No Yeast and No Bread Machine Paleo Bread Recipe

Anyone who is a recent convert from the carbohydrate ridden standard American diet can tel you one thing - carb cravings are very real. I would often hear of people who were just trying so and so fad diet and how hard it was not to eat bread. With that being said if there is anything paleo that my body physically craves it would have to be bread.


There are many ways to go about making paleo bread. However, most paleo bread recipes require something I am not too fond of myself; yeast. The end result is incredible and very satisfying, it is very rich almost to the point of tasting cake like. The solution is the 'No-Yeast and No-Bread-Machine Paleo Bread Recipe':


Ingredients:

• 3 Cups of blanched(skins removed) or unblanced Almond flour



• 1 Egg



• 1 Cup of Almond Milk



• 1 1/2 Tbsp. of Coconut Oil



• 2 Tsp. of Baking Powder



• 1/2 Tsp. of Baking Soda

Directions:

1. Combined egg, almond milk, coconut oil in a bowl.



2. Add flour, baking powder and soda and mix with hand mixer.



3. Pour into mini-loaf pan or baking pan if flat bread is desired.



4. Place in oven at 400 for 45 minutes.



5. Poke center with butter knife, if it comes out too moist allow five more minutes at 400.

Why My Car Keeps Me Broke

I decided numbers speak greater than words in some situations. After yesterdays post with IRS standard car deduction of 55.5 cents per mile, it got me thinking. How much was I really paying to drive my car.

In money:

17/mpg Oldsmobile Intrigue
23 miles round trip x 5 days a week = 115 miles week
115/17mpg = 6.77 gallons of gas.
6.77 * $3.50 = $23.68 min a week in gas

Oil every 2,000 miles(car runs a bit rough/low oil light comes on) plus extra jug= $25
$0.0125 per mile
$23.68 (gas) + $1.44(oil cost/wk)
New total: $25.12 a week

Car insurance once every four weeks ~$82.00
$82/4 weeks = $20.50 a week in insurance.
$25.12(gas/oil) + $20.50(insurance cost/wk)
New total: $45.62 a week

Car tires ~$400 every 30,000 miles
$400/30,000 mi = $.014 a mile * 115 mi = $1.61
$45.62(gas/oil/insurance) + $1.61(tires/wk)
New total: $47.23 a week

Car registration $50 every year.
$50/52 weeks = $.97
$47.23(gas/oil/insurance/tires) + $.97(registration/wk)
New total: $48.20 a week

Repairs of within last 2 years radiator($99) + starter($110) + Battery ($97) = $306
$306/2 yrs = $153/52 wks = $2.95/wk
$48.20(gas/oil/insurance/tires/registration) + $2.95(expected repair cost/wk)
New total: $51.15 a week

TOGETHER IN A MONTH: Cost of $204.60 if all prices remain constant. That is more than half of one of my pay checks spent to get a paycheck.
I always like to consider opportunity cost in addition. Being that I am a college student I probably wouldn't lock this away in something not too liquid but even
at 1% savings account I am missing out on $24.55 in interest after a years of saving gains interest.

+

In time:

After all paycheck deductions I make $9.351/hr.
$51.15/$9.351 =
Each week in time/expense it costs me 5.47 or roughly 5 and half hours of work to pay for driving JUST TO WORK ONE WEEK.
IN A MONTH: I work roughly 22 hours just to have a means of transportation to my job.

Each trip to work is 40ish mins round trip * 5 days = 200 mins
That is 3.33 hours of unpaid time sitting in a car with no ac.
At my after deduction rate it comes out to around $31.14 of unpaid time directly spent on work.
IN A MONTH: I would have wasted away 13.32, or 13 hours and 20 minutes.

TOGETHER: 33.32 hours gone to the mindless act of driving to work.

Thoughts on Driving

With less than a week left before I finally go on my cruise to the Bahamas(an experience I am really looking forward to!) I have been trying to keep my vacation mind from kicking in early. I am just taking work one day at a time, waiting for the moment I can punch out and return to my house, sleep, and repeat it the next day.

Today the girlfriend and I began repairing the bike we found yesterday that will eventually become my only means of transportation and I couldn't be more excited. The thought of saving $30-ish(don't drive much as is) on gas a week, car insurance/registration, and maintenance seems like a positive direction financially but also minimalistically as well. To me I see it as a cleansing of sorts, preparing me for better decisions in the future.

As I see it now I will save near $215 a month. Not bad at all .However, going by the IRS calculation of 55.5 cents per mile and my work commute being 23.8 miles five days a week, I am looking at a minimum savings of $66.05.

These savings definitely make me want to hurry and get this bike fixed, but it still needs a seat so I am holding off until I can spot a good deal or another broken bike with a seat in the garbage. So I have been attempting to accelerate less and use my brakes less while driving to stretch my gas budget. It has worked and have noticed takes about same time to get places as before. However I have noticed how aggressive some people drive when you are not zipping around the highway, even in the 'slow' lane.

Oh well, I have used these chances as opportunities to improve not caring about other peoples views of me. If it stresses them out so much to be behind someone consuming less gasoline than them, so be it. I'll just keep floating on like this until I get free of the cycle with my bike.

Bike Ambitions: Part 1

Today was overall a very gorgeous day here in sunny south Florida. We are experiencing a very rare and pleasant cold draft here, with a high of 76° during the afternoon. Needless to say, me and the girlfriend went on a walk (something we have started to do lately). It's a great way to get out and do something for free, save gas, and get some of that juicy vitamin D from the sun through your skin.

Quick Side Note: It has been on my mind lately that I would really like to "ditch" my car in favor of a handy bike. The cost savings are ridiculous and for the most part Mr. Money Mustache has been sold on it's benefits. I haven't been playing lacrosse lately so some exercise other than lifting weights would be nice. I plan to make it my only means of transportation when me and the girlfriend move away to finish up our last 2 years of education at a certain university (still waiting to get accepted!).

Well, during the walk my girlfriend had a feeling we should cut through to an apartment complex that we normally do not walk through, in fact we only have once and got chased by a duck or two. While walking past the dumpster she spotted a bike. However, there was one small obstacle.... well two really. Those obstacles were chain link fences. Apparently this apartment complex has some 'complexes' of it's own, as they felt it necessary to put their trash behind not one locked fence, but two locked fences.

My girlfriend was quick to notice there was tiny section under a bush in the back side that she could fit through. Once through she confirmed the bike was not in that good of condition and I told her we should probably get going once we get it as cars were starting to slow down to see what we were up to. Now we had to figure out how to get the thing out. Luckily another slot in the bush about three feet away was enough for us to hoist it out.

So I am not the proud owner of what looks like a circa 1980's "roadmaster". Overall it isn't to beat up, the chain just needs some oil and it is missing a bike seat. I've been searching craigslist for days and have seen very few bikes dip below $100, money I am not easily about to depart with. I was very pleased with this find and will be posting pictures of it soon, as well as posts on my repair of it!

So, how many of you ride a bike to work, school, or just enjoyment?

Paleo Reflections: Old Habits May Die But Let Us Not Forget

Being roughly six weeks into my new paleo lifestyle at this point, I have begun to reflect on how I used to approach food. I think everyone should take some time out every one in a while to really put thought into the changes they have made. We are living things, and whether we appreciate it or not, we grow, get old and become new people each day.

I am not too pleased with what can I recall. Food was never seen by me as the natural and most essential object it truly is. I use to have the mindset that because I wasn't overweight and no apparent health problems that I was eating right. Meanwhile, I was downing a loaf of Colombian cheese bread one minute and driving to Burger King for the most additive and processed meat one can get in exchange for a dollar and some change.

The physical toll of that way of living, the disregard of my health and nutrition, will be with me for the rest of my life. A physical reminder such as obesity or some sort of cardiac condition is not necessary. This paleo transformation will carry on in my thoughts because I take the time to make sure it does. What are some bad habits you have changed in your life?

Ditching Grains: A New Direction

I am starting to see a lot more page views as of late. I think it has a lot to do with the way the popular search engines rank sites based on the activity. It definitely motivates me to continue posting even more.

As some of you may have noticed, Ditching Grains has taken a new spin for the better. My first blog post why I chose to begin my paleo lifestyle has been floating around in my thoughts these last couple of days. I really liked the sense of deeper thought it had in favor of another paleo blog filled with endless recipes(although there will still be some!).

So with out further ado, the blog will now range from paleo, anti-consumerism, and self-improvement. These are topics that help me vent and express what I am thinking in a more concrete way. Writing things out helps because, as humans, I believe linear things to have much more impact on our thoughts.

Hawaiian Paleo Pizza Recipe

Pizza is one of those things that will make or break a paleo diet. The cravings are intense for a slice due to the cheese, wheat, and sugary tomato sauce that occurs in almost every pizza from here to the moon. However, there are ways to make a healthy and delicious paleo pizza without breaking your diet and lifestyle.

Hawaiian Paleo Pizza Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of almond flour



• 1 1/2 tbsp sea salt



• 1/4 cup of organic coconut oil



• 3/4 cup of water



• 1 Tsp. of basil



• Paleo tomato sauce(no added sugar and based off of olive oil)



• Slice of thick uncured ham



• Some fresh pineapple pieces

Directions:

1. Mix flour, salt, water together into a dough.



2. Knead the new formed dough on top of almond flour covered surface



3. Spread out crust on a pan covered evenly (and thickly!) with coconut oil



4. Cover lightly in tomato sauce and season with basil



5. Top with ham pieces and pineapple and place in over at 400 for 20-25 minutes

Broccoli Should Be In Every Paleo Diet

Broccoli is perhaps one of the best staple paleo vegetables to consume for various reasons. The little trees pack some serious nutrition and are relatively inexpensive (even organic!). Not only that, but if your like me you might just think it can be pretty tasty as well.

In 1 cup of broccoli there is a wide range of high quality vitamins. One of the highest concentrations being Vitamin C at over 80 mg per serving. However, most people are not familiar the broccoli also contains over 90 mg of Vitamin K. Vitamin K is great for your blood as it reduces it's ability to clot up.

I personally appreciate that broccoli also offers the paleo lifestyle a healthy vegetable solution for manganese (10% of RDA). Pair that with its 19 mgs of top end Omega-3 per serving and I can safely say I will munching on broccoli til the day I die.

Is Chocolate Paleo?

For some people, the hardest part of switching to a paleo lifestyle is giving up their "habit foods". These are foods that without noticing, they would munch for many reasons. Most often it is for boredom, but some people have been known to eat particular foods when they are in certain moods.

When I am browsing paleo forums and chats, there is one snack in particular that seems to come up most often; chocolate. Oh savory chocolate, you are so tempting (not to me personally but for some, yes). However, is chocolate paleo?

As I have said before in this blog, I believe in doing something all the way rather than making exceptions as your exceptions will become more and more stretched with time. If evolution has had it's time to prepare our digestive tract for something, it is best to avoid eating it. However, chocolate consumption goes way back in history with some early signs in 500 AD. Back then the Mayas thought of chocolate as a symbol of fertility and of life.

Well, my personal opinion on the matter is that chocolate in and of itself is not paleo. A caveman would have steered clear from it, the cacao pod would have been extremely bitter in taste and no signs point to a healthy amount of digestion in animals, let alone humans. Not to mention, chocolate is produced with a great deal of fermentation, which I highly doubt is a method a cavemen would put to use.

While I will not eat chocolate I know many on the paleo lifestyle do, for lack of knowledge or just as an exception. My suggestion if you have to indulge in chocolate is to limit it to atle 90% dark chocolate and preferably organic.

Switching To Paleo: Benefits of B12 Supplements

So, at this point I am just under four weeks into my paleo lifestyle and loving it. I feel more alert mentally and concentration is improving daily. I am regaining my old confident self and not blowing up on those around me over minor things.

For me my prior poor eating habits before the paleo diet did not attack me physically. Unless of course you consider poor weight gain as a negative physical affect (to an extent it really should be seen this way). No, for me it was all mental. I would like to think it was the feeling of intensity that made me yearn to remove myself from others in the nine nine months or so I had chronic migraines. However while my problems are still drifting day to day, I can now see there was an element of depression and apathy.

A paleo diet is paving my way back to being cheerful again and I couldn't be more happy because of this. The biggest difference I have felt in the last few days was when I began taking vitamin B12 supplements as a suggestion on a community I commonly frequent, Reddit.com/r/paleo. Here, user 'rayout' informed me that the inability to focus and "mind fog" could be as he put it " B-12 deficiency - potentially something you could have suffered with the extended poor nutrition".

After verifying this through various nutrition websites, it turns out 'rayout' was onto something. I quickly learned that wheat intolerance has been linked to B12 malabsorption. The symptoms of which, at risk of sounding like a hypochondriac, all line up with the symptoms I have been experiencing.

In my opinion, I feel that my body was primed for this supplement through switch to the paleo lifestyle. The burden lifted from my body from no longer having grains, cereals, and dairy are now allowing for the B12 supplements to do their jobs. I eventually would like to obtain all my B12 from the foods I eat, but for now, I am taking 1000 mcg twice daily and feel great. Thanks again 'rayout'!

Paleo Frozen Pink Salmon Recipe

So, I did it. I got over my fish eating phobia (not really a phobia more of a strong dislike). I started out like I said a couple posts ago with pink salmon. I was weary as I first started to prepare the meal and wasn't sure how well it all was going to work out. With that being said, it was beyond delicious, it was scrumptious.

I got a bag of frozen wild pink salmon fillets. They had absolutely no sort of other ingredient in them, just 100% wild caught and certified sustainable pink salmon. I thought it would be a good start and it came in at only $5.98 at the local Publix supermarket. Not bad for 2 lbs of extremely high quality meat, if I do say so myself.

I will definitely be branching out into other types of pink meat fish, eventually working my way into the white meats (smell is too strong to start out, in my opinion at least). I think rainbow trout will be my next choice. In any case here is a picture of my delicious lunch, and the simple recipe I used to make it.


Simple Frozen Pan Fried Pink Salmon Recipe (Paleo):

Ingredients:

• 1 Frozen/Fresh Pink Salmon Fillet
• 1 Tbs. of Organic Coconut Oil
• Granulated Garlic
• Ground Black Pepper

How To Make:

1. If fillet is frozen, defrost still in sealed bag by placing in bowl of warm water. Place organic coconut oil in pan and set on medium-low heat.
2. Lightly season fillet with garlic and ground black pepper on both sides of the salmon.
3. Turn pan to medium-high heat, place salmon with the skin side up in pan cover with lid. Cook for four minutes.
4. Flip over to skin side and cook for 2-3 minutes (note: skin will most likely begin to blacken, don't worry since you won't be eat it anyways).
5. Once finished, removed and allow to cool before removing skin from fillet.

Paleo Food At Olive Garden?

I woke up today with my usual pressure through out my head but it phased out pretty quickly. After my supplements and a hand-full of almonds and red grapes I was set to go meet up with my girlfriend. Her grandparents were in from Colombia on vacation, so, it was time to celebrate! Having never eaten at Olive Garden, it seemed like a good place for everyone to catch up on things and get some grub.

With that being said, today was my first time eating out since going paleo, and I have to say things went better than I thought. A quick shuffle through the menu and, at first, things seemed stacked against me. Here I was, in an Italian/Wheat filled environment, scurrying to find something I could eat. I was going to just default on some shrimp cooked in some olive oil when something caught my eye. At the bottom of the normal menu there was a note that said they had a gluten-free menu available upon request.

Even though I did not plan to eat some gluten-free noodles I knew this menu had a better chance of having some paleo entrees. Sure enough they had about 6-7 things that I could have chosen between and I settled for the Mixed Grill (also available as the All-Chicken Mixed Grill which had a little bit less calories). Being someone who is trying to gain some weight myself, I did not mind getting the steak/chicken combo and sat back to await the meal.

Around twenty minutes later (not bad!) my 112 grams of protein came out from the kitchen. The plate was monstrous, much larger than everyone elses at the table. The metal skewers were removed from the meat and vegetables and it was time for me to see exactly what it was packing. There was the steak and chicken, of course, but also some nice grilled green and red bell peppers that were very crisp and delicious. There was some grilled white onion pieces as well as some squash and very fresh zucchini. Being that I ordered it from the gluten-free menu, this version did not come with the roasted potatoes (just noting this, as I wouldn't eat them anyways!).

Moral of the story is to not be embarrassed to ask for the options available, you might be surprised what you find!

The meal was awesome and I had a great time. Good times with the family and the girlfriend, without breaking paleo. Life is swell.

Vitamin C the Paleo Way

A couple days ago I added some vitamin C to my daily intake for a variety of reasons. I had a sinus infection not too long again which often reoccur for no reason at all. Vitamin C is known to help prevent infections, not too mention that it is well known to help your body absorb iron more efficiently.

As a migraine sufferer myself (one of the main reasons I actually changed gears to the paleo lifestyle in the first place!), an increased iron absorption is extremely vital. Iron deficiencies have been linked to all sorts of related problems such as not being able to focus properly, headaches and depression. I was also surprised to find that apathy is a common symptom in adults that do not take in enough iron.

Apathy, to put it simply, is developing a state of mind where things don't matter. Your indifferent to changes around you and is something I have always just associated with my "foggy" mind. After studying more and more about paleo, I have learned almost everything , but not all, we feel is connected to the foods we consume.

The vitamin C brand I choose was one of the higher quality ones and after reading "Gluten free, preservative free, soy free, and no added lactose", I was sold. I used it for two days before I noticed I had made a pretty dumb mistake, the vitamin did, in fact, have lactose in it's ingredients. The disclaimer was right and quite literal, too, I might add. As a follower of the saying "If your going to do something, do it all the way", I am quite frim in following paleo guidelines. I will no longer be taking this vitamin.

Instead I am choosing to obtain all my absorbic acid (vitamin C) from the food I eat as I should have been. I already do get quite a bite from red bell peppers and broccoli but I will begin working with some kale which also has quite a bit of good old vitamin A in it. In fact, one serving has 206% of the daily needed vitamin A, not to mention a good bit of healthy plant carbs.

So, if you haven't in a while, now is a good time to verify the ingredients in your supplements!

One Step Further Into Paleo - Embracing Fish

As any person that has switch to the paleo lifestyle will tell you, your going to have to switch your tastes up on some things. With that being side I was definitely not varying up my choice of meats before I began paleo. My staple meats, well really my only meats, up to this point have been only beef and chicken. I mean I had the occasional turkey or pork, but I would say that would be together less than 5% of my yearly meat consumption.

So, I am going to depart with my childish food preferences. That's right, I am going to start eating fish no matter what. I don't know why I entirely dislike the little swimming creatures but I know it has something to do with how juicy fish is. I once had the chance to try to smoked salmon and remember actually enjoying it, it reminded me of jerky.

With that being said I will start testing the waters (no pun intended) with salmon since I already know I have enjoyed it in the past. A quick look over at my favorite nutrition info site really helped me build up my motivation to branch out. I work out often so I really enjoy eating foods that are packed with protein and I am surprised I never realized that half a fillet of salmon has 39 grams of it!

Since I no longer am getting a ridiculous amount of Omega-6 from all the vegetable oils I used to use I am not too worried about the 1185 mg the salmon will have. The addition of the over 4,000 mg of Omega-3 will be a nice addition to my fish oil supplements I am currently taking, but if it becomes a staple meat I may have to cut down on the supplementing a bit.

In any case I will be using frozen salmon to start out with, it is a little cheaper and a good way to begin I think. I have a strong feeling this will be one of the more positive experiences with switching over paleo only foods. I will report back with the results.

How I Got To This Point

I thought I would skip the corny first blog post about my plans for the site and what it will become that I am so used to doing for my blogs.

Up to this point I have been through a quite lengthy journey. I have always been able to handle the day to day stressed that present themselves and usually pride myself on how much I can excel in them. I don't mean to sound cocky but what kept me going through the most trying of times was knowing that the average person would give up. Ego aside, this was more of a confidence building phase I was going through, I loved challenges and I loved knowing not many people would take them on as eagerly as me. I was unstoppable. For starters, I challenged myself to complete my associates degree in one year, with no semester breaks. Did I mention I also decided I was quite capable of doing this while working just under (36 hours not including breaks) a week to pay me expenses?

Well, as if that wasn't enough, I decided to up the ante so to speak. Even though I was dabbling in the art of starting my own corporation (has since but ended) and picking up a thing or two about web design, I felt if I was going to do something I should do it 'big'. I would accept nothing less than a 4.0 for that one year degree while playing lacrosse for a nearby university. I was just in the middle of accomplishing it all when it happened, a gradual pressure built up in my head. The pressure began to be met with daily congestion. It was only weeks until the 24/7 migraines set in, and my life was changed forever.

I was such a big shot, huh? Wrong. To fuel myself through these ridiculous goals I set, I constantly ate. I don't mean eat as in your normal '3 meals and a snack' eat. I only weighed around 140 lbs and am 5' 8" but I ate for someone twice my size. In my free time there was not a moment that went by I didn't snack. It sounds absurd thinking a skinny person has room to talk, but let me explain to you something, if it wasn't for my poor nutrition I would not have been skinny eating like that. A snack for me was a huge plate of white rice, as much chips as I could devour without my girlfriend getting mad at another empty bag, and cheese that could last anyone a month. I washed it all down with protein smoothies to curve my hunger so I could concentrate and would eat sometimes up to eight quesdill without any satisfaction. I found myself before an empty but once loaded down plate of atleast a couple pounds, drooling and 'starving'.

As months of this style of eating crept up on me I was none the wiser. My migraines began to change me as a person, a once out going and very positive individual, I found myself becoming violent with everyone around me. Fluorescent lights became my enemies and days went by that I just couldn't put up with trivial trials life presented for me. I would find myself constantly stressing over small costs that came out of nowhere such as getting a haircut, and the irritation of it would eat at me all day long for weeks until the next thing came along. Using the restroom, not to be gross but I know there are others out there who this could help, was not quite the same anymore and took much more effort. The 'foggy' feeling I felt made paying attention in class extremely difficult and I had to focus much more than ever. If anyone were to disrupt class it would take me upwards of twenty minutes to prime my brain to get back to where it needed to be.

I worked in a photo lab at the local drug store. I loved my job previous to the migraines, but as they became I worse the joy faded. I have always been a peoples person but whether it was the constant unblocked fluorescent lights or the repetitive songs that played every day, I just couldn't do it anymore. Looking back on it, walking in those automatic doors to punch in clock I always felt like a little piece of me died inside that I would subject myself to the torment(or so it felt) for such a little amount of money. The job was actually one of the best I have ever had, but my condition made it seem like a prison. I stuck in as long as I could but eventually I had to leave the place, my migraines began to pound into my skull within minutes of getting to work.

The next month was filled with episodes of pain that send shivers down my spine to think of now. I would have to lock myself in a bathroom lying on the cold tile floor with all the lights off to even damper the pain a little. My eyes bulged and I would wake up in the morning with a headache that I was certain could knock out a whale. Once a fan of sleep, I began to dread the moment I would place my head down to rest. For the very second I did so, the migraines would come and the bright green and pink lights in my eyes would return even though the room was pitch black and my eyes were closed. My memory also began to deteriorate. I can see now that it was a gradual process, I couldn't recall dates and schedules would have been impossible if it weren't for the calender in my phone. I began using lists for the simplest of tasks to make sure I would not forget something along the way.

That is when I had enough. It had been six months of the torture and I was not about to turn over for some migraine. I began seeing multiple doctors and a variety of things were done ( I will blog about the whole process in another as this post is getting long) to no avail. It seemed all doctors wanted to do was throw medications at me and not one was I asked about my diet. I have been on it now for just over three weeks and the results, while not completely solving everything yet, have far surpassed any medication I have taken. I decided to ditch all the things in the normal diet of Americans today, the grains, cereal, dairy, and so on to make sure I was not filling my body with things that were harming it.

So, I will be skipping the first corny blog post I have been so fond of in the past. I find it to be indicative of phases I am going through and for thoughts that are simple moments in time. No my dietery customs are not temporary, ditching the grains is a life style.