A Day in the Life of a Paleo “Dieter”
I’m pretty sure most people, especially at work, think I eat like a crazy person. Which is ironic because I eat more REAL food than the average person, and they think I’m weird? They hear things like “caveman diet” and think that means I’m starving myself and missing out on all the deliciousness that is our modern, over-flavored convenient food industry. When discussing, people always get stuck on all the foods I can’t eat. First off, let’s get something straight – I CAN eat anything I want. I choose not to. I want the foods I eat to bring benefits to my body, not slowly poison it. So I choose foods that are real and non-toxic. They don’t cause my hormones and digestive system to get out of whack and they...
Favorite Paleo Recipe Websites
The 60 Day BAMF Nutrition Challenge is upon us, and there are lots of gym members giving the Paleo diet a shot for the first time, so I thought I’d put together a review of some of my favorite Paleo recipe websites. There are TONS, but I find myself following just a handful for inspiration these days, and often because I’ve taken to the unique personality or writing style of the author, or because obviously their recipes yield delicious results! PaleOMG - I’ve probably made or been inspired by the most recipes on this website. Juli is a bada$$ CrossFitter, (she’s currently competing in Games Regionals) who calls herself a “food hoarder.” She seriously loves food, and puts together some amazing combinations that aren’t...
Curry Ginger Pork with Carrots and Parsnips
Finally, an original recipe! I’ve been slacking on creating my own paleo recipes lately. It’s been a busy few weeks so I’ve been falling back on recipes I’d already made or just making quick (and sometimes boring) stuff. And the few original paleo recipes I’ve concocted have somehow not made their way into my notebook, and thus, the measurements gone from my memory. This weekend, inspired by a new cookbook (Well Fed), I planned ahead a bit more for the week, and gave myself time to come up with something new. Last week we had a simple crock pot pork roast with carrots, so I took that basic idea further and dressed it up with some spices and parsnips. What is it with curry and ginger? I want to curry and ginger everything. And pork...
Reflecting Before My Paleo Nutrition Challenge
We’re getting ready to start a nutrition challenge at the gym in a couple weeks to help people set some goals, make some diet changes, and measure results. It will be a 60 day challenge, involving weight, measurements, body fat calculations, and committing to a nutrition plan over two months. It is a contest and there will be good prizes for the people with the best results, but hopefully it will be rewarding for everyone as they learn healthy new habits and realize the effects of good and bad food choices on their physique along with participating in CrossFit workouts. I don’t need to lose weight, and I’m in the healthy range for body fat percent, but I’ve decided to participate just to see if I can tweak a few things in my diet to knock a...
Blueberry Basil Lime Vinaigrette
Homemade salad dressing is very underrated. As in, people who don’t make their own salad dressings have no idea what they are missing! The freshness and depth of flavors you can get by making your own salad dressing is unbeatable. The bottled stuff on the grocery store shelf should just stay put forever in all it’s preservative glory. I don’t want it on my salad ever again! I wanted to make a new salad dressing with blueberry and basil to add on a fresh salad I planned to serve at our paleo recipe exchange. The weather has been warm, so I thought the combination of summery flavors like blueberry and basil would be complementary. I also had a lime on hand, so you know, why not throw in some juice? It came out very refreshing and tangy, and...
Coconut Curry Pineapple Chicken Soup
I’ve been obsessed with coconut the past several weeks, and mainly coconut milk. I can’t believe I only discovered it a few months ago, and I wonder where this delicious creamy goodness has been all my life? I’m not talking about the coconut milk drink in a carton that you can find in the milk section as a non-dairy alternative. No, I’m talking about the canned, thick, creamy stuff that you find in the Asian/Thai food section at the grocery store. It’s perfect for mildly sweet creamy soups, sauces, and of course, smoothies. I want to put it in everything! But with the weather warming up, I’ve been craving fresh fruity things as well, so I thought I’d try a tropical, Hawaiian sort of soup. What fruit goes best with coconut?...
Easy Pork Chili Recipe
We’re on a pork roast kick lately. I get the boneless pork shoulder roasts because they are inexpensive and cook up amazingly in the crock pot. Not to mention, it’s tough to find a small pork shoulder roast, so whatever we make, we’ve got tons of leftovers. Inexpensive, low effort, high output of delicious food. This is a formula that needs repeating! Today Ronnie wanted to do a spicy pork roast, so I’ve got to give him all the credit for this pork chili recipe. He threw out the suggested ingredients, I bought them, and then poured them into the crock pot. It was almost just that easy. It also turned out very, very spicy. It’s possible we should’ve only used half the can of chipotle in adobo, but we like spicy, so we braved it....