If you’re new to eating paleo, it means one big hurdle for you to jump over – no more grains or dairy. It’s a huge pill to swallow, I know it was for me. When my husband brought home the idea of “eating paleo”, I rolled my eyes, sighed, and did what any good wife would do, I made spaghetti for dinner. After some more nagging, I decided I’d comply and cut down on the amount of pasta I was cooking, and that seemed to shut him up, for a few months.

Then I noticed that he stopped eating at Subway or the local Pizza shop, and I knew I had to do something to feed my husband. So, I was forced to go more primal. It was after that, that I noticed I was feeling better. No more IBS, I was making it through the work day without falling asleep on my keyboard, and I was loosing weight. I wasn’t even working out!

That’s when I knew it was worth the sacrifice of ice cream for desert every night.

So here it is, eating paleo according to Robb Wolf:
The Paleo diet is simple yet remarkably effective for fat loss and halting or preventing a number of degenerative diseases. To reap the benefits of the most effective nutritional strategy known, one need simply build meals from the following:

Lean proteins (ideally) grass fed meat, free range fowl and wild caught fish
Seasonal fruits and vegetables
Healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil, and coconut oil

That’s it! Super easy. Right, well, at least until it’s time to go home when you’re hungry and you start to scour the cupboards for cookies.

First step, breathe. You don’t have to go 100% paleo overnight. Ease into it, but do cut out the grains, rice, sugars, etc.

Second step, make a menu and go shopping! Who doesn’t love to shop?

Another plug for Robb Wolf, download his “Quick Start Guide”

So, why should you eat paleo?
The Paleo diet is the healthiest way you can eat because it is the ONLY nutritional approach that works with your genetics to help you stay lean, strong and energetic! Research in biology, biochemistry, Ophthalmology, Dermatology and many other disciplines indicate it is our modern diet, full of refined foods, trans fats and sugar, that is at the root of degenerative diseases such as obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, depression and infertility. Our Paleolithic ancestors were largely free of these diseases, you can be too!

There you have it! Eating paleo is pretty simple. Just remember, it’s not about what you can’t eat, but all the amazing stuff you CAN eat.

For more in depth information, I recommend reading Robb Wolf’s book The Paleo Diet Solution. You can also check out his website at RobbWolf.com. There’s great information on the FAQ page.

With that said, I think he’s crazy.

However, his dedication to personal fitness has resulted in his loss of 30 pounds and a very nice butt. I am very proud of him and his determination.

I stole the following from an email Dan sent to a friend that inquired about what he does to be so amazing in the gym.

5.30am – Alarm goes off
5.45am – Stretching/Foam Rolling
6.30am – Mobility WoD @ Crossfit Excellence
6.45am – Skills n’ Drills
7.00am – WoD @ Crossfit Excellence
7.30am – Eat carbohydrate based food (Yam directly after workout)
8.00am – Breakfast (3 Eggs, 5-7 pieces of peppered bacon, 1 avocado, hand-full of almonds or cashews)
8.30am – Small glass of orange juice (not from concentrate) or 1 large apple (I typically only eat/drink fruit once every two or three days)
10.00am – 1 cup of almonds or cashews and 1 4oz piece of grass-fed jerky
11.00am – Stretch and hit another mobility WoD
12.00pm – Medium sized lunch. This can be anywhere from 1/4 – 1/2 lbs of protein with a vegetable
12.30pm – Warm up run of 10 city blocks ~1 mile or so (typically this is done Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)
2.00pm – More almonds/cashews. Can vary with coconut flakes as well.
3.30pm – Dinner. Typically I eat well over 1lb. of protein with dinner. Additional dark green vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, and Brussels sprouts are also consumed.
5.00pm – Walk back to Crossfit
5.15pm – Supplementary WoD warm-up/skills work (jump rope, rower, kettlebell swings, etc)
5.30pm – Begin supplementary WoD, MMF = Endurance, TTh = Strength
6.30pm – Cup of Green or Cinnamon Tea at Home
9.30pm – Bed.

I know that might be overtly detailed, but it gives you a good picture of what I put into any given day during the work week and part of the weekend. Remember, I take Thursday and Sunday as my rest days but I still do strength work on Thursday (but no morning WoD or running).

If you want some of my wife’s paleo food or recipes: http://www.meat-n-veggies.com. She does full paleo-meals as well as paleo-desserts. I fully attest that her cooking is 90% responsible for my current physical condition.

Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll see what I can do about answering them.

Dan

For those of you wondering just how much it takes to satiate my husband’s appetite for just one meal, I thought I’d photograph a typical Saturday brunch: the omelette. I’ve found that the omelette is the best way to pack a whole bunch of food into one easy to make meal.

Ingredients in the amazing omelette
5 eggs + milk
1/2 pound of sliced fresh mushrooms
1 avocado
1 tomato
1/2 onion
1/4 cup goat cheese

On the side:
1 pound of sausage
1 cup of coffee

For me, on the other hand, I eat one fried egg, 1/2 an avocado, and half a cup of coffee. Not much when compared to my husband’s plate of food.

A typical breakfast:

2-5 strips of peppered bacon
2-4 eggs fried in a light amount of bacon grease
1/2 avocado
1 cup of coffee

This morning I made it through my first “real” crossfit workout. After 3 weeks of On-Ramp, the intro class to crossfit, I’m officially allowed to get my butt kicked as often as I can walk down to the gym. So what does this have to do with food? Recovery.

My husband and I both workout in the morning, making breakfast a key meal in our day, especially for recovering those sore and exhausted muscles, while trying to stay focused and sharp at work for the next 6 to 8 hours. Very tough to do. For the longest time, I thought that a bowl of cereal and maybe some fruit made a great breakfast. haha. yeah…

After I learned a bit about the digestive process, I revamped breakfast. Come to find out, the body breaks down grains and fruit, but they cause a huge insulin spike for your system to properly deal with the food. Once you spike, you crash. A lot like a caffeine crash, you feel light headed, hungry, tired, and well, just plain nasty. I used to think this was due to a low blood sugar level. Was I wrong.

About 3 months ago, Dan and I completely switched over our breakfasts to consists of the good ol’ american favorite, bacon and eggs. I buy my bacon from the deli counter and it’s the hickory smoked peppered bacon and we go through anywhere from 2 to 3 pounds of it in a week. Our eggs are purchased from Trader Joe’s. I prefer the brown, cage-free veggie fed, omega-3 enhanced ones. Because we’re not rolling in the dough, we can’t get afford the free range eggs, yet. I am on the look out for locally raised eggs that are free range.

After starting crossfit, I beefed up my breakfast to include half an avocado. Since I’m not a big fan of eating raw almonds, like my husband, I needed to get my healthy fat in for the day. Just be sure to get a dose of healthy fat in the morning. It’ll make a huge difference in your recovery.

This week, I couldn’t pass up the fresh peaches at the farmer’s market. To keep the insulin release under control, I only had half a peach. And yes, it was DELICIOUS!!!

When I plan my menu for the week, I start with the type of meat that we’re going to have. Then I try to create a variety throughout the week between the sea-meats and land-meats. Thus, Monday will be chicken, Tuesday Salmon, Wednesday Beef, and so on.

Once the basics are figured out, I go on the hunt for new recipes. My favorite part of cooking next to the eating part. After the recipe is found, I add a veggie that compliments the meal. However, I have to admit, I don’t really like vegetables and I tend to forget to add them to the menu. Often times I end up grabbing a bag of salad mix and tossing together a salad. Which works, but it doesn’t give us all the nutrients we need that are found in other vegetables.

With that said, last night I made a chicken caccitore that turned out ok, but not worth sharing with everyone. Tonight, is shrimp scampi and sauteed zucchini from “The New Best Recipe” Cookbook. I’ve had a tough time with making shrimp taste, well, good. Hopefully it’ll turn out better than some of the other recipes I’ve made. And as a side note, this cookbook, simply put, is amazing. I highly suggest everyone to buy it.

I’ve been putting off getting involved in CrossFit because my love lies in rock climbing. Unfortunately, my shoulder decided it was time for a break by getting tendonitis. For the summer, I’ve been trail running, but I also realize I need to work on other aspects of my fitness. So, after hearing about CrossFit for well over a year, I’m going to check it out.

What’s the point of this blog then? Food.

I love to eat and cook. Dan loves to eat. Simply put, I’m going to be sharing recipes, meal ideas, and nutrition information that we’ve picked up over time. We’ve cut out all the gluten in our diet. And after not eating it for a few months, it makes us sick to eat much more than a few bites now. Also, Dan has lost over 20 pounds! I’m so proud of him. Both of us are eating healthier then we ever have and we feel better than we ever have.

I’m here to share with you what we do on a day to day basis to continue living healthy!