Conventional/Industrial Paleo

I make no secret about the face that I am not well off.  I am in the middle class, hanging on by my fingernails from falling into impoverished.  Things have been rough and we've been juggling our bills to survive until we get our tax returns.

Needless to say, I cannot afford to eat Paleo in its pure form.  I splurge a little on organic bagged apples for my daughter because they're always the perfect size for her and I don't feel so worried if she pulls the damned things out of the bag and eats them before I have had a chance to wash them.  Other than that, everything -- regardless of if it is on the dirty dozen list or not -- is conventional.  I'm sorry, but even the frozen veggies are stupidly expensive.  I can buy almost 3 pounds of the conventional, store brand bags of cauliflower for the price of one of the store brand organic bags that is slightly smaller.

Organic chicken thighs are $6.99 a pound.  With three people to feed, that is not going to fly.  Chicken thighs, where I work, are typically $1.38/lb.  Right now they're on sale for $1.  Hm... I wonder.  What am I going to buy?  Not to mention, pastured pork does not exist in my area, and I certainly can't begin to afford the prices farmers are demanding for it.

Grass-fed beef?  I'm lucky if I can afford beef at all.

I wait for vegetables to go on sale before I buy them.  I find myself staring at the fresh broccoli, waiting for the price to go from $1.58 a pound to 88 cents.  Forget affording fresh asparagus.  This is just the conventional stuff to boot.  I splurge on my fresh vegetables.  I pay that $2.48 for a pound of fresh brussel sprouts once a week.  I make sure that my daughter has pork rinds, apples, bananas, and berries to snack on.

Is it ideal?  No.  But it is the best I can do.

Do I get annoyed when paleo bloggers go on and on about how you can afford organic food if you want to?  Yes.  Even if I ditched the internet and my cellphone it still wouldn't cover the cost of the food.  It is 2-7xs more expensive for organic food.  And locally sourced food?  All my farmer's market sells is jewelry, sugary jellies, and peppers and onions.  And they are very proud of those things.  The butcher has decent prices for some things, but their veggies are bagged and stickered with the same things from the grocery store I work at so I am not sure I believe the woman that sells them.

It costs a lot of gas to drive 30 miles to the nearest Nature's Grocers.  Forget having Whole Foods near by.  That's over an hour drive.  Never even seen a trader joes.  We'll probably stop by a store when we go to our daughter's dermatologist appointment.

Anyway, my point is that just because you can't reach the ideal doesn't mean you shouldn't do something.  My husband's... foot problem has started to clear up, my daughter's hair is growing back, and my weight is steadily dropping.  Take what steps you can to have a healthier life.  Grains made me fat and ravenous.    My life is better for losing them.

Later, y'all.

Been awhile

A lot has happened since I last posted something.  Rob and I fell off the wagon during the holidays and my dearest little girl's hair started to fall out.  Alopecia Areata.  Poor baby is half bald with only thin, scraggly hair left.  It happens often enough for them to tell us not to worry, but not often enough for them to bother studying it or its causes.  All I know is that it is an autoimmune disease that kids may or may not grow out of.

Well, I am not going to wait until she is in school to find out if she'll grow her own hair.

So, the hubs and I decided to take a serious plunge and went for the autoimmne protocol for paleo figuring we had absolutely nothing to lose other than some dead weight (which is happening).  Five days in and the babes has started to show substantial hair growth and it is showing in more and more areas already.  It is super exciting.

We have been eating pretty boring the last week.   Fresh brussel sprouts cooked with onions in duck fat and coconut aminos have been my true proud moments. Up until last night.

Last night I made chopped liver... no eggs since we can't have those until the 31st, but it was still good.  I put it on butter lettuce for wraps with fresh cucumber and some pickled daikon.  The hubs had to put balsamic vinegar on it and it still doesn't rank on his favorites list, but at least he'll eat it.  I also have an appreciation for butter lettuce.  I don't recall having it before.  It is a good and tender and easy for my daughter to bite through.

I'm doing a lot of cooking today so that my daughter has stuff to eat at my parent's house.  They aren't as on board with the whole diet as they seemed before it started.  Hopefully they will be encouraged by the results.