But How Do You Really Go Paleo? – A Guest Post from PaleoParents.com
Prolific Paleo authors Matthew and Stacy are parents of three boys and have found a great balance between healthy nutrition and delicious food for their entire family. After myriad health problems, they began their Paleo journey in 2010 and have never looked back. Check out their blog Paleo Parents to read more about their story, access plenty of amazing recipes, and discover their e-books and print books. Their newest book, Real Life Paleo, was published in 2014 and is available on Amazon (read our recent review here). You can also connect with the Paleo Parents via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
We just returned from a twenty-one stop book signing tour and were not at all surprised by the common questions we received, as we are often asked these same questions on the blog – what do you really eat – how do you “go” paleo – and is paleo safe for my kids? It was these questions that inspired us to write our recently released third book, Real Life Paleo. We no longer just wanted to answer these questions with examples from our healthy living journey, we wanted to show people the steps we took to not only adopt a paleo lifestyle, but how we have managed to raise our three boys on this lifestyle, all while making it sustainable for the long-haul.
Real Life Paleo provides guidance through practical steps we’ve created to Swap, Remove and Heal. These are under the idea that at first you need to switch out the worst foods you’re eating with healthier, tasty counter parts. For example, swap out the store-bought frozen chicken nuggets with our Chicken Fingers with Honey Mustard. Second step is to remove any and all non-Paleo offenders from your diet. Third, is to incorporate healing into your diet through nutrient dense foods and lifestyle changes. We make these healing foods easy to incorporate by labeling them in categories of Under 30 Minutes, One Pot, 5 Ingredients or Fewer and On the Go. It was important that we include these kinds of recipes because we know people have busy lives that aren’t always conducive to complicated recipes. We’re talking about real life here folks, not a three-month diet or one-month challenge!
We personally know how extremely overwhelming it can be to change not only your eating and lifestyle habits, but especially the habits of your spouse and kids. In Real Life Paleo we wanted to breakdown that overwhelming feeling and to create tangible steps that any individual could tackle to improve their health and the health of those around them. In this book you will find Meal Ideas that show you how to assemble full meals from recipes in the book. The accompanying tear-out guides, meal plans and shopping lists are just icing on the cake to make this transition as smooth as possible! And if you are dealing with other food allergies and sensitivities, we have you covered there as well. Every recipe in the book that is free of common allergens is marked with Nut-Free, Egg-Free and Nightshade-Free check boxes to again keep your real life transition to paleo simple.
A challenge we hear a lot, just by the nature of our blog, is the struggle that others have in getting their kids to make this transition too. Trust me, we’ve been there. Matt and I quickly realized that if this was good for us, it had to certainly be good for our kids. This is where the swap aspect comes to the rescue since we have recipes like Mini Corn Dog Muffins, Zucchini Cauliflower Tots, Not Beanie Weenies and so many more that are specifically kid-friendly – in fact, an entire section of the book is dedicated to kid-friendly recipes (Childhood Favorites).
If you enjoy the Not Beanie Weenies recipe, we highly recommend that you pick up a copy of this book today! Individuals and families alike are not only finding new, delicious recipes to add to their weekly rotation, but practical tips and tools on how to make paleo a lifestyle, and not a diet!