Disclaimer: everything on these lists may not be Whole30 approved so you have to know your stuff or at least do some research. I have had a couple messages for a shopping list, so here it is! If you “google” paleo grocery list, you will get a TON of results. I will soon be working on my own grocery list post- get excited, ha.
http://www.crossfitvitality.com/upload/shopping-list.pdf
See more of Robb Wolf’s genius at www.robbwolf.com 
-AG
Last week the Whole9 duo updated their blog with a challenge. Treva posted this to our CFi Whole30 page, but I think it is worth re-posting. If the April challenege will be your second Whole30- you. must. read. this. post. After the MOD Throwdown and the conclusion of the Whole30, I am sure all of us have fallen back into some less than stellar eating habits. The big question is, why? I learned during my first Whole30 that I don’t NEED that soda at work or that little piece of something sweet after a meal. I learned to live without those things and barely missed them. So, why do I still WANT them? This post is aimed to help us answer those questions for ourselves. If the April Whole30 will be your first, you can still ask yourself these questions and try to figure out why you have the habits you do. Lifestyle changes are more than just forcing yourself to make good decisions, they are for figuring out WHY we make less than optimal choices to begin with. Knowing the ins and outs of our decisions makes our success that much more attainable.
-AG
Today’s post comes as a result of the habit research we’ve been doing for It Starts With Food, and a plea for help on our Whole30 Facebook page. Tamra, a valued and longstanding member of our Whole30 community, wrote: “I am having such a hard time riding my own bike! I keep falling off onto chocolate bars or landing face-first in ice cream – gross ice cream that gave me a headache! I’m okay when I’ve got my training wheels, Dallas and Melissa (i.e. the Whole30 rules), but not okay when the wheels are off. This is not a new problem – I’ve followed the Whole9 Guide to Nutritional Off-Roading, but I have some sort of override going on… help!”
While the Whole30 is the best tool for breaking persistent cravings and reestablishing a healthy relationship with food, the habits behind your cravings and behavior are stubborn, and not easily overwritten. For some, one trip through the Whole30 is enough to change those patterns – for others, changing habits requires far more persistence, attention and effort. And understanding what’s behind a habit is the first step.
hab·it
noun \ˈha-bət\
a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance; an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary.
According to The Power of Habit author Charles Duhigg, habits are learned behaviors performed automatically. Once a habit is formed, the brain stops fully participating in decision-making, leading to automatically unfolding patterns.
Duhigg reports that there is a simple three-part loop at the core of every habit: the cue, the routine, and the reward.
Today, we’re going to focus on the cue.
Tamra seems unable to stop herself from repeating her food-related habits, despite the fact that she doesn’t want to keep falling face-first into ice cream. Clearly, there are cues in Tamra’s environment and psychological status that continue to prompt the routine (eat less healthy food) to provide the desired reward.
Sometimes, cues are easy to identify and change. For example, if every time you drive home from work, you pass an In-and-Out burger and crave a double-double animal style, well, that cue is pretty easy to spot. See the fast food sign, crave a burger. Easy to identify, and ever easier to change – drive home via different route! However, most cues are far more subtle than that, making them impossible to spot, and impossible to target for change. Awareness is your money-maker here, but that often requires some formal detective work and structure.
The key to identifying your cues lies in a simple notebook. Journaling your behavior is the fastest way to spot hidden trends – if you know what you’re looking for. (Simply writing, “Somehow, I managed to eat four cookies and a Snickers bar today” isn’t super helpful in preventing future routines.)
Duhigg explains that almost all habitual cues fit into one of five categories:
The next time the urge hits to eat the cookie or scoop out some ice cream, take a minute to jot down your five things. It doesn’t matter whether you actually succumb to the cue or not – the point is to identify the circumstances that preceded your unwanted routine. Do this for at least one week, religiously. The larger your data set, the easier it will be to spot trends, so if your cravings are sporadic, you may need to continue for a bit longer. Then, analyze your results.
Do you only crave at home, in the evening? Are you always angry or stressed when the cravings hit? Are you always alone, or does it only happen when your spouse is eating too? Does the act of putting the kids to bed trigger the need for a “treat?” Tease out the hidden trends, because one or more of those factors are what is driving your undesired routine. Once you’ve identified your cues, it’s far easier to create a plan to change your routines – and still achieve the same desired reward.
Have you been struggling with riding your own bike after your Whole30? It’s time for some homework. First, identify one (just one, you overachievers) habit that you want to break in the coming month. (Cop to said habit in comments, because we’re pretty sure you’re not alone.) Two, diligently follow the outlined cue awareness plan for at least one week.
In the meantime, we’ll get to work on a post explaining how to identify the rewards that come from your routines – a critical factor in changing your habits, and changing your life. (And yes, at some point, we’ll discuss how to actually change the unwanted routine – and how to create a new, healthy habit that sticks! One thing at a time, people.)
Find all of their info at www.whole9life.com. Smart people those two.
-AG
For your reading pleasure:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/will-eating-red-meat-kill-you/#axzz1qKauh8Oq
Being from Maryland, I miss blue crab A LOT. I miss sitting around a table, picking crabs all day and night, friends, Old Bay fingers, and perhaps even one of Anheuser Busch’s finest (gasp!). The next day is even better when all the left overs turn into the best crab cakes ever. Here is a paleo recipe that hopefully can help me bring Maryland to you! (ps- if you don’t know what Old Bay is, get your hiney to the grocery store THIS VERY SECOND, buy it, and then get home and put it on everything you make )
As I mentioned in the podcast, I have not had the pleasure of enjoying too many crab cakes in my lifetime, however the few I have had were quite tasty. Bill, having lived in DC for several years, has had his fair share of delicious crab cakes. Being that crab cakes typically contain bread crumbs, mayonnaise, vegetable oil, and are often fried, they are not one that we can easily order out at a restaurant.
For this recipe we decided to keep things simple with just crab, homemade mayo, an egg, and seasoning. We also chose to bake the crab cakes, rather than fry them. This recipe turned out beautifully. These crab cakes had all the flavor that you would find from a classic crab cake, with out all the inflammatory ingredients. Not only were they extremely tasty, but they took very little time to make.
Ingredients:
Process:
Mustard sauce garnish
Ingredients:
Process:
I have been getting a bunch of questions about snack ideas, especially from those trying not to rely solely on fruit. So, how about these sammies? Amazing and totally simple and pack-in-advance friendly. I am not a person who gives myself an infinite green light when including bacon in my paleo lifestyle, but shoot…every once in a while, go for it! Also, paleo has this reputation of being tough to navigate. Cue dramatic but pretty accurate response I get from people when I mention paleo: ”there is nothing on the face of the planet that can replace my rice cakes, wheat thins, and peanut butter crackers for snack.” Yes, I know, change is difficult, but there is nothing in the Ten Commandments that says dinner can’t be breakfast. So let’s throw out these notions that we have to replace our sub-par ____ (insert conventionally American diet food here) with a paleo look alike. Have a green salad for breakfast, eggs for dinner, left overs for a snack- go crazy! At the end of the day, the only goal is that you nourish your body with quality food. You can’t see me, but I just stepped off my soap box
See more recipes at www.nomnompaleo.com
BACON AND GUACAMOLE SAMMIES
Bacon & Guacamole Sammies
Don’t these bacon and guacamole sammies look good? Fitbomb noshed on them while I slept…
The ingredients:
It’s ridiculously easy to cook bacon in the microwave oven. (Clean-up is simple, too.) Just wrap a few slices between some sheets of paper towel, stick it all on a microwave-safe plate, and nuke away. I set my microwave at 70% power and zapped the bacon for about two-and-a-half minutes. If you find that your bacon’s not yet crisp, just nuke it a bit longer.
The filling for these “sandwiches”? Chunky homemade guacamole. If you’re pressed for time, simply mash up the flesh of half an avocado, and cut up the other half into half-inch cubes. Then mix both halves together in a bowl to get a nice blend of chunky ‘n creamy. Flavor it with a squirt or two of lime juice and a generous pinch of Kosher salt.
Done and done!
This butter can be found at Publix. It is SERIOUSLY delicious and extemely versitile. Get creative
We wanted to give my mom and my aunt a taste of our asparagus soup, so that was on the menu for the evening, and I decided to give mashed cauliflower one more chance in hopes that I would succeed with the Blendtec. I have tried to make cauliflower puree many times and failed miserably. I tried using a food processor, and a hand mixer, neither came out successfully for me. However, I had high hopes for success with the Blendtec.
The simple mashed cauliflower turned out beautifully for my mom’s birthday dinner! Since I was feeling confident with my cauliflower mash capabilities, I thought up a tasty twist for this dish to try out for the second time. With a few other simple additions, we created a delicious garlic and herb mashed cauliflower recipe, that would be fantastic along side any prime cut of meat. This recipe is a simple one that can be recreated without a high speed blender (although for others that are vegetable puree impaired like myself, the blender really helps).
Ingredients:
Process:
This dish was wonderful. It would pair beautifully with steak, chicken, or pork. The flavor of the garlic and herbs really brought the creamy cauliflower puree to life.
If you don’t follow Mark’s Daily Apple, subscribe today! He keeps his website choc full of recipes, research, and interesting primal articles that will keep you excited about this lifestyle. See more at www.marksdailyapple.com
Taco night is a tradition in many families and one that doesn’t have to stop just because corn chips and flour tortillas aren’t on the table. Our favorite wrap for tacos is lettuce, whether the filling is grilled fish or flank steak. We’ve also been known to bake up a batch of kale chips and serve them along side avocado, salsa and taco meat. Often, we simply pile up taco toppings in a bowl with seasoned taco meat and eat it with a fork.
The trick to making a taco bowl really flavorful is in the seasoning, but store-bought taco seasoning packets often contain too much salt or unsavory ingredients. Making your own is easy and tastes almost identical to the seasoning packets you can buy in stores. We use it to flavor ground meat, but you can season steak or chicken with homemade taco seasoning, too.
But we know what a few of you are saying to yourself right now… lettuce wraps and taco bowls are all well and good, but what about those nights when what I really want is a Primal tortilla for my taco fillings?
You’ll be happy to know we’ve been doing a lot of experimenting on behalf of all you tortilla-lovers out there and we think we’ve hit upon a solution that will satisfy.
Primal Tex-Mex Tortillas are fluffier and more delicate than flour tortillas. The flavor can lean towards being slightly sweet from the coconut flour but we’ve added cumin, chili pepper and a hint of lime, which covers the sweetness and gives the tortillas a Tex-Mex flair. Our tortillas are a delicious base for tacos, but don’t wrap around the fillings quite as well. We tried versions of this recipe that used only egg whites and wrapped a little better, but in the end we liked the extra protein and richness (and convenience) of using the whole egg. The tortillas fry up quickly in olive oil, and then can be stacked high with any fillings you like – salsa, guacamole and sautéed onion and peppers are great add-ons to whatever meat you choose.
Tortillas made from coconut flour may not taste exactly like traditional tortillas made from wheat flour, but this isn’t to say they aren’t good in their own right. We tried at least a half dozen recipes for Primal tortillas and think our version the best one out there – try these Tex-Mex tortillas on your next taco night and let us know what you think!
Makes 4 tortillas
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Whisk together water, eggs, olive oil and lime.
Mix together coconut flour, baking powder, cumin and chili powder.
Slowly pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, whisking as you pour so clumps don’t form.
Heat several tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, pour 1/4 cup of batter in the pan, tilting pan so the batter spreads thinly.
Let the batter sit untouched for one minute then put a lid on the pan and cook one minute more. Flip the tortilla and fry for 2 more minutes.
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Simply season raw meat then cook as desired.
Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-tex-mex-tortillas-and-taco-seasoning/#ixzz1jMSdXXC9
Simple, easy, delish. Noticing a trend for this week’s recipes? Elana’s pantry is a gluten-free recipe resource, not always plaeo. So if you find others that catch your eye, make sure you read over the recipe’s ingredients. For this recipe, take a look at your Dijon mustard for junk additives. Sometimes they like to hide them in there. See more at www.elanaspantry.com Enjoy!
It’s too darn hot here to turn on the oven; the high today is supposed to get up to 100°. The solution? Fire up the grill and throw on some chicken breasts ever so briefly. The mustard lime chicken pictured above is a tangy hit of protein on a hot summer’s day.
I hope it cools off a bit tomorrow as my son plays in the finals of the little league tournament. His team (the “B” team mind you) defeated the “A” team in actual tournament play last weekend (not just a scrimmage) to advance in the tourney. He played well while I was away with two home runs and 4 RBI’s during one of his games last weekend. Unfortunately I missed his “stellar” performance because I went to California to visit a parent in the hospital –who is now out of the hospital by the way and doing much better.
Tomorrow, happily, I will get to see him in action again as he and his team dukes it out for the district little league title. That will be fun –even if the forecast is for 95°.
If you like, save the sauce that the chicken marinates in, heat it in a pan and serve with the grilled chicken. It is very tangy so I wouldn’t use much; I actually preferred the chicken plain, though my younger son and his friend Josh liked it with just a dab of sauce on it.
Josh was over at our house playing with the boys while I photographed the Mustard Lime Chicken above and asked, “Can I eat that chicken? The one you are actually taking pictures of for your website? That exact piece?” When I answered affirmatively he replied, “Cool!” in a fit of glee.
The recipe for this chicken dish is based on one by Jim Romanoff of AP Wire Service. His recipe calls for tuna steaks on the grill using the ingredients above as marinade. Many thanks to Monsieur Romanoff for his great recipe.
Convenient lunch idea. I know I miss a sandwhich every once in a while. This is an easy way to get some veggies in. I like mine with a little oil and vinegar too. Get your creative juices going and use whatever you have around. The kiddos might like this too See more recipes at www.health-bent.com
Paleo Italian Sub Roll-Up
07 Oct 2010 ⋅ by megan keatley ⋅ in Beef, Pork, Snacks ⋅ 11 Comments
We wanted to call this, Paleo Italian Sub Mariner–the Rolex of Paleo subs. But alas, often times we think we’re very funny when others do not. Most Paleo, low-carb sandwiches use the lettuce as the “bread”–that makes no sense since lettuce breaks and tears so easily. So–why not use the meat, the most flexible component of a sandwich as the “bread” and put the lettuce and all the other goodies in the middle? Booyah! Roll these bad boys up in some wax or parchment paper and you’ve got a portable lunch.
Use the largest coldcut (probably the honey ham) for the outside layer.
Overlap that coldcut about 1.5 inches, making 2 rows of 4 like this:
0000
0000
(Cutting edge illustration, ya?)
Make sure it’s overlapping, then layer your other meats on top.
Squeeze on the mustard and mayo, but only on one half. This will be the half that is going to be the inside or middle of your roll.
Layer your thinly sliced tomato, the banana peppers and spinach (and any other toppings you choose) over the mayo/mustard.
Other adds that would be yum – olives, red wine vinegar, cucumbers, onions
Roll from the filling side first as tight as you can.
Wrap in parchment or wax paper, like a burrito, and off you go.
*Capicola ham is similar to proscuitto, however capicola is meat from the shoulder of the piggy and proscuitto is meat from the thigh. Boar’s Head sells it as “cappy ham” and it’s usually located around the salami and mortadella.
What a great snack idea! Sometimes I feel like the snacking is what becomes the most mundane with paleo eating. You can only eat so much jerkey. I stumbled on this and we will be making it ASAP! See more recipes at www.paleodiestlifestyle.com
Snacking is often regarded as unhealthy, but this is mainly due to the fact that most popular snacks contain some pretty nasty ingredients. Even if a healthy Paleo diet helps keep hunger at bay and even if eating every few hours is not a particularly good habit to have, it doesn’t mean that snacking is out of the question, especially when the snack is homemade from natural and fresh ingredients. They are especially great for very active people, who often need more calories to fuel their activity level or for people on the go who require food that’s easy to bring with them.
When it comes to paleo snacks, there is very little available at grocery stores that come in the form of a prepared snack and meet the Paleo criteria. I therefore decided to come up with my own version of veggies and dip.
One of my favorite snack recipes is one that I have already shared with you, Baba Ganoush.
However, as much as I love it, I needed something else to ensure I would not get tired of it. This recipe is a dip that can be prepared in no time and is suitable for any occasion. I just recently whipped it up for a dinner party I was attending and it was a great hit. It is certainly one of those dishes that people assume requires a lot more than it actually does.
This recipe calls for 2 cups of nuts like pecans, almonds, macadamia nuts or walnuts, but just about any kind of nut will do here. Just keep in mind that, while nuts and seeds are generally healthy, they should still be eaten in moderate amounts, with exceptions such as macadamia nuts, which are generally healthy even in higher amounts.
Finally, the recipe calls for a jar of roasted red bell peppers. Be sure to look at the ingredients and you should normally be able to find one that comes packed with olive oil only, not any other vegetable seed oil. An alternative to that, for those who don’t mind spending the extra time, is to roast your own bell peppers. They can be roasted in the oven, on the grill or near the flame of a gas stove. To roast them in the oven, place them on a baking sheet in a 400 F oven for about 35 minutes. Once properly roasted, they can be placed in a bowl of cold water to help the skin loosen from them. When cool enough to handle, remove the skin with your hands. For this recipe, 3 red bell peppers should be enough.
Serves 8-10
Serve it up with some fresh veggies and you have yourself a healthy end enjoyable snack!
P.S. Be sure to check out the Paleo Recipe Book. It’s a cookbook I’ve created to help you cook the best food for your health. It contains over 370 recipes and covers absolutely everything you need.
