Welcome to The Mango Duck! Here you will find recipes (mainly) and stories about being/maintaining a paleo diet (occasionally). I had been discovering in the past few years that I love to cook. So living a nutritionally paleo life sort of leaves me wanting more in the chef department. I mean, it really isn't that hard to cook/prepare paleo foods but sometimes you can get a little lost for inspiration and it becomes difficult to create something different. But I hope to create some fun dishes and maybe give you some ideas to jazz up your veggies or make your meat dishes savory.
I'm no stranger to Paleo. I initially tried to go Paleo about 5-6 years ago but didn't have any luck. At that time I was still a relative stranger to the kitchen. I had decided to start cooking at home but wanted to try to eat healthier at the same time. My first cookbook was The Mediterranean Diet by Nancy Harmon-Jenkins. I started really learning to cook using this book and since all the recipes called for fresh ingredients I learned to despise pre-made foods. Of course, at the same time I could not kick my fast food habit. At some point, probably while perusing cookbooks at Borders, I stumbled on to The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. What I read just made complete sense to me. It affirmed my own thoughts that diet was the root of the cause for my weight issues and medical problems (high blood pressure). I never ever thought that it wasn't but I started seeing a broader picture. I could see where we as Americans started to go wrong from a dietary standpoint. I would rant from time to time (to my poor, patient Mom) about food additives, box meals and processed foods. Yet, I couldn't make the switch to Paleo. I was this weird blend of food snob and fast food junkie. So for the past 5 years I tried Paleo a couple of times (a few weeks at most) but no luck converting. Every time I would notice that I felt the best when eating Paleo. I never forgot Paleo though and I always yearned to make the switch. I knew it was right, I knew it's what I needed but just couldn't achieve it.
At least I learned something during my failed efforts. I discovered that I needed to plan and to prepare in advance. But when I didn't have my meals cooked or I missed going to the grocery store, I would just fall off the wagon and I would binge on fast food. I should admit here that I'm not a "type A" personality. If I were, I would have achieved Paleo sooner.
So, the end of 2010 was arriving and I was in the dumps and wanted to try to lose some weight and overall become a little healthier in 2011. I decided to try to keep track of my foods (weight watchers style) with an app I found on my iPhone. While thinking about this I started thinking about Paleo and wishing that I had what it took to be Paleo. I was surfing around to my old Paleo links and looking up new ones (way more support online now than when I first tried Paleo). In the process I found http://www.paleoplan.com/ and visited the site. I knew instantly that this is what I needed to help give me that extra push. I signed up immediately and was so excited to get started. I completely forgot about my tracking plan and the app on my iPhone. (Here's where I tell you that I'm easily distracted by shiny objects and that includes neat websites.) Paleo Plan has weekly recipe plans and weekly shopping lists that you can print out as well as lots of recipes on their site. I immediately hopped on board and haven't looked back since. I have a supreme sense of confidence and have been living strictly Paleo since the 3rd of January. I love it and I know that this is me...forever.
I hope my little blog helps satisfy my inner chef and gives me an outlet and way to be creative in the kitchen. All cooks love to share their dishes and enjoy the company of others at the dinner table. Being the sole "cavegirl" in a non Paleo household means that I prepare for myself. So, hopefully you'll have a seat at my table and try some of my dishes and we can talked about how great it is to be Paleo!
