Pale-Oh Boy

This blog has largely documented my successes and failures on the journey of getting fit and healthy. This time around, I've decided to try the Paleo diet lifestyle. My younger sister Carol has been sticking with it for about 2-3 weeks now, so I thought I'd give it a go. She's thirteen, how hard can it be? VERY HARD.

The basis of the lifestyle is that you only eat things that our ancestors, the cavemen, ate. So, in short, that means no diary, no processed foods, and no bread. Cavemen didn't have a means of sustaining lifestock or baking bread. Of course, you can choose how strict you want to be--I love my dairy, so I will probably try to sneak cheese in wherever I can. According to most blogs/books I've read, you can have cheat meals during the week. Meaning, a glass of wine with dinner would be a cheat...not an appetizer, dessert AND wine. 

It will be a HUGE challenge as I'm super picky, don't eat a lot of vegetables, don't cook, and I'm not really into trying new things. But, I'm also excited about cutting all of the junk out of my diet and interested to see how I feel after.

Pinterest is my new best friend when it comes to recipes (you can check out my "skinnyminny" board for pins). And I'll be documenting my journey, so come back and check the blog for updates, as well as, Instagram.

For now, I'll leave you with this recipe for Paleo Banana Nut Bread--it's national banana nut bread day according to Instagram. This recipe was surprisingly easy, but everything is easier when you are cooking with your mom. Originally from the book "Paleo for Beginners", but tweaked a little to make it even better.

Here's what you'll need:
3 ripe bananas (the ones we used we so brown I thought they weren't edible...turns out, that's what ripe means)

3 large eggs

1/4 cup of honey

3 tablespoons of coconut oil

2 tablespoons of coconut milk (which is the thick layer at the top of canned coconut milk)

1 1/2 cups of almond flour

3 tablespoons of tapioca flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

pecan pieces

Here's what you'll do:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil (we used Pam). Line bottom with parchment paper and grease that too.
3. In a large bowl, beat bananas, eggs, honey, coconut oil, and coconut cream together until well mixed. We used a hand mixer. Make sure most of the lumps from the bananas are out.
4. In a smaller bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients (not including the pecans).
5. Combine wet + dry ingredients and mix well.
6. Pour into loaf pan and garnish the top with the pecan pieces.
7. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Let it cook for about 5-10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

ENJOY and wish me luck!