paleo day 5: the great popcorn resistance

Still going strong on with my Paleo Experiment here. On Friday, Day Five, I headed down to La Jolla Cove at 6:30 am to meet up with some Tri Club friend for a swim. I usually only swim there in the evenings, so the clear morning conditions were a real treat. I saw two sting rays swim by underneath me (rather eerily), and a school of silvery fish not swimming per se, but sorta just hanging out.

We all headed to the Pannikin in La Jolla afterwards, where I managed to resist the fresh muffins and scones sitting on our table. Their coffee was better than it is at the one near our house, so that was another treat. Everyone else headed off to work, but I was taking the day off to pick Mark up from the airport, so I headed back down to the water to go for a run. Nell had me doing hills on the treadmill, but I opted for the real thing instead.

After my run I ate mashed-up yam in my car. Tasted a bit like baby food (gotta work on that!), but otherwise it nailed my carb craving pretty well. I’ll be eating lots of yams, so I’d better get used to it.

It’s great to have Mark back, not only for obvious reasons, but to help me eat though the massive boxes of grapes and cherry tomatoes (Costco!) I’ve been eating since Monday. Having him here will help me be able to mix things up a bit. Friday night we bought some steak, and yesterday, before heading out to one of the strangest movies I’ve ever seen, we got some mussels from the little market by our house. I steamed them with onion, garlic, and white wine, and served a perfectly ripe avocado alongside. (Not to mention finishing off those “tomatoes of the week,” too!)

Possibly the biggest miracle so far is resisting popcorn. Thankfully, movie theater popcorn is gross anyway, but I usually make mine at home and smuggle it in. This time, the only smuggling was of the fruit and trail-mix variety.

I still feel energetic, despite a bonking a little on my 2.5 hour ride Saturday–but that could’ve been my strong riding partner, not my lack of dairy and grains! My muscles have felt a little more tired-out than usual, but also, that’s not necessarily from the way I’m eating. I’m sleeping soundly, my mood is cheery, and I’m feeling good.

This morning I’ll tackle my first run of any significant distance on this diet (10 miles), and tomorrow it’s onto Week Two!