Diet and Exercise Still Going Strong

Knocking on the Door - 100 Kilograms (220lbs)

I've now lost about 10 kilograms (22lbs) in weight, I'm walking a distance of about 4.0 kilometres (about 2.5 miles) a day, it varies but hovers around that distance, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more, I generally have one "sloth" day each week, usually on a Sunday, where I do virtually nothing, except for eating the right way of course, that's everyday. My walking has definitely improved, if my phone's step counter is accurate, I'm doing about 5,000 - 6,000 steps a day.

If I take rubbish out to the bin I take the long way around, so that helps to add to my daily steps, that's why it varies, though I always get the 5,000 steps from my morning walk. The rest is usually low intensity walking, my morning walk is where I "push it" a bit harder. I'm doing five laps of "my block" and try to do that in the morning. If I go for my walk close to bed time I am too "wired" to sleep and have the energy to stay up most of the night, which of course negates the benefit of a good nights sleep...

I've been adding more variation to my diet, all Paleo Diet approved foods, I generally have Salad with Sardines or bacon or salmon or whatever meat I have thawed for Breakfast, I now rarely have lunch, I might just have a snack like a boiled egg or two instead, occasionally I have three meals a day but it is occasional, not common at all, my appetite has definitely decreased. I have mostly stuck to my dinner meal of some kind of meat and steamed vegetables. My walking's improvement is less fatigue as I get "fitter" of course and my balance has also improved, I still do get some "foot drag" by the end of my morning walk, but it's on the last lap when the physical fatigue starts to kick in, yep I am pushing it so that's expected.

My weight is at about 103 Kilograms (227lbs), I must say the lower your weight becomes, it seems the slower you lose it, but as I've said many times before I hope to make this a lifestyle change, but that 99 Kilogram mark is my next goal, it's a big goal lol, I haven't weighed below 100 Kilograms for a looong time ;). Just remember though, weight loss is the bonus, it's not the main goal, the main goal is to see how eating the Paleo way can benefit my MS and it's symptoms, so to realise the possible benefits of MS improvement, I will need to stick to the diet for quite a while. The weight loss period of this experiment is tangible, you can see the results as they're happening, the scales and how your clothes fit show the weight loss, you do feel the general health benefits as well, so there is no doubt about that aspect of the Paleo Diet when it comes to losing weight, it works and works quite quickly, so that's on track.

The next part will be more difficult to prove or "see", it will be all about how I feel, it won't be easy to put into words, I think there has been some benefit on the Multiple Sclerosis/symptom front, but nothing that's happening is a large enough change to really talk about. I guess all I can really say is that I'm feeling quite well. I'm sure the eating better, the getting more sleep, sleeping longer and exercise all have something to do with that, but that's quite obvious really, it's bound to have a positive effect. I could probably say that all of this healthy living has seemed to improve my fatigue in the positive, even if I do get a minor afternoon MS crash, I might need to or want to lie down for half an hour to an hour, but I'm not falling asleep just having a lie down.

I need to get some kind of "Fitness Band", I would like to be able to monitor my sleep, I have a feeling that even when I do seem to get say 6-8 hours sleep a night, I can't be certain if it's "good sleep" so I might just need to buy one of those fitness bands to see if it can shed some light on my sleep behaviour. I mention this because some days I wake up and get ready for my morning walk and it's like I'm overflowing with energy, then on other days it's a real struggle, I still do the walk, but there's a bit more "clonus" symptoms and just a little more very minor foot dragging right from the start of the walk. I'm fairly sure that my nutrient intake is fine and I'm eating enough, so at this stage I have a feeling it's a lack of "good sleep".

Oh the last "shop" I did for groceries I thought I would add some Berries, I bought Blackberries and Blueberries, the Blackberries are lower in Sugar, the Blueberries are slightly higher, I have to say even when eating the Berries, mainly the Blueberries, I did get a Sugar rush headache lol, seriously, I never had too many Blueberries I might have had 5-10 at a time maximum, as nice as they were, I think I'll stick to the Blackberries for an occasional treat, they seemed to be less headache inducing...weird eh?

My Tip: People please give up Sugar filled drinks, eg. Coca-Cola and any fizzy drink that is full of Sugar, that also includes fruit juice, the concentrations of Sugars in Fruit juices is enormous, have a real orange etc. instead of it's concentrated Sugar filled juice!

This blog post is a tad all over the place, because I'm just cruising along, doing what I need to do and I just wanted to log my progress and let others know I'm still on the diet and exercise path ;)

The Video below is an Interview with Loren Cordain, the father of the Paleo Diet, the guy asking the questions is Pete Evans, he is an Australian Paleo Diet advocate and Chef.

Kale and its health benefits!

Kale is one of those vegetables that we ate in the way past, we seemed to forget about it and now's it's back as a Superfood fad, having said that of course there are people that have been eating Kale for years, they knew of it's qualities before everyone jumped on the band wagon, now nearly every supermarket and green grocer has this important leafy green on the shelves and that's a very good thing as it makes Kale accessible to one and all.

Greens are our most important vegetables and also the ones eaten the least so it seems, sure people will eat lettuce, peas, beans, I always have in the past, always had green on my plate, always.

Now that I'm on the paleo diet, your choice becomes narrower, paleo people don't eat legumes they're always on the Paleo "foods to avoid" lists, so the availability of Kale is welcomed, "variety is the spice of life" so they say.

I just cooked some Kale, I steamed the whole bunch in the microwave, seems like the easiest way to do it for me, I'm male and dislike cooking and preparing and washing up so I prefer to prepare larger amounts and freeze for later, the main thing with Kale is to strip the leaves off the stems, the stems seem very fibrous and tough, so take the leaves and ditch the stems. I have a microwave steamer and it seems to do a great job with cooking the Kale leaves.

The Kale started out somewhat like the following pic
Kale usually comes in a plastic covered trumpet shape, it's usually individual stalks secured together with a rubber band, so it looks nothing like below, to big to fit on shelves I guess... There are different varieties of Kale, another you might see at supermarkets or green grocers is called Tuscan Cabbage it's certainly called that at Coles supermarkets and safeway as well I think.

Here's a pic of the leaves taken from the stems and placed in the steamer, ready for microwaving!
When microwaving I usually just keep checking how it's going, generally I start with five minutes on high and see how that goes, I do like it more limp though so I usually need to add a few more minutes of cooking

Here's a pic of the Kale after it's been steamed

I would often put the Kale in with all the other vegetables when steaming, that proved to be wasteful, I'd forget about the Kale and I would throw half of it away, so this time I thought it best to cook the whole of the bunch and get it all done so there would be no waste.

Here is a pic of the Kale that has been cooked and laid out on a plate
Apparently it's fine to freeze Kale, so I will freeze some of this so I can add it to each meal I have, I mostly eat frozen vegetables, I find I waste so much less than I do with fresh food, of course most salads ingredients can't be frozen so they're always fresh, they say Kale is lovely in salads!

I'm not much of a cook, because I am lazy from Multiple Sclerosis fatigue and I'm just lazy in general...so I'm not much of an experimenter and have no interest in cooking huge banquets or time consuming meals, unless it's using a slow cooker, set and forget, wonderful! Though slaving over a hot oven is not for me as it exacerbates the fatigue as well, so I avoid as much as possible.

What are Kale's health benefits?

Nutritional Value

"Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, and rich in calcium. Kale is a source of two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane (particularly when chopped or minced), a chemical with potent anti-cancer properties. Boiling decreases the level of sulforaphane; however, steaming, microwaving, or stir frying do not result in significant loss. Along with other brassica vegetables, kale is also a source of indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells. Kale has been found to contain a group of resins known as bile acid sequestrants, which have been shown to lower cholesterol and decrease absorption of dietary fat. Steaming significantly increases these bile acid binding properties." 

from wikipedia

More information on Kale at Wikipedia!

Kale is well worth looking into and adding to your weekly food consumption, Kale another "new" food that isn't so new and now it's a superfood, I'll continue to have Kale in my weekly shopping list.

There is a sauteed Kale recipe on the following page, looks nice, I must try it at some stage :)

Sautéed Tuscan Cabbage (Kale) Recipe

You can also buy Kale in a ground up powder form from iHerb, if you just can't handle the kale in it's fresh form, it's not to bad at all and quite reasonably priced
Eclectic Institute, Raw Kale POW-der

There is quite a bit of discussion about people who have Multiple Sclerosis and that they should eat Kale, Terry Wahls who looks like has reversed her MS is a Kale advocate as part of the diet she follows, which is similar to the Paleo Diet.

Good luck Kaling :)

First time visit to Farmers Market

I have finally made it to my first city based Farmers Market and it's held only about 500 metres away from my home, it's only held once a month, but considering the area that I used to live never held a Farmers Market in the ten years I lived there, once a month is a wonderful occurrence and will do me just fine!

I wasn't really prepared as I only happened to see the banner at a local reserve a few days before the day coming back from the local IGA supermarket where I can buy Kale and a few other needed things if I'm short, like butter etc. I usually buy most of my food online and before I saw the farmers market banner I had already placed my order for the week. As my mode of transport is now a mobility scooter, I also hadn't organised the appropriate carry bag, the little front basket that comes with most scooters just doesn't cut it, so I will need to look into that for future markets.

I arrived on the scoot about 15 minutes before the official opening time, so I didn't get a true feel of what the market would be like buzzing with people, not all the stalls were fully set up yet either, my fault for getting there to early. I prefer it when less people are around, I get sick of the gawking from some fools while I ride the scoot, as I said I didn't really need much but thought I shouldn't pass up the chance to at least do my bit to support the market which was held at a local reserve just down the street from me.

The first stall was a plant nursery, I have been wanting to get a grevillea for the front area of my unit to be planted as a screening plant, possibly two, a couple of "Robyn Gordon" grevilleas would do fine, the fellow didn't bring any grevilleas with him this time so he said he would bring some to the next market in a month, that should be fine I'm not in any rush. The next stall was a guy selling Goat meat products, now I have tried quite a few different meats from different animals, I regularly eat Kangaroo, I have tried Crocodile, Buffalo, Camel and of course all the regulars, Lamb, Beef, Pork and of course Fish (I mainly eat Salmon for it's health properties). I'd never tried Goat though, so I took the opportunity to try some, I thought it best to start of with something I knew there was a good chance of liking, Goat Meat sausages and of course I got the rosemary and garlic variety.

The sausages were up there with the best I have had and I do like a good snag, always great when camping and great to have with any meal, we would often stop off at local butchers at the last town on the way to our campsite and support the locals and it would mean it was the freshest it could be, before heading into the bush for a week or so and ice in the esky only lasts so long. I also bought a nice fresh Cauliflower as well, usually I just buy frozen Cauliflower so I don't waste it, the one I bought was small just perfect for a single person and looked to be very fresh just picked and reasonably priced. so although I didn't buy much I will be prepared next time and purchase a lot more, can't wait for the next one :)

The name of the business that made the sausages is "Seven Hills" in Tallarook just up the Hume Highway a bit, great little town Tallarook, I will include a link to their web site below

Seven Hills, Tallarook
The Paddock to Plate Experience
Click here to go to Seven Hills Tallarook Home Page

I'll also add the Farmers Market organisers web site as well so you can see if there is a Market happening near you!

Regional Farmers Markets
This is the one I went to on the 2013-06-08
Click here to go to Regional Farmers Markets Home Page
Below is where the Essendon Farmers Market was held

View Larger Map
There is another mob that runs Farmers Markets, so when/if I get to visit that one I'll write a bit of a review on that one as well, all in all this one was great and I will be visiting it in the future for sure!

Coffee and Sugar Withdrawal Over the Worst of it!

It's amazing how addicted we get to things and we don't even realise it, well we know when we are craving something because we will naturally just consume it or go and purchase it or make it, but often we're in denial of an addiction until get gets way out of control and consumes us. It's interesting when we decide that enough is enough or we just don't want something or in some cases someone controlling us, I really despise authority yet I know in a society like today we definitely need police and rules as there is to many people out there who get on a power trip or think the world only exists for them to plunder and abuse.

I look at it like this, there are certain things we absolutely need, we need water and food, that's a given, we need shelter and warmth, we need sunlight, if you live in really warm areas an air conditioner is welcome addition, but we can survive without it as long as of course it isn't so hot that we die of heat exhaustion, like being locked in a car with windows up on a 50 degrees celsius day. We don't need sugar and coffee, we certainly don't need processed foods, I definitely don't want to be controlled by some of the crap fast food like Macca's and KFC or sugary delights that taste great but aren't that wonderful for our health.

I started the Paleo diet the first time because I was angry, angry about my circumstances some of which I can't really control, angry about being over weight, angry about my excuses for being over weight, I have never been morbidly obese, never even had a doctor lay down the law about my weight, I'm a fairly big guy even when I don't have a gram of fat on me, so putting on a few kilograms, was never a major problem, as it's hardly noticeable and easy to hide, but when I got to the stage of trousers or jeans not fitting properly and not easily able to get the right size from a normal shop that really pissed me off, it made me angry, angry enough to assess my eating habits and knowing it was time for a change, a big change at that.

Anger is fine as long as it empowers and motivates you to become a better person and realise there is a better way to live, anger can help to achieve this, so I quite like anger in certain circumstances, it may take a while for me to get angry enough to want to change but I know it will happen and I will change sooner or later. So that's what drives me to stay on the Paleo diet, I'm over the worst of the withdrawal headaches and cravings, though I have realised that boredom also seems to play a big part in my reason to over eat or eat the wrong things, it's not so much about "comfort food" I just get bored and then I eat. At the moment I also seem to be getting some massive fatigue, I'm always tired, I think I can recall a similar fatigue level when I first tried the Paleo way, but near the end of the two months that seemed to subside and I was starting to regain some energy again, so I'm hoping it goes the same way this second time around.

Last time on the Paleo diet towards the end of the two months I started to feel less hungry, I was down to eating one meal a day, at the moment I'm eating breakfast and dinner, I could probably go a boiled egg to snack on right about now but I'm too damn lazy to prepare any, but they do make a great snack while on the Paleo diet, fruit would as well or even Paleo approved nuts but I want to lose weight and I want to lose it quick so I'm not eating fruit or nuts at the moment, that will probably change in the future but not for another three months at least. I want to see weight loss and I want to see it quickly, remember I'm not exercising at all as part of the diet, that's another thing I'll address after I have lost a decent amount of weight, the result of losing weight will make it much easier to be able to do some exercise as well.

Having MS, the fatigue issues tend to hinder any exercise aspirations one might have anyway, so losing some weight can only help the fatigue and the ability to move more freely and feel better about yourself. At this stage I'm looking at getting a rowing machine in the future, hopefully I can afford one in about three months if all goes well. I do feel that I am thinking more clearly because I have written two blog posts and the words are flowing more freely than usual, but who knows that may just be a quirk that doesn't last, but at least it quells the boredom a bit regardless, so that's a good thing. 

I think it's about time I go and visit my nearest "Mens Shed" no it's not a gay sauna, it's a place where men can hang out, talk some shit and build some spice racks, it's quite community focused and sounds like it might help with boredom issues, from the sounds of it a lot of the fellas are retired. I might just go and add that to Schemer lol :)

Went to a Supermarket this morning, not fun at all!

I started on the Paleo diet last friday 2012-3-9, I received my first "Paleo Shop" of recommended "foods" on that date, of course I made some small mistakes in choosing some items, apparently if you want to lose weight quickly or have an autoimmune disease, they suggest not to eat any fruit or nuts, anyway I didn't get discouraged, I just looked over the food lists again and made my next order for this coming Friday.

The main thing is that I haven't consumed any sugar, or any crap food like lollies, sweets or candy, I also haven't consumed any milk or bread, this really is quite amazing for me not to be eating those types of foods, I'm also having breakfast everyday since I started, although on the Paleo diet it is suggested that you eat when hungry and pretty much eat as much as you like, I'm usually hungry in the morning so I have breakfast, another thing I rarely did was eat breakfast in the past.

Quite a few of the websites I looked at were not Australian based, which makes it a little more difficult when working out what things you are allowed to eat on Paleo, so I started creating a page about the Paleo diet in Australia, with some links to a couple of great Australian based web sites and great International sites as well. This page I created is a work in progress and by no means definitive as I am new to all of this Caveman eating myself, I will leave that up to others, but it is something I can refer back to when confused or unsure, have a look if you are interested :)

Paleo Diet and Lifestyle Information

I have noticed that I am not feeling as hungry during the day and am enjoying eating whole foods again and it's not that difficult to stick to so far, hopefully I don't get bored with it all. I don't have scales to weigh myself and I like it that way in all honesty, as I'm doing a Multiple Sclerosis drug trial at the moment I get weighed and have blood tests on a monthly basis, so I won't know if I have lost any weight until the end of this month, much better than me having the scales weighing myself everyday and getting disappointed if it doesn't look like my weight is changing or I gain a bit, but seriously I doubt I will put weight on with this diet.

I usually order most of my food on line, this morning I went to my local Safeway supermarket, I just wanted to get some chicken breasts and some frozen veggies, three or four items to keep me going until I get my next food delivery, I hadn't set foot in a big Supermarket for quite a while and my visit today didn't make me feel like I was missing anything, in fact it just made me realise how they suck you in to buy crap you don't actually want or need, I left thinking there is not a lot they can offer me anymore I only need to go there for meat and veggies and butter and paleo approved "oils" for cooking, not much else at all. Buying food on line enables me to choose what I want without being subjected to all those supermarket tricks that they try on the consumer, I went in with tunnel vision, got what I wanted, paid for it and left.

I will stick to ordering on line and investigate the fruit and vegetable shops around my area, unfortunately the good old aussie butcher shops seem to be few and far between these days so that may prove a little more difficult, the butcher shops around me don't sell pork, not that I eat a lot of pork anyway but it's nice to have a variety of meat available, I do like Bacon though and it seems many Paleo diet people eat Bacon, there is a god lol. I have a feeling though I may become a vegetarian if I'm not careful :)

Anyway I'm off to have breakfast, I'm really hungry!

Going Caveman - Paleo Diet

Back to basics

I have been interested in the Paleo diet for quite a while now, unfortunately because of laziness and being quite busy pre 2012, I just never got around to really taking a good look at it. I had watched some vids on youtube that explained the more technical side of things, but never got around to finding out what exactly you should eat, how much and how often, I never took the time to find the information I needed to do this on a daily basis.

I don't drink alcohol unless it's to make someone else feel better about their own drinking problems, it's so sad watching drunks drink alone, especially when you're in the same room as them lol.

I don't smoke "tobacco" anymore (see what I did there), but I still get a nicotine fix from electronic cigarettes, I am working on cutting that down as well, it's a slow process.

I do drink lots of milk though, the funny thing is I was lactose intolerant as a baby, but I definitely grew out of that, I guess I have been making up for lost time since I was a baby lol. I particularly like "Iced Coffee" more than I do hot coffee only having the hot version when needing a real pick me up or it was the only version available and no I have never drank those caffeine energy drinks and never will, not for my generation thanks, well not for me anyway.

I had pretty much given up red meat and mainly eat fish or chicken, not that I would ever refuse bacon, didn't eat it on a regular basis, but it sure does taste good.

So now the time has come to really look into the Paleo diet, they say what you eat could make a difference with your Multiple Sclerosis and how it progresses, I'm not sure about definitive proof, but many seem to think diet could be part of the problem when it comes to autoimmune diseases. The funny thing is I was probably closer to eating a Paleo type diet before I was diagnosed, lots of meat and I always had some vegetables as I quite like them, haven't been a big fruit consumer lately either. Having said that, I was definitely eating things that aren't allowed on the Paleo diet as I have now found out.

I'm hoping a Paleo diet can help me lose some weight and benefit my Multiple Sclerosis as well. I've always been a bit of "two birds with the one stone" kinda guy, so I am starting my Paleo diet journey to see if I get any benefit from it.

Here are two links which are a great start, the first is

Paleo 101

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-101/

the second is

Paleo diet food list

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-diet-food-list/

Here is that sites Google+ page if you G+ people are interested

https://plus.google.com/u/0/112800333961921511492

I have taken the first steps, I ordered some of the food I need for the Paleo diet, but not all yet as I am still reading up on what I can have and what I can't have. I haven't drank milk for three days, big deal you say, I would agree with you, though you need to realise I was a very big Milk drinker, I can feel my body craving the milk and the coffee. I am going to ease into it as well, I'm not going to throw away food when there is people starving and it should be easier to make the transition whilst finishing food I already have.

If you're interested at all, those links above are a great start, there are also many recipes on that site as well, it's well worth a look. I'm sure there are other great resources around as well and I will link to them as I find them, you need to start somewhere and I'm glad I was directed to that site at the start.

I really want to give this a good go, so I will be updating my progress regularly as I can and if I have something new to say, amongst other ramblings of course!

:)