Terri's Chocolate Brownies

My eating of late has been 90% fantabulous just judging from how my shorts keep falling down today ;-)). It would be 100% EXCEPTIONAL if a) I didn't sneak some traditional carbs - pasta/ cereal when no-one was looking or b) was initiated into the miracle that is Justin's Chocolate Almond Butter. This is basically like nutella but healthy nutella AND it has my name on it so get your orders in quick ;-))

I would love to say that this great eating track record of late is all down to me and that I am finally a reformed character but actually it's all due to fitting in with the eating habits of much healthier people around me. I am (not so secretly) FASCINATED by what SUPERhealthy people eat - and my Texan friends fit the SUPERhealthy category to a Texan 'T'-Bone.  Best of all they have been kind enough to invite me to dine with them - something about preventing the men in white coats from visiting me too often (kidding!!) so I have had the opportunity to openly 'spy'.

My biggest revelation is how simple and easy my fave Texan duo's delicious meals are to create. These guys are bonafide Paleo converts but are practised at it and their meals actually make sense.  I don't know about you but whenever I try a new eating regime - RANDOM CRAZINESS is the name of the game. It takes me ages to figure out what works with what, what 'allowed' combinations I actually like and what is just plain edible!

I got to dine with the Texan duo and their family last night and the menu was as follows:

• Grilled grass-fed Bison (Buffalo to you and me) - died and gone to heaven good


• An incredible salad (check back later this week for more details and my planned 'Salad Hierarchy' post) 


• An avocado and tomato side dish - yummmmmmmmmmmmmy

Then bonding over Extreme Makeover : Home Edition (my now second favourite American show after Extreme Makeover : Weightloss Edition) - I got to chow down on some incredible chocolate brownies made by SF's Mom. This lady is so sweet, eek - has read my blog, clearly shares a passion for anything chocolate and does Crossfit too. Well just my new BFF!!

Terri was even kind enough to share the recipe for her lovely PALEO and yummy chocolately brownie creation and I found this gem in my inbox this morning so I just had to share IMMEDIATELY. Eat these chilled. Sooooooooo, soooo good, I even went back for (gasp) thirds.

Chocolate Brownie

(Sorry I didn't take a pic of Terri's actual masterpiece)

But eating Terri's Paleo Chocolate Brownies you would be forgiven for thinking you were actually eating these

Ingredients:
2 cups whole walnuts
2 ½ cups Medjool dates, pitted
1 cup raw cacao / cocoa (I had & used an unsweetened Cocoa powder / Hershey or Nestle)
1 cup raw unsalted almonds, roughly chopped
¼ tsp. sea salt

Directions:
1. Place walnuts in food processor and blend on high until the nuts are finely ground.
2. Add the cacao / cocoa and salt. Pulse to combine. 
3. Add the dates one at a time through the feed tube of the food processor while it is running. What you should end up with is a mix that appears rather like cake crumbs, but that when pressed, will easily stick together (if the mixture does not hold together well, add more dates). 
4. In a large bowl (or the pan you plan on putting the brownies in), combine the walnut-cacao / cocoa mix with the chopped almonds. Press into a lined cake pan or mold. Place in freezer of fridge until ready to serve (it is also easier to cut these when they are cold). 

I have only ever made this recipe cut in half ... SO GOOD!

PLUS SOME REALLY USEFUL INFORMATION (A quick explanation by someone on the internet)  


Raw cacao powder is NOT the same as cocoa powder

Raw cacao powder is unadulterated and contains many more nutrients than traditional cocoa powder. It's sold mostly via health food stores and online retailers. Just google raw cacao powder to find retailers like rawguru.com, vitacost.com, and livesuperfoods.com which all sell the product (note: this is not an endorsement of any retailer). Many of these retailer sites also promote the benefits of "raw cacao powder." Many recipes are also found on the internet for such things as a banana cacao smoothie. Cacao in its natural state contains no sugars. Ehow.com describes the difference between raw cacao powder and cocoa powder this way:

"Pure, unsweetened cocoa powder tastes very bitter and rich, which is why it is most often used in sweets and confections. To get cocoa powder from the cacao bean, the nibs are first ground into a strong paste. The fat is removed, and the remaining solids are ground up again into a fine dust: cocoa powder. Because of its drying properties, using cocoa powder in a cake often requires the use of more shortening or butter in the recipe.

According to FDA guidelines, cocoa powder and cacao powder are simply different terms for the same powder, and are nearly interchangeable; however, "cacao powder" specifically refers to raw, unsweetened powder. "Cocoa powder," on the other hand, may still have a very small amount of cocoa butter present to enhance the flavor subtly."

Thanks Terri. I literally can't wait to have a go at recreating these - I have to do something to keep my shorts from falling down any further!! ;-)) xx

I Won't Let Go

Rascal Flatts vid - courtesy of YouTube

This music video basically sums up my relationship with chocolate.  For those who don't believe relationships with inanimate objects are proper - I am so with you. But chocolate is my one exception.  Last night I was hunkering for a piece of chocolate sooooooo badly, specifically a small packet of cadbury's giant buttons - I even had the requisite 59p counted out. But I did good and forced myself to go to bed at 9pm just to avoid the temptation of a late night dash to Tesco.

So Day 2 and the Paleo thing is going well except I'd forgotten how PERMANENTLY hungry I am on Paleo - despite eating great - lots of protein and vegetables - this food goes straight through me and within an hour I am famished again. Seriously my stomach is growling and I only ate brekkie - 2 eggs scrambled, 50g smoked salmon and a medley of grilled tomatoes and 3 supergiant mushrooms, garnished with parsley!! - like 90 minutes ago. (I would have provided photographic evidence of my newly discovered cooking skills - except I'd eaten half of it before I remembered - I was SOOO hungry).

So while I go research Sarah Fragoso's AWESOME and hopefully superfilling Paleo recipes as well as the properties of fibre aka what vegetables and quantities to eat to stay fuller for longer - too much info? - sorry, ENJOY this video and think of me watching these guys singing this live from row 23, MAIN FLOOR!!! at the Country Music Festival in just 6 weeks time.

Yeehaw Nashville - Can't wait to fall in love with you! xx

p.s. If anyone knows of a great London based chiropractor or has a spare torture rack handy to stretch out my back please get in contact - my back is still trying to prove that it's the boss of me and believes that the fetal position is normal.

"I will"

I am exhausted. I have officially ODed on everything Royal Wedding related for the last three days that I've had to ban myself from looking directly at Union Jack flags, bunting or watching and reading anymore wedding coverage. Sad but true I've watched about 11 hours+ of yesterday's events - well I had to see both the BBC and the ITV coverage!! But now I fear that my head will actually implode....... Very briefly, yesterday I stood for seven hours in Parliament Square for perfect glimpses of the action - which was simply fantastic - the crowds, the TV interviews, the procession, the atmosphere and the very entertaining policemen lining the route, not to mention all the Royals and pomp of the occasion - I really feel like I was a part of history - even in just a very, very miniscule way.

My shot of the royal couple - last time I saw Kate was when we were in the Younger Hall at St A's sitting an end of year Art History Exam on Capability Brown and Horace Warpole's Strawberry Hill

..... WEIRD FEELING but so, so cool. 

Seeing Duchess Kate looking so stunning reminded me that if I get my butt properly into gear - I too could look foxy and find a Prince Charming of my own!! Although perhaps one with a tad more hair please ;-).

Plus I officially need Pippa's McQueen dress, {Kate's dress was also fabulous but I am VERY unlikely to ever need something quite that stately ;-)) but Pippa's dress is delectably wearable}  in fact I would never take it off - it's just so fabulous but so, so slinky but unforgiving..... which reminds me ...... back to the official business of this blog.......

Every night about from 9pm my energy levels start buzzing and I typically end up staying up til about 12.30pm - 1am - working, interneting, youtubing and dancing.  In fact I am writing this now during one of these late night buzz sessions. But since my alarm goes off daily between 5am-6am - depending on my schedule - this is a recipe for disaster.  Functioning on c.5 hours sleep is making my life unnecessarily difficult.

In short my cortisol levels are all out of whack - low in the day and rising in the evening when it should be the other way around. Principally my sugar consumption and lack of discipline is to blame. But feeling so knackered makes it hard to resist eating junk and a catch 22 situation arises. But this stops here.

Tomorrow 1st May - I am commencing PALEO for the full 30 day challenge as recommended by Robb Wolf - Paleo CAVEking and as part of that I will be getting to bed each night by 10.30pm.*

*I have two exceptions to my PALEO/ exemplary snooze fest - both are challenge days - as a) food - very definitely starchy carbs, is supplied which won't be paleo compliant and I don't want be rude/ die of hunger ;-) and b) I will still be eventing late into the night on both occasions so the sleep thing will be disrupted. So really this is the 28 day Paleo challenge.

Some of you may recall I went Paleo prior to my birthday last November and it really made a difference shedding those seemingly reluctant pounds. It's amazing what is possible when you stop eating junk! Essentially Paleo is a high protein and vegetables nutrition plan and requires cutting out wheat, grains, dairy and sugar and limiting yourself to one piece of fruit a day. For more info - check this post.

My last non-paleo supper for thirty days

- Chocolate Milkshake and Sizzler Burger courtesy of Gormet Burger Co.

Completely Delic and like 2000 kcals!

The paleo regime should also ensure that I am in excellent form for all my May activities. Just as well as I have not one, but TWO challenges on the books, plus a hardcore run training schedule to stick to in preparation for the 10km race in early June. Both of my May events are very special to me: I have the 60km charity walk next Saturday with Challenge Hannah and I am already hyper about it!  It is going to be EPIC. Then the following weekend - 'the bra' is coming back out for a surprise second Moonwalk appearance on the 14th May. (Moonwalk = 26.2 mile power walk commencing at midnight)

Unfortunately the lovely Trainer Sarah broke her toe in two places waterskiing last weekend (the girl is seriously unstoppable) and so asked if I could fill in for her - and in the words of  Kate and Will I of course said 'I will'. Apparently there are very few people who are marathon power walk ready at a moment's notice. Finally, the last 15 months training has paid off - I am useful for something - HURRAH!!!

Sarah had been planning to do the London Moonwalk with her Mum but due to her injury I will now be attempting to fill her shoes. I am slightly scared as Sarah is a big act to follow and Sarah's Mum is a PE teacher and still demonstrates cartwheels to her pupils. I cannot even do a handstand. From my memory of Sarah's Mum at the Santa Run in December, I will have my work cut out keeping up with Mummy Sarah!  I can't tell you how shocked my abs are by this surprise Moonwalk news ;-) Hopefully the month long Paleo endeavour will allow me to shed some much needed pounds, as healthily as possible, for my vanity and for my abs' sake!! Else my public appearance on the 14th will definitely have none of the majesty of Kate's royal debut yesterday.

Busy, busy month. So now to bed! Must practise going to bed before twelve. Oops missed it by twenty three minutes. $&*% xx

Getting my mojo back

For the last 10 days I've been feeling TOTALLY out of kilter - I'd lost my appetite (F.Y.I. this NEVER happens to me unless I'm on my DEATH BED), I was feeling a bit down in the dumps and then I had the dreaded back to work blues as well as battling with wheezy lungs.  Fun times!!

Luckily from Thursday night onwards, I've started to feel like my old self again (though rubbish lungs persist). Most importantly after two weeks of allowing myself to eat anything I like, just so long as I eat something, I actually want and crave food again. YAY!!! I should admit now that I have ZERO ambition to be a waif.  Stunningly toned and healthy - YES. Boney, lethargic and lollipop-headed - NO (although to be honest this is way past my ability anyway)

My mission feels like its back on track - the next challenge is confirmed (proof of voting results below - especially for SUPERjade!! who's unfortunately now losing the Winter League by 3 points!!) I only have 10 weeks to prepare for this MASSIVE running mission (i.e. basically NO time at all) - eek so I'm also back on PALEO this week - this time for the full 30 days as I only managed 20 days previously before Birthday FUN intervened!!

Proof that the much beloved Disney 1/2 Marathon option lost its initial voting lead.

Hopefully second time round PALEO will be MUCHO easier now that I've realised:

1. Ground almounds = almond flour
2. Coconut oil is a solid at room temperature and comes in a jar not a bottle like olive oil
3. Peanuts are a no go
4. I have purchased Waitrose's ENTIRE stock of eat nakd bars (currently on special offer 2 for a £1 which is brilliant as they're normally 79p each and they are the ONLY tasty PALEO compliant raw food bar I come across to date - wahoo).
5. Recommencing the PALEO 30 day challenge now will make Christmas Dinner even more amazing than normal!!! xx

p.s. In honour of my rediscovered vim and the MASSIVE challenge that's afoot, I thought it was time for a long overdue refresh of le blog  - LOVE/ HATE/ CAN'T TELL WHAT'S DIFFERENT?  - let me know what you think.
p.p.s. Of course my cartoon avatar is an EXACT replica of me!!

TraineePaleo sans Kitchen = Recipe for Disaster

Stomach is growling too feriously to ignore it any longer so I stopped playing YouTube, donned the loincloth "my official hunter gatherer outfit" and go in search of sustinance. But wait the kitchen is out of bounds as the floor has just been relaid - noooo. {I live in a very sophisticated but rented CAVE}. Doesn't the landlord understand that this is my first day back on the PALEO wagon after a fun few days sampling all the missed snacks and edible treats and that I MUST have access to the fridge and stove at the very least or even just the fruitbowl.  Clearly the landlord does not understand this. So it seems I have three options:

1. Find a new landlord - one who doesn't decide to embark on a DIY frenzy the one week of the ENTIRE year I attempt to enjoy a STAYCATION. {Incidentially, Landlord has also laid sticky rat traps after a too close encounter I had with a mouse last week - the mouse was not too impressed with the PALEO fare I was whipping up for my pack lunch that morning and so after I'd screamed the place down, it decided to depart.  I tried to explain that cooking next to my neighbourly rat whose paws are stuck to a piece of sticky flypaper, whilst excellent for my diet regime, is nonetheless a bit cruel for the rat surely and that there must be a slightly more sophisticated trap option available, ideally one which doesn't require me to have front row spectator tickets to Death of Rat Act 1, 2 and 3? Again the Landlord wasn't quite getting my drift. Luckily I return to work next week so will be saved from any more insane conversations about rats, concrete or DIY as I am clearly out of my depth.}

I did sketch the mouse in the concrete though so I could properly ID it next time ;-))

2. Attempt to survive on a packet of nuts and a date bar till the concrete dries in like 4-6 hours - but I am really famished.

3. Wait one more day before jumping back on the PALEO bandwagon again and so trot off to a nearby cafe for more NON-PALEO sustinance.  If I'm going out of the cave into the howling gales, a salad is definitely not going to cut it.  Plus people get upset when I wear the loincloth in public so it seems I MUST go "civilian" for one more day! xx

p.s. DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR CHALLENGE NUMBER THREE. Currently in first place is Adventure X, hotly followed by the Disney Half Marathon, then the Month of Running Love and SUPERcat's wildcard is in 4th place, but your vote could make all the difference. {No-one has voted for the Duathlon yet. Clearly my voters have excellent taste - or else they recall that the last time I went biking I ended up impaled onto the spokes. Not HOT!}

Peanuts

I am not proud of this but in the spirit of full disclosure – I have to reveal my complete stupidity – something I’ve managed to keep under wraps with moderate success over the years although not for much longer….

On Wednesday, despite doing a mammoth food shopping at the weekend and purchasing three bags of spinach – I had run out of salad so in order to rescue the remaining week’s PALEO pack lunches – I went to purchase a suitable replacement.

After work/ before dinner – the munchies are rife anyway – coupled with the current PALEO accent – I am now STARVACIOUS. (Mostly I think the hunger pangs are psychological….. but more on this later) So there I was foraging the aisles of Tesco, in the manner of a CAGEgirl – hunched over, leaping from side to side, swinging my arms, looking for some salad AND a PALEO suitable pre-dinner snack.

My thought process is as follows:

FRUIT – out (already had an apple, grapes and an orange so I’m already WELL over my one a day PALEO limit)

VEGETABLES – noooo that’s Dinner,

SANDWICHES, CAKES, CHOCOLATE – all out – no point even looking for a gluten free, no sugar variety.

FLUID – Nooooo particularly not that bottle of chocolate MILK

PROTEIN – Cheese – definite N.O. and I just cannot face any more fish or meat on top of seemingly excessive daily rations

CRISPS – out, but wait an anachronistic minute on my digital watch - what’s that promising looking sparkly foil packet with those hallowed words *NEW* on it? Flavoured Peanuts – oooooooooohhhh nuts are allowed – BP rises with excitement, thus shutting off blood supply to brain – a quick check at the contents confirms that there’s only a miniscule, less than a speak of dust amount of gluten and sugar and I can easily leave that speck in the packet. WOOHOO PALEO snack time is finally SOLVED. Cue even more wildly swinging arms.

Get home and inhale packet of peanuts all 36.9g of the 37g packet – not amazingly yummy as actually I don’t really like peanuts but the salt and vinegar flavouring is AMAZING after three days of “au natural” tasting food. Dumdeedum – CAVEgirl is feeling suitable smug.

Then decide to google the one element of “PALEO” that is confusing me slightly – which is what exactly is a “legume”? As my mind wanders between a legume as either pulses or root vegetables, it’d be good to be ABSOLUTELY clear so I don’t make any mistakes having got this far without a slip up.

This is what I found….

PEANUTS…oh botheration x

p.s. On a good note, despite the peanut aberration on Day 3 – at Day 5 of PALEO – having been tipped off by my nearly-new exercise leggings constantly falling down whilst running, I took some quick measurements and - AMAZINGLY it appears I have lost 3lbs AND 3 cms of my waist – in 5 days {after 10 weeks of losing just 2lbs and 0 cms of my waist EVEN whilst exercising like a fiend}.

PALEO may be one CRAZY {?FADDY} DIET but it seems to GET RESULTS – Size 10 Birthday Dress HERE I COME!!

Day 2: "So you're living like a CAVEman?!"

This was the level of confusion PALEO was creating at tonight's pub quiz - so much fun BTW so thanks all for letting me gatecrash - I definitely recommend getting yourselves to the Black Dog in Vauxhall on a Tuesday Night.  Also I can personally testify that the cocktail sausages and water are TRES YUMMY (and judging by everyone else's happy smiles, the deserts, including CHOCOLATE PUDDING - {that's just EVIL Mr SUPERcat, although not even poor Cat could get a look in - that boy has a serious chocolate habit!!} was equally scrumptious)

Oh I miss chocolate........... SO, SO MUCH.... I can't even begin to explain. I'm not really coping with the notion of just being a CHOCOHOLIC VOYEUR for the next 28 day days so I think I'll need to avoid all chocolate pudding eaters for well basically the next 27 days, 23 hours, 59 mins and 59 seconds - just as well it's VERY early nights for me for the next 27 days!!

Umm so as you can guess, it appears that cocktail sausages and water are pretty much the only paleo/pub suitable option BUT  DAY TWO IS COMPLETE and I'm still on the wagon, even if it does have stone chiselled wheels.

Woohoo. Not a single gram of sugar, wheat, grains, dairy, caffeine or legumes has past my lips for 2 days. Personally I’m totally shocked I’ve somehow lasted this long as I. DON’T. DO. RESTRICTIVE. DIETING. EVER. COS. IT. WELL. SUCKS. (Please refer to chocolate pudding nightmare above :-(( )

I also can't comprehend how people say they’re not hungry on whichever new eating regime they’ve adopted – I have spent most of these past two days – FAM-ISHED. Sunday night I even went to bed salivating about the prospect of eating breakfast in 8 hours. That is just wrong!! {Once in bed, I realised that I was partlystill hungry because I’d forgotton to eat the salad that was meant to accompany my dinner of grilled salmon, walnuts and roasted asparagus spears – all very nice thank you.}

1st day of Paleo Plan was:
Breakfast - 2 x omelette muffins (see previous post for link to recipe)
Lunch - Spinach, tomato, bell pepper and chicken salad
Afternoon Snack - Apple and Walnuts
Dinner - Salmon (Sunday's leftovers) and Roasted Green Beans

In reality, 1st day of Paleo Plan actually went as follows:
Slept through my alarm, missed training and was VERY late for work BUT Mr Robb Wolfman would be so proud as I got 9 hours sleep!!
Breakie - 2 x omelette muffins
11.55am - sooooooo ravenous, I had to break out the afternoon snack - NEVER before has an APPLE tasted so sweet or been savoured so much, literally ate the whole thing - core and all.
Lunch - Salad and walnuts and for desert - the thought that its only 7 hours til DINNER! Commence checking out dinner recipes.
Dinner - Arrived home to the MOST SUBLIME scent of my flatmate's lasagne - to avoid devouring the fridge of all my Flatmates' NON-paleo food - I had a frozen banana to stave off hunger until the green beans were roasted.
Got distracted - Green beans rescued but mostly burnt but fortunately still mildly edible - salmon still yummy.  Had to take burnt taste away and as I was still fairly RAVENOUS, I committed a third fruit sin of the day and had an orange.

Seriously can this really be considered cheating??! This is eating PERFECTION in my book - a literal NEVER-EVENT!! Two gold stars for CAVEgirl I think.

DAY 2 (Tuesday) – I actually couldn’t stomach the thought of any more protein when I woke up, but in the spirit of social experimentation, I had a half portion of the grated apple, chicken and cinnamon hash that I prepared the previous evening (not all that dissimilar from my more typical apple and cinnamon porridge so not too bad). At 11.30am, I had three of the omelette muffins and at 3pm when I finally got out of a meeting I ate today’s salad lunch: beef pattie, spinach and tomatoes (It was pretty much as unpalatable as its sounds. I can only summise that cold beef mince{previously cooked in a little olive oil and NOTHING ELSE} has to be an acquired taste. I couldn’t even pretend it was a CAVEman’s version of a no bun burger). Dinner - 6 cocktail sausages and a pint of water to accompany fabuloso quiz.

Ooh a diploid from tonight's quiz, especially for any equally carbohydrate ravenous CAVEpeople out there (I got this easy peasy but then there's nothing like staring at other peoples' chips and bread, trying not to dribble, to focus the mind!!)  Answers on a postcard please. x

"The G P F b in 1845"

CAVEgirl on a PALEO Mission

This will be me - REALLY!!

This week, despite taking it fairly easy after the brilliant Commando antics of last weekend, I’m still feeling surprisingly lethargic. Each night I’ve been telling myself to get to bed early but suddenly at around 9pm – I finally feel mentally alert and very productive and so the late night (11pm)/ following day lethargy-at-work cycle continues unbroken. Really not good.

I’m also finally coming around to the notion that my increasingly out of control wheat, sugar and caffeine intakes of late are also really not doing me any favours. AT ALL :-((( As much as I *love* exercise and want it to single-handedly resolve the war on my lingering and rather too prominent waistline – I really do need to assist the process and thus seriously review my diet OR rather lack of!!

As ever, I’m jumping the gun slightly as SUPERchicks are kicking off a pre-festivities “SUPERnutrition Mission” which I CANNOT wait to join in with. This will co-inside with SUPERchick's soon-to-be-launched revised nutrition portion of the online SUPERchick Members' Locker. {I’ve been very lucky to get a sneak preview and it looks TOTALLY AMAZEBELLS – all those "don't know where to start"/boring moments at work will be extinguished FOREVER!!}

But considering how bloated, lethargic and spotty I’m currently feeling and how rapidly my birthday is approaching (only 3 weeks to go before size 10 dress doom - eek), I decided that I could definitely do with a headstart and so should get testing some nutrition stratagems pre-official SUPERchick “Nutrition Mission”.

By amazing coincidence, one of my lovely friends has sent me a copy of Robb Wolf’s Paleo Solution. Enter CAVEgirl - Girl on a Mission’s ancestral alter ego prepped and ready for Paleo Mission!!

Robb Wolf’s book and his "Paleo Solution" theory is a bit too heavy on the biochemicals and digestive processes (leaky gut chat - bit grim) for my evolved billennium brain to properly digest!! – but the basic tenets are as follows:

a) Banish all gluten (eg wheat, grains, pasta, rice), dairy and legumes from your diet as this causes inflammation (lethargy, bloating)

b) You can get sufficient carbohydrates from vegetables and fruit instead

c) If you need to lose weight – limit your fruit intake to one piece a day (as fruit is very heavy on the fructose – SUGARRRRRR!!!) and limit your egg consumption

d) Most meals will comprise of protein (eggs, meat, fish), vegetables (the more colourful the better) and good fats (nuts, avocado, olive oil) and herbs for taste.

e) 8-9 hours EVERY night is ESSENTIAL, preferable in a non-electronic, BLACKED OUT environment.

f) Unless you have serious allergies – you can apply the 80:20 rule to paleo eating – PHEW.

g) Exercise is essential for regulating hormones and helping to minimise insulin resistance etc. Woohoo – I at least have one of these dimensions covered.

Clearly I cannot reduce Robb’s lifetime study here in one paragraph- so if you’re interested in finding out more about Paleo eating – check out http://www.robbwolf.com/ particularly his quick start guide . Another paleo resource which I imagine will quickly become a personal lifeline if I become a paleo convert is PALEOPLAN Paleoplan has already come to my rescue as today I’ve been trying to find a breakfast recipe that a) I can eat on the go and b) doesn’t resemble dinner – like Robb’s baked salmon and almonds suggestion. What the hell?!

Here’s my attempt at the paleoplan’s omelette muffin’s breakfast recipe This week's new breakfast staple!!!

Before you think I’ve completely lost my billennium evolved marbles and that I'm just about to run wild like my Neolithic ancestors, I do have LOTS of lingering questions about paleo eating that I’m still looking into:

1. Isn’t paleo eating just a repackaged version of the very gruesome Atkins diet – which had some dire health consequences not to mention being plain unsocial at points – ketone related halitosis anyone?

2. Can you really eat that much protein – how will my kidneys cope!!!?

3. Does paleo eating ensure you get sufficient calcium (hasn’t Gwyneth Paltrow just been diagnosed with osteoporosis due to macrobiotic eating – which I imagine has many correlations to paleo/ all unprocessed/ sugar free eating regimes?)

4. How can you eat paleo when you’re trying to lose weight as you are meant to restrict your egg consumption but almost EVERY paleo breakfast involves eggs – CONFUSED?!

5. Seriously who manages 9 hours of sleep and manages to keep ANY kind of social life? How's a CAVEgirl meant to snare a CAVEboy?

6. Is there a more winter appropriate paleo soup option – how can you eat salads all year long when you don’t live in balmy California? What do you do for the 10 months of the year when avocados are not available?

7. Once you eat "clean" – if/when you reintroduce/ revert back to “forbidden” foods – will your body react uber extreme compared to currently? Girl cannot live without pasta forever, particularly if snared CAVEboy is Italian!!

However my prehistoric CAVEgirl alter ego, just like C21st Girl, likes a challenge – Robb Wolf reckons you should go paleo for a trial period of 30 days, this CAVEgirl prefers to take smaller steps out of her cave – so I’ll be taking it one week at a time – that’s really as much as I can plan ahead meal wise anyway! x

This week's PALEO foodshop - yup fortunately Waitrose is as old as the hills!!! Any paleo aficionado's will be able spot a couple of cheats!! But SERIOUSLY I'm trying my best.

p.s. Don't panic - the next exercise/fitness mission GUARANTEED to get me looking skimpy loin-cloth-pummel-your-chest-tastic is being planned to perfection as you read this (full details will be released after I complete the SUPERchick 10km race, UNDER AN HOUR!!!, on the 6th November). Plus I have a Running School update that I'm desperate to get online. Ooh the excitement!!