as healthy as a person can get - or are working on it.

Insomniac ramble

Ugh. 2 a.m.

The dog barking woke me up an hour ago and I can't fall back asleep.

Stupid insomnia.

So I guess I'll blog. Haven't done that in months and months.

Why's that, Blue, you ask?  Good question. Mostly it's my not finding the time to actually sit down and do it. Twitter and Facebook are largely to blame as well. Why write a lengthy blog post with photographs when I can just quickly Tweet it and or throw pics up on my Wall?

Meh.

Oh, and I have also been on a months-long rampage against my junky house.  I actually have a few rooms clean. Clean like 'humans outside this family can come in them' clean. Really!  I'm actually pretty proud of myself.*

So what have I been up to for, oh, four months now?  Well it's been hectic.

First there was NaNoWriMo, which consumes my Novembers (I've attempted and completed 50,000 words  for two years running!).  Then, in the second week of November, I was gobsmacked when *I* got ill.  I've not been sick since I went Paleo almost four years ago.

Well it was a doozie, too. Turns out it was the flu and it morphed into Bronchitis.  I have asthma (again, symptom-free since going Paleo) and so it was pretty miserable. I almost didn't finish NaNO because there were two days in there where I couldn't even get off the couch.  Yuck.

(As an aside here, I gotta tell you; to think that I used to get that sick three and four times a year?  Plus various colds and sniffles in between? Unbelievable!  I will NEVER eat grains (and soy and starches and processed chemical crap) again for the rest of my life to be as sickness free as I am now!  I'd be Paleo for that reason alone!  People who just can't give up their 'comfort foods' and 'can't live without' their sweets, bread, and pasta and who suffer from illnesses ranging from constant colds to autoimmune diseases might want to take a really really close look.

I plan on living a long and healthy, active, life to the very end.  They plan on not 'depriving themselves' of that cupcake right now.)

Anyway, back to the blog post. *puts away soapbox*

So then we sailed into the winter holidays (since Bodog is a teacher, he's off for two weeks, too) and the craptacularness ensued.

First Bodog's wallet was stolen, then all the kids got sick with some pukey virus.  I spent three nights half awake on the couch with vomiting children on pallets on the floor next to me. At the end of it, every sheet, pillowcase, and towel in the house was either dirty or hanging on the line, wet.

Then, in case we weren't paying attention, our furnace stopped working.

Again, I spent several nights on the couch with the wood stove going in the dining room/kitchen (at one end of the house) and a space heater going in the parlour (at the other end, where the bedrooms are). I slept very badly to say the least. I kept having to get up and feed the fire and paranoidly check the space heater.

Two of our cars broke down in this time, too. At one point two cars were not functional and the truck was sitting in the yard on a flat tyre.

THEN (Yes there's more. Toldja it was a suckeriffic holiday.), right before the 'vacay' ended, Fiver fell/jumped off his brother's top bunk and broke his arm.  Here he is that night. He and I spent five hours in the ER.

So, yeah.

Y'know, it just occurred to me that one good thing about having insomnia (*squints at clock* it's now just past 3a.m.) is that all that staying up I had to do, with the sick bubs, the freezing house, and the broken baby, was a cinch.

Of course good stuffs has happened since I last blogged as well.

I ate like a pig over Thanksgiving and Xmas and I lost 7lbs.  All those folks who shook their heads when I smilingly turned down the stuffing, mac and cheese, rolls, and sticky-sweet desserts are working out madly on their exercise machines right now and weeping over the scales.  Neener, neener. ;)

We got a new car (new to us) thanks to my Dad. (Thanks, Dad!)

We got a loan to replace our furnace thanks to Bodog's Dad. (Thank's Bodog's Dad!) [Although not without the passive-aggressive dance that accompanies such things in Bodog's family.]

The children had a ball over the Christian Consumer Holiday, loved their gifts, and we all had a relaxed and happy time with our two fave aunties and our cousins.

So, all in all, not so bad (now that it's all over *whew*)

We have two working cars and a truck, a new furnace, no one is sick, and it's just snowed this week (we never get snow in SC. When we do it's just, like, two inches. This time it snowed.)  Here's the new furnace with a mantle of snow. They installed it just two days before the storm!

Well, it's 3:30 now. Guess I'll wrap it up.  Hmm, they've called school today, I think we should go to the zoo after it warms up enough to go out. :)

*If you are one of those people who keeps her house relatively clean all the time then I know you don:t understand. But srsly. This is a big deal for me.

Trying a new tack

So, I've been experimenting with Intermittent Fasting (or IF).

If you follow this blog you know that I've been racking my brains trying to figure out how to budge these last 20-25lbs. It's frustrating to have lost 155lbs and not be able to get rid of the last 25 and I'm hoping IF will give me an assist.

IF is used pretty often by Paleo folks as we realise that our ancestors certainly had to have eaten that way - if unintentionally.  Think about it. There's no way Grok got three squares a day and he sure as hell didn't roll out of his nest at 9 in the morning and chow down on a sugar-and-carb nightmare like 98% of Americans do!

No, Paleolithic man rose with the sun and didn't eat until he or she found something to eat.  They got up and got on the move - a fasting workout - and ate when they located forage or made a kill.

We evolved over millions of years to do this and occasional fasting won't hurt you a bit despite the horrified reports from the mainstream. There are a whole host of myths about eating frequency, as a matter of fact. The whole "you need a good breakfast to kick start your metabolism" for example, is pure bunk. It's a tired, regurgitated lie perpetuated by "dietitions" and online fitness and diet articles that has no basis in fact.

The "it's better to eat 5-6 times a day" thing is absurd as well along with the "I get shaky and lightheaded if I don't eat" excuse. Well, if you stuff your maw with carbs and sugars then you are going to be starving in two hours. Duh. You spend all day yo-yo-ing your insulin and blood sugar, no wonder you get flakey if lunch is late.

If you eat whole food, real food, and wholesome, satiating things like meat, eggs, nuts, cheese, real butter, and vegetables, you don't NEED to eat so often!

So, back to intermittent fasting. There are different versions. Some folks like to do 24 hour fasts a couple of times a week. Others fast every other day (Alternate Day Fasting, ADF). I tried both of these and failed miserably. See, I cook three hearty, healthy, meals from scratch for six other people (my husband and my five kids) every day. I was able to make it through breakfast and dinner, but by supper time, when I really was hungry, frying those hamburger steaks or pork chops or pulling that chicken out of the crock pot KILLED me.

So I've been experimenting with doing daily fasts of 16+ hours.  I go to bed at 8pm so I figured that if I could make it till noon, that'd be 16 hours.  Today is my fourth day of IF-ing and I've made it to 18 hours one day and 20 another.  It's remarkably easy and I feel great.  It's really nice to not worry about set meals and not have to weigh, measure, plot, or plan.  I just break my fast with whatever I feel like eating and I LOVE the fact that I can eat the foods I adore; huge steaks, shrimp by the pound, veggies swimming in butter, without having to count calories or worry about portions.  I've noticed that my appetite has become naturally greatly reduced. The first day I tried IF, I made a huge steak and a load of cauliflower and ate every bite, by day three I made a huge pile of food, but only ate half. I just was full after that amount!

Do I miss breakfast?  Not in the least. I don't even make coffee anymore (I like my coffee loaded with heavy cream, so I reserve it for a late treat).  I grab a glass of water and sit down to work every morning and my mind is clear and sharp.  Don't I get hungry?  I get peckish about noon or so and I treat myself to a diet soda or some sugar-free tea if it really bothers me.  So I guess the meal I "miss" is lunch, but it really doesn't bug me. Especially if I'm out and on the go, I don't even think about it being "lunch time".  And if I'm really starving, then I have the option to eat at twelve and just do a 16 hour fast that day.

Am I losing weight?  Well it's only been four days and they weren't consecutive (had a 24hour day try-and-fail in there). ;)

Do I think I can live like this all the time?  Sure. It's insanely easy (and I'm a huge fan of easy!), really, really convenient (no lunch to pack, no grabbing breakfast on the go), and quite frugal!

So what about you? Have you ever tried IF?  ADF?  What worked for you?


UPDATE: I'm on day 5 of #ifast and my weight is definitely trending downward!  Squee!

Do the poor eat badly because #realfood is too expensive?

Ahh ... the age old question.

On of my Twitter Tweeps (@keithnorris of Theory to Practice thank you for the link! *mwah!*) tweeted a link to this article: "eating nutritiously a struggle when money is scarce".

In it they highlight a family in PA who live "well below the poverty level" and have $600 in food stamps to feed 5 people. They go on to talk about the 8 year old boy, Alex, and how he's "one of 17 million children who live in U.S. households where getting enough food is a challenge."

I call total boolsheet on the whole affair.

(For the record, we here at the Secret hidden Lair make just a hair's bredth above the 2010 federal poverty line for a family of 7)

Let's take a look at some items in the article:

Oh, before we start, number one, the 8 year old pictured can't be too hungry; he's overweight. (He's also fishbelly pale. Probably never goes outside and plays and is severely vitamin D deficient but all that's just conjecture on my part.)

Go back and take a look at Alex.

Now here's my own son, Boy, also age 8 (notice the base tan - he's very fair skinned normally):

Here's all my boys just in case you're unfamiliar with my blog and think I'm hiding a chunky one:

(Apologies for the severe croppage - both baby boys were buck arse nekkid!)

OK, on with the debunking.

"Alex's mom, Connie Williamson, says she tries to give her son healthy food but doesn't always succeed.

"When he gets up on his own, he'll go find what he wants," she says. "He'll get a hot dog bun, or get a piece of bread. He'll get an ice pop or something."

And that's exactly what he did early one morning, before his family headed out to the local food pantry. Alex ate a blue ice pop for breakfast."

OK, uhm ... mommy FAIL.  Why is Alex getting up on his own?  I make it a point to wake up before any of my family so that breakfast is getting started when they wake.  Perhaps his mom works nights. Fair enough. Does dad, as well?  Also, my children have been taught by me to NEVER get food without asking first. Even if I did sleep late, my 8 year old would never dream of grabbing a chunk of frozen sugar as his first meal!  My kids get out of bed and begin getting set up for a healthy day by getting out plates, peeling bananas, passing out daily vitamins, etc, whilst I'm checking my email!

Oh and if the family got up to go to the food pantry why didn't mom make her son a good breakfast?  If you can afford hotdog buns (HFCS white bread bundles of death) and ice pops then why didn't you buy some FOOD instead?

"Connie Williamson says it's not easy on a tight budget. She spends hours driving around each month looking for deals."

Well that's a huge waste of petrol.  Wouldn't that petrol be better spent on food?  If you watch the sales papers and plan your trips you don't HAVE to do this. hey, better yet, since she has a car, why doesn't she go to one of the eighteen Wal Mart stores in her own town?!  They match prices so you don't have to shop anywhere else.

""You can get leaner cuts of meat, but then they're more expensive," she says. "You can get fresh fruit every couple of days and blow half of your budget on fresh fruits and vegetables in a week's time, easy.""

... says mom.  "Oh, horseshit!", says Blue.  Get the cheap, fatty chunks of meat - they are better for you. Buy produce in season, buy locally (o hai, howzabout the Carlisle Farmer's Market?)  The family even has a garden for Cthulhu's sake:

"For example, the Williamsons have a garden behind their apartment in downtown Carlisle. They grow lots of healthy food — zucchini, peppers and Brussels sprouts. But when Alex was thirsty after a walk, his mother gave him a plastic water bottle filled with orange soda."

FAIL much there, mom?  What's wrong with, oh, WATER?  Oh sob, sob, I have to feed my baby boy orange soda and make him fat and unhealthy because I am soooo pooooooor and can't afford ... tap water?

It gets better (or worse):

"Elaine Livas, who runs Project SHARE, the local food pantry, says she sees it all time.
"A gallon of milk is $3-something. A bottle of orange soda is 89 cents," she says. "Do the math.""


Do you have kids, Ms Livas?  No human over the age of 2 needs milk!  We do need water and ... wait for it ... it's FREAKIN' FREE!

"(in)the Williamsons' kitchen in Carlisle ... contradictions swirl about like stew. The refrigerator and pantry are often filled with food — but the family sometimes has to go to the local soup kitchen to make ends meet."


Oh!  Oh!  I can answer this conundrum: it's easier to spend your 600 quid of food stamps on junk like popsicles and chocolate and then get your 'real' food at the local food pantry and soup kitchen.

"Alex ... admits he has enough to eat. It's just not always what he wants. He says he especially doesn't like it when his mother makes Brussels sprouts for dinner.

His 14-year-old sister, Beanna, tries to explain.

"He more or less just worries about if there's going to be enough food that he likes or if we have something that he likes," she says. "He's really picky about what he wants."

As Beanna talks, Alex goes to the refrigerator for some chocolate. He gets upset when his sister tells him he can only have one piece."


He's picky about what he eats?  Uhm, hungry people are not picky about what they eat.  They are grateful to have food.  


So I find this whole article bogus and not a little enraging. Do I think there are no hungry people in America?  Absolutely not.  I know there are.  There are kids who really don't get anything to eat before school because there is no food in the house either due to poverty or because mom bought drugs, cigarettes, or alcohol instead.

Do I think that all this poor health should be blamed on poor moms? Absolutely not. There are good women out there who are forced to work 2 and 3 jobs just to pay the bills.  They have to leave their kids in the charge of others, or worse, on their own for hours a day.  For some of them this state of affairs in not their fault and they are doing the best they can.

But people like the Williamsons?  I can't be absolutely positive given the info in the article but they sure seem to me like the dozens of families I've known in my life who choose to lounge about and live off the system and then cry "poor" for every handout they can get giving NO thought to the health of their children.

I work very hard every day.  I am a self employed graphic designer, I keep my house, do all the grocery shopping, laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc for all 7 of us, plus I work on our small farm. Yet I manage to cook three good meals a day because it is so important for my children's health.

How do I do it?  I can't afford grass-fed beef or organic vegetables but we have fresh eggs, put  pig in the freezer each year, plus I buy most of our produce from local farmers. I take leftovers and extras from anyone who's willing, I dumpster dive, never pass up garden overflows, and even trade if I can.

I feed my family whole, real food three times a day and I do it on less than $600 per month - the amount of foodstamps the Williamsons get.

For seven of us.

On serving sizes, dieting, and Paleo

Here's a hilarious video of comedian Brian Regan on serving sizes:

Jokes.com
Brian Regan - Serving Size
comedians.comedycentral.com
Futurama New Episodes Funny Demon Zombie TV Show Funny TV Comedy Blog

LOL!  I'm sooooooo glad I'm Paleo so I don't ever ever have to measure, weigh, or count my food again!

I can remember those horrible days of eating low-fat. What a nightmare.  I starved all the time. I spent the whole freakin' day thinking about food. I read every single label.  I was addicted to those stupid 100 calorie packs of crap (and blogged about how wonderful they were! Cthulhu help me!).

Now I eat when I am hungry, eat fatty meat, eggs, and veggies till I'm full, then ... stop.

Overweight is a disadvantage our kids don;t need.

Kudos to the writers of this article on the psychological effects of overweight and obesity in children!

"While some responded to (Michelle Obama during an interview) the First Lady's divulging of her kids' weight problems as insensitive, psychologists say pretending the issue isn't there doesn't help anyone involved."

I agree 100%!  I have said before that the first step in battling obesity is to stop acting as if it is some random act of happenstance. Overweight does not need to be embraced. Nor do the overweight need to be treated as victims.  Like smokers and drinkers, drug addicts and gamblers, they chose this condition and embraced it.  They need help shaking it, not pity.

Childhood obesity in particular.  Unlike overweight adults, our kids don't choose to be fat. Our small children aren't picking up cigs or getting into the liquor cabinet, they aren't into crack or casinos. But our wee children - even in infancy - are being indoctrinated into the Way OF The Fat.  And who is doing it? Us.  Mommy and dada. Would you give your toddler a snort of cocaine?  Then why do you let her drink soda?

To feed your child crap foods, and too much of them, deny that he's overweight, then turn around and tell him that his excess flab is "just who he is" or that it "runs in the family" and send him to school to be picked on and bullied is obscene.

""Overweight kids are more likely to have depression and low self-esteem, to be teased or bullied, and to bully other children," said Catherine Davis, associate professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia. "These can be serious problems for these children." "

Are we setting our own kids up for not only physical illness and infirmity but mental strife as well?  Are we authoring their future misery just because it's sooooo much easier to stop for fast food, let them get the school lunch, or cave in and buy the cold cereal and the soda?

I say, shamefully; yes.