I’m keeping this blog purely as my writer’s blog, but I thought I’d do a post to share what’s going on with me writing-wise and health-wise and give you a link to where I’ll be microblogging about my Primal lifestyle in case you’re interested.
I thought October I’d be using to brainstorm and plot a new novel for NaNoWriMo, but my agent nixed that. She doesn’t want me scattering my focus. Since I sent STEAM ME UP, RAWLEY out to my trusty Beta readers in the beginning of the month, it means I have nothing writing-wise to work on until that feedback comes in (next week for the last of it) and I can start revising it again. Luckily, this corresponded with my commitment to change my unhealthy eating habits. Since I’d reached a certain age, I’d started carrying an extra twenty pounds, but in this last year I added another ten, and my eating habits were getting horrible (sometimes having mini chocolate donuts, diet soda and popcorn for lunch).
After seeing pictures of myself at Dragoncon I finally had enough (it also didn’t help that none of my summer clothes fit me anymore), so I did a Master Cleanse diet. I’ve done them three times before in the past, and they always helped me kick my unhealthy eating and also drop 8-12 pounds. Also I normally only did it for 10 days. This time I did it for 18 days. I lost 12 pounds and about 5 inches off my waist! But normally you gain about half of it back, but I immediately switched to eating Primal/Paleo and I haven’t gained any of it back. I’ve now ended my third week eating Primal/Paleo.
Not having writing obligations has meant that I’ve been able to put my obsessive personality on learning the intricacies of eating and living this way, and use the time to learn and develop habits and shortcuts so that hopefully when I pick up writing again, it’ll integrate smoothly back into my life.
What is Primal?
It’s a version of the Paleo Diet/Lifestyle, coined by Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple. Paleo is eating clean foods that don’t have any chemicals, preservatives or even additives like corn or soy. It also cuts out all grains. Primal is a little laxer, in that if you’ve done a 30-day strict elimination Paleo diet and then slowly add back some things like cheese or milk and it doesn’t bother you, then you can eat it (in moderation, i.e. it belongs in the tippy top of the eating pyramid). But it still needs to be clean, so my cheese is made from raw milk, as I have no problem with it. However, when I tried to add beer back into my diet (I love beer!) boy did it mess with my innards! So I’m going to have to learn to like red wine. Or try some gluten-free beer…
Anyway, if you’re interested in any of this, I started a tumblr blog, Primal FTW, so you can follow me there as I won’t be posting about it anymore on this blog.
What’s up with y’all? Have you started any new good habits?
Foreplay Summary:
Angela Quarles | Geek girl romance writer 