I am going to add some rosacea information here tonight because I have the time and lovely people are asking me for help right now on the topic.

I used to have rosacea. Now I only experience the red, hot face when I eat nightshades. And then only mildly for a day or two. Keep in mind I really am 100% Paleo.

Things I Do:

• I take medium-hot showers, not crazy-hot showers
• I do not put my face in the shower water
• In fact, I do not wash my face often (I don't wear makeup)
• I use a chlorine shower filter
• I do not eat nightshades
• I rarely wear sunscreen (I wear a Sunday Afternoons hat.)

When I Did Have Rosacea and/or Wore Makeup I Used:

• Rosacea Care Skin Products (they gave great relief)

Much of the above I do not because of rosacea but because I don't like really hot showers, wearing makeup or sunscreen, or washing my face. When I do wash my face it is usually just with water. I'm sure some soap from shampooing gets on there sometimes, but honestly, the less I put anything on my face, the better it is.


Dairy?
In retrospect, not eating dairy may have helped the whole process. Not because of rosacea, necessarily, but because without dairy in my diet my pores are so much clearer. And because they are clearer I do not have to wash my face as often. And because I do not wash my face as often, my skin is healthier regarding the rosacea issue.

It Was The Juicing That Did It? Perhaps A Liver Cleanse?
I went on a 30 day juice fast. That really cleared my face up for the first time. I have heard that rosacea is a symptom of a congested liver. Because I cleaned up my diet, I assume my liver is happier. Because it is happier, it's cleaning like a champ, and my face is clearer.

Less Toxins, Less To Clean
Then again, because I eat a cleaner diet, my body has less toxins to process.

Oh for goodness sakes, don't you wish there was a one-step-to-Rosacea-cure-for-sure out there? Me, too. But I promise you, if you keep setting the intent that you have a clear face, and you keep imagining what that might feel like, and you don't give up, you can have success. Just play with it. Give it time. And, you know, try not to eat the nightshades. :)

Meet my new best friend.

This is the Igloo Wheelie 38 Quart Cooler. I got it at Target for around $25.

Why do I love this thing?

Because as a Paleo mom with kids who have food intolerances, I have to bring our food everywhere. This cooler is small enough that I can pack it full and still lift it into the minivan by myself, yet big enough that I can just open the fridge and chuck more things into it that we could possibly eat without doing hours of prep.

And, of course: wheels!

What do I put into it?

Last night I went to a family birthday party. About 5 minutes before we left I opened up this bad boy and threw in:

• Cutting board
• Package of dates
• Package of pre-cooked bacon
• Bag of 6 apples
• 4 Bananas
• One jar of honey
• Package of organic salami
• Package of snowy dates (what we call the coconut-rolled dates you can get at Whole Foods or Sprouts)
• Bag of plantains (does not need refrigeration, but too lazy to bring an extra bag)
• 4 Sausages
• 1 English Cumber
• Bag of baby carrots

Did I mention how great it is not to have to prepare the food in advance? Oh yes, so when your kids are so busy playing they don't eat it's no bigee.  You just bring the cooler home and toss everything back in the fridge.

Easy peasy Paleo squeezie. :)

Changing your diet can be SO HARD. It can be scary. It was for me. But yes! You CAN do it!

You just have to want feeling better MORE than you want to feel relief from eating the crap.

It's a subtle but totally critical mindset shift.

Also, the tips to success are:

• Setting your intent EVERY DAY
• Planning ahead
• Finding other ways to celebrate your life and/or deal with emotional stress

Set your intent by choosing to feel good. Choose to feel health. Choose to love your body.

NEVER leave the house without food. I often have an apple in my purse. Bananas are fantastic. I have a small cooler I bring with me. That way when you are hungry you are not caught near a vending machine unarmed. The first week or month of going Paleo can be rough - you may be really hungry - but then your body gets so used it to you can go hours and hours without really eating and you still feel great.

If you want to eat that donut because you "deserve it" choose to deserve a smile instead. Or a step on the scale to remind yourself how great you are doing or what your goal is. Or a minute of breathing meditation. :)

Throw out everything in your kitchen that is not Paleo.
Don't "not" throw it out to save money. Ditch it to save yourself.

And...

Have fun!

You can still eat dessert. But when you have to cook it yourself you eat it less often. And when it's made with honey instead of processed sugar, it's not addicting.

Check out ChocolateCoveredKatie.com. NomNomPaleo.com. Find positive people logs who make Paleo food they adore and who live a lifestyle they love.

And bananas.

Did I mention bananas?

I will write a post someday about how my family eats 70 bananas a week and all the various ways we eat them.

Above all: love yourself!
You are awesome!

Love,
Alora

I have not been posting frequently, have I? I had a baby and, you know. Baby. But now he is 10 months old and I have 5 minutes here to do the dishes, I mean blog.

Yes, I am feeding the baby Paleo! Woot!

How?

Well, if you are like me (not a cook, nutritionist, or Paleo scientist) you Google "how do you feed a baby Paleo". That is when you find The Paleo Mom and her awesome post on Paleo Baby Foods - What To Introduce When. You do what she says.

Or you do what you remember she says.

This is what I remember / am doing. I feed him everything except these things until he is one. Maybe I wait until age two for the nuts? I'll check again in a few months to be sure. I can only handle so much info in my head at a time these days, having had my third baby and all.

• no eggs
• no honey
• no berries
• no nuts

From other research I have added:

• no salt

(Babies cannot process the salt well the first year.)

But HOW do I feel him Paleo? Do I stick it in a blender?


My first two kids were pre-Paleo. It was Cheerios, Goldfish crackers, and mozzarella cheese sticks all the way. My youngest was 4 when we went Paleo. This Paleo Baby thing is new to me. Heck, this "eating real food" thing is new to me. Cherrios and Goldfish are easy. Since they are pretend food they are also un-slimy and textureless. Real food is, well, real.

That's when I stumbled on the Baby Led Weaning idea (what a terrible name!) and thought, "Ooh! Paleo AND lazy! I love it!"

The idea is: you don't puree food. You give it to your baby whole so they can learn how to self-feed. Instead of sticking a spoon in their mouth and teaching them to swallow first, you give them food they can manage themselves and they learn how to chew first, then swallow.

This is not my baby, and I do not have time to carve mine melon pants, but you get the general idea.

But now I remember I have on my list from somewhere:

• No watermelon

(Because it has the same thingie in it as tomato, whatever it is.)

So, the teaching-them-to-swallow idea? I loved this!

However, from months 7-9 (when I started giving him any food at all except breastmilk) I could not handle the gagging.

They are supposed to gag - it's how they learn but it frazzled my nerves. ("My baby!!!") They also make a massive mess self-feeding. It's not lazy parenting if you have to hose them, your kitchen, your highchair, and yourself down every time they eat. So I did spoon feed until about now, month 10, when he can hold the food without crushing it into mush in his hands.

But now he is old enough to eat without totally gagging, and he is also big enough and strong enough to demand it. "Uh uh uh!" So he gets a huge melon wedge. An entire half of an apple. Things he can hold.

I said that already, didn't I? Did I mention I have three kids now? Where was I?

Oh, yes, the rest of the non-fruit food. I like it easy. Tonight I put a whole, organic chicken in the pressure cooker with a bunch of organic baby carrots for 40 minutes. No salt, no seasonings, nothing. We pulled it out and ate it. The baby can have all of that he wants except I don't give him much, because I've found he does better still with a lot of nursing.

Yep, I'm still nursing him. A lot. That is as Paleo as it gets.