Paleo by default

So I will start by saying that I have recently transformed my diet, and am now gluten free, and mostly soy and egg free. After over a year of chronic headaches and fatigue that no Dr. could seem to explain, and no scan could provide a cause, I became frustrated. My neurologist related the fatigue back to my Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis, but the headaches were still unexplained. Fed, up and determined I began diligently researching natural remedies, and possible causes to my aliments. I went to an allergist, and was tested for possible food allergies. And what do you know,  just as I thought, I had some. I began detoxing my body, and eliminating the foods I was most sensitive to (gluten, soy, and eggs). The elimination of these foods drastically improved the way I was feeling, significantly reduced my fatigue and completely cured my headaches! In the mean time, I began doing a little research regarding diets that reduced MS symptoms. There are a few out there, so taking information from everything I had read, I began trying to heal myself with healthy food! I am currently limiting my meat intake, and don't eat meat everyday.  The meat I do eat is bison, chicken and fish. I buy bison from a local farmer,  chicken from a small Amish market which is organic, and the fish I don't purchase anywhere special, but do purchase wild caught (the environment of farm raised fish, and the "food" they are fed has made me form an opinion to avoid it). For those of you who are freaked out at the thought of eating bison, DON'T BE! It is a very lean meat, and is similar to beef. In my opinion, if I didn't know it wasn't beef I wouldn't know the difference. It is significantly lower in fat as well. Here is a comparison chart

	Fat (grams )	Calories (kcal)	Cholesterol (mg)	Iron (mg)	Vitamin B12 (mcg)
Bison	2.42	143	82	3.42	2.86
Beef (choice)	10.15	219	86	2.99	2.65
Beef (select)	8.09	201	86	2.99	2.64
Pork	9.66	212	86	1.1	0.75
Chicken (skinless)	7.41	190	89	1.21	0.33
Sockeye Salmon	10.97	216	87	0.55	5.80
Source: USDA

Bison is my go to ground meat. Prior to my research, ground turkey was my go to meat, until I discovered that most ground turkey is not just the white meat. Its dark meat, fatty meat, and sometimes skin as well. So unless you are buying all white, skinless meat specifically, you may not be getting what you think you are, and the fat content in it may be high than lean beef (ugh, I know!). I can say that I have purchased skinless, all white ground turkey, and the consistency is not like beef or bison. It is more like a piece of chicken cut up, and I honestly didn't care for it. Make the switch to bison!!

Most of these recipes have been adopted from recipes I have found online. I will post the sites along with the pictures of the items I have made. As a result of food allergies, and my MS symptom reduction diet, I am mostly paleo. Although I eat dairy, which I don't believe is Paleo.. So on to my creations!
Things I've made to eat, are also posted on my Pintrest boards, so feel free to follow me on Pintrest

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti:

For this dish, I did not follow a recipe. I used spaghetti squash as the "noodles." The marinara was just a pre-made store brand that I added squash, zucchini, onion, pepper, and bison to. Tah dah.. Dinner :) 

"Mac and Cheese" Spaghetti Squash:

The recipe originate from: http://www.evilshenanigans.com/2013/04/cheesy-baked-spaghetti-squash/.  A couple of changes I made were using gluten free flour, low fat organic milk instead of cream and fresh spinach instead of frozen.  Fresh spinach 1 tastes better, and 2 wilts when it is heated and is similar to frozen thawed spinach after (who knew). I always use fresh spinach where it calls for frozen. I do not know what the equivalent of fresh to frozen is, I usually "eye ball it." (so technical I know). I also added some chick peas to this with some of the leftovers, and it was delicious!

Paleo Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe derived from: http://eating4balance.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/coconut-flour-cinnamon-rolls/.  All things considered these were very good! They are no ooey, gooey processed, fat filled, Cinnabon (man they are good), but it is pretty tasted for a much healthier version! A couple of tweaks I made with this were that I used Ener-g egg substitute instead of flax seed. This can be purchase at a local health food store, or in the specialty diet section at your local grocery store. Ener-g is a powder that is mixed with water to produce an egg like consistency gel. I have not had any problems with recipes not turning out with this substitution. It works well!! One thing I would mention about the coconut oil/flour is that it gave me terrible heartburn, and tummy troubles. I don't know if it was the flour or the oil, but I am thinking it was the oil because it was very strong in the recipe. So I may try it again with less coconut oil, or a replacement. I drink coconut water, and eat raw coconut with no issues, so I don't want to rule coconut out of my diet permanently!! Also I topped these with raw honey. If you have not tasted raw honey, I highly encourage you to do so! I had read many articles about honey from the grocery stores being mostly high fructose corn syrup, flavored to taste like honey. I thought, yeah right, they can't do that! Until I tasted raw, locally produced honey... Wow, what a difference! 

Almond Bread:

Adapted from: http://www.elanaspantry.com/simple-bread/. The only change I made to this recipe was that I used ener-g (see previous recipe for details), instead of eggs. The consistency is much like corn bread, with a slight taste of almond. 

Zucchini Boat:

Derived from : http://recipesweet.net/stuffed-zucchini/ This recipe really just gave me the idea for what I made. Looking back, I did not follow it what so ever. I cleaned out the middle of the zucchini and added store bought marinara, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. I am new to cooking, so I guess on cooking temperatures and times. I  time things by "watching them" to see when they look done. My husband loves these, and they are super simple to through together for a quick meal!!