When we began the diet just over a month ago, I had intended to post a weekly recap of what we ate and how we were doing, etc… Well, life and illness got in the way and I never got past the first week summary – my apologies. But now I’m here to give you a re-cap of the last three weeks and share some of our favorite meals from the last few weeks.
My favorite part of the Paleo diet has been all of the new recipes I have tried. Before this, we were stuck in a rut of making the same things month after month and this diet has altered the way I cook almost everything. I definitely wouldn’t consider myself an unhealthy eater before, but being very aware of the ingredients in each and everything I put in my mouth has made me more aware of how many things I was eating before that weren’t necessarily beneficial to me.
We decided to give this diet a try to see if would help my husband’s disease: Ulcerative Colitis. I explain more in detail here. Over the last thirty days, I cannot say that he has seen any changes other than in his waistline. My already-slim-husband dropped 12 lbs over the last 30 days, and most of the weight dropped within the first two weeks. I was told that this could be due to inflammation and water-weight so it could have been a good sign that there was some healing going on inside of his body. Other than that, there has not been really any improvement. I have met a lot of great people over the last 30-days, mostly on Instagram, that have seen success from eating clean and time and time again, I am told that it typically takes more like 45-60 days before they noticed any changes. I’m hoping I can keep my husband on board that long.
I, myself, dropped 9 pounds on the diet but my weight-loss was gradual. I lost a couple of pounds a week and I feel great. I’m less bloated, my energy is up, my skin is clearer and my pores even are smaller and I intend to keep eating this way.
Here are some of the things we ate over the last three weeks:
Spaghetti and Zucchini Noodles with homemade Italian sausage and a tomato sauce. This is one of my favorite meals from the diet.
For the sausage, I used Melissa Joulwan’s Italian sausage spice recipe. Her book, Well Fed has tons of other great recipes as well. I love this spice recipe and followed it exactly.
We had tons of whipped coconut cream. We ate it on pancakes, waffles, mixed with fruit, by the spoonful… yeah, we love this stuff.
I experimented with Paleo – Pho. I used zucchini noodles as my rice noodles. I had a pho spice packet (paleo friendly) that I made broth with. Added poached eggs, kimchi, fish sauce, scallions and sriracha sauce. I had this for several meals.
We made juice several times. Veggie juice in the afternoon and occasionally a fruit juice in the morning.
Paleo friendly pizza… this was our Valentine’s Day dinner. The pizza crust displayed below was not good. It tasted fine alone, but once we added the pizza toppings, the flavors did not mesh well.
A couple days later we made a cauliflower crust recipe and enjoyed it VERY much.
Paleo waffles, with strawberries we heated on the stove until they made a sauce and coconut whipped cream.
Zucchini Brownies – These were a Super Bowl treat. Of course that is coconut whipped cream on top! YUM! These were great and very moist – more like a cake than a brownie though.
Chicken Bone Broth
Chicken bone broth with poached eggs and homemade kimchi
Eggs with sausage and homemade sauerkraut. We have eaten tons of eggs of the last 30 days. More eggs than I would have ever imagined I’d eat, but hey, I’m not even sick of them yet!
Spaghetti pie. There are lots of versions out there. It was decent, I’d make it again.
Paleo deviled eggs – we added avocado, mustard powder, homemade pickles, paprika and some leftover guacamole. They were good!
Sweet potato fries – The following morning we chopped up the rest with some leftover steak and made a hash. We had fried eggs over the hash. Mmmm that was my favorite breakfast. Sorry, I forgot to take a pic!
Smoothies with homemade yogurt, frozen organic fruit and bee pollen.
We ate many more meals over the 30 days as well, but these were some of my favorites. I made a calendar and attached it to the refrigerator door. I marked down what we ate for each meal so I could remember. I found this helpful, especially for meal planning.
If you have any favorite Paleo meals, please share them with me in the comments section below!
Very nice. I hope Ben goes on for a couple more weeks.
I totally agree with the idea that ben’s weightloss is mostly if not all water weight and a sign of reduced inflammation (don’t know if I was the one who said that or not?). I hope he sticks it out a while and hope it helps! Also- I need to try the califlour pizza. We <3 califlour rice too, yum!
I am interested to know how to make the coconut whipped cream please it looks heavenly,
Do you have a tool to make the zucchini strips or do you, gulp….. julienne them? (Please say no because me and julienne do NOT get allong)
Sooo you must have May egg shells around. FUN FACT: ground egg shells are AWESOME to clean with. Just throw in cuisinart and purée dry or put in a plastic bag and let the little ones stomp em’! Then use on Dutch ovens to get the brown hue off the bottom. (Yes. It comes off) I also clean my sinks with this mixture. if you have an especially hard job that requires extra abrasion (cookie sheets) add some salt to the shell powder.
I hope you guys experience more health benefits soon!
To make coconut whipped cream you will need a can of coconut milk, full fat. Make sure there aren’t other ingredients in there. I use an organic brand I find at Whole Foods. Then you are supposed to cool it for at least a couple hours in the fridge upside down. This helps the solid separate from the milky part. Once cooled, pour off the milky portion and reserve for future use. Scoop out the thicker part and use a hand blender to whip it up to the desired whipped cream consistency. Sometimes we add raw organic honey, for sweetness and also cinnamon. SO easy. Must eat within 2-3 days. It is heavenly.
In regards to the noodles… I bought a Paderno Spiral Veggie Slicer that will make three different types of “noodles”. We bought ours off Amazon but I think they sell them at BBB and William Sonoma.
Thanks for the info about egg shells 🙂
Here is also a link to how to make the whipped cream: http://minnesotafromscratch.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/paleo-diet-week-1-summary-and-recipes-plantain-pancakes-and-coconut-milk-whipped-cream/
My I have a link to the coconut whip cream please
Hey Rachel, Here is the link: http://minnesotafromscratch.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/paleo-diet-week-1-summary-and-recipes-plantain-pancakes-and-coconut-milk-whipped-cream/
Dang looks good and I was just pulling out my notepad to write some ideas down when I saw all the eggs – and just agreed with my naturopath yesterday that I’d go back to egg-free living for a while as it’s something she said is not good for my particular tummy 🙁
Oh bummer… yeah we’ve eaten dozens of eggs over the last month! The spaghetti with Italian sausage and zucchini noodles is a great option for you though. I make my own sauces. Usually I saute up shredded carrots, onions, garlic, green pepper and celery, then add a large can of diced tomatoes and season the sauce with garlic powder, sea salt and other Italian herbs. Super easy and tasty! The coconut whipped cream is also an option for you, as well as the bone broth. If you aren’t making bone broth yet, I recommend you get a pot started today. The sweet potato fries and hash would work too. I’ll take a peek at a couple of my cookbooks and e-mail you some good looking recipes 😉
Oh but great to know about the spiral slicer as I have the one that just makes the long ones not the cool curly-Q’s…!
I have been eating the Paleo lifestyle now for just under a year. My two favorite cookbooks are the MAKE AHEAD PALEO and THE COMPLETE IDIOTS GUIDE to EATING PALEO. these two books have been a Godsend for me. Also, if you’re looking for a Paleo friendly treat try our maple candy. 100% Paleo friendly and 100% gluten free! Our maple syrup and maple cream are also Paleo friendly. Check out our website at RaymondSugarHouse.com