Anyway, this article is indeed filed under "My Kitchen" for a reason: Crossfit promotes the "Paleo Diet," which under normal circumstances I would have absolutely zero interest in hearing about. I am obviously a big fan of baked goods, yogurt for breakfast, and (hopefully less obviously) the occasional glass of wine, all of which fall under the No category of this diet. But my Crossfit gym is having a Paleo Challenge this month, where members follow the strict Whole30 Program in a competition to win prizes. (Winners are judged on body composition changes, performance improvement, and an essay.) A competition involving working out and eating healthy sounds like the right way to kick off 2012, right? Right. I'll need to re-read this in two weeks when I have a craving for ice cream, I'm sure.
To give you an idea of what I'll be eating over the next 30 days (and of course, what I won't be eating), here's a basic outline of the Whole30 program, which is a stricter division of the Paleo Diet.
To Eat: "Real Food." Meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds. Nearly everything I'll be eating will be unprocessed.
Not to Eat: Sugar of any kind, alcohol, grains, legumes, dairy, white potatoes.
Are we having fun yet?
Actually I am very excited to participate in this challenge. It will give me an excuse to cook more, take a more active interest in everything that goes into my body, and hopefully it will have a positive effect on the way I look in a bikini.
I tell you all of this because I will be posting recipes that fall under the Paleo category from now on (until February 22nd, after which I may continue including cookie recipe here or there).
My dinner menu plan starting Wednesday is as follows:
Wednesday night: Pork and Vegetable "Lo Mein"
Thursday night: Moroccan Meatball Stew
Friday night: Orange Chicken
I'm not particularly thrilled with the amount of meat included in this diet, but to assuage my environmentally-guilty conscience, I'm going to try to buy organic meat and grassfed beef whenever possible.
Stay tuned to read more about my coming adventure as a cavewoman over the next four weeks.