Pre-Paleo-Ing: Part 2

Time flies so fast during and between holidays! This post is way over-due, but I'll try to make it happen while one of my kids is in the high-chair eating strawberries and the other playing with trains. (Ha! By the end of this post, both have been bathed, had snacks and are now napping!)

In Part 1 of this little series of why we changed our diet, I told you a little of my logical reasonings behind our choices. I'm not all that scientific or medically savvy like my husband and many other people, but there are plenty logical and obvious reasons I found to give this diet a try.

That simple choice, though, was followed by a not-so-simple change of mind! When you've been  working hard for years to learn to make whole wheat bread from scratch and always shop whole grains, brown rice, raw sugar and all the other "better" options for your family, it is very hard to switch to NO grains, plus everything else! I soon realized that my Top 30 Meals list I had been working on for the past year or more wasn't going to work! I had to basically start from scratch, again, and re-learn everything. For a few weeks I felt like I had no clue what to do in the kitchen, and I felt like I might die because there were no comforting brownies or quesadillas to reward myself with at the end of a long day! (I little bad habit I had.) I also felt like I was always starving! "How can this be good for you if I never feel full?" I would ask.

Well, after having done this diet change for just a few months now, here's what we have learned. There so much, but I'll make each section as short as possible because I hope to dedicate a post (at least) to most of these thing later on.

We feel better!
The combination of summer and moving caused us to go through a not-so-great eating habits season. We were eating a lot more "quick" food and desserts. We started noticing how un-satisfied and rather yucky we felt after eating. For a while I constantly felt sick to my stomach and I was always tired. Always. I blamed it on our two kids who had not learned to sleep through the night, so I was up 4 or 5 times every night. My husband, who works nights, was obviously tired a lot, but even on his days off, he often was dragging and would easily get sick.

After cutting out grains, legumes, sugars and most dairy, we started feeling better very soon. We felt more energy, more satisfied and practically eliminated those "after eating" feelings. The kids still wake up at night occasionally, yet I usually feel much more ready for the day when I wake up. I remember I used to wake-up in the mornings feeling like a truck had hit me the night before, achy and exhausted. And then I would drag along all day hoping for a nap or bedtime. Now I feel like my sleep has been more restful and I have much more energy throughout the day. My husband also seems a lot more energetic on his days off, accomplishing more things he wants to do. Several weeks ago, we were served lunch at a meeting we attended. It was all pasta. We didn't feel good the rest of the afternoon! That's when we first noticed what a difference it has made.

Let me take a second to address what I mentioned earlier, the constant hungry feeling that seems to come with this diet change. The first couple of week you will feel hungry ALL the time! Why? Because if you're if you're replacing all your usual snacks with fruits, veggies and nuts and suddenly there are no grains or dairy in your meals, of course you'll feel hungry. It takes a couple weeks for your body to adjust to this new way of eating. That is why they recommend eating and snacking very often, basically whenever you feel hungry! Because eventually, the goal is for you to teach your body to eat until you're satisfied and then stop. You know that feeling of "I want more and more" when you're eating something gooey delicious like pizza or cinnamon rolls? And then, after you eat more, you wish you hadn't? That's the unsatisfied feeling I'm talking about. Your body needs to learn to eat only what it needs, and before long you'll feel satisfied and healthy.

Dessert still exists...
...and it doesn't have to be fruit drizzled with honey! There are literally tons of recipes out there, they just use different sweeteners and types flours. A whole new world opened up to me when I discovered that something I always knew I shouldn't love as much as I did, could be loved again! :) We all have our pre-conceived ideas of what healthy desserts taste like, and in some cases it can be true, like the ginger snap cookies I made that tasted and looked like dog biscuits! But there are also many awesome delicious recipes and I'm very excited to continue experimenting and finding Paleo-friendly desserts that I can make for unsuspecting non-Paleo guests...and they won't even know! ;)

Find New Favorites
For a while, I was trying to find replacements for some of our all-time favorites. Soon I discovered, especially with breads, that it is better to find new favorites. Banana bread or blueberry muffins with all these new ingredients just aren't going to be the same as before. I think there are some recipes that get pretty close, but in general I've found that there are also a lot of new things to try that are so good, they have become new favorites.

Planning is Essential
If you are not used to cooking much at all, this might be a pretty big transition. Restaurants and grocery stores usually don't have Paleo-friendly ready-made options. The whole premise of this type of eating is going back to the basics, which means, cooking. I love cooking and I'm used to it, but I've also relied a lot on last minute things like pasta, quesadillas or sandwiches at times. I've quickly learned that with Paleo, last minute doesn't work. It takes a lot of planning ahead, which I love. I'm a planner at heart. But it's definitely hard if, like most people, you don't have a lot of time. I'm quickly learning and gathering many tools to help this whole process be more efficient and quick! I can't wait to share them soon.

Budget
Another big question, can we afford this? Eating Paleo-ish means a lot more produce and meats...the expensive things. And if you want to get into baking and desserts, whew! Alternative flours and sweeteners are expensive! I'm not going to lie.

We already were used to sticking to a strict budget. We love Dave Ramsey's teachings and use the enevelope system and all that. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, google Dave Ramsey please! You'll be glad you did.) So changing our diet has just been a continuation of careful budgeting and planning. We also just moved to a more expensive state, so altogether, we have increased our grocery budget a little. Honestly though, it hasn't been as much as we thought because we used to spend so much on milk, cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, ice-cream, bread, chips, tortillas...so many things that we don't buy anymore. So it evens out a little bit. I've also chosen to be pretty careful in baking. There are tons of types of flours out there and I get the feeling that if you're really going to try to imitate a donut or pastry exactly, you can use all these flours and probably accomplish that. But I've decided, for simplicity and budget's sake, to stick to the two most common flours I've seen mentioned: almond and coconut, and to experiment until I find my 5-10 favorite desserts or breads and just stick to those.

Eggs, snacks, kids & other things...
So much more to share! Like realizing that I need to buy about three dozen eggs every time I go to the store now! (What else is for breakfast on a grain-free diet most days?) Or what to snack on all day long? Or what about the kids? Or trying to learn to make meals that will still taste good in my husband's lunch later, since PB&J (his old choice, not mine!) isn't an option anymore. Or what about when we go to friend's homes?

Some of the quick answers are: eggs aren't bad like you've heard before, the kids are doing great and we snack on apple slices, veggies sticks, summer sausage and other delicious things. We've decided that since this diet change is an option that we have chosen for our health, not for any allergy or intolerance, we don't need to offend anyone or become "legalistic" about it. We enjoyed Thanksgiving with the family and we are very much looking forward to vacation and awesome mexican food with my family in a couple months. Also, we give ourselves reward treats every now and then. We don't go pig out on greasy fast food, but ocassionally we'll get ice-cream or chips and salsa or something that we miss. Some of the experts on this diet talk about that or about adjusting your eating habits to 85% Paleo and "normal" for the rest. With family and friend gatherings or the occasional restaurant visit, that usually takes care of "the rest".

Meals at our house these days are a constant experiment. My husband is very gracious and helps me rate dinner every night, should it make it on our new top 30 list or not? I have to admit that a lot of recipes lately have been "not", but many have been so good that he asks me to make them over and over. It hasn't been easy to change, but we choose to give it a try and explore what options and possibilities there are. So far we're loving it! (And so much for a short post...sorry!)

Pre-Paleo-ing: Part 1

So maybe you've heard about this Paleo diet thing...I know many people who follow it, but most people I know haven't heard about it. As I mentioned in the introductory post to this blog, I'm still learning about it and most of my information comes from my husband, the nurse, who is actually reading "The Paleo Solution" by Robb Wolf. Have I mentioned I'm a stay-at-home mom with two kids under 3 years old? No time to read. So he reads, then explains things to me, and I get most of it (some of his medical words go over my head) and write what I learn here. :) This is why we are "pre-paleo-ing". We haven't completely adopted a full Paleo diet...we're actually still questioning some things, keeping an open mind, but wondering why...like no dairy? Zero? Nada? Haven't gotten to that part of the book yet. But I get it: we overdo dairy. Too much of anything isn't good. So for now, until I understand that part of Paleo better, we have cut way back on our dairy intake, like switching to Almond Milk and sometimes, I don't include cheese on the grocery list. (I never thought I'd survive!) I'm getting ahead of myself though...

Before anything else, the Paleo diet as I understand it, is going to sound terrible to you right now. Here it is: Eat meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts. Don't eat grains, dairy (and eggs are not dairy), sugars, legumes, or anything processed or artificial. The end.

How awful, right? :) Well, anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a weirdo and I love desserts and pasta and bread and cheese...that sums up my favorite foods in the world. So why would I be ok with this?? Read on...

As you can tell, I don't claim to be a nutrition, Paleo, diet or medical expert. I'm just a wife and mom, always wanting the best for my family and willing to sacrifice something if I learn that it isn't good. I didn't always think like this, but marrying a nurse has really opened my eyes to a lot. Paleo is kind of new, but the concept isn't. Maybe you've heard of eating whole or real food, or shopping mostly around the outer aisles of the grocery store, not the middle (that's where most of the junk is). Maybe you've watched Jamie Oliver or other people that really stress eating fresh food, not fast food, and not eating anything that has a bunch of words you can't pronounce on the ingredient list. All of these people, books, diets, methods, whatever you want to call them, are basically saying this: WHAT are you eating? What is actually in that package you just opened and are feeding your kids? Why would you put something in your mouth with ingredients you don't even recognize? Do you wonder why there are so many symptoms and diseases these days that weren't around before?

Basically, we've become accustomed to eating what we're given without questioning anything. Maybe us humans are too trusting, but there are companies out there way more interested in your money than your health and just because the label says "Vitamins and Minerals" does not mean it's good for you. That usually means they took everything good out of it and then added it back in an unnatural way.

But how can you know who to trust? It seems like every couple years there is a new diet trend. That's what I think too and that is why we are taking this Paleo thing slowly. But the thing about Paleo is that from a medical point of view, my husband has seen the positive results in people's symptoms just by changing their diet. There are so many diseases that people don't realize have a lot to do with their diet...things you would never imagine, like ashtma or blood pressure problems or migraines or even difficulty getting pregnant! Those are only a few that I remember right now. My husband and I have seen first hand the incredible difference in a couple of our relatives that took on a Paleo-style diet for just 30 days!

So why does this seem to be working for people? Because, similar to the "real food" or "whole food" movements, it's going back to the basics. Back to eating the way people did before there was anything processed or artificial. Paleo itself is based on the idea that this is how cavemen ate in the Paleolithic Era, 2.5 million years ago. STOP right there! We don't believe that. We believe that God created the Earth, animals and humans, as it says in the Bible and that was NOT millions of years ago. We don't believe that there was a time when people evolved from monkeys and lived in caves and wandered around hunting and gathering whatever they found to eat. In the Bible it's clear from the very first people on the planet that they knew agriculture; they worked their land and raised their animals. Yes, there was hunting, but it wasn't as if they had no plan and just wandered aimlessly trying to survive.

However, the basics are still the basics. But what about grains and dairy? And beans and rice? There sure is a lot of bread mentioned in the Bible! Yes, but bread then was different from now. There has been research made on what all the genetics in agriculture have caused in our food and from what I understand, grains in our day and age, in our country, are not at all like what they used to be. As I've said, I'm no expert and you can go research all this yourself, but I like logic and that makes sense to me. Grains have been so genetically changed that they are no longer actually good for us. Are they 100% bad? Or is it just the excess that we are used to that is bad?

I don't yet know. But here is my logic about grains and dairy. Just look at what the typical meals are in our culture. Breakfast: cereal and milk, yogurt, oatmeal, bagels and cream cheese, pastries, pancakes. Lunch: Sandwich, chips. Dinner: Pasta with bread sticks and cake, pie and/or ice-cream for dessert. Do you see it? Grains, dairy, grains, dairy, grains.... Yes, we throw in the occasional salad or fruit, and usually there's some meat somewhere. Or we think drinking orange juice gives us our fruit intake for the day. I'm not pointing fingers, because this was us. We thought we were being healthy because everything was whole grain and made from scratch. But excess is still excess. So I get that, and that's why I'm giving this a try.

In Part 2 I'll tell you more about how my "healthy thinking" has had to change to a "new healthy thinking" and how that has practically played out in our house. Also, we feel better! In the short time we've been doing this (and not even 100%) we have noticed a difference! So come back and I promise to make the next one shorter!! :)