There is no single diet that fits everybody. When we choose our diet (and lifestyle), we take into consideration our childhood and adult food experiences, our food preferences, our food sensitivities and allergies, and our health in general.
We all have our own journey to health. Each path is different. Also, the journey that we might embark on today might be different than the one that we are on one, two years, or seven years from now. We all evolve continuously as human beings and so do our diets.
I have interviewed in the past Angela from Oh She Glows and Gena from Choosing Raw. Angela is following a vegan diet. Gena is following a vegan diet with an emphasis on raw foods.
Today I am going to the other end of the diet spectrum and talking about the paleo diet with Louise from Paleo Living Magazine. Louise and her husband Jeremy are the co-founders of Paleo Living Magazine.
Louise and Jeremy
I have been following the Paleo Living Magazine website for over a year now, since my parents-in-law, who follow a paleo diet, told me about it. I made many recipes from the website and everything turned out delicious. All the recipes on the Paleo Living Magazine website are gluten-free. Some of them contain dairy, but I either don’t add it or replace it with other ingredients, depending on the recipe (you might remember that my son cannot eat gluten and dairy foods).
Paleo Living Magazine is published every month (with some special issues published in addition) and already has 31 past issues. It is available on the Apple App store and on Google Play. The magazine is extremely easy to navigate on iPad and iPhone. I tried them both and they worked great. The articles in the Paleo Living Magazine are easy to read, uplifting, full of information, and the recipes sound delicious. For example, what do you think about a sweet omelette that features pear, banana, cinnamon, and eggs? Or the flourless poppy seed cake that is gluten-free and grain-free? I think: yuuum!
My family and I are not following a paleo diet, but we incorporate many paleo elements in our diet. A few of my recipes on the blog are paleo (and some were featured in Paleo Living Magazine), but I don’t classify them as such as I believe that the first and foremost change that many of us need to make is to decrease or eliminate the amount of processed foods that we eat. And from there we can steer towards a Paleo diet, a vegetarian diet, a vegan diet, or any other diet that keeps us healthy and happy and that mainly includes real foods.
Here is the interview with Louise, the co-founder of Paleo Living Magazine.
1. Louise, please tell us a bit about yourself. When and why did you start your paleo journey?
My husband, Jeremy, started Paleo around 10 years ago on and off. I wasn’t interested in it for a long time and we would argue a lot about which restaurants we could go eat at. I have to admit, it was quite stressful because I refused to try it.
Then, around 5-6 years ago, I started gaining weight and suffering from various digestive issues. That’s when I finally decided to start Paleo and see what it could do for me.
The first thing I noticed was how much clearer my brain was every morning – no more brain fog and no more sleepiness after breakfast and lunch! I was also able to lose weight easily (although I never had much weight to lose – maybe around 10lb), and after a while I was able to get a handle on my digestive issues too.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention my heartburn issues because they haven’t bothered me for so long. I used to have heartburn after dinner every day, and I was on Prilosec permanently. After starting Paleo, I never have heartburn (unless I cheat). It just vanished!
2. Can you briefly explain what paleo eating and living is?
Paleo for me is eating foods high in nutrients and low in toxins. We use history to look at what our ancestors thrived on and use that as a starting point in exploring what modern foods would also be nutritious for us to eat.
The basics of eating Paleo is to eat vegetables, fish, other seafood, meat, organ meats, healthy fats like coconut oil, fruits, nuts, and seeds.
3. What were your goals when you decided to create Paleo Living Magazine?
I wanted to make Paleo an easy and fun lifestyle for everyone – so in Paleo Living Magazine we have lots of tips on how to start and stick to Paleo, recipes, articles on why avoiding certain foods and eating other foods is important, as well as Paleo success stories and a ton of other articles!
4. Do you have any tips on how to make healthy meals and stay on a budget?
I have a lot of tips on that. Here are 3:
1. Buy a slow cooker or crockpot. Then you can make amazing meals overnight with very little preparation.
2. Meal plan with the simple 3-step system described here: http://paleomagazine.com/no-time-to-cook-paleo-my-3-step-system-to-never-being-hungry-no-matter-how-busy-you-are/
3. To stay on budget – aim for buying things that make the biggest different to your healthy. We have a free guide to saving money on Paleo, which is here: http://paleomagazine.com/save-money
5. Please finish this sentence: “One of my big lessons was when…”
I refused to accept that I was lactose-intolerant even those pretty much all Asians are lactose-intolerant. It made me realize just how unaccepting I was of new ideas that challenged my previously held beliefs.
6. Sometimes life gets in the way and we eat less healthy for a while than we would like to. What do you do to get back on track?
Start sleeping more – I always find this helps me de-stress and start prioritizing my health again.
7. What is the thing/activity that makes you happy and you could not live without?
Reading. I love reading fiction, and it’s something I always enjoy. I’ve started getting into more non-fiction books now too.
8. Can you share with us five dishes from Paleo Living Magazine that would appeal to children?
- Carrot Bacon Egg Muffins: http://paleomagazine.com/carrot-bacon-egg-muffins-recipe-paleogfdairy-free/
- Popcorn Shrimp: http://paleomagazine.com/paleo-gluten-free-popcorn-shrimp-recipe/
- 2-Ingredient Pancakes: http://paleomagazine.com/2-ingredient-paleo-pancake/
- Coconut Chocolate Macaroons: http://paleomagazine.com/coconut-chocolate-macaroons-with-reduced-raw-honey-paleogf/
- Chicken Nuggets – http://paleomagazine.com/paleo-garlic-chicken-nuggets-recipe/
Thank you, Louise, for sharing with us your journey to health. We wish you all the best in the future!
On the Paleo Living Magazine website there are:
- numerous free delicious recipes
- a free paleo diet meal plan
- a free 7-day paleo challenge
In addition, Louise and Jeremy are offering the Orgali readers a free 3-month subscription to Paleo Living Magazine which is available on the Apple App store and on Google Play.
This giveaway is open to anyone, no matter where you are. All you have to do is to subscribe to the Orgali blog and then tell us below what is your experience (if any) with the paleo diet. You can see the link to subscribe (green rectangle) on the right side on this page.
After you subscribe, you will receive by email in less than 12 hours the link to the free 3-month subscription to Paleo Living Magazine.
The giveaway closes on Tuesday October the 7th at 8:00 pm Mountain time.
i have never tried but think about it
I am thinking of trying the Paleo diet. I have many chronic illnesses that I believe are related to food and I want to change that.
Thanks
I’ve been following a Keto-Paleo diet since May of this year. I originally started it to help with a sugar/carb addiction but it has now become a way of life for me.
I don’t have much experience with the Paleo diet but I find it very interesting!
I have been looking into trying this diet and heard great things about but I havent tried it yet.
I have subscribed to your orgali blog. I have been gluten free because of a severe gluten sensitivity for three years now. I now find that I truly do better following a paleo type plan and am losing weight because of it. I’m currently reading both Grain brain by Dr. Perlmutter and also Wheat Belly. I know I have trouble with grains and sugar is also not on the goto list. It just makes me feel healthier.
Definitely worth trying!
I am currently trying to eat cleaner and cleaner but haven’t really followed any specific diets or guidelines!
I’m about 4 weeks into eating Paleo as required by my new doctor for autoimmune issues. I still feel really new and need all the help I can get to following the proper Paleo diet for me.
I’m new to Paleo and am trying to learn about it as fast as I can. Lots of people seem to swear by it.
I have never tried this diet but woulds seriously consider doing so.
I did the whole 30 paleo diet for 30 days. It was awesome! My only issue with wanting to stick with paleo is my coffee (I know whole 30 is more strict than other paleo diets though, so maybe you can still do sugar of some kind on regular paleo diets). But I had great energy and loved the way I felt 🙂
Have tried a few Paleo recipes but not eaten eat exclusively.
I was following paleo before I got pregnant and I felt great and lost weight, I plan on getting back into it after my baby is born in February
I have tried a few paleo dishes but struggle to find easy recipes to make
I try to eat as close to Paleo as possible and have done quite well over the last year although I could never give up cheese, so my Paleo experience is more of a whole food, organic no grain/starch diet (yes rice and corn are grains). I have lost weight but more importantly feel great while eating this way, also I try to live by the 90/10 rule, 90% good, 10% bad (cheat).
I am mostly Paleo, still working on grain free though.. my allergies are to almonds, walnuts and coconuts which are a big grain replacement on the Paleo lifestyle 🙂
I would like to try
I would love to try a diet that is high on nutrients.
I subscribed by email.
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