Phase change – food
(File under: Yet another new food plan…)
So, we’re trying out the Paleo Diet.
The funny thing is that I totally don’t buy the plan’s basic rationale – that our bodies haven’t evolved fast enough to keep up with our changing diets since changing from the paleolithic hunter/gathering to agriculture and domesticated animals. I think that shows a fundamental misunderstanding of evolution.
But… what I’ve been doing (quick starch/meat/sauce or eating out (grease, large portions, sugary sauces)) isn’t working. Not health-wise, money-wise, nor self-esteem-wise. I basically feel like I’ve lost my ability to know what’s good for me to eat, and obtain it. Food has become overwhelming, and since I (fortunately) have no anorexic inclinations, that means I’ve been eating too much. And mostly (starchy, sugary) comfort foods. *sigh*
Anyway.
I’ve been loving Crossfit for exercise, and they’re big into Paleo as a group, and a lot of people have seen good results with it, whether because they really benefit from cutting out wheat, sugar, legumes, and dairy, or because following any sort of strict diet encourages more attention to portion sizes and food quality. Since some people *do* have gluten, dairy, and other food sensitivities, I’m sure it’s a bit of both.
And they sent out this e-book.
With meal plans.
And shopping lists, and recipes, and FREE, or anyway paid for by my Crossfit branch and delivered to my in-box with no effort or even desire on my part.
Brian and I talked about it, and decided it might be worth a try. My big thing is that the meal plans take all the decision-making and a lot of the thought and planning out of the equation. Of course, then we put off doing anything more for a few weeks…
This weekend, we went shopping and bought everything on the Week 1 shopping list. (Did I mention there are 6 weeks worth of meal plans?) That in itself was exhausting, because it was all like: “where do we find the asparagus? the sweet potatoes? fresh rosemary? shallots???” (We never did find the shallots, but after looking them up online, I decided to substitute garlic.)
So lots of unfamiliar products, mostly in the fresh produce area where we know where to find the fruit and very little else. (I don’t “normally” buy fresh stuff, because if left to my own devices I forget what I was going to do with it, then forget about it altogether until it gets moldy or slimy or desiccated.)
Yesterday, I took a personal day off from the day job to fully clear out all the “no-no” foods from the kitchen, and then clean up the kitchen and do some rearranging to be more conducive to food prep. It took ALL DAY, and I still have a junk counter left to clear off. :-p (Why is it so easy to accumulate wild morasses of junk, and so hard to get it back under control? Entropy, probably.)
And now? Well, now it’s just a matter of sticking to it. The hardest part so far is simply sinking the time in for the food prep. Fresh foods taste way better, and they’re cheaper for the most part, but they’re much more expensive in terms of *time.* I’m reluctant to commit that time, especially when I’m already spending a ton on exercise, and those required blocks on work and sleep, and I haven’t figured out how to fit writing regularly back in yet.
But…
I’ve been getting fatter, and I’m already 40 pounds over where I want to be, and 55 pounds over where I was (healthily) in college. Exercise alone isn’t going to do it, because following my instincts food-wise just means I eat more to cover the extra energy expenditure. Being fat isn’t the end of the world, but I also don’t have much energy, and in theory being fitter would help with that. And more energy would let me fit writing back in more easily…
So it seems worth it, at least for now. Stay tuned for occasional recipes/food commentary in addition to my normal writing related posts. And hopefully you won’t be seeing a “fell off the plan, gorged on chocolate cake” post any time soon!
Reviews!
I received a lovely review of Refuge on Smashwords this morning. (Well, it was posted last night, but I *saw* it this morning.) It isn’t even by someone I know! Thank you, Toren Taylor! I’m very glad you enjoyed the book. 
And many thanks to my good friend Sarah for posting reviews on Amazon!
*happydance*
(Oh, and in case you were expecting some other sort of review, go see Avengers – it is the best movie I’ve seen in the theater in a while, and well worth seeing on the big screen!)
(I think I’m going a little overboard on the exclamation points in this post… Oh well!!!)
If I can just get the murder right…
I keep thinking, if I can just get the murder right, everything else will start falling into place.
Or maybe it should be a kidnapping, instead of a murder.
Or a kidnapping, and *then* a murder…
Or a murder, followed by a kidnapping!
But why would they kidnap the body? And once they’re dead, isn’t it body-theft instead of kidnapping? Unless nobody else knows they’re dead…
Ah-ha!
(Or maybe not. So many possibilities, so little time!)
Writing again!
I’m very happy to say that I woke up feeling pretty clear-headed this morning, and actually wrote for a couple of hours!
I’m likely to throw out about half of it, but that’s actually a good thing too – I know *why* to throw it out, and what to write in its place.
*happy*
Crossfit update
It feels like Crossfit is getting harder rather than easier – probably because I’m getting a little stronger, and therefore able to push myself harder, and not scale the workout down quite as much as I was at first.
In some ways, Monday and Thursday this week (our 8th and 9th full classes since finishing the on-ramp intro classes) each felt like the most difficult workout I’ve done in my life. I’m certainly still feeling a bit worn out, even if my muscles aren’t complaining much today.
It’s hard not to let it be discouraging…
I’ve been coping by comparing it to my other favorite way to make myself want to collapse like a wet noodle – climbing the beautiful Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey, NH.
We’ve been visiting the state park at least once most years since first discovering it in college – so for a little over a decade.
Sometimes I make it to the top.
More times I turn back early so that the other people in my party don’t have to wait a couple of hours once they get to the car for me to make it down too. Sometimes if I’ve been sick, I just putter around some of the side trails rather than heading straight up.
However far up the trail I get, the journey down is always an exercise in working through exhaustion and balancing rest breaks against the desire to get back to the car without making my friends wait too long. (Or depending on how late we start the climb, before it gets dark out!)
The thing is, though, the two experiences – Crossfit and Mount Monadnock – are both completely different and strangely similar.
Both involve pushing myself to my limits while trying to be just cautious enough to avoid injury.
Both leave me shaking, exhausted, and strangely satisfied. The fact that one takes an hour and the other takes 4-5 hours doesn’t seem to matter much at all. After all, both involve not giving up until you’re done.
(Though I’ll admit it’s much more *possible* to give up in the middle of a Crossfit workout. If you’re halfway up a mountain and the car’s at the bottom, you have to get there somehow.)
Both require a balance of effort and realism, whether using a lighter weight or doing fewer rounds in Crossfit, or taking enough breaks to keep from hurting myself on the trail.
Both involve a similar sense of accomplishment at the end.
I guess what I’m getting at – for me now, for anyone thinking about or at a similar beginner’s stage of Crossfit, or for that matter anyone pondering whether to try climbing Mount Monadnock – is that this *is* something doable, no matter how overwhelming it sometimes feels.
I hope so, anyway.
Zombie links!
So, I decided that I should go looking for groups of people interested in zombies to share my short story collections with them, and I found a lot of really cool links to share with you!
First up: a Library Journal roundup of current zombie fiction. I’m definitely thinking about picking up a copy of By the Blood of Heroes when it comes out in May.
Next, a couple of zombie discussion forums:
Your Zombie Plan is a place to share and discuss plans for the zombie apocalypse, and other zombie-related topics.
All Things Zombie appears to be exactly what it says, with tons of discussion boards on zombies and horror.
I even found a couple of interesting looking Facebook groups:
The Zombie and Post-Apocalyptic Fan Club and ZombieHub.
Enjoy!
Just one more week!
Just one more week to get a free copy of Refuge: Tales from a Zombie Apocalypse!
Use coupon code WW55T on checkout from Smashwords by April 23rd.
Coupon code YM57T for Zombie Variations is good til my birthday, April 27th.
Of course, you can also buy everything on Amazon too! 
Free Braiiiiins!
Well, free zombie stories, anyway.
Zombie Variations
Zombies – ravening, mindless monsters? Or just misunderstood?
Zombie Variations collects three short stories from the zombie’s point of view, and three very different types of zombies.
2795 words, ~ 10 pages
Normally $0.99, you can download a free copy in the format of your choice from Smashwords using coupon code YM57T, up until April 27, 2012.
As with the Refuge coupon, (which expires April 23, 2012) feel free to share with friends – if you have time, though, I’d appreciate reviews on Amazon, Smashwords, or Goodreads! Reviews help people who’ve never heard of me to decide whether an e-book is worth spending their time and money on. 
Thanks everyone! I don’t know if I could have made it this far without you!
Happy Easter! Here, have some zombies. :-D
Refuge: Tales from a Zombie Apocalypse is finally published! It’s currently up on Smashwords for $2.99 and pending on Amazon, and B&N should be following some time soonish.
Edit: It’s up on Amazon now too.
When a terrorist attack unleashed a new strain of the bird flu, people worried.
When the resulting pandemic killed millions, it felt like the end of the world.
Then the dead started to rise…
Refuge: Tales from a Zombie Apocalypse collects seven short stories about normal people living in extraordinary times – and how they keep going when everyone who dies rises up to attack the living.
~70 pages
As a thank you to all of you who have helped me keep going since I first started this blog and the Story a Week Challenge, I’ve set up a coupon on Smashwords for you to download a complementary copy in whatever format you prefer. (including .mobi format for Kindle)
Just enter coupon code WW55T at checkout before Monday, April 23rd to get your free copy!
Feel free to share this coupon with friends, family, and anyone you think might enjoy the stories. All I ask is that if you have time, you post a review on Amazon, Smashwords, or Goodreads. Reviews will help people who don’t already know me to decide whether the collection is worth taking a look at.
Still tired, but…
Not as tired as I was last week. Today was our last day of the “On-ramp” intro classes for Crossfit, and we practiced the “Clean” lift. (see below)
One of my favorite things about this so far is that everything is scalable. For the lifts, we did a lot of practice with plain lengths of PVC first, to get the idea of the form before adding weight. Then scale up to doing the lift with a bare bar – I’m currently practicing with a bare 15 lb bar for most things. Then add weights, or go to a heavier bar, etc.
A year ago, if you listed off different exercises and asked which I had no interest or actual aversion to, lifting weights would have been right at the top of the list, and Olympic-style lifting wouldn’t even have occurred to me as a thing. But it’s actually kind of fun!
My brain seems to be recovering along with the rest of my body too (if slowly), and I’m actually getting hints of a new story to work on too, yay!!!
© 2010 Catherine Wechsler, used with permission.
