4.1 Potato

The decision to loosen my Paleo diet could not be working any better; last night I had salmon, broccoli, carrots and POTATOES or if you're Paleo then you probably know potatoes as 'the devil.' I LOVE potatoes and I feel so much better after having them for dinner, I genuinely can't remember being so full! I had 4 small potatoes and in turn I was satisfied for the rest of the night (plus the whole meals was only 450 cals)!

Normally after a Paleo tea I'm scavenging for food but last night I wasn't. In turn I decided to experiment and make myself an exciting breakfast for the following morning. I didn't fancy another smoothie so instead I made an iced coffee with chocolate flavoured almond milk- it was a dream. To accompany my iced coffee I made an apple sandwich: 

How cute!?

I cut up an apple sideways, cut out the core and added my filling; on the bottom layer I added almond butter and raisins, and the top layer I put a thin coat of almond butter and then covered it with raisins and almond flakes. I then stuffed the core with raisins and sprinkled coconut over the whole thing- VOILA.

I have never felt so content after eating an apple in my life!! (I'm still salivating) 

4.0 Pancakes

Basically... I didn't blog yesterday as I spent the day contemplating what I was going to do... I woke up with a headache that I couldn't shift. I blamed everything wrong with me on the Paleo diet because as of current it is the bane of my life (sorry).

I came to the decision that I can't cope with a strict Paleo lifestyle however I am going to continue eating in a Paleo manner, but without the whole, 'Oh wait I can't eat that, it's not Paleo... instead i'll just sit here and cry over food...' I am going to keep a healthy lifestyle and I'm going to continue with no dairy and minimalise my gluten intake... BASICALLY, I can cope with Paleo food, but not the Paleo frame of mind, it's too much for me and I'm crazy anyway (sorry again).

Now the good news... I made some Paleo snacks!!! 

Paleo pancakes!! 

Basically I have no idea how this actually worked, I researched online for Paleo pancake recipes and realised I didn't own any of the ingredients, therefore I went about making my own recipe... 

• 1 large banana

• 2 eggs

• Almond flour 

• TSP baking powder

• Handful of blueberries 

Okay so I haven't included the measurements for almond flour, because I didn't measure it... To start with I mushed up the banana, and then added all the ingredients (I should be more descriptive but I was so hungry at the time I took no care to record anything).

Can I also point out that almond flour is just ground almonds!! -Those of you who can't find almond flour in the UK and end up pulling your hair out in the supermarkets because they NEVER HAVE ANY... Go to the baking aisle and get some ground almonds, even better go to an Asian food store they have huge bags for penny prices. 

This recipe made 4 big pancakes, I had two for dessert then had 2 for breakfast the morning after. For my breakfast I had the pancakes with strawberries:

TIP - Put the strawberries in the microwave - they turn into a strawberry syrup, tastes naughty even though it's healthy YAY. 

3.0 PaleOH

Last night I had a minor trauma and I decided that I hated the Paleo lifestyle. My dinner didn't fill me up and although I had a house full of food I couldn't eat any of it... In turn I ate a pack of wasabi peas e.g I committed carbicide.... I'm sorry...During my distress I decided to research Paleo snacks - at the time I did this to prove how minimal they were... They aren't. 

So I'm back today and I'm going strong; this was my breakfast: 

Simple; 2 rashers of bacon grilled on the George Forman and a two egg scrambled eggs, minus the milk! Paleo is weird- this meal felt like was I cheating on my diet but in fact it followed exactly the Paleo lifestyle: 18.1g of fat and 2g of carbohydrates! 

For my lunch I had a turkey salad with avocados, olives, tomatoes and lettuce. I have always had salads for lunch so this is easy going...As previously mentioned (opps i'm so annoying- it's all I talk about) the difficulty lies in snacking, I'm going to buy some coconut flour and make myself some treats, maybe then things will become easier... Oh, I'm also going to try and make 'cauli-rice', this way I'm not eating sweet potatoes as a side dish for every meal! Is it wrong to say I hope it doesn't taste like cauliflower.... *sigh*

2.0 Something sweet

A dilemma that I'm facing with the Paleo diet is the lack of sweet snacks, I'm a sweet fiend and I'm struggling with the concept of eating veg sticks and fruit for a snack. For my breakfast I decided to make a sweet smoothie with the hopes of getting sweet cravings out my system for the day (it's nearly 12 and I'm content- so far so good).

If you don't like sweet flavours then this might not be for you: 

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk

• 1 banana 

• 2 TBSP of shredded coconut 

• 1 TBSP honey 

The smoothie contains 275 calories - I get all my nutritional information from MyFitnessPal, add me- evie1992@hotmail.co.uk. 

For my lunch I've made a tuna, avocado and egg salad. I was going to make tuna fish cakes for my lunch but by 9pm last night making a salad was much more appealing. (I make my breakfast and lunch the night before as I work 9-5).

I hope I'm not presenting a Paleo lifestyle as just boring veg, fruit and meat dishes, there's so much more exciting recipes, such as Paleo cakes! For the time being I'm keeping it simple so I can properly get my head around what can and can't be eaten!

1.2 Dinner time

So I'm not planning on documenting every dish I eat but... Here's my third meal of the day.... 

I'm wondering whether I should have even posted that photo because it doesn't look great?.. The weird lump with green bits is white fish flavoured with garlic, spring onions and some chopped up red pepper - It was amazing, finished with spicy sweet potato fries and spinach and mushrooms. Overall the meal contained only 267 calories!

At the time I didn't think the meal was going to fill me up, surprisingly it did, around 9 o clock I became peckish (or some call it greedy). I had two pieces of 85% dark chocolate but it wasn't enough - I'm going to research more snack ideas as I'm finding Paleo snacking difficult - FRUIT IS NOT A SNACK :( !!

1.1 Paleo breakfast

Breakfast has always been my biggest struggle of the day- I'm just not a fan. During sixth form I rarely ate breakfast, occasionally I would have a banana. Once I had started going to the gym I realised I couldn't go without and I began to eat a small amount of scrambled eggs with brown toast in the morning...This temporary breakfast tradition is now over as the Paleo diet does not include gluten and as of current I don't fancy eggs with anything other than bread (I can't yet face eggs and spinach). 

As of a result of this breakfast distress I've decided to take the easy option and have smoothies. After researching smoothie recipes and realising I didn't have the specific ingredients for each concoction I decided to make my own: 

• 1 handful of blueberries 

• 1 medium banana

• 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk 

• TBSP of ground flaxseed 

• TSP of cinnamon 

Although the smoothie looks like grit it genuinely tastes nice and it filled me up for the morning! According to MyFitnessPal the smoothie contains 243 calories - (the Paleo lifestyle does not include calories counting but I just like to know). I also had a coffee with unsweetened almond milk. 

I'll be researching more smoothie recipes and keeping you updated, I'm thinking of making a coffee flavoured smoothie for tomorrow! 

1.

I'm being THAT girl, and I'm starting a fitness/health blog. 

Instead of beginning with weight aims and diet plans I'm going to start with my before and after photos, essentially I'm beginning my blog backwards.

The first photo was taken during Summer  2011 and the second photo is Summer 2012. Within a year I lost around 2 stone - through the combination of healthy eating, no eating and exercise. At present   I'm a couple of pounds heavier (see below) but this time I'm going to shape up properly following a Paleo lifestyle combined with exercise. I'll use this blog as a sort of Paleo diary and track my progress as well as including tips I learn along the way and recipes. 

(Photo from a week ago)