Part of beginning the journey to eat and live a Paleo lifestyle is grounding yourself with some key tools for success. The original source for me was The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson.  Sisson breaks down the trend with going primal, the logic behind the lifestyle and the small (and managable) steps that can be taken to achieve success in this lifestyle.

I will say that I don't follow a full Paleo Lifestyle. I still plan on running the Philadelphia Marathon in November (barring any injury) and I would love to sleep without needing an alarm, but that's not my reality. 

Here's a high level info graphic for the basis of Paleo:

If my journey has sparked some interest (or sheer curiosity) in living Paleo, below are some reliable resources for recipes, tips to stay 'on plan' and just straight up support. Sometimes its good to know there are others that have succeeded when a tough day arrives (aka your friends call  you crazy and the sugar is waved in front of your face). Because lets face it, Paleo spits in the face of conventional 'healthy' living.

Blogs that I love for support and guidance:
Mark's Daily Apple- The Success Stories are motivation enough!
Laura Pappas - Blog Against the Grain
Paleoista

Recipes that are easy and delicious
PaleOMG
She Cooks...He Cleans
TGIPaleo

As always, if you have any questions about my experience with going Paleo, please leave a comment, or send me an email.

Happy meat eating!

Week 3 of my Paleo challenge and I feel like I’m getting over the ‘hump’. I will admit this hasn’t been an easy 3 weeks. At first I wanted grains in a big bad way. Crackers with cheese? Please keep them away. Hot pizza? Oh lord! It was like avoiding land mines everywhere I stepped. Then week two came the sweets cravings. I wanted chocolate, jellybeans any sugar I could get my little fingers on.

Now that week three has rolled around, I am no longer craving grains. I bought my co-workers bagels and was unfazed. Success! I did crave sugar at work on Friday and have a couple pieces of Easter candy (we always have candy around and I let temptation get the best of me) but on the whole, the process has been on track (meaning no grains/ no sugar).

A big part of following this life plan is starting the day off right with a protein packed breakfast.  During the week, I am lucky enough that the BF cooks me breakfast. It usually consists of an omelet packed with veggies (eggplant in my omelet is my favorite!) and bacon. 

But on the weekend, it’s my turn to take a crack (get it?!) at breakfast. Today since it was rainy and cold, I wanted something a little hardier than a regular omelet. After reading through recipes online and on PaleOMG, I decided to revise her Mexican Hash Egg Bake. 

Sweet Apple Sausage Egg Hash Bake

Ingredients: (serves 2)

1 lb. Trader Joe’s Sweet Apple Sausage

4 small/medium sweet potatoes

1 small onion

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

4 eggs

2 tbsp of fat (butter, lard, bacon grease) I used lard

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a sauce pan, heat up your fat and add in the two cloves of garlic minced. Once the garlic is sautéed and begins to turn a light brown, add in chopped/skinned sweet poatotes and onion and sausage crumbled. (Note: some sausages will allow you to remove it from the casing. This sausage had very thin casing and so I simply crumbled the pieces in my hands)

3. Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the sweet potatoes become tender.

4. Once the potatoes are tender, remove the mixture and add to a baking dish. Crack 4 eggs overtop and place the dish into the oven uncovered.

5. Bake the dish for 10-15 minutes or until the eggs become stiff when touching the egg white.

This breakfast dish was the perfect combination of sweet and salty, a definite make again!!

Coming up later this week: Baking on a Paleo diet.

While adopting the Paleo lifestyle, I have learned to enjoy dinner. Before, dinner for me (especially when living alone) often included cheese, crackers, maybe a chicken sausage and some sweet potato fries.  Now that the BF and I share a roof, I am lucky enough to come home to dinner on the grill or well on its way in the kitchen (the BF cooks dinner now since he works from home.)

Also, getting home around 6:00- 6:30 (and eating lunch at 12:30) has me pretty hungry, and so a dinner heavy in protein is usually in order. Our dinners vary depending on the change of seasons, and now that its spring, we use the grill almost every night. Tonight, the BF marinated a London broil with a little olive oil and Weber Grill Creations Chicago Steak Seasoning. I love using their spices because they add a nice bold flavor to your meal without all of the sodium.

We also had Laura’s Brussel Sprout Salad on the side with grilled zucchini.

I did not actually eat all of the food pictured (I took the picture before digging in and couldn’t finish all the steak). But I did have more of the brussel sprout salad. Normally, I have a tendency to overcompensate with the sides on my dinner plate, but I’m learning the more lean meat I consume, the longer I feel full.

Other grill dinners include Chipotle Chicken, grilled wahoo fish and sausages. Stay tuned throughout the summer for many more great dinner recipes on the grill.