Friday, January 25, 2013

7 Quick Takes Friday, finally

7 quick takes sm1 Your 7 Quick Takes Toolkit!



I am going to try this again~  I need to get my blogging voice back, and I have to start somewhere.  Here goes:

 1.

  I have been doing a Paleo style of eating since Jan. 7th.  Since my research in any area boils down to nothing, I just took the advice from one of my work out companions, and define Paleo as any food except grains or dairy.  I was not enthusiastic about this, but it was a challenge, and if you want me to do something, challenge me, and I'll do it. 

2.
Coffee is paleo.  French Press coffee has become an essential part of my morning.  I have fiddled around with the coffee, the water temp, the steeping time, and come up with something that tastes terrific.  All this despite the fact that I rarely have time or presence of mind to pay attention to any of the above.  And it still tastes terrific.

3.  

I love eating this way.  I can't believe it, though.  I mean bread was my life, my love, my everything.  How can I live if living is without bread??
And cheese?  Seriously?? Cheese is the stuff that makes the world go around, food of the gods, gift to all mankind.  How could I possibly live with out cheese?

4.
  
So now I have established that I probably needed to reset my food hierarchy a bit. I think I was living mostly on bread and cheese. 


5.  

The first week was the worst.  I wanted to cry, scream, hit, verbally eviscerate whomever, and then go straight to bed.  I continued to work out my three times a week schedule, which helped.  I made good food though.  Chopped lots of veggies,  roasted chicken, made bone broth, modified all our regular meals to include a paleo option (basically serving the pasta, potatoes or bread on the side, as well as the cheese on the side.)  I made paleo stuffed peppers, paleo spaghetti, paleo cookie bars, and lots of avocados.  Favorite sweet craving snack: Sliced banana with sesame seed butter on top, covered in either almond milk or coconut milk.  So good.  

6. 

It came to be, that I could live just fine without bread if I had avocados, and without cheese if I had carmalized onions (with cayenne pepper).  If I made almond butter and dark chocolate cookie bars I could make through my morning coffee happy.  If I had avocado/chicken salad for lunch, or a hamburger patty with kimcha on it, with raw veggies on the side, happy as a clam.  If I had roasted chicken with sauteed seasoned veggies for dinner, or bone broth soup, or roasted veggies with roast beef, content.  If I had bacon wrapped dates, or ham wrapped olives or roasted brussel sprouts for a movie snack, yum.  

7. 

Will I keep this up?  This began as a 30 day challenge.  I have more energy for sure.  My mood is so much more steady, and I have a body with very few aches and pains. I am almost never hungry, or if I am it is a good, honest hungry, not a shaky "if I don't eat something right now I might kill someone or die" sort of hungry.   So yes, I will apply what I have learned past the 30 days.  I will incorporate some grains back in, I will just be careful about the quality and amount.  I love cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread, and intend to add that in.  I will have cheese from time to time, as the delicious treat that it is, and relish it and enjoy it, and not just put it on everything. I will add back good quality yogurt.  I will keep my new found love of veggies.  I will keep being more intentional about what I create in the kitchen.  I will use food treats as treats, and not as a daily occurrence .  And  I will keep working out three times a week, which has been the key to all of the changes I have been able to make.  Maybe this will be the topic of my next quick takes:  How a 46 year old who just had a baby got back in shape after sitting in a chair and nursing for 4 years straight, or something like that.  

8. 
Wine is paleo.  Enough said.  

7 Comments:

Blogger Michael St. Jacques said...

I think it is beautiful that eating healthy can be such a work of love and so pleasurable at the same time. It gives witness to the fact that doing good doesn't always have to be hard or unpleasant. I think St. Thomas Aquinas would approve of the middle ground approach you are taking. L'chaim! Blessings on your zest for life.

January 25, 2013  
Blogger priest's wife - S.T./ Anne Boyd said...

you're back!

...I think I couldn't do full-paleo but maybe gluten free with no milk (but yes to yogurt and cheese...)

January 25, 2013  
Blogger Kate said...

Paleo always sounds so expensive to me. I mean, I was *almost* dairy free when I simply couldn't afford to support my cheese and milk habit, but I ate a ton of pasta and bread then, to stretch out the more expensive meats and veggies.

I love dairy though. I grew up on a dairy farm, and it was hard learning not to fill up on milk between meals and before bed. My idea of comfort food still somewhat resembles the meals from the children's classic "Heidi" ... toasted cheese, soft rolls with butter, fresh milk.....mmmmm

January 25, 2013  
Blogger Renee said...

I use quite a bit of roasted chicken, then boil the carcass for stock, and ground beef. I also eat fish and tuna (canned). I am very sensitive to budget concerns, as I have a large family to feed and I have to be realistic. Eggs are cheap, too.

January 25, 2013  
Blogger Rosemary said...

I've been thinking about this diet. So glad it's working positively for you.

January 25, 2013  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Welcome Back! So nice to see a post on your blog again. One of these Thursdays I'll show up for painting icons - I keep meaning to, but life interferes!

Barb

January 25, 2013  
Blogger Melanie Bettinelli said...

Yes, please do post about the exercise. I know I need to get better about exercising. But I need inspiration. I just cannot conceive of a way to get it into my schedule. Especially in the winter. Everyone I know who keeps up an exercise schedule in winter either lives in the south or belongs to a gym/goes to the Y.

January 27, 2013  

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