Welcome to the inner workings of my brain. Having given very little thought to eating a Paleo Diet or researching it until about five minutes ago, I will now take you on a journey as I process the entire matter. This could be fun! (Fun is relative.)
What is the Paleo Diet?
The Paleo Diet suggests you eat lean meats and fish, fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts and seeds, olive oil, and coconut oil. It suggests you avoid eating dairy, refined sugar, legumes, processed foods, grains, and refined vegetable oils.
Some Paleo Diet sites suggest that you should “eat a Paleo diet to lose weight.” I never, ever recommend that you “go on a diet” to lose weight. Eat nourishing foods, exercise, and watch portion control – all in the name of good health – YES. But please never “go on a diet” for the sole purpose of losing weight. That’s not a lifestyle; it’s an “I just want to lose weight” mindset and I think it’s unwise. But sure enough, I think a person would lose weight eating the Paleo diet, especially if they are used to eating many processed foods.
This is where Laura says, “I Just Can’t Do It.”
Can’t or won’t? I don’t know. After all, I’m processing this as I write.
I just took a moment to picture what it might look like to feed my family absolutely no grains at all. No rice. No popcorn. No oats. Certainly no wheat. No bread. No pasta.
I hate to play the “I can’t afford it” card, but how in the world would I keep all these teenage boys full if I don’t feed them any grains? I’m not sure there are enough cows and chickens in Nebraska to make up the difference.
Did I see that right? The Paleo Diet doesn’t even allow beans? No peanuts? (Did you know peanuts are a legume?) No dairy. No potatoes?? Well. Since I love it when my teenage boys get hungry and ask for food every five minutes, I can see that this diet would be full of giggles for all of us.
Come To Think of it, I Really Like the Paleo Diet
Hard to keep up with my thoughts here?? Well, like I told you – I’m processing. Plus I’m a woman, so I totally get to swing from one side of the fence to the other in one thirty-second interval. Hang with me (if you dare).
The thing is, while I struggle with some of the “don’t eats” recommended by Paleo, I definitely agree with all of the “do eats.” Eat good meat. Yes. Eat fruit and vegetables. Yessssss. Eat eggs and nuts (but not peanuts because that’s a bean and I do not know what to do with this information). Eat good oils like olive oil and coconut oil. Of course, yes.
Don’t eat refined sugar and processed food. Well sure, I agree with this. I even believe we could all use fewer grains in our lives.
So it appears that I nod my head yes to much of what Paleo recommends. (She says, as she licks peanut butter from her fingers and washes it down with a glass of milk. So what??)
Liking it and Following it to the Letter are Different Stories
I hereby conclude that an exclusive Paleo diet isn’t best for my family right now. I could be convicted otherwise eventually, but for now, I’ve gotta stick with feeding us potatoes and whole grains with our meat and vegetables. My athletic, growing sons need more variety and balance. And please don’t take away my peanut butter. Shoot – what is up with peanuts being a bean? I cannot get over this.
While I do think it’s worth it to invest money in food that nourishes, I think my grocery bill would actually double if I didn’t stretch it with brown rice, oats, potatoes, other whole grains, and beans (like our friend, the peanut). Doubling what already doubled a few years ago when my boys hit their teen years makes my calculator curl up into a ball and cry. (Not me though. I’m never emotional. It’s only my calculator that is unstable.)
#almostbutnotquitepaleo
Two Weeks Later…
I wrote all of the above a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been reading more and processing the information.
I’m choosing to learn more about eating Paleo recommended foods and how to prepare Paleo specific recipes. When I think about it, many of the foods our family eats count as Paleo friendly (roast, chicken, broth, coconut oil, all the fruits and veggies…). So see? I’m not against eating Paleo foods. I just can’t cut the cheese. Nor do I want to.
Paleo food is very nourishing. I love nourishing food. Some of you may love and embrace an exclusive Paleo lifestyle. The rest of us? We’re all on board with nourishing food for our families, right? Maybe if you and I don’t look at the Paleo diet like one specific way of eating, but simply use Paleo resources and recipes in an effort to easily put nourishing meals on the table? I think this is a fantastic idea (of course, I thought of it myself…).
PaleoDork is My New Friend
There’s a fairly new site called PaleoDork that is helping me figure all this out. They keep it simple, and we all know how much I love simple. I thought you would like to know that right now, PaleoDork is offering a bunch of paleo resources for FREE. I hesitantly checked into it, because it looked too good to be true, you know? (I thought maybe they needed a glass of milk or maybe – I don’t know – a handful of peanuts to clear their heads.) But no. It’s actually a big bunch of free stuff, they are giving it to everyone who wants it, and there’s no catch. We just sign up and get all kinds of downloadable resources including videos, meal plans, skin care suggestions, fitness memberships, and of course like three-dozen recipe books!
I’m thinking – why not get these free resources and learn how to pack more nutrition into our days (while still holding on to some trusty standbys like rice).
Of all these resources, I’m most interested to check into the Paleo Crock Pot Recipe book and the 5-Minute Paleo Recipes book because I know those recipes will be both super nourishing and super easy. I’ll report back in a few days to share what I’ve tried and what my family thought about the recipes/meals. (By the way, the freebies are only being offered until February 12.)
I want to hear your brain’s thoughts on this.
Have you researched the paleo diet? What do you think? Does it (mostly) make sense to you how my brain is working on this? Why not grab some paleo friendly recipes since we know they will be packed with nutrition?? I’m in.
P.S. Here’s the link to PaleoDork so you can get all the free stuff. I’m curious to hear which of the resources you like best and which recipes you try and recommend.
P.P.S. I like what PaleoDork is offering so much that I signed up to be an affiliate for them. When you click through and sign up through my links, you get free stuff and they give me a small referral bonus. For that, my family and I say thank you.
P.P.P.S. Paleo will never take away my butter. No one ever doubted this.
