Paleo Lifestyle

Got the coconut flour - expensive, but luckily you don't have to use that much at a time. Does anyone know if Biltong is Paleo friendly? TIA It depends what it is seasoned with before the drying process...I would check the ingredients list, some are fine and just contain spices like pepper and coriander, some contain corn protein, soy sauce and corn syrup Thanks I will check that out - I see the Organic Shop sells it, so hopefully will get them in the 3rd week of month - if it is just pepper and coriander!

on the third weekend of the month - the store you got your coconut flour from; has 20% off :)

I have often subbed regular shredded coconut into recipes that call for almond flour, in the same ratio and had success.Enjoy your coconut adventures! '> Hi - that is really good to know, as I have found LOADS of recipes asking for almond flour, so I can use the bag of powder I bought instead! Thanks for that :) At this stage it is all fun & games, making things - some of which are not so nice! lol

Got the coconut flour - expensive, but luckily you don't have to use that much at a time. Does anyone know if Biltong is Paleo friendly? TIA wait until third weekend of the month - then go and do your expensive bits... ;) 20% off Huh? Oops - realised you meant at the Organic Shop - is that 20% off everything? <em>edited by pollydxb1 on 08/09/2014</em>

The coconut flour thing is quite confusing, basically there is unsweetened desiccated coconut, also referred to as shredded coconut but often labelled here as coconut powder. This can sometimes be used instead of coconut flour but it is not the same thing. It contains a lot more moisture and fat than coconut flour. Coconut flour is basically the fibre that is left when coconut milk is extracted (by blending the flesh with water and straining), it absorbs a lot of liquid in baking which is why it is used in much smaller ratios than wheat flour. I have often subbed regular shredded coconut into recipes that call for almond flour, in the same ratio and had success. Then there is powdered coconut milk, which is totally different and is made by drying coconut milk, after the flesh has already been removed, and of course coconut oil (extra virgin is the way to go). Coconut milk is of course different to coconut water, which is the water inside a young coconut. And then lastly, coconut butter, which you can make yourself by putting dessicated coconut (but not coconut flour or fresh coconut) into the food processor or spice grinder until the oils release, it is sometimes sold as creamed coconut, not to be confused with coconut cream, which is the fat out of coconut milk. Enjoy your coconut adventures! Does anyone know if coconut powder and coconut flour is the same thing, or can be used the same - as I found coconut powder in Spinneys, but not sure if it is the right/same stuff? Thanks Hi I don't think it is the same. Coconut powder is mixed with milk whereas flower can be used in cakes, muffins etc. They do sell the flour here but it is sooooo expensive!! I bought it from Choitrhams

Got the coconut flour - expensive, but luckily you don't have to use that much at a time. Does anyone know if Biltong is Paleo friendly? TIA wait until thrid weekend of the month - then go and do your expensive bits... ;) 20% off

Got the coconut flour - expensive, but luckily you don't have to use that much at a time. Does anyone know if Biltong is Paleo friendly? TIA It depends what it is seasoned with before the drying process...I would check the ingredients list, some are fine and just contain spices like pepper and coriander, some contain corn protein, soy sauce and corn syrup

should be - its just dried out meat. Yay! That is what I was thinking too :) Thanks

should be - its just dried out meat.

Got the coconut flour - expensive, but luckily you don't have to use that much at a time. Does anyone know if Biltong is Paleo friendly? TIA

Does anyone know if coconut powder and coconut flour is the same thing, or can be used the same - as I found coconut powder in Spinneys, but not sure if it is the right/same stuff? Thanks Hi I don't think it is the same. Coconut powder is mixed with milk whereas flower can be used in cakes, muffins etc. They do sell the flour here but it is sooooo expensive!! I bought it from Choitrhams Had a feeling! I am going to get it tonight but from Organic shop :) Thanks

Does anyone know if coconut powder and coconut flour is the same thing, or can be used the same - as I found coconut powder in Spinneys, but not sure if it is the right/same stuff? Thanks Hi I don't think it is the same. Coconut powder is mixed with milk whereas flower can be used in cakes, muffins etc. They do sell the flour here but it is sooooo expensive!! I bought it from Choitrhams

Does anyone know if coconut powder and coconut flour is the same thing, or can be used the same - as I found coconut powder in Spinneys, but not sure if it is the right/same stuff? Thanks

Celticcavegirl - I'm slowly going back into this time, but mainly as I have a house full of naughty food that needs getting through first! ;)

Wow Girls, so much info - thanks so much! I've just looked at the Whole30 FF and it looks hardcore! I know it says "this isn't hard ..." but it is when you are changing the way you do things! Going to potentially give it a try - plus all your suggestions :) i looked at that and thought about it but couldn't see any sample daily diets.... It's definitely there plus a shopping list - loads of helpful guides I thought

I went cold turkey into paleo. I just decided to do it one day and literally overnight went from eating a really carb-heavy diet into very strict, very low carb paleo Generally I am not a disciplined person and I think it helped at the time that I was living on a shoestring so I was never eating out and was making everything from scratch, I didn't have to cook for others or have any of my 'banned' foods in my apartment either so instead of trying to resist temptation I could just remove it completely. As for sample daily diets, I didn't need them because I was so strict that my diet consisted exclusively of meat, fish, eggs, berries, vegetables and a few nuts - that was it. Breakfast was always eggs or beef patties or berries, nuts and coconut milk Lunch was always salad with cold meat or fish and a boiled egg (which I did in the kettle at work) Dinner was always cooked vegetables (or various kinds) with fish or meat When I was feeling more adventurous I'd slow cook a big stew. It was pretty boring but in a way it was easier; in a way the lack of variety made it easier to mentally block other foods. I also kept a food diary counted carbs and calories meticulously...everyone said on paleo you don't need to count but for me, I found it easier not to give myself any wiggle room and stick to a defined daily set calories, so there was no excuse to 'cheat'. I have mixed feelings about this because while it was effective for weight loss, it also can make you obsessive and miserable. So in retrospect I think a food diary is good for beginners to get used to this way of eating but counting is not necessary unless you're really trying hard to lose weight One thing I don't recommend is very low carb - that is, below 50g a day. Men can handle this but women, usually, cannot (in the long term). I went down to 20-30g a day and gave myself terrible hypothyroidism (so had zero energy and couldn't lose weight even on a 1000cal/day diet) and didn't have a period for a year (which was nice but not good for bone density). Eventually I added root veg, sweet potato and sometimes even sometimes rice and felt 10x better for it Marks Daily Apple and Paleohacks are two of the best online resources

Wow Girls, so much info - thanks so much! I've just looked at the Whole30 FF and it looks hardcore! I know it says "this isn't hard ..." but it is when you are changing the way you do things! Going to potentially give it a try - plus all your suggestions :) i looked at that and thought about it but couldn't see any sample daily diets....

Hi Polly. It is quite hardcore, although there are plenty of things you can eat and it's set up to be very supportive. There is a forum and a daily email and a community around it. When I read about it first, I thought No Way, but minds (and waists) expand and I was quite up for it this time. The biggest struggle has been that you have to make everything from scratch to make sure it doesn't contain the excluded elements, but there are lots of make ahead options. Good luck if you do go for it. I think it's good to reset and eat mindfully every so often. FFx

Wow Girls, so much info - thanks so much! I've just looked at the Whole30 FF and it looks hardcore! I know it says "this isn't hard ..." but it is when you are changing the way you do things! Going to potentially give it a try - plus all your suggestions :)

OP, you can also get coconut flour in Choitrams in the greens. I don't use it though because I don't do any baking at all. Coconut milk I sometimes put in smoothies, I use it in curries and I make chia puddings with it too. I don't drink it on it's own Yoghurt - I'm totally off dairy now but I used to love goat yoghurt, forgot the brand but it's in a white green and orange pot Snacks - Waitrose and some spinneys carry these amazing vegetable crisps, they even have green beans and courgette in them. If I'm feeling particularly perverted (ie inspired), I get the organic supermarket to give me their extra chicken skin and roast it crisp in the oven and share it with my doggies A healthier snack is roast kale - roast it with salt til it goes crisp. It's nicer with the smoother Italian cavolo nero type of kale but that is hard to find here. I only found it once at the little organic shop in al manzil

I buy Bob's Red Mill coconut flour - available at Lulu's, Al Maya. Haven't seen any at C4 recently. The bag is nearly 500g but lasts a long time since you do not need much in most recipes. IE I often bake muffins and need only 3tbsp As for coconut oil, organic and cold press is the best. In Organic shop they have a nice one (organic larder brand) which I also saw today at C4 - it's in the organic aisle. I have not stopped drinking milk but I get the organic French one. Best is full fat, grass fed but not much of a selection here. You can also use full fat yogurt. Full fat organic sour cream or cream is good too. Mark says, if you want to have it, have a proper stuff :) My absolute favourite is sweet potato which is good on training days or when you fancy something filling. Can make chips, mash, even homemade crisps. Another fav of mine is pumpkin soup with chilli and coconut milk. I get inspiration from Mark's daily apple, everyday paleo, elana's pantry and similar

Another question - is Coconut oil and flour available here? Keep seeing recipes, with those ingredients included, online? I've found Biorganic in Tecom has the best range of coconut flour. They have several different varieties, all good. It is also stocked at Organic Foods and Cafe, they are sometimes out of stock but I think they have it at the moment. Coconut oil is available in both places, I buy mine from Greenheart though.

http://bakingbites.com/2013/08/what-is-coconut-flour/ Hmm not sure where you would get this, maybe a health shop too?

Hi Polly - Coconut Oil is available absolutely everywhere. You'll find it in any grocery in the oil aisle (usually the blue bottle parachute brand) or bizarrely if not there you'll find it in the hair aisle. :D For the 'better' coconut oil you'd probably have to visit a health shop. What do you mean by coconut flour?. As all parts of a coconut are used in so many varieties of Indian cooking you'll find everything coconut related here and you'll especially find everything in Lulus. Thanks TB - just what I wanted to know, I have actually no idea what they mean by coconut flour, it just says sifted coconut flour! I will check out the supermarket and see what they have! Ta <em>edited by pollydxb1 on 03/09/2014</em>

Hi Polly - Coconut Oil is available absolutely everywhere. You'll find it in any grocery in the oil aisle (usually the blue bottle parachute brand) or bizarrely if not there you'll find it in the hair aisle. :D For the 'better' coconut oil you'd probably have to visit a health shop. What do you mean by coconut flour?. As all parts of a coconut are used in so many varieties of Indian cooking you'll find everything coconut related here and you'll especially find everything in Lulus.

Another question - is Coconut oil and flour available here? Keep seeing recipes, with those ingredients included, online?

TYhanks Celticcavegirl - that sounds good, kind of how I am doing things now, but without the coconut oil, which I must get - is there a specific brand that you recommend, or is there only one? Is coconut milk allowed on paleo without any issue - do you just use it in food, or are you suppose to drink it too? FF - that is fab, but totally how I felt on it before, which is why I fell off the bandwagon and ended up putting on SO much weight! Keen to kick it all off by Christmas is possible! I hate the sight of meat so much I thought about becoming a veggie! I bought a receipt book yesterday from Amazon which I will pick up from home when I go back in a few weeks, and that should hopefully give me somethings to work on! I can't handle just salad!

I'm on Day17 of the Whole30 which is a strict elimination/Paleo plan, supposed to reset your system. While it's going okay (although feels really long at the moment!), I'm really struggling with the amount of meat. I've never been a big meat eater and have been subbing in eggs and fish where I can. I like the structure of what each plate must be made up of and hopefully will continue to apply many of the rules once the 30 days are over. FFx

I mainly just eat meat/fish and veg - I used to do a lot of paleo recipes but now I'm just too lazy to shop that often (as I don't have a car and can't get away a once a week shop like I could in London!) Most of my paleo recipes are 'cold weather' things like stews an no good for Dubai. Here I was more likely to make fish curry with coconut mik and some spices - but I did use bell peppers in that so it depends how strict you are. Anyway, it's very easy - just fry up some ginger/garlic paste, add whatever spices you like (I go for chilli, tumeric, cumin, garam masala, curry leaves, corriander), let it cook for a bit, add some coconut milk and simmer for 20 mins, then at the end add some white fish and maybe shellfish. The peppers I normally fry separately I do most of my frying in coconut oil - animal fats are just too messy as they go very solid when cold Marks Daily Apple is a good site for paleo/primal recipes Kcal have some paleo options on their menu and elevation burger do grassfed burgers that you can order wrapped in lettuce instead of bread

I really like [url=http://nomnompaleo.com'>Nom Nom Paleo[/url'>. Her recipes are usually easy and her writing style makes me smile.