It was great when Paleo Magazine invited me to be a Paleo expert this month! I love sharing food ideas and helping people discover it’s really not that hard to eat clean … you just need a few simple tips and swaps!

I always get a good laugh when people ask me —  and they do ALL of the time  — “Do you REALLY eat those weird foods?”

This absolutely stupefies me.  The foods that are deemed “normal”… the food that's socially acceptable… the foods that are well marketed … the foods that have the best spot on your grocer’s shelves  — THEY are weird.

I call them “frankenfoods,” meaning they are more of a “food product” then an actual real food.

Sorting through them is of course my job. Helping you discover foods that get you the results you want is what I do all day, every day. And, yes. I really do eat this way. I know what I get if I don't, and that is I age 10 years, and I’m tired all of the time. No thanks.

But I’m not perfect. My kids’ diet is not perfect. I’m a busy working mom, and I do the best I can because eating well is important to me. So, I make it as easy as I can to get the results I need.

Take a glance in my fridge, and you’ll always find my “7 Speedy Foods.” They include:

1. My bi-weekly “batch” cooking foods:  Browned meats, cooked and chopped vegetables, asparagus, boiled eggs, premade burgers, meatballs and, often, pre-made breakfast foods.
   
   When I made the decision that I was done with all the wavering, all of the hopelessness and frustration associated with eating any other way then with primal foods, I knew the only way to make it work was to have good FOOD MANAGEMENT in place. 
   
   At first this may seem like a big deal. It’s not. Here’s how you do a weekly cook-up, or “batch cook”. 
   
   I always have two pans going on the stove at once: one for meat and one for veggies. I clean and chop all the veggies I want to steam-sauté, and I set up an assembly line so I can move stuff in and out of the pans without needing to wash in between. Start with the fattiest meat and sauté ’til browned in the “meat” pan, then remove it from the pan and use the same pan, conveniently greased, to cook the next, etc. While the meat is cooking, fire up your “veggie” pan and steam-sauté one veggie after another, using the same water. Just cook one veg, remove it with a slotted spoon to a storage container, keeping the water in the pan hot, so you can add the next veg to the steam bath. Then do it again! On a third burner, hard-boil a dozen eggs for high-quality, grab-and-go protein. I also like to chop up some vegetables that I don’t cook and use all of the time — I throw them in containers. With this method, you can make enough food for 3-4 days in about an hour.
2. Fermented Foods: We are literally bags of bugs. This is a good thing. It’s healthy bacteria that make us strong and beautiful — and we need to really keep these bacteria fertile. I do this with fermented vegetables. Yes, fermented foods can be easy to make, but quite honestly, I buy mine from http://www.rejuvenative.com. The quality is fantastic, they taste great and this method is ultra speedy. I just grab a scoop of the Vegi-Delite or the Live Salsa in the morning, and plop it on my plate with eggs.
3. Healthy Bottled Dressings: I love to have extra flavors on my foods, because this helps me to enjoy clean eating. PaleoChef Dressings from my friend Steve over at Steve’s Paleo Goods are great. I use these to marinate chicken, or if I get burned out on homemade dressings, I use these as dressings for salads.
4. Berries: I always have a ton of berries on hand because my kids gobble them down after school. Not only that, they are really great for deep immune building. A little fact about berries: They clean your blood and make it flow beautifully. The end result? You get squeaky-clean blood, which gives you bright eyes.
5. Grade B Maple Syrup: I use maple syrup as my primary sweetener when I need one. It does have some health properties in there (like B vitamins), so unlike many sweeteners that just take away, this sweetener actually does something positive. You have to try this with my popular waffles. You can even make a bunch of them, and freeze for the kids.
6. Sunday Morning Bacon: I love bacon. My kids love bacon, and if it’s pasture raised with minimal to no sugar, it’s a great sidekick or a great flavor enhancer for other dishes. I am rarely caught without the stuff. People are totally blown away that I advocate healthy eating, yet I eat bacon. The name of the game here is quality. Bacon is a go as long as you are smart about the sourcing here. If the bacon comes from a healthy animal, it can be a great fat and will fill you up for hours. Before sports, it’s great to have a good protein, and fat. So, before my kids are on the field all day, they eat bacon (a great performance food)!
7. Grass-Fed Butter: Conjugated Linoleic Acid is in grass-fed butters and this is very protective for you. It's a healthy type of fat, which will prevent all forms of cancers, keep you looking young and even help you lose weight.

So, I showed you mine. Now, what’s in YOUR fridge? 

Keep thinking big and living bold!

-Dr. Kellyann