Category: Nutrition Matters
Vitamin D
We don’t recommend a lot of supplementation, but Vitamin D could be a great supplement for you especially in these winter months where we don’t see the sun as much.
What does it do?
Vit-D is best known for its role in calcium and phosphorous metabolism. A deficiency of Vit-D can cause rickets, but this lowly vitamin does so much more.
Vit-D is critical in:
- Fat metabolism
- Cancer Prevention (cell growth and apoptosis)
- Autoimmunity (regulating and normalizing immune response)
- Fertility
- Insulin resistance
- Types 1 and 2 diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease
- Anti-inflammatory as a Cox2 inhibitor
Vitamin D and Fish oil (more on that another day) are a hard choice for which one is more important for supplementation and these are really the only two things we are going to recommend you take. Vit-D reduces and controls inflammation from a variety of angles, and it can be tough to get enough because we generally live indoors, thus limiting our light exposure.
*from The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf.
I started using Vit-D about last Feb and March and definitely noticed a difference in my mood. I hate taking pills, but found this little tiny pill that offers 5,000 i.u (recommended in the book) and is less than $10 for a 2 month supply! I have found it at the Good Earth and Sunflower Market.
Paleo Granola
Yesterday Dallin posted this recipe to the comments. I made some today and it is amazing! You can eat it alone or as cereal with almond milk. Yummy! This recipe has honey in it so you can try it without the honey depending on how strict you are with all this stuff. Jeremy can’t stop eating it. Keep in mind that this is basically a big bomb of delicious fat mixed together, so depending on where you are at you may need to eat sparingly.
Dry Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup almond meal
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
2 cup raw slivered or chopped almonds
Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup grape seed oil (I, Dallin switched it out for olive, but coconut would be awesome too) (I, Brandy used coconut oil)
1/2 cup raw honey
1-2 teaspoons vanilla
Preheat oven to 325. In large bowl add dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and combine well. Spread thin on baking pan and bake for 25 minutes. Stir and bake another 5 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5-10 minutes in pan.
Paleo Ice Cream
Paleo Ice-Cream
1 can of regular coconut milk
1 can of light coconut milk
4 cage free egg yolks (you can add more egg yolks to make the ice-cream a little creamier)
½ cup of coconut nectar/sap (you can also use agave if you don’t like the sap) I am going to try to make this again without the nectar, I would imagine it would still be pretty good with fruit or cocoa powder.
2 tsp of raw vanilla extract
This makes almost 2 quarts of ice-cream.
In a large bowl, whisk the yolks and sap together for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the cans of coconut milk and whisk until everything is combined.
Pour the mixture into a medium size pot and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. It will be about 8 to 10 minutes or until the back of the spoon coats with the mixture. DO NOT let the mixture boil. Stir in the vanilla while it is cooking.
Put the contents into a bowl and put it in the refrigerator until chill. Process the ice-cream in an ice-cream maker. I left the mixture in my maker for about 20 minutes and then I put it in the freezer. It takes about 2 hours for the ice-cream to freeze.
I would recommend starting the ice-cream at least 12 hours before you need it to be ready.
Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
These muffins are delicious! I just want to remind everyone that even though these are paleo, they are still a treat and should not be eaten on a regular basis (depending on your goals). Also, these are not whole30 approved. Enough of that, here are the recipes. Their are two variations for you to play with. Thanks Elizabeth! Elizabeth is one tuff CrossFitter as well as one amazing baker!
*Note: Eating these muffins may or may not make you look like the picture above.
1. Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients:
3 eggs separated
5 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
4 Tablespoons Ghee, melted
1 Cup pure pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 Cups almond flour
½-1 Cup dark chocolate pieces
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin tin or use paper baking cups.
Cream the egg yolks and maple syrup in a large bowl.
Add the ghee, pumpkin, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and almond flour until well combined. Stir in chocolate pieces.
In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until fluffy and stiff white peaks form.
Fold egg whites into the pumpkin mixture carefully pulling it away from the sides before gradually folding the rest of the egg whites into the mixture.
Spoon the mix into each cup and bake for about 40 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.
2. Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
6 eggs, beaten
4 Tbps coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup pure maple syrup or honey
1 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 400. Grease muffin papers, as they will stick if not greased.
Stir together all ingredients except chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon into muffin tin.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until light golden brown on top, and tooth pick comes out clean. Store in the fridge.
Paleo Chicken (non) Parmesano
