going paleo (sort of)

My boyfriend R and I have decided to embark upon a weeklong paleo eating challenge.

My love of bad clipart has never left me, apparently. 

In case you're not familiar with the paleo, or paleolithic, diet, it's basically eating the way cavemen (or, to be a bit more PC, hunter-gatherers) did. That means meat, vegetables, nuts and fruit. You can also have seafood and eggs, but no grains of any kind, legumes, or sugar, and dairy is generally frowned-upon, too.

People that eat paleo are very into it. I hear amazing things all the time about weight loss, energy levels, all that kind of stuff. Neither R nor I are really trying to lose weight, but I think we could both benefit from paying more attention to our food and how it makes us feel. So once R's exams were finished (he's a PhD student), we decided to go for it! The challenge starts next week. ETA: Actually, the challenge starts May 28. I remembered we're going camping at a music festival and figured it would be better to try to eat paleo once that's over.

It's going to be tough. I already eat largely gluten-free, so that part won't be too hard, but I eat lots of dairy for protein, and I eat candy ALL THE TIME. And quinoa, rice, and beans are also huge staples of my cooking. It's only a week, but I'm wondering how strict I really want to be. Can I really give up my daily apple with peanut butter? Even for a week? R basically lives on cereal, sandwiches, and pasta, so it'll be a challenge for him too.

I'll document some of the experiment here, but I'm also looking for tips. Do you have any great Paleo recipes? Any tips for eating only fruits, vegetables and meat? I can do this for a week, right? HELP!