Vanessa

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.

One completely unforeseen result of doing the Whole30 is how much us doing it encourages other people to think about it. Of course, not because of us, but more because you can only hear about something so many times before it seems like a good idea.

I, for example, heard about it a year ago when a mommy blogger I used to read did it. I thought it was crazy. So hard to do with kids. What was she thinking? As if she didn’t already have her hands full. Then I put it out of my mind. Then starting about a 2 months ago, all media shifted toward detox cleanses that are going to get you “summer bod ready”. I always laughed. There is no way that I could make it days and days of only drinking juice or smoothies or whatever. But I kept hearing about them. On TV, on blogs, on the radio. After hearing about all these juice only or smoothie only cleanses over and over, the Whole30 didn’t seem so crazy. Cut out a few things, eat more greens. And, let’s face it, we can still eat bacon. Any diet that allows you to still eat bacon has to have something going for it.

I don’t think we’re inspirational by any stretch of the imagination but I think if we can do it, that proves that really, really anyone can if they want. 🙂

Breakfast:

• Kerbey Lane Harvest Omelette – no cheese, added spinach
• Home Fries – I forgot to bring my own ketchup. Boo me.
• Fruit

Lunch:

• Leftover Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole – This has lasted forever. We’ve eaten it at least 10 times this week and we still have about 2 servings left. But I’m still not sick of it. It’s a really solid dish.
• Hard-boiled egg

Dinner: [Had dinners with friends]

• Hamburger patty
• Rainbow Slaw
• Potato and Green Bean Salad
• Watermelon – a lot of it
• Banana Chia Pudding – This is not in the “spirit” of Whole30. All ingredients are technically compliant but they lump this in with paleo pancakes or whatever. In Whole30 lingo, it is SWYPO. I made it as dessert for our kiddos but they hated it so we weren’t going to waste it. They’re right, it wasn’t delicious, but it was fine.

Prep:

• I chopped about a million peppers. I didn’t get around to making those stuffed peppers and they were going bad so we have pounds of frozen chopped red bell pepper now.

How We Felt:

Part of the reason I decided to do Whole30 is that I feel really crummy at times. Like my joints can get really achy and I just feel really run down. I’m not going to lie, this hasn’t really gone away. I still feel like this and we’re halfway through the program. I’m not discourage, I just really wonder what the source is.

As I’ve mentioned before, our oldest has food allergies. She is allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts. Pretty much she’s allergic to joy. Kidding, kidding. Kinda. I realized today that doing this Whole30 has made me walk in her shoes a little bit. Even though we have walked the food allergy journey by her side and have been the ones advocating for her, we still had no idea what it meant to not be able to eat whatever we wanted.

Today we attended a really lovely baptism with some really lovely friends. Afterward, we went to the reception and for the first time at an event, I was limited in what I was able to eat. Now, if I eat a piece of lasagna, I’m not going to need an EpiPen and an ambulance ride, but it was a little glimpse into the life of a food allergic kiddo.

While for her, not being able to eat cake and goodies can sometimes make her desperately sad, for me I wasn’t so much sad I couldn’t eat, I was worried about having to talk about why I wasn’t eating or why I passed on the cake. I didn’t want to explain the Whole30 and every time I walked through the kitchen I got anxious that someone was going to push a plate of something into my hand.

Hospitality is a huge thing to me. Remember, I come from a long line of intimidating Mexican mothers that will literally shove food into your mouth if they think you need it. It is important for me to be hospitable to my guests but also to accept the hospitality of others. So not eating food that someone is offering me is almost painful. I feel like I might as well slap them. Food = love and if you reject food then you reject love.

But you know what? Everything went fine. Nobody noticed that we didn’t eat plates and plates of food. Nobody noticed that we didn’t have cake. And we were Whole30 compliant. Us for the win!

Breakfast:

• Green Monster Smoothie
• Egg and Sausage Casserole – Thank the good, sweet Lord that we finally finished this today. No more leftovers.
• Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole – I’m still not sick of this. It’s still really tasty.
• Perderson Farm Sugar-Free Bacon

Lunch: [not pictured] at a reception

• fruit
• veggies

Dinner:

• Buffalo Ranch and Garlic Basil Chicken Wings – Super, super good. Worth the hassle of getting the grill setup.
• Ranch – from Whole30 cookbook.
• Carrot Sticks
• Celery Sticks
• Rainbow Slaw – I’ve never been a big fan of coleslaw but this was surprisingly delicious.

How We Felt:

Halfway done. We’ve started discussing what our eating is going to look like post-Whole30. It is an interesting conversation. I would hate to come out of this and go straight back to eating the way we did before Whole30.

Holy cow! Week 2, check!

Our eating is definitely better than it ever has been but with such a big change we are really slacking on other things.

We aren’t sleeping that much. I have to cook so much. Not a complaint, just a reality. I either stay up late prepping things for the next day or I prep during the day when I would usually be doing other chores, like laundry. So I stay up late doing laundry.

Then since we’re sleeping less, we’re waking up late which throws the whole day off. Brandon hasn’t gone to workout all week. He usually goes every weekday. I’ve been missing several classes I usually attend because dinner has been taking longer to cook and I don’t make it to class on time.

That being said, I don’t think that the Whole30 is affecting us negatively, we just have to learn how to absorb this new thing added to our schedule and routine.

Breakfast:

• Egg and Sausage Casserole
• Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde
• 1/2 an Orange
• 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Spinach

Lunch: left is my lunch, right was Kraft’s.

• Leftover Ginger-Sesame Salad / Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole
• Carrot Sticks
• Celery Sticks with Almond Butter
• Hard-boiled Egg

Dinner:

• Pot Roast and Veggies
• Acorn Squash
• Cashew Cookie Larabar – I know, I know, we’re not supposed to use as dessert but I did. Sue me. 🙂

Prep:

• Cut 2 bunches of celery into celery sticks

How We Felt:

I think Week 2 was definitely harder than Week 1. I wasn’t as organized and a lot of non-Whole30 things fell through the cracks but I’m assuming this is just what happens when developing a new routine. I definitely want to be more organized for the upcoming week.

Week 2 Meal Roundup

Day 8:

• Breakfast: Fried Eggs, Pederson Farms (sugar-free) bacon, Green Monster Smoothie.
• Lunch: Rudy’s Brisket and Turkey, Lots of fruit
• Dinner: Tuna Salad with jalapeños and avocado, Handful of Almonds.

Day 9:

• Breakfast: Two fried eggs, 1/2 a Sweet Potato, Garlic and Herb Chicken Sausage, 1/2 Apple with Almond Butter
• Lunch: Cauliflower Fried Rice, Roasted Broccoli and Cherry Tomatoes, Carrot Sticks, 1/2 an Apple, Grapes
• Dinner: Leftover Tuna Salad, 1/2 an avocado, Handful of Blueberries

Day 10:

• Breakfast: Skillet Eggs, 1/2 an Apple and Almond Butter, 1 Breakfast Turkey Sausage Patty
• Lunch: Sweet Potato Noodle and Apple Spinach Salad
• Dinner: Hamburger Patty, 1/2 an Avocado, Salsa, Spinach, 1/2 a Baked Potato

Day 11:

• Breakfast: Fried Eggs, Spinach, Banana and Almond Butter
• Lunch: Potato and Buffalo Chicken Casserole, 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter
• Dinner: Baked Chicken Breast with Chimichurri Sauce, 1/2 and Avocado, Spinach

Day 12:

• Breakfast: Two Fried Eggs, Spinach, Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage, Handful of Blueberries
• Lunch: Ginger-Sesame Chicken Salad, 1/2 an Apple
• Snack: Cashew Cookie Larabar and a handful of Roasted Plantain Chips.
• Dinner: Slow Cooker Turkey Legs, Kale

Day 13:

• Breakfast: Egg and Sausage Casserole, Spinach, Banana and Almond Butter
• Lunch: Leftover Ginger-Sesame Salad, Carrot Sticks, Handful of Blueberries, Pecan Pie Larabar
• Dinner: Milkcan Supper

Day 14:

• Breakfast: Egg and Sausage Casserole, Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde, 1/2 an Orange, 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter, 1/2 an Avocado, Spinach
• Lunch: Leftover Ginger-Sesame Salad / Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole, Carrot Sticks, Celery Sticks with Almond Butter, Hard-boiled Egg
• Dinner: Pot Roast and Veggies, Acorn Squash, Cashew Cookie Larabar

As if overbuying greens last week wasn’t lesson enough, for whatever reason this week I completely overbought red bell peppers. And meat.

I think I bought at least 15 red bell peppers. They were crazy on sale. Like 1/3 what they usually are so I decided I was going to make stuffed peppers. For an army.

And I’m not sure why I bought so much meat. I currently have 40 chicken wings, 4 pounds of ground turkey, and a 4 pound sirloin tip. And that’s left over from the week.

Thankfully all this can go into the freezer.

Here’s how to freeze peppers if you’re curious. Don’t skip the cookie sheet step unless you want to use an ice pick every time you need a certain amount of peppers out of the bag.

After yesterday’s post with some cooking hacks I like to use, I forgot to tell you about my favorite. The Garbage Bowl. Yup. It’s the best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpQVVJMGWsk

Of course, you can use any bowl, like a mixing bowl or something but I have the orange one and it just makes me happy. And it’s just so darn useful. Sure, our trashcan is right next to the counter where I do all my chopping and prepping, but if I have to carry the trash across the counter then step on the pedal to open the trash, I always end up making a mess. Having that handy little bowl right there. Genius. And no Rachael Ray is not paying me. She just taught me a lot 🙂

Breakfast:

• Egg and Sausage Casserole – This isn’t bad, but I think I’m finding that I just don’t like egg casseroles.
• Spinach
• Banana and Almond Butter – I have a love affair with almond butter. I admit it.

Lunch:

• Leftover Ginger-Sesame Salad
• Carrot Sticks
• Handful of Blueberries
• Pecan Pie Larabar

Dinner:

• Milkcan Supper – I make this dish all the time. It’s great for big groups. To make it Whole30, just sub the beer for some chicken broth and make the kids eat all the corn. Just because I prefer it, I swap out brussel sprouts for the cabbage.

Prep:

• Chopped up about 4 pounds of carrot sticks

How We Felt:

No complaints today.

When Olivia (our first kiddo) was born, we lived in a condo that gave us free cable. It was awesome. So me and newborn Olivia would watch hours and hours of Food Network shows back in the day when people still, you know, cooked on the channel. I picked up a few tricks then that I’m still using today. They have made my life in the kitchen infinitely easier. Especially with all the food prep you have to do during a Whole30, I’m glad these tricks make it fast. Here are the top 3:

1. Slicing an apple: I actually picked this up from Rachael Ray even though I couldn’t find her video. There are millions of ways to cut an apple but this is by far the fastest and it gives you uniform slices, perfect for dipping:

2. Dicing an onion: This technique I learned from Alton Brown, but again I couldn’t find his video of it. First cutting the onion radially and then dicing is so much easier for me than the parallel cut.:

3. Washing lettuce/greens/herbs: On the Whole30 we eat so much salad. I would hate washing lettuce if I didn’t know this trick that makes it so speedy. Again, credit for this method goes to Rachael Ray but I couldn’t find a video of it so I’ll have to describe it to you.

Fill up a clean sink with cold water (not warm or it will wilt the lettuce). Tear apart your lettuce so that the leaves are loose and not held together at the base. Dunk the leaves in the water and swish around to loosen the dirt from the leaves. Then leave them in the water and don’t touch them for about a minute. This will allow the dirt to settle to the bottom. Then carefully scoop the lettuce out of the water, trying not to disturb the dirt that has settled. Dry the lettuce on kitchen towels or in a salad spinner.

This is what our water looked like after washing some kale today.

 

 

Breakfast:

• Two Fried Eggs
• Spinach
• Trader Joe’s Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage
• Handful of Blueberries

Lunch:

• Ginger-Sesame Chicken Salad
• 1/2 an Apple (Kraft cut up the apple which is why it’s not sliced like the above video teaches 😉 )

Snack: I couldn’t help myself today so I had a Cashew Cookie Larabar (so good, my fav so far) and a handful of Trader Joe’s Roasted Plantain Chips.

Dinner:

• Slow Cooker Turkey Legs
• Kale

This is one of the easiest recipes I make. I got it out of a cookbook from the library ages ago. I don’t even know the name of it. You put two bunches of washed kale (stems removed), in the bottom of the crockpot with 1 cup of chicken stock. I can fit 6 turkey drumsticks on top of the kale in my crockpot. You must remove the skin from the drumsticks (Shout out to Rachel for learning the trick to getting the skin off easily is to use a paper towel. Gives you a better hold.). Then rub the drumsticks with olive oil and sprinkle salt, pepper, dried parsley, and paprika. Close lid securely. I cook mine on high for 6 hours.

Prep:

• Roasted 2 sweet potatoes
• Roasted 2 acorn squash

How We Felt:

Kraft is feeling hungry for each meal which is a total revelation. Ever since I’ve know him (which is about 12 years now 😮) He has never been able to tell when his body is hungry. He would just be fine and then totally hangry before hangry was even a thing. It was like a Snickers commercial. I would tell him he needed to eat something and after he ate, he’d be like, yeah, I guess I was hungry. He just could never read what his body was feeling. But now he can. He’s getting better at being able to tell when he is full and when mealtime comes around, he knows that he is hungry. It sounds insignificant now that I’ve typed it, but it is kinda a big deal.

This might be weird, but I think I’m sweating more when I workout. Ew. I know. You click on here to see what’s going on and you don’t want to hear about me sweating. But it’s what you get today. There are a few reasons why I think it is happening. Maybe my body is better at doing what it is supposed to be doing. Or maybe I’m exercising harder. My body is performing better so I’m working out more intensely and my body has to cool off more. Just a guess but I thought it was notable 🙂

Ok, no more talk about sweat. Pinky promise.