FAQ

What is paleo?

Simply put, paleo is about optimizing our health by means of working with, rather than against our bodies.  To achieve this, the paleo lifestyle focuses on areas like diet, movement, toxin avoidance, stress, sleep, relationships, and mindset.  As somebody who loves to cook, I’ll just explain the diet piece of the paleo lifestyle. We don’t have all day.

The diet consists of eating only foods that were believed to be in the original human diet and excludes modern foods that our bodies may not be equipped to digest.  It’s probably more accurate to say that we are eating and eliminating food types rather than specific foods.  After all, how many of those specific plants and animals our ancestors ate are extinct today?  Probably the majority of them.  However, vegetables have always been on the menu!

In general, paleo includes these types of foods:

meat
vegetables (including root vegetables)
fruits
nuts
seeds
natural animal fats
dairy (sometimes)

It excludes these foods:

refined sugar
industrial seed oils
grains
legumes
heavily processed foods
dairy (sometimes)

It’s important to understand that this isn’t the type of diet where you follow a strict set of rules and only eat foods off the “yes list”.  It’s about starting with a really good template and adjusting as necessary to fit your unique body and lifestyle. If you feel like crap, change something or do something else entirely.  Your eating choices should be something you can stick with – not a quick fix 30 day diet.  (Although, something like a 30 day challenge can help you create lasting healthy habits.  I’m not opposed to that at all!)

Why do you eat a paleo diet?

I don’t but I did for a while. I don’t want to give anybody the impression that I’m some sort of expert they can model their eating habits off of. As a matter of fact, I’m one of the last people you’d want to do that with. The truth is, I love paleo foods and recipes because I can almost always eat them.

So why are all of your recipes paleo-friendly if you don’t follow a paleo diet?

Paleo foods are free from a lot of common allergens such as wheat, dairy, corn, and peanuts. I want to recreate recipes that people with such allergies may not be able to eat anymore. By adhering to paleo guidelines, I’ve automatically eliminated several common allergens. I use tags in my recipes to indicate additional allergens they’re free of and other diets the recipes may be compatible with (vegan, Whole 30, etc). I’m hoping to get a filter one day that will allow you to sort through all these tags but I haven’t gotten to that point just yet. In time, my friends!

How did you discover all your food sensitivities and gluten intolerance?

Here’s the short version:

I spent a good portion of my life being sick but never really realized I was sick. Weird, I know. It started around age 9, maybe earlier. I always assumed the way I felt was normal. It seemed like everyone supplied their home medicine cabinets with over-the-counter pain medications like aspirin. They were so commonplace that I never really gave much thought to the Excedrin I took every few hours almost daily in attempt to manage my headaches and joint pain.

My other symptoms (listed under the next question) were an issue too but it was the joint pain that made a particular blog post stand out to me. Now, this was in 2012 and the blog is no longer around but it was basically a woman telling her story about how she no longer has joint pain after giving up grains. This lead to me finally receiving a diagnosis of gluten intolerance which lead to me uncovering all (hopefully) of my food sensitivities which lead to me finally being healthy. Yay!

Aaaand you can continue with the long version if you’re curious:

After reading that woman’s story, I decided to try a grain free diet to see what happened.  Within days, I was amazed to find I had no headache or joint pain.  Not only that, but I had so much energy too!  Not far into my diet, my husband and I were joking around about it.  He pulled an M&M out of a cookie and called it my grain-free dessert.  Within a half hour, I was suddenly sick, miserable, and back to the way I used to feel.  I thought, “sure, there was a little bit of cookie stuck to that M&M but I didn’t really eat any grain.”  I quickly concluded that my diet didn’t work and I just had a few good days by coincidence.

Something kept me thinking about the diet and I gave it another chance.  I noticed that when I made exceptions to the diet with gluten containing grains, I got sick but when I ate gluten free products that contained grain, nothing happened.  That’s when I realized that by eliminating grains, I had inadvertently eliminated gluten too.  My doctor was able to diagnose me with gluten intolerance but wasn’t able to distinguish between celiac disease and non-celiac gluten intolerance because I no longer had gluten in my diet.

At first, I thought I could get away with a gluten free diet but I just didn’t feel as good as when I didn’t eat any grains at all.  Sure, I wasn’t sick but I wasn’t feeling my best either so I decided to stick to a completely grain free diet.  I could eat gluten-free grains as the occasional treat.  A friend mentioned to me that my new diet sounded very similar to something she was doing called “paleo”.  I soon realized that there was an entire group of people who were already aware of what grains can do to our bodies.  My immediate thought was “If they know THAT, what else do they know?!?!”  That’s when I gave the paleo diet and lifestyle a try.

Just like when I eliminated grains, I wanted to see what I could get away with so I began trying different things until I had a clear picture of what foods made me feel good and what foods gave me problems. Once I figured all that out, I began eating whatever I wanted, so long as it didn’t make me feel like crap. Ironically, paleo became a “convenience” diet to fall back on because if I came across a paleo recipe, 99% of the time, I could eat it without issues whereas a gluten free recipe might contain beans, dairy, gf oats, and other foods that are problematic for me.

What happens when you eat gluten?

When I accidentally ingest gluten, every symptom I used to have on a daily basis for years comes back almost immediately and I become sick for the next 5-6 weeks. I won’t bore you with the details. Here’s a quick list of my symptoms:

• headaches
• joint pain
• nausea
• vertigo
• eye inflammation
• psoriasis
• digestive issues (let’s leave it at that)
• constant exhaustion regardless of how much sleep I get
• nosebleeds
• always cold (purple nail beds, no color in lips)
• very high resting heart rate (anywhere between 95 and 115 bpm.  Today it’s around 60-65 bpm.)
• moles and scars would occasionally “flare up” and get red, swollen, and itchy.
• numerous cavities despite excellent oral hygiene.

How strictly do you adhere to your diet?

100%!  Just kidding.  This has really been a complete lifestyle change for me, which means I have to be realistic.  Friends are going to want to eat out with me, Thanksgiving still comes around every year, the husband is going to request pancakes for breakfast on occasion, and the world’s donut supply still needs me to keep it in check.

However, there’s one area where I can’t make exceptions. Like a lot of people, I have to be 100% strict with gluten.  For the rest of my life.  I can’t even eat food a friend makes me because if my food was cross contaminated with even the slightest bit of gluten, I will be sick for about 5-6 weeks.  It’s not worth the risk at all.  If I did take that risk and got sick, I wouldn’t be able to hide that fact from my friend for over a month.  She would feel awful when she found out.  Things seem to work out best when I make my own food or eat food that was made in a dedicated gluten free kitchen.  I used to get sick all the time before I figured this out.  I’m so fortunate to have friends and family that understand that’s what I need to do to stay safe.

Aside from gluten, I pretty much eat whatever I can get away with and still feel good.  I have reactions to corn, gluten free oats, dairy, okra, stevia, other artificial sweeteners, and beans. It’s rare that I’ll eat these foods even in small amounts because they make me feel so awful but when I do, it’s usually because of some social event and I am fully aware and accepting of what the physical consequences will be afterwards.

For example, there is a restaurant that makes pizza in a dedicated gluten free area and it’s the only restaurant around here that I trust to safely prepare my food.  If my somebody wants to go out to eat with me, this is where we go.  I order a 10 inch gluten free pizza with vegan cheese.  After I drain my checking account and take out a small loan to pay the restaurant bill, I am left feeling groggy with painful and swollen joints.  I’m okay with that if it means having a good night out with people I love.  But that’s a personal choice, of course!

Have you lost weight after eliminating all those problematic foods?

No.  As a matter of fact, between my dietary changes and starting CrossFit two years later, I’ve gained 17 pounds after being the same size since age 13 (5’0″, 88 lbs).  I also rapidly lose weight when I accidentally get “glutened” so eliminating gluten from my diet probably played a big role in my weight change. I’ve never tried to manipulate my weight but I was very small to begin with and feel better at this weight.  Maybe I feel better because I gained weight or maybe it’s because I’m healthier and the weight gain was a side effect.  I don’t know.  Regardless, I like how I looked 17 pounds lighter and I like how I look now.  I’m really indifferent to it all and simply want to be feel good and have a body that can keep up with the lifestyle that I want to live.

Will I lose weight by making your recipes?

Probably not but I really have no idea. Although I have an appreciation for nutrition and love learning about it, I don’t claim to practice good nutrition myself. It’s just not a priority in my life right now and I’m 100% okay with that. I don’t try to focus my recipes around nutrition partially because it doesn’t excite me and partially because I don’t want to make any health claims about my recipes. I’m not a health or nutrition expert by any means – I’m simply somebody who loves to cook. My goal with this site is that all of my readers will be able to locate a collection of recipes they can enjoy regardless of any food sensitivities or allergies they may have.

Are these recipes low carb?

Some of the recipes are low carb but definitely not all of them.  There is a misconception that paleo is low carb but that’s not always the case (although it’s easy to do it on accident!).  I personally don’t eat low carb so carbs aren’t something I focus on while developing recipes.  My focus is always on making something that tastes good while only using ingredients that make me feel good too.

Do you have any tips for transitioning to a paleo or gluten free diet?

I think it’s helpful to eat easy to make meals that you enjoy and keep them as similar as possible to what you’re already eating by making simple substitutions.  For example, if you want tacos, ditch the shells and serve over lettuce, salad-style.  If you enjoy spaghetti, swap out the noodles for some julienned or spiralized zucchini.  Or how about some steak with a side of steamed veggies?  I think it can sometimes hurt to attempt to meal plan using nothing but blog recipes and cookbooks.  I can’t speak for all recipe-creators out there but many of us, myself included, like to make fun recipes that we would never expect somebody to make every day.  You would get burnt out cooking and ingredient hunting if you did nothing but try new recipes.  Keeping meals similar to your current diet will make the switch to paleo feel smaller and more intuitive.

What is your favorite cookbook?

I have a huge collection of cookbooks and I love them all but The Ancestral Table by Russ Crandall is by far my favorite.  I cook from it very often and the recipes are simply amazing!  Plus my husband and I can both agree on the recipes, which is rare.

What is your favorite Eat Something Delicious recipe?

Easy question!  There’s nothing I love more than maple glazed donuts.

Why can’t I find you on Facebook?

I get this question a lot!  Facebook (or any social media, really) just never really interested me so I never set one up.  My best friend had to practically beg me just to set up on Instagram account.  She finally convinced me by doing a Christmas photo challenge, then I discovered I could just post food photos if I wanted.  That’s when I became completely addicted but even then, I kept my account private for the longest time.  (I’m really shy!)  I have a feeling that even though I still don’t have any interest in Facebook, I would probably become addicted to that too.  In a bad way.  I may set one up someday just because so many people ask me about it but for now, the best way to connect with me is here or on Instagram.

Do you have an email newsletter?

Yes! I’m currently sending RSS emails (you’ll get an email every time there’s a new post here) but I plan on sending out other, more newsletter-type emails in the future. You can sign up using the form in my sidebar (that’s the bottom of the page if you’re on a mobile device) or sign up at this link.

What kind of camera do you use?

My older photos were shot with a Canon PowerShot D10 (point & shoot).  I love that camera but it’s really best for traveling and everyday pictures.  It is terrible for food photography and I used to really struggle with it.  I really didn’t have a whole lot of control over the camera and was mostly at the mercy of the automatic settings with a few exceptions.  I know very little when it comes to photography but my best advice for anybody using a camera like this for food photography is to invest in some reflectors and diffusers.  That helped me a ton and made taking photos easier.

My more recent photos were taken with a Canon Rebel T6i.  I really struggled to upgrade my camera because I didn’t think my photography skills were good enough to justify such an expensive toy.  Especially since its main purpose would be for my food blogging hobby.  I just couldn’t bring myself to make the purchase so my husband surprised me with it for our anniversary.  I’m so happy he did!  Not only do I have more control over my photos but it’s so much faster to take the photos too.  This combined with the fact that I always leave my camera out with a full battery and lens attached means I pick it up and practice with it almost daily.  This has helped me improve a lot in only a few months.