New Challenge: 60 Days

I did really well on the first 30 days. Piece of not-really-cake-cake. Then I got cravings for the sweet stuff, and it was fine; I satisfied it with some 80% cacao chocolate and paleo brownies. The paleo brownies turned into chocolate pieces that turned into coconut milk ice cream with agave. But those, sadly, sparked the fire that would...

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De-Lurk Wednesday: How did you hear about Paleo?

How did you come to this diet? Now be honest. Did you think it was a load of bunk before you heard it out? Or was it something you intuitively knew to be right, but you didn't have a name for it? Did you research it nonstop before you began, or did you plunge headfirst? I had heard about it from a vegetarian friend of mine who was making the switch. As soon as he began talking about the paleo lifestyle, I knew right away that it was what I had been looking for. For years I had been feeling "off", but not sure why. My weight was more or less...

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Featured Post 9/6

Later this week I have some fantastic recipes to post, but first I want to put up the featured post of the week. I don't have children, but I do think about what I ate as a child, and how I would feed children if I had them. I know a puppy isn't a child, but I have a maternal amount of concern over what Henry eats, and how his condition and behaviour...

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Your Cheating Heart

Yesterday Henry spent the day at a dog-daycare facility as a trial run for boarding him for this upcoming weekend (Music Fest North West!). He and Jeff's dog Jezebel spent the day romping about with canine pals, peeing on things, and generally goofing off.  I spent the day eating bread.  It wasn't a planned "cheat day" per se; I knew...

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Stocking the Paleo Pantry

When I began Paleo, I was highly enthusiastic about starting. I cleaned out every scrap of sugar, processed food item, gran, bean... it was gone. Unfortunately, this left my cupboards exceedingly bare. Now I advocate taking this approach, because you're less likely to eat something non-paleo "just so it doesn't go to waste". To make sure my food...

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De-Lurk Wednesday: The "Who Are You?" Edition!

Who do you think you are?  No, really. I want to know! Most of the folks popping by here seem to have come here from chowstalker, so I'm assuming that the bulk of you already eat paleo. I want to know about you all: so the big question I'm putting out there is Who are you? What blogs do you guys have? Are they paleo? Political? Whimsical? What is one thing you want people to know about you, or to associate with you? Other than site hits, I don't know who any of you are, and I'd love to change that. Every Wednesday I want to have a new...

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Sweet Potato Soufflé

My boyfriend Jeff, and my good friend Ivan both have had a lot of trouble battling some paleo temptations. For Jeff, working every single day in a bakery was just too much, and he conceded to a 70/30 paleo diet. When we eat together, we eat 100% paleo. On his own though, he prefers the now-and-again pastry, Chipotle burrito, or sandwich. He's at...

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Stats and Perspective Update!

Here are the stats after the first 30 days on Paleo. I've lost a total of 8 pounds, and several inches. I feel more alert, less hungry, and definitely happier. Although I initially was 100% focused on seeing the scale change, that has become less important to me than how I feel day to day. Not to mention: I keep losing inches, so I'm definitely slimming down. I do wish I knew why the weight itself isn't changing. I am exercising more, but not enough to build equal amounts of muscle, or so I thought.  This is my new perspective on Paleo,...

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Offal Good

I'm going to start posting food-related videos here as both a way for me to remember them, and as a helpful resource. In the video shown here, Chef Jason Bond prepares a pork heart in an appetizing way. This week I purchased some beef heart from my local Asian market, but had no idea how to prepare it. After some reading, I had decided to do a quick...

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Bleak

I know I've been a bit quiet over here: thus far this week has seen no recipe posts, no featured posts, and no stats. To be honest, I've been avoiding a lot of things. Yes, still on paleo, and CC will pick up again now, but when life decided to be a pain in the ass, certain things get dropped first. I've been on the job hunt for a little over a month now, and had just been called for a second interview at a place this week. It was a great nonprofit, and I felt pretty confident about the interviews. Sadly, it was down between myself and one other...

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A Routine

Something I've wanted to add for some time is an exercise routine. Today I finally cobbled together something that I can keep up with until I join a gym later this autumn. Following youtube videos and blogs, I've put together an intro routine of jump roping (eventually double-unders, for now I'm simply trying to keep up jumping for an extended period of time), push-ups, squats, and box jumps. I also want to add running 3x a week, minimally. I've begun adding links to inspiration and techniques that I'm personally incorporating. They're under the...

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Paleo Creamy Coleslaw

 I love, love, love a good creamy summery coleslaw. With barbecue it's always my side of choice, even before potato or macaroni salad. Now all the coleslaw I used to make would have a bit of sugar in it, but since that's no longer allowed you can sweeten with a little apple or pineapple juice, if need be. I found that this didn't particularly...

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Meals for Week Two

Monday Breakfast: Mushroom, scrambled eggs, leftover pork from Sunday. Lunch: Sweet Potato "pudding" (recipe coming soon!) Dinner: 5 deviled eggs, 1 cup Kim Chee Snacks:  None today Notes: Breakfast was filling, and excellent. The sweet potato recipe test was a success as well! Tuesday Breakfast: Beet Greens Lunch: Curry "failure":...

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Stats

So better than simply judging by a scale (which has been frustrating of late), I can gauge how the paleo diet is affecting my body with measurements. The night before I began, I measured every section I could think of with a tailoring tape measure.  Now I'm not thrilled with the idea of putting measurements up in the public sphere, but 1.) I want this blog to be completely open and honest, and 2.) I want people coming into paleo to get an accurate idea of how paleo might change their physical shape, and how quickly that might happen. That's...

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First Frustrations

Tonight I'll be putting up the meals from Week 2, as well as stats for the first two weeks overall. My weight loss has decided to go elsewhere for the time being, but it's not helping that (fellas, look away) it's that time of the month (okay, you can come back now) and I've been undeniably stressed over the job-hunting that is taking a surprising...

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Featured Post 8/15

There aren't many "celebrity" paleo-ers out yet, although there's always the hint of so-and-so on a "limited grains" diet, or "high protein, high fat". Rumours abound of Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie, and Matthew McConaughey all being on the paleo diet. Whether these are true or not remains to be seen, but recently internet celebrity Heather Armstrong...

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Stuffed Poblano Peppers

So sue me, I like a lot of heat in my food. Sriracha is like ketchup to me (in my pre-Paleo days I loved box mac and cheese with sriracha on it. Oh man alive). And I love peppers of all sorts, shapes, and sizes. My best friend is beloved to me because he has his own garden where he reigns as King of All Things Pepper. He makes these amazing dried...

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Ode to Breakfast

"I'm bored with breakfasts!" is a comment I hear on some of the paleo forums I frequent. I always wonder why. Who made the rule that breakfast had to be composed of breakfast-y foods? Well I for one intend to break the rules! Okay, so I admit... there are eggs up there, and eggs are still a traditionally breakfast food. But my point is that breakfast...

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Week and a Half!

Nearly two weeks in, and I'm still raving (to all my friends, over and over, who no likely wish me to shut my trap by now...) about the Paleo diet! Although weight loss has stalled (lost 6 pounds, then gained a pound and held for the past three days), I'm still feeling more alert, energized, and motivated than I did pre-diet. I've actually been doing a lot of writing lately; both for CC and compiling a portfolio for "real" work stuff (attempting to land a new job in the nonprofit field). I'm not saying that paleo is a be-all-end-all cure for what...

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Beet Greens

Also known as oh-my-god-these-are-amazing! I had purchased a bunch of beets at the farmer's market, with full intention to roast the delicious root vegetables and tossing the rest. As I separated the first beets from the brilliant greens, I had a moments inspiration-couldn't I cook these as well? I tinkered with a recipe, and have to admit that...

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