Phase Three - Day Five

I knew we were going to have a big dinner, so I kept breakfast and lunch small. Had a few pieces of fruit for breakfast and snacks, then lunch was chicken "salad" on a cucumber. Pretty good, and simple: cucumber sliced in half long ways so it looks like a boat, few ounces of grilled chicken, an avacado, and two hard boiled eggs. I just put the chicken, avacado and eggs in a bowl and mashed them up then put it on the cucumber! It was a lot of cucumber for my taste, so I think next time I'll only do a half of one rather than the whole.

Dinner was BIG and delicious. Chicken fried steak, smashed sweet potatoes, and grilled celery, carrots, onions and garlic. Grilled celery? Yup! It was awesome.
We "chicken fried" the steak by using almond flour, eggs and I think a little almond milk. Then just grilled it in a pan with a little oil/grease. Pretty dang good.

Phase Three - Day Four

This should have been my last day on phase three, but I decided to add a day due to doing so horribly on Tuesday.

Breakfast and lunch were boring as always, so I'll just skip them and move on to dinner.

We had...drum roll please... Steak, paleo biscuits, and BACON ASPARGUS! It was so good.

We bbq'd the steak with minimal seasoning - just some onion powder, garlic salt and pepper, no sauce - and sauteed some onion and garlic in bacon fat. DELICIOUS! The biscuits were left over from my batch I made tuesday.

Now for the bacon asparagus. OMG amazing! And way simple:

• Preheat oven to 400
• Cut strips of bacon in half
• Snap ends off of asparagus
• Wrap each asparagus spear in one half strip of bacon
• Bake for about 25 minutes

I like my asparagus super soft, so I went for the whole 25 minutes. But if you

Phase Three - Day Three

Well, I cheated. I'll admit it. It was awful.

My boyfriend and I went out for Valentine's day, to one of our favorite places - BBQ! - and...went crazy. Afterwards, we both regretted it!

But before dinner, I had done pretty well. I wasn't super hungry all morning, so I kind of had brunch.

Brunch: Paleo Biscuits and Eggs
Snacks: Almonds and apple

Yup, I said biscuits! How? Simple...almond flour. Here's the recipe:

Almond Flour Biscuits

• 2 1/2 Cups almond flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Baking soda
• 1/4 Cup Natural buttery spread (Warning! Controversial as to whether or not it's Paleo/Primal)
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Tbs Honey

Yields 10 Biscuits
Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Gradually add dry to wet and mix well! Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until brown on bottom edges.

I dropped mine on a cookie sheet, rather than adding more flour, rolling them out, and cutting them. The dough was the consistency of cookie dough, so I used my cookie scoop! Then added what was left to each biscuit, using my little spatula to kind of flatten them.

They were a little buttery for my taste, since the almond flour provides a nutty, buttery taste anyway. I'm working on converting the butter ingredient to canola oil, to make it authentically paleo/primal. Plus I cheated with margarine because that's all I had.

Phase Three - Day Two

I'm going to have to start posting the morning after, so this is about yesterday.

Phew, day two and I'm already feeling worn out. It's hard to think of primal friendly meals. I've been doing my research on recipes, I just seem to misplace them up until about an hour before dinner.

Things went well though! Got distracted by a writing project so I didn't eat much - bad cavewoman!

Breakfast: Apple, scrambled eggs
Lunch: Almonds, Apple
Dinner: (aka awesomesauce!) Almond/coconut chicken, whipped cauliflower, and roasted carrots, zucchini, and onions.

Dinner was SO good and SO filling! I used almond flour and shredded (NOT flaked) coconut for the "breading" on the chicken, steamed cauliflower till it was super mushy - added sauteed onions and garlic - and whipped in the blender. Lesson learned: blenders are not all created equal, some totally suck and can't whip cauliflower all that well. I'm going to try it again, but whip them by hand. They had a funky texture, but tasted awesome!

Would my readers like some recipes? I can start gathering and make a page. Also, 'tomorrow' I'm going to try my first bread product I think...Paleo Biscuits. Wish me luck!

Phase Three - Day One

It's here! Day one of phase three. Phew, I was almost thinking it would never come.

I started off sluggish today, slept in, drank my coffee slowly, didn't end up eating breakfast till almost noon! Crazy.

Breakfast: Bacon and Egg cups (so worth it every time)
Lunch: Green Smoothie (didn't feel like making anything else)

And, since it's phase three...DINNER!
I had zucchini "pasta" and spicy Italian meatballs. And let me tell you, it was amazeballs.

I cut the zucchini julienne, so it was nice and thin like spaghetti noodles (it was much easier once I figured out the newfangled chef envy slicer...so there were some thick ones I did by hand), and popped them in the microwave (in a Pyrex) for about 3 mins. The meatballs were turkey, egg whites, almonds I smashed into oblivion, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and lots of red pepper flakes. I pan seared them, and they were awesome. I'll post a recipe soon, I'm thinking of doing a whole recipe page. Once I can figure out how to do it!

Dinner was hard to think of, but once I had the idea it came along quite nicely. Luckily, my boyfriend is totally on board with this adventure and is willing to eat caveman dinners with me :-) He's even trying to stick to caveman eating for breakfast and lunch as well. I think we're going to try and re-work some of our favorite recipes to be caveman friendly!

All in all, I'd say it was a success.

Phase Two Day Five

This is a late post, so keep your eyes pealed for more to come tomorrow!

I spent the day with my sister, so I had to think ahead of time what to eat. Luckily, I had enough time on my hands to prepare some cave woman friendly snacks and such before heading out for the day.

Breakfast: Green Smoothie
Lunch: Romaine, carrots, sliced almonds and avocado dressing.
Snacks: Almonds and apple

I went crazy at dinner and ate at Red Robin - ordering my usual, feeling like I hadn't had simple carbs in so long (really, it had been 24 hours). And I felt yucky. I first figured that I ate too fast, and my stomach just wasn't used to the amount of food in such a little time. But even a couple of hours later - well in to the digestion process - I felt gross...sluggish with a stomach ache.

And then it hit me - simple carbs! My body is getting used to processing complex carbs and proteins and fats all day, then when I shock my system with a poor diet choice, it gets out of whack. Could my body really be changing that quickly?

I'll run some more tests and report back ;-)

Phase Two Day Four

The end is near! Soon I'll be starting Phase Three!

Today was an easy food day again - I had a test to study for, and some other errands to run, so I didn't want to think too hard.

Breakfast: Green Smoothie
Lunch: Salad - romaine lettuce, egg, carrots, avocado dressing.
Snack: Apple, Almonds

The salads just get better and better! This one was missing chicken, but other than that, it was pretty good. Not very filling though, so I supplemented with the apple and almonds. I'm hoping in phase three I'll be having leftovers for lunch on days I don't want to think about it.

Also, I'm going to try making a Paleo bread recipe soon, to try and make some chicken sandwiches. But I have a very busy weekend coming up, so I'll have to hold off for just a few more days.

Looking back, my meal choices haven't had much variety, and for that I'm sorry. Still navigating, still planning, sticking with what I know I can eat and will enjoy. If I get some time this weekend, I'll post a week's meal plan with multiple lunch options, versus the same salad I've been eating for three days >.<

Keep reading! Ask me questions! Stay tuned for more posts!

Phase Two Day Three

Day Three! Yay! Over halfway there!

Breakfast: Eggs, spinach, and onions scrambled
Lunch: Same salad as yesterday (mixed romaine, carrots, and cucumber) but with chicken and avocado "dressing"

The salad was so much better today! I was thinking about it as I was blogging yesterday, and I think it was the missing protein element that made it only so-so. Also, the "dressing"! I found a recipe for a summer salad with avocado dressing - which was really just pureed avocado, garlic, water, and a few other herbs - and decided it was worth a shot. I mixed it by hand (because I had just done a kitchen full of dishes and was not looking forward to doing more), and it was a huge success! Just enough to give the veggies a little more pop of flavor.

I should comment on dinner last night - as it was after my post. I totally over indulged, and I think it was for two reasons: 1.) It was baked mac and cheese with is pretty much my favorite thing in the world; and 2.) I suddenly felt like I needed to consume all the carbs I could while I could.

To say that I'm addicted to carbs is probably an understatement. I love bread. Period. And it's been hard to not just grab a slice, toast it up and slap some peanut butter on it! But I'm dedicated to this experiment, and so I hold off, which apparently means I go nuts when I allow myself some.

I think in order to be successful in the upcoming weeks, I need to ask myself if I'm craving carbs or energy - because I can get energy from fats and proteins as well.

Phase Two Day Two

I got so wrapped up in planning lunches that I almost forgot to blog about today!

Breakfast: Green Smoothie
Lunch: Mixed salad w/avacado and lemon juice

The salad was only so-so, and sent me on a mission to find cavewoman friendly dressings. I'm still on the hunt, but I will post my findings once there are some.

Things are still going okay...but today was the first day where I felt the yearning for an easy option rather than taking the time to cook something cavewoman approved. It's hard to have leftovers in your fridge that are non-caveman foods, when you're trying to do things right. I keep staring at that container of mac and cheese...wanting to dive in fork first till it's devoured.

I'm starting to feel the repetativeness of the fruits and veggies I've chosen also, which means I probably need to find new things that I like, or create a rotation or something. Also, since I didn't have eggs for breakfast, I've kind of been dragging ass. Note to self: Morning protien is a must!

I'm hoping for a better/more creative tomorrow.

Phase Two Day One

Today marked the beginning of phase two - lunches.

Honestly, it went well! With the green smoothie recipe on the back burner, I was able to muddle through the day with little cavewoman thinking. I had an idea about what I wanted to try for breakfast, and figured a smoothie for lunch would be an easy fix until I find good lunch recipes. I seem to have a lot of dinners...not a lot of lunches.

For breakfast today I had bacon & egg cups (recipe below)! So good! Followed by a smoothie for lunch. So far, I haven't been all that hungry today, and I feel like I've packed my body with vitamins and minerals, so I'm feeling good.

Reflecting over the last week, I feel I've gathered some bits of knowledge that I thought I'd share:

1. A little planning ahead of time can go a long way
2. Don't sacrifice your health for what's on sale
3. Listen to your body, it'll tell you when it needs fuel

Just a little food for thought. Now, on to the bacon and egg cup recipe!

Bacon and Egg Cups
For two cups, you'll need:

• Two eggs
• Three strips of bacon
• A muffin tin

Fry the bacon slightly, just as it starts to brown (about two or three minutes). Dabble some of the grease along the bottom and sides of two cups of the muffin tin, then line it with the bacon. I cut mine into half strips to make it a lot easier. Be sure to put some on the bottom! Crack an egg on top of the bacon. Bake in oven at 400, for about 15 minutes.

Super Bowl

Aka worst Cavewoman weekend ever.

I give myself one free day a week (If you have a problem with that, too bad!), and during the beginning phases of this experiment I let that day be in between each phase. As it turned out, this weekend worked well for that...except for Sunday. Technically I was supposed to start phase two on Sunday, but the Super Bowl got in my way!

Yes, I had options I could have indulged in, but I chose not to...And honestly, it made me feel guilty. But I'm taking it as a learning moment - this isn't going to be easy, this is a learning process, and this takes dedication and commitment. Pre-planning is key.

Here's hoping for a successful Phase Two Day One today.

Phase One - Day Four

I did it! Four days of cavewoman breakfasts!

Today I took it easy, and after feeling like yesterday's breakfast wasn't fantastic - not horrible, but could have been better - I stuck with what I know I like...GREEN SMOOTHIE! (click for post w/recipe)

Yum.

Overall I'm noticing a change in my attitude towards food. When I start the day with a health-conscious meal, I tend to continue to make those choices. I think it's special K, or nutrigrain that used to have a commercial like that, which I often scoffed at, but now I'm thinking it's actually true. Why undo what you started?

I've noticed a huge improvement in my sleep. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm clocking in a solid 8-9 hours and feel super rested when I wake up. I still drink coffee though :-)

I'm feeling good, looking forward to expanding  my menu to include lunches! Stay tuned for how I manage to get through the Super Bowl...Yikes!

Phase One - Day Three

Third day's a charm?

Again, still just doing caveman breakfasts for the next couple of days, but I feel it's important to blog nonetheless.

Today was omelet day!

• Chicken
• Eggs
• Spinach
• Onions
• Avocado

So delicious! I didn't like the texture of the omelet (my first time making one in my entire life), so next time I'll do it as a scramble. I had two pieces of bacon as well, which I think is listed as moderation food, so I'll have to keep that in check.

Moderation foods are confusing. As I explained it to my boyfriend, since I've seen discrepancies as to what is considered authentic caveman or paleo, and what's considered "modern paleo" (basically the difference between extremists and realists), I've categorized the foods that are disagreed upon as "Grey Area Foods." Grey Area Foods will be eaten only in moderation.

Phase One - Day Two

I had an interview this morning, so my breakfast was delayed a bit. I actually didn't end up eating it till almost 1! I still started my day with coffee - only two cups today instead of three, and I feel fine - and meant to grab some fruit on my way out but totally forgot. I did make sure to drink three glasses of water though.

I wanted to try something new today - besides the omletes I planned - and remembered seeing a recipe on Pinterest for green smoothies. What's a green smoothie? I'm glad you asked! It has lots of veggies and fruits in it, packed with vitamins and minerals, and tastes surprisingly awesome.

You can find the original recipe here, or try my version:

(Original recipe is for 12 "cups" which makes 6 smoothies; I made half because I wasn't sure I was going to like it)

• 1/2 Cup coconut water (I found some CHEAP in the hispanic foods section)
• 1/2 Cup regular water (Found at your local sink ;-)
• 1/6 Cup almonds
• 1 Cup spinach (I used baby leaves, whole)
• 1 Celery stalk, chopped
• 1/4 Orange
• 1/2 TBS honey
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 Cup (or about one medium) mango cubes (original recipe calls for frozen, I used fresh because I trust it more)

   Place ingredients in order listed in a blender. Blend/puree until smooth. Pour mixture into muffin tin and freeze. Makes 6 muffin cups. When ready to consume, take two smoothie cups, add one cup of coconut water, regular water, or almond milk (which is what I used) and blend. If you have a weak blender, cut the smoothie cups in quarters before blending.

It was surprisingly delicious! I think that comes from the almond milk and the coconut water. I think next time I'll add a few ice cubes, to give it a little more of a smoothie texture.

I ate this with the remaining 3/4 of the orange and was full. Easy way to get your nutrient boost in the morning!

Phase One - Day One

Horray! Day one is finally here! I have liftoff!

Woke up this morning jittery and excited! I weighed in to get an accurate starting weight, made some coffee (I'll explain why in a minute), and looked at my planned meals.

I had generated a short (hopefully to be expaned upon) list of appropriate breakfasts, or breakfasts I'd actually eat, in order to make the process a little easier. As things progress, I'll expand. I hope to eventually have a decent sized list to share with you all - breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks.

I picked the easiest breakfast today, because I didn't really feel like making a bigger mess in the kitchen then there already was. It was as follows:

• Three eggs - scrambled, no milk, no salt, just eggs!
• A small handful of chopped fresh spinach - a little too small, should have put in a little more
• About a quarter of a small avacado - literally only 25g of avacado, it was kind of brown, but I still went with it

It was pretty good! I had a large glass of water too. Like I said, it was simple, but I felt pretty good getting that dose of protien and iron to start my day.

Okay, now, why I still drink coffee:
I have two justifications for this. One, I only use a total of three tablespoons of half and half a day - equalling 2 carbs total. Two, I have a major addiction to the caffiene (actually true! I have experienced withdrawl symptoms when I have not had at least two cups of coffee in two days).

Okay okay, I know that half and half isn't natural, wasn't available to our anscestors, kind of defeats the purpose of this, yadda yadda yadda, I get it! BUT in my defense...I don't think it defeats the whole purpose. If three tablespoons of processed dairy product is enough to cause major medical issues, massive weight gain, and for you to not take me seriously...then I say lighten up! It's less than a quarter cup a day, less than four gallons in a year (3.6 to be exact). I'm going to take my chances.

Pre Phase One - Meal Planning

I should have posted this last night, but did it this morning instead.

In order to do things right, I felt like I needed a battle plan. Meals have to be premeditated now. I sat down and thought about what I could possibly eat during this experiment. When my own mind failed me, I turned to the advice of others.

I plugged in "Paleo" to Pinterest and came up with a lot of great stuff! Even a whole board dedicated to Paleo recipes. I was ecstatic and pinned away, created a whole board myself dedicated to recipes of Paleolithic varieties. I tried to keep in mind the practicality of things - I'm allergic to bananas, and a lot of recipes use them - as well as cost - making my own almond flour versus buying it.

The next step was making a meal plan for the next four days - aka Phase One. It's hard to shy away from the typical breakfast foods: pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, biscuits, etc. But I have faith. So far all I've come up with are two concoctions of similar design involving eggs and added veggies - okay, that was my fancy way of saying omelets.
But I did find a recipe for pancakes! I'm going to try and keep it simple for now, just to get the ball rolling, because as soon as I have liftoff, I'll have at least forty breakfasts to account for.

Pre Phase One - Shopping and Cavewoman-afying my pantry

Just got back from shopping. I had my little list ready to go, but found that it was hard to spend so much money on things when I know I can get them cheaper elsewhere. For instance, the store I went to (which shall remain nameless) wanted over four dollars for a small bag of almonds. FOUR DOLLARS! Where at a bulk food store, I could get a large bag of almonds for about the same price.

Also, the store I went to didn't have everything I wanted (mainly almond flour and mint leaves), so I improvised with healthy options I knew of. I didn't buy a single packaged food item (except for bacon for the boyfriend), or dairy product.

Before I went to the store, I made a list of all the veggies and fruits I wanted to eat, nuts, meats, the whole shabang. When I got to the store, I realized, I'm not going to be eating all this over the next few days! I'm starting with just breakfast! So I trimmed the list down as I went, but it was still hard to focus with all the excitment of the experiment in mind.

My suggestion for next time: Make a meal plan for the phase I'm on, and only get the required ingredients. I might save some time, and cash, if I'm not over buying.

I'm still working on the pantry - separating boyfriend's foods from mine, as well as reserving a spot for my cavewoman friendly snacks only. It's going to take some time, I have about seven opened boxes of pasta that may or may not be stale, and may or may not be eaten over the next couple of weeks. But it's all part of the process!

The Introduction - AKA Why the heck would I want to eat like a caveman?

Like most of America, I've been on and off diets most of my adult life. Okay, all of my adult life. I've found the most success with calorie counting and training for certain athletic events. However, as the weather changes so does my motivation, and I end up gaining weight back. What can I say? I have a hard time committing and changing my lifestyle for the long run. I like instant results, quick fixes and little comitment.

What's the caveman diet?
Good question. I've done a little research here and there, mostly reading what's free to me on the internet (which is a lot!), rather than buying four different books that all say the same thing. Meat and fat good, carbs bad. Of course, there's more to it than that. As far as I've seen, and read, and interpreted, the paleoithic diet focuses on a steady intake of lean protiens, healthy fats or natural fats, and lots and lots of nutrients. Less simple carbs, more complex carbs, and no sugar or added salt whatsoever. And when you break it down like that...doesn't that sound like the food pyramid we've all grown up with?
The authentic cave man diet also eliminates all dairy, since our anscestors wouldn't have had access to it in the form it's given to us now. I choose to take this lightly, and limit my diary intake. REALLY limit it.

So why would I chose a diet that's so restrictive?
First, I don't think of it like a diet, I like to think of it as adapting a new lifestyle. Well, new to me of course. Rumor has it that while following these dietary rules and restrictions, one can not only lose weight, but also quicken the mind, revitalize the body, and flush toxins from it regularly. I would love to drop this extra weight, but I'd also like to experience all those other perks. So that's going to be my focus, the benefits that come from eating this way, besides dropping weight. Because what's the point of being on a diet when you drop weight but don't gain anything...like life expectancy, brain effeciency, and lean muscle development?

How do I plan to do it?
The best advice I found online was a gradual integration to caveman eating, rather than trying to do it all at once, and quitting bread cold turkey.
I've broken the experiment into the following four phases:

1. Phase One - Breakfast (Four Days)
• Eat a cave man approved breakfast in the morning, accompanied by at least one large glass (like a pint glass) of water.
2. Phase Two - Lunch (Five Days)
• Eat a cave man approved breakfast in the morning, followed by a caveman approved lunch, and lots of water.
3. Phase Three - Dinner (Four Days)
• Eat three cave man approved meals a day, complimented by some light snacking and lots of water.
4. Phase Four - The Whole Shabang
• Four weeks (minus one cheat day a week) of three or so caveman approved meals - probably will be smaller portions than before, and accompanied by lots of "grazing" or snacking. Oh, and lots of water!

Dr. Cordain suggests eating paleoithic for 80% of the time. This sounds reasonable, as it's almost impossible for some people to go that long without a good chunk of bread or something. This equates to about one day a week that's a non-caveman day, referred to by me as a "cheat day." During the first two phases, non-caveman meals will be eaten as regular, but with a conscious decision to keep them relatively healthy.

Be sure to check out my Stats page to follow along with how the weight loss and physcal ability is going!