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

Dotcomdolly · 27-10-2012 10:24AM

Guys I have got my hands on some sugar free nam Pla (thai fish-sauce). If you are interested in getting some, €5 for 500ml, pm me. Can't post, but I'm in D12 for collection/meet up.

Dotcomdolly · 02-01-2013 10:02AM

It's my anniversary! One year ago today I started this thread....

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

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.

Animord · 02-01-2013 07:25PM

So, has it been worth it? Anything you miss/would do differently?

Are you still Paleo? and any other questions that you think we might be interested in.

Slydice · 02-01-2013 08:52PM

I was out looking at clothes in the January sales today and spotted some health food places with stuff that Paleo/Primal folks might be interested in.

In the Georges Street Arcade, the Nutri shop (http://www.dublinnutricentre.com/) has:
- 1Kg of Chia seeds for around €18.75 which is the cheapest I think I've seen it around Dublin.
- Sunwheel Pear & Apricot Fruit Spread and Pear & Apple Fruit Spread for €2.45 each which is cheaper than the €3.29 listed here: http://www.hollandandbarrett.ie/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=2794&prodid=3506
- They also have Seaweeds but I've not extended my diet to include Seaweeds so I don't know if they have good prices or brands
- they also have coconut oil

In Blazing Salads on Drury Street, they have a bunch of Wheat Free, Diary Free, Vegan stuff. Some of this might not be compatible with Paleo/Primal (especially need to avoid agave syrup and beans which they use) but I'm pretty sure their Oven Roasted Vegetable Salad is

Nourish Health & Beauty Store on Liffey Street sell
- this Creamed Sesame product (careful now, sounds dangerously fattening): http://thehappypear.ie/shop/product.php?id_product=249
- they also have almond butter and coconut oil

There are a few Asian Supermarkets around the city (one on Mary St at the end of Henry St for example) and they sell Almonds in bags of 800G or 1Kg for much cheaper than Tesco seem to sell them. Lidl sell them in smaller bags and I haven't compared like for like with them yet.

siochain · 02-01-2013 09:19PM

WTG dotcomdolly great tread.

I use a lot of coconut products since changing over

I use a coconut bread recipe close to this one http://www.nourishingdays.com/2009/02/coconut-flour-bread/ only difference is that I add in an extra egg and two tablespoons of milled flax seed, they make for a moister bread. This is a very filling bread due to its high good fat and fibre content my rough calculations is that it comes at approx. 2686 calories, so if you counting calories beware. One or two small slices for breakfast and some green tea keeps me full for hours.

another handy quick meal to prepare for severing two people
Tin of coconut milk
One red or green pepper
One onion
2 chicken breasts
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ginger
In saucepan fry up chicken and veg, add the rest and simmer on low heat for 10mins.

Dotcomdolly · 03-01-2013 09:31AM

Animord wrote: »

So, has it been worth it? Anything you miss/would do differently?

Are you still Paleo? and any other questions that you think we might be interested in.

Definitely been worth it, it feels good to eat this way.
Yes definitely still paleo on a day to day basis, had a couple of cheats/treats over the Xmas period but I'm good at sticking to it in general.
As to what I miss? Eating out with ease...but tbh I don't often eat out anyway...I am about to embark on my 5th Whole30 on Monday and then I will miss my red wine!

Animord · 03-01-2013 07:24PM

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

Definitely been worth it, it feels good to eat this way.
Yes definitely still paleo on a day to day basis, had a couple of cheats/treats over the Xmas period but I'm good at sticking to it in general.
As to what I miss? Eating out with ease...but tbh I don't often eat out anyway...I am about to embark on my 5th Whole30 on Monday and then I will miss my red wine!

Good for you! I have never managed a whole30 yet - keep falling off that blasted wagon and it is always the wine that gets me:o I might make it this time, just a Galaxy left in the house and some sausages - then I can try once more!

Dotcomdolly · 03-01-2013 07:33PM

Animord wrote: »

Good for you! I have never managed a whole30 yet - keep falling off that blasted wagon and it is always the wine that gets me:o I might make it this time, just a Galaxy left in the house and some sausages - then I can try once more!

Yeah it's the weekennd wine I miss most of all while I'm on it for sure.
Start next Monday with me! I'll hold your hand

read this in the meantime
http://whole9life.com/2012/09/the-alcohol-manifesto/

Animord · 03-01-2013 07:58PM

Ok! I have two children's birthday cakes to do in the next month which will be hard, but I will give it a go.

Interestingly on the alcohol thing - since I have been on the whole paleo/primal (though off it a lot

), I have never gone back to that 'ten slices of toast, a pizza and 48 packets of digestives hangover cure' that I used to do after drinking - it doesn't seem to affect me in the same way any more. Probably partly just habit but I don't seem to have those terrible carb cravings after booze that I used to.

Yay - exciting! And there was a Chicken, celery and ginger broth in the Sunday Times magazine last weekend that I really want to try, so maybe that'll be next week's big treat.

Let me know if you want the recipe - there was fish sauce in it but I am guessing i can replace it with a bit of ground anchovy or something.

Dotcomdolly · 03-01-2013 08:23PM

By give it a go, I take it you mean you will DO IT! If you go in giving yourself the option of quitting you're making it too easy to do so.

Recipe sounds good, when you get the chance to post. I have some nice homemade chicken stock in the freezer I could use...and I have a stash of sugar free fish sauce too

Animord · 03-01-2013 08:47PM

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

By give it a go, I take it you mean you will DO IT! If you go in giving yourself the option of quitting you're making it too easy to do so.

lol - you have been reading too much Whole9.

This. Is. Not. Hard.... makes me laugh every time.

Ok, I WILL DO IT.

Animord · 03-01-2013 08:59PM

4 cm fresh ginger, about as wide as a thumb, peeled
1/2 a medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
6 sticks of celery heart, finley shredded lenghways plus a handful of leaves from inside the core
500 ml chicken stock
1 skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
2 handfuls of coriander leaves
1/2 a medium red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped.

Finely grate half the ginger - you want it to turn into a puree. cut the remaining ginger into thin disks, and then slice these across so they form fine shreds. Cut the shredded celery into 5 cm lengths.

Put the ginger in a saucepan with the onion, garlic, dried chilli and shredded celery (but not the leaves). Add chicken stock and 250 ml water and bring to a simmer. Slip the chicken breast into the simmering liquid, cover with a lid and cook very gently for 15 minutes, until the breast is just cooked through. Remove the chicken and put to one side.

Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer again and skim off any scum. Leave to bubble gently for another 20 minutes until the celery is soft.

Shred the chicken breast and when the broth is done, stir the bits into the soup. Leave it to warm through for a minute then add the celery leaves, lemon juice and fish sauce. Turn off the heat and let things stand for a couple of minutes more.

Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with coriander leaves and fresh chilli.

Dotcomdolly · 03-01-2013 09:46PM

Animord wrote: »

lol - you have been reading too much Whole9.

This. Is. Not. Hard.... makes me laugh every time.

Ok, I WILL DO IT.

Yeah I'm the uglier Irish Melissa Hartwig

Maybe_Memories · 03-01-2013 10:59PM

Hey, I'm kinda a bit paleo (going 99% paleo next week) and just have a few questions.

I never really know what to eat. I love vegetables (with a few exceptions i.e. peas) but I hate eating things like salads because I'm never satisfied afterwards. When I tried full paleo the last time my lunch was just a few slices of meat and a few nuts. Every night my dinner was stir fried chicken and broccoli. Breakfast was an omelette which I'm not particularly mad on, but I'll try some more recipes at find something I like.

So I'm putting my previous failures down to meals being to bland, and not enough fat. Breakfast and dinner are never problems because I'll always be at home to cook. But for lunch I'll be in college and have no cooking stuff or microwave so I need something portable. That leaves me with two options; salad (no thanks...) or a smoothie I could put in my sports bottle thing. Probably something like coconut milk, protein powder, kale and spinach. Fat + Protein + lots of nutrients = good stuff. A bit of fruit or a few nuts as a snack. I'm pretty active as well but could do with losing a bit of weight (M, 5'11, 196lbs) so I'd be trying to keep kcal around 1800.

Any other ideas for a cold lunch that is portable? Or any advice in general.

#PS. I have a feeling if I did it properly paleo would be very beneficial to me. Carbs never satisfy me and I'm hungry every two hours.

RobAMerc · 04-01-2013 12:29AM

hi all,

for those of you stuck for a really tasty dessert idea .....

simmer some bananas in coconut milk for a while, add some honey or maple syrup to sweeten and some spices as you wish - nutmeg or cinnamon. I mashed the bananas to create a really nice but weird sort of rice pudding. you could try add other fruits but the coconut milk and banana do something wonderful to each other when heated

enjoy

rob

Dotcomdolly · 04-01-2013 10:36AM

Maybe_Memories wrote: »

Hey, I'm kinda a bit paleo (going 99% paleo next week) and just have a few questions.

I never really know what to eat. I love vegetables (with a few exceptions i.e. peas) but I hate eating things like salads because I'm never satisfied afterwards. When I tried full paleo the last time my lunch was just a few slices of meat and a few nuts. Every night my dinner was stir fried chicken and broccoli. Breakfast was an omelette which I'm not particularly mad on, but I'll try some more recipes at find something I like.

So I'm putting my previous failures down to meals being to bland, and not enough fat. Breakfast and dinner are never problems because I'll always be at home to cook. But for lunch I'll be in college and have no cooking stuff or microwave so I need something portable. That leaves me with two options; salad (no thanks...) or a smoothie I could put in my sports bottle thing. Probably something like coconut milk, protein powder, kale and spinach. Fat + Protein + lots of nutrients = good stuff. A bit of fruit or a few nuts as a snack. I'm pretty active as well but could do with losing a bit of weight (M, 5'11, 196lbs) so I'd be trying to keep kcal around 1800.

Any other ideas for a cold lunch that is portable? Or any advice in general.

#PS. I have a feeling if I did it properly paleo would be very beneficial to me. Carbs never satisfy me and I'm hungry every two hours.

So a hot lunch is out - unless you can bring a thermos ? of stew, chilli something like that?

Personally I wouldn't go with a smoothie, for me paleo is about getting back to real, unprocessed foods, and protein powder certainly isn't natural

When you say you hate salad is it the lettuce you hate so much? But you can have salad without it being based on a huge bed of lettuce

I love this meal planning template and you could implement it with all cold ingredients
http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Meal-Planning-Template.pdf

So a lunch box filled with e.g hard boiled eggs, homemade mayo, prosciutto ham, avocado with lemon juice, olives, cheery tomatoes, carrot sticks, cucumber batons, etc etc you get the idea. Protein + veg + fat = balanced meal.

When I tried full paleo the last time my lunch was just a few slices of meat and a few nuts. Every night my dinner was stir fried chicken and broccoli. Breakfast was an omelette which I'm not particularly mad on, but I'll try some more recipes at find something I like.

To me this just sounds so grim

There is no need to eat like this when doing paleo, there are so many gorgeous recipes/ideas out there - lots of ideas here and it's not even that healthy (which is your primary aim) because you're not getting a full variety of nutrients.

Dotcomdolly · 05-01-2013 11:04AM

RobAMerc wrote: »

hi all,

for those of you stuck for a really tasty dessert idea .....

simmer some bananas in coconut milk for a while, add some honey or maple syrup to sweeten and some spices as you wish - nutmeg or cinnamon. I mashed the bananas to create a really nice but weird sort of rice pudding. you could try add other fruits but the coconut milk and banana do something wonderful to each other when heated

enjoy

rob

This appealed to me in my mildly hungover staate this morning, and wow yummy. I just did sliced banana and coconut milk - nuked for 50secs in mocrowave then mashed up. So comforting. Not allowed on W30 so will have to have it again before Monday:D

siochain · 05-01-2013 06:00PM

now that you have brought up sweet stuff this receipe i got from here

http://fastpaleo.com/coconut-flour-brownies/

1/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup cocoa powder
6 eggs
1 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (i replace this with orange extract)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 cup chocolate chips (I leave these out)

Really great for an occasional treat and the kids love them.

Maybe_Memories · 05-01-2013 06:28PM

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

So a hot lunch is out - unless you can bring a thermos ? of stew, chilli something like that?

Personally I wouldn't go with a smoothie, for me paleo is about getting back to real, unprocessed foods, and protein powder certainly isn't natural

When you say you hate salad is it the lettuce you hate so much? But you can have salad without it being based on a huge bed of lettuce
I love this meal planning template and you could implement it with all cold ingredients
http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Meal-Planning-Template.pdf

So a lunch box filled with e.g hard boiled eggs, homemade mayo, prosciutto ham, avocado with lemon juice, olives, cheery tomatoes, carrot sticks, cucumber batons, etc etc you get the idea. Protein + veg + fat = balanced meal.

When I tried full paleo the last time my lunch was just a few slices of meat and a few nuts. Every night my dinner was stir fried chicken and broccoli. Breakfast was an omelette which I'm not particularly mad on, but I'll try some more recipes at find something I like.

To me this just sounds so grim There is no need to eat like this when doing paleo, there are so many gorgeous recipes/ideas out there - lots of ideas here and it's not even that healthy (which is your primary aim) because you're not getting a full variety of nutrients.

Thanks for this! Actually yeah lettuce is my problem with salads. It's so boring.

Some of those recipies look great! I probably will stick with the green smoothie with whey protein to have after a workout though, I'm pretty active and probably not getting enough protein, and as we all know chicken can be expensive, especially for a student!

Maybe_Memories · 06-01-2013 06:30PM

This is what I have planned for tomorrow. Any changes need to be made?

Breakfast - half of red pepper and mushroom omelette with tomato puree (tomatoes are the only ingredient in it)

Lunch - fish (salmon or tuna), half of red pepper, tomato puree all drizzled in olive oil wrapped up in a steamed cabbage leaf

After my first workout - smoothie from water, kale, spinach, whey protein

Dinner - diced stir fried chicken breast mixed into a sauce made from tomatoes, diced carrot and onion. I'll make a lot of sauce and use it in place of the puree for future days.

Snack - handful of almonds.

How's this looking? I have no idea how many kcals are in this, but I'm hoping for around 1800?

siochain · 06-01-2013 07:33PM

Maybe_Memories wrote: »

This is what I have planned for tomorrow. Any changes need to be made?

Breakfast - half of red pepper and mushroom omelette with tomato puree (tomatoes are the only ingredient in it)

Lunch - fish (salmon or tuna), half of red pepper, tomato puree all drizzled in olive oil wrapped up in a steamed cabbage leaf

After my first workout - smoothie from water, kale, spinach, whey protein

Dinner - diced stir fried chicken breast mixed into a sauce made from tomatoes, diced carrot and onion. I'll make a lot of sauce and use it in place of the puree for future days.

Snack - handful of almonds.

How's this looking? I have no idea how many kcals are in this, but I'm hoping for around 1800?

Depends on how strict your aiming for, some will say the whey is not compliant.

Hard to say if its gong to be 1800 cals without knowing the portions size. A lot of the stuff you have there is not very calorie dense apart from the egg’s, olive oil, almonds and chicken.

DarkBlonde · 06-01-2013 09:24PM

I'd like to join this thread please :-) I'm starting back primal tomorrow. I was eating this way nearly 2 years ago and I loved it. I felt great and also lost weight. I started back eating grains when I became pregnant and then never got back to primal afterwards. To drop the baby weight i tried slimming world but it was going against everything I learned. So here I am back to primal again. I cant wait to get back into it.

Animord · 07-01-2013 12:48PM

Hi, good morning everyone. I am looking for some kind of pepperoni/salami/cured meat that is Whole30 compliant and to save me from doing the Dunnes/Tesco/Lidl/Aldi/SuperValu dance this evening on the way home can anyone tell me which of those supermarkets have anything that meets the criteria?

I am sure I have got stuff in Lidl before, but couldn't find anything on Saturday, but maybe I missed it.

Thanks.

Dotcomdolly · 07-01-2013 03:26PM

Animord wrote: »

Hi, good morning everyone. I am looking for some kind of pepperoni/salami/cured meat that is Whole30 compliant and to save me from doing the Dunnes/Tesco/Lidl/Aldi/SuperValu dance this evening on the way home can anyone tell me which of those supermarkets have anything that meets the criteria?

I am sure I have got stuff in Lidl before, but couldn't find anything on Saturday, but maybe I missed it.

Thanks.

Prosciutto in aldi, Serrano ham in dunnes are best I can think of. Have yet to find a spicy one like chorizo etc.

Animord · 07-01-2013 03:44PM

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

Prosciutto in aldi, Serrano ham in dunnes are best I can think of. Have yet to find a spicy one like chorizo etc.

Hmmm, I guess I am on a mission then. I want something a bit spicy to imrove my eggy breakfast. I will see what I can find tonight and if I can't find anything I guess a trip to the English Market is on the cards for this weekend.

Dotcomdolly · 07-01-2013 05:03PM

Animord wrote: »

Hmmm, I guess I am on a mission then. I want something a bit spicy to imrove my eggy breakfast. I will see what I can find tonight and if I can't find anything I guess a trip to the English Market is on the cards for this weekend.

When I last researched this was the only possible one I found
http://www.gubbeen.com/gubbeen-smokehouse.html

Ant11 · 07-01-2013 05:06PM

Animord wrote: »

Hmmm, I guess I am on a mission then. I want something a bit spicy to imrove my eggy breakfast. I will see what I can find tonight and if I can't find anything I guess a trip to the English Market is on the cards for this weekend.

chorizo is lovely in an omelette. I add chilli flakes too.

RobAMerc · 07-01-2013 05:23PM

Ant11 wrote: »

chorizo is lovely in an omelette. I add chilli flakes too.

+1 and with guacamole - superb.

the drifter · 07-01-2013 05:26PM

anyone know of any decent paleo store bought sauces/dressings? or a simple recipe for one?

Animord · 07-01-2013 07:32PM

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

When I last researched this was the only possible one I found
http://www.gubbeen.com/gubbeen-smokehouse.html[/QUOTE]

Gubeen are fab. I get a whole smoked ham from them every Christmas it is easily the best I have ever had. Everyone loves it.

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

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