Grain Free/Primal/Paleo for Spring!!! - Page 6

[Millie Ivy]

OK, I won't retype everything I said before, but as to budget:

If I plan very well, and make everything from scratch, I can manage to keep the budget around the same as when we relied on grains.  But it's even easier to blow the budget eating this way when you maybe have invested a lot into good meat, dairy, and produce and then have a week or month or whatever where you ALSO go get more convenience foods (especially if those prepared foods are a decent quality, you know?)

That can probably be said about any diet, but there you have it.  I do buy corn tortillas and serve the occasional rice, chebe, and pasta. (Maybe once a month for each?)  This helps the budget, makes my family very happy and keeps everyone from complaining about food too much. lol

Another thing that helps both with budget and weight control for me is to really fill up the meal plan with the good foods (that are lower cost) that I WANT to make sure we eat.  Eggs and raw milk come to mind.  If I make sure we are getting enough nutrient dense fat and protein from lower cost sources it helps avoid splurging on costlier things. 

And yes, I do consider my farm eggs ($4 a dozen) and raw milk (7.50 a gallon) to be lower cost when you think about the cost per serving.

[Piglet68]

Hello everybody, DH inspired me by starting on no-grains and lo-carb and then we figured it was basically paleo. I've been researching it and just starting my journey. I'm in great health and have no digestive issues or food allergies. Mostly I'm doing it to lose weight. Sugar is my big weakness, and baked goods a a big part of that (can't stop eating them when they're around!), so cutting out grains is good for me in that sense. 

We're lucky to live on an acreage so we raise our own pork and this summer we'll be doing chicken. We can, however, get pastured meats pretty easily around here. I'm curious to see how this will affect our budget as we used to eat less meat, mostly for budget reasons. We both love meat and frankly I'm enjoying an "excuse" to eat it more often. We also have a CSF (community-supported fishery) in our area and we'll be subscribing to that so we can enjoy more seafood that is sustainably caught. 

Going grain-free has been hard, since I grew up on rice (mum is from Hong Kong). However, since I started making paleo-type dinners for DH I've noticed some very interesting things. I no longer have that uncomfortably full feeling after dinner, and I don't feel hungry a short while later. I could never figure out why, after eating a huge bowl of rice with a stir-fry, that I would be hungry again so soon. So I'm really loving that. This evening I made curried chicken - how to eat it without rice?! But I had a brainstorm and put it over broccoli slaw. Wow, it was really great and I didn't miss the rice at all!

We are going to keep eating dairy, however. None of us have an issue with it, and we get raw milk from a local farmer with which I make butter, yogurt, and fromage frais. This diet would much harder for us without dairy!

Right now my biggest challenges are coming up with an alternative to grains for breakfast. I hate eating savoury foods in the morning, and smoothies aren't appealing then either (although I have been loving them for lunch every day!). I've slowly been cutting down sugar, now my tea is sugar-free (not so tasty anymore, I'm sad to say). I need to figure out how to sweeten my smoothies without adding fruit juice - so far without it they just don't taste as good, even though I use frozen berries in them (fave recipe right now is coconut milk, plain yogurt, almond butter, and frozen berries with a dash of white grape juice). 

Very glad to have found you all. Looking forward to some good recipe ideas!

[Millie Ivy]

Welcome! 

As far as breakfasts go, have you tried NOT eating breakfast?  At least, that is, until you are really hungry?  I start the day with a big glass of water and then a large cup of coffee with heavy cream.  I dont need to eat until 11 or 12 usually, at which point several scrambled eggs with veggies sounds awesome.  That's a typical morning for me, and has been mostly for the past year.  Works great!

[Piglet68]

Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who wake up starving. ;-) DH and DD don't seem to need to eat right away in the morning, but me and DS do. 

I'm going to try to get myself used to eating plain yogurt with some chopped almonds and cashews and some berries. Though they won't always be in season (not sure how frozen ones would work). I do sometimes like eggs for breakfast, but certainly wouldn't want to eat them every day. In winter I love to eat hot cereal...perhaps I can figure something out with nuts and seeds? Anybody have any recipes?

As for my kids, we're not doing paleo with them. They have such extremely limited tastes that it would make them miserable, and I have enough stress trying to get them to eat a healthy diet without limiting my choices even further. ;-) But we do share with them the choices we are making, and why, so hopefully some of it will rub off on them. 

[Panserbjorne]

I'm in-haven't read at all.  Dh and I are 100% and kids are close.  We've been grain free/sugar free for about 6 years now (with some small uncomfortable breaks here and there!  We sometimes slip and go for rice, but it doesn't go well.)

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by Piglet68 

Right now my biggest challenges are coming up with an alternative to grains for breakfast. I hate eating savoury foods in the morning, and smoothies aren't appealing then either (although I have been loving them for lunch every day!). I've slowly been cutting down sugar, now my tea is sugar-free (not so tasty anymore, I'm sad to say). I need to figure out how to sweeten my smoothies without adding fruit juice - so far without it they just don't taste as good, even though I use frozen berries in them (fave recipe right now is coconut milk, plain yogurt, almond butter, and frozen berries with a dash of white grape juice). 

Very glad to have found you all. Looking forward to some good recipe ideas!

I make sweet things for breakfast 50% of the time.  I do almond flour/walnut flour/coconut flour baked goods and waffles.  The kiddos love them and my friend's kiddos tend to go for mine over the conventional ones.  I also love coconut flour muffins (pumpkin, strawberry and banana are our favorites.)  Waffles and pancakes are easy and my kids love blueberry pancakes.  I have a cinnamon pecan muffins that are to die for and super easy.

Also you can consider custards, milkshakes, pies (I do a banana cream pie that has a spiced walnut crust-it's raw, takes about 5 minutes to make and very filling.)  I think these are fair game for breakfast.  And I know you said you don't like savory, but crustless quiches can be easy and lovely.  I also do egg muffins which are basically scrambled eggs with cheese, meat and veggies seasoned and poured into cupcake liners and baked.  That was an awesome sentence.  LOL.

Bananas go a long way towards sweetening smoothies.  They really make a difference.  I'm a tea fanatic and I get liquid stevia-a non bitter kind.  I use 1-2 drops in my tea and it's divine.  I'm not opposed to honey or maple syrup, but I'm not on them right now as I'm trying to drop the 10 pounds I recently gained because I slipped and did rice a few times a week for a month.  Blech.

Anyway-you have plenty of options. Don't feel limited.
 

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by bluebirdmama1 

I am embarrassed to say that for a family of 4, we spend now around $800 (maybe more) a month. It used to be around $500 or less before paleo. I had a great source for cheap bulk grain and we would eat it at every meal to stretch everything. In the summer food prices go down and we can grow stuff. No growing anything now with a foot of snow still left on the ground.

Yeah.  I'm $40ish per person per week.  But I live in an extremely high COL area.  We are well above the national average for food prices.  So $200 a week is average for us.  $250 is the worst it ever is.  We went paleo because we have CD and can't tolerate grains at all.  It started with the SCD over 6 years ago and here we still are!  I can't give you a what it was pre-paleo because I didn't have the number of people that I do now.  I'm quite sure it was less.

[_ktg_]

Originally Posted by Millie Ivy 

Welcome! 

As far as breakfasts go, have you tried NOT eating breakfast?  At least, that is, until you are really hungry?  I start the day with a big glass of water and then a large cup of coffee with heavy cream.  I dont need to eat until 11 or 12 usually, at which point several scrambled eggs with veggies sounds awesome.  That's a typical morning for me, and has been mostly for the past year.  Works great!

Oh thank goodness!  I thought I was the only one who called this my "breakfast" along with a tbsp of CO and I'm good to go until noon :)   I love my coffee with cream!

[CCJWGM]

**User name change here**

For breakfast we have eggs, lots of eggs.  Omelets with ham or ground beef.  Scrambled eggs and nitrate free bacon.  Smoked salmon crepes.  That sort of thing.

To sweeten tea and smoothies I use local raw honey. 

I am still mourning the loss of almond meal flour.  I am a baker at heart.  Currently, I can't get anyone to eat things made with just coconut flour.   I will replace almond with filbert meal flour but money has been tight and all I have to grind is a coffee grinder. 

What is the best way to grind nut/seed flours without it turning to nut butter?  I tried grinding walnuts in my coffee grinder and nearly got walnut butter. 

[Panserbjorne]

for me it's a food processor.  I have decent luck with that.

Have you worked with pecan flour?  I found that was easy to use and lovely....not *that* much pricier either.  I'm sorry though.  this would certainly be harder for us if we lost almonds. 

[karen1968]

Originally Posted by Panserbjorne 

I'm in-haven't read at all.  Dh and I are 100% and kids are close.  We've been grain free/sugar free for about 6 years now (with some small uncomfortable breaks here and there!  We sometimes slip and go for rice, but it doesn't go well.)

Hooray for having an "old timer" on the thread!   I haven't quite made it to 6 weeks this time; I'll be so happy when I make it to six months, as that will be longer than I've ever lasted.

I spoke with DH a bit ago about getting him on board, but he says - and I agree - it is too much for him right now. He lost his very healthy dad to a sudden massive stroke just 3 months ago, and is going through some heavy counseling. Luckily, he's a salty/crunchy kind of guy and I'm a sweets/chocolate kind of girls, so having his vice foods in the house isn't too tempting for me.

I do wish we could get my son off of his GF cereals, though. He often gets too busy to eat, and I think if I could get him switched over to high protein/high fiber diet, it would help a lot with his bad moods. Instead, he reaches for Gorilla Munch or Honey Nut Chex or - worst of all - a "treat", and the wildness begins.

[joanna0707]

Originally Posted by Millie Ivy 

Welcome! 

As far as breakfasts go, have you tried NOT eating breakfast?  At least, that is, until you are really hungry?  I start the day with a big glass of water and then a large cup of coffee with heavy cream.  I dont need to eat until 11 or 12 usually, at which point several scrambled eggs with veggies sounds awesome.  That's a typical morning for me, and has been mostly for the past year.  Works great!

This is called intermittent fasting and is becoming very popular, most people who try it love ti. I still enjoy having breakfast too much, not ready yet to say good buy to eggs and bacon ;)
 

[Katc8910]

I recently found this thread and I'm so excited! I was paleo for several years with great success. Then I started slipping here and there (sweet foods and bread mainly, which have always been my weak spot) and before I knew it, I was back to my pre-paleo lifestyle eating tons of carbs. I put on a bunch of weight and felt unhealthy. It literally took me months of trying to get back on the paleo diet - I'd try and make it one day, try again, etc. It was the carb/sugar addiction and it's so hard to break! I've been fully paleo for a couple of weeks and feeling great. I think I finally found my way back. I'm also exercising (following Mark Sisson's guidelines) and that makes me feel so good and helps with the food cravings, which are getting less and less every day. I'm also trying intermittent fasting to speed up my weight loss and stimulate my body to use fat for fuel. I love "the primal blueprint" book and Mark's website. So much great info. My DD is also paleo and my husband is getting there slowly (he is a sandwich kind of guy and it's hard for him to give up bread - he also runs a lot and from what I've read lots of cardio only stimulates his appetite esp. For carbs - but he loves to run so I know he won't give that up). Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself and I'm looking forward to reading more of this thread.

[Piglet68]

Well this morning I decided to give up black tea: without the sugar it is too bitter for me. Fortunately I've always enjoyed drinking rooibos or honeybush tea with milk, and I found that it was just as satisfying at breakfast (especially with fresh raw milk, yum!). So even though my paternal grandparents (very British) are probably rolling over in their graves, I'm quite happy with the switch. 

Going to try some of the waffle and pancake recipes I've seen using coconut flour or almond flour. But it's pretty expensive so it will just be a once in a while treat. I think paleo granola will go over well. I've also seen some great desert recipes for when I feel I really need something special. I haven't had any sugar today, not even a smoothie at lunch (had devilled eggs instead), and it's amazing that I'm not craving it. 'Course it's only been one day. ;-)

I "cheated" the other night and had guacamole with tortilla chips for dinner. Afterwards I felt so uncomfortably full, something I haven't experienced since we started eating paleo dinners. It was definitely an incentive to stick with the plan! I'm also noticing that I'm eating less food and feeling satisfied. I really like that. 

[Panserbjorne]

good for you!  It often takes some time-a week or two- for your body to switch over to being a more fat burning machine, but once it does those indiscretions can be quite uncomfortable.  Things don't appeal to me anymore for the most part because I know how I'm going to feel afterwards!

Yesterday I ordered out and even that felt a bit off.  It was totally grain/starch free (thai food-chicken satay and a red curry with chicken no rice) and definitely satisfying.  I was not uncomfortable after eating it...I could just tell it wasn't as clean as I was used to.  However it was a really rough day and I just needed to not have to cook dinner so it was a viable option. 

I think the biggest thing for me over the last 6 years is to notice when I deviate (cause I mean, it's gonna happen now and again) is that I wake feeling bloated.  It takes forever to get out of bed and when I do I feel sluggish.  With no grains/starches I really feel much more alive and ready to greet the world.  I also love waking with a flat stomach!

[Piglet68]

A quick post to say that, impatient to begin full-force, I passed on my morning bowl of cereal. Instead, I sauteed some chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans), shredded coconut, and a few raisins in butter (homemade from raw milk). After I let it cool somewhat I enjoyed it with raw milk poured over top. It was so delicious! It "felt" like cereal. Yum!

My next challenge is portion size. I can't help feeling pressured to "clean my plate", and I'm noticing that I need a lot less volume of food now to give me that "full" sensation. Breakfast was great, but I think tomorrow I'll cut down on the serving size. I'd say I had about 3/4 - 1 cup today; tomorrow I'll try half a cup then wait 20 minutes before deciding to have more.

[CCJWGM]

Just a tip for those struggling with portion sizes.  We have stopped using our big dinner size plates in the house.  We use the small plates instead.  I'm in the habit of filling the plate with food as many people probably are.  Plus, it's just more satisfying looking at a full plate of food.  So the smaller plates mean smaller portion sizes. 

[fluffywandering]

Originally Posted by Piglet68 

Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who wake up starving. ;-) DH and DD don't seem to need to eat right away in the morning, but me and DS do. 

I'm going to try to get myself used to eating plain yogurt with some chopped almonds and cashews and some berries. Though they won't always be in season (not sure how frozen ones would work). I do sometimes like eggs for breakfast, but certainly wouldn't want to eat them every day. In winter I love to eat hot cereal...perhaps I can figure something out with nuts and seeds? Anybody have any recipes?

As for my kids, we're not doing paleo with them. They have such extremely limited tastes that it would make them miserable, and I have enough stress trying to get them to eat a healthy diet without limiting my choices even further. ;-) But we do share with them the choices we are making, and why, so hopefully some of it will rub off on them. 

I found this recipe somewhere recently and it s YUMMY! I used chis instead of flax but they would both do the same thing. They make it thick and oatmeal like!

Coconut Porridge

2/3 C. coconut milk (or whatever milk you like)
1/4 C. shredded, organic coconut (unsweetened)
1 t. vanilla
a pinch of salt
2 T almond flour
1 T. golden flaxseed meal
honey to taste

Heat the milk in a small sauce pan and add in the remaining ingredients, cook on medium heat until it reaches the desired thickness.

[_ktg_]

Oooh that cereal sounds yummy to make and the porridge too! 

Portion sizes - pick some some measuring cups, and use them for everything until you get a better sense of what 1/2 cup actually looks like.  It took me forever to re-set my mind as to what 1/2 cup looks like and what my soup or stews look like (which is always 2 cups which I have to portion in those glad containers).  Also I love the smaller plates - we use that now at dinner instead of the bigger plates because the food/portions look so small on them.

[shakyjelly]

This thread is really interesting! I've been cutting back on grains since going refined sugar free. I gravitate to my cookbooks by Elana's Pantry soo.. :) I appreciate some of these budgets tips! Since focusing on a farmers market based, low grain life style, our food budget has gone through the roof. For two people and a toddler, we're spending $1000 a month! ggaaaaah. Our raw milk is PRICEY and adds on quite a bit. We are very strict about getting grassfed meat and dairy. My husband and son are the big dairy eaters. I only do raw milk because anything else upsets my stomach. We live in a pretty high COL area though so some of this is to be expected.

I'm curious what health benefits you all have seen from going grain free. We're already gluten free and as I mentioned, refined sugar free. I'll do some more googling about it, but I'd love to hear some personal experiences. I'd really like to work on fixing up my bloating issues! I know part of it is that we eat a lot of canned beans. :-/  

Looking forward to hearing more and doing more research on this! Oh and I don't know if you guys eat coconut ice cream, but can I just rave here for a second? I'm in love! I got a few flavors this week at my favorite local health food store and it is SO delicious. Who needs cows? ;)

Edit: I guess I should say that I do a little more dairy than just raw.. I still have a little cheese. I have a parmesan addiction and love sheep's milk feta from Trader Joe's. :D Occasionally, I'll have other cheeses. Cheese used to be a meal from me (I'm from Wisconsin, okay?), but I've gotten much better about using it as a condiment.