I'm sure you must be curious as to what I've been eating on this almost all-protein diet. I've been trying to keep things simple. I eat three times a day- breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Before anybody writes to tell me about eating four to five smaller meals a day versus three larger meals per day; the grazing thing does not work for me. I get the concept and the research that supports it. It just doesn't work for me. Increasing the frequency of times I eat a day also increases the opportunity for me to OVEREAT, especially if the last thing I had was a grape. Soon "grazing" becomes an excuse to eat all day long. It also requires you to have a job where you can just break food out whenever. I never found this to be realistic.) Just keepin' it real my friends! Fortunately, the paleo diet does not mandate such frequency with regard to meals, stating that cavemen did indeed graze, but they also went long hours without food leading to a gorge when a big kill was made.
Having a plan helps. I prepare some things in advance so they are available to me. This makes eating a snap and generally reduces the temptation to chose something not on the diet. You are less likely to go to the trouble of cooking a non-paleo meal, if a paleo meal is already on a plate in front of you. So one of things I do is hard boil eggs or make egg muffins so I have them available for breakfast. Because most traditional breakfast items are not paleo-friendly (cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, muffins, french toast, bagels, English muffins etc.) I find breakfast is the hardest meal to build variety into, unless you learn to eat foods that might otherwise be considered lunch or dinner options. Having no desire for pot roast before 10 a.m., I have opted for fresh fruit and eggs. I have one or two hard boiled eggs with a side of grapes, strawberries, or citrus. Occasionally, I will substitute Greek yogurt when I feel I have had too many eggs. I do have some dairy on this diet though I try to make it secondary to meat and produce and mainly stick to Greek yogurt and cheeses as opposed to say cracking open a pint of sour cream or some American Singles. I guess this would be my interpretation of the 80% rule.
I have stumbled upon some recipes for coconut pancakes in my Blueprint cookbook. I have no idea if they will be anything like traditional breakfast pancakes, but I am willing to give it a try. If any of you have suggestions for paleo alternatives to traditional breakfast meals, please let me know. Right now I am in love with making a two-egg omelette with diced tomatoes, spinach, and feta. YUM!
For lunch I have soup or salad. I find lunch is much easier to keep interesting than breakfast. When packing work lunches, I will roll lunch meat like you would for a party platter, or pack a can of tuna. I have also fallen in love with chicken and apple sausages. I eat sliced apples and celery with almond butter and have eaten marinated tomato slices in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with oregano. Lunch is pretty easy and just as I get bored I usually think up something new to eat.
My dinnertime meal really hasn't changed much. It goes something like this, pick a meat, pick a vegetable to steam, and voilá, dinner is served! The only thing I've done is eliminate the carb (potato, rice, or pasta) that usually shares one-third of the plate. My husband and I have had filled peppers, short ribs with braised vegetables, pork chops with mushrooms and onions and steamed asparagus. Yesterday he cleaned the grill and I couldn't be more excited. I think the grill is a must when eating paleo! We bought stuff to make kebabs. We bought steaks. And my friend gave me a recipe for spice rubbed chicken. We even bought some natural, all-beef hot dogs, so we could feel normal. We'll be eating them minus the bun of course;-)
As for exercising I have been very careful to heed the advice of the experts and have temporarily shelved my intense cardio workouts in place of walking and general exertion outside or around the house. I do not want to trigger any intense cravings for carbs until my body is well adjusted to the new eating plan. I think this week I will turn the notch up on my workouts now that I've had some time to get used to the diet.
"You know it's time to diet when you push away from the table and the table moves." -Quoted in The Cockle Bar
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