Day 9 - "Yes, rice is a grain."

I'm sorry, CaveDad, rice is a grain. No, you can not have the supermarket sushi. It's not even made with real crab. It's a starch/sugar/glue that happens to be seafood flavored. Would Grok eat "krab"?

No, CaveDad, hot dogs really aren't good for you. Yes, they are technically meat, but honestly, would Grok eat a hot dog?

You can guess which battle I won, and which I lost.

It was an otherwise uneventful day in CaveMom Land. Noshed on some awesome dried apricots. I forgot how good those were. Oh! and we discovered a brand of veggie chips that are actually made with root vegetables other than potatoes! If they weren't so loaded with salt I'd eat them every day.

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Breakfast:

Bacon and eggs. I know, I'm not very creative at 7:00 AM

Lunch:

Rotisserie chicken and veggie-chips (on the road again...)

Dinner:

Ham steaks and steamed sliced carrots.

Snack:

Dried fruit, leftover zucchini

Day 8 - Monday Weigh-In

CaveMom - 126 ( -6 lbs!! )

CaveDad - 160 ( -2 lbs!)

CaveMan - 26 lbs

One full week we have devoted to the CaveMom Experiment. It's been fun, coming up with new ways to prepare food; and challenging to do so without including many items I've considered to be staples my entire life.

We're already starting to see positive results from the change in diet. CaveDad has been sleeping well, without a single bout of insomnia. He boasts of his perfect "regularity" the past week. Neither he nor I have had the slightest touch of heartburn - an almost daily plague for both of us. I've already lost six pounds, and I feel like I'm getting more rest at night, even though CaveMan still wakes me up for his midnight nursings.

The best part of all is the change in CaveMan's eating habits. The other day he ate two whole chicken legs, an entire nectarine, and finished off a good half cup of leftover chicken salad - all in one sitting! I love seeing the little man eating so well, considering this is the same boy who regularly refused to eat anything but Ritz Crackers slathered in cream cheese for days on end. Yes, son, you can have another piece of bacon. Still working on the acceptance of vegetables thing...

We're looking forward to the rest of the month!

Grok on!

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Breakfast:

Bacon, eggs, and mushrooms

Lunch:

Big Ass Salad with leftover chicken

Dinner:

Buffalo wings and celery

Snacks:

Tropical trail mix, almonds

Day 7: Primal on a Budget

Ok, there will be more than a little bragging going on here. Fair warning.

I managed to come away from the grocery store last night with enough meat and fish to carry us through the remainder of the CaveMom Experiment (barring any sudden cravings, of course) for less than $100.

In fact, the grocery bill came to $100.14. This included:

Four pounds of bacon

Three packages of bone-in chicken breasts ($0.99/lb!!)

several rib-eye steaks

a bunch of thin sliced shoulder steaks (I love these for breakfast!)

two center cut hams

Some steaks I have no idea what cut they are, as they were intentionally mislabeled by the store (weirdos...)

packages of frozen...

...cod

...perch

...grouper

...tilapia

...shrimp (all BOGO!)

It also covered 2 1/2 dozen eggs, some produce, a plethora of canned goods, and a few packages of trail mix and dried fruit.

Primal on a Budget is the main focus of the CaveMom Experiment. We're a family on hard times, but there's no reason to eat like one - especially when you learn to follow the circulars. I'm a pretty hardcore "Store X" fan (the employees know me and my son by name, I get special treatment on a daily basis ^_^), but when "Store Z" has a BOGO/Manager's Special sale on meat, it's time to take a walk on the wild side. Since we're eating vegetables at just about every meal now, instead of just at dinner like before, I've learned to accept tinned vegetables. It makes it easier that so many brands - and store brands - are offering less-salt and even salt-free options.

*alert*: Corn is not a vegetable. It is a grain. While high in fiber, it's also absurdly high in carbohydrates. That is why America's favourite addictive, liver-killing pseudo-sugar is made from CORN. We now return you to your previously scheduled program.

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Breakfast:

Bacon and eggs

Lunch:

Beef Jerky. We were on the road. ^_^

Dinner:

Chicken breasts and tenderloins marinated in zesty Italian dressing

Five-lettuce salad with mushrooms and strawberries

Steamed broccoli with herb seasoning

Day 6 - They can't all be winners.

I hate it when culinary experiments fail.

I am a pretty good cook, and I take great pride in setting yummy, healthy dishes in front of my family every night. Part of the CaveMom Experiment that I was so looking forward to was the opportunity to explore a wide new realm of recipes. Tonight I tried Pakistani cooking for the first time.

Fail.

I mean, the spices were delicious, there were just way too many of them, and the lack of potatoes (yay, primal!) didn't help.

I might try the dish again some other time, but first I'll have to get over this tiny ickle bout of depression at the waste of food.

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Breakfast:

Bacon and eggs

Lunch:

Leftover chicken, beef jerky, banana

Dinner:

Pav Bhaji - failed. Honey-curry Chicken - win. Didn't get a pic, though.

Snack:

mixed nuts, nectarines

Day 5 - Let's pretend today didn't happen.

We spent the day visiting random friends of my husband. I was given no prior warning of this course of events.

Aside from our good Primal breakfast, and our first trek on a 2-mile trail at a local park, today was a dietary waste.

Can I get a do-over?

Day 4 - Paleo for Toddlers

I don't know of a single parent that doesn't worry about the level of nutrition their child takes in daily.

Naturally, at the beginning of The CaveMom Experiment my thoughts went to my son. "His favourite foods are crackers and cream cheese! What will he eat if not Mama's homemade sweet porridge for breakfast?" Of course, with the absence of these items, CaveMan will by default have to eat something else, but we all know how stubborn toddlers can be about their food (One week they eat everything, then it's two weeks of nothing but blueberries, then everything, then only mashed potatoes...)

As of Day 4, I've discovered my son loves eggs. He has fried egg every morning, slathered with catsup (not ideal, but I'll take it), and usually has at least most of a piece of bacon. He's pretty good with meat, too, as long as it's cut into strips (think steak french-fries). He gets bored with poultry, which is considerably frustrating, considering his fondness for fast-food chicken nuggets.

While the protein intake is all well and good, it's driving me crazy thinking of ways to convince him to take in vegetables. Since the Paleo-Diet discourages dairy products, I'm very concerned about making sure he gets enough calcium on a daily basis.

For the moment, I'm encouraging him to drink calcium-enriched orange juice. This is not ideal, however, as it's ruining my efforts to discourage overly sweet foods. There has to be some way to get an 18 month old cavebaby to eat his veggies... right?

Well, CaveMom is not above trickery.

This afternoon, I defrosted some ground beef. While that was going, I threw a handful of walnuts, some almonds, a handful of raw sunflower seeds, and a bunch of raw spinach into the blender with some olive oil, an egg, and some tomato sauce. Hit "liquify". I mixed it with the ground beef and fried it on the griddle in little chicken-nugget shaped patties.

Success! My son just consumed spinach! Woo hoo!

As a side note, other veggie-products that have been a success so far include:

Mashed cauliflower

mushrooms sautéed in bacon grease

........ yeah, that's it. More later (I hope).

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Breakfast:

Bacon and eggs

Lunch:

Beefy spinach nuggets

Dinner:

Pork sirloin chops with Primal-ish sweet-and-sour sauce

Mashed cauliflower

5-lettuce salad with sesame dressing.

Day 3 - Ugh.

It's late. I'm exhausted. If this headache is still here tomorrow, I'm going to rip my hair out.

Can't focus enough to come up with a good topic for the blog. Eph it. I'll write something entertaining tomorrow.

Oh, how I cannot wait for the insulin sensitivity to kick-start itself.

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Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs and mushrooms.

Lunch:

CaveDad - Big-Ass Salad with lettuce, nuts, seeds, chicken, and the kitchen sink.

CaveMom - Tuna salad with baby greens and spinach.

CaveMan - leftover potroast (denied) strawberry smoothie with hidden spinach (denied) dark-meat chicken salad (a winner!)

Dinner:

Spinach and baby greens salad, with mushrooms, olives, tomato, onion, and sautéed Bay Scallops and garlic.