A new direction

Smoked duck breast, seared foie, pickled cipoline, marinated artichoke heart, sauteed mushrooms, sauteed apple, mache, arugula sprouts and mesclun

I haven't been posting recipes here for quite some time.  Either it's just more of the same old same old, Tue chicken, Weds fish, etc., or I haven't felt like taking pictures before dinner and as we know if you are going to write about food most people want a picture to drool along to.  Even, my SD won't buy a cookbook unless it is loaded with pictures.  Recently however, Easter day as a matter of fact, marked the day a few things changed around here.  That was the last day I consumed sugar, seed oils, grains (hence no gluten) or legumes.

Why?

Well I'm not a dieter.  Never believed in it.  Why change your eating for a few months only to go back to your old habits when it 'ended'? I've never, ever been thin. I never really ate junk food.  I don't drink soda.  I'm not a sugar junky, I'd rather have a steak over a piece of cake any day, but I did grow up in a house of starch.  Loads of starch.  Pasta? Ah, hello...Italian.  Mom never made a meal without a starch of some kind.  Potatoes, rice, pasta made an appearance every night and garlic bread was her holy ghost.  Out of habit I've always done the same.  Husband and I did however dabble in Atkins once a few years ago.  It worked great for him.  He dropped weight without even thinking about it but eventually we stopped for no apparent reason. I had no intention of doing this, I wasn't seeking a change, thin is not my goal, I don't even think it is possible for me, but being healthier and feeling better is.  At one point after hearing about 3 friends experiences with bariatric surgery I was actually contemplating going down that long, dark, expensive road.  But on a lark one day Sam and I were talking at work about ideas for some new classes for Create a Cook.  Sam is a nutritionist and creates our healthy cooking classes.  We tossed out raw, vegan, new vegetarian menus, more gluten free for the allergy crowd and then Paleo came up.  She wasn't sure what paleo was exactly so she said she would go home and research it.  The next day she rejected it out of hand the next day saying it was all about eating bacon all the time.  LOL!  Typical nutritionist response!  I'm working on her though and she just *might* be coming around.

I'd heard enough about Paelo to know there was more to it than bacon, but believe me there IS bacon.  That weekend I started googling Paleo and Primal (see this great Venn diagram for the differences between Primal, Paleo and Atkins).  I found Wolf and Cordain and then a slew of others who spoke about the diet, its origins and loads of testimonials from former fatties or those with autoimmune or health issues like diabetes or PCOS on what it has done for them. In fact if you aren't a reader spend a bit of time and take a little gander at this documentary and then think long and hard before you scoff at the very idea.  One thing I did learn going down this road is that it's all about the insulin baby.

Now let me take a moment here to assure you I AM THE WORLD'S BIGGEST SKEPTIC.  My father done raised me right.  Nothing comes for free.  Nothing good is easy.  Nothing you buy on an infomercial works. Ron Popeil is a shiester. There are no shortcuts, well except the one he once took that was 20 miles out of the way but we were at least MOVING, I digress.  I went into my research with a high degree of 'WHATEVER' and then I came out the other side buying books, reading them cover to cover, trawling sites, eading papers and curious for more and then I decided WHAT THE HELL you were going to have MAJOR surgery it can't hurt to try can it?  And really a diet about eating meat and vegetables is a diet lifestyle change I can get behind!

I am here to tell you that just 1 week in to the change, ONE WEEK after giving up grains and hence gluten, my joints felt absolutely amazing.  Knees that creaked and crack?  No longer.  Aches and pains that I attributed to age. NO MORE.  Ocassional GI issues that I wrote off to other reasons GONE. No longer am I tired after I eat.  NO more do I want to take a nap after a sandwich for lunch or pasta for dinner.  I am five weeks in and I can easily see this becoming a lifestyle.  I crave nothing that I can't have.  I don't want sugar or chocolate.  I ate potatoes 3 or 4 times a week before.  I haven't had a spud in 5 weeks and I am down with that.  100% fully down. Bread? WHATEVER! 

Now I'm not here to proselytize.  I will never lecture you for eating that cupcake.  I could care less if you wanna suck down that loaf of freshly baked sourdough. And you will not scoff at me for eating bacon or liver without first reading the research and then coming to your own conclusions. However I will tell you why I'm not eating those things - if you ask.  I'm also NOT a saint.  Yes, I have a beer.  One.  Or maybe a glass of wine or a NORCAL margarita. And bourbon - oh sweet bourbon you distilled, gluten-free saint!  I ride the line somehwere between primal and paleo.  I think grass fed butter is just fine.  And the 1 TBS of milk or cream I put in my tea is not going to stop the world turning is it? And, yea sometimes I'm gonna use gluten free tamari cause I loves me some Asian food and coconut aminos just do NOT taste like soy no matter how much they smell like they should. Hell dudes I even bought a kettlebell.  Baby steps folks.  B-a-b-y s-t-e-p-s.

Over the coming weeks I will be pouring through my archives and marking things that fit the lifestyle, some with modifications which I will note on the recipe.  A word off the bat.  I am a cook.  I will not be skipping salt in my cooking.  I know the lifestyle wants you to forgo but I am controlling my own intake and I am using sea salt with trace minerals.  NOT GIVING IT UP.  And I will be using tricks in my arsenal like sous vide.  If you haven't heard of it I am sure you have heard of google.  Do a wee bit of research.  I will tell you now that is simply one of the most efficient ways to cook meat EVER.  Perfect level of done EVERY TIME.  Sure, I have some equipment that might be out of your range, but don't fret.  My friend Helen Rennie of Beyond Salmon will tell you how to make a rig on the cheap.  How cheap? How's $15 bucks?

So all of this is just to tell you that I just might come back here again and put up some recipes. Nothing wrong with meat and veg is there?  In fact when you see these dishes the last thing you should think is that this food is diet food.  The very last thing this place will ever become is an eat this/don't eat that, follow my rules, sanctimonious food site.  All food is good, just some foods are better for some of us than others.  There will be no lectures, no numbers, no mention of diet.  Just good food. Lots of good food.

 

Comments

[Julia]

Looking forward to hearing more about this new direction! I was thinking about you tonight as I was preparing dinner... I really should try and give up carbs for at least a week. I'd be curious to know how different I'd feel.

[Karan]

Very cool! I'll be keeping an open eye for recipes. That lead photo certainly looks delicious!

[Blue Witch]

Not eating wheat has helped my aches and pains enormously over the last couple of years. Being a non-meat eater, I wouldn't want to give up any more grains (although I don't eat many anyway, and never have). Potatoes on the other hand...

[jenny]

My sister shared your blog with me because she knew I had went primal last spring. I lost 44 pounds and oops, cycle shifted, knocked up. :) Anyways, I'm not quite primal now as I'm doing an elimination diet for my nursling and can not have some things (like dairy, dang, I miss butter), I can't have bacon yet (it is so next on my list to add back in!). So, I can't eat some things that I would on primal, so I do eat potatoes and occasionally some beans (like twice/month), but the weight is still dropping off, so it's good. :)