Primal Diet ~ How’s It Going?

As you may or may not know I’ve slowly been working my way into a primal diet and exercise program as outlined in Mark Sisson’s book The Primal Blueprint.

A while back I started on the “Paleo” diet ~ which is actually quite similar ~ but the tone is quite different. It didn’t go very well. I love the way Mark lays out this lifestyle and how it is not regimented and the workouts aren’t insane. In fact, going Primal has actually given me permission on some level to “let my life count”. Days walking at the zoo ~ are suddenly a perfect workout, a 30 minute enjoyable bike ride is a perfect work out.

But what about the food? The Primal Diet?

I thought it was going to be a LOT tougher than it has been. Paleo does not allow any cheese or dairy products at all. None. Which is why I fell down. I just have to have me some cheese! With the allowance of some dairy it’s been pretty much a piece of cake.

I thought I’d outline what I’m doing at this point for my daily Primal Diet.

Breakfast:

Veggie omelet ~ zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, onions with a sprinkle of cheese.
coffee ~ with a small spoonful of brown sugar and a little milk.

Lunch: (yes, next is lunch because I’m truly not even hungry before then)

Leftovers from last night (meat and veggies usually)

or

A big salad with lots of veggies and some sort of protein (sometimes chicken, sometimes shrimp)
with avocado and some ranch (yeah ~ still working on getting into the oil based dressing)
I also usually add some hemp seeds to the salad ~ they add a nutty flavor, lots of good oils and 11 grams of protein.

Dinner:

My husband has been working late in the fields since this started so it’s been easier without my “we have to have bread or rolls with every single dinner” person not here.

I cook some sort of protein ~ chicken, steak, roast (hopefully he’ll get out there and get a deer this year!)

and serve it with veggies. We’re working on adding some new veggies to our list ~ but luckily the little one is pretty happy with most veggies.

Snacks:

To tell you the truth I have not been at all hungry for snacks.  When I do grab a snack I’ll usually have a handfull of nuts. I also picked up some grass fed beef jerky and a stick of that holds me over nicely.

I am  really loving this primal diet. I feel great. I already have more energy. I don’t feel deprived. I never feel hungry.

It was rough the first couple days ~ I felt very foggy and tired ~ but it didn’t last long. I am in pretty poor shape so I’ve been working on building my base ~ but yesterday I felt inspired to sprint. Hanna was riding her bike around a track at the park. She got pretty far ahead of me so I sprinted across the field to meet her at the other side. I sure felt it, but it’s a start.

I thought giving up grains and sugar and processed foods ~ well mostly the grains would be much harder than it has been. I was pretty used to just throwing together a sandwich for lunch ~ but with a few new ideas lunch has become a delicious and easy meal as well.

Thought I’d share one of my favorite Primal Lunch Recipes with you ~ it’s great for breakfast or dinner too.

Squash, Bacon and Egg Salad

(This recipe originally called for sweet potatoes in place of the squash. However ~ we’ve had a bumper crop of Butternut Squash this year ~ it’s sweet too, so I thought it might work and it really did!)

What you’ll need:

Some butternut squash ~ (I used the bottom half ~ round part last night ~ I’d already used the straight part in another recipe)

4 strips of bacon ~ fried crispy

2 boiled eggs

Sauce:

2 tbsp mayo
2 tbsp lime juice (recipe originally called for lemon ~ but I really liked the zip of lime)
1 tsp dill

What you do:

Mix the sauce together in a biggish bowl.

Dice your squash and throw it in a pan to boil.

Boil eggs if you don’t have some cooked already

While that’s boiling cook your bacon.

Once everything is cooked crumble the bacon, dice the egg, and stir them in the bowl with the sauce and the squash.

That’s it. It’s delicious and wonderful warm or thrown in the fridge and served cold later. This would be a great dish to take to a potluck if you wanted to make sure you had something primal available!

If you’re thinking about taking the plunge into a primal diet the best resource I can recommend is Mark’s book The Primal Blueprint. If you’re looking for more recipes and food choices you can’t go wrong with Mark’s cookbook The Primal Blueprint Cookbook.