Whole30 - DAY 30!! VICTORY The Pros and Cons of Whole30

We are on the other side of this thing!!

Today is day 30 of the Whole30 program and it's been a good overall experience.  I would do this program again and my plan is to pretty much continue to base most of my meals on this way of eating but also reincorporate some gluten free grains like oatmeal, brown rice and quinoa as well as beans and the occasional glass of wine or martini.

The pros:

• getting back in touch with clean eating
• cleaning up sloppy habits like eating junk food, drinking too much alcohol, and grabbing stuff on the go
• getting back to making foods from scratch with simple ingredients
• getting more creative in the kitchen 
• making meals and food a priority
• enjoying what I eat and never feeling hungry
• having more energy
• sleeping better
• enjoying a healthy lifestyle and the peace of mind that comes with knowing you're doing your body good
• some weight loss* (I lost just a little but came to realize that weight isn't the most important thing here)
• That feeling of pride you get from setting a goal, sticking with it and accomplishing it

couldn't resist! :) 

The cons:

• Being challenged when on the road a bit - planning is a must
• Extra trips to the supermarket (but this could probably be fixed with some better planning)
• Trips to "special" supermarkets (like Whole Foods or Trader Joes) for stuff like ghee, coconut aminos, organic meats and raw cashews.
• No wine time!
• Eating out can be tricky and no matter how careful you are you risk "f'ing" up the whole program by one sneaky ingredient and that can make you crazy.
• If you aren't food creative (like my husband) you can get easily bored of the food and fall into the trap of eating the same thing everyday for lack of time/creativity/cooking skills. 
• Having to figure out (or even cancel/postpone) outings with friends because of fear of temptation
• For some, the discomfort of withdrawal from some of the stuff like sugar, diet soda, or gluten. I didn't really experience the foggy/early withdrawal symptoms that some do so it wasn't an issue for me.
• Expense (though, truthfully, I cut out booze, eating out, ordering in and buying processed foods and snacks so I would think that the expense wasn't as great as I think with all things considered.) 

Now the cons are just my thoughts on what could be tricky for some or might have been tricky for me. None of the cons were a big enough issue or obstacle to make me throw it away, nor would they be a deterrent for a second round.  Most of them are fixable.

I also will say that it may have been a wee bit easier for me because I gave up gluten (most dairy), all artificial sweeteners, and diet coke a long time ago. I have been eating relatively clean for the most part and my processed foods were things like Amy organics, Udi's gluten free bread, brown rice pasta, some Lays potato chips and that sort of thing. 

With one more day to go I have to say I feel almost a little out of sorts. On a very small scale, maybe like the guy who's about to get out of jail but has gotten so comfortable with his routine that the outside world seems scary. I think I learned that I like rules and guidelines and having structure helps me feel 'in control' - now what? Will I go nuts and face fall into chips again? Will I drink the whole bottle of wine? Will I spin out of control?

Very unlikely. 

More likely and what I plan is to do what the program is programmed to do. I will strive to eat whole, clean foods most of the time, treat myself with other stuff occasionally and jump back on for a few days if I stray too far off.

XO

Jen

Whole30 Days 22, 23, and 24 - screw the scale

Yay!

It's been two weeks here in Kentucky and now I'm going home.

I'm so thankful that I've been able to manage this Whole30 while away. 

I shunned alcohol, figured out meals, ate out 3 times and went through a whole jar of Ghee but I did it. 

I'm pretty convinced I haven't lost a pound. My clothes feel exactly the same but I'm still happy I've done this program. It was exactly what I needed to get on the clean eating track again. I have plans of sticking to this style of eating more or less but will be adding back brown rice and bean probably. And I will definitely be adding occasional alcohol back. I am going to try not to drink more than 2 times a week. 

I would be lying if I didn't say I went in to this really wanting to lose weight. When I began to realize I wasn't going to shed the ten or fifteen pounds I was secretly hoping for I was momentarily disappointed. But then I started to think about it and believe it or not, if I never lose a pound again - I think I'm (at least for today) at peace with it.

I have been reflecting (not obsessing) about my weight lately. If I'm weighing about what I think I do - I am about 10 pounds higher than the weight I LOVED being at and 5 pounds above my general goal. 

But. 

I'm healthy. I eat well. I exercise regularly. I am a good person and a hard worker. I'm kind of tired of living and dying, loving or hating myself based on the number on the scale. No I don't want the scale to become a runaway train in the wrong direction but if I'm living healthfully and fitfully I just want to feel OK with it. And I think I do for now.

I have a friend who use to battle an eating disorder and has emphatically not been on a scale for years. In fact she refuses to even let the doctor weigh her. She's fit and healthy and eats right. She gave up the scale battle and the mental crap that comes with it. I don't think I'm quite at the point of never getting on it but it might become a goal for me. Something about never weighing myself terrifies me too.

What about you? Are you an obsessive weigher or do you hardly step on?

XO

Jen 

Whole30 Day 19, 20, and 21 Cocktails and Treadmills

I'm getting excited! I'm gonna make it thru Kentucky with this whole30 thing - I feel confident and can see the finish line!

Although I'm pretty sure that I haven't lost any weight, I'm feeling good and will likely keep eating this way.

Here's the highlights from the last few days -

On the 19th day I got to finally find a little time (and day light) to get out and run a little. Just one mile but boy was it good to get my sweat on!

Yesterday, we were pretty snowbound all day. I decided to have another Kombucha drink and served it up in a martini glass to feel fancy.

The best part of the Kombucha was the glass. This time I tried the trinity one. It was OK. Even though I said I kind of liked it the other day, on second thought maybe I don't. I'm pretty sure I'll never buy one again but we'll see. It is pretty vinegar-y tasting and still no buzz.

Today I roasted myself a chicken for dinner that was quite tasty and I'm so excited to report that Angela found a treadmill AND spin bike for a steal on Craigslist. YAY!! Exercise options!!

Treadmill in the basement :) 

spin bike in Angela's room but it's moveable

So all in all I'm making it through.

XO

Jen

Whole30 Day 17 and 18 - Kombucha review

I am very proud of myself for still remaining on track while here in KY. What I thought might be impossible has been totally possible even if it's been challenging here and there.

I'm on day 18 and have been feeling pretty good. Tummy is still a bit off in the morning but the rest of the day I feel good.

Sadly, it's been a week since I've really worked out and I'm missing that big time.

In the meantime, I've tried a new thing the other day.

Kombucha.

Why did I try Kombucha? Not because of the health claims or to help my gut heal with probiotics. Nope. It's a little sad actually the reason why I tried it. While perusing a Facebook page for Whole30 people I stumbled upon this post:

Wait! What!? TIPSY!!! Why hasn't someone filled me in on the tipsy part before? All this forgoing of wine and vodka and I can still be catching a buzz?

I am not proud of my Kombucha motives but it was time to relax with a big bottle of the 'booch.

I tried the Gingerade Kombucha one from GT and I have to say it wasn't bad. It took a few sips but by the end I really kind of liked it.

But no buzz. Not even a little.

And I guess that's a good thing. It's an expensive beverage to get into! I'm not sure about the rest of the country or at other stores but at the Whole Foods at Lexington it's $3.39 a bottle! I mean if you wanted one a day (like the bottle recommends) it would be a $101.70 per month expense! That's a lot when you think about it. I hemmed and hawed for months about joining the fancy gym with the great classes and pool that runs me $59 a month.

Needless to say due to the expense and lack of buzz I will not be developing a Kombucha habit. ;)

Have you ever drank Kombucha? Thoughts?

XO
Jen

Whole30 Day 15 and 16 - Not Winning

I've made it to the half way mark and am still remaining on track.

It's been FREAKIN' freezing here in Kentucky and I've been working outside all day. This Jersey girl went totally country yesterday and bought some carthartt gear from the tractor supply store. Those Carhartt bib/overall things are super warm and helped a bit today. Temperatures reached in the 20's but "felt like" the teens most of the day and it's been windy.

ready for the cold and to farm

I'm not hating this Whole30 plan and I'm finding it OK and mostly enjoyable. It was easier and I liked it better when I was at home and not working crazy long days but I'm managing.

A few annoying things though…

According to the "What to Expect and When" Whole30 thing - today I should have felt like I had "Tiger Blood" but instead of "winning" I felt like Charlie Sheen after a bender.  Last night I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible pain in the center of my chest - it's a tight cramps feeling in my stomach I get rarely but it's a killer when it comes on and last night it came on and woke me up at 3 AM. Ugh. Also (and sorry for the TMI) the last few mornings have been a bit rough in the morning in the "loo" department.

By now I thought the digestive things should be sorted? It's very frustrating.  I also don't feel like my clothes are getting any looser but I don't know. I'm sticking it out and going through the process.  I do have good energy during the day in spite of getting less sleep than I like to get usually.

On the up side, I'm proud of my commitment and sticking to the plan.

Speaking of not winning, I was disappointed to hear from my husband this morning that he 'didn't really cheat' but had a "sip" of lemonade - which makes me suspect that it was really more than just the lemonade (I mean who cheats with lemonade?) and even if he's truthful and it was just a sip - it messes up the program for him and he should technically start from day 1 (which I told him but I know he won't.) Ugh. I'm disappointed but what can I do? We all have to decide what is best for our health and I can't make him do something. I just wish he wanted to really, truly, fully commit to the program.

I won't bore you with the details of my meals as they were standard foods and meals I've talked about before involving eggs, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, avocado, etc.

I'm hoping to get out and run this weekend. It's been non-stop work and I haven't had a chance to run this week at all. Luckily I've been hauling the camera and we've been running around in our work so we're getting movement in.

Have you ever had a weight-loss friend, spouse or 'partner in crime' for  a program and the partner gave up? How did you handle the situation?

XO
Jen

Whole30 Day 14: The roof is on fire

It's midnight, I've been up since five and I have to get up at 5AM again so this post will be short and sweet.

Today was a good day.

I'm getting in a groove here in KY with the food and my producing partners have been very supportive of what I'm doing.

I'm keeping it simple but effective

Today I started with eggs and avocado, had a banana for a snack, had a salad topped with hard boiled eggs, avocado, olives and pecans for lunch (yummy)

And butternut squash, salad and a pork chop for dinner.

I almost set the house on fire with my pork chop :/ I was broiling it and all of a sudden smoke was coming from the oven. Hmmm. I'm not used to the oven here and I guess the fat caught. There were actual flames in the oven and I was freaking out. I shut off the oven and called my friend up to help. In all the hoopla the flames died down. We aired out the house and I ate the pork chop.  It was delicious. 

In other news, I signed up for the Jersey Girl Triathlon on August 3rd! Looking forward to that :) 

Hope all is well in your world!! 

XO

Jen 

Whole30 Day 13 Being one of those people

Here I am on day 13 on the Whole30 and day 2 in Kenutcky.

Today was a bit smoother but not without a bump or two.

I started my day with eggs and sweet potatoes (blessedly easy and breezy and right on course…)

Snacked on some cashews and a banana.

Then came lunch.

The crew decided they wanted Wendy's.

I expressed my needs. I felt a little high-maintenance I'm a 'go with the flow' type of gal. But on second thought - F THAT. That's why half of us have weight problems - we don't prioritize ourselves. We let ourselves eat the crap or give in to pressure because we don't want to be "one of those people." But we deserve to be one of those people. We are worth being fussy and particular for. I'm on a journey and I don't want to be knocked off of it.

Fighting for your right to Whole30 is kinda empowering actually.

Anyway...

So I waited for the car to come back and while they lunched on Wendy's I found a small luncheonette up the road that had 100% beef burgers (they promised nothing in them) and I had a burger patty over greens and a squeeze of lemon.

Of course this lunch didn't come easy. The lady at the counter couldn't quite understand what I wanted - even though I didn't think it was all that complicated.

I'm becoming the, "hold the croutons, cheese, dressing, bun, bacon" girl. "Just the burger." "Just a lemon wedge…" And I'm feeling eye rolling from the peanut gallery behind me.

But I deserve it. Fighting for my right…

I finally got my order and began to leave. I decided to open up the takeout box because I saw some hot sauce on the table and figured I'd add a dash on my burger.

Thankfully, I did peek. No burger. Nope. They gave my some kind of bbq beef brisket.

ugh.

So now I had to go back to the counter and fight for my right to Whole30 again. (There was no fight, they were actually very nice and apologetic about the error.)

Finally I had my food and was on my way.

It was NOT the most amazing lunch ever (no that was yesterday's meal) but it was tasty enough and fulfilled the issue of lunch.

We hit a grocery store on the way home and got a few more staples.

I'm becoming "one of the those people" and you know, I'm pretty OK with that.

Are you one of those people or do you find yourself "going with the flow" and sometimes putting up with food that you don't really want.

XO
Jen

Whole30 Day 12 Holy mother of hard: How bad to you want it?

Today was my first day shooting in KY.

I discussed traveling here and the challenge I faced at the airport last night in this blog post. But the airport was Nirvana compared to today.

So I guess it started with the fact that I landed at midnight. My partners had come in a few days earlier and I was hoping they had a little time to do some food shopping for our production house. Unfortunately, things were just hectic and they never did so I came into no food. We also had an issue that came up for today's shoot so by the time I got to the house (at 1AM) we had work to do! They ate apple pie while I remembered my dismal airport salad.

Fine. I'm fine. Who needs apple pie at 1:30 in the morning? Me! Me! Me! Most definitely NOT ME!

We finally turned in at 2:30 AM - I tossed and turned and we had to get up around 5AM. I'm not good with no sleep and I woke up from my 'nap' feeling like I had drank and partied like a rockstar the night before. Oh. And there was the little issue of what the f am I going to eat?

We are in rural-ish KY and on a tight schedule. I counted my blessings that I had a bruised banana from the flight and a crushed cashew cookie Lara bar at the bottom of my travel bag and ate that at 5:45 AM with some black coffee. Needless to say by 9AM I was starving and screwed.

This was the table that was set up for production:

Pringles compliant? No? Didn't think so

And there was some bananas too (which I had one of) but I really wanted some good protein.

It was tough out there. It was cold, windy and a little drizzly. I was hungry and sleep deprived.

Around 11:30 AM I came across a small miracle. I was digging through my travel bag and found this at the bottom of it:

A gift from the Gods

I had forgotten that I had this little packet of cashew nut butter stowed away - I put it there the week before and forgot all about it! I felt like I had just won the Whole30 lottery. It was soooo yummy and took the edge off.

And then it started to rain. So we had to wrap our outside production at 1PM (bad news for production) we were moving to an inside scene on the other side of town - buuuuuut…. we had to go through Lexington and there, in all its shining glory, there it was….

halleluja! halleluja!

Thank you Lord! But, we only had ten minutes to grab lunch. But I knew this might be my only WF chance so I took those ten minutes to bring stuff back to the office for lunch and stuff I might for the next two weeks. Time was tight and I pretty much panicked into "Super Market Sweep" mode.

I grabbed dates and avocados and raw cashews. Ooooh - compliant guacamole and some lemons  (no basket mind you in my arms like a lunatic) A few sweet potatoes and I found ghee! I found ghee! Grabbed that and some coconut milk for the morning. Then I realized, I had no protein. I saw my co-workers get on line and I zipped to the meat aisle - what protein could I zap in the microwave? I know! And I grabbed some organic, uncured, compliant Applegate Farms hotdogs. Whew!

So with my food loot we went back to the office and I had a sweet potato with ghee and two hotdogs for lunch. And let me tell you it was the best damn lunch ever.

I grabbed a few cashews as a snack and then we came back to the house. 

One of my coworkers had grabbed some eggs and a big box of spring mix salad (oh bless her heart) so for dinner I had some of the guacamole, the spring mix salad with a squeeze of lemon and olive oil that we had in the house from our last visit and two scrambled eggs in the ghee. 

So today is in the books and it was successful. It was hard but I am so happy that I made it happen. I feel particularly proud because not only did I deal with the lack of food but I also was faced with that while on little sleep, outside freezing and away from home - all triggers for me. 

On a side note - even feeling sleep deprived, I do think I would've felt 10 times worse if I wasn't on Whole30. As the day went on I felt a tired but I had enough energy to get my work done and not feel like dying all day. 

How are you doing? Have you ever been in a challenging food situation and had to work it out?

XO

Jen

Whole30 Days 10 and 11 - Taking it on The Road

Greetings from the North Carolina Airport.

I am on my way to a two week trip back in Kentucky to continue shooting our new television show LogHeads for the DIY Network.

I am indeed excited and proud that our production company is getting on the map with our first show but being away from home is tough.

I miss my son, I miss my husband, I miss my bed and my routines.

It's also going to be challenging to maneuver my way with this Whole30 thing.

I'm not even in KY yet and have already been faced with challenge.

I have a nearly 3 hour layover and my favorite activity (for better or worse) is eating and having a cocktail during such times.

Sigh.

OK, the cocktail has to go but certainly I can find some food? With a lot of time - I was able to visit a few of the terminals (and get some exercise in - this airport is huge!) There's not a helluva lot of choices. I mean, you can find fruit. But if you're looking for protein and healthy fats - that's harder.

I finally found a little place that had a steak salad. I got it without the blue cheese, without the croutons, without the dressing. The server promised me no oil or butter and I requested that they skip the seasoning even (for fear it would have MSG or some other non-compliant ingredient.) they didn't have EVOO and vinegar so I settled for lemon wedges.

And even after all that - I'm still a little suspect of the streak. I am pretty sure it was fine but eating out you just never know 100%.

Yesterday I hit my first other little blip - I made a seemingly delicious dinner - roasted lemon chicken, cauliflower mashed and a sautéed brussel sprout thing. It was really tasty!

But in the middle of the night I woke up and my stomach was killing me! I slept all night with a rock in my stomach and haven't felt all that great today. I'm trying to figure out what it was and all I can think is that I went a little too heavy handed with the "healthy" fats in last night's meal and it was perhaps just a touch to rich.

Who knows - wish me luck - it's gonna be even tougher on the road!

XO
Jen

Whole 30 Day 8 & 9 A few observations

So we are getting through this thing.

Feeling pretty good tho today I would've loved to have ordered dinner and made myself a martini. I did not do either, though I did have a few Whole30 friendly olives.

I miss you Sue!

A few observations so far:

1. I am enjoying what I'm eating and haven't found myself hungry.
2. I am skeptical that I'll really lose much weight because I feel like I'm eating a lot of (yes healthy) fat.
3. But I'm enjoying eating above mentioned fat - coconut oil, olive oil, ghee, avocado… yum
4. Lunch seems to be the biggest challenge but not impossible.  Breakfast is getting boring but it's easy. I'm not afraid of boring auto-meals for breakfast so it's fine.
5. I'm discovering lots of new foods and ways of cooking that I think will stick beyond the program.
6. In fact, I think I'm going to continue this lifestyle beyond the 30 and just treat myself here and there. I like how I'm feeling.

And that's about it.

Some people on a Whole30 recipe exchange board mentioned that they get 'tipsy' on kombucha. I never knew that! Now I might have to try kombucha ;-)

Last night I made organic pork chops, yucca and salad. Tonight I made organic steak, leftover yucca, a zucchini sautee, some sliced plantains and a few slices of avocado. It sounds like a lot but it was just a little of each thing. It was soooo yummy.

How are things with you?

XO
Jen

Whole30 Day 7: Miss Cranky Pants

I made it to Day 7 without any real issues except yesterday I did feel super cranky most of the day. There is a day around 5 or 6 of the Whole30 where they say you might feel like "killing everyone" so I'm not sure if I had a delayed reaction to that day or if everyone around me legitimately deserved to be killed.

I have to say aside from yesterday's crabbiness, I'm feeling pretty good overall - energy has been really good. Yesterday at the gym I ran faster than I have for a long time yet the effort felt good, not like I was overly pushing it.

Next week I head back to Kentucky for two weeks to go back to work on location. It will be so much more challenging to do this on the road but I will do my best. I'm going to have to figure it out because there is no turning back now.

I went grocery shopping and the bill was 3 times what I usually spend. I went to a 'fancier' grocery store that has a lot of organics and specialty items. I stocked up on organic ghee, organic cashew nut butter, tons of veggies, meat, compliant chicken sausage, etc. I keep reminding myself that I am and my husband are worth the expense. It's expensive but preventing future disease, getting healthy, shedding weight is worth it- my husband is on cholesterol and blood pressure medication. He carries a few extra pounds in his belly. He's already looking and feeling better and if he gets heathy it's so worth it. Even though there is 'sticker shock' this is an investment in our future. Also we are saving where we are not drinking (me wine and he beer) he used to pick up breakfast and lunch at work everyday (we are saving a fortune there I bet) and we'd order out once or twice a week. So in the grand scheme of things we might not be spending too much more than we did before.

Food yesterday was OK - breakfast and lunch were pretty standard.  Dinner was delicious. I made an Avocado Basil lime salad dressing from the Nom Nom Paleo App to top some mixed baby greens, I threw a stew together in the crock pot that came out tasty and tender and I whipped up a Butternut Squash "mashed potato". It was delicious and easy. I bought a large pre-peeled, seeded half of butternut squash that was in my produce section so all I had to do was cube it.  I brought a pot of water to a boil and then boiled the squash about 10 minutes. Drained well, added a tablespoon of ghee and salt and pepper. I then pureed it with my immersion blender. It was so yummy.

doesn't look like much but it was very tasty

Hope all is going well for you!

Have you discovered any foods you like that you didn't know? I never would've thought butternut squash mash would be so good.

XO
Jen

Whole30 Day 6 - Daily Mile stats, I'm a winner and Eating on the run

Yesterday I got my 'year in review' stats from Daily Mile. Are you on Daily Mile? If you're not you should consider signing up. It's free and like Facebook for fitness. I really like it as a place to record my mileage and workouts because it's super user friendly and they provide you with weekly and yearly stats. It's a nice thing to keep.

Here's my year in review: 

749 miles, an average of 14 miles per week, 234 workouts and 22 pounds burned. 

Funny but I thought I had looked up my running stats for my yearly 'round up' blog where I discuss what my goals were and how I did. One of my goals was to cover 722 miles in 2013 and I must of read my workout details wrong because I thought I had fallen really short but actually I didn't! I did 749 miles in 2013. Which means I have to cover at least 750 miles in 2014. Some of the miles were probably recorded as biking miles but I don't care - miles under the belt are miles under the belt and I'm counting them. 

Oh and this is some cool news. I'm an Active Advantage member and every month they do a bunch of giveaways - I just found out that I won a $25 gift card to REI! I love that store and I'm so psyched! 

Yesterday was Day 6. 

I started the day with my usual breakfast of eggs, sweet potato and a little avocado. For lunch I had some "turkey picadillo" with plantains fried in coconut oil that hubby whipped up that morning. (Ground turkey, chopped onions, garlic, salt, pepper, pepper flakes and chopped green olives and green peppers).

It was the coldest day on record in years. Here is NJ the temp read 5 degrees on the thermometer but felt in the negative numbers due to wind chill. Of course this would be the day I picked to go into the city for some work I needed to do with an editor. Oy.

I decided to drive in and park which costs a fortune but I decided it was worth the money and better than waiting outside for a bus in the cold. 

Aside from the cold, eating was on my mind. The session started around 1 and ran until 8PM. Typically, somewhere along a day like this, food is ordered and unhealthy snacks are had.

I packed a small baggie of cashews and a cashew cookie Lara Bar (cashews and dates) to have in case of emergency. (I know, I know, cashew overload. Better than a bag of chips though).

I ate both and was glad I had the snacks - they definitely helped me stay in control. Especially when the guys working next to us brought in a giant, amazing smelling pizza from one of the best pizza places in NYC. Not that I could eat it even if I wasn't on Whole30 thanks to the gluten issues but it still made me super hungry.

On the way home as a treat I thought I would pick up Chipotle for hubby and I. It was late and I didn't feel like cooking. 

If you are doing the Whole30 plan this is what you can have at Chipotle: A salad bowl (no dressing) topped with carnitas, tomatoes, salsa and guacamole. And that's what we had. You cannot have the veggies or the other meats because of certain non-compliant reasons. The veggies are sautéed in soybean oil for example. The carnitas are the only meat that is braised with no added non-compliant ingredients.

Truthfully, I guess Chipotle is OK in a pinch but I wouldn't go out of my way to do it again. They automatically charge extra for guacamole and without all the other toppings I felt $10 per bowl was just too expensive. It also was not super delish to me. Just OK. A bit bland. I can make carnitas at home for a fraction of the price and have them for the week! Plus even though the ingredients listed are compliant  - you still never know. When given the option I'd rather be in full control of my food.

I still haven't had real 'withdrawal' and have been feeling pretty good. I still wish I could have a glass of wine at night. Hubby is doing great and has already lost some noticeable weight. He's getting into his smaller shirts and feels good. 

How are things with you? How do you handle eating out?

XO

Jen

Whole30 Day 5 - a hodge podge

Day 5 was yesterday but I didn't get to post because I was working late.

The big challenge with this program is always having enough food on hand to get something together.

Yesterday I felt a little struggling to figure out what to eat.

Breakfast was fine - the usual of eggs and sweet potatoes (I think I threw in a few slices of avocado too).

I brought lunch to work which was a hodgepodge. I brought the roasted butternut squash soup (which is just about gone OH NO), two grape leaves, a half of cucumber, a quarter of an avocado and a hard boiled egg. (I wound up not eating the egg.)

The avocado looks rough but it was good

I also had this cute little bottle of olive oil that I forgot I had. My mom gave it to me - got it in Italy on a train ride or something? Not sure why she thought she'd gift that to me but it definitely came in handy and I'll be refiling that little sucker!

By the time I got home from work I was pretty starving. I had the grape leaves with my lunch but I'm thinking that while I did a good job with healthy fats (avocado and the drizzle of EVOO on the cucumbers) Maybe the little bit of lamb in the grape leaves just wasn't enough protein.

But, I didn't really have time to eat when I got home I had more work to do. I ate the hardboiled egg I didn't eat at lunch and a handful of cashews. But I was still hungry. After a few hours of work, bathing Ben and getting him to sleep, I finally wound up making eggs and then sautéing sweet potato, compliant sausage, and red onions in a little ghee and having that around 9PM. It was tasty. I made it through another day. :) 

Somehow I haven't worked out since Friday so I'm going to try to get a work out in today.  

How's it going for you?

Are you freezing your ass off today in ridiculous weather?

XO

Jen

Whole30 Day 4 - A special day

A year ago at this time I ran the Ragnar Relay - Miami to Key West FL. It was an incredible 200 mile journey that I shared with 11 others - all with amazing and inspiring stories of their own. Our team, team Fat To Finish Line, consisted of 12 people all whom at one time or another had an average of 100 extra pounds on them. We were all overweight and far from runners. Each one of us, on our own journeys found a path of healthy eating and running. We joined forces a year ago and ran as a team to the finish line.

My producing partner and I decided that this should be a story told and we filmed the journey and are making a documentary film. We are still busily editing but here is a sneak peek of some of the film and a look at my motivational teammates:  



You can read the blog posts about my Ragnar journey here.

In other news, it's day 4 of the Whole30 everyone! I'm still feeling pretty good - no big withdrawal symptoms or anything. My poor hubby got up shaky and cranky today and then proceeded to slip on the ice and nearly break his ass. Even so, he's hanging in there like a champ and I'm very proud of him.

We visited a friend of ours today and I brought some leftover grape leaves and she put out a veggie platter (she knows of our Whole30 thing - so nice of her!) We noshed on that and then ordered steamed shrimp and broccoli from a chinese place and used Coconut Aminos that I brought along.  The visit was fine. I thought I was going to be bummed and miss the wine and cheese that usually happens during these visits but it wasn't the case. I might've thought about it for a second but I didn't lament on it.

The day was pretty low fuss (especially compared to yesterday). Pretty much my standard breakfast of eggs and sweet potato. I had a snack of some grape leaves, a hard boiled egg and some veggies - lunch was steamed shrimp with broccoli and dinner was a leftover hodgepodge of stuff.

Hope you are doing well too!!

XO
jen

The Whole30 Program Day 3: OPA!

Things are going well for me. So far so good.

My poor hubby was pretty crabby today - I think he might be in the hungover/angry phase.

I realize that I am possibly a little ahead of the game because I kicked my diet coke, artificial sweetener, most sugar and gluten habits long ago. I was off dairy for quite a while too, I'm hoping all that experience will keep this program going along smoothly.

I do however miss a drink! Tonight as I was cooking all I wanted was a glass of wine or perhaps a martini to look forward to. It wasn't a bad craving, more of, "gee it would be soooo nice right about now" but it's out of the question.

Anyway, the meals were tasty - breakfast was eggs, a sweet potato and some avocado.

For lunch I made egg salad that I wrapped in lettuce leaves and had with the butternut squash soup.

And for dinner…

I made the epic of all dinners.

One of our favorite things to do on a Saturday night is to catch up on our DVR and pick up Greek food. There is an awesome greek place by us but since we are Whole30'ing it I knew that I'd have to get creative so I decided to do Greek night.

Grape leaf and baba ganoush prep

Well. The good news, It came out very tasty! OPA!

salad, cauliflower rice, baba ganoush, gyro meat and grape leaves

The bad news? It took me hours. It was a very lofty goal and ambitious and now I'm exhausted. :-) I probably won't be doing Greek night again very soon - at least not all of it.

We had:

Homemade grape leaves (Dolmades) RECIPE HERE
Homemade gyro meat RECIPE HERE
Homemade Baba Ganoush RECIPE HERE
Homemade Cauliflower Rice RECIPE HERE
and a little cucumber, tomato and red onion salad with a simple dressing of lemon juice and EVOO

And no wine.

Hope you are doing well!

XO
Jen

The Whole30 Program: Day 2

Hey kids, so here we are at the end of Day 2.

I'm feeling pretty good still but I have fear that there will be some tough days ahead. My running coach and friend Dana who is also on plan posted this link that pretty much sums up how you will likely feel at certain points of the program. The timeline can be found here.

If you're too lazy to read it, it pretty much says that you can expect to feel "hung-over," extreme anger, sleepiness, bloated and like throwing in the towel! Yippee! Sounds great.

But then you get to around Day 16 and suddenly get "tiger blood" - sounds a lot like Charlie Sheen and winning but "tiger blood" has to better than angry and hungover so basically I'm living for Days 16 - 27 (with the exception of day 21 which you'll likely feel "so over it").

Anyway - food was good today. Started the day with two eggs over easy and sweet potato hash with baby spinach. I wrote up the hash recipe in case you are interested - you can find it here.

sweet potato hash

For lunch I had chicken, left over broccoli and left over yuca. Very tasty and filling.

I decided to go for a two mile run and came home a little hungry so I had a tablespoonful of cashew nut butter. (yum)

For dinner I had organic steak, sautéed mushrooms, cauliflower 'rice', avocado and some more leftover broccoli.

How are you doing?

XO

Jen

Easy Sweet Potato Hash with Prosciutto: Paleo and Whole30 compliant

On Day 1 of my Whole 30 journey, I decided to try to make hash with sweet potatoes to go with my morning eggs. You can check out my entire first day in this blog post.

sorry for the blurry picture - I'm no food blogger

Now I actually could just eat a sweet potato on it's own with a little ghee but my husband is not a big sweet potato fan so I knew to sell him on it I would have to get a little creative. But with limited time, it couldn't be too much to do.

I came up with this concoction and it was pretty yum-o and even got my husband to enjoy sweet potatoes!

6 minute sweet potato hash

1 medium or large sweet potato
1/2 of a small onion chopped
1 piece of whole30 compliant prosciutto or bacon. (I used prosciutto the ingredients were pork and sea salt)
1 tablespoon of ghee (or olive oil/coconut oil - I have to say the ghee made it soooo yummy)
salt and pepper to taste

Soften sweet potato in the microwave 3 - 4 minutes. Meanwhile heat ghee up in a pan, when hot, tear (or slice) the prosciutto into small pieces and add it to the hot pan of ghee stir in onions and turn down heat. Split the sweet potato open (it'll be hot!) scoop the sweet potato out of the skin and cube. I used a clean dish towel to help handle the super hot potato. Add the potato to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Stir it with the onions, ghee and prosciutto for a minute or two and serve.

I split this between my husband and I but I could probably eat the whole thing by myself if I was really hungry.

VARIATION:

This morning I added about a cup of baby spinach to the mix right before adding the potatoes - I let the spinach wilt (about a minute or two) and I also sprinkled about a half of tsp of dry sage on top with the salt and pepper. I really liked it this way.

With baby spinach

This morning I avoided having to play "hot potato" and stuck the potato in the microwave as soon as I woke up. It then had about 10 minutes to cool and it was much easier to handle.

Enjoy!

XO
Jen

The Whole30 program: Day 1

So today I began my journey into The Whole 30 program. It went great.

I started by making my hubby (who agreed to go along for the ride) his lunch.

I packed him up the butternut squash I made the other day, chicken salad made with homemade mayo, almonds and an apple. I gave him some big iceberg lettuce leaves to make lettuce wraps with the chicken salad.

Marty's lunch minus the lettuce leaves

For breakfast we had sweet potato hash, eggs and kale. (The hash was great, quick and easy - I will post the recipe later this week.)

Marty's breakfast - I actually had eggs over-easy

Happy to say he approved of his lunch :) he sent me this text and the word "yum"

My lunch wasn't half bad either:

Butternut squash, kale with chicken thighs - apple and cashews for snack

I wound up not eating the apple but snacked on the cashews around 4PM.

Came home and marinated some organic pork chops (I can't believe I found organic pork chops!) in an olive oil, cilantro and garlic mix.

And to go along with the pork made some broccoli and yuca with mojo. (The mojo is a little was sautéed onions, garlic and lemon juice and a little olive oil and some water from the boiling yuca).

The meal was so good!

I feel thoroughly satisfied. I'm actually a little skeptical that I can actually lose weight eating like this but we'll see. Marty enjoyed his day too.

How'd you do?

XO

Jen

Happy New Year! A Healthy Kick off and getting Whole30 ready

This morning I decided to kick off the New Year right by running with Moms In Motion. I usually wouldn't drag myself out in 23-feels-like-15-degree weather but I have missed the group and I figured that doing a bad-assed cold weather run was exactly what I needed to get moving in the right direction.

The group had a great turn-out and we were chilly but happy to be there.

Can't miss me with my bright pink gloves bottom left

Funny thing about running in the cold. I always build it up in my mind to be this horrible thing but the truth is, is that by the end of the run it could be 50 degrees out. I get so warmed up! I was actually sweating.  Another thing that did help a lot are these amazing cold-weather fleece-lined tights that my hubby got me for Christmas from Athleta. I have to say that Athleta is expensive but worth every penny. I don't have a lot from them but everything I do have rocks. Here are the pants I got in case you are interested.

After the run I came home and decided to get some more food prepped for the Whole30 challenge. I hard-boiled some eggs and then cooked up some chicken. I got a bag of peeled garlic from BJs so I dumped about 20 cloves into a crock pot along with a sliced onion and a little chicken stock and topped that with four big bone-in (with skin) organic chicken thighs. I seasoned those with some salt, pepper and tyme and let them cook all day. They smell heavenly. 

crock pot chicken

While that was cooking I went to the grocery store and stocked up on a bunch of veggies and stuff. I'm super excited to get started.

Then, I made some homemade mayonnaise for the first time! Holy crap I'm so proud of my mayo. I feel like Julia fricken Childs and it's delicious.  Here's the mayo recipe I used. (I wound up squeezing a lemon and measuring it out - all the bottled lemon juices I saw had sulfites in it to preserve.)

Look at that pretty mayo! 

Tonight I will have my final dirty martini until the program is complete. You will be missed.

For those of you who like dirty martinis and not saying goodbye - Dirty Sue is the best martini mix ever.

Hope you had a healthy kick off to your New Year!

Do anything special last night or today? How did you prep for some of your resolutions?

XO

Jen