Oct 23
Why I Became a Cavegirl
I’m sure some of you are thinking “Why is Caleb posting pictures of strange women on his blog?” There is a perfectly
good reason - I’m one of the newest members of the Evolve team. My name is Diana Alt, and I’m the new Marketing Director for Evolve. Now, that may sound very fancy-pants, but what it really means is that I’m helping organize Caleb so he can spend less time worrying about writing clever newsletters reminding all of you that yes, we really DO need you to order by midnight on Thursday and more time expanding Evolve to reach more customers and provide more products and services for healthy eating in our area. This isn’t my full-time gig - I call working for Evolve my “play job” because it’s such fun. My full-time day job is working as an account manager for a marketing services firm, and I also have a background in IT.
So how in the world did I end up at Evolve? Well, I started as a client. I was going through an extremely busy and personally difficult time, and something needed to give. It’s a lot easier to outsource cooking than it is to outsource a lot of other things, so when one of my coaches at CrossFit On Track suggested Evolve, I decided to give it a whirl. After just a week or so, I thought I’d probably never cook again, and a few weeks later I was wishing I had started the company myself - even though I am wholly unqualified to do much of anything in a commercial kitchen. (So far, they let me help make Paleo Balls if I want, but that’s about it.) One Sunday, about 6 weeks or so after I started ordering from Evolve, Caleb showed up on my doorstep with my order. My Evolve fangirl switch turned on, to the point I basically told him “I’M YOUR BIGGEST FAN,” like you’d expect out of a 13 year old girl at a Justin Bieber VIP meet-and-greet. After the starstruck feeling wore off, I started sharing some of my ideas about how Evolve should evolve (ha.ha. see what i did there?) and eventually we worked out a way for me to use my talents to help Evolve. I’m almost giddily glad to be part of this organization - to the point that when I got a call from a headhunter last week asking me if I was interested in a different day job, I had him checking the Evolve site and considering an order by the time we got off the phone.
Anyway, I thought it would be worthwhile to share with all of you how I came to eat Paleo/identify as a cavegirl. In the fall of 2009, I was a health disaster waiting to happen. I weighed 277 pounds, and had spent a few months dealing with the serious illness and eventual death of my husband. If there was ever a wake up call to start taking care of yourself, this was it. I realized that my husband didn’t have a speck of control over getting brain cancer, and that continuing to abuse my body with inactivity, stress, and too much bad food was disrespectful to him. I decided to do something about it. It was hard to figure out how to make a lasting change - I grew up in a household with loving parents who worked hard, but it was academic, church, and musical pursuits that were valued in my home, not athletic ones. And while my parents had the capability to cook nutritious and healthy meals, too often they didn’t do so because they were busy taking care of other matters. It took a toll on their health. My parents were always heavy. My father had his first heart attack in his 50s and learned he was diabetic at that time, but he never took proper care of himself and ended up having two more heart attacks, including the one that killed him at 72. My mother is in better shape, but she is also diabetic and has high blood pressure. I have seen her diet improve the last few years but still - too many years of all our lives were spent treating our bodies like crap rather than treating them as the temple for our souls.
In December 2009, just 6 weeks after I lost my husband, I started Weight Watchers - I was determined to eat regular food, and was not interested in joining a weight loss program that would send me pre-packaged food that was carefully calorie controlled but full of a bunch of preservatives and other ingredients I can’t pronounce. A month or so later, I joined a gym and started working out twice a week with a personal trainer, and eventually more often on my own. My work with personal trainers in the gym turned into joining a CrossFit box in the spring of 2012, and since everyone knows the only non-Paleo thing that a lot of CrossFitters like to consume is Kool-Aid, it wasn’t too long before I was introduced to the Paleo diet. I joined a Paleo Challenge at the box the summer of 2012, and to be perfectly honest, I completely hated it. We were doing really strict Paleo 95% of the time, and I was also working out a lot. Because I was so new to it, I didn’t know how to properly fuel myself to balance my weight loss goals with proper fueling for exercise. I completed the challenge, but only barely, and decided that I wasn’t going to do THAT again anytime soon. That fall, I went back to counting calories but still eating a quasi-Paleo diet (I’d say I was 75-80% Paleo) and found myself losing again and feeling good with most of my workouts. From that point forward, I’ve pretty much been a Cavegirl, with a few breaks here and there due to vacations, work stress, or getting the case of I Just Don’t Want To. Even with the breaks though, my health is so much better. My doctor is VERY pleased with the changes he’s seen on the scale and in my blood work the last year and a half, and I am pleased to say I’ve lost over 60 pounds since the December 2009. I’ve also noticed improvements in my athletic performance, and my skin and hair look and feel better. The last several months have been a struggle for me - I’ve been dealing with a herniated disk for quite some time, which has significantly curtailed my exercise regimen, and have actually put on about 7 pounds since March of this year. But you know what? I feel better when I eat Paleo, and I definitely look leaner. Every time I see someone I haven’t seen in a while - even those who saw me at my lowest weight in March - I am told that I look like I’ve lost more weight. I have to give the credit to eating whole, healthy foods - no other option, especially considering I haven’t picked up a barbell for months except to bench press once or twice a week.
One of my few regrets in life is that I didn’t learn about how and why to take care of my body through good diet and exercise until I was in my 30s. I’m looking forward to using the next years of my life helping other people of all ages understand it - including all of Evolve’s friends and clients.
Diana Alt is Marketing Director and Cavegirl In Chief for Evolve PPC. When she isn’t busy with her day job, her spa and massage business, and Evolve, she keeps a blog at www.sincerelydianablog.com. To reach Diana, email dianakalt@yahoo.com.
Oct 10
Eating Paleo in Kansas City
I Know I Should Eat Paleo…But How Do I Really Get Started?
Oct 10
Wet Noodle Poll
Inquiring minds want to know…
What is your favorite kind of Paleo noodle?
Click here to take the Wet Noodle Poll!
1.Can an Oreo eaten with pleasure be healthier than broccoli eaten with disgust (stress)?
2.How much does stress and lifestyle play into our health?
3.Can we actually have too much of a good thing in the same way that having too much of bad things have adverse affects on our health?
Okay, lets start here and I am sure more questions will pop as up as we are talking. We all know that Oreos are not a health food. They are, however super delicious, especially their creamy filling. I personally like the filling more than the cookie, I definitely fall into that camp. If you know me, you will know that I do not like chocolate, I am that guy. But I LOVE Oreo. I do not think they are made of chocolate, just yummy, crack-like goodness. So can an Oreos be healthy? If I eat one Oreo is that bad for me? Will that have detrimental effects on my health? I would have to say no. I think that me loving Oreos the way I do, and with the pleasure that I get from Oreos, I cannot think that one Oreo will do me harm. Much in the same way, what if I do not like broccoli? (I do, but let’s say for conversation sake that I do not.) Does one piece of broccoli will do me good. Will I get health benefits from one piece of broccoli? I doubt it. I think we can all agree that broccoli is more healthy than Oreos, so why will one piece of broccoli not make me healthier and conversely one Oreo will not do me harm, and may actually be healthy? I think this is because of lifestyle (stress).
Stress plays a large factor in our health. Someone said that health is 80% diet, 10% lifestyle (stress, sleep) and 10% exercise. Now I think that may be a little off (especially if you ask a trainer), but I think we can get a general idea. If stress plays as important (or close) of a role as exercise, then even if you were eating perfectly and working out like you should, you still cannot hit optimal health. And I think we all know that deep down. So how does that relate to broccoli and Oreos? If our goal is 90% health, then you have a 10% room for error in your food category, but only a 1% room for error in your stress category. So what does this mean? My thinking, as long as you are living a happy, exercise filled life you can afford an Oreo, as long as you are not having any stress about it. Once you start to stress about the Oreo and its adverse effects on you, then you probably should not be eating it.
Now, this is not a license to eat Oreos all day as long as you are happy about it. After all, too much of a good thing is still too much. Take water for example. Water is absolutely essential to a healthy lifestyle. You need water, and while you can surely dehydrate, you also can over hydrate. I saw this a lot in basic training. It was summer in Fort Sill, Oklahoma - pretty much the arm pit of the US. While there were a lot of Soldiers dehydrating, there were just as many over hydrating and that is just as bad. Too many “happy Oreos” are just as bad too much sleep, too much exercise, too much water.
So go out, live stress free and have a cookie. In fact, if you ordered food this week, we made cookies! And these are not as bad for you as Oreos!
-Caleb
So, for those that do not know me well you probably didn’t know (or maybe you did) that I work like 80 hours a week. I am what the world likes to call a workaholic. Much to the dismay of Jason, may partner, who by the way is a what I like an “advanced workaholic” meaning he works much smarter than I do. He can get his weekly task list done and still have three days leftover to do whatever he wants to. I have not figured out how to do that, largely because I am unorganized. If it were not for the last minute, I wouldn’t get anything done. I think he has every bit of work to do, but seems to organize it much better thus getting it done faster. Anyway, I digress; Even though I am a workaholic I understand the need for an unwinding time; a stress-free segment of my week. It is my Sabbath. Sunday is that time. Work starts at 8am for the staff and Sunday is the one day I do not work with them until 10-11am. I like to have my woo-saw moment before I see all the clients, I feel it makes for a better interaction. I get up and I leave the house and usually go to Starbucks, there is one about two blocks away (actually there are 2 within a few blocks), its one of the reasons we moved into our house (sad?).
On my two hour hiatus from the world, I get to read, or surf the web or just sit with this blank look on my face. I’m pretty sure some folks are a little weirded out by the blank two-hour stare. My favorite thing to do is read novels, usually John Grisham novels. I think he is brilliant and the books are typically fast moving, which is my style.
Today on the other hand, I brought my computer because I wanted to answer a thought I have had for some time. We started Evolve as a hobby ( I think even a year ago my hobby didn’t even have a name). We started from our house and in the first year it has exploded to what it is today. At the time I worked at a steakhouse and was pretty ok with my job (pay was a little low for J and I, but it worked fine.) We started with the goal of just being able to cook for a few people, to help them see that there is a much better way to eat than what they currently were. Our first clients all came to us with one goal in mind, to lose some weight. It was this goal that made the Paleo diet so attractive to us and our small client lists. Most of the clients in the beginning did not know what the Paleo diet even was. But what they did know is that they were losing weight with the food. It was exciting and fascinating all at the same time. I knew I did really well on it, but it was cool to see before our eyes everyone else’s success.
So I thought this Paleo thing is amazing. We abruptly started demonizing all grains, pulling the reigns on corn and potatoes, instituted prohibition again, and turned up our nose at all things dairy (dairy for good reason, I became lactose intolerant.) We have operated like this, albeit with limited success for a year. The company has grown, we have gotten more followers and everyone seems happy.
*side note, some van just parked in the handicap spot outside of Starbucks, and a woman leaped forth. Pet peeve of mine, if you are not handicapped, don’t park there**
But what if food is more than nutritional, what if food is emotional or communal? What if it is MORE important who we have food with or the mental state at which time we eat than the ACTUAL food we eat. Does it do any good to eat nutritious food if we are in a stressed state? It is better to eat lower nutritious food in a calmer, stress free state or higher nutritious food in frazzled, workaholic, see-how-fast-we-can-live-life state?
The reason this line of questions pops up in this. Jason is a much less stressed person than I am (or if he isn’t, he controls it better.) But he doesn’t gain any weight by eating less than stellar food. Where if I eat less than Paleo, I balloon up like an “I love you” balloon at Valentines Day. We have always blamed it on metabolism, but that may not be true. Because when he has had boards or exams, this will be the only time he gains.
I just read a book by Jim Collins and he said this about questions. Don’t try to come up with all the right answers, just ask the right questions. What if food is is more about our surroundings and less about the nutrition content? Is it better to eat good or get all the required sleep. Should I stay up all night and make my food for all week or go to sleep and grab a Chipotle burrito? Food for thought…
It’s what is on the side that matters.
Who knew we would be in the condiment business?
So as I sit at Starbucks drinking my morning coffee (yes, black coffee is Paleo), I am thinking what can I write about? Last week I wrote about alot of changes happening at Evolve. I wrote about how there are some things that won’t change. I remember back to the old days (1 year ago) when we started Evolve, how we were just making our way through the ins and outs of Paleo cuisine. We have learned SO much this year.
As a chef, my goal is to make delicious food, to push the boundary of what we can do, find new ingredients to do it with and to put together the world’s best Paleo food. One of the things I am most proud of, in this year, is our side items. Did you know we have more side items than every other meal service in KC, and they are ALL Paleo. We have developed the very first (that I know of) Paleo Ranch, Paleo Sour Cream, the first (good) Paleo Ketchup, we have Honey Mustard, Caesar, Mayonnaise, BBQ Sauce, and Avocado dressing.. Also, let’s not forget Paleo Balls and trail mix.
It is crazy to think that in one year we have broke so many molds, we are plowing forward in the hopes of becoming the country’s premier Paleo food company. We love our clients, and are so grateful for everything they have allowed us to do. We are looking forward to many more great years!
If you have not tried any of our dressings or sides, this is a great way to eat Paleo when you’re creating your own meals. Check them out. In addition to our normal pantry items, we will be bottling some BBQ sauce. If you want some, just order ketchup and write in the modification section that you want BBQ sauce.
Have you seen us Change?
Evolve Paleo in Kansas City is constantly changing.
Good Morning. I have had a week. As many of you know, I had surgery last week to remove my appendix. It was super fun. But it has thrown my schedule into a tail spin. Not to mention we are in a constant state of upgrade. I am pretty sure we are running evolve 2.5.3 version. Let me fill you in on a few changes that you may have already noticed, or you will soon notice. Hopefully they are all good!
As you probably noticed we changed up the a la carte section of ordering. I think this is huge step forward. You can now order in less time, get the menu description without toggling back and forth to the menu and see common allergies. I really do love this new system. COMING SOON: You will notice that coming soon the weekly meal plan ordering guide will get this same face-lift. It will take a little time, but Adam at Lifted Logic is doing a great job keeping our up-to-date and looking good.
This last month we did our first Dinner with the Chef. It was a good experience, we had 25 people come out and sample some fresh food, meet our staff, and have a great time. We did a five course dinner with a little NorCal Margaritas. It was a great time. COMING SOON: A new Dinner with the Chef will be announced in the beginning of September. Stay tuned to our Facebook page!
Also in this past month, as you may have noticed we have piked up some steam heading into back-to-school time and have grown quite a bit. This brings great challenges to our little staff. We will always provide the best food at the best prices possible and the best service. After all that is what separates us, and that is why you have chosen to spend your money with us. We will never let you down. As you may have noticed we have brought in more staff to help us with these changes. New staff from delivery drivers, to baggers to pick up personnel. What you may not have noticed is we hired on a new Executive Chef to help me in the kitchen. His name is Tim Melvin, he comes from Delish Catering and Dean and Deluca. He graduated from the California School of Culinary Arts and has over 20 years in the culinary field. We are thrilled to have him on board. When you see these new staff, introduce yourself and welcome them to the Evolve family. We are currently seeking a full-time administrative assistant to add to the family, if you or someone you know is interested, please email me at caleb@evolvepaleochef.com
With all these changes, one thing that has not changed is my absolute drive for perfection in everything we do. Evolve is a company that constantly changes for the better, but there are a few things that are our foundation, our cornerstone that will never change.
1. You are priority. Without you, we do get to do what we love to do.
2. The food we prepare is perfect. We strive to have each dish perfect, every week. So you get a consistent product every time.
3. Our continued desire to learn. Learn about our business, our craft, learn about our customers and your needs.
4. Our commitment to the idea that quality food doesn’t have to cost alot of money. Our ability to be knowledgeable and efficient in everything we do, affords us the opportunity to bring a high quality product at a reasonable price.
These things will not change. I am proud to say these things we have built our company on, and will continue to build upon. Oh yeah, one more thing. THANK YOU!!!
Jun 18
Sugar is Killing Us
Paleo in Kansas City
Why Sugar is Killing Us
Apr 22
Choice beats no choice
Choice in Kansas City
Choices are good. I like choices. This week I ordered food from “the other guy” and I found a few things out. The most astonishing thing I found was the lack of choices. I ordered a 6-day plan. The choices I got was “chicken or no chicken”, “beef or no beef”, “pork or no pork”, and “seafood or no seafood”. After I made those decisions, they said great, your food will be here in 10 days…. that’s it. I don’t know what entrees I am going to get, I hope I like them. I will let you know.
But that got me to thinking, how can I offer more options. After all, I think choices are better, and I think you should know what you are getting. So, after listening to surveys, and working with our web developers we have brought you even more choices! When you order a meal plan, you can now split your soups, salads and desserts up ANY way you like. No more, 1 soup, 5 salads, 2 desserts. Get 8 desserts if you want! Get 4 soups 4 salads. It is your choice! Choices are good.
Apr 17
