Paleo or No Paleo?

My decision is....yes AND no. What does that mean? Well, there are several aspects about the Paleo eating plan I will continue, such as eating high quality, nutrient dense, whole foods, but I do not like restricting myself to any eating plan or diet. Instead, I choose to listen to my body's own internal messages and give it what it needs to be healthy and fit. Also, I choose to be in tune with my body's ques that alert me when something is not right for my digestion and replace those food items with better options. For example, beans are extremely hard for my body to digest (like most people), so I will continue the Paleo principle of eliminating all beans. I will replace the beans with other nutrient dense foods that I can easily digest and experience not digestive issues.

Why not 100 percent Paleo? To me, following any type of diet or specific eating plan invites in restriction, the need to control, deprivation and negative self talk. Feelings of guilt and shame can occur if you "fall off the Paleo wagon." Or one might restrict themselves to only Paleo foods all day, but then binge at night on non-Paleo foods when no one is around. We always want what we cannot have. I believe in making wise nutritional choices, but not restricting myself. I trust my body knows what it needs and I chose to honor it over the advice of any eating plan.

With all that being said, I leave you with one of my favorite Paleo recipes that I discovered during these past 30 days.

Pumpkin Pancakes from the Practical Paleo

4 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (optional)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil

Whisk the eggs, canned pumkin, pure vanilla extract, and pure maple syrup together. Sift the pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and baking soda into the wet ingredients.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter into the batter into the skillet over medium heat. Then, mix the butter into the batter.

Grease the skillet and spoon the batter into the skillet to make pancakes of your desired size (I used 1/4 cup to spoon out the batter). When a few bubbles appear, flip the pancakes to finish cooking. Serve with grass-fed butter and cinnamon or sliced bananas.

Reference: Sanfilippo, D. (2012). Practical paleo: A customized approach to health and a 
     whole-food lifestyle. Las Vegas, NV: Victory Belt Publishing Inc.