But although I love to write, sometimes blogging is hard for me. I go in waves, usually, where the words just flow out of me and I have lots to say and know exactly how to express my thoughts and ideas. I can be very opinionated about topics I'm passionate about. Like I was talking about earlier, my English comp 2 class was all about persuasion writing. And oh boy, I could go on and on in an essay. You'll never get me to admit defeat about certain topics. One of those topics is nutrition. Especially in schools and low income.
I've battled my weight for many years. Really, ever since puberty. My hormones have never been balanced. I was diagnosed with probable PCOS at age 16, which was confirmed when I developed two large cysts on my ovaries 3 years ago. I have almost every symptom now of PCOS. My doctors wanted to put me on 4 different medications but I balked at that. Who wants to be on a slew of medications at age 27? But battling this through diet and exercise is exceedingly hard. I don't eat a ton. I've never been the one to finish off an entire pizza or half a chocolate cake in one sitting. I've always been a normal eater. I eat my fruits and veggies. I love brown rice, maybe even more than white. I grew up with a mom who cooked everything from scratch. Many of you can attest to that. I didn't know what a store bought cookie tasted like till I was 6. My mom still tells the story of how I came home from a friend's house complaining about the awful "cookies" her mom served. Turns out it was an Oreo. And my grandmother regularly tells the story of me asking her if various things had "shuga" in them, since I wasn't allowed to eat much sugar in those days.
But the pounds have determinedly stuck with me. The only thing that seems to work for me is sticking to a Paleo diet. In essence, it's a very low sugar diet. And not just what you'd normally think of as "sugar". Carbohydrates are sugar to the body. Your body breaks down carbs into sugars called monosaccharides. That means flour, potatoes, and corn are all out. These are also the most common GMO foods as well. But that's a different conversation. Back to the Paleo diet.
I don't like everything about the Paleo diet. Some of it is unnecessary, at least for me. But I read in a couple different places that the Paleo diet is a rubric. It's a list of general guidelines and I think, for the most part, those guidelines are solid. Take the basic premise of the Paleo diet and build off of it. No one's body is exactly the same. What works for one person, won't work for another. What your body can tolerate isn't necessarily what mine can. My body processes milk just fine but my mom does not. For us, we eat some lentils and garbanzo beans (we don't really like any other form of bean), some dairy, and some brown rice. None of those are on the traditional Paleo diet but it works for us. I spent about 6 weeks on the strictest form of Paleo doing the 21 day sugar detox (find it here) and then adding different things afterwards to see what worked best for my body.
So that's where I'm at now. I'm down about 25 lbs from where I started in February. I'm not perfect and I cheat from time to time (pasta is my downfall, and popcorn too!). I still have a long ways to go but I'm trying to establish a firm foundation. It's a journey that needs to last a lifetime.
So here's a new Paleo recipe for you! Hope you like them as much as we did! I didn't tally how much this meal cost very well. I'd say maybe $6? The pork cost $2.25/lb, the coconut milk cost $1.40 for the can, the almond butter maybe I used $.50 worth? Those were the most expensive of the ingredients. All the spices I already had in the house. The zucchini and carrots cost me less than $1 and I only used part of what I bought.
Meatballs
- 1 zucchini, minced (I did this in the food processor)
- 2 carrots, minced
- 1 pound pork
- 1/2 pound ground beef or turkey (or omit altogether, I did)
- 1 T freshly grated ginger
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 T curry powder
- salt and pepper, to tast
Sauce
- 1 (14 oz) can coconut milk
- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 1 T soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 1 T sriracha sauce, hot sauce, or red pepper
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 T honey
- 2 T curry powder
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place zucchini and carrots in food processor and mince till fine. Remove from processor and squeeze out as much excess water as you're able to.
3. Combine zucchini, carrots, meat, and the rest of the meatball ingredients listed in a bowl and mix together.
4. Shape into 1/4 cup sized meatballs and place on a cookie sheet.
5. Bake in oven for 15-18 minutes until thoroughly cooked.
While meatballs are cooking...
1. Place all sauce ingredients in a saucepan and heat through.
2. Once meatballs are done, add them to sauce and serve. Garnish with scallion, cilantro, or parsley as desired.
No comments:
Post a Comment