Week 4 Meal Plan

Meal 1 Yum Yum Dijon Chicken                                       

2lbs boneless skinless chicken            

½ c Dijon mustard

¼ c 100% pure maple syrup         

1TBS rice wine vinegar

¼ tsp salt      

¼ tsp pepper      

2 tsp rosemary

Oven 450. In a small bowl whisk together Dijon mustard, maple syrup, rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Place chicken thighs in foil lined baking dish and pour mixture on top. Turn chicken to coat in sauce. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes. You can reduce the liquid in a saucepan to thicken if desired.

Meal 2 Shrimp and Pineapple Kabobs                                

1lb large shrimp peeled and deveined         

2TBS EVOO 2c cubed pineapple                       

2 cloves garlic pressed

1 tsp chili powder     

½ tsp salt     

½ tsp pepper

Preheat grill to medium high heat. Thread shrimp and pineapple alternately on wooden skewer. In a small bowl, combine oil, garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper. Brush evenly over kabobs. Rill 4 minutes turning once or until shrimp is pink. (Broil instead of grill if desired)   

Meal 3 Maple Balsamic Pork Medallions

2lbs pork tenderloin

¼ c balsamic vinegar

2 TBS 100% pure maple syrup

¾ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper   

1 TBS EVOO

Cut pork into 1 ½ inch medallions. Combine pork, vinegar, syrup, salt and pepper in a zip lock bag. Let stand at room temp 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400. Remove pork from marinade and place on an oil rubbed or sprayed rack on a roasting pan. Bake 10-15 minutes or until done to your liking.

Meal 4 Basil Cashew Chicken Salad

1 rotissere chicken

1/4 cup mayo (homemade or organic is best)

2 TBS white wine vinegar

½ tsp each salt and pepper

½ c thinly sliced basil

½ c chopped cashews (toasted optional)

Remove meat from chicken and discard bones. Chop into bite size pieces. Combine chicken, mayo, vinegar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Toss well to coat. Stir in basil and cashews. Refrigerate minimum one hour before serving.  (serve over salad or make wraps with lettuce)

Meal 5 Crock Pot Balsamic Roast Beef                          

1TBS EVOO    

3 lb top round roast     

4 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp salt               

½ tsp pepper            

1 can beef broth

1 cup red wine                           

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1 chopped onion                                      

Heat EVOO in large skillet over medium high heat. Rub beef with garlic, salt and pepper. Cook beef 2 minutes per side or until browned. Transfer to crock pot stir in broth, wine, vinegar and onion. Cover and cook on low 6-9 hours.

Meal 6 Quinoa “Chili Mac”                                                  

2c cooked quinoa                                  

2lbs ground beef  

½ cup homemade bbq sauce (recipe below)                     

1 chopped onion                              

2 TBS chili powder

Salt, Pepper, Cayenne, Garlic Powder to taste     

 ½ cup parmesan                                        

 ½ block cream cheese

1 cup shredded cheddar

Cook onion in large saucepan over medium high heat. When soft, add beef and season as desired. Once browned add chili powder, cream cheese, parmesan cheese. Stir well and transfer to large baking dish. Add cooked quinoa and mix well. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes or until cheese melted

Meal 7 BBQ Chicken and Sweet Potato Packets                   

2 Boneless skinless breasts cut in half       

4 slices bacon

1 ¼ c homemade BBQ sauce (see below)                          

2 large sweet potato diced                

4 sprigs rosemary

salt and pepper

Preheat grill to medium high heat. Make 4 foil packets (big enough to fit the ingredients and still seal the foil around the food to make a packet. Place sweet potatoes (1/4^th of what you have) in bottom, top with chicken, bacon, bbq sauce, sprig of rosemary and salt and pepper. Repeat with all 4 packets. Close packet and grill for 20-30 minutes or until chicken cooked through.

Honey Barbecue Sauce (I usually make a double batch each time)

2TBS olive oil     

1 onion chopped   

4 cloves garlic pressed  

1 can tomato paste    

1/3 cup honey    

¾ cup cider vinegar    

salt and pepper to taste

Heat 2TBS EVOO in small sauce pan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender. Stir in tomato paste, honey and vinegar. Simmer 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to  blender and puree until smoothe (or leave it chunky like Jack miller’s sauce).

                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                  

Healthy Snacking Ideas

Snacking can be very tricky. The typical foods Americans snack on are very unhealthy. Crackers, chips, candy, and bars are all foods prepared and processed in unhealthy hydrogenated oils and packed full of ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, MSG and many other not so good things for our long term health. Those items are also generally very high in glycemic index and cause spikes in blood sugar followed by a crash which leads to afternoon slumps and loss of energy and mental focus.
It is important to chose foods that have a relatively low glycemic index, good fats, protein and vitamins and minerals. So here are some of the things I commonly snack on during the day:

1) Veggies! Sliced colored bell peppers are a good sweet treat. You can dip them in hummus which would give you a serving of healthy fat and protein. Carrots, celery, broccoli, zucchini, and grape tomatoes all make wonderful snack food. You can make your own homemade dressing and dips. Baba ganoush, guacamole, fresh salsa, and dressings made by you are all good choices to dip veggies in if you won't eat them alone. A quick cucumber and tomato salad is a wonderful snack as well. Just slice up some tomato and cucumber, season it with salt and pepper and drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) and Balsamic Vinegar on top. YUMMY!
2) Fruit! Fruit can be a good snack as well. Watch out though, because bananas, grapes, melons and pineapple all have relatively high glycemic index. Better fruit choices would be blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and cranberries. Dried fruit is fine also, just make sure that there is no added sugar. Fruit is sweet enough on its own! :)
3) Homemade bars. This is a recipe I make weekly for quick grab and go treats for me and the kids. http://primalbitesblog.com/2013/08/14/paleokindbars/
4) Sliced meat and cheese. When I am craving a snack before bed I usually chose a piece of ham and a slice of cheese with a small amount of mustard or mayo. No bread needed. Just roll up the meat and cheese together for a carb free yet satisfying treat. (my favorite is salami and swiss)
5)Beef Jerky. I make my own homemade in my handy dandy food dehydrator to control the sodium content and to ensure there is no added sugar. This is the recipe I use: http://fastpaleo.com/recipe/ground-beef-jerky/
6) Dehydrated veggie chips. I also use my dehydrator to make green beans, okra and bell peppers crunchy and salty. I mix them with EVOO and salt and dehydrate them for a couple hours until they are crunchy.
7)Greek Yogurt. I love love love love coconut greek yogurt. I put sliced almonds in it and it is a perfect "sweet" treat.
8) Nuts and Seeds. A handful of nuts or seeds is a perfect snack. Just keep in mind that I am suggesting a handful... not the whole bag. Nuts are full of the healthy fat that we need. But it is still fat and therefor high in calorie and shouldn't be consumed unlimited.

The key to healthy snacking is preparing ahead of time. Prep snack size ziplock bags of the treats of your choice before the beginning of the week. So in the morning before you walk out of the door you can just grab what you would like for the day.

Try some of these out instead of that trip to the convenience store or your favorite fast food joint. Your body will thank you!

Week 3 2015

Here is this week's meal plan. I hope you enjoy!

Meal 1 Honey Barbecue Pork Chops    (marinate ahead)                

6 center cut boneless pork chops                    

2TBS olive oil                                     

1 onion chopped                  

4 cloves garlic pressed   

1 can tomato paste     

1/3 cup honey     

¾ cup cider vinegar     

salt and pepper to taste                   

Marinade 4-6 shakes each of: balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, coconut aminos or soy sauce  1 tsp each garlic powder salt and pepper

Place pork chops in a gallon size ziplock and add all marinade ingredients. Seal and mix well. Marinate as long as you like (I do overnight).  Heat 2TBS EVOO in small sauce pan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender. Stir in tomato paste, honey and vinegar. Simmer 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to  blender and puree until smoothe (or leave it chunky like Jack miller’s sauce). Cook pork chops with grill on medium high heat 3-5 minutes each side or until cooked through (or you can use a george foreman or bake in oven 375 for 15-25 minutes). Top with BBQ sauce and serve.

Meal 2 Garlic Dijon Chicken Breasts (or thighs)               

1-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken     

¼ cup Dijon mustard 2TBS EVOO       

1 TBS minced garlic       

Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large zip lock bag. Combine well and marinate overnight. Grill 5-7 minutes each side on medium high heat or use George foreman grill or bake until cooked through.

Meal 3 Crock pot Salsa Spinach Chicken                                           

1-2 lb boneless skinless chicken             

1 package frozen spinach                  

1 jar salsa (make sure no sugar added)

Mexican seasoning of your choice (I use 1tsp cumin 1tsp chili powder 1 tsp garlic powder 1tsp onion powder 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper)           

Optional: ½ block cream cheese 1 cup quinoa cooked in 2 cups water 

Place all ingredients in large ziplock bag and freeze until ready to cook. Place all ingredients in crock pot on low for 6 hours. Shred chicken with two forks. If you are adding quinoa and cream cheese do so after it is finished cooking and stir well to combine.

Meal 4 Creamy Paleo Chicken Skillet (OMG THIS WAS GOOD!!!)                     

2 boneless skinless chicken breast 4 slices bacon      

1 onion chopped          

½ each red and yellow bell pepper chopped           

6oz mushroom sliced

1 tsp white wine vinegar                   

1 can coconut milk

2c fresh kale, spinach, or green of choice                           

4 cloves garlic pressed                

salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in large sauce pan. Remove and set on paper towels. Leave grease in the pan. Add onion to the bacon grease and cook 5 minutes. Push onion to one side and add chicken. Lightly brown and then add bell pepper and mushroom. Cook 5 minutes then add bacon and garlic. Add vinegar to deglaze the pan. Add coconut milk and green of your choice. Cook 3-5 minutes or until wilted. Season with salt and pepper (I chop my chicken in bite size pieces before I cook it so that it is kid friendly.)

Meal 5 Bacon Wrapped Scallops                                                  

18 large sea scallops                   

9 slices bacon cut in half 4 TBS EVOO                            

1/2 tsp each salt and pepper

Wrap each scallop with 1 piece of bacon. Heat 2 TBS EVOO in large skillent of medium high heat. Add 9 scallops to pan. Cook 2 minutes per side or until browned turning once. Remove from pan. Repeat with remaining oil and scallops. Season as desired.

Meal 6 Quinoa Mac n Cheese                                             

1c quinoa     

2 c chicken broth        

4oz cream cheese (1/2 block)      

½ cup grated parmesan       

1 and ½ cup grated cheddar cheese                

1-2tsp onion powder salt and pepper to taste and any additional seasonings you like (I always add garlic)

In a saucepan, combine quinoa and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Reserving 1 c of sharp cheddar. Spread mixture into baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Meal 7 Cajun Beef Chili (Crock Pot Freezer friendly)                   

 3lb beef stew meat                        

1 tsp Cajun seasoning ½ tsp black pepper        

1 large onion chopped                  

1 large bell pepper chopped        

4 cloves garlic pressed

14oz can diced tomatoes            

14 oz can beef broth

Combine all ingredients in a large ziplock back and freeze until ready to cook. Place all ingredients in crock pot on low for 6 hours.

Week 2 2015

I hope you enjoy this week's meal plan!

Meal 1 Eggplant and Bacon Wrapped Chicken Rolls                  

2lbs (ABOUT 8-10) boneless skinless thighs (pounded thin)     

2TBS EVOO                      

1 eggplant sliced lengthwise in 8-10 even pieces           

8-10 slices bacon Tony’s or Cajun seasoning to taste

Heat a large non stick skillet to medium heat. Add 1 TBS EVOO and slices of eggplant. Cook 3-4 minutes each side, just enough to soften but not brown (you want it pliable because you will be wrapping the chicken with it). Work in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan. Set eggplant aside. Sprinkle chicken with desired amount of Cajun seasoning (we use tony’s or just sprinkle with garlic powder, pepper and cayenne for a low salt version). Add another TBS EVOO and cook chicken 5 minutes each side. Remove and set aside. Next you will assemble rolls. Lay one slice of bacon down, then place eggplant slice on top, then place one thigh on top of eggplant. Roll it as tight as you can. You may use toothpicks to hold it together if you want. Bake in oven set to 375 for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Serve with side of choice (salad would be great!)  

Meal 2 Fish in a Bag                                                                 

1 piece of fish (tilapia, salmon, tuna, whatever) handful of spinach/kale/bok choy or green of your choice

1tsp sesame oil

Salt and pepper to taste

 1 TBS coconut aminos (or soy sauce)

1 TBS white wine

1 clove garlic crushed

small piece of ginger grated

1tsp lime juice

Spread a large piece of foil on a flat surface. Fold edges up  so liquids don’t run off. Place greens on top of fish. Mix all ingredients together and pour over fish. Repeat for however many pieces of fish you have. Bake 10-20 minutes at 400.

Meal 3 Coconut Crusted Chicken Patties                                           

1LB ground chicken (or boneless skinless chicken run through the food processor)                            

1 egg yolk    

1 tsp onion powder                  

¼ tsp each garlic powder, paprika, salt, pepper                  

½ + 1/3 c almond flour

 ½ c shredded unsweetened coconut                                  

½ c coconut oil                        

salt and pepper to taste 

Preheat oven to 375. In a bowl, combine ½ c almond flour, coconut, salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, combine ground chicken, 1/3 c almond flour, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika salt and pepper and egg yolk. In saute pan melt coconut over med-high heat. Take about 2 TBS mixture and roll into ball. Coat with flour mix and then flatten into patty. Cook 3-4 min each side. Transfer to pan and cook in oven 5 minutes.

Meal 4 Dirty Quinoa                                                            

 1lb ground beef

1 TBS EVOO

1 onion diced

1 celery diced

1 bell pepper diced 

4 cloves garlic minced

2 c uncooked quinoa

4 c chicken  broth

1 bay leaf

Salt Pepper and Cayenne to taste 

a few shakes of hot sauce

Season ground beef with salt, pepper and cayenne and hot sauce. Cook in a large saucepan with a lid. Set aside. Add EVOO to pan and cook onion, celery, bell pepper until beginning to brown. Add garlic and cook additional 2 minutes. Add quinoa, ground beef, broth and bay leaf. Boil and simmer covered 30 minutes or until liquid absorbed. Season with salt & pepper and serve

Meal 5 Cauliflower Chowder                                                

 4 slices bacon

2 TBS butter

4 cloves garlic crushed

2 celery diced

2 carrots diced

1 onion diced

4 cups chicken broth

1 can coconut milk

1 bay leaf

1 head cauliflower chopped

alt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, cook bacon until crisp. Remove and set aside making sure to keep the drippings in the pot. Add butter, garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook until tender. Stir in cauliflower and bay leaf. Stir occasionally for 3-5 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, coconut milk. Bring o boil and reduce heat. Simmer about 15 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Using an immersion blender, puree into desired consistency. Add chopped bacon and serve.

Meal 6 Honey Barbecue Pork Chops                                             

 6 center cut boneless pork chops

 ¼ cup EVOO divided

1 onion chopped

4 cloves garlic minced

4oz can tomato paste

 ½ cup honey

 ¾ cup cider vinegar

 1 tsp salt divided

1 tsp pepper divided

Heat 2 TBS EVOO in small saucepan over med heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, honey and vinegar. Simmer 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Season with ½ tsp each salt and pepper. Heat remaining EVOO in skillet. Season pork with remaining salt and pepper. Cook 3 minutes each side or until done. Serve with sauce on top.

Meal 7 Cock Pot Mexican Chicken Chili (FREEZER MEAL)                   

1 shredded rotisserie chicken                 

2 c black beans

3-4 chopped zucchini or squash                     

5 c broth    

2 c salsa      

1 chopped onion      

1 chopped bell pepper

2 chopped carrots         

1 pack taco seasoning

Mix all ingredients in a freezer bag and freeze until you are ready to use. Write on the bag: cook low 7 hours in crock pot.

Shopping List: (Does not include sides since you can decide what sides you want)

Meat:                                                                                     

2lbs (about 8-10) boneless skinless chicken thighs     

How ever many pieces of fish of your choice (we buy a frozen individually packed salmon from sams)             

1LB ground chicken       

1LB ground beef    

1 pack bacon

6 Center cut boneless pork chops    

1 rotisserie chicken

Produce:  

1 inch piece ginger      

lime juice       

4 onions

2 pods garlic         

1 eggplant                 

1 head cauliflower           

 4 carrots             

3-4 zucchini or squash                 

celery       

2 bell pepper (red is the sweetest but any color is fine) 

1 bag of fresh spinach, kale, or greens of choice  

ginger

Canned:  

6 cans chicken broth   

1 4oz can tomato paste

1 can coconut milk

Pantry:          

1 package unsweetened shredded coconut     

quinoa    

black beans

Dairy: 

Eggs    

Butter

Staples: (things you probably already have on hand and will use often, especially if you are using this meal planning service free to you)   

Honey     

Hot Sauce                                       

Apple Cider Vinegar     

Coconut Aminos (this is a soy free “soy sauce”)     

Sesame Oil   EVOO (extra virgin olive oil; “first cold press” NOT LITE)

Almond Flour/Meal     

White Wine   

Seasonings (again you probably already have these on hand and will use them often)                                    

Tony’s or Cajun seasoning     

Salt      

Pepper      

Cayenne Pepper    

Paprika   

Onion Powder   

Garlic Powder   

Taco Seasoning    (You can get all of these at Walmart or any store for that matter)

No excuse physical activity!

 

Part of our healthy new year plan involves physical exercise. So here is a post to help you out. This is the minimum of what we plan on doing daily. 

 

Do exercise daily. We all know that physical activity is important. But it is hard to find time to go to the gym. So this year we resolve to do 4 minutes of exercise a day! I can just hear you now: “4 minutes… but that’s nothing.” You are right! You have 1440 minutes each day. 4 minutes is .002% of your day. So there is literally NO EXCUSE not to meet this resolution. 

The idea of 4 minutes of workout comes from the Tabata training protocol. This training protocol involves performing a particular exercise (or exercises) at high intensity for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest. This is repeated 8 times for a total training time of 4 minutes. The wonderful thing about Tabata is that YOU set the pace. As you do this on a daily basis, you will see how your fitness level improves as you are able to do more in your 4 minutes as time goes by. (This is a great website to check out for more info on Tabata http://tabataexercise.com/ )

You don’t need any equipment to perform these exercises. You can do them in your PJs if you want. You can do them inside or outside. You can do them alone or in a group. What I suggest is getting your whole family together each day to do the workouts together. The moves aren’t difficult and won’t take long to learn. If you do this with your kids and loved ones you will be helping them to get healthy too!

First I will introduce you to each “move”. Some of these you will know how to do already. Others may be new to you. So I will provide you some pictures. To make your own Tabata workout, simply choose 8 moves and do each for 20 seconds with 10 seconds of rest between. Or you can chose 2 moves and alternate them for a total of 4 minutes.
1) Jumping Jacks

2)Burpees

3) Mountain Climber

4)High Knees

5) Imaginary Jump Rope

6) Skaters

7) Butt Kicks

8) Push Ups

9) Lunges

10) Squats

11) Curtsy Lunge

12) Lunge Jumps

12)Squat Jumps

13) Bridge Up Downs

14) Wall Sits

15)Planks

16)Plank Jacks

17)Ski Hops

18) Spiderman Planks

19)Leg Raises

20) Supermans

21) Triceps Dips

22)Side Squats

23) Calf Raises

24) Russian Twists

25)Bicycle crunches

The Hebert Paleo Journey

Our journey of eating paleo, sort of started by accident. Josh and I went through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University to get our finances in order. The program is wonderful! We paid off all of our (my) student loan debt, all credit card debt and became completely debt free except the mortgage. We were able to follow his steps and built up a decent emergency fund and even began thinking about and taking action toward our retirement. Dave recommends a bunch of different things to keep spending in check. He recommends using Emeals to help keep grocery spending to a minimum. Josh wanted us to try it out and I reluctantly agreed. I got onto the website and was given all these options on which meal plan I would like to sign up for. I saw "paleo" and was like "hmmm I wonder what on earth that is." I took a look and liked what I saw. I ordered the paleo meal plan and then I started to research it in detail.
Everything, well almost everything, I read about paleo I liked. Just like everything else in life, I often wonder about  how God intended us to view and use food and nutrition. Did God really intend for us to eat processed foods changed from its original form? Is there something lacking in His creation of fruits, vegetables, plants, and animals that would drive us to eat things that don't even resemble natural food? Well of course nothing God created is lacking, and so eating a "natural" diet made a lot of sense to me. The modern American diet is a diet based on convenience and instant gratification. High in sugar, processed carbs and "bad" fats; the most commonly consumed food in our current culture are manufactured and engineered to stimulate the part of the brain that is most active during the pleasure sensation, addictions and overindulging.  This shouldn't be shocking though, because in every way it can, our culture promotes the individual to maximize pleasure with a disregard to the consequences. Making food choices out of a "need" for convenience or instant gratification leads to a very very sick and diseased life. I know this first hand.
The majority of my life I have been overweight and obese. At 5'6" I tipped the scale in 2009 at a whopping 255lbs. I started making major changes in the way I ate in December of that year. I had a gastric sleeve procedure done which helped me restrict how much I was able to eat. I switched from white breads, pastas and rice to whole wheat and brown, and cut out sugary drinks. Even though I lost a lot of weight, over 100lbs, I still was not "healthy." I felt better, but anyone would feel better after losing an entire person's worth of weight! I did not start to feel healthy until after we started eating Paleo in 2012.
The first changes in transitioning to paleo were MAJOR. We had a 180 switch on our outlook of fat intake. Instead of always choosing low fat, we stopped worrying about keeping track of how much fat we were eating and instead became hyper-vigilant about what TYPE of fat we were eating. No more vegetable oils, corn oil or processed oils. Instead we started using naturally occurring fats like fat found in meat (ghee, grassfed butter, and my favorite: BACON GREASE), first cold press of olives and coconuts and other seeds and nuts. Fatty fish, nuts, and avocados are other awesome sources of naturally occurring "God-made" fats.
The next huge change was getting rid of the grains. OUCH! This was pretty crazy, especially considering that Josh and I were making these changes not only for us, but for the kids too. No bread, rice, pasta, corn, cereals. You know, the stuff that we feed our kids ALL THE TIME! (Thank God we started these changes young because the kids have done amazingly well!)
The third big change was switching from using refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup and anything with those two in it, to using only local honey and pure 100% maple syrup. This step wasn't too bad though. The hardest change (for me anyway) was getting rid of any and all artificial sweeteners. I was drinking almost a gallon of crystal light tea a day which is full of Aspartame. There are 5 major foods that stimulate that part of the brain responsible for overeating and addictions: Bread, Rice, Pasta, Cereal and Potatoes. But there is 1 thing that trumps them all and stimulates that part of the brain much much more; artificial sweeteners. Sheer will power is the only way to quit it. It was tough. Headaches, moodiness and unbelievable cravings bombarded me the first month quitting artificial sweeteners.
The last 2 changes someone has to make in order to go fully paleo, are getting rid of legumes and dairy. We are not too strict about this. No one drinks any dairy in our house. I became lactose intolerant to milk and ice cream :( after the twins were born, and the kids don't tolerate dairy milk too well either. We drink almond milk. Cheese and grassfed butter, however, are still a part of our diet. I am a cheese-a-holic and am working on that. We also don't eat a ton of beans. I will however, occasionally use beans in taco soup or chili. I believe the reason legumes and beans are restricted on a strict paleo diet is because beans were not consumed regularly until after the agricultural revolution and therefor our Paleolithic Ancestors (which the paleo diet is based on) would not have consumed them. I'm not too strict on this rule, but again we don't eat beans too often. So if you go strictly paleo you may have to modify some of the recipes you find here because I will occasionally use cheese, butter, and beans.
The first 2 or 3 weeks of us going paleo were unbelievable. I lost weight without trying and so did Josh. The kids adapted really well. They love veggies and so I just substituted extra veggies and fruit for the grains we got rid of. I was never big on giving the kids a bunch of sugar filled stuff before. So they didn't really miss out on that either. Our energy levels were better and so was our "regularity" with digestion and elimination. The third weekend after starting paleo, we went to a family function where they served Gumbo, white rice, potato salad and sweet tea. We splurged and enjoyed the time with family. But as soon as we got home we regretted it! Our bodies were not used to all that anymore and let us know! After being on paleo, you realize that you feel so much better than before. But what's crazy is that you weren't even aware before that you felt bad in the first place because it was just "the way things are". I hope you enjoy that "Ah-ha" moment too!
So we started paleo in 2012 and have had our ups and downs. The last 6 months have been terrible. We have been eating really poorly. But all of that is over and we are already enjoying the fruits of this Paleo re-transition.

Good luck to you as you go paleo. It is doable and it is worth it, even if you have kids.