30 Day Paleo Challenge (Page 2)

If I do eat before a workout I'll have 1/2 cup of applesauce with a couple of tablespoons of protein powder mixed in.  Since I'm training for a marathon, I too will need the use of GUs...honestly for long training runs, I'm going to continue to use the GUs.  They're not going to send me into a sugar fit and my body needs that glucose on long runs.  Now, if I find myself sucking them down in the middle of the night for a sugar fix, then I know I have a problem!  lol...

You've got me by one inch (I'm 5'0") so I absolutely know what you mean...every pound gained makes a difference.   Shorties unite!

Mike:  I know a lot of people who stick to true Paleo eat a cobo of sweet potatoes, bananas, nuts, and eggs before a workout.  Maybe not all of those at once, but some kind of combo.

Kim:  I see nothing wrong with Gu for a long bike or run.  I'm reading The Paleo Solution right now, but am moving onto The Paleo Diet for Athletes after these 30 days.  I know they suggest other things in there as well.  However, once you've found distance nutrition that works for you, it's hard to change!

Blanda:  I've also read a few accounts of people reversing so many health woes, such as high blood pressure, while on the 30 day Paleo Challenge.  Hopefully, it can help out your husband.

Day 2, 12:15 PM

Great day so far!  Breakfast was eggs, bacon, and  pear.  Just had a handful for raw almonds, a banana, and a hard boiled egg for lunch.  I'm making moussaka fro dinner.  It's a Greek dish made with lamb and egg plant.  Looking forward to trying to make it myself!

Now that I'm back home in SF, I'm going to clean out my cabinets, fridge, and an even more lofty goal... I'm going to clean-out/condense all of my tri gear over the next few days.  I want a clean start to this season!  We collect so much as triathletes.  It's ridiculous!

By the way, I had green beans for dinner last night.  While on the plane home this morning, I read that they're considered a legume, which makes them non-paleo.  I accidentally broke the diet on day one!  Oh well.  Not going to lose any sleep over it.  

Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday!

Wish I could join you all. I even read the book about the caveman diet a couple months ago. Without getting the wife to go along with this just no way we could have two separate meals. Not sure I could give up cereal. I do need to drop 10 pounds but will have to find another way.

Good luck all.

Day two here great as well!  Breakfast was scrambled eggs/ground turkey mixture with some homemade salsa and Tapatio. Lunch was chicken breast over a ton of spring mix salad & sun dried tomatoes.  Dinner will be pork loin and something I think!

Here is something confusing. I downloaded a 30  min and less paleo recipe book which first went through all the no nos of Paleo, which included brown rice.  The very first recipe was served over brown rice...huh?  I'm a little confused by that!

Good job all!

Kim: Short Stacks rock! Woo hoo!

Christina: I hope that this will help my husband, but it'll only work if he does his part when he's not home. Good luck with the overhauling! I need to do the same in my kitchen. Well, everywhere in the house, actually!

I had to show you this awesome quiche I made. I used coconut milk in the eggs, added sausage, eggplant, spinach, onions and garlic.

This is my first quiche ever made because I don't like eggs a whole lot, especially the yoke, but you barely taste them with all the other flavors going on.

The quiche looks amazing!  I'd love the details on how you made it.  Nice job!

Tasted really good.

Pre-heat oven to 350 and  prepare a baking pan. I used a small brownie pan. You can use a pie or cake pan. I sprayed it with non-stick, but you can rub some coconut oil in it if you don't want to use the spray.

So, approximately:
8 eggs
1/4 cup coconut milk (They sell light coconut milk now!)
1/2 an onion
tablespoon of minced garlic
2 cups Portuguese sausage
1.5 small eggplants
a bunch of spinach

I sauteed the onions and garlic in a tablespoon of coconut oil (I realized after that I didn't need it if I sauteed them with the sausage right away as the sausage had oil in it) for a few minutes, added the sausage, browned them up a bit, then eggplant till tender, and finally the spinach till that looks done (so technical, I know, haha!).

I mixed the eggs and coconut milk in large bowl while the filling was cooling a bit. When it wasn't steaming hot, I poured it into the eggs, added a bit of salt and pepper, stirred it up and poured it into the pan. I think it cooked for about 20 minutes, but not sure. I just watched it to make sure it didn't burn. Pulled it out when it was firm in the middle.

Whew, that was long! Sorry.

Hope you like it!

Blanda that looks amazing! I'm going to try it.  The one thing I'm hoping this challenge will do is get me cooking more.  I do not cook.  I've never been a cook.  I never hope to become a fantastic cook.  But, I do need to challenge myself to cook.

So, day three will be a challenge for me...youngest daughter and I are heading to Salt Lake City tomorrow  (90 min. drive each way) to meet up with older daughter and hubby (she has been participating in a softball camp at the University of Utah).  Anyhow...there will be shopping and dining, will have to really be on top of things.  Wish me luck!  The drive in and out of SLC is always candy time.  I will be packing some paleo snacks!

Blanda:  Thanks for the recipe!  I'll try it later this week.

Kim:  Good luck tomorrow.  Sounds like a busy day!

I made lamb/eggplant moussaka tonight for dinner.  It was delicious!  I have leftovers for at least two days.  Glad I like leftovers!  

I'm still off work until the 3rd.  This is pretty east right now.  I suspect the real challenge will come once my days become packed again.  Planning ahead is key.

Interesting thread so far, guys!  I've been paleo since last August and I love it.  I can't get over how different I feel about food since making the switch!  It's been an enlightening holiday season for me, but oddly enough, sticking to the paleo path has been easy.  Weird huh?  Having zero non-paleo food in the house helps (my H is also paleo).

For the record, I use gels during long runs (90+ minutes) with no ill-effects at all.  I use fruit or sweet potatoes for fueling shorter workouts when necessary.

I am living proof that JUST being paleo doesn't automatically mean massive weight/fat loss.  You do have to limit your intake/be wary of calorie consumption.  I don't track calories or macros, but I have figured out what things I can get away with eating (that are still paleo) and what things I cannot if I have plans of losing weight.  Maintaining?  Really, really easy!  I'm looking to drop the last of the fat I want to lose before the race season begins (I maintained/lost a little through the holidays).

I don't much like cooking either, but I've had a lot of fun exploring new recipes, foods and tastes in my paleo cookbooks.  I have 4 of them and they all have a permanent place on my kitchen counter.  Let me know if anyone wants recommendations.

Anyway, good luck, you all!  I'm sure you'll have great success!!

I've been eating a modified Paleo diet for two years, and i've lost 80 lbs. and completed two marathons!  I still eat nonfat greek yogurt for protein and cheese on occasion.  According to the Paleo site, red wine is allowed so I drink a couple glasses a week for heart healthy resveratrol. Good luck everyone!!!

When I googled Paleo diet, to get more information, the picture of one of the meals looked like most of our dinners. We usually have a protein/meat -- a side of veggies -- and a fruit. I've gone a little off the wagon, but I don't usually serve any kind of starch.

I drink water almost exclusively, although some times at dinner, I will have 6-8 oz of skim milk.

I put lots of cream in my coffee.

I don't really enjoy sweets -- although I ate more than my fair share of mini Reese's peanut butter cups on Christmas.

My preferred lunch is a green salad with protein -- usually chicken, sometimes tuna or goat cheese/feta.

Breakfast is where I am really off track -- My normal breakfast is Greek yogurt with Kashi and blueberries.

I did Atkins a few years ago, and I had a really hard time with meat for breakfast and I can't stomach eggs in the morning. I guess I just need to not be a baby about my Greek yogurt. Man -- I seriously love that stuff and sometimes even have it for dinner instead of what I've fixed my family to eat. lol

Thank you!  This is good to hear.  I started thinking about calorie intake yesterday.  Some of the foods I'm preparing do seem rather calorie dense.  I'll be a little more in tuned with that.  I do want to drop a few pounds before my more scheduled training kicks in mid-February.

Thanks, again!

Felicia: That sounds like a doable new way of eating for me! It's tough to avoid rice and noodles here, but at least the family will eat sweet potatoes. I will make a little rice for the kiddies for sure. My son is such a skinny dude and plays hard. He needs it, lol! I do miss my cheese and coffee cream. I don't feel as deprived when it comes to starch. I just love my cheese so much though!

I'm so proud of myself. My bff's family and mine got together for dinner at her place. She ordered pizza. Initially we were going to get some Thai too, so I brought my leftover mashed sweet potatoes to eat instead of rice, but it was too late and hectic for two restaurant stops. I was able to stop into a Cost U Less though for a rotisserie chicken so I didn't have to eat the pizza. I told them I was trying the diet to see if it improved John and my health. Luckily she understands. Her husband and son don't eat rice as they are both struggling with weight issues.

I am so happy to see that I've already dropped 2.8 lbs and I didn't feel sluggish playing soccer last night from my gut working to digest a ton of food, which is usually the case during the holidays. Nice waking up without my face looking so bloated from too much salt and such. Hope I can stick this out!

Good morning!

Kim:  Today is definitely a new day.  Here is a website I found for Paleo Snacks:  http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-snacks/   It was helpful.  Some of the prepared snacks look good to make, but are awfully time consuming for just snacks.  I personally am big on hard boiled eggs, baby carrots, raw almonds, beef jerky (though it's tough to find without added sugar), celery sticks with almond butter.

I'm about to attempt my first ever quiche.  Thanks for the inspiration, Blanda!

Kim: At least breakfast and lunch were ace! That's me. Those two meals are pretty easy. It's dinner time that I always mess up because it's my comfort meal. Today's a new day and hopefully you've done as well as you like. Yay for new kitchen gear! For many years I had maybe 5 meals on my menu for dinner. I've only in recent years been more adventurous about trying all kinds of recipes to help keep our eating out budget low. We love Asian food, but it can be pricey for a large family to eat out, so I started cooking them at home. So, it's never too late to gain more confidence in the kitchen! 

Christina: I hope you enjoyed your quiche! You probably know that you can put whatever meats and veggies you like in it.

As for me, yesterday was a winning day. 

Breakfast: Leftover quiche and black coffee.
Lunch: Tuna and salmon sashimi and a garden salad with pieces of bbq chicken from my daughter's lunch she couldn't finish. Made my own dressing with EVOO, a bit of balsamic vinegar, salt/pepper.
Dinner: Buffet which I totally did well at. Most seafood, a little beef, steamed veggies, a little sweet potato, with two small glasses of cabernet sav'. My dessert was cantaloupe, which I'm very proud of. There were chocolate brownies and my favorite local custard/cake dessert, but I was strong!

I have to admit, the strength to do well at the buffet came from a comment I got from a long time soccer teammate that hadn't seen me for at least 3 weeks. I met up with her and some ladies to play soccer yesterday and as soon as she looked at me she said "Oh, look at you, you look so skinny!". She said my arms looks skinnier while she pinched at my sides (she has little shame about giving her observations, haha!). She said that I have been "being good" over the break, she can tell. I know she's being honest because she will tell you flat out when you're looking unfit too! Totally motivated me to keep at all these challenges strong! I know this will lead to better performances in my game and triathlon efforts.

Hope you all are having a great evening! 

Blanda...nice compliments!  Love it when someone notices a physical change...makes it easier to keep going!

Mike...I needed a new day already too!  :-)

Yesterday for me was good!  Yay!  Tonight will be tricky to navigate--we're meeting friends out for dinner and then a concert--my last big 'event' of the holiday season.  I am going to do my best to make my dinner out as Paleo as possible.  It's our local authentic Mexican restuarant--delicious in everyway.  I'll do my best! 

Today is a new day!  The biggest thing I've learned over the years is to not dwell on minor slip-ups, or turn those slip-ups into habits.  

I love quiche!  Thank you for the great idea, Blanda.  I think I like it better without the crust.  Who knew! I used turkey bacon instead of sausage.  I'l try sausage next time.  

I have to tell you how proud of myself I am.  I went out for drinks with a friend last night.  Red wine is allowed on the Paleo Diet- Thank goodness!  I had two glasses of red.  I wanted to stay out and have a little more and then eat more- but, I didn't!  New Year's Eve will be a challenge.  I'm heading to a small get together where there will be lots of food and alcohol.  I'm bringing bacon wrapped scallops and proscuitto wrapped cantelope.  I will have some red wine, and maybe champagne at midnight.  My big goal is to stay away from any grains and cheese.

Have a great day, all!  I'm heading back to the pool after a nearly 3-month hiatus.  I hate the pool.  I'm a bad triathlete 

Happy New Year's Eve/Day 6!  I hope you all have wonderful days.  I'm heading out on a 40 mile ride with friends.  I think I will bring two Hammer gels with me.  I just filled up with a breakfast of left-over quiche, sweet potato slices, and a banana.  I think that and the two gels should keep me fueled with no problem.

I went out last night for dinner.  I ordered the most paleo friendly item on the menu, Cioppino, which is one of my favorites!  I'm sure there was sugar in the sauce and I know there was also butter in it, but it's alright.  I didn't touch the bread and ate around the penne pasta they threw in.  Cioppiono does not need pasta!  I was surprised it was even in there.  

Have a great day today!  Nice work so far to all of you!

Happy New Year's Eve Paleo Pals!  I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday!

Today I am going to attempt my first ever salsa.  I think this challenge has created a monster!  Who knows, I may move up to ceviche before we know it!  Wish me luck!