memorial weekend soon approaching

First off, the first day of summer is June 20th, BUT
Memorial day is may 28th!  Why are these days important?  May 28th is important for most people because that's when they will be donning bathing suits around their friends!  70 days til memorial day (which is a monday) and 67 days til the friday of, which is usually when the fun kicks off!  that's a little over 2 months, therefore it's time to crunch, literally, and get in shape or at least loose a few pounds while you can!
on a different note...
 What makes eating healthy easy is watching the pounds come off!  It is definitely fuel for your cause.  What happens when the weight loss comes to a halt or even a gain (even though you did everything right the day before)?  We start to cheat or cheat more.  Don't let your one little cheat turn into several.  If you can handle it, then incorporate it into your lifestyle, otherwise find a paleo substitute and don't miss a beat!

I have to admit, nearly 2 weeks ago, I treated myself to some amazing local pizza and a shamrock shake at mcdonalds.  Then I had the mentality "well, I cheated once, what's one more cheat gonna do?".  I didn't cheat every day for 2 weeks straight, but lets say I slipped up more than I wanted.  The result, some weight gain.  I wasn't even on vacation or in a new surrounding, I just let my taste buds get the best of me in the moments I was strapped for time.

I have also come to realize that yes, dairy may not be so great for me, but if it comes down to have a piece of cheese or cheating and having ice cream (may not be a good comparison), i feel the cheese is the lesser of the 2 evils by far.  Sometimes, it's impossible to eat perfectly, but before throwing the towel in because you can't find a 100 % paleo choice, go for the lesser evil and you will be glad you did.

My story

Im a 23 year old wife and mother of 2 and here is my weight loss (and gain) journey:
I wasn't born fat, I didn't really start packing on the chub til I was about 7. Around that time, my dad met my stepmom who came from an Italian family, so we went to her parents house very often. I'd eat big portions and it wasn't discouraged from taking seconds. Dessert was common after both lunch and dinner. Needless to say I ate well, too well. My stepmom couldn't cook, so we ended up eating a lot of ramen noodles, hamburger helper, boxed meals, frozen meals, you get the jist. By the time I reached my sophmore year in highschool, I was 280lbs! Due to being overweight, I was shy and self conscious, I'd rather watch tv or read a book than play outside in those days. During that school year, I became friends with a foreign exchange student at my school. She had gained 10lbs from eating all of the boxed cookie and brownie mixes that they don't have in Japan. She expressed she wanted to lose weight and I suggested we weigh ourselves at the nurses office. Neither of us liked the numbers we saw on the scale and we decided to support eachother in our weight loss efforts. I started eating less at meals and exercising. I went for a lengthy walk every night and incorporated a tad of running and some Tae Bo. Within a year, I lost 100lbs. I went from 279-179. Size 20/22 to a 14. I was even able to join the track and field team my 11th and 12th grade year! The story doesn't stop there though. In order to join the military, I had to get to 190. I was 191 at the recruiters office (wasn't as active as I was prior, I worked and was going to college). I got down to my weight and just to be sure, I ate less than 1,000 calories a day for a week and the day before I shipped out, I worked out like crazy at the hotel and tool some laxatives. It paid off, 186 the next day. When we graduated basic, our instructor didn't weigh us, so I paid a quarter and weighed myself at the food court - 200lbs, there's no way that was all muscle! Well, that was April 08, in Dec 08, I had been at my base for a bit and I became pregnant. I was 214lbs, I was sad to see that number, but thought, "to hell with it, I'm pregnant, I can eat what I want now", and I did. After giving birth, I was 270lbs, almost back to where I was in high school. Got down to 220 by doing weight watchers (I was always hungry!) and then I got pregnant again! After baby #2, I was only 250. I did low calorie diets, weight watchers, shakes, etc, to get down to 213, but the scale wouldn't budge. One night I was home alone and the kids in bed while my husband pulled a swing shift. I was flipping thru Netflix and saw a movie called "fat head". It changed my mindset on nutrition. Within a day, I started the atkins diet (low carb) on march 13th and by Jan 2012, I was down to 175 (surpassed my smallest in high school). I knew I was eating too many artificial sweeteners, low carb pasta, Atkins bars and shakes with weird ingredients and knew that stuff wasnt that great for me. I wasn't paying attention to ingredients, just carbs. On Jan 3, I switched to Paleo and I'm glad I did! I lost 11lbs in a month, I was shocked! I'm now a size 8/10 and down to 165. If I lose more, well then cool, if I don't, that's cool too. Looking back, in high school I pretty much became anorexic to lose weight, even though I didn't realize it at the time. I bought into the "calories in = calories out" as well as believing low fat was the way to go. I ate, but I worked out soo much, that I prob burned most of the calories I consumed and I was hungry often and always went to bed hungry. I wish I would have found paleo sooner. When I started Atkins, I read about paleo, and I was actually choosing between those 2 and the power protein diet as well. Atkins seemed easiest, which I why I chose that route. Easiest isn't always best! When I lost my weight in high school., I wanted to become a personal trainer and nutritionist, but decided to become a teacher to play it safe (but ended up joining the military). My passion for fitness and nutrition is back stronger than ever. I want to become a certified personal trainer and after I get my associates in criminal justice, I'd like to look into sports nutrition for my bachelors. I'm all about spreading the word on Paleo and keeping in shape! I like to refer to myself as the weight loss queen, even though i don't hold a degree, I feel like my weight rollercoaster has given me a lot of knowledge first hand. Most of all, I'm glad that I'm at a healthy size for my 5'11 frame and consume nourishing real foods now. I can also be a good role model for my sons : )

Lent and green smoothies

Day 5: wow, getting closer to a week of doing the Whole30 (check it out in google if you have no clue what I'm talking about)! I stumbled across this website this morning, it has recipes for smoothies that don't require sweeteners. I dunno bout y'all, but sometimes a shake/smoothie type of meal is more coveinient: http://greenmonstermovement.com/?page_id=39
Also, Some of y'all who read my blog/posts, while interested in this way of eating, I know r still on the fence about trying paleo. In honor of lent, why not start today or tomorrow a paleo challenge for yourself. Right now is the time cuz there are lots of people 'giving up' items for this period, so you wouldn't be alone.
If you are ready, here's the backlink for my "what's paleo?" post: http://eatrealeatpaleo.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-paleo.html
(if it doesn't hyperlink, then just copy n paste )

Day 4, junk food galore

Today is Day 4 of my Whole30 and hopefully it's your day 4 too :)  Things have been going good so far, i've been able to resist whatever has come my way, but it seems like it's been junk food galore.  On day 1, chop chip muffins with a coffee glaze were brought to us and I resisted.  On day 3, TWO boxes of Krispy Kremes, a box of donut holes, a package of double stuffed oreos and a package of mint, along with chocolate milk was brought to work yesterday. (I am a police officer in the air force and right now I pull gate duty, so people that we check the IDs of like to give us goodies to show their appreciation).  Everyone was saying "Come on McNeil, one donut won't hurt you!" - they were taunting me!  Even before the whole30, I was still doing low carb, but I possibly would have had a donut, I think it's harder when you know you are doing this 30 day dealio and you don't want to screw it up!  Here I am, still going strong.
                                                       Here's my food from yesterday:
Breakfast: banana w/ almond butter
Lunch: leftover spaghetti squash with homemade meat sauce
Dinner: Stir-fry that consisted of: pork chunks, asparagus spears, onions, a jalepano, diced mushrooms and spinach.  To season it: Lots of Franks Redhot, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder.
Snacks: strawberries n raspberries, cucumber and guacamole, coconut chips w/ cinnamon, olives and cashews.  Prob too many snacks, but I wake up at around 2:30 normally and I don't go to bed til around 8, so theres a lotta time in-between.
I'm experiencing a lot of people asking how I eat, simply because they find some of my snacks weird, therefore causes questions.  I'm finding many will listen and seem really into and and say "yeah, i need to do something to get healthy", but then as the day dies down, they lose steam and make up an excuse like "well, my wife is really skinny and she eats whatever she wants, so it will be hard".  I try telling him that now is the time to take care of your body so that you don't encounter problems down the road that are linked to a bad diet.  I think i've helped 'convert' (sounds weird), 2 people, but even they are starting to stray and their 'cheats' are becoming more common than their paleo meals.  Paleo/primal/whatever you call it, is a narrow path I guess, but I'm in it for the long haul!

the good and the bad - bread

THE BAD: whole grain bread and white bread, what's the difference, nothing, really:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/dr-mark-hyman/wheat-gluten_b_1274872.html

THE GOOD!: here are 2 recipes in this link, one for banana bread and one for sandwich bread!   http://crossfitfw.com/school-cool/  If you aren't doing the whole 30, then make these and let me know how they are, lol!  So far for day 2, i had fried tomato slices topped with over easy eggs.  for a lunch/snack I had a banana with almond butter and for an afternoon snack I had about 10 jumbo garlic and jalepano stuffed olives.  Still gotta figure out what to make for dinner.

Day 1 of 30

Day one of the 30 day challenge! This morning I has 1/3lb ground beef scrambled into my eggs. Normally I'd eat bacon, but I'm trying to cut back on it since there is some added sugar. Some planned snacks I have are: 10 raw almonds, 4 large garlic stuffed olives, green peppers with guacamole to dip, also, some chicken for lunch depending how late I'm at work. If you wanted to join, but weren't prepared today, start tomorrow!

get ready for THE WHOLE 30!

Starting tomorrow, Feb 19th, I will be starting the whole 30, if you are interested, like my page and/or group, as well as my blog, to keep connected:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/159797924080420/ - my group
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eat-Real-Eat-Paleo/310648155638379 - my page

"The more you eliminate these “less healthy” foods from your everyday diet, the healthier you will be.However, you don’t have to eat perfect 100% of the time to have and maintain excellent health.Helping you find the right balance - and maintain that balance long-term – happens to be our specialty.Finding your own individual balance starts with our Whole30 program.  Sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes and dairy are all food groups that havesignificant down sides, and do not contribute positively to your health."Meat, seafood and eggs; vegetables and fruit; and healthy fat sources like coconut, avocado and olive oil are all foods that make you healthier." taken from the whole 30 start page, to read more, go here: http://whole9life.com/start/


Sounds hard, right?  This won't be easy for me, I enjoy my paleo friendly chocolate, using honey to sweeten things, and cooking with butter.  If you've never quit eating grains before, then this challenge may be a little harder, but I was in your shoes last march.   
Feb 19 - March 19th.  IF you make a slip-up, you aren't automatically out (not condoning cheats, but sometimes people don't think things thru before they put food in their mouth).  Let yourself be able to say "i did it" and see how you feel :)

Vitamins and fish oil

I personally think that fish oil and a multi-vitamin is a good addition everyday. It's not easy trying to fit in everything we need, so with these products you get what you need. The fish oil I'm using is a fast absorbing good quality variety and the vitamin is the best choice I've found (all the ones at GNC are crap). It contains no sugar, yeast, wheat, dairy, artificial flavors or preservatives. It's a 'green' vitamin,which doesn't contain synthetic vitamins (harmful to the kidneys and the body can't absorb the vitamins fully) and comes from natural sources

Temptation

How many of y'all love fresh donuts and some hot chocolate? How about the variety from dunkin donuts? Okay, now what if it's given to you for free?! At work, some nice guy gave us dunkin donuts hot chocolates and some donuts. My mouth watered at the sight of the donut bag, but I resisted and had a Lara bar. FREE doesnt always mean we should eat it. Temptation is always gonna be there, it's just how you deal with it : ) You think to yourself, "one won't hurt, right?". Most likely, it won't, but it's the principle of being motivated, dedicated and determined. Do you really want a donut as your 'cheat' when there are so many better things, not to mention how you'll feel after you eat it? You can have a cheat-like treat that follows paleo guidelines w/o feeling like you just wrecked your week on faithful healthy eating.
Don't think you'll ever be able to have a donut again w/o wrecking your eating plan? Think again: http://paleospirit.com/2012/apple-cider-paleo-donuts/

Valentines Dinner and Dessert 2012

For V-Day, we decided that it would be better if I cooked the meal. Not only would we get more bang for our buck (dinner and dessert were about $50 total), but we could control the cooking oils n additives which makes us feel better : ) PLUS, we saved money not needing a sitter. I made baked lobster tails and the bowl of dipping sauce is a mix of butter, olive oil, garlic powder and basil leaves. On the plate is NY strip steak smothered with sautéed onions and garlic. Next to that is spaghetti squash prepared spaghetti style, topped with scallops, chipped spinach and diced mushrooms. Instead of using butter for everything, I used mostly 'ghee' and butter for the lobster to limit our dairy. It was my first time using it and I liked it. Ghee is a traditional cooking fat that Indians use and all of the milk solids are separated and removed, making the butter clarified. Dessert was simple, just melted up some "enjoy life" chocolate chips on the double boiler and squeezed in some new Mexico honey for extra sweetness. Covered the berries and then let them cool on parchment paper. Hope y'all had a nice V-Day and maybe these ideas will be useful for next year or maybe for that special someone's birthday.

Chips and salsa paleo style

I like these alternative crackers that can be dipped in salsa or even guacamole! I found the crackers at "natural grocers" and the salsa is from trader joes.

Challenge...who is in?

Within the next week, i want to start this. Its paleo, but its a teeny stricter for 1 month. Anyone interested in starting with me? Ill be doing it regardless, but id like to see who else wants to jump on the boat?
http://whole9life.com/start/

Like my blog so you can be notified of my new posts, including when I plan on starting the challenge!

Paleo on a budget

The most common complaint I hear when it comes to this way of eating is "paleo costs too much". While organic fruits n veggies are best along w/ grass fed beef n free range chicken, it's not mandatory. That's right, you can buy the cheap meat, if need be. Don't forget, ground turkey, chicken and pork can be found cheaper than ground beef! Get your veggies at Walmart of that is the most economical choice for your family, and for even better prices, check out the local farmers market. If eventually you get more money in your budget, you could increase your food quality. You will still lose weight and get healthier w/ the cheaper selections, so don't let it hold you back. I know back home in NY, Aldis has great low prices and I recently found that the store called "Natural Grocers" has the cheapest organic fruits n veggies, followed by trader joes.
What's important is you cut the artificial foods out of your life and get back to the basics. Even mainstream 'healthy' low-carb bars/shakes are full of crap that isn't ideal for your body. Don't know how to cook? You're in luck, you can YouTube and google 'how to's' for pretty much everything!

chicken with carrots, broccli and BACON!

Easy dinner. Approx 1 cup of chicken stock (enough to cover the bottom of the pan), cut up chicken, bacon and veggies. we chose carrots and broccoli, but carrots are a higher in sugar veggie, so if you have weight to lose, opt for something else. Cook it til the carrots are tender!

Juice!

Make your little ones juice from organic fruit. I like buying organic juices for them and when the fruit gets too ripe for eating pleasure, juice it! This batch in particular has apples oranges and berries in it.

Vanessa's chocolate shake

The other night for dinner, i was craving a chocolatey shake, so i threw some ingredients together and it turned out great (and i've had it several times since as a meal replacement)
1/2 banana
3/4 C canned coconut milk
2 T cocoa powder
2 T honey
2-3 eggs yolks
3/4 C water
2 T almond butter
1/4 C whey protein powder(bobs red mill brand/type) optional - good idea if you are trying to recover from a workout

Blend together in a blender and if you want it milk shake-y, add a cup or so of ice n blend ----DELISH!

what's paleo?

The title of this note is something I get asked regularly, so I thought I'd answer the question right here!  You might be thinking "oh, here Vanessa is on another fad diet, wasn't she just on Atkins?". Well, for me, it's not a fad, it's something I'll be sticking with. I did Atkins for 10 months and realized that I needed to consume more natural foods and cut out artificial sweeteners among other things, so I decided to stay low carb, but follow something more strict, but more rewarding.  I started Paleo on Jan 3rd 2012 and i've lost 11.3lbs and that wasn't even the goal of switching.  Here's what paleo eating pretty much consists of:

beverages: water, coconut water (beware of the ones with added sugars) and herbal tea.  

proteins: look for grass fed meats, pasture raised eggs, free range chicken and wild caught fish.  Eggs, pork (including bacon and sausage, as long as it's uncured w/o preservatives) poultry (including eggs), beef, veal, lamb, game meats (elk, bison, venison), fish and shellfish.  Jerky and sardines are great for snacks.  If you can't find/afford grass fed/free range, the next best option is organic fed beef and then the 3rd option is whatever you can find at the supermarket.  Keep in mind though, quality matters!

cooking fats: coconut oil, ghee, butter, lard and tallow.  forget about canola and olive oil isn't the best choice for cooking, better for salads.

veggies:First of all, organic (no pesticides) is best when at all times possible.  It's easier to list what you can't have and then pretty much all the rest is fair game, here's the restricted list: Potatoes (you may have sweet potatoes, just not everyday), corn, green beans, peas.  Everything else is fair game.

fruits: again, organic is best.  If you can't find organic, then go visit your local farmers for fresher selections.  Go easy on fruits and focus on low sugar berries (strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries).  Avocados, tomatoes, limes, and lemons are great any time and are often forgotten.

Nuts: While they are super yummy, go easy.  The best choices are macadamias, cashews, almonds and hazelnuts.  Stay away from peanuts, they are legumes as are green beans.  For your nut butter, stick to almond butter.  When possible, find raw nuts that haven't been blanched nor roasted.

Herbs and spices: always a great way to liven up your food, but be careful of the premixed ones, many times they contain sugar, weird starches, among other things that you wouldn't think would be in there.  checking the ingredients is one of the most important things.  Using fresh spices when possible is great.  Switch your table salt to the Sea salt grinders, if you can find the gray or pink varieties, even better.

Other random items: coconut milk (canned is easier, just don't get the 'light' versions), chicken and beef broth (steer away from the ones with tons of additives and if possible, choose those w/o sugars and soy), canned tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce (NOT spaghetti/marinara sauces), capers, olives, artichokes hearts, roasted red peppers, canned tuna (i go for the ones that are packed in just olive oil and salt, many varieties contain weird ingredients and the fat in the olive oil is very good for you), mustard, homemade paleo mayo and bbq sauce,  vinegars, curry paste, coconut amines, almond and coconut flour, honey (don't get the store brand, if possible, find a local brand), pure maple syrup for occasional use.   

 Snacks: nuts, dried meat (it's hard to find, but there is locally made jerky here that is actually dried up meat that is seasoned, vs the processed stuff u buy at the store), Lara bars (the ones w/o added sugar), hard boiled eggs, paleo muffins, fruit, veggie sticks. 

A guide to a day of eating:Breakfast: eggs WITH the yolks with mixed in meats/veggies. Some all natural meat/sasuage that is free of nitrates, sugars, and preservatives.Lunch: salad topped with veggies, meat and oil n vinegar dressing.Dinner: meat and veggies.
You made it to the bottom now and you might be scratching your head and thinking "no oatmeal, bread, grains, corn, cereal, rice, pasta".  Nope.  I completely understand your frusteration, it's been less than a year for me since i've given up these items.  Don't rely on the food pyramid and government to keep you healthy, it's more profitable for them to have you eat in a manner that will make you sick down the road.  Its up to us to take care of ourselves and what we put in our mouths.  Keep in mind, Google is your friend.  Search for "paleo bread" (there's a flax version you can make), "paleo desserts", "paleo condiments", and search for whatever else you are trying to find a replacement for.  While you are switching your kids over, get rid of things that have high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors.  my boys still eat some grains, but we are slowly making the switch for them (it's harder than for adults).