Day 3: Jaleo=Paleo?

Hooray, I like the number 3! I had some minor hiccups today, but overall it was good and I haven’t lost interest or gone crazy yet. I think that’s an accomplishment.

Breakfast: hard-boiled egg, handful of almonds/pistachios, and some berries

Lunch: I knew this would be a challenge since my team was going out to lunch to welcome a new consultant who just started. We went to Jaleo, which is a fabulous Spanish tapas restaurant. (It’s not pronounced like paleo at all, unless you say paleo with a Spanish accent. But I figured if I had to eat out somewhere, at least the restaurant name looked like ‘paleo’– that had to be a good sign, right?) The most difficult task wasn’t ordering the food, but avoiding the large, warm, fresh basket of bread that was placed on the table… especially since it was next to olive oil, which I could have had.

I ordered two small plates. The first was trigueros con romesco: grilled asparagus with romesco sauce. I asked what was in the sauce, and the waitress told me it was mostly roasted red peppers with some spices, and I asked if there was any cheese, and she said no. It was delicious, but I was suspect of its paleo status. After some googling, I discovered the recipe calls for 1 slice of white bread–eek. But, it’s not like I ate an entire slice of white bread, and I didn’t eat all of the sauce, anyways. I also ordered the pollo al ajillo con salsa verde: grilled marinated chicken served with parsley puree and garlic sauce. It was a little heavy on the sauce/ marination, but the chicken was juicy and had flavor.

The largest asparagus spears I've ever seen

This didn't look appetizing to me, either. But it was edible!

Oh, and yes, my co-workers thought I was crazy for taking pictures of my food. Actually, they were really curious about the whole paleo thing, even though I tried to mention it very subtly as to not draw attention to myself. Half of the conversation at lunch ended up being about nutrition, food, and different eating habits. I should probably work on my elevator speech though.

In the afternoon, I had an apple and some berries. And some carrot sticks I have stored in the fridge at work. Of course, at the staff meeting, they put out that darn chocolate cake again. Nobody touched it this time, since everyone felt so sick from it the other day! Who woulda thought.

I went to yoga after work, which was just what I needed. My arms are SORE from the kettle bell workout. Good sore, though.

Dinner: Sauteed chicken (again) with garlic, some leftover tomato and yellow pepper, and broccoli and cauliflower. This time I flavored it with lemon and a tiny bit of ginger spice. (next time I’ll buy the root!) The lemon and olive oil made the chicken soo yummy. Too bad I overcooked it since I’m paranoid about eating anything that looks potentially undercooked. I also may have munched on some almonds while it was cooking.

Another colorful meal

After dinner I had some (un)avoidable munchies. I went for some dried fruit. And then some almond milk. And then some cashews. Here’s the deal with cashews: they’re not a nut, nor are they a legume. But some people don’t consider them paleo-approved. Did you know cashews are actually a seed, surrounded by a toxic outer shell? They are steamed at high temperatures so that they can be edible. Apparently they are not edible in raw form. This is news to me, since I have definitely purchased “raw cashews” before (the raw foodists claim these aren’t really “raw”). You probably didn’t need to know that much about the cashew. But, I had to assuage my guilt a little. So, whether they are paleo or not, I didn’t need the large handful I had– especially since it reminds me of my post-dinner dry cereal handfuls. Bad habits. So I stuck them in a hidden spot in the cabinet and told Adela she should eat them. Out of sight=out of mind, right?