Today is the last day of the first month of the rest of my eating life…or something like that! I’ve been really “on” this month, and my energy is through the roof compared to pretty much all of last year. (Then again, there was a new baby involved….)

I’ve started a new Pinterest board with some fave paleo/low carb recipes, so please take a look, follow, and share great recipes and ideas you find with me please! http://pin.it/UEtrhLz

And now, drumroll….the results of 30 days of healthy low carb/paleo eating, Bulletproof coffee every morning, 160 oz. of water daily, etc. is:

16 pounds down!!!

(OK, it was 15.9 lbs, but give me a break, we’re rounding up.)

Not bad for 30 days.  Things have certainly slowed down in the past few weeks, as expected (and I hit a week-long stall that ended in a big WHOOSH of weight this morning), but I’m so happy with where I’ve gotten.

And perhaps most importantly, my new energy has meant that I’ve dusted off my Fitbit and started getting out an moving again. I’m even finding excuses for exercise (like shoveling from the 30″ of snow we got in our blizzard last weekend!).

Onward and downward!!

So, it’s been WAY too long. And I’ve been on a crazy journey that includes meeting and moving in with the love of my life, having a baby (who just turned 1!), falling in love with 3 stepkids, running a small (but mighty) business, and more.

But now I have to get back to focusing on how to make ME healthy. I must admit, it started as a New Year’s resolution. But this is one I’m keeping beyond 2016!

I’m back to eating Paleo/Primal, with a focus on eating as healthily (and yummily!) and keeping my carb/net carbs down. I am 2 weeks into this journey, and had my weigh-in this morning.

11.1 pounds down in the first 2 weeks!

Yes, I know a lot of that is water weight. But it’s a great motivator, especially as that is about 9% of the total weight I’m striving to lose. AND I’ve got energy through the roof! (I might also attribute that to my morning Bulletproof Espresso.)

So PrimeAli is back and ready to share my ups and downs, awesome concoctions (aka recipes), and more!

To kick off, I just made up this delicious, high vitamin/low carb pudding with chia seeds (POWER food!), cacao nibs, and more.  YUM!!

Joy-ful Almond Chia Cacao-Nut Pudding

1 can coconut milk

3 T. chia seeds

2 T. cacao nibs

2 T. almonds (finely chopped)

2 T. cacao powder (or cocoa powder, which is a bit less strong)

1 T. xylitol (or other preferred sweetener)

1 t. almond extract

Mix everything together and put into either four 4oz. containers or eight 2 oz. containers. (I like to make smaller containers, since I tend to just need a nibble of sweetness, but P thinks the bigger the better!)

Nutritional Info for each of eight 2 oz. servings (obviously double this if you made the larger 4 oz. servings): 142 cal, 3 g. net carbs (6 g. carbs – 3 g. fiber), 3 g. protein, 12 g. fat

I was craving something sweet, so I looked around for a recipe for paleo ice cream using coconut milk. I found a variety of things to try, but in the end I made this to use what I had at the house. (I also ran across some really interesting things I want to try creating sweet things with avocado.)

Freezer Paleo Coconut Ice Cream
1 can coconut milk (full fat), refrigerated
1/2 c. shredded coconut
1 t. vanilla (or more to taste)
1 pinch salt
1 T. coconut sugar, or other low glycemic sugar substitute (I actually tried this batch with only 1 t., since I don’t really like very sweet things)

Put everything in your Vitamix (or high powered blender) and blend until smooth. Put into a shallow dish or tupperware, cover, and freeze; stirring every hour or so. Should take 2-3 hours to firm up.

Today’s Food
Breakfast: Bulletproof coffee, 1 egg and 3 egg whites scrambled with herb butter, crockpot pork
Lunch: Crockpot Coffee-rubbed Bison Roast, squash and zucchini sauteed in olive oil and roast juices; paleo coconut ice cream
Dinner (Valentine’s Evening craziness!): burger with cheese and mayo (no bun, of course), fries, glass of prosecco, one Manhattan, and several beers (YIKES!)
Activity: 4100 steps

I’ve been taking advantage of being stuck at home today working (due to the zillionth snow storm this winter) by cleaning out my fridge, freezer, and cabinets. If it’s not primal/paleo, or if it’s freshness is questionable, it’s outta here! My freezer has never looked so clean AND I found some ground bison and elk that I didn’t realize I had. SCORE!

I also decided to make a bit of homemade mayonnaise, although of course I used light-tasting olive oil and a dash of avocado oil. I LOVE me some mayo!

Breakfast: Nothing, because I was working and forgot (kept trying to get up to make my Bulletproof coffee, but never did)
Lunch: Homemade French onion soup (onions sauteed in olive oil, thyme, homemade chicken stock and a some homemade beef stock reduction)
Dinner: Tuna with homemade mayo and chopped sweet pepper, celery, 2 pieces dark chocolate, paleo coconut ice cream
Activity: basically none, since I was apartment-bound (although that is not really a good excuse, since I could have done some DDP Yoga or something.

I have been away at a client’s corporate strategy retreat for the past few days, so I’m going to do a quick catch up of my meals for those three days. But a big thing on Sunday was that I did intervals on the elliptical for the first time in ages. It felt great! And then I was only 600 steps shy of my 10K that day, so I danced around my hotel room. 🙂 Unfortunately, they didn’t have a gym at the conference center AND it was a foot of snow outside, so I missed a couple of days of good activity. 😦

Day 1
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, 2 wild board sausage patties, arugula salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil
Lunch: 1 bison bratwurst & dijon
Snacks (Starbucks): double espresso with 1/2 and 1/2, small package almonds
Dinner (retreat center): stuffed chicken breast (think it was stuffed with spinach and maybe a bit of cheese), a couple of bites of vegetable strudel (not very primal), green beans
Activity: 10,000 steps!!!

Day 2
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, bacon, coffee with 1/2 and 1/2
Lunch: fajita salad with beef and chicken, salsa, and guacamole; Diet Coke
Dinner: Prime rib with au jus, creole shrimp, sauteed veggies, salad with balsamic and olive oil
Activity: 3900 steps

Day 3
Breakfast: 2 eggs over easy, bacon, coffee with 1/2 and 1/2
Lunch: salad with Mahi Mahi, olive oil, & red wine vinegar; scoop tuna salad (mayo is not primal)
Snack: double espresso with 1/2 and 1/2
Dinner (Polish restaurant): Stuffed wild boar (with spinach, dates, and red peppers), creamed spinach, carrot salad; and a few bites of potato latke
Activity: 5700 steps

Day 4
Breakfast: Bulletproof coffee
Snack: iced double espresso with 1/2 and 1/2; Diet Coke
Lunch (Maison): Executive salad with olive oil and balsamic, peppermint tea
Dinner (Sakura): Clear soup, tuna sashimi, tuna tartar, salmon sushi wrapped in cucumber, seaweed salad; mini Magnum bar (AH! Moment of weakness)
Activity: over 10,000 steps (but my Fitbit battery died!)

Today I tried to do intermittent fasting the way that Dave Asprey talks about it in the . Basically, you eat all your food in an 6 hour window (which was 1:30pm to 7:30pm for me today), and then you fast for the other 18 hours, having a Bulletproof Coffee for breakfast to jump start your metabolism. I felt GREAT today! And I definitely ate less food than I normally would.

Now, my one (totally accidental) slip today was that I forgot to order my salad today without the dressing already mixed in. Since the salad had roasted beets and winter squash, the sugar content was already a bit high. Since I made the mistake, I didn’t send it back. But I know it wasn’t a great choice. Next time, I would order the salad light on the beets and summer squash and with olive oil and balsamic vinegar instead. I think it would be just as good!

Breakfast: 16 oz. Bulletproof coffee (1 T. each coconut oil & butter, plus dash vanilla and cinnamon)
Lunch (Silver Diner): 1/2 Warm Roasted Local Veggie Salad with champagne vinagrette (YIKES!), a few bites of bison huevos rancheros (the primal bits only, including avocado)
Dinner: 1 bison bratwurst with a tad of dijon mustard, roasted brussel sprouts (in a little butter and a splash of heavy whipping cream), 2 pieces 88% fair trade dark chocolate
Activity: 5000 steps

This morning I created a coconut oil version of the infamous Bulletproof Coffee.  It was AMAZING! (Which you could tell from the title of this post.)

Amped Coffee
8-10 oz. fresh strongly brewed coffee
1 T. coconut oil
dash pure vanilla extract
a couple dashes of ground cinnamon

Put ingredients into a blender (I used the personal blender cup on my Ninja) and blend on high speed for about 15 seconds until it looks like a latte and is completely blended. ENJOY!

I also went back to the original Bulletproof Coffee recipe and read some addition pages on Dave Asprey’s site (as well as other reviews of his ideas and products). I decided to splurge and buy a few of his products. I got the coffee beans, vanilla, chocolate, cocoa butter, and the Brain Octane. We’ll see!

Food today
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, 2 small turkey sausage patties; 1 Amped Coffee (YUM!)
Snacks: double espresso with 1/2 and 1/2 (social, didn’t really need it, now crazy hyped up!!!)
Lunch (Chop’t): Spinach & kale, ancho chili chicken, green onion, kalmata olives, hard-boiled egg, olive oil, red wine vinegar, hot sauce [BTW, this was AWESOME, but I kept saying it looked too healthy. I couldn’t even finish the whole thing.]
Dinner: Cold cuts (turkey pastrami and corned beef), 1 piece cheese, dijon mustard
Activity: 7200 steps

Today was my re-primal road trip. Not many choices, so I had a taco salad at Sheetz (without the chips!!) at 6am. The woman definitely gave me a look like I was crazy….

Food today
Breakfast: small taco salad, double espresso with 1/2 and 1/2
Snacks: cherry pie Lara Bar, handful of almonds
Lunch: arugula, mixed deli meats (turkey pastrami, ham, corned beef), parmesan, kalmata olives, horseradish balsamic vinaigrette
Dinner(at BGR): lettuce-wrapped burger with bacon, cheddar, and an over-easy egg with dijon mustard; Mello Yello Zero (had no idea this existed!!!)

I know that you’re not supposed to be focused on the scale, but it’s really important for me to stay on track and motivated. So I looked this morning, and I’ve lost 4 lbs. in the last two days! Now, granted, that’s mostly water weight, I know. But I can already tell that some of the bloating is going away. YAY!

I was planning to eat buffalo chicken for at least two meals today, but things changed a bit and I ended up with a bit more diversity (which was good!). Now I’ll just have the chicken in the freezer for the next time I come back to the cabin.

Food today:
Breakfast: Crock-pot Buffalo Chicken, double espresso over ice with heavy whipping cream
Lunch: Pulled pork with a little vinegar BBQ sauce, pimento cheese, celery
Dinner: Salmon poached with olive oil and dill, roasted brussel sprouts, a few bites of mashed roasted sweet potatoes
Activity: 2700 steps (ugh)

I was hankering for something “bad” today, but instead made a healthy, primal version of buffalo wings (well without the wings, but also without the bad-for-you stuff!). It took me a while on the grocery aisle to find a wing sauce that didn’t have a bunch of non-paleo ingredients, so I settled on the regular Franks Red Hot Sauce (not their wing sauce), and just added a bit of butter. Awesome!

Crock-pot Buffalo Chicken
Serves 6

3 lbs. boneless chicken breasts
4 T. butter
2/3 bottle Franks Red Hot Sauce

Layer the chicken in a crockpot, and cover with the sauce and butter. Let cook on high for 4 hours and then shred. Serve it on top of romaine leaves or celery (with a sprinkle of bleu cheese, if you want!).

Food today:
Breakfast: Double espresso over ice with heavy whipping cream
Lunch: Bison Chili, leftover pulled pork with vinegar BBQ sauce
Dinner: Crock-pot Buffalo Chicken, romaine lettuce, celery, and a smidge of bleu cheese; 2 deviled eggs (with non-paleo mayo 😦 )
Activity: 2500 steps (gross, rainy weather made me lethargic l but should have powered through….)