Day 17 {Whole30}

I’ve always had a love affair with sweets. I imagine many people learn to express some amount of moderation as they grow up. Not me. If I eat one little sweet, I have to eat ALL THE SWEETS. There is no middle ground. I can’t eat 3 Thin Mints, I have to eat the whole roll. I can’t eat one bite of ice cream, I have to eat the pint.

I can remember being about 6 years old at Christmas time when me and my cousin went to town on a big tin of popcorn. You know, the ones the size of your torso. She ate the entire cheddar section and I ate the entire caramel section. I was throwing up all night long. I still remember vividly being curled up on the fuzzy bathroom mat next to the toilet all night. And, as if that was not enough to teach us, a few years later my uncle brought a couple dozen big sopaipillas. Me and this very same cousin each ate at least 6 of them if not a few more. Omigoodness. I felt awful for a couple days after that. Just awful.

But here I am, 17 days in and I haven’t seriously craved any dessert one single time. Sure, I’ve seen a few treats and thought they’d might be nice to have but there has been no grinding and gnashing of teeth for just one Oreo. Like I said, there is no middle ground. When I have zero sweets, I’m fine and can easily turn down any temptation. But when I have just one bite, well, let’s just say when my kids’ sweets go missing, they immediately question whether I ate it.

I can remember watching one of those weight loss shows when a woman lost 100 pounds or whatever and then she ran a marathon. To celebrate crossing the finish line, she ate 1 Reese’s Peanutbutter Cup. What? Is she crazy?? Just 1. If I had to run a marathon, you can be sure a Sam’s size bag of Reese’s would be waiting for me.

I’m not sure what to do with this information, but it’s good to understand my body’s reaction to sweet a little better.

Breakfast:

• Fried Eggs
• Power to the Greens Mix
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Banana Chia Pudding – Again, all the ingredients in this are technically Whole30 compliment but I know we aren’t supposed to eat it because it’s SWYPO. But I made it, so we’re eating it until it’s finished. Which now it is.

Lunch:

• Turkey Waldorf Salad – We ran out of the Primal Kitchen Mayo we’ve been using so I had to make mayo. I had to throw away the first batch which was super frustrating. It didn’t emulsify. My advice, make sure to use Extra Light Olive Oil. Regular EVOO is too strong of a flavor. Also, I tried to use a stick blender the first time and it didn’t work. Worked like a charm in the food processor, though. Also, the recipe for this I adapted from Allergy Mama. Basically 2 chopped apples, 2 chopped celery stalks, 1 pound of halved grapes, 1/2-1 cup of raisins. I threw in the leftover turkey from the Turkey drumsticks I made on Day 12. If you are going to add a protein, which is a good idea because there is so much fruit, you need about 2 cups of some cubed or shredded meat. Then mix in lemony mayo to taste.
• 1/2 a Sweet Potato with Cinnamon

Dinner: (Leftovers!)

• Pot Roast – I just throw in a bunch of veggies (big chunks of carrots, celery, onion, and potato) on the bottom of a crockpot, 1 cup of water or broth, then put the sirloin tip (lean cut) or chuck roast (lots of fat but very good) on top and cook on high for like 8 hours or something. Key to deliciousness is salting the meat enough.
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Roasted onions and red peppers
• Rainbow Slaw – This is delicious, but it made a huge amount. We still have one more serving left. Hopefully we’ll polish it off in the next couple days.

How We Felt:

Kraft has a huge headache all day. This is rare. He usually only gets headaches when he needs coffee. For me, my dreams are crazy vivid. Which is weird because I don’t ever really sleep long enough to dream.