Archive for Cooking

Need Willpower to Lose Weight? Build Habits, It’s Easier!

April 6, 2014 / / Comments Off on Need Willpower to Lose Weight? Build Habits, It’s Easier!

5 of us snorkelingI received a couple emails this week that I want to share.  The first one is from a woman named Chris who’s struggling with staying on a plan.  Here goes:

Hi Debbie,

I’ve been reading your blog, and other paleo blogs, and trying to follow the paleo eating plan.  I’m starving and I’m miserable, and I can’t go more than two days without eating cereal, crackers, or whatever is on the conference table at my office.  Is this impossible for someone with no willpower like me?

I told Chris I’d answer her in my blog, because this scenario is very, very common.  But first, here’s an email from Missy, who’s been working with me for a few months now. Missy is a single working mom; the definition of busy.  She’s struggled with food addictions and consistency, but her PERSISTENCE is paying off:

I hit the 10 lb mark on Saturday, already…. without even really thinking about it or concentrating on it other than to not eat grains. my mood and energy keeps slowly getting better and better and i’m feeling very motivated. people are starting to ask me what i’m doing and I go off like a crazy person about eating real whole food. hahaha I usually apologize and give them time to let it sink in and I give them the resources that I’ve found as well as your website and just tell them to inform themselves. be a smart consumer. don’t allow yourself to be misled by big food and big pharma. there’s no magic pill. there’s no starvation diet. one of the best lines in this book so far is “your body can’t tell the difference between jenny craig’s packaged meals and concentration-camp fare.”

I want to shout all this stuff from the rooftops!

I made a new dish over the weekend with spaghetti squash. it was creamy pesto chicken with peas and carrots over spaghetti squash. YUM! I made my boyfriend try it (he stopped at taco bell on the way to his house – I stopped at the grocery store), and he said that he would eat it if he HAD to, but that it tasted funny. haha as we were sitting there watching tv, me satiated and happy, him complaining that his stomach didn’t feel good and that he was starting to get hungry again (already only about an hour after he ate his taco bell), so I offered him some of my “pasta”. he said that he would eat it….. and then I got him to admit that it was good. 😀 I win. he ate a whole bowl!

The book Missy is referring to is one I recommend all the time, The Mood Cure or the Diet Cure, by Julia Ross.  She and I are meeting this week to discuss the protocols and science behind it.  I’ve said again and again, the amino acid therapy this book uses to re-adjust moods, addictions, anxiety, etc,  is incredible, honest.

Back to Chris,.. is eating Real Whole Food possible if you have no willpower?  YES!!  I used to eat literally a few boxes of ice cream a WEEK, and I could finish off a box of Kashi or Mini Wheats in TWO days.  And there-in lies the problem:  sugar, flour, and chemicals are incredibly addictive. You have to give them up if you want a healthy body and a healthy weight.  Unfortunately,  your addicted mind will rebel badly if your addicted body isn’t getting them.  What to do?  Be patient with yourself.  You’re breaking years ( decades??) of bad habits; neural pathways and brain patterns that have been nurtured and sustained over and over again.  You’ve got to build healthy habits!

Here’s a little strategy:  (1) You’re going to have to change the way you think about food.  Do the donuts on the conference table call to you?  Then you don’t think of them as sugar/flour/chemical bombs that cause cancer, diabetes, and heart attacks.  Want to dive into the bread basket?  Then you’re not thinking that the high insulin and blood sugar will give you wrinkles or make you impotent.  Think you’ll satisfy your needs hypnosis slimwith Weight Watchers frozen desserts?  Those chemical cancer factories will in NO WAY satisfy your brains desire for ACTUAL NUTRIENTS, and before you know it, the Rebound Binge happens.  Educate yourself!!  Read my site, read Grain Brain, read Wheat Belly, read Mood Cure.  Stop thinking of food in terms of calories; look around.  Where has the Calorie Myth gotten us?  70% overweight, and everyone’s sick.  That whole line we tell ourselves, “I’ll eat this now and exercise/starve/purge/just eat broccoli.. later”  DOESN’T work.  Ever. Your body is a Chemistry Set, not a Math Equation.

(2) Set yourself up for success.  If you’re hoping that you can keep your trigger foods in the house and ignore them, you’re wrong.  No One In Your House needs those foods.  Kids DON’T need sugar, flour, or chemicals, it has the same destructive effects on them as it does on you.  The average disease takes 20 years to manifest.  Just because your kids are slim now doesn’t mean poison food isn’t affecting them, because it is.  Toss that excuse out the window.

You MUST start planning your week; ask your self:  when can I shop, when can I cook, when can I pack?  What can I freeze and use later?  Then plan it and write it down on your schedule.  It’s a mind set.  Go into your office on a full belly, have a great lunch packed, know you’ll be eating Real Whole Food for dinner, and junk food at the meetings won’t call so loudly.  Out running around all day?  PACK!  and not stupid diet food, but Real Whole Foods, and those toxic fast food/gas station restaurants won’t be tempting.

If you’re persistent with your self education, and consistent with your planning and scheduling, change happens.  New habits form. The best thing?  Willpower, which uses up a lot of energy, is quite draining, and completely limited, isn’t necessary anymore.  Do you look at a dirty cigarette on the street and ever have even a tiny desire to put it in your mouth?  No, because you think it’s gross.  There’s no effort whatsoever involved with that decision.  Keep learning, stay determined, and pretty soon, there’s very little effort involved with your food choices.  You’ll just choose delicious food that you know your body needs to thrive.  You’ll become a Nutrient Seeker to your very core, and then the issue of willpower isn’t even an issue anymore.

Chris, and everyone else struggling out there, please don’t give up on yourself.  Real change, Brain Change, takes time. You’ve had a lifetime of hypnotizing by BigPhovernment that CaloriesInCaloriesOut works, and now consciously, you know it doesn’t.  It’s your subconscious that needs work.   If it’s important to you, then schedule a few minutes every day to fill your brain with the thoughts you want to think.  It’s not going to happen with luck; our life is what we make of it.  If you need help with your habits and consistency, get in touch with me.  I can help you understand your Biology and give you tips for your Psychology, to turn you into a Real Whole Foodie. ***** REMEMBER, TESTOSTERONE LADDEN GUEST POST BY MARK ON APRIL 13, TUNE IN FOR A MAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON BEING HEALTHY AND LEAN. *****

Category: Cooking, Mind/Body, Psychology of Eating, Question of the Week, RWF, Success Story / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Looks Healthy But Isn’t – Are You Ready For This?

April 2, 2014 / / One comment

I’m about to trash another beloved food, but before you turn your eyes away, there will healthier options provided, I promise.

Pizza, Learning disabilities, Autism, Neurological disorders, Cancer.  There’s a connection.  Actually, there’s several.  What we eat, what we put in our body, goes on to become our body.  Let’s look at the ingredients in one of the most popular, common, and consumed foods today.  How popular?  A February, 2014 study by the USDA says that 25% of ALL boys ages 6 to 19 EAT PIZZA EVERY SINGLE DAY. Sales of both restaurant and frozen pizza have increased 30% in the last 10 years.  Our own Congress has legally declared pizza a Vegetable for school lunches, hospitals, jails, and social programs, – thank you BigPhov-ern-ment – (that’s the sexual union of Big Business, Big Pharma, and Government. I just made that up, but it seems appropriate, right?).  Americans spent $32 BILLION last year on more than 30 Billion pizzas.  The average American eats 46 slices a year, with the most slices eaten by children, and teenage boys.

Remember, healthier options are coming; I love pizza!  Give me a few more minutes:

Food Babe ( an incredibly determined Activist) just wrapped up a thorough investigation of the ingredient list in several pizzas, and the results were horrible.  Did you know you can say “100% Real”, legally, and have it be loaded with crap???  Thank you, again, BigPhovernment.  Among the many chemicals is MSG, in all it’s FDA approved monikers.  Think a little MSG can’t hurt?  Oh my gosh, please think again.  MSG, under ALL it’s names (yeast extract, autolyzed yeast extract,… there’s more than 40 approved names for it) is an EXCITO-TOXIN. (Check out Neurologist/Dr. Blaylock’s revelations on MSG here.) It literally excites brain cells to death; MSG’s links to cancer and other disease states are profound. Unfortunately, like so much poison, it makes food taste good, and it has the effect of stimulating areas of the brain that make us want more.  MSG is a Food Manufacturers Dream.  Take a look at some pizza ingredients that contain MSG:

dominos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What about other additives, preservatives, emulsifiers, flavors and scents?  Oh, these pizzas are loaded.  Soybean oil and partially hydrogenated oil were in almost every company looked at, from the dough to the sauce to the toppings and cheese, BHT/BHA were in ALL the pepperonis examined, the same with Nitrates. BPA, carmel coloring, artificial colors, enriched flours, found in abundance; remember, these chemicals make the food taste good, and stimulate areas of the brain that encourage you to want more.  You can read Food Babe’s whole report here.

Pizza Hut claims “100% Beef”, but actually the beef is loaded with preservatives and flavors; Papa Johns “100% Real Cheese” has wood pulp/cellulose, modified food starch (MSG), and preservatives; this is NORMAL, and LEGAL.  Thank you BigPhovernment.

What about a local favorite:  Wegman’s Pizza Bar.  Here’s the ingredient list for their Cheese Pizza:

Ingredients
Crust (Wheat Flour, Water, Soybean Oil, Sugar, Corn Meal, Vital Wheat Gluten, Yeast, Dough Conditioners [Datem, Ascorbic Acid, Enzymes, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate], Salt, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Dextrose, Artificial Flavor, Soy Lecithin [Processing Aid]), Cheeses (Low Moisture Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese [Part Skim Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes], Parmesan and Romano Cheese Blend [Both Made from Part Skim Cow’s Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes], Asiago Cheese [Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes]), Sauce (Water, Tomato Paste, Sugar, Salt, Spices, Onion Powder, Xanthan Gum, Garlic Powder).

Should we be eating this? Should our kids be eating this????

It really, really matters that we eat Real Whole Food.  That means planning, shopping, chopping, cooking, and packing.  Obesity, disease, depression, autism,.. the CDC says these things are PERVASIVE and GROWING.  Despite ENORMOUS amounts of drugs, despite that we go to the doctor more than ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, despite that we SPEND MORE ON HEALTH CARE THAN ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, we are very, very, very sick, … and unhappy… and overweight. We can change this with our choices, our habits, and our lifestyles.

Okay, want some pizza recipes?  We don’t eat wheat, or “gluten free” foods, so I use almond and coconut flours.  If you’re not there yet, THAT’S OKAY.  Buy a Bob’s Mill Gluten Free Crust Mix, or an already made Amy’s in the freezer aisle.  There are quick and easy options out there.  If you’re up for cooking, here’s a couple recipes that work in our house:

This is a yeast/rising crust from ZenBelly – LOVE THIS ONE:

pizza

And here’s a link to 5 more.  No, they won’t taste like wheat flour crusts.  It’s okay.  It’s a crust with good sauce, good toppings, and cheese, it’s delicious anyway, I promise!

Look here. 

Take your health and your mood and your children’s health and moods, into your own hands.  Become a Real Whole Foodie.

Category: Cooking, Looks Healthy But Isn't, Paleo Recipe, RWF / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Success Story: Conquer Your Blood Sugar and Your Food Addictions

March 31, 2014 / / Comments Off on Success Story: Conquer Your Blood Sugar and Your Food Addictions

dominos energy liftYou’re going to love today’s Success Story.  Aida has been working with me since last Fall, and so far, she’s lost more than 30 pounds ( so has her husband ). She’s also reduced and eliminated several medications, become a regular “packer” and
“cooker”, and broken her food addiction.  Really broken, as in, it’s amazing.  Thank goodness she listened to her “fear”.  Too many people AREN’T afraid of the state of their health, they think their prescription drugs actually make them well.  They don’t.

If you’re on meds, say like, BP pills, statins, mood meds, migraine/headache pills, pain pills, stomach pills, etc, you’re got  problems.  These medications aren’t making you better, they’re suppressing and managing your symptoms;  the CAUSE of the symptoms is still there and still doing damage. If you want to get healthy, you have to (1) eat for health (2) figure out the root cause of the symptoms and address that (lifestyle changes).

Aida’s a Type 2 Diabetic; diabetes 2 is a LIFESTYLE disease.  It can be reversed lucky strikethrough lifestyle changes.  Insulin and blood sugar rise and fall according to our food choices, exercise/activity, and stress management. No One has diabetes because they’re deficient in diabetes drugs.  Did you know that by 2020, the CDC predicts that 50% of the US will be diabetic, and that it will cost 3.35 TRILLION dollars to “manage” it.  Not CURE it, or REVERSE it, but MANAGE it.  No health care system EVER could afford that.  EVER.

What about Food Addiction, because this is HUGE.  I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: if you’re trying to get healthy/lose weight with Low Fat, No Fat foods, or Diet Processed Foods, you’re just feeding and nurturing your addiction and furthering your inflammatory state.   You’ve got to ditch Grains, Sugar, Chemicals, and Hydrogenated Oils, and you’ve got to focus on a diet full of healthy fats, good proteins, TONS of vegetables, some fruits, some nuts and seeds, some dairy if you can tolerate it.  Grains, sugars, and chemicals stimulate the Addictive Areas of Your Brain.  Always.

Think you can’t live without your Cereal, your Bread, Your Beer or Wine (liquid donuts)?  You can.  Lot’s of people break their addictions, why couldn’t you?

7UPMoms and Dads, are you raising future Diabetics, or future Food Addicts? If you’re raising your kids on a diet of pop tarts, cereals, sandwiches, pizza, and junk food, rest assured, you are.  And it will happen to them far quicker than it happened to your generation.  No One can eat those foods without accumulating damage.  No One.

Take control of your thoughts, instead of nurturing your addictions, nurture positive habits and attitudes about food, yourself, and exercising. Forget everything Big Food, Big Pharma, and our government has told you about Healthy Whole Grains.  All carbohydrates are broken down to single cell sugars in our gut; that means ALL CARBS BECOME EITHER GLUCOSE OR FRUCTOSE.  ALL OF THEM. High blood glucose and fructose levels and high insulin create an inflammatory state, and inflammation’s the cause of EVERY DISEASE OUT THERE.  You can change yourself.  Honest.  You can be an inspiration and example for your children.  You can feel energetic and well; you can be a healthy weight, start with Real Whole Food.

Here’s Aida’s story:

Last fall, I was scared. I was tired. I was frustrated.

I had let my health go unchecked, even though I knew better, and was on a lot of medications.  I had let my appetites go unchecked, knowing that it was hurting my body, but I was addicted.  Now, my doctors were getting really serious with me, and it made me scared. They kept adding more and more medications.  I had to do something, but I felt as if I had tried everything before and failed. Why try it again to just fail again?  When I tried to do what the doctors told me to do, it seemed as if I never improved, and sometimes got worse.  I was also seeing my husband’s health getting worse as well.  We didn’t want to do another weight loss diet. We needed to get healthy.  We wanted to get healthy.

Someone suggested I look at this website, and enter Debbie! Debbie sat us down together and began teaching us.  This is the first time I had heard most of the information she was sharing.  Her plan for us began with just eat real whole foods!  Our health would begin with what we put in our mouths, and our attitudes towards our foods.  Stop wheat and other grains – which we had done before and were somewhat successful with.  We knew we could do that.  Stop sugars, including most artificial sweeteners,  which would be tougher, because I was addicted.

We listened to what she had to say and began implementing this new approach and were shocked that almost immediately we saw improvement in our health.  Hunger went away.  Cravings went away.   For me, my blood sugars normalized within days!  I began to look forward to my next round of doctors, just to make sure that this new way of life was really working.  And it was!  All my “numbers” showed improvement within a couple of months, and have continued to improve with each doctor visit.  I have been taken off some of the medications.

Through monthly meetings and daily emails, Debbie has continued to teach and encourage.  She has helped me understand what makes me personally healthy. She has helped me with my food addictions. My husband’s health also reflects the changes we have made.

Now, I am looking forward to this spring, with clarity, with energy, and healthier (and lighter) than I have been in over 30 years!

Aida M. Kling

 

 

Category: Carbs, Cooking, RWF, Success Story, Uncategorized / Tags: , , , , , ,

Success Story! Recipe and Meal Ideas:)

March 17, 2014 / / Comments Off on Success Story! Recipe and Meal Ideas:)

You’re going to love this Success Story – I do!  Aimee so perfectly describes a Diet Roller Coaster that it should be in a dictionary.  Here’s her story:

After years dieting and just coming off of a strict low/no fat, 750 calorie diet AND topped off with 10 days of a Liver Detox, my body was MESSED UP. I came off the cleanse with out of control cravings and immediately gained 45lbs in a matter of three months, not to mention that I was a weepy, grouchy, exhausted mom. Did I mention that I was grouchy? I could not stop eating things that I knew were wrong for me – especially at night – I couldn’t stop to save my life! I heard of Debbie Abbott from a good friend of mine who said “Debbie has a gift of explaining things so that they make sense.” I signed up for a class that she had on Digestion and it really answered many things that I had been struggling with for a long time. Following the advice has completely changed my health around from the inside out:) I hadn’t realized that even though I was eating, my body was literally starving for nutrients. It is taking a while to undo all of the damage that I have done but Wow! what a difference in my energy and mood! The inflammation in my joints has significantly decreased as well. It is such a relief to know that I have the information that I need AND that I trust. I was also able to relay this message to my mom who had a blood sugar of 210. She and I rejoiced in the fact that within a few months of monitoring and eating correctly, her blood sugar is now staying around 80. No medication…just eating correctly and exercise. Thank you Debbie for all of the words of wisdom that you are so willing to share with everyone. You have truly made a difference in my life:)

If you want to be a healthy weight, and have a healthy mind and body, you’ll need to give your body what it wants.  And it doesn’t REALLY want ice cream, crackers, wine, or cookies.  Honest.  That’s your self-destructive urges talking there.  Your body wants the Nutrients necessary to perform all it’s functions.  Let’s look at just a few.

Your body needs to build your brain, which is 60% fat/25% cholesterol.  Glucose/sugar has a devastating effect on brain cells/neurons/connections. Glucose “glycates” parts of the brain, that means function and communication is ruined.  How well do you think a low fat, high carb diet is going to make your brain function?

Your body needs to digest food and then absorb the nutrients from it so that those nutrients can be sent throughout your body.  If you’ve compromised gut function by taking acid suppressors, then food breakdown and nutrient absorption isn’t happening.  Pretty soon, all those warnings on the antacid box will start coming true:  weak bones, weak immune system, vitamin B deficiencies, etc.

Your body needs to make Neurotransmitters, so that you can feel Even and Normal.  You’ll need protein, fat, and minerals to do that, which are absent in Cereal, Pasta, and Bread.

Your body demands a certain level of calories or it’ll TURN OFF your thyroid gland, and quit making Serotonin (a feel good neurotransmitter).  Low calorie diets also force your body to take muscle proteins and convert them into fuel, slowing down your metabolism even more.

Your body wants a LOT of healthy fats (saturated animal fats, coconut fats, olive/avocado oils), Tons of vegetables (everything from leafy greens to cruciferous, to starchy), some protein, some fruit, and some nuts and seeds.  Real Whole Food.  Eat enough at each meal that you’re not hungry again in 2 hours, that’s ridiculous.  We shouldn’t need to be on an all day eating schedule for several reasons; two are: (1) to go into hormonal Fat Burning Mode, glucose levels need to be completely NORMAL, 80-100mg/dcl of blood  (2) the gut’s not meant to function constantly, it’s a long explanation, but it needs rest periods.

I’ve posted enough Success Stories now that you should be seeing the pattern:  no one improves by going on a diet and adding medications.  No one.  Your body doesn’t want to starve, and will resist you, and NO ONE IS DEFICIENT IN A MEDICINE.  No one.

To reinforce that starving yourself isn’t necessary, and is in fact, disastrous, here’s a chocpbcakecake that we made Friday night for a family dinner, it was Delicious!!!  I got the recipe off of All Day I Dream About Food.  We served it after eating a dinner of 10 hour chicken (put a bunch of breasts in a big pan, a cup of water, lots of S&P and herbs,cover w foil,  200*, then shred), a bunch of broth/kale/onions/tomatoes/garlic/asiago cheese,  and roasted sweet potato (lots of butter and salt).

Honestly, Honestly, I SWEAR, if you want to be a healthy weight, with a healthy mind and body, low cal/low fat/tons of exercise ISN’T the way to do it.  You have to, you MUST, work with your body.  Give it the nutrients it uses to build every cell, every tissue, and give it the calories it needs to NOT SHUT YOU DOWN.  Go back and look at Aimee’s Diet Roller Coaster description.  Then make the decision to get OFF the Diet Roller Coaster like she did.  You can do this!

P.S. I didn’t make that cake, 2 of my daughters did.  I actually never make anything that has that many ingredients; I trend towards shorter recipes, like this recipe here.

 

Category: Carbs, Cooking, Fats, Mind/Body, Paleo Recipe, RWF, Success Story / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Got Bloat? You Shouldn’t. Food Ideas:) Success Story!

March 14, 2014 / / Comments Off on Got Bloat? You Shouldn’t. Food Ideas:) Success Story!

Got Bloat? Reflux? Gerd? Ever heard of SIBO, or Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth?   You know how I say that Stomach Problems Aren’t Normal, and if you’ve got bloat/gas/cramps/reflux/constipation, don’t medicate it, FIX IT?  That’s because these symptoms are the beginning of and signs of much bigger problems: leaky gut, migraines, auto-immune conditions, decreased immune function, obesity, skin problems, etc etc.  If your digestion’s off, you’re in trouble, and it’s not because you’re deficient in antacid.

Not ENOUGH stomach acid is the problem for most people, and it becomes too low because it’s effected by so many things:  birth control pills, pain meds, OTC meds and prescription meds, obviously Antacids, chlorine/fluorine in municipal water, STRESS/CORTISOL, and sugar/refined flours/chemicals in foods.  Mess with the pH of the stomach, and all downstream gut function is compromised.

One thing that can happen is the Small Intestine, (which should hold anywhere from zero to a “few bacteria”/up to a million), develops an OVERGROWTH of normal bacteria ( not necessarily the bad stuff,  although they can and do proliferate if there’s insufficient acid to kill them). Another possibility? Studies show that LARGE INTESTINE bacteria (which numbers about 100 TRILLION) can migrate UP to the small intestine.  AHH!!  Not good, they don’t belong there.   Why would they do that?  The pH environment is off, so undigested and slow digesting carbs/sugars are not being absorbed properly in the small intestine. They call to those Large Intestine bacteria like cookies call to you.  Eat me eat me… How do you know if this is happening?

BLOAT’s a big sign.  There should be NO fermentation that causes bloat/gas/pain/cramping in the small intestine.  The small intestine is for digestion and absorption.   Fermentation is ONLY supposed to happen in the Large Intestine, which was set up and designed for it.

If you’ve got any of these stomach issues going on, and you follow the advice to “eat more fiber”, you’re probably NOT noticing any improvement.  The fibers (there’s several types), which are undigested/hard to digest Carbs, are just feeding that Small Bowel Overgrowth. On the other hand, if everything’s NORMAL, fiberous foods and slow digesting carbs shouldn’t bother you.

What about constipation, could that be a result of SIBO?  Yep.  MMS stands for Migrating Motor Complex, that’s contractions in our intestines that move food and SWEEP THE AREA CLEAN OF THINGS THAT DON’T BELONG.  MMS is impaired by Stress/Cortisol and eating too often.  Do either of those ever happen to you?

If you’ve got Bloat/Cramps/Reflux/Diarrhea/Constipation/GERD, you need to Heal and Seal your gut.  It’s not difficult, but it can take a while to normalize and repair damage, months. Your body wants to return to normal though, so you’ve got that on your side.

Changing the subject, how about No Recipe Food Ideas, with pictures?

stuffpotatThis first picture is Stuffed Potatoes:  bake the potatoes for an hour, scoop out the insides and mix with bacon, butter, cheese, broccoli, and broth or milk, rebake for 15 minutes.  Kids love this one!

Next is a mix of Broth, Sausage, Onions, Carrots, andpotstove Brussels, tons of herbs, salt, and pepper.  No Recipe, no measurements.

Last is a meal I made for Shelby after a late practice (wet fields, everyone’s sharing the gyms), of chicken sausage, roasted potatoes (from a previous meal, frozen), and broccoli (frozen), that I just cooked fast shellatein a pan with coconut oil.

Cooking’s not Rocket Science, but it can take practice to get in the Mind Set of always having ingredients on hand, scheduling the time, and planning.

Let me leave you with a Motivating Success Story and the phrase, ” Your body is a Chemistry Set, not a Math Equation”:

Hey Debbie, I would like to thank you for introducing Paleo to my life. Today officially I have lost 10 lbs since your Paleo Christmas party. My husband lost more than 20 lbs and he doesn’t even work out !
So thank you very much! Xoxoxoxo

 

Category: Cooking, No Recipe Paleo Meals, RWF, Success Story / Tags: , , ,

Success Story! Weight issues, Fatigue, Joint Pain, and Reflux – sound familiar?

March 10, 2014 / / Comments Off on Success Story! Weight issues, Fatigue, Joint Pain, and Reflux – sound familiar?

motivation and habitI love when I get to post a Success Story because they always hit home with so many people.  This one will also:  smart woman, years of weight issues, several diet attempts, stomach problems, joint issues, fatigue.  Ring any bells?  Rebecca solved all this without counting any calories, or following any traditional diet paradigms.

Here’s her story:

Like most women, I have struggled with weight my whole life; it wasn’t until I really started to have some significant quality of life issues, that I realized that something had to change….and fast!
I had met Debbie Abbott years ago where my husband Tim and I belonged to Old Town Athletic Club where she was a trainer/instructor, but had not really seen her in years. As God would have it, she ended up coming to Grace Bible Church where I had been a member of for years. Debbie was offering the women of the congregation some nutritional counseling classes and that was when I became aware of her nutritional training. I was unable to make the classes due to my work/life schedule in the Fire and Rescue Department, but took this as an opportunity and prompt to call her to make private appointments with her which I shared with my Mother, who was also having some health concerns.
It was February 2011 that we first got together, prior to our meeting, Debbie asked me to read some information on Mark’s Daily Apple “with an open mind” so I would have some knowledge on the subject of Paleo eating before we met. Well let me paint the picture of what my life was like at this point: in early 2011, I was 44 years old, a wife, mother of two children ages 24 and 6, and a 21 year Firefighter/Paramedic/Supervisor. Overall, I have always been active, considered myself healthy and obviously my job demands a certain minimum level of fitness. With the exception of a few very short periods of time in my life, I always seemed to be carrying that extra “20 or so pounds” around and praying/wishing/making new years resolutions that they would go away! Sound familiar? I followed every conventional diet known to human kind and with each one, I would loose some weight and it would come right back because it was never anything that I could maintain or feel good enough to want to. I had a life long history of elimination miseries and lactose intolerance, food sensitivities that would cause my skin to itch and break out, brain fog etc….. Finally, I had hit a wall, I went to my Doctor and had every known test done to find out why I was having chest and back pains, severe joint pains with weakness and disability, fatigue and trouble sleeping. I truly was fearful I had something really seriously wrong with me. I knew if things didn’t turn around soon, the state of my health was going to end my career long before I could really afford to retire! Well of course the Doctor said I was “fine”, maybe a little vitamin D deficiency but otherwise all my vitals looked great, BP 100/60, resting heart rate of 56, cholesterol and all blood levels NORMAL. I can tell you, I was far from normal or healthy!!! Now I had just given up cream in my coffee cold turkey to stop having the chest and back pain that the dairy was causing, but when I met with Debbie that first day and we talked about “grains and processed foods” something in me just clicked! I had tried conventional wisdom, the standard American diet and the laughable food pyramid to no avail. I was ready to really make a change that would be permanent and not only take my pain and fatigue away but lengthen my life and it’s quality….remember I had a six year old at the time and I really want to be able to enjoy the eventual grandchildren from both of my kids!
So I really took to heart everything that I was learning from Debbie about blood sugar and digestion, that is where it starts folks! After that very important first revolution and enlightenment, it is an adventure in real whole foods that has been so rewarding! The kicker is that not only did I start to feel better right away, no more roller coaster of ups and downs but the weight literally started falling off me : ) Everywhere I went, people would say something about how good I looked and asked me what I was doing. My self esteem had really taken a beating all those years with all the weight I had been carrying. People would always tell me that I was not overweight but “large framed” but I knew better, I felt terrible in my own skin. I was an educated health care provider for Pete’s sake! I was supposed to be an example to those I work with and here I was, unsuccessful in loosing the weight and keeping it off despite my “healthy lifestyle”. Oh we all thought we were doing everything right, grilling, baking, eating salads, using all the right oils and eating a “balanced” diet full of veggies, lean meats and fruits and yes lots of whole grains…the complex carbs, Hah! I felt so betrayed! After I got over the “I wish I had learned this 30 years ago, I got busy. I had to rethink everything I ever knew about healthy eating….low fat, high complex carbs, taking a multiple vitamin daily…blah blah blah! In a matter of weeks, there was such a noticeable difference both on the inside and out. The pain in my shoulders, elbows and wrists had just about disappeared, (caused by the inflammation in the grains I had been consuming daily) I was sleeping better, my mind was clearer and get this? I would eat three meals a day, with out snacking and I was really satisfied (and not hungry an hour after just eating a normal sized meal) throughout the day where I hadn’t been before following all the other “diets”.
I love to shop for and cook fresh food and I am blessed to have a wonderful, supportive husband, which I know is a big part of my success! My Daughter (who has lost 70 pounds!) my Mother,and my Husband have all experienced improved health and weight loss due the changes we have made in our daily eating, choosing real whole foods. Debbie frequently says , “leanness is a side effect of good nutrition”, and “nutrition is 90% of it”! I have adopted another saying from “Paleo Mom” when sharing this lifestyle with others,”It is only effort until it becomes routine”, that is so true!!! If you know me, you know that if I believe in something, I will talk your ear off about it! I just love telling people about real whole foods and staying away from anything processed or artificial. What breaks my heart is seeing all the people who you know could be so much healthier and happier if they could just get past the “I can’t give up this or that”. If they only realized that they would be getting so much more out of their lives and enjoy each day more if they would just “open their minds” and give real whole food a try. I am a true believer, never going back to the old way of eating, why would I? I have maintained a 25 pound weight loss for almost 3 years now…without dieting, exercising to excess or feeling hungry or deprived.

I am starting my 25th year in the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department as an EMS Supervisor/Captain II, and I no longer doubt that I can do my job and I look better in my uniform and feel like I am being the positive roll model for others in the department that I have always wanted to be.

I am so very grateful to Debbie Abbott for her tireless dedication to bringing the truth about real whole food nutrition to me; her passion is contagious and I hope everyone gets “the bug”!

Category: Carbs, Cooking, Psychology of Eating, RWF, Success Story / Tags: , , , ,

Bloat; Leaky Gut; Hamburger Helper; A Recipe

March 3, 2014 / / Comments Off on Bloat; Leaky Gut; Hamburger Helper; A Recipe

stomach problemsWho struggles with:  bloat, gas, indigestion, diarrhea, constipation, IBS, reflux or GERD?  Statistically, at least half of you; actually, since you all are health seekers, I bet more than that.  Please read this, because your gut issues are EARLY WARNING SIGNS THAT SHOULDN’T BE IGNORED.

What I mean by that is if you’ve had any of those conditions long enough, other conditions will arise: headaches, depression, thyroid issues, rheumatoid arthritis / auto immune disorders, fatigue, skin problems, allergies, IBS, Crohn’s, colitis, even autism and behavior disorders.  Seriously.  It’s a big deal, and band-aiding your symptoms with anti-gas/anti-pain/anti-acid medications will absolutely set you up for disaster down the road.

Hippocrates said, ” all disease begins in the gut.”  Science has proven him to be completely correct.

Let me stop here for a second:  suppressing symptoms with medications, instead of solving the reason for the symptom, is not a good idea, ever.  Unfortunately, that “brain washing” I talk about comes into play here:  got a headache, take a pill, got a stomach ache, take a pill, something hurts, take a pill, feel sad/down/anxious, take a pill.   For all of you who take pills, ASK YOURSELF, HAVE THEY RESOLVED YOUR PROBLEMS?  OR ARE THOSE PILLS JUST A REGULAR PART OF YOUR LIFE NOW AS YOU TRY TO SUPPRESS YOUR BODIES CALLS FOR HELP DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY?

Back to the gut, here’s a little 411:  all those gut symptoms I listed above are NOT NORMAL.  They shouldn’t happen in a well functioning gut, but that doesn’t mean you need medication.  It’s a sign that your food isn’t digesting quickly or well enough. You can fix that without medications.  Gut medications have serious CONSEQUENCES; pull out your sheet from the pharmacist, or look in / on the box, and you’ll be able to read all about them.  Note this:  6 to 8 weeks is the MAXIMUM amount of time the FDA says ANYONE should be on most gut meds.  That’s because of the damage they cause.  It’s not hypothetical, and that damage won’t just happen to other people, it will happen to you.

What’s the first issue to address?  Your stomach isn’t acid enough. God made our stomach to be incredibly acidic.  Acid kills virus, bacteria, parasites, yeast, and pathogens; acid starts the initial break down of protein and fats; and it triggers the correct steps for the rest of the “southern digestion” in the small and large intestine.  Reduce your acid, and you inhibit all this, and create a gut condition ripe for problems.

There’s a great book by Dr. Jonathan Wright called Why Stomach Acid is Good For You, it’s awesome, and I wish everyone would read it.  If you want the short version, here’s a You Tube of Dr. Wright explaining it in 9 minutes.

There’s some simple tricks to acidify your stomach BACK TO NORMAL, which would hasten your digestion and allow for the proper digestive path to be followed.

What reduces acid, or actually, what suppresses acid production in the gut?  Many prescription and OTC drugs, stress, simple sugars/flours, phosphoric acid from sodas and drinks, certain chemicals in foods, and again: stress or more specifically, the hormone Cortisol.  Imagine the damage we’ve done to our gut after years and years of the Standard American Diet (SAD) and the pills we’ve used to conceal the symptoms.

The second issue to address with bloat, gas, reflux, constipation, diarrhea, and GERD, is the “consequence” issue; or what happens after you’ve had this condition for years.  This was me.  I started having BLOAT in my mid thirties.  I thought it was because I ate so healthy (pounds of fiber cereal, fiber breads, and fruits and vegetables).  I thought my bloat/gas/pain was actually an outward sign of my healthiness!!  I developed really bad asthma and had blood clots in my late thirties.  I took several meds for the asthma, but when the blood clots happened, that was a wake up call.  I wasn’t going on blood thinners, and I made the connection between the two conditions:  they were both “inflammatory” conditions.  I made no connection to my gut at this point whatsoever; but there was.

When you have Bloat/Gas/Reflux/GERD etc, that means you have Low Stomach Acid.  Low Stomach Acid means your food isn’t digesting properly down to the little tiny molecules that absorb through the small intestine wall into the blood stream.  Not only does that make you nutrient deficient, but big proteins (as opposed to tiny amino acids), break through the intestine wall and create “leaky gut“, aka Intestinal Permeability.  Now that you have holes in your gut lining, bacteria and virus that didn’t get killed ( because you don’t have enough stomach acid), and metabolic waste products, ALL OF WHICH SHOULD BE CONFINED TO YOUR GUT, and these big protein chains, “leak out” through the holes, into the bloodstream, where your Immune System sees them and ATTACKS THEM LIKE THE FOREIGN INVADERS THAT THEY ARE.  This should be good, right?  Wrong.

Keep eating the SAD, keep taking the drugs, and the holes stay open, because you’re perpetuating the situation.  INFLAMMATION IS DEVELOPING AND BUILDING as the Immune System stays on ‘over drive’.  Pretty soon, it’s attacking other proteins that “mimic” or resemble the big proteins; proteins in your Lungs, your Thyroid, your Heart, Your Joints, your Brain.  Remember, there’s plenty of proteins in those organs because the body is built from proteins and fats.

My point:  if you have Gut Issues, resolve the cause, don’t try to cover the symptoms.  If you have the Resultant Damage from years of gut issues (crohns,colitis, …), you’re going to have to “heal and seal” your gut if you want Real Healing and Improvement.  How long will this take?  I don’t know, from weeks to months, it depends on the damage you’ve done and how hard you work; but everyone can heal.

Everyone has the power to feel energetic, clear thinking, positive, and healthy, but only if you’re ready to commit to a different path.  If you’re struggling mentally and physically, all you have to do is look backwards and make an honest assessment of what you’ve done to get there. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out, you just need to turn off the brain washing and really focus on making that serious connection between what we put in our mouth to our mind and body.  The food we eat becomes us. The food we eat becomes us.  The food we eat becomes us.  hamburgerhelper chicken

box coverLet’s look at another very SAD food product, Chicken Helper, Crispy Ranch Chicken.  Betty Crocker’s/General Mills market shares are down a little, they’ve taken a hit from Kraft’s Mac N Cheese Skillet dinners and frozen food items.  Still, the Hamburger Helper line sells around (2010) $350 Million A Year.

A serving size is one third of a cup. Does anyone eat a third of a cup of food for dinner?  Anyway, a THIRD OF A CUP is 350 calories of crappy fats, crappy carbs, and crappy chemicals.  Cancer in a box!

uncooked roastInstead of falling prey to food products like this, do the Real Whole Food thing, here’s some ideas:  Slow cook a roast for 24 hours:  salt/pepper/herb it; wrap it in a couple layers of aluminum foil, put it in the over at 180*, 24/25 hours before you want to eat it, and DON’T LOOK AT IT.  When it’s done, pull it out finished lamband shred it with two forks.  Keep some in the fridge for the week, and freeze the rest, flat, in freezer bags. Here’s the before and after pictures of a lamb roast I just did.  It was about as big as a loaf of fat bread.

Next, in a big frying pan, put in some broth OR butter and water, and cook onions, broccoli and carrots; or cook a bag of frozen vegetables.  Bake a few whole potatoes in the oven for an hour at 425.  Dinner’s done without a lot of effort.

We are the end result of what we put in our mouth.  What we eat matters.  Take the action steps necessary to be healthy and whole.  Eat Real Whole Food, and remember, focus on your health and your weight issues will resolve.

Category: Cooking, Fats, Food Additives, No Recipe Paleo Meals, RWF / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Inspiring Success Story; and How To Be a Real Whole Foodie

February 23, 2014 / / One comment

lunch on beachOh gosh, I love reading my email!  Here’s another great Success Story that will absolutely inspire you:)  I know this woman and she is fit and healthy and looks fantastic.  How eye-opening that even young, beautiful women who honestly don’t need to lose a pound, stress over their weight.  That’s because we’ve been conditioned since birth that a normal standard of beauty is a Victoria Secret model.  Or, if you’re in the fitness world, a Victoria Secret model with great muscle definition and a few slight veins showing through the abs.  It’s awful. It’s unattainable for most, or if it is attained, it’s impossible to stay there for very long.  And…it fills your headspace with worthless thoughts about food and calories and weight and data that are so completely, totally un-important.  That’s what Dieting and Calorie Counting do though.  They mess up your brain and actually interfere with Real Life.

Don’t let that happen to you. Don’t let Dieting sabotage your brain and your energy and your focus when there’s so many other worthwhile things you could be doing.

How do you start?  Differentiate dieting from health; then realize that dieting never works (more than 95% of the time). Acknowledge that Dieting is an Industry, a Business, and it’s business agenda is to make money by promising you the secret to weight loss. ( Can you think of any other business in the world that continues to fail over and over and over and yet makes more money every year? )

I’ll tell you the secret:  Eat for health, and weight loss will be a side effect.  Look at food for it’s nutrient value, become a nutrient seeker.  Learn to cook if you don’t know how already.  Get out a notebook and plan, then shop, chop, cook and pack.  That’s it.  That’s the trick.  You are what you eat.  If you eat crap, you’re going to feel and look like it.  Eat good meats and proteins, tons of vegetables and fruits, lots of healthy fats, some dairy if you can tolerate it, and you’ll exude health.  If you need help with this and want to work with me, get in touch.  It’s not that hard to shift your brain patterns with a little guidance.

(Oh, about the Victoria Secrets mags:  I have 4 daughters.  I don’t let those magazines, or any woman’s magazine, be in our house.  They tick me off and I didn’t want my girls comparing themselves to the airbrushed, starving women in them.  It’s worked.  My girls are ardently opposed to women’s magazines and love to talk about how demeaning they are!  See Moms, we do have influence!)

Now you have to read Mandy’s story, she’s a hoot!

“All the eye opening knowledge I’ve gained from you and your website has TRULY changed my jaded outlook on food…you have no idea how much better I feel not constantly trying to figure out what “diet plan” I’m going to try next. I eat ONLY whole foods when I’m hungry, no measuring, NO CALORIE COUNTING…It’s like I’ve been released from diet prison.  Being in the intense martial arts training I had with a traditional Korean instructor, I was forced to get my body down to certain weights for certain fights and the constant reminder of “lose weight; train harder; eat less” gave me a HUGE complex. I’ve struggled with body image and eating disorders practically my whole life and you have definitely played a big role in healing my mind from that.

I’m by no means a picture of perfection haha but I have definitely come leaps and bounds from the jaded health (aka dieting) I used to obsess over.  It’s all about the REAL health now…I could kick myself repeatedly for the horrible things I’ve done to my body in the past, but I praise God that the veil has been lifted from my eyes at a young age. I hate that we live in a world where no one can see what real health is….It’s just not fair.  Having worked as a bartender/food industry for 10 years I’ve seen it all….low carb menus…Skinny cocktails…fat free dressing….diet coke with rum to watch your calories….HOLY COW…I struggle to keep my mouth shut, so I don’t sound like a know it all, cause I’m definitely not. The way I NOW see it is… “low carb” cheesecake=pancreatic cancer….preparatory binge cocktails..”fat free” but God bless your liver to process it…..and I don’t honestly know what’s worse rum or diet coke…. probably diet coke…If I was stranded on a desert island I would drink the rum not the diet coke.” 

Well, you could use the rum to kill bacteria if you were stranded on an island – I know that from watching Reality TV.  And Jesus drank wine but He never drank diet soda, so the rum over soda is probably a solid choice:)

Seriously though, Mandy puts forth a brilliant statement:  “We live in a world where no one can see what real health is..”   YES!!  That’s my message!! Dieting doesn’t give anyone “health”, but we’ve been conditioned to think of “skinny” as healthy.  It’s not. Healthy means that you have great energy, your immune system can fight off invaders, your arteries are clear, your digestion rocks and you poop every day, your skin glows, your joints move well, you can handle stress, your blood sugar stays normal, you think clearly.  That’s real health.  That’s Real Health.   Eat to support all that, and your weight will be perfect.  Be a Real Whole Foodie.

Category: Cooking, RWF, Success Story / Tags: , , , ,

Meal Ideas, Food Pics, and Butter Facts

February 8, 2014 / / Comments Off on Meal Ideas, Food Pics, and Butter Facts

How bout some Fun Facts about Butter before I show more Food Pictures?  Good butter is definitely a “Real Whole Food”, one that’s been used by traditional, healthy cultures for thousands of years.  Between 1920 and 1960, heart disease skyrocketed to the number one cause of death in the U.S.  Butter consumption, between 1920 and 1960, plummeted from 18 lbs per person, per year, to 4 lbs per person, per year.  Look at those numbers again and ask yourself where our Health Gurus got the idea that Butter is Bad, and a cause of heart disease.

Butter is loaded with the fat-soluble vitamins, A,D, E, and K, in their most usable and absorbable forms.  These vitamins support the Thyroid gland, the Heart, the Immune System, and several other places in our body.  Vitamin A and D are critical for the absorption of calcium, and vitamin K2 (which the cows make in their stomachs from the K1 in grass) is critical for making sure the calcium goes into the bones and teeth, where it belongs, and not in the arteries, the eyes, the joints, etc, where calcium doesn’t belong.  Butter’s a good source of iodine; it also contains short and medium chain fatty acids that have strong anti-bacterial/anti-viral properties.

Butter from cows raised on grass is much more nutrient dense than butter from grain fed cows.  Interestingly, the vitamin D levels in the butterfat are actually reflective of how much sunlight the cows get, just like us!

And finally, butter doesn’t make you gain weight.  Your body uses and utilizes the nutrients (all the fats and vitamins) butter provides.  Any spare tires around your middle are usually the result of grains, hydrogenated oils, excess sugar, and chemicals masquerading as food products.   Your body USES the nutrients from Real Whole Food to build and to repair.

That said, we eat a lot of butter in this house, mostly Kerry Gold, and sometimes I make it from cream I get at my dairy.  Want to make vegetables taste great?  Add butter.  Even the pickiest eater will cave.

Ready to switch gears to Food Ideas:  here’s some meals from the past couple of days:

smoothie ingredTo the left: ingredients that went into a morning smoothie:  whole, raw milk; egg yolks and an egg, frozen spinach, frozen bananas, frozen cranberries, chia seeds, clove oil, cinnamon and nutmeg, frozen avocado chunks, frozen shredded ginger, cocoa powder, and stevia (which I forgot to put in the picture).frozen fruit

I always use frozen fruit and frozen greens instead of ice.  Here’s a pic: frozen oranges, bananas, blueberries, and cranberries.

chicken lunchOver to the left is one of my lunches:  left over chicken, carrots, brussels, onions, with sea kelp flakes and a plop of fermented beets that I got at Wegmans in the “healthy aisle”.  Got to get in your bacteria!

Here’s some peanut butter/almond butter cookies, the basic pb cookiesrecipe is from Elana’s Pantry, but I’ve messed with it.  I only use butter in cookies, even when it calls for coconut oil, bc I like the taste better.  I doubled the recipe, and used half chunky peanut butter and half chunky almond butter. And where she uses honey, I use Swerve – I LOVE that stuff!

Okay, I’m going to throw out something some of you may think is weird, and I’ve debated about disclosing this, but the last picture is my crock of Kombucha.  If you’re not already drinking it, surely you’ve seen bottles of Kombucha in the store?  It’s fermented tea, and to ferment, it needs bacteria, actually, it needs kombuchaa SCOBY which means Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast.  That’s what the yucky thing on top it.  Before you think that’s going to far, know this, we have over 100 TRILLION bacteria cells in our body. We’re supposed to have 3-5 POUNDS of bacteria just in our colon alone (party trivia fact)!  Current science has shown that we’ve really done an awful job maintaining and nurturing our bacterial “Micro-biome”, and we’re paying for in weak immune systems, mental problems, heart disease, skin issues, and I could go on and on.  Know this:  we need as much good bacteria as we can get, and homemade Kombucha is a traditional food/drink that’s been used since 212BC to do just that.

That’s it for now.  You can see why I don’t get hungry between meals, I eat too much fat and too many nutrients for that to happen.  Eating Real Whole Food everyday can be challenging at first if you’ve had years of fast, easy, thoughtless Processed Food.  Honestly though, a few weeks of effort in planning, shopping, cooking and packing, and it’s not an effort anymore, it’s a habit.  You’ll think differently, and what starts as hard becomes easy and normal.  I promise.  Nurture your body, give it what it needs to be healthy, to feel energetic, to stay well.  Your weight will normalize, your moods will stabilize, you’ll be stronger, less prone to illness, and if you start cooking for your family, your children will reap those same benefits.  Our body is made from trillions of cells that get made out of the foods we eat.  It matters what those foods are.  Be a Real Whole Foodie.

Category: Cooking, Fats, No Recipe Paleo Meals, Paleo Recipe, RWF / Tags: , , , , ,

Food Wisdom and Pictures!

February 5, 2014 / / Comments Off on Food Wisdom and Pictures!

Ready for a little piece of Food Wisdom and some more pictures this week?  Here’s the wisdom:  Real Food is so good, that you don’t even need recipes.  You can just throw a bunch of your favorite foods together in a pan or a pot, and end up with something delicious.  It’s honestly not hard.

I’ve said before that the Food Channel, the cooking shows, the food magazines, and the food blogs – as much as I love them – give the FALSE impression that making meals must be complicated;  something to be undertaken only if you’ve got formal training or years of experience. Not True. Not True!

Think I’m wrong because you feel uncomfortable in the kitchen?  That’s just mental.  Your kids feel uncomfortable when they first start learning math, or how to read, but anything done daily becomes very normal.  You should be cooking daily if you want to see improvements to your health, your weight, and your moods ( and your kids health, weight, and mood).  Real Whole Food has the power to change you for the better; crappy processed food does not.  Think you’re too busy to cook daily?  Then plan your schedule (write it down) to accommodate a few hours of Power Cooking when you do have time.  Let there be a flow to the process:  slow cook a roast and a bunch of chicken over night on 200, or the crock pot, shred, mix with broth and vegetables, cool, then freeze it.  Chop and roast a bunch of sweet or white potatoes, then freeze them.  Make sure you have plenty of good frozen vegetables in your fridge, they’re often much more nutrient dense than fresh since they get flash frozen in the fields now.   Make sure you always make extra so you have enough for lunches;  baggie-up appropriately!  Listen to a great podcast or bring a TV into the kitchen and watch a series.  Over Christmas vacation we had some big, group Power Cooking sessions where we binge watched Walking Dead – it was Heaven!

brussels, carrotsHere’s a recent dinner:  broth, sausage, brussels, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, onion, bunch of spices and herbs.

 

eggs brusselsAnd here’s what I did the next with it for lunch:  added a hard boiled egg ( heavy lifting day plus I taught classes and worked out with a couple clients – I knew I’d be starving)

 

And last, that potato thing:  I put a big glass pan in the hot roasted potatoesoven with a few tablespoons of kerry gold butter (in it) for a few minutes til the butter melts.  Then I chop a BUNCH of potatoes, put them in the butter, add salt and herbs (sometimes rosemary, sometimes italian), toss,  and roast at 425 for 45 to an hour.  I let them cool, then put them in a giant ziploc, and then freeze them as “flat” as possible.  There’s a few servings in the bag and I want to be able to “crack” off a chunk, then I reheat them in the oven for a few minutes ( after they’ve thawed).

Honestly, you don’t have to serve pasta and bread every night to make your meals.  There are other foods out there ( I often get asked, “what else do you feed your kids?”).  Fats, like good butter, olive oil, and coconut oil, make food delicious.  Salt, pepper, spices and herbs, make food delicious.  Hard cheeses grated over vegetables, make food delicious.  These things are loaded with nutrients that both add to and enhance the nutrients you’d already be serving when you serve Real Whole Food.  Be determined to become a Real Whole Foodie!

Category: Cooking, Fats, No Recipe Paleo Meals, RWF / Tags: , , ,
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