Day 30

It's the last day...holy cow we made it!  I want to finish today on a strong note and by not over-eating. I feel like yesterday was not a great day and I ate A LOT (although all compliant) during Superbowl.

Thinking about the last 30 days, here are a few things I've realized:

1. While I love my green tea, I've also come to love having coffee in the morning as well. I've never been a morning coffee person, but instead more of an after dinner cup of coffee person. Maybe its because its so cold out and my office is always freezing so its a way to warm up when I first arrive. And I have no problem drinking black coffee so I've never felt like I was missing anything, unlike others who had to give up their precious flavored creamers in their coffee to do Whole30.

2. I can't eat eggs for breakfast every day. I could eat a hard-boiled egg every day but not scrambled or over-easy every day. A banana with some almond butter has become a good back-up breakfast for me and I LOVE the combination together. It almost tastes like a treat.

3. Thirty days is not long enough to slay my sugar dragon. I still very much crave sweets. And with Valentine's day and then my Birthday right around the corner, they are EVERYWHERE and I want them ALL! It's going to be a hard couple of weeks, although we are done with Whole30, to not eat all the cupcakes, chocolates and ice cream in sight. I need to find some balance, somehow. One mantra I've tried in the past is telling myself I know what it tastes like and I'm sure I'll have it again sometime in the future, so that doesn't mean I have to eat a crap ton of it now. We'll see if that works.

4. Working out is my constant and has become like a drug for me. I don't like missing a Bootcamp class and I try to go 4-5 times a week. I skipped a happy hour recently because I would have had to miss bootcamp and I didn't want to do that. I've taken work conference calls with a headset on while at bootcamp. When I've had a not-so-great eating day, working out is my redemption. I can be successful there and end the day on a high note. I'm proud to be one of the stronger people in a lot of my classes but there are also people that are stronger and faster and they push me to get better, and I need that. I'm going to do a sprint triathalon this summer with a bunch of bootcamp friends and I'm really looking forward to trying something new.

Breakfast:
Banana with Almond Butter
Coffee

Lunch:
Leftover turkey meatloaf
Roasted veggies & potatoes

Snack:
Cutie
Leftover paleo spinach artichoke dip with carrots & celery

Dinner:
Leftover chicken wings and paleo ranch from Super Bowl
Hot Dog
Carrot & celery sticks
Diced pears

Day 29

Ahh its the second to last day!! While we're not going to just drop everything on Wednesday and go back to eating crap all the time, its still exciting to almost be done.

I'm pretty pumped for my zucchini fritters this morning. I made them on Friday and loved them. And I'm getting sick of eating eggs for breakfast all the time. Actually I got sick of eggs for breakfast about 2 weeks ago.  :/

Dinner tonight was pretty awesome. Especially considering it was a last minute decision. This was a super easy dish to pull together. I didn't have fire-roasted tomatoes so I just used regular diced tomatoes and added a little cumin and some red pepper flakes to give it some heat and smokey flavor. It turned out great and definitely had the heat! This was super easy and delicious so I will definitely be making this again!

Breakfast:
2 leftover zucchini fritters with hot sauce
Cutie
Green Tea

Lunch:
Leftover pork carnitas served over lettuce with salsa
Roasted peppers and onions
Applesauce

Snack:
1/2 apple, it was mushy  :(
Almond Butter

Dinner:
Tuesday Night Chicken
Green Beans

Day 28 - Super Bowl!!

Its Superbowl day! Always a little bit difficult when you're trying to eat health or even harder when you're trying to eat clean. Most party foods are filled with cheese or other dairy, grains and usually some sweets thrown in the mix too.  J and I have had a plan for what we could make and bring to the Superbowl party for awhile so hopefully that should make it easier to not be tempted by all the other snacks there that we can't have.

Update: the superbowl foods turned out awesome! Wings were great and the last minute decision to make some paleo ranch to dip them in was the best decision of the day! The spinach artichoke dip also turned out really good and you couldn't tell it was made with cashews. It still had a really creamy texture that tons of cheese would normally give spin dip. I definitely ate way more food than is pictured below. That was simply plate #1. But we ate pretty light earlier in the day and basically forgot to eat lunch so I figure all the Super Bowl eating makes up for that.

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs w/leftover pork carnitas & peppers

Bacon

Raspberries

OJ

Lunch/Snack:

Cashews

Dinner:

Wings with Tessemae's hot buffalo sauce, and homemade paleo ranch

Pork stuffed, bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers

Paleo spinach artichoke dip with sweet potato chips and veggies
Fruit (strawberries, raspberries, orange slices)
Plantain chips & homemade pico de gallo

Day 27

I made some zucchini fritters yesterday for breakfast and they made a pretty decent snack today as well! We've been looking forward to making the pork carnitas for awhile and decided to make them towards the end of our 30 days so we would have plenty of leftover to eat off of. They turned out great and were delicious but I forgot to take a picture of my meal so I'll have to come back and update that later.

Breakfast:

Rx bar, blueberry

1/2 banana

Lunch:

Leftover ginger beef with snow peas and carrots

Snack:

Hard-boiled egg

Cutie

Leftover Zucchini fritter w/Frank's hot sauce

Dinner:

Pork carnitas, lettuce wrap with salsa

Bell peppers & onions

Day 26

I took Friday off work so stay at home days are always hard for me because I am tempted to eat everything in the pantry. I've been trying to stay away from the plantain chips because they are made with sunflower oil and its one ingredient you're supposed to eat sparingly on Whole30 and I think that's what made my GI angry the last time I had a bunch of them. But they are delicious!

Breakfast:

2 zucchini fritters with some hot sauce

Apple

Lunch:

Leftover shrimp & cauliflower rice

Green beans

Snack:

Hard-boiled egg

Plantain chips

Dinner:

Buffalo ranch chicken stuffed pepper 

Applesauce

Day 25

Feeling good in the final week! Looking forward to the stir fry tonight for dinner. We've made it before and it was pretty yummy! I love snow peas, especially in stir fry, so this recipe is perfect.

Last night after dinner, I had some major weak moments while J was out playing hockey. I was sitting on the couch watching a show and I was literally having a battle inside my head about if I should or shouldn't cheat. Craving chocolate like crazy! At one moment I convinced myself that one little bite or something delicious wouldn't be the end of the world. And then I would talk myself off the ledge. I don't want to lie to people when they ask "did you really not eat any sugar for 30 days, not even a little?!"  This internal struggle went back and forth a few times while watching SVU.

In the end I sort of caved and had a little treat, although a compliant one: 1/2 banana mashed with some almond butter and a dash of raw cacao powder. I've been craving the peanut butter & chocolate combination lately so this was as close as I could get. It pretty much did the trick. I felt good for not caving and eating a candy bar. Baby steps.

Breakfast:
Blueberry tortilla
Apple chicken sausage
Coffee

Lunch:
Leftover turkey meatloaf from last night
Roasted veggies, potatoes & broccoli

Snack:
Coconut chocolate Rx bar

Dinner:
Ginger beef with snow peas & carrots

Day 24

Finally coming off the cashew binge and feeling less full and more normal this morning. Happy that we are on the last week of this journey. Only 6 days left after today! I'm starting to think about what I want to re-introduce first and I'm thinking it might be grains. I miss having oatmeal for breakfast in the morning. And I miss pasta. This Italian girl needs to eat pasta every once in awhile, its practically in my blood.  And pizza. I miss GOOD pizza. I'm not talking Dominos pizza. I mean like Katie's or Pastria. Good, well-worth the calories, pizza. A much as I still do crave (read: daydream) about sweets, I don't think that will be the first thing I re-introduce. I need more time away from my beloved cookies and cupcakes. The sugar dragon is not fully slayed yet. And probably never will be, but one can hope.

Breakfast:
Blueberry egg tortilla
Apple chicken sausage
Coffee

Lunch:
Salad with a mix of Tessemae's balsamic and SW Ranch dressings
2 slices of Applegate roast beef (the only pre-packaged deli meat I can find that is compliant!)

Snack:
Apple Pie Larabar

Dinner:
Turkey meatloaf
roasted carrots, fingerling potatoes & onions
Broccoli

Day 23

After looking at all the leftover food still in our fridge from late last week and the weekend, we decided that we don't need to cook dinner tonight, we can just survive off the leftovers for another day. Plus, a few of the meals I'm planning for the week will have more than just 2 lunches leftover, like the turkey meatloaf and the pork carnitas. There will be several servings of those leftover.

Since I ate like 1/3 a container of cashews in the afternoon as a snack, I still felt extremely full by dinner time and decided to just make a light salad and have some prosciutto for a little protein. Ugh. I may have just ruined cashews for me for awhile. :(

Breakfast:
Banana with almond butter
Hard-boiled Egg
Coffee

Lunch:
Leftover burger with ketchup and wrapped in lettuce
Carrots
Strawberries & peaches

Snack:
Cashews (ugh I ate way too many, hens the empty container!!)

Dinner:
Salad with Tessemae's Balsamic dressing
1 slice of prosciutto

Day 22

I felt like the weekend went really great, both eating and just enjoying the beautiful weather! While I'm not a fan of Mondays in general, I feel good going into this week. I'm really starting to see the results of eating clean; my pants are much looser and I've been feeling energized at my workouts.

We ate off a bunch of leftovers over the weekend to help clear out the fridge for the upcoming week. It was nice not to spend the whole weekend cooking. I'm excited to try something new for breakfast this morning. The blueberry tortilla thing is a recipe I've had on my Whole30 list since last summer. It got a little messy when I flipped it (need to work on my chef skills) but overall it tasted pretty good! I'm glad I decided to add some sausage to the breakfast otherwise just the egg/blueberry thing would not have been filling enough.

For dinner tonight, i'm pumped to have shrimp because we haven't had them at all yet on this Whole30. This meal is one of my favorites and its pretty easy to pull together and its nice and light. Making the cauliflower rice the day before helps a lot, and its easy to just heat up at meal time. For the shrimp, I seasoned and marinated them overnight with the following: S&P, touch of cumin, red pepper flakes, lime zest, lime juice and some fresh cilantro. I wanted to pull some of the same cilantro lime flavors from the cauliflower rice into the shrimp as well but kick them up a notch with the cumin and red pepper flakes. We'll pair it with either broccoli or asparagus if I can get to the store on my way home from work tonight. The asparagus at Schnucks last night sucked so we didn't buy any. Hoping Whole Foods has some that looks better.

Breakfast:
Sweet & Savory Blueberry tortilla
Apple Chicken Sausage
Green Tea

Lunch:
Leftover chicken fajitas, served over some shredded lettuce

Snack:
Apple

Cashews

Dinner:
Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
Shrimp
Asparagus
Slices strawberries & peaches

Day 21

The weather was so beautiful today (high 60s and sunny!) so we decided to g out and enjoy the day after breakfast. We went to Lone Elk Park and did a 4-mile hike. Ended up seeing tons of wildlife (elk, deer, and bison) along the way which was a lot of fun! After our hike we had a small lunch and relaxed for a bit before having an early dinner because J wanted to watch the NHL All-Star Game. After dinner we went to the grocery store and got all our food for the week. Sundays are typically my meal planning and food prep day for the upcoming week. And we usually spend some of Sunday evening doing various meal preps. J makes a big batch of his potato, sausage & egg hash so he has 5 breakfasts for the week. I also like to make something for my breakfasts for the week and decided to try a new recipe this time: a sweet and savory blueberry egg bake. That should make 4 breakfasts. I also made some more cauliflower rice seasoned with lime juice & zest, garlic, onion and cilantro. We're planning on having shrimp for dinner on Monday night and the cilantro rice (cauliflower) goes will with shrimp served on top. And because I get home late on Monday nights because of bootcamp (6:30-7:30), it makes dinner prep go so much faster!

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs

Bacon

Strawberries & pineapple

Lunch:

Hard-boiled egg

Apple with almond butter

Snack:
none

Dinner:

Leftover pork chop with applesauce

Roasted brussel sprouts

Day 20

Today was a busy day so I didn't have time for much snacking, which is probably for the better. Started off with the usual 8am bootcamp class, then had a florist appointment in the city at 1:00pm. Since I had a late breakfast after bootcamp, I wasn't hungry enough to eat again before leaving for the appointment so I just brought a beef sick with me in case I got hungry while out with my mamma. Glad I did because we ended up running around to a few stores after the appointment and I was definitely hungry then!

Didn't get home until after 4:00pm so it was too late to have a snack without ruining dinner. We heated up the leftover burgers and fries (baked) for dinner tonight which was very yummy! Then headed out to a movie - The Big Short. It was pretty good. Have to admit, it kind of sucks going to the movies while on Whole30. I love popcorn and it smells so damn good the second you walk in. I don't even need the butter, just plain popcorn would do fine. So to help curb my popcorn desire and the need to snack at a movie, I brought a little bag od sliced almonds and unsweetened coconut strips. It is a surprising good combination, although not as good as popcorn :/

Breakfast:

Blueberry Rx bar

Chocolate coconut shake

Lunch:

Beef stick

Snack:

none

Dinner:

Burger with pineapple slice and Tessemae's ketchup
Baked fries
Green beans

Day 19

I love Fridays because I only have to work until Noon in the office and then I get the rest of the day off. Working 9 hour days through the rest of the week is worth it to get Friday afternoons off. Plus it was a beautiful day!

For dinner, I made the zesty chicken tenders recipe that another Whole30-doin' bootcamper shared and said were pretty good. They ended up being really good. Only thing missing is that chicken tender crispness. But you're only going to get that if you fry them and even if you use compliant oil, it kind of defeats the point. I used chicken tenders instead of cutting them into little pieces and I doubled the spice/breading mixture to make about 10 or so chicken tenders. So we'll have plenty leftover.

Breakfast:

Sweet potato hash

Sunny side up egg

Blackberries

Green tea

Lunch:

Leftover Meatball Veggie soup

Leftover sweet potato fries

Applesauce

Snack:

Hard-boiled egg

2 slices prosciutto

Sweet potato chips (not pictured, but I ate WAY too many!)

Dinner:

Zesty chicken tenders (my sad dinner because I was still full from gorging on sweet potato chips earlier)

Green beans

Day 18

I didn't feel like bringing the leftover pork chops for lunch today, it seemed too heavy and I feel like we've had a lot of heavy meals lately. We had a little bit of tuna salad leftover so I brought that with a tomato and a big piece of lettuce to wrap it in. Should be good!  Dinner tonight is one of Jon's favorites that we did last time on Whole30: burgers and fries. With some modifications of course. No bun, no cheese and no deep-fried fries, they are baked instead. But still pretty awesome. And we bought more of the Tessemae's ketchup which has a much tangier taste that regular ketchup but it does the job of tricking your mind.

I made a chocolate shake after dinner that was AWESOME!  So much so that I forgot to take a picture of it. It was made with 1 banana, about 1/4 cup fat free coconut milk, about 2 tbsp of unsweetened coconut flakes, and some raw 100% cacao powder.  I modeled it after this recipe but didn't freeze the banana, didn't use the gelatin protein, used less coconut milk and also added some unsweetened coconut flakes to give it more of a coconut flavor. I didn't want to taste the banana as much and wanted to taste more of the chocolate and coconut flavors.  A little bit goes a long way with the cacao powder so I did about 1-2 teaspoons worth and it had plenty of chocolaty taste!  Mix that up in the Bullet and then add a bunch of ice to make it cold and give it that milkshake consistency. It was an awesome healthy indulgence after going to bootcamp 4 days in a row! If I can find some paleo-friendly protein powder this would make a great post-workout shake.

Breakfast:
Banana
Almond Butter
Green Tea

Lunch:
Tuna salad with tomato slices in lettuce wrap
Baby carrots
Cantelope

Snack:
Hard-boiled egg
Rx Bar

Dinner:
Burger
Baked fries
Chocolate shake (banana, coconut milk, unsweetened coconut flakes, raw cacao power, ice)

Day 17

I felt great yesterday afternoon and evening, maybe I'm getting into that Tiger's Blood stage after all! The fajitas with paleo tortillas turned out pretty decent! They were a little bit of work (make the dough, knead the dough, flatten into tortillas, fry up in a skillet) but it made the dinner feel more like a traditional Mexican dinner.

Breakfast:
Banana
Almond Butter
Coffee

Lunch:
Leftover chicken fajitas from last night

Snack:
Apple
Hard-boiled egg

Dinner:
Pork Chops
Savory Applesauce
Roasted Brussel Sprouts with bacon

Day 16

I feel like I've been eating a lot of potatoes and "heavy" things lately (too many plantain chips!) so I'm taking it easy today in my meal planning. Decided to just have a salad for lunch and have a light breakfast.  We are making baked chicken fajitas for dinner tonight and trying out a paleo version of tortillas so we'll see how those turn out...

Breakfast:
Chia pudding (banana, coconut milk, chia seeds, cinnamon)
blackberries
Coffee

Lunch:
Salad with Tessemae's balsamic dressing
Beats

Snack:
Dried mango slices (Target)
Grass Run Farms beef stick

Dinner:
Baked chicken fajitas
Homemade paleo tortillas

Day 15

Its day 15 so we are officially at our half-way point! I'm excited for this week because it is typically when you hit your stride during Whole30 and really start feeling good and full of energy.  I'm ready for some Tiger's Blood!

The Tessemae's mayo that we ordered arrived over the weekend so we were excited to be able to make some tuna salad this week. We made it last time we did Whole30 and loved it! I put a bunch of stuff in my tuna salad to give it lots of great flavor: mayo, dijon mustard, celery, pickle, dill, parsley, red pepper flake, paprika, S&P

Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs with green peppers and sweet potato hash
Strawberries
Green Tea

Lunch:
Leftover chicken broth soup (a tiny bit)
Tuna salad with Tomato Slices

Snack:
Coconut Chocolate Rx Bar

Dinner:
Leftover Meatball Veggie Soup

Day 14

It's football day! In addition to meal planning and food prep day, its also the AFC Championship game between the Broncos and the Patriots. J and I are headed over to his parents to want the game so we're doing a trial run of some compliant football food so we will have a plan for the Superbowl party in a few weeks. We ended up making some wings, baked in the over and then covered in Tessemae's Buffalo sauce and some Frank's hot sauce. They were really damn good. You don't need to butter at all that most place add to the buffalo sauce. Then we made some "fachos" with plantain chips (my new obsession!) and some of the leftover mexican layered casserole from last week. We separated out the ground beef from the casserole and warmed that up to put over the plantain chips. Then topped it with the lettuce, tomato, black olive mixture and added some salsa and it made some pretty darn good faux nachos! It was not a normal Whole30 eating day in that we didn't really have 3 distinct meals. We much all afternoon/early evening on plantain chips and salsa, veggies and some cantelope. But all in all, it was a pretty healthy day considering what football-watching food normally consists of.

Needless to say we weren't really hungry for dinner so we just had a few light items to tide us over until morning. I made some lemon coconut energy bits from a recipe I saw on pinterest. They turned out pretty good but the lemon flavor wasn't as strong as I hoped. They tasted just like a larabar and are made with dates, cashews, almonds, chia seeds, coconut and lemons!

We did some meal prep tonight to make the week a little easier. In addition to my lemon balls, I also made the applesauce for our pork chops, J made a week's worth of breakfasts and I made 3 breakfasts. I also made some tuna salad to have for a few lunches this week.

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs with green peppers

Bacon

Green juice (banana, coconut milk, spinach, flax seed)

Lunch:

Wings with buffalo sauce

Plantain chip nachos

Veggies (celery, cucumber, carrots)

Cantaloupe

LaCroix Lime sparkling water

Dinner:

2 slices of prosciutto
Cantelope
1 lemon coconut ball

Day 13

Met up with some girlfriends today to get our nails done and go to lunch. We went to a sort-of new place called The Hot Pot which has paleo and other alternative options. J and I have been wanting to try this place for awhile so I was excited to go out to eat somewhere while on Whole30. I ended up getting a bowl make with zuchini noodles, a bunch of other veggies and with a poblano pesto sauce. It was just okay. The "sauce" was very liquid like a broth, not what I was expecting. And all the veggies seemed overcooked. Next time I think I'll get more of an asian inspired bowl with udon noodles and a soy sauce based source. Post Whole30 of course.

This evening we went to The Fox with some friends of ours to see Newsies. I hadn't seen it before and ended up loving it! The friend we went with has a lot of food allergies so eating out is nearly impossible for her so we all just ate dinner at our respective houses and met up at the theater.

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs

Apple chicken sausage

Cantaloupe

Lunch:

Zoodle shrimp & veggie bowl at Hot Pot

Fresh juice (Apple, pineapple, ginger)

Snack:

Sweet potato chips

Dinner:

Leftover chicken with asparagus and tomatoes

Theater snack: Cashews and coffee (not pictured)

Day 12

Well the upset stomach and GI has finally settled this morning and I'm feeling a lot more normal. Still want to take it easy today and not eat too much food that's got a lot of spice or crazy flavors.

Since I have Friday afternoon's off from work, J decided to take this afternoon off as well so we could hang out and go to an early evening movie, which we haven't done for awhile. We love going to the movies but we are spoiled with the eat-in theaters and love getting dinner and/or a drink while we're there. It will be hard to resist the popcorn smell but we'll probably eat before we go and maybe bring some almonds and coconut flakes in a baggie as a movie snack. :/

Breakfast:
3 small banana pancakes (banana, eggs, cinnamon)
Raspberries
Green Tea

Lunch:
Egg Salad (hard-boiled eggs, Tessemae's mayo, dijon mustard, diced pickle and celery, paprika, S&P)

Snack:

Plantain chips & salsa

Cutie

Dinner:
Veggie & Meatball Soup

Day 11

It's freezing outside today and all I wanted for breakfast was something warm! Delicious coffee helped do the trick. I had lunch plans with a former colleague I hadn't seen in months and we picked a place that I could get a decent salad without having to make a hundred substitutions. And I brought my own dressing. It was hard to resist the delicious, fresh bread they served but, alas, I stayed strong. The salad was just okay, nothing special really. Looking forward to a more hearty option at dinner tonight.

The rest of my day was spent feeling like crap. Something did not agree with me and make my GI and stomach very angry. What I had planned for dinner didn't sound good anymore so I just make a quick chicken broth soup with some carrots, celery, potato and spinach. I diluted it with water so it was pretty mild. Tasted good and will hopefully help settle my stomach.

I also ate some of these sweet potato chips that arrived in the mail the day before. These things are so good they are dangerous. They are made by "Food Should Taste Good" and are the "kettle cooked sweet potato chips with sea salt" flavor. Compliant, but so hard to find in stores.  Enter Amazon. I now have a whole box, 12 individual bags :)

Breakfast:
Sweet potato hash with sunny-side up egg
Banana
Coffee

Lunch:
Chopped salad from Brio (minus the feta and red wine vinaigrette)
Tessemae's Balsamic dressing

Snack:
Prosciutto
Applesauce
Cashew Butter (instead of carrots)

Dinner:
Chicken broth with carrots, celery, potato & spinach
Sweet potato chips (not pictured)

Day 10

Snow Day!  Except I went to work like a chump. Everyone else stayed home. Ugh.

Wish I had some warm soup for a day like today. At least I have this meatball & veggie soup (minus the cheese) on the plan for Friday to look forward to...

Breakfast:
Sweet Potato Hash
Sunny-side up Egg
Cutie
Green Tea

Lunch:
Leftover buffalo chicken
1/2 Baked Potato with some ghee
Green Beans

Snack:
Hard-boiled Egg
Apple
Pistachios

Dinner:
Cajun Alaskan Cod with Pineapple-Mango Salsa
Green Beans
Beats

Day 9

Getting back in the swing of things after being out of the office 4 days is not fun. Not super excited about my breakfast today but I need the greens. Trying a new recipe for dinner tonight so hopefully it turns out well. Have to make a few small modifications to make it Whole30 compliant. It calls for Italian dressing and since we don't have any that is compliant at the moment we are using Tessemae's Lemon Garlic dressing and adding some Italian seasonings. We also excluded the honey. That's the one thing I've learned from doing Whole30 is that even though you have to cut out some pretty big food groups, you can still take a random recipe off the internet and make a few changes to make it compliant. This is something I can see myself doing after Whole30 is over, making small changes to make the meal a little cleaner.

Breakfast:
Roasted brussel sprouts
Sunny side up egg
Cutie (not pictured)
Green Tea

Lunch:
Leftover mexican casserole
Mott's Natural Applesauce

Snack:
Raspberries
Pistachios
Hard-boiled Egg

Dinner:
Balsamic Chicken with Asparagus & Tomatoes

Day 8

It's MLK Jr. Day so I had the day off work. Usually sitting at home all day is a recipe for disaster as for as eating and snacking but I'm starting to get into a groove. The leftover Mexican casserole was still pretty good cold today. I didn't want to heat it up because it has lettuce in it and it would just wild and taste weird. Dinner was awesome tonight and so easy! We took home a leftover chicken breast from my Dad's birthday dinner on Saturday night so we shredded it up and warmed it up with some Tessemae's Buffalo sauce and a tiny bit of ghee. Paired with a baked potato and some green beans and it was a really simple and easy dinner that was really good and didn't at all taste like "healthy" food or "diet" food.  Although most of the meal we eat on Whole30 don't really seem like diet food either. I rarely feel like I'm depriving myself. I mean I ate a baked potato with butter (ghee, but close enough) and buffalo chicken! Definitely NOT diet food!

Breakfast:
Banana & Almond Butter
Hard-boiled Egg
Cutie
Coffee

Lunch:
Leftover Mexican Casserole from last night

Snack:
Raspberries
Prosciutto
Pistachios (not pictured)

Dinner:
Shredded buffalo chicken
Baked potato with ghee
Green beans

Day 7

Still craving that chocolate cake from last night. I need to stay focused and stop thinking about food today. Wanted to change it up for breakfast today so I made banana pancakes (2 eggs, banana, cinnamon). I made 2 of them bigger so they were more of a crepe size and filled it with blueberries and peaches. They were still pretty small, that is a side dish not a dinner plate.

Breakfast:
Banana crepes filled with blueberries and peaches

Snack:
That's It apple pear bar

Lunch:
Leftover chicken caccitore

Dinner:
Mexican Layered Casserole

Day 6

Started the day with a touch Powerfit Bootcamp workout at 8:00am. We did a round of "death by sandbag burpees" and it was as bad as it sounds. So I was starving by the time I got home. After taking down the outside Christmas lights (finally) we made an awesome breakfast.

Lunch was a quick throw together meal since I was babysitting my niece and she just wanted a snack. Spent the rest of the afternoon/evening at my parents house celebrating my Dad's birthday with family. My mom loves to serve a bunch of appetizers which usually entails some kind of cheese or ranch dip, slices cheese and sausage, apples with caramel dip, wings, etc. Basically nothing I can eat. But she was kind enough to make the whole meal with J and I in mind so it would be compliant and everyone could enjoy. She made the melon wrapped in proscuitto for us and I brought the apple chicken sausage and pineapple skewers which turns out both my niece and very-picky nephew loved!

Dessert was hard. I knew my mom was making a cake so I made some sorbet with mango, pineapple and some coconut milk to bring along so I could enjoy dessert with everyone else. But I'll tell ya, sitting there eating my sorbet while everyone else raved about how good the homemade devils food cake was with cookie and cream ice cream on the side was incredibly hard. I was very tempted to cheat, especially when we were done and it was just me and the cake along in a room together. I was definitely crabby the rest of the night because I wanted some of that cake so bad. But I resisted. I told myself there will be other delicious cakes in the future that I can have. I feel better this morning knowing I stayed strong. Ugh I really wanted some cake though. 23 days to go...

Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs
Bacon
Hashbrowns with onion & pepper
Blackberries

Lunch:
Hard-boiled egg
baby carrots
1/2 apple with almond butter

Snack:
Apple chicken sausage slices with pineapple
Cantelope wrapped prosciutto

Dinner:
Roasted Chicken with potatoes and carrots
Roasted broccoli with lemon and pine nuts
Salad
LaCroix Berry sparkling water
Dessert: mango pineapple sorbet

Day 5

It's almost the weekend, yay! I'm working from home today which is usually when I would fall victim to all of the temptations in the fridge and pantry, because no one is watching. But I've got a plan for meals and snacks today so I should be able to stay on track. Planning is everything while doing Whole30!

The program doesn't encourage snacking because most of the time it is mindless eating and unhealthy but I don't feel like I can make it through the day without a small afternoon snack, especially on the days I workout in the evening and eat dinner late. But having some go to items ready for snacks or emergencies is a great tactic for Whole30. Some snack items that I usually always have on hand are: cuties, hard-boiled eggs, Rx bars, baby carrots and natural applesauce.

For breakfast today I decided to change it up from having eggs. I made some "chia pudding" last night and put it in the fridge to thicken up overnight. Its very easy to make in my Nutra-Ninja. I made a double batch so I'd have enough for 2 days: 2 bananas, about 1/4-1/2 cup non-fat coconut milk, cinnamon and 4 teaspoons chia seeds. Blend the banana, coconut milk and cinnamon together first until well mixed, then add the chia seeds and blend for just a few more seconds. Pour the mixture into a mason jar and refrigerate. It sort of tastes like banana cinnamon tapioca. Chia seeds are high in fiber and a good source of omega-3s and calcium.

Breakfast:
Chia pudding
cutie
coffee

Lunch:
Leftover Chicken with Mustard Sauce from Wednesday night
Broccoli
Pineapple fruit cup
La Croix Berry sparkling water

Snack:
2 Slices of prosciutto
Apple

Dinner:
Leftover Zoodles, Sauce & Turkey Meatballs from Tuesday night

Day 4

While I LOVE having fruit every day, I'm finding that I am craving greens. We didn't have a ton of the zoodles and pasta leftover last night (although there are plenty of meatballs left) so I made a nice salad to accompany my "pasta" for lunch today. It's nothing special really, but I'm really excited about it.

I haven't been able to go to Powerfit Bootcamp the past 2 nights because of prior commitments so I'm ready to jump back in to class tonight.

The recipe for Chicken Cacciatore is from the Whole30 book. It's not any different than any other chicken cacciatore recipe (except using compliant chicken broth) except that it is traditionally served with or over pasta, and obviously that's out for Whole30.  It was still really delicious and hearty. But I did miss having the pasta with it.

Breakfast:
Sweet Potato Hash with a Sunny Side Up Egg
Cutie
Green Tea

Lunch:
Leftover Zoodles, Sauce & Turkey Meatballs from last night
Salad with carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, black olives, hard-boiled egg and Tessemae's Balsamic Dressing

Snack:
Epic bar, Beef with apple & uncured bacon flavor

Dinner:
Chicken Caccitore

Day 3

I tend to make enough dinner each night to at least have a lunch the next day for J and I. If that's not the case, we usually have some salad ingredients on hand to make a decent salad for lunch.

For the turkey meatballs we had for dinner, I don't really use a recipe. I like to add a bunch of things to the meat to give the meatballs some flavor and because ground turkey can be bland. In this case, I added chopped onion, red bell pepper, green onion, parsley, paprika, dijon mustard (Organicville is a compliant brand) red pepper flake, an egg and S&P.




The sauce is just a jar sauce from Schnucks. Its the only one I can find there that is compliant and doesn't have any sugar, which is usually the issue with most jar pasta sauces. Still tastes really good, I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference in a taste test.

Here was Day 3:

Breakfast:
Banana
Cashew Butter
Green Tea
Coffee

Lunch:
Leftover Tilapia & Asparagus from Monday night
Cutie (I ate it before I took the picture, oops!)

Snack:
Hard-boiled Egg
Raspberries

Dinner:
Turkey Meatballs, Zoodles (spiralized zucchini) and Marinara Sauce
Raspberries for dessert (not pictured)

Day 2

Still going strong on Day 2. Had temptations in the evening when my family went out to grab some dinner (for the kids) and ice cream for everyone at Dairy Queen for my Dad's Birthday. I just drank my water :/  It was not fun to sit and watch everyone eat while my stomach growled but it was a good test of willpower. And I was not about to cheat when it was only Day 2.

J made dinner for us since I was getting home so late. Good thing because I was STARVING by the time I got home around 8:30pm.

Breakfast:
Roasted brussel sprouts with a sunny-side up egg
Cutie
Green Tea

Lunch:
Leftover crock-pot roast beef from Sunday
Asparagus
Mott's Natural Applesauce

Snack:
Cashew butter
raspberries

Dinner:
Chicken with Mustard Sauce (recipe below. Source: instagram.com/wholemeg)
Broccoli

Not Pictured: Pineapple upsidedown cake Larabar as an after dinner snack (it was a rough day...)

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Skillet Chicken with Creamy Mustard Sauce
Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp ghee
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 heaping tbsp Dijon mustard (check labels!)
1/3 cup coconut cream (check labels!)
1/3 cup chicken stock (check labels!)
1 tbsp fresh thyme, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise so that you have eight smaller, thinner chicken cutlets. Salt and pepper both sides.
2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and the ghee in a large skillet over medium‐high heat. Cook cutlets on both sides until nice and golden brown and cooked through. Remove chicken from the skillet and keep on a plate.
3. Reduce heat to medium low and heat remaining tbsp of olive oil. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Bring heat to medium high and add chicken stock, making sure to scrap up any brown bits (flavor!) from the bottom on the pan. Add mustard, coconut cream, and thyme. Let simmer for about 5 minutes to allow the flavors to marry together.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve alongside your favorite vegetables!

Day 1

I spent a solid 3 hours doing meal prep last night so how could I not feel prepared today, right? Last night I made roast beef in the slow cooker and steamed some broccoli for our lunches today. The other major meal prep was for breakfasts for the whole week. Last time we did Whole30 we loved having a potato hash and eggs for breakfast so we're starting off this time with the same. I prefer sweet potato hash (cinnamon, garlic powder & cumin) with a sunny side up egg while J prefers white potatoes with peppers and scrambled eggs.

Buying a bag of frozen cubed hash brown potatoes saved a lot of time here. The Schnucks brand was the only one that was compliant (Ingredients: potatoes, nothing else). I also decided to change it up and make some additional breakfasts with roasted brussel sprouts and an egg on top to get some more green veggies early in the day.

We ended up liking the tilapia even though we both don't usually like fish. It was mild enough and had some good seasonings to mask the fishy taste. J even said he would eat it again if I made it. Success! I wish we liked fish more because it can be so healthy for you. Whole30 is a good opportunity to try some new things so I see more fish entrees in our future.

Here was Day One:

Breakfast:
Sweet potato hash with a runny egg
1 cutie
Green tea

Lunch:
Lettuce salad with red pepper, carrots, black olives and Tessemae's Balsamic dressing
Several slices of the crock pot roast beef I made last night

Snack:
Pistachios
Baby Carrots

Dinner:
Tilapia with Cilantro Butter
Sautéed spinach
Asparagus

Day 1 is always easy. The real test begins over the next few days...

Whole30... Round 2

It's a new year with new goals. About 8 months ago a friend at work told me about this thing called Whole30 and how clean eating can make such an impact of your body and mind. I had the advantage of watching her food and meal choices over the next few weeks, before I ever decided to dive in myself. After I started researching it and reading the It Starts With Food book, my best friend told me she had also recently completed Whole30 and not only had lost weight but her energy levels were up and had increased mental clarity.

In June 2015, the Fiancée and I (what choice did he have, really?) decided to give it a try. It was hard at times and meal prep was time consuming. But after we completed it we both felt a huge sense of accomplishment. How our bodies looked and felt was just as rewarding. We both lost weight. My skin hadn't been that clear since middle school. I had great energy levels that allowed me to take my workouts to another level. My focus and mental clarity at work were on point. My dependence and cravings for all things sweet didn't go away by any means but I felt like I took back some of the control. As the book calls it, I was beginning to slay my sugar dragon. For J, the best benefit he noticed was a significant decline in knee and joint pain. He has no cartilage in his knees so they ache almost constantly. He also felt the benefits of increased energy, restful sleep and better GI health.

Fast forward 6 months as we are on the eve of starting our second Whole30. We got engaged, went on vacation in the mountains and survived the holidays since then. But now that the holidays have passed, my sugar dragon has taken over and I need to get her back in her cage. And there's this little thing of not just fitting into but looking damn good in my wedding dress in 8 months!

With that, I'll be food journaling our Whole30 experience this go-around.

Whole Foods is the easiest place to get some compliant items to make cooking easier. Things like chicken broth, sugar-free bacon, ghee, salad dressings and some protein bars. Tessemae's dressings and marinades are great and we used them a lot last time. They were on sale at Whole Foods so I bought 4. Might as well stock up. Their mayo, ketchup and BBQ sauce are also pretty decent, if you can't go 30 days without and need a condiment fix. Applegate Organics' sliced roast beef is just about the only pre-packaged compliant deli meat I can find and it is delicious but pricey, so its more of a treat. I also found some prosciutto at Aldo a week ago and bought a few packs. Yum!

Well, I had my ceremonial last bowl of ice cream tonight and am ready and excited to dive in head first tomorrow morning. Wish us luck!