Week 3 Food Diary

Day 15

Today I felt energised but guilty as no exercise for three days (sometimes your body just needs a rest)! The good thing today however, was that I didn't feel like sweets today.

Breakfast

• Vital protein shake (2 tbsp choc flavored vital protein, 1 tbsp raw cocoa powder, 1 tbsp chia seeds soaked in water overnight, 1 handful frozen blueberries, 1 tbsp almond meal, 1 cup water)
  
  
  
  
  
• 1 latte with homemade almond milk
• 2.5ml fish oil

Snacks

• 1/3 Nakd bar
• 1 glass water

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Cauliflower 'Lasagne'

I am missing pasta so much but this recipe is really comforting and if you can't have the real thing then this is pretty close!

Preheat oven to 180 C

Ingredients

• 1/2 cauliflower head, chopped up into pieces and microwaved in the oven until soft
• 250g beef mince
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Passata (I only used 1/2 the jar and saved the rest in the freezer)
• Basil, rinsed and separate leaves
• Salt & pepper
• Handful of almond meal (I used leftover almond meal from my homemade almond milk)
• Spices (cumin, coriander, paprika, oregano)

Method

1.  Prepare the cauliflower and blend until creamy (use ghee to assist and this will give a lovely creamy taste), salt and pepper
2. Saute onion and garlic in a pan with oil until soft, salt and pepper
3. Add the mince, salt and pepper, and cook until browned
4. Add the passata until it just covers the mince, spices and a few leaves of the basil until meat is throughly cooked, taste and add more salt and pepper if needed
5. Add the mince mixture into a baking dish, layer with basil leaves until it fully covers the mince layer
6. Layer the basil with the cauliflower and sprinkle with almond meal to give a crunchy texture
7. Cook in the oven until golden on top (and crusty around the sides)

Paleo Style Beef Bulgogi

I absolutely love Korean food! Starting on Paleo has made me realise how hard it is to eat Asian and being half-Filipino it is really trying not to reach for the soy sauce...

Wagyu Eye Fillet from T.O.M.S. (The Organic Meat Specialist) in South Melbourne Market

Ingredients

• 1 steak (I used a Wagyu eye fillet steak), sliced thinly
• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced finely
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pear, grated
• 1 red chilli, sliced thinly
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 3 green onions, sliced thinly
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 1/4 tsp chilli powder
• 1 cm grated ginger
• 1/3 cup coconut aminos
• Salt & pepper

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl apart from the steak
2. In a separate container, layer the steak and the marinade to get an even marinade
3. Marinade for several hours or overnight
4. Heat a pan with oil 
5. Take out the steak pieces from the marinade and sear in the pan in batches
6. Once all the steak has been seared (and resting in a separate plate), pour in the marinade into the pan and heat until onions are soft
7. Once the onions in the marinade is soft, put the steak back into the pan and toss until warm
8. Serve with cauliflower rice or in a lettuce leaf as a wrap!

Week 2 Food Diary

Day 8
Starting off with the second week of Paleo! It always helps to be prepared and I had gone to the market to buy food for the rest of the week on Saturday.

Breakfast

• 1 latte with almond milk 
• Chia pudding with almond milk, cherries, goji berries, almond meal and Co-Yo - this was very, very filling

Snacks

• 1 cup black tea with almond milk
• 1 bite (approx 1/4 of the bar) Nakd bar
• 2 glasses of water

Lunch

• Butternut squash and ham soup
• 1 boiled egg
• 1 lemongrass, ginger and citrus tea

Dinner

• Cauliflower lasagne
  
  
  
  
  
• 1 glass coconut water

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Week 1 Food Diary

Day 1

This was hard! All I could think of was food that I couldn't eat. I also had an exam after work from 6 - 8.30 pm so did not eat dinner until later.

Woke up at 5 am to get in some last minute study before work and had a black tea.

Breakfast

• One shot espresso with 2 tsp. coconut milk 
• 1/3 cup Forage cereal with coconut milk
  
  
  

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Paleo Pulled Pork

I thought it would be a good idea to start off the first week of paleo by doing an easy recipe that could last throughout the week.

This pulled pork was so simple! All you need to do is chuck everything into a big pot and then chuck it into the oven.

** Preheat your oven to 180 C

Ingredients

• 1kg pork loin; slash the skin, salt and pepper the pork (make sure to get into the skin)
• 1 large yellow onion thickly chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves; smashed and cut in half (smashed - bash the garlic with a flat knife)
• 2 stalks celery finely diced
• 2 carrots diced
• Organic beef stock (I used The Stock Merchant beef stock)

Method

1. Prepare the pork and the veg
2. Put onion, garlic, celery and carrots into the bottom of the pot, salt and pepper 
   
   
   
   
   
3. Pop the loin on top of the veg and pour the stock over
4. Put the pork into the oven and cook on 180 C for a half hour
   
   
   
   
   
5. Turn down to 120 C and cook for 3 hrs or until the pork falls apart
6. Once tender, take the pot out of the oven and peel the skin off the loin
7. Turn up the heat in the oven to 180 C, salt and pepper the crackling and cook in the oven until crispy
8. Pull apart the loin with two forks on a cutting board and mash the veg in the pot
9. Once veg is mashed, pop the shredded pork back into the pot and mix
   
   
   

This is the end result! I had this with sweet potato for my lunches throughout the week. I love a good roast.

Sugar to Zero

I joined a CrossFit gym just over a month ago; I had gone to Thailand for Christmas with my family and overindulged, had a bit of a 'oh my god, what am I doing with my life?' moment and came back to work a completely uninspired person.

I started having what felt like anxiety attacks, I had bouts of nausea, was working in a job I really didn't like at all and worst, I had lost my confidence in myself.

That is where CrossFit came in. I was looking for something that would build up my confidence and something that would scare me (in a good way).

My first session I turned up hung over (bad idea) and struggled to complete the WOD. I pushed through, did the bridging class and last week was able to go to the gym four times without any muscle pain.

This month, my gym has challenged us CrossFitters to 'Try in July'; go dry (no alcohol) and adapt a Paleo diet (to various degrees for newcomers).

So, I have challenged myself to eat a strict Paleo diet and no alcohol for this whole month. It's going to be a tough one especially since I am already craving dairy but I am going to give it my best and document it here!