Wednesday 4 February 2009

Kindred Spirits

Part of the reason I started this blog is that my style of eating is not one that has met with widespread approval among real world folks. In the virtual world it is easier to find those people whose dietary philosophies align with my own.*

This morning, my stepfather had a stress echo on his heart (he's fine, it's a routine check up for him) and his cardiologist mentioned that he (the doc, not my stepfather) did the caveman diet. My stepfather told him I did too and the cardiologist got all excited. I'll bet he was feeling the same way I felt when I found all of the wonderful blogs I have found online. It's really nice to find kindred spirits.

One of the marvelous things about San Francisco, particularly since I don't have my kitchen set up yet, is the plethora of good options for us Paleo eaters. Finding even fast(ish) food that contains organic meat and veggies and good fat is surprisingly easy. For example, today I had a takeout soup of roasted chicken and summer squash in a lime/chicken broth with a salad (and lots of healthy oil on the salad). There was even a chicken bone in my soup, which showed they were using... wait for it... REAL CHICKEN instead of that pre fab crap they try to pass off as chicken at some joints (Au Bon Pain, I'm looking at you!).

I'm sure for many people who attempt Paleo, one of the biggest hurdles is what to eat when they're out and about, because frankly, the options out there are not great. For example, the aforementioned and maligned Au Bon Pain does have a sort of decent cobb salad that you can get with or without cheese depending on how Paleo you are. Eating the inside out of sandwiches works well for me, particularly if you get a grilled chicken sandwich. Most places do have olives or nuts for decent fat options. At bars at happy hour I've been known to corral the celery sticks and blue cheese dressing from the wing platter. But it is frustrating, and I feel your pain. There have been times when I have opted to just hold out, because there are literally no options. There are other times when I have peeled the fried coating back to get at least some of the poor abused protein underneath. Not pretty, let me tell you.

Anyway, I think my point, as I meander to it, is that I hope my blog serves the same purpose other paleo and CR blogs have served for me, which is to make those who choose to eat this way, or try to eat this way, feel like they have a community that welcomes them. Some of us are lucky enough to have the support of our families and SOs, but others are not, and particularly for those who lack that real world support, the blogging community can perform a very important role. And besides, I do love getting comments :)

*Not to exclude you vegans/vegetarians/others--I love you all too! We all need to do what is best for ourselves, not what other people tell us to do :)

6 comments:

PaulaG said...

San Fran is one of the very best cities for food and organics. Even the little bodegas seem to have something you can eat. A big plus for you now is being in a city with fresh seafood.

I rarely run into anyone who eats like I do except for some people at the place where I work out, and they do more of a bodybuilding version that is low fat and usually do protein powders.

With the interest in eating local food, at least you run into sorta likeminded people at the farmers' market. But of course they all want boneless skinless chicken breast. One lady asked the farmer (who was freezing since it was like 7 degrees out) if there was an "analysis" on the sausages. Three of us waiting were cracking up... at first I didn't get it, but then realized she wanted the "nutritional" breakdown. It's the farmers' market... you know REAL FOOD.

TrailGrrl

Cave Cooking said...

Trailgrrl-one of my favourite pieces of advice from Michael Pollen is "eat food without labels." Easy if you shop at a farmer's market.

And to follow your point about seafood, I noticed some grogeous crab for 8.99/lb. Am drooling in anticipation of that dinner.

And finally, I hear you on the fat point. Once you've had chicken thighs, how COULD you go back to boneless skinless breasts???

Anonymous said...

Thats very cool about the doctor

BEELifestyle said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog! And awesome about the doc!

I recently got in an argument with my doctor over this paleo eating. In a nutshell, I've had some weird things happen with my cycle this past month after going totally primal (anything like this ever happen to you??) and he got on his soap box and preached about the benefits of grains and blah blah blah.

I'm getting better about the way I can defend my eating, but I don't have the whole science behind it down so it's hard to argue about it. It just 'feels right' - which is a tough one to use as a defense. I get this way about politics too, where I don't quite know why I support something because I'm not quite 'conversational' about it, I just know everything the person (or group or cause) said hit home with me. But I digress.

Adding you to my reader. Thanks!

-BEE
www.beelifestyle.com

Cave Cooking said...

Darwinstable-Yeah, it's always nice when you find a doc that's on your side, so to speak. My mother is a physician and she also supports my way of eating, although she doesn't follow it herself

BEE-love your blog. Glad you stopped by!

Threshold Photograpy said...

I hope my blog serves the same purpose other paleo and CR blogs have served for me, which is to make those who choose to eat this way, or try to eat this way, feel like they have a community that welcomes them.

That's also pretty much the reason I set up my own blog - there is a lack of voices out there, and everyone and every view out there helps those looking for alternative answers to conventional wisdom. People are getting pretty damn sick of "experts" telling us what to eat and lambasting us for doing exactly what they ask and then DARING to get fat on their diets.

F**k 'em. Lets do our own thing and proclaim it loud and proud.. WE ARE PRIMAL ! :)

*primal scream*