Welcome to another week of Healthy Living! We're so excited you're here and look forward to hearing your tips and simple steps towards a more healthy lifestyle.
Today I'm so excited to have Sophie here sharing about her journey with diet and health.
Most of you know me as the "hands" behind Bagatelle Designs. As much as I love making jewelry, it is only a small part of what is going on in my life. I am a wife, mother to 3 teenage girls and we made the switch to the paleo diet and lifestyle 3 years ago. What I am about to tell you is not a medical advice but the result of my own experience. In a nutshell, the paleo diet is the diet we are genetically programmed to eat. It is extremely simple and have just a few ground rules:
1. you can eat all lean meats, fish and seafood
2. you can eat all fruits and non starchy vegetables
3. no cereals
4. no legumes
5. no dairy products
6. no processed food
You can adhere to this diet as much or as little as you want. Because the paleo diet is a lifetime program, not a quick weight-loss fix, you will want to find a level at which you and your family are comfortable. Of course, the more you adhere to the ground principles, the better you will feel.
Now that we have laid the fundamental principles, we have to take into consideration your real life challenges and circumstances. Take our family. We have 3 teenagers in the house and you might ask yourself how they feel about no sugar, no processed food, no French fries, no pizza, no pasta, no muffins or doughnuts,... Well we have had to make compromises. Just because some foods are not part of the paleo diet doesn't mean that we have to banish them from our lives forever! But we try to avoid them most of the time. For example, we don't eat white potatoes or French fries, but I will serve regularly, not at every meal though, rice, quinoa, millet or sweet potatoes. Especially when we know one of our kids has sport practice or if my husband and myself are planning a bike ride, we will eat "good" carbs to have more energy.
If you want to be able to adhere to this lifestyle all your life, you will have to find your "comfort zone" and stick to it.
Now, based on your own health challenges, you might also have to totally exclude some foods from your diet. We all took a food allergy test with our doctor and found out which foods were a problem for each one of us. For me, I cannot eat gluten, at all. So the entire family had to make the switch as well! For you, it might be nuts, seafood, dairy products,... Any food really can be a source of allergy. I would definitely recommend taking a food allergy test because those insidious allergies will cause inflammation in your system and wear you down overtime, making you sick.
A big challenge in our family has always been to make our kids eat more vegetables. Are we the only ones? I don't know about you but the only veggies my kids really like are carrots and celery sticks! That is a good start but I wanted them to eat a wider variety including broccoli, kale, chard, beets, squashes and zucchinis, eggplants, leeks, spinach,... You can find all these nutritious and healthy vegetables at your local health food store. But they still don't get the kids excited. So this year I decided to grow our own vegetable garden and it has been a wonderful experience! We are eating fresh, beautiful and tasty vegetables every day and the girls love them because they are kind of part of the family! They got to witness the little seeds grow slowly to become magnificent veggies. Vegetables are no longer some kind of alien food coming out of nowhere but a plant the kids got to know and have come to appreciate.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks so much for sharing, Sophie! We did something very similar to the paleo diet when we were trying to figure out Lucas' allergies and eating that way is definitely doable and enjoyable!
Last time, the following link up was so inspiring:
Now it's your turn to share what you're learning!
And now, for the rules...I'll try to keep them simple :)
1. Follow me
2. You can post about anything you want, as long as it's a simple step towards a healthier lifestyle including tips for "green" living. I will ask that you avoid the following:
no processed foods
no artificial ingredients
nothing from a box
3. Share the love. Check out at least 3-4 other posts and introduce yourselves. The thing I love most about linky parties is that you get to meet so many amazing people!
4. Have fun!! :)
I'd also love to have you put the button on your post or blog somewhere so that it's an actual "link" party! :)
I'd also love to have you put the button on your post or blog somewhere so that it's an actual "link" party! :)
Want to co-host next time? Just contact me and we'll set it up!
And featured lady, don't forget to grab the "I was featured" button! Excellent shares and I'm so glad you linked up last time!!
And featured lady, don't forget to grab the "I was featured" button! Excellent shares and I'm so glad you linked up last time!!
I LOVE this link up idea- I have been on a clean eating kick, and this is right up my alley, LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteVisiting from the GFC hop- Thanks for cohosting this week! Love your blog and am now a follower! ;)
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