Day 1 - Part II.... Let's Eat Paleo!

My first day eating paleo turned into a pretty challenging affair. I didn't really have a plan aside from going out and buying everything in the book's meal guide for the first week. Sounds easy but it ain't!

***NOTE*** At the end of each of these daily food entries, I will include a summary of the budget and food ingredients I needed for the day. If you are just looking for a quick guide to mimic, go straight there!

Before I got going, I looked into my barren fridge and concocted something out of the few options I had left:

Meal 1: 3 Eggs and 2 Oranges (other orange ravenously eaten before pic)

After satisfying my hunger, I began perusing The Paleo Solution's meal guide and realized I am incapable of following a guide like this to the letter, it is too costly financially and challenging to calculate how much to make every time without having leftovers. So, the first major development of day one was: screw the meal plan, get creative. I will still consult the meal plan, but more for recipe and food purchasing ideas than as my actual day-to-day guide. (btw you can see what it looks like at robbwolf.com)

LETS BUY SOME FOOD YO!!

...was what I thought when I left for PA Supermarché on Fort:

I love PA. For me, it is the blueprint of what a grocer should be. It feels local, the people working there actually look like, well, real people (sorry provigo peeps, you guys are wooden) and you get goooood deals. I love good deals. I was hoping I would get all my shopping done in one swift affair, but alas, things didn't turn out to be so easy. I found out that in our standard groceries, grass fed beef, free ranging poultry and wild caught fish are things people associate with the fictional world of Middle Earth. Cool idea, it just doesn't exist.

Grass Fed VS Grain Fed

To make a long story short, grain fed animals often end up with many health issues just like their grain fed human counterparts. In the case of healthy eating, this type of meat can be problematic (for one thing, grain fed beef has a much lower omega 3/omega 6 ratio than what is healthy for us, not the case with grass fed). Similar problems arise with fish that are bred and fed in aquacultures. (If you would like more health details about this, just ask! :)

So I felt a little defeated in the meat department, I nonetheless spent an impressive 72$ on a boatload of veggies, fruits and spices and stuff:

Not the whole boatload

...Incluant ce légume mystérieux qu'est le 'Spaghetti Squash'

Really? I mean, wtf is this thing???? Why Spaghetti?? No joke, I have no idea what is gonna happen with it. So far, I have felt compelled to name it. It is called: Rodrigo.

So! Before heading out with the idea of finding good meat, I made myself an awesome veggie/fruit smoothie:

Meal 2: Celery/Avocado/Strawberry/Egg/Frozen Fruit Rhapsody

Yes, I eat a lot of eggs. It's just who I am. Shell I continue?

Post-Smoothie, I picked up all my marbles and headed to:

Atwater Market

There is something very bourgeois about Atwater market. I'm more of a Jean-Talon partisan myself but Atwater is very conveniently located near casa de Pete. After purchasing a pound of delicious looking wild, Quebec caught Turbot (13$), I hustle my way to the butcher stands armed with the following question:

Excuse me, do you have any grass fed beef?

I felt a little bad for the first butcher I presented this question to. His shoulders hunched a little, he stopped for the slightest pause, nodded his head with regret and whispered "no, we don't have that here". Brutal!

Butcher #2 was an entirely different experience. I ask him above question.
His response: "Yes, yes, *mumbling*, the cow eat the grains and then *pinches index to thumb and brings it up to mouth* smoke the grass!"
*Gives me two to three variations of previous statement before I decide to speak again*
Me: "So what your are saying is that it is grain fed?"
Him: "Yes, yes, it eats the grains, it eats the grass *his friend butcher starts repeating in canon the statements of Butcher #2* then it eats the grains, then it smokes the grass. Like all the cows, we are just butchers, we don't raise the cows."
Me (a mix of wonder and confusion): So there is no grass fed meat here?
Him: "Impossible to have that here. It's winter time, you need to feed grains. Feed the grains, smoke the grass. *grabs younger looking butcher* This here is my nephew, he loves to smoke *does finger pinching thing again*, you know, take the spliff!!"
Me (half feeling awkward, half wanting to stay and see what he comes up with next): "Thanks for the info!"

Walking away from that stand, I told myself if I were to buy grain fed meat, I would definitely want to come back here. It's difficult to retell this experience exactly as every 2-3 words there would be 1 or 2 I could not understand. Was a lot of fun!

It did leave me with an interesting quandary, where to find good meat? I am working on the answer and will get back to you on that (I do have a few potential leads).

YOGA!! 

After this, I brought my purchases back home and headed out for yoga at Sattva Yoga Shala. In the company of my friends Rhiannon and Xavier, I sweated my way through the one-and-only Tara Lutchman's trademark Funky Friday class. I cannot emphasize enough how awesome this class is (Recommendation for your first Funky Friday: At the beginning of class, when Tara asks whether anyone has any requests, ask for shoulders. Trust me on this one).

Following yoga, I headed out with Xavier to Myriad cafe on Mckay (After texting Shawn and asking whether coffee is paleo or not - His answer: Yes but no milk). Xavier is an awesome and driven individual. After us talking last week, he decided spontaneously to start the 30 day paleo challenge with me today. I'll definitely be posting links up to his food concoctions and his wicked yoga videos!

We were presented with these dark beauties (only a pic of mine actually):

Coffee Makes Xavier Happy!!

It made me happy too. That espresso was delicious.

And this brings me to my final meal of the day!!

Meal 3: TURBO POISSON

What: Turbot baked in coconut oil, with diced almonds, dijon and some sea salt. Green beans roasted with olive oil.

Whatever I have said in my life against fish, I take back. This was mouth watering goodness and so simple to make! Thank you paleo diet!

SUMMARY OF DAY ONE:

Ingredients needed:

- eggs

- fruits: oranges, frozen fruit, strawberries

- veggies: celery, avocado(fruit or veggie?), green beans

- almonds

- dijon

- sea salt

- olive oil

- Turbot

Budget:

- 72$ @ PA

- 13$ at fish market

That's all folks!

Bonne journée!