Back to Nature Diet Plan

Thank you for the blog request, Patrick! The Paleo Diet could and would work for most people.... For sure a fabulous recommendation of topics and diet regimes. However, without even purchasing a book on the topic or reading too much into the diet plan I think it's safe to say: shop along the perimeter of the grocery store and do not eat anything that comes in a wrapper, package or anything shiny. Really when you think about it the food we are meant to eat: fruits, veggies, meat, chicken, fish, whole grains, dairy, etc... All of these foods are caveman foods. Foods that have been available since the beginning of time. Soda, chemicals, processes foods, packaged items, all the foods that manufacturers make a killing on are a relatively new phenomenon. One of my brilliant University of Georgia Food Science professors once said, "Never eat anything your great Grandma would not recognize!". Now that is good, noble advice. The population during that generation was so busy working with their bodies that they had to have good, solid nutrients to keep their bodies running like finely tuned machines. If someone gave a farmer a Poptart that farmer would not only have no clue what it was but he would not want the quick, short lived, quickly burned and wasted energy it provided. Processed foods are easy, quick and convenient. But so are the healthy ones if given 5 minutes of prep time. Today I had an appointment during lunchtime and I knew I would not be near a food source if I were to get hungry. I quickly grabbed one of my pre packaged bags of celery from the fridge. Then when I was in the car (I always keep healthy snacks in the car!) I added 1/2 cup roasted edamame to the Baggie and had a fabulous little snack! A very wise man often says to me, "if you can predict it then you can avoid it". If you know that you are typically hungry around 12 noon and you will not be near your kitchen then grab some healthy alternatives from your kitchen. Do not ever rely on fast food or packaged convenience foods to give you the clean burning fuel you need to keep going and moving the way you want. And please realize that canned items like sodas, coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew and the like are useless calories taking up space in an otherwise empty canvas of a stomach. Think about it this way..... How strange would it be to see a monkey or gorilla at the zoo drinking a Mountain Dew or eating a packaged item. It would never happen! But they are cousins of ours... We feed them vegetables, fruits, whole grains and the quality foods that we need to keep our bodies moving and performing the way we need and expect. Do yourself a favor and be sure to create your own food plan where you only eat real foods that can be purchased typically on the outer perimeter of grocery stores. Real foods that will give you the real energy you need and crave! Paleo diet has some wonderful recipes and fabulous guidelines for sure. The back to basics mentality being the most important aspect of it all. Let me know what new recipes you find and new snacks you are trying. We all have one chance at life......deciding to live healthfully is truly a lifelong process but every day it is worth it! You can do it!

Super Hummus

Oh my gosh! I have missed writing to all of you out in Internet land. It has been a very busy few weeks for me and my family. Our trip to Kentucky was a lot of fun...it is safe to say we enjoyed every minute. I loved cooking for my sister and Mom while my wonderful, beautiful, sweet nieces played with my 3 cuties.

Cooking is such an art form that many times I feel like I have cheated if I rush through it but that is the reality many nights with 3 hungry little bird mouths chirping loudly for their food. But today I had a good 15 minutes in which to prepare my lunch. After looking in the cabinets and refrigerator I quickly realized I didn't have much to work with. You will not believe this but I have not had salsa in at least 3 days...I know...the jitters will probably start soon, right?! So my favorite ingredient was out of the running for my lunch but then I spied a gorgeous can of organic Garbanzo Beans and decided to make hummus to go with the sparse selection of cut up vegetables I have left in the fridge (it is time to go to the grocery but I will save that for tomorrow...Trader Joe's morning!). I have been on a yellow mustard kick and you know how much I love nutritional yeast so I just started mixing it all up and created a hummus that I really liked. It is very different with the nutritional yeast added but that kicks the protein up another notch making the hummus even healthier!

Here is the recipe for Bikini Lady's Super Power Hummus:

1 Can Garbanzo Beans (or Chick Peas depending on where you are from ;-)

1 T yellow mustard

Garlic and lots of it (but I was out of fresh....a travesty I know) I used 1t garlic powder

1/8 t garlic salt (just 1 tiny shake really)

2 T nutritional yeast

water from garbanzo bean can (save from draining)

Directions:

Drain garbanzo beans and reserve the drained garbanzo bean can water. Rinse the beans. Put the beans and all other ingredients except the water from the can into your blender or food processor. Add the drained water 1 T at a time until you get the consistency you desire. I like my hummus teetering on the thick side since I like it to stay on my celery when I dip. Pulse or blend the mixture until thoroughly mixed and all the garbanzo beans are completely chopped up into a paste. Enjoy with any cut up veggies you have on hand. My favorites are celery, any color pepper and cut up cucumbers. Yummy and made from foods I had in my kitchen.