Trying to stay whole-30ish is harder than I thought

I thought I could stay whole 30-ish until I start another whole 30 with Greg but it is SO hard!

I read this article about how the second time around could be harder, so I don't feel as bad... lol I plan on starting another whole 30 in a month or so. I will keep you posted.

Day 94 & 95 "reintroduction" of gluten and Testimonial

Days 94 & 95 Wednesday & Thursday, December 14 & 15, 2016

Today I reintroduced gluten… I have been looking forward to this reintroduction, because I LOVE pasta!! I started the day off with some cream of wheat. It was pretty darn good. I did not have milk on it but I put a little honey in and stirred. It was good. I also ate an egg on a toasted piece of bread. By the time dinner came around I was watering at the mouth anticipating the spaghetti! It was AMAZ… actually it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. I didn’t get the reward sensation I thought I would get. Thursday I wanted to give it some more tries. I had a piece of toast with breakfast again. Around 11 am I noticed a headache starting (PS I slept for 9 hours last night, I went to bed about 8 pm) For lunch I ate a big plate of spaghetti. I knew I would possibly want to try the treats at my RS church activity later, I ended up eating a donut hole and it tasted ok. My headache lasted all day getting worse and worse. I went to bed around midnight with the headache. I definitely know that dairy and gluten make me feel yucky I will not be "indulging" in those very often.

My conclusion with doing the Whole30 and reintroduction stage, is that I feel so good when eating more vegetables and fruits, healthy meat and fats, I will continue eating Whole30. I will allow myself to not feel guilty or be so paranoid when eating food that I do not know how it was prepared. I will have the occasional treat, but I will do so with an informed mind and know that there may be consequences. I have LOVED most of the recipes that I have made and I also found a LOVE for eggs! LOL my friends all laugh at me about that one. I think that the Whole30 is a great elimination diet to understand your body more. It has been a great challenge and blessing to me.
I would love to answer any questions that you might have. Here are some links

My "Food Bible"
It Starts With Food
Food Freedom Forever
The Whole 30 Cookbook

The Whole 30 website

This article was helpful to settle some of my reintroduction nerves.

Cheers to healthier living!

Day 88 & 89 Whole30 "Reintroduction"

Day 88 & 89 Thursday & Friday , December 8 & 9, 2016

I reintroduced dairy today, something that I have both looked forward to and dreaded at the same time. I had a serving of milk with my breakfast. At lunch I went with a friend to Burger King. I had a side salad with shredded cheese on top. For my main course at lunch I had a chocolate shake! It tasted SO GOOD!! That afternoon I had a cheese stick, which tasted dry and not exciting at all. I had a half of a serving of raspberry yogurt and it did not excite me either. I think it was the brand I had bought. Then that night we went to our church Christmas party and I ate some cheese there. The only dairy item I enjoyed was the shake. That night I felt pretty gassy and bloated.  I also was super tired! I fell asleep on the couch around 9:30 while I had two kids talking to me about their homework… I slept there on the couch until 4:30 am. I was wiped out! The next day Friday I was having a hard time with having a bowel movement (pooping hurt) I felt like I was constipated for 2 days. I think that was definitely the dairy. I have pretty much decided that after I am finished with this Whole30 reintroduction . I will stay Whole30 but not be so strict and it is ok if I let a few of these things in my diet and just know that there might be consequences like my yucky tummy with dairy. I need to be careful though that I do not eat bigger portions and stop the mindless snacking.

Day 76 & 77 Whole30 "Reintroduction"

Day 76 & 77 Saturday and Sunday November 26 & 27, 2016

I introduced non-gluten grains this weekend. I oatmeal for breakfast. It tasted so good! I had almond milk, raisins and walnuts on it. I had some corn tortilla chips with salsa with my lunch. With dinner I had some white rice with my stir fry. The next day I had some of these same things as left-overs.  I didn’t notice that I had any adverse side effects. (I am late about recording this and so maybe I can’t remember it all. I realized I had missed having oatmeal, and the chips with my salsa. I did not miss having rice. I still need to reintroduce dairy and gluten…. We shall see how that goes!

Thanksgiving Whole30ish... style

Thanksgiving was fun because I was super excited to make the things that I knew I wanted to eat. I followed a few of the recipes from the Whole30 book. Near the back there is a holiday meal plan with a turkey and bunch of yummy side dishes. I followed the recipe and directions for the turkey and soaked it in a brine of salt/apple juice/yummy fresh herb bath over night. Then in the morning I put it all in the oven and let the magic happen. I made a sausage/apple/acorn squash casserole, that was dang delicious! Everyone loved it! I also made a balsamic brussel sprout and butternut squash side dish that was yummy. I made mashed potatoes and scooped out a generous helping or two for myself before I asked Greg to mash it up nicely with butter and milk. The gravy was so yummy made from the drippings of the beautifully browned turkey!!  I don't think I have ever tasted a turkey that tasted as good! (I might be a little biased...) I also made a sweet potato dish with the marshmallows and brown sugar (I did not partake of) Ooohhh, I made a couple of pies with my mom's homemade pie crust recipe that Greg loves. I made 2 pumpkin, one banana cream with real honest to goodness homemade pudding. (I really missed not being able to eat that)!! The kids helped me make a chocolate cream pie.  Thanksgiving was so much fun to prepare and watch my family eat! They all helped so much to help it all come together. We had invited a few people from Greg's work. We ended up with 3 extra quests and had a lovely dinner and evening together.

Days 69 & 70 Whole30 "Reintroduction"

Days 69 & 70, Saturday and Sunday, November 19 & 20, 2016

I am reintroducing beans, “legumes”. I made big pot of chili with beans. I added pinto beans, black beans and kidney beans. I ate some Saturday for dinner and Sunday for lunch. It is tasty, rich and full of flavor. I do wish that I was eating some of my yummy cornbread with it, so that might be somewhat of a trigger food for some emotional eating. The cornbread has 3 big ingredients in it that I am avoiding right now, wheat, dairy and corn, so I will not even try that for a while yet. :)

I am feeling fine, no adverse aches, pains or disturbances.

Side note, in my beehive young women’s class I taught about keeping our bodies healthy and why Heavenly Father wants that for us. (The word of wisdom) I shared with the class a little bit about my food journey these past few months. I explained, I feel like I have been handling life and its stressors and the daily trials I encounter in a much healthier and easier way.

Day 64 Whole30 "Reintroduction"

Day 64 Monday, November 14, 2016

After talking with my husband, family and friends. I decided to do more of a slow roll introduction. So… Today I am testing peanuts. I had some peanut butter on an apple again before the gym. Then I have had a couple handfuls of peanuts throughout the day. The taste ok, but I realize that I haven’t really missed peanuts. I have felt good. I have not had any stomach stress. My knees have been sore today. Not sure if it was from the peanuts or the hard leg workout I did at the gym this morning. I also lost my temper a few times with my children.

I read a couple articles on the Whole30 website that really encouraged me today.
If you are interested, here are the links. This first one is about doing a slower reintroduction. This second one talks about how we may be "comfortable" in our whole 30 rules and that once we are being pushed to try reentering the real food world that we want to go back to our safe zone ("training wheels")

Day 62 Whole30 "Reintroduction"

Day 62 Saturday, November 12, 2016

This morning I felt good although I slept in quite a bit. I felt very lazy and did not get my cardio done until after 12 noon. I was hit by a headache around 2pm and it did not go away until I woke up Sunday morning. No medicine helped. I am not sure if it was a reaction to the legumes/peanuts or if I was tired and worn out from taking care of sick kids last week.

Day 61 Whole30 "Reintroduction"

Day 61 Friday, November, 11, 2016

Today is the day I start reintroduction. I am quite nervous!! I am glad to have so much information from my Whole30 books and online. I feel more prepared. They recommend introducing one food group at a time while keeping the rest of your diet Whole30 compliant. The first thing they suggest to reintroduce is legumes, which include peanuts.  I started off the day around 6:30 eating an apple smothered in peanut butter. I felt a little guilty eating peanut butter… It was smooth and creamy and tasted pretty good. After I worked out at the gym. I sauteed zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms spinach and heated up some leftover pork and scrambled 3 eggs into it. I added about 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce near the end of cooking to reintroduce soy. Although I don’t really like soy sauce I wanted to see how I would react. It was pretty tasty and I was hungry so I ate it all. About 30 minutes later, my stomach started gurgling and feeling uncomfortable. I had to run to the bathroom and I have terrible diarrhea. I am thinking it is the soy sauce, and that my body doesn’t like that. I realize now that it might be beneficial to separate peanuts from soy, but maybe next time. That’s why I want to take these notes.  For lunch Greg and I went to Red Robin so Greg could partake of the free lunch that Red Robin offered to veterans today. He enjoyed his big ole burger and bottomless fries. I enjoyed my Avo-Cobb grilled chicken salad with Italian dressing. Tonight for dinner we had taco salad. I reintroduced black beans, which is usually how I make my taco meat, mixed into the meat. I piled the lettuce on my plate then the meat and beans then some fresh salsa and tomatoes and cucumbers. So far so good. I don’t know what my upset was from this morning. I was reminded by my sister Jen that soy sauce has wheat in it!! I have been looking up soy today on the inter-webs and found this website and now I really want to keep soy out of my diet!! Anyway, today was a pretty good day aside from the bathroom trip earlier. I will see how the next few days go. I am supposed to wait a couple of days before reintroducing the next food group. I believe the next thing to introduce is not gluten grains, for instance oatmeal, quinoa, corn,...
I will keep you posted.

Day 50 Whole30

I know I probably shouldn't have weighed myself, since I am going for 60 days, but I couldn't resist. I also am starting a healthy eating spiritual challenge with some friends and family and we are supposed to weigh ourselves once a week. SO.... I weighed myself and I am down 20 lbs since day 1!! I feel SO GREAT!!

Also a Happy Halloween. Today I was driving in my car and starting giggling. I was giddy with the thought that I was not going to eat a single piece of Halloween candy! I usually raid the kids bags and take as many pieces as I want and then I stuff my face. This year I am excited to NOT eat any of their candy. :)

Day 31 Whole30

Day 31 Wednesday, October 12, 2016

AWWWW I don't know what to expect!

Woke up at 5 am. And weighed myself. I lost 13.6 pounds!!! Wow! I knew I was losing weight but I thought it might be around 5 pounds. 8.5 inches lost! (I took measurements day 1 of thihg, calf, bicep, waist...) So this total inches loss is all over.

Breakfast 2-egg scramble with veggies and salsa, and a banana. Lunch was left-over ratatouille. Yum Yum!

I am not ready to reintroduce any off plan foods yet. I feel so amazing! My digestion has improved immensely and that in and of itself is a miracle! My knees don't hurt anymore. My hands don't hurt. I have also quite taking my daily anti-inflammatory medicine. I am a little scared to eat "junk food". I have my mom coming into town soon and I think it will be easier to continue eating how I have been eating. My husband suggested I go for 60 days. So that is my plan.

Day 30 Whole30

Day 30 Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Woke up at 5 am. I had a 2-egg scramble with all the veggies and salsa. I did a new class at the gym and it kicked my butt!! It is called “Fierce” and it was FIERCE!! For lunch I ate the last 3 meatballs from last night. I also had a big salad with 2 hard-boiled eggs tomatoes carrots and grapes. I used my apple cider vinegar/oil dressing. Dinner was a new dish, Ratatouille.

I did it as a make it a meal option and added cooked turkey which I seasoned with salt & pepper, fresh garlic, onion and Italian seasoning. I used my homemade tomato sauce that I made a few weeks ago and had frozen. It was pretty tasty! Went to bed around 10 pm.

NOW WHAT?!?!? Stay tuned I will make a post soon about what is next in my plans.

Day 29 Whole30

Day 29 Monday, October 10, 2016

Got out of bed at 9 am… What a lazy gal I am! The kids have today off from school. Breakfast was 2-egg scramble with squash, bell pepper, mushrooms, spinach and salsa. I don’t know if I will ever get tired of eating that meal. :) Lunch was delicious sweet potato with the pork on top. I was out of limes so I tried a lemon squeezed on top. The lime is definitely better. I was feeling really bored and didn’t know what to make for dinner.

This is what the rest of the family had...

I was surprised with what I came up with. I made meatballs following the recipe for the Perfect burger.

I cooked the meatballs in a little mini muffin pan.

It was the perfect size meatball. I then sauteed some onions, mushrooms, and asparagus. Then I wilted a cup of spinach and put the veggies over that. I also ate the last sweet potato.

It was all so yummy and hit the spot. Went to bed around 11 pm. I need to get to bed earlier!

Day 28 Whole30

Day 28, Sunday, October 9, 2016

Woke up at 7 am. Today was fast Sunday for our church schedule. I did not have breakfast. I came home from church in a lot of pain from cramping so I ate some chicken over a salad and with salsa on top. I was then able to take some Motrin. I was super excited about dinner. Smelling it all day. I made the pork carnita’s meat in the crock-pot and we went over to a friends house and I introduced this yummy recipe to them. We put the meat over roasted sweet potatoes and squeezed lime juice over the top. So delicious! This is definitely a keeper recipe for our family. Went to bed about 10:30 pm.

Day 27 Whole30

Day 27 Saturday, October 8, 2016

Woke up around 8 am. Surprise, I started my menstrual cycle! Well, that is some relief there. Breakfast was the last of the spaghetti squash with the meat and tomato sauce and 2 fried eggs on top. Lunch was chicken breast an apple and some grapes. I am behind on journaling and I can not remember what I ate for dinner. Went to bed about 9 pm.