Week 2 Review of "Paleo"

Today marks two weeks that I've been doing this "paleo thing". To be perfectly honest, this past week was tough. I started out feeling really tired and crummy and I thought it was a mixture of my monthly and the beginning of a cold, but after taking it easy for 2 days, I don't think that was it at all. I honestly think my body was finally protesting the lack of "carbs". I looked it up on some of the paleo websites I've been reading, and some people who are really accustomed to eating lots of carbs in the form of grain can have headaches and tiredness as their body figures out how to tap the energy stores elsewhere in our body. I didn't ever think about quitting and I didn't have huge sugar cravings, but it was still really tough. It's a good thing we had a ton of leftovers, because I really didn't have the energy to cook. Although, I also didn't take a ton of pictures since it was mostly leftovers, well, that and I was just too tired.

I feel a lot better today. In fact, the week ended quite a bit better than it started. I had energy (I actually worked out!) and tried some new recipes as well as some oldy but goodies. I am proud to say that I haven't caved into the girl scout cookies once even though my family is always eating them in front of me! I also did well at a gathering over the weekend in which there was both baked potatoes (with all the toppings) and the.best.lemon cake ever. I usually give in to eating whatever is in front of me at social gatherings, so the fact that I ate the potato toppings on top of some salad (instead of the potato) and munched on some carrots, celery and a few strawberries for dessert just blows me away. I think having the mindset that this is a lifestyle change for the good of my health instead of a "diet" with "cheat" days makes me a lot more disciplined. I just don't feel like I need cheat days. I don't feel deprived at all. Although, I am getting kinda tired of eggs for breakfast, so I made it a priority to try some new breakfast recipes this week that aren't egg based!

Some of the wonderful food I ate this week....

I had some random veggies in the frig that I just sauteed up. Then I sauteed some shrimp (which my family LOVES) and topped it with our favorite almond sauce from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef's cookbook. It's one of the recipes from that trial run I did this past summer/fall and we've made it several times since. We seriously LOVE it. 

The girls love berries and although they aren't quite in season, I bought some this past week for us to snack on and have as dessert.

You'll notice this dish is empty. That's because we ate it all--every last bite of it. What is it, you ask? Fresh, homemade salsa that rivals what we eat in Mexico. I got the recipe from Everyday Paleo. You should go check it out. We put it on top of another recipe that I neglected to get a picture of, Mexican Stew. Of course Erik and the girls ate it with tortilla chips, which I'm sure was heavenly.

Speaking of Everyday Paleo, we just had this for dinner on Monday night and it was DELISH! Even Erik and Lindsay really liked it. Spanish Tortilla--yum yum yum. I bought smoked paprika for the first time for this recipe and when I opened it, it smelled soooo good. I'll be using that more I'm sure.

Another recipe that I neglected to picture was a side dish, Sauteed Spinach with Mushrooms, Onions, Garlic and Parmesan from over at The Cowgirl Gourmet. The girls didn't like it, but they prefer their spinach raw, but Erik and I ate the whole pan, it was that good. I, of course ate it without the Parmesan, but it was still great!

I've got some yummy looking recipes on the list for this week, so it should be a good eating week, plus I've started to do the "workouts" in the book I blogged about the other day, The Paleo Solution, so I'll let you know how that goes too. I'm thinking it will be better than last week and that I'll only continue to feel better and better.