Rendezvous with the Reinhardts: Day 10: Paleo, a Protein Rich Diet. Is it good for you?

My entire life my mom ensured that I didn't eat too many eggs in a week in fear of increasing my cholesterol. I've steered away from the yokes and for a while I even bought the boxed egg whites. Most of my life I also tried not to eat too much red meat. Then I found paleo where you eat a lot of eggs and red meats as long as they are organic/ ground fed. But this still goes against everything I've ever known. It's very confusing and hard to know what is true and what is not.

The only thing to do is some digging and find out what research has been done.

What does Doctor Oz have to say, and his "protein prescription".

Protein protects agains 3 things: Heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. 1/3 of people are protein deficient. (WHAT?!) Our bodies are made up of protein: skin, bone, organs, blood, hormones, tendons, and of course muscles. When we are not feeding these things with proteins than obviously our bodies do not function the way they are meant to be.

5-6 servings of protein are necessary everyday. We should be eating every 2-3 hours to get this. If we eat it all at once, our bodies cannot process the protein at the same time. Add a protein to every snack you have in the day.

Serving size is about the size of the palm of your hand. Animal proteins are the very closest to the proteins in the human body; eggs, turkey, wild caught salmon.

Nuts are an excellent source of FIBER (Peanuts are not a nut they are a legume), and I love Cashew butter! The calories in protein are not the same as a calorie in a carbohydrate. Our bodies will spend a little extra when we have protein, so its like a discount! I love discounts!

Beans/legumes (these are not in the paleo diet, but here is what Dr. Oz says): beans are a great source of protein and fiber all in one.

Dairy (also not in the paleo diet, and I'm allergic): Plain Greek Yogurt is a great source of protein as long as sugar has not been added.

So overall EVERYTHING IN MODERATION. You can eat 4 eggs in a day, but don't eat them all at once. Make sure you are eating those 5-6 servings a day! SNACK ATTACK! Don't starve yourself eat throughout the day every 2 hours or so.

Obviously it is important to ensure fruit and vegetables are incorporated into your diet.

For dinner I made The Chicken Alfredo Impostor. A creamy sauce over Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients

Spaghetti Squash

2 lbs cooked chicken

2 avocados

4 T coconut milk

1T apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

2 slices of crunchy turkey bacon (optional)

4 fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees
Cook spaghetti squash in the oven for 30 minutes
combine avocados, coconut milk, cider vinegar, basil, salt/ pepper to a food processor and blend until smooth
Add cooked chicken pieces and crunchy turkey bacon pieces in to a pan with medium heat. Then add the avocado mixture.

Delicious! I can't complain.
For dessert I had a fruit smoothie

Ingredients

6 fresh strawberries

1 cup of Coconut milk

ice

Blend together!

We had mutual which involved fitness night. We did ZUMBA! It was super fun! One of the girls took my phone and snapped a sweaty picture of me.

I love being in Young Womens. They are a bunch of energetic kiddos. They are hilarious and definitely like having fun. Love doing activities with them. I am so excited for camp!! 3 WEEKS!