04/28/11 Day 3 of 30 Day Challenge

Breakfast: Egg, ham and cheese omelet

Lunch: leftover zucchini lasagna

Snack: Banana

Dinner: Grilled chicken with swiss cheese and sauteed mushrooms and onions and a salad

04/26/11 Day 1 of 30 day challenge

Feeling great so far!

Breakfast: Eggs and sausage

Lunch: Big salad with chicken

Snack: Apple

Dinner: Zucchini lasagna

Zucchini Lasagna

This recipe took a long time to prepare.  I even told my husband this better be some good lasagna because I was pooped by the time I finished making it.  But it ended up being SO good that I know I will for sure make it again!  This is for sure something to try! I got this recipe from Nourished Meadows.

Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 lb ground Italian sausage
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic minced
1 - 14 oz can of tomato sauce
1 - 14 oz can of diced or crushed tomatoes (partially drained)
4-6 medium mushrooms sliced (optional)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon honey (optional)

Spices (choose your own preferred flavors):
-2 tablespoons fresh Italian Parsley finely chopped
-1 tablespoons fresh oregano chopped (or 1.5 tsp dried)
-2 teaspoons fresh basil chopped (or 1 tsp dried)
-1 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped (or 1/2 tsp dried)
-1/2 teaspoon dried fennel seed (optional, my Italian sausage usually has plenty)

1.5 - 2 lbs of zucchini squash (sliced and peeled nets about 1-1.5 lbs total)
2 eggs
1/4 cup of grated parmesan (romano or parmigiana reggiano)
16 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese
16 ounces low moisture mozzarella grated

Cooking Instructions:
Brown Italian sausage and ground meat on medium to medium high heat. Drain if needed. To the meat
mixture add diced onions and allow to soften for 5 minutes. Add in garlic, stir for 30 seconds.
Incorporate tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, mushrooms, salt, and Italian seasonings with meat. Reduce
heat and allow to simmer stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes.
Slice zucchini into thin horizontal sheets similar to lasagna pasta. Lay out and pat dry on paper towels.
Set aside.
Combine ricotta cheese, grated Parmesan and eggs in a bowl until mixed well. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Check meat sauce for flavoring, adjust if necessary (adding sugar to reduce acidity per taste preference).
Once the meat sauce liquid has reduced remove from heat and line up all ingredients to assemble the
lasagna.
In a 13x9 glass baking dish combine a third of each ingredient in layers as follows:
-Zucchini slices
-Ricotta mixture
-Meat sauce
-Mozzarella
Repeat two more times.
Bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly throughout and cheese is dark golden brown. Rest for 10 minutes
before slicing.

My cute kids all dressed up for Easter!

My personal 30 Day Challenge

I decided to do a 30 day challenge.  Mark Sisson does his 30 day challenges periodically but I decided as a big kickoff to get back on track after this holiday weekend, a 30 day challenge would be perfect.  We have been doing ok eating primal. Not perfect, but considering I am pregnant we have not been doing that bad. This weekend, however, was awful!  Holidays+Family=Lots of food.  Josh started his daytime job so he is at home at night with us now.  We have exactly 53 days before baby gets here and we got the nursery all ready for his arrival this past weekend and got all Jack's stuff moved over to his new bedroom with Jeremiah.  Everything is finally falling into place and settling down and becoming normal so that is why I thought a 30 day challenge now would be perfect timing.  What exactly is a 30 day challenge? Pretty much following the 10 Primal Blueprint Laws for 30 days. Which is what I try to do anyway but seem to have been cheating a little too much lately. Here are the 10 laws. I grabbed these off of Mark' Daily Apple.

Challenge #1: Eat Lots of Plants and Animals

Eating right is central to the Primal lifestyle, which is why Law #1 is a five-part challenge:

• Eat vegetables, fruits, nuts/seeds, meat, healthy fats: This one is pretty straightforward. I’m asking you to eat Primal for 30 days. Commit to it right at this moment. Just one month of nothing but the best food on the planet. In just a few short weeks your body will thank you. If you want more ideas on which foods to eat and which foods to avoid pick up The Primal Blueprint and stay tuned for coming articles.
• Cook at home: If you don’t know how to cook the challenge above really will be a challenge. Over the next 30 days we’ll be covering some essential cooking skills and techniques that anyone looking to go Primal should master. If you’re the type that dines out more often than dining in, and doesn’t know a pot from a pan, make an effort this month to get into the habit of preparing your own food.
• Eat clean: The quality of your food matters. While sourcing clean food (organic, grass-fed, pastured, etc.) can be difficult and pricey it’s also an important part of the Primal Blueprint. Let me be clear. If your eating plan strictly consists of Primal foods, but your beef isn’t grass-finished, your eggs aren’t pastured and your vegetables are conventionally raised, you are still light years ahead of most people. But there’s room for improvement. This month I want you find and eat clean food. Stay tuned for tips on sourcing the best and doing it on a budget.
• Dial in your carb count: If you’ve read The Primal Blueprint you are familiar with The Primal Blueprint Carbohydrate Curve. This month I’m challenging you to take a closer look at your carb intake and make sure it aligns with the Curve. It’s the simplest, surefire way to drop excess body fat and stay lean for life. Stay tuned for tips on how to accomplish this.
• Remember the 80/20: Not all neolithic food is poisonous. Additionally, the Primal Blueprint and this challenge isn’t about becoming an ascetic. If you’d like, periodically indulge in sensible vices – high-fat dairy/cheese, dark chocolate, red wine – and take full advantage of state-of-the-science supplements – fish oils, high-antioxidant multi-vitamins, protein powders. It will make the challenge more pleasant, the transition easier and will support your health to boot.

Challenge #2: Avoid Poisonous Things

• Don’t eat garbage: This is the other side of the first challenge above. If you are eating Primal you aren’t eating chips, cookies, crackers, grains, pasta, beans, bread, popcorn, energy drinks, soda, juices, candy, vegetable oils and fast food. The list goes on. If you want to go Primal the first thing to do is purge your pantry, your fridge and your life of all the junk that has no place in your body. Do it for 30 days. I promise it gets easier and you’ll want to keep doing it because you’ll look and feel better.

Challenge #3: Move Frequently at a Slow Pace

• Just move: It’s that simple. Just get out there and move. I challenge you to align your low-level aerobic activity with Primal Blueprint Fitness. If you don’t already have the free fitness program grab it now. Get 3-5 hours of walking, hiking, light cycling, swimming, etc., each week. Do it all at once or in batches. Use the logbook at the back of PBF and your forum journal to track your progress.

Challenge #4: Lift Heavy Things

• Lift your body: If you want to build lean muscle mass and stay strong into your golden years you have to lift heavy things. Align your weightlifting routine with Primal Blueprint Fitness and perform two bodyweight workouts each week. See chapter 3 of Primal Blueprint Fitness for all the details.

Challenge #5: Sprint Once in a While

• Just move… very fast!: Too many people neglect to include sprinting in their workout routines. They’re the perfect Primal fitness hack that can be done in as little as 10 minutes. I challenge you to perform one sprint workout each week during this challenge.

Challenge #6: Get Adequate Sleep

• Make sleep high priority: Late nights at the office. Late nights partying. Late nights… watching TV. Whether it’s business or pleasure, we’re busier than ever and sleep is often the first thing to suffer. I challenge you to get adequate sleep every night this month. What amounts to adequate is for you to decide. I think most people know how much sleep they need. Some people get by on six hours a night no problem. Others need eight or more. The important thing is you wake up feeling energized and ready to go.

Challenge #7: Play

• Get playful: If you’ve forgotten how to play, this challenge will jog your memory. Grok did it and it’s why I train. For the stress-reducing effects, to get you moving without even realizing you’re moving and for the sheer fun of it, I challenge you to participate in each of the four Workouts of the Week this month. Each WOW during the challenge will be decidedly playful. Be prepared to print out the rules, gather your friends and have a blast.

Challenge #8: Get Adequate Sunlight

• Soak in the rays: It’s difficult to emphasize enough the importance of vitamin D. In a world where we go from our houses to our cars, from our cars to the office place, from the office place to our cars and back home again many of us are woefully deficient. My challenge to you this month is to get 15 minutes of sun exposure each day of the 30-day challenge. If sun is hard to come by in your area take a supplement instead.

Challenge #9: Avoid Stupid Mistakes

• Listen to your body: This is such a broad Primal Blueprint law the challenge could take many directions. For the purpose of this 30-day challenge, though, I’d like you to be particularly aware of what your body is telling you during each of the other challenges. Feel a sharp pain during a sprint? Be smart and end your sprint session. Skin turning pink while out in the sun? That’s a sign to seek shade and avoid a nasty burn. I want this to be a pain and injury free event, so pay particular attention to what your body is saying.

Challenge #10: Use Your Brain

• Challenge yourself intellectually: I won’t ask you to throw out your television or read War and Peace this month. But I will say that you are gifted with a huge brain, and you should flex it. We each have the power to solve difficult problems, be incredibly creative, and effect major change. And it all begins in our heads. This month I challenge you to identify one of the intellectually challenging things in your life you’ve been meaning to do and take the first steps to actually doing it. Apart from the pride and satisfaction you’ll derive from following through there are many health benefits conferred as a result. As the saying goes, use it or lose it.

04/13/11

Breakfast: Bacon and eggs

Lunch: Jr buffalo chicken sandwich from Arby's and 4 cheesesticks. (I have been craving the chicken sandwich since I started seeing commercials. Not worth cheating over.  It was good but not great)

Dinner: Fish under wraps and spinach salad

Fish Under Wraps

You can pretty much use whatever fish, veggies and seasonings you like.  Here is how we made ours.

Tilapia
Carrots
Zucchine
Yellow squash
Red, yellow and orange peppers
Olive oil
Mrs Dash seasoning
Orange
Parchment paper

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Cut 12" squares of parchment paper (however many people you are feeding) Fold parchment paper in half then open again and lay flat.  Layer veggies, fish, then drizzle fish with olive oil and sprinkle seasoning and top with a slice of orange. Fold parchment paper over fish and fold three times. Then fold each long side three times and turn upside down on baking pan.  Bake 15 min then open and enjoy!

04/12/11

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with diced ham

Lunch: Primal taco salad, then about an hour later ate some of the leftover kabobs from this weekend.

Snack: String cheese

Dinner: Primal chili and peanut butter and jelly sandwich (ok, so the pb&j is not primal but sounded really good!)

For Primal chili I kind of just throw together whatever we have on hand. So this batch had ground beef, onions, red pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, celery, can of diced tomatoes and chili powder. 

04/11/11

Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with cheese and sausage

Lunch: Spinach salad with bbq chicken, cucumbers, red, yellow and orange peppers, cheese and green onions

Snack: Snack pack pudding

Dinner: Chicken saute and sauteed red, yellow and orange peppers

I haven't eaten it yet but I am going to put it on here because it sounds really good and thanks to my husband we still have some in the house from the other day. A twinkie!!

Chicken Drumstick Saute

1 lb chicken drumstick, skin and fat removed
5 Tablespoons olive oil (plus 2 more for sauteing)
7 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley
1 Large garlic clove, minced
Freshly ground black pepper

1. In a bowl, whisk together 5 Tablespoons olive oil, the vinegar, parsley, garlic, and pepper to taste. Pour over chicken and allow to marinate 10 minutes.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet heated over medium heat. Brown on all sides, reduce heat to low and add marinade from step 1.  Cover pan and cook until juices run clear, about 15-20 minutes, turning at least once. Remove cover and cook until sauce is desired consistency.

29 week appointment

I had my 29 week appointment for my pregnancy today.  Doctor did not say much.  I have gained 4 lbs since my last appointment, which was 4 weeks ago.  He gave me the results from the ultrasound and it showed that the placenta is still low but it has improved since my 19 week ultrasound.  Since I am having a c-section anyway he is not going to follow up with anymore ultrasounds unless I wanted another one.  I figured I only have 10 weeks left so I don't see a point.  The doctor said that the doctor doing the c-section may order another ultrasound before he does the surgery.  I am still on pelvic rest and can't lift anything over 25 lbs for the rest of the pregnancy.  And I am measuring 32 weeks today.  And I start going to the doctor every two weeks now! That is just crazy! It is getting so close.  Little baby J will be here in no time! I guess it is time to start getting out the baby gear soon.  The last day of after school daycare is May 25th. So that will be nice to have three full weeks to get things together.  I have a feeling the nesting will be pretty bad those weeks.  It seems like I have been nesting this whole pregnancy.

4/10/11 Pizza and wing night!

I think I have found one of the things I like most about eating Primal is that it is almost impossible to overeat.  Eating carbs, sugars and processed foods makes it extremely easy to overeat. For example, usually pizza night we order two large pizzas.  We are only a family of four with two kids under the age 4.  We would eat pizza until we were full and miserable then put the leftovers in the fridge and eat some more later. Then of course more the next day.  So pizza night made us feel like crap for two days, at least.  With the primal pizza we made tonight, we made one pizza that wasn't even the size of a large pizza at a pizza shop and we all ate off of it and still had 2 pieces left.  And we did not have to run downstairs and veg out on the couch the rest of the night. We were full but not miserable and our sugar levels stayed steady so we were not in a food coma. Just one of the many reasons I am happy we made the switch to being primal!

Breakfast: Egg Muffins and grapes

Lunch: Taco salad without a shell

Snack: Twinkie (thanks to my husband for getting me a nice little treat!)

Dinner: Primal pizza and wings

Hot wings

Ingredients:
Uncooked chicken wings

For the sauce:
1/3 c butter 1/2 c franks hot sauce

Lay the chicken wings on a baking sheet, or how we do it is put the chicken on a rack on top of a baking sheet.  It is best to do this the night before and let set in the fridge overnight so the chicken wings are dry. But if you don't have time for that taking a paper towel and drying them is fine too.  We like ours crispy so we cook ours at 425 degrees for 1 hour.  This gives them a nice crispy skin.  You then need to mix 1/3 c melted butter with the 1/2 c franks hot sauce together.  Dip each wing in the sauce to coat then enjoy!

Primal Pizza

I had another primal pizza recipe on my other blog but I think I like this one better.  Seems more primal not using sour cream.  We topped our pizza with ham, bacon and pineapple.

Ingredients:
Crust:
2 Cups Almond Meal/Flour
2 Eggs
2 Tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tsp salt
Sauce:
1 Can Tomato Paste
1-2 Cups Water (To desired thickness)
1 Tsp Dried Oregano
1 Tsp Garlic
Toppings:
Whatever you want!
We used pineapple, bacon and ham.

Instructions:
Crust:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. This should give you a ball of “dough”. If your dough is too “mushy” (like mine was), continue to add almond flour until you get a good consistency.
3. Make a pizza sheet or baking tray non-stick. This is VERY important if you want your pizza slices to come off in one piece.  I put our pizza on parchment paper which made the pizza not stick at all!
4. Press your dough on the sheet nice and even about 1/4 inch in the middle and 1/2 inch at the edges.
5. Put crust in the oven for 15 minutes. It should look slightly golden brown when you take it out.
Sauce:
1. In a saucepan, combine all ingredients. Use water to desired thickness. We like ours pretty thick. Feel free to add more spice if you want it, too.
2. Simmer on stove for approximately 15 minutes.
Toppings:
You will want to pre-cook any meat going on your pizza. Veggies can go on fresh and raw, or cooked depending on your preference. Your favorite cheese will do, but I recommend the 50/50 mix of mozzarella and swiss that we used. It melted perfectly and tasted great!
Put it all together:
1. After crust comes out of the oven, spread sauce evenly over crust.
2. Add your cheese and toppings evenly on top of sauce.
3. Put back in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15 more minutes. Cheese should be evenly melted.
4. Slice and enjoy!

Egg Muffins

I have been wanting to try these for a while now. They were in Mark's Primal Cookbook.  I am so glad I finally made them because they were delicious!

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/4 lbd ground meat or sausage (I used the bacon)
1 red pepper chopped
1/4 cup of grated cheese (optional)
1 scallion
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350

Generously grease 6 muffin tins with butter or coconut oil, or for easier removal line with paper baking cups.  The baking cups also help the muffins hold their shape.

In a bowl, beat the eggs.  Add meat, red pepper, cheese and seasoning.  Spoon into muffin tins.  Bake 18-20 minutes or until a knife stuck into the muffin comes out clean.

Enjoying the weather

Today started out to be a nasty rainy day.  We did all our running this morning. We left at 9:00 this morning and didn't get home until 1:30! The boys fell asleep on the way home then slept until 5:00.  Then when they woke up the sun was shining so outside we went!  Our family is definitely an outside family.  We love being outside.  We actually just came inside and it is 8:30. We even ate dinner outside.  I was very excited because last year Josh's sister gave us their old patio set but the squirrels had chewed the cushions.  I starting looking for new cushions and the cheapest I could find was $25 each.  We have 6 chairs!  So it would cost us about $150 to replace the cushions.  So we were getting ready to just get rid of the chairs and table because I would rather spend a little more and just get a whole new patio set.  But then I was at Goodwill today and they had 4 cushions that fit the chairs we have.  They were only $5 each! So I only spent $20. I was very excited about this.  So of course we HAD to eat outside.  Josh grilled up some kabobs and I made some sauteed spinach with bacon.  So we had a very full day but a very fun day.  Today made me look forward to Josh going on days even more! Having him home with us for dinner means more nights grilling and eating outside!

Sauteed Spinach with Bacon

 

 

Ingredients

• • 2 slices bacon (about 2 ounces total), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
  • 3 bunches flat-leaf spinach (about 2 pounds total), thick stems removed, well washed and dried
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crispy, 5 to 8 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove bacon, leaving fat in skillet; drain on a paper towel. Set aside.
2. Increase heat to high; fill skillet with as much spinach as will fit. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing spinach and adding more as it wilts (it may take up to 2 minutes to fit it all). Continue to cook until tender, 1 to 3 minutes.
3. Tilt skillet to drain water from spinach (using slotted spoon or a spatula to hold spinach back). Mix in vinegar; season with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with crispy bacon.

04/06/11

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with chopped up bratwurst from dinner the other night

Lunch: 3 tacos from taco bell (oops!!)

Snack: String cheese

Dinner:  Chicken Caprese and streamed broccoli

Chicken Caprese

What you need:
2 Tbsp. Mrs Dash Tomato Basil Garlic Blend
4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
4 tiny mozzarella balls, cut into quarters
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
cooking spray

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.
Toss tomatoes with 1 Tbsp of Mrs Dash. Lightly flatten each chicken breast to 1/4 inch thickness. Place tomatoes and four quarters of mozzarella ball on each chicken breast and roll up and secure with toothpicks. Place on baking pan and drizzle with olive oil, vinegar and the remaining 1 Tbsp of Mrs. Dash. Bake 30 min . Remove from oven, cover lightly with foil and let rest for 10 min.

4/5/11

Breakfast: Bacon and eggs

Lunch: Salad with teriyaki chicken, green onions, cheese, broccoli, red, yellow and orange peppers and cucumbers

Snack: half of an apple and a small bowl of pulled pork that was in the crockpot for dinner, had to test try it;)

Dinner: Pulled pork and a couple of pickles

Pulled Pork

 

This is what the pork butt looked like coming out of the crockpot

 

 This is the pork butt shredded before adding the BBQ

 This is the finished product!

What you need:

Boston Pork Butt (I think the one I used was 3 lbs)
1 jar of BBQ sauce (I used Oink N Squeel. I plan on making my own next time so it will be more Primal)

For the rub:
Note: This is more than you need for this recipe.  I am thinking you can cut this in half.  My husband always has a mason jar of this rub made up so I just used some out of that.

1/4 cup coarse salt (kosher or sea)
1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

1. I did not trim any of the fat off of the pork butt because I wanted to cook with it on for the flavor. I do however later remove it.  Take the pork butt and rub the 'rub' all over the outside. 
2. Place pork butt in crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours.
3. Remove from crockpot and shred the meat.  The meat will be so tender making it very easy to shred.  This is when I removed the fat.
4. Clean out crockpot and return shredded meat back to the crockpot and add a BBQ sauce.  I then cooked it on low for 4 hours.  Since the meat is already cooked, you do not have to cook for 4 hours.  It mainly just has to heat back up.  I just wanted it in longer for the flavor.  I actually made this recipe over a two day period.  The first day I cooked the meat and shredded it and stuck it in the fridge. The second day I returned to crockpot and added the BBQ sauce and cooked for 4 hours.  I only did this because I got a late start on the first day.

We like to eat this just as it is, no bread of course:)  My husband also loves putting this on his salad for lunches. He says no need for any dressing!

Primal Chicken Nuggets

What you need:

• 3-4 chicken breasts, diced into chunks
• 2 eggs (beaten)

Breading:

• 3/4 c. almond flour
• 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• pinch of salt

What you do:

• Put in the chicken chunks in the eggs and coat.

Mix the breading ingredients on a large plate

• Remove the nuggets from the eggs and roll in breading
• Lay on foiled cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 for approx 30 (time varies depending on size of nuggets) until brown, crispy, and cooked through.

4/4/11

Breakfast: A bite of Larabar

Lunch: A piece of BBQ chicken.


Snack: String cheese


Dinner:  Primal chicken fingers and a salad with spring mix leaves, red, orange and yellow peppers, cucumbers, cheese and hard boiled egg.

Progress so far....

  I just copied these from my old blog to bring this blog up to date on my pregnancy.

 

4 weeks

I am a little late getting this up but this is a 4 week picture.  I plan on putting up a picture every month to show my progress.  I will not be showing my belly though.  Too many stretch marks! Did I mention I gained 65 pounds with my first and he was 9 lbs 10 oz :) So unless I get really brave, no belly shots. That is my youngest son Jack standing there. Isn't he a cutie!!

4 months

Ok, so I skipped month 2 and 3. Let's just hope I continue to have monthly pictures. I was so sick month 2 and 3 that the last thing I wanted to do was to get my picture taken. So here is month 4. Now remember, since I was so sick the past two months I have not been eating primal but now I am starting!! So far I have gained 8 lbs.  The nice part about that is that right before I got pregnant and I was eating Primal, I had lost 10 lbs. So now I am just back to my regular weight that I was before going Primal. My goal for the whole pregnancy is to only gain between 25 and 35 lbs which is what is recommended for my pre-pregnancy weight.

5 months

Halfway to the end! Actually now I am a little more than halfway since they plan on doing my c-section at 39 weeks.  I have gained 17lbs since I got pregnant.  To accomplish my goal of only gaining 25-35 lbs this pregnancy I can only gain 8-18 more pounds.  I have 19 more weeks of being pregnant.  The bad part is the end is when you gain a lot of weight! It seems like the last 8lbs came out of nowhere really fast so I am hoping I will go a few weeks without gaining.  Once again, I am not trying to lose weight or anything, just trying to keep a healthy pregnancy weight this time since I have a tendency of gaining 55-65 lbs when I am pregnant.  I plan on starting to walk at the zoo with one of my friends when the weather gets better so hopefully that will help too! I am starting to have problems with back pain and my sciatic nerve so I am hoping some exercise will help that.

6 months

I am a little behind posting my 6 month picture and update.  We have had birthdays, parties and a wedding. So our schedule has been crazy and of course so has our eating.  I haven't been eating the greatest lately.  But I am hoping to change that and get back on track and get our hectic schedule calmed down as well!

As of this past Saturday I was 24 weeks.  I have gained a total of 22lbs.  I have 15 weeks left of being pregnant, since they are taking the baby a week early. So that means if I want to stay within my goal I can only gain 13lbs tops! It is going to be rough.  Good news is I gave up sodas for lent so that should help tremendously!  The past couple weeks I have been drinking a lot of sodas.  I just got finished reading this one lady's blog and she was talking about how she ate Primal during her pregnancy and it helped a lot with the swelling.  I have noticed my ankles are starting to swell just a bit so I want to make sure I start taking this eating Primal thing serious.  I had awful swelling with my other two.  The first one was the worse. Reading her blog got me back into wanting to take this serious because I know I will be so happy I did. So here we go again. Hopefully this time I WILL stay on track until baby gets here:)

7 Months

Wow, this past month flew by.  I am already 7 months along! I can't believe it. Only 11 more weeks until the baby is here.  I have gained a total of 24 lbs. I was looking back at my 6 month posting and I noticed I only gained 2 lbs this past month.  I was shocked!  I haven't swelled much. Some days I forget I am pregnant.  But then other days I feel like I have been hit by a truck and everything hurts.  Overall this pregnancy has been pretty easy.  Let's hope it stays that way.  We have been discussing names tonight.  I think we may have finally agreed on one but I think we are going to wait until we have the baby to tell everyone.  Part of the reason is we are not 100% sure on the name and mostly because I want something to be a surprise since we already know the sex.  Who knows, we may end up just telling everyone because I am not very good with secrets.

Welcome to my new blog!

I decided to start a new blog about eating Primal. Our family is getting more into eating Primal and I found myself always blogging about eating Primal on my other blog so I decided to make a new blog devoted to just eating Primal.  My "plans" for this blog are to still keep it updated about my pregnancy and postpartum weight loss journey.  I LOVE reading blogs about eating Primal and one thing that I found that I liked the most, especially when I first started eating Primal, was looking at blogs for what people ate everyday and new recipes to try.  So I plan on updating the blog daily on what we eat each day. This will also help me too because I seem to stay on track more when I have to log everything I am eating.  I am also going to have a recipe section with different recipes we try.  I love to cook by the way, so be ready for lots of recipes!  I am also trying to get my two boys Primal. Well, soon to be three boys:)  I know how hard it is when kids are use to eating processed foods, breaded frozen chicken nuggets, pasta, peanut butter and jelly and awful food like that!  So hopefully along our journey I will have some good tips to pass on to help the transition and some good 'kid friendly' recipes.  Here is my first blog about "My Primal Pregnancy" from my other blog.  You can read all the other posts at Our journey through Homeschooling and Life.

The start of my Primal Pregnancy

Yup....I am pregnant again!! This will be baby number 3. Can't believe I will have 3 kids! I just found out last week that I am expecting. I am actually exactly 5 weeks today.  I decided to do this pregnancy a little different. My first pregnancy I gained about 65 lbs. Second pregnancy gained 50 lbs. So I have a tendency of gaining a lot of weight with my pregnancies.  I look at pregnancies as a time to eat what I want when I want! And I never exercised with either of the pregnancies. I did manage to lose all the weight within 10 months of having each baby.
Last month I started the 30 day Primal Challenge that Mark Sisson had.  I have been reading his blog for a few years now. Of course I agree with everything he says about being primal and all the benefits but I could never commit to eating primal.  I did the 30 day Primal Challenge he had in September of this year. I lost 10 lbs in 30 days. I felt great! I had energy. I was never hungry. I slacked a lot the first few weeks in October. Therefore now I do not feel the greatest. I can tell a HUGE difference when I am not eating Primal. Then I found out I was pregnant. I was so excited! The first thing I thought was this time I am doing it the right way.  No eating crap all the time like I did with the previous two pregnancies.  I am hoping this helps with my morning sickness as well. We will see. I had some morning sickness with the first and really bad morning sickness with the second.  I think I threw up everyday for the first three months.  And they were both boys. But they say every pregnancy is different.
So, I have known I was pregnant for a week now. Have I been eating primal?? Some. Not as good as I would like. Tomorrow is when I am starting for good and I plan on blogging about my experience with my Primal Pregnancy. I plan on exercising during this pregnancy too. I bought a Kettlebell today and I used that.  Really great workout. I can tell I am not going to be able to move tomorrow.
So, with this Primal Pregnancy Blog I plan on updating on how I feel everyday (energy level, sickness, and overall how I feel) track my weight gain, what exercise I did if any for the day, and a little bit about what I ate each day. Now remember, I am pregnant. I will tell you right now I will have some bad food. I am just hoping to keep it to a minimum.  And I also plan on blogging after the baby is born to update on his/her health and everything.
My first baby weighed 9 lbs 10 oz and my second was 7 lbs 3 oz.  The first one had jaundice and had to be sent home with a billy blanket and my second was in the NICU for 7 days due to underdeveloped lungs. And both were c-section babies. The first one I was in labor over 17 hours and pushed for over an hour before the doctor said the baby was not coming out this way. The second was a planned c-section just because the first was a c-section.  So we will see how the third one turns out with me eating more healthy and exercising while pregnant.
Here goes another journey in our life!!