Whole30 - Day 9

Today felt easy again. Perhaps that's because I kept it simple.

Breakfast
I ended up not making any scotch eggs last night and didn't get up early enough to make them this morning. Since Robbie claimed not to like the egg whites yesterday anyway, I just made sausage patties with scrambled eggs and fruit. They polished off breakfast with no complaints today. It was so nice!

I made Drew a scrambler with some leftover steak, green peppers, spinach and onions. I then had some more of the leftover rotisserie chicken (which I eat cold) with sugar snap peas and fruit.

So simple, yet so yummy!

Lunch

Between breakfast and lunch today I did some more food prep. I cut up some carrots and celery, boiled some eggs, made scotch eggs, made some plain sausage patties for Robbie to have, and made some tuna with homemade mayo and celery for Drew for lunch (he was working from home today so I didn't need to pack his lunch. 

The kids had their "usuals" today. Mary had egg salad with cucumbers and pineapple, but today I also sent her with guacamole to dip the cucumbers in. When she got home from school she said it was awesome. Robbie had turkey, bacon, avocado roll ups with celery and pineapple. Drew made himself a salad with the tuna on it that I had prepped earlier.

I actually got a little activity today as well (it's about time!). I walked on the treadmill for 45 minutes and then it was 1! So, again, it was about 1:30 when I had lunch. I just did turkey, bacon and avocado roll-ups with carrots and celery with a little of the ranch I made yesterday to dip. I was quite hungry at lunch so I also had a bowl of grapes and walnuts. I'll admit - I'm kind of addicted to these right now. I suppose there are worse things (ah-hem wine and salt and vinegar potato chips)!

Funny. You can't see the grapes in the bowl, but they're there.

Dinner

I was going to use this recipe for Slow-Cooker Rotisserie Chicken, but I just ended up using McCormick's rotisserie chicken seasoning instead of making my own. It has no MSG and none of the other non-compliant ingredients so I figure it's safe. I also didn't cook it for the 8 hours that was recommended. I used a temperature probe and it took maybe 5-6 hours to cook and then I kept it on warm until dinner time. I swear I think this was the moistest (is that a word? lol) chicken I've ever made. I paired it with this recipe for carrot "fries" and some green beans sauteed in some ghee. OMG, let me tell you, I LOVED the carrot fries. Robbie ate all his in about 2 seconds (even though he claimed not to really like them) and I had to fight with Mary to finish her measly little 4 fries (sigh). But, I liked them and I'm not a big cooked carrot fan. 

The Lowdown

I feel like perhaps I'm eating too many walnuts. They are on the "limit" list so I probably shouldn't be eating them daily. And I definitely shouldn't be eating them twice a day, but oh well. Like I said, I'm kind of addicted to grapes and walnuts right now. Perhaps next I'll change it up to grapes and almonds (OK...I'm so addicted that the first time I typed that I typed walnuts instead of almonds)! I'm almost out of grapes (I bought them yesterday)!

Like I said, today felt easy again (kind of like day 1). That's a good thing since tomorrow is the scary day 10! Tomorrow's dinner is not so "simple" so we'll see how it goes. 

I also think I need to branch out more on veggies, but I'm so hesitant. There are ones that I have no idea if I'll even like let alone the kids. Maybe next week I'll get more creative in the veggie department. If anyone has any suggestions I'm definitely up for them. I saw on a blog that rutabaga is a great substitute for potatoes so I might try that. 

Whole30-Day8

Today's been a pretty good day.

Breakfast
I got up and started my usual morning routine (which isn't much different now that we're doing the Whole30). I got Drew's scrambler made and packed into a container for him to take to work. He didn't need a lunch today because they had some team meeting lunch thing (a challenge for sure) at an Italian restaurant! He looked at the menu online and already decided what to get, but it still had to happen and it would be interesting to see what the outcome was.

The kids ate the scotch eggs, but of course this morning Robbie said he didn't like the egg whites. He took the yolks out and ate them with the sausage. Whatever! I also cut up an apple for each of them and decided to not worry about veggies at breakfast. I came to the conclusion today that I'm going to stop worrying about how many veggies they're eating because they're eating way more than they used to so that's good enough. And it's funny because I worry that if they don't eat their veggies maybe they aren't eating enough - but then when I think about what we might fill their diet with it's all crap and empty calories anyway so it's not like they're losing nutrients.

I didn't take a picture of my breakfast today because it was quite sad. I went out to breakfast again this morning and really didn't want a scrambler. I ordered 2 eggs over hard and some corned beef (I have to look up to see if this is actually allowed). I also ordered fruit on the side, but they were out. When my plate came I realized I had NO veggies or fruit. Sigh....oh well.

Lunch
The kids did lunches similar to yesterday. Mary wanted to try the turkey, avocado, bacon so she had 2 slices of that and 1 egg of egg salad with her veggies and fruit. Robbie said he needed 4 slices of the turkey instead of 3 so that's what we did.

Drew had his lunch out and did as well as he could. He got a big salad and from the sounds of it stayed compliant. I didn't eat lunch until almost 1:30 again, but wasn't really hungry until then. I got a big salad at Giant Eagle while picking up some more groceries for the week. I also tried a new recipe for ranch. It was missing chives, but it was MUCH better than the other one. I put that on my salad and then had some grapes with walnuts when I was done with the salad.

After school Mary had some leftover rotisserie chicken and a fruit leather (no sugar in the ingredients!). Robbie had the last 3 chicken wings and some fruit. I had some more grapes and walnuts (because it was just SO good)!

Dinner
Tonight's dinner was almond crusted pork chops with broccoli and applesauce. I dipped the pork in egg and then in almond flour/meal, which I seasoned with some parsley, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper. There were 6 thin chops in all that all together were a little over 3/4 of a pound. The boys each had 2 chops and the girls had one!

I had already taken a bite - oops!

The Lowdown

Robbie continues to eat me out of house and home. He must be going through a growth spurt. He's eating as much as an adult so I'm not all that concerned that he's not getting enough food or anything! Mary continues to fight me more on veggies than Robbie (he complains, but then eats every morsel of the veggies before anything else just to get it over with). Mary, on the other hand, leaves them until last and tries to get out of eating them. But, all in all they are doing amazingly well. They are really being troopers with this.

I'm better today. Feeling a little less overwhelmed (although I did just realize I have no scotch eggs on hand for breakfast tomorrow and I can't decide if I want to make them now or do it in the morning)!

I have decided that I'm not even going to try to shop for a whole week at a time. I'm going to try to make meal plans for about 4 days at a time and go from there. If that means I'll be at the grocery store every 4 days so be it. I am lucky enough to be able to have the flexibility to do that so I'll go with that. 

And just for the fun of it. I'll leave you tonight with some artwork done by the kids that we saw at the Kenston Art Show tonight. 

Robbie's elephant

Mary's flowers

This one was cool. A different kid did each of the "animals" on the totem pole. 

Whole30-Day 7,

Well. We made it through one FULL week of the Whole30! Woo hoo!

Today was kind of a crazy day, but oddly enough it started out quite calmly. The kids both got up relatively easily (dare I say easier than normal?!?! Nah - it was probably just a fluke). I had already gotten up and gotten their lunches packed, Drew's lunch packed and Drew's breakfast made..and packed (he eats it at work). So I then got the kids' breakfasts ready and as they started eating, I got my breakfast ready. The three of us sat at the table and ate breakfast. It was kind of nice. I never sit and eat breakfast with my kids on a school morning. It felt quite relaxed. The craziness started when breakfast was done, but it was still better than most mornings.

Breakfast

This is his 2nd scotch egg!

Last night I prepped the kids breakfast for today. I made scotch eggs. I found a couple different recipes online, but I just took a pound of bulk breakfast sausage (the plain kind, I checked the ingredients and there didn't appear to be any non-compliant ingredients) and 6 hard boiled eggs. I wrapped the hard boiled eggs in the sausage and baked them at 350 for about 20 minutes. They were a HIT! I figured one would be PLENTY for the kids since it's an egg with the equivalent of a sausage patty, but Robbie had 2! I didn't feel like fighting over the veggies today so I let them get away with 2 pieces of vegetables. Robbie had 1 celery stick and 1 carrot stick and Mary had 2 cucumber slices. They both had mandarin oranges as well. But, they were happy and had a whole foods breakfast so I'm happy.

I, on the other hand, was getting a little sick of eggs (although I probably could have done a hard boiled egg) so I just had some leftover rotisserie chicken with sugar snap peas and carrots. I realized that I didn't have any fat (according to the meal template fats are like healthy oils, cashews, avocado's, etc). I technically didn't have any of that so I put some cashews on my plate. I didn't eat as many as are pictured - took too many! Drew, who is a creature of habit, had a scrambler again. He'll likely eat that for breakfast for the next 30+ days!

Lunch

Robbie's Lunch

Mary's lunch

I was absolutely ravenous by the time I ate lunch because I was at my kids' schools the whole morning. I volunteered in the office at Robbie's school from about 8:30 to 10:30 and then subbed as a lunch proctor at Mary's school from 11-1:15. I didn't get to eat until almost 2! I ended up just making the same thing for me that I made for Robbie - avocado and bacon wrapped in turkey slices. I just ate some more sugar snap peas, carrots, and cucumbers with it. I also had a handful of walnuts when I was done eating lunch. 

Again, I made Drew a salad with chicken and walnuts and dressed it with oil and vinegar. Like I said, he's a creature of habit. 

My lunch

Dinner

Tonight was another "quick dinner" night since Mary had volleyball at 5:30. We did dinner after practice since eating before 5:30 is not possible. So dinner was just steak and veggies tonight. 

I don't have much else to say about dinner. Pretty boring. 

The Lowdown

I'm feeling very overwhelmed tonight. I feel like I can't plan for more than 3-4 days in advance because I don't know what the kids are actually going to eat. I'm spending so much time planning what the kids and my husband are going to eat that I forget to think about what I might eat (if it's something different than what they want). I can't do scrambled eggs every day for 30 days. I'm already sick of them, so I'm making Drew his scrambler in the morning and I need to make something else for me and the kids. This morning was easy (and tomorrow will be too) because I pre-made the scotch eggs. Robbie claims he'll eat those for the next few mornings. However, if I make 12 (enough to not even last a whole week if Robbie keeps eating 2 at breakfast!), and he decides he doesn't want it, I've wasted that money. Eating like this is so freaking expensive that I can't afford to waste a morsel of food. So the planning is making me feel overwhelmed. 

Then, tonight at Mary's practice her coach was rewarding them with jelly beans for making good plays and she was awesome and gave hers away....but I felt bad. It's only 30 days. It's not like they can't go without sugar for 30 days and she was really fine about it, I just feel bad. 

I'm going through a ton of emotions tonight and I just don't think anyone wants me to go into all of them right now. Perhaps I'll do a separate blog post or perhaps I'll just let it pass. Like I said, days 10-11 are the most common days to quit. Unfortunately that will be Thurs/Fri this week. To hit the "hardest" part of the Whole30 on the weekend just stinks. I'm still determined. It's 30 days and I know we can do this. However, I'm not so confident about what will happen when this is over. In the very least I hope it sparks me to get back on track with doing what I need to do to lose this weight because frankly, that's the most important thing to me right now. What I'm afraid it'll do is send me into a binge as soon as I hit day 31. It's supposed to change your relationship with food so hopefully that won't happen, but it is "only" 30 days - how much can it really change?? 

OK. That's enough for tonight. Sorry for the negative post. I said I was going to be completely honest through this journey. 

Whole30-Day 6

We've almost made it to one full week on whole30! Woo hoo!

Today was a good day. We went to visit the in-laws (as we do on many Sundays). I told my mother in-law that she needn't worry about food for my family as I'll be bringing our lunch. I took time last night getting the kids' lunches ready and then got my husbands' and mine ready this morning.

But first...

Breakfast
No picture, but slightly different. I made a scrambler with just eggs, zucchini and onion. I found some "paleo-friendly" bacon that has no added sugar at the grocery store so I made that today and put it on the side as opposed to in the scrambler. The kids devoured the bacon (of course) and Robbie ate every morsel of his serving of eggs and veggies. Mary....well...she's still a work in progress with the veggies. I really hope that this is going to broaden her horizons when it comes to veggies.

One thing that's great about this way of eating as a family is that it forces even more sit down meals. We have always eaten dinner as a family 95% of the time. But, on the weekends we would often not eat breakfast; or the kids would eat snacky things like granola bars and pudding once we reminded them that they may want to eat something! Yesterday and today we sat down to a family breakfast, lunch and dinner! It's actually quite nice.

Lunch
Robbie's lunch today consisted of chicken salad on lettuce, celery sticks, cantaloupe and grapes. Mary had egg salad on lettuce, cucumber slices and cantaloupe. I then brought some more chicken salad and lettuce for Drew and I to have that as well.

Robbie ate his entire lunch and complained of still being hungry. He ended up  having an apple and one of those small oranges. When we got home he still complained of being hungry. I realized that he probably isn't drinking enough since he seems to be such a bottomless pit lately. He isn't the biggest fan of plain water so he's barely drinking with meals and not drinking much in between. I suggested he have some water.

Dinner
For dinner I attempted to make paleo lemonade - so lemonade with natural sweeteners (like honey, which is what I used). Technically on the whole30 you're not allowed to even have honey, but I figured for the kids I'll let it slide because Robbie really needs to be drinking more. He loves lemonade so I thought this would work. Yea, seems easy, but it wasn't. It smelled nasty and didn't turn out great. I saved it though and will try to mess with it more tomorrow to see if I can get it to taste more like lemonade. But Robbie did drink a fair amount of plain water with dinner tonight so that was good. And, it was the first time I've heard him say "I'm full" in a while!

Tonight I was being "lazy" for dinner and just had Drew pick up some Giant Eagle rotisserie chicken. We had to eat early because Mary had a volleyball game at 6 and I just didn't have it in me to cook quickly. I just heated up some green beans and that was dinner.

After Mary's volleyball game tonight (which they won! They are now undefeated at 4-0), I spent about 1.5 hours in the kitchen prepping food for the week (and doing dishes). Unfortunately I'm not completely prepped, but I have a good start on it.

I'm feeling a little uneasy because I never really did complete a menu for this week. I need to look at what I wrote down for at least 4 dinners (because I think that's how far I got in my planning) and at least get the rest of the school/work week planned out. I feel better when I know what I'm making each day. Breakfast and lunch is all planned for the people who need packed meals so that's good at least!
The Lowdown
It's still going well. Do I get frustrated? Absolutely. I get frustrated that I'm trying to come up with creative things to get the kids to enjoy them and they still don't. I get frustrated when I'm in the kitchen for what feels like all day and am doing dishes 4 times a day. But, I am also proud that we're doing this as a family. I'm proud that we've stuck to it for 6 days. Most importantly, I'm hopeful that I'll start to see those wonderful changes in the days to come. The book and timeline say days 10-11 are the most common days to quit. And when you read the timeline (and the book) you see that you really don't start seeing any of the awesome benefits "they" talk about until very close to the end. Therefore, I am determined to make it to and past all of these difficult days. We will make it to day 31!

Whole30-Day5

Today wasn't a great day. I'm keeping this blog as honest as possible because I want to record how I felt throughout this process. I also am interested in knowing how the foods I am eating are agreeing (or not) with me.

The "kill all things" feeling waited until today for me. I had absolutely no patience today. I was crabby and annoyed at everything. Mary was trying to help me with things and I just had to ask her to go do something else because I couldn't deal with having her help. Drew was helpful and understanding, which was great.

Breakfast
Today's breakfast was totally hectic and crazy. Robbie had a soccer game at 9 and Mary had a volleyball game at 10. I knew that yesterday they were getting kind of sick of the scramblers so I thought we could do something different. I made some egg salad for Robbie, but put a little too much mayo in it so it was watery and he didn't want it. I then suggested deviled eggs and I think he ate one, but didn't want any more. He finally ate a hot dog (I had found Whole30 compliant hot dogs at the grocery store yesterday) with some celery and cantaloupe. Mary ate some of the egg salad, a couple deviled eggs and maybe one piece of celery. Getting this girl to eat veggies is such a darn challenge!

I then made a scrambler for me and Drew to share. I found some compliant chicken sausage at the grocery store the other day so I used that and scrambled the eggs with that, green pepper and onions.

Lunch
After the sporting events we came home and I once again started prepping food. I really felt like today I did nothing but prep food and it was frustrating me. But I think part of that was the crabbiness (although I did spend a lot of time in the kitchen today). It's also my own choice. I could do this much easier, but I'm wanting to try new recipes, etc.

Anyway, lunch was mostly leftovers and stuff we had in the fridge. I ate the same thing I had yesterday so I didn't take another picture of it. Chicken salad over lettuce.

Dinner
I forgot to take a picture of dinner. It doesn't really matter because it didn't look all that pretty, but it was yummy. Again, the kids raved about the main course. The veggies are still a work in progress. I made Paleo Balsamic Apple Ribs with the prosciutto wrapped asparagus and sweet potato hash. I was hesitant about the sweet potato hash because we're not big fans of sweet potato here and it smelled like coconut from the oil, but it wasn't bad. Of course the kids hated it, but what else is new. I am hoping at some point in these 30 days the kids start to actually eat more veggies.

The Lowdown
Today was rough, but I knew this wasn't going to be easy. I was annoyed today because I was hoping to have some positive effects happening already. I was hoping to be sleeping better at least and I'm not. I don't feel any different physically - if anything I feel a little worse. But, I remember reading that for people with Crohn's (and other ailments) it may get worse before it gets better. I'm still not worried about being put in a flare or anything, I just want to get to that lovely point of feeling awesome and being so happy that I chose to do this. Yes, I realize it's only day 5 and those things aren't going to happen until more like day 20, but still...it's just how I'm feeling today.

The good news about today?? I ate my 3 meals with no snacks in between. I wasn't even all that hungry yet when dinner rolled around. Last night I did not end up having a snack after dinner either. So I do think I'm doing better with figuring out how much I need to keep me satisfied until the next meal. Another positive that I have noticed is that in just these 5 short days I feel like my belly bloat is a little less. I'm not saying I've lot enough weight to notice or anything, I just feel like my belly doesn't look quite as big as it's been lately. I'll take it.

Whole30-Day4

Today started out a little on the rough side. I dared to put spinach in the scrambler this morning instead of the green peppers (which, mind you, the kids complained about the peppers as well), and the kids complained and whined about the spinach. Mary even went as far to barely eat any breakfast because of it.

Oh well. It is bound to happen many more times over the next 26 days. My kids don't eat enough veggies and that's part of why I wanted them to be involved in this. I'm hoping that their taste buds will change a little over the course of 30 days and they will start to like more veggies. Only time will tell.

Breakfast

So every (or almost every) Friday morning I go to breakfast with my neighbor and then we go do our grocery shopping. We started doing this some time last year and it works well for us. Anyway, so we went to breakfast this morning and I stayed as compliant as possible. I asked for them to make my eggs with no butter and got items that I thought wouldn't have added sugar. I did get Cajun sausage in my scrambler so that would be the only thing that maybe had a little sugar in it. I'm not too concerned though.

A yummy breakfast scrambler with spinach, onions, and Cajun sausage with a side of fresh fruit.

Lunch
This breakfast was actually really good at keeping me full. I ate breakfast around 8:30 and didn't eat lunch until about 1:30. I decided I was just going to have some of the chicken salad I made yesterday on top of some greens (romaine lettuce and spinach). It was quite yummy and filling (yes, it was a big salad).

One of the things I actually enjoy about this program is the fact that you don't need to count calories or anything like that. However, they do give you a meal template that you are supposed to follow. So, for each meal you should have 1-2 servings of protein (a serving is the size of your palm) and then fill the rest of your plate with vegetables. They go on to say that you need some healthy fat with each meal as well, 1-2 thumb size portions. So, the chicken salad has the protein, the mayo has the fat and the salad is obviously the veggie. In case you were wondering how I decide how much I should eat.

Dinner

Yum. Wings, green beans and sugar snap peas.

Once again dinner was a huge success! Well, not all the way around. The kids still complain about the veggies (it IS only day 4). But, the main dish was a hit! I made Paleo Glazed Chicken Wings from this website. They were so yummy and filled the house with a wonderful aroma while they cooked. I started the kids each out with 3 wings and Robbie finished his before I could even sit down. He ended up having 9 wings! After he finished the first 3 he said "these are better than bdubs!" (as in Buffalo Wild Wings). Mary ended up having 5. The problem is still the veggies. Robbie ate some of his green beans and then had some raw carrots instead because he didn't like the green beans.

The Lowdown
Today was a good day. I didn't snack at all (although I may have some walnuts and/or fruit tonight after I post this). I did get another headache today but I'm not sure if that's from the food or the weather. I was also tired. But, again, that's because I continue to have a hard time sleeping. This wonderful sleep that they talk about really needs to kick in soon! I was a little worried about today because according to that pesky timeline, days 4 & 5 are "Kill ALL the things"! I actually felt like I had more patience today than other days. Robbie seemed a little more on edge last night than usual so perhaps that was his kill all the things moment. Today has really seemed fine though in our household. We'll see what tomorrow brings! (besides soccer and volleyball)!

Whole30 - Day 3

I did not sleep well last night at all. Not sure what that was about. But, as a result, I did not wake up easily. Hopefully this awesome sleep that they talk about will come sooner rather than later. However, I had no headache today so that's a good thing.

One thing that I did want to discuss falls under the TMI category. However, one of the main reasons I'm doing this is to help my Crohn's disease so these topics are bound to come up. I was super excited yesterday because I did not wake up and immediately need to use the bathroom (and I'm not talking pee). I actually didn't end up using the bathroom in that regard until after lunch. This, my friends, is a pretty big deal. However, today, I find that every time I use the bathroom it's not just loose, but basically water. Hmmmm...potentially not good. But, I don't have any severe stomach cramps or anything like that that usually goes with Crohn's so I'm chalking it up to my body adjusting to all this lovely fiber that I'm ingesting that I don't usually have. I think my body  just needs to figure out how to process it. So, I'm going to keep an eye on that and see what happens.

Other than that, I honestly am not feeling any different yet. It is only day 3 so I didn't really expect any dramatic changes quite yet.

Breakfast
Again, same breakfast as yesterday. This morning I only made 6 eggs because yesterday both kids and Drew threw away a little of theirs. However, this morning both kids were complaining of still being hungry and Mary requested more eggs.

Lunch
The kids had the same lunch - 4 deviled eggs, veggies and fruit. I packed my husband a salad with chicken and pecans and forgot to pack his dressing! Ugh! I ate leftovers from the last 2 days. I had meatballs and asparagus.

I spent a good part of today doing some more food prep. I made some chicken salad for lunch over the weekend, made some more homemade mayo, cut up some more carrots, prepped the mashed cauliflower for dinner tonight and washed dishes. One of the things about this diet is there is a lot of dish washing! I told my husband tonight that I think I've done the dishes 4 times today. I took a picture of what my mayo looks like for anyone that might be interested.

Today was a good batch too. Nice and creamy....yum!

Dinner
Tonight's dinner was pork loin roast with mashed cauliflower and green beans  (which were tossed with ghee). The kids weren't crazy about the mashed cauliflower. I thought it was OK. It was very creamy, but there was something I didn't love....maybe the texture, maybe the taste, I'm not sure.

The Lowdown
I'm pretty happy with today overall. I did snack on some walnuts today and those are on the "limit" list, but overall I think I'm doing a good job so far. For some reason I feel like I'm having a hard time planning meals much more than 1 or 2 days in advance. It's really not a huge deal because I don't work so I can go to the store as needed, but I imagine that will get old as well. It's kind of funny because I like planning so I'm not sure why I'm having a mental block with planning the meals for next week. I'll get them planned though and it'll all work out. Perhaps next week I'll start to reintroduce some activity as well. But for now I'm just focusing on the food.

Until tomorrow........

Whole30-Day 2

Well, we made it to day 2! I woke up this morning with a slight headache. Yup. That's about right. According to that "Whole30 Timeline" I was talking about yesterday; days 2-3 is "the hangover". It's your body processing all the junk that you have consumed prior to doing this and getting it all out of its' system. Fun stuff! The headache hasn't been  horrible. My husband said he had a headache as well.

When the kids came home from school I asked how they were feeling today and if they had a headache at all. Robbie said he did, but it wasn't anything bad enough for him to tell me about it until I asked. :)

Today felt relatively "easy" again. I did get hungry this afternoon and even with a snack was hungry by dinner.

And on to today's meals:

Breakfast
Today was a very similar breakfast to yesterday - and will be for the rest of the week. We made a decision to make breakfasts and lunches the same (at least for the kids and hubby who have to have packed lunches) for a week at a time to help make my life a little easier!

So for my family for 4 (kids are 10 and 7), I made 7 eggs, 4 chicken breakfast sausages, 1 small zucchini, probably the equivalent of a small onion (I had already diced it and just poured it in the skillet) and maybe a quarter of a green pepper (again, this was already diced with the onion and there wasn't a lot of it in there). I sauteed the vegetables and sausage in some olive oil and added seasonings (garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt and pepper). Then I added the eggs and made a yummy scrambler. Super easy and even pretty quick even with having to cut the veggies (today I cut the zucchini and sausage as I was making it). I don't divvy it up evenly (obviously) since the kids are little and don't eat nearly as much as we do. But this seemed to be a perfect amount for us. The kids ate almost all of their servings with only a little left on their plates.

Lunch

And no, I did not eat the bread that's in the pic!

I ended up having my lunch a little early today because I wanted to meet a friend for lunch. I was heading out to Whole Foods and she works right near there so it was a perfect excuse! We went to Tommaydo, Tommahdo and I just got the Tom Tom Cobb salad with no cheese. I brought my own olive oil and vinegar in case they didn't have any.

My husband just ate leftover meatballs and some carrots and sugar snap peas for lunch. The kids had the same lunch as yesterday but we just made some minor tweaks. They each had 4 deviled eggs, veggies and fruit. Robbie decided that he didn't want anything to dip his veggies in and Mary took the cashew butter she didn't finish yesterday.

Snack

I had the same snack as yesterday so I don't think there's a need for a picture. I do not think that my husband had a snack at all. Mary had a deviled egg and Robbie had an apple for a snack. I told them we were having an early dinner tonight so they didn't need a bigger snack. 

Dinner

Dinner was slightly hectic, but that had nothing to do with the whole30. It would have been  hectic no matter what we were eating....perhaps just a bit easier if we would have done fast food! (but a heck of a lot more expensive and way less healthy). Dinner was a team effort tonight. I prepped the asparagus and got the steaks ready to grill. I then took Mary to her meeting at school at 4:30 regarding the end of the year talent show. While I was there Drew grilled the steaks and cooked the veggies. By the time Mary and I got home we were able to sit down to dinner before Robbie's soccer practice at 6 and Mary's volleyball at 6:30! Whew! But, we did it. And it was yummy!

Delmonico steak with green beans and prosciutto wrapped asparagus. OMG, the asparagus was awesome! I made 3 steaks, one for each of the adults and one to split between the kids. Robbie ate his share and took some of mine and Drew's! Robbie also complained about the green beans and asparagus yet not a single one was left on his plate! I love that. I hate that he complains, but I love that he scarfs it down to get it over with (which is what he explained to me today).

The Lowdown
Day 2 wasn't bad at all. I need to figure out a lunch that will actually hold me until dinner. But, I also think that my body has to get used to eating less food in general. My brain might be telling me I'm hungry because it's so used to eating more when I don't really need it. It's gotta take time to rebuild that communication between body and brain. And, even though the point of this is not weight loss,  that is a big part of it for me so I don't want to eat too much. A work in progress though. It is only day 2 so I imagine it'll get easier to determine what serving sizes I need to sustain me.

On to day 3!

What IS the WHOLE30??

I realize that I didn't go in to any detail about what exactly the whole30 is. I thought I'd take a minute to give you a quick rundown of the program in case you're interested and haven't looked into it at all. Of course I do recommend just heading over to the whole30 website and read about it all over there.

I have to laugh that I said "quick rundown"....nothing I do is quick! :)

So whole30 is a program designed to "reset" your system and help you determine what food groups have an effect on your body. I can't stress enough how awesome the book, "It Starts With Food" is. This book goes into so much detail and covers all the science behind what happens in your brain and body when you ingest certain things. It explains it in a way that even I could understand and although I may not be able to recite it to you, it made sense to me while I read it. So the program says to completely eliminate certain food groups that can potentially be having a negative impact on your life. Here are the rules of the program according to the website and the book:

Yes: Eat real food.Eat meat, seafood, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds. Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re totally natural and unprocessed. Don’t worry… these guidelines are outlined in extensive detail in our free shopping list.
No: Avoid for 30 days.More importantly, here’s what NOT to eat during the duration of your Whole30 program. Omitting all of these foods and beverages will help you regain your healthy metabolism, reduce systemic inflammation, and help you discover how these foods are truly impacting your health, fitness and quality of life.

• Do not consume added sugar of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, stevia, etc. Read your labels, because companies sneak sugar into products in ways you might not recognize.

• Do not consume alcohol in any form, not even for cooking. (And it should go without saying, but no tobacco products of any sort, either.)

• Do not eat grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa. This also includes all the ways we add wheat, corn and rice into our foods in the form of bran, germ, starch and so on. Again, read your labels.

• Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kinds (black, red, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava, etc.), peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts. No peanut butter, either. This also includes all forms of soy – soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and all the ways we sneak soy into foods (like lecithin).

• Do not eat dairy. This includes cow, goat or sheep’s milk products such as cream, cheese (hard or soft), kefir, yogurt (even Greek), and sour cream… with the exception of clarified butter or ghee. (See below for details.)

• Do not eat white potatoes. This is somewhat arbitrary, but if we are trying to change your habits (chips and fries) and improve the hormonal impact of your food choices, it’s best to leave white, red, purple, Yukon gold, and fingerling potatoes off your plate.

• Do not consume carrageenan, MSG or sulfites. If these ingredients appear in any form on the label of your processed food or beverage, it’s out for the Whole30.

• No Paleo-ifying baked goods, desserts, or junk foods. Trying to shove your old, unhealthy diet into a shiny new Whole30 mold will ruin your program faster than you can say “Paleo Pop-Tarts.” This means no desserts or junk food made with “approved” ingredients—no banana-egg pancakes, almond-flour muffins, flourless brownies, or coconut milk ice cream. Don’t try to replicate junk food during your 30 days! That misses the point of the Whole30 entirely.

One last and final rule: You are not allowed to step on the scale or take any body measurements for the duration of the program. This is about so much more than just weight loss, and to focus on your body composition means you’ll miss out on the most dramatic and lifelong benefits this plan has to offer. So, no weighing yourself, analyzing body fat or taking comparative measurements during your Whole30. (We do encourage you to weigh yourself before and after, however, so you can see one of the more tangible results of your efforts when your program is over.)
- See more at: http://www.whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/#sthash.B71U9pTH.dpuf

So that's it in a nutshell.

Challenging? Yes.
Impossible? Not at all.

The book goes in to a lot of detail about how eating certain processed, less than healthy foods has interrupted the communication between your brain and your body. Interestingly, the chiropractor that I went to see was saying the same type of thing. He was saying that there is no reason to count calories when you're eating real food because your body knows how much it needs. And, when you eat whole, real, food you get the nutrients you need so your body tells your brain when it has had enough. When you're eating crap (like really bad stuff - fast food, processed food, etc), you may be eating lots and lots of calories, but since your body isn't getting the nutrients it needs it keeps sending signals to the brain that it needs more food. And, because you just get the message of more food, you eat more crappy food. Hence the idea of "empty calories".

A couple of the things I really like about the program are 1) they even say in the book that they don't expect people to be whole365. Meaning, they don't think anyone is going to eliminate all of these things for a lifestyle change. They do say that these 30 days will "change your life" and change the way you see food, etc. I'm hoping that it will help with my unhealthy relationship with food. I'm thinking it may not change for me in 30 days, but I'm also willing and prepared to do more than one whole30 to eventually get to where I want to be. My hope is then I will follow a less strict, whole foods diet. Only time will tell.... 2) The program is actually NOT about losing weight. They (and when I say "they" I mean Dallas and Melissa Hartwig who wrote the book and came up with the program) say they don't really care if we lose weight. As you can see above, one of the rules is to not get on a scale for the full 30 days. But they do recommend before and after pictures so you can see the difference. The program is supposed to focus on resetting your body and therefore if you need to lose weight you will lose, if you need to gain you will gain and if you don't need either you'll maintain. We're testing this in our household. My husband and I both need to lose weight (me, more than him) and our children absolutely do not need to lose weight. We all got on the scale on day 0 (actually I think Robbie may not have) and we will weigh in again on day 31.

So there you have it. That's what we're doing. If nothing else, it should be an interesting 30 days!

My Whole30 Journey - Day 1

Here it is...Day 1 of my Whole30 challenge. But first, I feel like I need to put a disclaimer in here. So here it goes:

Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with Whole9 (the company who came up with Whole30). When I claim that something is "Whole30 compliant" it is because I have read the book, "It Starts With Food", and believe from what I read that I know what I'm doing. However, I could always be wrong so please check it out for yourself if you plan to complete your own Whole30. This is my account of my personal Whole30 journey.

OK. Now that we got that out of the way.....

According to the whole30 website, the first day is the "So what's the big deal?" day. They basically say that during the first day you're feeling empowered by making good choices and are wondering why anyone would say this is hard. The next part cracks me up. It goes on to say, 

"This delusion is somewhat akin to the first episode of any given reality show on which the contestants are herded together and forced to live in one house." - (See more here)

So, just as they predicted; I'm feeling pretty good today. Here's what today looked like:

Breakfast 
Today's breakfast may not have been 100% compliant because I actually went out to breakfast. But, I tried my best. I got a scramble that had 2 eggs, ham, onions and green pepper. Instead of the toast and home fries that came with it, I got fruit. The ham most likely had added sugar and they may have cooked the eggs in butter. But, it's day 1 and I actually think I'll do this for longer than 30 days so I'm not stressing about it.

The kids and my husband had a scrambler that I made with eggs, onions, green peppers and chicken sausage. Now, I will say that I don't think the chicken sausage is actually compliant but we used it last time and my husband still had really good results so I think I'm not going to worry about it. It has less than 2% of sugar - the sugar would make it non compliant, but I made the choice that for us it is close enough.

Lunch
Breakfast actually kept me satisfied for about 3 to 3.5 hours. Which actually tells me that I should have a bigger breakfast. According to the book, you should eat 3 meals a day and avoid snacks. Your meals are supposed to be satisfying enough to last 4-5 hours. But, it is definitely a learning process so they say it's OK to snack if necessary.

Lunch was canned tuna (this is the tuna I used and it is SO good, but pricey) mixed with homemade mayo (this recipe is amazing and really so easy) and put on top of some lettuce. I then had carrots and sugar snap peas with homemade ranch dressing and grapes.

I did not love the ranch dressing. The recipe used the homemade mayo as a base, but added coconut milk (and other seasonings) to it so it has an obvious coconut flavor. I'm not a huge coconut fan so I didn't care for it. If you like coconut, you would probably love it! Mary (who doesn't like store bought ranch at all) said it was WAY better than store bought, but still just OK. I plan to try another ranch recipe that basically just uses the mayo and then adds seasonings to it to make it "ranch". I think I might like that better. I'll let you know! :)

I packed my husband's lunch to take to work this morning. He had a salad with chicken, pecans and oil/vinegar to dress it. I gave him some raw veggies with cashew butter as well. The kids helped me pack their lunches and were so excited (we'll see how long this lasts). They each had 3 deviled eggs (made with the homemade mayo), carrots and/or sugar snap peas (Mary had both, Robbie only had carrots), ranch (Robbie) or cashew butter (Mary) and grapes. Perhaps tomorrow I'll try to take a picture of their lunch.

Mary came home from school saying that she needs 4 deviled eggs tomorrow. However, it turns out that she only ate 2 little carrot sticks, 2 sugar snap peas and didn't finish her grapes. I knew the transition to eating lots of veggies would be a tough one for her. Robbie also said he needs 4 deviled eggs, but he ate all of his veggies (he also didn't like the ranch, but just ate the veggies plain) and all of his grapes. So I'll tweak their lunches tomorrow.

Snack
I did get hungry between lunch and dinner so I cut up an apple and had it with some cashew butter (in my Scooby Doo bowl).

The kids are very used to having a snack when they get off the bus. They were also hungry today since we're learning how much we really need to eat to keep us satisfied between meals. Robbie ate an apple and then tried a larabar and ended up only eating half. Mary tried the larabar and didn't like it, she had an apple and a deviled egg since she was still hungry.

Dinner
I found a recipe for meatballs and was eager to try it knowing that there's no way it could compete with my mom's meatballs! I also made spaghetti squash for the first time for a meatballs and spaghetti dinner. The consensus of dinner was YUMMO! The kids and the husband all had 5 meatballs (I had 4). The kids were not crazy about the squash (and to be completely honest neither am I), but they ate it. They made sure to take each bite of meatball with squash on it. There were no complaints of being hungry between dinner and bed (and dinner was early - before 5:30). But the kids don't usually eat after dinner so this isn't a huge adjustment.

The Lowdown of Day 1
All in all we had a very successful day 1. Mary told me that it was her friends birthday at school and doughnuts were brought in and she didn't even have one! She also said that all of her friends had Easter candy in their lunches and were teasing her (jealous, Mary?!?!) and she was still compliant! I LOVE it!

The biggest hurdle today was what to drink at dinner. The kids wanted something other than water, but there really isn't much you can drink during the whole30. I would like to try flavoring water with some fruits, but I just haven't done it yet. I also think I ate a little more fruit than they recommend (and I know the kids did, but I don't care about that). They recommend something like 1-2 servings of fruit a day and I think I had about 3 - so really not bad.

It's a good thing that day 1 was such a success because looking at the timeline, things are going to get a little rocky from  here until about day 16!

A Tough Choice

Well, I guess I lied! My last post (WAY back in January) talked about how I thought my new approach to eating and exercising was working. Yea, we all know how this goes with me. It didn't last long. I probably jinxed it right after I wrote the blog post.

I suppose the good news is that I "only" weigh 3 pounds more than I did on January 6th. This is actually a very big deal and I'm going to be quite happy about that...considering. Clearly, I have struggled with getting back on track. Considering how off track I've been, I'm amazed and happy that I've only done 3 more pounds worth of damage. And it ends NOW!

Back in March I decided to meet with a chiropractor who apparently does a lot with nutrition and how food affects your overall health (including things like Crohn's disease). I have always been hesitant about any "holistic" medicine. I don't necessarily have a good reason for being hesitant about it other than;  it could be expensive since insurance won't pay for it, and then what if it doesn't work anyway.

My mom said that when she was talking to this doctor about me he was so excited to work with me because working with "cases" like me are his passion. I was impressed when I met with him and he spent an hour and twenty minutes talking to me. He said that he believes he can help me if I'm willing to do what is necessary. He went through all the science behind what happens to your body when you eat certain foods like refined carbohydrates and other processed food. He basically told me that he thinks he could help me, but only if I'm willing to do what is necessary. He said that we could take baby steps, but that I would likely have to give up certain things (like refined carbs and processed foods).

I don't know if I blogged about it at all (I don't think I did), but back in August 2013, my husband and I tried the Whole30. He did it for almost the entire 30 days, but I wasn't able to last because I was too sick to eat anything, let alone a bunch of veggies and meat. I was also overly stressed because of how sick I was feeling and just couldn't deal with it. However, my husband had wonderful results. He would have kept going, but I stopped cooking for him after his doctor's appointment. In just 24 days he lost 17lbs (and losing that weight probably put him within 10lbs of his goal weight) and all of his numbers (cholesterol, blood pressure, etc) were within normal range.

So, the tough choice was to embark on another Whole30 journey. Starting tomorrow, my entire family is going to start a Whole30 challenge. I plan to blog my experience daily so anyone who is interested can read and learn more about it. This way of eating tends to be a little controversial because you're eliminating basically everything but lean proteins (meat, seafood, chicken, turkey, etc), veggies, fruit, healthy fats (olive oil, avocado's, coconut oil, etc) and nuts and seeds. I am sure it will be challenging, but we are actually all looking forward to it. The website has a lot of great information and even gives a timeline of things you can expect to experience while your body goes through withdrawal of things like sugar.

The hope is that through this I'll re-start my journey to a healthier me and work on everything from my Crohn's disease to my weight problems to my unhealthy relationship with food. Wish me luck!