In Pursuit of Happiness...

If you take away every physical thing you own what are you left with. Your family,  your friends, talents, and basically your true self. Who are you when everything is taken out of the picture. what would it take to make you happy. I think this idea can go along well with the Paleo topic. to be your best self you need to peel away the bad to see the good inside.

Here is what makes me truly happy,

• Faith in God and Jesus Christ
• Family, extended and immediate
• Close loving friends
• Outdoors- love the fresh air and seeing all the natural beauty in our earth
• My talents
• Seeing my kids happy 

I am grateful for so much in my life and by becoming the best person physically that I can be I am able to see the blessings that I have in my life and I'm able to be a happier person!

Update

Well it's been a few days since I wrote but thought I should get on here and give a bit of an update on how things are going.

I'm still doing paleo and going strong. I feel like my stomach has shrunk so much that I am hardly ever even hungry anymore where as before I always felt hungry or like I needed to be snacking on something.. Freedom is what it feels like. I have been learning to get creative with my food and my taste buds are definitely thanking me for it!

 Last night I recreated one of my favorite meals from Cheesecake Cafe but eliminated a couple things to make it paleo friendly. For any of you who frequent the Cheesecake Cafe it is the Chicken Down Under. It is made up of a bit of drizzled honey mustard, Chicken, Bacon, Mushrooms, and topped with cheese.. Instead what I did was just did the Chicken, Bacon, and Mushrooms.. and it was still amazing.. the bacon makes it lol.  I added a salad to the side and thought you know it would be good to just make a salad throw in whatever veggies you want then chop up the chicken and bacon and mushrooms and throw it all together.. mmmm. add a little home made dressing and your good.

It has been so nice hearing from people who have tried changing their diet to paleo because of hearing my story.. I'm glad I could inspire some of you to make healthy changes and I am also inspired by you and hearing about your success stories! I will add some more recipes soon! thanks for reading

Motivation

For me, lack of motivation is what keeps me from reaching my goals. It is what has kept me from being my best self. I think that when you are ready to achieve your goals you will know inside and that nothing will come between you and what you want. For me the lifestyle I am living now just clicked for me and it makes sense for me. I think it feels better to be healthy inside and out then the taste of any dessert or fast food meal could ever taste.

So how do I keep myself motivated. For me it does help to hear how good I'm doing from someone else but that isn't enough. If it was then I'd be a size 0 from all the times my husband tells me how good I look. haha   so here are a few Ideas that work for me and might work for you too

• Wear clothes that are flattering to your body.It is important to feel good about yourself or at least in my case I would run for a chocolate bar...  If you don't want to spend a lot of money on clothes buy some second hand or at Walmart. I used to refuse to buy cheap clothes but if your trying to lose weight why waste your money.
• Set small goals that are easy to reach at first and give yourself rewards when you reach them. Try to make your rewards something that will help you in your journey or that helps you feel good about the changes you have made- new exercise clothes, arm band for I-pod, step counter, new exercise dvd etc.. whatever moves you
• take care of yourself in every way- do your hair and make up, wash your face morning and night, brush your teeth after every meal. This may sound like duh why wouldn't I do this but I found when I felt bad about myself I would let everything else fall apart and start to feel depressed
• It is important to be happy so spend time with friends and try to eat healthy and if you have a dessert once and a while don't feel guilty. I feel like that was my down fall so many times and you shouldn't feel guilty  just try not to have dessert too often. once a week is not bad then it tastes 10x better anyways!
• Be honest with yourself and others. Especially yourself and with what is really going on in your body. Go to the doctor when things don't seem normal in your body. It is so important to listen to what our bodies tell us and treat the problems the right way. For me it was finding out that I have Celiac desease.

 I know this doesn't have a lot to do with the paleo thing that I said my blog was going to be all about but I think  feeling good about yourself is so important. Yes the Paleo diet has helped me get to that place and maybe it is something that will work for you but  even if its not I think we need to respect ourselves and our bodies more or our time on this earth may be limited due to our life style.

Exercise

So a few weeks ago, prior to my diet change I had a really hard time finding any motivation to work out. I felt tired a lot so that didn't help at all. Since the change, with all this energy I have gained I feel like it is so much easier. Even if you don't want to go totally paleo just eating more fruits and veggies instead of salty or sweet but unhealthy snacks could make all the difference in how you feel inside.

Even if you don't get a huge hour long or more work out in anything is better than nothing. And if you are to busy just keep moving. Doing  your regular chores around the house is a  great work out.You are just using your body to do the things it was made to be able to do. for me to do my laundry I have to carry my basket of clothes up some stairs. It might not seem like a work out but it is still helping your body. Whenever we go shopping we seem to always park at the end of the parking lot which sucks when its cold but its good exercise.

There are lots of little ways to get a little more exercise in your life if you just get creative!

How do I make the change?

Okay, I have got a lot of questions about how to make the change from  the "American food guide" type living to Paleo Eating so I thought I would give some basic outlines and how to replace old items with new ones.

This is the Paleo food pyramid. (obviously)  Meat and Veggies are very important This is what your plate should look like at almost every meal:

Typically my breakfast doesn't look quite the same.I either have bacon and eggs or eggs and a piece of fruit.  other then that the sky is the limit to what kinds of meat and veggies you can mix with your meals.

Let me explain what things you can use instead of your old ingredients I want to go through the things you shouldn't eat one by one  and give your a solution for it. Lets start with start with starches. Potatoes and rice are the two main ones that I have weeded out of my life. I hardly ever had  a meal without rice or potatoes. ever. What I do if I ever feel like Id like something like that is kind of a trick on the brain I guess. It tastes a bit different but really good

Mashed or chopped Cauliflower

1. Put whole head of cauliflower (chopped up) in pot with water
2. add 1/4 tsp ground Pepper
3.add 2 cloves of fresh crushed garlic
4. Boil till cauliflower is soft enough to mash

5.Strain and put in food processor, or us a hand mixer or kitchen-aid Mixer

6. Add a tablespoon of butter, mix, and serve!

* If you have a food processor you should be able to chop it up like rice or turn it in to more  of a mashed potato texture. I have a Kitchen Aid and it made it more like a rice when I mixed it. (my daughter liked hers with soya sauce on it!)

Next lets talk a little about bread. I personally don't miss it but if you would there is a solution to that problem. I made some Paleo bread a few days ago and it tastes great! there are some different things though that you would need to make it.  Depending on the recipe you use you will probably need to have Almond Flour or Coconut Flour. I buy these at the bulk barn in Lethbridge but I suppose if you are from somewhere else try the bulk section of your store or look at local health food stores. This bread also takes Honey with a lot of you probably have on hand if Ive got about a one Litre container of it ( i like in on top of my bread too) I also used apple cider vinegar in the bread I made. Other than that the rest of the ingredients were basic baking stuff that most people probably have in their home if they bake. I'll add a recipe for the bread tomorrow.

Okay, so you know that vegetable oil or canola oil you have sitting in your cupboard that you thought was good for you.. well its not. I'm not going to get all scientific if you want that info read  "The Paleo Solution" by Robb Wolf.. I know Ive suggested that a few times but it makes it all make sense.  Instead use Olive oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil. Oh and Butter.. Butter=Good ,  Margarine=Bad

Lets discuss Fruits and nuts.. good for you but don't go overboard.  Fruit even though it is healthy has alot of sugar in it,Fruit is good after a work out to give back the energy you used up. If I am tired in the middle of the day fruit helps me get that energy back up  so I can get through the day but that situation has only come up once in the past week of doing this because I never have that food coma from eating too much junk anymore. my food lifts me up, not drag me down. When it comes to nuts if I feel a little hungry between meals first I go to veggies for a snack but if I still need a little more substance I grab 5-10 walnuts and I'm good.

Water is a VERY important component. I 2-3 Litres of water a day. My skin has benefited from that and I'm sure a lot of other parts of my body have as well. When it comes to drinking skip the milk, soda pop, and juice. The only time I use any kind of juice is when I make a fruit smoothie. I should mention how I make my smoothies if you want to try.. all you need is orange juice and a bag of mixed fruit or berries (I get mine at Costco. I dont measure but I try to make a single serving most times cuz I use a magic bullet. so I would say about 1-1 1/2 cups  of your choice of fruit fill with orange juice so the juice covers all the fruit by half an inch or more(all depends on how thick you want your smoothie.. I like them thick) then blend till smooth! they taste great!

steer clear of anything that is packaged and has refined sugars. Everything should be real you should know exactly what the ingredients are.. almost everything I buy is only one ingredient- Vegetable-nothing added, Meat-plain nothing added, nuts-plain-no salt nothing added, fruit- same thing, herbs and spices fresh or dried. I add the ingredients to my food.. not a factory of some sort.



okay I'm done for the day.. sorry its so long but Its easier when you understand.. if you have any questions if I missed anything let me know!

Trying new things

I am the first one to say that I don’t like trying new things. My Husband Jeff would always make fun of me when we would go out to eat because there was one meal at each restaurant we would go to that I would eat...

Cheesecake cafe- The Chicken Down under

Moxies- Ranch House Chicken Burger

Boston Pizza- Chipotle Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad

...and so on. I was the most boring eater ever. I hated peppers, onions, broccoli,mushrooms and many other things. So how do you teach yourself to like these things? Try, try again. And keep it simple.

My whole life I hated Broccoli but one day when at a restaurant broccoli was the seasonal vegetable that ended up on my plate. I just told myself “Megan you can’t eat a meal without any veggies at all, so suck it up and eat it!” And I did.. and I liked it! And People- Don't drench them in Cheese. Don't take something that is so good for you and make it bad. Peppers on the other hand I have always had a struggle with. I hated them. But when I found out I had Celiac I felt worried that I didn’t like enough foods to have variety in my meals. So I had to figure out how to like them and here is my train of thought on this one. Take something you like and and something you don’t like to it.. In my case I was ready to eat my first omelet with Peppers and onions in it ever. The first day I had a hard time getting it down. My food was cold by the time I finished. Day 2 on the other hand was a different story. It tasted 10x better!

I think the key here is that when our bodies are used to eating Junk, good food tastes bad, but when you start changing your eating habits and eat healthy, the unhealthy food doesn’t appeal to you at all. It may take a few days of forcing yourself to eat the right things and sometimes you might feel hungry but there is nothing wrong with being hungry.

Let’s talk about that for a minute, Hunger that is. Our society is so used to being full all the time. Imagine that every restaurant and grocery store disappeared. There are no farms, just wilderness. You need to find your food. On this particular day of hunting, all you find are a small basket of berries and a small bird. You have to feed your family of 4. You have nothing else to eat that day. Are you going to die? NO!

The thing I have realized in just a week is something my aunt Kim explained to me day one of my journey.  This lifestyle is not full of restrictions. I do not feel restricted at all. It is about dietary FREEDOM!!!  If I am out doing some shopping and I get hungry it is not the end of the world. I don’t need to rush to the nearest fast food joint or food court and grab something to eat. I can wait till I can get home and make a healthy snack or meal. And by eliminating all of the packaged junk that you can get at the store you lose the craving you once had for those things. if we put sludge and junk into our systems then our bodies wont work at their full capacity. If we eat the right things we can run smoothly without too many problems.

Here are some things I have noticed since beginning Paleo just over a week ago.

-It takes a lot less food to fill my stomach

-I have lost one pant size

-I have lost 8 lbs

-I never feel bloated after a filling meal

-My head is clearer

-I am not depressed anymore

-I don’t get angry anymore

-My clothes fit better (who doesn’t love that)

-I sleep better

-I don’t get stressed AT ALL

-My skin is clearer

-I have limitless energy during the day

-Exercising is not hard anymore

The results are limitless. I will try to explain some of these things later and why they happen. But for now all you need to know is they will happen.Good luck trying something new!

So Recipe of the day- Jeff suggested I add this particular one so here it is (sorry I don't have a pic of this one but trust me it looks good and tastes great!

Sauteed Apples

3   Apples, Cored and sliced

1   tablespoon butter (not margerine-bad for you)

2   teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 to 1/2 cup pecans, Chopped (Instead of pecans I have used raisins instead and it is really good too)

1. Bring Frying pan to medium heat

2. Toast Pecans for 3-4 minutes then add butter

3.Add the apples and cinnamon

4 Saute for 5-7 minutes and serve

I use this as a side dish for dinner but you could also use it as a desert! It's like  eating pie without the crust! so good. The nice thing about this is you could do it with peaches or pears and it would taste great too.

Thanks for your questions and interest in my blog! I love hearing from everyone so thanks guys!

So where do I start?

The thought of changing your diet can be overwhelming. When I was being tested for Celiac just the thought of not being able to eat any product with wheat in it made me get extremely stressed out and feel like I was going to cry ( and most times I actually did cry). For me I feel like its easy to not eat those things and more now because I know I will get sick, but I know it has got to be hard for someone who thinks "I can eat whatever I want! How can I find the self control to try the Paleo Diet?"

Like I mentioned yesterday, there was a time when people didn't eat the junk we have today. There weren't farms that grew large amounts of cheap crops.There wasn't candy or pizza.  People hunted and picked what they ate so naturally they were getting their exercise in. Turns out though they relaxed a lot too. They only actually worked about 15 hrs a week so they probably had a lot less stress in their lives. Now I will be the first to say that my favorite food was pizza and I couldn't imagine giving it up but there are ways to have your favorite things if you are just willing to tweak the recipe to suit your body better.

So where do you begin your transformation. Its not hard.. got some bacon and Eggs in you fridge? well there is your first breakfast.. easiest thing to make. skip the hash browns and toast you don't need that garbage.. lol let me give you a typical day for me...

Breakfast:  Bacon and Eggs  or an omelet

Lunch:       Chicken salad- home made Paleo dressing (Add in as many veggies as you want,craisins
                 are good or nuts

Supper:     Salmon, Asparagus, and Mixed Veggies.

Snacks:     Walnuts, Oranges, Carrots, Dried fruit


Its all about listening to your body. If you are hungry, EAT. Eat till you're full. If your eating the right things your body will react in the right way. Our society has been told that Fat is bad but its a scam! I have been eating fat all week and I feel better and look better.. 8 lbs in 1 week with hardly any effort. when wast the last time you ate tons all day every day only worked out twice and lost 8 lbs in a week.. probably never. 

The thing is just make sure you eat the right stuff. Don't eat anything from a package. If you dont know what the ingredients are its not good. Don't worry about counting calories, worry about ingredients. The easiest way to do this is to shop around the outside of the store and in the aisle with spices. when I go in walmart I skip the dairy aisle and go right to the meat. Avoid the processed meat and go for the real stuff. When possible with your budget go organic. Then you know the animals are fed right and you will be too.  I try to get a good variety of different stuff so I don't get bored.After Meat go to the Produce. Fill your cart with color! make sure you pick up some cauliflower to replace your potatoes and rice with. If you have a food processor you can do wonders with cauliflower and the way you prepare it.  Grab some garlic and fresh herbs to cook with. Replace your spaghetti with spaghetti squash. Make home made sauce for your pasta and add peppers and mushrooms and onions and spices.. It will taste better then any can of spaghetti sauce you could buy.

It might sound overwhelming but it really is easy. Don't think about what you can't eat. Think of all the things you can eat and the different creations that are out there for you to try! Food tastes so much better when it is fresh and natural. A week ago I hated peppers and onions and now like I like them. Last  night while talking to my dad about living Paleo I said that when i was eating junk from a box all the time and other unhealthy things there were a lot of healthy veggies and meat that I didn't like. But now that I have only eaten real food for the last week I have absolutely NO desire to eat anything from a box. It grosses me out. I don't want chocolate or candy I don't care that I cant have Chinese food or Pizza the way I used to eat them. I care about my health and my body . Fruit tastes sweeter now, the crunch of a vegetable is way better than a potato chip, the fat in meat helps my brain (which is made up of a lot of fat) function way better.

These foods have made me happier, healthier, 1 pant size  skinnier in a week and more energetic.  I went from hating myself to loving myself and what is better than that. Especially as a mom. I love myself more so now I can love and care for my family more. You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others.

Feel free to ask  questions and I will try to answer them the best I can in tomorrows blog entry! I will also try to include a recipe in tomorrows entry. Thanks for reading!

Be your best you!

-Megan

About Me.

As of last week I had to make some big changes in my life that I am sure many people can relate to.  What I was eating was slowly killing me. My body was not functioning the way you would think a normal body should. I had not felt normal and healthy for as long as I could remember. Some days the pain was so bad that I couldn't get out of bed. Some nights it was so bad that I couldn't sleep. I got Migraines, Diarrhea (I know gross but true). I was alive but not really living. I never had the energy to do the things I needed and I felt depressed a lot of the time but couldn't put my finger on why. I was always bloated and had aches and pains all over, but here I am today feeling better than ever! I feel like I can really live now. I want to exercise, I want to spend time with my 2 wonderful kids. I want to try new things. And it is all because of my new lifestyle. It is all because of Paleo.

I have for a long time thought that I was eating healthy. I worked hard to lose weight after having each one of my kids, though I was never able to get it all off. I thought the things I was eating were good for me but it was all a scam, as I have recently learned. I should start with why I changed my way of eating to begin with.

The aches and pains and other symptoms I was having from the time I was in high school till recently were a symptom of a disease that was present in my body, unknown to me. One that I had no Idea even existed till some of my relatives and my younger sister were diagnosed with it. Celiac Disease. Celiac disease is a condition that damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food that are important for staying healthy. The damage is due to a reaction to eating gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats. So the sandwich I took most days for lunch, the Dressing on my salad, the spaghetti we had once a week, all these things and more were destroying my insides and ruining my quality of life.

Tomorrow it will have been a week since I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and my life has drastically changed. It is amazing what one week can do. The diet I follow (which I consider my new lifestyle, not a diet) is called Paleo. If you have never heard of it well you are in the same position I was a week ago. You see, the evening following my appointment with my Doctor, my Aunt Kim called me up to see how I was doing and answer some of the burning questions I had on my mind. Little did I know she was going to give me some of the best advise, I feel, that I have ever been given in my life. She does not have Celiac disease,but a wheat intolerance. Her Family started living gluten free quite a while ago because her husband and children have celiac. She told me  how she had all the symptoms that I had been having and decided to start this "Paleo diet".

After getting off of the phone with her I began searching whatever I could to learn about it and immediately started to eat as outlined. Basically I eat meat, vegetables, fruit, and nuts- NO STARCH, NO WHEAT ( which in my case I couldn't have anyways) NO DAIRY, NO LENTILS. I know it sounds strict but when you really understand it and think about it, it doesn't feel strict at all.

The Paleo Diet is based around the diet cavemen would have eaten. Its all about Hunting and gathering.  The skeptics say well what about milk, you will get osteoporosis. We need wheat in our diet, every commercial on tv about bread and cereal tells us so, well my friends studies have been done on people from that time period and they were just fine. They were taller on average than modern day people, they had more muscle, better bones, less cavities, better sight, and less disease. Until Agriculture came into the picture many of the diseases you so commonly hear about today were rare.  If you want are curious and want more info I would suggest you read the book "The Paleo Solution : The Original Human Diet" by Robb Wolf. I breaks it down as far as you can and has real life stories of people living this lifestyle.

I'm sure your getting tired of reading now so let me finish by saying, I have only been doing this Paleo thing for about a week now and I have so much energy its ridiculous. I don't feel tired and sluggish all day, my head is more clear, I don't get head aches, I don't feel bloated or gassy, and no more aches and pains. I have lost 7 lbs in 6 days. My clothes fit better, My food tastes better.No junk food could EVER taste as good as I feel. If you need a change I seriously suggest trying paleo. Try it for a week and tell me you don't feel better. I feel better and don't plan on turning back!