Monday, March 2, 2009

Guest post by my lovely sister - So Many Veggies, So Little Time

My little sister has been listening to me prattling on about food and nutrition for years now. She's been in college though, where it's really difficult to have the time and/or attitude to care about what you're eating or to cook properly. Now that she's getting to the end of her senior year, she decided to take the plunge into paleo about 2-3 weeks ago and she's already feeling better and losing weight. Still being a college student though, she has let me know that a lot of the recipes I post just don't work out for her because she doesn't have the time or facilities. With that in mind, she has offered to write a guest post about how to do paleo when time is a definite factor. I hope you enjoy!

sisters
Weren't we cute?

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I'm Laura... 22, *almost* a college graduate, and a lover of all things fatty.

Despite the fact that I live with two of my best friends who think bacon is the devil and whole wheat is a cureall, I have still always eaten relatively low carb. I'm not too keen on the excess dairy and lack of fruit that comes with Atkins, though. Atkins also led me to want to "cheat" because I felt like I was on a diet. My sister had been talking about this caveman diet for a couple of years, but I didn't see how I could do it myself. Cheese and low carb pasta were too ingrained in my eating habits. I read a couple of articles on Mark's Daily Apple and I started thinking that I could try cutting out wheat. Wheat first followed by dairy a few days later. Well, less than a week later and I felt better than I even knew I could! My acne has cleared up considerably and my back doesn't hurt anymore

I really enjoy cooking, but as a college student, I rarely have enough time for drawn out slow cooked meals (unless it’s in a crockpot). Another obstacle I have to overcome is living with two of my conventionally educated best friends who worry about me eating bacon, loads of olive oil, and no uber-"healthy” whole wheat. But alas, I love eating like a cavewoman. My mouth, stomach, and over all well being love it too.

I came to the realization that I don’t ever want my meals to take longer than 30 minutes to prepare. If it’s going to take longer than a half hour, I probably won’t do it. Most of my meals involve cutting up a bunch of veggies and some sort of meat (usually chicken) with some spices/herbs, both pan fried in olive oil. The combinations of vegetables are virtually endless, but one of my favorites is zucchini, yellow squash, onions, and red peppers. I usually cook the onions the longest, and put the peppers in right at the end because I don’t like the mushy texture of fully cooked peppers. I make a huge skillet full of veggies that looks like way too much for one person. It usually gets put into a serving bowl, spiced protein on top, and voila! yummy, nutritious food that I can eat while reading or in front of the TV. Another super simple meal is a can of tuna tossed with olive oil, vinegar, and salt & pepper which I throw on top of some greens and whatever vegetables I have in the fridge that haven’t been stir fried yet. Sometimes I don’t come home from doing work on campus until 11 pm and by that time I’m usually hungry again. I’ll either make 2 fried eggs in olive oil (mmm delicious protein and fat!) or I'll have a handful of nuts with some berries. My favorite nuts are walnuts and almonds, and I get frozen berries because they are cheaper and never go bad. It’s a win-win situation.

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Thanks again to my sister for the great guest post!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Yayyy, my kind of post! I am so a stereotypical guy and hate hate hate cooking but lurv eating. I just recently started eating canned tuna myself, although just straight out of the can... didn't think to combine it with something else, haha. Cool. :)

PaulaG said...

Good for her! It's hard to get around the "whole grains" mantra. Once I cut dairy and wheat my belly got really small. I can see my ribs now and I was pushing maximum density.

TrailGrrl

Lauren said...

I love hearing about other college students eating a LC primal diet. My friends think I'm crazy, too. Thanks for the inspiration and meal ideas, Laura!

gfe--gluten free easily said...

Hi there--That is a very nice post by your sister. It's something my son struggles with also being 21 and gluten-free in college.

I like tuna that comes packed in olive oil already because it's one of the few that doesn't have added soy. I largely avoid soy.

Sweet photo of the two of you! One of my all-time favorite gifts is a locket my sister gave me with a picture of each of us when we were very young. It was such a surprise and always warms my hear when I open it.

I am transitioning back to no dairy and no sugar as well as being gluten free and nuts like walnuts, almonds, and pecans make a huge difference in my energy levels and feeling satisfied and not hungry.

Thanks!
Shirley

Anonymous said...

I could live on stir-fry and completely agree on your outlook on wheat. Don't get me wrong, I still eat bread, but consider it in the same category as cake or dessert.

I wish I would have known as much about nutrition when I was in college as you do. I used to eat typical lunches loaded with breads and other carbs and wonder why I couldn't stay awake in afternoon classes.

Great guest post!

Rusty