http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-king-salmon-tomato-peach-salsa-50400000113734/
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Ever tried wild-caught cod?  I tried it two different ways.... for the piece on top in the picture, I sprinkled salt and pepper on top, then drizzled honey and Braggs Amino Acids.  For the piece on the bottom, I sprinkled salt and pepper as well, then smothered it in medium spiced garlic cilantro salsa.  24 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees and done!

One of the salads was a simple salad of sliced cherry tomatos, sliced avocados, and kalamata olives.

The other salad was a new one!  My mom made it up, actually.... spinach, toasted pecans, homemade bacon bits, cubed melon, and dressing-- which was some mix of olive oil, grape seed oil, honey, sherry vinegar, and a little stevia!  MMMMMM!!!!!!
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The following is an excerpt from Robb Wolf's comprehensive easy to read book, "the Paleo Solution" which I highly recommend. Amazon.com has copies for under fourteen dollars.

"The recipes in this thirty-day plan are for the most part simple. Every meal of every day cannot be a grand event. But the weekends get a little more involved, as these are the times you will hang out with friends and family and have a little more reason to "get fancy." You will notice that the breakfasts and lunches of many days are leftovers from the previous night's dinner. That's called "planning ahead!"

The following meal plans and recipes are merely suggestions. Feel free to modify them to suit your tastes and make use of what ingredients you have available. Having some go-to recipe basics will help you learn to create delicious meals on the fly using what ingredients you have on hand. Be sure to adjust the portion sizes as needed. Also, be sure to look ahead to see which recipes you'll want to prepare in large quantities for later use. Enjoy! For menue items with an asterisk, refer to this week's cookbook for the recipe. The others require no other preparation."

The below pics contain two full weethe first week of meal plans and recipes to help get you started on the Paleo Athlete Challenge. As we roll into our next seven weeks I will continue to post weekly meal ideas from "the Paleo solution."  Please throw out a comment on ones that you like or recipe variations that you come up with!
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Wanting to eat healthily, but don't know what to cook?  Here's what I fixed for me and Jon last night to give you some ideas:

Heat a sautee pan and coat in a generous amount of coconut oil (medium heat).  Throw in some chopped onion (white or yellow) and fresh minced garlic.  Allow to cook until transparent.  Dump some grass-fed ground beef in the pan and mix around.  Add some sea salt and a geneous amount of Montreal Steak Seasoning.  Brown until done, but don't dry the beef out!

Heat and coat another sautee pan in coconut oil (lower side of medium heat).  Start again with some fresh minced garlic and white or yellow onion, but sliced this time instead of chopped.  Allow to cook for a minute or two, then add sliced baby bella mushrooms to the pan.  When the mushrooms start to get soft, but are not quite done yet, throw in a generous amount of organic baby spinach.  Mix the spinach around and cook down until the spinach is wilted, but not baby food!  Remove from pan.

Heat and coat yet another sautee pan (medium-high heat).  Throw a handful of grape or cherry tomatos into the pan.  Cook for a few minutes, rolling the tomatos around so they get adequately cooked on all sides.  They should look "sunburnt" and a little sad, but not mushed up yet.  Turn the heat off before the tomatos all fall apart.  The perfect time is when the skin starts to break, but the tomatos still hold together somewhat.  Once the heat is turned off, mix in some fresh rosemary, some fresh oregano, and a little bit of crushed red pepper.

Slice and peel a fresh avocado.

***Here you have a balanced and healthy (and tasty!) meal.  Protein--beef.  Fat--avocado and coconut oil.  Carbs--tomatos and spinach/mushrooms.  The protein is from a relatively lean and clean source (if the cows were grassfed).  The fats were monounsaturated fats (aka GOOD and necessary fats).  The carbs were from non-starch, gluten-free, incredibly nutrient-dense sources.
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In a world full of fried fast food and packaged junk that has a 20 year-long shelf-life, finding something to eat on the fly can be quite a feat!  Here are a few options that may make this dilema a little less daunting:

Nut Thins-- (made by Blue Diamond) these are insanely delicious crackers made from nuts and rice instead of flour; hence, they are gluten free.  They come in various flavors (pecan, hazlenut, almond with sea salt, cheddar, barbeque, ranch, and smokehouse) and can be found at a variety of stores.  We buy them from Granary Street (the health food store on the Loop across from Kinko's) because they have the best deal--$1.99 per box, but you can also find them at Kroger's and I'm not sure where else.  Blue Diamond is a pretty popular brand, though.  We dip them in random stuff or just eat them by themselves.  They are addicting!
--Zone followers:  this would count as your carb.  Roughly 7 nut thins would be 1 block of carbs.

Pre-made Guacamole--(made by Yucutan) at Wal-Mart, you can buy a pack of two tubs of this for under 7 bucks.  That's a deal!  Avocados are expensive--and this is ready to go...and tasty!  Great for dipping nut thins, in fact.  There are a number of brands of pre-made guacamole at varying prices.  Whatever your choices, just be sure to read the ingredient list.  Usually, the ingredients are all pretty healthy and natural... so it's usually a safe bet across the board.
--Zone followers:  this would count as your fat.  Roughly 1 tablespoon would be 1 block of fat.

Pre-grilled Chicken Breast--all grocery stores carry pre-baked/pre-grilled meat.  Chicken would be a better option than beef as it is leaner, but sometimes you just gotta mix it up a bit.  A big bag of sliced meat ready to grab out of your refrigerator or throw in a lunch box is ideal.  Tasty protein--easy and quick.  The ideal situation of course would be to buy your own free-range antibiotic free chicken, grill or bake a large quantity of it yourself, then slice it up and keep it in your fridge for whenever you need a protein.  If you have a need for speed, though--grocery stores make it pretty easy....and they even come in travel packs in some brands!
--Zone followers:  this would count as your protein.  Roughly 1 ounce would be 1 block of protein.

Greek Yogurt--this is a personal favorite of mine!  Look for non-fat organic plain greek yogurt.  They sell it with fruit and honey and what not, but this shoots the carb count through the roof due to all the sugar.  Oikos is a great brand (made by Stoneyfield), and they even carry it at Wal-Mart.  With zero fat, low sugar, and a significant amount of protein... this makes a perfect dip for apple slices and the like.  Take an apple slice, dip it in the greek yogurt, and throw a pecan on top--and you have a compelte and balanced snack!  Being a dairy product, this is an important one to buy organic.  If you can afford to, you really want to stay away from the bovine growth hormones, gmo'ed corn, and antibiotics found in every non-organic dairy item.
--Zone followers:  this would cound as your protien.  Roughly 1/3 cup would be 1 block protein.

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I made this tonight, and it was good!

You'll have to judge the proportions according to how much you need to cook.  I usually don't measure things, so the amounts are general.  You can get the idea, though!

Heat a decent amount of coconut oil in a skillet on the stovetop.  Throw in sliced zucchini and chopped yellow onion.  Sprinkle some sea salt all over.  Saute for about 12 minutes, or until the zucchini is crisp-tender.  Remove skillet from burner and sprinkle a modest amount of organic shredded parmesan cheese on top.  Finish off with a liberal amount of torn fresh cilantro.  Mix and serve! 

***Zone eaters-- this would count as a carb.  1 1/3 cups of cooked zucchini is one block of carbs, but this would probably be more like 1 cup=1 block because of the cheese and onion.
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Contrary to popular belief, fat is not of the devil!  Fat is a NECESSARY macronutrient for daily consumption... and as a part of every meal, in fact.  Fats should comprise 30% of every meal you eat (the rest of the meal should comprise 30% protein and 40% carbohydrates).  Eaten in these proportions, blood sugar levels will be sustained as well as energy.  Fat slows the release of carbs into the bloodstream, preventing peaks and drops in energy.  It also triggers the feeling of fullness, helping to prevent overeating.

The catch is, though--we need to be eating GOOD fats.  What are good fats?  Monounsaturated fatty acids (a.k.a. MUFA's), polyunsaturated fatty acids, and Omega-3 fatty acids.  Studies have proven these types of fats to lower LDL cholesterol and even help raise HDL cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and protect against heart disease. 

BAD fats are trans fats (explained in previous post) and saturated fats.  The lesser of these two evils, though, is the saturated fat.

You hear the word "fat" and you think, "Run!"  The things is, though--fat doesn't make fat.  Empty carbs do.  In fact, MUFA's even aid in weight loss! 

Good sources of healthy fats include (but are not limited to):
  nuts / nut oils
  seeds
  fish / fish oil
  flax seeds / flax oil
  avocados
  coconut oil
  olives / olive oil

NOTE-- make sure that you are cooking with an oil that is safe for high temp uses.  Olive oil is good for you, yes--but only as a cold oil.  An excellent cooking alternative is coconut oil. 

STAY AWAY FROM canola oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil (these are practically trans fats)

As with most things, moderation is the key.  This goes for fats, too.

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Step One 09/29/2010
 
I am currently in the process of creating Nutrition Phase Progressions (same idea as the CrossFit physical performance phase progressions).  Wanting to revamp one's diet, taking in and applying all there is to know about what is truly healthy all at once is like getting hit with a ton of bricks!  sooo... we're going to break it down for you.  One step at a time, you'll be on your way to feeling better than ever!

Until I get the full progressions posted, here's a step to get you started:

STEP ONE

---Immediately cut out all trans fat (on the ingredient labels, this appears as "partially hydrogenated fill in the blank oil).  Trans fat is an artificially manufactured ingredient, and your body does not know what to do with it.  It's cheap to produce, and it has a long shelf-life, so naturally companies use it to keep their costs down and make more money at the expense of your health, and ultimately your life.   Be careful--some products will advertise "No Trans Fat," but you HAVE to read the ingredient list, because they can legally advertise their food item as being free of trans fat as long as is minimal.  NO amount of it is good for you, though.

---Immediately cut out all high fructose corn syrup (look for this carefully on EVERYTHING).  HFCS has been proven to worsen diabetes, cause diabetes by producing insulin resistance, worsen metabolic syndrome, damage the immune system, speed up the aging process, cause mercury poisoning, increase blood pressure, etc, etc.
***Note:  Popular alternatives to items containg HFCS (which shows high sugar content on the nutrition facts) are Diet foods, labeled as such.  THESE ARE NOT HEALTHY.  Please, please don't be deceived.  The "diet" alternatives contain chemical sweeteners, i.e. aspertame, splenda, equal, sweet n low, which are actually worse for you than HFCS.  Despite how much people laugh it off and make fun as they down their fourth diet Coke for the day, these DO cause cancer and are extremely harmful to your body.  Pure cane sugar, honey, or stevia are the only safe sweeteners.
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