You know how you go on these "diets" and starve yourself? Then the first time something stressful happens you use that as an excuse to "cheat" a little? Then a little more. And a little more. And ah screw it, I've already eaten this crap, let's have some more!!

Before you know it, all of the weight you lost has come back with a vengeance!!

Well, our first week into Paleo has been a struggle.

Grocery shopping was quite the adventure.

Let me elaborate a little on that. For our family of 7, I usually spend anywhere between $300-$400 a week on groceries. When we ventured out to buy a week's worth of Paleo friendly groceries, we did so thinking that we were going to reach that $400 mark and pass it. Easily.

Lo and behold, we walk out of the supermarket and we only spent $200? What?!?!?! A weeks worth of lean meats (I'll be honest here, we're not fans of red meat. So, it's all chicken or turkey) veggies galore, beautiful mouth watering fruit, deli meats and a variety of nuts.

Thrilled with our savings I splurged on a new smoothie maker! Our dessert every night is either 3 pieces of dark chocolate or an amazing strawberry, pineapple, mango, peach and almond milk smoothie.

My husband and I were going to do the diet(I hate this word. It's NOT a diet. It's a complete overhaul in how you eat and how you think about your food) and keep the kids on a regular (healthy) diet. We mentioned it to the kids and they all wanted to do it!! I've asked them quite a few times if they're still okay with it and they are.

Then we started dropping like flies. A stomach virus hits our household. 2 at first, then another, then I fall victim to a torturous stomach virus that included horrific stomach pain, ending with my youngest son. The last 2? My husband and our oldest daughter. I'm glad they never got it. At least someone was there to nurse us back to health!!

The best part of the Paleo Diet:

Surprisingly, it's the amount of extra time we spend together as a family. This is A LOT of work. Lots of prepping, no more quick fixes or grab and go snacks unless you prep them first. So, we sit in the kitchen, chopping up vegetables, packing grapes into little zip lock bags, rolling up slices of turkey and putting them into their own baggies, handfuls of nuts (cashews are my favorite but they're used sparingly) and we talk. About everything. There's a lot of joking around and discussions about the diet itself.

Also, the fact that I don't have to count calories anymore. Ever. Everything I put into my system is healthy. The only thing I monitor is making sure we get enough fruits, limit our nut and chocolate intake and that's it. I cannot tell you how absolute liberating it is to not have to count calories!!!!




The worst part of the Paleo Diet:

Coffee is a Paleo approved drink. The milk and sugar I usually take with it are not.

I MISS MY COFFEE!!!!!!!

I tried it with just almond milk. Yuck!! I honestly did not take into consideration the fact that I can't have coffee the way I like it anymore. I whine, all day long, about how much I miss my coffee.

I went from 2 warming and soul soothing cups of coffee a day to 0. None. Nada. Zilch.

I feel so bad for my husband. He hears this and stays strong. "You can have coffee my love, but with almond milk. No one is keeping you away from the coffee".

Another downside/upside? is the challenge in finding meals everyone enjoys. So far, homemade turkey burgers with a salad, homemade guacamole and salsa are EVERYONE'S favorite! We make double of everything because it's not only dinner, it's tomorrow's lunch as well. Needless to say, there were no turkey burgers left. I'm actually salivating thinking about the damn things.

Everyone is eating all day long. We ran out of nuts, deli meat, and almond milk by Wednesday and had to run out for more.


Oh, and since my husband quit his energy drinks and started the Paleo Diet he's lost 9.6 lbs!!!

I've dropped 4lbs. Not too shabby huh? I don't really care about the number; knowing that as I turn fat into muscle the number really isn't going to matter. I need to lose weight but I refuse to focus on the number. What I did notice this morning, as I got dressed for work, was a nice little looseness in my pants. I have more energy. I'm generally in a much better mood and look forward to my strength training workouts. The weakling that stuck with the 2lb-5lb weights, now easily does 20lb dumbbell rows. Oh yeah!!!!

Sunday marks the end of week 1. I think if we stuck with it through illness and continous bumps in the road, we can really do this forever.

Our goal: To be healthy, from the inside out.