Paleo in Costa Rica

Sitting on the plane… laughing out loud-oops… back to concentrating …some of these scientific explanations are going right over my head! I put my book down and turn to my husband, “Chris, let’s try eating a paleo diet while we are in Costa Rica these next 10 days.” To my astonishment, he agreed! Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Solution, not only entertained me with his humorous writing style, but also educated me on the why’s and how’s of eating much like our ancestors ate. Chris, an ER physician, doesn’t totally agree with the concept of eliminating whole grains from his diet as he makes homemade, whole wheat waffles every morning for breakfast (hence the shock I experienced with his conformity!) He is beginning to read Robb Wolf’s book so maybe this meal plan will eventually make sense to him.


Our usual Costa Rica diet includes rice, beans, and tortillas chips at almost every meal. Can we really alter our diet to include only lean meats, seafood, seasonal fruits and vegetables? To my surprise, it was much easier and more delicious than I thought – and Chris agreed! As we shopped we looked for locally grown foods and went to the farmer’s market and pescaderia (fish store). We made some excellent meals: sashimi grade tuna with mashed cauliflower and cabbage, fresh pink marlin with steamed asparagus, homemade spaghetti sauce with fresh chicken served over lightly cooked zucchini, fresh pineapple, papaya, berries, and so much more! After every meal we pushed ourselves away from the table saying “That was delicious!”


Experimenting with the unique foods of Costa Rica was entertaining and enlightening. We discovered that camote is much like a sweet potato (I hope our research was correct) and we made a tasty camote hash for breakfast and topped it with fresh eggs. One balmy evening we were invited to our new friends’ home because they wanted to cook us an authentic Tico (Costa Rican) meal. Much to our surprise, instead of tortillas, they served us cooked platanos (plantains) with toppings much like we would put in a tostado – fresh tomato salsa and vegetables. They also served beans and cheese, not paleo, but we had to partake at risk of offending them. I must say that I felt the effects in the morning. Thinking in the paleo mode though, meat can definitely be added to this meal to give it more protein. We will be giving that a try soon!


Of course, you can’t be in Costa Rica without experiencing the beautiful sunsets on the pristine beaches with a cocktail of choice. Thanks to Robb Wolf, we found a new alternative: NorCal Margaritas. Sticking to only one is another matter!

So now we get ready to go home. Can we hold fast to this way of eating? I am motivated to stick to this lifestyle because I would like to see how it will affect my performance during my Crossfit workouts. However, I am curious to see if Chris will go back to his old favorite-waffles!