Days 4, 5, 6, & 7 - Where did the weekend go?

A four day update. It was a busy extended weekend for us and I haven't been on the computer at all.

Still doing good, though Saturday was an odd day in which I didn't really make good choices, but nothing horrible, I just didn't eat enough veggies or food in general. I also made split pea soup for dinner, not exactly paleo is it? Friday I had to have some pop corn with our rental movies. Sunday was a fun outing with the family to the Wild Animal Park, so we got in a few extra miles of walking too.

So day four:

Breakfast:
raw almonds
paleo coconut bread
probiotic drink
green tea with lemon

Morning Snack:
Banana
more raw almonds
vanilla chai tea

Lunch:
cucumber
tomato
power greens
salmon with honey mustard

Afternoon Snack: 
naval orange

Dinner:
New York strip steak, thin cut
small avocado

Day 5 Friday: So cheated with some popcorn with our movie rentals

Breakfast:
sauteed spinach with garlic
1/2 New York strip streak, thin cut
2 scrambled eggs
English breakfast tea

Morning Snack:
banana
espresso

Lunch:
1/2 New York strip steak, thin cut
1 pork short rib
1 raw carrot
1 celery stalk

Afternoon Snack:
power greens, spinach, kale, chard
1 large carrot

Dinner:
1/2 cup raw cashews
dried Turkish apricots

After Dinner Snack:
stove popped popcorn (in olive oil)

Day 6 Saturday Sucked:

Breakfast:
paleo coconut bread
banana

Lunch:
avocado
cashews

Afternoon Snack: 
Cherry Coke Zero (ugh, I know)

Dinner: 
Pea and ham soup

After Dinner Snack:
dark chocolate with sea salt

Day 7:

Breakfast:
probiotic drink
hard boiled egg
1 cup of cantalope

Lunch:
pork tenderloin
sauteed peppers and onions with olive oil
celery stalk
carrot

Afternoon Snack:
raw almonds

Dinner:
chicken, pumpkin chili

Smells so good cooking

Delicious, but really spicy, will have to tone it down next time. 

Day 3 - Looked forward to dinner all day

Pretty awesome day. Wasn't as hungry today as yesterday. Could tell my body has started to shed water, was visiting the bathroom quite frequently. Yeah I know, TMI right? And someone tempted me with some not so Paleo treat and I couldn't resist. I had a piece of Sees dark chocolate with almonds in it. Not the worst thing I could have eaten, but I know it wasn't super dark chocolate. I did though nibble little bits off and savored it.

I found a recipe I had to try, I think it will be perfect for breakfast. I found this on Paleo Plan and mixed it up, letting it bake while we ate dinner. I think it's great, though I did add to the recipe a tiny bit by adding a splash of coconut milk to thin up the batter a bit. I took a nip and it's fantastic. I also think it would be easy to add veggies to this as well. Here's the link Paleo Plan Coconut Bread.

Came out great!

Last night I made a homemade BBQ sauce to put in the crock pot with some pork short ribs in the morning. It was fantastic.

Then I salt and peppered the pork ribs this morning, put them on the bottom of the crock and poured on the sauce. Kept it on low all day (about 8 hours). Perfect dinner!

Here's the directions:
In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil. Add on chopped onion and cook until soft. Add 5 minced garlic cloves, then add 1 cup of broth (I use chicken), 1 6oz jar of tomato paste, 1 teaspon dry mustard powder, 1 TB molasses, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 tablespoon apple cider  vinegar and a dash of agave nectar. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes.


The run down for the day...

Breakfast:
2 scrambled eggs
left over top round steak from last night
1/2 banana
green tea with lemon

Mid Morning Snack:

red Grapes
jcama
chai Tea

Lunch:
left over salmon
raw carrot
3 radishes
bowl of greens (spinach, kale, chard)

Afternoon Snacks:
honey tangerine
roma tomato
Sees dark chocolate covered almond (1 little piece)

Dinner:
pork short ribs in aforementioned BBQ sauce
kale, chard and spinach salad with cucumber, tomato and a dash of homemade honey mustard dressing

Yummy dinner!

Day 2 - I'm hungry

The second day and I'm not going to lie, I'm hungry. I felt like I packed enough to eat today, but I was fighting hunger from after lunch on. As I write this I'm trying to figure out what to munch on.

But, I love everything I ate and I'm surprised I don't have any caffeine headaches, I didn't touch tea after lunch and on. Usually I enjoy a steady stream of caffeine all day or I get a pounding headache. Maybe it's not the caffeine that was causing the headaches?

So the breakdown

Breakfast:
Hard boiled egg
1/2 of a Gala apple
2oz probiotic drink
vanilla chai tea with a dash of honey

Mid Morning Snack:
Half of a very small haas avocado (I hate the end of avocado season)
English breakfast tea with a dash of honey

Lunch:
Left over Salmon with Honey Citrus glaze from last night
Acorn squash dashed with cinnamon
1/4 of a jicama
1 carrot with some homemade honey mustard dressing
1 roma tomato

My lovely lunch and snacks

Afternoon Snacks:
The half of the very small avocado
About 15 raw almonds
four dried turkish apricots
Raw broccoli

Dinner:
Top Round steak drizzled with olive oil, basil, oregano, minced garlic
1 cup of steamed broccoli
1 cup of frozen stir-fry veggies

Off to prep lunch for tomorrow and think about more filling choices for the morning.

Day 1, The Beginning

Oh the start of it all. Hopefully I can look back in 30 days at the peak of this small journey, proud of my efforts and wanting to climb the bigger mountain of sustained eating well. Today was good, I was never hungry, I was able to control the caffeine cravings with tea.

I can't believe I didn't take a single picture, and my dinner was so good; a shame.

Today started with a tiny little cheat, I had about 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt left and I couldn't throw it away.


Breakfast: (Honestly my least favorite meal of the day)
Smoothie which consisted of the last of the Greek yogurt, a cup of frozen strawberries, a frozen banana, 1/2 TB of honey and 1 cup of coconut milk. Morgan and I shared the smoothie as we headed out the door. She ate cereal and milk before we left.

Boiled egg, ate  this about 9am after the 6:30 smoothie started to wear off.

Late Morning Snack:
2oz probiotic drink from Costco
Vanilla Chai Tea with a tiny swish of honey

Lunch:
Grilled chicken breast, salted and peppered
Salad with spinach, kale, chard, a carrot and about 1/4 of a jicama
1 TB of homemade honey mustard dressing

Afternoon Snacking:
Celery stalk with about 1 TB of almond butter
Green tea with lemon

Dinner:
Broiled salmon, sprinkled with lemon, salt and peppered
Acorn squash with a little coconut oil and sprinkled with cinnamon
Sauteed spinach with a splash of of olive oil and chopped garlic

Morgan loved the acorn squash and dinner was also cat approved, he begged for salmon and squash, getting a couple of bites out of us.

Lots of water too, never a problem for me, I drink it all day at work.

Yay for day one!

Day 0 (October 13, 2013)*

I'm starting a 30 trip into the world of the Paleo diet. I do hate the word diet though, I don't want this to be a diet, but a change in how we eat. We is myself, a 35 year old single mom and my 11 year old daughter. We are carb junkies and it's not working out, for me especially. I've never been skinny, but right now I'm 80 pounds heavier than I should be. My daughter doesn't even weigh 80 pounds, I need to lose at least her and that is daunting.

Right now I'm lucky, my relative health is good. I don't have diabetes, I don't have high cholesterol and I don't have high blood pressure. I know that I'm a ticking time bomb though and I'm pretty tired of carrying around this extra weight. My knee has always been a problem, but it's not getting any better. My digestive tract seems to absolutely hate me recently and I'm pretty tired of it. I get lethargic and tired when I should be able to keep going all day.

Why Paleo? It just kind of makes sense, what is in oats, grains, corn that I can't get from meats and vegetables? I already have an aversion to dairy, with the exception of Greek yogurt and a probiotic drink I avoid dairy. I like meat and I like vegetables, that isn't a problem and most of my meals I already prepare are carb free. My main problem is snacking, granola bars, cookies, chips after dinner to fill that space before bed. After dinner snacking will be a problem, I must find other stuff to gnaw on.

Not perfect paleo? I'm not trying to sabotage myself already, but Pure Paleo is pretty strict. The 30 day 'diet' says no honey or agave syrup, no sweet potatoes and no alcohol. I need to have a cheap sweet, honey fills that gap. I like sweet potatoes, I have trouble believing they are so horrible and they are natural. Alcohol, I don't drink a lot, but to abstain completely? Maybe I will do it for 30 days, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I have a beer, I usually only have about 2 a week, if that. Abstaining from alcohol from now on... unrealistic for me. My daughter will probably take some time to ween off the carbs. She will be eating at least one meal a day that is all meat and veggies. Her breakfast will be mostly paleo, but she's still drinking milk, still eating cheese, peanuts and bread. I haven't yet converted her to how awesome coconut milk is.

*This should have been posted on Sunday October 13, 2013