Hello! We are chatting with our good friend Ally Houston from Paleo Canteen. Ally is founder and head chef of Paleo Canteen where fresh and nutritious paleo and low carb meals are expertly prepared and delivered direct to your door each Thursday.
Ally regularly shares lots of tips and inspiration in his podcast The Canteen Podcast (which he describes as the show for anyone who has feelings about food) and via his very own Ally Houston YouTube channel. We met Ally at Real Food Rocks 2019 in Ambleside last month and were so impressed not only with his deliciously nutritious paleo and low carb ready meals but also by his depth of knowledge, droll sense of humour, passionate enthusiasm and overall drive to make paleo and low carb food easily accessible to all. Hi Ally! Q. Can you tell us a little bit about Paleo Canteen? A. Hi! Paleo Canteen is the UK's quality online paleo and low carb shop. We are proud of what we offer, having launched UK wide in June this year, and are always looking for new and interesting high quality products to stock. We are particularly known for our range of paleo and low carb ready meals which we cook fresh to send out each Thursday around most of the UK. Q. Can you tell us a bit about your health journey and how you came to start Paleo Canteen? A. I worked in high end restaurants when I left school, then went to uni and got a physics degree. Having spent a few years working as a laser engineer, I went back to uni to study for a PhD. My health had been shaky since childhood, including autoimmune and mental health conditions and I'd started to put on weight that I couldn't shift. I began dabbling with a paleo diet as a last resort, as my doctors had failed in resolving my health issues. Luckily, my physics PhD supervisor had healed his chronic fatigue syndrome / ME with a paleo/ low carbohydrate diet, and was able to point me towards papers and blogs that filled me in on the science. I doubled down on my diet and watched, amazed, as my weight melted away to a healthy level, and my autoimmune and mental health issues all cleared up. I was so amazed by the transformation that I left the PhD to start Paleo Canteen, to help spread the message and products that would allow others to benefit like I have. Q. Who are your role models and what do you most admire about them? A. I love the online nutrition and health community, particularly people like Dr David Unwin, Dr Aseem Malhotra, and Zoe Harcombe PhD who all got me interested in this scientific area. I love how they are all willing to look at the evidence and go against the grain if they have to. Q. You fed us all so well at Real Food Rocks (a delicious aromatic tagine I can still remember!) and your current menu includes lamb kofta and a wild fish laksa but what is your favourite dish from the menu at Paleo Canteen?
A. My personal favourite is the Provencal Beef Stew, but the number one best seller is the Moroccan Chicken Tagine. Q What would be your #1 piece of advice for anyone looking to follow a paleo or low carb diet diet? A. Don't over complicate it. It's about cutting out the bad stuff rather than adding weird and wacky foods in. Meat, fish, veg, eggs, and some fruit and nuts is a great place to start. Q. And finally, where can we find out more about Paleo Canteen?
A. Everything is at www.paleocanteen.co.uk, Twitter @paleocanteen, Instagram @paleocanteen and Facebook at facebook.com/paleocanteen
It was great chatting to Ally and finding out more about how eating a paleo and low carb diet helped him tackle his own personal health challenges on his journey back to good health. We hope that you will be inspired by these stories from our Primal Cut friends and cordially invite anyone to get in touch with us who has a story to share about food and their own personal journey back to good health. Get in touch at hello@primalcut.co.uk
Until next time!
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