Day 29: And 1 to Go!

I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of the challenge. Time went by so quickly!

Breakfast: This morning we had banana pancakes w/coconut oil, coconut flour, almond milk, eggs, vanilla and some cinnamon. To balance with some fat and protein I had a small bacon omelet.

Snack: Handful of cashews and one of my kids pouches (spinach, pear, and peas-actually pretty tasty).

Lunch: Spaghetti squash (yum) with a garlic and ghee (ghee is a form of clarified butter) sauce. We also had some ground turkey and kale chips. I added two little dried apricots as a "dessert." The spaghetti squash was fabulous again. One of my favorites!

Snack: Apple slices and peanut butter (I know peanut butter is not Paleo, but we ran out of almond butter and I was craving and hungry).

Dinner: We went out to dinner for my hubbies mom's birthday. I find it interesting that I hardly ate out at all during the past 30 days and now we just ate out 2 days in a row. We went to Di Pescara, a steak and seafood restaurant. We had a great waiter who was really helpful. They even had a small gluten-free menu. I chose grilled chicken and a sweet potato for dinner (the sweet potato was huge and filling). They did have options for gluten-free pasta and some salads. They also could have made many of the fish and steak options gluten-free as well. I had a glass of wine and decaf coffee as well. All in all, a great meal at a very nice restaurant. I am sure we will try it again.

Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge!

Day 28: A Special Lunch Outing

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and a sweet potato

Snack: Cashews and a banana

Later Snack: Almonds and a peach mango pouch (yes, one of my kids' pouches). They are tasty and quick. We go for the organic with only pure ingredients.

Lunch: Today we had our youngest, Sienna, baptized. For the other two kids we had 50+ people at a pizza place for lunch afterwards. To keep costs down we had Sienna's post-baptism lunch at a local restaurant with only our immediate family and the Godparents. At this restaurant,  I would have typically ordered a burger (no bun) and fries or a grilled chicken/avocado melt (with cheese, no bun). It was the first time I really looked at the menu and had to find another option. The most difficult part about the lunch was watching the potato skins go by. They looked so yummy and greasy! I was also worried that I would have to watch everyone around me eat fries, but most of the people ended up ordering a more healthy meal. I ordered a tasty broiled salmon with a mango salsa, spinach with some lemon, and a house salad with olive oil and lemon for dressing (if you are trying to eat gluten-free, remember to tell the server no croutons on the salad-it has been awhile since I have eaten out in a place without a gluten-free menu so I forgot). I also had a half of a glass of wine. The meal was very good and filling. It's amazing how eating healthy can be contagious. It started with my brother, spread to my family and my parents, then spread to some other members of our extended family. Eating healthy was definitely a topic of conversation at lunch today. We talked about how we eat, what we eat and even gave each other some advice on things to try. My brother and dad were even talking to the pastor about Paleo/Primal eating, and he noted one of the books we use so he can check it out =)

Snack: Apple slices

Dinner: We find at the end of the week we have some leftover food we need to use. We actually did pretty well this week and didn't have as many leftovers as usual. That means we planned well. We made seasoned ground turkey, avocado, and salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. We also attempted kale chips for the 3rd time. We didn't burn them, but some of them were not quite crunchy enough to make them chips. The taste was still good though.

Day 27: 10 Rules to Eat Safely for Life

I was watching an infomercial for the book The Blood Sugar Solution by Mark Hymen. I was curious to see where it was similiar and where it was different than the Paleo/Primal templates. I found out they are based on a few of the same premises, but his "solution" still involves eating whole grains, just not flours. The major similiarity is the push for whole, unprocessed foods that were grown or raised on a farm. One part of the infomercial I really liked was his "10 Rules to Eat Safely for Life." After the challenge is over, I will still strive to follow these 10 rules. It is very difficult with kids. Some of the rules we have done a good job following with the kids are: trying to eat foods with fewer than 5 ingredients, avoiding high-fructose corn syrup, avoiding hydrogenated oils, avoiding foods with ingredients I don't recognize, avoiding any food additives and avoiding foods with artificial sweeteners. At times I think some of the family members think I am crazy for doing that, but it is important to me. I would like to work on trying to decrease the amount of quick, less-natural foods we give the kids like cereal bars (even if they are organic).

The Ten Rules:
1. Try to eat food without labels.
2. If a food has a label it should have fewer than 5 ingredients.
3. If sugar or flour is on the label, throw it out.
4. Throw out any foods with high-fructose corn syrup.
5. Throw out any food with the word hydrogenated in it.
6. Throw out any highly refined cooking oils (stick with olive oil, coconut oil and avocado oil for example).
7. Throw out any foods with ingredients you don't recognize.
8. Throw out any foods with preservatives, additives, colorings or dyes.
9. Throw out any foods with artificial sweeteners.
10. "If it came from the earth or the farmer's field, not a food chemist's lab, it's safe to eat."

One other article I found by the same doctor was called: "3 Hidden Ways Wheat Makes you Fat."

Breakfast: Leftover chicken stir-fry and jicama/carrot mix.
Snack: Walnuts
Lunch: Canned salmon and avocado
Snack: Banana and cashews
Dinner: Beef burger (no bun) and sweet potato. I love that I now know how to make a burger using ground meat. It is an easy and quick meal to make. I also love that I now know how to cook sweet potatoes. They are so easy and a good slower-acting carb. How sad it is that I had never cooked one in the past (almost embarassing)!

Day 26: Winding Down

Day 30 is getting close. The Paleo Challenge will soon come to an end. I am starting to think about how I will continue when this challenge is over. As I have for this challenge, I will try to listen to my body and find out what it needs. Sometimes that isn't the easiest thing to do. I feel like after all I have read and learned about food, I can't go back completely to how it was before.

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and a banana

Lunch: Fancy Pear Salad (Everyday Paleo, 129): Really it's just salad greens, a pear, onion, balsamic vinegar and pecans. We had the salad with some ground turkey.

Snack: Apple slices and roast beef deli meat

Dinner: Chicken and Boiled Cabbage. We decided to go with a more basic meal tonight. We had some chicken in the freezer and some left over cabbage so Scott put them together to make a meal. He stir-fried the chicken breast (cut into pieces) with olive oil, garlic, onions, celery and a bit of chicken broth. He boiled red cabbage. The cabbage was more tasty than I had anticipated. Alexis had a few helpings of the cabbage, which was surprising. He also steamed some beans for the kids in case they didn't like the cabbage.

Dessert: Each of us had one Great Ball of Date (Everyday Paleo, 218) from the night before. They are such a yummy little treat!

No pictures today. Although the meal was simple. It was still tasty and filling. I think that as we progress with this way of eating we are going to have to use more simple meals more often to keep the costs down. We will still continue to plan our meals in advance and make a shopping list. We started doing that about a year ago and found that it is so helpful in keeping to a budget.

Day 25: A Beautiful Day!

Today was such a beautiful day (at least most of it)! I am so glad I had the opportunity to get outside and enjoy a little bit of sun and warmth! Can't wait until spring and especially summer. I am definitely a warm weather person. My ideal location to live is Arizona. I have always known that I am someone who craves the sunlight and the past 8 weeks on maternity leave have really reinforced that. This is my first (and only)winter baby. My other two were born in the summer. I think a big part of my recovery after the first two was sunlight and warmth. I know that I have been lucky that this winter hasn't been as rough as usual, but there is such a big difference in how I feel on days that it is sunny out (even if it is a little chilly). We try to get outside as much as we can, but when it is cold it is rough, especially with an infant. Here's hoping we have a warm spring!
Breakfast: Leftover turkey stir fry

Snack: Banana

Lunch: Sweet potato and turkey slices

Snack: Cashews and some apple slices

Dinner: Apple Shallot Pork Chops (Everyday Paleo, 94). I never realized I like pork of any kind until this past month. The recipe was great and Scott made a tasty side dish of jicama, carrots and some olive oil. It is so nice when something so simple tastes so good!

Day 24: Great Balls of Dates!

Sorry for the delay in the posting of Day 24. Yesterday was a busy evening. I went to my first Tai Chi class. I was the youngest person there by about 25 years =) It was an hour long class and the teacher was wonderful. She took us through slow deliberate movements that were more challenging than they looked. By the end, I was exhausted. Will I go back? Absolutely!

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 pieces of bacon and a couple of strawberries

Snack: Blueberries and Almond butter and apple slices

Lunch: Turkey stir fry with mixed veggies (asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)

Snack: An avocado and a couple dried apricots

Dinner: Easy Skillet Scallops and Spinach (Everyday Paleo, 105). This was a yummy easy meal. I love scallops and the kids even enjoyed them (it was a bit harder to get them to eat the spinach). We made them some veggie fried rice just in case they didn't eat the scallops, but they actually ended up eating both.

Dessert: Great Balls of Dates (Everyday Paleo, 218). I know that dates don't necessarily go with scallops, but this was a fun little dessert option that I have been looking forward to trying since I got the book. It involves medjool dates (seeds removed), almond butter, coconut flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, cinnamon and coconut flakes. They were actually pretty tasty and not as sweet as I imagined they would be. The kids thought they were fun and are looking forward to having a couple more tonight.

Day 23: Listening to your body

I have found that one of the keys to this way of eating is to tailor it to what your body needs. That requires us to do something that many of us are not very used to doing...listening to our bodies. Now that I have been eating this way for a few weeks I realize that I feel better with more carbs. During the past two years or so I have gotten very used to pairing carbs with a fat or protein to keep my blood sugar in check. Now I am starting to to realize that my body can handle some berries on their own to help give me the extra carbs I need.  I also pay attention to how I feel after eating or drinking something. I have taken a few days off coffee (even decaf) because I never feel quite right after I drink it (not sure why). One of the podcasts I was listening to from the Paleo Summit reminded me that we may need to tweak the way we eat every now and then to meet our energy needs. It also reminded me that this way of eating is not the same for everyone. One person may need more carbs than another to keep them balanced. This is especially true for those who are working out. My brother does well with juicing so typically one of his meals is a juice. I am not sure how I would do with that. I would like to try more smoothies for a snack (using almond or coconut milk). One thing I like about this way of eating is there is no counting points, fats, calories or carbs. It is eating in a way that works best for you. I will need to continue to experiment and tweak this plan as I go to find out what makes me feel best.

Breakfast: Leftover frittata (early morning) and left over chicken from the night before.

Snack: Handful of blueberries

Lunch: Steamed veggies and canned salmon

Snack: Handful of walnuts, an avocado and 3 small dried apricots

Dinner: Grilled Lamb Burgers (Everyday Paleo, 88), sweet potato and garlic orange broccoli. This is definitely one of my new favorite meals and something I probably would never have tried if I wasn't eating this way. AJ is still a huge fan of lamb burgers too! We have been buying a pound of ground lamb, which makes about 4 patties but I think we will have to increase this. Alexis loved the sweet potatoes and went to town with them today but she still ate some broccoli and burger.

Tomorrow: A scallop dinner....