First, a disclaimer: YOU CAN EAT PALEO WHEREVER THE HELL YOU PLEASE. Literally. You can order your food however you want it. You’re paying for it. Don’t be shy.

That said, there are places where it is much EASIER to eat paleo and where you won’t be as tempted by thin crust pizza or the most delicious bread in the whole world or whatever it is that you love that isn’t paleo. There are also normal places where you want to sneakily eat paleo without making a fuss. I also place an emphasis on local, grassfed meat, some people don’t. Links take you to thisislifeinaustin.com, where this is cross-posted. Leave your faves in the comments!

Paleo Eating Out:
24 Diner – 24 hour diner on 6th & Lamar. Grassfed beef, local produce when possible. Owner is a CrossFitter, they’re used to making things paleo.
Bess – West 6th, Sandra Bullock’s restaurant, local meat, great entrees. Sides aren’t always paleo and they bring out a huge bread basket, so just ask them not to.
Buenos Aires Cafe – East 6th Street (e of 35), local meat, heavy on the meat portions

Pick Up/Quick:
Snap Kitchen - to-go food. Vegetable lasagna (no noodles!) is the best thing ever. Very conscious of paleo.
Whole Foods - sounds like a cop-out, but no other WF has the salad bar and other food bars of the flagship at 6th & Lamar.
Chipotle - also a cop-out, but the meat is grassfed and they do salad bowls with extra servings of guac!

Sushi/Bar:
Bar Chi (2nd & Colorado) is the sushi place I just wrote about and they are really flexible, making you cucumber-wrapped rolls without rice. Reverse happy hour, all day Sunday happy hour.
Piranha Killer Sushi (Rio Grande & 3rd) is also usually really accommodating and they have AWESOME fish prepared without rice anyway. Great mussels too.

Thoughts, paleos?

Atlantic Monthly writer Corby Kummer shopped for ingredients from both Wal-Mart and Whole Foods in order for Austin’s FINO (who, btw, often but not always have local, free range meat) to create a four-course dinner. They made two versions of each dish, one with Wal Mart ingredients and one with ingredients purchased at Whole Foods. The blind tasting with 16 invited guests utilized dishes on the FINO menu prepared by chef Jason Donoho.

I’ve long shopped at Wal-Mart: my mom took us there as kids to get cheap toys, as summer camp counselors, it was our lone diversion on nights off. I haven’t spent much time there recently, but when I have stopped in for something, I’ve noticed that their food sections appear to be getting better and better. And according to Kummer’s research and taste-test, they actually are. Now, I still love Whole Foods, but the more healthy food available to more people (read: cheaper), the better off we all are.

On a congruent note, check out this poorly-made video from yours truly on how to find paleo and free-range foods at Randall’s, the neighborhood grocery store known less for its cheapness (though their Remarkable Deals are) and more for its convenience:

Bluebonnet 100% Natural Whey Protein Isolate Powder has two things in it: whey and vanilla flavor.  Now the vanilla flavor is not broken down, so there could very well be junk in there, but from the surface, it looks solid.  And it tastes good to boot!  I got mine at Whole Foods, but their website has a store locator, so if you can’t find it, check the site.

So what do I do with this stuff?  Right now, it goes into my new post-workout recovery meal.  Here’s the mix:

• Mashed sweet potatoes
• Coconut milk
• A few scoops of Bluebonnet 100% Natural Whey
• Some crushed pecans
• Cinnamon

There are no proportions on this (sorry if you feel empty because of that , but basically everything is to taste.  And it tastes good, just the right amount of sweetness from the vanilla without the extra junk that most protein powders have in them.