5 Reasons to Juice Daily

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There are many benefits of juicing daily. Here are our top five reasons:

1.) Hydration 

2.) Balance your pH levels

3.) Increase your daily fruit and vegetable intake.

4.) Nutrition in a form that your body can easily assimilate 

5.) Great hunger management!

Do you have a reason, that's not on our list, for juicing daily? Leave it in the comments below! We'd love to hear from you!

Succeeding at Paleo

I remember when I first heard the word Paleo. I was intrigued, I wanted to learn so much more! But, when I first started to find out the amount of foods that were restricted on a Paleo diet I began to panic! What in the world will I eat? How can a person survive without grains, or dairy or legumes? It was overwhelming to think of what our menu plan would look like! How would we ever eat tacos again?!

Perhaps you are in the same spot I was, maybe that is why you are reading this. If so, take heart. Tackling Paleo can seem like Everest but with some careful planning and trial and error it will suddenly become routine! Here are a few of my best tips to succeed at Paleo:

1.) Transform:
          Make a list of meals your family regularly eats. How can these meals be recreated or transformed into Paleo meals? For example, our family ate tacos on a regular basis. First step, get rid of the tortilla. We had a couple of options. Option A, replace tortilla with butter leaf lettuce. Option B required a little more effort, making cauliflower and egg tortillas I discovered on Pinterest. In the end taco night was always our easiest meal. Now that we are in the swing of Paleo tacos at our house consists of a VERY hearty salad and a side of ground meat. We transformed our food and our minds as to what tacos really are!

2.) Replace:
          At first you're going to have that major item you just can't live without! Perhaps it's your Snickers bar that you reach for in the afternoon. While you may be able to find a recipe to make Paleo Snickers bars (I'm sure it's out there), I really don't recommend it. Why not find a healthier option, like Larabars! Or make your own Larabars, or similar snack.

3. ) Find Support:
        You're not the only one in the Paleo Newbie boat. There's lots of us out there, and newbies can learn a lot from the veterans too. Find a few Paleo groups on Facebook, follow our page on Facebook, and find a few great boards to follow on Pinterest. Here's a few to get you started:

Paleo Mom
Phoenix Helix

4.) Invest:
       You've got a great start, you've made the most of the free online resources and recipes. Now that you're starting to get the hang of it it's time to invest in the future of your Paleo lifestyle. Invest in a few great books. These might be cookbooks, books discussing the science behind Paleo, or something in between. Here are a few of the books I highly recommend:

The Paleo Approach: Reverse Autoimmune Disease, Heal Your Body
It Starts With Food
Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle
Well Fed 

These are just the tip of the iceberg. Any tips you'd add to succeeding while Paleo? Add them in the comments below!

Simple Paleo Chocolate Cake

In honor of reaching my day 30 (of my Whole30) I am sharing this delicious chocolate cake recipe with you. And yes, it's paleo!! My husband is not much of a dessert guy but he's always been a fan of chocolate cake drizzled with sweetened condensed milk and caramel sauce (otherwise known as a Better Than Sex Cake). Recently he asked if I could make one for him, so I scoured the internet and Pinterest, sure someone had attempted to make this style cake with paleo ingredients. I didn't find anything like it!! But I did find plenty of ideas for chocolate cake. While I was searching for a recipe, I realized that my brain can translate into paleo. I was reading recipes without a single compliant ingredient and "translating" to compliant ingredients. Here is the final cake we came up with. We couldn't make a poke cake style exactly, where the sauce soaks into holes you poke in the cake, so the sauce became a topping instead.

Paleo Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce

For the cake:
1 c. almond butter
2 large eggs
1/3 c. melted coconut oil
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 c. coconut palm sugar*
1/3 c. water*

For the caramel sauce:
1 can full fat coconut milk
1/3 c. coconut palm sugar

Preheat your oven to 350. Grease 9x9 pan well with oil of choice. (Coconut, olive...)

Pour can of coconut milk in sauce pan on medium low heat and add sugar for topping. When steam begins to lift turn heat down to low and allow to reduce up to an hour, stirring occasionally. When reduced to about half remove from heat and allow to cool.

Place all ingredients for cake in blender or food processor. I found it easiest to leave the almond butter out until all other ingredients were well mixed and slowly add it. When it is well mixed pour batter into your greased pan and spread out evenly. Place cake in oven and bake for about 30 minutes.

Serve cake with coconut milk topping and enjoy!!

Feel like making it feel a little fancier and  have time to plan ahead? Store an opened can of coconut milk in your fridge for a few days and it will turn into a whipped topping like consistency!


*You can also use maple syrup or honey, but if you use a liquid sweetener omit the extra water.

Whole30 Progress Report (Days 9-14)

Day 9: This feels routine now. Any cravings I may have are manageable now. Getting up and making breakfast feels normal, and delicious! Coffee with out sweetener is pleasant! However I did discover a good trick to make it fancy... Coconut milk, full fat, the kind you find in a can in the Asian foods aisle in your coffee is heavenly! Especially when you've been drinking it black! On a positive note the essential fatty acids in full fat coconut milk are so good for you. Today and in the past, it has helped relieve spasticity and numbness in my toes. For me just that little relief has been amazing!

Meals Day 9:

Eggs with chunky salsa (I'm still working on a better breakfast veggie than salsa!)

Leftover pork and Brussels sprouts

Lamb with asparagus

Day 10: Cheating doesn't even seem worth it anymore. I almost bought some chocolate at the store last night, but decided on grapes instead. It really wasn't that hard. With how well I am feeling, it's not worth it anymore. My balance has improved dramatically along with my stamina. Being able to walk is worth more than a bit of chocolate!! 

I've even gotten to the point where I forget what day I am on, they all run together. And I made a new goal after this Whole30 is over. I'm tackling the Whole30 autoimmune protocol. On top of what I have already eliminated I will need to drop eggs, nuts, seeds and nightshades like tomatoes, peppers, and certain spices. This is more overwhelming to me than just my first Whole30. However, the energy boost this way of eating (I'm not calling it a diet) has given me is incredible and I want more! Oh and I broke the rules... I got on the scale. My husband and I were having a discussion about his weight (he'd love to gain some weight, although I think he is perfect!) Out came the scale and he jumped on so I did too. I've been dying to see those stupid numbers! I told myself that since my main goal in this is not weight loss, but rather health, weighing myself isn't going to matter either way since I am seeing the results I want with how I feel. Well, I don't regret stepping on that scale, it gave me another boost! I'm down 6 pounds in 10 days!! It just told me how well my body is responding to eating this way, and I am not looking back!! Honestly, I don't think I'd be here without blogging about it along the way!

Days 11-12:This has been a day I have been dreading for a while. Some very close friends invited us over for dinner, his famous paella that he has only told us about for the last year or more. He had to decide to finally make it while I am committed to my Whole30!! I have been stressing about taking my own food and feeling like I won't enjoy this dinner with my Whole30 hanging over me. And then I realize, it will give me the opportunity to tell them why I am eating the way I am. What it has done for me and why I am not quitting when I hit the 30 day mark. My friend is generously making ceviche for me, and I am taking my cauliflower tortillas, which they are excited to try. The hardest part of the whole night was at the end of the evening, I really just wanted a cupcake and a glass of wine! But I stood firm and feel great about it! My husband on the other hand indulged in a cupcake, and had an instant headache! That was the reassurance I needed! Social gatherings can be such a trigger. Being prepared, and dealing with the emotions of it before I got there helped a lot.

Day 13: Almost halfway there. Each day is about the same now. I wake up alert and ready to start the day. I wake up hungry and needing breakfast, something I never did in the past. At this point I still wake with pain and stiffness, which is why I want to continue this with the Autoimmune Protocol I mentioned above. Once I really know more about it I will update this site with specific information for you. For now check out: Whole30 AutoImmune Protocol for more information and an edited shopping list for those of us with autoimmune diseases.

Meals Day 13:

Eggs with chunky salsa (These local eggs are so tasty, I crave them every morning when I wake up!)

Lettuce wrap: Butter lettuce, leftover steak sliced, tomatoes, avocado...

Tacos with cauliflower tortillas (You'll read about the mistake I made with these next..)

Day 14: Had an appointment today with my neurological chiropractor. He said he could see improvements! My clonis is better (the involuntary bouncing of my leg). He told me that if you ask a general neurologist they would tell you once you have it, it never goes away. I'm all for proving them wrong!! Hearing that others are noticing a difference is really motivating! Especially when people ask if I have lost weight... and why yes, I have!!

Had my first proof of diet last night. We made tacos, my hubby was cooking for me and dumped our usual taco seasoning in the meat mix. I almost asked about it but hesitated... we had read the ingredients on the mix, but it was before my Whole30! He looked later, and the majority of the ingredients were NOT compliant, it had sugar, potato starch, rice flour, and spices derived from nightshades in it. Not even twenty minutes after eating my toes felt fuzzy and were burning!! I know it had to be the seasoning! Whether it was the sugar or other preservatives in it, that seasoning will never be used in our house again!! Lesson learned!