Week 1... feeling good but I want pizza

Wednesday- Friday were SO. MUCH. BETTER. with the almond milk/coconut cream mixture so that I could have coffee.  I think I can probably continue using this stuff after the Whole 30 is over too.  It's not the same, but I like it.

Wednesday I had a doctor's appointment so I wasn't at school for lunch.  I made a salad with grilled chicken, hard boiled egg and lots of veggies.  I packed one up for dinner on Thursday too.  I have  a kayaking class on Thursday's and we usually go out to eat afterwards, but I knew I probably wouldn't be able to eat anything at Five Guys...



I took advantage of the day off and did a whole lot of food prep.  I was responsible for lunch Thursday and Friday.  I made turkey burgers (ground turkey, almond flour, egg, salt, pepper) with grilled zucchini "buns" and a cucumber salad with olive oil, salt and pepper.  We had this for dinner on Wednesday and I brought it for lunch on Friday.  It was REALLY good. 

 

I also made shredded chicken in the crock pot with hot sauce, lime juice and garlic.  I served that for lunch on Thursday with mashed cauliflower.  I steamed the cauliflower, put it in the food processor and then added a little bit of olive oil and salt.  This meal was delicious!  Like really, really delicious.  I also brought peppers and celery with this dairy free ranch dip.

 

http://www.lifemadefull.com/2012/01/16/dairy-free-chipotle-ranch-dressing/

I made the dip again today it was so good!

Friday night we had leftovers for dinner.  Saturday I made eggs for breakfast and had two leftover turkey burger sliders with slices of avocado on top for lunch.  I worked at the winery last night (I work at Boordy on the weekends for the summer).  I was really nervous about this.  Not only do we get offered wine after our shift, but there is usually bread and cheese out for us to snack on.  I decided to combat this by making sure I had lots packed.  I brought a hard boiled egg, two apples, cashews and grapes and strawberries.  I did pretty good.  I wasn't even tempted when our manager brought out cupcakes for everyone (and these were from a cupcake shop... not grocery store bought ones).

Today my family came over for our monthly family game night.  I made the ranch dip with veggies, salsa and guacamole.  I had chips out but I used the veggies for the guacamole.  I didn't have any salsa because it came from a jar and had cane sugar in it.  I don't like salsa anyway, so it was one less thing I had to make this morning.  For lunch, we had chicken and steak fajitas with peppers and onions.  We used salt, pepper and cumin on the meat and veggies.  I had mine on a lettuce leaves.  I drizzled some of the ranch dip on top in the absence of sour cream/ cheese. 

 

 Oh man, I wanted cheese on top.  Really bad.  Since day one, this was probably the first time I really felt like I was missing out.  Even when the girl scout cookies went on the table for dessert I was ok not eating them.  But the freaking cheese, I wanted it.  My aunt and uncle brought fresh fruit salad for dessert too.  It was delicious.

 

Now everyone is gone and I want pizza.  Not dominos or papa johns.  I'm crazing pizza on the grill.  If you've never done this look back through my posts because there is a whole post on grilled pizza from last summer.  Its amazing.  I found a recipe for Paleo pizza that uses almond flour and just puts sauce and toppings (I'll probably do chicken and veggies) with no cheese.  But I feel like it might be cheating a little bit.  We have a support group for the Whole 30 on facebook so I'm waiting to hear back from someone else to see what they think. 

 

 

All in all, I feel really good.  It feels good to know that I can stare at girl scout cookies and not eat one (or ten).  It feels good to know I can be around people drinking and feel comfortable not drinking.  It also feels really good knowing that I'm only putting healthy foods in my body. 

 

BUT....

 

I am getting bored of water.  I might try making infused water but it seems like a waste of fruits and veggies to me.  I'm in the process of sun brewing green tea on the porch.  Hopefully that will be yummy.

 

It's also exhausting to do all this cooking!  I got up at 8 this morning.  Made breakfast, went to the grocery store and then spent 2 hours chopping and mixing things for today.  Now that everyone is gone I don't want to have to go through all the labor to make dinner as well.  :(   I may browse some local take out menus and see if there is anything other than a salad I can get (I refuse to pay for a salad when all the ingredients are in my fridge).  I am craving sushi really bad.  I might see if I can order it from some place without rice.  But I don't have a soy sauce substitute so I'm not sure how good it will be...

 

Whole 30

So, right after I decided to try and go gluten free, a friend of mine mentioned a program called the Whole 30 to me.  A few days later, another friend was talking about how great she feels since she's gone Paleo and also told me about the Whole 30.  She was about to start her third round of the Whole 30.  After some googeling, I decided to join her.  I also suckered two coworkers into joining me. :)  Bonus, we set up a lunch rotation so we only have to make lunch two days a week and just bring enough for the three of us.  So three or four days a week you have no lunch packing to do!  Wa hoo.

Anyway... what is the Whole 30 you ask??  The Whole 30 is basically Paleo but on steroids.  It's so intense.  Here is their website:
whole30.com

First off... whole 30 is not intended to be a life long diet change.  The purpose is to strip all things from your diet that could potentially have a negative impact, give your body 30 days to heal, and then as you reintroduce the foods, really pay attention to how they affect you.

Before you think I'm crazy and I tell you all the things involved, I have "seasonal allergies" ALL. YEAR. LONG.  It's super duper annoying.  I blow my nose every day, all year, multiple times.  It wasn't until people around me (nephew, student at school) started getting diagnosed with gluten intolerance that I started to wonder if something in my diet was causing my allergies.  So this is why I'm doing this.  30 days for my body to reset and heal and then hopefully figure out what's making me stuffy.

Ok so here it goes.... What exactly do you eat on the Whole 30?
Eat:
Protein- Chicken, beef, pork, seafood
Fruits- all, but limit dried fruit
Vegetables- all of them, all the time
Fat- Healthy fats like olive oil, almonds, cashews, avocado, coconut oil

From their website, "Eat meat, seafood, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds. Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re totally natural and unprocessed. - See more at: http://whole30.com/step-two/#sthash.txtOMZOv.dpuf

What you can't eat:
From their website:

Do not consume added sugar of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, stevia, etc. Read your labels, because companies sneak sugar into products in ways you might not recognize.

Do not consume alcohol in any form, not even for cooking. (And it should go without saying, but no tobacco products of any sort, either.)

Do not eat grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa. This also includes all the ways we add wheat, corn and rice into our foods in the form of bran, germ, starch and so on. Again, read your labels.

Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kinds (black, red, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava, etc.), peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts. No peanut butter, either. This also includes all forms of soy – soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and all the ways we sneak soy into foods (like lecithin).

Do not eat dairy. This includes cow, goat or sheep’s milk products such as cream, cheese (hard or soft), kefir, yogurt (even Greek), and sour cream… with the exception of clarified butter or ghee. (See below for details.)

Do not eat white potatoes. This is somewhat arbitrary, but if we are trying to change your habits (chips and fries) and improve the hormonal impact of your food choices, it’s best to leave white, red, purple, Yukon gold, and fingerling potatoes off your plate.

Do not consume carrageenan, MSG or sulfites. If these ingredients appear in any form on the label of your processed food or beverage, it’s out for the Whole30.

No Paleo-ifying baked goods, desserts, or junk foods. Trying to shove your old, unhealthy diet into a shiny new Whole30 mold will ruin your program faster than you can say “Paleo Pop-Tarts.” This means no desserts or junk food made with “approved” ingredients—no banana-egg pancakes, almond-flour muffins, flourless brownies, or coconut milk ice cream. Don’t try to replicate junk food during your 30 days! That misses the point of the Whole30 entirely.

- See more at: http://whole30.com/step-two/#sthash.txtOMZOv.dpuf

Doing this involves lots of meal planning, lots of grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and lots of will power. Yesterday I went to Trader Joes and got a few things (kale, clarified butter, Lara bars).  I was pretty disappointed by my shopping experience.  The prices were good, but the selection is so much smaller than Whole Foods.  After school today, I went to Whole Foods and finished shopping: almond milk mixed with coconut cream, almond flour, sausages, lots of veggies, salad dressing, marinades, more Lara bars, coconut milk).

Today was Day One for me.  I woke up and realized that since Trader Joe's didn't have any coconut milk or almond milk without added preservatives, I had nothing to put in my coffee.  I also am not using stevia for 30 days.  Just perfect.  I decided to have green tea instead because I knew I could drink that without milk or sugar.  I also made scrambled eggs instead of my normal toast with peanut butter. 

 

 

I used Power to the Greens from Trader Joe's in my eggs, with garlic powder and pepper.  I cooked them and put them in Tupperware to eat at school.  In the car on the drive to work, I had an apple and green tea.

By 9 am I wanted to break things.  Not having coffee was not a good idea.  On the Whole 30 website they have a timeline for how you might feel each day.  On day one you are supposed to feel great and empowered.  I did not.  I felt cranky, tired and pissed off.  I took a bite of a Lara bar that had cherries and dates and that gave me a little bit of a sugar boost.  I also drank A TON of water (causing me to have to get my class covered twice before lunch so I could use the bathroom).  By lunch time I was starting to feel a little better.

Today was Emma's day to bring lunch.  She made tuna salad with avocado, peppers, and onions.  We ate it with celery and carrot sticks.  While I definitely was aware that it would be even more amazing on a piece of bread, lunch was really yummy.

After school, I went to Whole Foods to finish all the shopping I couldn't do yesterday.  Thank goodness, I found almond milk mixed with coconut cream.  And, the only ingredients were almonds, coconut and water.  I am excited to try it tomorrow morning with coffee. 

 

 

 

 

When I finally got home around 6:30 pm, I heated up a chicken kabob and grilled zucchini (with olive oil and salt/ pepper)  that was leftover from a cookout on Monday.  I went through all my cabinets and made one cabinet Whole 30 ingredients only.  I also did the same thing with shelves in the fridge.  Then I washed and cut strawberries, grapes, celery, lettuce and peppers.  I hard boiled some eggs too.  Now there are plenty of things to grab when I want a snack.  I really wanted a glass of wine while I was doing all of this, but I survived on water.

 

Side note- Tom thinks its going to be hardest for me to give up alcohol for 30 days (which might be true because there is a bachlorette party in there...).  I think dairy is going to be the hardest.  I really like cheese.  Sugar is tough too.  And lets be honest, I just got three boxes of girl scout cookies that will be hidden for 30 days until I can devour them again.

Clean eating doesn't have to taste gross

Last week we were in NY for a full week because we had a death in the family. :(  We have amazing friends and family and were fed delicious, cheesy, fattening foods all week long.  Especially the pizza.  Man I love Brozetti's pizza.  Like I want some right now... yummm.  Anyway, we ate well for a week and a half.  Really well.  Not only was there always food, but there was SO MUCH DESSERT.   Brownies, double chocolate cookies, chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, pound cake, apple pie.  I ate all of it. Yup.  Diet be damned... I ate my heart out.

I was really worried that when we got back home I was going to be really bored with clean, healthy food.  Over the past few days I've been pleasantly surprised at how delicious toast and peanut butter is for breakfast.  And how much I missed eating fruits and veggies all day.  We've had some pretty delicious dinners this week too.



Roasted potatoes with olive oil, rosemary, and garlic.  Served with turkey tenderloin from Aldi and peas.  Yummy.  And I was full after one small plate instead of just eating all day.




Tonight we had meatloaf (Tom makes that, I don't like to put my  hands in ground turkey).  Ground turkey with carrots, onions, peppers, salt, pepper, basil, Parmesan cheese,  and egg.  He forgot the bread crumbs, which worked out because today was a low carb day so I shouldn't have the bread crumbs anyway.  We had mashed cauliflower with it, cauliflower with Parmesan cheese, garlic, cream cheese, salt, pepper.  Really yummy. And a bonus, I made the cauliflower on my snow day yesterday so all I had to do was microwave it when the meatloaf was done.

This weekend I'm planning to do some baking.  Found some really delicious looking Paleo desserts on this blog:
http://cleaneatingwithadirtymind.com/ 

I'm especially excited about these chocolate chip cookies:

And these Reese's swirl brownies:

  

Recipe's and results later!  I plan to bake while doing homework (grad school started this week) on Saturday.  Then I will pack them up and freeze the leftovers so I have them for future cheat days. Yay.

Carb Cycling... day 2 and dying for ice cream

Ok, so the detox is done.  Tom keeps insisting that I always do well when I calorie count.  The problem with that is that I use calorie counting as an excuse to skip eating fruit and eat ice cream instead.  I need something with more structure.

A coworker told me that she just bought a book by Chris Powell about carb cycling.  This is the book Susan and I skimmed before going to dinner last Thursday.  I also read up on his blog.

http://chrispowell.com/carb-cycling-101/

It has a lot of rules but here are the basics:

What is Carb Cycling?

Carb cycling is an eating plan with alternating high-carb and low-carb days. It’s that simple. It also has built-in reward days or reward meals (depending on the plan you’re following), so you can still eat your favorite foods on a regular basis. Sounds pretty much perfect, right? You can eat healthy foods, enjoy foods you love, and still lose weight.

While each plan has a different mix of high-carb and low-carb days, each day works basically the same:

• Eat five meals—no more, no less.
• Eat a high-carb breakfast that includes both protein and carbs within 30 minutes of waking.
• Eat your remaining 4 meals—either high-carb or low-carb, depending on the plan you’re following—every 3 hours.
• Choose approved foods (Sign up here to receive a FREE printable food guide!)
• Drink a gallon of water.

He has several different plans. I decided on the Classic:



Basically you alternate low carb and high carb days with one day off each week.  I was hoping that after the first week I would feel comfortable enough to switch to the Turbo Cycle (2 low carb days for each high carb day) but after two days I feel like that might not happen.

Ok so since most of you won't click on the link to his blog... here is why this works (supposedly)

So why do we alternate high-carb and low-carb days in carb cycling? On high-carb days you’re stocking your calorie-burning furnace so that on low-carb days your furnace burns fat, and lots of it! This pattern tricks your metabolism into burning a lot of calories, even on those low-carb days. It’s an amazing and well-proven process.


So the basic idea is that on Low Carb days your meals are just a protein and 2 servings of veggies.  Then on High Carb days you can have fruits and whole grains.  Breakfast everyday is supposed to include carbs.

I sat down to meal plan yesterday and came up with this:

Sunday (Low carb day)
Breakfast: Eggs, turkey sausage, toast with PB and grapes

Snack: Nothing, we were out on an 8 mile hike and didn't get home until lunch

Lunch: Protein shake (milk and protein powder), grilled chicken, celery, hummus



Snack: Peanuts

Dinner: Garden Salad with grilled chicken from a carry out place.  Really yummy.  Ate half and am having the other half for lunch tomorrow.

Monday (High carb day)
Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with peanut butter, apple
Snack: Yogurt with granola
Lunch: 1/2 Tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread, Parmesan cheese, apple (planned on the apple... didn't end  up eating it)
Snack: Fruit smoothie (blueberries, mango, banana, coconut water)
Dinner: Tilapia, salad with grilled chicken*\

*I had a low carb dinner tonight bc I am going to a friends house tomorrow before a kayak rolling class and know that I will have carbs for dinner tomorrow...

Tuesday (Low carb day)
Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with peanut butter, apple
Snack: Protein shake
Lunch: Leftover salad
Snack: Almonds and dark chocolate (I know dark chocolate is not low carb, but I don't care)
Dinner: Salad, chicken, brown rice*

*High carb dinner, swapped with Monday nights dinner

More on the meal plan for later this week later....

It's day two and I am already having trouble.  I definitely ate some dark chocolate yesterday.  And today I REALLY want some of the Ben and Jerry's frozen yogurt in my freezer.  I've been logging all my calories into myfitnesspal and I know that I am under for the day (not under my 1200 calorie goal, but I worked out and burned about 500 so I still have a couple hundred for today). I was 800 calories under yesterday!  I didn't starve myself I swear, I just burned over 800 calories on my hike and had trouble eating them back.  I'm really going to try hard to stick to carb cycling at least until I go to Vegas in February (going to see Britney Spears Valentines day weekend and am SUPER excited).  After the trip maybe I'll just resort to regular calorie counting, but going to try and stick this out for now.  I will probably be cheating a little more than I should (Chris Powell's "Easy cycle" includes 1 cheat meal every high carb day... I don't plan on a full cheat meal, but maybe a cheat snack on high carb days.

Stay tuned. :)

Update.. Day 5 and 6

Before I get started... pictures from Day 4 (which was the first day off of smoothies)

This chicken... seriously so good!  Garlic and herb seasoning on the chicken.  Sooooo yummmy. 

Susan came over to celebrate the end of the smoothie detox and we had the chicken, 1/2 cup whole wheat pasta and green beans in balsamic dressing. 

Ok.. yesterday was Day 5. Here was the menu:

Breakfast:
Protein shake: 1 cup milk, 1 scoop protein powder
Apple

Morning snack:

Greek yogurt, granola 

Totals: 1 protein, 2 dairy, 1 grain

Lunch: (leftovers from the day before)

Chicken

1/2 cup whole wheat pasta with oil and garlic

Green beans in balsamic dressing

Totals: 1 protein, 1 grain, 2 fats

Snack:

Apple

Dinner:

Turkey burger

1/2 cup whole wheat pasta salad (peppers, celery, olives, cheddar cheese)

Carrots
Wine

 That's Tom's hand in the top of the second picture... he tried to block my shot but I got it anyway. 

Totals: 1 protein, 1 grain, 1 fats (oil in pasta salad)

Daily Totals:

Protein: 3

Grains: 3

Fat: 3

Dairy: 2

I was pleasantly surprised at how full I was all day.  YAY.

Cut to today... today is Day 6 total.  Here's the menu:

Breakfast: 

Greek yogurt, granola 

Totals: 1 dairy, 1 grain

Lunch: (leftovers from the day before)

Turkey burger

1/2 cup whole wheat pasta salad (peppers, celery, olives, cheddar cheese)

Totals: 1 protein, 1 grain, 1 fat

Snack:

Cheese stick
Total: 1 dairy

Dinner:

Tilapia
1/2 cup brown rice
Peas

Wine
Total: 1 protein, 1 grain

Daily Totals: 

Protein: 2

Grains: 3

Fat: 1

Dairy: 2

So it looks like I'm going to be low on protein and fat by the end of the day.  I might have veggies and hummus if I get hungry this afternoon.  The hummus would be another protein.  All in all its pretty hard to get the second serving of dairy (one cheese stick is not a complete serving).  3 servings of protein is hard too.  I really need to just start having a protein shake for a snack each day or something.  Yesterday I had the protein shake and apple in the car on my way to work, worked out, and then had my yogurt later in the morning.  I will keep this up on M, W, F when I have boot camp at work.  On non workout days I don't really need the extra calories in the morning...

October Unprocessed Day 1

October unprocessed started today!  If you haven't checked out the blog for this yet please check it out:
http://www.eatingrules.com/category/october-unprocessed/

Eating rules is how Tom and I first got into unprocessed eating.  After a very hectic summer and start to the school year... I am really excited to commit to unprocessed October and get back on track as far as eating is concerned (Papa John's has gotten WAY to much money from me in the past few months).  I'm also hoping to workout like a crazy person this month (because very soon I will be out of pants that can comfortably button.... ).  I'll be attending boot camp at school 3 mornings a week, cardio dvd after school on Wednesdays (it was kickboxing for the past 2 weeks), yoga at lunch on Thursdays, AND running 3 times a week at home.  Sounds exhausting, but since 5 of the 8 workouts will take place while I am at work, it shouldn't be too bad.

Anyway... over the past weekend we were visiting friends in VA so I was TOTALLY unprepared to start unprocessed October.  Luckily, Monday was still September because I had to buy lunch from the cafeteria (for anyone new to this blog... I teach elementary school).
 

Cheese dippers with marinara sauce, carrots and an apple. Not terrible, but definitely not unprocessed.  (Cheese dippers are essentially mozzarella sticks).

After school yesterday I went to the grocery store and picked up organic whole milk (good bye caramel flavored coffee creamer), almonds, greek yogurt, and a new food discovery:

Not all of this brand would pass the kitchen test, but these two do.  Yay.  This will make unexpected schedule changes or quick meals so much easier.

After grocery shopping for healthy food, I of course ordered Chinese food for dinner (it was between that and Papa John's). 

Today was a success.  Here's the run down of what I ate:

Breakfast- apple, yogurt with honey and Bare Naked granola

Lunch- Amy's organic enchilada, rice, black beans, orange

Dinner- Tuna with whole foods mayo on homemade cheese and onion bread, Nature's promise string cheese, apple

Wow, as I was typing that I realized I ate no vegetables today.  Shame on me.  Will have to double up tomorrow. :)

Abandoning the Food Diary

Why you ask?  Well a couple reasons…

Most of what we are eating now is unprocessed.  Originally the food diary was a way of me having some accountability for sticking to things.  But now I’m doing pretty good.  Don’t get me wrong, I am still eating some processed things.  Like right now, as I type this, I am having breakfast : homemade bread with natural peanut butter, banana, coffee with half and half and stevia, and wait for it… banana but cake left over from a family birthday party- store bought not homemade.

Do I care that much about the cake?  Not really.  You win some, you lose some.  This cake is delicious and until it is gone I will probably continue to eat it.  Do I wish I had had the time and energy to make a cake instead of buying one?  Absolutely!  But life doesn’t always work out that way….

I will say that we probably eat unprocessed 75% of the time.  I’m ok with that ratio.  Like I’ve said from the beginning, I’m not going to stop going out with friends (in fact there is a crab pretzel from Looney’s calling my name after our football game this afternoon).  Going out definitely accounts for some of the 25% processed.  What I would like to cut out completely is the moments of weakness (especially at school) when I get a bag of chips from the vending machine even though I have a hardboiled egg in my lunch box.  Or kids birthdays!  I HAVE TO STOP EATTING KIDS BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES/CAKES.  There… so it is written so it shall be done (maybe).

The second reason for stopping the food diary is that it must be really boring to read.  I mean I have the same thing every weekday for breakfast/ morning snack (apples, peanut butter, yogurt, granola) and the same thing for afternoon snack (hardboiled egg, almonds, dark chocolate).  Dinners change a lot and lunches are usually just dinner leftovers.  I will try to do a better job of posting recipes and pictures of dinners. 

Food Diary 2-25 to 3-3

Date	Monday February 25. 2013
Breakfast	Coffee- with milk and stevia Apple with peanut butter
Morning Snack	Yogurt with honey and granola
Lunch	Burrito: Whole wheat shell Brown rice Black beans Ground turkey Cheddar cheese
Afternoon Snack	Hardboiled egg Dark chocolate with almonds
Dinner	Chicken Salad
Dessert

Date	Tuesday February 26. 2013
Breakfast	Coffee- with half and half and stevia Apple with peanut butter
Morning Snack	Yogurt with honey and granola
Lunch	Chicken with snap peas Apple
Afternoon Snack	Hardboiled egg Dark chocolate and almonds
Dinner	Crackers Cheese Pesto Green peppers
Dessert

Date	Wednesday February 27. 2013
Breakfast	Coffee- with half and half and stevia Apple with peanut butter
Morning Snack	Yogurt with honey and granola
Lunch	Egg salad Bread Apple
Afternoon Snack	Hardboiled egg Dark chocolate and almonds
Dinner	Salad ???  can’t remember
Dessert

Date	Thursday February 28. 2013
Breakfast	Coffee- with half and half and stevia Apple with peanut butter
Morning Snack	Yogurt with honey and granola
Lunch	Salad ??? Can’t remember
Afternoon Snack	Hardboiled egg Dark chocolate and almonds
Dinner	Cauliflower pizza Chips/dip Wine
Dessert

 

Date	Friday March 1. 2013
Breakfast	Coffee- with half and half and stevia Apple with peanut butter
Morning Snack	Yogurt with honey and granola
Lunch	Cauliflower pizza Apple
Afternoon Snack
Dinner	Hardboiled egg Dark chocolate and almonds
Dessert

 

Saturday and Sunday… In New York.  Not recording… it was a major cheat weekend (unless jello shots a jager bombs are unprocessed…).