Happy Friday!  A short week for some of you…love those!  I had a rough night last night.  Our little munchkin got some sort of 24-hour flu.  Needless to say, I was dealing with a lot of puke and diarrhea last night!  Thankfully she seems ok this morning and is able to hold down water.  Hubby will be home with her today, I have to go out to see some clients.

Ok, so onto the topic of the day!!!

So I thought it would be neat to give you a review of how its been all week doing the grain-free diet (I HATE the word diet, but I’ll use it here 😉 ! 

Now I wouldn’t go as far as saying we’re doing the Paleo Diet, as we aren’t being as strict.  For those of you that haven’t heard of the paleo way of eating, here’s what it is….

Paleo Diet (From Wikipedia):

“The modern dietary regimen known as the Paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various human species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era–a period of about 2.5 million years duration that ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture. In common usage, such terms as the “Paleolithic diet” also refer to the actual ancestral human diet. Centered on commonly available modern foods, the “contemporary” Paleolithic diet consists mainly of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.”

Here’s the Paleo Food Pyramid:

Dairy says ‘optional’, but from what I understand, most Paleo’s do not eat dairy.

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My hubby (Brent) wanted to do grain-free to see how he feels.  He’s normally a carb-o-holic.  He eats a lot of pasta and rice.  We’ve been doing really well with it!  I started on Sunday.  Its taken some creativity with meals, but not anything “that” out of the ordinary from what I already do.

The “grain” carbs I regularly eat is oats (in the morning).  Protein muffins (those usually have oat flour), and brown rice.  Occasionally, I’ll have a slice of gluten free type bread, and corn-only tortilla’s.

First thing I’m noticing all these days later, is that I’m CRAVING LESS carbs!  Pretty drastically!  I thought it might have the opposite affect!  When I’m feeling low energy, I have some fruit, and I must say, its a lot more filling and satifying than carbs from grains.  Much of the time with carbs, I feel like I could eat HUGE portions of it.  I could put back a couple of cups of brown rice, and not even bat an eye!  But think of how you feel after eating an apple versus some rice, much more satisfying.  I also notice after eating a bigger portion of carbs like rice, quinoa etc, it actually makes me tired!  Something else we’re noticing (WARNING: TMI) is that this way of eating makes you more “regular”.  We didn’t have issues with that to begin with, but for people that have problems with pooping, you may find it can help you drastically! 

So aside from fruit (mostly berries & apples), I’ve been eating more yam & butternut squash.  I LOVE the sweetness of yam and its super filling.  I just have some pre-cooked in the fridge to have with lunch and/or dinner.

This was my lunch the other day.  Leftover Meatza Pizza and some cooked yam!  This pizza was SO GOOD! I’ll eat it again most definitely, even if not doing grain-free! Already have some ground turkey thawed in the fridge to make more tonight!!!

I also made these “buns” for Brent.  I don’t know how a base primarily of almond butter can come out tasting like bread, but it does!!!

Biggest downfall of these is the high calories content.  In only HALF OF ONE of these little mini loaves (slightly bigger than a muffin) it has 150 calories and 13.5g fat.  He still liked them though.  The recipe I followed is HERE.

Here was another lunch I had.  Leftover chicken & veggie soup (from a Vietnamese restaurant) and a salad…..

Breakfast is probably the toughest, because that’s when I normally have oatmeal.  But these Grain Free Blueberry Protein Pancakes have been doing the trick!

I haven’t posted the recipe for these Grain Free Banana Nut Muffins…..but they were GOOD!

Brent likes the Grain-Free Berry Muffins a bit better (I think I like the Banana a bit more)…..

So that covers some of the food this week!

Workouts This Week:

Monday – 1 hour Bootcamp (Leg Focus)
Tuesday – Intervals on recumbant bike / Abs
Wednesday – 1 hour Bootcamp (Upper Body Focus) 
Thursday – Off
Friday – Home workout.  Circuit with weights, focus on back.
Saturday – Off
Sunday – Arm workout

Hope you all have a great weekend!  Don’t forget to ENTER TO WIN some Psi Bands!!!!!  The contest ends on Tuesday!