Oh Paleo!

Thanks to Skype, I totally lost track of time last night and didn't get a chance to blog recipes. As pretty much everyone knows, my family has been on the Paleo diet for almost a month now. A few years back, Brent was really hardcore Paleo. He would only eat meats, eggs, veggies, nuts, seeds and a little bit of fruit. I was in no way interested in trying that diet. Who wants to JUST eat meats, eggs, veggies, nuts, seeds and a little bit of fruit? I wanted all of those things plus sweets, pasta, bread and anything else that could be spiced up with some Chick fil A sauce! So basically, I was hard headed about it and never tried it.

A couple months ago, Brent started going to the local crossfit gym and I guess other people there were talking about eating Paleo so he came home and started looking up recipes. I thought, "Oh lord, here we go again.." I browsed a few of the recipes (after he kept leaving them open in MY browser) and they actually looked and sounded really awesome! There was a lot more to them than I could've imagined. They were recipes for (my definition of) REAL food that's actually good for you! I thought about it for a few days and decided I was going to make a shopping list made up entirely of Paleo foods. I figured, at minimum, it would show Brent that I was willing to do something out of my comfort zone just because he was interested in doing it. He does A LOT for me that I know he doesn't particularly love so it was the least I could do really. 

Since we started eating Paleo, I've learned a lot! I try to learn something new about it every day. If you're interested in learning the basics click here. It's a great source of basic information. 

Since starting Paleo, I go to the grocery store about every three days. I buy only organic meats and veggies when possible. I have a great grocery store down the street with a fantastic selection of organic meats and produce so that's easy! I only buy three days worth of food at a time because organic meats and produce don't have preservatives so they can go bad a lot faster than "regular."  One thing I've learned about Paleo is that you should avoid the inside aisles at the grocery store and stick to the outside aisles, the fresh stuff! Just buy fresh things that are easy for your body to digest. I do still buy canned things like tomatoes, but I make sure I buy organic. If there's an ingredient on the back of the can that you have a hard time pronouncing, chances are it was made in a lab. Our bodies weren't meant to digest things made in a lab. 

At first I struggled because I LOVED sweets, breads and dairy and my body was majorly craving those things. I didn't think I could possibly NOT eat those things, they were all staples in my diet before Paleo. After a few days of not having anything like that, I got a horrible headache that lasted for a couple of days. A friend of mine who is also new to Paleo told me that she had a headache a few days before so she researched it and found out that headaches are part of the detox process that your body goes through once you stop putting all of those processed foods into it. Yikes! I didn't realize my body needed to be detoxed from the foods I was eating. 

Since I got past that not so fun part of the transition, I haven't even WANTED chocolate, dairy or bread. We have a cheat day once a week where we can eat ANYTHING we want. The first two cheat days I ordered a sweet tea. Before Paleo, I would drink sweet tea in place of water. I lived off of sweet tea! I had about half of the glass and I started feeling like crap so I took over Brent's water. We ate Mexican food on our first cheat day.. dessert included. The dessert was something that our family normally loves, but I took one bite and I couldn't eat anymore, it was way too sweet.  The meal was soo good, but it made me feel soo bad! Food isn't supposed to make you feel bad. It's not supposed to make your stomach so bloated that you have to unbutton your pants, it's not supposed to make you sleepy. Food is our fuel. You wouldn't knowingly put bad gas in your car, would you? Most of our lives, we've been putting bad fuel in our bodies! Who knew? Not me!

My two favorite parts of Paleo are NO PORTION CONTROL and NO CALORIE COUNTING! I'm being totally serious! Yesterday I had three pieces of bacon, two eggs fried in bacon grease, a big portion of left over crock pot chicken then three slider chicken patties that I added some extra seasoning to (Brent wasn't home so I was being lazy) and almost an entire bag of baby carrots roasted in olive oil and agave. Guess how much weight I lost from yesterday morning to this morning... exactly one pound! Besides on cheat days, I usually lose half a pound to a pound a day! I never go to bed hungry because when I'm hungry, I EAT.. even if it's right before I go to sleep! I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I can eat foods like BACON and eat as much as I want and still lose weight. I always thought bacon was horrible for us.

For now I'll leave you with a picture and recipe of one of my family's current favorite Paleo dishes. My sister made this last night and her family (including a picky 7 year old) all loved it.

Delicious Stuffed Peppers 

(modified from a recipe found on Everyday Paleo, one of my favorite Paleo sites)

 1 diced yellow onion, 5-6 diced carrots, and 6-8 diced celery stalks

1 lb of  garlic and basil, gluten free chicken sausage removed from casing

(The original recipe calls for Italian chicken sausage, but we really love garlic so I tried it out and it worked perfectly!)

2 pounds of grass fed ground beef

1 can of organic diced tomatoes

6 bell peppers

dried oregano, dried basil, garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper to taste 

Lots of Olive Oil

(The following cooking directions came, word for word, from Everyday Paleo)

Preheat oven to 350. Place one big soup pot filled with water and turn on high to bring to a boil.  While you are waiting for the water to boil, cover the bottom of another big soup pot with a lot of olive oil and over medium heat toss in the the onion, celery, and carrots.  Crumble in the sausage and ground beef and add the dried seasonings to the meat BEFORE it’s entirely cooked.  Mix well and let the meat and veggies cook over medium low heat stirring occasionally.  In the meantime, remove just the tops of the bell peppers, and rinse well to remove all the seeds.  By now your water should be boiling.  Place the bell peppers gently in the boiling water and submerge them for 5-6 minutes or until the bell peppers are just a little soft but NOT falling apart.  While the bell peppers are boiling, add the can of tomatoes to the meat mixture and bring to a simmer.  Pull the bell peppers out of the water with tongs and arrange in a large baking dish.  Fill each bell pepper with the meat mixture (don’t be shy, stuff em’ good!) and bake in your pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. 

After you stuff the peppers, you'll have lots of "stuffing" left over. The extra olive oil makes it kind of soupy so we had soup for lunch the next day! It was just as good the second time around! You will not be disappointed in this dish! We just had it last week, but after writing this blog, I think I'm going to add it to my grocery list for this week! It's soo good!!