Junk food, fast food, processed food and other components of the Standard American Diet (SAD) are typically filled with binders, fillers, and other extra components in order to decrease production costs. One of the concerns that I hear from patients in the office comes from the potential cost difference of real food versus the typical selection of foods that they were already purchasing.The other day I stumbled across an excellent blog post by +Koa Strength covering this same topic. In an effort to show the world that it is possible to not only eat a healthy diet, but also eat a Paleo diet without breaking the bank, Sean and Alexys have decided to document not only their meals, but also the cost of them. The Paleo Experiment (www.koastrength.com/the-paleo-experiment.html) will chronicle the cost, receipts, and thoughts with their experiment. It is worth following, their first week’s grocery bill was about $35.00.

In our family of five, we have two children with hollow legs. We eat exactly like I teach patients to eat in the office, and go for Paleo, organic, non-GMO, etc. foods when we feed our family. My wife and daughters are on a first name basis with the cashier at H-E-B, and our grocery bill is frequently a topic of discussion when we work on our family budget. So I shared The Paleo Experiment with my wife +Stephanie Hayden.

Challenge Accepted.

Stephanie has dabbled in the blog-o-sphere in the past, and after a two year hiatus from her blog, she has decided to document our own version of The Paleo Experiment. You can follow her posts (and encourage her to continue posting) by following her page: www.glutenfreekitchenaid.blogspot.com/

Our first receipt after reading +Koa Strength‘s post: less than $140 for five people.