My 21 Day Paleo Challange

I'm not sure where to begin, so I'll start with how I was first introduced to Paleo. Over a year ago I met, one of my now best friends, Alex @Cucumbers & Cowboy Boots while working at the heath department. When Alex first told me about this diet, I'm not going to lie, I thought the girl was off her rocker . As an RD, it's been drilled into me to push a low-fat, high carb, whole grain diet.  But after a long year researching paleo, gathering tons of info from Robb Wolf and Mark Sisson, and a few others, I started to think that maybe I was the crazy one!!!

Now I have no intention of going in to any serious detail, unless you ask of course :), about the nitty gritty biochemistry of it all; but what I am going to do is take you on my Paleo journey.

To take a quote from Mark Sissons' new book The Primal Blueprint: 21 Day Total Body Transformation: "...The decline in human health prompted by civilization occurred because we departed from what our genes were accustomed to for the previous two million years: meat, fish, eggs, plants, and constant activity. Instead, humans transitioned to brand-new agricultural foods (wheat, barley, peas, and lentils were among the first cultivated crops) and adopted a less physically strenuous lifestyle. The abrupt lifestyle change of civilization- what University of California, Los Angeles evolutionary biologist and Pulitzer Prize winner Dr. Jared Diamond refers to as "the worst mistake in the history of the human race" -dramatically altered which genes were switched on, and which were turned off.

I happen to love the science behind nutrition but I know not everyone does. I may drop in some of that fun stuff once in a while. :)

I'm already on day 3 now so this post is going to have what I ate days 1 & 2 (at the request of my always supportive mother). I didn't take pictures of everything, but I promise to do so from now on. Nutrition facts aren't exact but relatively accurate. It's a little more difficult without food labels! There will be occasional non-paleo things (there is an 80/20 rule) but I will try my hardest to stay close to 100%.

Paleo Day 1: Let the Journey Begin!

Breakfast:
1/2 ruby red grapefruit
2 cheese eggs scrambled cooked in bacon fat
2 slices low sodium bacon
7 oz sparkling white grape juice (not paleo)


Lunch: 1 cup cauliflower "rice" with tomato gravy made from beef drippings

Dinner:
6oz pan fried venison steaks (with smart balance oil-not paleo...need to buy coconut oil)
1/2 cup oven roasted asparagus (w/olive oil)
10oz red wine

Day 1 Nutrition Facts:
Fat: 73.9 grams: 51%
Carbs: 74.8 grams: 23%
Protein: 81.9 grams 25%

Paleo Day 2:

Breakfast:
2 cheese eggs scrambled (cooked in bacon fat)
1/8 cup asparagus (from dinner)
2.5oz venison (from dinner)
8oz sparkling white grape juice (I know, I know, It's gone now i promise)


Lunch/Snack: 1 small honey crisp apple & about 2/3 cup homemade almond butter (made with raw almonds and 1 tbs. smart balance oil-again need to get coconut oil)-husband said using olive oil would be too strong of a flavor??



Dinner: 1/2 cup cauliflower "rice", 1/3 cup pineapple, 4oz ham, 2 tbs olive oil,
6oz red wine. (I'm used to drinking red wine every night so I'm doing better )

Exercise: I stretched did some sit ups, push ups, and squats...trust me, not a lot.

Day 2 Nutrition Facts:
Fat: 101.9 grams 55%
Carbs: 111.7 grams 27%
Protein: 74.2 grams 18%

So far I've actually felt pretty satisfied and not much like snacking, which is great! I guess each day I'll post what I ate like this, if I did any exercise, and how I'm feeling. I'll also talk about goals I have for myself, one step at a time though.

I'M SO MOTIVATED!!! But I wish Alex was here!