This has not been my best week. My 5yo son came down with something on Thursday, and I quickly followed. It didn't have intense achy feelings like the flu, but it could be, it did have all the symptoms, though some were mild. I've tried a few online questionairre's and all I can find out is, hmm, could be either one. There's been a nasty flu-like virus going on in this area, so that could be it also (I hope not, because that one lasts 10 days or so!) My husband and 2 yo didn't get it, and they did get a flu shot, so who knows. I was so sure it was just a cold that I didn't treat it aggressively. We took a little elderberry and a little oscillo, but not nearly as much as I'd have taken if I were sure it was a flu.

Live and learn... here's to a few more years of boosted flu immunity, if it is indeed the flu. If I'm still in pain tomorrow, I'll go in and maybe they'll find out for sure. My trachea on up to my nose and sinuses are feeling very raw and painful.

My husband is giving me a hard time for not getting the flu shot, but that's a long term strategy. I'd rather get a mild flu on a normal flu year and be immune the next year to what might be a nasty one that the flu shots didn't cover. My 5 yo can't get the flu shot, as he's allergic to eggs. I did go ahead and have my 2 yo get the shot, since he's never had the flu and I worry about him getting hit hard with stuff like that (it always brings back memories of his bronciolitis from likely RSV when he was 3 months old).

To add to the aches, I stepped outside on Friday and slipped on some ice that was nearly invisible. I landed right on my gluteus maximus. I expected to be in a great deal of pain from that, but after ice packs and bromelain, just in case, it hasn't become painful. My soft tissues seemed to take the brunt of the force, and my muscles are pretty sore where I fell on them. I don't know if I'm lucky, or tough, or both, but there was a time when I would have landed on bedrest for 4 weeks from something like that. Other than feeling silly, and a bit sore, no harm done. I'm still loading up on bromelain, for that and whatever virus I've had.

With all that (and Valentine's day) I did have some trouble sticking to the diet. I'm back on track now again, and have made a batch of flax bread (with a little teff flour added, which is a nice addition), and flax crackers to dip in salsa. So I'm set for snacks for a couple days until I fully recover from this bug. I've also managed to eat some superfood fruits, like pumello and papaya. The toxins I did eat are not calling to me, they weren't worth it. I can eat just one, regardless of any advertising slogan.

Hooray! I'm down 11 pounds again. Just in time for Valentine's Day... another eating out day. I think we'll have Indian food this time, and I'll just get the Lamb Curry, with a little basmati rice. No more black dot toxins for me for a while, those things are potent!

I've been following my own advice from my last blog, to eat more and weigh less, and eating more fruits and veggies, to keep all my portions on track.

I didn't expect much progress when I stepped on the scale this morning, as since my birthday it hasn't exactly been my friend. It was friendly today though, and I'm back down to 10 pounds lost. Maybe by next week it will be 12 lost.

There's a papaya calling to me from the kitchen...I hope it's not too ripe!

While comparing my first three weeks on the diet, where I lost a lot of weight, to the last three weeks, where I've just maintained, one thing stands out. When I'm losing weight, I seem to be eating more. Not really eating more, but consciously reminding myself to eat the healthy superfoods. It really does take a lot of chewing to get in all the recommended servings of fruits, live foods, meats, and vegetable proteins. Eating enough dairy or grains is easy, too easy, but if I focus on eating enough of these other groups, I feel constantly satisfied and I don't overdo the other stuff.

The first step is to break out of my breakfast rut. I could eat eggs and grains every morning, but if I add in some fruit or vegetable, first thing, the whole day runs more smoothly.

If I chop up lots of good veggies for lunch, I can toss any remaining into my dinner, and finish up all my servings of that. Each meal also needs a protein focus.

If I do all that, I don't crave so much excess of the grains, dairy, or sweet stuff.

If a gatherer is eating just to feel better, they need to start eating foods that actually will make them feel better (even though those don't often taste like chocolate!)

Just when you think the holidays are over and get back on the diet bandwagon, along comes a birthday. Birthdays are hard on your metabolism, especially as the number increases!

I haven't been wanting to eat out all month, and I avoid it whenever possible, but on my birthday I ate out twice, and got into black dot toxin territory both times. At least I don't think I got into regular toxin territory. I got to choose the restaurants, so we had Thai food for lunch and Indian food for dinner. My thai food had some rice noodles and a bit of cabbage, but otherwise was pretty decent. I tried Beef Laab (beef was the best choice there, the only neutral), and it had just beef and onions and cilantro, lemon juice and ground chilis. It was really good. The noodles and cabbage were in the form of spring rolls, oh but yes, I did have some of the dipping sauce for those, which undoubtably had toxins like cornstarch or maybe even corn syrup. And yes, I am still regretting that! For dinner, I splurged and had a keema dosa, my old favorite. The dosa is a Southern Indian sourdough flatbread, made with rice (basmati usually) and lentils (a black dot). The filling was ground lamb and peas, superfoods both. I did manage to avoid dessert at both destinations, even though Mango and Sweet Rice is super tempting, if I only were a hunter, it has coconut milk in it. It wasn't too hard to avoid dessert because I had my own beneficial & neutral dessert waiting for me at home. I made a ricotta pie (using 1/3 cup agave instead of sugar) with a teff crust (using grapeseed oil and agave for the oil and sweetener, and added the lemon zest as recommended in the pie recipe). It certainly fit the tab for dessert, though I think I'll use less crust in it next time, to make it a bit thinner, and I may not beat the egg whites quite as much, it was so fluffy that for somebody expecting cheesecake, it was a bit weird. It grew on me though, my two year old and I finished it off pretty fast.

The scale chides me for my birthday celebrations still, and I gained back a bit of my losses. That will just be temporary. I find it much easier to lose weight when I actually follow the portion recommendations, namely, eating enough vegetables. It's nice that celery is a superfood, it's so convenient. Sugar Snap peas are a nice snack as well.

The healthy thing I did on my birthday was to receive a far infrared sauna. I couldn't find one anywhere to use, so I just went and ordered one for my birthday, with my husband's blessing, and his help putting it together. I love it! I like how I feel after using steam rooms and traditional saunas, but this one is more comfortable for me during use. On days when I don't get time to use it, I feel some withdrawal, it certainly helps my moods and warms me up. It's still a cold, harsh winter. We've been shoveling snow until we can hardly stand the sight of it! We need the moisture to get us out of the drought, but it sure piles up, and every place is running out of places to mound up the snow. It's nice to look forward to the sauna, after being out in the weather.