DAY 18: Thursday, October 1st

Happy October FIRST:)

I may be biased, but October is my favorite month! I love the crisp air, pumpkins, sweater season, colorful leaves, and , obviously, my birthday/Halloween!

DAY 18 AGENDA:

1. Tomorrow's  challenge is to do complete a movnat workout. Click here for the workout!

Meal/Snack Ideas:

Breakfast- almond dutch baby

(pic and recipe from andhereweare.net)

Check out this baby HERE!

Lunch- sweet potato nachos

(pic and recipe from crossingmylegs.blogspot.com)

Find THIS recipe on another paleo blogger's site!

Dinner- sweet potato sloppy joe's

(pic and recipe from paleonewbie.com)

So, I am dying to try this recipe and thought I'd share it with you all. If you try this soon, let me know how it tastes! Recipe HERE.

Jot down some notes!

-how you increased your daily movement

-movnat

-relaxation techniques tried
-energy level {POOR, AVERAGE, GREAT}
-satisfaction level with meals
-hunger level between meals
-struggles
-benefits

DAY 17: Wednesday, September 30th

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

DAY 16: Tuesday, September 29th

DAY 16 AGENDA: 

1. Take play breaks throughout the day! This could include getting up from the computer to play with your kids or throwing a frisbee with a coworker at work for a few minutes:)

Meal/Snack Ideas:

Breakfast- ground beef and eggs in a tomato

Ingredients:

• 1 large tomato
• 1/2-1 cup ground beef (depending on the tomato size)
• 1/4 cup onion
• 1-2 eggs
• 1 Tbsp olive oil (for sautéing) 

Cut the top off of a large tomato, core the inside, and put in oven at 400 degrees for 5 minutes or more until tomato softens slightly. Sauté ground meat, onions, or anything else on hand and then put in the tomatoes after they come out of the oven. Crack an egg or two on top of the meat/onions and place in oven to broil until egg is set. 

Lunch- blueberry salad with coconut cilantro dressing

(pic and recipe from thehealthyapple.com)

Find this beautiful recipe HERE!

Dinner- slow cooker lemon garlic chicken

(pic and recipe from number-2-pencil.com)

Go HERE for this effortless recipe!

Jot down some notes!

-play breaks tried

-how you increased your daily movement

-relaxation techniques tried
-energy level {POOR, AVERAGE, GREAT}
-satisfaction level with meals
-hunger level between meals
-struggles
-benefits

DAY 15: Monday, September 28th

DAY 15 AGENDA:

1. Let's kick off our third and LAST week of the 21 day challenge by another FORAGE. 

You could do a real primitive forage and go out into your surroundings to find mushrooms, apples, pumpkins, berries {depending on the season}, etc. 

You could also forage by finding a new shopping market with ingredients to make primal foods or even go out to a different restaurant to eat a primal meal. Remember, politely ask for substitutions as deemed necessary to create a primal meal!

2. Lastly, perform a moderate aerobic exercise of your choice, 30-60 minutes long and 50-70% of your maximum heart rate.

Meal/Snack Ideas:

Breakfast: ham, apple and sweet potato scramble

(pic and recipe from paleonewbie.com)

So, I have heard of this interesting recipe many times and have been meaning to try! Find the recipe HERE. 

Lunch- baked eggs in avocados

(pic and recipe from pop sugar.com)

So, I HAVE tried this before and it is delicious! Check out the recipe HERE. 

Dinner- pesto grilled shrimp

(pic and recipe from closet cooking.com)

Go HERE for the recipe:) 

Dessert- dark chocolate chip banana muffins

I made these tonight and they tasted just like my mother's recipe I grew up on...only HEALTHY :)

Ingredients:

• 2 mashed ripe bananas (brown spotted)
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 3 eggs
• 3 Tbs honey (raw, dark)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (REAL extract)
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (I chopped up an 85% dark chocolate bar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine wet ingredients and mix well. Mix dry ingredients together and then slowly add to wet ingredients while stirring. Grease muffin pans (small) with coconut oil or butter. Place a tablespoon into baking dish or line them up on a baking sheet lines with parchment paper (they will hold form). Bake for about 15 min or until firm and starting to brown. Enjoy!

Jot down some notes!

-how you increased your daily movement

-forage

-moderate aerobic exercise

-relaxation techniques tried
-energy level {POOR, AVERAGE, GREAT}
-satisfaction level with meals
-hunger level between meals
-struggles
-benefits

DAY 14: Sunday, September 27th

Only ONE MORE WEEK! eeek!

Below I am sharing recipes that I have been meaning to try and have not yet, so if you get to it first, let me know if you liked it:)

I'll probably continue to do this unless I get to making it first;) Happy Saturday!

DAY 14 AGENDA:

1. REST. No workouts, just a lot of relaxation and spending time with those you love. Plan on taking a family stroll or take a nap on the couch!  Work on your relaxation techniques by putting away digital media 2hrs before bed, dimming lights, etc. You might also want to make a meal list for the upcoming week to get yourself organized and prepared for your last week of the primal challenge:)

Meal/Snack Ideas:

Breakfast- butternut squash frittata

(pic & recipe from healyeatsreal.com)

Skip the cheese if you want to lose weight, otherwise, use hard, aged cheeses. Click HERE for the recipe!

Lunch- shrimp scampi

(pic and recipe from sweetcsdesigns.com)

Head over HERE for the recipe:)

Dinner- grilled salmon with avocado salsa

(pic and recipe from the cookie rookie.com)

Try out the recipe that I found from HERE!


Snacks- olives, grape tomatoes and fermented cheese of your choice mixed with olive oil and basil.

Jot down some notes!

-how you increased your daily movement

-relaxation techniques tried
-energy level {POOR, AVERAGE, GREAT}
-satisfaction level with meals
-hunger level between meals
-struggles
-benefits

DAY 13: Saturday, September 26th

I was so excited to get responses from some of you today telling me about how long you were able to fast for! Since the first week I have been getting emails and texts about the benefits you are seeing already! I LOVE hearing from you and hearing about your results, so PLEASE email me and share:) I'm waiting!

DAY 13 AGENDA:

1. Write down everything you eat throughout the day. Mark Sisson recommends using a great website called fitday.com to calculate your daily nutrition: protein, carbs, fat, and calories. This will give you a great idea of how much you are intaking in a day and what you will need to eat more/less of. If you are trying to lose weight, its recommended to have a daily carb intake of 50-100 grams/day.
2. Lastly, complete a push-up tabata workout. Remember, this is 8 sets of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. Count your total repetitions. If you need to keep your knees on the ground that is fine, but be sure to maintain good posture: flat back, hands to the side of shoulders, and ensure your chest hits the ground first {if you cannot make it that low, then use a pillow beneath your chest.}

Meal/Snack Ideas:

Breakfast- french omelette with chives

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1Tbs fresh chives, diced thinly
• 1Tbs olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Heat olive oil in a medium sized pan on medium-low heat. Ensure olive oil gets up on the sides of pan. Beat eggs vigorously with all ingredients until batter has a smooth consistency. Pour in heated pan. Take spatula and gently scrape the middle of the omelette from side to side making a plus sign shape every few minutes. This will make little clumps throughout the omelette. Continue until the omelette is still wet on top with many chunks/swirls of the eggs and sides are easy to lift form pan. Loosen sides of omelette and fold in half. Cook for another minute and then serve on plate. Sprinkle more salt and pepper if desired. Garnish with more chives!

Lunch- egg salad 

(picture from pinterest)

This is another paleo recipe I found on pinterest that I have tried and LOVED! Go HERE for the recipe. 

Dinner- chicken tikka masala 

(picture from pinterest)

Yet another...go HERE! Oh, and substitute the vegetable oil for a more acceptable oil (olive oil, coconut oil, etc.), as well as, the rice for cauliflower rice (cauliflower rice recipe back in one of the first posts of this challenge!)

Jot down some notes!

-how you increased your daily movement

-your fitday.com calculations

-total push-ups from tabata workout 

-relaxation techniques tried
-energy level {POOR, AVERAGE, GREAT}
-satisfaction level with meals
-hunger level between meals
-struggles
-benefits

DAY 12: Friday, September 25th

DAY 12 AGENDA: 

1. Intermittent fast. Please don't forget to eat a nice dinner tonight in preparation for tomorrow's fast {remember, do not carb overload}. So, tonight will be your last meal and then tomorrow go as long as possible without food until you get very hungry and then eat a very primal-icious meal:) 

Meal/Snack Ideas:

Breakfast- scrambled eggs with spinach and blue cheese.

Lunch- mustard-roasted fish by Ina Garten!

Just kidding...but I did try this recipe after stumbling upon it on Pinterest a while back which IS primal and IS delicious! Click HERE for this recipe. 

Dinner- rotisserie chicken, sweet potato and veggies

The above picture depicts the time I would run across the street for rotisserie chicken, a baked sweet potato and veggies for lunch almost everyday at work! I felt like I was eating a Thanksgiving dinner everyday:) speaking of which, we had grilled chicken, baked broccoli and a sweet potato for dinner tonight. Just wash of your sweet potatoes, dry it with a paper towel and then lightly rub it with olive oil and salt. Put it in the oven at 350 for about an hour.

Jot down some notes!

-how you increased your daily movement

-total hours fasted 

-relaxation techniques tried
-energy level {POOR, AVERAGE, GREAT}
-satisfaction level with meals
-hunger level between meals
-struggles
-benefits

DAY 11: Thursday, September 24th

Tomorrow is Day 11 which means the end is near!!! Just 10 days...

Did you all enjoy the podcast from yesterday? 

DAY 11 AGENDA:

1. Complete a favorite aerobic exercise and invite someone to do it with you. Do your exercise for 30-60 minutes and with a heart rate of about 50-75% of your maximum.
2. Limit the carbs you eat all day. This is to get us ready for the following day {Day 12} where we will practice intermittent fasting. After a normal primal dinner on Day 11 you will fast for as long as you can until you feel famished or energy depleted. Record how many hours you went without food.

Meal/Snack Ideas:

Breakfast- egg frittata with green olives, spinach or other greens, and seasoned with lemon juice/olive oil/salt/pepper

 

Lunch- taco salad

On Saturday for the "forage", I went to Moe's and ordered a taco salad with grass-fed beef, onions, peppers, pico, guacamole, black olives and cilantro:)

Dinner- steak with Brazilian salsa 

So, a long time ago my husband lived in brazil for a couple years and I love it because he has some great dishes up his sleeve! For our dinner a few nights ago he made a type of salsa to go on top of our grilled steak. Finely dice tomatoes, green peppers and onions (all about equal parts or to your liking) and then douse it with white wine vinegar. Let it sit for about an hour or so and then serve on top of...well...anything, really! 

Snacks- kale chips (sprinkle sea salt and olive oil over small pieces of kale on a baking pan and pop in the oven at 350 until crispy).

Jot down some notes!

-how you increased your daily movement

-aerobic exercise with a partner

-carbs cut out in preparation for intermittent fast

-relaxation techniques tried
-energy level {POOR, AVERAGE, GREAT}
-satisfaction level with meals
-hunger level between meals
-struggles
-benefits

DAY 9: Tuesday, September 22nd

DAY 9 AGENDA:

1.   Avoid eating foods that have a label. This might mean you will need to find fresher foods from co-ops, farmer's markets or other whole food stores. This will give you the opportunity to learn how to make your own dressings, dried fruits, or nut butters!

We love farmer's market tomatoes!

 2.  Avoid media. We spend so much time in front of computers, phones, our TV, etc. You may have to be in front of a computer all day at work, but if that is the case then limit the extra media. Set a time limit of twice a day for extra media. Focus on the most important things {email, news, etc.} and then close the device. Turn devices off a few hours before bed to ensure a good nights rest. Also, try to put on screen dimmers/filters, such as f.lux.

Meal/Snack Ideas:

Breakfast- banana pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 2 eggs
• a few dashes of cinnamon

Mix together and pan fry in coconut oil, butter, or olive oil. Top with almond butter, coconut milk or just eat them plain because honestly they are delicious by themselves! Add a side veggies to make it a complete meal:)

Lunch- Tandoori Carrot recipe here! Make this as a side dish to chicken, beef, etc. DISCLAIMER: this recipe contains greek yogurt, so, remember, if you are looking to lose weight during this challenge then stay away from dairy.

Dinner- Crock Pot Lemon Pepper Chicken (<-click link for recipe)

Again, not the best picture, but I am determined to go back and make these meals JUST to take better pictures;)

Dessert- zucchini "bread"

Ingredients:

• 1 medium zucchini shredded
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup raw buckwheat honey (or any raw DARK honey)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (buy the real extract or make your own)
• 1 Tbs pumpkin spice or apple pie spice
• 1 Tbs ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup coconut flour

Shred whole zucchini with a cheese grater into a bowl. Mix with eggs, oils, honey and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Slowly beat in dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan or cup cake pan (I used mini cup cake pans and cooked for about 15min.) Bake at 350 for about 40min or until toothpick comes out clean!

Jot down some notes!

-how you increased your daily movement

-how you did with avoiding food labels and media

-relaxation techniques tried
-energy level {POOR, AVERAGE, GREAT}
-satisfaction level with meals
-hunger level between meals
-struggles
-benefits

DAY 8: Monday, September 21st

I hope you were able to share a primal meal with family and/or friends yesterday :)

DAY 8 AGENDA:

1. Complete a very short, yet intense, tabata air squat workout. A tabata workout is usually 8 sets of a specified movement being performed for 20 seconds with 10 seconds of rest in between. It is an amazing workout that you can get done in just minutes! Below is a large group of people performing this tabata style workout, so feel free to do it along with them or you may do it on your own:) Count your total reps and document.

Meal/Snack Ideas:

Breakfast- sautéed spinach and mushrooms with hard boiled eggs by another participant, Shelli!

This really doesn't need much of a recipe, but what Shelli did was sauté about a handful of spinach in olive oil with mushrooms and minced garlic. Seasoned with salt and pepper. She included 4 boiled eggs seasoned with salt on the side!

Lunch- find hot dogs/sausage that are antibiotic/nitrite/nitrate free and dab primal approved condiments on top like dijon mustard {read those labels if not making your own condiment}. Add a side of greens.

Dinner- cocount milk shrimp soup from the '500 Paleo Recipes' cookbook

You can also freeze this after it's cooled to heat up for a different day. I have participants telling me that cooking every night is time consuming, which it is! This is defiantly a lifestyle change, but a manageable one. My recommendation is to find a day to prepare meals to freeze or lunches to prepare for the week. So far, I found THIS website with pretty good freezer recipes!

Ingredients:

• 1 quart fish stock
• 1 Tbs grated ginger root, peeled
• 2 Tbs lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp lime zest
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 bunch scallions chopped
• 1/3 fresh cilantro, minced
• 1 Tbs coconut oil
• 4 shallots, minced (fun fact, I cried the whole time I minced these shallots!)
• 14 fl. oz. unsweetened coconut milk
• 3 Tbs fish sauce (find paleo approved i.e. Red Boat Fish Sauce. I didn't have this, so I used a primal soy sauce called coconut aminos. You could also make fish sauce, but it require you to ferment actual fish and takes a few days.)
• 1 lb shrimp (small, shelled)

In a big sauce pan over medium heat, start warming the fish stock. Add the ginger, lemon juice, lime zest, and garlic. While broth is heating, slice up scallions, separating the white from the crisp part of the green shoot. Add the white parts to the broth along with 1/4 cup of cilantro, the let simmer for 20min. In a small skillet, sauté the shallots in the coconut oil until they're beginning to brown. Add them to the soup. Stir in the coconut milk and the fish sauce. Bring back to a simmer and let it cook for 5-10min. Stir in the shelled shrimp and let the soup cook for 5 min until the shrimp is pink and firm. Serve and garnish with extra cilantro, green scallions, and lime wedges! 

Snack- green mint smoothie

In a blender, blend together a big handful of spinach, 2 spoonfuls of greek yogurt, 3 fresh mint leaves with stems, 1 1/2 cup of frozen fruit (I used a mix of pineapple, mango, strawberry and peach), and 1/2-1 cup of water. If you are trying to lay off the dairy in order to lose weight, try full-fat unsweetened coconut milk instead of greek yogurt. 

Jot down some notes!

-how you increased your daily movement

-tabata air squats total reps

-relaxation techniques tried
-energy level {POOR, AVERAGE, GREAT}
-satisfaction level with meals
-hunger level between meals
-struggles
-benefits

DAY 7: Sunday, September 20th

Day 7 Agenda:

1. I challenged you to try new primal recipes and on Day 7 SHARE this new favorite recipe for a big Sunday dinner with your family and/or friends!
2. Rest... no strenuous physical activity. Spend meaningful time with your family, friends, or enjoy some alone time by taking a walk or enjoying the weather outside.

Meal/Snack Ideas:

Breakfast- fried eggs, sugar-free bacon, and sautéed mushrooms.

Lunch- crab cakes by Sherrie :)

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp old bay seasoning or similar
• 2 Tbs mayo (remember the homemade mayo post?)
• 2 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp mustard (check ingredients)
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 lb crab meat (make sure you pick through the shells)

Mix all the ingredients together except for crab meat and then gently fold in the crab meat to make patties. Broil for 10 min. Enjoy!

Dinner- make a crockpot roast or roast in the oven

I usually use a crockpot, but I also found a recipe online from Allrecipes.com for using the oven if you don't have a crockpot.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 3 1/2 lbs beef chuck pot roast
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup butter (full fat like kerry gold)
• 1 tsp rosemary
• sea salt and pepper

Set oven to 275 degrees. Season roast with salt and pepper. Brown the meat on all sides in a large pot with olive oil, medium to high heat. Once browned, put aside on a separate plate. Then put the diced carrots, celery and onions in the pot for a few minutes with the leftover meat juices. Season with salt and pepper. Add butter and cook until for a few minutes more until onions are tender and translucent. Add rosemary and store everything together. Then add roast back to the pot and cover with lid. Place in the oven and cook for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until roast is tender.

Snacks- nut butter recipes from another participant...THANK YOU, Kristina! 

Cashew butter:

• 500g organic raw cashews
• 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
• 1/2 tsp himalayan salt

Add all ingredients to the bowl of your food processor and process for a very long time, until nice and smooth. You will have to scrape the sides often, and your nuts will turn into a very thick and crumbly paste before eventually starting to release their oils and turn into nut butter. Be patient and resist the urge to add any form of liquid. Just keep going, it will eventually happen. From beginning to end, this might take a good 20 minutes of active processing, so it is a good idea to give your food processor a few minutes break from time to time. Keep your nut butter in mason type glass jars or other air tight containers.

Vanilla roasted pecan butter:

2 cups of pecans

2 tsp vanilla powder

1 tsp coconut oil (optional)

Process all ingredients in a food processor until you reach the right consistency. Pecan butter is not as solid as other butters so if you want it more solid you will add the coconut oil.

Jot down some notes!

-how you increased your daily movement

-primal meal shared with family and/or friends

-what you did on your REST DAY

-relaxation techniques tried
-energy level {POOR, AVERAGE, GREAT}
-satisfaction level with meals
-hunger level between meals
-struggles
-benefits