Paleo Update

Sugar-free, flour-
free, dairy-free,
blueberry muffins with fruit

So we have now been totally paleo for the last five weeks!

Going paleo isn't just about what we eat, it's a whole change of lifestyle.  It involves a lot of what we've already been doing for the past year or so but taken to a new level.

Being a paleo family means basically following the Junior Hero Club mantra - eat clean, move more, sleep well and get outside!

It means incorporating a little more cross fit-type exercise into our lives - interval training, weight training, fun training and functional training.

It also means only eating meat, fish, eggs, vegetables (except corn, potatoes, rice and legumes) salad, fruit, nuts and seeds.

No grains (which measn no wheat products - no bread, pasta, pastry, traditionally made cakes etc), no dairy, no starchy carbs and no processed food or sugar.

breakfast loaf - courgette,
banana & cherries

We have already given up starchy carbs, wheat and sugar for pretty much a year and I have been thinking about going paleo for some time but it was the breakfasts that were putting me off.  I just couldn't think of what to have for breakfast if it didn't involve oats or dairy!

Thai-style coconut, lime and ginger
chicken with veg, seed crackers and
nut cheese (sounds awful but it's great!)

I did a little research and we practised having pork chops and veggies for breakfast and the kids seemed to like it so we took the plunge!

I explained to the kids what was going to happen and when I told them they wouldn't be able to have potatoes any more, they cheered; I said, 'It means no cous cous.'  Again a cheer.  So far, so good!

parma ham and egg cups

The first week was tricky.  I found it really hard to make sure my kids weren't hungry all the time.  And after several particularly sweary, low blood-sugar melt-downs from my ten-year old, I was seriously considering adding back in some oats.

I had to make sure that they ate really regularly or they really seemed to suffer from low blood sugar.

However, I persevered and after a week or so they seem to have settled down and are fine.  In fact, things are way better than they were before.  Before we went paleo, my daughter and I had a pact that we wouldn't talk to each other in the mornings until we had eaten as we were both so short-tempered before we ate that it generally dissolved into a shouting match.  That has completely disappeared and we are both, if not quite delightful, then definitely less scary than we were pre-paleo!

Seed crackers

I probably found it the easiest to adapt to the totally paleo way as all I had left to give up was dairy (I don't miss it at all) oats and legumes.

My husband really misses dairy...

Breakfasts are so much fun and more exciting that they used to be, they take more preparation but for someone who doesn't really like cooking, this hasn't really been a hardship.  It was a good move staring this over the summer holidays when time wasn't an issue.  I am going to have to get up earlier than I used to to make sure we have a good breakfast and the kids are going to have to have packed lunches at school but, hey, it's a small price to pay for how good we all feel!

paleo chocolate truffle mix

sugar-free, dairy-free, flour-free
tropical fruit tart

Another of my worries with paleo was cake.  Cake and chocolate.  I really do like cake and chocolate.  Well, the really, really good news is I have spent a great deal of the summer holidays experimenting with cake and chocolate recipes - being able to make paleo chocolates is important to me!

paleo banana and blueberry upside-down
cake made by my eldest son in honour of
The Great british Bake Off

One of the things the kids and I like to do is watch the Great British Bake Off together and then recreate some of the recipes.  We have been doing this pretty successfully whilst still remaining faithful to paleo - no grains, no dairy, no sugar.  It's been fun experimenting!

I will be posting a load of recipes very soon!  Watch this space!

Anyway, the verdict is that paleo is brilliant.  I find it easy as it limits my options which, for an unimaginative cook like me is a good thing.  It's easy to sustain and the kids LOVE it.  Their proviso is they can eat what they choose to eat when they go to a friend's house or out for a meal.  This is interesting as so far, parties and meals out have left the kids either feeling sick or strange!

If you are embarking on a paleo experiment yourself, good luck, plan well and feel free to ask me anything about my experiences!

Krish x