I May Not Be A Rockstar, But I Have Rockstar Parking.
Just Life.
Existential Poetry Of the Now
04 days ago
So I’ve got to create
as much as I can
to be a value
to all of my fellow man.
No body else knows
what it’s like
inside my head.
Somewhere deep inside, I know,
To love another,
You must know their soul.
So to share mine,
I rhyme.
And someday,
I may sing.
Because I don’t know where I’m going
But I do know where I’ve been.
That means
right now’s more important
than anything.
Grocery List for Week 1 of the Whole46
04 days ago
by Rae
in Just Life.
Alright! I’ve gone through all the recipes, realized that I needed to replace the salad (because it required specialty ingredients that nobody could get this close in time) and have put together our grocery list!
Here’s what you need to pick up for eating next week!
3 lb bag of Apples
1 bunch of Bananas
Strawberries
Raspberries
Grapes
4 avocados
Garlic
1 Lemon
1 Lime
Cilantro
2 sweet onion
1 red onion
1 bunch green onion
1 jicama
4 oz. mushrooms
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Roma tomato
Baby Lettuce
1 head red-leaf lettuce
2lb bag baby carrots
1 diced jalepeno
1 can diced tomatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Red Potatoes
35 oz of Green Salsa
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
white wine vinegar
Eggs
2 lbs Bacon
2 cans tuna
small jar of capers
Raisins
Almonds (for almond flour)
Cashew Butter
2-3 lbs of the cheapest cut of beef
3 lbs Pork Shoulder
5 lbs of Chicken (for Jerk Chicken, salad, and curry)
Ham
SPICES, ASSUMING YOU HAVE NONE:
cumin,
chili powder,
cayenne,
ground coriander
onion powder,
garlic powder
red pepper
dry hot mustard
celery salt
ground paprika
Salt and pepper if you don’t already have it
hot sauce
Curry Powder
Tumeric
Ready, Steady, Go! Week 1 Meal Breakdown for the Whole 46
05 days ago
Hey Party People!
Have I got a delicious menu ready for you for Week 1 of the Whole 46. Every meal is one that I’ve had before, so I know that it’s tasty.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, & A Sliced Apple
Lunch
Avocado Tuna Salad (without mayo, with double the tuna!) served in Butter Lettuce leaves or on Sesame Almond Crackers – Instead of the spices listed, add sesame seeds and rosemary!
Snack
Grapes
Dinner
Easy Shredded Beef w/Baked Potato &/or Blasted Broccoli
Dessert
Your favorite kind of berries.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Breakfast
Breakfast Burrito Omelete (using leftover meat from the previous night)
Lunch
Almond Mandarin Salad with Chicken instead of Bacon (though you can have bacon if you want – I’m trying to give you some white meat).
Snack
Sliced Apple with Cashew Butter and Raisins
Dinner
Slow Cooker Chile Verde with Paleo Tortilla Chips
Dessert
Banana
Friday, February 24, 2012
Breakfast
Almond Flour Pancakes with Berries
Lunch
Spinach “Cobb” Salad With Bacon, Mushrooms, Avocado, Carrots, a hard boiled egg & honey mustard dressing
Snack
Sliced Apples w/ Cashew Butter & Raisins
Dinner
Jerk Chicken & Baked Sweet Potatoes – Adam’s special marinade makes all the difference in this dinner. I’ll be posting it tomorrow for everybody. 
Dessert
Banana
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Breakfast
Eggs, Ham, and Fruit (grapes, banana, apple – whatever you have leftover)
Lunch
Leftovers
Snack
Grapes
Dinner
Yellow Curry Chicken and Cauliflower Rice (The Yellow Curry Chicken is a recipe of our own, but don’t worry – I’ll post it before next Saturday, and for those of you who have access to my recipe database, it’s already in there!)
Dessert
Berries
THAT’S IT FOR WEEK ONE! I hope you enjoy it.
Paleo Mentors?
01 week ago
by Rae
in Just Life.
I know that this might sound wacky, but I’ve been thinking about how hard the transition to eating Paleo is. It’s so hard going grain-free, dairy free, and legume free that 5 full months into it, I’m starting over fresh with a Whole 30 coming up soon at Lent, and that I’ve given myself a full year to really get into the diet.
Truth be told, I wouldn’t have even started the diet or know half as much as I do if it weren’t for the friends I have who are on it who have acted as mentors to me here and there. But the folks out there who have been willing to journal their forays into their changes in eating, like Paleo Parents, have really been the biggest help. It’s been good to see that I’m not the only person who is more than a little intimidated by making friends with the butcher, seeking out farms to buy from, and moving away from box-store meat.
I still haven’t found a good local farm to order meat from, though I’m certain there is one near by — mostly because I am still not sure what cuts to order, how much to order, or how to butcher the meat once it comes home. It’s left me feeling more like a novice in the kitchen than I care to admit. I keep hearing good things about U.S. Wellness Meats. That’s at least being pointed in the right direction, though it still doesn’t help me choose what to buy for our very small, very cost-conscious family.
I feel like those awesome folks who manage to do Paleo right and on a low budget have some next-level knowledge that I have yet to grok. Cutting coupons from the Sunday paper only does so much when most of those coupons are for products we can’t consume. I already shop at multiple grocery stores to get the best deals… so I’m definitely all ears for lessons, tips, and tricks.
One of the things that’s been hardest for me to realize is that for the last month or so I’ve really been half-assing it. You can’t be Paleo 50% of the time. That’s called not being on the diet. Then, you’re just eating high-calorie foods along with your wheat – and that’s just a prescription for weight gain. Especially when your meats are all from the grocery store, and your veggies aren’t all organic because you can’t afford to spend extra.
I think the hardest thing is having faith that eating differently — that differently — is going to really change your body so much for the positive that it’s worth the expense that you otherwise would end up spending on the medicines you’re going paleo to try to get off of.
As I learn, I’m really trying to share each step of the way for others. If anyone wants to step up to be my Paleo Mentor in the ways of purchasing “proper” meat, I’d really appreciate it.
Stuff and Things
01 week ago
by Rae
in Just Life.
Hola! It’s Friday morning, and I feel compelled to make a blog entry, if for no other reason than that I am falling out of the habit.
Life is chugging along, as it does. No big life changes here. I didn’t get to see my MS Specialist this week, like I was supposed to because the Dr. cancelled and rescheduled for the 20th. My psychiatrist increased the amount of Abilify that I’m taking. I hope to God that it helps with the mood swings I’ve been having, though I can’t say that I’m convinced that I’m not at fault for the hormonal problems because of fucking up on my diet…
Paleo Stuff
Truth be told, I am having a heck of a time sticking to the Paleo diet, if for no other reason than the fact that laziness and the paleo diet do not mix. It requires a lot of prep: from meal planning to actual meal execution. And, unfortunately, this is a diet where, if you half-ass it, you gain weight.
The hardest part for me is lunch, because I always think “sandwich” or “wrap” at that time instead of salad or filet of something. Regardless of the numerous options, it’s like I’m unintentionally blocking out the good thinking and reverting to “cheeseburger” or nothing. I didn’t eat this much Wendy’s when I wasn’t on the diet…
Honestly, I’m looking forward to Lent because Adam wants to do strict Whole 30 during that time. We both lost weight, felt better, and looked better when we did a strict Whole 30 during October of last year.
There is some good that goes along with the whiny “I can’t do this, it’s too hard.” part of the transition – and that is that I am continuing to find other, fantastic sites that are helpful.
Yesterday, I came upon Paleo Parents, a blog that is kept by a couple who keep paleo, raise their kids with a paleo lifestyle, and who have lost more than 200 pounds between the two of them!
They have some great advice on their site about how to really make the diet work for you. For example: they suggest allowing trace amounts of sugar, since it’s in fucking everything that’s packaged almost, and in real life, making absolutely everything from scratch makes the diet too hard to do, sometimes.
Life Things
I have finally given in and decided to upgrade my life and get on Skype!
I am not going to hide from the webcam anymore, even though I’m still shy about it. There are too many positives to getting used to using it again. I mean, I have the opportunity to take guitar lessons from a good friend on Skype, as well as to see some of my best friends from across the country – so why not hang out? I stay at home all the time and don’t get to see anybody: this could change my whole paradigm.
Besides, it gives me a damn good reason to shower on a daily basis.
If you’re hoping to chat, comment or email me. I’m not dumb enough to put my Skype name here. 
Happy Friday Everyone!
It usually pays to ask…
12 weeks ago
by Rae
in Just Life.
This morning, I made a phone call to Social Security that gave me knowledge that was very important, which is why I am making this post for you today.
I thought, since I had been awarded Extra Help with Prescription Costs in 2010, that I was automatically signed up for it permanently.
NOT SO!
This is why I was not only getting $115 less per month (my Medicare premium was coming out of my monthly stipend), but I also had an additional premium to pay Humana as well.
In one phone call, I learned that you must apply for Extra Help With Prescription Costs EVERY YEAR, regardless of whether or not your life circumstances change.
AND, in making that call, I may have saved myself a couple of thousand dollars this year, which are very sorely needed to pay for medicine and doctor copays! So yay for that!
Best of all, you can apply online now.
Feeling Existential…
33 weeks ago
You are more than what you think.
You are more than what you say.
You are more than what you do, what you own, or control.
You are bigger than the legacy you leave behind;
Or the fantasy of who you think you are.
You are a part of something more.
And as a cog in that massive everything machine,
You are necessary
Even when you do nothing,
Even when you’re silent,
Even when you doubt and seethe in pain and cry and scream.
Because without you there is…
Happy Saturday!
03 weeks ago
by Rae
in Just Life.
Happy Saturday, party people!
What’s new with you? Not a hell of a lot going on here. I know that this week has been bereft of entries, and sometimes that happens. At least when I do post, I try to make it quality.
This week, overall, has been a good one. It’s definitely had its ups and downs dealing with PTSD, though.
I think that its safe to say that there’s no comfortable way to tell someone in your family, who you care about, that they have triggered you, and not to engage in a particular activity around or with you again. You’re already neck deep in awful, so anything that comes out of you is going to be noxious.
And there’s certainly no comfortable way to say you’re sorry to friends when you’ve acted out, as though the false reality were real. It’s just a big ole helping of humble pie with a side of “fuck you.”
Fortunately, I know what humble pie tastes like and am okay with admitting my wrongness the moment I realize how totally not-right I am in situations. The unfortunate part is how frequently it happens, surrounding the economic climate, politics, and utter catastrophization of our future.
So I avoid politics now. I avoid political discussions, especially with Republicans. I avoid the news, which is really just set up to scare people about things they have no control over. I use a credit union, and I’m not scared of my birthday this year. 12/21/12 (Woo!)
I try to focus on the things that I do have control over, like the food that I eat, the people I hang out with, the jewelry I make, and the pets for which I care. There are better things to think about, like what to make for dinner.
Positive attitudes are crafted by choice, not by chance, and things only improve with a positive will.
I knew when I woke up this morning, I was gonna have a good day. What about you?
Fatty Foods May Cause Brain Lesions In Your Hypothalamus.
14 weeks ago
According to a study just released in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, consuming a diet filled with high-fat foods could lead to multiple sclerosis, with the lesions appearing in your hypothalamus.
In the study, scientists fed rats a high-fat diet that is typical in the United States and were astonished by results that showed them that within 1 day, there was inflammation within the hypothalamus. After an eight month-long extension of this diet, the doctors believed that gliosis occurred while the brain tried furiously to heal from the inflammation.
Gliosis, for those of you without a medical dictionary handy, is just another way of saying “scarring of the nervous system.” It’s the step after demyleniation. Gliosis is the term that is used when a lesion has been created.
To make sure that it wasn’t entirely rodent related, the doctors took 34 obese humans to an MRI machine to check how their hypothalamus activity was looking. They found inflammation and repair activity taking place, but nothing was reported for those subjects regarding lesions or gliosis.
Some scientists believe that, like our pancreas’s insulin jump right after eating, our brains may react similarly with this inflammation. Others are more skeptical, especially since the rodents on a high-fat diet lost about 25% of their POMC cells during the 8 month trial, and those protein cells are critical to regulating appetite.
In any event, it’s clear that there is more research to be done, and that it is wise to watch your intake of fatty foods, not just to keep you fit and trim, but also for your brain health.
Threatening to switch meds just to get help.
04 weeks ago
4 days and no posts.
It’s shameful, really. I could at least translate a chapter of the Tao, one might think… but life hasn’t given itself to that, or the posts would be there.
For those of you who are clucking your teeth, know that I have self-berated.
For those of you who are giggling, know that I am smirking as I write this.
It’s hard to believe that I just got off the phone with Shared Solutions, letting them know that it’s been more than a month that I have been without Copaxone on their account and that I am suffering through a relapse – and that if they’re not gonna help me, I’m gonna have to switch meds. Rebif is givin a year free right now, though I don’t know how wise it is to go that route. I am done with my Medrol dose pack, but I am still dealing with numb tinglys off and on throughout my side and top of my chest and my left pinky and ring fingers. It’s weird typing with them, but it can be done — mostly because I know to will my way through it. I’m sleepy all the time. Even with ZipFizz. I don’t care that it’s not Paleo. I’m tired. Very tired.
Right now, I’m just trying to keep going. I don’t think sleeping all day is the answer, much as I wish it was. Instead, I think it involves a smoothie, picking out some recipes to try this week, and convincing Adam to make a trip with me to Trader Joe’s to pick up some bananas and salsa (not to be used together!) and Whole Foods for whatever other ingredients we need.
In the battle of Rae vs. the totally lame, I cannot let lame and boring win!!! Mostly because that means I’m bored. And I can’t have that, now, can I?
Hope all you readers are rockin it out in the free world… or some other awesomely awkward quote that would befit a reading by Paul Rudd. Peace.
