Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Food for Thought

A friend of mine had mentioned a while back that she had gone gluten and dairy free to help manage her migraines.  I had heard of other friends doing the paleo diet but never gave it much thought.  One day hubby said to me that he wanted to start a diet and was thinking of doing Atkins again.  I suggested maybe we try paleo instead since it might help with my migraines too and kill two birds with one stone.  He agreed.

If you've never heard of paleo it’s also commonly referred to as the “caveman diet”.   Think of anything that a caveman would have access to eat during the Paleolithic era and that’s what you can eat.  That means lots of fruits, veggies, meat and nuts.  The big no-no’s are gluten, dairy, refined sugar, legumes and alcohol. 

We started Paleo on July 28th and so far we’ve each lost 10 lbs and I feel much more energetic.  More importantly I have been migraine free!  At first I thought it would be extremely difficult to cut out gulten, dairy and refined sugars but I discovered that I didn’t miss it all that much.  It’s especially easier to stick with it knowing that it’s helping keep my migraines at bay.  After maybe another month or so I will start to incorporate dairy and then gluten into my diet and see if I can pinpoint one or the other that is causing my migraines.  I have a feeling it’s dairy causing them as I cheated a little on Saturday (had dairy) and I ended up with a slight migraine.  Needless to say, I won’t be cheating again anytime soon.

For those that want to get started on paleo there are lots of resources out there to help you.  I’ve found quite a few good paleo blogs via Pinterest.  Some of my favorite blogs/websites for recipe inspiration are:

Additionally, here’s a week’s worth of meal plans from things I’ve done:

DAY 1:
Breakfast:  2 hardboiled eggs
Lunch:  Mixed greens with sliced avocado and olive oil
Snack:  Apple with cashew butter

DAY 2:
Breakfast:  1 egg (over easy) on top of 1 piece of leftover pork.
Lunch:  Salad with grilled chicken & sunflower seed.  (just a drizzle of olive oil for dressing)
Snack:  mixed fruit and a few almonds

DAY 3:
Breakfast:  2 hard boiled eggs & a banana
Lunch:  Leftover stuffed pepper from night before
DinnerGarlic ginger chicken with garlic roasted asparagus 
Snack:  Fresh Cherries

DAY 4:
Breakfast:  2 egg frittata muffins 
Lunch:  Baby lettuce topped with 1 cup avocado basil chicken salad 
DinnerHoney Garlic Chicken Wings with side salad 
Snack: Coconut milk ice cream

DAY 5:
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs and 3 pieces of turkey bacon
Lunch:  Leftover wings from night before
DinnerSausage & Veggie Bake (I added some chopped sweet potato into this as well)  
Snack:   Carrot, celery sticks and a few cashews

DAY 6:
Breakfast:  2 egg frittata muffins 
Lunch:  Leftover sausage & veggie bake from night before

DAY 7:
Lunch:  Leftover meatloaf and carrot rice from night before
Dinner:   Shiritake noodles with paleo meatballs in marinara sauce 

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