There...I said it. Yes, we've been eating Paleo. No grains, no dairy, no sugar.
Think I'm crazy right? Go right ahead, but I feel great. We all feel great. It's not a religion for us. If we go to someone's house, we gladly eat what is served. When we eat Korean we have rice (gasp!) and in our Ethiopian injera we still use grains (double gasp!). And I may or may not have a deep affection for a good Monte Cristo every once and awhile (just look the other way).
But on a regular day by day, we have said goodbye to grains, dairy, and sugar. And for the most part I don't miss it.
The best part? I have WAY more energy. Like seriously, I used to feel like I needed a nap every afternoon. I just thought I was a stay at home mom with 4 young kids and so of course I'm going to be tired. But I was so zapped energy-wise. Exercising helped but I would start the morning excited for the day and then I'd completely run out of steam. At one point I even thought maybe it was a thyroid issue because it was that bad.
We kind of stumbled into this Paleo thing, trying it for a month to support the Hubs in getting healthier. But really, I fell head over heels.
Our transition may have been a bit easier than some because we were already mostly gluten free and dairy free. The first couple weeks were more difficult. But I cannot even tell you how great I feel now. I have way more energy. I don't need a nap anymore or even a pot of coffee in the afternoon (let's not mess with the morning coffee...it's more an emotional comfort than a caffeine need).
I've heard several people recently wanting to try gluten free or dairy free for health reasons, or behavior reasons for their kiddos. So I wanted to share a couple recipes that we've loved! I'm not trying to convince anyone that they need to "go Paleo". And if you are thinking of cutting out something, start slow maybe with one meal a day--whatever seems most manageable. Or add more vegetables in your day before you take away. It's been so great for us that I wanted to share some recipes we've enjoyed.
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These cupcakes are amazing. Seriously. They are still a treat of course but they made great birthday cupcakes. Honestly, I held out no hope for them. I made them for Little Lion's birthday and wasn't sure I'd like them but knew the kids liked anything. They totally surprised me and weren't a pain to make like some GF baking. You should be able to find coconut flour in a health food store or section of your grocery store. We topped it with this amazing honey-sweetened ganache.
Egg Muffins. These have been an awesome quick breakfast. Protein and veg! Even if you're not interested in grain free these are great because they can be frozen after they are baked and reheated for a quick breakfast.
I've been trying to incorporate two veggies at dinner time with our meal. This oven roasted cabbage was super easy and delicious. (Although our non-cabbage lover still did not enjoy it). Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Cauliflower yum, yum, yum! And easy!
I'm sure I'll have more to share in the future.
Enjoy!
3 comments:
i know you have always had a relatively modest grocery budget. how has paleo affected the amount you spend on food each month?
Good question. I may write on this in another post more extensively, but for now it has not changed it drastically. We've had some fluctuation in budget, but I haven't determined if that's due to Sprocket now eating more for the first time since he's been home or our new eating. Most months we are staying withing budget, the last couple we've been a bit over (but not much) again we have a new eater and we had the holidays in their too.
Thanks for the recipes. I can't wait to try them. The sweet potato sounds great. We had a week where we followed a meal plan by the happy herivore (so were effectively eating vegan) and it was amazing how much better I felt. Something about lots of veggies really does help! Glad you found something that works for your family!
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