Paleo, Primal and Somewhere In-Between

Recently, we decided to try this Paleo/Primal thing that we've been hearing so much about lately at work and on several of the blogs that we read. It's an interesting concept that basically has you eating like a caveman. What the hell does that mean? The long and short of it, is that you eat no dairy, grains, legumes, processed food, alcohol and/or sugar. I know what your thinking..."That's some bullshit." and "Hell to the no!".

Trust me; i get it. It sounds like you've just excluded your entire source of happiness. At least it did for me, I could have lived inside a cheese house with faucets that poured half and half. Dairy was my weakness and I truly believed that I would be in the fetal position rocking back and forth after 2 days on this plan. The health benefits are really what hooked us in. Better sleep, mental clarity, no more bloating, filling meals/cravings and and overall detox to the body.

The next questions everyone asks is "Is this for real? What do you eat?". I think we're so trained to eat and crave  processed foods that it's really the majority of what we think about when we think of food. I mean we're surrounded by fast food chains and restaurants on a daily basis. Now, I'm not saying they're all bad and some even have "healthy options". But when you're going to Mexican Restaurant, do you really want to eat grilled tilapia, veggies with no chips and/or tortillas...hell no. You want queso, buckets of it with enough chips to fill the Titanic and warm, fresh tortillas that melt in your mouth and warm your heart...I digress.

We forget about all the things out there that are not processed. Fruits, veggies, meats and nuts. These are the basis of the Paleo/Primal diets. These really do provide endless options for meals and snacks. We've made tons of recipes with simple substitutions that help bump up the health factor while reducing the calorie count. We are not 100% Paleo/Primal (see queso/chip comment above) but I would give us a solid 85%. The weekends is where it tends to get a bit chaotic. Real life tends to work it's way in and old habits can be really hard to break (see queso/chip comment above). That's okay and it works for us; some may say that it's not really Paleo/Primal. I'm good with that and know that in my little cheese house, all is good somewhere in-between.

cd