What the hell is the ‘Paleo’ diet, anyway?

Regular readers of this blog will know that I spent January following the Paleo lifestyle, with the goal of giving my system a ‘re-set’ and I guess a bit of a cleanse, whatever that means. It was a New Year’s resolution for someone who doesn’t do New Year’s resolutions…

Asparagus wrapped in proscuitto - yum :)

First up, I have to say I am totally surprised at how easy I found it this time around. I’d done a Paleo month previously (which involved me going hard core for a fortnight, then slowly falling off the wagon over the next fortnight), and I found it really hard! I don’t know why it worked this time – I think everything aligned, and I knew I had to put in the prep to make it work for me. I also felt amazing after just one week (and lost 2kg), so that helped to keep me on track.

Paleo Challenge – Week 4 (final week)

Week 3 of this Paleo challenge threw a few more obstacles in my path, but I feel like I’ve kept on track relatively well, despite illness, work stresses and the Australia Day long weekend.

In celebration of Australia Day I made some awesome little raw ‘lamington truffle balls’ from a recipe on the Skinnymixers website. They are so delicious! And so cute! Hard to just stop at one! Free from gluten, grains, dairy, refined sugar… basically Paleo… totally YUM!!

Skinnymixers' Raw Lamington Truffle Balls

I decided to relax a bit over the long weekend and have a few drinks, but I still kept my diet pretty well in check. No gluten or dairy anyway!

In 3 weeks I’ve lost 4kg and am feeling pretty awesome, getting lots of compliments from family, friends and even random people on the street. It’s very encouraging!

So there’s only one more week of the actual challenge, but I plan to continue on with the lifestyle as much as I can, although I may relax the legume rule a little (I really MISS proper hummus!!). I’ll slowly introduce a few different things and see how they affect me, and just take it slowly. I definitely feel that gluten has been a major irritant for me, so hopefully I can steer clear of it from now on.

This week Monday is a public holiday, and we’ll be having BBQ for lunch and dinner (possibly breakfast too – it is Australia Day after all). For the rest of the week I’m mainly going to be repeating meals that we’ve really enjoyed along the way.

• Tuesday – Prawn and chilli pasta sauce with zoodles
• Wednesday – Singapore Noodles with Kelp noodles
• Thursday - Beef madras curry with cauli rice
• Friday - Vietnamese Chicken Meatza
• Saturday – Steak with sweet potato chips and slaw
• Sunday – Lamb roast with pumpkin, parsnips, carrots and greens

I hope everyone's January has gone to plan, and that you're feeling confident and proud of your achievements!

I've linked this post to I'm an Organizing Junkie's Meal Plan Monday.

Paleo Challenge - Week 3

After two weeks following the Paleo lifestyle I’m feeling pretty great. The Keratosis Pilaris  (chicken skin) on my arms is clearing up, my IBS has calmed down completely, and I feel really energised.

Kombucha, Coconut Oil, Cacao Nibs and Kelp Noodles - Paleo staples

Last week we had a few unforeseen things come up which meant we went “off plan” for a few meals, but I still managed to keep within the Paleo guidelines. I did have a couple of glasses of wine out to dinner with a friend one night, but I’m OK with that! That was my only slip up, so I’m pretty happy with myself. I think the main reasons the Paleo lifestyle is working for me is that I can eat until I feel satisfied (i.e. I'm not hungry!), I’m not counting calories or weighing portions, and I can fit it into my real life.With a bit of prep and planning it's really pretty easy.

I’ve become a little bit obsessed with making Paleo waffles (using this Against All Grain recipe). I make them on the weekend and then freeze some for a quick breakfast during the week – they’ve been satisfying any lingering cravings I have for a piece of toast in the mornings. I might try them without the honey and make savoury ones… with bacon?  Mmmmm…. Bacon….

Week 3’s meal plan is below.

Paleo Challenge Week 3 meal plan

This week I’m using the Quirky Cooking cookbook and the Skinnymixers website for inspiration. They're all Thermomix recipes, which work perfectly in Boris the Bellini. These recipes are available freely online:

Beef Madras - I serve this with cauliflower rice, and it is AMAZING!

Vietnamese Fish Curry - I might do this with a broc-cauli rice combo, for a splash of colour.

Singapore Noodles - I’ll replace the soy with coconut aminos, and the vermicelli noodles with kelp noodles.

Mexican Pulled Pork - I'm serving this with some sauteed onion and capsicum, and a spicy guacamole, in butter lettuce cups.

Chicken Tikka Masala - also with cauli rice, and I might make some Paleo naan bread if I’m feeling decadent.

I’ve only managed to fit in two cross-trainer sessions this week, but have just tried to be a lot more active in general. Yesterday I walked about 30 minutes carrying Little Miss in the Manduca (baby carrier), which was quite a workout. At 16kg she’s pretty much at the max weight limit for babywearing, but it was actually quite nice to have her so up close and personal for our walk, we had some lovely little chats along the way. I won’t be doing it again anytime soon though, my shoulders are still killing me!

The main thing I’ve been missing is some kind of salty, crunchy snack, so I’m on the hunt for a tasty Paleo savoury snack recipe this week.

How is your January going? Are you still working on your New Year's goals and resolutions?

I've linked this post to I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday

Paleo Challenge - Week 2

Well week 1 of this Paleo challenge was a breeze! I really only felt hungry on the first day, and after that have been feeling pretty darn good. No real cravings for anything, except for pizza on Saturday night, which was satisfied by Pete Evans’ Meatzza! That will definitely be going on the meal rotation – so many possibilities of different flavour combinations. I’m going to experiment with a Vietnamese chicken Meatzza next weekend, based on our favourite pizza from Crust.

My version of the Meatzza

I haven’t yet managed to fit in any exercise, and I’m struggling to figure out when I can actually do any. The kids are awake by 6am (I say ‘by’ because sometimes it is much, much earlier) so I can’t sneak in a quick workout before they get up, and then by the time we get them into bed of an evening, then cook and eat our dinner, it’s nudging 9:30pm and all I’ve got left in me is to stare at the TV for an hour before falling into bed. Little Miss has also now dropped her day sleep, so I’ve even lost that blessed midday break that I’d become so accustomed to.

Paleo Challenge - Week 1

I've decided to make January a ‘reset’ month, where I focus on improving my health, fitness and general wellbeing. D's along for the ride (whether he likes it or not) because I do all the cooking! I'm going to follow the Paleo lifestyle for the rest of the month, use the Cross-trainer that’s been hiding in our laundry every couple of days, and avoid alcohol (apart from Australia Day ;). Easy!

My meal planning inspiration

After a heavy couple of months of eating, drinking and being very merry, I’m actually looking forward to getting things back on track.

Ham it Up - 5 ways with leftover ham

I don’t know about you but I’ve got a fridge full of leftovers from Christmas, especially ham! I am so sick of ham and coleslaw sandwiches… so here are five easy recipes to use up some of that delicious Christmas ham.

 

Turkey and ham free form pie (Image: Taste.com.au)

Turkey and ham free form pie (recipe from Taste)

No leftover turkey? Use chicken thigh instead. Or leftover BBQ chicken! Use oil instead of butter, and skip the cream to make this dairy free. It doesn't need it! Most puff pastries are dairy-free (just double check the ingredients), but generally do have soy lecithin in them so go with what you can tolerate.

Family Dinners? F*@k that!!

We’re not very good with family dinners in our house. I keep saying that we’ll start doing them regularly, but it rarely works out. The kids need to eat by 5:30-6pm in order to get through the dinner/bath/bedtime routine by 7pm, and Mr McD and I aren’t ready to eat then.

 

A family enjoying a civilised dinner (not mine)

Occasionally we give it a go, generally with disastrous results. Take our Boxing Day dinner for example. We had so much food on Christmas Day that we didn’t end up even putting our turkey in the oven, so I decided to cook it for the four of us on Boxing Day, with all the trimmings – potatoes, sweet potato, parsnips, carrots, peas, gravy and a couple of pigs in kilts on the side. Yum! I thought it would be lovely to have an early dinner with the kids so we could all enjoy it together. (I’m shaking my head in disbelief at my naivety as I write this).