A reader recently commented on this post, that she would like to know what I eat every day. Well, it varies wildly from day to day so I decided to pick a day and make a food journal with photos of everything (or almost everything) I ate that day. I chose Leap Day (yesterday). I post recipes quite often but have never done a food journal which is funny because I follow a lot of bloggers who do. For whatever reason I like to know what you had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. ;)
Anyway, I am not a food photographer so please excuse my awful photos. I can take a decent portrait or candid but food photos… nope, I suck wax fruit. I also didn’t plan any of these meals so they were spur of the moment cooking decisions and food grabs. I think it ended up pretty decent nutritionally but when each meal is planned right then and there it is hard to know. I do usually plan a little more than I did on this day, especially dinner, but some days I am just so busy that we eat a mish mash of whatever we have.
Okay… here we go.
Breakfast was a bowl of grain free cereal with coconut milk. Yes, grain free, paleo cereal is totally possible! It was made with a blend of chopped raw almonds, chopped raw pecans, shredded coconut, and pine nuts, drenched in a half cup of yummy coconut milk. It is low carb with lots of delicious, healthy fats. I didn’t have a whole lot of it though (1/2 cup) because this was a gym day and if I eat too much I will get crampy while working out. Most mornings I just eat a cup of greek yogurt but I felt like mixing it up.
After eating my cereal I showered, put my swimsuit on, and hit the gym. After a one hour swim I rinsed off in the shower and then changed into workout clothes and Vibrams so I could lift some weights. From the gym I drove to the library to pick up some books on reserve and then I drove home to see my youngest kiddo off to school (who was being watched by Daddy). After he left, the husband and I ran some errands and picked up some local pastured eggs (three dozen). When we got home I made lunch for myself. Often times hubby and I make lunch together but he ate and precooked his dinner (for work) while I was at the gym, so I was on my own for lunch.
My lunch was:
After lunch I sat down at my computer again and worked until dinner with an hour long break spent cleaning out the fridge. Hubby went to work earlier on and the kids came home from school at about 3:00. They did homework and watched Netflix in our family room, where my computer is. They also ran outside to play off and on, taking advantage of bizarre 60 degree weather.
For a mid-day snack I had a homemade chocolate-coconut bar. I adapted it from this recipe, adding some coconut cream concentrate and some raw honey.Yum!!
My kids spied the fresh eggs in the frig so they requested tuna egg salad, carrot sticks, and apple slices with almond butter dip for dinner. That was super easy but not what I wanted so I made myself something different. I actually wanted to have grilled fish, sauteed mushrooms, and salad but due to poor planning the fish was still frozen solid. Phooey! So I decided to have breakfast for dinner:
- Uncured bacon
- Two eggs fried in coconut oil
- Half an apple topped with almond butter
- Greek yogurt
Throughout the day I also had some fish oil and spirulina as well as water to drink. After dinner we did our 15 minute clean-up and then the kids went off to their rooms to do their own thing until bed time. I gave the kitchen a deeper cleaning and baked some more coconut bars for after school snacking throughout the week. I stayed up late since the next day was/is hubby’s day to get up with the kids and hit the gym himself. Since I knew I would get to sleep in (if I wanted) I decided to catch up on some DVR’d shows… ala Justified and Lost Girl.
So that is a sampling of what I eat in a day. I can’t say that it is typical because I had more sweet stuff this day than I usually do in a week. I also ate more “packaged” food than usual I think but it’s a real look into my lacto-paleo diet. Today I had more paleo cereal and I rectified that fish craving:
Hubby had the same meal except he had a grass fed steak instead of fish. For dinner I have chicken soup (minus the noodles) stewing in the crock pot. It will be soup and salad for dinner.
What are you having?
There have been so many diet changes lately and so many new and wonderful products I have tried looking to prioritize my health and that of my family. One of the smaller changes we made was that we started consuming fish oils so that our diet would have an ample supply of Omega 3 essential fatty acids, EPA and DHA. I have been trying a few different brands and products but one of the front runners is Nordic Naturals and their Ultimate Omega – D3, which has fish oils obviously and 1000 I.U. of vitamin D3. Nordic Naturals has long been known as a brand that provides some of the purest and freshest fish oils. They are third party tested for environmental toxins such as heavy metals, dioxins, and PCBs. This is hugely important for moms because there are so many fish oils on the market and it can really be a crap shoot as to what is in them and how pure they are. This isn’t one of those situations where you just want to run out and buy the generic, drug store brand. You want fish oils from a place you can trust and Nordic Naturals has been on my list of trustworthy sources for years. Their lemon flavor fish oils are also very palatable. The lemony flavor comes through the gel caps even and makes it easy to take these… you even want to chew on them a little before swallowing. Sounds weird, I know.
While this particular brand isn’t my absolute favorite, it is lower in price than my preferred and makes an excellent backup when money is tight. I also like that they have so many offerings for kids. My own kids really like the Nordic Naturals Nordic Berries. The D3 in this formulation is also important to me this time of year when we don’t get a whole lot of sunlight. D3 is a natural form of vitamin D produced by the body, and is better absorbed and utilized than other forms. It does wonders for our mood in the winter time, not to mention the helpful effects it has on immunity and sleep rhythms.
Right now the company is sponsoring a What’s Essential™ contest where they are asking people to share what is essential to them in living an extraordinary life. I didn’t enter the contest but it did give me some food for thought. What is essential to me?
It is essential that we are the healthiest we can be so that we can enjoy our lives to the fullest extent possible. So many people (adults and children) have health problems that keep them running to and from doctors. They eat foods that foster this state of poor health and they just accept the aches and pains as part of life. They get up in the morning with congestion in their chest or a pain in the small of their back and they just say “Oh well, guess I am getting old.” Their kids get frequent cavities and allergies that seem to get worse each year but they just accept this. It was in protest of this attitude that spurred so many dietary changes of late. We were a pretty healthy bunch but there were still some nagging health issues and I do NOT accept them. I do not accept that is is normal for my children’s teeth to decay or for me to feel the aches and pains of old age in my early thirties. It is essential to me to get to the bottom of these issues and help our bodies heal as I know they can. It is essential that I always keep growing, learning, and questioning and that I teach my kids to do the same.
What about you? What is essential to you?
** Many thanks to Nordic Naturals for sending me a sampling of their products and the bottle of Ultimate Omega – D3 to review. Some were old favorites and some are now new favorites.
Leading up to Valentine’s Day you are likely to read articles about gift ideas, ways to make it magical, or perhaps what candy and chocolate is the most ethical and healthy. You don’t typically see articles about what to do if your kids came home from school with a metric ton of candy and sweets and you don’t actually have the heart to confiscate it. That would be me. I don’t buy any Valentine’s candy his time of year. Not a single piece for me or the kids. When we have to send the kids to school with Valentine’s we either make our own cards or go with ones that have little toys, bookmarks, or pencils instead of candy. But it is understood that when they come home from school they are going to have a paper bag full of Valentine’s Day booty. Since they don’t get candy very often I don’t worry so much about it, but then again I don’t dismiss it either.
Valentine’s candy is actually pretty bad for our children’s health. That is the just the truth of it. It is loaded with immune suppressing sugar and other junk ingredients like artificial dyes and additives. Consuming all that candy is literally putting their immune systems under a form of attack and during a time when they are already vulnerable… few sunlight hours available, activity can dwindle, and cold and flu bugs are going around like party favors.
If you want to get creative and trade the candy for money or other treats go right ahead. That actually worked with my youngest son this year. My daughter would not be swayed. Rather than let it bug me I just decided that it is a grand opportunity to teach my kids how to take care of their bodies after they have had a lapse in judgement. Giving them insight into how their body works when we eat junk and how we can nurture ourselves in the aftermath is just as important in my mind as teaching them about healthy eating. They need to know how to heal themselves when their healthy habits take a detour.
You might decide to try and ration the candy so they don’t go crazy and eat it all at once but that is actually not a good idea. Let them eat up all the candy. It just extends the immune suppressing abilities of all that junk so it’s best to get it gone and start the healing. Whatever they don’t eat that afternoon/evening might even magically disappear. Give me the rest of that candy and I will take you to a movie on Saturday morning, deal?
Here are some other ways that we give our family an immunity boost after gorging on candy. These tips work for Valentine’s Day or any candy centric holiday (ie Halloween and Easter).
Broth – Once that candy is gone we go into a week long spree of nourishing, nutrient dense, broth based soups that are heavy on the veggies, garlic, onions, and ginger. My dutch oven get a mighty workout all week long.
Hydration – The drink of choice after Valentine’s is good old fashioned water and I make sure it is alkaline as well. No natural juice, smoothies, or sweetened teas right now, just water.
Fermented Cod Liver Oil – Very nutrient dense and helps boost immunity and sleep. This brand is especially good because it is fermented, unheated, and it retains the natural vitamins and enzymes that are destroyed in the processing of many other brands.
Garlic - It has strong antiviral and antibacterial properties and can help ward of illness. I will often use an entire bulb in our soups after we have had excessive candy exposure.
No White Stuff or Grains - Sugar is one of the white things to be avoided but also white rice and flour. Make pancakes with coconut flour or give them a cereal of just chopped almonds, pecans, pine nuts, and shredded coconut. It is especially important not to eat any white stuff after a candy binge but grains just convert to sugar in the body too so it is best to avoid them.
Ginger - Ginger warms you up so fast you think you might be having a hot flash. That is of course why it works so well. It raises your body temperature and fights off viruses and prevents them from replicating. It is also anti-inflammatory and it supports our immune system.
Elderberry - This amazing herb is an anti-viral and it helps to fight viruses by warming your body temperature. It also has strong antioxidant properties that boost the immune system. You can make your own or you can buy it in the form of Sambucol.
Exercise – Take the kids out for evening walks, dance while you do chores, and go on some weekend hikes. Exercise boosts immune function.
Whole Foods Vitamins – Give your kids vitamins sourced from whole foods (ala apples, mango, etc), not one with synthetic ingredients.
Plenty of Rest – After an event like Valentine’s Day we send the kids to bed earlier so they can get plenty of rest… their little bodies need it. All week long they are required to hit the sack an hour earlier than usual and this gives their immune system a chance to recover from the shock of all that sugar.
How will you keep your kids healthy after Valentine’s Day?
As I mentioned in my Valentine’s post I am declaring Buddha Chocolate a new fave around here. I have always adored raw chocolate but since going Paleo late last year I am craving chocolate more than ever. Not the milk chocolate you find at most grocery stores either. I only want super dark chocolate, which is harder to find unless I drive to a health foods store. Not sure why I am experiencing these cravings but I feel comfortable just going with it. Buddha Chocolate sent me some of their offerings to review and I shared them with the husband this week. We both curled up on the couch for a good movie while the kiddies were at school and we noshed on chocolate. Does it get better than that? Nay.
Okay so what makes this chocolate better than what you can get at the grocery checkout? Well, it is raw & organic artisan chocolate made with pure Ecuadorian cacao beans. They sweeten it with raw, humane honey and the total ingredient list is very short with REAL food ingredients. Since the chocolate is not heated over 108 degrees all the enzymes and nutrients are in tact, which makes it a healthy, living food. They are dairy free, soy free, gluten free, and have no added sugar.
I was also blown away by the taste. The two almond butter cups they sent were my fave. A healthy version of the infamous peanut butter cup! The almond butter was creamy and delicious and the chocolate was rich and amazing. One of them (the red) has strawberries and full Goji berries in it. It was my #1 pick. All three chocolates have mesquite in them which gives them a lovely smoky flavor and they all have Pink Himalayan Crystal salt in them too. The salt factor gave them a real wow factor. The chocolate bar was generously sprinkled in the stuff. Insanely delicious!
The packaging is gorgeous and each piece has a Buddha quote on it for a bit of fun. I still have the little quotes on my desk. One was about quality of life and the other was about love. Both timely for Valentine’s Day I think. The owners of Buddha Chocolate are two adorable yoga teachers in New York City so this is a small business worth supporting too. As with most raw chocolate the price is up there but these are luxurious chocolates that are very rich and worth the price as long as they are an occasional luxury. If you love raw chocolate as I do, Buddha Chocolate is a must try. Enjoy!
Telling me you are a doctor and know a little something about nutrition and health doesn’t mean much to me. The more you research and take your health into your own hands… the further you go down that rabbit hole, the more you realize that most doctors and physicians are just products of a failed system and flawed science. Vaccination is a perfect example. We are told over and over again that vaccines are safe and that they keep us safe. Get those shots! It is only when a parent comes home from a well check or a hospital with a severely damaged child that they decide to kick over some rocks and find the truth. It is the same with many other aspects of health, disease, and nutrition. We have all been indoctrinated and it takes a great bit of courage and strength to take the red pill (ala The Matrix) and wake up from the fog. When you do, you start to realize that many doctors and physicians took the blue pill and they cannot help you on your journey to true wisdom and knowledge.
From there you have to find the physicians, researchers, scientists, and otherwise motivated individuals who have been brave enough to forge their own path and challenge current ideas about health and diet. I am going to list some resources that I feel fit the bill here. This is not to say that I agree 100% with everything contained therein but they have a lot of great info that challenges conventional wisdom. Read through and see what you think. Also shout out your own resources in the comments. Enjoy!
Wheat Belly – You may be sick of hearing about this book by now since I mention it quite often. It really is a life changing book that manages to take random bits and pieces you already knew and arrange them in a completed puzzle. You close the book wondering how you never saw it before. You also wonder if mainstream medicine is really that stupid or if they are covering this up to protect other interests.
The New Evolution Diet - This book shows our paleolithic ancestors did not suffer from heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or obesity. It also exposes a good deal of what we view as normal aging as a modern condition that is more akin to disease than any natural state of growing older. While it does confirm that we have made many wonderful advances in medicine it also shares why our modern ideas on nutrition and diet have been devastating for human health.
Nourishing Traditions – This is one of those books I don’t completely agree with but it still has lots of great info. Most importantly it shares how saturated fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors for health. While it doesn’t encourage us to go back as far as our paleolithic ancestors for dietary ideas it definitely encourages us to stay away from modern processed foods.
Eat Fat Lose Fat - Flouts conventional wisdom by revealing that so-called healthy vegetable oils (such as corn and soybean) are in large part responsible for our national obesity and health crisis, while the saturated fats traditionally considered “harmful” are essential to weight loss and health.
The No Grain Diet - The main point is that refined grains of any type are basically deadly and eating them should be viewed as an unhealthy addiction.
Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health - This book could use a Cliff Notes companion. It is REALLY in depth and at times a tough read but WOW. It is jam packed with wonderful information. The author shows us that almost everything we have been taught about the nature of a healthy diet is wrong.
The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food - An expose about the information the soy industry has tried to suppress. Soy is not a health food, does not prevent disease and has not even been proven safe. Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory studies link soy to malnutrition, digestive problems, thyroid dysfunction, cognitive decline, reproductive disorders, even heart disease and cancer.
Fat Head – This is a movie and you can actually get it on Netflix. When I sat down to watch it for the first time I thought it was going to be a crock of you know what because it takes aim at another documentary, Super Size Me. I have no love for McDonalds so even though I have never seen Super Size Me I WANT to believe that every incriminating thing in the movie is true. Fat Head shows us how that other documentary was more fiction than fact. Tim Naughton does a high fat, fast food diet himself for 30 days and loses weight. And no the movie is not actually an endorsement for fast food. You have to watch. The latter half is actually the most informative. Naughton discusses how we came to accept current nutrition ideas, why they are wrong, and how politics and the food industry is keeping that from us. It is also VERY funny.
Earthing – Demonstrates how our loss of physical contact with the earth is harming our health and provides a solution that does not include sleeping in a grass hut.
Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival - This book attacks agriculture and grains as the most devastating thing to happen to human health and the invention of the light bulb and artificial light as the second worst. Lots of wonderful information on why we need more sleep and how we can help reduce stress in our bodies caused by artificial light.
There are probably numerous other resources I could mention but those are the ones on the front burner for me lately. How about you?
Added to Real Food Wednesday
Hi there! I am a green, paleo, crossfit mom of three. I am concerned about health, wellness, and sustainability issues. This is my life. This what I am passionate about. Come get to know me and feel free to 
