Opening Explanation

Today I began a personal challenge of following the Paleolithic Diet for a minimum of 30 days. I have been working out at a Crossfit gym for about 5 months now, and my trainer encourages anyone who is serious about achieving superhealth, or peak fitness in his or her body to follow at least the Zone lifestyle if not the Paleolithic food plan alongside the Crossfit workout regime. A number of people at my gym have already attempted the Paleolithic challenge, some with success, but most of them without much variety.
As a trained chef, I love good food that is packed with flavor, so a monotonous diet, no matter what the health benefits, is not an option. Therefore, when I decided to take on the Paleo diet, I knew I would be creating lots of recipes to keep me interested, and I created this blog to start as a sort of food journal, both to share the healthy recipes I create and to hold myself accountable to follow through with this challenge. Hopefully some of the people who will be starting the Paleolithic lifestyle in the future will get some use out of my recipes as well. That said, here are the restrictions of the Paleolithic Diet in a nutshell, and if you care for more detail, email me or go pick up the book at your local library!

1. No Grains
2. No Legumes (that includes soy)
3. No Refined Sugars (except natural honey)
4. No Dairy
5. No Salt
6. No Peanuts
7. No Cocoa
8. No Alcohol
9. Unlimited Fruits and Vegetables
10. Unlimited Lean Meats

There is apparently an ongoing sort of controversy as far as vinegar goes, so I will allow it, but only occasionally. Also the Paleolithic book neither forbids nor discourages cooking with real wine, as long as the alcohol is cooked out and, again, it is used sparingly. I will leave these two ingredients open to discussion for the first week before I use either of them in any of my recipes, and if I am corrected they will be added to the list of forbidden items. I will post each day's workout, meals, and musings within 24 hours of the last meal of the day. Feel free to comment with words of advice, encouragement, or critical opinions about the recipes to keep me accountable!