“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” - Lao Tzu
Today is the beginning of a new adventure for me. I’m so grateful for my past adventures as they have been the road map that has lead to my new adventure. My new mantra is “Always be on an adventure!” Every experience and every journey I’m on is an adventure to me. Life is all about adventures whether it’s starting a new job or a new workout routine or going backpacking for the first time.
This new adventure of blogging and primal lifestyle coaching is serving others in a way that I strongly believe is my calling. I’ve always loved being an inspiration to others around me in any way possible whether it be a friendly smile, positive words of encouragement, being loyal, or giving someone the peace of mind that they can rely on me to be there no matter what. As I was inspiring others on past adventures I was simply just being myself.
As I continue to be myself and grow on my new adventure, I want to inspire you to live an abundant life and achieve optimal health through living a primal lifestyle. This doesn’t mean you have to live in a cave or hunt your own food or worry about a ferocious mountain lion that may chase you down and gobble you up so he can satisfy his hunger. To me, living a primal lifestyle means living an abundant life which includes eating nutrient dense foods that nourish my body to give me energy, following my natural circadian rhythm, be in the best physical shape for my genes and body type, and slow down and enjoy life. I will share with you how I live a primal lifestyle in the fast paced, hectic modern world we live in today.
My primal/paleo adventure began on April 11, 2012, and I was at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village, California, enjoying beer (which was NOT paleo/primal and NOT gluten free) while on a first date with a tall, handsome man with salt and pepper hair. When my date, Scot, told me he had bacon and eggs for dinner before our date I didn’t think anything of it. After all, I eat breakfast for dinner occasionally. When he said he poured the bacon grease ON the eggs and then ate them, that’s the moment I thought he was weird. I thought, ”That is so disgusting! Who would do that?!” As the night went on, and we got to know each other, he told me that optimal health is a priority in his life. This was the beginning of a new chapter in my life.
About six months before Scot and I met I made a list of qualities I wanted in a life partner. Besides being family oriented and loving at the top of my list, he had to value his health as a priority in his life. I have always valued my health by being physically active all my life and eating nutrient dense foods. Of course, I was taught that whole wheat, oatmeal, lots of fruit (fruit isn’t the worst but I don’t eat a lot of it these days), stay away from red meat and eggs, and to cook with vegetable oil. Everything the government tells us we should eat. After all, we should all do what the government tells us to do, right (insert sarcastic laugh here)?
I definitely got what I asked for in a partner because he was living a primal lifestyle when I met him and I could feel how passionate he's was about it. At the time I met Scot I was training for my first half marathon and was running about 15-20 miles a week and doing little or no strength training. Running has always been very meditative for me and was one of the ways I would relax after a long day at the office. Running a half marathon had always been a fitness goal for me so I wanted to do really well but at the same time not wreck my body during the journey. I had wanted to lose about 5 pounds so I was leaner and lighter during my race. I was at the point where I wasn’t losing any weight and not getting any faster with my time. I was at a plateau with my weight and my fitness level.
About two or three weeks after Scot and I enjoyed drinks at the Four Seasons, we were having dinner at one of my favorite restaurants near our house. He was leaving for a week to go camping and I said to him, “Teach me how you eat and how you workout. I want to learn how to live a primal lifestyle.” He gave me Mark Sisson’s Book, The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation. After he returned from his camping trip, he started coaching me with which foods to buy and which ones to avoid. He taught me about high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts and how they help you burn fat better than working out for one hour six days a week. We cooked together and worked out together which helped me learn how to apply the primal lifestyle to my life. I’m a very visual learner and I learn best by doing.
The two areas of a primal lifestyle that I was most excited about was primal cooking and primal workouts. I’ve always been passionate about cooking and love experimenting in the kitchen with recipes. I love to be challenged in the kitchen and it’s fun for me to convert non-primal recipes to primal recipes. When we went on our second date, I had to make Scot dinner since I lost to pool. I wanted to make him my mom’s sour cream chicken enchilada recipe but it has corn tortillas in it (obviously) so I had to omit the corn tortillas and make it more like a casserole than traditional enchiladas. In my opinion, it tasted just as good without tortillas as it does with tortillas. Since I was not completely knowledgeable about which foods to avoid, I did use a store bought cream of mushroom soup with wheat in it. Now that I’m in the know with the primal style of eating, I’ve modified my mom’s sour cream enchilada recipe with my own cream of mushroom soup recipe.
I’ve modified many of the recipes in the last 4 years to be primal friendly and I’m excited to share my recipes with you on my blog. Before I share my primal friendly recipes with you, I’d like to share my first recipe I ever wrote from scratch. I’m very proud of this recipe!
