Crock Pot Roast

4.5 pound roast

2 whole onions chopped into chunks

6 whole garlic cloves

2 chopped carrots

1C quartered mushrooms

1C broth

1 cup rosemary sprigs

Coat the roast in heavy salt & pepper

Pile all of the ingredients in slow cooker as pictured above.

Cook on low heat for 8 hours.

Voila!! :)

Getting on the RIGHT track to health... this is your ticket! Choo-choo!!

If you pay any attention to the world of health and nutrition then you know how very confusing it can be out there. Should you be Paleo, vegetarian, vegan? Should you juice? What is a plant based diet? Why is everyone so afraid of gluten these days - hasn't it been around forever? Where do you even begin to determine what will work for you to get you on the right track to optimal health?! Do you have to starve and restrict yourself in order to reach your goals? Absolutely not!

I was a vegetarian for about 12 years. I've been Paleo off and on for a couple of years. I just try to do the best that I can and eat what makes me feel good - and it's never difficult. With everything I've learned over the past few years, I know that different people have different nutritional needs at different times in their lives. We are all different bodies with different compositions and different genetics. If you get in tune with your body, you'll learn what those needs are and be able to eat and supplement in a way that optimizes your health. It might sound complicated at first, but it's actually quite simple.

Generally speaking, I think that you should be cautious of any diet that is monopolizing from a name. Do your own research and become your own advocate. I believe the most important principle that WE ALL need to follow is to JUST EAT REAL FOOD. Allow me to simplify some of the basics...

• Moderation is always key.
• Fast food has an extra 's' in it ;)
• Processed 'foods' are not food. 
• Organic is best - check the Clean 15 and the Dirty Dozen for the best produce buying guides.
• GMO's are bad - watch GMO OMG - educate yourself and do what you can. 
• Hormones, additives, preservatives & artificial sweeteners are poisons that should be avoided as much as possible.
• Refined sugars and carbs should be minimized. 
• Some fats are good for you! "Fat free" is usually not.
• Certain foods and deficiencies can lead to inflammation and disease. If you're having health issues, learn what those are for you by talking to your doctor, running blood tests and determining food allergies.
• Educate yourself on the ethical treatment of animals and conscious meat-eating. This is a touchy area, but I believe that we can all live and eat in a conscious and healthy way here. 
• Eating fresh vegetables at every meal can greatly improve your health! This is a simple step everyone can take in the right direction!

I could go on and on with this list, but this covers a wide spectrum. The biggest question then arises around going gluten free (or Paleo, which is also grain free). Is this another trend? Certainly the name is, but the principle takes us back to basic eating. And I'm certainly convinced that in our food supply there are very little grains or gluten that are straight from a healthy, nutrient dense source of soil and/or not genetically modified. While you might think these foods have been around for centuries, what we're getting on our plates is not what the cavemen were gathering. Most of the foods on our grocery store shelves are being passed through too many hands, machines and chemicals to be called food anymore. Our bodies are unable to process them naturally and they don't provide the nutritional value that our bodies need.

I will always adhere to the simple fact that we ALL should be educating ourselves about what is going into our bodies. We can't count on the medical system to fix us once we've put our health on the back burner for too long. Here are some ways you can begin the process. These are some of my favorite resources, but I know there are a plethora of them out there. Do the work! :)

• Become your own health advocate! Learn about natural eating and living and take on the practices and principals that work for you.

• Find a doctor that supports natural and holistic health. These doctors adhere to getting to the root of the issues you're be dealing with rather than just treating the symptoms. These are the doctors that are willing to sit with you for longer than 5 minutes to determine all of the factors of your health with you.

• Read, read, read!
• Robb Wolf
• Whole30
• Eat Clean
• Juicing

• Watch, watch, watch!
• Forks Over Knives
• Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead
• Food Matters
• >>>This whole list<<<

• Get in tune with your body by doing an elimination diet.

• Get tested for food sensitivities (ask your doctor).

• Get tested for >Gluten sensitivity< (or ask your doctor).

If you have any questions, send me a message! I'm passionate about supporting and empowering a naturally healthy lifestyle. And, if you're in the San Diego area, let's see how we can work together! I'd love to help you! :)

Yours in health,
~Mimi~

And they call this FOOD?

Ok well, I think I've made my point and I can finally throw this in the trash where it belongs! 

I've seen a lot of posts on this same exact experiment over the years, but I really wanted to see for myself if it was real. So, I bought this hamburger from McD's in March 2013 to run my own test. All I bought was a plain hamburger on a bun. I sat it next to an orange because I knew the orange would last a long time before it actually rotted. I sat it on an open pie dish in my garage and let it be. 

March 3rd, 2013

It sat and sat and sat... as time passed people poked and prodded with curiosity... through spring... summer... winter... all the temperature changes and the high heat that happens in most people's garage...

I threw the orange away months after this because it was attracting gnats, but forgot to pay attention to how long ago that was. At any rate, you'll get the point...

June 18, 2014 - one year and three months later

The only thing that slightly changed was the size. The top bun didn't make it through the poking, prodding and banging around because people and kids were so curious. Otherwise, I assure you nothing was preserved or tampered with. It reminds me of the fake food toys my daughter used to have in her play kitchen. 

And they call this FOOD? Not in my book!

Yours in health,

~Mimi~

Pachecos Go Paleo!!

I'm SO excited to share with you all this brand new Paleo journey that I'm taking my family on for the next 2 weeks!! I will be posting blogs, videos and pictures on FB and IG through all of my social media feeds and I would love for you to follow along. Bare with me, as this first post will be the longest as I tell you a little bit of our story as well as WHY we've decided to give this path a try.

If you know me, you know that I generally don't believe in "diets" or the idea that "one-size-fits-all" when it comes to what we should be eating. Every body has its own requirements and it's our job to figure out what foods provide us with the energy and vitality that are needed to live our fullest, healthiest life possible.

You may or may not know that I've been mostly vegetarian for the past 13 years. Sometimes I'm very strict about it, sometimes I'm not. I typically just go with how I feel because I deeply believe that our bodies will unfailingly tell us what we need through our levels of energy, how we're feeling, what we're craving, etc.

Sadly though, over the past 6+ months I lost my passion for being in the kitchen. Life got super busy and cooking (something that I truly love to do) became more of a chore than something that I enjoyed. I also got tired of making the same old things that never pleased the whole family (3 adults and 3 kids). So, I began to settle for less on what I was feeding everyone. I'd make separate meals which usually meant something healthier for the adults and something mediocre for the kids. Lately, it really started to get to me. My #1 commitment in life is to give my family the best in everything that I can, so how was I going to get over this major funk in the kitchen?

And then I no longer had a choice. I wasn't sure if I was going to share this next part of our story publicly or not, but one thing I know is that by sharing the REAL stuff in life then others can benefit in their own struggles. It is my hope that in sharing this part of our family's journey that you will gain something for your own life journey.

Last week we found out that our 8 year old son, Eddie, has Complex Partial Epilepsy. You may have followed some of his story over the past 8 years. His issues have been pretty minor and very manageable. However, more recently we began noticing something a little more concerning - periods of complete absence, loss of memory and/or knowledge of his current setting. (We'll keep this part of the story short for now.) And so the tests began (physicals, EEG, MRI, etc.) and our suspicions were confirmed.

Once the devastation settled, reality set in. Something had to change. I knew deep in my being that the kid who would eat pizza at every single meal if he could, had to change his diet. And that meant this mama was going to have to have a solid plan. Whatever the plan was going to be, it needed to include the entire family.

[Parts of our family meeting will be posted on Youtube.]

After conducting much of my own homework as well as already having some intuition telling me that Eddie needed to be eating more meat, I reluctantly decided it was time to start bringing more meat into the house. After a few very DRY and not-so-yummy attempts (I've never been one to cook meat), the first person I could think to help me on this path was my amazingly talented and passion-about-food friend, Camille from Recipe RX and Paleo Living.

It couldn't have been more perfect that she was literally JUST launching her own program to help people transition into a healthier lifestyle, called Paleo Cooking at Home: Fast, Easy & Cheap. I quickly jumped on her affiliate program last week, went shopping on Sunday and began our cooking journey on Monday (yesterday). No time to waste!

>>>>>Meet Camille here!!<<<<<

And now the journey begins.

Sunday we completely overhauled the kitchen... out with the crap, in with the real food!!

OUT with the enriched breads, pastas & processed carbs~

IN with the fresh produce, healthy fats and yes, the meat!!

Our first dinner was last night (Almond Coconut Crusted Chicken - holy heavens!!) and EVERYONE (yes, I said everyone) LOVED it!! So far, we have made last night's dinner, today's breakfast (plantain crepes) and lunch (tuna salad wraps), and all of them have been a hit!!

Words cannot express how exciting it has been in just 24 hours to make meals that the whole family loves! I'm seriously ecstatic!! I'm already thrilled to be back in the kitchen and I feel like this is exactly what our entire family needed to get on track.

Be sure to follow our 2-week "Pachecos Go Paleo" journey on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and now Youtube!!