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| Yum! One Tasty Bird! |
Hello everyone, hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. I am writing this post in response to the numerous times that I was asked "What did you eat for Thanksgiving, Paul?" Well, the answer to that is I very likely ate the same things that most of you all did. Albeit in a slightly less terrible version. I had more than my fill of turkey, stuffing (yes, there was bread in it), cranberry dressing and yes, dessert. What I did though, was to try my best to make things that everybody would eat, yet still satisfied my dinner-guests preconceived notions of what we were supposed to eat. I roasted the turkey with a traditional mix of carrots, celery, portobello mushrooms and onions. Threw in some fresh herbs such as rosemary and sage and used a container of low-sodium chicken broth to keep it all moist. The stuffing was a spinach-artichoke mix with brie and french bread (c'mon now...can you really make a good stuffing without a little bit of bread?) and it was delicious. The hit of the dinner. And guess what, it really wasn't that bad from a Paleo point of view. Not perfect, but not terrible either. Cranberry dressing was easy. I threw two bags of fresh cranberries into the food processor and added three oranges cut into chunks. I used agave nectar to sweeten it but ran out and had to finish with honey. I zested one of the orange peels and a lemon peel, as well and added them for a bright flash of flavor. Yummm! I made a small bowl for myself and added a couple shakes of habanero pepper for a little heat. Let me tell you. It was delicious! For dessert, my sister-in-law Robin made a flour-less chocolate torte that was phenomenal. And yes, I had some ice cream with it. So...all-in-all, not too bad of eating experience. Was it perfect, no. Was everybody eating a lot healthier than they have in a long time, yes! And everyone left happy. So what can you take away from this long story. That while I can tell you how to eat while you are here in the gym working-out, it is completely up to you to put that plan into action. We are all adults here. We know what is good, clean healthy food and what is crap. Do I expect everyone to be neurotic about what they eat? No, I don't. But I do expect you to have confidence in your ability to eat healthy 90% of the time. If you noticed in the above story, there was very little bread and no other grains present on the table during the meal and everybody loved it. Eating Paleo does NOT have to be boring. That is the biggest obstacle that I feel keeps people from fully-embracing the lifestyle. That they can NEVER eat anything fun or good(?) again. I am here to tell you that you can eat better than ever and feel better than ever, too! Thanks, everyone. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend. Next week we shake things up in the gym yet again!
