Chris and I have talked for a long time about wanting to eat better and be healthier. Despite giving my best efforts to workout and eat right during the week, it was like a switch flipped and starting Friday night it was party time! We would eat out all weekend, whatever we wanted – pizza, BBQ, frozen yogurt, chips and queso, Chick-Fil-A, milkshakes – and the list goes on and on. It may not sound that bad and believe me, it could have been a lot worse but neither one of us felt good any more after we ate. We knew it was going to take a lot more than just saying we were going to try to be better so that is how we came to The Paleo Solution.
And that is the exact name of the book we bought. Chris and I knew a few people who had tried Paleo and they just loved it. They told us how easy it was to stick to, even when dining out, and how great they felt. So we jumped on board the Paleo train and decided to give it a shot for 30 days and then see how we feel. We are one week in and so far so good!
I have by no means done as much reading or research as Chris has nor do I claim to be a Paleo expert. But from what I do know, the idea is to eat things that our bodies were made for, things that were naturally available to early man. So basically no sugar, no processed foods, no dairy, no legumes. So what does this mean for me specifically and on a day to day basis? No artificial sweeteners or cream in my morning coffee, no soymilk or cereal, no hummus snacks, no peanut butter, no peanut M&M’s and the list goes on and on. Believe me, it hasn’t been easy. Instead of sweetener and cream in my coffee, I use cinnamon and almond milk. Instead of a bowl of Special K or Life with soymilk for breakfast, I have a bowl of berries and some sort of nut with almond milk.
These are just a couple of my breakfast creations – blackberries, blueberries, and almonds on the left and blueberries, raspberries, almonds, and walnuts on the right. Sometimes I added raisins or dried cranberries.
We also tested ourselves by eating out a couple times. We went to a burger place one night where we had bun-less patties with lots of veggies but no cheese and no sweet potato fries sadly (the fries were made with canola oil which a quick iPhone Google told us was a no no on Paleo). At that point I was ready to throw in the towel and just eat them anyway. But after dinner, I realized I was full and didn’t need the fries anyway. And I wasn’t so stuffed I felt bloated, gross, and needing a nap. I actually felt good!
Cooking dinner on Friday and Saturday nights is totally foreign to me. But I did it and it wasn’t so bad. I’ve had to use brand new recipes which haven’t been all bad. We’ve had pork loin in tomato sauce with cauliflower, baked salmon with almonds and green beans, omelets with spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, and red bell pepper; beef stir fry with veggies, and burgers with sautéed portobello mushrooms and baked sweet potato fries.
The pictures don’t give the food justice! And the baked sweet potato fries are my favorite and I could easily eat them every single day!
Well, we are one week in and I’m feeling positive and excited!
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