Pic of the week.

Today is my 7th day living 100% Paleo!

I have joined my two best girlfriends in a Paleo Challenge for the month of January. The Paleo diet is high in protein and vegetables, and without dairy, grains, or beans. Of course, no highly processed foods or sugar (except for those in fruits).

I’ve actually enjoyed preparing all of my meals and I’ve always enjoyed finding things that are healthy AND tasty, so, so far, this has been a pretty fun journey.

So far, I’ve learned lots of things while being Paleo:

• Dairy is the source of most food allergies
• A Paleo diet utilizes good fats & oils (olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, etc.) as fuel, instead of carbs.
• Your body processes/reacts to real, natural, raw, fake sugar all the same. So, that raw honey you’re eating? Same as sugar.

I’ve also learned that not everyone is a fan of Paleo—which I was warned about in Living Paleo for Dummies. Many people are quick to share their opinions: “They can’t tell me it’s a ‘Cave Man Diet’ and they didn’t drink milk from a cow” (actually, cows weren’t domesticated to be milked until post-caveman era); “Be careful, I gained 15 pounds doing that.”

But I’ll leave my lifestyle choices to myself, thank you!

Some of the things I’ve eaten this last week include:

• Seared salmon with broccolini & capers
• Sweet potato hash with onion & sausage
• Steak salad with hard boiled eggs & avocado
• Egg “muffins” (egg, spinach, onion, jalapeño, & mushrooms baked in a muffin tin)
• Cucumber & melon salad with a lime-cilantro dressing
• Steak, with butternut squash & a baked sweet potato with cinnamon
• Snacks: olives, pork rinds, dried fruit (with no sugar added), avocado, cucumber slices, pistachios

I’ve got a pork, sweet potato, & fennel stew in the crockpot as we speak! I hope the next three weeks go just as smooth as this one has.