Sure, I'd be down. I did Whole30 in late-Jan through Feb, I ate pretty basic though, wouldn't mind getting a bit more creative with some meals.
Oh wow, that Whole30 thing is advocating no cream or artificial sweeteners (I use quite a bit of Stevia in coffee, tea, and occasionally on fruit). That just takes my entire pleasure out of my morning coffee. I don't know if I am willing to go quite that far. edit: right after I posted this I read a bit further and hit upon this gem "It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. " Waaahhhh, me, guess I should put things in perspective.
Tomorrow's a bit difficult. EVERY store will be closed here, so tweaking the pantry won't be an option. I'm thinking Sunday or Monday. Probably Monday. Mya, let me know when your marathon comes and goes...I might need a fresh partner by then to try and keep me honest. Incidentally, this has become my new favourite thread. By a country mile.
What the hell, I'm in if I manage to quit smoking soon. It'll mean I can't drink for a couple months, which is my main cheat at the moment. I'll have to go back to starchy tubers if I feel like puking after exercise though. There's only so much torment I can take at once.
I'm heading to Asia on the 26th and won't be back until like the 10th of May. There's no fucking way I'm missing out on sushi and sake in Tokyo or whatever the fuck staple they serve in Beijing. But you MIGHT be able to pencil me in for a thirty day challenge in June after I have a chance to readjust and convince myself going booze free for thirty days will be a pleasant experience.
I can start mon., April 16th. And I think I found a loophole in the no cream thing, I am going to stock up on Coconut Milk. In addition to the taking away of things I think I am going to try one step further as a personal goal and add in weight training three times a week to the mix.i have been saying I was going to do it for some time now, but it was hard with the running, so no excuses after!
Done. That will give me enough time to clean out any crap I have in the house and meal plan/shop for the next month. I am equal parts excited and dreading this.
So, in preparation for 30 days of deprivation (I need to stop looking at it like that, huh), I apparently have opted for a week of complete gluttony. I had cereal this morning, which I haven't had in months, and then went for Mexican for lunch and overindulged. My stomach feels like it is going to explode, I am groggy and fuzzy headed and I want a nap even though I got plenty of sleep last night, and despite all of this am now oddly craving ice cream. Yep, I'll be ready for this by the time it comes around. In between these two events I went to a local/organic foods expo to determine a CSA to sign up for (anybody have experience with this - looking at both produce and meat), so all was not lost I guess. I have also been trying to get some people from my real life to do this with me, and so far no takers. My husband looked at me like I had two heads to even suggest it, so I am sure he will just continue to eat entire pizzas, french fries, etc in front of me. SIGH.
I gotta say, if I learn nothing else from turning to this Paleo thing, I really love coconut milk. I switched to soy for a 6-month period until I read up on some not-so-great effects of soy, and I hated switching back to dairy milk. So thanks to all you guys for recommending it. I noticed when I bought the stuff that there were also cartons of almond milk available (both are Silk products). Does anyone know if one is better than the other? Or are they simply different flavors of the same thing? I love almonds (I typically eat 1-2 servings per day) so I'm inclined to try some. The only difference in the nutrition facts is that almond milk has no saturated fat, which I'm still not convinced isn't fundamentally bad for you just because of a few "studies" on the Internet. There are many things I've enjoyed since I started reading up on Paleo, but that one strikes me as a bunch of nonsense. By all means, however, I'm open to having my mind changed on that, if anyone cares to weigh in.
Almonds have a high load of omega-6 fatty acids and almost no omega-3. Kind of like grain fed vs grass fed meat, that's the main issue. Other than that nuts in general tend to be a gut irritant and aren't recommended for consumption in large quantities. That's not to say don't eat nuts or never indulge, I like my almond bread and nut butter on occasion, I just try to keep my diet focused on meat and vegetables.
Pseudo Pho 4-5 leaves romaine lettuce (sliced into strips) 1/3 large cucumber (julianned) 1/2 shredded carrot 1/2 cup bean sprouts 4-5 oz shrimp 3 cloves garlic 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger 1 jalapeno pepper 1 tbsp fish sauce 1 tbsp clarified butter 1 serving vermicelli noodles (made from beans) In the bowl you plan to eat out of, add lettuce, cucumber, carrots and bean sprouts. Boil water and prepare 1 serving vermicelli noodles as instructed on package. In a small frying pan, melt butter. Add garlic, jalapeno and ginger. Add fish sauce. Simmer until fragrant. Add shrimp and cook until shrimp is done (turns pink). Add noodles on top of veggies, then add shrimp mixture as a finishing touch. I cheated like hell and added Hoisin sauce, too. FYI: literally no ingredient in Hoisin sauce is Paleo. Ah, well.
I've been doing paleo for about a month now. Here are a few things I've found in that time. 1. Grass fed beef is beyond expensive to the point where you will cut down on your meat intake so much that the diet turns shitty from eating mostly vegetables. Two things to combat this. First, find the best local meat market and eat grain feed beef. It's not the same quality, but at least you won't be buying the meat from a grocery store. If you find a good butcher and are a return customer, they will usually give you awesome deals on the better cuts of meat. The second and best idea if you plan on being on the diet long term, buy a side of beef. This is what I ended up doing. I spent roughly $2000 for a grass fed no hormone half a cow. The farm where I got it from sent it off to a butcher and based on a cut list got me all the cuts I wanted and vacusealed everything into the portion sizes I wanted. There is roughly 300lbs of beef. It will last about a year in my freezer if I eat it at the rate I have been so far. If this seems ridiculous to you, over the course of the year buying meat, it's really not that bad. If you don't want to spring that much cash, they also will sell 1/4 sides, but at a premium price. The best idea is to go in with someone else and divvy up a side after it's all processed. 2. Download/buy a cookbook that has a large section on sauces. After a while, eating the same steak w. onions/mushroom, broccoli dinner becomes monotonous. Sauces you can make up quick and even better the ones you can keep in the fridge for a few days are a godsend. I've found a bunch of sauces that are easy to make if you have a food processor. 3. Eat SMALL portions if you want 3 meals a day. I have yet to eat 3 meals in a day since starting this diet because just the thought of food after eating two turns my stomach. I will stay feeling full almost twice as long as when I was eating grains and carbs. 4. Although the diet does seem to revolve around beef/chicken/pork, make sure you eat plenty of fish. As with the beef, find a good quality fish monger in your area as the stuff you find in a grocery story is horrible in comparison. 5. If you want the diet to work well, you will be in the kitchen A LOT. Outside of a veggie salad, almost everything on the diet needs some sort of cooking. Don't get discouraged and go out and grab some shitty pre-made meal because you don't want to cook and then clean up your mess for the 27th day in a row. Outside of cutting out foods you enjoy eating now, this is probably the biggest adjustment you will have to make doing this diet.
If you're not that attached to cow, maybe check out game options. I'm sure it depends where you live, but you can buy pretty good kangaroo steaks here from the grocery store for about that price, and only have to buy a pound at a time. There seem to be a few places in google that ship elk / various game meat to people around the US with reasonable prices and not nearly the same initial outlay requirement. I guess it depends on how fussy you are about what animal your meat comes from, but if you're a hippy, not supporting the cattle industry is probably also good for the environment. I also thoroughly approve of meat eaters going out and being involved in the collection process at least once. I think you get a much more healthy appreciation for dinner if you have to gut it yourself.
Man oh man, my dinner tonight was too good to not share the recipes, as simple as they were. Just a few ingredients and came together in just a few minutes, exactly what I look for in a week night dinner. Pan Seared Scallops with Red Pepper Sauce 12 large Bay scallops, preferably fresh 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil 1 lemon For the perfect red pepper sauce: 1 large red pepper, roasted 1 garlic clove, broken or crushed Juice from a half of a lemon 2 Tablespoons olive oil 1. Squeeze the lemon juice on top of the scallops and allow to sit while you work on the rest of the recipe. 2. Place all ingredients for the sauce into a food processor and blend until smooth. 3. Pour this sauce into a saucepan then warm using medium heat. (I actual forgot to do this and it was just fine) 4. Heat coconut oil, add your scallops and cook for about 3 or 4 minutes on both sides. 5. Serve scallops topped with red pepper sauce I served over Sauteed Kale 1 1/2 pounds young kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced 1/2 cup vegetable stock or water Salt and pepper 1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. 2. Add the garlic and cook until soft, but not colored. 3. Add the stock and kale and toss to combine. 4. Cover and cook for 5 minutes 5. Season with salt and pepper to taste Commenting on the meat discussion, we decided to do a meat CSA to get grass fed free range direct from the source. Apparently we are getting 1/4 cow, 1 lamb, 1/2 hog, 12 chickens, and 2 dozen eggs delivered every two weeks over the next year. I have no idea at all what this means, ask me again after I get a delivery. For us buying a cow was a little space prohibitive, so this was another option.
Can anyone recommend a Paleo brand of chicken stock? I keep powdered stuff in the cupboard, but after reading the ingredients, it's gonna have to go.
Not really answering your question, but have you tried making your own and then just freezing it? I know you do the marathon Sunday cooking, so you could add cook up a whole chicken every month or so.
I like the convenience of a powder. I usually don't think far enough ahead to defrost stuff, so a powder works well. Plus, that post on buying a half cow has depressed me. My giant, 1960s, coffin-sized freezer is packed to the gills with dog food and I don't have much space to freeze anything else. /first world problems
You could instead slowly kill the environment by having that cow portioned out and delivered to your house direct from the farm on a monthly basis just so you don't have to work out storage solution. Yep, I try to do my part (it actually goes to a pick up location shared among dozens of suburbanites so not quite so bad) And I hear you on the convenience factor with the broth. I occasionally use boxed (I never do powdered for some reason) and get Pacific Natural Foods from Trader Joes. I just looked at the list of ingredients and .... Organic evaporated cane juice, Autolyzed yeast extract. Pretty sure that is Paleo.