Paleo and primal

[Daughteroughter]

I have been reading about paleo and primal diets has anyone tried them?

That's my husband's favourite dessert! I always have frozen raspberries in the freezer and buy the full fat yeo Valley natural yoghurt, it's so creamy!

I'm so sad that I can't have dairy

I have had a few grains for a couple of days but that was mainly down to poor planning! I'm excited about the turkey tagline I'm cooking in the slow cooker...the smells coming from the kitchen are so delicious. Everyone else can have it with cous cous but I'll have salad.

I'm also going to try slow cooking rendang and pho sometime, just to have a change from English-style casseroles.

Fasting today. So black coffee, tea and water till 7.00pm.

Dcs had grain-free gingerbread with lots of butter for breakfast.
Dcs packed lunch - curried celeriac & coconut soup - leftover from Sunday dinner and a homemade macaroon with a dark choc ganache filling.
Salmon for dinner with a lemon and mustard celeriac mash. Dcs will probably have broccoli and potato mash with theirs.

Tried roasted cauliflower with cumin seed and ground coriander last night, it was a little soggy....maybe I used too much oil.... the Five spice chicken was successful, kids begrudgingly ate the spinach and pea shoots though, so we'll do it with broccoli or Savoy cabbage next time.

Snow - macaroons with dark chocolate ganache?? Recipe please!

Salmon for dinner here too with wilted spinach and probably mushrooms fried in butter, may mash some potato for DD.

Wow, grain free gingerbread ...! Do you have a recipe book you use or just try recipes out with different grains or without?

Tea all macaroons are gluten free, but unfortunately not even close to Paleo - unless you use palm sugar, not sure they'd be any point for a very occasional treat. Choc ganache was just 85% cocoa mixed with double cream. I can't find the recipe now, they were made over a month ago and frozen - it came from a website though....I suggest YouTube.

thebest I use mostly Paleo blogs, I have a few cookbooks too but I think online blogs by foodies are probably a better resource than books written by health freaks and doctors.
The guys at Primal Palate have come up with 2 versions of gingerbread cookies this one is chewy, their first version is more crunchy - both taste fabulous - we topped them with a splodge of 85% cocoa for an extra treat.
I tend to freeze all my baked goods, we always have a good selection in the freezer so the kids don't feel deprived! Another idea for those who are trying to move their kids towards Paleo, is homemade jelly. If you are lucky you can get hold of grassfed gelatine, an excellent source of protein and make up a jelly with fruit juice....my kids can't get enough of it.

If anyone is trying to locate extra fine almond flour, coconut flour etc...I just received a massive shipment from www.realfoodsource.co.uk - good prices especially if you buy in bulk!

Snow, I've seen plenty of macaroons with gluten- those French style coloured ones which look so pretty!

A proper macaroon is coconut and some form of sugar mashed into a ball and toasted... Can have egg white or coconut milk or condensed milk too, but the essential 2 ingredient are just coconut and a sugar.

To make raw ones I just mix coconut (equal amounts of flour and desiccated) with runny honey (dark and raw), squish into rough balls (bite size) dip in coconut flour to make the surface less sticky then form into neater balls. Allow to set for a while, dip in melted choc (when choc starts to set, sprinkle with a few bits of coconut) or just eat!

For cooked ones you probably need to add egg white to hold then together more.

Needing a bit of help quickly.

Starting a new job tomorrow and I have no idea what food I should take with me. I'll be out from 6.30 until 2.30 if that helps. The only thing that I don't eat is eggs. Has to be eaten cold too.
The plan is fruit for breakfast and then I'm a bit stuck apart from salad, ok for a couple of days but I have 6 shifts in the next week so looking for a bit more than that. Once I'm a bit more settled I'll be able to cook there, so I just need something for the first couple of weeks.

Grilled chicken breasts or fish with the salad. Easy to eat cold and sliced.

How about a pot with some grilled steak, roasted pepper (chopped) and spinach. Sounds expensive but I've just got a MASSIVE slab of topside steak - never had it but looks good - for 3.50 from Morrisons. I've cut it up into three decent sized steaks. Two for dinners and one for aforementioned lunch!

Or, for simplicity, how about my new favourite? A bag of spinach mixed with a portion sized tin of tuna in oil. Delicious and amazingly filling.

Mmmm...I just made the yummiest lunch. Salmon filet baked with a little coconut oil, cherry tomatoes (about a cup) stirred with a blob of pesto and stuck under the broiler for about 10 minutes, salad leaves with oil and vinegar and way too much a bit of guacamole. Also made a giant batch of (non-paleo) chocolate chip cookies for the hordes after school and I'm even remotely tempted because I feel stuffed.

That would be not tempted. Obv.

There does seem to be some confusion over what a macaroon is. The delicate French type isn't supposed to have gluten, but I suppose there's no law against modifying the traditional French recipe, so it's not guaranteed.

I love the bounty bar style macaroon, but unfortunately the dcs don't.

How about soup for lunch.

Just had lovely wilted spinach with baked salmon and mushrooms fried in butter, yum!

Do you know what, I never even thought about having steak. Going to get a bit of shopping when I finish tomorrow and steak will be on the list. I also quite like the spinach and tuna idea.

Tomorrow will have to be the boring chicken salad as I didn't have time to go out and do any shopping.

Soup is definitely on the list but I want to be a bit more settled first, although I could take a flask I suppose.

So day three nearly done and I think I've done ok :-) I've been having eggs scrambled cooked in butter for breakfast, snacking on fruit, nuts and dates, and meat with salad for lunch, and dinners of loads of veg with bolognese, chicken leg and roast beef. I made cauliflower mash tonight and quite liked it but kids wouldn't touch it.
Disappointed scales havent moved yet but not going to let that ruin things. Just made bread for lunch boxes and so wanted some!

I am a tramp and eat everything cold. My personal trainer basically said eat because I am so rubbish at eating enough and I don't get much time
Things I eat cold
Omelette, chilli, prawns, curry, steak, cooked veg, sweet potato, roast chicken... Pretty much everything!

Sorry to start the morning with such a gruesome image, but looking in the mirror I can't really see my "fat apron" has reduced. I can certainly feel changes and I have infinitely more energy...but I don't seem to have lost much weight. I know I'm not imagining the changes as I'm quite brutally honest with myself regarding my body. Maybe I should stop weighing myself. :-(

I think it's very hard to see changes in the mirror. Last year I went from a size 14 to a size 8-10 and all I could see was fat thighs. The crushing reality hit home that I had reduced in size but my shape was here to stay. So when I looked in the mirror I saw the same shape, same body issues but my silhouette was maybe an inch small - that is almost impossible to spot with the naked eye. Take some pics to remind yourself or reserve a pair of jeans that are a bit too tight. Scales are motivating for some people, the opposite for others....know what suits you best.

Snow, well that's the thing... Manufacturers put wheat/gluten in all sorts of places it shouldn't be!

For my teens, who do eat some rice and potato, I make sure these are gluten free - many have gluten sprayed on them!
Nut and fruit mixes often have gluten...
Soups, Sauces, herb mixes ... The list goes on!
I have given up trying to find real beef jerky here in the UK as I have not found any without wheat and huge amounts of sugar in

I am sure this has nothing to do with the fact that wheat protein has appetite stimulating properties!!!!!

Rice and potato chips and snacks I mean!

Olrojo,

Dates are fabulous but remember while weight loss is the goal, literally only one or two dates as a treat and not every day - they are very high gi carbs.

Great for the very active, slim and little kids but not so great for the rest of us!

Not helpful, but I love them cut in two, rolled in melted 85% choc and allowed to set you are likely to be served these as a coffee accompaniment at my house (no cakes/buns tho!), 2 or 3 of those are a lovely treat and amazingly sweet and filling if you are not eating sugar every day.

Same with nuts really - yes they are natural and healthy with lots of nutrients BUT for weight loss, be mindful of portion sizes. A handful (30g or so), at a time... You can always serve your self another handful if you need them but I find that's enough ( but if I start with a whole bag rather than a handful I might eat it all!)

My dcs get chips quite often, homemade with lard, lovely!

Today dcs had fried egg, bacon and sausages for breakfast. Their lunch box is filled with veggie korma and rice, raw carrots - one has a banana choc chip muffin, the other has lemon & poppy seed muffin, both grain free.
Dh and I usually go out to lunch once a week but I'm being very strict atm with gluten and milk so we've decided to do a nice lunch at home.
Starting with figs and Parma Ham, maybe a drizzle of raw honey. Followed by aubergine stuffed with lamb & pine nuts, served with salad and cauli rice. Maybe some cheese to polish thing off - we have some lovely Comte & Brie in the fridge.
I got my new mincer out this morning and made my first batch of sausagemea, had a test patty for breakfast - really pleased with the result, sausages for the kids without the nitrates. Will make a stew of sausage, tomato and puy lentils for the dcs this evening, we'll probably have a little bit of sausage and tomato if we're hungry.