I'm BAACK!

Hey guys! I haven't forgotten anyone! I promise I'm sticking to the Paleo diet. Everything has been going great for me since I've started in March. I've lost approximately 10 lbs, I feel a lot stronger and more energized. I find educating myself on nutrition (what foods are good for what), has helped me a great deal mentally and physically. I have managed to cut out all breads and pastas and my palette has refined itself a bit. I have gained some crazy self control, and only allow myself to cheat when I know it will taste AMAZING, not just "meh it was alright", but "OMG It's as good as sex!". 

In the mean time, I have found new ways to make burgers and sneak in healthy veggies without tasting them. I have made Hamburger sliders (sans bun), candied pecans/almonds and slipped beets into my juice. I have also fallen victim to the latest healthy trend...Juicing. I have been buying a large amount of produce and juicing every morning for 2 weeks now. My lovely BREVILLE juicer removes all the pulp from your produce and leaves the juice in a jug. I have been putting in 3-4 carrots, 1 beet, 1 cucumber,  3 apples, 2 oranges, 1 grapefruit, 3 kiwis, a bit of fresh ginger, half a pineapple and half a honeydew melon. SOOOOO GOOD!  

So Here is my recipe for the hamburgers. 1 lbs of ground beef, 2 eggs, 1 garlic clove chopped, various spices and a sufficient amount of bacon. Form your patty, bake it and top it with whatever topping you would like (Nice try...NO BUN GUYS!). They taste garlicky and amazing with guacamole, tomato and lettuce.

Chili-Lime Chicken Wings

Hey guys!

Here it is, a real summer BBQ option.

Ingredients:
1/2 a medium onion
3 Garlic cloves
2 Jalapeno peppers (I used 1 pepper and didn't have any kick...and I can't take spicy food)
1/2 cup of cilantro
Ground black pepper
Zest from 2 limes
1/4 cup of lime juice
2 TBSP of Paleo friendly fish sauce (I didn't use any, it's up to you)
2 TBSP of coconut aminos (didn't use any)
1 TBSP of apple Juice (didn't use any)

Steps
1. Throw all the ingredients in a blender until it looks like green ooze.

2. Put wings and mixture in a bowl and mix it all well.

3. Throw in oven or BBQ until cooked to desire.

My Struggle
As good as it was, there was a little zip missing. Next time I will be using a 2nd jalapeno pepper and add apple juice. I don't like fish sauce and I am unsure what coconut aminos is.

Honey, I'm home!

Hey everyone!

I am having a great visit with my mother this week and she asked me how my blog was going. I gave her a typical child answer: "it's good", then I realized that I haven't written anything in a while! I wanted to introduce her slowly into paleo and explain some stuff to her. I made great chili-lime chicken wings with a salad for her. It all turned out great and I never heard her complain about being bloated or hungry. I will give you the recipe in another blog.

For tonight, I'm going to write a bit about honey. I have been using a lot of honey lately to sweeten some food/drinks. According to paleo guides, it's acceptable to use it because it is naturally produced by bees and can be cultivated (with a few bee stings involved). Bees collect the nectar from various plants, fly back to their nest and this is where it gets weird. The bees actually consume the nectar and regurgitate it several times to make the honey. So yes essentially you are eating regurgitated food and most likely gastric contents. LOL.

Our mothers always told us to put honey in our tea to help sooth a sore throat. Some people put honey on open wounds to help heal. I found out that some properties in honey combined with body fluids and oxygen becomes anti-bacterial and create a slow release hydrogen peroxide. Because this process needs contact with oxygen, it makes for a bad topical antibiotic used with gauze. Diabetic ulcers are a great example for using honey.

Most importantly we use it for food. Because it is allowed in our paleo diet I've decided to really research how good it is. There are as many good things as bad things about this and I will leave it up to you to decide.

1. It is loaded with antioxidants,vitamins and minerals. Buckwheat honey is proven to increase the antioxidant value in the blood.

2. It can vary in glycemic index from low to extremely high, half of the sugar content is actually fructose, and does raise your blood sugar just not as much as regular dextrose and sucrose.

3. It helps reduce inflammation.

4. Lowers LDL ("bad" cholesterol) and raises HDL("Good" cholesterol).

Some of the big tips for honey is to choose a darker coloured honey and make sure it is unpasteurized. It is a healthier option in baking than processed sugar. And most importantly, It is still not recommended for someone who has problems with their weight and diabetics.

Homemade Fresh Almond Milk

Hey everyone! Everyone has been asking me lately how to make almond milk. I had a million questions as well when I first heard about it. Now thanks to youtube and a particular co-worker, I make my own Almond milk however I like it. Here are the instructions:

Step 1: Buy a bag of RAW almonds. They have to be raw. If you choose organic almonds, that is your choice.

Step 2: Soak your almonds in water for a few hours. Easiest done at night before bed time, for milk in the A.M. or before you head off to work.

Step 3: Drain your almonds. The reason why you soak them, other than giving milk, is to remove an acid that is on the brown peel of the almond. This stuff has been known create a bit of gut irritation.

Step 4: (ignore this step if you choose) I personally decide to slide the peel off the almond. You will notice they tend to pop/slide out. If you want to keep the peel, it will give you almond meal instead of almond flour.

Step 5: Put the almonds in the blender and add water. 1 cup of almonds to 2-3 cups of water, depending how creamy you want it.

Step 6: Add a pinch of salt and any kind of flavouring you want. I add a vanilla bean, I haven't quite mastered chocolate yet.

Step 7: Blend it like nobody's business! You should have very small pieces.

Step 8: Using a cheese cloth or clean tea towel, lay it in a strainer over a bowl and slowly pour the mixture into the strainer and squeeze the towel to get as much of the milk out.

Step 9: What is left over in the bowl is the pure almond milk. Add Honey to the vanilla mixture to sweeten it up. Again, flavour it to your liking.

Step 10: What you have left in the tea towel is your almond milk. I let it dry out a bit, but be careful, it could go rancid in room temperature. So put it in a ziplock baggy and freeze it for when you need almond flour/meal!

Now that you know how to make it, you can apply the same thing to other kinds of nuts. I tried Hazelnuts...it isn't as good as the fake stuff in the grocery stores. :(

Paleo, Army and Cheating!!!!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry it's been awhile since my last blog, but I've been away on exercise. For those of you who don't know, I am in the military. I am a medic working in the BMS (brigade medical station) responding to different medical situations (patient screenings, mascal scenerios, traumas etc). I generally do not divulge that information to the general public but in this case it pertains to this subject. My day out here generally consists of getting up at 6 AM, start my 12 hour shift at 7 AM. Rest for 24 hours. 7 PM to 7 AM, than a followed with a 24 hours off. A day off is never truly a day off. We have lectures, several play casualties and general duties to complete. I still have alot of time to myself, however I choose to sleep, watch movies, hang out and study for a course. I have completely ignored working out and I feel extremely guilty.

I started this new diet on my march break. Just before the big 1 month exercise in the middle of nowhere. Everyone (including the cooks) told me: "Good luck, there aren't many paleo options out here!" I only saw this as a challenge. Week 1: Pretty good. My options included eggs, bacon and fruit for breakfast. Meat salad, veggies, fruit, water for lunch and dinner. I managed to stay away from all the delicious baking and pastries. Week 2: Food is still the same from the kitchen but I allowed for 1 cheat (french toast, brownies, turnovers etc.) a day. This is the same week I had my MASSIVE chocolate craving. The KO (kitchen officer, army term for head cook) was more than happy to have me sample his chocolate baking, and let me tell you....it was SOOOOOOOOOO good! Week 3: Diet officially down the drain. I am eating from the full menu but have discovered a new love: French toast topped with an over easy egg, bacon and maple syrup. Week 4: Hasn't finished yet but let me tell you, I'm cheating so much and it tastes so good! Mostly the deserts.

Our mess hall is supposed to follow the Canada Food Guide. However a lot of people do not believe this is the right way of eating and they always stick to a pattern of meals. Now it could be 100% worse and I can be eating rations everyday. These rations are preserved meals in baggies, that can be stored for years. They are loaded with carbs, sodium, sulphites and other unknown preservatives. I have personally had the worst experience on them. I have been nauseous, anorexic because I could not stomach them, puffy and felt weak. So why is it that we are supposed to be the fittest people in the country, ready to respond to anything, yet we are being fed this stuff? We have one of the fattest militaries in the world because of the diet and lack of fitness standard. This has been very frustrating for those of us who meet and/or exceed the fitness standard but get judged because of other less fit members. This frustration is only part of why I have taken such an interest in this way of eating.

I am done this ex in a few days and I am extremely excited to have a regular paleo meal, do my grocery shopping at planet organic and the farmers market and get back into working out on a regular basis. However I will only be able to continue this for another 2 weeks before I head out on a 2.5 week course for work...again!

PS: I am in no way saying that our soldiers are generally unhealthy or that our government does not support our health. They sometimes have no choice in how we eat due to operational tempo. We do have access to gyms every day of the week, have access to professional help with diet and exercise. It is 100% up to the individual soldier to smarten up and start fixing themselves.

What I've discovered about Coconut Oil

Hey everyone!

I have to say to start, thank-you very much for reading my blog. I had no idea so many people cared or that I spoke about it that much. So I'm sitting here with my latest paleo creation, Thai curry chicken and shrimp, and it tastes great (if you like Thai food). It's not too sweet but definitely has those typical Thai flavours.  A little spicy but yellow curry isn't too potent.

Over the last few days I have been using ALOT of coconut oil as per the recipes. ALL of my chocolate deserts have massive amounts of coconut oil in it, so I started wondering why can't I use another ingredient? Turns out the oil helps keep the chocolate somewhat soft when trying to manipulate it. I did some research last night and found some amazing things about it.

It can be used for several uses. Women have been known in some countries to use it as a moisturizer and put it in their hair for all that moisture. I covered my hair last night ( COVERED IT, from scalp to end) and let it soak for approx 40 min. then washed it as per normal. People have been known to drink a tablespoon of oil for it's good fat. Studies have shown that cholesterol levels are much more balanced out, in a population that consumes a lot of coconut in their food. These same people have also little to no traces of cardiovascular disease. So guess what that means!!! You can still fry your food!

Coconut oil has 2 FANTASTIC fatty acids: Medium Chain Triglycerides and Lauric Acid. Medium Chain Triglycerides are a bit complicated, from what I've learned is that the fatty acid, transforms into Ketones in your liver. Anyone that has heard anything about the latest fad "raspberry ketones" will know that it helps with energy levels and weight loss. Lauric Acid in it's form and after it's broken down, is known to kill bacteria, viruses and fungi. Alot of people have been using it as a form of polysporin on wounds.

Guess what, it's also good for your oral hygiene! All you have to do is have the discipline to swish oil around for 10-20 minutes a day. All the bacteria that causes plaque, gingivitis and bad breath is essentially pulled off your teeth and gums, hence the term "oil pulling."

If these aren't enough reasons for you to start using it, I don't know what else I have to say! Next time you have have a cold or strep throat, try oil pulling! Besides it tastes great.

Here is more about it:
http://authoritynutrition.com/why-is-coconut-oil-good-for-you/

Salsa Roja Asada recipe

Courtesy of NOM NOM PALEO app

Makes 2 Cups, approx 20 minutes to make.

1 lbs - tomatoes
2 Med - Serrano Chiles (or Jalapenos for milder heat...or up the intensity with any other pepper)
4 Garlic cloves
1/2 tsp - Kosher salt
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 Lrg Shallot
1/4 Cup chopped cilantro

1. Place Oven on broil and put tomatoes in oven until skin in charred and peeling. Doesn't take long, approx       5 min.

2. Roast garlic (skin still on cloves, it helps protect them) until cloves are soft and peppers is soft and skin begins to char and blister.

3. Peel the garlic and remove seeds and ribs from peppers.

4. Add garlic, peppers and salt in food processor.

5. Put tomatoes in blender with the other ingredients (won't take long to blend)

6. Once done, add lime juice and cilantro, give a quick stir.

7. Let Salsa sit for a bit for flavours to build.