30 Day Paleo Challenge: Week 4

At the end of week three we started to get cocky... musing that we really didn't see the benefit of eating "strictly paleo" compared to the loose version we had been following previously... claiming that we would be reintroducing limited amounts of dairy, soy... rationalizing that neither of us had really shown any sings of being sensitive to the foods in the first place.

Then we allowed ourselves a "cheat meal". We were going out for an early Mother's Day lunch and didn't want to force our family to a restaurant that was paleo-friendly (not really sure those exist in Calgary...) so we decided to allow ourselves the luxury of eating anything we wanted for that one meal. We didn't stray far... Dave had a cheeseburger, I had eggs benedict.

But oh did we pay. I will save you the details, but both of us were almost instantly ill.

Unfortunately we both had multiple "cheat" ingredients in our meals... dairy, bread, potatoes... so it is impossible to pin point exactly what the culprit was.

For me, I suspect it was the small amount of cream I put in my coffee. I have always been sensitive to large amounts of milk but previously enjoyed generous amounts of cream in my daily coffee(s) without any issue. I think I will be sticking to black coffee from this point forward. Although I have never had issues with fermented milk products so I am interested to experiment with reintroducing cheese and yogurt once our 30 days are over. With a toilet close at hand, of course.

Our experiences definetly strengthened our commitment to the paleo way of eating. I think we were both surprised how sensitive we were to foods that we thought our bodies could handle.

A lesson learnt the hard way.

Another lesson learnt this week - Paleo and PMS are not friends.


Breakfast

• Paleo crepes with strawberries and coconut "whipped cream"
• Scrambled eggs with wilted spinach
• Fruit smoothie

Morning Snack

• Sliced strawberries
• Small fruit smoothie

Lunch

• Leftovers from dinner
• Salad with strawberries and steak

Afternoon Snack

• Almonds
• Paleo pineapple coconut mini muffins

Dinner

• Roast chicken with salad
• Sausage with isreali poached eggs
• Grilled salmon with mango salsa
• Steak with grilled asparagus

Dessert

• Sliced strawberries with cocoa nibs
• Strawberry sorbet
• Frozen mango

♥  Amy