Happy Blogaversary To Me (And Giveaway)!

You know how you torture your kids on their birthdays with their birth stories? How it’s really about all the pain and suffering YOU went through? Ha! Well, lower yourself into a comfortable Asian squat position and I’ll tell you how Nom Nom Paleo was born. Yes, just like your wee ones, you’ll have to sit through this story before you get your gift.

By the fall of 2010, I’d been following the Paleo diet like a good cavegirl for five months. I’d learned all the “whys” from Robb Wolf, Mark Sisson, Dallas & Melissa, and Diane Sanfilippo, and cleaned out all the gluten and beans from my pantry. But I really wanted to find tempting Paleo food blogs to show me how to do it and inspire me with pictures of pretty, pretty food. Is it so wrong to want my recipes with a side of food porn?

After some Googling, I stumbled across amazing blogs from Bill and Hayley, Melicious, and Sarah. Finally! Each site was unique and inspiring in its own way – whether it was teaching me an indispensible taco seasoning recipe, tips to get my kids onboard, or how to master double-unders – but all of them made me want to COOK.

One day, as I stood at the kitchen counter, trolling the Interwebs on my laptop, I spoke aloud to myself (which is a fairly common occurrence) and admitted, “I think I want to start my own Paleo food blog, too.”

Fitbomb overheard me. “Really? What would you call it?” he asked.

Without skipping a beat, I blurted out,“Nom Nom Paleo.”

“Huh. What’s a ‘Nom Nom’?”

“You know – the sound you make when you’re eating something incredibly mind-blowing, and you’re just scarfing it down. It’s like this: NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM.” I demonstrated by noisily devouring a piece of bacon.

That night, my hubby surprised me with a blog he’d started for me called Nom Nom Paleo. “If you’re thinking about blogging, you might as well jump right in,” he said. “Don’t over-think it. Just put up content that you’d find useful if you were a reader.”

So, on October 18th, 2010, I started doing just that. And I haven’t looked back.

(Okay – I’ll look back just once. Below is a screenshot of the site as it appeared one year ago.)

I decided to begin by scrupulously documenting what I ate at every meal, publishing recipes I created and/or modified, and offering tips on how to dodge gluten-bombs and side-step soy-drenched landmines when eating out. Gradually, I started connecting with like-minded Paleo bloggers through their sites, Facebook, and Twitter. It all culminated in a face-to-face Paleo lovefest at the 2011 Ancestral Health Symposium this past August where we all met and excitedly gabbed and gorged on real food. I think of all these folks in the Paleosphere (and many others who weren’t able to attend) as my friends, and am incredibly excited for them and their accomplishments.

Although I feel so lucky to have met and connected with so many amazing people through this blog, I’m most grateful and thankful for my partner in crime, Fitbomb. He’s responsible for kickstarting this blog and encouraging me to write about something I love. He helps proofread and edit my incoherent ramblings, shoots beautiful pictures (and fixes my crappy ones), designs my t-shirts, and reminds me to be true to my own voice. Babe, you’re more perfect for me than anyone else on the planet. I appreciate everything you do.

Okay enough with the sappy stuff. Who wants to hear about my giveaways?

To thank all my loyal readers, I’ll be announcing a new giveaway every Tuesday for the next five weeks! All the loot was generously donated by the companies/artisans who made them but they’re all Nom Nom Paleo-tested and approved.

My first giveaway is very near and dear to my heart because it was the first one that was ever offered on this site. Yep! It’s my favorite, Paleo-friendly condiment: Red Boat Fish Sauce! Five lucky winners will each win a 500-mL bottle of 40˚ N, generously donated by Cuong Pham, the owner of this family-run company .