Add Some Extra Healthy Flavor To Your Paleo Life!
If you are interested in Paleo and don’t know where to start, here are a few awesome paleo flavoring ideas that will kick start your healthier lifestyle.
When you are first starting your paleo journey it can be easy to get really bored really quick with eating the same flavorless stuff. But, There are tons of great options and some things you should watch out for along the way. So, here are a few paleo flavoring options to help you stay on the right path.
Oils
Buy cold pressed extra virgin organic oils.
When I first started Paleo, I cooked everything in olive oil. After 3 years, I discovered that olive oil turns rancid when heated. What? But the myth is that it is so healthy. Olive Oil is Healthy only if you make your own salad dressing or in a recipe that you do not HEAT! My solution was to switch to Grapeseed Oil. It is actually a much milder flavor, and not noticeable at all. So, To keep the number of oils we have to a minimum, we bought a small travel size BPA free spray bottle and use that for roasting/baking or to apply to salads.
Another terrific oil is coconut oil. The great thing about coconut oil is it doesn’t have a strong coconut flavor. And, It is great to use instead of a cooking spray to coat baking dishes. You can pick this up at Costco for a fraction of the cost. I use coconut oil for so many things that I will have a blog post soon on this very topic!
Sweeteners
You should walk away from artificial sweeteners and refined sugar. There is a healthier alternative for every type! Xylitol can be substituted for refined white sugar in most recipes. Raw coconut sugar can be substituted for brown sugar. Liquid Stevia can be used for beverages. All Stevia is not created equal. Stay away from additives like Rebiana, Maltodextrin, or Dextrose. My favorite is liquid SweetLeaf. We no longer drink artificially sweetened lemonade and use the flavors to add to water. Maple Syrup and local honey are both great alternatives too. These are much preferred over agave nectar (recent articles don’t support healthy benefits). Using local honey will actually help with your allergies. Nice!
Organic Spices
You should use organic spices like sea salt (Celtic Fine Ground is our favorite), pepper, marjoram (similar to oregano), onion powder, garlic powder, ground cumin, turmeric, ground cinnamon (Ceylon is the healthiest), ground nutmeg, basil, oregano, chili powder, paprika, and mixtures like Frontier Organic Mama Garlic. This seems like a whole lot of spices, but open your cabinet and check out how many you have right now. Now, check out how many are expired. This shouldn’t be a problem if you stick with the basic spices you use each week. So, They will not expire and if you buy in bulk at Whole Foods, you save so much money!
As you can see you don’t have to live a bland and boring paleo life. There are many paleo flavoring options you can use like the spices, oils, and sweeteners we talked about here to up your game.
