Have you ever heard of Paelo? I didn't either, until my friend challenged me to eat paelo for 30 days. It was life changing. (We will get more into that later). Anyways, Paleo is a lifestyle way of eating and closely connected to Crossfit. It is often called the Caveman Diet or as some friends say, the God Diet. Everything you eat is pretty much natural, just how it came from the earth. It is a challenging lifestyle change, but the health results are amazing! I will get more into Paleo and gluten free living soon; however, if you want a brief background check out this website.
No moving onward and upward, as this blogger would say! Today, friends, I have a special treat for you! Claire from The Ascent Blog has kindly shared her 31 Paleo Shopping Staples. Get ready for a good laugh, love this girl and her witty banter!
Hey folks! Claire from The Ascent Blog here! Sheila originally asked me to share a
Paleo recipe with you all, but it turns out that I am the least creative person
ever when it comes to cooking, so instead I am going to share with you my Paleo
Diet Staples!
Going Paleo can be scary. I know, I've
done it, and I've even had to re-do it a couple of times. I first heard about
"Paleo" in college, when my then-boyfriend's super intense athlete of
a roommate picked up the book The Paleo Diet for Athletes. Well, back
then the word "athlete" absolutely did not apply to me, so I counted
it out. My then-boyfriend, on the other hand, stopped eating gluten (which
meant he stopped making me pancakes, which was a problem), stopped drinking
fruit juice, and immediately lost about 20 pounds.
Ok, Paleo, you have my attention.
And yet, throughout college and my early
post-college life, I continued to live under the allusion that low fat was a
great choice and whole grains were keeping me full and giving me lots of fiber.
I mean, that's what everyone tells you, right? Then why was I still carrying
around 10--okay 15--extra pounds from college? More importantly, why was I
always feeling bloated, tired, and ending every meal just wanting to be rolled
into my bed?
When I started CrossFit in March of 2012,
one of the first sessions of our "Elements" class was a seminar about
diet. Ironically, my boyfriend and I had just come from our favorite brewery,
where we had eaten pizza (but it was whole grain crust!) and drank beer. For
breakfast that day, I had eaten toast (again, whole grain!) with peanut butter
(full of protein, right?!), and a bowl of oatmeal (where else was I gonna get
my fiber!?). And at first, I wasn't convinced about Paleo. I didn't buy it. I'd
been eating this way forever, and I usually felt fine, so what was the big
deal? I mean I didn't feel great, but did anyone ever really feel great?
But then we did a Paleo challenge in May
of 2012, and suddenly my heartburn, which I used to get with literally every
meal, was gone. My world-famous belching had come to a halt (what? belching
isn't a symptom of a healthy digestive system?) and I was falling asleep faster
and waking up easier. And, for the first time in my life, I did feel GREAT.
For the next 8 months, I kept learning
about Paleo and cutting more and more grains, sugars, and dairy products out of
my diet. And then, in January, I finally went super strict Paleo. And this
happened:
You may have seen this picture floating
around Pinterest, and yep, that's me.
Now Paleo REALLY had my attention.
But transitioning into full-on Paleo
wasn't easy, especially coming from a place where almost all of my snacks were
things like wraps, wheat thins and hummus, and yogurt. And the transition,
ultimately, became about how I shopped.
Which brings me to the whole point of
this post (finally), which is this:
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I hope that helps, if you are brand new to Paleo or have been eating Paleo since the last ice age (Oh man I crack myself up). What items did I miss?
- live simply - intentionally - gratefully - joyfully -
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