Primal Family Blog has moved....

Hi all,

The Primal Family Blog as moved to my website for Simple Tasty Nutrition.

Please follow the link below to read about good nutrition, great food and find some family friendly healthy recipes:
http://simpletastynutrition.co.nz/blog-more/blog.html

See you there!
Sara :-)

Chocolate brownie muffins - dairy, nut and gluten free

The perfect little sweet treat that can be eaten on it's own or heated with cream.

Be wary though, these are addictive!

You can make these as 10 muffins or in a loaf/square baking tin, which will need a bit more cooking time.

Ingredients:

12 dates, soaked, drained and cut up

2 tablespoons of coconut nectar or maple syrup

1/4 cup coconut oil melted

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

3 eggs

3 tablespoon coconut flour

1/4 cup desiccated coconut

1/4 cup 100% cocoa

1 tablespoon Billies sugar spice

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of sea salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C

Mix wet ingredients in a food processor until well combined.

Add dry ingredients and mix again. Scrap edges to get all the yummy bits in and mix once again.

Spoon into muffin cups.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Banana & Blueberry Muffins - gluten, dairy & nut free

Trying to think of good finger foods that my children can take to preschool has led me to hunt out, not only grain and dairy free recipes, but also nut free! I'm not keen on Isabel having nuts before she is 1 year old but wow is she keen to eat Elias's muffins. So I started creating.

Banana and blueberry muffins

Ingredients:

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1/4 cup of coconut cream

3 eggs

1 tablespoon honey

2 ripe mashed bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/3 cup coconut flour 

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Sprinkle of sea salt

1/2 cup blueberries

Method:

Preheat oven to 180degrees C.

Place all ingredients except blueberries, in the food processor and blend together. Scrab down sides to make sure all is combined and whizz again. 

Put in 10-12 muffin cups and then evenly place or push the blueberries into the mixture.

Bake for 30mins

Raspberry Ice Cream

This easy wee gem is dairy and refined sugar free. You only need three ingredients!

Put it in the freezer and use as ice cream or eat straight away as a mousse. It may need some time to defrost when you pull it out of the freezer as it goes rock hard. 

1 can 400ml chilled coconut cream

2 cups frozen berries, I used raspberries

Dash of vanilla essence

Whiz together with a stick blender and you are done. Easy!

Apricot and Chocolate Muffins

I haven't been able to perfect my hot cross bun recipe yet but instead I made these, which are pretty tasty. Definitely a good treat for over the Easter holidays.

Apricot and Chocolate Muffins

Makes 10 muffins

Ingredients

1 large banana mashed

2 eggs

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup coconut milk/cream

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

Two Grinds of sea salt

3/4 cup of almond meal

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

6-8 cut dried apricots

6 squares 70% chocolate, chopped or 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven at 180degrees C.

Mix wet ingredients together.

Add dry ingredients, except for apricots and chocolate.

Combine well then add in apricots and chocolate.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Best eaten when cool.

Looking for a good Butcher in New Zealand?

Today I went to visit "Everybody's Butchery" in Christchurch. I had been told that they do a good range of sugar, preservative and grain free meat products.

I was greeted by Lisa, the owner of the butchery. Lisa has been classically trained in Germany and prides herself in making the highest quality small goods. A friend of Lisa's eats Paleo and it was from her that their range of Paleo small goods evolved, absolutely flour, preservative and MSG free. Not to mention gluten free of course.

All meats in the butchery are sourced in Canterbury and are grass fed.

On top of all these awesome good quality products, they are also a fantastic price, "$2 less per kilo than the supermarket" Lisa says. And she is right, Ribeye for $26kg and Sausages for $14kg - just to name two.

Have a look at the pork products they sell. Just the start of their endless products at great prices.

And looking for Paleo Small Goods, look no further!

Paleo Bacon - $25 / kg

Beef Jerkey - $5 / 100g

Bier sticks - $30 /kg

Paleo Ham - $29.95 /kg

The original German Bratwurst and Snailsausages on the list are particularly Paleo as well.

Now if this all sounds too good to be true, go and visit them yourself! 372 Selwyn Street in Christchurch. For those of you not in Christchurch, I asked if Lisa would courier you a selection of meat on request and she said yes! South Island delivery cost $12 for up to 15kg. Bargain and you don't need to leave the house! She will happily deliver to the North Island too, with the cost probably being just slightly more than $12. 

So my suggestion is to flag the supermarket meat and head on over. I think I am going to make a weekly list and preorder it, pick it up on the same day each week. Really excited. You should do the same! Here is the email address to send your orders or ask questions, info@everybodysbutchery.co.nz.

Good on Everybody's Butchery for keeping good quality meats affordable for everyone! Thanks Lisa.

Cocoa Nut Balls

Inspired by the "original Frooze Balls - Raw Energy Snacks", these Cocoa Nut Balls are an awesome little treat that will keep you going! They are simple to make and taste great.

These are gluten and grain free. Also dairy free.

Cocoa Nut Balls

Makes 25-30, depending on the size you want.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of dates, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes, then drained

1 cup cashew pieces, raw

1 cup sliced almonds, raw

1 cup desiccated coconut

1/4 cup 100% cocoa powder

1/4 cup coconut oil

Method:

Mix all ingredients in the whizz or blender and combine well. Whizz for a few minutes.

Squeeze and roll into balls of desired size.

Store in fridge until ready to eat :)

Consume with care, there are a few dates in these - treat as a treat!

                  Simple Tasty Nutrition (c) 2014

Paleo Affogato

There isn't much I miss when it comes to standard western food. However when we were on holiday we had an extra special treat of Affogato with vanilla ice cream. I really enjoyed it at the time but afterwards, having been dairy free for ages - not so fun! 

Some I came up with this treat, Paleo Affogato with coconut ice cream!

Ingredients:

Nice Cream - coconut ice cream, vanilla bean

Espresso shot

Simple Tasty Cold Killing Juice

Feel a cold or sore throat coming on? Try these sharp juice to kill those nasty bugs in your throat and body!

Twice daily and along with a nutritious diet, you shouldn't get any worse! I have always used this as our "medicine" at the first signs of sickness with the kids and myself. Works a treat!

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:
3 large carrots
1 apple
Half a lemon
Chunk of fresh ginger

Method: 
Use a juicer to juice and drink quickly

             Simple Tasty Nutrition (c) 2014

Primal Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These muffins are grain and dairy free.

Ingredients:

1 cup almond meal

6 tablespoons coconut flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

3/8 teaspoon baking soda (just less than a 1/2 teaspoon)

2 tablespoons honey or coconut sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil melted

2 medium ripe bananas mashed

2 eggs

1/2 coconut milk

8 squares of 70% chocolate cut into chips

Method:

Preheat oven at 180 degrees C

Combine dry ingredients and mix well

Mix together bananas and wet ingredients 

Combine wet and dry indredients then stir in chocolate chips

Place into 12 silicon muffin cups

Bake for 20 minutes until brown on top

 

                  2014 (c) Simple Tasty Nutrition

The Paleo Baby - Teething much?

Isabel is 6 months old and the introduction to Paleo baby foods has given me a few things to think about. What foods to introduce first, in what quantities and combinations. And then there is teething! I never gave my son the wheat based Rusks that everyone seems to use and he loved his dummy with a bit of teething gel on it. But Isabel won't have a bar of dummies so that option is out. I googled Paleo teething sticks and got mostly nut based options, which I'm not keen to start for a while! And then someone out there suggested a piece of stick/twig/wood, which I quickly decided wasn't for me. 

Then the obvious came to mind. A bone! It works a treat. Check out Isabel below, loving her bone :)

Paleo School Lunch Ideas

I often get asked what I give my son for lunch. It definitely is a bit more trickey doing Paleo lunches for preschool or school because your kids look at what everyone has and wants it. The reality of sugar. So I try to make lunch as appealing as possible, the best meal of the day. It doesn't always work but I give it my best go! Many parents will tell you that the lunch box often comes home full, so we always get our son to eat it when he gets on home. Without the distractions, it usually gets eaten.

Here are a few pictures of what Elias has had for lunch over the past month.

He has had everything from Paleo pizza, pork patties, quiche, chicken nuggets, salmon fritters, chicken and kumara hash and boiled eggs with salami. All with some kind of vegetables and then a piece of fruit on the side. You may need a cold pack in the lunch box to keep it chilled until lunch.

I hope this gives you some lunch inspiration for your children!

Paleo Peppermint Chocolate Recipe

These little gems often make my day! A fantastic treat for you and your non-Paleo friends. No one will complain if you bring these out at a party! 

Ingredients:

5 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

4 Tablespoons 100% Cocoa

1-2 Tablespoons Honey

3 Tablespoons Almond Butter

1/4 cup desiccated Coconut

1 teaspoon peppermint essence.

Method:

Place all ingredients in a double boiler, glass dish over saucepan with boiling water. Stir until melted and combined. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze for a couple of hours. Keep in freezer until you want to eat them. They taste best when they have been at room temperature for about 5 minutes. Melt in your mouth.

Can leave out nut butter for nut-free option.

Makes 20.

But how much exercise do I need to do?

Want the simple answer - how much exercise do you need to do to lose weight?

You have always been told that weight loss is a simple equation - energy in versus energy out. Eat less, exercise more. It's simple. You are overweight because you don't have enough self control - right!? Come on, really, if it was that simple - most of us would be lean mean running machines. So why aren't we?

Answer the following questions:
A calorie is a calorie, no matter where is comes from - correct?
I just have to eat less and exercise more, yes?

The fact of the matter is that it's not that simple. All calories are not created equal. The food groups of protein, fat and carbohydrates all have different biological and hormonal responses in your body. When you eat protein, your body responds differently from when you eat fat, and very differently again when you eat carbohydrates. Dr Robert Lustig, author of 'Fat Chance and Sugar: the bitter truth' states "that our bodies react to some calories differently than others. Specifically he believes that sugar calories alter our biochemistry to make us hungry and lazy in ways that fat and protein calories do not. As a result he says that the availability of sugar in the western diet is making people sick and obese".

So why am I rabbiting on about protein, fat and carbs? I thought the topic of this blog was exercise.... My point is that you can't exercise a bad diet (or nutrition, I hate the word diet). Successful weight loss is approximately 80% nutrition and the rest is made up of genetics and exercise.

Does that mean I don't need to exercise?? HECK NO! Exercise has a long list of positive health benefits and I highly recommend you move your body on a daily basis. You should exercise in a way that you find fun and enjoyable. Go for a walk, play with the kids at the beach, going cycling or mountain walking with friends.


At Simple Tasty Nutrition I recommend the following exercise plan: 

Move frequently at a slow pace for at least 2 hours per week. Eg, walk, yoga and play

AND (if you are physically able....)

Lift heavy things - Go to gym - Complete short intense exercise sessions at least 1 time per week, no more than 3 times. 5 to 30 minutes per session.

If you read my exercise plan above and think, umm - I exercise way more than that. I recommend you check out the following to make sure you are on track....

Are you exercising too much? Check out this post by Robb Wolf about exercise addiction and how this can effect your health  HERE

I want to lose weight - how many carbohydrates should I eat?

If you have the nutrition goal of losing weight then you may be wondering how many carbohydrate you should be eating and what type. So here is a bit of a guideline to give you some ideas.

Key point to take away here is: Carbohydrate = Sugar. They are interchangeable terms. And we all know too much sugar is bad for us!

From experience I have found that Mark Sissons - Primal Blueprint carbohydrate curve is spot on...

If you want lose weight, using the guide above you would want to eat between 50-100 grams a day. This is really a good basic guide and suitable for most people wanting to lose weight. It may however require some adjustment depending on your individual circumstances eg, if you were physically training for a sport event. 

What are carbohydrates? Put simply, anything that is not protein or fat. That includes, but not limited to, breads, pastas, cakes, cereals, juices, rice, fruit and vegetables. Dairy products have carbs in them too, as well as protein and fat. Remember carbs = sugars.

How do I choose good carbohydrates to eat? Always do your best to stick to natural carbs eg. vegetables and fruit. You will get the best bang for your buck, good quality carbs, fibre, vitamins and minerals.

So... What does 50-100 grams of carbohydrate look like? Not much when you think of slices of bread, that's for sure at approximately 20 grams per slice! But pretty good when thinking of vegetables eg. 1 cup of broccoli is only about 4-5 grams and 1 cup raw pumpkin is about 7! And fruit, stick to fruits such as berries, stone fruit and apple which are low in carbohydrate. 

Therefore when you want to lose weight, eat loads of vegetables, a little fruit and no or minimal processed carbs like bread and cereals.

There are fruit and vegetables that are high in carbs and these should be eaten as treats, such as potato, sweet potato, bananas and grapes. Eating too many of these, too often, may hinder weight loss efforts.

And really that's about it, when it comes weight loss - reducing foods containing high amounts of unnecessary carbohyrdates is the key to success! It also has many other health benefits but that's for another blog ;-)

Oh one last note, reducing your carbohydrate intake can be tricky because sugar is highly addictive! Design yourself a plan so your brain and body isn't so shocked with the change. 

Mini Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

The chocolate muffin recipe as requested! I suggest doubling it for normal sized muffins :) Great served with raspberries and cream, yogurt or coconut cream. Oh and a little bit warm..... Yummy!

2 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup almond flour
1/3 cup desiccated coconut
2-3 tablespoons honey (these aren't very sweet so if you are new to Paleo go 3)
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
5 teaspoons cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Mix wet ingredients together then add dry ingredients. Mix well.

Bake 15-20mins at 180 degrees. 

                   Simple Tasty Nutrition (c) 2013

Who doesn't like a good date scone?

I like creating my own muffin recipes and sometimes they don't work out the best. But these ones are pretty good, they are light and tasty like caramel. In fact, they taste a bit like a good date scone! And who doesn't like a good date scone :-)

These muffins are Paleo friendly , gluten and dairy free, with only dates and banana to sweeten.
A great breakfast or snack on the go.

Banana Date Paleo Muffins 

Ingredients:

2 bananas mashed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup coconut cream
1/2 cup almond flour
5 tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
10 dates chopped
1/4 cup melted butter (or coconut oil)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Mix together wet ingredients, except for the melted butter.
Add dry ingredients and dates, then mix well.
Fold in melted butter.
Place in 12 small muffin tins.
Bake 20-25 mins.

2013 (c) Simple Tasty Nutrition

Cheat days - A good or bad idea?

Cheat days! These are often something I hear people talk about when they trying to eat a Paleo diet. And whilst the concept sounds like a good, 'eat good all week and then on Sunday have a congratulations you did well total food blow out', I am here to tell you that cheat days are a bad idea.

Here is TWO reasons why:

First, eating real food, clean food, Paleo, Primal - whatever you want to call it, is not a diet. It's a lifestyle choice you have made because it makes you look, feel and perform better. Psychologically you will screw everything up if once a week it's perfectly acceptable to eat crap food. You have sabotaged yourself and subconsciously told yourself you have failed. You are also reinforcing that eating crap food is okay, which you know it isn't otherwise you wouldn't be here in the first place.

Now don't get me wrong - having a treat now and then is perfectly acceptable and part of the healthy eating lifestyle. But a set day every week where you can eat your chips, dip and fizzy - ah no, that makes what you are doing a diet and the cheat day some sort of crazy reward. Don't screw up your own psychology and motivation here. Keep it simple - treats are acceptable on occasion, cheat days are not acceptable.

Your goal is to enjoy tasty real foods and develop a healthy psychological relationship with them. If you have a regular cheat day you are constantly reinforcing to yourself that your new eating habits are just a temporary thing. Usually we call this a DIET - and no one likes diets...

Secondly, cheat days tend to involve eating foods that are not within the guidelines of Paleo or clean eating. You must remember why you choose to eliminate these foods in the first place? Because they made you look and feel BAD! Not only that but they cause gut problems but also subsequent inflammation and chronic disease. You need to eat very little of these foods to have problems for days after they are consumed, so your cheat day on Sunday could still be affecting you the following Saturday AND GUESS WHAT?? Tomorrow you get another cheat day, yippee! Consequently, you may as well just eat your cheat foods all the time because the health affects are the same.

There are plenty of treats out there which are Paleo or Primal compliant. For example, making some Paleo muffins or Paleo chocolate. 

I don't think I need to go on too much more because I think those two points cover the main reasons why I think cheat days are BAD. Obtaining your health and fitness goals means setting realistic goals and consistently achieving them. If you don't think you can go 100% with Paleo eating, start at 60% and work your way up to 90-95%. Set yourself up to succeed from the beginning :-)

Paleo Camping

This weekend our son turned 4 and wanted to go camping and fishing! So off we went with our little 3 month old baby in tow. I have to say, my preparation for this trip was pretty poor. I did get a chance to bake the night before so we have Paleo muffins and banana bread, which were life saving treats for Mummy and Daddy. However, other than that I just threw all our fresh fruit and vegetables in the chilly bin with some frozen meat and a precooked chicken. Other essentials that we had to take was of course were coconut cream, eggs, tinned tomatoes, coconut muesli and nuts.

Paleo camping is pretty easy if you have access to fresh produce and meat. You can't go past the bacon and egg fry up for breakfast and salad bits and meat for your other meals. We did have to get extra eggs as ours overheated in the boiling tent and some extra ham and salami. And of course there was the birthday boy's very NON PALEO chocolate ice cream treat - which obviously went down very well and he hasn't stopped asking for ice cream since!

Check out some of the meals we ate:

And yes, admittedly we only went for three days but that was definitely enough in the heat with a little baby! :-)

Simple Tasty Nutrition - Announcement of Spokeswoman

Simple Tasty Nutrition is proud to announce that we have an amazing new spokeswoman!

Simple Tasty Nutrition would like to introduce Elora Harre to you. Elora is a remarkable young woman who has shown the world how good nutrition and common sense can change your life.

Elora has lost almost 40kg in under a year and is well on her way to achieving her 60kg weight loss goal!
Read about Elora's Success Story here.

Elora will be sharing her amazing success story at the Simple Tasty Nutrition Paleo & Primal Seminars in Christchurch in 2014.
To find out more about the seminars click here.

Elora will also be offering one on one mentoring to Simple Tasty Nutrition clients who want the support of someone who understands the real world challenges of nutrition change and weight loss.
Click here to find out how to sign up!

Welcome Elora, we feel privileged to have you as party of the Simple Tasty Team!