The Whole Wrap Up

It's my last night of my own special version of the Whole30. I didn't follow the rules exactly as written, I wouldn't say I was 100% without failure (damn, sugar is sneaky), but I am inclined to say I am a motherfucking WINNER.

Do I feel like Superwoman? No. Did I lose a magical 15 pounds? Niet. Am I a convert to the cult of Paleo? Nope.

But am I really glad I did it? Yes sir, yes ma'am, I am certainly glad.

I rediscovered how to eat well, and more than that, I learned how to eat clean. I learned how to fuel myself with the basics, how to cook with pure, whole ingredients, how to subsist on nothing but what's necessary. I really do want to continue down this path---while reincorporating the things I cut out, of course. I do not wish to live without cheese. I cannot exist without sushi. And gluten and I don't need to break up, I don't think.

We shall see.

I'm going to experiment over the next few days. See what works for me. I'm not going to go hog wild, stuffing my face with cakes and cookies, not even on the 4th of July. I really am going to try to continue down this healthy eating road that I'm on, with just a little more flexibility for the things that delight my tastebuds.

I'm liking this.

Thanks, Daddy. For the impetus, the incentive, the push. And thanks, Whole30.

The Whole Home Stretch

Four. More. Days.

FOUR. MORE. DAYS.

Then...

I mean, really, I'm joyful, but I'm not actually aching for the end of my Whole30, dreaming of garlic bread and ice cream. I'm fine! And I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking with it and having it be so...almost easy. I really can have willpower when I want to.

Things I've Learned During My Whole30

*I like eating clean. Imagine that.

*I can make myself cook and prep and try, when I have to.

*It feels great to refocus on eating right.

*It's expensive to eat healthy.

*I can eat intuitively, not count points or calories or ounces or grams, and nourish myself, and not binge.

Things I Think I Learned During My Whole30

(But Will Confirm Next Week When I Reintroduce Things)

*My body needs the fuel of grains, or dairy, or both. I just don't really feel totally right. 

So, yes. FOUR. MORE. DAYS. 

And soon...

SUSHI!

Monday, June 24th

Siiiigh.

No, the point of this Whole30 experiment is not weight loss. But weight loss is supposed to happen. It is.

And it did not, this week.

I know I'm doing the right things, but I could be doing some things better. I'm planning to make some changes with my food, and I'll be increasing my activity, and all that combined will certainly affect the scale. But...still. Still. I've been working so hard. I really didn't want to see a gain today, even a small one.

Meh.

Weight: 143.8 (+ 0.6)
Mood: Pretty great until the stupid scale today, which should tell me something. Although, really, it's not affecting me as much as it would have in the past, so that's good. I've stayed really positive this week, it really has started to feel like second nature.
Food: Good! Made a recipe, found some new snacks, have been better about fueling myself properly. I think I need to cut back on fruit and incorporate more veggies, up my protein, and maybe that will help the scale move.
Movement: I haven't fully stuck to my yoga schedule, but I'm doing alright, and I really think I'm going to find my groove again. I just have to keep trying.

This week, I wanted to...

...wholly recommit myself to my yoga practice, and I did that. I could have gone more, but I'm happy with what I did. This week I'll be even more committed. 

...make recipes so I have plenty of options for food at home, and I did make one!

...be happy, and I was.

This week, I would like to...

...go to yoga five times.

...keep my apartment in its current lovely clean state.

...stay positive no matter what the scale says.

The Whole Update

I've had a few people say to me this week how hard they think it would be to do what it is I'm doing. And yes, I would have agreed with them a few weeks ago, but once I made the commitment to stick to this plan, it truly hasn't been that much of a struggle for me. I haven't been tempted. I haven't caved.

All the greens for me.

Today is Day 15 of my Whole30. I'm halfway through, and it's been...if not easy, at least painless.

Amazing what the lure of a shiny new computer will do.

Oh, and I guess the pull of potential health benefits too...

Sure. 

I'm feeling good. Nothing magical is really happening in my body, I would say, but I've been sleeping very well, walking up early before my alarm feeling well rested and alert. I haven't really been having cravings, though the smell of other people's lunches at work does seem ever so delicious.

But I will eat my fruit, and be happy about it. Mmhmm.

I'm really glad I committed to doing this Whole30 experiment. Not just for my shiny MacBook reward, but for the chance to show myself I can be strong and do something different, eat clean, be well.

Let's see what the next 15 bring. 

Monday, June 17th

Yay.

Yay.

I'll be perfectly honest with you, I've been slightly...irritated is maybe the best word, that I hadn't lost more weight yet. I was sort of expecting that with this dramatic change in my eating I'd get some magic five pound loss. But this was stupid and not to be.

So I'm happy to have lost -1.6 this week, and be the lowest weight I've been since college.

Yay!

Weight: 143.2

Mood: Pretty excellent. Going to Santa Barbara always keeps me uplifted, and overall this week was, for the most part, free of my usual cycles of self-loathing, except for some fears about my yoga training.

Food: Also excellent. Sticking to my Whole30, experimenting with new foods, but I could probably stand to eat more. 

Movement: I made a commitment to try and get some form of movement in every day, and that only lasted about four days. I made it to yoga once, and took some walks. I start my training this week (!!!), so I will definitely, 100% be getting back on track. Yes. YES. YES!

This week, I wanted to...

...move my body every day, and see above.

...keep my living space clear and free of clutter, which I did okay at. My kitchen has been a bit of a disaster zone but my main space is mostly okay.

...be happy, and I was. Mostly.

This week, I would like to...

...wholly recommit myself to my yoga practice.

...make recipes so I have plenty of options for food at home.

...be happy.

The Whole Menu

In case you've been curious, I thought I'd give you a peek into what I've been eating over the last week or so.

Amongst my new standards of hard boiled eggs, Cobb salads sans cheese, deli meat and sliced cucumbers, smoothies and fresh pressed juices, I've enjoyed some delicious, fancy-ish meals.

All without soy, or gluten, or dairy, or...anything joyful.

Shrimp kebabs with grilled veggies, steamed veggies, and a baked sweet potato from Chicken Dijon.

Chicken breast, sautéed garlic broccolini and two garlic fried eggs made by moi.

Oven roasted rosemary chicken and seasonal vegetables from C&O Trattoria in Venice.

Salad with cucumber, olives, orange pepper, sliced almonds, chicken breast and olive oil dressing  eaten at home. 

Salad with grilled pears, prosciutto and olive oil with baked salmon and brussel sprouts with lemon and bacon, made by my mama. 

The Whole Prize

AIN'T IT PRETTY?!

Things I Learned At The Grocery Store Today + A RECIPE!

Deep thoughts from Taylorville.

1. Everything has soy. 
2. And if doesn't have soy, it has sugar. A craving for breakfast sausage could not be sated by anything at Ralph's. Merde.
3. It's expensive to eat healthy.
4. But I already knew that, today just reaffirmed it.
5. And in order to eat Whole30 you have to like...make everything.

So, I made lunch! A late lunch, but lunch. I used this recipe as inspiration and a starting point, but veered off slightly from the ingredients and instructions. I KNOW RIGHT?! I'm like...brave.

And it was delicious.

Here's my very first recipe for you all. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Turkey and Spinach Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

*4 sweet potatoes or yams
*1 pound ground turkey (I used Jennie-0 93% Lean)

*Bag of baby spinach

*2 tablespoons coconut oil

*1 cup red onion

*2 cloves garlic

*1 teaspoons onion powder

*1 teaspoons garlic powder

*Trader Joe's smoked sea salt

*salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat up your coconut oil on the stove on medium high heat.
2. Add the garlic and onions to the pan.
3. When the onions start to smell delicious, add the turkey and break it up with a wooden spoon.
4. Microwave your sweet potato according to these instructions. (Or do it in the oven according to these, if you have foil and time, which I didn't.)
5. Once the turkey starts to crumble and cook, add the onion powder, garlic powder and a generous amount of smoked sea salt.
6. When the meat is close to finished cooking, add the spinach, I did half the bag at a time.
7. Take the sweet potato out of the microwave, cut it open and mash up the insides, add meat, et voila!

Day 4/30: Fuel For My Fire

Today is shaping up to be a fantastic day, food-wise. I was worried when I woke up this morning that cravings would get to me today, as last night I dreamt of dessert, but I am heading them off!

First: Goal #1? Check. I woke up early enough this morning to make a crock pot meal! CHECK ME OUT!

I put together this creamy chicken tomato soup, made with coconut milk. Who would have thought? I'm so very excited to try it. It takes nine hours to cook, so it will be ready to eat tonight right when I get home from work. I hope it's tasty!

After I made dinner in the morning, I went to Jamba Juice and got me a fruits and veggies smoothie. I heart smoothies. My cup was super inspirational.

For lunch I have leftovers from yesterday's Work Wednesday Lunch, healthy salad and deli meat from Bay Cities Deli. Omnomnom.

I am on FIRE today!

The Whole Deal

Okay, so truth time.

I'm not really doing The Whole 30, like...strictly.

First of all, the challenge my dad set forth allows me to drink booze. 'Cause we be a family of boozehounds. So there's that.

Plus, I mean, check this out. That's the meal planning template for the program, and it's like...complicated. I mean, I guess not really, but...I'm not doing that for every meal. Sorry I'm not sorry.

And, the two juices I bought for days 1 & 2, turns out, not so compliant---The Whole 30 prefers you chew your food, imagine that, so...no juices or smoothies, generally. But...I like smoothies.

So here's the thing. I'll be following the basic principles: no wheat, dairy, gluten, sugar, soy, potatoes. I will be eating clean and crisply. But...my own way. Not strictly according to their formulas and guidelines. They're HARDCORE, and I'm not. It's just too cray, and I'm guaranteed to fail if I try to do it their way.

And we don't want me to fail, now do we?

No.

So if I want a smoothie, I'll have a smoothie. If I want to make a "Paleo pizza", I will, even if they consider that "junk food". My focus is just to eat well for this 30 days, and I think that's just darn good enough. 

The Whole Motivation

Day 1/30: The Basics

My first day of The Whole 30 went pretty well! I wasn't prepared for the day (and by that I mean, my fridge was not prepared) but I did my best and ate pretty simply, and now I'm all set up for the rest of the week.

This morning I stopped at Ralph's on my way to work and got some stuff for the office as well as a a fresh juice for myself and a few other things. That was my breakfast, along with a banana.

My mid-morning snack was some smoked salmon and cucumber slices. A very tasty combo!

I headed to Trader Joe's at lunch and got the makings for some basic easy meals, and a crockpot soup I'm going to make tomorrow morning.

I had a little lunch at home, some roasted deli chicken, olives and a hard-boiled egg.

Later in the afternoon I had round two of salmon and cucumber, with some nuts for healthy fats!

For dinner, I had a TJ's frozen shrimp stirfry sauteed in coconut oil. SO delicious!

I feel satisfied and pleased with how my day went. Tomorrow I'll try for more variety and bulk in my food, but today was good. Go. Me. 

The Whole Goal

So, this "Whole 30" thing. It's kinda weird, I know. I'll admit has the potential to go very, very badly, what with my history of crazy, tendency to rebel against enforced constraints, and just the general idea of you know, bribery.

But despite all that...I'm really excited about it, and very, very optimistic that I can do this. With all the things I've done in my life that are really, truly hard? I don't think this will be one of them. Hell, I did a 21 day cleanse and had shakes and soups for 2 meals a day, I think I can handle this.

I'll just miss my cheese.

I really do think this challenge will be incredibly good for me in a number of ways. It will give me a new thing to focus and fixate on, it will recharge the batteries in my healthy eating machinery, it will get me motivated again. I'm feeling so energized as I think about the month ahead, and I know if I stick with it I'll feel an amazing sense of accomplishment when I'm through.

My goals for the 30 days are:

1) To experiment with cooking, broaden my food horizons and spend more time in the kitchen.
2) To try a new way of eating and discover if I have any sensitivities I didn't know about.
3) Commit to going to yoga 20 times.

Simple, yeah?

Let's do this.

GirlTalk Texts: True Love Edition

Biff: I had a dream that I was trying to figure out how to make a Paleo version of pecan pie, I think cauliflower was involved... obviously this shows the depths of my love for you.

(And this is why she's my bestest friend.)

The Whole Crazy

My father is a nut.

A loveable nut, but a nut just the same.

For the last, oh, four or five months or so, he's been quite fixated on his new way of eating, The Whole 9, which is in essence, Paleo minus the stupid fucking "caveman" schtick. No wheat, no dairy, no gluten, no sugar. No legumes, no potatoes. No soy. No joy.

Daddy-O claims this way of eating gives him tons of energy, helped him lose weight, and eradicated most of his cravings for the "bad" things. He's quite the evangelist.

He's been on me to try it too, but I respond with a) I don't like to eat by cutting out entire food groups, 'cause I live by moderation and restricting something is the best way to guarantee I'll eat nothing but that specific thing, b) I'm 25 and I don't really need more energy, and c) I like cheese.

So last night, I started talking about how with my raise, I really really really want a MacBook.

And then my dad bribed me.

He asked how much money he would have to pay me to get me to try The Whole 30, which is (obviously) following the program for a full 30 days. He really things that it will be great for me and my health, and apparently thinks bribery is the way to get me to do it.

He knows me well.

I said, "Buy me my Mac."

Done.

Buying my new laptop today, starting the program tomorrow.

Hello, Paleo!