What do I eat?

I recently began regularly sharing my dinners on Instagram, and have received encouraging and positive feedback. I wanted to share my easy paleo meal ideas on the blog.

I don’t cook gourmet feasts every night, but I do enjoy cooking and eating! I use simple ingredients and jazz them up with my 25 paleo flavor hacks.

I’m also a fan of batch cooking, although I’ve been doing less of it recently. Here is my Week of Batch Cooking + Recipes post.

 My meal principles

Here are the general principles I follow – it’s what works for my body!

– I follow a modified Autoimmune Paleo Diet. I avoid the foods that my body doesn’t tolerate: grains, dairy (with the exception of ghee), nightshades, chicken eggs, refined sugar, and concentrated sweeteners. I enjoy vegetables, some fruit, high quality protein, and healthy fats. I was able to recently introduce duck eggs and macadamia nuts, too!

– Cook once, eat twice. I usually make double portions so I can enjoy the same meal for breakfast or dinner the next day.

– Veggies take center stage. Liberal servings of (preferably seasonal) vegetables feel substantial and keep my digestive tract happy.

– Dark leafy greens at least once – usually twice – a day. I prefer buying bunches of kale, chard, and spinach. However, when I’m in a pinch for time, I will reach for a container of pre-washed organic baby kale or baby spinach.

– Rotate high-quality proteins. Those with autoimmunity should give extra attention to rotating foods, since they are suceptible to developing food sensitivities. I try to rotate my proteins frequently. For example, I don’t want to eat beef every day of the week. I do a combination of wild seafood and pasture-raised meats.

– Finding a balance with carbohydrates. I believe everyone needs to tweak their carb intake to suit their body type and health concerns. One of my ongoing and puzzling health challenges is insulin resistance, but I don’t want to do a very low-carb or ketogenic diet. I usually eat 2-3 servings of carbohydrate per day, and a “serving” would be something like an apple or small sweet potato.

 – Often 2 large meals per day. To support my digestion and blood sugar, I tend to eat two large meals rather than three smaller meals – I have a later breakfast and an earlier dinner. This also saves me the time of preparing lunch, and I can spend more time preparing these two meals. I don’t snack, but if I get hungry between meals I’ll reach for an Epic bar or olives or something like that.

Paleo Meal Ideas

Soup made with blended zucchini, broccoli, and chicken broth, topped with shredded chicken (this crockpot chicken recipe) + raspberries with coconut whipped cream + sauteed baby kale

Over-easy duck egg with smoked sea salt, sauteéd spinach, fresh crab meat (a splurge, but so worth it)

Burger made with beef and a dried herb blend + mashed cauliflower + sauteéd chard + baked Japanese sweet potato

Wild king salmon with crispy skin + sundried olives (available here – they are out of this world!) + cauliflower mash + (not pictured) green apple slices with cinnamon

Halibut baked with dijon mustard + crispy kale + roasted parsnips

Smoked salmon + steamed asparagus + sauteed chard + Steve’s Paleo Goods ginger dressing + (pictured below) apple with coconut butter

Sardine salad with canned wild anchovies + Primal Kitchen Mayonnaise (it’s made with avocado oil and is available at Thrive for the best price) + truffle salt. I don’t remember what I had for the rest of this meal. Note that the mayo contains eggs.

Other meals I recently ate but didn’t photograph (this post is now more than a week’s worth of meals):

Ground lamb burger + sauteéd shitake mushrooms + roasted green beans + sweet potato

Cream soup made with carrots, fennel and coconut milk + leftover lamb burger + frozen blueberries

Butter lettuce salad with vinagrette + Bison Epic Bar (best price available at Thrive Market) + tangerine (I only had a few minutes to make it)

Scrambled duck eggs + roasted parsnips + sauteéd spinach

Applegate Organic Chicken Apple Sausage + baked kabocha squash with ghee

It doesn’t have to be complicated!

I wanted to show you that nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory meals can be varied and tasty, but still  simple to prepare. Hopefully this inspires you in the kitchen. Follow me on Instagram to see more of my meals!