Paleo Pasta

Okay, it's not really pasta. It's spaghetti squash, and it's magical. I like it with butter and spinach, but it's REALLY good with some marinara sauce, ground beef, and spinach. The best part is you can make a ton it so you don't have to cook for like four days (as long as you are okay with eating the same thing every meal for four days).


Ingrediants

• 1-2 medium spaghetti squash (or one giant one)
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 jars of marinara sauce (whichever variation you prefer...read the list of ingredients though because some add sugar and what not)
• One bag of frozen spinach

There are a ton of ways to make spaghetti squash. Here's one. I like to stick mine in the oven for about an hour at 250 degrees. It's easier to cut open after it's been cooked. After you cut it in half scoop out the icky looking stuff and then take a fork and scoop out the rest.

Brown the beef, sauté the spinach, and add the marinara sauce. That's it. You're done. Enjoy four cooking free days. 

Poor, paleo(ish), and delicious

I work at a local gym, which is nice because my coworkers all eat pretty clean so I don't have to worry about turning down donuts every day. (I say pretty clean, because my coworker sat at the front desk yesterday and ate an entire box of sour gummy worms.)

But we still have cravings. I told my coworker, Melissa, yesterday that all I wanted was a brownie but didn't want to ruin the clean streak I was on. She came this morning with a batch of "clean" brownies and the recipe she made them with.

Granted if you have eaten a regular brownie in the past, like, month, you probably won't enjoy these as much as I did.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa flour
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 5 whole eggs
• 1/2 cup Grade B maple syrup
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (we like SFH)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven, 350 F

2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, cocoa and protein powder

3. Whisk in the coconut oil, eggs and maple syrup; blend well

4. Pour batter into greased dish (7x11) and bake; 20-25 minutes

5. Allow to cool. This is important they tend to fall apart easily when warm

6. Makes 15 servings

And the most amazing part....the macros.

Calories: 107

Protein: 4 grams

Carbs: 7 grams

Fats: 7 grams

On the Road Again

One of the hardest things about being paleo(ish) is eating healthy when I'm not at home. 

This weekend I'm so excited to be going on a weekend service trip through Mizzou Alternative Breaks. We get to volunteer at the Ripley County Fairgrounds preforming maintenance work that would otherwise go undone. I'm so excited for the opportunity, but it presents itself with a teeny tiny obstacle. 

How do you eat healthy, remain flexible, and still have fun? 

My answer- Lower your standards a bit. 

I am by no means intending to go crazy and binge on fast food and processed sugars (mostly because I would feel crappy the whole weekend and be completely intolerable), but I also don't want to be the girl creating problems for other people because of my own preferences. 

So here is what I do. I always buy enough a handful of protein bars before every trip. I prefer Quest bars because they have a 20 grams of protein, 18 grams of fiber, and only 3 net carbs. You can get them individually at Hyvee or in bulk on Amazon. 

I also buy some gluten free bread. I try to avoid gluten free bread for the most part because I cannot be trusted. I think it's fine in moderation, but I have never been one for moderation. I'm kind of an all or nothing kind of gal. But it is really handy when traveling a group because you can rap a jar of natural peanut butter (Smuckers Natural is my favorite) and you have a quick easy snack/meal that is at least better than stopping at a fast food place. 

But here is the most important thing. When in Rome you eat the pasta. I always have to remind myself not to rob myself of an experience because I'm trying to be healthy. Sometime the cookie is worth it, particularly when you are on a once in a lifetime trip. 

Now I doubt Doniphan, Missouri is going to be life changing, but embracing moments are important, and if that means eating a cookie I think I will live. 

Paleo(ish) on the Go Go

One of the most important things when attempting to stick to a paleo diet is food prep. Having food ready before you get desperately hungry and eat whatever is available. While I understand the importance of food prep, I rarely have time for it, and when I do I have no place to store my meals during the day. So here is how I do paleo on the go:

Chipotle: It gets a bad rap sometimes because could easily consume your entire recommended caloric intake, but if you know what to get you could actually get a pretty healthy meal. I get brown rice, double chicken (about 75% they don't charge you extra for it), hot salsa, and guacamole.

Ingredient: They changed their menu recently, but I still build my own salad. It's the easiest way to avoid all the cheese. I get spinach, chicken (yeah, it's extra here too, and they always charge you), sliced almonds, avocado and red onions with almond champagne vinaigrette (I have no idea what that is, but it's delicious).

Kaldis: Do you know why I love Kaldis? Because they have an unwrapped breakfast burrito, and it is delicious. Their egg white unwrapped breakfast burrito has egg whites, spinach, and sweet potatoes.

Lucky's Market: Lucky's is the bomb. It has lots and lots of paleo(ish) options from chicken breast to chicken curry salad. My favorite is the kale slaw. It will change your life.

The best thing about these four options is they are all within a mile of campus!

Being Paleo According to Parks and Rec

I finally emotionally prepared myself to watch the final season of Parks and Rec, and I'm sorry to report no amount of emotional preparation could have made Leslie's final farewell any easier (mostly kidding). So in honor of the TV magic that Parks and Rec made for the last 7 seasons here are 8 gifs that describe what exactly it is to be Paleo(ish).

The first time somebody told you about the Paleo diet and you were like

Mostly because you thought you couldn't have good things like bacon and butter...but then you found out you totally can

So you decided to give it a try, but for the first two weeks all you wanted was bread, or dairy, or anything that wasn't healthy

But you got through those first two weeks like a champ, and you know what you feel pretty awesome

The best part is you are actually encouraged to eat more food, which is great because you are like always hungry

You try to get your roommate to go Paleo but she's all

Mostly because you finally convinced her to try kale and she still frequently brings up the time you betrayed her trust with a vegetable

But ya know somedays you need a cheat day, and that's okay because a life without ice cream is just not a life worth living

Making it up as I go along

I have decided I hate it when you have to scroll to the bottom of the page to find the ingredients for a recipe so I will now stop putting the ingredient list at the bottom of my blogs.

Ingredients

8 burger patties

1 bunch of lettuce

1 sweet potato

A whole lot of brussels sprouts (I don't really know how many)

As much bacon as you like

Some coconut oil (or olive oil works too)

The gym where I worked celebrated their fifth anniversary on Saturday. Yay CSC! What's even better than five great years is free food!! We had a ton of extra brussels sprouts and burgers that had already been defrosted...meaning they had to be cooked in the next 45 minutes. 

Outdoor grilling is forbidden at my apartment. Wooden stairs and large flames have been deemed hazardous. So I really didn't know what I was going to do with 8 burgers, but when free food is offered Anna always accepts. 

I ended up throwing them in the oven because every time I try to cook burgers on the stove I end up setting off the fire alarms. While those were cooking I started chopping up sweet potatoes. At first I tried to imitate this recipe, but it was difficult and tedious so I just sliced them with my mandolin. Much easier. After sautéing them in coconut oil I started in on the bacon and brussels sprouts. 

The brussels sprouts were already cooked so I just had to heat them up. I went ahead and put them in the pan with the bacon because bacon makes brussels sprouts taste better. A lot better. 

The finished product was delightful! A bacon, sweet potato, lettuce wrap with brussels sprouts on the side.

Yay for free food and improvisation! 

But You're Not Fat...

So I have explained a little bit about what I eat and how I eat it, but I haven't really explained why (and to be honest I could use a reminder myself). 

An easy answer to why I avoid processed sugars, gluten, and dairy (for the most part) would be that I want to look good, but that wouldn't be entirely true. Eating healthy, for me, is about treating my body with respect. It's not about a number on a scale or on the tag of my jeans, it's about putting good things into my body. 

But I'm not a slave to diet and exercise. I'm also 21 and if I want to eat an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's half baked on a Saturday night while watching Parks and Rec then I'm going to eat an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's half baked on a Saturday night while watching Park and Rec, damn it

. It's about finding a balance between enjoying life and treating yourself right. For me, I eat healthy 90% of the time so that I can eat that pint of Ben and Jerry's or that entire Shakespeare's Pizza without guilt. 

It doesn't mean saying yes all the time though. I say no more often times than not. Often times after I decline ice cream or tell my friend I have to go to bed because I have an early workout in the morning, they will say something to the effect of "Why? You're not fat!" but that's not the point. 

If my paramount concern in life was whether or not I was skinny I would be wasting my life. In the words of the great J.K. Rowling "Is "fat" really the worst thing a human being can be? Is 'fat' worse than 'vindictive', 'jealous', 'shallow', 'vain', or 'cruel'. Not to me." 

So in short I eat healthy because I love myself. It sounds corny, but my choice to eat kale for breakfast is because I respect my body and what it needs to thrive. But by loving myself I allow myself the freedom to eat cake at my brother's wedding and wine at Christmas. And most of all I try to improve the things that actually reflect on what really makes me me. My character. I try to be happy, make other people happy, and respect other people because, at the end of the day, nobody is going to care what size jeans I wear.