If you are embarking on your new PaleoPlus lifestyle tomorrow - you have a bit of work to do today. If you are waiting until Monday (like my family!), you have a day or two to get your arms around this.
Today's tip is about setting yourself up for success every week. This is not a one-time thing you do to get psyched up to change your life or some housekeeping thing that takes an hour or two and then you never have to do it again. This one is a commitment - to your health, to your new way of life and to your overall sanity and stress levels!
As I've said, and hopefully you've researched and agree with - the very best way to Kick Start your metabolism and cleanse your system is to commit to 30 DAYS of Squeaky Clean Paleo eating. That means no sugars or artificial sweeteners - NONE, no grains, no gluten, no legumes (this includes all beans except green beans, snow peas and snap peas), no soy, no dairy, no peanuts, no alcohol and no preservatives. Clean, Clean, Clean.
This will allow your body to rid itself of stored up toxins and start reaping the benefits of eating only whole, natural foods that our bodies were designed to eat. You'll be surprised at how quickly you start to feel like a different person. (Don't forget to check with & work with your doctor if you have any questions or concerns.)
For most people, this is a radical new way of eating. Until you start paying attention, you have no idea how many of the foods labeled "healthy" or "lite" or "fat free" are full of sugars, artificial sweeteners, glutens and preservatives. I had to learn an entirely new way of shopping. And it was difficult and really time-consuming at first. 95% of the staples I bought every single week were now off-limits to me and my family. The 'convenience' foods I kept on hand for busy weeknights and mornings were also not on my Squeaky Clean eating plan.
That meant I had to be creative and READY! This goes beyond the Meal Planning I talked about yesterday - this involved some actual food preparation and chopping and storing so I could have dinner on the table or in a lunch box in 15 minutes or less.
Which brings me to today's tip - Shop, Chop and Prep
Shop - use the Meal Plan list you made yesterday and make a shopping list. Think whole foods - from the produce and meat sections, along with a few pantry items from the organic & specialty aisles and, since it's winter - 100% natural (no sauces, no extras) frozen veggies - remember, corn is not considered a vegetable, it's a grain with very little nutritional value - you have to let it go! This is the easiest way to attack the grocery store for the first time. You can also print off shopping lists from a variety of Paleo web sites.
Here are the pantry staples I can't live without:
- ghee
- organic avocado oil
- almonds (for snacking and to make homemade almond milk)
- coconut oil (unrefined, expeller-pressed)
- unsweetened almond butter
- organic, unsweetened, vegetable oil-free salsa (or make your own)
- Tessamae's cracked pepper dressing
- unsweetened jarred marinara
- full fat coconut milk
- coconut aminos
- unsweetened bone broth (pretty hard to find, worth it to make your own)
- non-gluten flour of choice (almond flour, coconut flour, tapiocha starch, etc)
- arrowroot powder
- unsweetened coconut flake
Chop - once you've got it home - get it ready to use!
I hate to waste anything and when I was new at having a refrigerator full of produce, if I didn't get it chopped up and ready to use, it would go bad and I'd have to throw it into the compost pile or trash. So, I devote 2 hours or so every week to washing, chopping and portioning produce for the week. This is now a weekly chore for my kids - they prepare their lunch snacks for the week.
Here is what I chop every week, no matter what:
- 20 snack bags of carrot sticks
- 20 snack bags of celery sticks
- 30 snack bags of red, seedless grapes
- 20 snack bags of cauliflower and broccoli bites
- I wash at least 1 dozen apples (my son's favorite snack)
- I buy 5 pounds of overripe bananas and peel and freeze them (for smoothies)
- I make 1/2 gallon bag of trail mix from raw nuts and unsweetened dried fruits
- I juice 1/3 cup of fresh lime juice and lemon juice
- I roast one head of fresh garlic and finely mince 2 heads of fresh garlic
- I dice 2 medium yellow onions
- I slice 2-3 bell peppers (red and orange are my faves)
- I slice a 12-16 ounces of fresh white button mushrooms
- I chop 1 gallon (about 3 1/2 pounds) of sweet potato cubes
- In the summer months, I also cut up 2-3 melons
- cauliflower rice (1 head)
- root vegetable mash (32 ounces or one large plastic container's worth)
- 16 ounces of homemade mayo (half I leave plain, half I use to make paleo ranch dip)
- 9X9 frittata (great for on-the-go breakfast or any quick meal)
- 1 quart of roasted root vegetables
- 1 pound of ground meat (I like ground turkey), seasoned to use in lettuce wraps or skillet meals or omelets
- 2 pounds of meatballs (I have shared a couple of different recipes - but the basics are ground meat, 1 egg, spices, garlic, 1 T non-dairy milk and 2 T non-gluten flour)
- 1 quart of chicken salad
- 1 quart paleo pickles or pickled veggies (I may only have to do this every other week, but we really enjoy them on burgers and salads...it depends on how fast we use them up!)
- 2 quarts of paleo chili or soup (freezes and thaws beautifully for later in the week)
I know this is a lot of information and seems like a lot of work, but if you don't want to find yourself in a drive thru ordering a super-sized meal and sugary soda, you need to do a little Shopping, Chopping and Prepping every week!
Tomorrow - the final steps to a PaleoPlus New Year!
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