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! 

After Young Womens on Sunday

Learning to Sew. 

Hilarious girls- entertaining the little kids. 

My Pre Zumba Selfie

Zumba it up! 

Day 9: Good food, Good feeling in 30 minutes

I will start by saying I LOVE eating paleo. I feel good at the end of the day, not guilty about what I put in my mouth. I used to be a stress eater. In high school and college I would gorge myself when I was stressed, bring on the box of tricuts, block of cheese, candy and 64 oz diet coke. However then I just felt like a baluga whale. 
There were so many things going on today. From phone calls to errands, deadlines and getting things done around the house it was starting to build up inside my body *sigh* I used Serenity Oil, and applied it on my wrists and the side of my head onto the temples. Its a calming blend of Lavender, sweet marjoram, roman chamomile, ylang ylang, sandalwood and vanilla bean, I was surprised how much better I felt after about 30-45 minutes. 

Yes, everything got done on time and the world didn't come to an end. In those moments when too much is happening at once you feel like you might go crazy. 

Girls Camp is just around the corner and I have a lot of little things to do (assigning devotionals, secret sister, skits, ordering t-shirts and making welcome bags) YIKES. Hopefully it will all come together on time. Either way, we will have a lot of fun, there is hiking, archery, an observatory, and just being outdoors. I think I might be more excited than the girls. 

I was so happy that Evan got home early from work so I could just be done with everything else and call it a day! Dinner was paleo and then I used a tablespoon of soy sauce and 4 tablespoons of ketchup... Fail? mmmm maybe. But I didn't have time to hunt down the paleo replacements- I just used what was in my pantry. 

Either way the Sweet n' Sour Chicken was delicious. It made my stomach happy and what a successful relief to end the day. Here is where I got it! I didn't "fry" the chicken like it directed, because I don't know if I am a bad cook or I can't follow directions but I tend to always fail when it comes to frying my own meat. 

This is 5 minutes to Prep
25 minute cook time.

Sweet n' Sour Chicken 

2 lbs chicken tenders

1/2 c honey

1/2 c apple cider vinegar 

4 Tbs ketchup 

1Tbs Soy Sauce 

1 tsp garlic powder 

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees

Put chicken tenders into a small glass baking dish 

Pour sauce mixture over the chicken 

Bake for 25 minutes 

Several blogs say quinoa is paleo because its a seed, others claim it is not paleo because it is a grain seed. I think it probably isn't paleo, but I ate it anyway:/ 

I made more of the cashew butter to eat. I turned out better than last time. I had it in the food processor just a little longer and it turned out even more smooth than before. Ah so so delicious. 

Here is the blog where I got the recipe! 

Day 6: Weird Schedules but still time for Saturday Outings.

Evan had to work the night shift Saturday into Sunday. This definitely throws off our schedules- sleeping and eating. I had a few errands to run for camp. A beautiful 67 degree, sunny day we drove up to the very north west part of Queens. This turned out to be quite the adventure. We love exploring parts of New York we would normally not visit. This includes eating at a popular restaurant in the area. The area was extremely interesting- it was a Mexican/Korean/Chinese populated area. We found an awesome authentic Thai restaurant, Zagat rated so we had high hopes. It surely did not disappoint.

Honestly eating healthy gets easier everyday. When you plan its even better. I feel good, I have more energy, and I sleep better at night. My stomach issues are gone, my hives are gone and my throat hasn't closed. Evan even said he feels better even though he adds a few things here and there- He has been a trooper! 

SriPraPhai Delicious Traditional Thai Cooking. 

I got a Red Curry. I tried to stay as Paleo as possible, but nobody is perfect right? Red Curry in coconut milk, chicken, fresh basil, onions, and red peppers. There were no grains, dairy, or vegetable oils used. SO GOOD. 
I cleaned the bowl! 

Fun little outing for errands but it took forever and a day to get home because of traffic. BIG SURPRISE. On days Evan works at night we both sleep most of the afternoon. When we got home from our adventure and sitting in traffic it was nap time. Evan usually sleeps until about 6pm, eats and then goes to work. No recipes today, because we have a lot of leftovers from the week. 

Our district held a women's conference. Who doesn't love workshops and classes on everyday life, like organizing your home and eating healthy? Women love getting together to share little tips and tricks- therefore I love Relief Society. 

Here are some things that were good refreshers on healthy eating: 

Artificial Sweeteners- 

Sugar substitutes are horrible for you. If you thought Diet Coke was a better than the regular Coke you are wrong. And yes I still love Diet Coke in the back of my mind. I'm guilty. 

Artificial sweeteners are synthetic and can also be linked to CANCER.

Honey, Dates, Natural Maple Syrup are great replacements for sugar. 

When Evan works nights I end my day with a hot DETOX Bath. It's relaxing and our bodies have toxins galore. 

1 cup Cider Vinegar 

2 Cups Epsom Salt or Sea Salt 

15 drops of DoTerra Lavender Oils 

Sit and soak for 25-30 minutes 

There are so many ways to use DoTerra Oils. I am a firm believer! If you're getting sick, there is nothing I love more than I hot bath to cure my ailments. 

I use Melaleuca oil also known as Tree Oil to cure my many skin issues; hives, eczema, heat rash, cuts etc.

Studies show Frankincense has been found to Trump Chemo in eliminating Ovarian Cancer  Read the Article here 

Do you have seasonal allergies? 

Lemon, lavender, and peppermint are great to help fight the sneezy, runny stuffiness you have or try DoTerra's New Product 

"TriEase Softgels"

Click the link to order DoTerra Oils or would like become a 

DoTerra Wellness Advocate

Use the number 776284 for both the "Enroller ID & Sponsor ID"

Dairy-Free [Recipe] Teriyaki Salmon

It has come to the attention that my body absolutely hates Dairy & Almonds. In fact when they are consumed my throat closes up and it becomes hard to breathe. So in an attempt to reduce allergy and inflammation in my body I have to take those things out. This may not be an issue for others, but It's hard for me because I love cheese, yogurt, ice cream, almond milk and almonds in general. Also if you actually read the labels- everything has MILK or NUTS in it. 

Here is my [1st Successful Recipe] with no Dairy or Nuts: 

2 - 4oz Fresh Salmon cuts 

2 Cups of Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce 

1 Cup Fresh cut Pineapple chunks 

1 Cup Quinoa 

Place your Salmon pieces in a large ziploc bag. Marinade your Salmon in 2 Cups of Teriyaki Marinade. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Heat oven to 350 Degrees. Use a small glass backing dish and cook salmon for 30 minutes using all of the extra sauce. Prepare quinoa as directed on package. 

Serve salmon over the quinoa, put pineapple chunks over salmon and pour desired amount of extra teriyaki sauce over rice.

If you have a gluten or soy allergy, check the labels of the Teriyaki sauce because it usually contains soy and wheat. 

* I was really happy about how this turned out, because it wasn't dry, there was a lot of flavor, and Evan liked it a lot. He isn't such a fan of fish but I may have won him over with this!* 

Enjoy you meal! 

Cheers 

H