Favorite Cheat Meals
We all need a cheat now and then.
Just remember, in decending order, top things to stay away from:
1. Grains
2. Bean
3. Dairy
4. Sugar/Salt
So, it is better to have a big night of Mexican food and a hot fudge sundae than a pitcher of beer and a large pizza. Luckily, there are some great restaurants around town that can help a cheat not seem so bad. You might notice a Mexican theme here.
Option 1: Frogs Midtown
Fajitas are always a great way to make Mexican food less of a cheat. Order them with shrimp, chicken or steak, hold the white stuff, beans and tortillas (or get corn torts for a little cheat). Get an extra side of guac or guac salad and you are good to go!
Enchiladas: now, this is a true cheat, but the corn tortillas are better than flour in the grand scheme of Paleo. Watch the enchilada sauces, some are thickened with flour. Opt for some salsa verde or burrito sauce if in doubt.
Option 2: Carumba's Cafe
Fellow CrossFitter Brian Love and his wife Mia rock when it comes to accommodating Paleo eaters at their restaurant. They have 2 items that are certified Paleo friendly but you have to ask as the items on not on the menu.
The BTB: Gigantic Poblano stuffed with all kinds of Paleo friendly things. Make it a cheat by adding cheese.
The Spring-Mix Salad: This is by far the best salad with the yummiest dressing ever. Large spring mix salad with your choice of chicken, shrimp or steak. Loads of veg, pico and avocado.
Option 3: Taco Mac
Wings (even better: a side of grilled chicken), side salad (take off the cheese and croutons) and a side of steamed veg.
Drinking Options:
We have given out a couple of margarita recipes over the years but this seems to be the favorite:
1 shot of tequila over ice
Fill the glass up with soda water
Squeeze up to 1/2 a lime on top. Usually 2 slices will do it.
There are lots of flavored vodkas and rums on the market these days. From what we can tell, most are just flavored, not sweetened, but you have to check the bottle.
What is your favorite summer drink going to be this year? Right now, I am still loving red wine, but Jeff made an awesome Mojito last weekend that may turn me to the Rum-side. Lime flavored rum over ice + soda water + fresh mint leaves. So refreshing and freaking yummy.
Melissa
Reader Comments (9)
Why are grains a preferred cheat over dairy? I would have thought the order would have been 2, 3, 1, 4 or 3, 2, 1, 4...
Diffley - #1 spot is #1 thing to avoid...then #2. So the worst thing to cheat on would be grains...beans a slightly lesser evil...etc.
Sugar is a lesser evil than grains??? I wonder if that's more of a personal thing...I find that I actually feel drunk/hungover and headache-y when I (hypothetically, of course) eat sugar now, but I have no such ill effects when I consume things of the grain variety--esp corn (movie theater popcorn, tortilla chips). I haven't had much bread, but the times that I have, I've felt a heck of a lot better than when I've had sugar.
Do y'all think that there's some room to play with this based on your insulin sensitivty? It seems like the issue with grains is largely due to gut inflammation and the spike in insulin it casues while the issue with sugar is primarily due to the insulin spikes alone. I would think that the insulin spike that comes from sugar is a more powerful one than the one that comes from grains, but I'm no endocrinologist. However, given my physical reactions to the various "toxins" and that I am the physical equivalent of how Robb Wolf describes insulin sensitive people, it makes me wonder...
I LOVE Carumba's Spring-Mix Salad. LOVE!
Drew, Melissa can probably best answer more of this since she went to school for this stuff!
However, a term we use at work a lot: "generally speaking." There will always be exceptions to the rules. I think certain things are perhaps slightly tweaked for certain people. If you were allergic to dairy, I'd say make that chief avoidance #1 - if that's how your body reacts. Or if you went into anaphylactic shock eating chocolate. If you're like Robb and you freak out looking at a grain, then steer clear. Your body will thank you. But see what really happens with your body with certain things. If you've been completely off grains, and you've added them back in, what happened? No, the sky didn't fall...but how did you feel? Perform? Look? (many people will state that after eating grains they get puffy tummy...bloated...etc.).
My understanding of why grains are dirtiest: Remember what lectins (including gluten) do to the microvilli in the gut. Pretty much everyone gets the gut irritation, though the outward physical symptoms might be worse in some than others. And that irritation - after consuming grains - lasts several days.
Remember, all carbs are eventually broken down into glucose -either in the gut or liver. So that pasta is going to do the same thing as the snickers bar. The other thing too is the glycemic index and load of some grains can actually be pretty high - though their "sugar content" might be registering low. Snickers bar is lower in glycemic load and glycemic index than a bagel.
Melissa can explain more on the list and the ranking.
Curious though: who has seen what reaction with what? Grains? Dairy? Beans? Sugar?
Having been caught eating "non-paleo" (unless gin & tonics are and I didn't know it) at Carumba I appreciate the "off menu" items :)
Thanks for the clarification Jules, I must have just read that wrong...
Yes, sorry for the confusion : Grain is the number one BAD choice, then beans, then dairy....
melissa...I tried your "marguerita" recipe this weekend. YUMMMMMM is all I can say. Nice drink!!! Thanks for the Paleo tip.