Whole30 Hiatus

Well I am on day 10 of the Whole30, but I will be leaving for my hometown tomorrow. Goodbye to me cooking food and deciding what I’m eating. Thus, I am calling a Whole30 hiatus. I knew when I started my Whole30 journey, that this would more than likely happen, but to be honest I didn’t know if I would even make it to day 5, let alone day 11. So, although I am stopping the Whole30 I am glad that I proved to myself that I can do it. I still want to complete the Whole30, just as a challenge to myself. I am really enjoying eating Paleo and lot of whole foods and will continue to do so.

Eating so many whole foods really is delicious and I am amazed at how much my taste buds have changed. Before the Whole30 I was eating barbeque sauce on my sweet potatoes because they were too bland. Last night I had some mashed sweet potatoes and felt like I was having dessert. Delicious.

Thursday night was my first “eating out” experience while doing the Whole30. I can say that it is much more difficult to eat clean when you go out. Not only are the options more limited, but those bad foods look so good! (And your body knows that they taste delicious.) Even with all the tortilla temptations I stuck to my plan at Moe’s. I have to say that Moe’s is probably one of the most “paleo friendly” places to eat. Reason #1: grass-fed steak. High quality meat without the high price tag. I had a salad with steak (no rice, no beans – that one still hurts, no cheese, no sour cream, no tortilla shell, no corn salsa) cucumbers, cilantro, guacamole, tomatoes, grilled pepers & onions, pickled jalapeños, and salsa…lots of salsa. It was tough to eat the salsa and not scarf down a basket of chips, but I’m glad that I didn’t. I left feeling full, but not stuffed.

Last night I tried another new recipe – Paleo Salmon Cakes. Win! These are delicious. If you like salmon (if you don’t…who are you?) you will love these. They are simple to make and quick enough for a weeknight. I mean look at them. So. Good.

Ingredients:
2 6oz cans boneless, skinless salmon (I don’t like having to take off the skin & bones, but if you don’t mind you could do 1 large can)
1/3 c mashed sweet potato
1/3 c almond flour
1 tbsp chopped onion
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp hot sauce
1/4 tsp ground sea salt
1/2 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 large egg
2 tbsp coconut oil

Mix all the ingredients together. Use a 1/3 c measuring cup to scoop out 6 portions. Pat them down slightly. Heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a pan (or 2 if your pan is large enough to cook all 6 cakes at once, I did three at a time). Let the cakes cook over medium heat 3-5 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and allow to cool on a paper towel. Voila, enjoy! Recipe adapted from Everyday Maven.

When I made mine I actually used coconut oil for the first three and olive oil for the next three to see if the oil made a difference. I preferred the crisp and flavor of the coconut oil, by far!

Whole30 – Day 8

Today was my first big..uh oh! I didn’t fall off the proverbial wagon, but my relationship with nuts got a little intense. I had a delicious lunch of tuna salad on apple slices and salad with raspberries, but then things got a little out of hand. I ate too quickly so I wasn’t feeling full at the end of the meal. I decided to just have a few nuts and dates to top me off. However, my nut eating got a little out of hand (exactly why you shouldn’t eat straight out of the bag!). I went back to work and by the time I got back to my desk I was feeling way, WAY over-full, and a little miserable. Yuck.

The good news from this over-eating is that I learned the difference in good calories and bad calories. If I had eaten a couple of cookies, or some ice cream before going back to work I would have (a) – not felt so full and (b) – been hungry in no time. Usually I get a little “rumbly in my tumbly” around 4 or 4:30, depending on my lunch and I am always ready to eat by the time I get home from work. Today at 4 – still feeling kind of full, 4:30 – nothing, 5 – nothing, 5:30 – nothing. By 6, when our dinner was ready to eat I was thinking the protein was looking awfully good. I ate a small plate and then waited. about 7:30 I was a little hungry again, so I had a snack. Day not ruined by nuts – Awesome.

Side note: check out my Awesome mug (below) that I found at a yard sale. I call it my “Ma Hadley” mug because the bottom is signed M. A. Hadley. I think it looks like it could belong to a nice little old lady – hence the “Ma Hadley” alias.

What did I eat?

Egg Scramble w/ Avocado

Breakfast
Egg scramble
(3 eggs, 2 rainbow chard leaves, 1/4 sm onion, 1/4 green pepper, salt)
1/2 an avocado (ate most of it)
green tea (no sweetener)

Tuna Salad & Apples

Lunch
tuna salad (can of tuna, homemade paleo mayo)
2 small “june” apples (sliced & topped with the tuna salad & walnuts)
leafy greens with raspberries and chopped walnuts
cashews & dates (copious amounts….)

Pork & Veggies

Dinner
Pork & Veggies
1/2 zucchini, sliced
1 c baby carrots, quartered
1 floret of broccoli, chopped
8-10 oz of pork loin, chopped, pre-cooked in crockpot
**Recipe**
Throw all the veggies in a skillet with about a cup of water, turn the heat to high, cover, and let cook for 6-7 minutes.
Remove lid to allow the water to cook out.
Turn down the heat and add the pork or other protein. (I threw my frozen chunk of pork loin in the crockpot before work and will have the leftovers for lunch, over salad, tomorrow.)
-optional: I squeezed some fresh lemon juice over my plate and served it up with a side of hot sauce. The husband (non-Paleo) ate his over rice with soy & Szechuan sauce.

Snack
small apple
1/2 kiwi
a few – raisins and cashews
tbsp homemade paleo coconut coffee “creamer” (recipe to come)
dash of cinnamon
**Recipe**
Mix all the the above in a small pot and heat until the apples are soft.
Enjoy with a cup of black coffee (mine was Kona).

Whole30 – Day 7

One week of the Whole30 complete! I feel so accomplished. And you know what I don’t feel? Sad, shamed, regretful, or hungry. I would’ve never thought that Whole30 would be so easy, at least when I’m at home. The most difficult part of the week has been all the chopping up of salad. Oh, and Sunday when the husband joined me on the couch and proceeded to eat the world’s largest Reese Cup. Urgh. Besides the passing craving for brownies (warm, gooey, chocolaty brownies) and ice cream…and Reese Cups, I’m actually enjoying the Whole30.

However, next week I will be going down to a camp for a week. I don’t think that I will be able to stay Whole30 while I am there. I just won’t have time to fix my food for each meal. I’m hoping to stay close, but will most likely add in protein powder (made from soy). I’m really sad about the un-nutritious food, but I am very excited to be working with teenagers for a week!

I had another first today – two runs in one day. Since I got up nice and early today I did 2.5 miles this morning and I did another 2 miles tonight at the West Sixth Running Club. Since I put in an extra run for the day I had some extra fruit tonight. Score.

West Sixth Brewing Co

Whole30 – Day 7

Breakfast
Tuna Salad (homemade paleo mayo, grapes, and a can of tuna)
1/2 cucumber

Snack
cup of coffee (black)
banana

Lunch
leftover spaghetti squash (chicken, tomato sauce, broccoli, onions, & carrots)
1/2 an avocado

Snack
nuts & dates

Dinner
salmon
kale salad

“Dessert”
baked peaches, raspberries, and pecans

Whole30 – Day 5

I got plenty of rest last night, but my energy was still down this morning. Way down. I took a nice long nap this afternoon and I am feeling better now, but I am a little concerned about how I will feel tomorrow. 

I started reading the “manual” for the Whole30, written by the Whole9 founders and creators of the Whole30 plan, Dallas and Melissa Hartwig, It Starts With Food. I like to know exactly why I am doing something, and even more so, why it is being recommended. So far, what I have gleaned from this book and other research is that nutrition is not a science that is agreed upon, and there is still a lot left to learn.

While I am trying this plan for 30 days, I am not sure that it is the best plan. I am still having a difficult time getting on board with no beans. I do recognize that beans are not for everyone. The husband has stomach pain if he eats black beans, however I do not. Black beans are also the only legumes that he has noticeable reaction to.  

Breakfast
parship and leek omelet

Lunch
4oz ground beef
1/2 an avocado
salad with dark leafy greens & grapes 
plantain chips

Snack
watermelon
plantain chips

Dinner
chicken salad made with:
grapes, homemade paleo mayo, and pecans
1/2 a cucumber

Whole30 – Days 3 & 4

What did I eat?

Day 3 – 
Breakfast
leftover parsnip, kale, and spinach tortilla

Snack
carrots
cashews

Lunch
chicken salad with:
homemade paleo mayo (recipe to come), pecans, and dates
over a bed of lettuce
1/2 a cucumber
watermelon

dinner

Dinner
oven roasted zucchini & summer squash
chicken & onions (with cumin, chili powder, and garlic)
1/2 a cucumber

“Dessert”
herbal tea

Day 4 – 
Breakfast
handful of walnuts and some dates

salmon salad & watermelon

Lunch
salad with grapes & sunflower seeds
grilled salmon
watermelon

Dinner
salad
leftover chicken & onions
1/2 an avocado

Snack (post-run)
smashed sweet potato with
peach & coconut milk

We haven’t really seen the sun since Tuesday around here. It has been raining or overcast since. Tonight it started to clear up a bit so I decided to take advantage of the near sun break-through and get in a run. I did a slow (big surprise…) 2 miles. Bonus, I made it home in time to grab my phone and get the husband outside so he could see this –

double rainbow

I also watched Despicable Me 2 with a friend this afternoon (what else is there to do with all this rain?!) and it was fantastic. I was laughing the whole time. I’m not saying the movie is any better, visually, in the theater, but the kids sitting behind us were added comedy. When the bad guy would take his shirt off or just shake his booty a little too much the kids would say “eww!” or “gross!” I know it was one of those “you had to be there” moments, so you will just have to trust me that it was hilarious.

Everybody loves Agnes…and churros.

Whole30

Change your life in 30 days? We will see…

So, what is the Whole30?

The Whole30 is a 30 day challenge to remove gut irritating, hormone unbalancing, and inflammatory foods. While all of these foods may not be upsetting to everyone, they are generally troublesome for everyone on some level, even if you don’t realize it. Or, so I am told.

The foods to be cut out are dairy, grains, added sugar, and legumes and moderate fruit (and sweet vegetable) intake.That means easy on the fruit, no milk, no cheese, no quinoa, no lentils, and no beans. No beans! What?! This was the most difficult part for me to get behind and the (second) hardest thing to give up, behind sugar. I have held off on trying Paleo and the Whole30 because I didn’t understand why I should stop eating beans. They are high in fiber and protein, oh and delicious, why should I stop?

These questions pushed me to do a lot of reading and research to find out what the “experts” have to say. After my extensive reading and podcast-listening I am convinced that there is enough scientific evidence to warrant giving the plans a try. So why no beans in particular? Well, the short of it is because legumes are irritating to your gut and full of anti-nutrient proteins. There are a lot of big words to explain exactly why this occurs, you can Google this yourself, or wait in suspense for a later, more indept blogpost to learn about it.

Now that you know what you can’t have during Whole30, what exactly can you eat? That is the question one of my coworkers asked after telling them what I was cutting out. The answer is a lot of stuff that is good for you – meat, healthy fat, and vegetables. Today was my first day testing the water and I was pretty darn hungry by the time I got to each meal, even with snacks, hence – no pictures.

Breakfast
2 eggs
1 small sweet potato

Snack 1
4 or 5 baby carrots

Lunch
Monster salad (I was hungry) which was-
a huge bowl of dark green and purple lettuces and spinach
sunflower seeds
a little apple and pineapple
4oz hamburger patty
1/2 an avocado
homemade lime/ginger dressing
(Besides the dressing being a little too tart, this lunch was sooo good.)

Snack 2
1/2 an apple
1/2 cup black coffee (for the caffeine headache…I know, feeding the beast)

Dinner
spaghetti squash with-
tomato sauce
chicken breast (thank you crock pot)
broccoli
onion
sweet peppers
on a bed of my lettuce mix and the other 1/2 of my avocado from lunch
(Dinner was also BANGING. I do not, I repeat, I do not like the texture of spaghetti squash, but mixed with all the other ingredients and the lettuce I didn’t even notice it. Perfect.)

So what now? Well, I expect to be hungry in a few hours so I will probably have a snack before bed. My biggest issue is wanting something sweet. You aren’t supposed to eat fruit as dessert, but if fruit is allowed it will probably be my after dinner…ummm…snack.

We are headed to Whole Foods (keeping my stock of good stuffs up). Stay Clean.