I’m so excited to post about my recent experience Paleo Pen Pals! They match you up with another member of the Paleo community which provides such a fun interaction with someone you don’t know! Basically, all you have to mail each other a Paleo ingredient and make a recipe from it! I remember having pen pals in grade school and being so giddy when I would receive a letter from them. This giddiness was felt again when I received my Paleo ingredient from Tanya at Feed the Clan 🙂 Her recipe using the star anise that I sent her is here.
I was pretty nervous to do this because, while I love sharing recipes, I haven’t exactly really created many on my own. Sure, I’ve deviated from other recipes by adding or changing some ingredients, but I haven’t really come up with anything from scratch. After stressing out about this (#firstworldproblems), I realized that maybe I can still tweak something I know about. After all, isn’t that how people come up with some recipes in the first place?
So…here is what Tanya sent me:
Hatch Red Chile Infused Honey
Tanya told me the Hatch Red Chile Infused Honey was from a local source in her area, which I loved! I was so excited to see how I could use this in a recipe! When I tasted it, I was reminded of the red chili powder that my mom often used in her many delicious Gujarati (state in India) dishes. I’m not sure if it’s very different from what we get at the supermarket in the states, but that was my experience with it. So basically, this powder was infused into honey and was quite yummy 🙂
I had some home-grown cabbage at home, and my mom had brought some beautiful purple and white carrots from a farmer’s market. So I decided to make a Spiced Honey Sautéed Cabbage and Carrots based off a Gujarati dish I ate growing up. Usually, my mom never added any type of sweetener or carrots, so I was curious about how this would taste. This recipe can also be made without the carrots.
Spiced Honey Sautéed Cabbage and Carrots
1.5 tbsp coconut oil
1 cup shredded carrots
3 cups shredded cabbage
2.5 tsp Hatch Red Chile Infused Honey
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp sea salt
Dry roast the mustard seeds in a pan until they pop – this increases the mustard flavor in the dish. (You can also add sesame seeds to this if you’d like). Heat oil in another pot or wok, and add mustard seeds and turmeric. Let it sizzle for a little bit so it’s mixed in well. Add cabbage and carrots. Mix this thoroughly so the turmeric covers the cabbage and carrots completely. Add the honey. Then cover until the cabbage is cooked but still a little crisp – about 10 min. Add salt.
Finished product!
And VOILA! You are done. At first, I didn’t feel like I tasted the chile flavor. And it still isn’t as strong as my mom’s, but the point is that it didn’t NEED to be spicy. What’s really cool is that the honey flavor really makes it yummy and the spicy kick comes at the end. This can be a great side dish with any meal. You can also add some chicken, pork, or beef to this dish as well. I’ve never done it, but I think it would be really great!
I hope you enjoyed my first real recipe 🙂 Paleo Pen Pals was such a fun experience that pushed me to be creative. I will definitely be doing it again!
No, I’m not re-launching my site or anything yet, but as my thoughts and experiences with my health journey evolve through the way I eat, move, and think, my vision for “Cutting the Cheese” has evolved as well.
Initially, my thought was to create a blog name that would be refer to Paleo and also be punny. I think I succeeded. I do have to give credit to a close friend that helped me out, so thank you Jasmy 🙂 Cheese is something I LOVE, so I thought it was a perfect fit! However, as I learned more about Paleo, I realized that, yes, in the strictest sense, dairy isn’t “allowed”. But, as time went on, I stopped thinking of Paleo as a diet of restriction, and I started to see it as using food for nourishment. So, given this change, I started introducing dairy in my meals. While I do feel some effects from dairy, I am unaffected in moderation. So, I haven’t always had to “cut the cheese” out of my diet…however, that doesn’t mean I haven’t had to do it figuratively 😉
As I have I started looking at Paleo from a different perspective, I decided to re-brand my blog through a different lens. I believe most of us know what “Cutting the Cheese” means as an idiom. If not, feel free to find out here. The the meaning is funny in the sophomoric sense that many hate to love. It provokes laughter with a bit of discomfort – literally and figuratively 🙂
Recently, I started a Facebook page to go along with my blog. I tend to post a few times a day to this page by sharing some personal experiences as well as sharing information that I find helpful from other blogs/pages. Sometimes I share recipes or just general information about the Paleo way of eating. However, as I have mentioned before, I do see Paleo as a lifestyle. At the same time, I see eating processed foods and treating certain physical ailments with drugs, and not nutrition, as a lifestyle too. Paleo aside, I feel there are obvious sociopolitical conflicts that serve to profit companies that the modern world just accepts. This makes me uncomfortable…very uncomfortable. I didn’t want to believe it. I don’t want to believe it. But I have to believe it. The Food Pyramid, FDA guidelines, GMO’s, yadda yadda are all politically and economically motivated and most of us either want to ignore it, minimize it, or simply believe that the government and big food companies have our best interests at heart. As an individual, I cannot solely change the current political, economic, or food systems. However, it would be silly for me to not recognize the motivation and manipulation of these systems. If everyone realized how they were being manipulated, they would probably be uncomfortable.
Another area I have felt passionate about is self-love when it comes to body image and what we think about ourselves. I have definitely struggled with body image in many ways that I hope to share in future posts. In the past couple months, I have been able to move past a lot of my insecurities and get to a point where not only do I love myself and my body more than before, but I have also realized that I was making excuses about why I didn’t think I was insecure in the first place. Again, this was uncomfortable. Loving who I am, as I am, is uncomfortable. Do I have a Victoria’s Secret model body? NO. Have I lost as much weight as I would have initially liked? NO. A year ago, these answers would have made me very uncomfortable. But, I’m happy to say, that I’m much more happy in my skin, as is, than before. Does that mean I don’t want to lose weight or that I don’t think I would be as attractive if I lost more weight? No, not at all. My priorities have just changed. My goal is health first, and, as Jason Seib says, to look “hot by accident”.
Lastly, I have started to make some changes in my daily routine to include meditation, prayer, and asking for help when I feel I need support in my life. Stress management is a huge part of lifestyle and if affects our bodies immensely. Here is a great summary about stress and adrenal fatigue: The Real Deal On Adrenal Fatigue by Robb Wolf. Making changes to daily habits is difficult. After all the Merriam-Webster definition of a habit is “a usual way of behaving : something that a person does often in a regular and repeated way”. So making changes in our busy, stress-filled lives, especially to slow down and let go of certain outcomes through mediation, prayer, or what have you, is hard and uncomfortable, but it is also very beneficial. I’m not talking about being a yogi and sitting on a mountain in lotus position. These are changes you can make throughout the day in the comfort of your home, but, to do so, priorities have to change.
I’m evolving/re-branding this blog by pushing through uncomfortable barriers and becoming more aware, accepting, and comfortable being uncomfortable! I still do plan to post recipes, etc to have some balance and fun 🙂
Enjoy and feel free to comment about this change!
My birthday is Friday (yay!), and I wanted to do a giveaway to celebrate 🙂 I was trying to think of the best thing to offer you all, and I realized I needed to go back to my roots…my Paleo roots that is 🙂 So…I’m going to give away a copy of It Starts with Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig, which outlines how to do a Whole30 which I did last year. This book literally changed my life, inspired me to start this blog, and has gone so far as to inspire me to learn more about biochemistry, permaculture, meditation, and farming practices! (WHOA!) And this all comes from a person that grew up in the suburbs of Chicago! Now, Dallas and Melissa clearly state that the basis for the book is health, not necessarily the ancestral/paleolithic way of thinking. So if you’re not interested in that angle, which is fine, this book is still a great way to think differently about your overall health.
So please hop on over to my Facebook page, Cutting the Cheese, like it, and comment on my giveaway post. This contest ends on Friday, 9/6 at 10pm CST!
Tonight I’m leaving for London and Paris for a couple weeks! I’m so blessed to go on this trip and see a dear friend (the one who wrote this awesome post) get married, meet family, and simply enjoy different parts of the world! I’m hoping to document some things and perhaps learn some food related ideas about each place while I’m there as well.
How will I stay Paleo on this trip? Well, it will probably be hard as vacations are usually opportunities where I have failed. However, I have equipped myself with some trail mix and grass-fed beef jerky from Gourmet Grassfed Meat! I’m bringing these with me on the plane to snack on as well. I’ll just do the best I can, and, most importantly, enjoy my time 🙂
Paleo Snacks!
I also wanted to talk about some changes about the content of this blog. Somewhat deeper thoughts have been entering my mind through various forms of social media, personal life experiences, and discussions with friends. This includes food policy, emotions and eating, the female body image, etc. I definitely have some ideas about these topics, some that have been expressed before, and, perhaps, some new ones. I will say this now and again when I write these posts: I am not an expert in..well…anything! This is purely a journey of learning that I thoroughly enjoy. Prove me wrong, challenge me, I welcome it 🙂 Getting my ideas out there helps me to grow and, hopefully, allows my readers (or maybe just 1 reader at least? hehe) to get a different perspective as well.
Aritey, that’s all folks…see you in a few weeks!
Well I did my abbreviated version of a Whole30 with success. It’s been almost a year since I did my first (and only) Whole30, and I forgot (and was reminded) of some things.
1. Eating out. One lesson I was reminded of was how hard it is to eat out! Regardless of the quality of meat restaurants use, one thing that really gets me is the oils they are probably using. I’m usually too skittish to ask, but I’m guessing most restaurants don’t use Organic Extra Virgin Cold-Pressed Coconut Oil. I guess that might seem like I am really snobby, however, I feel that I have good reason to be picky about this. Also, it is very likely that there might be hidden sugars in food. The best bet is to order a salad, dressing on the side (or request olive oil and balsamic). On many instances, I did eat prior to eating out since I knew I might be limited. I learned that even though I’m afraid, I do need to ask questions when eating out.
2. I love sugar! I really do, well maybe just my brain does (same thing?). The first couple days were pretty challenging in this regard, however, after that it wasn’t too difficult. Fruit provided a perfect sugar fix that didn’t make me feel like total crap afterwards.
3. Variety exists! When I started this journey last year, it was difficult for me to think about variety. In the past year, I have experimented with different types of meat and seasonings, and variety is much more common for me. I have experimented with vegetables like chard, bok choy, kale, etc instead of sticking to lettuce and spinach. I experimented with lamb and pork, which I was very frightened of last year.
4. I feel great. That is a given. I knew I’d feel fabulous when I did this, even though it was only 7 days. My stomach felt at ease, I slept well, my sinus problems reduced, and I didn’t wake up feeling fat 🙂 The funny thing is that even though I can afford to lose a few more pounds, it wasn’t my main goal. It was an added benefit, but I’m so glad I am less focused on this aspect. As one of my favorite podcasters Jason Seib from the Everyday Paleo Lifestyle & Fitness podcast says “Healthy by choice, hot by accident” 🙂
This goes to show that doing something like this, even for a short time, really proves that changes in diet can impact health and happiness. If I did this longer, it would have made even more of a difference!
I do want to do a Whole30 again before the end of the year. I’m thinking I will do it the month of my birthday (September), so stay tuned 🙂
So…that might sound kinda weird right? Isn’t the Whole30 for 30 days? Well it is, but many people change it up after they have actually done a Whole30. I’m choosing 7 days because I know next weekend I will be in some situations where it’s inappropriate for me to eat meat, and, I really just need to do something right now.
So my Whole7 starts TODAY, and I really think it will give me a jump start. While I have mainly stuck to my new eating lifestyle, I have been sneaking in sweets here and there. A couple days ago, I went a little too overboard, and I felt awful at night and when I woke up – physically and mentally. Now I have the tools to help me in these situations as opposed to just feeling sorry for myself!
I just wanted to get my new commitment out in the blogosphere to keep myself accountable! Who knows, it might become a Whole8, 9, 21??? For now I will commit to a week and see how I feel.
That’s it for now!
Before I left for India, I wanted to experiment with a juice cleanse. The Dailey Method sells the BluePrintCleanse, so I read some of their reviews and testimonials online. I was a little worried because, well…can juice really give you all the nutrients you need?? Deep down, before I tried it, I didn’t think so. However, I needed something to get back to where I was – I needed to not crave sugar, and doing it on my own wasn’t really working. I was eating so badly after I got back from India. I definitely took a few trips to the grocery store and bought a whole box of Andes Mints and ate all of them. Yes…you read that right. I ate all of them. On more than one occasion. Yikes! I was definitely in a bad place.
So I went for it. The site was pretty easy to navigate and ordering was easy. There are 3 “levels” of cleanses: easy, medium, and hard (those are my words, not theirs). I chose the “medium” route, doing their Foundation Cleanse for 3 days. At first, I was thinking of doing 5 days, but I was a little scared of not eating for that long. Everyday, I was to have 6 juices. For the Foundation Cleanse, the order of juices everyday was as follows: (1) Green Juice (2) P.A.M – Pineapple, Apple, Mint (3) Green Juice (4) Spicy Lemonade (5) Green Juice (6) Cashew Milk. The nutrition facts are here.
I did this back in February, but I took pretty good notes of how I felt. So here goes:
Day 1:
I started the day off with some warm water, which they recommended. Then I had the Green Juice around 8:15 am. It was actually pretty easy to get down, which was nice since this was the greenest and likely the most nutritious of all the juices. I figured if I could get that down, everything would be pretty easy. In between my first and second juices, I had some water. Around 10:45 am, I felt hungry again. At 11:00 am, I had my P.A.M. THis was absolutely delicious! Around 12:30pm I had some green tea, which was also allowed, which held me over until 2:00 pm. That is when I had the green juice. At 3:30 pm, I had some more green tea. Juice #5, Spicy Lemonade was really good and it had a great kick. I had that around 5:20 pm. Around 7:00 pm, I had the green juice again with 1/4 of an avocado – which was also allowed. At 8:20 pm, I had my last juice, the cashew milk. Timing was pretty close to the previous one, but I had it because I was supposed to finish my juice for an hour or 90 minutes before I went to bed (I forget, and I can’t find it on the website). The cashew milk was awesome. It was pretty thick, especially towards the end, but I’m surprised I liked it because I’m not the biggest cashew fan. It had cinnamon in it, which was great!
The best part of the first day is that I wasn’t hungry at all! At that time, I was feeling that I could do it for 5 days if I wanted. However, I did do a good job of prepping beforehand by not eating really crappy.
However, I did have a dream that night that I accidentally ate some real food, hehe.
Day 2
I won’t get into as much detail here, but overall the day went pretty well. I did a better job of spacing my juices out. After having Juice #4, Spicy Lemonade, I was really starting to crave the texture of real food.
I did feel hungrier that day, however, I was drinking less water.
Day 3
I started my day a little later, so I was a bit worried that I was going to have to rush things. Again, after drinking the Spicy Lemonade, I started craving texture. I was also tired and had some headaches. And let’s just say what was going in was definitely coming out. By this point, I was ready to be done with the cleanse.
I lost about 4 lbs on the cleanse, which was nice. However, I did gain some back after I started eating again, which made sense based on calories. I was actually surprised that the first day was my best day in terms of how I felt. I had read the opposite in most reviews.
I’m happy to say, though, that the BluePrintCleanse did help me to rid myself of sugar and processed foods to get back on a Paleo-ish track, which was my main reason for doing it in the first place.
I would love to hear what you guys think of my experience!
I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I have blogged! This past month has been pretty crazy with more going on at work and prepping for my trip to India! Yes…that’s right! In one week, I will be on a plane heading to India with my family. I’m VERY excited about this trip. I have been to India four times in the past, but I’m really excited about this trip because I will be meeting a lot of my husband’s family and my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and three beautiful nephews are coming as well! I’ve never traveled to India with them before (I haven’t gone with my husband yet either), so it should be a lot of fun 🙂
How does this all play into my health plan? Well…the past month’s activities have, unfortunately, cut into my personal journey towards better health. I haven’t really lost any weight. I probably gained a little bit, but that’s not even what I care that much about. I kind of just lost sight of things because…well…life is hard to balance. The changes I’ve had at work were great for my work life. However, this came at a cost of not being able to go to The Dailey Method as much because I was now working during the classes I usually attended. Since I have focused so much on those classes, I didn’t put much of an effort towards doing anything at home. In terms of food, well…I have definitely tried to keep it up, but let’s just say that I had a lot of dessert at a wedding reception last night! My will and Paleo decision-making has someone gone down the drain. One reason I haven’t been beating myself up too much about it is because it will be impossible to live up to my Paleo lifestyle in India. None of my relatives eat meat, and eating it going to be very central to the trip. Let’s just say that family in India LOVE to feed you. I’m going to enjoy this, however, I’m also going to make sure I feel satisfied rather than full. I also didn’t want to do Paleo for the past few weeks and then totally shock my system when I’m in India when I will inevitably be eating a lot of grains and carbs.
Anywho…one thing this past month has taught me is that balance, while very important, is very hard! That doesn’t mean I’m giving up though! I have always said this is a journey. My weight loss is not going to be perfect, life isn’t perfect. The great thing about this is all the great lessons I learn about myself in the process. I am trying to keep a positive outlook, because a positive MIND is what is going to help me with my healthy lifestyle.
In the next week before I head to India, I’m going to eat a “regular” diet with grains, carbs, etc. I am still going to avoid processed food. One question I’m going to ask myself is “Am I really hungry?” I read a lot about this concept from the book Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program that Works by registered dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. This is a great book about our hunger signals. I have noticed that my hunger signals can mean a few things: I’m thirsty; I’m bored; I’m stressed; or I really am hungry. I’m going to evaluate myself before making these decisions. I am usually pretty satisfied throughout the day when I start my day by drinking 10 to 20 oz of water and continuing to drink water all day. So, I think this will be the best way for me to eat this week and while I’m in India as well.
So, there ya have it! I plan to post that Pre-Made Paleo review I promised a few months ago before I leave! Sorry for slacking on that.
What can I say? I’ve been slacking on the blogging. I’ve been slacking on working out 5 times a week. I haven’t updated my Pounds and Inches page in 2 months! I am a slacker!
Hopefully this post will put an end to this 🙂 The good news is that I’ve been losing more pounds and inches. I realized that working out 5 times a week is really difficult. I can do it, but I tend to be really tired by the end of the week when I do. If I’m not in bed by 10:30pm, then it’s really hard for me to wake up early and workout. While I definitely think I need to not make excuses, there is actually a lot of research that talks about how sleep is more important than working out due to hormonal activity that is tied to appetite. In fact, losing sleep in order to workout could lead to weight gain because there is a hormonal imbalance which causes us to crave sugary, high-carb foods. Here’s one article that explains this concept. I know the difference between, “I went to sleep at 11pm and waking up at 5:30am stinks”, and “I have gotten 4 hours a sleep and my eyes are burning”. I don’t workout if the latter is true. So this means that lately, I have been working out around 3-4 times a week, and I no longer feel bad about it! I feel really good, and I’m still losing pounds and inches…which brings me to…
My Pounds and Inches page? Well, I have to be honest. After I finished my first Whole30, I went back to my old ways a little bit. With that, I gained some of my weight back, and I just “got lazy” and didn’t post it. Yes, I was embarrassed. I was also a little annoyed because, eventually, I started to get back on track and my scale was starting to be really inconsistent, as in, I would weigh myself, and I gained 10 lbs in one day. Hmmm, not only did I not like the number, but it was clearly ridiculous. Then I realized that I’m working with a pretty ancient scale, so I decided to order a fancy new one. This picture is a great example of what I was dealing with before…and after. My old scale was at my parents house, and they gave it to me…as you can see, I really needed an upgrade!
The day I stepped on my new scale by EatSmart (isn’t she a beauty?), I made an interesting discovery. I was 3 lbs lighter compared to my old scale! This was great, in a way. However, I no longer really know how accurate my pounds are on my page since I was using my older scale. Thankfully, I am also tracking inches lost, and my tape measure is accurate (I think, hehe). I was trying to think of a way to resolve this since it probably has been somewhat inaccurate the whole time. I decided to keep this simple and just continue to log my weight and not change my previous weight. However, I am going to make a notation around 10/4/12, which is around when I bought the new scale. So, as you can see now, Pounds and Inches is updated 🙂 I have been continue to lose pounds and inches slowly but surely!
So yes, I have been slacking. I guess, like anything, this blog is going to have its peaks and valleys. But now it’s time to get back on track! Even when I’m not writing here, I am always thinking about how this blog makes me accountable to myself and to you!
What’s coming up? I’m going to blog more about my Pre-Made Paleo experience. Also, I have a dear friend that is going to write a guest blog, so I’m really excited about that! Stay tuned 🙂
Thankfully, I have kept to my goal from my last post to attend Dailey Method classes 5 days a week! However, I definitely did a lot of overindulging the week of and weekend after my birthday. It is what it is, and, while I’m not happy I did it, it made me realize how far I have come. Even though I overdid it, I was easily able to get back into the groove of things the following week. Before, I would have just given up or found another sweet substitute for the sweets I really wanted. So, that’s that! I’m back into the Whole30 groove with an occasional indulgence 🙂
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a workshop at The Dailey Method about taking your practice to the next level. It was taught by Natalia, who I remember from when I took my first classes back in 2010. She has been teaching these classes for three years, and she is great! She always has a big smile on her face and gives great detailed instruction. Here is some of her background, taken from The Dailey Method site:
Originally from Puerto Rico, Natalia began training in ballet at age 4. She continued her training throughout high school and into college at the University of Illinois, where she discovered modern dance. She currently lives in Chicago where she dances with the Leopold Group modern dance company and works as a dance teacher, in addition to her work as a fitness instructor. She teaches modern dance at the North Suburban School of Dance, and is a teaching artist for the Joffrey Ballet’s Community Engagement Program. Natalia began taking classes at the Dailey Method in December 2008, and began teaching in March 2009. She is very excited to be a part of the Dailey Method family, and to be doing what she loves!
It was challenging to take pictures from my phone and take notes while trying to participate in the workshop, but I tried my best! I definitely learned a lot which has helped me this week during classes. The running “theme” throughout the workshop was the importance of form, especially for the back muscles. During class, I always hear teachers talking about engaging the rhomboids and serratus anterior muscles in the back…I knew they were muscles in the back, but I didn’t realize how important it is to strengthen them. These muscles pull the shoulder blades/scapula down and back, which helps with opening the chest and gives us better posture. Here’s a great diagram:
I am definitely a sloucher…when I stand, while I sit (I just corrected myself while typing now, hehe), and also sometimes when at The Dailey Method! I thought I always had my shoulder blades back and down like I am always instructed, but there were a few positions I wasn’t doing so. One of those positions is the plank! I didn’t realize how much I “slouched” and brought my shoulders forward instead of back with planking. Natalia talked about how important it is to engaged the back muscles because this works the back instead of being rigid and going into the neck. When the strain is no longer in the neck, the abdominals work harder as well! Everything is connected 🙂 Here’s a pictures of Natalia teaching while someone demonstrates a doing a plank with the shoulders in the correct position:
Here is Natalia demonstrating downward dog incorrectly (top) and correctly (bottom). Here, it is easy to see the difference in the shoulder placement.
Not only does this work the serratus anterior to strengthen your back, but it also strengthens the Achilles, stretches your calves and hamstrings. Natalia gave a great visual to help make sure your shoulders are in the correct position: Pretend you are opening two jars with your hands without moving them. It might sound silly, but it worked for me!
I also learned my Low C Curve position can be so hard for me as opposed to High C Curve. I have a very short torso, so it’s hard for me to reach my thighs without straining my neck when I’m so low to the ground. I’m really glad I learned this because I was beginning to think something was wrong with me! I was happy to learn that I am A-OK 🙂
High C Curve (I don’t have a pictures of Low C Curve, but it is where your back is lower, but your shoulder blades are still off the ground. Basically your arms are stretched out more.)
One thing Natalia kept emphasizing throughout the workshop was that all of our bodies are different in terms of shape, flexibility, muscle tightness, etc. Some positions are easier and harder for some of us than others. We need to find what works best for us as individuals! This was a key takeaway for me. The instructors always say this in class as well. However, even though I know I shouldn’t compare myself to others, it’s hard not to while I see others class do complicated movements while they are holding a plank. However, when I focus on myself, my form is better, I become stronger, and I get better!
Overall, the workshop was very clarifying and reinforced why I go to The Dailey Method! Great instruction, impeccable form, and an amazing workout. Period.
Cutting the Cheese 
