whole30

When you do a Whole30 the rest of your life kinda gets put on hold. At least as much as it can be put on hold. We have all these projects around the house that really need doing, but we decided that our health needed to be given priority at the moment so we are focusing on that. Today I got restless, as I so often do, about all these projects just sitting around stagnate. So I picked one and jumped in.

We bought some great handmade bunkbeds from a friend about 6 months ago. They’ve have been sitting in our garage in bunkbed limbo. We weren’t sure the girls were ready, and then they were. We couldn’t decided between staining them or painting them, and then we did decide. We couldn’t decide what color to paint them, and then we chose white. And then they sat, and sat, and sat. Today the babies went to sleep and I basically ran to Home Depot so I wouldn’t lose my nerve, interrogated the very nice gentleman in the paint department about the best way to do this, and came home with a gallon of paint, a roller, and a brush.

I’m hoping to have these done by Sunday. Cross your fingers. Maybe this will distract me through the next 4 days. Kraft also decided to mail order a hops plant. Hops, like what you use to brew beer. So while I was in the garage painting, Kraft was in the yard digging and planting. I think we may have acquired ADD in our older age.

Breakfast:

• Egg Muffins – These take a decent amount of time to make, but they make 20 muffins. 20 muffins! And you can freeze some as it says in the directions. They were very tasty.
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Handful of Pecans
• 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter

Have you watched Trevor Noah’s 2013 Comedy Special “African American“? You should, it’s on Netflix. In it he pokes fun at Oprah when she is giving things away and is like, “You get a Lexus, you get a Lexus, everyone gets a Lexus!” Well, that’s how I feel about these egg muffins. Everyone gets a muffin! I will only have to assemble breakfast for the next couple days and not make it. #awesomesauce

Lunch:

• Leftover Stuffed Pepper Stuffing
• Leftover Bacon Veggies
• 1/2 an Apple (I know, we’re obsessed with apples)

Dinner: (Not pictured, first I forgot to take a picture before I started eating so I asked Kraft to do it, but he forgot, too.)

• Round Steak with Leftover Chimichurri Sauce – I just cooked the steak in a pan and topped with the sauce. So good
• Leftover Broccoli Slaw
• Sweet and Salty Broccoli Salad

How We Felt:

Tired from the painting. But fine from the Whole30.

If I were to say that on Day 25 I realize the necessity of prepping food for the week, your response would be, “Duh.” I know it’s so obvious but it is so hard to make yourself do it. You need a solid 2-3 hours to get a good head start on the week. And you know how much prep I did for this week? Zero. Nada. Not a darn thing. Now it’s biting me in the butt. Or in the belly, I guess, because I’m so hungry and I have to make everything at every meal, everyday. It is no good. Do not be like me. Prep on the weekend. Or on a weekday. Or something. Nike was right, just do it.

As I was meal planning for the week I came across this recipe: Massaged Kale Salad with Pistachios, Cherries, and Grilled Flank Steak. Just read the name of that recipe one more time. Have you ever wanted to be kale so much in your life?

There are some days when making a salad like this sounds great. Ooolala, so fancy and I also have 5 zillion extra hours, let’s make this salad! I would love to eat this salad. The picture of it is mouth-watering. But this is the absolute last thing I want to make in my last week of the Whole30. For this salad you have to de-pit the cherries, shell the pistachios, make the dressing (Am I the only one that hates making dressings? Weird, I know.), then massage (literally) the dressing into the kale, then prep the grill, then prep the meat, then grill the meat, then slice the meat, then slice an avocado, then assemble it just so. Too much. This would have been a good recipe for Week 1. By Week 4 your just eating cold hotdogs and taking bites out of a whole zucchini.

Hopefully this week you’ll see some good and EASY recipes from me that don’t drive me back into the arms of donuts because I just don’t want to cook anymore.

Breakfast: (The usual)

• 2 Fried Eggs
• 1/2 an Apple
• Spinach
• Avocado
• 2 Slices of Deli Turkey

Lunch:

• Leftover Stuffed Peppers Stuffing
• Spinach
• 1/2 an Avocado
• 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter
• Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde

Dinner:

• Crockpot Mexican Chicken – OMG, this is the first time I’ve put chicken in the crockpot. Where has this been all my life? It’s so fast. I forgot that I had a slow cooker recipe today until after lunch and I still had time to throw it together. I thought this recipe was ok. But my three year old loved it and asked that I make it for her birthday dinner.
• Broccoli Slaw – This was ok, too. But it was super fast to throw together. I think I just got a prepackaged broccoli slaw mix that wasn’t the best. I kept ending up with really fibrous bits while chewing. I think next time I’ll wait to make this with the mix from Trader Joe’s that people rave about so much.
• Spinach
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde – This actually doesn’t have much flavor at all, but our salsa options are pretty limited.

How We Felt:

We’re feeling pretty good. We might have hit TIGER BLOOD for us. I’ve been feeling really great during workouts and have been recovering great. I’m not achy. I don’t really sleep much but when I do sleep, I fall asleep super fast which isn’t how I used to be. My energy is great. I have all 5 kiddos home with me (because, you know, summer) and I’m amazed at how I don’t faceplant fall asleep in my bed with the clothes that I wore all day. Hmm, maybe there’s something to this Whole30.

 

My biggest fear of starting Whole30 was diet = hunger. There have definitely been some days that I’ve felt hungry. 20 minutes after lunch today, visions of ham and cheese sandwiches or bowls of cereal danced around me before I shook them out of my head.

Today I think I finally figured out why I’ve been hungry sometimes. According to the Whole30 rules you should eat a pre- and post-workout mini-meal. Your pre-workout meal should be a protein and a fat (I usually do a hard-boiled egg and 1/2 and avocado) 15-75 minutes before working out. Post-workout you should be eating a protein and a starch (I’ve made a couple of recipes that are egg and potato casseroles) 15-30 minutes after you finish your work out.

I’m always running late when I leave for the Y. I don’t get a chance to plan/make/eat these pre and post workout meals. I’m lucky if I remember to grab my gym card. But on the off-chance that I did have a chance to eat these mini-meals, I don’t get hungry. At all. All day. It really does make a big difference. When I don’t eat these mini-meals I can guarantee that I’ll be hungry half an hour after I eat my next meal. I really just need to make workout mini-meals a priority to prep each week.

Breakfast:

• 2 Fried Eggs
• Spinach
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Handful of Pecans
• 1/2 and Apple with Almond Butter

Lunch:

• Turkey Roll-Ups
• 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter
• Applegate Hot Dog with Mustard
• 1/2 an Avocado

Dinner:

• Turkey and Riced Cauliflower Stuffed Peppers – This was not super delicious. But the best thing I learned from this recipe is how to rice (verb) cauliflower and how to roast it. This is the best way so far that we’ve had cauliflower rice. The roasting keeps it from tasting, well, like cauliflower.
• Bacon and Veggies – This dish is brilliant and perfect. So easy. A friend brought it to us after we had the twins. You throw whatever veggies you have on hand (I used brussel sprouts, green beans, onion, carrots, potato, zucchini). Dice ’em or slice ’em. Toss in olive oil and salt and pepper. Put in a casserole dish. Lay a whole package of bacon over the top of veggies (don’t overlap the bacon or it won’t get all crispy). Cook in oven. I’m still not sure what temp and how long, but I usually just throw it in with whatever is in the oven already. So today I cooked it at 350° for about 45 minutes.

How We Felt:

We’re feeling great. But I am getting really tired of cooking. Throwing together a sandwich is just so quick and easy and doesn’t require more dirty pots or pans. I wish there was an equivalent in Whole30-land.

I used to work with a really wonderful woman who, for lunch everyday, would heat up a frozen Amy’s burrito. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Amy’s Indian Mattar Paneer, but she would seriously eat one burrito. Every. Day. I made some joke about it once when we were eating together and she told me, “I eat to live, I don’t live to eat.”

I think about line all the time. It just really struck me. Part of me thought she was calling me a fatty for caring about having some variety in my lunch menu. But I don’t think that was it. Maybe she meant that she wasn’t a slave to food. Whatever the meaning, it was a curious thing to say.

Today I took a meal to my friend who just had a beautiful baby boy. I made them the Chicken Cacciatore we had last week. I added spaghetti and Rice Krispies to round out the meal. She texted me later that it turned out really delicious (it is a really good recipe, bookmark it!) and that her three year old had 3 servings of everything.

For whatever reason, I thought about this “eat to live” line. I think that God has designed our body to love good food. Sure, we need to love food in moderation just like we should have moderation in all parts of our life, but there is not much that can rival a really good meal with really good friends. Or a good meal to lift a person’s spirits when things are really shitty or stressful. Or cooking for someone and watching them savor every bite because it’s so delicious. Or eating a meal where all the flavors are so perfectly balanced that you have to close your eyes or do the this-is-so-good-I-have-to-do-a-little-shimmy dance.

I don’t think the sole purpose of food is to give our body energy. There is something deeper to food than this.

I think in order to have a healthy relationship with food we have to accept that we love good food. We do. Now what we consider good food can change. And doing this Whole30 I have found recipes for some really amazing food. But I think the goal of Whole30 – to help you achieve food freedom – doesn’t mean that we should only eat for the energy it gives us. We have to accept that food is a way to connect with people, a way to show love and receive love. Food is a way that we can relate to the world. We just have to figure out the best way to do it for our health.

Breakfast:

• Sweet Potato Hash Browns – I almost set our house on fire cooking the sweet potato in the microwave like the recipe says. I also made the hash brown patties too big and I tried to cook them on the griddle so they didn’t crisp up as they would have had I fried them. The whole thing was soggy. Not the best. But it might be my fault not following the recipe closely enough. Except for the sweet potato in the microwave. I can’t see how that would ever work.
• Trader Joe’s Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage
• 2 Fried Eggs
• Fruit

Lunch:

• Spinach with Cherry Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegrette
• Hard-boiled Egg
• 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter

Dinner: (All the leftovers)

• Applegate Hot Dog
• 1/2 a Hamburger Patty
• Grapes
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Spinach
• Hard-Boiled Egg
• Leftover Potato and Green Bean Salad

How We Felt:

Sometimes you just get tired of cooking. Thank God for leftovers.

Also, the author of the blog – Pretend It’s a Donut – wins at life. I haven’t read her stuff, I just wish I had come up with a blog name like that.

The weekends are the hardest part of doing a Whole30. Our schedule is usually different, we’re hanging out with friends, I’m spent at the end of the week and just don’t feel like cooking much. It’s not hard to eat Whole30 compliant food, what’s hard is to not graze. Since our meals are pretty much eating leftovers or snack-y things, I want to pick at food all day. It is hard to make myself put a whole meal together and sit down and eat it.

I realize how deeply ingrained snacking is related to relaxing in my head. I just want to kick back and munch. I’m so used to the weekend being my splurge days. My normal routine was to eat well during the week and on the weekends treat myself.

I have not yet been able to keep myself from snacking on the weekends. Especially right now in the summer when all the fruit is so cheap and delicious. I just swing by the fridge for a handful of grapes or blueberries throughout the day. At least the food is still compliant. Even though I might be good at not snacking during the week, as next weekend is our last Whole30 weekend, I’m going to try really hard to not snack.

Breakfast:

• Breakfast Pizza Quiche
• Handful of the Trader Joe’s Cruciferous Mix
• 1/2 and Avocado
• 1/2 an Apple

Lunch:

• Leftover Tuna Salad
• Bacon
• Celery Sticks with Ranch Dressing
• 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter
• 2 Hard-Boiled Eggs

Dinner:

• Hamburger Patty
• Potato and Green Bean Salad – This is the 2nd time I’ve made this, it definitely tastes better if you dice the potato smaller. The dressing soaks in better.
• All-Day Breakfast Salad
• Grapes, Strawberries, and Pineapple

How We Felt:

Nothing much to report today. Just feeling snacky.

If you’re a guy and talking about lady business makes you uncomfortable, just skim on down to the food part.

After my cycles started again after the twins, I could tell right away that I had a few really strong symptoms associated with PMS. Like my carb cravings were out of control. I would almost blackout and find a third piece of toast slathered with butter shoved in my mouth. Or as soon as the girls were in bed, out came the step-stool to dig through the depths of our pantry hoping that some birthday party candy got shoved up there. It was almost this uncontrollable thing. But outside of the pre-menstrual window, I had no problem not eating sweets and limiting my bread intake. I also was seriously moody. Ok, ok, that’s me most of the time. But I really only feel that off-the-charts rage also during this pre-menstrual window.

I was so convinced that something had to be off hormonally that I went to see my doctor about it and just got a blood test done last week at P+7 to see what was going on.

This time that I just started my cycle, I forgot that I was starting. I mean I knew on my chart I was getting close, but all these usual signals, like chronic candy-eating, or rage fits were not there. I haven’t been craving sugar and carbs at all. I think I might even be eating a little less fruit than usual and I haven’t had almond butter in a few days. Weird.

I did some looking around online. Whole30 seriously has thought of almost anything. You can type Whole30 and whatever and the official site will have written about it. Except women’s cycles. I’m sure it’s because every person is different so they don’t want to say that cramps and bloating and PMS symptoms can be lessened when really it’s just anecdotal. But considering that it would be really interesting to find out what has happened to other women on the Whole30, they should devote some webspace to it.

Breakfast: [late wakeup, means we were rushing to get breakfast served so no picture]

• Breakfast Pizza Quiche – Again, baked eggs aren’t my favorite but, so far, this is def my favorite breakfast casserole. It is IMPOSSIBLE to find Whole30 compliant pepperoni. Seriously, I’ve looked everywhere. Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, HEB. They all have dextrose. So I started looking at other cured meats. I found a Boar’s Head Beef Salami that contains no added sugar but they didn’t list any ingredients so it might have had sulfites or whatever. But I tried my best and really wanted to make this dish.
• 1/2 an Avocado
• 1/2 an Apple
• Handful of Trader Joe’s Cruciferous Mix

Lunch:

• Tuna Salad with Whole30 Mayo and Avocado
• Handful of Grapes

Dinner:

• Chili Dog Bowl – Leftover Chili, Applegate Hot Dogs (are Whole30 compliant), Mustard and 1/2 an Avocado
• Trader Joe’s Roasted Plantain Chips

How We Felt:

I was able to make it to every one of the exercise classes I like to attend during the week and I feel great. Not that sore even though I’ve really been pushing myself during class. And my joints feel great. Usually at the end of the week my knees are really achy but they are fine right now. I’m impressed. I was skeptical that my joint pain was ever going to change.

Week 3 Meal Roundup:

Day 15

• Breakfast: Green Monster Smoothie, Egg and Sausage Casserole, Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole, Bacon
• Lunch: Raw Veggies and Fruit
• Dinner: Buffalo Ranch and Garlic Basil Chicken Wings, Ranch, Carrot Sticks, Celery Sticks, Rainbow Slaw

Day 16

• Breakfast: Kerbey Lane Harvest Omelette, Home Fries, Fruit
• Lunch: Leftover Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole, Hard-boiled egg
• Dinner: Hamburger patty, Rainbow Slaw, Potato and Green Bean Salad, Watermelon, Banana Chia Pudding

Day 17

• Breakfast: Fried Eggs, Power to the Greens Mix, 1/2 an Avocado, Banana Chia Pudding
• Lunch: Turkey Waldorf Salad and 1/2 a Sweet Potato with Cinnamon
• Dinner: Pot Roast, 1/2 an Avocado, Roasted onions and red peppers, Rainbow Slaw

Day 18

• Breakfast: Last of the Pot Roast, Spinach, Handful of Pecans, 2 Fried Eggs, Banana and Almond Butter
• Lunch: Last of the Waldorf Salad, Carrot Sticks, 1/2 an Avocado, Handful of Pecans
• Dinner: Fish Taco Bowls , Spinach, Cabbage Slaw Mix, Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde, 1/2 an Avocado

Day 19

• Breakfast: 2 Fried Eggs, Spinach, 1/2 an Apple and Almond Butter, Handful of Pecans
• Lunch: Carrot Sticks, Spinach, Deli Turkey, 1/2 a Sweet Potato with Cinnamon, Pecan Pie Larabar
• Dinner: 30-Minute Chicken Cacciatore , Spinach, Watermelon

Day 20

• Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, 1/2 an Avocado, Strawberries, Spinach
• Lunch: Leftover Chicken Cacciatore, Spinach, Grapes
• Dinner: No-Bean Turkey Chili, 1/2 an Avocado, Trader Joe’s Roasted Plantain Chips

Day 21:

• Breakfast: Breakfast Pizza Quiche, 1/2 an Avocado, 1/2 an Apple, Handful of Trader Joe’s Cruciferous Mix
• Lunch: Tuna Salad with Whole30 Mayo and Avocado, Handful of Grapes
• Dinner: Chili Dog Bowl and Plantain Chips