My facebook feed this weekend was full of food posts. I can't believe how many people are posting about eating cleaner, healthier, and sharing some of their recipes online. It's probably the little old Italian lady living inside me, but I've always loved bringing people together over food. I used to get people over with baked ziti and italian bread. Now, it's over meat, veggies and guacamole, but equally as entertaining and fun.
We are talking about the Paleo diet at football practice, in the gym of course, at work, and with family. I have several friends and family who are new to it, and I'm hearing about their successes both in person and on Facebook. Chris is an assistant football coach for a bunch of 10-11 year old lion cubs right now - yes, of course you can play football in the spring, you just play it indoors. We are with the same group of coaches from the fall, and we've all changed our eating habits. Instead of re-hashing game film over pizza, ziti, and beer, we are now sharing paleo recipes with each other and talking about protein shakes, liters of water, paleo on-the-go, and paleo comfort foods.
At the gym, people say things like, "tomorrow is our cooking day," and "we're having friends over to do some serious cooking." Yesterday on Facebook, it was like a Paleo cook-off show. This one was cooking pad thai and soup, that one was grilling up the week's meat and Paleo-izing an old family recipe. Another one made Paleo mayonnaise, and another one was making up NorCal Margaritas (ok, that might have been me, well not me, but those with me, because my norcal margaritas are a work in progress and I have the lamest juicer around). The common thread was that people were together in the kitchen, with spouses, friends, and also bouncing around with each other on the internet.
I spent a few hours in the kitchen yesterday cooking up a bunch of meat for the week and prepping vegetables. I had my youngest son's attention span helping me long enough to break apart one head of cauliflower, then he was outside bouncing on the trampoline. Because the weather was beautiful and I had a ton of food, I sent out a text which led to great spontaneous company for a Paleo dinner of carnitas, chicken, cauliflower, butternut squash, sweet peppers and guacamole.
Saturday night we went to a birthday party where the food was fried chicken, mac and cheese, salad, etc. I brought my cumin/cinnamon carrots, and they were a hit. A few of my family members are doing Weight Watchers, and they loved that carrots were basically free, no points, for them. Start wrapping your brain around spring and summer pot-luck dinners, because they are coming. What's going to be your go-to pot luck offering? I happen to know of a pot-luck coming up very soon, (all you Crossfit Frederick Peeps pay attention), and I'm already figuring out what my quick, tasty pot luck contributions will be this year.
One of the other football coaches, Scott, is shouting from the rooftops about his new favorite purchase, the T-fal Actifry fryer. He's got me thinking about it, because the claims of 1 teaspoon of oil that gives you a crispy fried coating on sweet potatoes, chicken pieces, or whatever you like is enticing. There are times where we are looking for that crunch that we became so accustomed to, and if I can get that with a teaspoon of coconut oil, then another plug-in appliance for the kitchen cabinet is worth it.
For the first time since 2013 started, I had two cheats this weekend. Okay, three. Saturday, after I busted out the Crossfit Open 13.1, I had a beer. Late Saturday night, I had a handful of Fritos. Sunday morning, my body had a revolt, and my digestive system said "No more of that, please and thank you." So, I ate clean all day until the evening, and I had a few handfuls of popcorn. This morning, I became reacquainted with my old friend Agida (that's plain ol' heartburn for you non Italian-Americans). I haven't had heartburn since I started eating clean, and this morning I vowed that I won't be eating any processed corn products again anytime soon. No more evening snack experiments for me.
Look, you can stray here and there. Pay attention to how you feel when you do, and remember those symptoms. What's important is you re-focus the next day, and get back on it. Today is Monday, and the weather is going to be nice most of the week. Look at the weekend ahead - why not get your Paleo and even your non-Paleo friends to come over and try some of your new favorite recipes? I'm already looking forward to more laughs over sweet peppers and guacamole.
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