10th day update on my brother

My younger brother started eating strictly paleo last Tuesday after I challenged him to do 30 days of paleo. Changes so far include 6 pounds of weight loss, improved skin, and no feelings of hunger or fatigue. He has never eaten so many veggies in his life! And doesnt complain! He has started to enjoy salads! My mom is ecstatic.

Breakfast today was a scramble with eggs, sausage, bacon, onion, mushrooms, broccoli, and red bell pepper with a side of tomatoes and guacamole.

I’m on a plane to Oakland right now! Yay for wifi on planes. I’m getting two hours of tunnel time (wind tunnel) and skydiving. I’ll be posting about eating paleo while traveling. Be back Saturday evening!

Guacamole!

I had a massive craving for guacamole today and made a lot! So happy that guacamole is paleo! Of course you have to make it from scratch. It’s easy to make and tastes way better than store bought. So now that I have guacamole, I’ll be making a lot of food to eat with guacamole today and tomorrow.

Cod salad w/guacamole

Broiled lightly seasoned cod, guacamole, romaines, cabbage, and carrots.

I was thinking of making a fish “taco” salad. I would have prefered having mahi mahi or tilapia. The store didn’t have mahi mahi and the tilapia was farmed. Choose WILD-caught fish! Maybe I can coat it in almond meal or something similar next time to make it a little crunchy. This would have been excellent with the addition of mangos, but I didn’t have any on hand. Next time!

Hot yoga tonight so I’m done eating for the day (I definitely ate much more than that salad). Tomorrow I’ll make a California chicken salad with guacamole and bacon. I’m excited!

Paleo Korean food

I went to hot yoga this morning! I did the 65 minute hot hatha class. 105 degrees, 40% humidity… sounds awful, doesn’t it? I absolutely love hot yoga. The heat and the massive amounts of sweat pouring out of all the pores in your body aside, your body feels amazing – detoxed, refreshed, and rejuvenated! I seriously walk out of the studio with a body high every time. It definitely gets easier the more you go. The first time I went I felt so nauseous afterwards! I’m starting out with hot hatha for two reasons. 1. Hot Yoga Inc has a new student special where it’s $10 for 10 classes. 2. Hatha is low intensity. I’m trying to get used to the heat before I move on to real hot yoga – BIKRAM! Even with hatha, you get your heartrate going!

And now for some eats from the day! You can still eat a wide variety of cuisines while staying paleo and Korean is definitely one of them. I’ve decided that the majority of Korean dishes already are or can easily be paleo, you just have to skip the rice. I’ll definitely post more paleo Korean food in the near future!

Korean meatballs

According to my mom, Korean meatballs are already paleo. Sauté onions, green onions, carrots, and garlic. In a bowl mix the veggies with ground beef and some salt and pepper. Cook completely in a pan and then let cool. Beat a couple eggs together, dip the meatballs into eggs and cook again until the egg coating is done. I ate many more than pictured for lunch today… nom nom.

Korean beef stew (galbitahng)

This started as plain beef bone broth, which is the base for many Korean stews/soups. It’s now a simple beef stew with rib meat and some radish. It’s served with a little bit of minced garlic and chopped green onions, salt and pepper to taste.

Mid-day snack plate

Celery, baby carrots, prosciutto and hot coppa. The hot coppa has a couple of nonpaleo ingredients listed as being less than 2%… 98% is good enough for me! I LOVE cured meat. Perfect for snacking with no cooking required.

Before and after pics

I definitely did not start eating paleo to lose weight. I always thought I looked great despite the weight gain after I quit figure skating. The weight fat loss occurred naturally as I ate and ate and ate paleo food. I am leaner than ever before, including when I was a teenager skating and working out 10-20 hours a week. I feel so much more comfortable, as if this is the exact body composition and size I’m supposed to be.

I was debating whether or not to post pictures of my physical transformation on the paleo diet. I decided to post them because becoming leaner and stronger is a part of eating this way.

Before:

Left: ~140lbs, but I was usually in the mid 130s the past few years. Right: January 2011 ~123lbs after 75-80% paleo (still eating rice and cheese somewhat regularly).

After:

April 2011 ~120lbs, over 90% paleo. Diet only, little exercise.

(Late 2011 I had gained about 8lbs by adding exercise and was at 12.3% body fat. There are pics in various posts during that time period.)

 

Update: It has been over 3 years since my last pictures, so I thought I would add some new ones. I think it’s super fascinating just how much your body can change over time.

I stopped blogging in September ’12.

December ’12: ~127lbs – Maybe 70% paleo? Around the time when I started seeing the lump on my abdomen.

 

Post-surgery, May ’13:  I wasted down to ~115lbs. This was awful, I felt like a bag of bones. 😦

 

 

The new BEFORE pic: March ’14 ~132lbs

Thanks to a combination of little exercise and a diet full of pastries and take-out, I gained almost 20lbs in a year! No paleo diet here!

 

August ’14 – I am working on my new AFTER! Pics to come.

 

 

Salmon salad and my perfect steak

Lunch today was a filet of salmon atop a salad of mixed greens, red onions, and avocado. I sprinkled balsamic vinegar on the salad as I ate. I absolutely love Copper River salmon, like the good Pacific Northwesterner I am. I seasoned this one  it with minced garlic, Italian herbs, lemon juice, sea salt, and black pepper and baked it in the oven loosely covered with foil. There’s nothing worse than overcooked salmon, so make sure to keep an eye on it.

Is there anything I love more than all natural, grass-fed beef tenderloin? Probably lots of things, but not today!

How I cook my  steaks (I prefer medium rare):

1. Buy great steak from a great butcher shop!
2. Bring steak to room temperature. Season with a little sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
3. Put cast-iron skillet in the oven on 500 degree full broil.
4. Move heated skillet from oven to the stove. Place steak in the middle and sear steak on both sides.
5. Move to the hot oven for a few minutes. My 5oz tenderloin only needed 3 minutes in the oven today.
6. Remove from oven, place steak on plate and cover with aluminum foil. Let it rest for at least 5 minutes before eating!

With a side of roasted veggies!

So tender, I could cut it with a fork!

Stadium food is not paleo food

I went to the Mariner’s game with a friend on Saturday. We lost 9-1 to the Oakland Athletics, but I still had fun suffering along with the rest of the crowd. I love going to professional sports games and a part of the experience is drinking beer and eating stadium food. Safeco Field is full of the usual offerings: nachos, hotdogs, garlic fries, pretzels, cotton candy, fish and chips – processed, bready, sugary, greasy, potatoey junk. I have a special place in my heart for stadium nachos and garlic fries, but I managed to avoid them this time!

My friend got a hotdog, chili nachos, and clam chowder. I admit I stole ONE bite of the nachos and a few spoonfuls of the clam chowder. Like I said before, I don’t deny myself anything if I really want it. Luckily they were chili nachos (I don’t like chili) and not the pulled meat kind or this might be a post about how sick I am today!

Walking around, I found a better option for myself. Garlic beef without the rice from Thai Ginger. It’s still not paleo since I definitely tasted soy sauce and sugar, but I could have done much worse!

Didn’t taste bad at all – beef, carrots, and broccoli, not as garlicky as I thought it would be. I was perfectly satisfied without nachos and garlic fries. I actually didn’t miss them much, especially after I had a bite of my friend’s nachos. Processed nacho cheese and salty tortilla chips don’t taste as good as I remember.

I also had ONE beer, a hefeweizen, instead of three or four. Sure I could have skipped the beer, I just didn’t want to because I was at a game! I’m still working on letting go of the social foods and drinks that are so tied to the American culture. Being satisfied with just one beer during an agonizingly terrible game is definitely a start!

GOOD sausage

Breakfast today was bigger than usual. Need the extra energy since I’m going to be running today and my brother has weight lifting class.

– Omelette – 1 whole egg + 2 egg whites, zucchini, cauliflower, onion, and red bell pepper
– 1/4 avocado
– 1/2 chicken apple sausage
– 1/2 jalapeño cilantro pork sausage

It’s basically impossible to find GOOD sausage at a typical grocery store. I went to S&L Quality Meats for these all natural sausages with no fillers! Just meat and seasoning. They were very flavorful and huge!!

Some meals from the last few days

Roasted veggies
I pretty much add every vegetable I can find in the refrigerator into a pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle seasonings, and roast at 400 for about an hour. Usually includes: butternut squash, carrots, onions, red and green bell peppers, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, garlic, artichokes, and zucchini. (Some super strict paleo people ban nightshades and squashes, but I refuse to give them up!)

Before going into the oven

Roasted pork with roasted veggies
I roasted some pork shoulder that I rubbed with garlic and herbs. YUM.

Chicken salad w/mango tomato salsa
This was SOOOO GOOD. I marinated boneless, skinless chicken breast in lemon juice, lime juice, and some seasoning and then pan seared it. The mango tomato salsa also includes cilantro, red onion, and lime juice. I would have added avocado, but I didn’t have any ripe ones this time. Baby greens. The salsa is the perfect dressing!

Chicken lettuce wraps
YUM. My bro actually ate lettuce wraps and LIKED them. I marinated the chicken in sesame seeds, poppy seeds, minced onion, paprika, balsamic vinegar, and honey and saved some of the marinade as an optional dipping sauce. Iceberg lettuce, baby spinach, chicken breast, strawberries, carrots, and almonds. The slivered almonds provided a great crunch, the strawberries were tart and sweet, and everything was so nicely balanced!

FRUIT!!!!
Mangos, kiwis, and bananas

I have two parrots who light up my world. They eat a lot of what I eat, so I’ll be posting lots of pictures of them. Here is Maya, my blue and gold macaw, enjoying some fruit!

30 day paleo challenge for my little bro!

I have finally convinced my 17 year old brother to eat strictly paleo for 30 days. He is the typical processed food-addicted American teenager. He loves potatoes, pizza, fast food burgers, soda, captain crunch cereal, chips, etc. If it comes in a shiny colorful package from the grocery store or drive-thru, he loves it. But using my magical older sister powers, I have made him commit to a paleo challenge to lose weight. He is 6′ tall and started at 238lbs. Today is Day 3.

Because he is on a strict paleo diet, it basically means I am too. I am now challenged to cook delicious paleo meals with lots of variety for my picky teenaged brother. This means lots of posts about my culinary adventures and updates on his weight loss progress.

Positive changes

Since adopting a mostly paleo diet several months ago, my body composition has completely changed. I lost close to 20lbs and I’ve shed all excess fat without losing any muscle. When I quit figure skating, I basically stopped all exercise without eating any less. I’ve always had active hobbies and a ridiculous metabolism so I was never overweight, but I had definitely gained weight during college. I’m active, but I don’t really exercise because I’m all about natural and functional fitness.

I’ve recently started to skate again just for fun. I’ve noticed a big difference in my skating. I am faster, stronger, and more energetic than I remember being even when I was skating full time as a teenager. I definitely have a lot of work to do if I want to be at my peak physical fitness, but it’s a start. I am determined to climb several mountains this year and paleo will help me get there!

The biggest change was in my mood. I’ve struggled with depression off and on for several years, last year being the worst. I have not had ANY mood swings since I started paying attention to what I put into my body as fuel. I sleep amazingly well these days. I fall asleep easily and naturally wake up at 6:30am feeling fully rested. I am incredibly happy and upbeat on a daily basis. Hunger and fatigue makes me grouchy. Eating paleo, I am rarely if ever hungry or tired.

I also used to suffer from very severe migraines. I have not had a migraine in several months. I am in perfect health.

In short, I feel AMAAAAAZING!!

So how do I know that all these changes are due to the paleo diet? When I do eat a lot of non-paleo foods several days in a row, I definitely notice a negative difference right away. I retain massive amounts of water, I feel nauseous, I get a headache, and I feel super lethargic. I just don’t feel good and all the sugary and salty foods just aren’t worth my well-being.