Be excited because today’s giveaway is awesome!  Steve’s Originals is generously giving away a sampler pack that includes:

Grassfed Just Jerky

GF PaleoKit

GF PaleoStix

Coconut PaleoKit

2 Dark Choc Espresso PaleoKrunch bar

1 Cinnamon Swirl PaleoKrunch Cereal

2 Buffalo Wing Chicken Jerky

If you’ve ever ordered Steve’s Originals snacks, you know how yummy they are!  I cannot believe how fast we chow through them at my house!

Another thing that makes Steve’s Originals great is their Buy A Kit, Help A Kid Program. 15% of proceeds from PaleoKits, PaleoKrunch, and other Steve’s Original products go to the Steve’s Club National Program to help bring CrossFit, nutrition, and personaldevelopment to youth across the country – one kid at a time.   So you can snack happy, knowing you’re giving valuable health and fitness to kids, too!

So here’s how to enter:  Please send an email to contests@everydaypaleo.com with your order number or proof of purchase for pre-ordering Paleo Pals: Jimmy and the Carrot Rocket Ship from either Amazon or Barnes & Noble.  You can also enter to win by emailing me a link to where you have tweeted, Facebooked, or blogged about Paleo Pals.  Thank you so much for your support!  Winners will be picked by random drawing and announced on my Facebook page and on the blog, so hurry and enter for your chance to win!

Stay tuned to the blog for our next big giveaway and visit our contest page!

New Paleo Pals Giveaway from Steve’s Originals! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Paleo and Autoimmune

What Works for you is what matters

I have been trying to figure out Paleo for a while now, figuring out what works for me and my health. Over the past few weeks this journey has been anything but smooth. I am not a one day wonder or two week success story and will not pretend to be. I will write this journey as it goes, the good, the bad, the truthful and ugly side of it all.

One of the things that drew me to Paleo was that there were no gimmicks, set rules or unrealistic promises, no counting points, or pre-boxed meals, just clean healthy foods to be eaten however YOU choose. Right from the beginning it just all made sense. For the first time ever, I wanted this food journey to work for a life time, not to just look good for an event or because summer was quickly approaching.

However; for some of us even starting the Paleo diet with the best intentions is not so cut and dry and it can throw us off. In an earlier post I touched on how emotional eating can derail us, today it is about autoimmune issues.  If you are like me and start out a little behind the eight ball, Paleo can be a little less straight forward.

I have been blessed with (2) autoimmune issues (I don’t like the word disease, it sounds so final).  I have what I like to think of as a beautiful dancing butterfly in my thyroid called Hashimotos and a little thing called celiac, that reminds me to stay on the straight and narrow every day.

Believe me, I am in no way trying to minimize either of these issues by giving them pretty visuals or calling them “little things” I have been deathly ill from both, suffered years of not knowing what was wrong, been from Dr to Dr and had every blood test possible until I finally got my answers, and I also have 2 children with celiac, so I know firsthand the struggles, but I do try to look at them and find some sort of peace and joy in living with them.

On my goods days, when I feel strong and well, I feel bless to have both. They say something good always comes from something bad. One I inherited from my father who has passed on, so every time it flairs, I find a little smile on my face somewhere beneath my abdominal pains, cause I know he is looking down on me holding my hand and gets it. I also found Sarah, the Paleo world, the wonderful community on Everyday Paleo, EPLifefit and the deep inner strength that autoimmune issues gives you to never give up, even on those day you really want to.

So in this situation one would think Paleo would be perfect, no grains, no gluten, no intestinal pain, no thyroid inflammation, right?….wrong! sometimes we can do everything we think is right and still innocently slip up or put trust in the wrong hands. I had not been feeling very well as of late, I knew the signs (swollen thyroid, IBS, fatigue so bad I could barely walk, nausea morning noon and night, loss of appetite, bloating, the list goes on). But could not figure out where they were coming from, and why after hearing all these great success stories on paleo was I still  not becoming one of them. I was eating clean whole foods, following the Paleo rules but actually feeling worse than before. What was going on??

Don’t get me wrong I was not an A+ student in the healthy eating department before Paleo, just a gluten free, vegan version of bad. Gobbling up lots of carbs and gluten free processed foods, hey there are really good vegan, gluten free cookies, cakes and muffins etc. out there and I found them all!!. But I had taught myself how to keep the lion in me tamed this way and it was working, it was keeping my autoimmune symptoms away, I still felt like crap, just in a different way.

Situation one which I had not dealt with while being vegan, where eggs and meats (there seems to be some controversy over this comment but here it goes) It seems that depending on your level of sensitivity to gluten, eating meat and eggs that have been grain feed as opposed to grass feed can set you off. For me this seems to be true. I was eating what Paleo told me, but was feeling my autoimmune symptoms come on worse than before; how could this be? I had eliminated all grains and was definitely not eating gluten; or was I? It seems for me the grains in the meats and eggs were enough to irritate my symptoms!  As soon as I switched to grass feed meat and took out the eggs, things seemed to improve for me.

Second setback came from a restaurant chain that has a gluten free menu, (again not something I dealt with being Vegan, I usually would have ordered salad with oil and vinegar on the side) this time I ordered a nice gluten free paleo dinner and within a few hours was so violently ill I could not move for days.  Mistake number two …cross contamination!! It may have been a gluten free menu, but certainly was not a gluten free meal…

So does Paleo still make sense, Yes.  Is this journey still amazing, yes, even with its ups and down. But in my opinion it is only amazing once you make it your journey and have figure out what is best for you and your situations. And there we are, back to the reason I loved the Paleo Plan in the first place, it is NOT a one size first all…..

Until next time, much peace and health

Lisa

Paleo and Autoimmune: What Works for You is What Matters is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

“Creamy” Chicken Tomato Soup
4 frozen skinless boneless chicken breast
Garlic salt to taste
2 tablespoons Italian Seasoning
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 clove garlic
1 14 oz. can of coconut milk (full fat)
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes and juice
1 cup of chicken broth (I used homemade chicken broth but you can use store bought)
Sea Salt and pepper to taste

Put all the above ingredients into the crock-pot, cook for 9 hours on low. After 9 hours take two forks and shred the chicken, set the crock-pot on warm till ready to serve (making sure to taste it before serving to make sure there is enough salt and pepper)

Served: 6 (with left over’s for lunch the next day)

Total cost: 17.48 (this is the price if you had to go buy all the ingredients; chicken, chicken broth, spices, coconut milk and diced tomatoes.. if you are buying spices at Safeway they always have a buy two get one free deal going on if you buy their brand)

Total cost per person: 2.91

hope you all enjoy my pocket friendly college budget paleo meal

Another Budget Friendly Paleo Meal by Erika: “Creamy” Chicken Tomato Crockpot Soup is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Our next giveaway is a $150 gift certificate to Tropical Traditions. 

Tropical Traditions is an amazing resource for organic foods and healthy products including coconut and olive oil.  Our family favorite products are Gold Label virgin coconut oil, organic strained tomatoes, coconut chips, coconut flakes, and organic extra virgin olive oil, just to name a few.  Winner will be announced Friday January 27, 2012.  

To enter to win, please send an email to contests@everydaypaleo.com with your order number or proof of purchase for pre-ordering Paleo Pals: Jimmy and the Carrot Rocket Ship from either Amazon or Barnes & Noble.  You can also enter to win by emailing in a link to where you have tweeted, Facebooked, or blogged about Paleo Pals.  Thank you so much for your support!  Winners will be picked by random drawing and announced on my Facebook page and on the blog, so hurry and enter for your chance to win!

Stay tuned to the blog for our next big giveaway!

All entries for today’s giveaway will automatically be eligible to win each consecutive giveaway for the promotion of Paleo Pals: Jimmy and the Carrot Rocket Ship. No purchase necessary.

EPLifefit Membership Winners and a Tropical Traditions Giveaway is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Readers often send me recipes that they have created, and this one looked so good I had to give it a try! Thank you Staci for sharing such a delicious dish with us, our whole family loved it!  Now, I’ll pass it on to all of you.

Yummy Greek Meatballs

1 pound ground lamb

1/2 pound ground beef

2 tablespoons minced chives

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 egg, room temp

1 tablespoon dried mint (I used fresh)

1 tablespoon oregano

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/2 tespoons cumin

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

8-10 dried apricots, chopped

8 (or a many as you want) kalamata olives, chopped

Mix all the above ingredients and form into meatballs (I made about 1-2in meatballs).  Place on a cooling rack which is on a baking sheet so that they brown all the way around.  Bake at 450 about 15 mins, depending on size.

Makes approximately 15 meatballs.  Serves 3-4.

Enjoy!

Yummy Greek Meatballs is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Emotional Changes…..and a Collar Bone!!

Before I began this blog I want to thank all of you for your wonderful support. It was more than I ever imagined and to be honest was one of the big parts of keeping me focused and on track this far.

I am excited to report that I have been going through many changes both physical and emotional over the last few weeks. So many changes that it took me a lot of time, writing and rewriting this blog to figure out what I wanted to talk about first. I decided on our emotional connection with food, I figured that was a topic many of us can relate to.

Is it common to have mixed emotions when transitioning into the Paleo lifestyle?  I am pretty sure most of you are going to say yes, and I did expect some emotions to come up, just not in the way they did.

My first few weeks transitioning to a Paleo lifestyle has been both hell and heaven combined. I was surprised to see from many of your post a lot of you also switched from a vegan/vegetarian diet, so you know that that transition in itself was a massive adjustment. Then Sarah (in her loving way) informs me, no sugar….NO SUAGR!!! Are you crazy, do I stand tall and not so proud and say I am a sugar addict? No question, I am not one of those salad loving, carrot chomping girls by nature. I want the chocolate, the cookies, the carbs (in my case gluten free) but really, when you are shoving them in as fast as I could, who cared if they tasted like cardboard or heaven, a cookie was a cookie. And for the record I am not the, “Oh how lovely a chocolate, why thank you”, No, No, I am the give me the whole box and step away.

By the end of Day 1, ok day 2, 3 and probably 4, I wanted to quit. I was feeling very much out of my comfort zone and did not like that, here is part of a great quote Jason Seib on EPLifefit posted to me (Jason hope you don’t mind) “The good news is  you realize your comfort zone was not the best place for you”.

Processed foods where no longer an option, I had to plan and think about what I was putting in my body, it was very overwhelming and as silly as it sounds, scary. I thought I would starve and to be completely honest for a few days I did, not because of Paleo,  but because I froze in fear. I decided I would just starve and feel sorry for myself like I had a million times before. Needless to say that did not last very long, I realized with Sarah holding my hand I had the power to change myself. My body had been whispering to me and now the choice became mine, and I was willing to listen.

I had to relearn how to eat, relearn my way around the super market, the middle isles where no longer my friend…I had to learn how to hunt and gather!!

Thankfully I am connecting with the wonderful people on EPLifeFit, they keep me strong, direct me, answer my questions, cheer me on, and openly share their stories, and they are not going to let me fail.

I began to think, others had done this Paleo thing, had success, and where feeling better so why not me. The facts and science where there, read Sarah’s book Everyday Paleo, check out the awesome testimonies on EPLifeFit or read anything written by Robb Wolf, or Dr.Loren Cordain.

I quickly realized, I like many of us eat like a robot, we have our go to foods, usually comfort foods, don’t think much about them, just buy, unwrap, heat and eat. They are lacking in nutrition, they are quick, easy and full of chemicals and fillers. My question quickly became what are we as humans really feeding? Not our body that is for sure, we are eating for all the wrong reason.

Following the Paleo lifestyle, I continue to discover what foods bother me personally and are setting off my thyroid. That’s one of the great pros of Paleo, it is a personal plan not a one size fits all… (Did you know eggs bother autoimmune issues)

As the weeks continue and I finally feel more in control of what is right and wrong for me and my health, and yet something odd is happening. I am missing the old me, the sugar binges, the feeling crappy, it defined me, it was comfortable, I knew my place, my go to foods.. Now those go to foods make me ill, bloated and nauseous (as they always did, now it is just really obvious), not that I crave them now physically (emotional cravings are a whole other story) , but I want to, I want that comfort in the form that I knew it.

When I find myself pacing the floor, going to the kitchen looking for old faithful, this little annoying question pops up. What do I really want? What am I really searching for? What am I really trying to feed?

We all know change is uncomfortable, even good change, but who knew bettering yourself and your health, could make you so uncomfortable

I continue to look forward to more changes that are to come, and am slowly realizing it is more my mind and its thoughts that I need to change. I am happy to report I no longer physically crave sugar or carb-y (is that a word!!) foods. But my brain has not yet caught up. Every day, every single day it is still telling me to go to the store buy the junk food and EAT IT!!!  Our brains are very powerful tools that like routine and my routine for many years has been JUNK.

WAIT!!! Is that a collar bone I see!!! YES!!

I wish you all much joy and happiness – untill next time, here is a quick recipe that I have been using for a quick and easy meal!

Paleo Lettuce Wraps

2 packs Canadian Bacon
8 Romaine lettuce leafs (you can also use boston, or iceberg)
Sweet onion
Mustard (Paleo)
1 whole avocado
Tomato

In one pan cook up bacon ( I steamed mine in pan with water) and chop and fry onion (again I steamed mine in pan with water, once transparent I added a touch of EVOO and quickly tossed around)
slice avocado length wise
chop tomato into small pieces
wash and dry lettuce leafs

Take lettuce leaf fill with 2 slices bacon, top with avocado, tomato and fried onion and touch of mustard to tastes…ENJOY
Serves 4

Update From Lisa – Emotional Changes….and a Collar Bone!! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Yesterday I received my advanced copy of Paleo Pals: Jimmy and the Carrot Rocket Ship, and needless to say, it’s been an amazing and emotional experience…

I am so happy it’s complete, wishing my mom was here to share in my excitement, grateful for the love and support form my amazing family, and hopeful that this book will benefit other families striving to live a paleo lifestyle. You can pre-order now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble and the official release date is February 14th!

Paleo Pals Advanced Copy Arrived!!! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Everyday Paleo Half Day Workshop in Laguna Niguel, CA! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

*Thanks you Katie of Wellness Mama for another informative and fun post!

Switching to natural laundry options can be a very easy transition. It doesn’t take much time or effort, and you can save a substantial amount of money.

Why switch?

Conventional laundry detergent typically contains a list of chemicals and many have not been proven safe. Most detergents contain sulfates, petroleum distillates and phenols, as well as artificial fragrances and dyes.

There are natural, homemade options for laundry detergent, stain treatment and even fabric softener. Most of the natural options work as well or better than the conventional alternatives and offer substantial savings.

For instance, when I switched to making my own laundry detergent, I noticed the following savings:

With the amount this mixture I use (1/4 cup) per load of laundry (powdered detergent), this recipe works out to $0.09 cents per load of laundry. This saves me almost $0.15 per load over using Arm and Hammer or Tide. With the liquid recipe, the saving are even more. A Five-Gallon batch costs $4.30 and washes at least 80 loads, costing about $0.05 per load.

The following are my favorite recipes for natural laundry products after several years of trying different formulas:

Powdered Laundry Detergent:

You need:

• 1 cup Washing Soda (available in the laundry section of most stores)
• 1 cup Borax (available in the laundry section of most stores)
• 1 bar of natural bar soap (I use homemade soap or Dr. Bronner’s bar soap, which is available in the natural/organic section at many grocery stores)

How to Make:

1. Using a fine cheese grater or a small food processor, grate the bar soap until it is a fine powder (make sure it is not an overly moisturizing soap, or this will just make a big clump of soap)
2. Mix the grated bar soap with 1 cup of Washing Soda, and 1 cup of borax until evenly mixed.
3. Store in a 1 quart mason jar or similar sized container and use 1-4 tablespoons per load, depending on how dirty the clothes are.

I typically use 1 tablespoon per load for most clothes, though I have used up to 4 tablespoons on clothes that were muddy or stained.

Liquid Laundry Detergent:

I use this laundry soap 90% of the time and it works really well. One batch lasts months and it is very simple to make.

You need:

• 1 cup Washing Soda (available in the laundry section of most stores)
• 1 cup Borax (available in the laundry section of most stores)
• 1 bar of natural bar soap (I use homemade soap or Dr. Bronner’s bar soap, which is available in the natural/organic section at many grocery stores)
• A large 5-gallon plastic bucket with lid (the bakery section of most stores have these from the icing they use and will usually give you one if you ask)
• Gallon jugs (or other container) for storing the laundry soap

How to Make:

1. In a medium saucepan, heat 2 quarts of water over medium high heat.
2. While it is heating, grate in the bar soap using a cheese grater.
3. Stir until soap has dissolved completely.
4. In the 5-gallon bucket, put 4 gallons of hot (not boiling) water and add the 1 cup of washing soda and borax and stir until dissolved.
5. Pour the dissolved soap mixture into the bucket and stir well until soap is mixed in.
6. Put the lid on the bucket and leave overnight. This will allow the soap to cool and gel.
7. After 24 hours, remove the lid, stir well (I use an immersion blender to make sure it is well mixed) and pour into clean, gallon size jugs for use.
8. Use 1/2 cup per load.

I have used both of the above recipes on cloth diapers and delicate fabrics without a problem.

If you aren’t ready to tackle making your own laundry soap, the three top store bought natural brands that I’ve used that work really well are: Soapnuts (read about them… fascinating), Charlie’s Soap Powder, and Nellie’s Laundry Soda. All three are cloth diaper approved.

Homemade Oxy Clean

With 4 kids in the house, stains are a big issue and this is one of my go-to solutions. Oxy Clean is actually a pretty decent natural option, but the homemade version is easy to make and the ingredients are good to have on hand anyway.

I found the idea for this recipe on Pinterest (warning: it’s addictive!) and it works really well!

You Need:

• 2 parts water
• 1 part Hydrogen Peroxide
• 1 part baking soda

How to Make:

1. Pre-mix the ingredients and store in a dark colored opaque spray bottle for pre-treating stains (I just pour back into the hydrogen peroxide bottle and put a spray top on)
2. For entire loads that need extra cleaning or brightening, just add 1/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide and 1/4 cup of baking soda to the wash load and let soak for 30 minutes before running through the full cycle.

Stain Treatment:

For more specific stains, the type of treatment can make a big difference in how well the stain comes out.

With the right pre-treatment, most stains are removable, even paint and ink.

You can read my full article about how to treat different types of stains here.

For quick reference, I also created the infographic on the left for fast reference. I keep this sheet by the washer for reference.

Here is a printable version of the infographic: Click to download.

Do you use natural alternatives for your laundry? What are your favorite tips and tricks for keeping clothes clean naturally? Please share below!

Natural Laundry Solutions is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Someone asked me on my Facebook page to post more slow cooker recipes which was quite coincidental because yesterday, as I was reading that particular post, I was unpacking a giant pork roast that I intended to make into pulled pork.  This is about the easiest meal a person could make and so versatile.  This morning we ate the pulled pork with eggs and tonight I’ll make some Purple Cabbage Slaw to eat along with the pork and I’ll maybe even make a salad out of it for lunch tomorrow; if there is any left (which I doubt there will be….)

Beyond Easy Pulled Pork

4-5 lb pork butt roast

2 yellow onions, sliced

Dry Rub

3 tbsps chili powder

1 tsp coriander

2 tsps cumin

2 tsps onion powder

1 tablespoon dried parsley

¼ teaspoon chipotle powder

2 tsps sea salt

Mix all dry rub ingredients together.  Rub the entire roast with the dry rub (you should use it all.)  Place a layer of onions on the bottom of your slow cooker.  Place the roast on top.  Put the rest of the sliced onions on top of the slow cooker.  NO LIQUID NECESSARY!  Cook the roast on high for 5-6 hours and then turn down to low for another 3-4 hours or until the roast is literally falling apart and easy to shred.

Enjoy!

Beyond Easy Pulled Pork is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Believe In yourself, Believe In others.

Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe that people with kindness and compassion still exist?

I am here to say; believe! Sarah is my miracle, she is kind, compassionate and genuinely wants to share her knowledge.  With the help of Everyday Paleo and Everyday Paleo Lifestyle and Fitness, my journey to health has begun. But first, I’ll tell you what lead me here.

Like many, I want to live to be 105, dancing around and laughing, but with heart issues, high blood pressure and cholesterol issues in my family history, I figured I had better follow the “perfect healthy lifestyle” and so my vegan journey began.

 After a while (a very short while) I began struggling with weird symptoms and overtime the symptoms became too many to bear. I had quickly gained 25lbs, suffered bloating, gas, fatigue (so bad some days just the thought of crossing the street was unbearable), a thyroid that would visibly swell up, IBS, anxiety, tingling in my hands and feet, all sorts of food sensitivities (I went from being a creative cook to fearing foods and even bland foods like rice bothered me), joint and muscle pain, stiffness, and the list goes on and on.

After a million visits to the doctor as well as seeing every specialist, tons of blood work, ultrasounds and x-rays, every really serious test came back normal.

Through all of this some of the tests confirmed that I had a B12, iron and vitamin D deficiency and supplementing got rid of those, thankfully, along with the tingling and some of the fatigue. Further testing lead to gluten intolerance and I was later told it was actually celiac; well that explained the IBS, anxiety (yes a gluten intolerance symptom) vitamin  deficiency connection and why I was sudden struggling with so many food sensitivities (the gluten had caused leaky gut).

That was it; according to the doctor, nothing else was wrong, “Go home, the rest is in your head and by the way here is a prescription to calm your mental state,”…..what!!! Prescription? There was nothing wrong with my mental state except that I was following this “healthy vegan lifestyle” and feeling weaker and sicker by the day……I threw the Rx into the garbage and continued with my personal search.

The sad part was, no one could really seem to help, no one had the answers to my questions, everyone kept telling me these were detoxing signs, my body was healing.  Healing for 4 year??

I found an ND that told me I needed to add animal protein back into my diet and to get off the grains. No way, that was not true, that will make me sicker – and I ignored her advice (I have since told her I love her and that she is awesome). The search continued and I upped the grains, did more juicing, took wheatgrass shots; come on Lisa you can pull out of this! But I kept failing and feeling like a failure to my body, my body was crying for me to save it and I was crying for it to be saved.

Two yeas ago I ran across a new doctor who seemed to have some interest in actually listening to me, he would see me quickly when a symptom would pop up so he could physically see for himself what was happening….. Finally I was going to get my answers, someone believed me, someone saw what I felt. After reviewing all my symptoms over many months, he decide we needed to run some tests on my thyroid, ahha thyroid, remember how it would swell up and go down? Hashimoto reared its little head, there it was plain as day. This explained a lot of both past and present symptoms. (Not all in my head now was Dr X from the past? Ok, yes I’m still a little bitter). I sat up like a child on the first day of kindergarten awaiting my teacher to speak. Change your diet he told me, you can fix all of this with diet. I looked at him with a puzzled and confused look, diet – what do you mean diet? I eat very healthy, like a proud peacock I announced, “You know I am Vegan”, I know he said, change your diet……See a nutritionist, and get help to become healthy again.

I read everything I could get my hands on, interviewed nutrionist and I thought this is crazy no one knows what they are talking about.

Then one day in all my searching I found Robb Wolfs book, Hmm this guy’s seems pretty confident in what he is saying. Through his book I found Sarah’s website and book Everyday Paleo.  I read it and something clicked. I cannot explain what, something in her words, her energy coming through on the pages in her book, I don’t know, it was just her, I had never met her but I trusted her. As I was reading her book I felt she wanted the best for me and I found the courage to reached out to her.  ”Please help me.” I asked, “I can’t do this alone anymore, I am tired and I need more than a pat on the head, I need someone to hold my hand every step of the way. I am scared of what you will tell me to do and eat, I know what I am doing is not working, but what you are saying is going against all I have been convinced of.” Sarah agreed!!! OMG she agreed to guide me, to mentor me. For that I am forever thankful. I am very much afraid of where this road with her will go, it is against all I have convinced myself is good, but all I know right now is it has been about a week since following her advice, being ative and involved with Everyday Paleo Lifestyle and Fitness, and I feel good; unless I stray (come on you knew I had to test the theory).

My advice to all of you for 2012, never ever give up on yourself, hang strong to your instincts and never be afraid to ask…..Someone might just say YES!!!!  I’ll be back soon to give you an update on how I am doing.

Wishing you all much joy and love

Lisa

Believe In Yourself, Believe In Others: Introducing Lisa is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Everyday Paleo Workshop this Saturday in Marysville, CA! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

I used to find myself feeling as if the hand that life had dealt to me was simply “what it was” and that I was destined somehow to be unhappy, to be unhealthy. But I have always been a fighter and there has always been that little spark that even after being dealt several hefty blows, that little spark had never entirely been put out.

So, I encourage you to fight.  You do not have to be stuck.  You do not have to be “ok” with the hand that life has dealt to you but it takes COURAGE!!  Are you brave enough to make those changes that you know need to be changed?  Are you confident in your ability to take those first steps out of your comfort zone, no matter how difficult those first steps  might be?  Have you finally decided to turn off those ugly little voices in your head that try to stop you from being exactly what you know you want to be?

The only time you have to face this journey all alone is when you are faced with the fact that sometimes YOU are the only force that makes you stuck. All the support in the world that you need is out there, but you and you alone have to take that first step. Ultimately, you can play a giant role in choosing your own destiny and you are the only one who decides weather or not you can succeed, no matter what the goal might be.  Yes, you might fall down, yes life is hard, yes change is difficult so you can plod along and just take it as it comes or you can make it; and I urge you to CHOOSE what happens next with your own life because otherwise you will find yourself another year down the road and still….. stuck.

When you open your mind, open your eyes, and open your life to opportunity, to change,  and to positive influences, the excuses start to dwindle and you will find yourself truly steering your life in a way that is meaningful more often than simply accepting “what has happened.”

I hope that 2012 is an amazing year for all of you and as I continue on my own journey I am excited to share what happens with the Fragoso family as we continue on this exciting ride.  I also can’t wait to hear back from you – what are you going to do this year to become “unstuck!!”

Are You Stuck?? is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

My boys love Sweet Potato Hash for breakfast but frankly, I’m kind of tired of it, so last weekend I decided to make my pile of freshly grated potatoes into sweet potato pancakes, or latkes if you will. We topped the savory sweet cakes with bacon and fried eggs.  Yum.

If you are looking for a way to fill up your kids in the morning, or if your trying to get them excited about eating paleo, there’s nothing like a sweet potato based breakfast fried in coconut oil to delight their taste buds.

Sweet Potato Latkes

5 cups grated sweet potato

2 eggs

2 tablespoons onions, minced

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat and melt a spoonful of coconut oil.  Take small handfulls of the potato mixture and drop onto the hot griddle or skillet and press down gently into little “cakes”.  Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown and crispy and the potatoes are done all the wat through. Top with fried eggs and bacon if you so desire. Makes 12 latkes.

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Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Latkes is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

*Note from Sarah: Coby.  My oldest son.  My teenage hero and the kid that keeps me sane when his little brothers are driving me crazy.  I wish I could explain to you what Coby means to me but how could I? It’s like trying to explain the vast expanse of the universe, so I won’t even try. Anyway,  I asked Coby a while ago if he would write a blog post and he totally went for it! Below is what he has written; from the heart of a 16 year old, he has shared with you his own personal paleo journey – short and sweet and to the point. Thank you Coby for your honesty and your willingness to put yourself out there in hopes to share with other kids that living this lifestyle can be your own unique experience.   

Coby’s Paleo Perspective

My name is Coby Fragoso, I am sixteen, and I am Sarah Fragoso’s first son. You probably don’t know much about me, but mom has wanted me to make a blog post for a while so here I am! The reason I’m not noticed much, I think, is because it’s my little brothers that look cute on the front cover of my mom’s book. I am still here though, and I have stuff to say too, like my story about being dragged along with this whole paleo thing…

I remember I never really liked bread anyways. I did not like sandwiches, and I didn’t like pizza that much. One thing I miss though is pasta. I loved pasta with all the different types of sauces. But anyways it was weird for the first couple months we started going paleo, and I’ll admit, I didn’t like it. I definitely noticed a change in what we ate and I did not enjoy eating the new food. I thought it was bland and it just did not taste right. I never complained about the food though and I eventually got used to it, or my mom became better at cooking. She never forced me to eat paleo, I just eventually stopped eating food that wasn’t paleo because I felt it was the right thing to do, and at home I didn’t have any other choice.

 A little over a year ago, I actually gave in and got a hamburger on a white bun, and it made me sick. Ever since than I have not touched any thing with gluten. I actually really like not eating things like breads and pastas; it’s something that separates me from everyone, especially at school. People will see me bring things like salami and grapes to school, or order a bun-less burger from Big Chico Burger during lunch, and they will ask me, “why don’t you eat bread?” and I say, “Because I don’t want to.”

For me it really is more of a choice, I could survive if we WERE eating bread and sugar and stuff, but I simply don’t want to. It’s something that makes me insanely different from all the people who think it’s weird to have something as simple as a different hairstyle. I guess it makes me feel rebellious or something. I don’t plan to stop eating paleo ever actually, it’s what feels right to me, and it’s what I want do gosh dangit!

I no longer break out with zits, I’m not as tired anymore during the day, and I never get stomachaches like I used to.  I have never felt better in my life.

My favorite paleo meals include:  My mom’s meatloaf, bacon, Brussels sprouts and bacon, sausage and eggs, omelets, Thai yellow curry, bun-less burgers, dry rub grilled ribeye, and really everything we eat is good.

My Teenagers Perspective on Paleo: Guest Blog by Coby Fragoso is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Upcoming Workshop is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

*Another post to enjoy from Katie of Wellness Mama!

Kombucha is a fermented tea drink that has been around for centuries. The high concentration of b-vitamins, digestive enzymes and glucaric acid in kombucha are credited with a variety of health effects, including detoxification, improved digestion, increased liver function and more.

Many Kombucha drinkers also report increased energy from regular consumption. Some studies have even shown that compounds like glucaric acid can help prevent cancer, though the evidence on this is limited. Interestingly, President Reagan reportedly drank kombucha daily as part of his regimen to battle stomach cancer when he was diagnosed in 1987 (He died in 2004 of old age).

Countries around the world, from China to Russia, value Kombucha for its health benefits, though few scientific studies have been done in the US. Despite this, Kombucha has gained popularity, especially in some parts of the country.

Kombucha is now available commercially, though prices range from $3-5 per bottle or more.

Making Kombucha at home is another option, as a gallon of Kombucha can be made at home for a dollar or less and the process is really rather simple.

The culture that creates Kombucha is referred to as a “Mother” or a “SCOBY,” which stands for “Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast.” If you are interested in brewing your own Kombucha, there are several ways to obtain a SCOBY.

How To Find a SCOBY to Brew Kombucha

• If you know someone who already brews Kombucha, ask them if they have an extra you could have. A SCOBY reproduces itself and has a “baby” every batch or two, so often someone who brews Kombucha will have one to pass on.
• You can order a SCOBY from a reputable online source. It will come in a dehydrated state with instructions for how to brew. I’ve gotten one from Cultures for Health, and they also have great tutorial videos on brewing Kombucha.
• Grow your own. I haven’t personally had great success with trying to grow my own, but this tutorial explains the process. You will just need a bottle of organic, unflavored Kombucha.

Finding a SCOBY is often the most difficult part, as the actual making of Kombucha is pretty easy…

How To Brew Kombucha:

You will need:

• A gallon size glass jar
• 1 gallon (or a little less) of brewed sweetened tea, with a ratio of 1 cup organic sugar to 1 gallon of tea – must be cooled t room temperature!
• 1 Kombucha SCOBY or dehydrated SCOBY
• a kitchen towel or coffee filter and a rubber band

Instructions:

[Note: It is very important that all materials and surfaces are very clean and that your hands have been washed before starting this process!]

1. Prepare the tea (1 cup organic sugar in 1 gallon of brewed regular tea- decaf is ok too!) Use 3-4 family size tea bags or 8-10 regular size ones.
2. Let the tea cool and remove tea bags. Make sure that tea is completely cool before going on to next step.
3. Pour the tea into a gallon size glass jar, leaving at least an inch of room at the top.
4. Add 1 cup  of liquid from a previous batch of Kombucha or from a store bought bottle of plain organic Kombucha.
5. Gently place the Kombucha SCOBY at the top of the liquid. It should float, but don’t worry if it doesn’t. Once you have put it in, don’t stick your hands into the tea to get it to float!
6. Cover the jar with a coffee filter or towel and secure with a rubber band.
7. Place in a warm location (around 70-75 degrees) and let sit from 5-30 days depending on your preference (it will be less sweet and more potent the longer you leave it).
8. When it is finished brewing you can store in smaller jars or in another big jar with a lid and repeat the brewing process with the SCOBY to make more batches. Every 1-2 batches, the SCOBY will have a baby that can be used to make other batches or given away.

Once you’ve gotten the hang of making Kombucha, you can do a secondary ferment with grape or apple juice to make a carbonated Kombucha soda that has very little trace sugar left but is carbonated. 

This video from Cultures for Health is helpful when first starting off brewing Kombucha.

Ever brewed Kombucha? Grossed out by the SCOBY? What do you think?

How to Make Kombucha by Katie of Wellness Mama is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Play is extremely important and play is NOT just for children.  Even without kids of your own, playing is something we all need to make time for.  What does play do?  Play is a natural part of our existence and playing reminds us that life should be enjoyed and having our noses constantly to the grindstone does not produce the quality of life that we all are striving for.

What does play need to look like?  Whatever you want it to! Be silly, dance, summersault, jump, leap, throw, swing, climb, live! Do not treat play like exercise but like a game – and a way to express yourself and you will accidentally end up getting in a workout without even knowing it.

Next time you find yourself at the playground with your kids, leave your phone in your car and your worries at the gate and really play with your children.  Do not feel inhibited by what others might think about you because honestly, who really cares – most likely others will be jealous of what an awesome parent you are for paying so much attention to your little ones, and you might inspire other families to play!  Suggest an activity for your kids to try that is challenging, fun and new; show them how to do it, and then do that activity with them and make it fun – remember this is PLAY!  It’s so great for your kiddos to see you in action.  Leading by example is the best way to instill the importance of having an active lifestyle.

Challenge yourself by getting outside of your comfort zone.  When was the last time you attempted to swing on the monkey bars?  Do you remember how freeing and fun it felt to simply play a game of tag?  Go for it, don’t hold back, and let yourself just be in the moment.  You will develop a new relationship with yourself and your loved ones that will make your family bond stronger and your life more complete.  Play is therapeutic, essential, and downright fun.

Have a wrestling match with your significant other.  Yes, it sounds silly, but that’s how play should be.  Play leap frog with your husband or wife in the back yard, throw a ball back in forth with your kiddos, get some sidewalk chalk out and make a giant game of hopscotch and practice your jumping and balancing all while having a great time outdoors.

Finally, here’s a video of what happens at the park when the Fragoso Family goes out to play.

Now Get Out and PLAY!!

Get Out and PLAY!! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Before you read any further, you must say Herbed Halved Chicken five times as fast as you can. It’s not a just a meal but a tongue twister too!

Last weekend we picked up a halved chicken from the farmers market and John and Jaden made a delicious herb butter rub for the bird.  They rubbed both halves with the delicious mixture and cooked the chicken low and slow on the grill until it became tender, savory perfection.  If you do not want to use butter you can sub clarified butter, ghee, lard, or another fat of your choice.  We served the chicken with roasted winter squash and I made a quick coleslaw with shredded green cabbage, diced apples, sliced almonds, with olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar for the dressing

Here’s what John and Jaden created:

Herb Halved Chicken

2 chicken halves (or take one whole chicken and cut it in half)

6 tablespoons grass fed butter (we used Kerrygold) or other fat of your choice

3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

1 tablespoon fresh sage, minced

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, minced

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon sea salt

Soften butter in the microwave.  Mix the herbs and spices into the softened butter or other fat choice.  Pat dry the chicken halves with paper towels.  Using a rubber spatula, generously rub the herb and spice mixture all over the chicken halves.  Cook on a covered grill skin side up on low to medium low heat for 45-60 minutes.

Herbed Halved Chicken is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Because our society is plagued with diets, most of which make no sense, many people come into this paleo thing with a few preconceived notions.  I would like to address some of these misnomers and get us back on the same page.  The following is a short discussion of the things paleo is often assumed to be, but in reality is not.

The most important one for me is that The Paleo Diet is not a diet.  I know, it really
doesn’t make any sense when you say it like that, but it’s true.  The Paleo Diet is the modern nomenclature for human nutrition, and the fact that we need to name the concept of “human food” means we have reached a completely ridiculous place in the evolution of our species where we have forgotten who we are and where we came from.  It seems like I say this every time I open my mouth or sit down at a computer, but here I go again – humans are the only creatures on earth that use the word “diet” as a verb.  Animals don’t do diets, they have a diet.  They also don’t suffer from the extensive list of noninfectious diseases that we do.  What is the lesson here?  We need to try to find the ideal human diet in today’s modern world.  Or by definition, go paleo.

Another thing that paleo does not define is a macro nutrient profile.  The word “diet”, even in most research papers, is synonymous with weighing and measuring food, even if it’s only part of the intake that we’re interested in, like carbs or fat.  Paleo is simply food choices.  This means that higher carb paleo and lower fat paleo are completely acceptable as long as your goals reflect those choices.  For example, high carb paleo with lots of sweet potatoes, yams and butternut squash is still paleo, but it probably isn’t the best choice for fat loss.  On the other hand, if you are an athlete and you need more carbs for peak performance, there is no reason why paleo will not work for you and plenty of reasons why a more neolithic way of eating will be detrimental.

Paleo is also not inherently a weight loss or muscle gain plan.  It is a health plan. If you are over weight, getting healthy will mean getting leaner.  If you just gave up running marathons, getting healthy will mean gaining some muscle mass.  Beyond basic health, paleo and training can be tweaked for more muscle gain or fat loss.  That is not something that can be said for most “diets”.  Try packing on muscle mass on Weight Watchers sometime.

Finally, paleo is not an excuse to not exercise.  Proper nutrition is absolutely essential, but it doesn’t change the fact that the acquisition of food was inextricably tied to movement for all but the last miniscule fraction of time that our genus has been biped-ing it up on earth.  Since the kitchen, in all it’s glory, is is merely steps away these days, you will need to get out and mimic proper human movement.  Please note that I said “mimic proper human movement.”

Perspective is everything.  All this stuff will fall into place for you when your perspective is right.

What Paleo Isn’t is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Stuffed Pork and Salty Sweet Cravings

Time for another college budget friendly meal! On tonight’s menu; sun dried tomato stuffed pork, zucchini and for dessert salty sweet cravings.

I was feeling creative tonight and wanted to try something new and fun for dinner. I opened my freezer and refrigerator to find a pork tenderloin, sun dried tomatoes, minced garlic, and fresh basil.  The basil was home grown by yours truly (bonus point: free ingredient!). Put it all together and you get Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Pork.

Sundried Tomato Stuffed Pork

2 pound Pork Tenderloin

1 8.5 oz jar sundried tomato haves

1 T minced garlic

7 Fresh basil leaves

Butterfly pork tenderloin. On one side spread the sun dried tomato and garlic. Lay the basil leaves on top of the tomatoes fold over the other half of the pork over and tie the pork with 3-4 pieces of string so that the stuffing stays in while cooking. Sear the pork on a hot BBQ for 5 minutes on each side and finish in the oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Feeds: 8

Total Coast:  $10

Coast per person: $1.25

Here is another cheap and easy recipe for those who are battling mid-day, late night, or anytime cravings for something salty, sweet and still paleo. This snack won’t break the bank and chances are you already having the ingredients on hand.

Salty Sweet Cravings

1 ½ cups unsweetened Coconut Flakes

1 tablespoon melted coconut oil

1 tsp sea salt

Melt coconut oil in a medium size microwave safe bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups coconut flakes and sea salt mix until all the flakes are evenly coated. Line a cookie sheet with foil and evenly spread out the coconut flakes. Bake at 350 for 4 1/2 minutes or until golden brown (make sure to watch them because they will go from golden brown to yucky burnt fast!)

Feeds: 12

Total cast:  $18

Coast per person: $1.50

Dinner and dessert together $2.75 a person!

Stuffed Pork and Salty Sweet Cravings is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Unfortunately, flu season is fast approaching. While a good diet goes 90% of the way toward preventing illness, sometimes cold or flu can still strike.

One remedy I always have on hand during the winter is Elderberry Syrup. This remedy gained some popularity during the swine flu and avian flu scares, as it has been shown to help alleviate flu symptoms.

“[the properties in] elder stop the production of hormone-like cytokines that direct a class of white blood cells known as neutrophils to cause inflammation, especially in influenza and arthritis. On the other hand, elder increases the production non-inflammatory infection-fighting cytokines as much as 10 fold. Elder berries are known to be effective against eight strains of influenza.”  (source)

There are several commercial brands of elderberry syrup available commercially but it is much more cost effective to make it, and you can avoid the unhealthy syrups that are often in store brands.

Elderberry syrup can be used preventatively or for acute symptoms, and kids usually love the taste.

Homemade Elderberry Syrup Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup black elderberries
• 3 1/2 cups of water
• 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger root, finely minced, or 1 tsp dried ginger
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
• small sprinkle of cloves or clove powder
• 1 cup (or less) raw honey (or sweetener of choice- see note below)

How To Make Elderberry Syrup:

1. Put all ingredients except honey in a medium sized sauce pan.

3. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

4. When cool enough to touch the pan with your hands, strain the liquid through a strainer or cheesecloth into a large glass jar or bowl. Discard the strained ingredients.

5. When liquid is still warm, add the honey and stir well to incorporate. [Note: alternate sweeteners like stevia can be used, though this will create a liquid, rather than a syrup and it will only last 2-3 weeks in fridge]

6. Store in a glass bottle or jar in the fridge.

Standard dose is up to 1 tablespoon a day for adults and 1 teaspoon a day for kids over the age of 2. Some sources recommend taking every other day or only during the weeks to boost effectiveness. If cold or flu strikes, this dose can be doubled or tripled until symptoms go away.

Ever taken elderberry syrup or tinctures before? What is your go-to cold and flu remedy?

Elderberry Syrup Recipe for Flu Prevention is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

On October 27th, Rowan turned 4 and on October 30th, Jaden turned 8.  Time  really does fly and when I look at my little boys who keep getting so darn big, intense emotions run through me. If you are a parent, you know exactly what I am talking about and trying to express the above mentioned emotions into words really is impossible.

Anyway; we had a party for Rowan on Saturday and a party for Jaden on Sunday and let me tell you, it was a CRAZY yet fabulous weekend with lots of wonderful family and amazing friends.  In my opinion, birthdays are worth celebrating and what would a birthday be without the cake!  Over our last few paleo years I have attempted to make gluten free cakes from mixes of various store bought brands with some success but this year for the Jaden and Rowan I ordered gluten and grain free baking mixes from White Lion Baking Company and holy cow, they did not disappoint.

Rowan wanted a chocolate cake and Jaden wanted cinnamon bun muffins and both turned out phenomenally well.  You know the cake is good when non-paleo eating folks say things like, “This is the best cake I have ever had!” Or, “These muffins are out of this world!” Rowan’s chocolate cake mix came with a chocolate ganache topping that we made and used to drizzle over the cake and my amazing sister Laura decorated the cake with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and homemade whipped cream. For Jaden’s birthday muffins I followed the directions that came with the muffin mix for homemade cream cheese frosting which was just cream cheese, heavy cream and a touch of honey and I also added in some cinnamon as well.

If the thought of coming up with a grain free birthday cake seems daunting or you want to avoid the store bought gluten free cake mixes that are filled with rice flour and potato starch, I highly recommend looking into White Lion Baking Company.  The high quality grain free ingredients that they use in their products shine through in the amazing end result and I will most certainly be using this company again for my future baking needs.

At Rowan’s party he wanted a “party at home with a bouncy house” and that’s exactly what we did but  I’m pretty sure that the adults had more fun than the kids in the bounce house.

  For party food we grilled up some hamburgers and Applegate Farm sausages and served them with lettuce wraps, sliced tomato, and onions.  I also made my No Potato Salad which is always a huge hit.  For snacks before dinner we had guacamole, fruit, veggies, salami and cheese and corn chips. Corn chips and cheese are a safe party staple for us.  No one feels horrible if we eat a few chips and slices of cheese and it’s nice to have these alternatives for a “cheat meal” (although I hate that terminology) when we want to kick up our heels.

For Jaden’s party we went to our local gymnastics academy and several of his friends from school attended the party.  I was wondering how the cinnamon bun muffins made with almond meal and coconut flour would be accepted by a bunch of 3rd graders, especially topped with homemade cream cheese frosting that really wasn’t that sweet at all. Surprisingly, all but two of the muffins were devoured and this is from a group of kids who are most likely used to the conventional cupcake.  Hurray for real food!  The snacks at the party were a duplicate of what we had for Rowan’s party the previous day.

It was such a blast watching the kids run around and play and the highlight at the end was the awesome zip line!  Check out Kayden of Growing Up Paleo and Rowan taking on the zip line like the big kids. Even after Kayden’s spectacular landing, the first thing he said was, “Let’s do it again!!”

Overall, the parties were successful, the kids had a blast, and my little boys are another year older but somehow I’m still only 25.  Amazing how that works, isn’t it??

Happy birthdays to my sweet little Row Row and my big guy Jaden!

A Birthday Weekend!! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Like last time, I have to get a little sciencey in this one, but I promise I will do my best to tie it all together.  Also like last time, I am oversimplifying the biochemistry to make sure you learn something but you don’t send me an envelope full of anthrax for confusing and frustrating you.  You will need to read my last post on Sugar, Insulin Resistance, and Fat Loss to get the most out of this post.

Some of you lost your willpower last night.  Others of you barely made it through. You were minding your business having a normal evening relaxing or getting ready for the next day when you were completely overcome with cravings.  Suddenly it was all you could do to think about anything but whatever crunchy or sweet decadence might be lurking just steps away in your kitchen.    You were good all day – paleo breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Sure, there were momentary temptations but your busy day helped you forget about them.  Then when you finally tried to relax, cravings set in.  If you gave in to them, you are kicking yourself today for all of yesterday’s hard work you threw away.  What the heck is going on here?!?

It’s all about our friends from last time, glucose and insulin.  Here is the diet example I used in the last post to represent a typical day for most Americans:

Oatmeal for breakfast.
Fat Free/Sugar Free Coffee-like Substance at your mid morning slump.
Subway sandwich for lunch because you want to be like Jared.
Bagel, granola, or other such processed carbs (or maybe another sugar-laden caffeinated beverage) to fight the afternoon slump.
Pasta or rice at dinner.
Something crunchy or sweet between 8 and 10 pm.

If this is how you ate for most of your adult life your body would have been highly adapted to using glucose for energy while storing fat.  Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) was constantly on duty ushering fatty acids into your fat cells, and hormone sensitive lipase (HSL) would rarely have been called into action.  Unfortunately, you are a highly adaptive creature.  Eating this way for years has taught your body that this is normal and now you want to change the rules with proper human nutrition.  Of course there is going to be a fight.

To sharpen this concept to a fine point, you are not fat adapted.  In other words, your body doesn’t readily release stored energy (fat) from your batteries (fat cells) to run your generators (mitochondria) because it is WAAAAY out of practice.  You have been pumping a constant supply of glucose (from processed carbs) into your blood stream and, since glucose must be used first when it is present, your fat cells have turned into warehouses instead of batteries.  To correct this, your fat cells must release fatty acids and your mitochondria must accept those long lost friends as fuel.  This might take a while.  You didn’t get into your current state overnight; don’t expect to flip a switch and magically escape unscathed.

Back to your cravings and last night’s nightmare.  When you eat a processed carb-laden meal, you get a nice spike in glucose, your pancreas kicks out a bunch of insulin to mitigate the glucose, and the glucose is fed to your hungry cells, stored as glycogen, or turned into fat and stuffed into your buns and thighs.  When the glucose is all gone, a healthy body shifts into fat burning mode and uses the fat it just stored to keep on trucking.  But your body can’t remember how to make the shift.  Glucose is all it really knows.  That leaves just one option – scream for more glucose!  Screams = cravings.

There is an easy way to distinguish cravings from hunger.  Simply swap out the food you are craving for something paleo approved.  If you are truly hungry most foods will sound good.  I’ve said it more times than I can count, nobody ever looses their cool at 10 pm and eats a pound of broccoli or a 20 ounce steak.  In reality it’s more like, “Why am I suddenly surrounded by empty chip bags and ice cream containers?”

So you are probably going to throw rocks at me now because I can’t offer you an easy out.  The bottom line is that when you eat a legit paleo diet without cheating for 3 or 4 weeks (yes, that means in a row), you will become fat adapted and regain your self control and sanity.  However, every time you cheat in that starting period you will most likely knock yourself back to square one.  This is why we like to say that you aren’t cheating in the beginning, you just haven’t started yet.  (To get through the beginning, CLEAN OUT YOUR KITCHEN!)  Once you are fat adapted and healthy the occasional cheat is not a problem.  Unfortunately, the only answer is a little will power, but you can take solace in the fact that your trials and tribulations are very temporary.   Get to the other side and you will feel great, perform well, and live long in a body that’s easy on the eyes because it’s healthy.

It’s time to get serious.

Cravings is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Last night I made a whole roasted chicken, tossed some cubed butternut squash in coconut oil and roasted that as well, and cooked some greens fresh from our CSA to make an amazingly easy and tasty side dish.  Here’s how I prepared the greens:

Good Greens

1 pound of bacon, diced

1 small red onion, sliced

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 cup green beans, diced

2 bunches greens of your choice, finely diced (I used a huge bag of braising greens from my CSA which was a combo of kale, collards, and I think some turnip greens)

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

Black pepper to taste

In a large pan cook the bacon pieces and onion until the bacon starts to crisp.  Add the mushrooms and green beans and saute until the mushrooms are tender. Add the diced greens, sage and pepper and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the greens are tender.

Enjoy!

Good Greens is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License