Living Paleo – My 30 Day Reset Experience

Living Paleo – My 30 Day Reset Experience

For the last 30 days I have been living a completely new lifestyle. Not so new to my gorgeous man, but very much different for me, and it all revolves around getting healthy and how we eat.

I haven’t embraced the latest fad, I haven’t chosen a quick fat loss path or anything that requires me to count calories, measure portions or weigh myself continually. What I have done is plenty of research. I’ve also been seeing the results of people I know move from being tired, overweight (on various levels from a few kilos to a lot) and always getting ill transition to being happy, healthy energised people who all have less body fat. (whether as a happy by-product or by design).

We also have family that a few years ago went down this same path and had experienced fabulous benefits of this new lifestyle, and one of those people was my man, who had been eating this way before we met.

We both have health issues and being overweight certainly doesn’t help it for either of us. We also are planning a big trip middle of next year and we want to be feeling as fit and healthy as we can when we go away so we have the energy to cram in all things we want to do. So after a lot of discussion on my part, and no persuading on his (he was always keen!) we decided that it was now or never to get started on a healthier lifestyle.

I think the big catalyst for me though to make a change was when we had no lifts at work for a week after a burst pipe caused electrical faults in 2 out of 3 lifts and we had to traverse the stairs. Whilst I only had 99 stairs each way (which was less than half for the people up on Level 11) it highlighted just how goddamn unfit I was – and how embarrassing it was for our lovely security guard and receptionist to notice that and hence ferry me in the lift back up wherever possible with the other injured/disabled/fat arses like me. If they didn’t spot me I would sneak up the stairs, even though every muscle ached and I could barely breathe, just so people wouldn’t take pity on the fat chick.  At this point I knew I had to stop saying I will do something about it soon and actually get off said fat arse and make a change. Walking down the stairs during this time was not yet a lifestyle change!

So what I have been doing is living Paleo – eliminating all processed foods from my life and eating naturally grown organic produce, meats, seeds and nuts and not eating things that are man-made or processed, contain chemicals etc– including dairy, legumes and grains.

Here is a pretty good definition I found online:

The paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a modern nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various hominid species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era—a period of about 2.5 million years which ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture and grain-based diets. In common usage, such terms as "paleolithic diet" also refer to the actual ancestral human diet.^[1][2]

Centered on commonly available modern foods, the "contemporary" Paleolithic diet consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, potatoes, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.

Now whilst at first I was sceptical about eliminating some of these things - the dairy especially, I was amazed at how quickly my body began to respond to not having any chemicals in it. Now I won’t lie, it was not all a bed of roses – the most effective way to do it properly is start out with what is called the ’30 Day Reset’ – which is a really strict following of the basic principles of Paleo to allow your body time to detox from all the processed foods and chemicals that we eat, even the chemicals from the ‘healthy’ stuff like pesticides on non organically grown fruit and veggies and of course all the processes involved in creating the grains we use to make bread, cereals etc. You also have to do a fair amount of prep each day in ensuring you have all your food covered – (Paleo, especially until you’ve done your reset and are confident with how to chose the right foods when you aren’t the one cooking) means you need to be preparing all 3 meals each day. When you are tired and going through the detox phase this can be taxing – but I’m glad that I managed to hang in there, I am so happy that I did because of how I now feel.

Now this 30 days, depending on how ‘healthy’ you were before will be different for everyone. For those people like me who were big fans of ‘junk’ then I can tell you that at the beginning of it , it was anything but pretty. But the upside is that even though I did experience the worst of some of the side effects, doing it properly, I also started to get the positive effects at the same time.

With all the research I did, everyone suggested keeping a journal of how they felt, what they experienced etc so you can look back over it and see how far you have come. Loving to write as I do, I decided to do just that in the form of a blog, and then kind of got bored with it when the bad stuff stopped and the good stuff really started!

So below is just a snippet of the first few days, then I’ll get into the really good stuff J

For anyone that has read my blogs before, you know I will be brutally honest about what I tell you. So if you are squeamish about bodily functions or too much honesty, then look away now! If you can handle it, and want to know more that isn’t from a text book but a real experience, read on J

Day 1 and 1/3

We actually started day 1 with a Paleo meal at dinner. We had to go do our shopping and thought why wait and start it on Monday when we can get straight into it? So we put on the slow cooker and added some grass fed lamb pieces, sweet potato, carrots, mushrooms, onions and tomato and let it cook for about 5hrs. I then added a tin of organic tomatoes and some organic tomato paste and an hour or so later we had the yummiest lamb and veggie stew. The only thing missing of course was the crusty bread to soak it up, but to be honest, it was really filling and we didn’t need the bread.

Our first shopping experience was expensive as we stocked the cupboard with some of the Paleo ‘essentials’ that would allow us to cook with variety as well as being as compliant as possible – Organic Ghee and Coconut Oil for cooking in, Macadamia Oil to supplement for Olive when we are wanting to change the flavours in our salad dressings, Coconut Flour, Almond Meal, Nut Butter and Coconut flakes and Coconut Milk. But of course, we won’t be eating / using all of this at once, so things will run out as oil and butter and flour do in a SAD diet. Now I love this term SAD – it actually stands for ‘Standard American Diet’ and I had a few giggles the first time I heard it, but as an acronym it kind of makes sense when you think of all the Maccas, KFC, Hungry Jacks, other fast food and tinned/processed foods we all consume – even the alleged healthy ones like ‘Lean Cuisine’ and ‘Healthy Choice’  – especially when you understand how chemically enhanced those foods are – and believe me, I could confidently say my previous way of eating absolutely was SAD.

So the real Day 1 started on Monday. Here is my ‘diary’ from those first 5 days J

AM: OK it’s day 1 and I’m feeling really optimistic. I am tired, my sleep has been off kilter for a few weeks so I am absolutely feeling sluggish even after a good meal last night, I could happily have stayed in bed today. BUT, I am looking forward to eating the new foods and seeing how we will go, especially as I have prepared our breakfast for today (which I did last night)  and I’m really happy with how it tasted!

It’s now lunch time and having had a nice protein hit for breakfast, I’m not really all that hungry. Although, I am feeling a little nauseous and this could be because I missed my daily skim mocha mudslide chiller from Gloria Jeans. It was my staple caffeine and dairy hit, which had started out as a treat and quickly moved to a daily occurrence. So instead of the chiller I had a cup of black tea and it was quite alright, but not the same L

OMG lunch was just an absolute epic fail.

Last night I had roasted a gorgeous organic free range chicken and made a great asian inspired salad. I decided to try something different with the dressing however and used the wrong olive oil. I poured it over my salad (thankfully not my chicken) and then took the first mouthful. It was so revolting I nearly threw up. So in the end my lunch ended up being the chicken, a banana and raw nuts that I had brought with me for a snack!

PM: By the time I got home I was feeling a little hungry so I snacked on a hard-boiled egg, which helped as I had a few hours cooking ahead of me preparing more meals for the week.

Right now I have a raging headache and terrible nausea. There is no doubt my body is beginning to detox. Somehow I managed to cook us dinner, but I barely ate any of it before finding myself throwing up and feeling really terrible. Fortunately, by the time I did throw up I had digested the little I had managed to eat, so it was more the dry retching than anything but the nausea refused to go anywhere. I am now more than ready for bed and the hope I will wake up and it will all be over in the morning. Oh and that salad dressing was so bad I just dry retched as I disposed of Darrin’s in the bin! – I am almost doing it now typing this, the memory is so strong!

The positive to how I am feeling – there is no way I am going to cheat and have to go through any of this again!

Day 2

AM: Amazingly I slept a bit better last night and when I woke up, I still had the headache, but the nausea seemed to be gone. I am however feeling a bit upset in the stomach. The good news however is that I’m not feeling anywhere near as bloated as I normally do, and although tired, I feel like I have a bit more energy.

PM: I ended up working from home today as I felt I needed to be close to the bathroom – although that ended up being a false alarm, and although still surrounded by some Non-Paleo foods that we are getting rid of on the weekend, I wasn’t tempted to cheat at all.

I also found that between meals I wasn’t as hungry and my portions were definitely smaller than a few days ago.

Oh the nausea decided to return this afternoon – so much for thinking it was done and dusted, but it’s nowhere near to the extent it was on Monday night thank God.

Day 3

Day 3 will affectionately from now on be known as ‘fart day’. I woke up with the craziest case of wind you can imagine. Poor Darrin had to deal with some very un-lady-like behaviour before I went to work, and I spent the day ‘popping off’ to the bathroom to ‘pop off’! I didn’t sleep as well last night, but again, although I’m terribly tired and my head is still fuzzy – pretty sure this is the ‘carb flu’ I was told to expect with the detox, but again, I’ve got more energy and feeling way less bloated. I know it’s only fluid in the first few days but already I’m feeling like I’ve lost kilos. The headache is still present and a little bit of the nausea, but I know it’s not long to go and these will disappear. The peppermint tea first thing certainly helped and of course water, water and more water!

Day 4

Finally the fog has started to clear! Today I woke up without the headache – that was a huge bonus I can tell you. The nausea is just this faint twinge, I’m feeling like it is almost gone and if I eat it will disappear. Once I had breakfast, I was feeling really good. I ate less than what I cooked and felt really full. I’m a bit slack on the veggies still, they aren’t going down as well as I’d liked, but I think my taste buds are just readjusting –they are used to a lot of sweetness, and aren’t getting any other than from fruit. I’ve also been a bit constipated too these last couple of days and I know that is because I really haven’t been eating much in the way of volume, and it’s been mainly protein. I did finally manage to go this morning and felt way better for it, in fact the nausea seemed to go completely after a good brekkie and a good poo!

We went to Burwood to buy a couple more staples and although we were surrounded by amazing smells and cakes and sausage rolls and the things we would normally want to eat, I wasn’t tempted in the slightest. When Darrin said he wanted a chocolate milkshake I happily went off and bought us both sparkling mineral waters and tried to convince him he was drinking a shake! Amazingly, although we are both really tired and drained still, we both seemed to have more energy as we moved through the shops which was surprising to both of us.

We also took some time out to go sit by the water and watch the world go buy whilst we ate fresh fruit and raw nuts, instead of cakes and donuts. And I’m feeling really GOOD for it. The Jazz apple I had was the best apple EVER – so crunchy and juicy and it was delicious. Not sure what has happened to the Danielle of old but I’m actually starting to enjoy these foods now I’m feeling better.

Pleasingly no more headache today at all – things are looking up!

Day 5

Worst night sleep last night – I tossed and turned and when I wasn’t doing that I was dreaming. One of the websites I’ve been following gave us a timeline of potential things to expect like weird cravings and things we may get as well as how we would probably have food dreams that will be really vivid and that don’t help the cravings in the daylight hours! We had a good giggle when we read it, but then last night they started for both of us. And vivid is was! I dreamed that I was drinking a diet coke and I swear I could taste it! Man it was good! BUT, I did manage to have just a couple of sips and then threw the can against a wall! Darrin’s dream was about roast pork rolls he loves. In his dream he wasn’t so happy about being rid of his, he dropped his roll on the road, a truck ran over it and he picked it up and finished eating it! Got to love how our mind wants to trick us into eating and drinking those things! Obviously my body is missing the artificial sweetener as much as the real deal sugar. Darrin is obviously missing the bread! Will be interesting to see how long these dreams go on for and what else we dream about.

So with crap sleep I’m really tired today and feeling a bit achy and my sinuses are going nuts, but that is the worst of it – standard cold like symptoms, so definitely just my carb flu. The good thing though is definitely no sign of headache or nausea so for me that is ‘winning’! Oh and OK I know I’m not supposed to be weighing myself til the end of the 30 days, but because I am feeling lighter and less bloated, and was able to comfortably do up a pair of jeans I haven’t been able to wear in months I wanted to see how I was going on the scale. With any new regime, especially when I haven’t been eating healthily before-hand I can often lose a couple of kilos in the first week, so imagine my surprise when a couple is actually 5.2kgs! I know this is a one off level of that many kilos in a week and next week I will stabilise, but still, it’s a nice boost J

Onwards and upwards

So to be honest, you really don’t want to hear anymore about how I was feeling and by this point I was bored in writing it all down! For me the nausea came back again on and off for a few days but by the end of the first 10 days I was feeling brilliant. Because my body isn’t bloating from wheat, gluten or dairy, my stomach is pretty much ‘flat’ each day, even after a decent sized meal. “OK what are you on about- you’ve got a huge stomach still” I hear you say, and yes there are many kilos to lose yet, but if you’ve ever suffered from bloating of any description, you’ll understand what I mean when that bloated feeling goes away. Well now, I don’t get that bloated feeling at all.

What I also never really put 2 and 2 together with was how some of things I was eating and drinking made me retain fluid. Although I’ve been very lucky to be a fat chick without cankles, I’ve noticed that all my skin is firming up and I’m not looking like I’m filled with fluid anymore, granted I have lost fat and I’ll get to that shortly, but there is a definite puffiness to people who do retain water and I notice it so much more not only in myself but other people as well now.

My taste buds have totally changed. Where once my taste buds craved chocolate and everything sweet, I can actually look at things and not be anywhere near as tempted as I would normally be, because they don’t taste the same. I’m finding that I don’t need the sweetness I always craved. In the beginning of our journey I really struggled with homemade mayonnaise. I’m not a salad lover by any standard and I always got through them by eating really creamy aoli’s and dressings. When I made mayo and it had nothing artificial and definitely no sugar in it I couldn’t stand the taste. Now when I make it, it tastes just right.

I also had something I shouldn’t. I hadn’t planned on cheating in my 30 days but I made a silly decision and decided to have some chocolate. We had a charity box at work for someone’s kids day care and I bought a Giant Fredo. Now earlier in the year when we had a similar drive I think I ate half of the damn box, I always seemed to be there purchasing them, so I felt bad they had lost their sponsor! So I spent my $1 and wasn’t actually going to eat it when I caved. And you know what? It wasn’t half as delicious as I remembered them to be. In fact I was really, really disappointed in how it tasted. As guilty as I felt for having cheated so close to the end of the reset, I was glad to have done it too, because it showed me I’m really NOT missing out on stuff!

My colleague Nicole has recently come back from Corporate Centre in Switzerland and before she went (which was pre Paleo) I told her she wasn’t to return without Lindt chocolate from Switzerland. Of course by the time she returned I was only 7 days in, so the chocolates have been sitting on my desk not to be touched til the reset is finished. This is them here J

The freaky dreams continued for a couple of days, my favourites would have to be when Mum wouldn’t let me eat a cupcake, which was in fact Paleo because it was the size of my head and the best one was about watching Pantera on stage eating scones during a gig! WTF???!!!

My actual weight stagnated for a week or so before kicking off again, but during that time my circumference was decreasing, so I wasn’t concerned.

We Managed to very successfully eat out 3 times and each time we were 100% Paleo – you should have seen the look on the guys face at the local club when I asked for both steaks with no chips, no sauce and steamed veggies, I think he thought the fat chick had lost her mind! We’ve been at work and family events and whilst tempted, not enough to consume the chips, cakes, sausage rolls etc that once would have had me consuming my weight in. Instead we’ve taken our own snacks of nuts or veggie or kale chips. Whilst that might sound like we are really boring, my family couldn’t get over the taste of the totally dairy, gluten and sugar free banana bread I made them, and they even joined us in eating the parsnip, sweet potato and beetroot chips J

So physically I obviously still have a long way to go – I’m realistic enough to know that whilst the first kilos have fallen off fast, the rest will slow to a reasonable rate, but that is ok, I’m prepared for that. I’m not dieting, I don’t feel deprived, allI feel is really, really well and engergised.

I’ve had two small panic attacks, where in the months leading up to it they were pretty much a daily occurrence. My anxiety just before we started was the worst it had ever been. I sleep better, deeper, I’m more refreshed and less tired when I wake. Water no longer gets boring.You know how when you’re drinking other things as well you have a couple of glasses of water and then you are over the taste? Well that doesn’t happen to me anymore.

My allergies which should right now be incapacitating with my sinuses going crazy are barely reacting to the cooler weather.

My hair is healthier, shinier. My skin is a bit dry, but that is the season, take that out of it, it has never looked so clear. My wrinkles in my forehead are less pronounced.

I still have zero patience with the commuters of City Rail and people of Ashfield in general, but nothing was going to change my disposition that much! I do however feel less stressed in general.

At work we have a wellbeing program and 3 weeks in I had a general health check. In the past this would have scared me as although they have never medicated me for it, my cholesterol was always fairly questionable and in need of coming down. Doctors are also amazed that with a life long history of my weight that I’m not diabetic or pre-diabetic, but my sugars are always normal with every type of glucose and insulin test they have done. This time was no different, sugar was perfect, but even better was that my cholesterol was in the normal ranges- even the bad stuff! So that was incredibly pleasing.

So as of today, the 30^th day I am officially 8.9kg lighter. I have lost 10cm off both my waist and hips and 2.5 from my under-bust. I’ve also lost around 4cm off my neck and possibly lost a chin!

Although this lifestyle might be from our ancestors, our modern world means there are so many great resources to find out about Paleo in general and food blogs galore! OMG Paleo Food Porn is rife – on facebook and the net in general.

For me though, the most valuable resource and the deciding factor was the ‘Paleo for Dummies’ book. I think it cost us $30 from Dymocks but it did what I needed, it took all the really scientific reasons for doing this and made it simple for an idiot like me to understand how to do it and why.

The other was an ebook called “The Paleo Miracle” – it was compiled by a man who had his own Paleo breakthrough when he was looking for something to help him medically. He then compiled 49 other stories – some people like me looking to lose a fair amount of weight, some looking for a remedy to assist their celiac disease and others with behavioural problems that thought diet might help. If you are considering this journey, especially to see if diet can help you to get well, then I definitely recommend purchasing that ebook, I read it during my darkest first couple of days and it was what I needed to show me I made the right choice. I found it via the facebook page “Just Eat Real Food” – they often showcase some of the people from the book and the links are there to purchase it.

So that is me right now, this is the journey I am currently on to get well. As a bonus I’m also losing weight as is my man and we are both planning on being around for a very long time and continuing to get ridiculously healthy J

Me - at my Cousin Andy's wedding in October, about 2kg lighter than when I started this 30 days ago and today down 8.9kg. Check my instagram - thefabulousmsnoir for a clearer version :)

I'm no longer afraid to be me

They say that people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. No matter what that time span though, most of them are here to accompany us on our journey, and in some cases guide us.

I know for me that there have been people in my life that I have been sad to have let go of, not seeing the reasons or for want of a better word, sometimes the lessons that they have helped me to learn further down the track.

Of course there have also been those that I couldn't wait to see the back of! Yet, even those, for the most part, I can in hindsight identify why they were sent my way, albeit some of them a very long time after I have forgive them for some of their actions.

Sometimes though we are lucky enough to see the lessons, to identify the guides and know why someone has been sent to us almost from their arrival.

For most of my life I have been afraid to just live. Always conforming to what was expected of me, worried what everyone else would think, would they judge me? Accept me? Criticise or ridicule my decisions? What would happen if I did 'X', would I be in trouble? Of course there are always going to be circumstances where it is important to think like this and to a certain extent to conform, but in your personal life, shouldn't you be allowed to live your own truth without all the worry of what everyone else expects of you?

At the age of 41, I am finally in a place where I am doing exactly that. And no, it isn't necessarily making everyone happy. There are things I am doing that not everyone respects or understands, the most obvious of that being my tattoos, and I get that. I don't expect anyone to understand why I have now decided to put artwork on my skin, and it IS art. It's not rebellion, it's not me throwing my sensibilities to the wind and trying to fit in, it's not my way of hurting the people I love, it is 100% about me expressing myself in a way that I was too scared to before, the outside creativity mirroring the inside.

In just under 3 months I have 2 pieces of art on my skin. Both of them represent different things and parts of me. Whilst I don't plan on any more in the next little while, if I decide to get more, then when the time is right I will.

As I wrote in my blog about getting my first tattoo, I placed it on my inside left arm because I want to be able to see it, I want to be able to look at it and know why it is there and when I do that, what I see is something that always should have been there. To my eyes it doesn't look like an addition, rather it looks and feels a part of me, just as much as the skin on my right arm. When I glance in the mirror now and see both tattoos, I feel balanced.

Just because I now have ink on my skin it does not change the woman that I have always been. It does not change my character, my integrity, my heart. All it does is make a blank canvas more colourful, makes the outside represent what it feels like on the inside. I change the colour of my hair constantly, my style of dress, I wear jewellery and flowers in my hair, so what is the difference  in adorning my skin? Yes it is permanent, but life isn't, and I'm not going to waste another moment in my life worrying about what other people will think of me.

No one is else is going to be judged because of my tattoos.  I may be, but it is something I am prepared for.

So back to the lessons. Meeting and falling in love with my darling man has taught me many things about myself. I'm not going to go into detail, a lot of them are private, but the one lesson I will share that I have learnt from him is that when people really love you, they let you be you, even when it seems crazy and silly and nonsensical to everyone else, they will still love and accept you, just as you are.

He gets me like no one else ever has before. If I had of stayed a 'clean skin' he would have been just as happy as he is with me getting inked. It's my truth that I have to live, and no one else can really know how that truth feels. For me, getting my tattoos, loving my man and being with our friends who are also inked makes me feel like I've found where I am supposed to be. It's taken 41 years but damn it makes me happy.

I am so lucky to be in a place where I am not afraid anymore to be anything but me.

Diary of a Clean Skin Part II - Losing my ink virginity

So let me get the ball rolling by answering the 2 questions everyone wants to know.

1. Did I cry? - No, I can very proudly say that the big wussy usual crybaby girl did not cry! AND I have video evidence to prove it :)

2. Did it hurt? - Hmm, now this one is a little more complicated than just yes or no, so I'm going to take you through my journey and answer it at each of the stages.

 

So here we go, Diary of a Clean Skin Part II - Losing my ink virginity.

Knowing me as he does, my man was pretty confident that a couple of things were going to happen on Saturday the 11th August 2012, and the eve of. Firstly was that I would be excited, and absolutely I was. Second that I would most likely cry during my tattoo experience as my pain threshold is pretty low and I have a propensity to burst into tears at the smallest signs of pain, stress, happiness or PMT. I am incredibly proud to announce that although it was tempting at times, it was a different kind of pain and didn't warrant tears. Thirdly, that although I was excited, I was also incredibly anxious about how well I was going to handle the experience, so he expected me to have a terrible restless sleep Friday night filled with panic attacks or just no sleep at all. To be honest I was totally with him on that point too, but I surprised both of us when I actually slept really soundly.

So far then, so good, I'd managed to fulfil one of the cardinal rules of inking that had been passed down to me from those in the know - don't drink any alcohol and get a good night sleep the night before. I successfully obeyed Rule number 1.

Rule number 2 was to make sure I ate before I got tattooed. I did manage to eat a little bit, I would have liked to have managed more but I do have the complication of a gastric band that inhibits my ability to swallow food when anxious, so I did my best on this point.

So we arrived at Platinum Ink just before the appointed time of 11:00am, and as Jane had me filling out the paperwork, a strange thing happened. As we walked in I seriously in the back of my mind began to question about whether I was going to be capable of going through with 3 or more hours of goodness knows what pain. But as soon as she showed me the drawing again and put it against my arm to ensure the sizing was right, an incredible calm came over me, which quickly turned to incredible excitement, and I couldn't wait to be sitting in that chair and get going.

 

Ready to go - paper work is done :)

 

So as Jane got me prepped, I talked to the other artists and of course had my darling man with me making sure I was ok, and I think even he was shocked at how relaxed I was at this point. When the other artists discovered it was my first, they couldn't wait to see how I was going to react to that first scrape of the needle against my skin as Jane began the outline.

Fortunately, I've been seen enough tattoos done to not be freaked out by the noise of the machines. I knew the machine used for the outline was going to be loud, but I liked that, it was kind of like a warning that we were about to commence as it made it's first contact with my skin.

I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that it tickled, because that is definitely not the case! But it also wasn't the shock to my system that I was expecting it to be either, and as such I have a classic comment from one of the other tattooists and Darrin as Darrin has the camera trained on my face waiting for my reaction. If you listen closely you can hear their disappointment!

 

And so it begins!

So what did it feel like? Well you know what it is like when you accidentally scrape a safety pin across your skin? Well imagine doing that over and over until you just about can't take another stroke of it, and then it stops, or when a cat gets you with it's claws! Jane knew just the right moment to take the needle off my skin and I was fine. The outline took around 45 minutes and it actually went quicker than I thought it would. Of course there were a few moments when my facial expressions would have been classics, especially when she was working down on my wrist. That damn bird's tail caused lots of burning!

 

 

Outline completed

 

Outline and black completed

Rule number 3 was to make sure that I kept hydrated with whatever my beverage of choice may be. A lot of people tend to drink energy drinks, which unfortunately my body can't tolerate, so I alternated between Mizone water and diet coke and sipped whenever I felt I needed it.

I waited until all the black outline and shading was completed before taking my first real break, which at this point was 90 mins in. By this point I was really relaxed with what was being done, and had gone from talking my head off as my method of distraction, to being totally fascinated in watching Jane work.

After we had commenced 2 guys came in to be tattooed. One guy was having a rib piece worked on which from all accounts was beyond painful. The guy next to me they kept teasing because although he already had a full sleeve completed, and the outline of half the next one done, he lasted about 10 mins sitting in the chair before he needed to lay down and they kept telling him to grow a pair as I was doing brilliantly on my first piece!

 

Black and shading completed - time now for the colour!

As the colour was pushed into my skin, the burn didn't really start until we got to the highlighting. When Jane coloured in the word Eternal I barely felt a thing, but by the time she was adding the white into the banner, which was the very last thing I was ready to give it up!

3hrs and feeling the burn!

So as we started the colour, I was relaxed enough that I needed Rule number 4 - make sure you have sugar with you. When we stopped at the servo to get my drinks I also grabbed some mixed lollies. Now I know this is so your body gets some sugar kicks and keeps you regulated, but to be honest, now that I was feeling good I was starving! So being able to pop a few lollies as we progressed was a good thing, and  just a tip - when they hit a not so ticklish spot, if you can bite down on a jelly baby it helps take the focus off the pain too!

Does the colour hurt more than the outline?

 

So many people ask this question, myself included and everyone has a different answer! The 2 machines are very different, and different tattooists have their favourite brands and types. There are different needle groupings and machinery. The outline is done in single lines, where the machinery for colour allows them to work in circles. Some artists have bigger equipment, with more needles for the colour which allows them to work faster, pushing more ink into the skin at one time. This will of course hurt more than an artist who prefers to work slower, lifting the needle from the skin more regularly. But at the end of the day, whichever you prefer, or the way your artist works it is still going hurt. How much you let it hurt is probably more the point!

Anything that is constant, on the same spot or interlinked nerve endings is going to hurt after a time. No matter what Jane did on my wrist it was more extreme than working on the fleshier part of my forearm. And by the time we got to that last bit of highlighting, anywhere she touched hurt like a bitch as every nerve ending by this point on that part of my arm had inadvertently or intentionally been worked on somewhere in the last 3 hours, so the burn was more intense by this point in time.

But I got myself really early on into a breathing pattern that I could sustain, and when the pain was more 'bitey' I closed my eyes and breathed deeply through it, kind of like I guess how you see them do it in the movies when they are giving birth! Did I look silly? Yep I did, but it worked for me, so I don't particularly care!

 

No tears - but you'll get the idea lol

When the final touches were made and Jane cleaned off my arm I was in a state somewhere between relief and excitement still. I was so happy with the job she did that I almost could have cried then from happiness! But I was also relieved that the actual work was completed. I know now that at around 2hrs 50mins to 3hrs I tap out and am ready to stop. This is good to know for future sessions (and yes, the experience was a positive one and I'm ready to get more!).

 

All done - still bleeding a little at this point, but man it looks good!

Rule number 5 then is about the after care of your tattoo. It seems everyone has their own stories and advice here too, but the most common advice is this: Leave it wrapped for about 2hrs after the tattoo is finished then have a shower. Wash it really gently with a non perfumed liquid soap, or if you prefer Protat Cleanser, put a thin layer of bepanthan or tattoo specialist cream on it to keep it moist and help it heal, and repeat this morning and night for about 2 weeks. This will help to keep the tattoo moist and free from infection to allow the top layer to peel off.

 

Some artists recommend Paw Paw ointment, but unless you have used it on your un-inked skin before I would not recommend it as I have had numerous friends who have had bad experience with it on freshly inked skin.

 

Now your tattoo will look manky as the tattoo peels, but it is all a natural part of the healing process.

 

It will also get itchy as it heals so Rule number 6 is DO NOT SCRATCH! If it gets itchy you can slap it, but don't scratch - you could pull out the ink or get it infected. The peeling will usually start after about 3 or 4 days and your tattoo will start to look a little dull as those deep saturated top layers of skin begin to come off, but the new skin underneath will be beautiful and soft and representative of the real colour that it will be. This peeling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

 

I'm now just over 3 weeks in and I'm done with that, although I'm told it will take a few months for the colour to really settle into my skin.

 

Healed - so happy with it!

So what don't they tell you???

Maybe I just never though to ask, but what I wasn't prepared for was the next few days and how it would feel.

I think the post inking 'burn' was in fact worse sometimes than the actual experience as my arm began to heal. The first time I put my arm under the water to wash it as instructed I nearly hit the roof when the warm water touched me! Nobody had thought to tell me about that one! It feels like a really severe sunburn and of course my arm was swollen for a day or 2 which made it sensitive to touch. But after that initial shock it only took a couple of days for the swelling to go down and for it to feel fine in the water. It also felt a little stretched with the ink on the swollen skin, so keeping it creamed up help keep in the moisture and it has healed beautifully! Clothing aggravated it a little bit too as it healed, but again it didn't take long for that to stop happening either once that layer of skin had peeled.

So now that I have lost my ink virginity, felt the pain and know what to expect, will I do it again??
 

HELL YES!

In fact I've already spoken to Jane about a piece for my leg and I've got ideas ready to chat to Toby about the other side of my left arm! But both of those won't be until the new year, getting tattooed is a rather expensive hobby!

 

A huge thank you to Jane Stuart from Platinum Ink Tattoo for my amazing piece of artwork and for making my first experience such a good one.

 

www.janestuart.com.au

www.platinumink.com.au

www.facebook.com/JaneStuartTattoos

 

 

 

Danielle xxx

The diary of a clean skin part 1 - getting ready to lose my ink viginity

Before I get into the guts of this post, there are a few points of critical information that you need to know:

1. I've always been surrounded by ink - friends, family and acquaintances - for as long as I can remember - and been fascinated by it.
2. Darrin is not the first man I have dated with tattoos (although he has more than the others!)
3. Since my late 20's I have been talking about getting a tattoo
4. I am finally at the age of 40 getting my ink because a) I've fallen in love with the design I really want, b) I've found the artist I want to do it and c) I've decided to suck it up and get brave around the pain factor.

Now that you know these things, lets get on with my story.

In my early 20's a few of my very close girlfriends got their first (and in some cases their only) ink. At the time I was fascinated and wishing I was brave enough to get one too. They were getting them on the front of their hips and they were small and discrete, in fact most people don't even know they have them except for their partners.

At the time I was still living at home and even though I probably could have got away with it for a while, I wasn't brave enough to face the retribution that might have come with doing such a thing once the parentals found out!. Also too, I've never had the body that would want me having that area tattooed or even on show to get tattooed, so I let the idea go and didn't think about it again for a while.

When I moved out of home of course that was a different story, and I became obsessed with the idea of getting a scorpion on my ankle. I am a Scorpio woman through and through and so it seemed fitting that this would be the design I wanted for my first piece of ink. Something small and kind of abstract, I didn't want a realistic looking arachnid on my body, but a representation. To this day I still have not found a design that I would be happy to have permanently on my skin, so it fell by the wayside again, periodically raising it's head in discussions as friends found images they thought I might like, or we all got brave and talked about making plans to get them done.

But it wasn't just finding the design that held me back. It was fear. The fear of the unknown, of how much it is going to hurt, whether I can handle the pain (my pain threshold is not the greatest!) and a lack of knowledge about how to find my artist.

As an adult I have had 3 men in my life that were either ex-navy or still in the navy and each one of them had ink. Getting inked really does seem to be just as popular with Sailors today as it did back in the day of the legendary Sailor Jerry. All 3 of them had a combination of metal inspired ink or old school imagery and the more I look back at it the more I realise that I actually fell in love with old school tattooing before I even knew what it was!

Whilst the 2 boys I dated had ink - Lift Boy only had 1 and Captain Feathersword around 5, Biker Boy (who was my flatmate's boyfriend) had around 10 or more pieces and I loved to hear the stories when he would come home with another piece of artwork etched into his skin. I loved to hear what the inspiration was and why that particular design was chosen. Of course I would also drill him about who he got to do it and why that particular spot on his body and how much one spot hurt over another!

So when I met Darrin and found out he had 25 (which has now increased to 27 since we have been together!) it was only natural that my thought process and conversations started coming back to my own desires of getting tattooed.

Living with a man who is inked, having tattoo magazines galore around me, now having friends who are tattoo artists and going to conventions did nothing to stem the desire to take my 'clean skin' and make it prettier! Talking to people who are heavily inked, to people who have regretted some of theirs, watching the artists at work, talking to tattooists and hearing stories about how much it hurts (from people like me who don't have the highest pain threshold) has done nothing to quell the desire, in fact it has done the opposite and fanned the flames!


As I said earlier, I still haven't found the design for a scorpion tattoo which is totally fine. My fascination with old school imagery is so strong that I'm devouring magazines and web pages galore and have been researching intently for the perfect designs.

With Darrin having so much ink himself and being in the industry with his photography, his knowledge in my quest to find the perfect piece and the artist to do it have been invaluable.

When you are going to spend hundreds of dollars putting a permanent in-print onto your skin, you want to know that you have the best possible person doing that. His only influence over my upcoming adventure has been to guide me away from artists whose work I loved the look of, but when looked at with a trained eye were actually filled with shoddy line work or bad shading etc - I need to know my art is going to be beautiful so I happily listened! Or he rightly so also guided me away from a few artists whose work was beautiful but they are biker owned shops. That scene I don't need to be a part of nor be giving my hard earned cash to.

So he has patiently looked at web page after web page I have sent him, photos and mock ups as I spent months coming up with my final design. He patiently found me details of amazing artists that complete the kind of old school work that I'm interested in and unknowingly provided a large part of the inspiration behind my chosen design.

I've been lucky enough to have seen 3 of the 4 artists I would really like to get tattooed by in action at the various conventions that we have been to. I've seen not only how beautiful their work is from start to finish but I've had the chance to see how they treat their clients as well and so when it came to choosing my final artist for piece number one, I had no hesitations in booking in once I saw the drawing she had created for me.

I'm guessing you are wanting to know about my design - so I'm going to tell you how I chose it, why I chose it and where and why this piece is going where it is. If you're lucky I might also show you the dodgy mock-up I created to explain to Jane what I was wanting!

When my beautiful Nanna Lucas passed away 4 years ago, I knew that when the time came for me to finally get inked that I at some point wanted some kind of memorial to her. At first I had thought that it might be in the shape of a flower - perhaps an Asian lily with her dates in the petals. That was my first thoughts. Then when I had my Amy Winehouse costume for a fancy dress party, I fell in love with her bird tattoo which says 'never clip my wings'. It was so appropriate for me in the wording, and I loved the little sparrow and I thought perhaps I could incorporate Nan into that somehow. Of course, I didn't want to steal Amy's tattoo design completely, if I went with a bird then it still had to be of my own design but I didn't know how to make that happen.

Then just after Christmas when Darrin came home from his family he brought home to me what is now one of my most treasured items of jewellery. A beautiful little silver swallow brooch, it's wings spread as it soars up high. It is a gorgeous pin that belonged to his beautiful mum whom sadly had passed away a few months before I met him. So not only is it treasured because of what it is, but from where it came to me from. Now whilst this swallow is only an outline, it got me back onto thinking about birds and swallows in particular.

You see traditionally, sailors got swallow tattoos because the swallow was often the first bird to land on a ship as it approached land and it reminded them of home and their loved ones waiting for them there. In Estonian legend (not that I'm Estonian - but I appreciate this bit of history!) the swallow also represents free blue sky and eternal happiness. Swallows also migrate home every year, no matter where they are and they are also birds that represent love as unlike a lot of other birds, the swallow mates for life. So, as a girl who is very close to her family and loved ones having a swallow tattooed on me seemed to be a logical choice :)

But that wasn't enough! I didn't just want a swallow that would represent my Nan, my family, my friends, my man - all the people that I love. I wanted to symbolise how much they are always in my heart and will be for eternity. And so my final design incorporates a heart with the world 'Eternal' in it and a ribbon that links the heart to a swallow on either side of it - top and bottom.

This is the very bad mock up and nothing like the gorgeous drawing that Jane has done where the birds have so much personality! I also haven't quite settled yet on the colours we will use -we will do that on that day :)

The tattoo originally started out as quite a small piece that I had planned to put on my inside left wrist, but with the advice of the people I trust, to get the detail I want in it and have it staying beautiful over time I have had to let go of my ideas of a 'small' tattoo and go for something bigger. So then I thought if it's going to be bigger, let's move it a little higher, still on the left arm but closer to my elbow, make it easier to cover when I need to (and I will need to sometimes for work when I'm customer facing and training), but somehow over time even that changed and my beautiful drawing when I saw it ready for my arm is now pretty much going to take up the entire inside of my left forearm! But that's OK, because to be honest, if I handle the pain well, there are so many other ideas I have for the next pieces and if I end up with a half sleeve, or even a full one, then so be it! I think that tattoos when done well on the arms can look incredibly beautiful and sexy, and I'm old enough to make my own ink decisions and understand the consequences of where I put them :)


So why did I chose my arm when I could go with so many other places that I could keep them hidden and the world wouldn't know?

Well for me, if I'm going to do this, I want to be able to see it. And this one especially, because it has so much meaning to me, I don't want to hide it. Sure there will probably be others that I may get that I will put in less obviously places (I have ideas for a thigh piece, that will pretty much only get seen at the beach or by Darrin and I) but for me, I wouldn't be happy putting something on my back and then just knowing it is there. Now that doesn't mean I don't like them there - I've seen lots of gorgeous ink on people's backs. it's just on my body, I want to be able to see them for myself.

Now as for my artist, this has been a task way greater than deciding on my final design! There are so many tattooists out there, and regretfully there is a lot of dodgy workmanship too. Because of me loving the old school imagery so much, the pool of talent that specialises in my kind of ink is smaller, so making the decision really came down to who was going to be the best for this particular design.

I was fortunate to have seen Jane tattoo at the Sydney convention and when I researched her further I absolutely adored the way she drew her swallows. When we had our initial meeting she really listened and I knew she understood what I was after. When I then got the see the drawing a few weeks ago it was even more gorgeous than I had envisaged, so I knew I was making the right decision going with her.

If you want to check out her work at all you kind find her here: http://www.janestuart.com.au/ or on facebook www.facebook.com/janesstuarttattoo where you can see samples of her gorgeous work.

I have other 'tattoo idols' though of course that I would love to get work done by in the future (of course EVERYTHING depends on how I manage the pain with this one!! But let's imagine I'm going to be fine and will be getting more!) and they are Toby Gawler from Shanghai Charlie's here in Sydney, Zoe Dennis from Third Eye Tattoo in Melbourne and Mimsy Gleeson from Mimsy's Trailer Trash Tattoo in QLD. They all do different elements of the old school tattoos that I like :)


So here we are, in less than 30 sleeps at 11:00am on August 11, I am going to be in the studio and being prepped for my stencil to go on. I'm excited and scared at the prospect. Darrin is pretty sure I'm going to cry! Oh well, if I cry, I cry. I'm definitely no stranger to tears! They are great for stress release :)

That is where we are at, counting down to something that has me scared and excited all at the same time!

Will I post about the actual tattoo experience and show you the pics?  - you betcha I will! And I promise, none of those 'it doesn't hurt' stories either - if it hurts like a bitch I'm going to tell you all about it!

Until then, I remain yours, a clean skin (for a little bit longer)

Danielle xxx

Italian Cooking School - Alio Restaurant Surry Hills - Italian Master Class

So today Nicole and I headed off to Surry Hills to visit Alio Restaurant and Bar (www.alio.com.au)  at 5 Baptist St (where Crown and Cleveland St's meet) to partake in a 3hr Italian Feast and cooking lesson.

Now whilst it wasn't hands on, Head Chef and owner Ashley Hughes took the class and the 23 of us had plenty of opportunity to ask questions and learn tips and tricks of the trade that the cook books don't give you.

The cooking school is in the basement of the restaurant and is a pretty good set up. Ashley advised us that they are awaiting installation of the mirrors so you can see all aspects of the cooking process, but even without them we had a pretty good view and Ashley continually showed us inside pots etc.

He was a great teacher explaining all parts of the process of the recipes he cooked and was extremely gracious in providing his time and his knowledge even though he had been on site in Hyde Park for the Sydney Food Festival from 6:00am with his team providing up to 800 covers for food, he then spent 3hrs with us and was then heading up service this evening!

So the day started off with him teaching us to make a basic chicken stock and this stock was then used in 2 of the dishes we cooked. I didn't bother with taking a pic of this as I'm pretty sure everyone knows what a big pot full of water, vegetables, herbs and chicken carcasses looks like :)

We learned how to make a basic bread dough for a focaccia. It was such a simple process and the finished product was the most delicious bread, warm and eaten straight from the oven, dipped in olive oil and 25 year old balsamic.

Focaccia with rosemary and garlic oil

Whilst the bread was 'proving' Ashley then heated some olives in a pan with fresh chili and garlic and a dash of olive oil and these were provided to us to nibble on along with a glass of champagne.

The tomato sauce that he was making for one lot of pasta was left on to reduce and was literally nothing more than crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper and a little garlic and this slowly simmered for about 2hrs before we ate it with the fettuccine.

He taught us how to make fresh pasta - the pasta itself was then cut into fettuccine which was later served with the tomato sauce and muscles that had been cooked in white wine, garlic and chili and thrown last minute with some fresh basil and parsley into the tomato sauce. Now I'm not someone to order muscles voluntarily at a restaurant but these were lovely and cooked to perfection.

Fettuccine with muscles in a wine and tomato sauce

The other pasta we made was a ravioli which went formed part of a traditional northern Italian soup called a Stracciatella which was made with chicken broth, the ravioli and egg. It sounds really strange but it was a gorgeous fresh soup that had a very warming and home made feel to it, I guess you could say its the Italian equivalent of chicken noodle soup! We had this whilst we waited on the mains to finish cooking as we continued to watch Ashley at work :)

Straccatelli (Italian chicken noodle soup)

Once the bread was baking and the soup eaten Ashley then showed us how to master the art of wet risotto. Risotto, depending on the chef and where you are eating it can range from a dry to a wet consistency, from crunchy to al dente to well cooked, it all really depends on the preference of the chef and the type of rice that he uses.

Did you know that there are many different types of risotto rice and that each one depending on how long it has been aged will then depend on how long it needs to be cooked?

Nope, me neither til today!

The most common rice used for risotto here in Australia is 'Aborio' and it seems in the scientific world of risotto mastering it is actually the bottom of the food chain! Now considering its the one we all buy because we believe it to be the best I found that hard to believe, that was until I tried Ashley's risotto this afternoon and now I'm converted. 



Ashley only uses a special Italian grain called Riso Vialone Nano and in Australia the only non commercial vendor is 'Simon Johnson' who have it on their website for $13.95 for a kilo. Now when you can buy 'Aborio' for about $6 a kilo why would you spend it you think, but after tasting it today I'll definitely be using it (in fact we bought some from Alio after the class) and I figure, risotto is that special meal that I cook for guests, it's not like I cook it for myself every week, so its an investment well worth it.

Riso Vialone Nano - THE best rice for a risotto





So this particular rice takes 18 minutes to make the perfect risotto and the one we had today was a mushroom. A simple combination of field mushrooms and porcini's which had been soaked for about 2hrs and the liquid then added to the risotto as well. This risotto is served quite wet and looks a little sloppy, but it was easy to eat and was so robust in flavour. Apparently the traditional way of serving it in northern Italy is flat on the plate rather than heaped in a bowl as we eat it, but as there was such a crowd of us it was served in bowls along the table just like you see on Masterchef at the end of the Friday night cooking class when they all share a meal - that is exactly how it was for us!

Mushroom risotto



The last thing Ashley made for us in the class was a lovely salad to serve with the meal made with Persian Feta, Witlof, Pear, Rocket and Walnuts. It was such a simple salad but the lovely peppery flavour of the rocket with the slightly bitter of the witlof leaves was a nice combination. He dressed it in vinaigrette that is their house speciality - olive oil, balsamic, verjuice and some other secret ingredients and a drizzle of 25 year old Italian balsamic vinegar. (and yes I bought bottles to bring home!) Now I'm not usually a fan of balsamic anything, but this had such a well rounded flavour and mixed with the vinaigrette coating those salad leaves I could have eaten a whole bowl of that salad!

Witlof, Pear and Persian Feta Salad

We enjoyed a further glass of wine - stupidly I didn't get the details but it was a very nice semillion and good conversation over lunch before Ashley wrapped up and we finished off with a small dish of to die for Tiramisu made with real couveture chocolate rather than cocoa - it was divine and a shame for this sweet tooth that it was just a small ramekin full, probably the size of a standard tea cup! (that's a tea spoon in there)

Tiramisu



So all in all it was a great day - we bought the oil,vinaigrette and balsamic, 01 flour for the pasta and bread the the rice which cost us an extra $60 but as the whole day was via scoupon for $69 instead of $200 we so were not complaining!

Now I'm looking forward to testing out my pasta machine and giving the bread a go next time I have guests.

We are also planning to go back and have dinner, especially as we now know how divine the food is. I think its now my favourite Italian restaurant in Sydney.

The olive oil, vinaigrette and aged balsamic

www.alio.com.au - check out their website for the Italian Feast course we did, I'm also hoping to go back and do their pasta masterclass now too! - click on the link for your personal invitation where you will see a YouTube clip of the pasta class - looks awesome!

Danielle xxx