New year, new things

So, now that I'm all caught up on vacation posts, it's time for the standard "new year" post where we all declare some changes we'll make and what we liked about the past year, etc. I'll do a little bit of that but I wanted to talk about a 30-day challenge Alex and I are doing (well, he talked me into doing it with him).

He had come across a website called Mark's Daily Apple where among other things, he talks about "The Primal Blueprint". I won't go into too much detail because I feel most of my readers aren't exactly interested in the fine print so I'll give you a quick rundown. What this means is that for 30 days we will eat nothing but what was available to our caveman ancestors; meat (lots of it), nuts, berries, fruits, vegetables, but no grains and no dairy (note: Mark says dairy is ok in moderation if your digestive system can handle it). It's interesting shopping for this the first time because you realize how much quicker you can get out of there due to only shopping on the borders of the store. This is where all the fresh, non-packaged food is (meats, veggies and fruit). I had heard so many times to shop this way.

So much of what goes into our food nowadays is corn. If you are interested in this, I suggest you watch "Food, Inc".

There is, as usual, an exercise portion to this as well but Mark emphasizes getting outside and having fun; hiking, frisbee, biking, swimming, running, etc. Anything BUT the treadmill. Well, it's winter (and probably one of the coldest ones yet) so I'm not sure how we'll handle that but it will probably involve lots of body-weight exercises inside.

I have my share of digestive problems, from lactose intolerance to a probable gluten/wheat allergy. It is not surprising to find how many people actually have this as well. It's not a defect in our bodies, it's just that some of us never evolved to be able to eat corn, wheat and dairy.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble. We are on day 3 and I feel fine. The diet resembles the one Alex and I did several years ago when we were sponsored by a company. It is hard for me to cut out the sugars because I have such a sweet tooth but I still find berries and other fruits satisfy my sweet tooth.

Last night I came across a primal recipe that was for a pumpkin "brownie" so I thought I'd try it. That is what the picture is of up above. It turned out much better than I expected. I added a few things to the recipe just to spice it up a bit. It only had 5 ingredients; pumpkin, nut butter (I used cashew but you can use anything except peanut butter since it's a legume; a no-no in primal), baking soda, 1 egg, and honey for sweetness. I added cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, which I think helped enormously. I think they'd be incredibly dull without the spices, but to each-his-own.

On to other things; I know I dropped the ball on my whole 365 pictures so I want to make it up to you (who is you? blog, readers, myself, whoever). My goal is to carry my camera with me at work; which should be easier since I bought myself a small bag big enough to carry just my camera with a lens. Because my job has me out and about, I have the perfect opportunity to snap some pictures. I hope I can do better this time!

On another unrelated note; I am reeling at the fact that it was almost a year ago that Alex and I put an offer on the house we are now in! We have lived in the house for about 8 months but we put the offer on it on January 10th. How crazy is that? I am reminded of the madness and the hoops we had to jump through to get this house but I am so happy we stuck it out. I love that house and I'm so excited for the plans we still have for it.

That's another thing, we will be jumping back into our projects this weekend, focusing mostly on the master bath. I really want to get that done soon. So there's that to look forward to as well.

Anyway, I think that's enough for now. Check back soon for more updates!

Happy New Year!