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?

Restaurants all over the country and the millions of people who dine at them often share a strong misconception about a particular class of food.

My diet mainly consists of meat, fruit, vegetables, seeds, and nuts, so it would be safe to assume that any menu that says served with “seasonal or fresh vegetables” would be good to go for myself and everyone else trying to up their vegetable intake. So what causes my extreme sadness when I get my entree? What do I see when I look for my vegetables? I see this:

Corn

Corn is not a vegetable. Corn on the cob is still not a vegetable. Regardless of how you prepare corn, it is not a vegetable. Corn is a grain. Corn grows like a grain, is used like a grain (corn flour) and has the same high glycemic starchy inflammatory properties as all other grains do. Please, stop serving us corn as a vegetable.

Beans

So many forms of beans are served as the “vegetable” side everywhere. Whether it be green beans, snap peas, pea pods, loose peas, or anything else with the word “pea” or “bean” in it, it is not a vegetable. It is a legume and contains all the negative health attributes that legumes have.

Soy

It is much less common to get a side of soybeans as the vegetable, but it is still possible. Also, a lot of times meats will say they are fed a “vegetable diet” consisting of soybeans as a main staple (along with corn of course). Soy”beans” are not vegetables, and as they sound, they are legumes.

Potatoes

Ok yes technically potatoes are vegetables but honestly who thinks of them as such? If you order a side of vegetables are you really wanting potatoes? Most people wouldn’t think getting mashed potatoes or french fries counts as eating vegetables. I know when I order, I definitely don’t want potatoes as my vegetable. Do you?

Hopefully this cleared up some confusions about what is a vegetable and what isn’t. I can only hope that someday I don’t have to question the restaurant staff of what vegetables come with it to see if they actually are vegetables as stated.

Have any of you had this happen to you as many times as I have?

Let me know.

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!

Just letting you all know I re-uploaded Simplistic Destruction 1 and the Mighty O Donuts interview in higher quality for your viewing pleasure.

As a reminder, the interview is raw footage so part of it may have audio and or visual problems. I was not the camera man and am also not responsible for the terrible camera work at times

Enjoy!

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 know I am a little late in posting this but in case you haven’t heard, Starbucks recently eliminated all artificial ingredients from all of their products.

“Our new recipes contain:

No artificial flavors

No artificial trans fats

No artificial dyes

No high-fructose corn syrup”

It is great to see more and more places doing this on their own – with no need for government regulations demanding it.

Also just as a reminder, even with this improvement, a piece of coffee cake still isn’t going to be healthful, but at least it is real.

Source: http://www.starbucks.com/retail/nutrition_freshfood.asp

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

When it comes to nutrition, there are often many people who go by a philosophy of “it is ok to eat this in small amounts” or “in moderation, it doesn’t really matter what I eat,” and finally “I don’t eat this all the time.”

While there is definitely truth to this belief, it is not an exclusive rule that applies to all things. I hear this all the time with trans fat and that people think it is fine to eat some junk as long as it isn’t a typical thing. Here are some things to consider:

1. Eating a little bit each day is not proper moderation. If you are trying to moderate a food because you think its unhealthy, it needs to be done on a minimum of a weekly basis. By the end of the week, having a little bit of junk everyday adds up into a week of poor nutrition.  Additionally, to feel what it is like to be on a pure diet, your diet needs to be completely pure most days. When you have those weekly cheats, you’ll be able to feel the difference.

2. Unless you are personally cooking your 3 meals a day 7 days a week and reading every single ingredient list you come across, you are eating more than you think. Anytime you eat someone else’s food whether it be at a friends house or restaurant, you are likely consuming more of something than you think. With trans fat, since so many places may secretly use it, the only way to safely and effectively moderate it, is to when you are in control, have zero to leave a little bit of slack for the unknown. For this same reason, moderating by making sure your product contains below a certain number of grams is also ineffective.

3. Again in specific regards to trans-fat, replace the bold words with “chemicals” or “lead.”

It’s ok to eat trans fat occasionally. As long as I don’t eat trans fat everyday, it can’t be that bad. Trans fats are fine in moderation.

See how ridiculous this sounds? You hopefully wouldn’t want to consume ANY chemicals and by eating trans fat, you are!

Are you a victim of a faulty moderation system? It’s time to rethink it!

Many local citizens of Seattle have likely seen, shopped, or at least heard of the Rising Sun Farms produce market located on 65th and 15th Ave. N.E.

From the design of the place, it very much resembles that of a farmers market which also implies that it has the same quality as such. Another thing you may notice is the ridiculously cheap prices. How is this possible? I asked an employee.

It turns out Rising Sun Farms has absolutely zero quality standards and their only focus is providing produce as cheap as possible. The employee said they stock hardly any organic items and would bet that most of the products are sprayed with pesticides and likely are genetically modified.

If your concern is cheap fruits and vegetables, this may be a place for you. If you are looking for local, sustainable, organic, pure produce, I would suggest looking elsewhere (the place is located 2 blocks away from Whole Foods and 5 minutes from the Saturday University Farmer’s Market).

The default layout was just not doing it for me, so I have begun to change it up with a new look that more closely represents what this blog is about.

It is still under construction as I customize it more over the next few days. As always comments, suggestions, and complaints about the layout are welcome.