Primal road trip!

I haven't posted in forever! I've been up to no good, as usual. I'm adjusting to living primally but still stumbling a lot. Better Half and I are going on a road trip to Vegas (woooooooo), and I prepared by stockpiling quite an assortment of food for the drive:


Beverages: Electrolyte replacement powder, green tea
Meat: Prosciutto, roast beef, leftover pork loin (not pictured)
Note sad lack of vegetables! Primal fail!
Fruits and nuts: Cherries, macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts
Assorted snacks and other: Larabars, pasture butter, two yogurts (normally a month's ration of yogurt; we'll see how this goes for me), Tanka bites, and two absurd raw vegan desserts from Whole Foods that happened to be basically primal (a mint chocolate "tart" and coconut "macaroons" -- I picked both of these items up off the shelf to show them to Better Half and mock them, then read the ingredients and ended up buying them; screw you, Whole Foods)

Not pictured: I caved and bought a jar of all-natural peanut butter. It's a legume! It's full of aflatoxins! I am probably developing a peanut allergy! But I haven't had the stuff in months, and sometimes when I walk past it on the shelf, I just can't stand it any longer: I have to have some. I'm hoping that the "allergy" is a product of my overactive imagination, as I'm afraid of what life would be like if I really were allergic to peanuts.

A perfect breakfast

Step 1: Walk to the farmer's market the evening prior and buy some lovely uncured bacon. I got asparagus in my weekly produce box, or I would have also bought some at the market.

Step 2: Cook several slices of bacon to desired crispness. Remove from pan.

Step 3: Wash asparagus well and dry with a tea towel. Break spears in half and fry exuberantly in the bacon fat.

Step 4: Put the asparagus on a plate and salt them (optional). Eat bacon and asparagus with hands.

Step 5: Gloat on the internet. This was delicious. Also, as of yesterday morning, I've lost a grand total of 60 pounds. Hooray for me!

Fish tacos!

A ridiculously yummy and simple weeknight dinner, or easy to make at home and take to work for lunch. Serves two.

1 previously frozen mahi mahi fillet (thawed)
1-2 tsp "tequila lime" spice blend from Whole Foods, or other spice mix of your choice
1 tsp fat of choice (melted coconut oil is ideal)
3-4 small radishes
Handfull cilantro leaves
Half a tiny red onion
Mango salsa (homemade or purchased)
Limes
3 lettuce leaves per person (okay, okay, Better Half ate corn tortillas; she thinks this paleo business is crazy)
Optional: sour cream for serving

Note: this would have been even better with some avocado, but we didn't have any.

Coat fish with spice mix and fat and grill (we use one of those countertop panini-press type grills) for about 4 minutes per side, or until it flakes easily. Wash and chop radishes, cilantro, and onions. Wash and dry lettuce leaves and arrange on plate. Put fish, salsa, and chopped veggies, avocado, and optional sour cream onto each leaf and serve with lime wedges. If you like salt, add a little salt to each taco before serving.

Nutritional breakdown for half of a recipe: 248 calories, 9 grams of fat (includes 1 tbsp sour cream but not avocado), 15 grams carbohydrate, and 20 grams of protein. Easily doubled.

Primal Experiments

The Insufferable Foodie has decided to dabble more seriously in a paleo diet. I purchased The Primal Blueprint Cookbook yesterday (I really enjoy reading Mark's Daily Apple), the immediately went grocery shopping and bought some ingredients to make some things that looked super yummy. I then came home and flagged all of the recipes in the book that I want to make sure I try "right away" and then realized I had flagged 36 individual recipes, which in a relatively short cookbook like this is a lot. I think it's fair to say I'm excited.

I don't want to declare that I AM DOING THIS AND IT IS FOREVER AND I HAVE FOUND A WHOLE NEW WAY OF EATING ETC, but it does interest me and I'd like to document how it goes, so I'm reviving this blog.

Since the last time I posted here, I have lost 50 pounds. I started by doing Daily Plate, lost just over 30 lbs, then hit a plateau. Then I joined Weight Watchers (I can do it for free through work), and have lost just under 20 lbs on that. Through all of this, I find that my diet has been slowly working its way toward paleo. I've been drawn to a paleo diet for... gosh, years, but always afraid of failure. Yesterday I decided I'm not afraid of "failure" anymore because in this instance there's no such thing as failure. I don't have to commit to never eating dairy or carbs or processed food again. I will still lead a normal life and if I really want to indulge, I will. What I am going to commit to is ramping up what I'm already doing, which is limiting processed food, limiting carbs, and limiting dairy (I am mildly lactarded, after all). Oh, and exercising more/differently, but that's outside the scope of this blog. I'm also finding that I'm drawn more to Sisson's primal model rather than other versions of paleo as his seems a lot more flexible and realistic rather than being about crazy restriction. I am still going to track points through Weight Watchers, although since it is impossible to track macronutrients I might have to do something else in addition / instead.

Now I will babble about food!

At the grocery store, I bought:

• Grass fed beef for pot roast
• Grass fed beef for jerky for my dad
• Grass fed ground beef (plan to make meatballs to facilitate quick and easy bento-type lunches)
• Pasture-raised eggs
• Wild-caught mackerel
• Little bitty shrimpies
• Pasture butter (this was my splurge of the week)
• Coconut milk (light and regular)
• Sage
• Shallots

We get a produce box every other week, so my produce purchases are usually minimal.

Things I'm planning to make this week:

• Mackerel stuffed with shrimp, shallots, and sage, with creamed greens soup on the side (at Better Half's request, this will be with heavy cream instead of coconut milk)
• Pot roast, with mashed squash and parsnips on the side
• Coconut-blueberry "ice cream" (either unsweetened or honey sweetened) as a treat, possibly with pecans!
• Mahi mahi (we have some frozen) in some kind of coconut-curry with bok choi, haven't hammered out the details yet

For breakfasts I'm either going to do eggs, if I have time, or just homemade jerky and some fruit. For lunches I'm going to probably make something like coleslaw today and then round that out with aforementioned meatballs, hard boiled eggs, nuts, and fruit. Other dinners during the week will be made up on the spot. At least one night I will probably be eating carby, processed frozen food (I have some evol burritos).

For breakfast I had pasture eggs, pasture butter, melon, and kiwi (very carby fruits, but I've decided at least for now not to care about this). For lunch I'm planning a salad with lettuce, beets, goat cheese, grapefruit, and honey mustard dressing (which is not paleo at all, but again, I'm focusing on the bigger picture right now.

I'm planning to take pictures of the fish tonight and post them.