30 Day Paleo Challenge - Week 4

Egg Salad Wraps

I'm on my final week of my paleo challenge and I feel amazing! It is great to be on track mentally and in the kitchen. We have refined the recipe selection so that our meals don't get too repetitive, but our usual ingredients can be put to good use. We always have a goal to eat healthy while keeping our wallets full of monies. :)

Our meal mainstays:

• Egg bake or scramble
• Tuna, turkey, or egg salad
• Meatloaf or meatballs - beef, turkey, chicken, or combo
• Marinated Slaw - any combination of cabbage, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, fresh herbs, and occassionally nuts and dried fruits
• Taco wraps - ground meat, homemade taco seasoning, greens for wrap
• Soups - carrot, pumpkin, pear, apple, or any combination of veggies and meat along with homemade stocks and seasonings.
• Chili 
• Stir Fry or curries
• Baked or grilled fish - right now we have plenty of salmon straight from Alaska. We also buy tilapia, tuna, flounder, or any other fish that's on sale.
• Smoothies - fruits, flax meal, and greens (primarily kale). We add primal fuel when weightlifting and working out. 
• Homemade pasta sauce and spaghetti squash. We will also try our hand at veggie noodles in the form of zucchini/yellow squash as well as onion, etc.
• Salads, salads, salads. Using dressing comprised of either oils and freshly squeezed citrus juices or my favorite Paleo Dressing.

Other meal items that are meant to be eaten only on occasion:

• Muffins. Using nut and coconut flours and honey or agave nectar for sweetener. Fruits can also be used as a sweetening agent. 
• Trail Mix
• Bacon, sausage
• Uncured, natural chicken hot dogs
• Dark chocolate
• Beans - usually in the form of hummus or additional protein in chilis or soups.
• Yogurts - probiotics

I certainly have other meal ideas and recipe adaptations I plan to test in my kitchen and with the husband. Our meal plans will continue to shift and improve. Now that we have a remodeled kitchen, it has only gotten easier for us to prepare a weeks worth of food together. (Before and after photos to come!!)

My favorite Paleo dressing

As I've said before, salads can be hard to eat consistently. I find this to be true for many people. I often see coworkers at the salad bar attempting to "be good" by choosing the salad route instead of a burger or pizza. However, at the end, so many load up on ranch or ceasar dressing and the oils and vinegars go unused. This act of dousing your greens in creamy goodness almost entirely counteracts those attempts to eat well.

 I admit that I've had a hard time giving up my favorite, french dressing. However, I've found quite a few delicious, simple and easy dressings. Below is my favorite:

Tahini Lemon Dressing

• Equal parts tahini and water
• Fresh lemon juice, to taste
• Fresh garlic/garlic powder
• Cracked pepper, to taste

You can also chop up parsley or other fresh herbs. I sometimes spice it up with some cayenne or paprika.

I love using tahini because it is a natural source of calcium and it creates a creamy texture. My husband and I make multiple servings at once so we can dress up our salads throughout the week with minimal effort.

What's your favorite dressing?

The Beginning - What's Paleo?

I enjoy eating fruits, vegetables, and meat - all that nature has to offer! I've never really been a picky eater and I've been blessed with an amazing, open-minded husband. We both decided to shift our diet to the Paleolithic WOE (way of eating) in 2008 as part of an ever-present quest to better oneself. I hesitate to call it a "diet" since it is meant to be a lifestyle change. Diets are so often a fad or completely unsustainable for the average person. Paleo is about eating the healthful foods which nature provides us, not highly processed, boxed "food" you find on the inside aisles of the grocery store.

If you aren't already aware, this WOE is based on our paleolithic ancestors' diet. This was before modern agriculture and the rise in eating grains and starchy foods like potatoes. This also includes dairy! I know how crazy this sounds... there are all kinds of "diets" out there, but no bread, pasta, OR cheese?! Uh, what? Don't worry, life sometimes is hard to plan for so open meals are "allowed" but I try to keep them infrequent! I personally have a very busy life, so I find this helps me stick with it even more by mentally allowing cheats and not being hard on myself. Plus, the dishes my husband and I make more than make up for the "loss" of those other foods. It also has an amazing weight normalizing effect, bringing your body to it's natural weight.

In the future I will be talking more about the Paleo WOE, why we do it, and how.

Our diet consists mostly of:

• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Lean Meats
• Nuts, dried fruit (limited amount)
• Legumes* (in moderation) 

*Generally legumes are not considered Paleo since we have to cook most of them (among other reasons), but we have decided to include them in due to the cost savings and ease of use. Also, they're delicious.

We also came across Crossfit and the Primal Blueprint Fitness, so I'll be using this blog to track my food as well as my fitness!