Eating My Way Through January

So let's ignore that I took a two week unplanned blogging pause and talk about my jump off the paleo wagon last week as I took a vacation and ate all the food.

It's a good thing I didn't have any food-related New Years Resolutions as they all would have been broken this week. Vacation has a funny way of making you think you need to try all the things that you have never tried before and will unlikely ever try again. Possibly the same phenomenon of going to In-N-Out burger when you're an Oregonian visiting California for the umpteenth time. 

Southern Favorite's that I just had to try included:

Corky's Ribs & BBQ
Gus's Fried Chicken (World Famous!)
Texas De Brazil - (most paleo meal I ate, but also a buffet...)
Perkins Peanut Butter Silk Pie and Mammoth Muffins
Zaxby's Banana Pudding Milkshake
Boozy eats included but were not limited to: Taco Bell, McDonalds, delivery pizza, Waffle House

The only redeeming thing about this week was that the scale was only +4 from when I left. I'd call that a win?

No photos to incriminate me today, except for maybe this one. Bottom's Up!

Paleo Plan to Lose Stress

Before we talk about stress and how I'm dealing with it, let's give a huge Happy Birthday, gurrrl to Babbling Brookelyn!

Last year I got you a West Elm cutting board, and this year Ryan Gosling? Yeah I know I've stepped up my game.

Anyway back to this little thing called 'stress'.

I'm always so careful about what I wear, what impression I'm making and how other people perceive me, but lately I've forgotten to take an inventory of how I feel.

Simply put, I've neglected to admit to myself for the past few months that I'm stressed out.

Stress damages relationships, puts personal goals on hold and takes a serious toll on health. Stress negatively impacts eating habits and often leaves me feeling like I have no control.

Now that I've disclosed my stress and am facing it head on, I'm actively seeking ways to suppress the way I'm feeling and handle it efficiently rather than stress even more over it. I've got the exercise part down, even though I have 46 miles remaining to run in the next 6 days so the next place for me to research is the foods I'm consuming. 

I began this path by googling (scientific research, I know) foods that reduce stress. Interestingly, most everything that came back all fell into a very distinct category and followed after a 'trend diet' I've heard and seen a lot about lately. 

Vegetables

|| Spinach | Carrots | Asparagus ||

Fruits

|| Citrus fruits | Avocados | Berries ||

Meats

|| Salmon | Turkey | Grass Fed Beef ||

Nuts & Seeds

|| Almonds | Walnuts | Sunflower seeds ||

Immediately I was sold on going the route of clean and natural with the Paleo diet, so get outta my cart, cereal!

via

Sorry I'm not sorry if you follow me on instagram and you've seen the beautiful foods I've been nomming for two weeks. 

Do I feel like it's worked? Heck yes I do! Reaching for fruits and vegetables when I'm hungry wakes me up and doesn't give me the crash that sugary crap does.

In fact, it's been more difficult to teach Dan what Paleo is than it has been to follow the rules. Just the past week he brought me home a latte, prepared a salmon burger with pepperjack cheese, reminded me that I didn't use my rice from our take-out stir fry, set out yogurt and granola bars for my lunch, asked if I wanted pizza for dinner, asked if i wanted a bowl of dry cereal... (ALL AMAZINGLY NICE THINGS). If you're like him and don't exactly know the rules, you'll probably learn a thing or two from Cats showing us how to do Paleo.

Some great places on the internet that have me headed in the right direction:

The Beginner's Guide to Paleo

15 Mouthwatering No Bread Sandwiches

NomNomPaleo

A Day of Simple Paleo Meals

Thank you for your support as I try to use the way I treat my body to reduce the stress I subject it to.

Ready for the weekend?

FRANKIE SAYS RELAX

Weekend Prep Returns

Even though I've been quiet about my weekend food prep it's still been going on.

For you new faces around here, I recommend that you check out the archives:

Take the Time: Meal Prep and Weekend Food Prep will give you an idea of what usually goes on in my home on the weekends.

Lately however, food prep begins with a sweet and gentle, "Dan, can you please please please grill some chicken and salmon burgers? I bought lettuce yesterday."

From there, he jumps out of his seat if there's no sports on TV and heats up our extra convenient grill. He's finished in under 45 minutes, has protein ready for the week and all I have to do is chop the lettuce, squirt the sriracha and make sure the avocados are ripe enough for bliss at work the next day.

Okay, so I know that arrangement sounds unfair and I'm working on it, but this weekend since he wasn't home I had to take meal prep back to my top standards and make a mini-production out of it. It was especially fun this weekend because I didn't even have to go grocery shopping!

1. Egg 'pancakes':

Nothing involving pancakes goes into cooking up these eggs, just the shape the finished product ends up being after a quick 90 seconds in the pan. At work I can pop these into the microwave, add spices or 1/2 of an avocado and voila - protein made easy.

2. Tempeh, Lentils, Avocado, Sriracha Salad

Here's where I get to use the other half of the morning avocado and also get to watch all my co-workers turn their heads to see what the amazing smell is that's coming from my area.

Tempeh is a protein powerhouse so it's no wonder that I love to include it in my meals wherever I can. What you see below is 4 servings worth of the good stuff, and I can pre-portion it into my convenient tupperware for the whole week - each day's ration alongside 1/2 cup of wonderful Trader Joe's Lentils.

I pop the lentil / tempeh / sriracha mix into the microwave for 35 seconds and have a clean and filling meal ready to be instagrammed and devoured.

3. Sweet Potato + Quinoa Stir Fry

This one's for dinner every night this week.

Sweet potato, Quinoa, Jalapeno peppers, black beans, grilled chicken and a dash of love make this the perfect 'comfort meal' after the long days of work I've been experiencing. 

The recipe is here and you'll find the peeled thin potato slices to be the perfect texture and just the right size for cooking without extra time or effort.

Have you ever done your food prep on the weekends? What are your favorite easy fixes for a whole week of quality meals?