Hi! I’m so happy you stopped by!
My name is Michele and I’m the creator of Paleo Running Momma – a website dedicated to bringing you the most delicious paleo friendly meals and desserts.
When I changed my diet in 2013, I started searching the internet for tips, recipes, and other people’s stories that resonated with my own. The amount of resources and incredible people I found inspired me to create this blog. It was time for me to give back and share experiences, mistakes, successes and failures as I learned to cook and eat real, whole, delicious food and make it work for me as a runner, too.
I started eating paleo for some really unoriginal reasons – to address longstanding digestive problems (IBS), help myself heal from a painful running injury, and finally drop my diet coke and cereal habits (trust me – it was time!)
When I started getting serious about healing my body, I began by going “gluten free”, but quickly realized there was more than just gluten that could be in my way. I learned that by eliminating processed foods, grains and refined sugar from my diet, I could potentially improve not only my IBS and tendinitis, but my overall health – physical and mental – as well as become a stronger athlete.
After I completed my first Whole30, I was hooked!
I was able to figure out what foods I tolerated best and which ones I struggled with.
While I don’t eat 100% paleo (I get asked this a lot!) it’s more of a guideline for how I cook and eat generally.
Now, I’m here to share what I’ve learned about food, specifically, how to create truly delicious paleo and Whole30 meals, grain free baked goods and real-food desserts that you and your families will legitimately crave and want to eat on the regular! You’ll find loads of real-life recipes for all occasions that your brain will love as much as your body does!
Fun Facts About Me
1.) When I started this blog I was obsessed with long distance running (to put it mildly!) and (secretly) wanted paleo to turn me into a superwoman-style runner.
While I DID qualify for and run the Boston Marathon twice (2014 and 2016) it wasn’t thanks to a paleo diet – in fact, I qualified for Boston the first time while eating a SAD diet and the second time on Paleo.
That said, I believe you can absolutely run well (and long distances) while eating a paleo diet! I did this for about 2 years before scaling back on my training and getting into yoga, which is what I do the most now!
2.) I have 3 kids – Diana, Emily, and Drew. I’ve always gotten lots of questions about whether or not the kids eat paleo – the answer is yes and no! They eat the dinners I cook for them, but, aside from that I don’t put restrictions on them since I found it wasn’t mentally healthy for any of us! Truthfully, my kids do not have medical conditions that require them to eat strictly paleo, so, I take a moderate approach to what they eat and we’re all pretty happy this way.
3.) The first thing I ever tried to “cook” by myself was peanut butter at the age of 4. My “recipe” involved peanuts, some aluminum foil and a hammer. Needless to say, it didn’t work, but little did I know I was actually on the right track! If only I’d had a food processor – my nut butter dreams could’ve come true!
4.) The first thing I ever cooked on the stovetop was bacon. I almost get emotional when I think about it 😉 Oh if only I’d known how that moment would shape my future! Now, I’m about my bacon and basically only eat the sugar-free Whole30 friendly variety from U.S. Wellness Meats. This stuff is AMAZING! My family goes wild over it.
5.) Comfort food is my jam. Seriously, I don’t really think “emotional eating” is such a bad thing, especially if you’re eating delicious REAL food that makes your body, mind and soul happy!
All the recipes I post are ones that I’m EXCITED to eat and genuinely make me happy. I cover everything from breakfast to dessert (in fact, those two are my favorites!) including lots of Whole30 friendly family favorites. My goal for this website is to introduce you all to new favorites that truly make you happy to eat Paleo style! Paleo comfort food for life!
6.) I have a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University and worked as a social worker for 3 years before deciding to stay home full time to raise my kids. I had NO idea what a blog was at that time, and always planned to head back to work when my youngest started kindergarten.
I started this site 100% as an outlet, not with a business in mind, but when the time rolled around, I realized I felt so much more passion for creating recipes for Paleo Running Momma than for returning to my old career. I gave it a shot and put all my efforts into growing this blog, which meant learning a lot from scratch. The decision did not come easy, but I couldn’t be happier with where I am now!
If you have a question or would like to personally contact me, you can email me at the following address:
paleorunningmomma @ gmail . com
So glad to have found your blog. My MD has me on an anti-inflammatory paleo food plan with no grains or seeds, dairy free, gluten free, and soy free. Help!!!! I am having trouble finding breakfast or dessert ideas and I am not sure where to turn. I need to go through your recipes and see what I can find, I know I will need so more ingredients that I do not have on hand. I have been eating gluten and dairy free for 3 years but I am in chronic pain and I want to make this work.
any suggestions you might have are greatly appreciated!!!!!!
Thank you in advance!
Where can I buy your cookbook?!!!
Seriously! You need to publish a cookbook! I just spent a whole entire afternoon Pinning your recipes and now I’m thinking I should have just designated a WHOLE board to “The Paleo Running Momma”! LOL Really, you had me at “Hearty Paleo Banana Bread”! I was innocently googling for a 5-star Paleo banana bread (after numurous fails) and stumbled upon your recipe! It was love at first bite! My search for that holy grail of banana breads was over!!! So, of course after such success, I had to come here and see what other awesome recipes you might have up your sleeve!
I feel like I have stumbled upon a gold mine! I’ve been following a modified paleo diet for years (way before it was a “thing”!)! After I was diagnosed with food allergies, I began changing my diet but it wasn’t until my son became sick and was too diagnosed with food allergies that I really became serious about what we ate! He was only 9 at the time and it was so hard to watch birthdays, holidays, school parties, family events, etc pass by without him partaking in the food festivities. It broke my heart to send him to parties with my sad homemade substitute. 🙁 I made it my mission to find recipes that would not only be healthy but could easily pass for the “real deal”! Yes, health was the first and foremost priority, but the social isolation we felt then was something I knew needing fixing as well!
Needless to say, I am ever grateful to all the bloggers, such as yourself who have dedicated the time, energy and ingredients to make my mission possible! Thank you!!! Now, I’m happy to report that both my son (who is now 16 with the insatiable teenage appetite) and I are healthy, happy and never deprived! I can’t thank you enough too for the “family” serving sizes. I get tired to having to double recipes. Maybe it’s just me, but it often sems that the “paleo” recipes/lifestyle caters to the single folks. :p It’s good to meet another family doing this together! 🙂
Now…for that cookbook! 😉
btw: if you ever need a taste-tester… 😉
Oh I would love to do a cookbook! Thanks for all your positive feedback – it truly means SO much to me to hear from readers who make my recipes and find them to be helpful! And YES to those family portions too!
So I officially start my Paleo journey next week! i’m meal planning and almost everything I have is from you! I, too have some sort of IBS and struggle with digestion so I love reading about some good old fashioned success! I’m the only one in my house doing paleo so I think I’ll be halving or quartering a lot of those recipes! Any suggestions on dos or don’ts as I start this???
Your recipes are AMAZING!!! Truly it has made going paleo so easy and my son LOVES the food! Thank you for sharing.
So happy you’re enjoying them! Yay!
I agree with a previous comment! When you publish your cookbook, I would definitely buy it! I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s after my first son was born. Slowly getting to grain free and sugar free, but in the world we live in it can be so tough. I am loving the arsenal you have given me with your recipes so far! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! 🙂
I have been following your site from Pinterest. I am sure you get plenty of emails about your site. I have tried several of your recipes and they are delicious. I have been on a Paleo lifestyle since December of last year due to health issues and our family struggles with being consistent with healthy eating habits. I try to find tasty recipes to encourage them to continue eating healthy. Your recipes have been delightful and have had a positive impact upon my cooking. Thanks for sharing your recipes and tips.
I have one question: I am having problems viewing your site due to all the ads. Is there another way to view your recipes without all the ads popping up on the screen. It takes a while to download the page and get to the actual printable recipe. Any advice would be helpful as I have expressed I love your recipes.
Thanks so much for your time,
Hi! Glad you’re enjoying the recipes. For an ad-free recipe you can click the print button within the recipe box and an ad-free page will pop up. Hope this helps!
Hi Michele, I am Micaela, started Paleo just one month ago and writing from Italy! Thank you for your inspirational blog and receipe and glad to found you!!
Greetings from Italy !
Hi! So happy to hear you’re enjoying everything and thanks for letting me know!
Hi Michele,
Kinda stumbled on to your website and recipes and love what you offer. Three weeks in to Paleo after my second bout with cancer (both caught very early and no chemo or radiation needed). Like you, I thought it was time to eat healthier and say goodbye to my 4x/day Diet Coke ‘addiction’. Feeling so much better!
Thanks for posting and please keep it up!
Really cool. My background is in social work too but I am also now at home with my babies.
Ok, I am new to all of the Paleo Whole 30 and Fodwad(?)! I will Google them as I really need help getting my life back to enjoyable and I know starting with my eating habits is the best place!
I am working my way through a major bout of depression and ptsd as I became the victim of elder abuse by my son, I was 70 at the time. I was doing great until then! Years ago I was diagnosed diabetic and hyper tension, runs in the family, I lost my Mother and Younger Brother both mush too young. I have worked hard to bring my numbers down, I do not want to start sliding backward because of the mental health issues!
I will look up the alternative ways of eating tonight, after my computer cools down. I live in SoCal. How do I find your inspirations and recipes. I still love to cook!!raf