Ramblings of a madman...

[jessica]

too bad you didnt wait the cold out.  i definitely had a super gnarly flu from working as a temp in an office where people where had mandatory vaccinations.  i stuck it out for 2 weeks and a few years later when i worked in another office where people were mucus bags for months through rounds of antibiotics i was only sick one day and pretty much chugged a gallon of orange juice and was alright.  no flus since.

[Ioanna]

glad you are feeling better my friend    i guess if your digestion is off you know what you need to do to overcome the effects of antibiotics.

did your wife get sick too?  send her a hello!

if you make some progress from meat and fat i'd be curious to know. i seem to do great with meat and fat except on days i workout i need more. i can tolerate raw honey ok digesting, but it makes me crazy!... to much energy, anxiety and it's too hard for me to only eat a tiny bit.

i'm doing very well with organs these days too thanks to inger, lol. i've advanced from dog food to whole organ in the kitchen and  a pair of scissors.  

[djr_81]

glad you are feeling better my friend    i guess if your digestion is off you know what you need to do to overcome the effects of antibiotics.

Thanks.
My digestion is doing pretty good now that I'm eating my regular. We'll see how it goes.

did your wife get sick too?  send her a hello!

Surprisingly she didn't get sick. I was thankful for that with how miserable I felt.
I'll say hello for you.

if you make some progress from meat and fat i'd be curious to know. i seem to do great with meat and fat except on days i workout i need more. i can tolerate raw honey ok digesting, but it makes me crazy!... to much energy, anxiety and it's too hard for me to only eat a tiny bit.

I'll definitely post how I do. It's a scary step back in the other direction. I'm probably going to stick to my "safe" foods for a couple weeks and then give a little berries a shot.

i'm doing very well with organs these days too thanks to inger, lol. i've advanced from dog food to whole organ in the kitchen and  a pair of scissors.

Way to go. 

[djr_81]

My wife and I just got back Saturday from a trip to Florida. We flew out for a week and got to see a bunch of family we had not visited with in years. Just a great trip and a solid reminder than there are other things to nourish the body & mind in life just as important as food, water, and exercise.

I did come up with a fantastic trick which sat fine and make travels exponentially easier. I took a bunch of my ground meat and dried it out in a dehydrator for around 3 days. Pulverized it into a powder with a food processor and then added raw suet (and I put a little sea salt) and pulsed it a couple times to combine. You're looking for roughly the consistency you would use to make a graham cracker pie shell. I took this, scooped out portioned sizes into the smallest Ziplocks (sandwich size) I had and formed it into logs. Froze them solid overnight and packed them in my suitcase. I didn't even bother to keep them cold after the first night we were there and the couple I had left over when we got back are still good. You could make these and hike for days with no problem.

[djr_81]

I guess it can be a good sign when people post less and less in their journals? In my case it means all is going good. Still eating RAF, going to the gym, and living positively. Hope everyone else is doing well.

[yon yonson]

i like the suet and jerky log idea. i'm gonna have to try that for sure. i usually just take a bunch of jerky and some dried raw suet or some raw butter or coconut oil for fat.

[djr_81]

Wow, has it really been over sixth months since I posted here?
Same old, same old to report.
I've been more lax with going to the gym the past couple months opting to ride my bike. I've noticed the impact this has had on muscle so plan to get back to the gym a couple days a week to use some weights.
I've also had a couple short goes with less paleo foods but each indulgence further builds conviction to stick with raw paleo. Life is just miserable eating anything SAD.

I do want to broaden my diet from just raw meat so I have options if meat isn't available but it's going to be a slow road getting there.
The Candida flares back up with any small amount of carbs so while zero/very low carb contains the Candida it doesn't address the issue. I'm going to work on finding some pro-biotic foods which I can tolerate then work on attacking the Candida slowly. Ultimately I'd like to end up still eating low carb but having some home grown or wild berries and some veggies (like onions and garlic) in my diet.
That's about it.

[Ioanna]

dan!!   you are missed

[djr_81]

Thanks Ioanna. It's good to see some of the familiar faces each time I stop back in. 
I'm glad to read you're making progress on your side. You go girl.

[Iguana]

dan!!   you are missed

Yes, you are !

[djr_81]

Yes, you are !

Thank you Iguana.
How has life been treating you?

[Iguana]

It's been ok, I recently moved to SW Portugal in a nice location, a few km away from the Atlantic shores. There's a colossal choice of seafood here and plenty of good fruits. Feeling somewhat lonely, though.

[djr_81]

Well, I'm still alive but life has been very interesting this past year.
My sister-in-law was in a nearly fatal car accident at the end of August last year. We've had her two kids (5 &7 when they moved in) as well as her dog since then. Her hip isn't healing like it's supposed to so she's going to get that done this fall and we'll have them another school year. It's been a big adjustment going from a couple complacent in a marriage without kids to parents of school age children. It's a lot of work but has been nice.
I've been horrible eating right while they've been here. It's a lot harder when you have food readily at hand. I've also developed quite a fondness for coffee to help on the days I'm running a sleep deficit which compounds my personal craving for foods I'm allergic to. I cycle through a while of eating right then slip up for a while then right the ship. It's been getting better the longer I stay at it but it's a lot harder with the food in the house. My hats off to those who maintain this way of eating while preparing SAD meals for others.

Hope everyone else is doing well. I miss you guys and gals but I haven't had time to visit on here as I did before kids. Work has dropped back some in hours so maybe I'll be around a bit more frequently.

[goodsamaritan]

Having young kids in the house is great!  The vibration and sounds and squeals of young children.

Try to get your sister in law some BF&C
http://oldfashionedspices.com/index.php?l=search_list&s[title]=Y&s[short_desc]=Y&s[full_desc]=Y&s[sku]=Y&s[match]=all&s[search]=bf%26c

Ask Barefoot Herbalist MH how it is used:
http://curezone.com/forums/f.asp?f=626

Of course if you are lucky and convince her to go on raw meat like what Aajonus did to his son, that will help.

If she hasn't seen a chiropractor, she should get that opinion as well aside from medical... they are too different not to get the opinion of the chiropractor.

Get a bio medici magnetic pulser.
It will electro magnetically kick start healing.
At maybe only 1 hour a day.
http://www.healingrainbows.com/biomedici.html
http://www.biotransmed.net/

[djr_81]

I'm not a negative person GS but there's no point offering anything for my sister-in-law. She's not one to be at all proactive in her recovery. She'd much rather put others out of their way and garner pity for her condition.

The kids are wonderful. They do bring very positive energy to the house. We're also doing all we can to give them positive reinforcement and help them learn the life skills they will never receive at home. They're thriving here with structure and love.

[djr_81]

Still kicking.
Lots of ups and downs in my diet. Having more options in the house has made it harder to stick to what my body needs. I find I do good for a week or two then slip up a meal (or three) and start it over again.
I've been dealing with a bout of (self-diagnosed) bursitis in my knee the past couple days. I think it's a combination of twisting it awkwardly doing work outside complicated by frequent inflammation and the extra weight I'm carrying. Hoping it's the impetus I need to stay on track.

[cherimoya_kid]

You might want to try doing some acupressure on the opposite knee. It works well, and is not as painful as working on the affected side.  Keeping the knee elevated when you lie down can help.

[cherimoya_kid]

How are you handling carbs these days? Have you tried P5P or resistant starch?

[djr_81]

Just took a week off of the gym and it settled down.

I haven't had a long enough run of sticking to the diet to accurately gauge how I'm handling carbs.
I have noticed that while eating pseudo-RPD That I feel OK with some carbs.  I can't speak to it being diminished recognition on a "dirty" diet or doing better with certain foods.
I'm going to eat simple and clean for a couple weeks then give some things a shot. I really want some carbs back in my diet if I can find a way to do it. One of my biggest gripes going really low carb was the time it took to recover from heavy anaerobic exercises. I'm hoping to find some glucose sources less taxing than gluconeogenisis to recoup glycogen.

[djr_81]

After two years of very stressful insta-parenting (my wife and I had to take in my niece and nephew after their mother had a bad car wreck and a long road to semi-recovery) I've been working to get back on track the last 4 months or so since the kids went back to their mother.

It hasn't been easy to get myself back on track but the last month has been 100% raw paleo barring the odd cup of coffee. Two-ish weeks have been very low carb to get my yeast issues back under control which is going well. Had a little liver tonight to see how it goes.

Taking down at least a gallon of water each day but I still find myself feeling "dry". Hoping to see this clear up as I continue to flush out years of accumulated gunk.

Again the gym and regular exercise have been instrumental in getting myself back into shape. Two weight circuits a week with normal speed one day and very slow deliberate 4-count movements the other day. The other days are stationary bike right now but I plan to get back into the rowing machine as well. I've been very deliberate with my movements to make sure I don't tweak anything and so far no significant pain in my knee.

The last thing I've done, which has had the most profound impact, is maintaining a daily gratitude journal. Each day I document 3 unique items I am grateful for. Once you consciously appreciate all of the small things to be grateful for the setbacks that can happen in life aren't that bad.

Back down below 200 (198), have about 70% of the energy I had before, and starting to get that focused clarity back which was so welcome. Happy to be back with you all.

[Ioanna]

Dan!!!!! 

I was just thinking of you today, wondering how you're doing, and here you are! You must have heard me! 

I haven't been here in a while, also something in my family, but glad to be back and glad to hear from you!

[djr_81]

Dan!!!!! 

Five exclamation marks. I guess you did miss me. Good to see you around here Ioanna. Hope you're doing well.

I was just thinking of you today, wondering how you're doing, and here you are! You must have heard me! 

It's The Shining. Be careful with it though. With power comes responsibility.

I haven't been here in a while, also something in my family, but glad to be back and glad to hear from you!

Glad to hear from you too. Hope the whole family issue has resolved itself. If you need another ear you know where to find me.

[djr_81]

Thought I would stop in and post an update.

The last 8 months since my last post have been pretty stressful and my constitution has not been great. Work had been ridiculously busy up through a couple weeks ago which kept me in the throes of an ongoing coffee addiction. This kept me flirting with other dietary choices which were poor for my body. Most of them being fruits, veggies, cooked meats, or dairy. To someone on a SAD diet I'm sure it would have been the epitome of self control but it's definitely not for me. Regular exercise also tended to fall to the wayside when I had to make the choice between pushing work out or taking care of myself. Hindsight's a bitch.

Work has settled back into a 40ish hour week (from 60+ most weeks) which is affording me the luxury of reevaluating all the damage I've done to myself. I've been getting out in the mornings for walks & jogs. I plan to go for a 14 mile bike ride this Sunday to kick start my ass into gear. Also slowly getting back into bodyweight exercises as we're giving up the gym memberships shortly. Food is on point though with two regular meals (12ish and 5ish) of raw suet and raw ground beef.

Short term goals are to do a water fast this weekend to kick-start my keto-adaption back to where it needs to be. Shooting to be running a mile or two each morning by next weekend. Tired of half-assing my way through a couple weeks and then getting sidetracked.

Oh yeah, we've been sitting in limbo on buying our first home the last three months. We're hoping to get word next week on closing date. The stress of that whole situation has not been helping things. The home is cool and my wife & I are really excited to move in. 2 level mid-century, with space for us to have people come visit, on 1.3 acres on top of a mountain ridge. And abutted on 2 sides by a 60 acre Zen Buddhist retreat. Definitely looking forward to a positive environment I can be a part of.

So what's everyone been up to?

[djr_81]

Oh yeah, I forgot the most important part (to me). I've been maintaining a gratitude journal for almost two years now. I've been chronicling three unique items I am grateful for each day as a means to foster gratitude in everyday life. It took a little bit of work at first but it's a very natural process now and I've found my general outlook changed from one of a somewhat pessimistic nature to a heavy optimism bias. A great side effect is that even with the reduced exercise and poor diet choices I really don't get sick. I'm excited to see how this all works out in conjunction with proper care for my body itself. 

[djr_81]

We closed on our house August 4th and have been slowly settling ourselves in. The living level is mostly squared away but we still have a ton of boxes packed in our basement which we need to unpack and put away.

I have noticed an Aikido dojo in our town which I pass on my drive to/from work. I plan on starting classes in a couple more weeks once we have finished settling into our home. I have always wanted to start practicing a martial art but never spent much time reading up on Aikido. After doing some research on it the universe may have lined something else up for me in the right place at the right time (just like our zen buddhist neighbors). It certainly aligns with my personal spiritual and philosophical beliefs. We will see.