One of my problems with the Paleo diet made right.

I have a few issues with the Paleo diet/lifestyle.  A lot of it makes sense to me (whole foods in the form of lean meat, fresh veggies/fruit, nuts, etc.) but there are parts that don't make any sense whatsoever in our modern age.

One of my issues was that I was understanding the Paleo diet in the sense that you must eat a lean protein source at each meal plus plenty of leafy veggies and some source of quality fat.  Ok, fine. Great.  However, that is not Paleo....not in my definition.  You mean to tell me that a caveman kills an animal and he is thinking, "Oh, let me go find a plateful of leafy things to accompany this meat at every meal."  Heck no!  He's going to eat that animal from top to bottom until it's gone.  Then, there may be a week where he doesn't have any protein from an animal source.

So that was really throwing me for a loop.  I just did not understand how it was Paleo if your meals were perfectly proportioned.

Last night, my husband and I were discussing something about eating and I brought up my issue with the Paleo diet thinking.  He said something that made me understand SO much about it.  He said that the Paleo diet isn't about the proper proportion of protein, carbs, fats.  It's about the TYPE of food.  Duh.  Of course, that's it.  I get that.  That makes perfect sense.  I was just over thinking...as I tend to do!

I guess what I was doing was combining the Zone diet with the Paleo diet.  Since we're doing this challenge through Crossfit, they obviously want the portions to be ideal if possible for maximum results in performance (both in the gym and in everyday life).  Since we are in the modern age, we can obviously do that because we don't have to kill an animal and eat it until it's gone immediately.

So I am now more ok with the Paleo diet.  I think after this challenge we'll probably be an 80/20 Paleo eating family.  Not that the 20% will be junk foods, but probably more along the lines of dairy, white potatoes, corn, beans, etc.  As long as things are as close to the natural source as possible, I am ok with that.

So although I am not a 100% on board with the Paleo diet lifestyle, I definitely think it's the best guideline out there for the health of our bodies/lives.

Beets and a Paleo Problem

We are in week two of our Paleo Challenge.  I am not doing well.  Although some may think I'm doing extremely well since I lost 6 pounds the first week.  Which, to many, may be exactly what they want.  However, since I am still breastfeeding my eight-month old, it did not do well for me.  It affected my milk supply drastically.  Whereas my baby was waking around 2-3 a.m. to nurse before the challenge, she then started waking every 1.5 hours.  I was exhausted.

It's not that I'm not eating enough food ...or so I think.  I eat avocado at breakfast with eggs and always on any salad.  I eat bacon in the mornings.  I eat more beef than on a typical Paleo diet.  I eat more nuts than is recommended. I eat more protein than normal.  I eat more snacks throughout the day than recommended.  And STILL my body apparently needed more.  I freaked and bought some Nutella to eat. Not because I craved the sugar.  I actually am doing MUCH better this go around than before when the sugar cravings were killing me!  I got that because it was full of fat and at least I'd get a tiny bit of protein (yes, I realize it is made with lots o' sugar and milk) BUT let me tell you that the next two nights I slept so much better because my baby decided that my milk now was sufficient.  

I do not want to eat that much sugar.  So I found several other high calorie/fat snacks to add in.  I feel as though my meals are sufficient since I'm eating more than average with the proteins and fats, so I feel making my in between small meals as fatty and high calorie as possible may help.    Who knows.  It's just not something I'm willing to play around with.  I am eating very healthy...well, much healthier than I was, so at least my milk is better for my baby.  I'm hoping the new way to get fat/calories will work.  If not, I will absolutely eat some more Nutella.  I need sleep and my baby does too.  And if Nutella is a way to do it, then fine.  It's MUCH less sugar/dairy than I ever have consumed in my life, so I'm okay with it for now.  After she weans, I'll definitely go back at it super strict.

Now....onto a new subject.  Beets.  Beets are weird.

 

It's the first time I've ever cooked beets and the first time I've ever tasted them.  I wasn't very impressed.  Well...I wasn't impressed with the taste. I was very impressed with the incredible color that came out of them.  I can see why people use beets as a source to color other things.


 I roasted them and then made a balsamic glaze to pour over.  They smelled very 'earthy' as they were cooking.  When I put them on a plate to try, I admit I was not excited about putting them in my mouth.  I made my husband taste them first!  :)  He didn't think they were bad.  In fact, he ate them again the next day.  Maybe he was just trying not to waste food!  I tasted one and although it was awful, it's just not something I thought was great.  I'll continue to try them. But until someone else makes them, I may just hold off for now.


I tried...but I could not make them look appealing at all.

Only 4 days in

This Paleo challenge is kicking my butt.  Seriously.

I am hungry all the time.  I eat additional snacks and eat more protein than a typical serving since I am still breastfeeding our daughter, but I feel like it's not enough.  I am going to make guacamole tomorrow to eat for breakfast in hopes that it'll help add some calories in.  It's a little tough since I have been dealing with a low supply for a few months now, so I hope this doesn't hurt it.

It doesn't help that we are up every night multiple times a night with our kids.  We simply don't get the sleep our bodies need.  We get plenty sleep time, it's just that it's interrupted.  I'm thinking if I were able to have more sleep, then it wouldn't be *as* hard.

I have been scouring the Internet for Paleo dessert recipes.  The fact that we can't even use honey is really hard. I'm not even sure why on this challenge we can't.  I did find tons of great dessert recipes that I've pinned for future use.

We have had some pretty good meals from the Paleo Plan.  Tonight we are having chicken in a mushroom sauce.  We'll also cook up veggies to go with it.   Tomorrow is some kind of roast.  I'm pretty excited about that!!!

The coconut milk in my coffee isn't great.  I wish it were, but it's just not.  We've let it thicken in the fridge overnight to see if it would help, but it didn't.  So I'm not drinking nearly the caffeine I was (which is great) but it's really affecting me.  I really hope I can make it at least the first week without a slip up.

Blah.  Day four.  Almost behind me.