Got Milk?

Well, I do now.  We just made another run down to Deerfield Farm in Durham.  I was down to my last glass of milk and one more serving of yogurt until moments ago.  I was a little bothered to find out that Deerfield Farm has raised their prices.  Now, instead of $6.75 the milk is $7.50 per gallon.  It is a little painful, but the more I read about milk the more I am convinced that I need to be drinking raw milk rather than pasteurized/homogenized milk.  It is definitely worth the expense.

As I was prepared to pay $6.75 each for two gallons of milk - I had a $10.00 and four $1.00 bills - I had to make an adjustment.  As I also had a $20.00 bill, I ended up buying a container of yogurt ($4.50) in addition to the milk.  Deerfield Farm works on the honor system with a lock box in the store for customers to leave payment for their products.
My options were to:

• Buy 1 gallon for $7.50 and a 1/2 gallon for $4.00 and paying $12.00
• Buy the intended 2 gallons for $15.00 and paying $20.00
• Buy 2 and 1/2 gallons for $19.00 and paying $20.00
• Buy 2 gallons and 1 quart of plain yogurt for $19.50 and paying $20.00

I opted for the 4th choice.  Even though their yogurt is pasteurized, there are no additives at all.  It will work nicely as a starter for my own homemade, unpasteurized yogurt.

Raw milk v. pasteurized/homogenized milk is a considerable debate.  Raw milk is not sold legally in many states.  Fortunately for me, Connecticut is not one of those states.
I encourage you to check out the following links for more information concerning raw milk:

• Raw-Milk-Facts.com 
• A Campaign for Real Milk 
• The Weston A. Price Foundation

A new goal.

I began following The Maker's Diet on January 8th and while weight loss has not been my primary focus I have been losing quite a bit.  As reported in my previous entry, I have lost more than 30 pounds since January 1st - actually, as of today I have lost a total of 36 pounds.  As March 1st approached, I began toying with the idea of setting a new goal for myself.  My birthday falls on March 20th - the first day of Spring! - so I was thinking that I might like to set a specific weight loss goal for that day and essentially give myself a present.

As a result, I decided to set a goal of 250 pounds by March 20th.  That gives me 17 days from today to lose 10 pounds.  Given my current trend, it really should be a reachable goal.

I haven't really even considered what my ultimate weight goal will be.  Before I started experiencing symptoms, I had weighed 205 and was in the best shape of my life.  The Wii Fit Plus tells me that my ideal weight is 174 pounds putting me at a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 22.3.  BMI is a measure of weight as compared to height.  A BMI of 18.5-24.9 is considered to be the 'normal' range.  I cannot imagine weighing only 174 pounds!  I would be pleased to get down to 200 pounds - a BMI of 25.7.

Egg fast redux

Today began a second cycle of my egg fast.  One beneficial aspect of this plan is the fact that it is a plan.  I really like the fact that I know exactly what I will be eating while I am following the program and that all of the food I am eating is on the recommended list for The Maker's Diet.  I am hoping that the ease of following this plan will help me to develop the habit of planning meals ahead of time - at least, more than a day or so in advance.

I started the day with daily serving of VIDACELL.  For breakfast, I ate two cage free eggs scrambled and seasoned with a little sea salt and black pepper along with 1 slice of Ezekiel 4:9 bread and a glass of water.  For supplements I took one capsule of Primal Defense Ultra prior to taking my VIDACELL and one capsule of Omega-Zyme Ultra with breakfast.

Following breakfast, I started in on a new book, The Shack by Wm. Paul Young.  I purchased the book the other day in anticipation of finishing The Gathering Storm.  I read about four chapters prior to dozing off.  While dozing off while reading could be taken as a not-so-good review of the book, this is not the case.  I like the book so far.  I just tend to doze off a lot.

Upon waking from my nap, I decided to get in some exercise using my Wii Fit Plus.  I posted about 1 hour and 15 minutes of activity.  This is getting easier and easier for me to handle.  Not too many months ago, I would have been struggling to make it even 30 minutes.  After my exercise, I decided to do the Wii Fit Plus body test.  The test consists of being weighed while being monitored for balance and posture.  The systems senses whether you lean to the left or right or are well balanced.  It also tracks how much you move - little shifts in your position - while being weighed.  After that, you are presented with your BMI (body mass index) and your weight along with your center of gravity.  You are then able to choose whether to continue with the test or not.  Continuing will present you with two random tests designed to measure different aspects ranging from balance to memory.  Upon completion of these two test you will be presented with your Wii Fit Age - the better that your score on the tests combined with other factors will dictate what you Wii Fit Age is.
I don't put a lot of stock in the Wii Fit Age as I have gotten results as low as 24 and as high as 52.  Today, my Wii Fit Age came in at 36.
With today's weigh in, I have lost 33 pounds since January 1st and 10 pounds towards my Pound for Pound Challenge pledge (I made the 50 pound pledge on February 1st).  While I am not really focusing on my weight loss, this is at least one quantifiable measurement and the fact is that I really do need to lose some weight.

Lunchtime followed the exercise and consisted of an omelet (two cage fee eggs, onions, one slice of Swiss cheese) and an apple.  Again, one capsule of Primal Defense Ultra prior to lunch and one capsule of Omega-Zyme Ultra with lunch.

For dinner, I had a yogurt smoothie.  I used about 8 oz. of my homemade yogurt, 1/2 cup of frozen organic raspberries, 1 Tbsp. raw honey, 1 Tbsp. flax seeds, 6 oz. of raw whole milk, and 2 oz. of whey (from my cheese making).