The 1st week

The first week is tough, I mean really tough.  You miss sugar, you feel like your head is going to explode from aching, you're irritable and you see delicious carbs everywhere you turn.

This is when you turn to fruit and nuts.  In full disclosure, Mary and I took a different approach on this.  Both with their own merit. I think eating tons of fruit and nuts is the only way to survive the first 30 days of paleo.  It really helps you when the craving monster comes a'calling.  Mary, on the other hand, cut fruit for the first 30 days as sort of a reset button to her taste buds.  Now adding back fruits is even more special.

Either way you go, fruit and nuts are your friend... for now.  Embrace them while you're in survival mode and are making decisions like "should I go to IHOP tonight."  After the willpower is there, you'll want to scale back significantly if you really want to see weight loss.  Also, if you're like me (Jen), you need to be careful of fruit due to blood sugar issues.  I'm eating them now, but will cut back over time.  If you're breastfeeding, you need carbs so don't cut the fruit and enjoy sweet potatoes which the rest of us only eat on occasion.
As promised, here are some of the recipes we ate this week:

(Many of my recipes are from the Cuisine at Home cooking magazine.  They often use paleo-approved ingredients, or the recipe only requires slight modifications to make it paleo.)

Crab, Avocado & Grapefruit Salad with Grapefruit-tarragon vinaigrette.  I couldn't find a link to the Cuisine at Home but I did find a blogger that posted it and it's the same exact.  We found our crab in a plastic container in the Publix seafood dept.
Crab Avo Grapefruit Salad

Apple Walnut Muffins.  I add 1/2 tsp almond extract and an extra apple finely chopped for texture. I also substitute canned coconut for the almond milk. This is a versatile recipe.  Trade out the apple for another fruit of choice.  Oven temps vary, I had to cook mine for 25 min. 
Apple Walnut Muffins

Italian Egg Drop soup.  Let me just say, my 5 year old who is the PICKIEST eater on the planet gobbled this up.  It's light, great for a Sunday night dinner when you had a late lunch.  So tasty. This is as close to the recipe as I could find (it's from the Cuisine magazine). Modifications: Add 1 tbsp. minced garlic to stock, 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice after eggs are cooked and skip the parmesan. Egg Drop Soup

Skillet-Roasted Chicken with Sprint Herb-Lemon Oil.  I wasn't a huge fan of this because it required me to cut a whole chicken and that's not my thing.  Next time, I'll just by all the chicken parts I want with skin on. Btw - the herb-lemon oil totally rocks.  I ate the leftover oil on guacamole as a snack the next day.  Skillet Roasted Chicken

You can find 100s of "baked chicken with herbs"  on the internet.  As matter of fact, I found this one I will try this week:  Herb Roasted Chicken.  You will see they call for wine. I use wine with cooking periodically.  Some argue it's not paleo, but I (Jen) don't think wine is that bad here and there. ;)
**Update: this was amazing!!  Recipe calls for 2 chickens, I made 1 but wished I'd made 2.**

Egg cupcakes.  I make a batch of these and freeze them. Then every morning for a week, I pull a couple out, fry them up in coconut oil.  I eat them with spinach, bacon and orange slices. Very satisfying.  Egg Cupcakes

Other foods we ate this week: steak, salmon, meatloaf (replace bread crumbs with almond flour), steamed broccoli, Everyday Paleo Brussel Sprouts, chicken and cashew with cauliflower rice.

Once you know what's not paleo, you will be surprised how many recipes actually pass the paleo test, or maybe just swapping veg oil for olive oil is all that is needed to make it paleo.

More recipes to come!  Let us know how you're doing with your healthy eating and weight/inches loss.