Paleo diet Archives • Page 6 of 6 • Ant & Anise

The Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 3

All right, my weight basically stays the same all the time, within a 3 pound range. This morning when I stepped on the scale and saw my weight lower than it’s been in years, I almost fell backward into the bathtub. Surprise! Almost 2 pounds gone in 2 days. What’s with that? And I’m not feeling hungry in the least between meals. Strange.

What to do about breakfast this morning? While I enjoy eggs I don’t eat them very often, as in once every couple of weeks. Yesterday’s triumphant Mediterranean egg breakfast aside, I didn’t feel like facing eggs two mornings in a row. I decided on a big bowl of fruit — a couple of kiwis, a banana, a few apricots and some strawberries. Simple and more or less satisfying. Strict Paleos would be scolding me for not having protein but meh, I’m a newbie at all this.

The big hit today was dinner. I made some cauliflower “rice” for the first time. Admittedly my expectations weren’t terribly high, as I find cauliflower and (white) rice to be pretty uninteresting on their own. But, turns out my weight drop wasn’t the only surprise of the day. Cauliflower masquerading as rice may fool you into thinking it’s a real grain.

Atop the rice, er, cauliflower, was a saute I make when local spot prawns make a brief appearance every year. We typically have this over pasta and I could probably eat it for, I don’t know, every day for two weeks never be tired of it. First, it’s easy and quick to put together, perfect for when you come home after a long day and want to eat something right now. Also, it doesn’t require much precision in measuring out ingredients, which makes me feel very Jamie Oliver-ish. For Bob, I add heavy cream to make it a more of a rose sauce but I like it just as well without any cream at all.

The double tomato spot prawn saute (sans cream, since I was cooking for one) had a depth of flavor, almost a beefiness, that was particularly satisfying. It kind of feels like my taste buds are on high alert. So far so good even though it’s only day 3.

Double Tomato Sautéed Spot Prawns

Serving Size: 1

Serve this on top of cauliflower 'rice' for a delightful summer meal. This recipe can be easily doubled (to serve 2) with no adjustments. If scaling the recipe further upwards (to serve 4 or more), keep to 3 garlic cloves.

Ingredients

1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried pepper flakes
2 tablespoon oil from jar of sundried tomatoes (plain olive oil would do just fine too)
4-6 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
3/4 cup chicken stock
splash of white wine (optional)
6-8 spot prawns, shelled
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
cauliflower rice, for serving

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large saute pan on medium heat. When the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium-low and add the garlic and (if using) dried pepper flakes. Saute for a few minutes until the garlic is softened up, reducing the heat further if needed to ensure it doesn’t turn brown.
Add the sun-dried and fresh tomatoes, then the chicken stock and (if using) white wine. Bring the sauce to a boil an reduce it for 6-8 minutes, until it reaches a thicker consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.
A couple minutes before you’re ready for serving, stir in the spot prawns. They only take 1-2 minutes to be done, so keep an eye on them. Once the spot prawns have turned white and are firm, turn off the heat, stir in the parsley and you’re ready to go. Serve on top of cauliflower rice.

More on the Paleo diet challenge:
Why I’m doing it in the first place
My plan for the 30 days

The Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 2

My first thought when I woke up was that I wasn’t very hungry at all. This is unusual. We did eat a little late last night, so maybe that’s part of it.

It could be that I’m just anxious about this challenge too. My breakfast routine has been pretty basic and, now that I write about it, downright boring for the past several months: Peanut butter on multigrain toast. That’s it, along with a coffee. Now that both of those are out of the question, I peeked into the fridge for some inspiration. What could I eat? Unfortunately the fridge was looking a little bare. I decided to go ahead and have my coffee, and flip through those borrowed cookbooks for some inspiration.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the breakfast choice quickly became clear: Eggs. Both books (that is, Make It Paleo and Paleo Comfort Foods) have an abundance of egg recipes, from scrambled to fried to atop beef hash to baked in muffin cups. Eggs in ways I hadn’t thought about, before now. The few ingredients I did have, in the fridge and the herb garden, were enough to turn out a Mediterranean inspired, very Paleo-friendly breakfast. And you know? I liked it. Maybe not as much as peanut butter toast, but it would do just fine.

I turned my attention to the Paleo cookbooks again. Turns out there are some interesting ways to avoid bread, potatoes and all grains. Raw cauliflower, pulsed in a food processor and sauteed with some onions, becomes “rice”. Almond meal subs in for all purpose flour in muffins. And what’s this? Coconut flour. Wow. And here I thought I had to give up all my beloved baked goods. All of a sudden I felt a new energy come over me and I started dreaming about bread. If I can bake, I can definitely make it through the challenge.

Mediterranean Eggs Paleo

Serving Size: 1

Adapted from Make It Paleo by Bill Staley and Hayley Mason

Ingredients

1 tomato, sliced in 1/4 inch thick slices
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar or glaze
2 free range eggs
5 Kalamata olives, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped fine
salt and fresh cracked pepper

Instructions

Preheat the broiler on high. Place the slices of tomato on a baking sheet and drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Broil for 2-3 minutes, or until the tomatoes are heated through.
While the tomatoes are broiling, heat the other 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Break the eggs into the pan and cook until the whites set up. Flip the eggs over and continue cooking until they’re done to your desired likeness. I like my eggs pretty well done.
Place the tomato slices on your plate. Sprinkle the olives over the tomatoes. Stack the 2 fried eggs over the tomatoes and sprinkle the oregano over the plate.

More on the Paleo diet challenge:
Why I’m doing it in the first place
My plan for the 30-day challenge

The Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 1

Am I ready for this?

I’m feeling a little anxious, not sure how this is going to go. I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on what I’m absolutely not allowed to eat. No bread, no rice, no corn, those are the big ones. Okay, got it. So lots of vegetables, no problem. And protein? Luckily I’m not a vegetarian — going to cooking school cured me of that — so all is well so far.

I haven’t got any real plan for meals and snacks yet. I figure I’ll just focus on the things I enjoy and try not to think too much about what I’m missing. Like, well, you know, the B word. Yes, bread.

One thing I thought would be interesting is to track my weight this month. It’s normally steady, stubbornly so, staying within a 2-3 pound range all the time. But if this is supposed to be a life changing diet, will my weight finally budge a little?

On the eating front, breakfast was a big bowl of mixed fruit and an americano from our gorgeous espresso machine. Here I admit a deviation from a strictly Paleo diet that doesn’t allow any dairy whatsoever: I must have coffee cream in my americano, the full 18% fat kind. Not negotiable.

Lunch was a tuna salad with loads of fresh lemon juice and herbs, like a grown-up version of the tuna salad my mom used to make, on top of salad greens. Delicious.

For dinner I went to my sister’s place, a very safe outing since she’s adopted a strictly gluten-free diet for the past few months. I brought some Terra Chips for a pre-dinner snack and tried not to feel too guilty about eating them. They’re deep fried yes, but they are vegetables right? Later we whipped up a mango salsa that went perfectly well with barbecued chicken breasts and sauteed spinach. Yum. Not missing the bread at all. Did I just say that?

The bonus of the day was my sister lending me a few cookbooks — Make It Paleo and Paleo Comfort Foods — so I’ll be busy for the next few days doing some research. My favorite kind. Cool!

More on the Paleo diet challenge:
Why I’m doing it in the first place
My plan for the next 30 days

The Paleo Diet Challenge: My Plan

So when I say I’m following a Paleo diet, what exactly to I mean?

Good question. It is a diet that follows what caveman ate over 2 million years ago — meat and fish, vegetables, fruit and nuts. It doesn’t include any grains, legumes, dairy products, or refined sugar. But, like many things, it turns out there are several interpretations of what eating a Paleo diet really means.

To help figure this all out — and quickly, since I decided only a week ago to do this month-long challenge — I turned to a few sources. One was Mark Sisson’s blog Mark’s Daily Apple. Another was Robb Wolf, who sets some good boundaries around what a Paleo diet includes and excludes. A couple dozen more searches uncovered a number of basic guidelines on Paleo eating, and helped me determine my approach.

Giving up grains, for me, is huge. That will be my main focus, along with avoiding legumes (bye bye peanut butter..sob, wimper), processed food, and dairy. Avoiding dairy is actually a pretty big deal too, since cheese can be a key protein source for weeks on end if I’m feeling lazy about cooking.

Here’s what I’ll be eating:

Meats & Seafood: Fish, prawns, beef, chicken, pork, lamb, eggs
Fruits & Vegetables: All of them, including some dried fruits and coconut flour, as well as nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, the occasional white potato) which are frowned up on by more strict Paleo diets
Nuts & Seeds: Raw or ground (almond meal, flax seed meal), but not soaked
Healthy Fats: Olive oil, coconut oil, walnut oil, lard, and yes some regular butter
Herbs, spices and seasonings: Fresh from the garden parsley, thyme, tarragon, cilantro, chives, and definitely ginger and garlic
Dairy: A minimal amount of cheese, cream in my morning coffee

So there it is. It’s not a super strict Paleo diet by any stretch. I’m not completely cutting out dairy, alcohol or sugar but I’ll do my best to keep cheese to a minimum, but it will likely sneak its way in. And having a glass of wine or some chocolate? For goodness sakes, something has to keep me sane for the next month.

Check out what started this all off, why I’m doing this in the first place:
The Paleo Diet Challenge

The Paleo Diet Challenge

I wasn’t expecting to get quite so personal so early into the blog’s existence, but here goes. In the early 1990s I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease. I had no symptoms, aside from an inflamed thyroid gland. No explanation for why or how it happened, and no offer of any cure. The only thing the doctors did know is that it could be managed, by taking a pill every day to replace the thyroid hormone that my body couldn’t produce.

Since then I’ve been taking a little Synthroid pill every morning. And getting blood tests every 6 or 12 months to monitor the T4 and TSH levels in my blood.

Most of the time I don’t think too much about it, but when I do it bugs me. It’s a hassle. Yes, it’s very minor compared to all the possible diseases out there, but I still don’t like it one bit.

Fast forward to late 2011. It started with my dad, who told us about an article he’d read on the link between gluten and a number of diseases, like diabetes and Alzheimer’s, two of the demons in our family. Shortly after my sister instantly became a gluten-free convert after reading Wheat Belly. Me? I love bread — toast, pizza, crusty baguette with cheese — and I bake sweet treats on a regular basis. Very regular. I even used to be a baker of gorgeous artisanal breads too, in my early career days. The thought of giving up bread and baking seemed impossible to contemplate.

That is, until I stumbled upon the many articles linking autoimmune conditions, including Hashimoto’s, to gluten intolerance. I felt a little foolish for not checking this out earlier, since it seemed every Google search I did turned up more and more articles linking gluten consumption and autoimmune diseases like mine. Why had it taken me so long to look into this?

Now not everything you read on the internet is true, I know. But a lot of websites and blogs detail the dramatic effects of not just a gluten-free diet but a Paleo diet, free of grains entirely. Like Sarah Wilson who noticed “amazing differences” two weeks into the diet, or Ann Wendel who said a Paleo diet changed her life.

Wow. Life changing. Could I actually cure my Hashimoto’s by eating a Paleo diet? That clinched it — I would go Paleo for a month. Plenty of seafood and meat, vegetables and fruit, and some nuts and seeds. A minimal amount of dairy. What’s not to like?

Oh right, the bread part. Maybe I can just forget about bread for the next month. It’s not like I’m going to do this forever, right?

I’ve come up with three things I’m looking to test in this challenge:

I want to see if I can stick to a Paleo diet, especially the grain-free part
I want to see if I feel any different. More energy! More alertness!
I want to see if the Paleo diet makes any difference in my usual blood test results for thyroid levels

So I’m starting today.

What’s my plan for this anyway? Find out what I’ll be eating here.

Image courtesy of Lord Jim, via Flickr.