end of day 3 update {primal journey}

Today concludes the third day of primal/paleo living.  I've tried a bunch of really good recipes the past three days, so I thought I'd share them with you.  My family is not living the primal lifestyle and they even loved these recipes!

Breakfast:

Broccoli, Spinach, Mushroom and Mozzerella Omelet 

 Avocado 

 Chicken Bacon

 Lunch:

Cilantro Lime Avocado Chicken Salad

(recipe can be found here, I just cut up the avocado instead of serving the salad on top of one)

Yesterday's Dinner:

Salmon with Avocado Mango Salsa

(recipe can be found here)

Tonight's Dinner:

Ribs from Jesse's Barbecue

Spinach Salad with Kale Avocado Pesto as Dressing

My family had been raving about these ribs so I decided it was time to try some.  They were delicious!  Jesse's Barbecue smokes their meats for 10 hours so they often sell out at night so get there early!  If you live in Southeastern, PA, make the trip to Jesse's, you won't be disappointed! 

i'm bringing primal back...

You could probably tell by the lack of primal/paleo posts lately that I haven't been very primal.  I'd say it's been a good month and a half since I've been strictly following a paleo lifestyle. 

 It became increasingly more difficult to stick with as the semester went on.  On the weekends, the only food available in our lower dining hall is pizza, pasta, hoagies -  grains, grains and more grains.   The local farmer's market ended in October so we lost our cheap vegetable supply and grass fed beef.  The semester became busier and more stressful.

I could give you a thousand more excuses, but the truth is, it's just sometimes easier to grab the bag of Cheeto's instead of cooking.  I miss everything about the Paleo/Primal lifestyle and now that I'm finally home on break, I'm determined to be primal again. I'll be documenting my experience again on this blog and hopefully once the spring semester starts 6 weeks from now, I'll be able to better stick with a primal/paleo lifestyle.

DAY 1:

Breakfast - scrambled eggs and bacon

Lunch - Homemade Kale Chips & Paleo Banana Bread 

Dinner - Venison Stir Fry & Scallop Stir Fry

I ended up making two different stir fry's because my little brother doesn't like scallops.  I followed the guide lines set by this article on Mark's Daily Apple.  I used venison, carrots, and onions in my picky little brother's stir fry.  In the other, I used scallops, kale, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, garlic and green pepper.  I also used a little bit of soy sauce and olive oil.  Day 1 went so well...I can't wait to be back in the swing of the primal lifestyle.  

eat whole foods

It's been awhile since I've posted anything Paleo or Primal related, so I thought I'd share this infographic I found the other night which clearly outlines paleo foods.  Enjoy :)

why I decided to go primal...

Lately, I've been asked here on the blog and in conversation about why I decided to go primal this past summer.  For those of you who don't know what the primal lifestyle is, you can read more about it here. You can also check out some of my other primal posts by clicking the "my primal journey" link below my header.


During the summer, my boyfriend, Nick,  was convinced by a friend to give the primal lifestyle a try.  At first, I didn't understand why he was cutting out grains and every chance I had to torment him with some freshly made mac and cheese I would (I know, I could use some serious work in the supportive girlfriend department). 

 After a few weeks, I noticed a huge difference in Nick; he had more energy and you could tell he felt better about himself.  I started to research and look further into the primal lifestyle.  This infographic I found on Pinterest explains the lifestyle better than I can, so I'd definitely recommend reading it if you're interested in what the lifestyle entails.  Basically, the primal diet is a high protein and fat diet (I am hesitant in calling the primal way of eating a "diet" because I honestly don't feel like I'm restricting myself).  Carbohydrates are taken in only through vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc. instead of through grains.  

The first thing that made me seriously consider going primal is that primal/paleo eaters cut out ALL processed food.   Before I even started the primal diet, I tried to limit my intake of processed/packaged foods.   I did however have trouble understanding why it was necessary to cut out grains.  I love(d) pasta, macaroni and cheese, paninis, bagels, etc. and honestly thought that by choosing whole wheat products, I was making the "healthier" choice.  

This tale of two meals  infographic (you can see it blown up here) gave me a better understanding of how the body breaks down carbs vs. fats.   Over time, I started to read more about the benefits of cutting out grains and I decided that I could at least give the diet a shot for a couple of weeks.

As I continued to research, I found that there was much more to the primal lifestyle than just diet.   The lifestyle emphasizes getting enough sleep at night (around 8 hours), stress management, playing and of course, exercise.   

The final selling point for me giving this lifestyle a try was the exercise plan.  I have never liked to run, I don't like to run now and I will never like to run.   Back in the day, our ancestors would spend much of their day walking, sprinting if they were being pursued by an animal or other person, and lifting heavy things.   The exercise plan for the primal lifestyle is a reflection of that. You are to walk at a moderate pace 2-5 hours a week, sprint a few times throughout the week, and lift.

After doing all the research and seeing the results Nick was seeing, I finally decided to give the primal life a try.  I mean come on, who can resist a diet that has bacon as one of its main staples?  NOT THIS GIRL.  

I've been primal for about a month now, there have been some slip ups and some non-primal days, but I can honestly say that health wise, this was one of the best decisions I've ever made.  My body feels completely different than it did before and I have so much more energy.   I rarely crave grains.  The packaged foods that used to be appealing to me really aren't anymore.  I've also had fun finding alternative primal recipes for foods that I love that aren't primal like bagels, brownies, etc.   I definitely recommend giving the primal/paleo lifestyle a try, if even just for a week or two.  You won't be disappointed.




Have you ever tried the paleo/primal lifestyle? Would you be interested in trying it out or learning more about it?  

a primal potluck

 Today, a couple of my paleo/primal friends and I decided to have a primal potluck of sorts in our dormitory's kitchen. We had a blast and will definitely be having another potluck ASAP.

(left to right starting at the top)

1. paleo tacos: lettuce (in place of shell), grass fed ground beef, tomatoes and guacamole

2. Diamond cutting up and preparing a sunshine squash.

3. Mark cutting up some carrots for our favorite carrot french fries.

4. Nick's DELICIOUS primal brownies (yes, they're gluten free!)

5. Nick hiding from the camera, and Mark relaxing after a hard night's work...

6. Diamond cooking up some of her favorite vegetables

primal/paleo stuffed eggplant {recipe}

My boyfriend and I picked up some eggplant and grass fed beef at our local farmer's market this past weekend, so we decided to experiment in the kitchen and come up with our own primal/paleo dinner entree.  

Besides the eggplant and beef, we just used whatever we could scrounge up around the apartment...which isn't much being that we are poor college kids ;)

Primal/Paleo Stuffed Eggplant

ingredients: 

(makes 3-4 servings)

2 large eggplants (we used 4 small instead)

1/2 lb of grass fed ground beef

4 strips of bacon

1 jar of salsa (you know the rules, no corn syrup, corn, etc.)

1 teaspoon of garlic 

1 teaspoon or crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper (to taste)

Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brown the ground beef in a skillet. In a separate skillet, cook the bacon strips. 

2. While the meat is cooking, cut each eggplant in half and scoop out the middle of the eggplant, leaving  about a 1/4 of an inch of the eggplant on the skin. Set aside the middle part of the eggplant.

3. Remove the bacon from the skillet and set aside.  Chop up the middle part of the eggplant and cook it in the bacon fat left in the skillet.

4. Once the eggplant is tender, combine with the browned ground beef.  Crumble up the bacon strips and add them as well. Add half the jar of salsa, garlic (to taste), crushed red pepper flakes (to taste), and salt and pepper (to taste).  Stir and heat mixture.  

5. Once the filling has been heated, spoon into the eggplant halves.  Place stuffed eggplant into a baking dish (we used a 9X13 glass baking dish because that was all we had).  Pour the rest of the jar of salsa over and under the stuffed eggplant (we did this just to add some more moisture so the eggplant wouldn't dry out) and sprinkle with some cheese (this is optional, not everybody following the primal/paleo lifestyle includes cheese in their diet).

6. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the eggplant is tender.

7. ENJOY :)

We just used what we had on hand, but you could easily alter the recipe to add other vegetables into the filling such as onions, bell peppers or broccoli. 

My Boyfriend's A Primal Chef...

Last night, my boyfriend surprised me with a homemade primal dinner (yes, he made it himself!).  I'd been craving bagels lately so he found this recipe and made the primal version and the carrot french fries we've been enjoying lately.  Isn't he such a great primal chef?!

The Bagels:

The Carrot French Fries:

Thanks for the DELICIOUS meal, Nick!

P.S. Linking up for #YOLOMONDAYS here.

Weekend Wrap Up: Like, Love, Loathe

Today, I'm linking up over at Futures with a Like, Love, Loathe posts that wraps up this long, holiday weekend. 

Likes this week:

My roommate , Erica, started a blog this weekend. You can follow her here.

Somehow, I managed to have a fun AND mostly productive weekend.

My friend Danielle wrote a beautiful and heartfelt post about how she celebrated and remembered her late father's birthday this year. You can read it here. 

A few more of my friends decided to give the Primal lifestyle a chance this week, fingers crossed that they love it as much as I do!

Loves this week:

I'm absolutely obsessed with this recipe over at Skinny Taste for Jalapeno Popper Baked Chicken. I left out the breadcrumbs and cream cheese to make it more primal friendly (see below).  It was DELICIOUS. And on the topic of food, I also tried the recipe for carrot french fries I posted here and it is definitely worth trying.  We all thought the carrot french fries were better than actual potato french fries!

Loathes this week:

The amount of time it took me to format this post. I absolutely loathe technology sometimes all the time. At least blogging is a whole lot less stressful than my online class.

The cost of fresh produce at the Walmart in this town is  through the roof. I swear I pay double for a bag of baby carrots than I do back home. What is a poor, primal student  to do?

I hope everybody is enjoying their long weekend and hopefully, a break from work. I"ll leave you with this picture of the Jalapeno Popper Chicken I'm obsessed with, maybe it's the perfect entree to finish up your Labor day picnic meal plan :)

Primal Pinspiration

This past week has been a very eye opening week for me.  You see, I use the My Fitness Pal app daily, but earlier this week I found out that you can look up all our school's cafeteria food on it.  And man, was I shocked.  I knew that the food was most likely high in fat and calories, but both of these were WAY higher than I expected.  I mean, we're talking over 600 calories for one little fish taco from the dining hall and over 900 calories for a panini from the cafe on campus.  Not only are the foods high in calories/fat, there aren't many primal options in our school cafeteria.  The majority of the foods served are starches such as pasta cooked in TONS of butter.  

Thankfully, I'm on the smallest meal plan I can be on and will be trying to do some primal cooking when I have time.  With the long weekend ahead, I figured I'd do lots of primal cooking, and so naturally I went to Pinterest for some inspiration (you can see my favorites below).  I"ll be trying these recipes, along with some others that I can freeze and eat on days when I don't have time to cook. In the next week, check back for posts on eating primal in a not-so-primal college dining hall.  

primal blueprint food pyramid (source)

1. Coconut Banana Pancakes (recipe/source)

2. Spaghetti Squash (directions/source)

3. Avocado Eggs (source)

4. Bacon Mushroom Chicken (source)

5. Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wrap up (source)

1. Vegetable Lasgana (here)

2. Carrot "french fries" (recipe/source)

3. I LOVE this idea of using cucumbers as "bread" to make mini sandwiches with meat and cheese! (source) 

Enjoy your holiday weekend and good luck in your holiday primal pursuits :)

Living the Primal Dream [Day 3]

Today is my 3rd day going primal and I'm still loving it, even when faced with the temptation of mac and cheese today (courtesy of my little brother)! 

Breakfast: two eggs scrambled, summer peach

Lunch: Vegetable salad with avocado and salmon

Dinner: Primal Lasagna.  This was seriously one of the best meals I've ever had...soooo delicious. Instead of lasagna noodles you use roasted eggplant to separate the cheese/sauce. You can find the recipe here.

Snack: Banana, strawberries

Activity: Lots of walking and lots of water drinking

I know you probably can't notice too much of a difference in three days, but these past three days I've felt more energetic.  I haven't had any stomach aches and I'm absolutely loving this new lifestyle.  Here's to hoping it'll stick once I'm back at school and have to make primal choices in a limited dining hall.

30 Day Primal Challenge

This past year, my boyfriend has been living the primal or paleo lifestyle.  And I spent the past couple months waving all kinds of grains in front of his face.  

After seeing how much it changed his life and made him happier, I decided to find out more about primal living for myself. And decided to give it a 30 day shot.

Today marks my first official day living the primal lifestyle.

Wondering what this lifestyle entails?  You can read more about it here.  It's more than just changing the way you eat and the type of physical activity you do.  The ten primal principles cover everything from sleep to sun exposure to stress management.

Throughout the next 30 days, I'll be documenting my experiences going primal.  I thought today I'd start with sharing what my food intake was for the day. Part of the lifestyle entails cutting out all processed foods, grains, sugars  and legumes.  The diet emphasizes the importance of protein and natural fats in a diet.

Breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled and raw blueberries

Lunch: salad with Salmon on top and balsamic vinaigrette dressing (without high fructose corn syrup!)

Dinner: Moroccan Chicken Casserole (recipe can be found here).  Instead of using rice, a head of cauliflower is to be put through a food processor and the texture actually turns out very similar to rice!

Snack: Almonds

At the end of the first day, I'm not hungry OR craving any grains...hopefully it stays this way!

Have any of you tried to go primal?  How did it work out for you?