How to go primal (without really trying) - join me?

Dotcomdolly

All the info HERE

I'm aiming for one step a week
so today is week 1 day 1
Add more fresh fruits and veggies to your diet. Expand the variety that you do eat. Get some diversity in there. Make them colourful if possible — dark leafy greens, blueberries, purple beets, etc.

I am pretty damn poor at eating fruit & (more so)veg so it won't be too hard to improve on this.
So I had sauteed spinach & mushrooms and a fried egg for breakfast...a very tasty start to the day.

frag420

I may tag along with you on this. No mushrooms however!!

Dotcomdolly

frag420 wrote: »

I may tag along with you on this. No mushrooms however!!

mushrooms not obligatory

Dotcomdolly

Day 1 almost over and I'm proud to say I've notched up 7 veg + 4 fruit

Lunch was a very veggie omelette



and I did things like adding frozen berries to my protein shake.

Definitely keep the brain working on how to get those totals high. Bought lots of veg in Aldi today so looking forward to tomorrow.

Dotcomdolly

Going well, had 3 veg with breakfast, and 2 with lunch (beetroot, goats cheese & walnut salad)



+ 2 fruit so far.

Would love some compnay on my journey to better health....

Frogdog

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

Would love some compnay on my journey to better health....

I'm on a Paleo/Primal -ish diet already, sorry. I'm sure there are some lurkers out there that would be willing to try it.

Gummy Panda

I ate sweet potato for the first time today with tuna, instead of my usual white potato. Does that count?

frag420

im quite the fussy eater so I am going to have to find some alternatives to what your eating...........this will be tough!!

Dotcomdolly

Gummy Panda wrote: »

I ate sweet potato for the first time today with tuna, instead of my usual white potato. Does that count?

I think it's an improvement, I think the whole potato/sweet potato thing is a bone of contention in the paleo/primal plan. Maybe someone more knowledgable can help....

@frag - you don't have to eat what I do! Just add more veg & fruit, and a good variety of it. Try some new things

Red Cortina

Gummy Panda wrote: »

I ate sweet potato for the first time today with tuna, instead of my usual white potato. Does that count?

As far as I can see the only thing that the sweet potato is supposed to have going for it over the regular one is that it is supposed to have a lower glycemic index. But since the whole GI thing is a pile of horse manure, I really don't see the difference in having a regular vs sweet potato. They both offer different nutrients to your well balanced diet.

Also if you are really talking about eating an ancestrally appropriate diet (which is what a paleo/primal diet is, afterall) then you will be hard pressed as an Irish person to find a more appropriate food to eat than the spud IMO.:)

Dotcomdolly

Well we know where reliance on the spud got us!

Day 2 completed , once again 7+3

El_Dangeroso

Red Cortina wrote: »

Also if you are really talking about eating an ancestrally appropriate diet (which is what a paleo/primal diet is, afterall) then you will be hard pressed as an Irish person to find a more appropriate food to eat than the spud IMO.:)

Too right RC! I'm reading this at the moment. (Painfully dry.. not a beach-read that's for sure!) and if there's one thing that I can glean from the book so far its that poor Irish people survived off gallons of milk and pounds of potatoes and not a whole lot else for about 400 years. (To be precise, 14lb of potatoes and 2 gallons of milk PER PERSON PER DAY!!)

It's kind of ludicrous to value the sweet potato (which is a neolithic crop anyhow) over something that has been that much of a staple in our diet for so long.

Plus I fecking hate sweet potatoes. yuk:p

El_Dangeroso

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

Day 2 completed , once again 7+3

Well done! How are you feeling so far? I'd love to join you but I'm honestly scared of what all that fibre would do to my IBS!:o

Rovi

Red Cortina wrote: »

Also if you are really talking about eating an ancestrally appropriate diet (which is what a paleo/primal diet is, afterall) then you will be hard pressed as an Irish person to find a more appropriate food to eat than the spud IMO.:)

The Paleo/Primal 'thing' is based around eating foods that our ancient ancestors ate though, not our more recent ancestors, people we can put names to in many cases.

The reasoning being that 4-5 million years of evolution has left us very well able to utilise 'basic' 'natural' Paleo/Primal type foodstuffs, whereas we've had (relatively) very little time to adapt to 'modern' foodstuffs: grains, refined sugars, etc.; foods that were developed during the recent 10,000 years since to dawn of recognisable 'agriculture'.

Potatoes have only been in Europe since about 400 years ago, which is a period that barely registers on the total time humans have been on the planet, and were domesticated in Peru only 7-10,000 years ago.

I've pretty much eliminated potatoes from my diet at this stage, and don't miss them a bit.
Parsnip (roasted!!!) and cauliflower make excellent substitutes for bulk and mouth-feel, and they taste great too.

El_Dangeroso

Most veggies in their current form are neolithic and specially bred though..I don't get the potato avoidance, parsnips have almost the same amount of carbs and less protein (Fun fact: potatoes are 10% high quality protein!).

I do think if you fry potatoes yes, they become something that you are liable to overeat, I cannot restrain myself around roast potatoes, they have a strange hold on me!:D

But a baked potato with a dollop of sour cream is really filling and healthy.

Red Cortina

Rovi wrote: »

The Paleo/Primal 'thing' is based around eating foods that our ancient ancestors ate though, not our more recent ancestors, people we can put names to in many cases.

Yup, I am well aware of the premise of Cordain's Paleo diet, ie that we have only changed by something like 0.05% in the last 10,000. However it is generally accepted that humans have evolved in the last 10,000 and continue to evolve and adapt. One such adaptation being that we can digest lactose into adulthood (am pretty certain that I read somewhere that this adaptation involved the continued ability to break down lactose ie lactase persistence?)

Rovi wrote: »

The reasoning being that 4-5 million years of evolution has left us very well able to utilise 'basic' 'natural' Paleo/Primal type foodstuffs, whereas we've had (relatively) very little time to adapt to 'modern' foodstuffs: grains, refined sugars, etc.; foods that were developed during the recent 10,000 years since to dawn of recognisable 'agriculture'.

I agree that we are probably not adapted to 'modern' foodstuffs which have been engineered to be hyperpalatable and contain things such as excess fructose, gluten and seed oils. However I'm with El_D in that I fail to see how the poor potato has been bunched in with these things

Dotcomdolly

Well I always tell my kids that potatoes don't count as a vegetable, in my mind they are a starch liek pasta , rice etc, and I have as little as possible. I would see sweet potato in the same light..
for me this is about Add more fresh fruits and veggies to your diet and tryingt o follow the article week by week. I'm not too bothered about labels or whether I'll be eating "paleo" or "primal" by the end of it. I just want to develop an even healthier diet.

@El_Dangeroso , thanks I'm feeling great, very virtuous for sure and it's certainly helped shift the Xmas pounds - I've lost 1.6 lbs in the last 2 days:D

eta breakfast - spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, ham & egg

Gummy Panda

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Plus I fecking hate sweet potatoes. yuk:p

I'm no potato hater!!! I just wanted to see what all fuss was about with sweet potatoes. BB community always goes on about eating low GI sweet potatoes. Tbh i felt the same after eating the sweet potato as I would a white potato.

It wasn't bad cut up into chips and cooked with a little macadamia oil and some paprika. I'd still prefer jacket potato though.

beatrice33

I came across this "Weekly Paleo Meal Plan". It looks good, Im going to give it a go.

It says is not for loosing weight but an "anti-inflammatory eating plan". I'm sure if you adjust the portions will work as well as a diet. I really like all her recipes as I am a huge fan of almond flour.

http://www.elanaspantry.com/weekly-paleo-meal-plan/

Stench Blossoms

I'm gonna try out the cauliflower rice. Sounds lovely.

Dotcomdolly

beatrice33 wrote: »

I came across this "Weekly Paleo Meal Plan". It looks good, Im going to give it a go.

It says is not for loosing weight but an "anti-inflammatory eating plan". I'm sure if you adjust the portions will work as well as a diet. I really like all her recipes as I am a huge fan of almond flour.

http://www.elanaspantry.com/weekly-paleo-meal-plan/

Some nice recipes there, will be checking out the side dishes!

@stenchblossoms
I've done something similar - boiled a load of frozen cauliflower until soft, blitz in processor with cream & seasoning. Very nice.

Dotcomdolly

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

Well we know where reliance on the spud got us!

Day 2 completed , once again 7+3

Day 3 , 8 + 4( I'm counting avocado as a fruit)

Frogdog

Dotcomdolly, can I just say that your meals look mouthwatering!!! I want!

Bottle_of_Smoke

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

and if there's one thing that I can glean from the book so far its that poor Irish people survived off gallons of milk and pounds of potatoes and not a whole lot else for about 400 years. (To be precise, 14lb of potatoes and 2 gallons of milk PER PERSON PER DAY!!)

that's over 7000 cals by rough estimations. and they'd likely been significantly shorter than people of today

wtf like?

El_Dangeroso

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

that's over 7000 cals by rough estimations. and they'd likely been significantly shorter than people of today

wtf like?

I know, back breaking manual farm labour uses a lot of energy I guess! They women were remarked upon for being 'particularly beautiful' so that would indicate very low incidence of nutritional deficiency as the first thing to suffer is usually teeth and facial bone structure development. Dull as dishwater book but it does have a few gems.

Dotcomdolly

Delicious lunch - leftover veg from last night's dinner - broccoli, peas & green beans, made into a frittata with goats cheese & fresh basil.
It's an enjoyable challenge to think of how you can max out the veg quotient of every meal. I'm at 6 veg + 1 fruit already today:D
Last week I probably would have been having 1 veg + 2 fruit per day.

eta - total for day4 = 8+2

Dotcomdolly

Due to lack of forward planning breakfast today was the same as lunch yesterday



Feeling grumpy & finding it a bit tiresome today tbh. Need to think of what I can have next week when the kids are back in school rather than the veggie fry....(mind you I timed it start to finish, 7 minutes, maybe I can fit it in)will check out some paleo sites but a lot of their breakfasts are based on meat.

El_Dangeroso

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

Due to lack of forward planning breakfast today was the same as lunch yesterday



Feeling grumpy & finding it a bit tiresome today tbh. Need to think of what I can have next week when the kids are back in school rather than the veggie fry....(mind you I timed it start to finish, 7 minutes, maybe I can fit it in)will check out some paleo sites but a lot of their breakfasts are based on meat.

Egg muffins are always handy and you can make them the night before and pack them full of veg.

Or if your getting egged out, ratatouille actually makes a pretty delicious breakfast. Or vegetarian lasagne made of aubergine instead of pasta. Or moussaka.. lots of variation on that theme!

Stench Blossoms

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Egg muffins are always handy and you can make them the night before and pack them full of veg.

Or if your getting egged out, ratatouille actually makes a pretty delicious breakfast. Or vegetarian lasagne made of aubergine instead of pasta. Or moussaka.. lots of variation on that theme!

There was a thread about egg muffins awhile ago. The theory sounded great but they weren't that fantastic when I made them.

I had cauliflower rice with my dinner last night... although it was more like mashed potato 'cause my blender useless. Nice though.

Dotcomdolly

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

There was a thread about egg muffins awhile ago. The theory sounded great but they weren't that fantastic when I made them.

I had cauliflower rice with my dinner last night... although it was more like mashed potato 'cause my blender useless. Nice though.

Lol that was MY thread. Yeah they weren't all that, going to try the breakfast loaf recipe from foodee.com

Thanks for ideas el d too

El_Dangeroso

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

Lol that was MY thread. Yeah they weren't all that, going to try the breakfast loaf recipe from foodee.com

Thanks for ideas el d too

Haha! Well I used to love them

What's the recipe for the breakfast loaf?

RobAMerc

this sounds weird but a peach and spinach frittata is a wonderful breakfast.
You'd need to cook it the night before while the oven is on - but its a great way to start the day with a good part of your 5 a day quota !

It starts with frying off garlic and onions which is how I start most dinners so just put extra in main meal and steal it before you put any other ingredients of your main dish in.

saute some garlic and onion( pref in butter ) - being careful not to use too much 1 clove and 1 medium onion is more than enough, add some spinach and a touch of nutmeg and some salt and pepper ( as ever ) -
cook just really till onions are translucent ( dont burn the garlic ( let it go brown ))
pour it all in an ovenproof dish - whack some chopped drained peaches on top together with 6 or more beaten eggs - stuff it in a medium oven and leave it for 40 mins odd and there you go.

It's very odd but superb and if you make it big enough you can keep it in the fridge for a few days ( mine never last ) - you can top it with cheese if you dare !

Rovi

Here's a handy dandy Paleo flowchart from Robb Wolf (click the Attachment link below for a BIG version):

El_Dangeroso

LOL @ 'corn is a grain sucka!'

Oysters fail that chart don't they?

Dotcomdolly

El_D, here's the recipe, my firend made it recetly & subbed out the mince for mushrooms and used butternut squash where it says yellow squash, she also made half the quantity
http://www.thefoodee.com/recipe/1402/

they have daily/weekly ideas here that are in conjunction with the whole30
http://www.thefoodee.com/bld/1387/

robamerc - sounds interesting! migth be good with feta for that sweet/salty thing....but at the moment I am trying to pack as much veg into each meal as poss.

love the flow chart rovi!

Rovi

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

LOL @ 'corn is a grain sucka!'

Oysters fail that chart don't they?

Shellfish in general do, I suppose.

It probably depends on how you define "a face" though.

"Did it have a hole at one end to take in nutrients and another hole at the other end to dispose of waste and some form of digestive system in between?" isn't quite so succinct and snappy

Stench Blossoms

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

El_D, here's the recipe, my firend made it recetly & subbed out the mince for mushrooms and used butternut squash where it says yellow squash, she also made half the quantity
http://www.thefoodee.com/recipe/1402/

Ugh! They look vile. I'm clearly still going to make them though.

Dotcomdolly

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

total for day4 = 8+2

Day 5 = 9 + 3

Dotcomdolly

veggie fry for breakfast
going to make this for lunch
http://groweatrun.blogspot.com/2011/12/chorizo-sweet-potato-soup.html

LoTwan

I am the aforementioned friend. I have just had the breakfast loaf for the 4th day in a row and it is still yummy :-) it doesn't look great but it is a lot like a pastryless quiche. The best thing about it is my 6 year old is eating it with me :-)

I think I might switch chorizo for the bacon for a change the next time. I have 4 days worth in the freezer so I don't have to make any more til Wednesday, for Thursday.

I am following a more hardcore paleo detoxish type plan and have lost 5.5lbs since Wednesday but to be honest most of that is the bloat and grot in my insides after horrific Christmas eating. Completely aside from that I am loving what I am eating and what my kids are eating by association.

We had fabulous slow cooker ribs last night with roasted peppers and onions :-)

I have hit a total of 10 fruit & veg for the last 3 days which I'm very happy about.

beatrice33

LoTwan wrote: »

I am the aforementioned friend. I have just had the breakfast loaf for the 4th day in a row and it is still yummy :-) it doesn't look great but it is a lot like a pastryless quiche. The best thing about it is my 6 year old is eating it with me :-)

I think I might switch chorizo for the bacon for a change the next time. I have 4 days worth in the freezer so I don't have to make any more til Wednesday, for Thursday.

I am following a more hardcore paleo detoxish type plan and have lost 5.5lbs since Wednesday but to be honest most of that is the bloat and grot in my insides after horrific Christmas eating. Completely aside from that I am loving what I am eating and what my kids are eating by association.

We had fabulous slow cooker ribs last night with roasted peppers and onions :-)

I have hit a total of 10 fruit & veg for the last 3 days which I'm very happy about.

Recipe for the ribs? please?

I bought a slow cooker and so far I made beef roast (left cooking too long, and too much water, wasnt great at all) and roasted Ham, which was OK.

Dotcomdolly

LoTwan wrote: »

I am the aforementioned friend. I have just had the breakfast loaf for the 4th day in a row and it is still yummy :-) it doesn't look great but it is a lot like a pastryless quiche. The best thing about it is my 6 year old is eating it with me :-)

I think I might switch chorizo for the bacon for a change the next time. I have 4 days worth in the freezer so I don't have to make any more til Wednesday, for Thursday.

I am following a more hardcore paleo detoxish type plan and have lost 5.5lbs since Wednesday but to be honest most of that is the bloat and grot in my insides after horrific Christmas eating. Completely aside from that I am loving what I am eating and what my kids are eating by association.

We had fabulous slow cooker ribs last night with roasted peppers and onions :-)

I have hit a total of 10 fruit & veg for the last 3 days which I'm very happy about.

Well done on your success, you're doing great! Is chorizo whole30 ok? isn't it full of other crap? My dunnes one I just used certainly wouldn't pass :eek:

Can I ask - are you freezing the breakfast loaf ? and do you microwave to re-heat?

eta - the soup, bloody delicous!

LoTwan

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

LoTwan wrote: »

I am the aforementioned friend. I have just had the breakfast loaf for the 4th day in a row and it is still yummy :-) it doesn't look great but it is a lot like a pastryless quiche. The best thing about it is my 6 year old is eating it with me :-)

I think I might switch chorizo for the bacon for a change the next time. I have 4 days worth in the freezer so I don't have to make any more til Wednesday, for Thursday.

I am following a more hardcore paleo detoxish type plan and have lost 5.5lbs since Wednesday but to be honest most of that is the bloat and grot in my insides after horrific Christmas eating. Completely aside from that I am loving what I am eating and what my kids are eating by association.

We had fabulous slow cooker ribs last night with roasted peppers and onions :-)

I have hit a total of 10 fruit & veg for the last 3 days which I'm very happy about.

Well done on your success, you're doing great! Is chorizo whole30 ok? isn't it full of other crap? My dunnes one I just used certainly wouldn't pass :eek:

Can I ask - are you freezing the breakfast loaf ? and do you microwave to re-heat?

I have frozen the breakfast loaf for future use. I won't know til tomorrow how it survives the process but I know quiche can be frozen. Yes, I have just heated it in the microwave.

The chorizo is not whole30 but to be honest nor is my budget. It has dextrose & sodium nitrate & nitrate in it. I'm not going for Whole30 poster child nor am I going to run my bank account into the red for this so I have to pick my battles. It's also a hell of a lot less **** than I would be eating on WW.

The soup is indeed fab. I'm making it again at the moment.

Slow cooker ribs

Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 lbs beef ribs or pork ribs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion - sliced
125mls beef stock
1.5 tablespoons of vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dijon
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Coat the ribs with salt and pepper, and in a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Brown ribs in olive oil.
In a slow-cooker combine the rest of the ingredients. Transfer the ribs to the slow-cooker.
Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

I got my butcher to cut lengthways thought the ribs (cutting each rib in half) but next time I will get him to cut out every other bone leaving me with full rubs that have meat on both sides.

Dotcomdolly

I look fwd to hearing how the loaf handled the freezer
That's cool re the chorizo, though I do think it's time those Nor Cals got some competition for poster girls
Dinner tonight is a piece of stuffed beef done in the slow cooker with the tomato sauce left over from last nights turkey meatballs.

Tot for day 6 = 12 + 2

Dotcomdolly

Didn't really fancy a "proper" breakfast this morning so made this

Protein shake on skim milk with banana, spinach and spirulina.

LoTwan

The breakfast loaf survived the freeze & thaw well.

Dotcomdolly

LoTwan wrote: »

The breakfast loaf survived the freeze & thaw well.

Great to hear!

Dotcomdolly

Day 6, poor show of 7+2, unless I can count apple pie?

hug0

Did your shake turn out nice?

What portions of ingredients did you use?

Tried spirilina before and it tasted awful! Well done so far Dotcom!

Dotcomdolly

hug0 wrote: »

Did your shake turn out nice?

What portions of ingredients did you use?

Tried spirilina before and it tasted awful! Well done so far Dotcom!

200ml skim milk
100g of frozen sliced banana
1 scoop vanilla kinetica whey
2 ice cubes
Large handful baby spinach
3g spoon spirulina

Really couldn't taste it at all.
It tasted the same as my usual vanilla & banana.

LoTwan

We had a yummy yummy yummy coconut milk curry tonight for dinner.

The kids are loving what we are eating & are keeping a record on the fridge of the fruit & veg eaten every day.

I don't have to cook now until dinner on Wednesday :-)