Day 6....I want, I want, but I can't have...

Today has been tough.  Seriously tough.  I've been craving horrible things all day.  Like Phish food ice cream, cookies, pizza, cinnamon sugar toast, the list goes on and on.  I pushed forward though and fought my mind and tried to think of everything but those things and have made it to the end of the day.  

It definitely wasn't easy, but I know I am in this for the long haul.  One day I will be able to have those things, but for these 30 days I am making it my mission to stay on track, because I don't want to start over again.  I will keep going!

Here are my meals today.  It was much like yesterday where I got up late and didn't really have a set meal time or meal plan, but I made good choices.

Breakfast was 3 fried eggs with some organic salsa from trader joes and some sweet potato strips.  I need to come up with something different for breakfast.  Eggs are getting boring!

I didn't have lunch, but had an apple pie lara bar and an apple with some raw almond butter.

Dinner was an organic hamburger patty with some organic guacamole, a slice of bacon and some onion and some steamed broccoli.  It was so good!  

I am heading to bed so I can stop thinking about food, but I know I will probably dream about it.  Ugh.  I can do this!

Day five - staying strong

Day five was the first day on the challenge that I got to sleep in, which in turn threw off my food schedule.  It was a shot into real life when you don't always have control over when you eat or what you eat.  It was a good day food wise.

Let me just fill you in on what happened yesterday though!  I bought some Lara bars yesterday and as I said I ate a Peanut Butter cookie bar yesterday for my snack.  I forgot that peanuts are technically a legume which isn't allowed on the Whole 30 challenge.  Well, let me tell you I felt that bar last night.  I got such a headache, felt nauseous, and almost felt like I was coming down with the flu.  I had chills and a fever, it was crazy!  I guess even after 4 days your body a "cheat" food has a crazy reaction to your newly clean body.

YAY!  A breakfast picture!!  I had a sweet potato hash with a couple fried eggs and 2 slices of bacon.  It was so good!!  I also had a pluot.  Because of my late waking, I ate breakfast around 10:30 and so I wasn't too hungry for lunch until 4:30.  I had a Cherry Pie Lara bar for a snack until we could make dinner.

Dinner was FABULOUS tonight.  I made some white ruffy fish seared in a little olive oil with a little lemon with the homemade tarter sauce I made last weekend.  I also had sweet potato "chips" that I baked in the oven.  I sliced them up thin with my food processor and put them on a sprayed sheet pan.  I baked them at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, flipped them, and baked them again for 5 minutes.  It was so good!!  I also used my homemade ranch to dip my sweet potatoes in.  

It was a good day!!

Day four....starting to get the hang of this!

Day four and it's getting easier.  I didn't want to kill anyone today, like the Whole30 timeline said I might feel, so that's good.  I am starting to get a little headache, but I think I will just go to bed soon and sleep it off.  It was a good food day.  Not too many temptations and I wasn't very hungry, which is a good sign.

My food for today.

Apparently my breakfast pictures don't like to sync with my iCloud, which is frustrating.  I will work on that!

Breakfast was 2 slices of the MSG free, no nitrate bacon, 3 fried eggs with the healthy 8 veggies from trader joes mixed in as well as a pluot.  It was really good!  It's amazing when you eat a great breakfast how you don't feel the need to snack at all in the morning.  I'm not really hungry at all during the day.  

Lunch was a veggie stir fry with shrimp.  I cooked the shrimp and veggies in a little sesame oil and added some rice wine vinegar at the end.  I had some mixed berries as well.

Dinner was a fabulous shredded chicken that I made in the crockpot today.  It was just boneless, skinless chicken breast and a sprinkle of southwest chipotle seasoning.  It cooked for 8 hours in the crock pot and then I shredded it and just let it warm in the crock pot until we were ready to eat.  I also made sweet potato hash browns!  They were AMAZING!!!  All I did was shred some sweet potatoes, probably about 2 large ones, heated some unrefined coconut oil in a pan and let them fry for about 15 minutes, flipping them over when they started to get crunchy.  

I did have a peanut butter cookie lara bar as a snack this afternoon too :)

Okay, I am really going to go to bed.  My headache is coming back and everything I've read says, when your body needs to rest, do it!  Off to bed I go!!

Day three....a day of temptation

It seemed like the universe was trying everything to make me give in.  The cake, the candy, the homemade cheese curds, the overwhelming urge to eat the peanut butter pie in the teachers lounge.....

I think this was the hardest things I've done in a long time.  It was a great snapshot of what I am up against for the next 30 days and let me tell you, it wasn't easy.  All I kept thinking was, "do I really need this? why do I want to eat this?"  These cravings today, really made me think about why I was reaching and hoping to eat these foods.  This journey is about changing not only my food, but mainly my brain and why I am reaching for these horrible foods.  Now, let me just say, I know I will go back to eating these foods someday, but not in the regularity or quantity as I used too.  I mean, I can't go the rest of my life without a cheeseburger, reeses peanut butter cup or a bowl of cotton candy ice cream, right?

It was a long day.  I worked all day and then had conferences/open house at my other school and didn't have time to get dinner before I was done at 8:00.  I was SO tempted to run through the drive thru, but instead I stopped at the healthy/organic section at our grocery store and picked up some things after I was done.  Probably not the smartest thing not eating for almost 9 hours, but I will plan better next time.

Here are my meals for today.

I cooked up a pound of organic 85/15% ground beef this morning and turned it into taco meat with cumin and chile powder so I used that for 2 of my meals today.

Picture isn't showing up for breakfast!

Breakfast was my taco meat mixture with onion, 3 fried eggs (fried in the taco meat fat) 1/2 an avocado with lime and cilantro and a pluot.

Lunch was a taco salad.  It was another 1/3 of the taco meat mixutre with my lettuce mixture, healthy 8 chopped veggies, 1/2 an avocado and avocado dressing.  I had a La Croix sparkling water to drink with it.  All while staring at the chocolate cake sitting next to me.

I'm not gonna lie.  My dinner sucked.  Not healthy wise or whole 30 wise, it just wasn't tasty.  It was 2 organic all beef hot dogs and organic butternut squash.  I choked it down.  I had some grapes for "dessert."

Day two.....the hangover begins

I'm not gonna lie today was rough.  I was expecting it, but it still sucked.  My headache was out of control today.  In the book, it says the more crap you ate before the Whole 30 challenge the worse this phase will be and I agree.  Tomorrow, according to the plan, is going to be more of the same.  I am not taking any medications for my headache as I know it is just my body trying to heal from all of the horrible food I've been eating this summer.

Alright, enough complaining, here is what I ate today.

Breakfast was the same as yesterday, but I added some left over sweet potatoes from dinner last night.  It was probably 1/3 of a potato.  

Lunch was also the same as yesterday, except with my homemade avocado dressing and herb turkey meat instead of chicken.  

Dinner was a yummy pan seared chicken breast.  I used a little bit of coconut oil in the pan and seared them on both sides for about 6 minutes a side.  We also had green beans and I added 1/2 an avocado with lime juice and cilantro with my chicken.  

Tomorrow I am going to try and make a sweet potato hash with fried eggs for breakfast.  I'm excited!  Tomorrow night will be a challenge since I have open house for my other school I will have to pack both lunch and dinner and avoid the food they will have at school.  Will power!  A shout out to my friend Candice who decided to do the Whole 30 challenge with me!  It's so nice to have a friend to talk with and vent with!

Day One...So far, so good

I think what I am looking forward to the most in this challenge is to not be ruled by food anymore.  After reading "It Starts with Food" it made me understand that chemically my brain is wired this way after I eat certain foods and that if I eliminate those foods, the cravings will go away.  I look forward to that day since I already day-dreamed about eating part of Emma's left over peanut butter bender.

Moving on!  My day started fabulously!  I made great choices and had some really great meals.  I found myself full most of the day except for between lunch and dinner.  I might need to incorporate a mini-meal there, but I am going to keep monitoring my hunger in the next couple days.

Here are my meals for today.

Breakfast was 3 organic, cage free eggs mixed with 3/4 c. Trader Joe's Healthy 8 chopped veggies with 2 slices of MSG free, no nitrate bacon and a pluot (plum/apricot).  It was SO good!!

Lunch was a yummy chicken salad made with a kale, spinach and spring leaf mix, 1/2 avocado, more of the Trader Joe's Healthy 8 chopped veggie mix and my homemade ranch dressing.

Dinner was a grass fed, organic steak with roasted balsamic brussel sprouts and a sweet potato.

Apparently my pictures aren't working for my lunch and dinner, but I will see if I can get my iCloud to work.  I have a little bit of a headache,which I know is normal.  I am drinking a lot of water and will be going to be early.  Tomorrow's meals will be prepped and ready tonight so I don't have to waste time in the morning.  

I'm ready for the carb hangover that is coming my way tomorrow and Wednesday.  I will overcome these challenges and cravings!

*updated with pictures!

Day Zero - Prep, Prep, Prep

Whole 30.  Have you heard about it?  Many people associate this challenge with the Paleo diet.  I kept hearing about how amazing you feel when you eat unprocessed, whole foods and after several of my friends tried it and felt so amazing afterwards, I decided why not try it too?  

I did my research and found an amazing book called "It Starts with Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig and instantly fell in love with this way of eating.  Food has always been a struggle for me and I struggle with sugar and carbs especially.  This book was so eye opening and made me understand why the food I am eating makes me feel the way I do.  Their website whole9life.com is a great resource for understanding the program and the science behind it.

I can't say I'm looking forward to the next 30 days after I read their "what to expect" on each day.  I am scared, nervous and praying that I have the strength to stay on track each day.  I plan to blog everyday or as much as possible to help inspire, rant, experience this whole 30 challenge that I'm doing.

Today was spent meal planning and prepping for the week.  

I found this meal planner on pinterest (of course) You can find it here: http://www.thejoycottage.com/search/label/free

Preparation is going to be the key to my success.  If I plan well, I know I will succeed. Tonight I made homemade Olive Oil Mayo that can be found in "It Starts with Food."  I was a little nervous about it, but it turned out amazing!  Here is the recipe I followed.  I doubled the recipe so I could make some ranch dressing, tarter sauce and avocado dressing.

1 egg
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 c. + 1 c. light tasting olive oil (not extra-virgin) 
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt

Put the egg and lemon juice in a blender or food processor, cover and let it come to room temperature, about 30 minutes.  Add in 1/4 cup oil, mustard, salt, blend on medium speed until all ingredients are combined.  With the motor running drizzle in the remaining 1 cup of oil in a very thin stream, this should take 2-3 minutes.  Store covered in the fridge.  

You can't go wrong!  I think this challenge is really making me think about what is going into my body and what food is really made of.  I am ready for tomorrow, knowing I will feel great and then the carb flu will take over my body.  I know what to expect and I am ready for it!

Here we go!