What the Paleo?
If you follow me on facebook you might have noticed that I’ve been making a few paleo meals lately. wait. what? Pale who? That was my thought not too long ago. In simple terms paleo means grain free. While I wish I could say I’ve jumped on the paleo bandwagon I must sadly admit that I don’t think I could survive without pasta. I can’t help it, pasta love is in my Italian blood.
I try to stay away from white, refined flour whenever I can and have been playing around with almond flour quite a bit since making chicken apple sausage bites which were a bit hit with Annabelle. Paleo is increasingly popular and it seems to be all the rage with lots of cross-fitters. There are books written about it, countless cook books and blogs galore. Some people swear by it, saying it’s cleared up their allergies, acne, gut issues etc. So what exactly is it? Paleo is also known as the caveman diet and focuses on Real Food such as game meat, fish, vegetables, wild fruits, eggs and nuts. Does that mean no more sunday morning pancakes? Not really. It just means you’ll be making your pancakes with almond or coconut flour instead of wheat (or gluten free) flour. It means getting rid of all pasta.
Incorporating some paleo recipes to our routine has been great. We’ve made paleo pancakes a few times and have not gotten any complaints. I’ve even made coconut flour biscuits that Andrew said were good and can I make them without coconut (Andrew hates coconut so him asking for the same thing with ‘less coconut’ is a small miracle). Coconut flour biscuits consist of coconut flour, coconut oil and eggs, which means I can’t make them with less coconut but I can try almond flour biscuits. I’ve been thinking about making cauliflower crust pizza but that might be pushing it.
If you have some health issues that you are working on and are willing to give up grains then this would be a great diet to try. I’m not willing to make that switch ( we also don’t have any allergies or health issues we’re dealing with right now) but I am willing to make substitutions whenever possible and hopefully create a love for paleo dishes made with high quality ingredients in Annabelle.
As much as I may hate it Annabelle is already exposed to food and I don’t want her to be the only kid at a party not allowed to eat something. I don’t want her to feel deprived, left out or weird. This past weekend we went to a birthday party and I stepped away to go to the restroom. When I got back the was sipping on a juice box. I wanted to pry it out of her little hands and toss it. She’s had organic fruit nectar in smoothies and flavored coconut water before but never juice, and especially sugar filled juice box juice. I let her drink it as she said “juice” and sipped happily. I very reluctantly let her have some chick-fil-a chicken nuggets while I quietly winced and cried on the inside and then we shared a cupcake which I mostly gobbled when she looked away so there would be less for her to have. I realize that this is going to happen forever. My hope is that she’ll develop a taste for high quality ingredients (raw milk, pastured eggs and butter, healthy dishes, paleo dishes etc.) that maybe the bad stuff won’t taste as appealing. Like the taste of aspartame or box cake just isn’t appealing since my palate has changed through eating real food. But seriously, who can resist carbs that are battered and fried? And sometimes, as a mom, you just have to grin and bear it.
Do you follow paleo or follow another restricted diet plan with your kiddos? How do you deal with these kinds of situations? If you’re paleo I’d love to hear some of the great benefits you’ve experienced. How has changing your diet changed your life?