Mueller - Paleo power bowls: 100 easy, nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory meals

Acknowledgments A huge thank-you to my blog following on The Roasted Root (www.theroastedroot.net) for your love and support throughout both my blog and cookbook journeythis book is for you and because of you. Many thanks to Jen Schmidt for capturing my smile and to Paul Yoo for hand-crafting so many of the bowls pictured in this book. Thank you so much to my recipe testersyou are true badasses. Finally, thank you to friends and family for catching my teardrops, for lifting me up, and for your unconditional love and support. Copyright 2019 by Julia Mueller All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles.

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Photography by Julia Mueller Cover design by Mona Lin Cover photo credit: Julia Mueller Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-3578-1 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-3579-8 Printed in China This book is dedicated to GJD. You are forever and always my pocket fuzz. Table of Contents Introduction Well, hello there! If youve picked up this book, youre likely looking for nutrient-rich recipes or youre interested in making some lifestyle changes. What youll find here is one hundred recipes for nourishing, whole-food meals that are swaddled up in a big bowl of bliss. The recipes in this book are paleo , which means they are gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugarfree, and they contain no legumes or alcohol. If youre like me, youve probably given up on fad diets.

You refuse to tyrannize yourself with overly restrictive eating rules, and youre not about to self-identify with the newest health movement. Like me, you may face challenges with troubled digestive or immune systems or have a medical condition that requires extra self-care; or you are looking for a sustainable lifestyle that will allow you to love your holy temple and feel amazing. You can read my full story on my blog The Roasted Root (www.theroastedroot.net). Paleo Power Bowls is designed to set you free, make your body feel incredible, and ideally serve as a resource for alleviating any illness you may be facing. It is not in any way meant to make you feel trapped in a life of restriction. This book is intended to be a convenient resource for expanding your world of easy healthy-eating options.

MY HISTORY WITH GUT AILMENTS Like so many people from my generation, I was raised on a heavily processed diet, rich in refined wheat flour and sugar. Typical dinners in my house were spaghetti with a side of canned green beans or canned corn, fish sticks, or fried chicken and mashed potatoes. There was an emphasis on starches and breads, and my vegetable intake was minimal and consisted of canned rather than fresh food. I was sent to school with packaged sugary treats alongside my white bread sandwiches and juice boxes. As my body started yelling at me to be more mindful, I distinctly remember requesting our household switch to whole wheat bread. I even began making salads regularly at a young age.

I instigated the change of replacing sugar-added yogurt with organic plain yogurt. I followed my intuition and began making my own meals in high school with my then very limited skills. My parents did their best to feed our family of six and had no way of knowing that my diet was affecting my health and setting the stage for bigger issues as an adult. I have a long history of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Throughout my childhood and into my early twenties, I was constipated. Basically, I never pooed.

Okay, not never , but it was a very rare occasion. Because no one talked about poo when I was young, I assumed 200 percent that it was normal, just as I assumed everyone felt nausea and stomach pains after every meal. As a result of chronic constipation, I was also depressed throughout my teenage years. As it turns out, irritable bowel syndrome and depression are strongly interlinked. Your vagus nerve runs from your abdomen to your brain stem, sending signals from your gastrointestinal (GI) tract regarding its state of affairs. and so many other systems in your body. and so many other systems in your body.

Not only does your gut health affect your mood, skin, energy level, libido, and overall immune system, but ancillary organs that aid with digestion, like your liver and gallbladder, can also be overly taxed when you have a bowel disease, chronic inflammation, bacterial overgrowth, or troubled digestion. In addition, hormone imbalances can arise in conjunction with a troubled gut, as poor elimination (lack of regular bowel movements) results in estrogen being reabsorbed by your body, and the bacteria that isnt being eliminated continues to grow, causing or exacerbating bacterial overgrowth or gut dysbiosis. When your body is chronically stressed, your cortisol levels can remain high, making proper balance of estrogen and progesterone in women particularly difficult. For me, the cause of chronic gut issues beginning in early childhood was the lack of nutrients I was getting as well as the inflammatory (processed) foods I was eating , which then caused constipation and later hormonal imbalance. It wasnt until I began eating paleo that I experienced a change. After reading countless articles and books like The Good Gut and Healthy Gut, Healthy You , it became apparent why everything in my body was finally working together.

MY PERSONAL PALEO AND LOW-FODMAP JOURNEY I started eating a paleolithic diet over eight years ago in 2010 out of sheer curiosity. After having previously consumed a heavily processed diet, I thought it would be a good idea to do a system cleanout. What started as a thirty-day cleanse turned into a lifestyle. When I went paleo at age twenty-four, I noticed a huge difference in the way my digestive system operated (and how I felt). I began having regular bowel movements; I had a much higher level of energy and stronger workouts; my stubborn acne cleared up for good; my brain fog disappeared and my mind became sharper; my hormones were balanced; and my mood shifted in a big way. Because I felt so many benefits from the way I was eating, I kept at it.

I ate a strict paleo diet for almost two years, then began adding back foods I felt I could tolerate. This process took a great deal of time, but it inevitably brought me to where I am today. Currently, I eat a low-FODMAP paleolithic diet plus a few additional foods, like the occasional slice of cheese, shot (or three) of tequila, bar of chocolate, and black beans. If you arent familiar with the term and concept of low-FODMAP , let us unpack that. Along my paleo journey, I began noticing which foods triggered my IBS symptoms and digestive discomfort, which manifest as gas, bloating, and constipation, as well as which foods make me experience low energy, acne breakouts, and mood shifts. My biggest non-paleo trigger foods are wheat, wine, chickpeas, and cane sugar.