Friday, January 27, 2012

I Might Not Be Able To Save You 15% On Your Car Insurance, But I Can Save You A Lot More With Your Health.

I'm not a car insurance agent and I'm certainly not a certified nutritionist, but I have been reading a lot on the Paleo Diet and practice what I read.  The bottom line is, the Paleo Diet works because our systems were based on eating poultry, meats, fish, vegetables, little fruits and nuts.  Basically, if you can hunt and gather it, it's good to go!

Whenever people ask me about the paleo diet and they hear that breads, grains, wheat, flour, dairy, legumes, potatoes and anything else that's processed is NOT paleo, the usual response is, "no bread?  Oh no, I can't do that"!  My response is, "yes you can because I did and everyone else who eats paleo has stopped eating those foods too".  People, my parents are from Cuba, a beautiful tropical island where they ate a lot of "paleo-like" foods such as; yuca, plantains, lean meats, poultry, fish, fruits, vegetables and healthy olive oil, but they also ate a lot of rice, BREAD (best damn bread around!), potatoes, SUGAR, etc...  Although I grew up in Natick, MA (not a hispanic community) my mother cooked Cuban food for dinner five nights a week with one "left over" meal and a special "treat" to McDonald's!

What I'm getting at is, YOU CAN PALEO if you truly want to make a HEALTHY change.  As I mentioned in my first blog, start off slow.  Make a simple change like eliminating breads or rice or sugars.  Choose something and give it a shot!  If you have a family with children and you're thinking to yourself, "Christian's on crack if he thinks this is going to work in my house".  Well, just so you know, I'm not on crack, but I am a full fledge branch davidian member of the crossfit/paleo lifestyle and Michelle and the kids are on the same page!

As I mentioned before, I've been eating 85-15% paleo for over two years, but this past Jan 1st I've been 100% paleo.  My wife Michelle always believed it was in her best interest to make the change to paleo, but she had a difficult time letting go of the complex carbs and sugar, but I'm a proud hubby to say that since Jan 1st she has eaten 90-10 paleo and she feels great!  She still has coffee with her cream...no that's not a typo.  It makes my stomach curl up into a ball when I watch her pour SO much cream into her tiny cup of coffee, but hey, it's her vice and she's doing SO well, so it's cool.  We also have a 9 year old active son, CJ, and a beautiful 6 year old daughter, Gaby, who know what the word PALEO is.

 After reading the book Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso, Michelle and I decided to slowly make changes to the kids' diet. We decided to incorporate the paleo diet for the ENTIRE family.  For the past 4 weeks the kids haven't had any cereal, very little bread (and if they eat bread, it's Udies gluten free), no granola bars or any other complex carb snacks, and no ice cream.  The first week was rough for them, but they've adjusted beautifully!  They now snack on carrots, celery canoes (celery with almond butter, raisins and coconut shavings), almonds, fruit, beef jerky, grass fed mini slider burgers, and plantain chips (their fav!).  Remember, if there are crappy foods in your cabinets, then you and the kids will eat those crappy foods!  Right?  I mean if it's there and we spent a lot of coin on the food, then you might as well eat it.  Well, I'm here to tell you to STOP buying those crappy gluten infested and autoimmune killer foods.  Instead of using the money to purchase the crappy foods, use that money to buy more grass fed meats, range free poultry, cage free eggs, vegetables, fruits, coconut flour, almond flour, etc....  You and your children will not starve to death.  If the kids are stubborn and refuse to eat better, then tell them to read, do homework, or go play outside and be active!  When they figure out that you will not cave in and give them crappy food, then they will eat what you give them.  Trust me it works!  Our son CJ who was always the "difficult" eater between the two, now LOVES shrimp, salads, asparagus and sweet potato fries (I know sweet potatoes are NOT paleo, but they are very good for the body and I'll dive into that another day).

Once again, I've blogged more than I anticipated, but I leave you with one last suggestion.  If you're a reader or interested in reading about Paleo, read Robb Wolf's book The Paleo Solution:  The Original Human Diet.  As he states in his book, give this a shot for 30 days.  30 DAYS peeps!  It won't kill you.  If you give it a honest try and after the 30 days feel that your complex carb, low fat, processed food diet makes you feel better, then you won't have to read my crazy ass blog, right?  But my intuition and personal experience tells me that if you give it a HONEST try, you'll never look back after you jumped on my Paleo Wagon!

My next blog will focus on easy and quick recipes.  Here is one to start with:  you need a crock pot (a savior!), a whole organic chicken (I buy mine at Trader Joe's - roughly $12-16 depending on weight), and a medium size yellow onion.  That's it!!  Place the chicken in the crock pot, cut the onion how you prefer, dump the onions on top of the chicken, and set it on low for 6 hours and forget it!  It's unbelievable and makes for great left overs too!  I got this one from Mel Ockerby - Crossfit NewEngland Ninja.

Good luck to those who give it a try and remember the first 2 weeks are tough, but YOU'RE strong and you  U CAN PALEO!

Have a great day,

Christian

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