whole 30 {week 1}

Well I did it!

Week 1 of Whole 30 is officially in the books!
If you want to read why we are doing check out my post here. 

It wasn't as hard as I though it would be.

I didn't have to many cravings but I am 

REALLY missing my coffee creamer. 

Coconut milk is not working for me at all. 

I still use it and drink it but just not the same.

I wanted to go by Starbucks so bad on Saturday 

morning on the way to Jordan's game for an amazing

caramel macchiato. Still sounds so yummy.

The other big thing that has been a struggle for

both Josh and I is our love for night time snacking.

Most nights after the kids go to bed we to climb into

bed to snuggle up to watch our shows. This is Josh's 

favorite time to eat which then turned me into a night time

snacker. This time has been challenging for us. If I can't

handle the itch any longer I will go cut myself an apple

and eat it with almond butter or I have some almonds

I keep by my bed so I munch on some of those. That 

usually cures the itch. Other then that haven't missed out on to much.

I have survived all the cooking I have been doing. 

December was a super relaxed cooking month for me.

Like I barely made dinner and we ate out a lot.

So I think going from that to cooking three meals a day

and all the dishes has kept me busy. I feel like I am always doing dishes!

I can't say I have more energy yet or notice a difference.

I am blaming the no energy on our new mattress though.

I am still adjusting to it so I toss and turn a LOT and barely sleep.

I am down a pound this morning!

WHOOP! WHOOP!

It is not much but a start and I will take it.

I am hoping to get back into running this week if the weather will play nice.

I have taken over a month of so I know it is going to be a rough start.

I will leave you with what I ate for week 1 if you need ideas.
The kids ate everything we did for dinner plus
I offered them fruits and veggies I knew they would eat.

We ate a ton of sweet potatoes, eggs and meat.

I am still working on being creative.

I am hoping to get more salads in this week especially for lunch.

I am a ranch girl and can't imagine a salad with out so I need to work

on finding a dressing this week I can have and at least like!

Day 1 

{Monday}

Breakfast- (top left) one fried egg on top of half a diced fried sweet potato* w/ garlic and 

half of my super easy smoothie. My husband and I share the smoothie. 

The smoothie is 2 oranges juiced, 1/2 c. water, 1 cup frozen blueberries and a banana.

I throw it all in the magic bullet, blend and share between two cups.

* whenever I refer to fried sweet potatoes I always cook them in 1 T. coconut oil with garlic

Lunch- (bottom right)  is ground turkey with taco seasoning, sliced carrots and red onions on top

of chopped up romaine lettuce. In the cup is Creamy Avocado Dressing. I found the recipe here. 

Dinner- (top right) I used the same taco meat and dressing from lunch but I put in lettuce leaves

(like a wrap) and added fresh pico de galo. The pico de galo sounded so good and fresh so I went

to our local restaurant this afternoon and bought some!

Dessert- (bottom left) I had some sleepy time tea and pistachios

 Day 2
{Tuesday}

Breakfast- (top left) scrambled eggs with half a diced fried sweet potato and ground pork sausage.
The ground pork sausage came from half a pig we raised at my parents to eat.

Lunch- (top right) I didn't have much time to cook anything up so
munched on carrots and apples with almond butter.

mid-afternoon pick me up- coffee with coconut milk

dinner- (bottom right) Paleo Asian Fusion
I found the recipe at Cave Girl in the City.

Day 3

{Wednesday}

Breakfast- (top left) fried egg, fried sweet potatoes and my super easy smoothie

Lunch- (top right)- leftover cooked chicken and fried sweet potatoes

Dinner- (bottom left) Garlicky green beans with toasted almonds, fried pork chop and apple compote

Found the recipe for pork chop and apple compote at A Calculated Whisk.

Bedtime snack- (bottom right) apples with almond butter

 Day 4
{Thursday}

Breakfast- (top left)  fried egg, fried sweet potatoes and one slice approved bacon

snack- (top right) cut up apple and almond butter

Lunch- (bottom left)- scrambled egg with pico de galo and one slice bacon

Dinner- Chicken and broccoli stir fry

I just heated 2 T. coconut pol in a pan. I added 1 T. chopped garlic and ginger (both from a jar).
Then I added half a chopped onion and sauteed it. I steamed the broccoli separate.
I added two pounds cut up chicken tenders to the saute mixture and cooked until it was done.
 I then added the broccoli and some cut up baby carrots.

Day 5

{Friday}

breakfast- (top) scrambled eggs with half a diced fried sweet potato and ground pork sausage.

Lunch- (bottom left) fried pork chop and left over apple compote

Dinner- (bottom right) Asian Pork spare ribs in the crock pot.
Followed a recipe from tgipaleo.

I had mother son dodgeball at my son's school so I just ate a quick bowl before we left.

Day 6

{Saturday}

Breakfast- (top left) Super Easy smoothie of 2 oranges juiced, 1/2 c. water,
1 cup frozen blueberries, 1 T. coconut oil and a banana.
drank this on the way to Jordan's basketball game.

Lunch- (top right) fried egg, fried sweet potatoes and one slice approved bacon

Dinner- (bottom right) fried sweet potato with a mix of leftover green beans and pulled pork

bedtime snack- (bottom left) sliced apples with almond butter

 Day 7
{Sunday}

Brunch- (top) half a sweet potato fried, scrambled egg,
 ground pork sausage and 1 1/2 slices of bacon

Dinner- (bottom left) grilled steak (only ate half) and half a sweet potato

bedtime snack- (bottom right) almonds

We live to eat

My husband and I LOVE to eat!

Who doesn't right?!

Instead of eating to live

we live to eat!

It is time to change that. 

To get reprogrammed and hopefully start us on a lifestyle 

change we are doing the Whole 30 program.

In a nutshell they say, "Think of it as a short-term nutritional reset, 

designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, 

restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, 

and balance your immune system."

why are we doing this?

We are trying to reprogram our bodies/minds from wanting junk/overeating
 to being satisfied with healthier foods and smaller portions.
As Josh said, "He is a fat kid at heart."
We are no spring chickens with fast metabolisms anymore.

We are at an age where we need to start thinking

further down the road and our overall health.

We have big dreams and lots of things

we want to do in our retirement age but if we are overweight

and unhealthy with lots of issues not going to make that time as fun.

What do we eat?

Well we eat real foods such as meat, most nuts, vegetables and fruit

What can we not eat?

Everything else!

no sugar, no alcohol, no grains, no beans, no dairy, 

no white potatoes, and no carrageenan, MSG or sulfites.

Is it hard and difficult?

with planning and prep it actually hasn't been hard yet.

Well...actually all the dishes I have to wash from actually cooking

three meals a day has been rough and no creamer in my coffee.

The hardest part for Josh so far has been his night time snacking habit. 

Well I guess that is affecting us both a little. We like to snack while we

watch shows at night. We are missing that. We do grab fruit if we really "need"

something. We also watch cooking shows so that makes a drool a lot too.  

Josh has said that as long as he gets his meat he will survive.

He is looking forward to barbecuing up a storm this weekend.

I will be updating the blog weekly with our meal plans, recipes and pictures!

Along with following this plan I will be getting back into running in the mornings

after a month off. We were going to start this week but I got a dumb cold.