Whole30 - Day 12

Today, I really felt like having a pop! I didn't but it crossed my mind a few times. I feel good about making it this far. I'm probably going to gradually add a little cheese to my next several days. I need something that I can grab for a snack and meat just doesn't work like that for me. :-)  I guess it will be a modified version until day 30. I have learned many things. Fruit is sweet & delicious! I love avocados! I will never eat store bought condiments. My homemade mayo is the bomb!  I really like clarified butter, no more margarine, who the heck knows that that is anyway??

MEAL #1

Sausage & eggs

MEAL#2

No  photo

MEAL#3

                                       Mexican night

Whole30 - Day 11

Today I had a photo shoot down at my studio so I made sure to eat breakfast and pack a snack.  I'm having some odd kidney function issues today.  I think I may have a urinary tract infection which is kind of freaking me out. I've never had one, not too pleasant.  I'm feeling a little off to say the least.

For meal #2  I ran into Five Guys Burger & Fries and ordered a bunless hamburger. Their meat is pretty good with no trans fat  etc.  They made me a bed of lettuce with tomatoes & mushrooms. It was tasty and hit the spot.

Meal #3 I don't have a photo.  I ate some salami which probably wasn't the best choice but I was tired.

MEAL #1

Eggs & uncured turkey bacon

MEAL #2

                          Five Guys burger without fries!

MEAL #3

No photo

Whole30 - Day 10

Catching up on my blog posts! Felt good today.  I had a quick breakfast and packed a lunch and headed for the studio. I had some friends coming up at lunch to see my studio and I wanted to have my lunch ready. I picked up some sandwiches for them and made myself tuna & spinach.

I feel a little hungrier this week but I think it is because I wasn't eating enough since I felt a little sick.

I made something new for meal #3. Ground chicken rolled up with a coconut flake coating. It was pretty good. I should have added more spices. Ground chicken can be bland. I did try a rutabaga. It is a root vegetable. A cross between cabbage & turnip. It tasted like brussel sprouts to me.

MEAL#1

Sausage,onions & peppers and eggs

MEAL#2

                             Tuna salad & grapefruit

            Coconut chicken meatballs, green beans & rutabaga

Whole30 - Day 9

Ok, I'm BACK!! I'm feeling much better, I kept this pesky cold from getting worse and I'm on my way to feeling good again.  I didn't eat much yesterday and I could sure tell this morning.  I wasn't in the mood for any vegetables so I ate 2 boiled eggs.

Meal #2 occurred at 10:30am, I was really hungry. I heated up some of my barbacoa & made spaghetti squash & sauteed with with tomatoes & green chilies. It hit the spot!

Snack - I ate some almonds as I was walking through Whole Foods today, I couldn't even wait until I checked out. I also had some celery with Sunflower Seed Butter.  LOVE Sunflower Seed Butter. I had never tried it until now. It has the consistency of a natural peanut butter but much less sweet which I like. TRY IT!

Overall Day 9 is good! I'm feeling energetic and ready for anything. :-)  Tonight I'm going out with my parents& sister's family to a Churrascaria. It will work out great since they serve meat.  I won't have to scour the menu for options.  I'll let you know how it goes.

The Churrascaria was awesome! Perfect for the whole30. I ate lots of meat and vegetables.

MEAL #1 - These are my photo stand-ins for 2 eggs :-)

MEAL #2

Barbacoa & spaghetti squash

Churrascaria meats!

Whole30 - Day 8

It was last week that I started my Whole30 challenge. It has gone well. On day 5 I had some thoughts about not continuing but I kept at it.  I thought I would be completely sick of eating meat but the variety helps. I feel pretty good and made it one week so I have 3 to go!  I've lost some weight, mostly water weight but I'll take it!

I have this cold so nothing really sounds good. All I ate for breakfast was a boiled egg. I didn't even take a picture of it. You can just imagine it! :-)

Meal #2 - I cooked up some turkey bacon by Applegate with another egg and some spinach. That's about all I could eat. Not too exciting.

AND finally meal #3.  I wanted something quick so I cooked up some Aidell's all natural chicken sausage with apples & some Bubbies sauerkraut. I could eat the sauerkraut everyday, I love it!

I had a couple of snacks today. Pineapple, a banana and some celery with sunflower seed butter.


MEAL #1
No photo - Picture a boiled egg


MEAL #2

Turkey bacon, egg, spinach & avocado

MEAL #3

                      Chicken sausage with sauerkraut

Whole30 - Day 7

Day 7 already!  I feel pretty good besides this pesky cold. What I miss the most so far is a warm, sweetened beverage! Funny, all the foods I'm avoiding that's what I want. What you will notice today is that I'm lacking on my side dishes. Just wasn't feeling so great so I stuck with the basics. I probably did need more vegetables today. Hopefully tomorrow works a little bit better.

I woke up this morning and made an egg and some uncured natural bacon. It is Applegate brand and Whole30 approved. No nitrates or chemicals.  It was a little salty but pretty good.

Meal #2 - I do not like hot dogs and haven't eaten one for quite a while. For some reason I was craving a hot dog. Lucky for me I had found some Applegate all natural beef hot dogs. I cut them up and ate them with Bubbies sauerkraut which is delicious!!

Meal #3 - I found a barbacoa recipe that looked awesome!  I used my grass-fed roast that I ordered online. It turned out great, very flavorful!


MEAL #1

Eggs & bacon

MEAL #2 

                                  Hot dogs & sauerkraut

MEAL #3

           Barbacoa & leftover curried cream of broccoli soup

Whole30 - Day 6

Ok, so posting each day is getting a little tougher. I'll try to keep up!

I felt pretty good on day 6, I have come down with some sort of cold which stinks but I'm trudging along.

On the Whole30 they talk about meals, not having to classify breakfast, lunch or dinner food. I can do that for the most part except when it comes to breakfast. Eating chicken thighs and spinach for breakfast just doesn't sound that great to me. I remembered I had my bison meatballs from the night before so I actually cooked those up with a boiled egg. They remind me of a sausage consistency so it worked out! I was a little out of ideas today and a little tired from cooking so for lunch I cooked up some chicken breast and that's what I had, you can tell I'm not feeling so great, I put it on a paper plate and almost forget to take a photo!

Meal #3 was my first dining out experience. I met my family to celebrate my dad's birthday. We went to an Italian restaurant. I checked out the menu & decided to have a salmon salad. It was ok, a little boring. I passed up on the pasta & bread and I was fine. :-)


MEAL #1

Leftover bison meatballs & a boiled egg

MEAL #2

                     Chicken, avocado & banana

MEAL #3

                                        Salmon salad

Whole30 - Day 5

I didn't feel too great today.  I have a slight sore throat and just feel a little under the weather.

We had "big breakfast" today as a family.  I usually make bacon, sausage, eggs & pancakes. My plate consisted of an egg scramble with peppers & onions and some homemade sausage. It hit the spot.

For lunch I decided I wanted something warm & comforting so I made a curried cream broccoli soup. I grabbed the  recipe from the Nom Nom Paleo website. I wasn't too sure about the curry but I really liked it!  I paired the soup with a chicken salad. I added kalamata olives, green onions and my homemade mayonnaise to the chicken, delish!

Dinner was something new. I made bison meatballs.  I really liked the texture and taste. Bison is very lean. The bison meatballs were served over a bed of spaghetti squash and I cooked up some butternut squash. Lots of squash!

Snacks - I had a couple of snacks today. I ate an apple around lunch and then some grapes after dinner.

5 days down and what do I miss the most?  Are you ready?  I miss a sweetened drink. Like tea or coffee sweetened with sugar or something! I'm not used to unsweetened tea or coffee. That will be the first thing I have on day 31. :-)

Southwestern eggs & sausage

Chicken salad & curried cream of broccoli soup

Bison meatballs with sweet potato, 
butternut squash, spaghetti squash & avocado

It is already Day 5!

Today is Day 5 of my Whole30 challenge. I'm 16.66% there! Sounds pretty good right?  I had a bit of a headache yesterday but after eating dinner it went away. I think I'm coming down with a cold which stinks but hopefully it stays away!

I feel really good. I did miss my Friday evening beer but I lived! ;) I've always avoided meats & fats and focused on low calorie "light" items and a lot of cheese, whole grains & beans. I'm actually starting to think that those things made me feel bloated and not meat after all   I also notice that reading labels is a BIG eye opener. Things you think are healthy are not! It can be scary to read labels. Some of the ingredients are pretty odd, chemicals & preservatives!

I ordered some grass fed beef online this week and it arrived! Check out this haul.....

I bought this from Grass Fed Traditions  I'd seen their name mentioned on some other Paleo websites and decided to try it. They were having a sale so I went for it. I purchased 6lbs of grass fed ground beef and big 4.5lb rump roast that is going to become a delicious barbacoa this weekend! I was pretty excited about my shipment.

Whole30 - Day 4

Day 4 went pretty well. I felt a little off so I'm not sure if it is the Whole30 or I'm coming down with cold. :-0

I cooked a lot this week! I made several new things so that I could try them. I'm one of those people that likes to have a variety so it has been fun!  Today I tried lamb. Probably not my favorite but ok.

Meal 1 was my homemade pork sausage & I tried carrot & sweet potato pancakes. These are made with eggs and a little almond flour. They went well with the pork. It was a filling breakfast.

Meal 2 I had lunch plans with a friend so we went to Chipotle. Chipotle's carnitas are Whole30 approved! I ordered a salad with carnitas on top, tomatoes and guacamole!  It was tasty & filling.

Meal 3 was actually going to be Greek Dolmas with lamb wrapped in grape leaves but I didn't get to the store to get the leaves. SO, I improvised and went ahead and used the meat that was cooked with onions, cinnamon, cloves & raisins and added some of the cauliflower rice I made earlier. I added a tasty greek salad with kalamata olives, cucumber, tomatoes & leeks.

MEAL #1

Pork sausage & sweet potato pancakes

MEAL #2

No Photo - Chipotle carnitas salad

MEAL #3

Greek lamb, cauliflower rice & greek salad

Whole30 - Day 3

I woke up today feeling really good. I wasn't too terribly hungry so I cooked up some sausage that I made last night. I took ground pork and added red pepper flakes, oregano, rosemary, garlic and diced apples. I wasn't sure what it would taste like. I made a real flat patty and cooked it in a skillet. I ate it and loved it. I was so consumed with the flavor that I didn't even take a photo. All I have is a photo of the pork before cooking. :p

 My next meal was tuna salad. I bought some wild caught tuna and mixed in my homemade mayonnaise, green onions, pickles, dill & sea salt. I served this on a bed of red lettuce. I cut up carrots and had some olives on the side.

 Dinner was a local roasted chicken stuffed with lemons and I made a chicken rub that consisted of red pepper flakes (I like red pepper flakes, can you tell?), garlic, rosemary, thyme, sea salt and a little olive oil. Sides were collard greens & butternut squash. MMMMmmmmm! The kids ate it up!

Snack - I ate a grapefruit in the afternoon, love grapefruit. This evening I'll enjoy a chai tea with coconut milk.

If you read info on the Whole30 program some people start feeling a little off between days 3-5. We'll see what happens. I'm still feeling really good! I have some tasty meals planned for the next few days. I can't wait!


MEAL #1

Pork ready to be cooked!

MEAL #2

Tuna salad plate with my special friends watching over it.

MEAL #3

Oven roasted chicken

Whole30 - Day 2

Back again for Day 2!

I slept really well after day 1. Not sure if it was the food or just a coincidence.  I would usually have one diet cherry Dr. Pepper each day, I really like the carbonation. I was trying to find a substitute and I landed on Seltzer water with two slices of lime.  It gave me that pop fizz and I moved on! I think that will work out just fine for me.

Woke up to some coffee and gearing up for a busy day! I had to make a delivery to a photography client, visit our salons and go to my NAET appointment. I will talk about that soon.

DAY 2

Still trying to get used to the black coffee. I may switch to some sort of tea and see if I like that better. I may try to wean off all caffeine but for now I thought I'd keep the coffee so that I wouldn't be dealing with possibly missing caffeine at the same time.

Last night I made some breakfast muffins so that I could eat breakfast fairly quickly. These consisted of ground pork with my own seasonings, green pepper, red pepper, onions and eggs. They turned out great and had a lot of flavor.  I ate 2 of these and was ready to go!

For meal 2 I was out on the road so I researched some options ahead of time and discovered that FreeBirds World Burrito has carnitas that are Whole30 approved. I stopped, had a delicious carnitas salad and went on my way.

Meal 3 was cauliflower rice with grass feed ground beef with an egg on top, mixed greens and some avocado, oh and some sweet potato fries!  I cut out the meat for me because of my NAET avoidance, I'll explain later.

I was pretty full this evening. I think the cauliflower was really filling. Here are a few photos of my Day 2 meals, enjoy!

Meal #1

Egg & Sausage Muffins

Meal #2

FreeBirds Carnitas Salad

Meal #3

Cauliflower rice, egg, beef hash thing

Whole30 - DAY 1

I quickly wanted to start documenting my Whole30 program.  Thank goodness for free blogger templates! I thought this one fit!  SO, I decided to start the Whole30, you can read about it, there is a lot of information and it is all free!  It is a "reset" type program where you eliminate all processed foods, sweeteners, grains & dairy. SO, what is left you ask?  Plenty...... protein, vegetables & fruit.

I decided to start my Whole30 on a Tuesday, January 8th.  Several people asked me why a Tuesday? Well, no particular reason but I don't like starting things on Monday for one and this way I had a little time to prepare and plan. I mentally prepared for a few days thinking about what I'd cook and what I wouldn't be able to eat. For the most part I eat pretty well so I'm not starting trying to wean off of donuts & onion rings. That wouldn't be the greatest.

Planning:  You definitely have to plan ahead! I made a trip to Whole Foods to stock up on grass-fed protein & fresh fruits & vegetables.

I'll keep you updated on my discoveries & challenges. I'm super excited!


Let's talk about DAY 1

I woke up and had some coffee. I've always used Splenda or Truvia in my coffee and as of late been using raw cane sugar. THIS morning I had black coffee with a bit of coconut milk.  Well, not sure if I really like it, we'll see. It is a definite difference. No sweetness whatsoever!

On the Whole30 there isn't a separation of breakfast foods, lunch foods and dinner foods. You can have chicken thighs and spinach for breakfast. Not sure I'm there yet. Mentally I still think of eggs, sausage, etc....breakfast foods. :-)

I made some ground pork sausage, spinach and topped it with an egg. It was very filling. For meal 2 I made a Meatza, kind of like a pizza but the crust is meat.  It wasn't my favorite a little too meaty. I did like the eggplant and olives.  Meal 3 I decided to be creative. I made a chicken pad thai. The noodles were spaghetti squash which is a great substitute. We enjoyed it. I made some sunshine sauce from the book Well Fed, another awesome book full of recipes!

I'll be taking iphone photos of my food, I may start taking pictures with my real camera soon, we'll see, it is quicker this way.

How did I feel after day 1..... pretty good. I was tired from thinking about what to cook, etc. but for the most part I never felt hungry and I enjoyed some new flavors.

MEAL #1

Pork Sausage, Spinach & Egg

MEAL #2

Meatza with cucumbers & olive oil mayonnaise

MEAL #3

Chicken Pad Thai