Weston Price - Vitamin K2

Lots has been said on the topic already, but I thought this was a nice post.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/06/activator-x.html

Here is some info from wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_K#K2

Day 21-30

Day 30 is here at last! The last nine days have been fun. I've cooked and eaten some good meals at home and had some good ones eating out. Nothing spectacular that deserves special mention. Last Sunday found me at a Superbowl party, successfully fighting temptations. I got lucky because there were lots of paleo options, like bacon wrapped dates, guacamole, and veggies. On the drinking front, there were lots of choices for hard liquor. Not bad! The day prior, we were up in Sonoma doing a wine tour, which was another set of challenges. We stopped at the The Sonoma Fremont diner, which apparently has amazing fried chicken, but instead I got a really good avocado and grapefruit salad. Notes about the diner: don't expect luxury service (or even power!). Tastings at the wineries went well, but were cracker-less!

So all the chattering aside, the big question thirty days later is: How Do I Feel? The answer: Great! I've been sleeping great, I feel energetic, my mind has been clear, and I look forward to my meals. It's definitely been difficult at times when I'm faced with snacks and treats or I'm hanging out with friends who don't support Paleo, but it's been possible. I feel more aware of and educated about what I'm putting into my body biologically. And I feel prepared when I'm shopping for food or cooking. Ultimately, I don't miss all those foods that I used to eat (i.e. bread and tortillas).

Do I plan to continue? Yes. I plan to keep trying to stay paleo for the foreseeable future. I'm not afraid to possibly eat "off" now and then, but my majority will be paleo. I don't believe it will be hard because with the more I learn, the more I naturally don't desire most non-paleo products.  Going paleo has forced me to be more creative about what I'm eating, push the limits of how I know to prepare foods (especially vegetables), and to realize why I'm eating it. I purchased, Richard Nikoley's Book and it's been very helpful at filling the gaps about a lot of the paleo mantras. Although much of what he says is clearly just his opinion and based on rhetoric, he does cite some solid sources and give good advice (much of it in an amusing tone).

So, after all of this, what does Paleo mean to me? I've decided that paleo is more than just avoiding certain foods or eating something just because it's what our cavemen ancestors used to eat. Instead it's understanding what you're eating and why it's biologically good for you. It's being happy about eating and not feeling guilty. It's enjoying and appreciating the energy that life gives us. That's why I believe Paleo has been so successful for so many people: success comes from both physiological and psychological satisfaction.

Here are some photos of the food I've had the past few days:

Veggies for the shredded chicken tacos

Shredded chicken tacos ready to eat! http://www.macheesmo.com/2011/03/chipotle-chicken-tacos/

Paleo Reward on Day 30! 

Day 18-21

It's the end of another week and the start of a new one. I'm 21 days into trying paleo and it's been going well! Today I had my first major problem. We went to a ramen restaurant for dinner and there was literally nothing to order. We got there after being out all day long and my friend was driving, so (a) I didn't have the chance to eat beforehand, nor (b) did I have any snacks in the car to hold me over. I got a small soup and ate almost all of it. That included noodles and a (probable) high amount of MSG. I'm hoping to burn it all off tomorrow in my workout, but I'm also hoping that it doesn't affect my overall paleo trial experience.

Another concern that I have is that drinking may be skewing my measurements. I've been avoiding beer by instead drinking hard cider and mixed drinks -- I'm getting a better gauge of how much I can drink in that arena thankfully. The problem is that drinking makes me tired the next day, so it's hard to tell if I would be feeling worse or not. At least, I haven't really had a hangover or felt that murky.

Here's my eating schedule the last four days:

Meals (Day 18)

• Breakfast: Hardboiled egg
• Lunch: Greek Chicken Salad (No feta) - Yiassoo Greek ($3.25). This was mediocre.
• Dinner: Chipotle Barbacoa w Guac ($8.12)

Meals (Day 19)

• Breakfast: Tuna Avocado Sushi - Draeger's ($6.25). I had a dentist's appt and was starving afterwards. No sashimi, so I had to pick the fish out of the rice, but it was still delicious!
• Lunch: Walia Ethiopian Family style. (company tab). I eschewed the bread and had to eat with a fork. This definitely brought the spicy heat to forefront! Note - the Gored Gored is VERY rare.
• Dinner:  Ziryab Mediterranean Grill  - Braised Lamb and Lentil Soup ($66.89). Not the greatest I've had, but pleasant service. Also, not very many paleo options on the menu here.

 Meals (Day 20)

• Lunch: Huevos Rancheros on sliced Avocado! I made this from page 144. It was excellent.
• Dinner: Milagros - Guacamole & Steak Tacos (open shell) ($8.12) Both were amazing! I definitely recommend.

Meals (Day 21)

• Breakfast: Jamba Juice Açai, Rasberry, Strawberry smoothie ($6.00)
• Lunch: Bullwacker's - Salmon Burger & NE Clam Chowder ($0.00) Awesome! I finished this off in under a minute.
• Dinner: Santouka - Ramen Noodle Soup ($7.14)

Days 13-17

Oops, I haven't been posting too often. Well, lots on which to report. Day 13 was Saturday. Another weekend, which means I need to figure out lunch and dinner. Lunch was straightforward, but for dinner were taking our friends out. We chose Rumi in San Carlos. They use local, sustainably raised foods so their changes pretty often. The service was great and so was the food! I got braised pork on a bed of brussel sprouts. It was very tasty! Our table ordered pitas and hummus and they also brought out bread with olive oil while we waited for our meals. It definitely took a lot of self control not to indulge.

We went to bed pretty late on Saturday and then I woke up first thing Sunday morning to catch the Man U v Arsenal match. Great game! I took a nap, then woke up for the playoff game. Not such a great game =( My feeding was pretty much a steady stream of snacks all day (veggies, guac, left over citrus chicken) mixed in with a lot of hard cider.

I woke up on Monday feeling pretty rough. I was probably still tired from not sleeping Saturday night, but possibly hungover? I had a GREAT salmon salad from Max's cafe for lunch. Then we had taco salad for dinner (no shells). Tuesday was coconut panang curry chicken from Dusita Thai for lunch and  Salmon with sautéed arugula for dinner. Then today I had chicken paneer again for lunch and then made chicken fajitas for dinner, which we ate on top of Cauliflower "Fried Rice" from Everyday Paleo.


I caught up on sleep Monday night, but I'm still feeling a little tired today. I'll see how I feel tomorrow. I've been doing fine mentally most of the week at least.

Meals (Day 13):

• Breakfast: hard boiled egg
• Lunch: Omelette
• Dinner: Rumi Braised Pork ($30.00)

Meals (Day 14):

• Lunch & Dinner: Snacking, left over citrus chicken ($0)

Meals (Day 15):

• Breakfast: hard boiled egg
• Lunch: Salmon Salad, Max's ($7.57)
• Dinner: Taco Salad ($0)

Meals (Day 16):

• Breakfast: hard boiled egg
• Lunch: Chicken Coconut Panang Curry - Dusita Thai ($1.03)
• Dinner: Salmon w/ Sautéed Arugula ($0)
• Arugula on coconut oil and fresh crushed garlic pepper and italian seasoning

Meals (Day 17):

• Breakfast: hard boiled egg
• Lunch: Saag Paneer - Chaats & Curry ($1.07)
• Dinner: Chicken Fajitas & Cauliflower "Fried Rice" ($0; pg 144)

Day 17 Chicken Fajitas and Cauliflower "Fried Rice"

Day 10, 11, 12

This week's gone by in a flash! It probably helped having Monday off. Wednesday went pretty smooth. Raw Tuna on salad for lunch and I made beef kabobs for dinner - yummm. I let them marinate for 20 minutes or so before I laid them on the grill. Thursday, I had Indian for lunch and dinner. Tonight, it was luke warm chicken with salad (company lunch) and I made citrus & ginger chicken for dinner.

I've felt really good all week. I've been on-call all week, so it's been less brain intensive, but I've felt clear minded and energetic. Hunger-wise, I started bringing in left overs to work to eat as snacks. This replaces my usual dependence on mixed nuts and dried fruits. Waking up in the mornings, I also feel more limber and less sore, which is something I'm really happy about!

Meals (Day 10):

• Breakfast: hard boiled egg
• Lunch: Mixed greens with fresh tuna, hard boiled egg, green beans and tomato, House vinaigrette dressing - Pasta Q ($3.19)
• Dinner: Beef Kabobs & Pear Salad (pg 63 & 129)

Meals (Day 11):

• Breakfast: hard boiled egg
• Lunch: Saag Paneer - Suraj Indian Cuisine ($4.28)
• Snack: Beef Kabobs!
• Dinner: Guacamole (with a fork); Malai Kofta - Una Mas; iChaat Cafe ($2.04)

Meals (Day 12):

• Breakfast: hard boiled egg
• Lunch: Mixed greens with bland chicken. Yuck.
• Snack: Left over chicken from Monday night -- yum!!!
• Dinner: Ginger & Citrus Chicken on Spinach(pg 49)
• Green beans
• Green Onions
• Carrot Shoots
• Celery
• Coconut Oil
• Squeezed lemon juice
• Chicken

Day 9

Typical day today. I forgot about my blueberries this morning =( and then had to microwave poach my egg since I didn't have time to hard boil it. Man, I was running late! I was supposed to go to bed early last night, but I was watching Che, which, as it turns out, is two hours long and not one -- Oops!

I had solid mental day at work. There was a lot going on and the multi-tasking went well. I felt good when I got out of bed this morning -- not groggy and somewhat limber.

Meals:

• Breakfast: Poached egg
• Lunch: Chile Verde - Rincon Sabroso Restaurant ($1.35)
• Dinner: Sashimi :Tuna, Salmon, Hamachi, Halibut - Truya Sushi ($5.24)
• Desert: Blueberries

Day 8

Company holiday today. I blissfully slept in to just before lunch. After some insanity, and a jog with the dog, I heated up my leftover Moroccan chicken from yesterday. It was still just as good!!

Today was my first real grocery day. I copied the list out of the Day 1 - 5 of Everyday Paleo and headed off to Whole Foods. 1.5 hours and $166 later, I returned home with two bulging bags. I had already missed breakfast and lunch, so I jumped straight into dinner. Dinner was a slow cooked chicken rub, which required 5-6 hours of cooking in a slow cooker. Well, I didn't have either a slow cooker or the 5 hours to wait for it to cook. So once again, I improvised. This time, I added carrots and celery (in addition to the onions). Next, I added some spices to the suggested rub: a grocery-store-bought basil garlic mix that I have and a smoked chili salt that we got at the Ferry building farmer's market -- great stuff! I mixed up all the spices and rubbed the mix all over the chicken breast (about 1lb boneless). It still had the skin on it, so I peeled that back and rubbed some seasoning under the skin too.

I put the veggies in the bottom as instructed and placed the chicken on top in a 9 by 9 cooking pan. Then I put it in the oven at 450 and set the clock for 30 minutes. At 30 minutes, I added a halved tomato that I had slightly sea-salted and let it cook for another 10 minutes. The results were fantastic! I was only able to eat half of it, so I'm looking forward to "making time" to eat the rest =)

The breakfast for today sounded really good, but I need to get a muffin pan. It would be a bigger problem if I ate breakfast more often since I'm supposed to be eating the leftovers for the rest of the week, but I think I'll stick with my hard boiled egg and some of the blueberries until I get the pan.

Meals:

• Lunch: Left over Moroccan Chicken ($0)
• Dinner: Baked Chicken Breast with Rub Seasoning (weekly expense)

Cost Breakdown:

$166 grocery bill for the week!

Ready to go in the oven.

The smoked chili salt from the farmers' market.

All done! Can't wait to eat. Look at that crisp skin...

Looking Back:

So, this is the first day of my second week. So far, I'm happy about trying this. Saturday was a little rough with the tempting pizza and beer drinking, but it worked out. I feel ready to go when I wake up and I'm happy to also be feeling energetic and clear minded. I'm still not sure if any of this is the result of my diet or how I'd be feeling otherwise.

"When do I get to try paleo?"

Day 6 & 7

It's the weekend! We got off to a late start today (up late last night) and had to hurry to squeeze in our workout before heading to our friend's for the 49er's game (which they won!). Heading out of the house, we knew we were going to a football game and that meant two things: beer and pizza. The first evil temptation. To make things easier, we stopped Chipotle on the way and loaded up on chicken bowls with guac. I avoided the beer at my friends and opted for gin -- which also turned out to be a bad idea! not because of Paleo, but because I never drink hard alcohol. After some shenanigans there, we drove home and I made kilbasa in the skillet with some of our left over veggies.

Sunday, we headed to Santa Cruz for some surfing. I just got a new board so I was pretty excited to try it out. We had a great day in the water and came out exhausted and starving. My buddy suggested hamburgers, which was exactly what I wanted! We headed over to Betty Burgers, where they offer a "bare back" option for all of their burgers and to top it off they get all of their burger meat from a local organic farm. Sorry, no pics of the burger!

For dinner, I adapted the Moroccan Chicken recipe from page 46 EP to include green beans instead of broccoli and use Tamari Soy instead of Coconut oil (both substitutions because that's all I had).

Energy and brain-wise, I felt great Saturday and Sunday (aside from a little gintoxication). I had a lot of energy in the water on Sunday, but I don't feel like it was any more than usual.

Meals (Day 6):

• Breakfast: Skipped
• Lunch: Chipotle, where I got a bowl with chicken (no rice), veggies, and guacamole. ($7.90)
• Dinner: Kilbasa, Veggies, & Quinoa (~$15.00*)

Meals (Day 7):

• Breakfast: Bacon & Omelette
• Lunch: Lettuce wrapped chipotle burger! (Mad Mex - 1/2 lb. burger w/ guac and chipotle sauce $6.49)
• Dinner: Moroccan Chicken with Coconut Amino Soy, carrots, & green beans

Cost Breakdown:

* So, I've decided that it's not necessarily useful to breakdown my costs so granularly. I will track prices when I buy an individual item (e.g. Betty Burger). Otherwise, I plan to make one trip to the grocery store per week and I'll note that.

Kilbasa w/ Quinoa

Moroccan Chicken Sizzling Up!

Chicken's finished. Checkout how much the carrots and beans have softened up.

Serving it up!

Day 4 & 5

Day 4 was a busy day! Had an intense workout in the morning, a soccer game right after work (with no subs!), and then attended a panel discussion after that -- not to mention forgot my pants in my friend's car and almost ended up going to the discussion in my soccer shorts! So, not much time for making dinner, but I made due.

Although, I was pretty worn out after the soccer game, I didn't feel totally exhausted. My head felt clear all day and I didn't zone out during at the event afterwards either. So, pretty positive on that front.

Today was an easy day. I skipped my workout in the morning because my knee was pretty sore from the game yesterday. So I slept in a little... and that was very much appreciated. Had another good day of thinking clearly and feeling both positive and energetic.  I didn't drink as regularly throughout the day because I got rid of my giant water cup and I've been lazy about getting up for water. I'm a little suspicious about the quality of the food from the buffet at lunch since I've been feeling a little gastro-bubbly since.

Meals (Day 4):

• Breakfast: Hard Boiled Egg ($0.16)
• Lunch: I had a very yummy and large Omelette with Smoked Salmon, Spinach, Onion and Goat Cheese from Café Epi to fill me up for later ($2.24)
• Dinner: I grabbed a slice of meat lovers pizza at the event and ate the toppings. Then I snacked on the bag of mixed nuts I brought. Afterwards, we stopped at Chipotle, where I got a bowl with chicken (no rice), veggies, and guacamole. Mmmmm. ($7.90)

Meals (Day 5):

• Breakfast: Hard Boiled Egg ($0.16)
• Lunch: Company Buffet Lunch - Mexican. Chicken, Beef, Salad, Fajita veggies ($0)
• Dinner: Hamachi Nigiri & Seaweed Salad - Uzumaki Sushi ($2.97)

Cost Breakdown:

Each meal was pretty much a fixed cost, since they were all pre-prepared.

Day 3

Yummy eating today! Thai food for lunch and steak based food again for dinner. Prep time for dinner was a mess because I didn't have half of the ingredients I needed. Apparently this is going to take a little more foresight than my normal meal process.

Although I'm still not expecting to see many results, I felt OK today. Energy-wise, I was really tired this morning. I believe that's directly related to starting the Insanity workout routine and going to bed late again. Also, I've got a lot on my mind work-related.  Brain-wise, I had some good conversations and didn't feel murky at all.

Lunch was minimal, but dense. Plus, I got some bonus sashimi. I wasn't hungry at all during the day. I did have two orange juices and two coconuts juices though =) I brought some mandarin oranges to my desk, which laid untouched all day.

Meals:

• Breakfast: Started the day with a hard boiled again, which didn't break in the pot =) ($0.16)
• Lunch: Kang Kai-Nor Mai - Thai City (Red curry and coconut milk and bamboo shoots with chicken. (Medium Spicy)) ($2.17)
• Dinner: NY Strip with Sun-dried Tomato topping & Warm Arugula Salad (Everyday Paleo pgs 66 & 127) ($20.34)

Cooking the bacon and scallions

The finished product - Yum!

Cost Breakdown:

Breakfast - 1 egg =~ $2/12

Lunch - $2.17

Dinner - (Whole Foods and Safeway):

• Strip Loin NY $7.99
• Lemon $0.00 (off the tree)
• Sun Dried Tomato $2.69
• Artichoke Hearts $3.35
• Green Olives $0.23
• Bacon $2.11
• Scallions $0.17
• Walnuts $2.30
• Arugula $1.50

Day 2

Pretty simple food-wise since I ordered food for lunch and dinner. Energy-wise, I didn't get a full eight hours of sleep, but I am not feeling too drowsy, also not feeling too energetic; I'd say just standard. Brain-wise, I felt pretty productive today. I'm not expecting to see any results at all yet though.

I was pretty hungry after lunch, but just had a lot of water and coconut juice, which seemed to hold me over. Yesterday, I snacked on an apple, but today I didn't have any snacks. I was hungry again after dinner, but thirty minutes and an apple juice later I felt fine.

I read some interesting content today about paleolithic humans eating and storing grain. It was by Leigh Peele, who seemed a little aggressive about it. I guess those must have been the fat ones!

Meals:

• Breakfast: Started the day with a hard boiled again, which broke in the pot =(
• Lunch: Chicken Shawerma - Mediterranean Grill House (Tender marinated chicken breast, seasoned slowly roasted, shaved thinly, served with rice and your choice of salad or hummus)
• Dinner: Chicken Fajita Salad - Chevy's (Sizzling grilled fajitas, chilled greens, sauteed poblano peppers and onions, cotija and jack cheese, pepitas, fresh avocado, pico de gallo and tortilla strips tossed tableside w/ Apple Chipotle Vinaigrette)

Cost Breakdown:

Breakfast - 1 egg =~ $2/12

Lunch - $2.15

Dinner - $0.09 (Company covered $13.11)

Anecdote of the day -- Apparently I wasn't the only one to eat a hard-boiled egg for breakfast just before riding my bike to train stop. I, however, may be the only one who did these things and did not throw it back up directly onto the platform immediately upon arrival. Gross!

Day 1

I've been toying with the idea of trying Paleo out for a while now. I started reading Everyday Paleo this weekend and got motivated enough to start things out this week. Hopefully this will be the first of at least thirty posts of a similar subject.

There's enough content on Paleo on the web (and I know very little currently), so I'm not going to to go regurgitating things. Rather, I plan on documenting just my meals, costs, and thoughts along the way.

Meals:

Breakfast: one hard boiled egg ($0.16)
Lunch: Embarcadero Salad - Hobee's (An entrée salad with spring mix, grilled breast of chicken strips, pears, apples, walnuts, dried fruit, and bleu cheese in a raspberry vinaigrette.) ($2.00)
Dinner: Ginger Beef with Mango Salsa ($15.03)

Cost Breakdown:

Breakfast - 1 egg =~ $2 / 12
Lunch - The cost after my company's contribution was $2.00
Dinner (all purchased at Whole Foods):

• iStrip Loin NY $11.29
• Mango $1.25
• 1/4 Red Onion $0.49
• Avacado $2.00