We talk quite a bit about food and swap recipes here, but I don't think we've had a thread dedicated to Paleo living. I don't call it a diet per se, because it really isn't. I see it as a lifestyle to maximize your body's nutrition and potential.

Anyone else on here eating Paleo? I'm moving my way towards full time, but haven't fully committed yet. I'm happy to share the resources that I've found and what I've learned for anyone who is interested, and I'm curious to know what others are doing.

Now to make some coconut crumbed chicken tenders. Even Picky Aaron should like those

I am... sorta. I don't claim to be "paleo" anymore because I consume raw dairy, white rice and occasionally white potatoes because I tolerate them well. However, I still follow paleo bloggers, podcasts and read paleo books because I appreciate the holistic health perspective of the lifestyle, but I've tailored the diet to match my personal physiology. I also follow the Weston A. Price foundation which also puts an emphasis on the health benefits of raw dairy, and allows properly prepared grains.

3 months ago I started with the 21 day Sugar Detox, which is an elimination diet and an introduction to the paleo/ancestral lifestyle. I'm really glad I did it because I discovered that I am gluten intolerant. I felt so good after the 21 days that I decided to transition to a paleo type lifestyle. I highly recommend doing a 21 or 30 day elimination diet. It will help break you from the standard american diet and force you to be creative about what you cook. You can try the 21 day sugar detox or a Whole 30, which you can do without having to by the book since all the info is online here or join a clean eating challenge starting Jan 1st here

Great blogs/podcasts:
Chris Kresser, http://chriskresser.com/podcasts
Diane Sanfilippo & Liz Wolfe, http://balancedbites.com/podcast
Robb Wolf, http://robbwolf.com/podcast/

Books:
Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfillippo
Food for Humans by Michelle Tam

I've actually been wondering recently if anyone else on here is doing this as well. I'm going to start soon! I actually bought that 21 day sugar detox book and am going to start it as soon as the new year starts. I've already started to cut out a lot of things but with all the holidays and stuff and not eating at home I just hadn't had a chance to go shopping and do everything. The one thing that I do wish is that I was able to buy fresher meat here. We only have the grocery store organic meat which is fine but I would rather buy it from a near by farm or something which you think Maine would have a lot of but I guess not!

I've heard nothing but great things about this lifestyle, and for the past 6 years or so I've had some kind of digestive issue and I wonder if by cutting all the crap out, I can't imagine that not helping it. My only fear is that I don't have the will power to compltely live this way even though I would want too. I've found a lot of great recipies that I don't think I would get sick of but I've got major food weaknesses and am unsure if I could last.

I do love the books by Diane Sanfilippo (like Erica said), she doesn't replace the sugar by using the agave sweetener and stuff like some other books that I have come accross. Although the agave is natural, your body still breaks it down the same way it would regular sugar I think, so thats why those sweeteners are debated on whether or not they should be apart of the lifestyle. I figure if I'm going to do the sugar detox and live this way then I should cut out all of those sweeteners at least to begin with.

Awesome info, Erica! I may have to do that sugar detox, I have a horrible sweet tooth.

As far as the agave sweetener goes, I've heard nothing but bad about it. I also am eliminating artificial sweeteners too. I like the Hungry Girl recipes, but she uses an amazing amount of Splenda. I use raw honey to sweeten things now, as well as coconut oil or coconut butter. I made my own coconut butter last weekend, all I did was dump a bag of unsweetened coconut flakes in the food processor for like 10 minutes.

Erica (Maine Erica ) have you looked around for a food coop up there? My cousin runs one here in Annapolis and I'm going to start shopping from her for a lot of my meat and produce. I just need to find a time when she's open so I can get there after work. I'd much rather buy from her or any other local grower than some place like Whole Foods.

blueeyedghost wrote:

Erica (Maine Erica ) have you looked around for a food coop up there? My cousin runs one here in Annapolis and I'm going to start shopping from her for a lot of my meat and produce. I just need to find a time when she's open so I can get there after work. I'd much rather buy from her or any other local grower than some place like Whole Foods.

I'll look into one. I think I will have to drive a little ways, which is fine. I just can't believe we don't have like a real healthfood store in Bangor, if someone opened one I'm pretty sure they would make a fortune. The one that we do have is a little dirty for my taste and they don't sell fresh meat or anything other than bacon, which unfortunately I can't only live off of! I am going to my parents tomorrow, and they have a cute but very expensive health food store (about an hour away) and I will stock up as much as much I can since I will be starting that 21 sugar detox asap!

I try to stick mostly to natural foods etc but I just can't eat enough in the day to meet my needs with a paleo diet unfortunately , also here in australia it's a little bit harder to find health food stores etc as it is only just beginning to take off.

Ausibe wrote:

I try to stick mostly to natural foods etc but I just can't eat enough in the day to meet my needs with a paleo diet unfortunately , also here in australia it's a little bit harder to find health food stores etc as it is only just beginning to take off.

You know what might make it easier for you, if you are interested in this lifestyle there is an author named Sarah Wilson who wrote all these sugar detox books (replaces it with essentially the paelo lifestyle) and I'm pretty sure she is Austrialian and her books are filled with all ingredients that you can get from there. I remember because I looked into her books and couldn't find some of the ingredients in the States. She does use a lot of sweeteners like Stevia and stuff but you could always replace it with raw honey or something if you do her deserts. She also had a lot of good snacks that looked like it would help a lot between meals. She has several cookbooks out now and I thought they seemed to be filled with good information and some great recipies!

siku&nikolai wrote:

Ausibe wrote:

I try to stick mostly to natural foods etc but I just can't eat enough in the day to meet my needs with a paleo diet unfortunately , also here in australia it's a little bit harder to find health food stores etc as it is only just beginning to take off.

You know what might make it easier for you, if you are interested in this lifestyle there is an author named Sarah Wilson who wrote all these sugar detox books (replaces it with essentially the paelo lifestyle) and I'm pretty sure she is Austrialian and her books are filled with all ingredients that you can get from there. I remember because I looked into her books and couldn't find some of the ingredients in the States. She does use a lot of sweeteners like Stevia and stuff but you could always replace it with raw honey or something if you do her deserts. She also had a lot of good snacks that looked like it would help a lot between meals. She has several cookbooks out now and I thought they seemed to be filled with good information and some great recipies!

The biggest issues is getting my calorie and energy levels adequately supplied on a diet like this, I play a lot of sport and do a lot of exercise (usually i run a few km followed by a weight session) and a weighted run aswell.

I've been trying to put on weight and usually have a daily intake of around 4000 calories which makes it VERY hard to take in that kind of levels with a paleo diet without eating all day that meet my macronutrient levels , it's a great diet i know this but it's just not suited to everyones goals and life style

Ausibe wrote:

I've been trying to put on weight and usually have a daily intake of around 4000 calories which makes it VERY hard to take in that kind of levels with a paleo diet without eating all day that meet my macronutrient levels , it's a great diet i know this but it's just not suited to everyones goals and life style

Wow, I wish I had your problem

I get it though, especially with upper end athletes who expend tremendous amounts of calories though. The best I can say on that is lots of protein and things like avocados. Good luck.

Erica, try Amazon for stuff. Do you have Prime? We use it so much it's absolutely worth the $75 a year to get free 2 day shipping. We have stuff come every week, and you can find the stuff that you'd have to drive to the natural food store to get, minus the fresh meat and produce. I'm pretty surprised to hear you're having that much trouble finding stuff up there, that area is one that I've always associated with natural foods and whatnot.

I ate like crap the last couple days, and I'm definitely paying for it. I've felt pretty crappy since eating all the junk food that I did over New Years, back on the strict paleo I go!

blueeyedghost wrote:

I ate like crap the last couple days, and I'm definitely paying for it.  I've felt pretty crappy since eating all the junk food that I did over New Years, back on the strict paleo I go!

Don't we all around this time of year though

[quote="blueeyedghost"]

Ausibe wrote:

I've been trying to put on weight and usually have a daily intake of around 4000 calories which makes it VERY hard to take in that kind of levels with a paleo diet without eating all day that meet my macronutrient levels , it's a great diet i know this but it's just not suited to everyones goals and life style

Erica, try Amazon for stuff.  Do you have Prime?  We use it so much it's absolutely worth the $75 a year to get free 2 day shipping.  We have stuff come every week, and you can find the stuff that you'd have to drive to the natural food store to get, minus the fresh meat and produce.  I'm pretty surprised to hear you're having that much trouble finding stuff up there, that area is one that I've always associated with natural foods and whatnot.
quote]

I actually do have prime, and since its my old school email address, I guess I only pay $39 a year so thats been good, for things.

For the most part I think Maine is a natural food place, but I guess just not where I live. There are farms about an hour either way from me that does meat and produce, they just have terrible hours. Then when you get the southern part of the state they have a lot more stores and everything just not so much in the middle. Everything is so spread out here and it feels like it takes forever for things to catch on and finally come to Bangor. Where my parents live though, Bar Harbor is definetely more a natural kind of hippy place which I like but I don't get there as much as I would like to really be able to take advantage of that food.

My only thing is, I LOVE bread and pasta and I think that is going to be the most difficult thing to really give up. I can't say lettuce wraps really do it for me!   Have either of you found that to be a hard thing to not eat?

I don't have a problem giving up bread and pasta for the most part, my biggest problem honestly is junk food and diet pop. I've been horrible about drinking water over semester break because I usually keep a large bottle on my desk, but I'm really making the effort. I need to maybe squeeze a lemon or something into my water bottle, since I seem to crave a little flavor...

Meredith,

try this water:

lemons sliced 1/2 cucumber A bunch of mint leaves (per gallon of water) Preparation: 1. Slice lemons and cucumbers, wash mint leaves and place in a gallon of water. 2. Let it sit over night in the fridge so the water can soak up all the flavors. Drink up and enjoy the next day!

Its amazing!

Ooh, thanks! I'll have to try that

I used to be hooked on diet Sprite. It was hard to think about dropping it, but I found a good replacement that made the transition easy: club soda! I just squeeze half a lime or lemon into my glass along with some ice and club soda. Sooo good

siku&nikolai wrote:

My only thing is, I LOVE bread and pasta and I think that is going to be the most difficult thing to really give up. I can't say lettuce wraps really do it for me!   Have either of you found that to be a hard thing to not eat?

Nope! I make spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles (use a potato peeler to create fettuccine type noodles)  for pasta. Bread is easy for me to stay away from since I don't really like sandwiches and I tend to fill up on my meat and veggies slathered in kerrygold butter. As long as you eat plenty of healthy fats you will feel vary satiated and the desire for bread and pasta will go away with time. I make my own ghee from grass-fed butter and use it pretty liberally along with my pastured lard & bacon fat, coconut oil and olive oil. If you want to learn how to render your own ghee or lard, a quick google search is all you need! I also blogged about how to render lard.

One thing people will have to overcome with the paleo lifestyle is you cannot be afraid of fat! Fat has been demonized for the past 20 years, but if you research it you'll see that dietary fat and cholesterol do not directly cause heart disease. Inflammation causes heart disease.  The very inflammatory standard american diet high in sugar, artificial sweeteners, whole & refined wheat and rancid seed oils like corn and canola that are high in omega 6's are what's at the root of the problem.

How far in advance do you guys plan and cook your meals? That is what I'm finding to be kind of a pain. I get lazy and then end up eating things I shouldn't. I always plan out my meals for each day for a week and then go grocery shopping so I have everything, its just a matter of actually doing it. Do you prepare things every night for the whole day or do you do it for a couple days in advance? Between walking the dogs, and being tired from work, I don't know how anyone gets anything else done and still have the motivation to cook. The sad thing is my recipes are pretty easy to and shouldn't take to long!

I try to take some time on the weekend and plan, because I'm crazy busy during the week. The awesome thing for me though is that I have a great organic store that I have to drive past on the way home if I need stuff during the week. I also pass 2 regular stores. It doesn't always work out though, but I try to have a decent supply if leftovers on hand to curb my propensity to eat crap. Still happens sometimes though...

My crock pot is my best friend too, you can do some great paleo freezer meals ahead of time and just dump them in in the morning.

I've been meaning to post in here, I've found some awesome resources lately. Amazon has a ton of good cookbooks, and there are some treat websites.

www.PaleOMG.com is one of my go tos, as is www.nomnompaleo.com. Nom nom paleo has some free stuff on her page, but I bought the iPad app for $6 and the recipes are amazing. There is also a cookbook you can buy.

One of the cookbooks I got from Amazon has a bunch of websites for finding locally sourced food as well, I'll post those this afternoon after work. I found a bunch of good stuff around here though

Man, you guys rock and are inspiring. I want to do the sugar detox.

Well, I decided to go ahead and do the whole30 and started today. I did make one minor mistake this am in that I added a splash of milk to my coffee before i remembered I shouldn't. It seems like the hardest part is just the habitual snacking on junk food and diet coke. It's not like I necessarily actually want it, it's just the time of day where I have a snack, plus I'm bored.

Yeah. I am slowly making my way to doing the sugar detox. I know if I try to do it all at once then I fail. So I've just been cutting out as much as I can slowly and will work my way up to it. I made this awesome mix of almonds, walnuts and macadamia nuts with cinnamon and then roasted them, and they are making an awesome snack right now. Its from the sugar detox book, and I might try to just post that one recipe later. They turned out awesome. I also made fresh almond butter yesterday, and I don't think I will ever go back to the store bought kind.

Jen, I have the biggest problem of eating because I'm bored. The past couple of days I've been trying to cut it by drinking a ton of water and its kind of helping but I still think about what I could be eating!  

wpskier222 wrote:

Well, I decided to go ahead and do the whole30 and started today. I did make one minor mistake this am in that I added a splash of milk to my coffee before i remembered I shouldn't. It seems like the hardest part is just the habitual snacking on junk food and diet coke. It's not like I necessarily actually want it, it's just the time of day where I have a snack, plus I'm bored.

Awesome! you can totally do this, Jen!
You should still snack if you need to. It'll help you adhere to the challenge. Almond butter with a green apple was my favorite snack when I did the 21DSD. You can substitute diet soda for some club soda on ice, fig newtons with dried figs (they taste just like fig newtons!).. the possibilities are endless. You will probably have withdrawals from the gluten/artificial sweeteners/sugar for the first week or so but I swear it gets better with time and by the end of the challenge you will feel better than before you started and you might even lose some weight. I lost around 10 pounds when I did the 21DSD and kept it off. I really need to switch to a lower carb primal/paleo approach if I hope to lose more weight, but thats just me.

I really like this Thread I just don't know if I have the time or energy to make the change but with my sugar and carb issues it would be a good idea.

I like the info it really helps.

Elise, I actually really haven't spent any more time than I used to, and there are lots of simple things you can do ahead of time if you're busy. There are tons of things you can do with a crock pot, and those almost always can be prepped ahead of time and frozen until you're ready to cook them. I'm going to take some time since I have a long weekend and make a few this weekend. I'm sure people will share any tips they have.

On a different note, here are some links I found for locally sourced food.  Like I said, I'm really pushing to buy local as much as possible. Look at me, I'm getting all granola

Anyway, here they are:

Sustainable seafood: www.montereybayaquarium.org
*total aside, but the Monterey Bay aquarium is phenomenal. We visited a couple years ago when my sister and her husband were stationed there.

Sustainable meat: www.eatwild.com
www.fossilfarms.com (exotic meats and game)

Vegetables: www.localharvest.com

Look around for CSAs and CSMs (community supported agriculture and markets), they're really cool. My cousin actually runs a CSM out of Edgewater, MD, which is just south of Annapolis. I think I'm going to drop by tomorrow when I'm picking our sponsor midshipmen up from the Academy, so I should probably plan out what I need :Pwe also have a small organic market that I have to pass on my way to and from work, which is really convenient if I need to drop in and grab a few things. They have locally sourced meat and eggs, which is really cool keep your eyes open and do as much research as you can, and you should be able to find good stuff in your areas. I've also found some awesome cookbooks for reasonable prices on Amazon, so look around there.

So I've gotten the impression from my students that the nutritionist at the Naval Academy is pretty worthless, so I'm becoming an unofficial nutritionist of sorts to students who are struggling to stay in weight standards. It's really hard for them here, because they all have to eat in the mess hall and they don't serve the most nutritious meals. So, I'm doing research in my spare time and doing what I can to help them, since all they get back in the residence hall is harassment and crappy leadership. I'll post things that I'm learning here.

blueeyedghost wrote:

Elise, I actually really haven't spent any more time than I used to, and there are lots of simple things you can do ahead of time if you're busy. There are tons of things you can do with a crock pot, and those almost always can be prepped ahead of time and frozen until you're ready to cook them. I'm going to take some time since I have a long weekend and make a few this weekend. I'm sure people will share any tips they have.

Yup, it really doesn't take much more time or energy to throw a roast in the crock pot before work than it does to throw a frozen pizza in the oven. I tend to cook a 6 servings (or larger) dinner for me and Brian and put the 4 other dinner servings in pyrex containers and either freeze them as individual "frozen dinners" or I take one to work the next day. Leftovers and pyrex containers are essential for me! I skip breakfast so making breakfast so thats one less meal to cook! My go to meal on a lazy day is bacon and eggs! Just throw the bacon in the oven at 350 degrees, and cook some eggs in butter once the bacon is halfway finished.

Also, start slow when it comes to finding locally sourced, organic foods. It can be really overwhelming to your budget until you start finding the good deals through CSAs, Co-ops and local farmers. I started with buying grass fed beef once a week. Now 4 months later, I'm living off pastured eggs & bacon, grass-fed raw milk and yogurt, kerrygold butter, and the occasional pound of organic local beef. I still have to supplement with CAFO beef, pork and chicken because of budget constraints. I take cod liver oil and quercetin to offset the potential inflammation. Baby steps!