Note from Heather: As a paleo teenager, I love finding other paleo teenagers and college-age paleo bloggers. I’ve been blogging here for nearly two years now, and I’ve been blessed to be able to connect with many other paleo food bloggers in my age group. The Paleo: The Next Generation series is meant to highlight their blogs and accomplishments while proving that you can eat paleo – and be a blogger! – at any age!
Today’s interview is with Joshua Weissman of Slim Palate. Joshua has an amazing story, an amazing blog, and an amazing book; and I’m so excited to be interviewing him! If you’re not following Joshua, get out from under your rock and go follow him!
Q: Tell us a little about yourself and how you found paleo/real food eating?
I discovered mine through an intense weight loss. After I lost more than 100 pounds to real food, I immediately fell in love with the real food community. I always had a passion for cooking, so as soon as I reconnected with my food that passion immediately reignited.
Q: How did you get into blogging and what’s been your favorite thing about it?
I got into blogging due to all of the other real food bloggers that I already followed during my journey. I decided to go through with that thought and share my story and recipes in hopes of inspiring others. My favorite thing about blogging is definitely the community, I absolutely love my audience more than anything else. I love talking to them, learning about their struggles and triumphs, and answering their burning questions.
Q: What’s the best thing about being a paleo teenager?
I think the best thing, mainly, is that we provide a different viewpoint and approach on food. If a young teenager has something to say about real food, I feel that people will enjoy the refreshing feeling they get when they realize that this community is a lot stronger than one might think.
Q: What’s the hardest thing about being a paleo teenager?
I suppose there is the possibility of not being taken seriously or the assumption that we are naive.
Q: What’s your favorite recipe on your blog and why?
That’s a hard question to answer since they are all very different. I would have to give a favorite from each category. With that said I do happen to make my chewy chocolate chunk cookies quite often, and the internet has deemed them to be the best “paleo” cookies. I recently uploaded a video I made of them to my Slim Palate Facebook page you can find here.
Q: What advice do you have for other young people for eating healthier in the teen to twenty something world?
Try to ease yourself into eating real food. Don’t overwhelm yourself with all of the buzzwords just yet. If anything, start going to farmers markets and making your food from scratch.
Q: Any other words of wisdom?
Reconnect yourself with food, and experience food again.
You can learn more about Joshua on his blog, Slim Palate. Don’t forget to follow him on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. You can check out his cookbook, The Slim Palate Paleo Cookbook, on Amazon.
This interview sites is so inspiring. I’m raising 2 preteens and having these words from young people expressing how food changed their lives, saved their lives and it’s preserving their lives is something I’m trying to convey to them. This makes it so much easier to explain why good food is so important. Great interview Heather and Joshua.