Food Is A Drug #Paleo

I find myself starting week #3 of a 6 week challenge.  I am going to be totally honest and say that I love challenges!  I love challenges because I tend to be competitive.  Plus it gives me more purpose on my journey.  This challenge has been pretty gentle.  That is until today.  Someone took away my red wine and I already miss it.  I don't even drink it very often. Our first week we started by journaling.  I've been tracking my sleep, food, water, and movement.  This has been good for me in keeping me accountable to what I put in my mouth. Our second week we committed to 3x per week of exercise.  To be honest it was a great motivating factor when I wanted to hit snooze on the alarm last Wednesday.  I love getting my workouts in during the early mornings but I sure don't like getting out of bed for them. This week we've cut sugar.  (duhn, duhn, duhn)  For me this won't be any where near the first time.  Sugar for the most part is out for me already.  I

http://www.whas11.com/story/entertainment/television/great-day-live/2015/08/14/tips-for-starting-the-paleo-diet-from-mike--christina-smith/31710079/ We had an fantastic morning at GDL!  Here's the recipes to what we brought along this morning. Breakfast cups: 1 lb of sausage or chorizo (your choice) 1/2 onion 12 eggs 1 sweet potato Spinach (optional)-I used a handful. 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp garlic powder 2 Tbsp Siracha Salt & pepper to taste  Directions:  Preheat oven to 375. Cook sausage and onion until browned.  In a bowl scramble 12 eggs and add onion powder, garlic powder, Siracha, and salt & pepper.  Add cooked sausage and onion.  Mix ingredients.  Use ice cream scoop to add egg mixture to coconut oil coated muffin pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes. Turkey-Apple-Bacon Wraps with honey mustard with/Mint Honeydew Melon Salad: Wraps: 1-12 oz pkg nitrate free bacon 1/4 cup Organic Mayo (or homemade Paleo Mayo) 2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard 1 Tbsp raw Hon

I'm over here plugging along still on Day #8 of my 90 day Paleo journey. We've had a busy weekend and beginning of the week. I got to cheer my favorite Triathlete on during his 1st Olympic Trialthlon this weekend: I got to cheer on my to favorite 5th graders all the way to their first day of school. I got to help my favorite 3 year old niece celebrate her Frozen Birthday. Plus I got to meal plan and shop for the week for my own first week back to school.  Using emeals has cut the time I spend meal planning down by hours.  I simply go to my phone and use the emeals app to pull up the menu and grocery list for the week.  I am in love with a new feature on the emeals app.  I'm not the biggest fan of cooking seafood at home especially indoors during the winter.  So the new feature allows me to replace it with one of my favorites from prior weeks AND updates my shopping list reflecting the change! So far so good.  I've been able to eat well but not

What I love best today about my personal 90 day challenge? -  I can eat fruit and not worry.  When I am in challenges against others, my competitiveness comes out and I want to loose the most weight I can.  Often times I will cut out fruit all together.  Since I am only competing against myself, fruit is on my table; in moderation of course! -  I can experiment.  Dr. Windley taught me something at our last paleo challenge.  The more you eat, the more weight you will loose.  Backup...what?!?  So I tried it out because the scale hadn't budged for a week.  Viola!  He was right!  So this time I'm trying to make sure that I eat a lot throughout the day.  I am trying to not limit my snacks. Yesterday (Day #3) I had a bit more fruit than I usually eat.  But no worries....this is a long chipper.  90 days.  The fruit I had today won't matter tomorrow if I fall off the wagon because I need something sweet.  Besides...fruit was part of my dinner meal plan and that never happens!

You know Day #2 wasn't too bad.  I was busy at work so I made sure I packed a snack.  Exercise was good...well after I got the work done.  I never regret exercising after its over.  This morning I was all set to go for a jog but failed to turn my dead phone back on after I plugged it in.  So much for an alarm. I didn't get a picture of my lunch but I enjoyed a great bunless burger and side salad during my lunch meeting. Dinner was awesome!  Italian broccoli with salmon.  I'm not a salmon lover but when it was on the menu this week I decided it was too good for me to pass over.  It turned out really good.  It had a tomato, capers, basil sauce over it.  The tomatoes and basil were from our garden.  I marked it as a saved make again meal!...and to think I might have passed it over. Everyday...Food is a Drug...be wise about what medicine you put in your body!

Day #1 went well.  I was able to get to the store and get my weeks worth of food and snacks.  When I got home I had some leftovers and did prep work before starting on dinner.  It felt like a crazy fast paced day.  I got my exercise in yesterday too.  An early morning workout, a walk, and pacing Mr with a bike while he jogged.  A big increase in water had me in the restroom more than I had planned. This was the food I ate on my first day.  I had 1/2 a Larabar on the way to workout.  When I came home I had eggs, bacon, and a side of tomato fresh from the garden.  Lunch was leftover chicken thighs and Cauli-Rice.  Dinner was marinated grilled chicken thighs with a grilled side of zucchini, red pepper and okra.  I had a snack after my bike ride of apple, celery with almond butter.   Again it feels so good to eat healthy I mentally struggle with why I feel like cheats are worth it. 

I've said it and heard it said more than I can count.  This summer has flown by.  Maybe it's because it's still really summer and we're thinking back to school.  Maybe it's because our summers are filled with camps and high hopes for lots of reading and napping.  Although I'm not looking forward to the start of school, I am looking forward to having a schedule again.  Getting back into a bit of routine will be good for myself and the boys.  We're staring down this last week of freedom and bracing ourselves for another year of wisdom. I started this morning getting back on my workout schedule.  If I don't work out before the sunrises its way to easy for me to put it off.  I am not a morning person.  I don't hit the gym at 5:30 a.m. because it's my optimal time.  I hit the gym at 5:30 a.m. because if I don't get it in first thing, it's way to easy to put on the back burner. Today I committed myself to a 90 day paleo challenge.  Mr. and

This morning we were able to share our Paleo Lifestyle using emeals.com on a local station out of Indianpolis wishtv 8 on Indy Style .  We had such a great experience and having never cooked live on air before I think we held our own.  Neither of us our chefs.  We're just your average family using a great meal planning service to help make our dinner experience smoother and easier for our family. Here's our segments and the recipe to share!  Needless to say, we didn't bring home any leftovers.  It was a huge hit with the Indy Style crew. First Segment:  Indy Style Episode   Fried Eggs Indgredients: 3 Tablespoons olive oil 12 eggs 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley Directions: Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a larege nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Crack 4 eggs into skillet.  Cook 2 minutes or until lightly browned and soft, turning once.  Repeat procedure twice with remaining oil and eggs.

Paleo is a Lifestyle that is counter cultural.  Looking back over the last couple of months as my 90/10 lifestyle became 80/20 and maybe even 70/30, I realize that much of what surrounds our lives works against a Paleo Lifestyle. For instance, during staff appreciation week students filled baggies with goodies for teachers/staff.  On my desk now sits a bag full of all different kinds of forbidable treats.  Some of my favorite as a matter of fact.  My kids want me to bring it home to them but I'd prefer they didn't devour all that sugar either. During retreats we tend to have lots of food available.  No one ever goes hungry on one of my retreats.  But I without thinking filled baskets with chocolate, sugar, and more chocolate.  My youth brought in snacks that were gluten filled and artificial based.  So as we were nourishing our souls we were also destroying our cells. Often times as I attend meetings/conferences etc. the menu can be difficult to navigate. When we go to

Mr. and I challenged friends/family/acquaintances to a 30 day Paleo Challenge starting June 1st.  We were thrilled when we had 28 individuals accept our challege.  We set up rules, we shared a "What to eat" list, we shared some of our favorite Emeals recipes, and we partnered them with a random draw for a countability partner. This 30 Day strict challenge has really inspired Mr. and I as well.  We've been detoxing right along side our Newly Paleo friends.  We've been a bit lax in our paleo lifestyle and followed more of an 80/20 or 70/30 lifestyle.  That's one of many reasons we wanted to issue a challenge, we new we needed to clean up our eating habits too. We've had mixed reviews.  Most people are enjoying the positives.  We have a great Paleo Support Facebook page to share meal ideas, successes and ask questions.  We've been able to inspire friends out of the country but wanting the benefits of this lifestyle as well.  Strict Paleo can be hard initi

I can't think of a better way to get back into the swing of blogging again than sharing a Paleo Challenge with all of you!  Mr. and I have reached out to friends/acquaintances on Facebook and are excited to have so many people interested in accepting our challenge.  We've put together rules/guidelines going forward.  It's only a $5 buy in BUT the potential to change your life is limitless!  Almost 2 years ago we took a similar challenge that changed our life.  As a result we shed our body of all medications.  We shed over 175 lbs combined.  We exercise often.  We sleep so much better.  We changed our bodies function.  We can't thank enough our Paleo Mentors that gently guided us to this lifestyle and opened the door of health for us to walk through. Don't let this challenge intimidate you!  Join us and change your life too!  If you are local, join us for an informational meeting May 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Foundation Meeting (across from SHS)  bring your