Holidays are approaching

Hello,
 Fallen off the radar due to my schedule becoming jam pack with work (thought I was a stay at home mom??) and the babies are moving all over the place.

Lately I have been thinking about the holidays. I CANNOT wait to make some yummy paleo treats. Cookies, fruit bars, cakes, and what ever else! I love my paleo stuffing.

Sausage
cranberries
almond slivers
celery
broth
sweet potatoes

delicious!

Of course, the sweet potato mash is to die for with coconut milk and cinnamon!

Thinking about adding something else this year, cheesecake! or a pumpkin pudding! I"ll let you know what I come up with!

k-

Part 2- Breastfeeding

Ok, onto the nitty-gritty that was the original question.

Can I breastfeed and be paleo?

Yes. I have been and things are working great. I even noticed that the layer of emulsified fat on the breast milk is getting thicker as the babies get bigger and demand more calories.  I don't eat anymore or less because i'm nursing, just enough to satisfy me, sometimes more.

It's vital to remember the food groups and eat a diverse type of food. MEATS, VEGGIES, and FRUITS or yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, and red.

Life is about color, so eat colorful!

Rest stop breakfast

On the way home from Atlantic city we stopped at the Farley plaza. So many choices to have a healthy paleo

Breakfast. 
Enjoyed some honeydew and

Beef jerky! Make do with what you can!

:)

Keri 

"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible."

George Chakiris 

What's your deal? How do you do it?

OMG it's friday! I thought this day would never come..... What a week!

     I'm answering questions from a friend today regarding my routine and how I do what I do, that is being Paleo with kids and all.

Here we go-----  Remember, I don't consider myself and the advice I offer the "end all be all, but it works for me and my family. You are the only expert in your life!  

Q: From someone I knew since we were in the womb. Parents were in birthing class together! 

Love your blog--here's my questions. How can I do this when my kids favorite foods are all pastas or rice--make different meals for them? How do you do this on a daily basis (ie do you cook everything one day for the week, etc). Is there anything you can put in coffee? Do you "cheat"?

 A:  Your child(ren) eat what you prepare for them, unless they can cook and shop, they can eat what you make. As my mom and dad said,"here's dinner, take it, or leave it." After a 1/2 or full day of not eating that crap (AKA- veggies and healthy food) the child(ren) will come around---->or starve. JK JK I hope not.

Brooklyn and Delaney are Paleo babies!!!!!


But like every change it has to be in small steps.
I was very reluctant to start Paleo coming from a 10 year stint as a vegetarian and thought my life NEEEEDDDDED grains to live! Boy, I was wrong!

Unless you want to drive yourself batty and make a $hit ton of more work for yourself, DO NOT MAKE SEPARATE MEALS! Your future daughter-in-laws and son-in-laws will hate you for pampering your kids! Can I ask you a question? Why do you want to stop eating processed foods and still have your children eating it? I'll answer it.

For the fiber, vitamins, calcium and vit D in the fortified cereals and milk, Keri. They love spaghetti and meatballs.

Do they love the plain old pasta? or the stuff on it? I love the sauce and toppings, I just put them on veggies now. Yellow, green, spaghetti squash; all so yummy! If you need ideas just ask!!! The kids/husband will never know what hit them!

On a daily basis, I do not prepare very well. This question actually has me evaluating my cooking and stuff because I'm sure it could be easier. As of September 14, 2012, I can officially say I DON'T cook!!! Ryan does! That day I went on bedrest till the birth of the twins. He does cook, because I do not have time too.  I will prepare the ingredients as best as possible and he cooks. Truth be told, our meals have fallen by the wayside since the babies came home and just consists of raw ingredients and not much thought. I loved to read thru cookbooks and paleoize them. I need to get back to that....sighhhh. I take the meat of the morning of, let it thaw and Ryan cooks the veg at dinner time. Kind of lame. Look at my past entries for the YUMMY food I had time to make!

I drink coffee black. But what you can do is use HEAVY CREAM. That is paleo/primal because it hasn't been stripped or processed. I have grown accustom to the black coffee and love the taste of good coffee. Wawa, dunkin..yeah but there is some good stuff out there but can get expensive.

If adding something to your coffee is the worst thing you do that day, so be it! 

"Do I cheat?"

YES, YES, YES. I have too. I found that if you don't, you will fail. If you want to continue to live on paleo indefinitely, you need to cheat. Now "cheat" can be used in MANY different ways.
My brother-in-law cheats when he orders a steak and veggies from a local restaurant because he doesn't know what or how the meal is prepared (ie. salt amount, oils used, butter or lard, processed sauces)

I cheat and have pizza, or RITA's or a donut :)

 For the paleo way of life to be benefical for you health-wise- you need to be 80/20. Eat paleo 80% of the time and the other 20% not paleo. How you or what you consider 80/20 is up to you. Break up the day or the week or the month (eat clean all week, weekends dive in to junk, have a dessert everyday, or pick the 15th of every month to go hell bent on crap). The point of paleo is to REDUCE ILLNESS, INFLAMMATION, UNDERLYING ALIMENTS, SKIN DISORDERS, BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS, SLEEPING PROBLEMS, ADD, ETC) So, if you "cheat" often, don't expect the results you could potentially see! PALEO DOES WORK IF USED PROPERLY and more consist to see a weight loss ( if need be) and fix the aforementioned aliments above. 




Peace, love, hope and sweat

Pondering thoughts

As I sit here waiting for the doctor I think "doctors don't get to the route of the problem". I'm just here for a physical, but all these "sick" people are here. Why are they sick? Low immune systems, virus's multiplying by the dozens in their malnourished cells? 

People- take a minute to see how food makes you feel. Monitor the reactions your body has. Notice if that workout was DULL OR FULL OF LIFE and what you ate prior too! Do you get hurt often?  

Everyone- evaluate your life components right now and let's see what we can do to fix everything! 

Peace, love, hope and sweat

Keri 

"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible."

George Chakiris 

Surprise!! (a post that is late, was in my draft folder)

WOW, I had this in my  draft box. I figured I went to the trouble to write it so I might as well post it. nothing like 7 months late. LOL.

How to get started

Hola! 
I got a text this am from a friend who prompted this entry. A relatively healthy, athletic, female with all that conventional wisdom public education has given us, and a Master's degree to boot, but when she put it all together, it still wasn't jiving for her needs!

"I'm looking to do a nutrition overhaul for myself, tired of the same old stuff, lack of energy, etc. "

People are reluctant to change. People like routine and same old, same old even if they tell you otherwise.
That's the hardest part- change, not the "diet" itself. Paleo isn't a diet. You can live on it because it is not a restriction of calories, like other fad diets.


Here is the run down on how to start LIVING!

1. DETOX- as in "get rid of the crap". If it stays FRESH for longer than 2-3 days (excluding bananas- those buggers can stay ripe for a while), to the trash it goes, or donate it. For some, any food is good food! Don't waste.
1. Including dairy, anything in the pantry other than oils, spices, and such. Those crackers, cookies, bars, oatmeal, flour, candies, and chocolate other than >75%cacao
2. RETRAIN- Retrain yourself from that bad habit of grabbing a bag of chips before sitting on the couch to watch Dancing with the Stars. Have you ever got to work, then thought, "How did I get here?" Your brain makes patterns of recognition when you do a tasks repetitively. Having something engrained is true. Start a new habit! Something crunchy, carrots or kale chips!!!
3. START- Make your next meal, regardless of the day of week or if you have a party this weekend where you will be tempted with crap. There are no MONDAY'S to Paleo. Just begin at your next meal and you will see the difference. If your next meal was supposed to be spaghetti, still divulge, but make it spaghetti squash!

Give it 3 solid days of B/L/D. the fullness, belly bloat, and energy crashes (well, maybe this one takes a few more days) will be GONE.

Long story short-

Food pyramid as seen on Mark's Daily Apple

EAT- Fruits, Vegetables, and Meats.

Don't EAT- processed foods, dairy, things from a box, things that you can keep on your shelf for months and then eat, and, lastly, no alcohol. 

I know, I know. However, it's known that Clear aged Tequila is PALEO! 

Cheers!



Click here to start today!

What's eating you? Part 1

Got milk? Ha, what a terrible joke. Sorry. 

Someone asked me about being paleo and nursing. I have been successful nursing/pumping/expressing for 9 months on a paleo diet. Though it hasn't been super-duper strict (basically because I have no time to prepare meals like I used to and eating tons of fruit) I still am paleo. I'm back to the straight and narrow for a few weeks and can tell a difference.

I have to say that Paleo eating is SIMPLE, if you have time. It's also SUPER expensive, if you don't plan, and it's STUPID ( i don't like using that word) if you think you can't eat Paleo!

Here's why....then I'll get to the breastfeeding part-

I'm going to talk to myself right now.....

Hypothetically speaking.....

What did you have for dinner last night?

-steak, greenbeans and mashed potatoes- 

Awesome choices- to make that meal paleo change the white potato to sweet potato and the green beans to squash. DONE.

What about breakfast? 

- cereal with milk, orange juice and breakfast bar 

 Here's where it gets tricky....

 no cereal

no milk

no juice from concentrate

 and no processed ANYTHING.

What do I eat?

-Make your own cereal

- 1/4 c raspberries

-1/4c blueberries

-1/4c almonds

-1/2 banana

-1/2 pecans

For MILK, use unflavored, unsweetened almond milk (NO SOYYYYYYYY; another rant later).

Or use applesauce (specifically applesauce you make yourself).

De-Freaking-Licious!!!

Or try this recipe from Marks Daily Apple

No oatmeal 

Get the drift? If not here is the low-down on Paleo. Try and make your next meal paleo and let me know what you think. If you don't know how to PALEOIZE it, comment. There are no useless questions!!!

How to make a meal paleo

1. Eat the colorful stuff from the produce section of the store. Produce means fresh (I won't get picky and say you can't have greenbeans and lentils and things. That is later.)

2. Eat the meat

3. Avoid anything that has more ingredients then what exactly it is. (ie. Twinkie. ingredients- sugar, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated blah blah blah...NO; carrots. Ingredients- CARROTS YES.. Ka-peesh??)

Hiatus

Well, I have been on a hiatus! You know, just a little busy with 9 month old twin girls and trying to get adapted to this new life as a momma-bear!

I hope to transpire this blog into something amazing! I appreciate all the questions and support from my fellow athletes and love that all of you are busting your humps, but hate to see that you're getting injured!  Weekend warrior, former college athlete, or someone who likes to say they are "athletic"- I have some advice for you; Train for life, not for the sport!! Preventing injuries is easy and all you need is a little TLC (Time- Logisitics-Creativity)! Lucky for you I'm providing the logistics and creativity, all you need is the TIME!!! (HAHA, don't we all need more time!)

More to come-

Peace, Love, Hope, and Sweat!

Self pic

"so you eat paleo, let me see your six pack!"
No sure what you think but I'm happy

Crispy chicken

On the home stretch for the 21 day sugar detox

Here is a back load of some meals from the past week.

Overall, sugar killed me during the holidays and i'm back! (to my fighting weight, lol)
Didn't realize how much sugar I ate in "healthy" forms such as dates, dried plums, dark chocolate 90%, berries.....


Breakfast- 2 fried eggs in coconut oil with pan fried tomatoes



Homemade wings with a crispy almond flour and cayanne! Sweet pot fries with cinnamon and coconut oil




Grass fed burgers and sundried tomato squash stirfy

Dessert! Apple crisp!! 3 granny smith apples, almond flour and cinnamon baked for 30 mins at 325!!!! topped with almond butter

snack- frozen banana with almond butter and coconut flakes

last nights dinner- bacon wrapped chicken thighs and sun dried tomato, sweet pot and onion sautee.


This mornings breakfast- bacon avocado and cauliflower!!

Tonight Baby back ribs.

Sunday sunday!

Well after a few days away from home, I wanted to cook a great meal for my hubs. He suggested wings and I just did my thing! I used all the seasonings below from a recipe I found. (googled paleo chicken wings)  

         Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sage
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons lemon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 package of fresh chicken wings- found with the other fresh chicken at your local grocer
• olive oil (or grape seed oil) spray

Directions:

1)       Preheat oven to 220°C (425 F) and line 2 baking trays with foil.

2)      Combine flour, onion powder, garlic powder ,paprika powder, peppers and herbs in a large plastic bag- I found that using the bag didn’t really coat the wings evenly. My suggestion would be to combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. I didn't use the plastic bag, just used a big mixing bowl and tongs.

3)      Spray the chicken wings with the oil, and dip each wing in the almond flour mixture until evenly coated (or if you opted for the bag, place wings in the bag and shake evenly to coat).

4)      Place onto prepared baking trays. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

5)      Spray chicken with oil again. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until crisp and cooked through.

6)      Add your *optional* hot sauce of choice and serve with a salad. Enjoy!

   Paired with sweet potato fries.
Cut, and tossed with coconut oil, cayenne and cinnamon and baked at 400F till soft, maybe toss on the broil to make crispy.
  My plate! 

Road trip Team meal!

As you know, I travel A LOT with work and meals are always provided. However, they are sabotaged with grains and sugars. But not this trip!!! 

Beef tenderloin, salad and steamed veggies.

I passed on the dessert display. 

I also decided that for lent, which begins wednesday, that I will be giving up coffee (batten down the hatches.... it's going to get ugly) and keep the 21 day sugar detox up till april 8th. 

My grub day 11

I'm mimicking the Easy Paleo from facebook. A great idea so people can see what no sugar looks like!!
Yesterday grub...
breakfast- 2 cups baked kale chips with EVOO and garlic salt
    2, 16 oz BLack coffee, obvs!
Lunch- 1 cup spinach salad, with apple cider vinegar and EVOO, 4 sticks celery, 1/2 cucu's, green    
   apple
Dinner- 1 pork chop with cinnamon, 6 brussel sprouts
   snack- 2 hardboiled eggs and 3 tablespoons of almond butter!!!!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!
Day 6 was a breeze and this is becoming dream month! The food is getting better and better! Who knew that sugar even in fruit was enough to spike your blood glucose to extreme levels.

I know paleo and this lifestyle isn't for everyone, but I think I found the perfect chemistry between the macronutrients that agree with me. Lots of fats, moderate protein (eggs, meat and nuts), and low to mod carbs in the forms for veggies.
 Before I was jacking up on the protein, making up for lost time I called it. Reformed Vegetarian of 10 years..... And I did gain some weight, but other things were going on too.

Dinner last night was amazing..... moose roast, sweet pot fries, squash stir fry, and asparagus with lemon tahini sauce (21DSD book)

For v day made the famous coconut muffins from the 21 day sugar detox and added unsweetened coconut flakes (dried).

And some cookies, that were an epic fail sans the agave nectar...... but I tried :) I also substituted the orange for some lemon zest and added a little coconut milk. Tastes great.... but they fall apart :/

Funday Sunday

The lady hawks won today vs Saint Louis! Thats a plus.
Another plus my BF% - Down baby!!! and a few lbs too! 

Dinner smells pretty good and I can not wait to eat a nice dinner after the food today. Breaky was on the fly at work. Team meal is usually eggs, hash browns and pancakes or french toast sticks with fruit, apple sauce and some milk<----- Healthy I know:/ 

I had eggs and a green apple.

Luckily my husband was there and packed a lunch, I had a few bites of the leftovers from dinner last night (brisket!! yum)

Day 6 dinner: Slow roasted chicken ( a full bird) with everyday seasoning and garlic! Side of cauliflower mash.

If your wondering what I eat everyday, all day including snacks let me know, comment! In the last 6 days I have consumed enormous amounts of meat and veggies and fats. yes FATS!!!! healthy fats! avocados, almond, pistachios, coconut oil and coconut milk!
:)

Day 5

As I was saying, the holidays were a bad bad time for treats and me. Never felt "jacked" up on sugar, just had it almost everyday in very bad forms.

Today everything my husband and I ate were AMMAAZZIIINNNNGGGG!! This book may be small, but the recipes are SWEET! <------ not literally.

Breaky- a late breakfast around 2pm

Spinach salad with cucumbers, broccoli slaw, tomato and a piece of bacon. EVOO and apple cider vinegar

Lunch - apple smoked bacon and 100% all organic beef hotdogs (trader joes)





and dinner
brisket and sweet potato latkes!

Doing my body fat tomorrow then again at the end of the 21 days with my husband. Back in june july and august it was stud-like. After December.... not so much. didn't show up in LBs though, that much :/  Lets see how much sugar contributes to body fat loss.

Here is the hubs_
like he needs to lose anything :/

My bad... i'm back

Been a while. School, work, teaching, life, or lack there of...... Husband and I started the 21 day sugar detox. December was  crappy month for sugar infested foods. Who needs holidays anyway.. they just get you fat.

Here are the items that I needed to buy to fill my cabinets

 for the 21 day detox. Werid mix, eh?

Round 2 of the muffins and cookies... Better this time

AH, steak.... enough said

On day 6 and almost cooked every recipe in the 21 day sugar detox book. Actually, have a few batchs of the coconut muffins and cookies under my belt.

How paleo are you..... good questions

A question from paleohacks and here is my response....
http://paleohacks.com/questions/75784/how-paleo-are-you-what-kind-of-paleo-are-you/76264#76264

I'm prob 89.9% paleo. What do you think??
-Black out curtains no blue light rays in the bedroom -eat 90% dark chocolate daily -black coffee about 2 cups a day -1-2 cheat meals a week in differnt parts. Sometimes a full dinner saturday pizza and wings or syrup in the am and something at night. -workouts- what ever I feel like if at all somedays -IFer most dsays 12-20 hours depending on how I feel -no dairy- I LOVED CHEESE -Oh, former 10 year vegetarian loving meat and making up for lost time! -only drink water, the sparkly kind! -have a new found fondness for tequila and vodka soda water with lots of lime when I do drink -former chronic cardio junkie- running spinning and stuff -tabattas are now my friend and I love them dearly -I get about 8-9 hours of sleep a night and love it. - been paleo for just over a year!


For more Paleo hacks: http://paleohacks.com/questions/75784/how-paleo-are-you-what-kind-of-paleo-are-you#ixzz1dKizEvcj