Recipe foaming zucchini courgette paleo network-min

Recipe: Foaming Zucchini

Don't you just love a two ingredient recipe?! This is a great side dish if you have an abundance of zucchini, as I did. Next time you see it on special offer – buy it all! This dish is guaranteed to be a big talking point!

This is a great side dish and a really good way to get more veggies into your diet, without them being repetitive and a chore to eat. If you're going to eat more vegetables, you might as well enjoy them!

Recipe: Foaming Zucchini
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Sides
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 3 zucchinis (courgettes)
  • 70g (3 oz) butter*
  • Yep, it really is just a two ingredient recipe!
Instructions
  1. Coarsely grate the zucchinis, discarding the ends
  2. Melt the butter slowly in a pan, then add the zucchini and put the lid on the pan.
  3. Shake the pan often to move the zucchini and prevent it from sticking
  4. After a couple of minutes, you'll have steaming zucchini and beautiful zucchini foam.
  5. Serve immediately
  6. *I used butter for this, but if you don't use dairy replace with olive oil, or for a taste sensation, try bacon grease.

Recipe foaming zucchini courgette paleo network-min

your paleo wishlist $200 gift vouchers

If you had $2000 to spend on paleo things – what would you buy?

What would you buy if you were given $2000 to spend on your paleo lifestyle?

Purely hypothetical, but let’s say you were given $2000 to spend on Amazon. On yourself. You’ve got half an hour to choose, before the offer expires. All those gadgets and books you’d love, but could never justify.

Instead of buying the entry model food processor, you could get the top of the range model. Instead of buying one good knife, you could buy the whole set.

your paleo wishlist $200 gift vouchers

What’s on my list?

Cooking Equipment:

A Vitamix Blender

So I've got a big standard food processor, but wouldn't you just love your very own vitamix blender?

Paleo-wishlist-vitamix-blender

An Ice Cream Maker

I’d use this once in a blue moon, so I’d never be so extravagant as to buy one. But imagine the paleo ice cream you could make in one of these?

Global Knives

I've heard good things about these knives, so I’d make sure I invested in a good set. I'm sure they’d last a lot longer than the cheap knives I have in my kitchen!

global-knives-paleo-wishlist_of_you_had_2000

Slow Cooker/ CrockPot

When I bought mine, I didn't give any thought to the size – and I've always been so disappointed with how small mine is. If I’m going to use it, why not make enough for the freezer, instead of just that night’s dinner?! So high on my list would be a much bigger model.

Fitness

Pull Up Bars

I really want to be able to master pull ups. If I had a pull up bar attached to my ceiling, I like to think I’d practice every time I walked by!

Pull up bar paleo wishlist

Kettlebells

Likewise I’d love my own set of kettlebells

Lifestyle

Grounding Mat

Now this might sound a little odd, but I’d also buy a grounding mat/ earthing sheet to make sure I always had a connection to the earth, even inside my house. Got to be a good thing for days when you’re stuck indoors

Blue Light Blocking Glasses

This might seem a little odd too, but I'm trying hared to reduce my exposure to blue light after sunset. This should really help to regulate circadian rhythm and improve sleep. As much as I try, it’s so hard to minimise all blue light – especially living in a built up area. Special orange lenses glasses like this could make a big difference.

Blue light blocking glasses

Books

There are so many paleo related books on the market at the moment (compared to only two or three a few years ago!), so I’d definitely order a few I've not yet read.

You can see the rest of my wishlist here

I’d love to see what you’d buy if you were given a $2000 Amazon voucher. So tell me in the comments – what would you buy?!

Happy 3rd birthday blog anniversary 3 years paleo network

Happy Blog Anniversary to Me!

Wow – I wrote my first post on this blog three years ago today! Doesn't time fly? By that time I’d been eating paleo for the best part of a year, had lost loads of weight and was feeling amazing. I’d set this blog up ages before I plucked up the courage to start writing. I just attended my first Ancestral Health Symposium in California in August 2011 and came back full of enthusiasm ready to start the Paleo Network!

Paleo-Network-Blog-Happy-Anniversary-Birthday 3rd

Since then we've now got Paleo Meetup Groups in every state in the country, I've written 5 recipe ebooks and the Paleo Network Facebook page now has over 79,000 followers! Who’d have thought!

I can’t wait to see what the next three years brings. I wonder, perhaps paleo will be mainstream by then?!

Happy anniversary!

Are you addicted to your smart phone iphone samsung paleo diet

Are you addicted to your smartphone?

Do you have a smartphone obsession? I know I do…

A few weeks ago, I was in Singapore for a couple of days on a stopover. After an insane bill the previous time I’d been overseas, I turned the data off on my iPhone. There was no wifi where I was staying, so for the first time in a very long time, I found myself completely cut off from the internet. And you know what, it was great. I was completely “in the moment”. I walked around without a soundtrack. I read a book. And I didn't have a clue what was going on in the world. If only I could do it more often.

Are you addicted to your smart phone iphone samsung paleo diet

Are you addicted to your smartphone too?

Is it going to rain today?

I wonder what Sarah’s up to?

I wonder how to make a paleo birthday cake?

Have I been paid yet?

Whatever the question, there’s an app for it. Bored, there’s always something to read or a game to play, right at your finger tips.

Living in the moment

It’s hard to live in the moment when you spend all day on your smartphone. All the incredible views you miss, the people who walk past, who you didn't even see. The real life moments missed when you were updating your Facebook status. The sounds of nature and life blocked out by your earbuds.

What are you missing out on?

Can’t sleep?

You go on your smart phone because you can’t sleep – or can’t you sleep because you've got into the habit of using your smart phone before bed? The blue light that streams out of your phone in a darkened room, is your brain mistaking that as a cue that it is day time and you should be active and alert?

The restaurant challenge

The last time you went out for dinner, did your companions check their phone during the meal? If so, this is a great game to implement next time – and you could get a free dinner out of it!

Smart phone game

The phone-fast challenge?

Could you go without your phone for 24 hours? No phone, at all. Leave it at home.  I’d love to hear if you’re game enough to go without your phone for 24 hours, what you did instead – and if you felt better for it. Do share in the comments below!

 

9 surprising ways to get your five a day

9 surprising ways to get your five a day

We all know we're supposed to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Apparently it doesn't really matter what you choose for your five portions, more fruit than veg, it makes no difference. Whether your portions are frozen, canned, dried or part of a drink – it's all good.

Agree?

Well, in the interest of your health, I now present nine different ways you can get to your five a day. And of course once you've got there, you can eat whatever you like for the rest of the day!

1. A bottle of fruit juice

That's right, 150ml of processed fruit juice is enough to tick of one of your 5 daily portions of fruit and vegetables. So they may have up to 8 teaspoons of sugar in a bottle – but that's not important enough for us to worry about.

Paleo diet five a day fruit veg orange juice

2. Baked Beans

Who knew? Apparently the sauce alone is nutritious enough to count as a portion. Don't worry yourself about the added sugar, they're clearly a health food.

Paleo-diet-five-a-day-fruit-veg-heinz-baked-beans-min

3. Fruit Chips/ Crisps

Just replace the potato chips with fruit chips and you're winning! The best thing is that as they're dried, the sugars are concentrated making them even more appealing!

Paleo-diet-five-a-day-fruit-veg-apple-crisps

4. Sweets/ Lollies/ Candy

Why have broccoli as one of your portions when you have have the sweet stuff!

Paleo-diet-five-a-day-fruit-veg-sea-snacks-min

5. More Sweets/ Lollies/ Candy

Best to have two packets, rather than one, to get you closer to your five a day…

Paleo diet five a day fruit veg raspberry crispie tiddlers
6. Fruit Juice

Water you say? No – that won't help you get to your five a day target. Have a fruit shoot instead. (Ingredients: Water, Sugar, Orange Juice from Concentrate (8%), Citric Acid, Natural Flavouring, Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid), Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Dimethyl Dicarbonate), Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum), Natural Colour (Carotenes) – that's all healthy good stuff, right?)
Paleo diet five a day fruit veg robinsons fruit shoot

7. McDonalds Soda

You know those days when it's really hard to find anywhere to buy fruit and vegetables? Well luckily for you McDonalds can help you get your five a day.
Paleo diet five a day fruit veg mcdonalds soda fruitizz

8. Pasta Shapes

Pasta. Shapes. Are. Good. For. You.
Paleo diet five a day fruit veg heinz pasta shapes

9. Strawberry Bars

Marketed directly at school children make sure you incorporate these in your diet. They've even got healthy vegetable oil them.

Ingredients: Concentrated Apple Puree (an average of 282g Apple used to prepare 100g of School Bars®), Dehydrated Apple (20%), Maltodextrin, Oligofructose, Vegetable Oil, Concentrated Juices of Apple (3%), Strawberry (1.8%) and Pear (1%), Gelling Agent (Pectin), Natural Colour (Anthocyanins), Natural Flavouring, Malic Acid, Preservative (Sodium Metabisulphite)
Paleo-diet-five-a-day-fruit-veg-fruit-bar-school-bars-min

I hope this post has helped you out. Have you had your five a day today?

9 surprising ways to get your five a day

Seared Pork, Pear and Fennel Salad paleo lunch recipe-min

Recipe: Seared Pork, Pear and Fennel Salad

This recipe is fresh, light, and oh so summery – perfect for an Al Fresco lunch or a light evening meal. I love how well the sweetness of the pear compliments the pork and the fennel; and I hope you do too!

Recipe: Seared Pork, Pear and Fennel Salad
 
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 75g watercress
  • 75g rocket
  • Small handful fresh parsley, roughly chopped
  • 1 ripe pear, diced
  • 6 radishes, sliced
  • 2 pork chops
  • 1 bulb fennel, outer layer removed and chopped into slices 1cm thick
  • Olive oil
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Handful crushed walnuts
  • Sea Salt
  • Black Pepper
Instructions
  1. ) In a bowl, toss together the watercress, rocket, parsley, pear and radishes. Divide this between two salad bowls.
  2. ) Roll a rolling pin over your pork chops to flatten them to about 2cm thick. Drizzle with a little olive oil, and season liberally with salt and black pepper.3) Heat a cast iron griddle to a high heat. Place the pork and the fennel slices on to it at the same time, and sear for 2 / 3 minutes each side, until the pork is cooked through and the fennel nicely golden.
  3. ) Allow the meat to rest for 2 minutes, before cutting into strips with a sharp knife. Scatter the pork strips and the fennel slices over the salads. Finish with a good drizzle of olive oil, lemon zest, and a handful of crushed walnuts.

Seared Pork, Pear and Fennel Salad paleo lunch recipe-min

Dessert for diabetics sugar paleo

Dessert for diabetics

My gran is just about to start receiving “Meals on Wheels”, which is a great service. In principle. Vulnerable people (mainly the elderly) are provided with a cooked nutritious meal at lunchtime. For many recipients, this will be the main nutrition they get in that day, so it’s really important that the meal provides the nutrition they need. Especially for those with conditions like diabetes, you'd think?

Dessert for diabetics sugar paleo

Each day (it’s even available on Saturdays and Sunday’s) they offer a choice of a main course and a choice of dessert. The main course choices, as you might expect are a traditional meat based meal, or a vegetarian option. And the desserts? Yep, hot, cold or diabetic.

Diabetic Meals on Wheels-min

I was really shocked to see diabetic desserts – and even more surprised to see what they are. You’d maybe expect low-carb options, like a cheese board perhaps. But no, they’re traditional sweet desserts, such as cakes and pies.

Looking at the definition I found on the web of what the diabetic options should consist of, it’s clear the providers of nutrition are stuck with conventional wisdom. “Desserts for diabetics must be sweetened with artificial sweeteners or sweeteners combined with a minimal amount of sugar”.

Diabetic definitions meals on wheels

How about making desserts sugar (and sweetener free) entirely – or even swapping the dessert out for a starter instead!? Where did the idea that all meals must be finished with a dessert come from anyway?

As meals on wheels only provides one meal a day, they have some helpful recommendations as to what diabetics should eat for the rest of their meals:

Diabetic-recommendations

That's right – diabetics should get 6-11 servings of bread and grains a day! DIABETICS! Also, note the low-fat recommendations. Those diabetics have got to steer well clear of anything so much as resembling fat, and instead go for low-fat options, that have replaced the fat with carbohydrates. Oh, and fruit – go right ahead.

I'd love to hear our comments on the diabetic nutrition for the most vulnerable diabetics in our communities. What meals do you think they should be offered?

Brussels sprouts made nice paleo recipe bacon primal-min

Recipe: Brussels sprouts made nice

Didn't think you liked Brussels sprouts? Hold back your judgement until you've tried this recipe!

Brussels sprouts are such an amazing source of nutrients packed with vitamin A, vitamin C, folate and so much goodness, if you've not liked them so far it's definitely worth giving them another try.

This recipe is a great side to a meaty dinner, or perfect on its own, with a serve of cauliflower rice.

Recipe: Brussels sprouts made nice
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Sides
Ingredients
  • 100g (3.5 oz) Brussels sprouts
  • Splash olive oil
  • 8 rashers bacon, diced
  • 2 large carrots, peeled & diced
  • Knob of butter (or use extra olive oil, if you don't do dairy)
  • Sea salt & black pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped coriander (cilantro)
  • 1 tablespoon of hazelnuts, chopped
Instructions
  1. Peel the exterior leaves off the sprouts & remove the tough ends. Cut the sprouts in half & finely slice them.
  2. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the bacon for a few minutes. Add the carrots and cook for a further 5 minutes, making sure you keep stiring to prevent it from sticking.
  3. Add the butter (or extra olive oil) to the pan along with the sprouts, and stir for another five minutes. You need to keep heating until the sprouts have started to soften, but still have some crunch in their texture.
  4. Season and serve, garnishing with the coriander (cilantro) and hazelnuts.

Brussels sprouts made nice paleo recipe bacon primal-min

I'd love to hear how you cook Brussels Sprouts to make them taste amazing! Please share you secrets in the comments below!

Are you a severe night owl LSPD late sleep phase disorder insomnia

Are you an extreme night owl?

In my quest to understand more about my slow metabolism, I've been looking more and more at my circadian rhythms.




I've always been a night owl and tend to come alive late at night becoming super productive and creative, when everyone else is asleep. When I've worked long hours in the city – and had to get up early, I would often try to go to bed at a sensible time. But I’d just lie in bed feeling wide awake and frustrated that sleep didn't come. Until much, much later.

When you Google struggling to sleep, you come up with lots of hits for insomnia. Insomnia didn't quite feel right, but what else could it be? Insomniacs often wake up in the middle of the night and struggle to get back to sleep. Once I'm asleep, I don’t wake up until my sleep is abruptly ended by an alarm, or I have the rare luxury of waking up naturally.

I noticed when I wasn't working, and was able to follow my natural routine, I'd eventually feel tired in the early hours of the morning, and wake up around 11:34am. When I say around, I mean precisely. Every single day. So I was getting a decent 8 or so hours sleep. It just wasn't at a socially acceptable time. Doesn't sound so much like insomnia.

Are you a severe night owl LSPD late sleep phase disorder insomnia

It has a name?

After researching this further, I eventually found out about other people who sleep like this too. And it has a name: Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (DSPD – but most definitely not to be confused with the other DSPD – Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder). DSPD is exactly what I have been experiencing. A complete shift of the socially acceptable sleeping time several hours to the right. Core body temperature, hormones, alertness, energy levels – all happening at the “wrong” time.

Jetlag reset

I recently travelling halfway round the world from Australia to the UK. I had expected to be able to use jetlag to my advantage and “reset” my sleep times. The first few days it all went to plan, I’d be unable to fight off the tiredness by 8pm – and would be wide awake by 5am. But, after just a few days I fell back into my middle of the night to 11:34am routine. After researching DSPD, this seems to be the same issue across the board. Changing time zones is not a fix.

Curing DSPS?

It’s all quite gloomy on most sites, as many people believe there is no cure. They suggest getting a job to fit in with your natural sleeping times, rather than trying to work a conventional job with a 6am alarm call. The most common “cure” recommends you force yourself to stay up for an extra hour or two each night, with the idea being that after a few weeks you could stop adding on the time when you get to your preferred new bedtime, perhaps 10pm? But that seems like a bit of a hard core solution. In the middle of that transition you’d be sleeping over the entire daylight hours. That can't be good!?

My solution

Over the last few weeks, I've been trying out my own method of solving this – and I've made some really good progress.

The answer seems to be in Circadian Rhythms. We get our cues from daylight as to what time of day it is, and crucially the early morning sun is completely different to late afternoon sun. There is far more blue light in the mornings, which I simply never got to see. Also at night, all the artificial street lights come on, TV’s, computer screens, smartphone – and we’re bathed in artificial blue light signalling to our brain that it’s morning and we should be at the peak of our alertness!

So it was clear to me that I needed to get natural sunlight as early as possible in the mornings. As soon as I wake up, I now head straight outside, barefoot, and walk for about an hour. I've also stopped wearing sunglasses, to make sure I'm getting as much natural light in as I possibly can, particularly in the first half of the day. After sunset, I try to reduce artificial blue light as much as I can.

Whilst I'm not at conventional sleeping hours yet, I am definitely slowly shifting my times to the left.  I'm starting to feel sleepy earlier and waking up naturally quite a lot earlier too. The biggest improvement has been my energy levels. I feel so much more alert and energetic during the morning and daytime. I'm also feeling a lot warmer during the day, which I think is a good indication that I may be on the track to normalising my circadian rhythm.

I'm never going to be an “Early Bird” naturally waking up at 5:30am everyday, weekend or weekday. But I hope to be able to shift my sleep and waking hours to something far more reasonable – and in turn increase my daytime metabolic rate and energy levels.

I’d love to hear more about your natural sleeping patterns in the comments, below. Are you a severe night owl (DSPD) too? Do you just live with it, or have you had any success in changing it? Any nuggets of information you have on circadian rhythms – I’d really like to hear!

Recipe Garlic and Tamarind Chicken Thighs-min

Recipe: Garlic and Tamarind Chicken Thighs

If you’re looking for a ‘stir fry’ recipe with maximum flavour, look no further. This recipe is quick, easy, and comes with incredibly deep and complex flavours. Garlic, Tamarind, Mushrooms, Fish Sauce, Peppers, Shallots and Ginger all work in harmony and make this stir fry incredibly unique. As you’ll know if you've used tamarind before, it can be very sour – so if you’re cooking with it, you’ll need a little sweetness just to balance it out. I find a 1:1 ratio works well, but you may need to adjust this depending on your palate.

The key to this recipe is the gentle cooking. Don’t go mad and raise the heat too high, or the garlic will burn and turn bitter.

Recipe: Garlic and Tamarind Chicken Thighs
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 4 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, diced
  • 3 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 3cm chunk root ginger, finely chopped
  • 4 shallots, finely sliced
  • 1 green pepper, deseeded and sliced
  • 1 red pepper, deseeded and slices
  • 8 mushrooms
  • ½ cup chicken stock
  • 2 tsp tamarind paste
  • 2 tsp raw honey
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame oil (optional)
  • Handful fresh coriander, finely chopped
Instructions
  1. ) Gently heat the coconut oil in your largest wok. Add the chicken thighs, garlic, ginger and shallots, and cook gently for around 10 minutes, until the chicken is browned and the shallots start to caramelise. Add the peppers and mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes.
  2. ) Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock in a saucepan. Add the tamarind, honey, fish sauce and sesame, and mix together until thoroughly combined. Keep on the heat for a few more minutes, until it starts to reduce down. Taste, and adjust to your liking.
  3. ) Check the chicken is thoroughly cooked through. Add the tamarind sauce to the pan, and toss the ingredients together. Serve garnished with a little fresh coriander.

Next on my list is using fresh tamarind fruit, rather than the paste. I’d love to know if you've ever tried it, and how it turned out!

Recipe Garlic and Tamarind Chicken Thighs-min