When all else fails, eat pancakes!

My first week venturing into the world of the caveman has been good and bad. I'll break it down for you by meals of the day.

The best part, as far as I'm concerned, about eating Paleo is breakfast. I already make myself an egg every day so it was easy to transition from making an egg sandwich, to making an egg with broccoli and avocado. I even found that this breakfast holds me over longer than my egg sandwich did and I didn't need to eat a snack between breakfast and lunch today. I would ultimately like to change up the menu a little bit, but for now this works very well.

Lunch didn't change at all for me. I buy a salad from the salad bar at my office every single day. Lots of greens, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, grilled chicken. I did not give up the chickpeas, nor did I change the dressing that I use. Neither of these are considered Paleo. For now, I'm ok with that. I plan on changing that soon.

I have to admit, I didn't do a very good job of planning dinner. Which is ridiculous because I eat pretty close to Paleo at dinnertime usually anyway. The biggest issue I had with starting this transition right now is that I'm completely broke. I get paid once a month and this month I just didn't budget very well, so I didn't have a lot of money to buy my food. I planned to make two big meals that could be eaten as leftovers. The first was beef stew. This came out great, I planned to eat it two nights and then freeze the rest for later so I didn't get sick of it. Then I would make a chicken curry dish and do the same, eat it a couple of nights, freeze the rest. That should bring me up to the weekend, at which time I can plan a new menu and buy more food for next week. Well, I ended up eating beef stew three nights in a row. I froze the last portion. Tonight I made the chicken curry dish. It is not good. At all. I ate a bowl of it and then sat here annoyed and not satisfied. Then I remembered I had some leftover pancakes in the freezer. You know where this is going...

All in all I feel good about the week. It wasn't perfect but I knew it wouldn't be. This isn't something that's just going to happen overnight, I am working on it. I'm proud of myself for doing as well as I did! So, how do I feel? I feel great actually. I have good energy, my stomach is feeling awesome, and I really don't miss the grains that much at all. I have not had any sugar cravings. Occasionally I see a commercial for a beautiful dessert and I sigh a little bit, but it's not like I intend to never eat dessert again. Just not every night! Do I think I can sustain this diet for the long haul? I don't know, but I'm going to give it a solid effort.

I've found a ton of Paleo blogs to read for inspiration and information and that is awesome. Of course, in true Jen fashion, I cannot commit to the Paleo Diet without researching it to the fullest. Is this really the best way to eat? What other diets are out there that people think is the ultimate way to live an optimal healthy life? So, I'm also researching Veganism. I'll be totally honest with you, I do believe that we are meant to eat meat. I know there are plenty of people out there that are living a strong and healthy life with no animal products what-so-ever. I'll be the last person to say that they shouldn't be living this way. The truth is, we really don't know. No one does. There are people out there that think they do! I think the most responsible thing to do is keep learning, do your home work, know what you're putting into your body and how it functions. And most importantly, find what works for YOU and stick to it!!