Why I Chose a Paleo Lifestyle

People often ask me what I eat in the Paleo lifestyle. In other words, they want to know how is the food. Before I answer, let me just say that I've incorporated many different eating styles - some for weight loss and some optimizing my general health. I've been vegan (veggies only with and without dairy), vegetarian (no meat with and without dairy), pescetarian (fish-based), sugar-free, gluten-free, no and low-carb. 

For me, Paleo was the easiest to incorporate into what I was doing for a few reasons.

Our Journey to Health

My husband and I just saw the film "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" with Joe Cross. It was mind-blowing. Made me sit and re-think or want to "Reboot" as John says.

My husband and I looked at each other and decided then and there to recommit to eating less sweets and junk food. Yes, sorry to say that we are junkies. Junkies for junk food, sweets, and chips.


Our habit is out of control. Dollar store visits multiple times a week and munching all the time.

Now, I follow a strict Paleo diet during the week but need to detox from the junk foods. 

While we are not obese, we have become a bit soft around the waist lately. Yuck! Doesn't feel good at all. We've just been in denial about it...refusing to talk about it. 

So, Day 1 is down. I ate 3 meals today of fruits, veggies and nuts. Back to my strict Paleo blueprint. We are in it together. For our own reasons and needs but in this together.

More to come...

HEALTHY TIP: Use a Food Schedule

Here's a healthy tip for you: 

Use a Food Schedule

If you're like me, you have very little willpower; you forget a lot and don't adhere to set "diet" plans very well. Yep, I feel your pain. Instead of changing what is inherent about you, how about adding a cheat sheet that will help you to compensate and stay healthy.

HEALTHY TIP: Eat "Soft" Food for a Day

Here's a healthy tip for you: 

Eat "Soft" Food for a Day

Eating soft food helps me when I've overeaten, when my stomach is in "crisis" or when I've gained weight. The problem with eating "normally" when you've overeaten is that your digestive system remains bogged down and never really has a chance to catch up.

Eating soft food includes meals like steamed veggies, soups, minced meats and lots of liquid. These foods are easier to digest and will still nourish you while your body catches up.

A few guidelines on the foods, though.

Weekly Food Prep for Paleo (Part 2 of 2)

This post is a followup of my post on the weekly tasks that I do for preparing food in my Paleo lifestyle.  If you haven't read the previous post, it is HERE. When folks ask me about my Paleo lifestyle, I first tell them about what I eat. The next thing they ALWAYS say is "that sounds too hard" or "it's way too hard to prepare and cook food everyday"! I agree, it is too hard to prepare and cook food everyday. The trick is to prepare the food ahead of time and keep the recipes easy enough to prepare in minutes. So, here are the rest of the weekly tasks that I do.

Weekly Food Prep for Paleo (Part 1 of 2)

In this post, I wanted to tell you about my weekly food prep routine for my Paleo lifestyle. When folks ask me about my Paleo diet, I first tell them about what I eat. The next thing they ALWAYS say is "that sounds too hard" or "it's way too hard to prepare and cook food everyday"! I agree, it is too hard to prepare and cook food everyday. The trick is to prepare the food ahead of time and keep the recipes easy enough to prepare in minutes.

Let me start off by saying the number one hindrance for me with eating healthy is that it is NOT CONVENIENT. Not in any way. It is deathly expensive, requires a lot of shopping to keep things fresh, takes work to prepare and time to cook. That's a fact! Don't let anyone tell you different. Look, we all know that we have to eat healthy or end up in hospitals on operating tables. I'd much rather give my money to food that will make me healthier than to doctors. So how do I cope with the lifestyle?

RECIPE: Quick Honey Lemon Salad Dressing

This is my Quick and Easy Lemon Honey Salad Dressing. I've shared this recipe with my family many times for the holidays. I always get compliments on this at pot lucks. I love it on my salads and even as a marinade for chicken and pork. The best thing about this dressing is that even though it can be stored for days in your fridge, you only need to make as much as you need because it is so quick to make. The ingredients are all fresh, cheap and of course good for you.

3 Tools I Use to Lose Weight

I tend to gain weight all over my body. So, it is hard to tell how much weight I've gained. This is an okay fact of life for me, although I wish the reverse were true. I wish that I could lose weight effortlessly the same way. Actually, I can lose weight now when I want to but it is very gradual.

In this post, I give a short list of valuable tools I use for losing weight.


 

Benefits of Living on a Paleo Diet

I wanted to describe to you what it's like living with Paleo.  In  a previous post called "Effects of My Weight Gain", I listed the negative effects of my 60-pound weight gain. My list including everything from bad PMS symptoms to depression to weird pockets of fat EVERYWHERE. Those were just the "surface" effects. The underlying effects were much more serious.