No grains (goodbye pasta, goodbye bagels, goodbye apple pie, goodbye chocolate cake...); no dairy (goodbye cheese, goodbye butter, goodbye yogurt and goodbye ice cream...ICE CREAM, REALLY? Yup, no ice cream); no corn (goodbye tortilla chips and corn on the cob); no legumes (goodbye refried beans and hummus); no nightshades (goodbye french fries and heirloom tomatoes) and no sugar (yeah, well goodbye everything yummy).
Seriously, what was I going to eat for the rest of my life, wild-caught sardines and lettuce?
This was my life three years ago. I had been sick for months. Everything I ate seemed to give me reflux and stomach cramps, bloat me, and just make me constantly dyspeptic. I was given prescription after prescription, told to go on a gluten free diet, stop eating two hours before bedtime (not a bad idea, that), etc., etc. Nothing seemed to work, until I consulted a nutritionist who put me on what I call “The Diet of No.” (see first paragraph, above).
As I started this onerous regime, my digestive health did, indeed, start to improve. Not so my outlook. Things looked grim until I started reading: Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo (wow, cauliflower that tastes as good as mashed potatoes...really!); Paleo Comfort Foods by Julie and Charles Mayfield (OMG, fried chicken and peach cobbler!); Paleo Indulgences by Tammy Credicott (oh, yeah, lemon poppy seed muffins and cupcakes!); and, finally, Mediterranean Paleo Cooking by Caitlin Weeks, Nabil Boumrar, and Diane Sanfilippo (YES, YES, YES, pasta and pizza!). And then I found paleo blogs like Elana's Pantry and PaleOMG (probably best title for a paleo blog ever). And then I got cooking...and baking and loving what I was eating. I started embracing paleo not as lifelong dietary deprivation, but as a new, healthy and happy way to live.
O.K, there are thousands of food blogs out there, and dozens and dozens of paleo blogs, so why Paleogram? Although I have found wonderful recipes on these blogs (thank you, thank you, thank you Elana's Pantry for your matzoh ball soup), I've also found that these bloggers are much younger than I am. Many of them adhere to a Cross Fit exercise program, or they're raising paleo kids or they are paleo teens who attribute their clear complexions and buff bodies to paleo (and they are probably right). But I'm a 69-year-old grandmother (hence, Paleogram) whose exercise regimen consists of gentle yoga, walking and lap swimming. My kids are long grown and out of the house, so I don't need advice on how to disguise vegetables in chocolate cake, even paleo advice. My teenage skin has long-since cleared, and has grown wrinkles (sorry, even paleo can't do anything about that).
We of a certain age know that our bodies are changing, and most of us can't eat the way we used to. If we continue to feed our 60, 70 and 80 year old bodies the way we did when we were in our 20s, 30s and 40s, there will be unhealthy consequences. So, we have to adapt. I hope you will find the paleo adaptations in this blog delicious, healthy...and fun (oh, and did I mention that I've lost 25 pounds since I switched to paleo? That's the icing on the paleo cake!). I'll introduce new recipes and paleo adaptations of family favorites I've been cooking for years that I hope will work for all of us, whether Boomers or beyond (and, oh yes, the kids will love many of them, too—I'll let you know which ones have been grandchild-tested).
Happy eating!
Seriously, what was I going to eat for the rest of my life, wild-caught sardines and lettuce?
This was my life three years ago. I had been sick for months. Everything I ate seemed to give me reflux and stomach cramps, bloat me, and just make me constantly dyspeptic. I was given prescription after prescription, told to go on a gluten free diet, stop eating two hours before bedtime (not a bad idea, that), etc., etc. Nothing seemed to work, until I consulted a nutritionist who put me on what I call “The Diet of No.” (see first paragraph, above).
As I started this onerous regime, my digestive health did, indeed, start to improve. Not so my outlook. Things looked grim until I started reading: Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo (wow, cauliflower that tastes as good as mashed potatoes...really!); Paleo Comfort Foods by Julie and Charles Mayfield (OMG, fried chicken and peach cobbler!); Paleo Indulgences by Tammy Credicott (oh, yeah, lemon poppy seed muffins and cupcakes!); and, finally, Mediterranean Paleo Cooking by Caitlin Weeks, Nabil Boumrar, and Diane Sanfilippo (YES, YES, YES, pasta and pizza!). And then I found paleo blogs like Elana's Pantry and PaleOMG (probably best title for a paleo blog ever). And then I got cooking...and baking and loving what I was eating. I started embracing paleo not as lifelong dietary deprivation, but as a new, healthy and happy way to live.
O.K, there are thousands of food blogs out there, and dozens and dozens of paleo blogs, so why Paleogram? Although I have found wonderful recipes on these blogs (thank you, thank you, thank you Elana's Pantry for your matzoh ball soup), I've also found that these bloggers are much younger than I am. Many of them adhere to a Cross Fit exercise program, or they're raising paleo kids or they are paleo teens who attribute their clear complexions and buff bodies to paleo (and they are probably right). But I'm a 69-year-old grandmother (hence, Paleogram) whose exercise regimen consists of gentle yoga, walking and lap swimming. My kids are long grown and out of the house, so I don't need advice on how to disguise vegetables in chocolate cake, even paleo advice. My teenage skin has long-since cleared, and has grown wrinkles (sorry, even paleo can't do anything about that).
We of a certain age know that our bodies are changing, and most of us can't eat the way we used to. If we continue to feed our 60, 70 and 80 year old bodies the way we did when we were in our 20s, 30s and 40s, there will be unhealthy consequences. So, we have to adapt. I hope you will find the paleo adaptations in this blog delicious, healthy...and fun (oh, and did I mention that I've lost 25 pounds since I switched to paleo? That's the icing on the paleo cake!). I'll introduce new recipes and paleo adaptations of family favorites I've been cooking for years that I hope will work for all of us, whether Boomers or beyond (and, oh yes, the kids will love many of them, too—I'll let you know which ones have been grandchild-tested).
Happy eating!