Thursday, September 21, 2017

D + 1: baking!

I had rice and oatmeal today. So yummy. I also indulged in a little paleo baking with this cassava pizza crust. Easy, even if a long process. The result is a little gummy, but still super tasty. No complaints here! 

And so far no trouble with the rice or oatmeal, even though I really don't expect there to be. Yay! 

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Day 30: would I recommend it?

So the reason I finally decided to try the Whole30 was because I knew enough people who found it really helpful and even do it regularly. Would I recommend it to others, then?

Yes, if they are concerned about potential food sensitivities and don't want to do a full on elimination diet. I am happy to know that none of the things I've been avoiding was making me feel bad in ways that I hadn't realized! It was also good to get a reminder that sugar and dairy aren't really my friends, even though they try to pretend that they are. They're so damn seductive.

I would give a few warnings, though. First, I find the online forums too negative and harsh to be useful for me. In one question, someone admitted they were new, and were wondering about crunchy foods. People who responded (including a moderator) quickly assumed that the asker was looking for snacks and were really rude about snacks being TERRIBLE FOR YOU. Well, that's not what the question was, and the topic of snacking, while discouraged by the whole30, is not a rule. Besides, that kind of question is between you and your doctor. Other questions I saw were met with a similar puritanical attitude, let me be more whole30 than you. I was looking to feel better, not be chided by trolls with nothing better to do.

Second, only do it if you can accept that you might not get any results. Most people do, but the whole30 leaves in things that bother a lot of people, like I realized the tree nuts were doing to me. In addition, while what we eat is extremely important, there are other causes to illness. I've heard from several people that did the whole30 and other eliminations for migraines, but never found a trigger. Research suggests that many migraineurs (so fancy) have a food trigger, but not all. So it might not help, and you need to be happy with knowing you don't need to fear cake if nothing changes for you. Or be happy knowing that cake WILL be a problem, and learn to avoid it. If you don't know, don't do it.

Third, this is a *paleo* diet. If you are looking for a robust elimination diet, you need to keep looking. White rice, select steamed veggies, and chicken is the strictest version. By keeping some of the top 8 allergens, like eggs and tree nuts, this is certainly not an all purpose elimination diet.

One thing Mr More Calories said at the beginning was that several people had told him how much they love how they feel on the whole30, but why don't they do it more? I think that staying mostly compliant is totally doable, so my guess is that the effort (or perhaps cost) is more difficult than they personally find to be worth whatever benefits they got from it.

I'm glad I tried it, and ready to eat a few things I miss. And I'll work on keeping the vegetables up for sure. 

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Day 29: what did I learn?

Was this month "life-changing"? I don't think so, but only time will tell.

Was it useful and informative? Yes.

Even though I feel largely the same, I don't regret it. There are some small ways I feel different, but not things I'd say are worth all the extra hours of food prep and menu planning. (I always plan my menus, but it's usually much quicker!)

Learning that nuts bother my stomach was useful. Getting a strong reminder that even the sugar in fruit doesn't go well on an empty stomach was good. (though Mr. More Calories was quick to point out that I'd decided that once before. Well, my sweet tooth usually doesn't care. Hmph.)

All that practice saying no to free food at the office was good. There are things people bring that I don't even really like, but I eat them because they're free and there and not bad. Don't do that. Eat a small part of things you like, and leave the rest.

There may be more things, but now it's time for bed! 

Monday, September 18, 2017

Days 25-28! Not good at daily check-ins :)

So, the weekend and Monday all passed without any word from me. Sorry. 


We had my nephews, as usual, and they stayed till Sunday mid - day doing exciting things like shopping for the week's food. Last night was Deconstructed shepherd's pie, but it looks like the photo didn't save, sad. Maybe I'll remember to take one at lunch if you're lucky. 

I again made it through the weekend without eating food I made, so that's good. I did feed them more salad than they're used to, they were not happy with me about that. But my goal is to make them healthier, not happier. The 4 year old even ate a good bit of his hours later when he learned that the mini ice cream he picked out was off limits to salad haters. 

I gotta say, I'm looking forward to reintroduction. I'll probably do my own version since not all legumes are equal. For example, soy and peanuts are much more common allergens than black beans. But white rice first since many medical elimination diets leave it in. 

I think a peanut egg white oatmeal bar could make a really good small meal as long as I respond well to the ingredients. We'll see! 

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Days 23 & 24: learning new kitchen tricks!

I picked a recipe for dinner that uses shredded chicken, but shredding it out kind of annoying. Luckily, the internets showed me a better way! Shred chicken with a stand mixer! When I first flipped it on, one breast jumped right out into the counter, but I rescued it. It was more to clean, but worked really well. 

Tonight I took off from cooking, it was great. MMC got us dinner from a healthy restaurant that has several hearty salads that can be whole30. I also prepped a crock pot of lamb tajine for tomorrow, I'm pretty excited about that. 

I gotta say, I'm really looking forward to peanut butter. It'll be in two weeks probably, but I'd really like some! I'm gonna be so sad if my body disagrees. We'll see! 

Day 23:
Breakfast : 2 hard boiled eggs, bacon, and.... Something green
Lunch: left over pesto squash and chicken sausage
Dinner : chopped salad with chicken and a ginger sesame dressing

Day 24:
Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, I piece bacon, half a sweet potato
Lunch : left overs
Dinner : steak salad from modern market (no cheese, no dressing) so glad they list all of their ingredients! 

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Day 22: skipped my apple a day!

Before starting this I thought that the idea of limiting fruit was kind of silly, because it's really different from added sugars. Well, for the lady two days I've eaten baby carrots and meat (and guacamole today) when before I like have eaten an apple. I even had to go to the fridge to grab the carrots when the apple was at my desk. In fact, I think that a couple bites of banana was all the fruit I had today. So there you have it, folks. I have curbed my interest in sugar to the point that I have almost given up fruit by accident. I would have never expected that! 


Breakfast : hard boiled eggs with bacon and salad (forgot my dressing, so sad!)
Lunch : left overs
Dinner : zoodles, tomato sauce, and shrimp
Snacks : meat stick, baby carrots, guacamole

Monday, September 11, 2017

Day 21: three weeks!!

I didn't post this yesterday, but you can admire my beautiful dinner picture now. Even Mr More Calories enjoyed the spaghetti squash. I had cooked everything and he came into the kitchen, saw it, then started searching the counters. 

Me: what are you looking for? 

MMC: Where's the magic? 

Me: the what? 

MMC: The magic! (I give him a confused look) (he gestures to the squash) the magic! How did you do that? 

It was pretty funny. He also learned that peanuts are legumes this month. Crazy how we each know things that we think are obvious, but that the other has no idea about


Breakfast : 2 hard boiled eggs with... Something?
Lunch : left overs
Dinner : spaghetti squash with 'pesto' and crock pot pork that I had frozen

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Days 19 & 20: third weekend down!

More kid fun this weekend! I am getting better at it. I still wanted all the cookies while walking one down the cookie aisle to pick out dessert. And I wanted to try the coconut chocolate chip cookies we made. But I just ate my safe foods and continued on. 

We also had brunch at a friend's house and they were super cool about us bringing some stuff, and they made other food I could eat. Looked up whole30 recipes and all! And made tasty coffee, it was a nice meal and hang out all around. 

I feel a little better today, but I'm also afraid it's some crazy fluke and don't want to say more. It might not even be food related. But we'll see how I feel tomorrow and go from there! 


Saturday
Breakfast : eggs and.... Something. Sausage. And half a sweet potato?
Lunch : left overs?
Dinner : chicken and salad

Sunday
Brunch : sweet potato hash, kale salad, avocado, fruit salad
Dinner : Butternut squash baked fries, yellow squash, chicken, eggplant Indian saucy deliciousness 
Snacks : avocado, meat stick, strawberries

Friday, September 8, 2017

Day 18: Friday again!!

Well, I have survived to another Friday. Yay? I had an appointment early in the day, but not as early as work. So I got to sleep in a little AND eat breakfast at home. So I had breakfast salad. 


Breakfast : 2 eggs, a hot dog, mixed baby greens
Lunch : left overs
Dinner : steak salad from a restaurant! No cheese and my own dressing

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Day 17: no more nuts!

Well, at least no more nuts for 14 days. My stomach feels better today, but that might just be because I was a little sick yesterday. Tomorrow will tell more. I bought some single packaged meat sticks to eat instead of nuts. Hope it helps! 

One of my minor complaints that I was hoping might go away has gotten a little worse. Not terrible, just notable. 🤷‍♂️ maybe one day I'll get things figured out. Til then I'll see what staying off of nuts does. 


Breakfast : 2 fried eggs, half a sweet potato, 1 meat stick 
Lunch : left over chicken and Butternut squash
Dinner : fajita without tortilla, roasted potato and sweet potato, broccoli
Snacks : cherries, apple, dried mango, meat stick 

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Day 16: Downhill slope?

Well, I have made it past the halfway mark. No real differences noticed yet, but I am trying to be OK with that. I have found some easier ways to cook things, like crock pot sweet potatoes. It's great to just drop them in and come back later.

Today I roasted some butternut squash noodles under some chicken thighs and it was really tasty. And pretty! I failed to take a picture after it was baked because I was too hungry by then. But trust me that I ate the chicken cooked. 

I'm debating taking out nuts because my stomach isn't very happy sometimes when I eat them. But they're so easy! And when so many other things are of limits, it's hard to find something with fat and protein to throw in a bag. Sigh. We'll see. Maybe after I reintroduce things. But now that I type it, that seems too far off and potentially confounding. Damn it. I'll think about it tomorrow while I eat more magic bars :) 

Monday, September 4, 2017

Day 15: lots of food pictures

Hey, I took pictures of all three meals today! That wasn't even on purpose exactly. Breakfast was as I made it, in the hopes that it would be tasty. Lunch because it looked funny to me. And dinner since that's what I've been better at photographing. 

Sweet potato egg bake, in steps. I was quite pleased with my idea to use the silicone loaf pan. 


Salad with chicken sausage

Chakchouka (also spelled shakshuka) 

Days 13 & 14: Visitors and restaurants

This weekend the nephews stayed through Sunday and their mom (my sister) got to hang out, too! It was slightly easier to not eat their food while in MY house with few options for them and a lot of options for me. Mr. More Calories's parents also came into town, so they got to meet more of my family, too.

I gotta say, the paleo porridge is just not my favorite thing to the point that I'm going to quit trying to improve it and not post a recipe. With a bunch of fruit thrown in it's ok, but even then it's just ok.

One helpful thing was that Mr. More Calories had noted my increasing stress this week with trying to DO ALL THE THINGS and picked out a few restaurants where I could eat and we could feed the boys. So I had a bison patty on top of a dressing-free baby kale salad at a burger place we love while they all enjoyed burgers and fries. I did miss the blue cheese and hot sauce that I normally eat on that burger, but the salad was better than I expected. Then for dinner we went to a paleo restaurant and the boys enjoyed their rice flour chicken tenders and cassava flour pancakes while my sister and I shared whole30 compliant tacos and thai green curry.

Tonight we're headed to a bit of a splurge restaurant (thanks, parents!) where they have a few things that look compliant and his parents have already been in touch with the restaurant to confirm that they will have things to make for me. Yay!

Other than that, I have out dinners planned out for the week and will mostly have leftovers for lunch. That really is the easiest thing. I'm getting pretty good with sweet potatoes, egg, nuts, and fruit for breakfast, too. I might roast up some sweet potato and apple to have it in a different format this week. Variety is good.

I still don't really feel much difference. I know it usually takes a minimum of two weeks to see real differences, and 3 to 4 weeks isn't uncommon. I just hate being patient. I admit that it's oddly kind of empowering saying no to all the things I want to eat, but I also find myself wanting to eat everything I see, like butterfinger baking bits and hatch pepper lime sandwich cookies. Mmmm, I'm sure they're delicious together!

Saturday
Breakfast: Paleo Porridge with pecans and peaches
Lunch: Bison meat and baby kale and arugula salad
Dinner: thai green curry, brussels sprouts, chicken taco
Snacks: magic bar, peach, probably something else?

Sunday
Breakfast: Paleo Porridge with pecans and peaches
Lunch: Leftovers - thai green curry and kale sausage soup
Dinner: Something delicious, we'll see
Snacks: magic bar, cherries

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Day 12: I can haz cupcake?

Watching the nephews again, and having the same issues as last weekend. But now I want one of the cupcakes sitting on my counter. A lot. Sigh.....

Breakfast : eggs, grapes
Lunch : hot dog, leftover soup
Dinner: ceviche, sweet potato, broccoli Thai curry

Friday, September 1, 2017

Magic Bars!

I made bars again, and the texture was better! I also tried a store-bought RX Bar, and I wasn't that impressed. They really are super sticky in a weird way. And kind of hard. Dates are soft, how did they do that? 

I didn't check the nutrition info on this because it's Whole30! No counting calories! But it's got 48 grams of protein in the full recipe from the egg white alone, and then there's the nuts, too. Guess I need to figure out how to up the egg whites to match RXBar's statement of 3 egg whites per bar. But maybe that's why theirs are so hard. The final recipe for me was the weight of 9 RX Bars, so it should last a while. 

Magic Bars

2/3 c almonds
2/3 c cashews
1 c packed deglet noor dates (24)
3/4 c egg white powder
3 Tbs of water, separated
1/4 c freeze dried raspberries

  • Place almonds into the bowl of a food processor. Blend a bit until roughly chopped. Remove half of the almonds and place in a bowl for extra texture. 
  • Add cashews to the half almonds in the processor bowl. Blend until most bits are fairly small, bigger than sand, but smaller than gravel. Pour smaller nuts into the same bowl.
  • Ass dried raspberries to chopped nuts.
  • Put the dates in the processor bowl and process until the size of peas. Add egg white powder. Pulse a few times. Slowly drizzle in 2 Tbs of water (I use the hole in the top of my processor) until it starts to clump together. 
  • Add the date and egg white mixture to the nut bowl and mix. I found that kind of chopping at it with a hard spatula helped mix in the nuts. I ended up mixing with my hand inside a plastic baggie to get it all mixed it. Add 1 Tbs of water if it isn't hanging together (mine wasn't until I added that last bit.)

Bigger chunks of almonds for texture
Smaller bits of nuts to blend in better
Dates and egg white powder when blended and ready to add to nuts
Magic Bars, wrapped and waiting for me to eat tomorrow

Day 11: Friday! Woo!

Friday! Woo! Where's my drink? Oh, right, it's just gonna be water. Or sparkling water. Or tea. 

I did end up having Chipotle for lunch. Thank goodness for fast Whole30 compliant options near campus. And yes, I sprang for the guacamole.

That's all you get because I'm going to post the bar recipe now, too.


Breakfast: Sweet potato, pecans, blueberries
Lunch: Chipotle salad with carnitas
Dinner: Kale, potato, turnip and sausage soup
Snacks: Chomp beef stick, apple, plum, magic bar

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Day 10: fundraiser happy hour - maybe not the best idea

I think I'll probably eat salad more often after this. I have a better idea of how much I need to feel full, and it's a whole lot! No wonder I was always hungry after those tiny things from most grab and go kind of places. 

After work I went to a fundraiser happy hour near my house. Great idea, right? Hang out, free bowling, free food, support a good cause. Just skip the delicious alcoholic beverages, and all is well. Right? Well, turned out that they also had free food. Brisket loaded fries and hummus and pita and caprese skewers and focaccia. Tasty, tasty free food. Oh, and sliced fruit, I did have some of that. I know myself well enough that I brought nuts and dried figs to snack on, but you know what? I don't really like snacking on nuts that much, and after 10 days I am kind of tired of them. They are easy and all that, but they just...... I don't know. I don't want them very much, even though I've always had them with something else. Maybe it's the association that I'm eating them when I don't know what else to eat? Whatever it is doesn't matter too much, because it's not going to change the fact that I would rather have something else. But there isn't really a quick, simple something else that will have some fat to help keep me full. sigh. 

Long story short - I stayed too long for the amount of food I had and had a minor meltdown once i got home because I couldn't figure out what to eat. Luckily I had talked to Mr. More Calories before leaving, and he could tell I was not thinking it through right and he had a pan hot to make me food by the time I walked in.

Tomorrow I think I'm gonna have Chipotle for lunch.

Salad lunch!

Breakfast: sweet potato with pecans and blueberries
Lunch: Salad with tuna, pepitas and homemade mustard vinaigrette
Dinner: scrambled eggs, potato, and applegate organic hot dogs (I swear a hot dog has never tasted better in my whole life)

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Day 9: This would be really hard for some people

A friend came over for dinner last and we were talking about how much prep goes into food for whole30. I have a good assortment of pots and pans and tools and even bought a spiralizer, which has been great.

But there are so many people who have never even learned how to read a nutrition label (maybe they don't even try whole30?) or don't normally cook. *I* get a little grumpy by dinner time because of the prep, and I've been cooking as long as I could remember. I used to pull out the kitchen drawers to make stairs to stir whatever pot was on the stove. (And I'm just now realizing how rough it is that I felt obligated to do that at 5 or less.) But if you're a slightly slower cook, or not as into it, there would likely be a lot more salads.

It's also more expensive for me than what I normally eat. A $1.25 box of whole grain pasta has 8 servings. Last night's daikon for 'ramen' served 3 for $ 2. I am in a position to do that and it's worth it to me to see if this helps. But I'm well aware that not everyone can say the same.

So I'm sending good thoughts to anyone out there tired of spending so much time on food prep and wish everyone great luck!

Breakfast : paleo porridge, pecans and blueberries
Lunch : salad with leftover pork
Dinner : sausage, potatoes, sauerkraut, broccoli

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Day 8: Got a stomach bug, but made it through without crackers!

I watched my nephews last weekend and when one of them started puking up water, I learned that two of them had been sick on Friday. And the third one ended up being sick on Sunday. So it should not be surprising that I got sick today, 3 days after being exposed. It wasn't really bad and since they each had it for just a day I should be fine tomorrow. That's a nice thought.

Breakfast: Paleo Porridge, which went much better with the full egg. A lumpier texture, but that could be because I didn't pay as much attention while I was making it. And tomorrow I'll try it re-heated to see if it would be ok as a make-ahead.
Lunch: left over coconut lime chicken
Dinner: nomnom paleo's cold 'ramen' (was super good!) with some left over 16 hour pork

Day 7: So many work treats, and none for me

On Monday during the summer we have a department breakfast at work. This morning there were delicious fried things and Indian dessert (gulab jamun) and so many breakfast tacos. It wasn't as hard as I expected, but i still wanted to know how all the things tasted.

It didn't help that I tried paleo porridge* this morning, and it wasn't as filling, even with almond butter and blueberries added in. It was tasty, though, so tomorrow I'm trying with whole eggs instead of just the whites. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully better around 10am.


Sweet potatoes and red potatoes


Breakfast: paleo porridge* with almond butter and blueberries
Lunch: left over shepherd's pie
Dinner: coconut lime chicken, roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes, broccoli slaw
Snacks: nuts, dried figs, magic bar, baby carrots

* many people call it paleo oatmeal, but the only resemblances it has with oatmeal is that it's best warm, goes with cinnamon, and is eaten with a spoon. It's more like thin, fluffy cream of wheat. I liked it enough to try it again, but don't insult my beloved oatmeal.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Days 5 & 6: Just don't lick your fingers

Day 5 was definitely the hardest for me so far because I was making kid food and had to resist my habits of tasting it to see if it was done enough, checking the temperature by tasting it, and licking my fingers to clean them off after breaking cinnamon sugar graham crackers. But I made it!

I also made it through the CUPCAKE HURRICANE. Ok, that's a tiny bit dramatic. My sister works at a cake and cupcake bakery that happens to be closed on Sundays. On Saturday we came to see her at the end of work and there were a lot of cupcakes left. Including the chocolate cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting. I don't know what they put in that frosting, but it's amazing. And the peanut butter and jelly cupcakes! So good! Peanut butter frosting and raspberry (I think??) filling in the cupcake. YUM. I am a stress and procrastination baker, so once I am done with my 30 days and start reintroducing things, I may have to try to make those cupcakes with whole30-compliant ingredients. It could work, right? yes? no? maybe???


Erm, sorry, back to the point. The cupcakes that aren't sold, or taken home by employees, are trashed. Sad, but there's not a ton of choice. (Note: so many cities need an easier way to donate left over food!!) So I offered that if she took home more than usual, I would redistribute them to friends and coworkers. We have made 8 friends happy so far and there are more cupcakes heading to work with me tomorrow! I have been very careful to NOT lick my fingers after transferring cupcakes, too. Even the fudge frosting. And the peanut butter frosting. They are both still in the fridge........ and will stay there until I give them away.

Day 5
Breakfast: Eggs and... something? Not the boys' toast, maybe a banana?
Lunch: Left over shepherd's pie
Dinner: Tuna with home made mayo in a green bell pepper and salad
Snacks: Homemade egg white, fruit and nut bar ('magic bar' from here on because this saves me so much!), apple, baby carrots, dates, nuts

Day 6:
Brunch: Steak and potatoes hash, topped with guacamole and a poached egg (yay for whole30 options at restaurants!)
Dinner: 16-hour crock pot pork with roasted cauliflower, blueberries
Snacks: mixed nuts, magic bar, blueberries, apple

Friday, August 25, 2017

Day 4: Prepping for the hurricane. And the weekend.

I'm a little surprised, I finally read the daily whole30 guide, and I didn't have any particular trouble so far. Too much time on food prep, I was sleep deprived for other reasons, but not a bad 'hang over' feeling or anything. I did dream about eating Naan last night, so that was pretty funny.

In other news, a hurricane is headed for Texas and while I'm live far enough inland that we'll probably be totally fine, there's just enough storm threat that people are acting weird.

I'm also babysitting from tonight until tomorrow, at the kids' house, which means taking all my food. And resisting the siren call of whatever food I need to make for children. I was proud that I did NOT grab a jelly bean from the table and eat it. But tomorrow I'll need to protect my chicken from the youngest, who's a picky eater but could eat chicken all day long. And I have to find indoor activities to entertain them if this storm really hits. Wish me luck!

Breakfast : hard boiled egg, sweet potatoes, pecans, blueberries. (it's becoming a thing)

Lunch : left over sweet potato hash

Dinner : shepherd's pie, but with the corn and peas swapped out for zucchini and broccoli stems.

Snacks : home made rx bar, nuts, apple, dried figs, half an avocado

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Day 3: survived a work dinner!

MMC had a work related dinner at a nice place that we were both excited to go to. Until I realized that dinner is food. Food I would not be eating and an open bar I could not enjoy. But, I went and brought snacks and ate guacamole with baby carrots. And came home and ate more food. I even resisted the pistachio tapioca dessert that people were loving.
My home made rx Bar is too wet, so I cut it smaller and rolled it in coconut and more dried raspberries. Very nice.
Breakfast : sweet potato with blueberries and pecans
Lunch : leftovers from last night
Dinner : carrots, guacamole, Brussels sprouts, broccoli slaw with mustard vinaigrette, and chicken sausage

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Day 2: No honey for my throat

I was gone for 10 days and got lazy about my allergy meds while away. Well, now I'm back and my throat and head are NOT happy about the reduced drugs in my system.
Normally, I would make a nice tea with some honey to soothe my throat. But of course not yesterday. And today it's bad again. I may not be friendly today.
On the topic of tea, I went to grab one from my stash at work yesterday and as I unwrapped it, I noticed a little sign "contains soy"!!!!! What are you doing putting soy in my tea!!???! I'm low now, with that one out, so I stopped for more on the way to work. I love working near downtown where I can do that. I don't love when a BAG OF TEA tries to thwart my food experiment efforts. Bastards. 
The offending tea, bottom, and the throat helper, top. 
So to the foods! 

Breakfast : egg, sweet potato, blueberries, and pecans
Lunch: salad with tuna and avocado and an apple cider mustard vinaigrette (much better than the balsamic) 
Dinner : zoodles with meat sauce
Snacks : homemade rx bar, mixed nuts, apple, blackberries (picked on my recent trip!) 
I cut down on the food making time today, and that helped a lot. We'll see how tomorrow is while I accompany Mr More Calories to a work dinner. Yikes. 

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Day 1

Breakfast : deconstructed frittata (read : was too tired to make it last night, but had the ingredients.) potato, hard boiled egg, and broccoli

Lunch : salad, tuna, oil and balsamic, hard boiled egg, half an avocado

Snacks : dried, unsweetened Mango, mixed nuts (no peanuts!), apple

Dinner : sweet potato hash with ok sausage, onions, spinach

Turns out I'm not a fan of balsamic with tuna and egg. Better get on making other options!

Today was fine, but it's going to take a lot more energy than usual to make all my meals. I can do it, but I can't imagine doing a whole30 while making different food for kids!

Monday, August 21, 2017

Whole30 Eve

Certainly not as exciting as Christmas Eve, but I probably ate the same amount of sugar, ha! I came home and Mr. More Calories had bought baked goods from our favorite bakery. And I couldn't let him get a stomach ache from eating them all! Then I cleaned out the cabinet to hide my remaining snacks, and a few of them looked so tasty.... which is why they are now hidden from me. I routinely grab for them while hungry and cooking.




Recipes are pinned, foods are purchased, meal plan is roughly made. Time to see how this goes!

And before you feel the least bit worried for me, I live in a place where this will be about as easy as it could be. Even at work I have several places nearby where I could buy ok salads, as long as I keep some dressing on hand for myself, so I will.

Monday, August 7, 2017

Whole30 whys

Well, I've decided to start the Whole30 in two weeks, once I'm back from a trip, and I think that having a place to update daily will help me. So here I am, reviving this blog, at least for a month.

The 'why' part - I think I eat pretty well. I probably get too much sugar regularly. And I know I need more vegetables. But the big reasons for me are a couple of nagging health issues that are maybe food related. Maybe not. Which is why I haven't tried before. So I wanted to try an elimination diet to see, and this one is popular enough that it's a lot easier to find recipes!

I've already started pinning recipes, which I'll add here, and making menus. I can share those, too. Then I'll just need to put it all in action! Wooo!

One of my sisters is joining this quest, she already likes the whole30 and has done it twice! Even though she has to make other food for he kids! I'm pretty lucky to just be cooking for (and with) my partner who has agreed to eat whole30 at home. And we live in a big city with lots of healthy stores and even a few restaurants where you can eat on the whole30! We're really pretty spoiled. Oh, AND I've already recruited 5 cheerleaders for when I forget why I'm doing this.

So there you have it. I'm basically a wimp when it comes to food even though I'm super lucky with this. Now I think I'll go prepare by eating more of that chocolate in the cabinet....