Delish!

This was dinner, Coconut-Almond Encrusted Tilapia. Try it....it was ridiculously good!

Coconut Almond Tilapia

EGGS

When I started this, I thought that the biggest hurdle in preparing food would be breakfast. I was not looking forward to being in the kitchen so early and having to take so much time making a home cooked meal...every morning!

The funny thing is that this has become the best part of my day! I love having all of my boys sitting at the table talking to me and cooking with me, I think this also has helped with them eating what I make because they helped in the process.

For breakfast we pretty much have only been eating eggs...it sounds boring but the boys really have been spoiled. This morning they had an asparagus, red onion, and orange bell pepper omelet (with fresh basil on top). The boys each had a huge man size portion, and they all gobbled it up! I loved hearing them tell me how good it was Paden even asked if I could make one just like it tomorrow!

Following the Paleo diet, I can make waffles and pancakes with either coconut flour or almond flour but i wanted to stay away from that for at least the first 30 days. I wanted the boys to get used to eating some type of eggs and not a sugary breakfast.

There were some left-over's so I warmed the rest up for myself for lunch and the boys ended up eating almost all of it...

I think it has been a success, they are egg lovers!
  

Kingston's favorite part was the asparagus, here he is picking it out of his omelet!

Week 3 Review!

I just finished my third week of this 30 day Paleo challenge! I don't really have anything new to report but here are a few things that have been on my mind.

1. Since I started this I have had many people ask why grains are not okay to eat? Even in the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord refers to grains as the "staff of life". What is interesting to me is that the very next verse says this, "and these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger." Yet, no one reads those verses together..I am no expert on grains but I have been doing a lot of reading on the subject and this is how I feel about it. First, I heard someone say that "grains are not bad for you, bad grains are bad for you" and I totally agree.

Another thing that we need to remember is that we are not living during the same time period. Fresh fruits and vegetables were not available at their local grocery stores year round like they are today, so of course they would eat them in their seasons...does that mean that I shouldn't eat blueberries during winter? No.

Pioneer people were constantly moving and living in harsh conditions, grains are perfect for that situation because they last forever and so the phrase "famine and excess of hunger" would apply.

Also grains are not prepared by most people the way they should be...the way they were back then. Wheat contains a substance called lectin and lectin is not healthy for your body it is quite damaging. When wheat is prepared the right way most of the harmful lectin is removed...soaking, fermenting, sprouting, grinding. If this is how you make your bread than go ahead and eat your grains! Be careful of all of the packaged food at the grocery store, I would not consider those healthy grains.

What about fiber...fiber helps things move through your body? Fruits and vegetables have plenty of fiber and are better for you. My body has never functioned better! So, I suggest doing a little bit of research yourself and you may be surprised at what you find out about the foods that you are eating that you consider "healthy grains."

2. I am still feeling better than I EVER have in my life.

3. Weight? Most people lose a lot of weight when doing this 30 day challenge. I have not. I think the reason for this is that I don't have a ton of weight/fat to lose. I also didn't take measurements of my body and maybe that would show more of a difference, things are fitting better even though the scale hasn't budged! Also. I am probably gaining muscle weight because I am doing lots of strength training exercises.

4. Sugar. I have realized now how addicted to sugar I am and being able to live my life without it has felt so good. I do miss it and am still having cravings. This is another reason I want to continue on the Paleo diet, I want to get to the point where I have no more sugar cravings.

Lunch for my Man

My husband has been the hardest to completely switch from past eating habits to a healthier lifestyle. Robby grew up in a family where drinking soda is almost always the main beverage at every meal and fast food eating is more common then a home cooked meal. I share this only to show how hard bad habits are to break. Robby and I have been married for almost 10 years and I still haven't been able to break him of his soda and fast food addictions. This has been one of my greatest concerns, I do NOT want my sweet husband dying young.


I could go my whole life without drinking a soda, I wasn't raised on it and I don't even enjoy drinking the stuff. More importantly I do not want my kids growing up with the same food addictions that I see my husband struggling with.


Yesterday Robby promised me that he would go 30 days without drinking a soda! I am going to take advantage of this challenge and see that he is eating as healthy as possible. I am hoping that by the end of the 30 days he will feel so much better and not want to go back... I am also preparing his lunches so that he has no excuse to "eat-out". He has left overs from dinner or a big chef salad. I am also packing fresh fruit and homemade lara bars for him to take in his lunches as well...


If I can help my husband change, I would be the happiest girl in the world!

Dairy

One thing that has happened while on this 30 day paleo challenge is that I am learning a lot about healthy eating. My youngest son Kingston will be turning two in May and for his whole life I have wondered if he has had a food allergy especially to dairy. When he was much younger I talked to our family doctor about my concerns and he dismissed all of them, afterward I felt that there was little I could do and even that the doctor was right and I was wrong. Well, I shouldn't have listened to him! 

My kids have been almost completely off of dairy for the past three weeks. There hasn't been any trace of cold cereal eating, no cheese, hardly any ice cream, and very little yogurt in our house since I started this. I will allow my older boys to have their favorite organic brown cow yogurts every now and then but that is it. Kingston has been off of dairy this whole time and I have seen such a difference! Before the change he was going poo sometimes up to 5 times a day and it was always diarrhea. Kingston's little bum was always red and would even crack and bleed. Now he has one poo a day and his bum is actually normal! A few times Kingston has taken a couple bites of the boys' yogurt and almost instantly his diarrhea comes back.  I remember when he was a newborn and he had the most severe diaper rash ever, I was sure it was from an allergy but my doctor would not agree. I feel horrible that it has taken me this long to finally eliminate what has been hurting his little body...ugh! At least now I know better. Making a warm breakfast every day for my boys is a lot more work than a bowl of cold cereal but I feel so good knowing that their bodies are being filled with healthy food...no more dairy! 

My favorite

Growing up my favorite vegetable were brussel sprouts! I know, weird! My mom would always steam them and then put butter on top, so good. Lately I have been roasting almost all of our vegetables and today I put a little twist on the usual roasted brussel sprouts and added dried cherries! The dried cherries are a good addition, they are tart and sweet which goes perfectly with the bitterness of the brussel sprouts. Try it.

Preheat oven to 420
Cut brussel sprouts in half, lenthwish
drizzle evoo on top
salt and pepper
I also add a little cayenne
Bake until tender about 20 minutes
After it's done baking drizzle with more evoo and add dried cherries

Another yummy recipe

 I saw this recipe and thought it looked good. So I gave it a try. It's sort of a spaghetti and meatball type of recipe but instead of noodles, spaghetti squash and instead of regular meatballs, chicken sausage.

I thought it tasted really good, the boys weren't the biggest fans though!

One change that I made was instead of using spinach I used a handful of fresh basil and cut it up and added it to the tomato, coconut milk, and chicken sausage mixture.

Bon apetit.