Saturday 24 August 2013

The Monkey House Project: Go Primal - The Beginning

You can learn more about The Monkey House Project: Go Primal here.

I decided back in July that I would stop buying any Frankenfood (all the foods with additives and preservatives that have long shelf lives and come in boxes, cans and wrappers), Craptastic (junk food!) and Masquerading "Health Food" (grains, dairy, legumes) for my family and would only be buying Real, Whole FOOD from there on out (my hubby is exempt as he's an adult and gets to make his own choices - even when they're WRONG! lol).  Thus, The Monkey House Project: Go Primal was born to change my family from eating SAD to eating HAPPY! (ie. Paleo/Primal/JERF).

Luckily for my kids, we still had a lot of that Non-Food left in the house so they've been happily eating that for the last month.  My only concession to my new edict was that I would continue to buy milk as long as there was cereal left in the house.  I'm happy to report that there are only two boxes of Corn Flakes left and we ate up our last two Non-Food meals today. That means I'm about to have VERY. UNHAPPY. KIDS.  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

(I know, I'm a MEAN, MEAN Mum.  But, it's for their own good.  Tough love, you know?!)  


For the last month I've tried to begin introducing some of the The Monkey House Project: Go Primal principles....  



Primal/Paleo Means Eating Like A Dinosaur
I'm utilizing the Paleo Parent's book "Eat Like A Dinosaur" to begin our journey so we read the story out of that and looked through all their yummy recipes (well, my kids don't think they look so yummy, too bad!).


 
REAL Food is Gathered...
We have a teeny tiny garden and about a third of it is raspberries - the kids helped me harvest the crop, although I think I ended up eating most of them!

... And Hunted
In England we're lucky enough to have a very large percentage of meat that is pastured and free from antibiotics and hormones.  However, I have had a hard time figuring out exactly which are which.  I finally found a butcher who actually discloses that info on their website: The Butcher of Brogdale.  We went and visited their flagship shop and saw some of their pigs (and got some bacon!).  If you look closely there is an actual pig in the background of this picture! 


Homemade Food is Best
When we ran out of bread I made this Paleo Bread from Elana's Pantry for the kiddo's sandwiches.  I didn't have the proper sized bread tin so I ended up using a muffin pan and it turned out really good! At least I thought so... The kids weren't overly thrilled with it.



They liked my homemade Butternut Squash Soup by The Food Lover's Kitchen even LESS.  =(  I, however, think it's AWESOME!! I especially like blending in a few sweet potatoes.

 

When we ran out of lunchmeat I started roasting whole chicken in my crockpot.  I didn't do real well the first time around.... it was REALLY dry!  The second one was better.  The kids were ok with eating it plain and had it in the Paleo sandwich as well. 
  


Probiotics Help Our Tummies
Recently I got the grains to make my own water kefir.  I've made several batches now and tried a few different flavourings: plain, strawberry, apple and vanilla, some based on these variations from Wellness Mama. The kids didn't try the first two and I didn't like them enough to do them again.  The apple one was made by adding natural apple juice from a local farm, Little Stour Orchard.  The kids HATED water kefir the first time out and I had to make drinking an ounce mandatory once a day.  By the fourth day they actually kind of liked the apple juice flavoured one and started asking for more (unfortunately, my production line can't keep up with the demand yet!).  I had the kids try the vanilla one today and they have made it clear that the apple one needs to come back!


Use Real Stuff On Our Outsides (not just our insides)
We also tried out a natural "remedy" for sunburn with Apple Cider Vinegar and Coconut Oil... I found the recipe on the blog Butter Believer.  Lucy reported that after the first application she was able to wrinkle her nose without it burning and it helped a little bit with the rest of her body.  However, she declined a second application the next day.... The smell outweighed any benefit in her opinion! I also used the recipe and have to say that it didn't really do what it said on the tin.  

The French Food Rules
These are from the book "French Kids Eat Everything: How Our Family Moved to France, Cured Picky Eating, Banned Snacking, and Discovered 10 Simple Rules for Raising Happy, Healthy Eaters" by Karen Le Billon. I can't remember where I heard about this book - and I haven't actually read it yet - but I LOVE these principles and will be utilizing them in our household from here on out!
 

So Let It Begin!
I'm anticipating lots and lots of complaining, tears, whining, wasting of food and hungry bellies for about the next month.  Hopefully, by the end of that time they will have actually learned to LIKE REAL FOOD! If I become bald in the meantime, you'll know why. 

1 comment:

  1. Just had a very quick skip through your blog and its looking good. I first started a primal way back in early 2006 and believe me, here in central England you really did have to go right back to the very basics of finding a farm or farm shop to get the things you need. Nothing wrong with that of course, but the convenience aspect was sadly lacking. I will be following all your posts with much interest....John

    ReplyDelete

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