Hello!

Call it a mid-life crisis... I don't know, but I've reached a point in my life where it suddenly dawned on me 'I'm not getting any younger'.  My exercise regime is pretty much non existent... My diet I always considered to be reasonably healthy, but baking cakes for a living facilitates a very sweet tooth and a little too much 'taste testing'.

It was time to make a change....

First came the running. I figured, if I run I can eat anything, right??  So I downloaded a Couch to 5K app... it was a start!! Early mornings have never bothered me, so with the dawn chorus I rose (well, around 6.15) dusted off my very old and very under used trainers, strapped my phone to my arm and headed out to the fields where I live.

Ok, the first time didn't go so well. I forgot to switch my location on so the app never recorded my distance, just that I'd been out for 30 minutes!

The second time wasn't much better. App on, location on, my phone switched to low battery mode and only recorded the first 5 minute trudge to the end of the road!

Third time lucky. App on, location on, low battery mode switched off and thirty minutes later a very respectable 3.71km and a very glowing complexion.

But I had done it!!

Two days later I was back out again, 3.88km done and even the rain didn't put me off!

Next came the healthy eating plan... Like I said, my diet is really quite balanced, I juice most days, eat lots of veg and salad, plenty of fish and meat but something was causing me to feel bloated and sluggish. On top of this there is an underlying history of stress induced stomach problems, of which I will spare you the detail.

A friend suggested I try the Paleo diet. So what is the Paleo diet?

It's a diet based on the types of foods presumed to have been eaten by our early ancestors, consisting of mainly meat, fish, vegetables and fruit and excluding dairy or cereal products and processed food. It's a healthy approach to food that works with our genetics to help us stay lean, strong and energetic. (A great source of information can be found on Robb Wolf's page here)

Here's an example, again from Robb Wolf's page;

Okay To Eat	Avoid
Fruits	Dairy
Vegetables	Grains
Lean Meats	Processed Food & Sugars
Seafood	Legumes
Nuts & Seeds	Starches
Healthy Fats	Alcohol

EEK!! No bread, no cakes, no rice or pasta!!!

Initial panic over... it's ok, I can do this!

I'm now 4 weeks in to it and I absolutely love it!! But I am still learning, eating chicken and avocado for breakfast took a little getting used to! I initially started with published recipes to get the hang of what I can and can't eat. I used resources such as Nom Nom Paleo and Paleo Grubs to help me to create weekly menus - this I found really important to help me stay on track. But with over 300 cook books on my shelves I've now turned to some of my favourite recipes in an attempt to make them paleo friendly so my family and I can still enjoy them.

And this is what I'd like to share... 

While I may repost some of our particular favourites from other blogs, I will always link credit back to the recipe source. For the most part though, I want to share some hopefully new recipes that WE think are a success and are worthy of a mention.

Please do feel free to comment, I'd love to hear any feedback, good or bad!!

Here we go....

xx