What the heck do ya eat?

 About a bazillion people have asked me what I eat on this Paleo diet. I wrote down what I ate Saturday Jan. 31- Thursday Feb. 5.  The weekends usually have a breakfast lunch combo since we sleep in.
Jan. 31
Lunch-Salad
grapes
spinach
almond slivers
black olives
bacon bits
pickle slice
Dressing was honey, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil

Dinner-Chicken/Sausage Vegetable Soup
4 mushrooms
beef broth
2 garlic cloves
1 carrot
1 squash
1 zucchini 
2 new potatoes dices
small tomato
1 can of basil, garlic, oregano diced tomatoes
onion

Seasoning:
pink Himalayan salt
Caribbean jerk
Rosemary
I cook separate mild sausage and also chicken tenderloins. I pull the chicken add both meats to the soup in crock pot. So flipping good!!!!! I have made this 3 other times since with different variations! I changed my base to a butternut squash sauce instead of the beef broth.

Other than water I had some almond milk and peppermint tea with a tsp of coconut sugar

Feb. 1   (super bowl Sunday)
Breakfast-eggs
2 eggs
Tabasco added
blueberry hot tea with 1 tsp coconut sugar

For the party I made the same soup as the day before, but added spinach.
Deviled eggs using guacamole instead of mayo, pickles, and bacon bits on top.

For lunch I ate the leftover mix for the deviled eggs.
 Almond milk

At the Super Bowl party I had some of my soup, fruit, deviled eggs, 2 chicken wings with a dry rub, 3 meat balls, and some water. I would assume the meatballs sauce was not Paleo so I limited myself to 3 instead of 646119 like I wanted because they were delicious!!!

Feb. 2
Breakfast-smoothie
Almond milk
1/2 scoop of protein powder
canned pumpkin 
 blueberry tea with coconut sugar

The hubby made a recipe that we have for Paleo cup cakes and they are AMAZING! Google Paleo mom cupcakes and you will find them. Easy and delish!
Lunch
paleo cup cake
almonds
skittles ( I have found I have no self control with these beautiful colorful candies so therefore I have bought no more for my kids at school #sorrykids)
turkey slices
pineapple
blueberries
pickle.

Dinner 
pork chops cooked in olive oil seasoned with Pink Himalayan Salt ( PH) and Caribbean Jerk ) CJ)
Broccoli and Cauliflower cooked in coconut oil, salt and Italian seasoning.

Feb. 3
Breakfast
2 eggs
blueberries
water with lemon

Lunch
leftover pork
grapes
Paleo cup cake
sliced peaches

Dinner
Almond milk
Chicken cooked in crock pot with honey, balsamic vinegar, splash of Braggs GF ( gluten free) soy sauce, almond slivers, carrots, tomato, onions, and lemon zest. Added salt

Feb. 4
Breakfast
2 eggs
blueberry tea/ coconut sugar
leftover chicken
blueberries
peaches
water

Lunch
peaches
scoop of cottage cheese ( following the 90/10 aspect of Paleo)
sliced turkey

Snack
peaches
left over chicken

Dinner
Gluten free pizza with black olives and pineapple ( My first grains since Jan. 1st)

Feb. 5
Breakfast
2 eggs over spinach
blueberries
black olives

Lunch
Salmon salad
water with lemon
about 10 chocolate chips

Dinner-soup

steak bits
mild sausage
garlic
beef stock
carrots
cauliflower
pineapple
new potatoes ( diced)
red, yellow, and green peppers
onions
spinach
black olives

Earl  grey Tea before bed

I tried to write down every thing I ate, but of course may have left off a few things. The biggest thing I have noticed is that I am not near as hungry! I am not needing to snack as often. I think because I am not filling my body with sugary food my blood sugar is not going up and down so much. It is staying more regulated so therefore I don't have the crazy hunger I did before. This is not perfectly Paleo, but I knew going in that it would take me a few months to really get the hang of this. I try to eat Protein at every meal, veggies and fruit daily, and good complex carbs once a day. I hope this helps a tiny bit for those of you who have asked to join me at the dinner table! This is tough, but I will not go back because the benefits are so worth it! I can tell when I eat processed things because my joints hurt! When I eat gluten I am miserable! I am so glad I finally made the choice to just do it and I feel CONFIDENT that God has helped me through this! I saw with those darn skittles that my self control is not great!

Melinda

Grocery shopping

So this is my first post on this blog and eventually I will get to the back story and what lead me to Paleo, but today I want to focus on grocery shopping! When you are just starting out with a gluten free or paleo life style it can be super overwhelming trying to decide what to eat and buy! April 10, 2014 the day after I was diagnosed with my 2nd autoimmune disease I decided to go Gluten free. I will explain more about all of that at a later date.  I knew it would be hard because I had considered it several times since my Hashimoto's diagnosis 4 years earlier. January 1, 2015 was my first day of Paleo and so far so good!
    So I do 99% of my shopping at Aldi's with the exception of dog food, toilet paper, and the few items I may not find at Aldi's. I am going to list what I bought at the store and how much I spent.
Meats
2 packs of ground beef each at 2.38lbs 80/20
Center cut pork chops
Country Style Pork Ribs
Chicken Tenderloins ( all natural)
Sliced Turkey breast
Sliced Black Forest Ham
Canned
2-20oz pineapple chunks
2-15oz mandarin oranges
2-6oz large pitted olives
2-15oz all natural pumpkin
2-15.25oz sliced peaches
2-12.5oz white premium chunk chicken breast
2-24oz pasta sauce
1-24oz kosher dill spears
Cold
All natural almond milk
2-8oz sharp chunk chedder cheese
2 dozen eggs
Vitamin D milk
16oz pork sausage
Produce 
6-Lemons
2-bags of apples
3-tomatoes
mushrooms
Bag of red potatoes
Blue berries
Broccoli
Spinach 
Miscellaneous
2-Individual natural applesauce (6each)
Beef Broth
Disinfecting Wipes
All natural almonds 12oz
Penne Gluten Free pasta 16oz
Whole Cashews-Roasted with Honey 10oz *these are not gluten free* I realized after I got home
Pitted Dates 8oz
Generic Capri Suns
Bag of chips for schools ( 20 small bags)

All of that awesome food was only 130.69!!! This was without coupons all except the cashews is gluten free!  Be sure to check out my next post for what meals we had. Great to have the food, but doesn't help much if you can't come up with food to eat. :)
Here are some pictures from this week's shopping trip. Today I spent 161.35.
This is most of the food. The cold stuff and milk has been put away.

 This is the produce I got.

 Here is the meat for this week. Chicken, fish, pork chops, sausage, and sliced ham for school lunches.

 Check out all of this fruit!! Bananas, strawberries, oranges, 2 bags of apples, kiwi, and blueberries!!

 Each can of fruit is only .89! I rinse it off before we eat it to eliminate the syrup in comes in.

 5 cartons of eggs people! Five!!

 So there you have it one week's worth listed and a some pictures posted from today's trip. Don't forget to check back for the meals I made!