Reflections from Down Under

That title sounds awful. I think it's funny, because that's the kind of sense of humor I have. Explanation: I was in Australia and NZ with my grandparents and aunt, and my diet was a far cry from paleo. At first I tried to stick to it, and then I became resentful towards it, and then I decided to enjoy my vacation. I don't regret this decision one bit. I didn't blow up, or have GI problems, and my skin actually got better. Hmmm.... 

These are some of my early attempts at eating paleo.

They call these bugs. Gross.
That's all I have to say, and I LOVE seafood. 

:( I did not eat this.

Perhaps one of my favorite parts of cruises.
Towel art! And this of course was my favorite.

On the skin note, my Aunt Cathy treated me to Jurlique facewash, and it's absolutely amazing the difference it has made. It is all natural, and somehow it's the only thing that my skin hasn't reacted to. I wanted to give my Aunt a hug every time I looked in the mirror.

I did run 70 miles on my 20 day trip. Mind you I don't run at all anymore, so this was pretty impressive for me. I don't run because I love to run. I run because it's exercise and I was eating way too much gourmet food day after day after day for 3 weeks. It was pretty cool though! My muscles are strong enough, but my joints definitely are not conditioned to this much running. They ache... like an arthritic geriatric person. This was stupid of me. That being said, I owe this accomplishment to crossfit. Not to get on a soap box, but crossfit may be one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It has made me stronger, more confident, happier, and given me an amazing group of people to call my friends. I love you, Trailhead Crossfit. I'm tearing up. Not really, but I am being serious. People get upset because it's "expensive" but it's really not. You know what IS expensive? Personal trainers, gym memberships that you'll never use, and being unhealthy.  It's all about how bad you want it. Once you want it, it suddenly fits into your budget and schedule.

So anyways, I said that I didn't blow up. This made me reassess if I really think paleo has all the answers. I think that paleo provides wonderful guidelines to a healthy diet, BUT there are some pretty phenomenal foods out there that paleo restricts you from... like rich chocolate desserts, freshly baked bread, cheesiness goodness, wine... I think those are the main things that I care about. I ate/drank them all and I loved every bite/sip and I realized that I need to relax a little bit on paleo. Not dismiss it, but when I go out to eat and the baked brie on the table looks to die for I am going to have some. And the chocolate, well... I already cheat on that one. But I am not going to call it cheating anymore. It's just going to be something that I occasionally enjoy. The whole strict paleo is not for me. I'm not trying to make it to the crossfit games, or loose weight, or anything really. I am just trying to figure how to best live a healthy life, and enjoying the creations made by human intelligence every once in a while (i.e. foods that have been introduced into our diet relatively recently) is part of my mental health. So that's that. For now... I'm a girl. I change my mind a lot. I have emotions and hormones. I'm going to stop scaring you now.

I was super excited to cook for myself again when I got home! I have really grown to love cooking. It's fun and you get better at it. You start to develop a sense for spices and what goes together. You see exactly what goes into your food and you get to be proud of what you're eating. It's cool.

I am on all sorts of soap boxes today.

What I was really doing is preparing you for these non-paleo AMAZING Cookies and Cream Cupcakes (!) that I made for Cory's birthday. They were a hit, not to pat myself on the back or anything. 

 

Guess where this recipe came from?! Pumkin Cashew Coconut Curry over Coconut Rice. Juli's picture is much prettier than mine. I love curry! And curry with pumkin is even more amazing. This was causing snot to drip down my face from the spicieness. I'm sorry for being disgusting. If you're not a spicy person I would recomend adding less curry/red pepper...? It would help if I knew what was causing it to be so damn spicy.

So those are my reflections from south of the equator. Thanks for reading. Cheers :).