Spaghetti-less Stew

Back before we were paleo we would quite often make spaghetti with whole grain noodles.  Once we went Paleo we started by making our same meat sauce and putting it over spaghetti squash or zucchini, dikon radish or butternut squash "noodles". But we decided that was just extra work and so we beefed up our sauce and eat it like a stew these days.  No need for anything extra, but you always could try some noodle replacements if you like.

• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup (2-3 carrots), chopped
• 1 cup celery (4-5 stalks), chopped
• 1 cup zucchini, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1 yellow onion
• (Any other veggies as you like)
• 2 lbs ground meat. Beef, turkey, Italian sausage are all good choices, we usually mix and match.
• 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
• 28 ounces diced tomatoes
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoons dried or 4 tablespoons fresh oregano
• 2 tablespoons dried or 4 tablespoons basil (Really just use fresh and put as much as you want in it!)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop all the veggies.

2. Heat the olive oil in the bottom of a pot over med-high to high heat.  Once heated add veggies. Saute until tender, about 15 mins.

3. While the veggies are sauteing, brown the meat in a separate pan, also over medium-high to high heat.  Cook until there is almost no more pink.  Add the Italian Seasoning.  And finish cooking until there is no more pink.

4. Add the meat to the veggies.

5. Add the rest of the ingredients, diced and crushed tomatoes, garlic, spices.  If using fresh basil leave it out until the end.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a slow simmer and let simmer for 30 mins.  Taste and season to taste.  Add fresh basil. 

My Paleo Journey (at 8 months)

Me on the Snake River at my heaviest

I’m not sure were to begin this story.  I think I will start last July 2012.  Our big extended family camping trip was coming up and I just couldn’t get excited for it.  In years past it was a highlight of our year. I just didn’t have the energy to do much of anything but survive.   Tasks such as packing and putting up the tent took everything I had.  My eyes were opened when I was rafting down the Snake River and I fell out of the raft and I had a panic attack.  I was unsure if I had the energy or strength to get myself back in the raft and out of the rapids.  Needless to say out of 14 or so trips the raft made down the river that summer, I only was on two of them.

A few weeks after getting home I just knew something had to change.  I was at my highest weight ever, 275.  11 years ago when I met my (future) husband Josh I was 135 pounds.  I was eating fairly healthy, exercising regularly and was in the best shape of my life.  When we got married 10 years ago I had some health and emotional problems that led me to nearly double my weight in a year.  By our first wedding anniversary I was probably 260 pounds.  Josh’s story is much the same having gained weight right along with me after marriage, but he can tell you his story.  We spend the next 9 years cycling through trying different weight loss plans, diets, exercise and then times of giving up and not caring, eating whatever, and gaining back anything we had lost.

Swimming at my heaviest

In the spring my husband and I had spent 8 weeks doing a weight loss challenge with some friends and family.  We counted calories everyday, tried to get some exercise in as many times a week as we could and we still only lost about 15 pounds each.  Pounds that didn’t stay off because as soon as it was over the scale started creeping back up.  I started searching the Internet for a meal plan with recipes and grocery lists.  I just didn’t feel like I had the energy to put anything together myself.  I wanted it laid out for me.  And I was ready to do something extreme if need be.  I came across an e-book called The Paleo Plan.  It had 6 weeks worth of meal plans, recipes and weekly grocery lists.  I bought it.  I read enough of it to get us started.  We cleaned out our fridge and our pantry of items that wouldn’t keep for the 6 weeks we were trying paleo. My husband would ask why we couldn’t eat a specific food and I had to just convince him to trust me because honestly I hadn't gotten far enough in the literature yet to even know why myself.  I was just going off the do's and don’t list. We just hit the ground running without really knowing why we were doing everything   We also just thought this was a bit crazy and certainly extreme and that after the six weeks were up we would just go back to trying to eat “healthy”.  But this was going to jump start our weight loss and get us on track.

For me the first day was good, the second ok, the third was pretty bad, but day four was my hell.  I felt like an addict.  I was jonsing for some major carbs.  I had no energy, I had a headache, I was itching and felt like I was going to jump right out of my skin.  I just layed in bed all night long.  I finally came out of our room, opened a bag of Frosted Mini Wheats and went to town.  I felt so much better and went to sleep.  I woke up day 5 feeling great.  And I never had a craving like that again.  In fact things got so easy it was kind of bizarre.  We were feeling great!  Like superheroes really.  We had energy to do what needed to be done.  We felt satisfied all the time.  We were eating like kings, some truly amazing food.  We started doing more research on why we were eating like this.  We couldn’t get enough.  We got books like Robb Wolf’s 'The Paleo Solution', we were looking on the Internet at sites like 'Mark’s Daily Apple', and finding podcasts like 'Latest in Paleo' to listen to.  We couldn't get enough information.

Three weeks into being paleo we celebrated our son, Max’s, first birthday.  Everyone was amazed at how much weight we had lost in such a short amount of time, but most crash diets will do that right?  After all, for almost 9 years we had been King and Queen of dieting, if there was a diet we had tried it, at least for a little while.  Our longest stint had been about 3 months on the South Beach diet, though most were probably closer to about a 6 week run.  And of course, the weight always came back. 

Max's First Birthday

While celebrating Max’s birthday we also decided to indulge in a piece of pizza and a half a cupcake.  We had been good for three weeks and it was our son’s first birthday after all.  This is when we had a huge light bulb moment.  Gluten didn’t get along with either one of us.  And after more research as to what gluten does to your body it made sense that when eating gluten you can't absorb nutrients properly and your body is constantly calling for more food to supply it with the nutrients it needs.  That is a big reason why for the first time in our lives we truly felt satisfied.  I don’t know if either of us has celiac.  And I don’t need to know, because we will never (knowingly) eat gluten again. 

After just eight months we have totally changed our lives.  Our Sundays used to be filled with sleeping in, junky food, & too much tv.  Now we spend Sundays at the farmers market getting our sunshine, family time, walking and buying healthy food.  We want to spend time playing at the park with our son, instead of time on the couch.  We are so much happier.  We are so much healthier.  We have each lost over 85 pounds in just 8 months, but the weight loss really does feel like a side effect, as the greatest thing has been the way we think & feel.

But perhaps the best thing of all is that our son will only know his parents as healthy and active.  He will grow up with healthy habits and with a love of real foods.  He loves his veggies & fruit, meat & healthy fat.  How many 1 year old's go crazy over a red bell pepper?  He will have memories of family dinners and being in the kitchen together preparing great food.   He will be happy & healthy too!

Size 26 dress - Size 12 dress
100 lbs lost!