Whole 30 Week one

So its been a week. One whole lovely little week of eating clean, exercising and kicking ass and I can honestly say that its been great. I don’t feel overly tired, I don’t crave to much of the processes foods I once loved. I haven't been bloated or gassy like most who are in their first week. But I chock that up to doing a whole lot of practicing before hand. I mean I pretty much ate whole. I didn’t eat a lot of dairy (besides my beloved cheese.) and I tried to eat a lot of veggies before and I also didn’t eat a whole lot of grains/bread/beans.

I did have my self some good old Mexican food a few days before as my goodbye meal. I scarfed that huge enchilada down and felt super super gross afterwards and the whole next two days had stomach issues.  So it was a huge sign to me that what I was about to start would be all worth it.

Alright lets break it down day by day shall we?

Day one: Easy!!! It was like no big deal to get up before Wyatt went to school cook up some yummy breakfast and shuttle him of to school. I even did a 90 minute Zumba class before picking him up. The only hard part of the day was timing the meals. I ate breakfast at 7:30am then lunch at 12:00 pm but then we went to SLC to check out TJs and Wholefoods and didn’t get home until 7:30pm and I was DYING!!! I was soooo hungry! I didn’t bring a snack and normally we would have stop and ate somewhere but I was not about to do that. So lesson learned. Don’t go on a big trip with out packing food. ugh.

• Meal one: Scrambled eggs with chicken apple sausage, green onions, sweet potatoes cooked with coconut oil.
• Meal two: Chicken apple sausage with shredded white sweet potatoes spinach green onions cooked with avocado oil with a side of guacamole and blood oranges.
• Meal three: Stuff spinach Burgers with fried potatoes bits and plantain chips all fried up in coconut oil.

Day two: Still easy. Got up before school, cooked breakfast, ate with the kids. After School heated up left overs which the kids were soooo thrilled about. Did some T25 during nap time, cleaned the house, started dinner early and took Wyatt to karate class. I mean it was a normal day. I didn’t crave anything really, I didn’t eat snacks during the day. It was pretty boring. I did end up going out to a movie with the husband and he got popcorn and a soda and I didn’t. I thought it would have been hard to see him munching away but it wasn’t.

• Meal One: Omelet cooked in coconut oil stuffed with misc. veggies and apple sausage with a side of apples.
• Meal Two: Left over stuff burgers from the day before with sweet potatoes fries cooked in avocado oil and a side of bananas.
• Meal Three: Turkey Chili made with organic sugarless tomatoes paste, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, garlic etc. The only thing I wish I would have wanted was some guacamole or something because when I sat down to eat this I wanted cheese and sour cream soooo bad plus I didn’t have enough fat for the chili so I was pretty hungry by the time I went to bed.

 

Day Three: Lets talk about the headaches. OMG. They came fast and lasted A L L day long. Nothing helped. It was also the first day I went to work doing this program. And work is a trigger for me. I want Mt. Dew and food court food and the vender machines always call my name. Plus my work uses candy as a prize for a lot metrics they do. But I did great!

• Meal one:  Eggs with veggies and compliant bacon.
• Meal two: A delicious burger salad you see pictured down there. It was left over stuff burgers from the other day over spinach with sweet potatoes all mixed with coconut oil and avocados.
• Meal three: Left over turkey chili.

Day Four: Still had a bunch of headaches but felt mild compared to the day before. It was also a work day. But I still stayed strong and didn’t cave into the junk there. I also seem to have a lot of energy. I ended up coming home from work started cleaning the house, made dinner and then went to an hour of Zumba. Normally on work days I would just crash and spend the remaining of the night on the couch vegging out in front of the TV.

• Meal one: Eggs, veggies and bacon again
• Meal two: Left over chili
• Meal three: Sloppy Joes over lettuce with an spicy orange and avocado salad. (the kids had their Sloppy Joes on buns.) pictured below.

Day five: Nothing out of the ordinary. No headaches, normally I would have napped on this day while Gunner took his nap but nope I didn’t. I was up and about and even made homemade mayo! I will never buy mayo again. ever. I even did another hour of Zumba. The only thing I can say about this day was that I struggled with my work out. It was hard to keep up and when I got home that night I crashed out on the couch. It could be that my work out was in the evening that day or it could be because of the program. Not sure.

• Meal one: Broccoli slaw topped with apple sausage and eggs and a side of bacon.
• Meal two: Tuna apple and broccoli slaw salad with homemade mayo with a side of apples.
• Meal three: Apple sausage and guacamole with spinach

Day 6: I was tired. So tired all I wanted to do was sleep. But I didn’t I kicked myself into gear and sorted through all the kids toys. It was also a rest day for me so no exercise. Thank god.

• Meal one: Mustard sausage with spinach and sweet potatoes. I threw in 1 TBL spoon mayo and mixed all together. It was soooo good!
• Meal two: Mustard tuna apple salad. (this was a oops I didn’t plan shiz for lunch let me throw stuff together. it was alright but not really. ha ha ha.)
• Meal three: Chicken lime burger from TJs over spinach topped with compliant bacon, tomatoes and red onions. The sauce is homemade avocado ranch. OMG! the sauce. YUM! 

Day 7: This was a pretty big day all in itself for being 1 week of eating 100% whole30 but it was also where the family and I went to a car show in SLC for 4 1/2. That means away from my appliances. So I freaked myself out a little. What was I going to bring how was I going to eat etc. But all in all it was fine. I actually felt better then I would have before this. I would have wanted all the vendors food and the smell of it all would have made me super hungry. But I was clear headed and had energy to walk everywhere. Didn’t even sit down once. Where before I would be looking for a bench.

• Meal one: A huge breakfast. I made a huge omelet stuffed with garden veggies then had shredded sweet potatoes apple sausage and guacamole. cooked all in coconut oil. I figured if I had enough good fat that I wouldn’t struggle up there.
• Meal two: blood oranges, and a homemade taco salad with avocado ranch sauce and filled with onions, spinach, avocados.
• Meal three: Left overs from lunch.

*No pictures because well I was busy have fun.

Okay so for my first week the things I noticed was I eat a ton of sweet potatoes and I don’t drink enough water. (only drank it when I had a meal.) I still struggle with going to bed before 10pm because that’s when my husband and I have alone time. I feel super tired by 10pm but force myself to stay awake. So I am going to work on those things. Also, I am currently breaking out a lot. I think its due to my body releasing all the junk. I am not gassy or bloated like others say they are but I think its due to the fact that I ate mostly whole before. I also am short tempered if I don’t eat when I am hungry (aren’t we all) and I find that I needed some snacks here and there. Which were mostly an apple or some oranges or I would drink water and then feel fine.

But that’s it folks. First week completed. When you break it down it doesn’t seem that hard (yet.) I do have a lot of dishes and I am grateful that my husband is a produce manager because he brings home stuff for me mostly every night or it would be costly. especially since I am a throw it all together not really plan it out kind of gal. I cook what I want to eat. Maybe in the next few weeks I will learn to plan out better but for now it works.

How's everyone else doing? any of you trying the whole30 or want too?

My Relationship with food

I have always been an eater of all things. I love the way that all food tastes. I like the way a simple meal can be turned into a all day event with people surrounding you laughing and loving and eating. I am not one that would pass up on the treats you made or a good cheesy something or other. Or the pasta. I love me some pasta. But what really gets me all wild is some good authentic Mexican food. I could eat a good spice bowl of that or you know what I really love, street tacos. Yep, that’s my all time favorite.

So when I announced to my family that I was going to get on the whole 30 trend. They were like “What?! Why?! You love fooooood!” My husband was the worst too because well he’s seen me at my worst. Binge eating and then crying because I did it. He didn’t think I’d make it. I’ve been on health kicks before but haven't we all. I remember at the start of our marriage he bought me work out clothes a ton of tennis shoes that I wanted and he watched as they sat there collecting dust.

He bought gym memberships after memberships and watched as I gave up a few days, weeks later. He watched as I came home and cried because I just got home from working out with my sister and I couldn’t run up the stairs she wanted me too.

He would comfort me. Take me out to a nice place to eat because he knew that would make me happy again. He has seen me at my worst.

So when he came home one day and I told him that I was going to get healthy again. He just passed it off. He passed it off when I shuttled him around to a different gym each week trying them out to find the best one. He passed it off when I bought work out clothes again. He passed it off when I went out running and was a little annoyed that I did. He passed it all off because he thought I’d give up like I did before.

He started to notice when I stopped binge eating. When I wanted to cook meals instead of going out. When I actually used the veggies I begged him to bring home with him from work. He started to notice when I kept running leaving him with the kids at night. He started to notice when I run a 5k. He started to notice when he bought me 2 pant sizes smaller in clothes. He noticed when he waited for me at the finish line at my half marathon and I ran into his arms and sobbed.

My relationship with food has always been more then the food part. It has been about the me part. The part where I judged myself, where I didn’t like who I was. The part where I believe that I wasn’t strong enough. That being unhealthy was fine, easier and acceptable.

The Whole 30 program for me is not a diet. It’s a kick start for me. It going to help me understand what food actually means and does to me personally. It will help me build a better relationship with my food. Give me to ability to still eat food I love but just in a healthier way.

I have already tried to pre start it not being so strict every day (but I have gone 2 weeks straight) so I will be ready and I already noticed the difference when I eat whole compared to eating processed foods. I already know that when I ate grains I become instantly grumpy and mean and then crash into a sleepy slumber mood. When I drink soda I get a cold the next day. Like I get a itchy sore throat and running nose. Cheese my favorite thing ever, gives me headache.

So it’ll be interesting to see if I can stick to a strict 30 day of no sugar, grains, dairy and legumes. If you would have told me 2 years ago that I would be a path to eating healthy food aka veggies and running half marathons (and training for more.) I would have thought you were crazy.

It just takes one day to believe in yourself and to work hard for more then a few weeks to see that it is all worth it. All of it.

Here is to getting healthy this year.

(If you want to join me on the whole 30 program I am starting on January 12th with a bunch of internet friends at Team Whole on instagram.)

Grilled Lime Flank Steak

Main Dish ingredients

• 2 limes for 1/8 cup juices
• 1 TBL soy sauce
• 1 TBL minced fresh ginger
• 1/4 t red pepper flakes
• 3/4 lb flank steak
• 1 large zip top bag

Main Dish instructions

• in a large zip top bag combine lime juice, soy sauce, ginger and red pepper flake
• add steak turning bag to coat
• marinate in refrigerator at least 1 hour turn occasionally
• heat oven to broil remove steak from marinade
• season with salt pepper to taste
• broil turning once until meat is desired doneness
• let rest 10 minutes before slicing thinly

Side dish ingredients

• 2 TBL red wine vinegar
• 2 TBL olive oil
• 1/2 shallot minced
• 2 t capers
• 2 ripe beefsteak tomatoes cut into 8 wedges

(I added spinach to mine because I needed a little something more.)

Side dish instructions

• in a small bowl whisk together vinegar oil stir in shallots and capers
• place tomatoes on serving platter and drizzle with dressing
• season with salt and pepper to taste.

Creamy baked chicken with spinach

Main Dish Ingredients

• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 t garlic powder
• 1/4 parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 cup diced chicken from rotisserie chicken
• 10 oz spinach thawed squeezed dry spinach

Main dish instructions

• Preheat oven 350
• combine mayo sour cream garlic parmesan mozzarella in medium bowl
• in another bowl toss together 1/3 sauce with chicken and spinach spread in casserole
• spread rest of sauce mixture over chicken and spinach
• back for 40 minutes until golden brown

side dish ingredients

• 1 t Dijon mustard
• 2 TBL lemon juice 1/2 t salt 1 t black pepper 1 clove garlic minced
• 3 TBL olive oil
• 1/2 bag of chopped romaine
• 2 TBL grated parmesan

Side dish instructions

• combine mustard lemon juice salt pepper garlic and oil whisk until well combined
• toss with romaine lettuce sprinkle with parmesan and enjoy!

actually cooking

For about a week now I have been actually cooking. Like the real deal everything home made dinners. Now I got into this kick thanks to emeals. I have always struggled with meal planning even more when I started to work full time a few years ago. By the time I get home I’d be to tired to try and figure out what we have in our pantry to throw together and cook. So we’d end up just grabbing something on the go. Wyatt has become so accustom to fast food that he’d would expect a toy with every meal that we’d eat even if it was something we had at home. Sometimes he would even ask to eat something at home over fast food because that is how much we’d have it. I know I know. It was bad. 

Then I found out about emeals. I uploaded the app on my iPhone and tried the free trail and fell in love with how easy they made it for me. Everything was on there. What I needed to get for every meal for the entire week. It was amazing, plus the meals were so quick and easy to make that I started to look forward to them everyday.

I picked the low carb meal plan and I am so happy that I did because the food has been delicious and healthy and all home made.  I also made the choice that with this new eating healthy thing that I was actually going to get fit. I started to use the myfitness app (daily) and actually record all that I eat and Thursday I will be touring a Gym. Yep. I am going in on the fitness craze. I have never really be serious about getting skinny well because its not about self esteem or hating how I look for me because I am fine with how I look. I like my curves and I like who I am (most days) I want this because I need to be… my family needs to be healthy. Fast food everyday for a 5 year old. Not okay.

If you’ve been following along on instagram than you’ve seen what I have been cooking. Check out #audreyshomemademeals for all the meals I have cooked so far. I plan on posting a few here and there that we have really liked on the blog with recipes so that you guys could enjoy some good old cooking too. Also add me on myfitness app (email dailywyatt@gmail.com <--- the old blog name. hashtag lolololololol) YAY! fitness!

                             

                              (this has not been a sponsored post. I just wanted to share with you something I have really enjoyed.)