Paleo Lifehacks: Keeping Costs Down

So I did a vlog today instead of writing an article, so you'll get my info from the horses mouth!

I will, however, add my food log for Day 13 below. I ate my chocolate bar that I'd been saving since before Halloween. I'll post a review tomorrow. It was super good. I had no business "treating" myself due to my last few days of behavior on set, but hey. At least it was a Paleo delicacy. More challenges tomorrow.

I'm also not weighing myself because I know eating this way is going to work and I don't want to be so focused on the scale or be a person who weighs themselves every day or every week. I'm in it for the sake of wellness and confidence and I'm gonna hope that this new "system" works out for me. I am curious to know how I'm doing after two weeks, but the results should be telling in how my clothes fit as time goes on. Just gotta sit tight and keep choosing wisely.

Mixed Berry Smoothie
Cashews
Dried Cranberries
Banana

Eggs, Bacon, Pepper, Onion, Mushroom

Apple
Paleo Chocolate Banana Crunch Bar from Hu Kitchen

Chicken
Sweet Potato

Bill Lowe: The Pillow

It was just two days, but I really did have a great time with these guys. It's weird how you can come together for a project and just get on with people you've never really met before. There were times where we even got on too well and had to be chastened mildly so we could get our work done. But! For a few days, we made zee magics for the camera and we had a lot of laughs and that was just raw fun. 

Basically, my whole role takes place around the D&D table. Some of us had scripted in game characters. I was Sam-Dumb, the Barbarian, whom I decided was a gnome. While we were waiting for shots to get set up, some of us actually filled out our character sheets. You can have a look at mine here. It contains gems such as "Maximum Hit Points: Infinity" and "Flaws: Hybris... NONE." 

We obviously weren't looking to create characters by the rules, but the jokes on everyone's sheets were genius and I'm only sad that they never really get featured. We'll just chalk it all up to our very rich character development rituals. My personal favorites for other people included:

• Alignment: Bi
• Alignment: Pilates
• Languages: Horse Whispering and Horse Yelling. 
• A caster's health points: 180

I seriously should have take more pictures of our stuff. It was great. 

One of the great privileges of working on this was getting just be an actor. Often times on webseries sets, you have multiple jobs. Frankly, at the Renaissance Faire we all chipped in when and where we could to get the whole job done. That was definitely the case for other people on this set, but I really just had to show up, get dressed in my costume, have my make and hair done, do some line throughs, and get the scenes shot relatively unscathed. I say relatively because for some reason after we punch in to my close ups, I always have a tendency to somehow FORGET my lines. How silly is that? It was just really nice to be able to focus on character and exploration and being present when the cameras got rolling while not trying to do a million other things at the same time, which I always seem to be doing on my other projects. It was so refreshing and such a gift to get to focus on what I enjoy doing most for the last few days and it was just a nice bonus that the other people on set, both cast and crew, were so much fun. Plus, on my second day, our Costume Designer, Elise VanderKley, gave me Princess Leia buns. MY WILDEST ON CAMERA DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE. I can die happy now. 

So please take a moment to visit the Bill Lowe (the pillow) Facebook page. You can watch the season one videos on YouTube and follow the show on Twitter to keep abreast of all Pillow type uploads and news. I'm sure there will be more as they ramp up to release season two! I'll certainly be linking my episodes here and on my Facebook page (which you should Like on the side bar here because I link a lot of cool stuff there guys!). 

I did not manage to eat any better today, so I just got it out of my system and had the ice cream I've been craving on my way home. Bah. Tomorrow will be a better day and a day to get on track once more. The good thing is that I have a lot already cooked, so I don't have to really try very hard. 

Mixed Berry Juice

Banana

Green Tea with Honey

Corn Chips & Hummus

Organic Apple Cider

Pizza

Icecream

Day 11

Today was not a complete disaster in that I didn't let one treat take my whole day down. I was on set and all I wanted to do was snack but I managed to keep it minimal and then divest myself of a substantial and sadly not Paleo lunch. Although, I have a better plan for what I'll eat tomorrow based on what I saw other people get today. We had a really fun time at the shoot but there's more work to be done this week, so I'm going to keep this short, look over my lines, and hit the hay.

Mango/Orange Smoothie

Tea with stevia

Apples

Turkey, Cheddar, Greens, and Some sort of Dressing on a Roll

Sweet Potatoes
Chicken Breast

Day 10

Eggs, onion, mushroom, and pepper

Bacon

Espresso, almond milk, and stevia

Cashews

Ahi Tuna/Avacado/Mixed Greens Salad with Balsamic

Sashimi of Salmon, Tuna, and Yellow Tail

Pickled Ginger

White Wine

White Wine

I made it through the day relatively well, considering I had social obligations in the evening. I probably didn't need TWO glasses of wine, BUT IT HAPPENED and white wine was on my Paleo approved list of alcohols. The fish was wonderful and fresh and I have to give a shout out to my friend Steven who gifted me such a wonderful dinner and introduced me to some of his awesome family members along the way. The Tuna, in every incarnation, was glorious. Everything was so glorious that I didn't take a picture for the blog until it was almost too late. So here. Have this tuna with ginger and a flower.

I also spent time preparing for this week by doing a bit of shopping and preparing some snacks/fruit for the first day of the Bill Lowe (the pillow) shoot. Food is supposed to be provided but I'm not sure whether it's stuff I can eat, so we'll see! Just want to make sure I can stay on track. I also had to pack up some options for costumes so the designer can choose what she wants me to wear. She sent some drop box images and it doesn't seem too hard bring her stuff that fits the mold. The character is a nerdy girl who plays a lot of D&D and is a bit snarky. 

What a stretch. Heh!

But yes! I'm off to bed to get some beauty sleep now so I can be ready for my closeup in the morning.

Day 9 Log

Mixed berry smoothie 

Chai tea with almond milk and stevia

Cashews, dried mango

pistachio, cranberry, and agave bar

Bacon, eggs, onions, peppers, mushrooms

Sweet Potato and Cinnamon

Man, at first I was surprised to find how not hungry I was this morning but by the time it came to making dinner- GOOD LORD I WAS RAVENOUS. 

I also baked up some chicken and more sweet potatoes for use this week while memorizing lines for the webseries I'm shooting. You can check out the first season of Bill Lowe (the pillow) in the meantime. It's a lot of fun and it is written and produced by my friend Sketkh Williams. I'm super excited to be cast in season two, plus it means I get to spend the next 4 days purely on my craft, which is just good for the soul.  

Honestly, it's just nice to have a nice evening in after a cold cold COLD commute in the rain. 

Halloween Log

Happy Halloween, Slayers! I had a really laid back celebration with friends this year. I actually managed to avoid all treats aside from Paleo approved alcohol. I had brought chocolate from Hu Kitchen with me but didn't eat any. I thought about it at the end of the evening but I honestly didn't really feel like eating it, so huzzah! We basically dressed up, ate some delicious food (my friend Emily was such a thoughtful hostess and made sure there was plenty for me to eat), and watched an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journey. It was super fun and I feel pretty good about my choices, so yay.

One weird thing did happen though. When I was eating my egg, veggie, and bacon bowl in the morning, I honestly almost vomited. I'm not sure why. I eat that all the time but for some reason it just stuck in my throat. It might be that I didn't feel that hungry but was trying to get most of my nutrition in during one sitting because I wasn't sure what would happen the rest of the day. I ended up dumping about half of the bowl because I couldn't stomach any more at the time- something I definitely regretted around 1PM when I couldn't really eat at work yet. Has anyone had this experience before?

Eggs, bacon, onion, pepper.

Espresso, almond milk, stevia

Almonds

Dried mango

Cashews

Apple

Meatballs 

Diced tomato

Hard Apple Cider

Hard Pumpkin Cider

A Paleo Guide to Alcohol

Let me preface this with the fact that IF you are trying to lose weight, drinking is just a waste of calories. However, I know that if you're trying to make a lifestyle change, that you're going to run into celebratory or social evenings where you will be expected or would like to partake. So, with that weighing heavy on my mind (due to Halloween), I will deliver some of the information I have collected from the interwebs.

Technically, the distillation process should get rid of any gluten still in the drink, but if that were the case, we would have gluten free options, because you can never truly tell if that has 100% happened.

Therefor, it is best to avoid BEER. Yes, I'm sorry. Barley and Wheat feature heavily on the ingredients list for this evil concoction, so it is definitely best to avoid it. Even gluten free beer is made from sorghum which is a gluten free grain, so therefor, not exactly Paleo, but if you want a beer super bad, it's the best option.

I like to substitute a low sugar hard cider- mostly made from pears or apples. It is best to avoid the brands with extra sugar. Good= ACE, Strongbow, Crispin. Bad: Angry Orchard, Woodchuck. Those are just some suggestions. Just check the label to see if there's a ton of added sugar or anything before you buy it.

For the Renaissance Faire inclined, like myself, you'll be happy to know that it LOOKS LIKE MEAD'S BACK ON THE MENU BOYS! Yes mead is made from distilled honey so it checks out 100% and it can be sweet and delicious if that's what you're after. 

Wine, both Red and White is often the best recommended alcoholic beverage according to my research. Red is more recommended than white. It comes in organic brands, it can be good for your heart, and contains antioxidants. White wine is stripped of the antioxidants which, as far as I can tell is one of the only reasons it's not as recommended as red. I don't particularly like red, so I'm glad to see that white is an alright option. It should do me well during the holidays. 

When it comes to harder alcohols, Vodka made from potatoes and grains is bad, but vodka made from fruit is alright. Rum made from sugar cane and not molasses is ok. Brandy and cognac seem to be made from distilling wine, so they pass. Tequila is made from agave, so it passes as well.

Definitely avoid Bourbon, Scotch, and Gin. 

With all that information, you can see that even if you want to make this into a lifestyle, you don't have to be afraid of social situations or suffer from anxiety over what to choose. Now you have a few go to options. However, I just want to iterate that I am not claiming that drinking is healthy OR that it will help you lose weight. This is just a guide to help you do the least damage if you are going to have a drink or two along the way and I wanted to put it out there as the holiday season comes upon us because that's often the hardest time for people to stick to whatever lifestyle choices they're making. There are lots of other, more detailed guides out there, but I wanted something quick and dirty for my readers. Feel free to post any other articles or research in the comments. What's your favorite Paleo cocktail?