Banana Crepes/pancakes and Our month of clean eating..

After an extremely busy month of December ( which included moving), and visiting family at Christmas we were feeling a real need to clean up our Paleo diet.  We decided that my husband and I would do a Whole 30  followed by a 21 Day Sugar Detox and that our children 15 years old and under would do 30 days of Paleo eating.  What we hadn't anticipated is that our two oldest sons, both adults living in our home (19 and 21) would decide that they too wanted to do a 30 day Paleo challenge.  We were thrilled!  It has made it much easier for the rest of us to stay on track because they aren't tempting the younger kids with treats, etc.  And I know they will feel so much better, especially our oldest who has known problems with wheat and dairy but won't stop eating them completely (he will reduce his intake when he feels badly, and has a fiancee who keeps baking him wonderful treats).  She is suddenly asking for Paleo dessert recipes, realizing that is going to be the only way she can bake for him this month though.  With the two oldest they are really doing more of what we call a Robb Wolf 30 day challenge, just clean Paleo eating, with some dried fruit and occasional Paleo treats.  And honestly I have no idea what they are really eating while not at home, it's really up to them and how far they want to take it.  One thing they were running into their first week was being hungry all the time so I encouraged them to increase their fat intake and up their veggies (they tend to eat tons of meat, but slack on the veggies).  It will be interesting to see how they feel, what they think about the experience and how they body composition changes over the 30 days.  
As for our 5 younger ones (all under 15 years of age), we are just having them stick to Paleo and not "eat off the farm" for 30 days.  They still get my Paleo Pancakes for breakfast, but only get one treat a week, on Friday or Saturday night they get to pick out a Paleo treat.  Last weekend they chose to have our favorite Brownies from Elena's Pantry.  The only hard part about that for me was not eating them ( I do confess to eating a crumb!), thankfully all 7 of them plus Jamie's fiancee polished them off  the next day at lunch so I wasn't tempted to eat them!  We feel that as children they don't need to feel like they are on a diet, and their little bodies need way more fuel/carbs than us big people, which is why we aren't being so strict with their 30 day challenge.  As long as it falls into Paleo, we're okay with it and I've found that involving them in the prep and cooking process also helps get them more excited about it.  I think this is a wonderful time of year to boost their little immune systems and heal their little guts, with all the serious flu going around this year.  I'm also big on fermented foods/drinks and so are they, thankfully, several of them love Bubbies fermented sauerkraut and my oldest daughter has mastered making water kefir (which tastes like soda).  My younger ones all love Kombucha too, but lately we've been going through it so fast I'm having to ration it.  Maybe it's time to add in another 2 1/2 gallon jar in place of the 1 gallon I've been using.  I actually make a total of about 6 gallons every 10-14 days depending on the weather and the warmth of our house.  
For myself, I've noticed my gut is much happier (as someone who had severe IBS before going Paleo the tighter my diet is the better), inflammation from Lyme's seems to be in better control too, and I wish I could say I had more energy, but with the physical things I'm battling and medication I'm on I think they are preventing that.  I have noticed that my body composition seems to be changing already (just 1 week in). I've done 3-4 Whole 30's so it's much easier this time around, I know what to do and that makes a big difference and makes for much "smoother sailing".  I also started some light exercise yesterday, it's been a long time since I've been able to work out, with the lyme treatment and all, so I'm taking it very slowly and trying not to overdo it and put to much strain on my body.   I'm looking forward to regaining some strength, the reality of how weak I'd gotten hit me hard on our trip to visit my brother.  We went sledding with the kids, which was a blast, but I found I didn't have the strength to get up when I wiped out in the deep fluffy snow at the bottom.  Something I've never had a problem doing before, I now had to roll to my knees to get up, it was then and there I decided I needed to do whatever I can do to regain some strength.   
My husband, who works 2 jobs, his first as a Captain for the fire department has found it much easier this time around because one of the other men on his crew is also doing a Whole 30 so he is not the "odd" one out and they can encourage each other to stick with it.  The one thing I worry about with him is sleep, you can have the best diet in the world but not see results if you're lacking sleep and under to much stress.  Stress is a funny thing to, it doesn't have to be the kind of stress most of think of, it can also be physical stress we put on our bodies by doing something that is supposed to be healthy for us like working out, or in my husbands case doing a physically hard job with a lack of good sleep (his second job is construction).  
Okay, enough about all that...time for a quick recipe.  This isn't a  new idea by any means, I've seen this floating around the internet for a while, and we've been enjoying them ( although usually with a different ratio, I prefer more eggs or I find them to sweet).  While they are often called 2 ingredient banana pancakes, I prefer to think of them more as crepes.  I think they would be amazing spread with homemade almond butter or Chocolate Pecan Almond butter.  I do find that when I eat these I often need another protein  like bacon, canadian bacon or ham on the side.  Unfortunately if you are doing a Whole 30 you will need to wait until your 30 days are up to try these.  But if you're on a 21 day sugar detox and you use greener bananas they are okay as far as I understand (I'm not as familiar with the 21 Day Sugar Detox).  My kids have been enjoying these this past week...

Simple Banana Crepes/Pancakes

2 medium size bananas
6 eggs
splash of real vanilla (gluten free)
and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon (to taste, I like a lot!)

Combine all of the ingredients in your blender and blend until smooth and a little frothy.  Heat a griddle (I heat mine to about 300 degrees), grease well with coconut oil, ghee or butter.  Pour small amounts of batter on and cook like you would pancakes.  Remove and eat plain or topped with your desired toppings, these do not need any maple syrup as the bananas sweeten them naturally.  They also make a great snack, my kids LOVE to nibble on these!

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