Nutrition/Recipes

Nutrition is quite possibly the topic that I am most often questioned about on a regular basis, people always want to know what I eat and why I eat the way that I do. Well for those of you that know me you all know that I follow the Paleo/Primal diet pretty strictly. For those of you who do not know what the paleo diet is I have supplied a link at the end of this article that should offer some insight.  But to keep it short Paleo is essentially a grain free diet, yes that means no bread, no rice, and no pasta folks...which should not be a problem for all you sharks out there(MEAT).  These however are only the obvious grains, other excluded foods also include beans, peanuts, corn, oats, quinoa, and tubers(potatoes  and squash).  If you are planning on going true paleo then you will also be excluding dairy products....yeaa that is where I decided to draw the line. As I mentioned earlier, I follow the diet "pretty" strictly.

I still like to include all dairy products and some of those starchier products like potatoes and sweet potatoes in my diet on a more regular basis, this is primarily due to carbohydrate energy sources and additional calories needed to gain and maintain weight. Although I do the dairy quite regularly I try to limit my intake of the more complex carbohydrate sources, I will only go for them when I feel like my body is really in need of them..(instinctive eating).  So then I get the most common and often times frustrating question.."So you don't eat any carbs at all?!"  Well, I'm glad you asked, we all need to keep in mind that fruit and vegetables are in fact carbohydrates. If we are cutting out those unnecessary grains and additional carb sources that studies have been shown to be related to many of our modern diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension, then we will have more room in our diet to increase our consumption of fruits and veggies.

Ok I am about to start a little bit more controversy, cut out the grains...but do not restrict calories, in fact eat as much as you want, and eat foods that have fat in them, eggs, nuts, meats, and oils. Now just because I say eat high fat foods this does NOT mean go out and get a hamburger patty from MacDonald's, I am talking REAL food here people.  Eat clean real cuts of meat with no preservatives this means chicken breast, lean beef, pork, bison, and white fish or tuna, the good stuff!!  These good fats are essential for our development, over the years fat has really gotten a bad reputation but that is because everyone clumps fat into one category, separate your unsaturated fats from your trans fats!!

I really could go on and on ...and on about this topic so to keep it short I will just say that I eat nuts, fruit, veggies, avocados, dairy, meat, fish, eggs, and olive/coconut oil.  No added salts or sugars, no grains and legumes. http://www.fitbomb.com/p/why-i-eat-paleo.html. If ya'll have any other questions this is a fantastic article that should help clean up a lot of the technicalities that I did not cover in this article, like I said we could sit down and spend days discussing all of the intricacies of this diet.

On a lighter note I often get questions, "Well it must be really hard to eat healthy on a budget!" or "I just don't have the time to prepare my own healthy meals!" Well have no fear I am going to give you lovely sharks a badass recipe that I made for lunch today, for under $10 and less than an hour of prep and cook time.

1 Thin sliced pork chop(trim off some that extra fat)
Cooked in olive with a little bit of black pepper for seasoning, that delicious topping that you see is simply a 1/2 cup frozen tart cherries brought to a boiled with a 1/2 cup of water and a tablespoon of pure honey.
That ever so appetizing side that you see there is some roasted green beans(some will argue that they are not paleo) roasted at 350 degrees and rolled in olive oil and panko crumbs(ground almond).
Finally not pictured was just a simple dessert of sliced baked green apples topped off with some cinnamon spice, honey, and some diced walnuts. Ya'll can kinda just wing it with the exact measurements! Be creative!