paleo

i've been eating "paleo" for about 2 months. not 100% the whole time, but pretty darn close. thanks to my friend, holly, doing a post like this, i started looking into it and tried it and am SO glad i did!!

i'm totally sold. i've tried not to talk about it too much here, because i can be obnoxious. i go through my life these days wanting to tell EVERYone they should eat this way. it can solve SO many of the issues that we all deal with on a daily basis.

{i'm going to include pictures throughout the post. these are all actual meals i've eaten these 2 months. this one is pork tenderloin with guacamole on top, cucumbers from our garden (!) and sweet potato strings (a FAV of ours - grate sweet potato like you would grate cheese, then cook it up on coconut oil. YUM!!)}

if you have stomach issues, digestive problems, are tired throughout the day, have seasonal allergies, high cholesterol, are overweight, worry about cancer, feel bloated, have an autoimmune disease; then i have something i want you to try.

{stuffed pepper. ground beef cooked with garlic and squash and tomato.}

in the "paleo" world, there is this thing called the "whole30" where you eat paleo for 30 days and see how you feel. that is awesome. and i can guarantee you will feel great.

{zinga. i just got fruit. no frozen yogurt. at least this time ;-)}

but...i have something better. i want you to try it for 1 day. just 1 day. 100% paleo. and see how you feel. what do you have to lose??

then, once you realize how much better you feel, continue :-)

{this was a friday night. which is pizza night in our house. for me, it was salad "with everything i could find in the fridge on top of it" night...leftover steak, roasted jicama (another fav!), avocado}

i've always had digestive issues...was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome in college. on a weekly basis, i usually have a day where i end up curled up in the fetal position with such bad stomach cramps that i can't even stand up. for years i've thought my stomach didn't like "red sauce" (spaghetti, pizza) so i would try to avoid it, but when i did eat it, it killed my stomach. now, knowing what i know, i think it is the BREAD (gluten) that my stomach didn't like! i am so much more stable throughout the day...no sugar crashes. and i just feel lighter...i have no idea if i've lost weight (i haven't weighed myself in years) but my clothes fit better! but even better than that, my stomach feels lighter and not bloated and calm. it used to always churn, churn, churn. not anymore.

{i was even able to eat "clean" at a major league baseball game! fruit and veggie cups!}

so, what is paleo? it's basically eating ONLY real food. before i tell you what you can't eat. listen to what you CAN eat! beef, chicken, pork, shellfish, fish, eggs (they aren't dairy), nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruit...yummy, right?!?

no processed food (including grains - no bread, no muffins, no pizza). no sugar. no peanuts no peanut butter). no dairy (no butter or margarine - we use coconut oil a TON), no sweeteners, no soda (giving up diet coke. again. wasn't fun. but i had a sip one day, and felt all kinds of crazy the rest of the day - no more! no thank you!)

the adjustment was rough. i felt awful the first week. a lot better the second week, but still bad when i exercised. but after 2 weeks, i felt great all around! if you're going to do it and commit to it, plan ahead and make sure you can not feel great for a few days...

{egg salad (you have to make your own mayo to do this. which was involved and i'm not sure i'll do again. but it was yummy!) rolled up in lettuce. you can roll anything in lettuce that you normally roll in a tortilla or put on a sandwich! still crunchy...which i love!}

it's been a big change. and it's hard and lots of work at first...figuring out meals, ingredients, etc. lots of thinking and planning. but, now, 2 months in, it's SO much less work because it's just what i buy and what i make and what i eat! it becomes normal...it won't always be hard!

many ask me about the expense. i would say it is more expensive. but you can make choices to make it a LOT more expensive or just a little more expensive (beef vs steak). and, for the first time ever, our grocery budget being a little over doesn't stress me out - it's WORTH it!

{this was a little rough. but it worked. the first meal of the road trip i took the kids on was lunch. i brought frozen shrimp. plain. it was defrosted and not that yummy plain. but it filled me up!}

i would encourage you to read about it. i've read 3 books about paleo and loved ALL of them. it explains SO much about our bodies and how they work. we have been taught so many lies (think the food pyramid) and it just interests me so much.

Practical Paleo
It Starts with Food
The Paleo Solution

i do have to say one thing i don't agree with is the whole caveman/eat how we did 160 million years ago idea. but you can just ignore those paragraphs. and i don't really care so much if it's how people ate 160 million years ago...or 160 years ago...if it makes us healthier TODAY, that's what matters! we are a disaster!

{baked chicken, sweet potato strings, tomato and spinach. all kinds of good combo's to put on my fork!}

people ask where i get my recipes. some in those 3 books, mostly on pinterest, and experimenting myself!

a typical day for me looks like this:

breakfast: hard boiled egg and some fruit
snack (if i'm hungry...i'm usually not!): apple
lunch: salad with chicken or shrimp on it
snack: handful of nuts, maybe more fruit
dinner: chicken or beef and LOTS of veggies! (sweet potato, squash, asparagus are some of the regulars)
dessert: bowl of strawberries

do i cheat? yes. it's not a DIET, it's a way of eating. and i want to eat like this for a long, long time. but i want to live life, too! sometimes we get frozen yogurt on a saturday night - and i enjoy every.single.bite of it SO much. sometimes i put some granola with my strawberries at night (cracks me up that granola and strawberries feel like SUCH an indulgence...when i used to eat a bowl of ice cream every single night and not think twice about it!), sometimes i eat a few pita chips with my salad at lunch. you start to get pretty in tune with your body and you know what is going to be "ok" and what is going to effect you a lot. and then you decide if it's worth it. it's YOUR body!

{even though i've cheated a bit here and there, i hadn't had any baked goods/white flour/white sugar at ALL. until sawyer's birthday. i was fine doing without cake for levi, lincoln and sawyer's birthdays. but i made my chocolate chip scones for breakfast and i decided to have one. they are my FAVORITE. like, people brought them to the airport for me when we got home from africa :-) i didn't eat it for breakfast though. i wasn't sure how i was going to feel and didn't want to feel bad all morning. so, i saved it to eat after lunch during quiet time. i broke off a little piece and that bite tasted like HEAVEN. i mean, WOW! i ended up eating about half of it and threw the other half away. that was good enough. honestly, i don't remember feeling bad after. but we had more leftover and they didn't tempt me at all. it was so interesting how sweet it tasted to me!}

 like i said, i have no idea if, on the outside, anyone can tell that i'm eating differently. but, i can tell the difference on the inside. and i also just KNOW that my insides are so much healthier - which hopefully means i'll live a healthier, longer, fuller life!

feel free to ask me ANY questions. i'll try my best to answer!