I’m so happy to bring you our third installment of CaveTalk featuring George Bryant of the insanely popular blog Civilized Caveman Cooking Creations. Anyone who follows George or has visited his site knows that not only can this man cook up some beautifully tasty food but he is incredibly empowering and motivational. I am incredibly excited to share with your our CaveTalk!
LIVEtheFIT: Can you tell everyone a little bit about how you came to live a Paleo/Primal lifestyle?
George Bryant: My entrance into Paleo happened by mistake. I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 and happened to stumble across Robb Wolf’s book, The Paleo Solution while I was on an outpost. I had to stay up that whole night so I forced myself to read. Since I am not like most people, I never read so it had an awakening effect on me. I started reading and was hooked. I ended up finishing the book in about 2 days and knew I had to make a change immediately. I had tried every diet and routine my entire adulthood from carb loading, to low carb, to chicken breast and broccoli with everything from endurance racing to strength training and nothing ever worked. This book explained to me how simple it could be and I decided to dive head first and couple it with my new found love of CrossFit.
LTF: What sparked you to create Civilized Caveman Cooking Creations?
GB: I returned from Afghanistan in March of 2011 ready to tackle this Paleo thing. Problem was I had never cooked anything unless it came out of a box with directions. So I embarked my journey to teach myself how to cook while eating Paleo. I would bring recipes to the gym for people to taste and they would always want the recipe so I decided to make a Facebook Page. Came up with the clever name at the spur of that moment and started posting notes with recipes. After about a month of posting more people were seeing them and it was hard to navigate so I started a blog. Then came the intricate world of teaching myself web design which still confuses me almost two years later.
LTF: Many may not realize that you have a full time job as well as run your incredibly popular website Civilized Caveman Cooking Creations, where do find your passion to spread the word (and your delicious recipes) with readers?
GB: My passion comes from a very deep and personal experience. I started my website to share my journey of health and cooking and to show people how easy it could be to maintain this lifestyle and get healthy. I just wish I had the same knowledge I possess now 6 or 7 years ago when my father started getting sick. In December of 2008 I lost my father to metastatic brain and lung cancer after watching the food and lifestyle choices he made deteriorate his health. I had numerous nurses, doctors, friends, and strangers help me and guide me through a tough 2 years and always are there to lend encouragement and support, often times at the sacrifice of their personal lives. These people’s actions stuck with me and I vowed to make a difference in this world, whether it is saying good morning, holding a door, buying a strangers coffee or gas, or reaching out on my website. My website started kind of on accident and I never thought it would get to the point it is at now. But since it is here, I utilize it to help people spread the good word and pay it forward as often as possible. It is from each and every fan, comment, email, tweet, etc. that I get the inspiration to sacrifice everything I can to ensure I touch as many lives as possible.
LTF: You’ve also shared some incredibly personal stories with your readers, i.e. your battles with your body image and bulimia, what have people’s reactions been to you after sharing your struggles?
GB: You know it took me 12 years to even admit to myself that I had body image issues and an eating disorder so sharing it wasn’t the easiest thing. I have to say though, the post I did on bulimia was the best post I have ever done. It not only solidified my belief that I was better but it touched thousands and thousands of people and I got over 500 personal emails of people it helped. I would have been happy with 1, but 500 blew my mind. It was that post that made me realize I have a voice and a story that I can use to help so many other people’s lives and that is my future intention. I will never live in shame for anything I have done or mistakes I have made. I will always learn from them and grow and share my struggles with the world to help others on their journey.
LTF: You recently released your first e-cookbook with Abel James, The Caveman Feast (Congrats!), not to mention the hundreds of recipes on your site, any fun stories behind any of your recipes and if you had to choose which would be your favorite?
GB: I did recently release my book and my business partner and amazing friend Abel James was a huge hand in that. He provided me with the help and support I needed to make it happen and we make an amazing team. Everyone should look out in the future for more stuff we can do to help people. Honestly, I think every one of my recipes comes with a funny story since most of them are mistakes or trials that just happen to work. Most people don’t know that my whole Paleo journey has been many journeys in one for me. Web design, photography, COOKING, marketing, etc. so half the time I am just as nervous as people scared of making recipes to create them and put them on the interwebs. I have such a simple palate and I am always afraid that I will think something tastes wonderful and it will be a culinary disaster on my website. But, hands down, my favorite recipe happened by mistake about 3 weeks ago and it is my Paleo Banana Bread. I can say this is my favorite, as well as all of my fan’s favorites as it has become my most viewed recipe over my old king and still favorite as well, my crock pot pulled pork. Honestly though, this banana bread is the best I have ever had PERIOD and it is so simple to make. No need for ripe bananas or sweeteners and you get this amazing tasting banana bread with endless variations to be made.
LTF: You’ve made quite a name for yourself in the Paleo/ Primal community what would say you’re the most proud of?
GB: Honestly, I still feel like I am just a guy sharing my recipes and staying connected with my fans. I definitely don’t feel like a Paleo heavy hitter because I could never compete with the likes of my idols in the community like Robb Wolf, Mark Sisson, Diane Sanfilippo (Balanced Bites), Hayley Mason and Bill Staley (Food Lovers Kitchen), Michelle Tam (Nom Nom Paleo), and many more. These people were all my idols when I started this, and even though I am now lucky enough to call them all friends, I still look up to each and every one of them. Honestly though, trying to not tug on the heart strings here, I am most proud of the fact that I have been able to use my life and my story to reach out and touch lives and make a difference. I personally read and respond to every comment and every email and I can tell you I cry on a daily basis when I get the you helped change my life emails. Those are the proudest moments of my life, being able to use my struggles to help someone else overcome theirs.
LTF: If you had to choose 5 foods/ingredients to use for the rest of your life what would they be?
GB: I hate questions like this because I always feel like I could have so many more than five, but then I realize there are 5 things I always fall back on for emergencies or just when I am in a culinary funk. In no particular order they are:
- Bacon (shocker right, given my new t-shirts haha)
- Eggs
- MeeNut Butter
- Sweet Potatoes
- Cinnamon
I honestly feel like with that list of ingredients, I could make at least 20 different recipes which would easily tie me over for years. I figure if I ever got limited to those items and I needed veggies, I could just go out back and eat my grass but I prefer my list anyways.
Next month’s CaveTalk will feature Jason Seib author of the upcoming book The Paleo Coach.
The post CaveTalk: George Bryant aka The Civilized Caveman appeared first on LIVEtheFIT.