What's in What You Eat?It is said you are what you eat, from your head to your feet. So why not know… What's in what you eat?

At nearly every Indian restaurant I have seen, there is a common trend of offering a $7 all you can eat buffet during the lunch hour (usually 11:30am-2:30pm). Curious to try new foods I went into one looking to see if anything primal emerged. This is what I found:

Buffet line stocked full of meat, typically chicken, lamb, and goat with numerous raw or cooked vegetables for side dishes. Sure it may have some sugar or soy in the sauces, or it may not, but it is primarily high animal protein, high vegetables, and as long as you can resist the Naan bread is also grain free. Also no word on if the animals are free-ranged.

Bengal Tiger (Roosevelt)

Butter chicken, tandoori chicken, cucumber salad, regular salad, eggplant puree

Masala (Northgate)

Chicken curry on the bone, Tandoori chicken, salad, greek-like salad, raw broccoli, spinach puree

Taste: 10
Nutrition: 8
Filling: 10 (All you can eat!)
Price: $ (Typically $6.95)
Overall Value: 10

Ingredients not confirmed to be 100% free of soy, grains, artificial ingredients, and added sugar

I am still amazed at having this as an option for lunch, and there are so many Indian restaurants with this in Seattle that anywhere you go you aren’t far from your local Indian Lunch Buffet. If you have never tried them, the time is now!

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle Mexican Grill is by far the highest quality fast food chain in the country. They are all about free-ranged and grass-fed meats and other than the 0.5 grams of trans fat found in their tortilla, taco shell, and corn chips (don’t eat these) they don’t use any artificial ingredients in their food. It is all customizable so it is quite easy to get a primal meal here:

Bed of lettuce, grilled vegetables, pico de gallo, choice of meat, cheese, sour cream, guacamole

I usually do double meat and double vegetables.

Taste: 10
Nutrition: 10
Filling: 8
Price: $
Overall Value: 9

Ingredients not confirmed to be 100% free of soy, grains, artificial ingredients, and added sugar

Sonrisa Modern Mexican

Sonrisa is a Mexican restaurant located in the University Village. Mexican restaurants often have a Paleo potential and this is no exception. For Paleo, there aren’t too many things available but this one particular meal I had could be repeated many times.

“FAJITAS
Sauteed red and yellow bell peppers and white onions. Guacamole, pico
de gallo, flour tortillas. Ancho Grilled Chicken $17 ~ Adobo Skirt Steak $18 ~ Adobo Shrimp $17 ~ 2-Combo $18″

Leave off the tortillas (which really are unneeded) and you have yourself a meal. Start it with a Heart of Palm salad if you are really hungry. The meal also comes with some lettuce piled with cheese.

Taste: 10
Nutrition: 8 (Meat used was likely not 100% grass-fed, sauce tastes sweetened)
Filling: 9
Price: $$$
Overall Value: 10

Ingredients not confirmed to be 100% free of soy, grains, artificial ingredients, and added sugar

While it is quite expensive, this restaurant is very good. It is also opened until midnight or 1am depending on the night so it is always nice to have a late-night Paleo option.

Another great place to stay Paleo is Whole Foods.

Whole Foods Market (RSQ)

If you don’t know what you are doing and just dig into the salad bar..you may be shocked on how high the price is causing you to miss out on the excellent products Whole Foods offers. So while the salad bar definitely has the potential to be Paleo there are other options that you can check out.

Option 1:

Over in the carving station next to the made to order burritos,  they have a few meal deals.

Of the Paleo options, you can get a half all natural chicken with two sides for $6.99, marinated pork shoulder with two sides for $9.99 and depending on the day there are other choices that might show up for meats. Here are a few of the combinations I have made:

Entree: 1/2 chicken
Side 1: Mixed vegetables (onions, peppers, squash, zucchini, more?) with seasoning.
Side 2: Sherry mushrooms

So how was it?

Taste: 8 (Add some guacamole or other dressing / sauce and it goes to 10)
Nutrition: 10
Filling: 10 (I could barely finish it)
Price: $
Overal Value: 10

Ingredients confirmed to be 100% free of soy, grains, artificial ingredients, and added sugar.

Option 2:

The Corner Cafe serves made to order grilled items with huge Paleo potential

Large beef patty served with bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, and avacado. I went for the side of sweet potato fries

Taste: 9
Nutrition: 7 (Meat used was not 100% grass-fed and the fries are Alexia brand which is coated with some non Paleo but all natural ingredients)
Filling: 8
Price: $
Overall Value: 8

Ingredients confirmed to be 100% free of soy, artificial ingredients, and added sugar.

The fries contain: Sweet Potatoes, Oleic Canola Oil And/Or Sunflower Oil And/Or Safflower Oil, Modified Food Starch (From Potatoes), Rice Flour, Corn Dextrin, Salt, Leaving (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Extractive of Paprika, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (Added To Preserve Natural Color).

Option 3:

Build your own. Meat from meat department, not Prepared Foods

100% grass-fed lamb, steamed broccoli, guacamole, caramelized onions

100% grass-fed ground beef, steamed broccoli, guacamole, caramelized onions

The absolute best deal and highest quality option is to bring over grass-fed meat from the meat department. From there for $2.99 you can get 2 sides (steamed broccoli, grilled vegetables, sherry mushrooms). Guacamole is $0.50 extra and caramelized onions are $0.50. Get creative! You can piece together an awesome meal with effort.

Thank you Whole Foods for helping Seattle out!

Sorry for the delay in posting these.  It seems everytime I go to a restaurant that is Paleo friendly I forget my camera. Luckily this time one of my friends I was with had an iPhone on hand.

Southlake Grill

Located about one block west of REI is the Southlake Grill. This is one of four locations, each with a different name but the same menu (Greenlake, Eastlake, and Lake Forest).

Besides the typical salads, this restaurant has a number of Paleo choices.

Here’s what I had:

“Grilled Boneless Half Chicken: Natural Washington Grown Chicken with an orange-basil sauce, garlic mashed potatoes & seasonal veggies.”

The mashed potatoes, were easily substituted for sweet potato fries, or if you want to stay even more strict, you can just ask for double the veggies (carrots and broccoli). And yes, I gave the ketchup and ranch away.

So how was it?

Taste: 10
Nutrition: 8 (10 with double vegetables)
Filling: 10
Price: $ (usually $$)
Overal Value: 9-10

Ingredients not confirmed to be 100% free of soy, grains, artificial ingredients, and added sugar

Every Sunday this location only has a screaming deal. Every single food item on the menu is 50% off. This entire entree as pictured was $8.75 after tax.

I am going to try to start a new segment called “Paleo in Seattle” featuring restaurants, grocery stores, and other relavent places in the city. They’ll be listed in the pages to your right with a more in depth discussion and hopefully pictures as a blog post.

As always, feel free to submit any places to check out.

Here’s how it will work:

Taste: Scale of 10 (Even if it is nutritious, it still needs to taste good)
1-4: Unappealing
5-7: Moderate
8-10: Delicious

Nutrition: Scale of 10 (Just how Paleo friendly is it?)
1-4: Cheat meal
5-7: Ok once in a while
8-10: Very paleo friendly

Filling: Scale of 10 (Will you be hungry after the meal?)
1-4: Very light
5-7: Satisfied
8-10: Full

Price:
$: $10 or less entree
$$: $15 or less entree
$$$: $20 or less entree

Overal Value: Based on the above, how good it is for Paleo
1-4: Look elsewhere
5-7: Fine
8-10: A favorite

Friday April 25th:

8:00am:
-1 Hard Boiled Egg
-1 Banana
-Orange Juice

10:30am:
-Pistachios

12:00pm:
-Chicken Ceaser Salad
-Fruit Cup

6:00pm:
-Salad w:
-Lettuce
-Spinach
-Broccoli
-Green Peas
-Mushrooms
-Chicken
-Beef
-Olive Oil/ Vinegar

Cheats:
-Dairy in Ceaser Salad

This was the last day for this Paleo trial. I enjoyed it very much and the energy boost was amazing. I stopped my usual routine of struggling to wake up in the morning, and was easily able to get up each day. I’ll decide at what level I want to do this if at all once I am done reading “The Paleo Diet” by Loren Cordain.

Thursday April 24th:

8:00am:
-1 Hard Boiled Egg
-1 Orange
-1 Banana
-1 Cup Orange Juice
-Smoked Salmon

10:30am:
-Pistachios

12:45pm:
-Mixed Green Salad W/ Chicken

3:45pm:
-1 Hard Boiled Egg
-1 Apple

5:15pm:
-Organic Baby Carrots

9:00pm:
-3/4 Chicken
-Mixed Green Salad w/ Nuts

Wednesday April 23rd:

8:00am:
-2 Hard Boiled Eggs
-1 Banana
-1 Orange
-2 Cups Orange Juice

10:30am:
-Handful Pistachios

12:30pm:
-2 Chicken Breasts

CHEAT:
4:30pm:
-1 scoop Baskin and Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip Ice-cream

7:15pm:
-Salmon W/ Green Onions
-Stir Fry Vegetables:
-Broccoli
-Green/ Yellow Peppers
-Mushrooms
-Onions

-Grapes

The sun was out and I was really craving some ice cream. Ben & Jerries decided to go out of business so I was stuck with B&R. I felt horribly after eating it; bloated, tired, and had a weird feeling in my throat. Made me want to keep going with Paleo.

Other Improvements:
-Chicken at lunch had questionable ingredients. It was from QFC and everytime I get it there is different ingredients listed, I believe they printed the wrong label and what I ate was just chicken with nothing bad.
-Ice cream was an obvious mistake
-Salmon was cooked in soy sauce, making it not truly Paleo

I will try to finish Thursday and Friday strong and then take a break over the weekend. I don’t know how fully I will be able to continue after this week, though I will try.

Tuesday April 22nd

9:30am:
- 1 Hard Boiled Egg
- 1 Banana
- 1 Orange
- 1 Cup Orange Juice

10:45am:
-Handful Pistachios

12:15pm:
-Taco Salad
-Handful Pistachios
-1 Banana
-Water

3:15pm:
-1 Hard Boiled Egg
-Apple

7:15pm:
-1/2 Chicken
-Mixed Green Salad

Dessert:
-Organic Apple Sauce

Cheats:
-Taco Salad contained cheese (and was from a school cafeteria)
-Organic Apple Sauce contained added sugar