A year and a half ago I was introduced to the concept of eating like a cave woman. At first I thought it was some weird attempt at bad humour and being my stubborn self thought nothing else of it. I was of the old school and practiced “sensibility”, low fat, low calorie and multi grain items were an essential to my lifestyle. When I found out bacon was part of this cave woman thing, I thought this was utter blasphemy and then I did a little bit of digging. I am not the type of person to start anything without thorough research, especially not a complete lifestyle change. After all, this lifestyle change goes completely against the grain (no pun intended) of how I was raised. Being a farm girl, helping with harvest, whether it be weighing pigs when dad was out in the field or bringing a well rounded hearty meal out to the field for the hard working harvesters, grain, wheat and sugar (whether natural or added) were integral to our lives.
Fast forward to now, I have eliminated grains, sugar and dairy from my diet altogether. How I did that could be another article in and of itself, let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. Since Paleo, I hardly get sick and take medications, I feel extremely energized and am able to sustain myself for an entire day, through high stress without crashing. I feel satiated by eating high protein and high good fats (such as coconut oil, avocado, nuts and seeds). If I veer off this and give in to some bread, I am shaking and “hangry” a half hour later because of the extreme insulin spike then crash.
I get asked tons of times, how can you live a Paleo lifestyle and stay within a budget? It’s easy and I would like to share some tips:
1. Purchase your fresh fruits and vegetables for a week at a time. Take the time to cut, wash and prepare for the week including proper storage of these items. Unfortunately, fruits and vegetables are not a convenience food until you make them a convenience food;
2. Purchase fresh fruits and veggies, either locally or through a money conscious vendor such as H & W Produce. They have many locations throughout the city of Edmonton and are well worth the visit. We come out of there with 2 huge boxes full of freggies for well under $40.00!
3. Rather than purchasing meat through a grocery store (which is likely grain fed anyway), at an incredibly inflated price (and the poor farmers hardly see a dime of that money), research local farmers that grass feed and believe in the humane treatment of an animal that will ultimately end up in our guts. Unfortunately it will be a small chunk of change at the outset but if you do the math on what you spend in a grocery store per month and calculate the price of a quarter steer per month, my bet is you save significantly by purchasing bulk. We have recently purchased some items from TK Ranch and highly recommend them (www.tkranch.com). Remember everything that is done and fed to that animal ends up in us.
4. Places like Costco are amazing for things like coconut oil, avocados or Wholly Guacamole (a brand we use to dip vegetables in) and good oils such as avocado oil. We also shop at Costco for almonds, pecans and other nuts. It appears that after a recent visit, Costco has started selling coconut flour in large bags as well.
6. If you are dairy free, we shop at Save-on-Foods ONLY for coconut milk creamer and coconut milk yogurt. They are starting to offer items that Costco does not carry (ie: coconut milk, coconut milk yogurt and creamer).
7. For any other items such as almond meal (we tried to make this ourselves and our food processor does not grind it fine enough), coconut flour and other spices, Bulk Barn is an excellent place to visit.
These are just a few small tips that work well for us. The key is you need to put some time and thought in at the outset. It is so extremely important to remember that you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes to adopt a healthy lifestyle change. Small steps can be taken to improve quality of life. I often run into people who are extremely judgmental of this lifestyle and I silently think, either plan and take pride in what you are putting in your mouth now or plan to put expensive and potent medications in your body because you suffer from preventable illnesses. My wish for you is that you choose the healthier route.
By
Shannon Taylor