A Week of Fall Eating

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. We have been decorating for Halloween, making leaf traces,  slow-cooking lots of bone broth, and embracing new fall foods like apples, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash.

This time last year, I wasn't allowing myself any of these wonderful foods because I was still in fat-loss mode and avoiding starches. This year, I am LOVING them! There is a lot of debate over whether potatoes are "Paleo" or not, so that's another reason I try to avoid that label and just say, "We are eating clean, whole foods." In my experience, (and this seems to be true for a lot of people as well), starchy foods may best be avoided while trying to lose fat. However, I do think that it should only be temporary. I believe that going too low-carb, for an extended period of time, may not be such a good thing since you could be missing some of the valuable nutrients in the higher-carb (yet still whole) foods like potatoes and certain fruits. So once you've reached your health goals, I say re-introduce some of these unprocessed foods, one at a time, and see how your body responds. If your body responds negatively (like getting sleepy after eating them, or having to run to the bathroom), then maybe that particular food isn't for you. I cook our potatoes, regular and sweet, with lots of fat, which helps stabilize blood sugar. I also add cinnamon (another blood sugar stabilizer), almond butter, or coconut oil to my fruits, especially bananas and apples. This works for me. You may have to play around with a few things to find what works for you. We all tolerate foods differently.

Over the past few weeks, I've been playing around with a few new dishes, but mostly I've been making a lot of our usual meals like meatloaf and eggplant lasagna. I decided to try and keep up with our meals for a week and share what our meals usually consist of. I took a few pictures when I remembered to do so. Keep in mind that we are eating more of the starchy stuff now than we have since this journey began a year and a half ago. That's also sort of the way it goes when eating what's in season.

Breakfast:
Bacon and eggs with a side veggie like green beans, zucchini, or leftover Brussels Sprouts
About twice a week, we'll all have fried potato rounds
Coffee with coconut oil, pumpkin pie spice, and coconut milk
Kids also have a small piece of sprouted grain toast and fresh fruit

Lunch:

Mini eggplant pizzas with pepperoni, olives, and banana peppers

Avocado salad with cukes, tomatoes, and banana peppers
Leftover chicken liver
Canned sardines in olive oil
Salad

Butternut squash lightly boiled, then sauteed in coconut oil. One batch was cinnamon, one salt & pepper, and one chili powder, salt & pepper. Cinnamon was voted favorite.
Leftover spaghetti

Afternoon snacks:
Lamb bone broth
Almonds
Kids have fruit or veggie with protein, like "Ants on a Log"

Supper:

Homemade fish sticks, sweet potato rounds, fried green beans
Salmon and Zucchini baked in parchment paper, mustard greens

Spaghetti and meatballs served over zucchini noodles with roasted potatoes and onions

Butternut squash soup with burgers

Dessert:

Frozen strawberries and pineapple with almond milk, topped with banana and kiwi slices

Owl Desserts with apple, almond butter, cinnamon, banana, raisins, and almond
Frozen blueberries with coconut milk poured over
Fresh fruit with cinnamon and almonds
Fruit salad with homemade mayo and pecans


Bedtime snack:

Bone broth
Almonds
Coconut oil
Apple with cinnamon
Burger (when I'm really hungry)