Whole 30: Days 5 & 6

Welp. I think I survived the hardest trial of the 30 days and came out on top…. So I’m golden from here on out, right??? :)

Today, I (1) went to Costco and (2) handled white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies (arranging them on a plate as a gift) without so much as a single taste.

I never knew I had it in me. Seriously haha.

In other news, a new favorite breakfast addition: sweet potato! I did this one in the microwave because I’m already burned out on cooking, but I just nuked it for 5 mins, flipped, repeated, peeled, chopped, and added ghee (clarified butter), cinnamon, and unsweetened coconut flakes. Soooo delicious.




Also, I usually make this as pasta, but I just left out the pasta part (recipe at the bottom). Yum, yum, and yum.




So far I think I'll live. It's definitely a sacrifice - treats get brought to work, Costco ladies offer you free cheesecake, you reaalllllyyyy want caffeine after waking up at 3:45 am for work - but I keep telling myself that my health is worth it :)




Pasta-less deliciousness (or sausage in spicy, fresh tomato sauce):
Ingredients:
-1 pkg compliant sausage (got mine at Whole Foods)
-grape tomatoes, halved
-a few cloves of garlic, minced
-onion, sliced or chopped
-fresh basil, torn
-salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes
-olive oil
-like ½ cup water

Directions:
Cook sausage until about halfway done, add the rest of the ingredients to the pot, cook until done.

My recipes are so fancy, I know.

Whole30: Days 2-4

Well, 4 days down.

In a lot of ways, it hasn't been as difficult as I expected: the hardest part (for me) of the Whole30 is saying no to things that are right in front of my face. At home, we got rid of most everything that isn't compliant, but in other places, people show up with WHOLE PIES. Jerks. :)



I try to be super-over-prepared, since I know that I make all my bad decisions when I'm hungry. So I cooked up some bone broth, bought and chopped a ton of veggies, cooked up a bunch of chicken in the crock pot and shredded it, and made sure we had tons of stuff we could just grab (like dried fruit, nuts, almond butter, etc. for snacks plus lots of meat, eggs, and produce in the fridge and freezer). I also pre-make salads (with leafy greens on top to prevent sogginess) that are ready to eat whenever. It's been sooooo nice, not having to spend a ton of time cooking each day (because helloooo ms. hangry!!). Hopefully I can stay on top of that each week.

For breakfasts I've been sticking to omelets or just finding stuff around the kitchen (this morning was a hard boiled egg, celery with almond butter, applesauce, and a mug of bone broth).

For lunches, I generally do salads or soups (chicken and vegetables in that broth) with various sides, and dinners I've been cooking at home.

Sunday, we did some superrrr delicious lemon salmon (recipe at the bottom) and had leftovers the next day.

On Monday we did steak (my husband about lost it when he found out his steak seasonings had sugar and he couldn't use them).

And tonight we did tuna salad (recipe at the bottom) inside of mini peppers.

We pretty much always have lots of raw vegetables as sides, plus whatever else we feel like adding. Tonight it was this concoction that looks disgusting but tastes delicious: sliced banana, unsweetened coconut flakes, and almond butter. So so good.

We've honestly enjoyed everything enough so far that we don't really feel like we're missing out. Except that dang pie. Sigh.

:)






Lemon Salmon:
You'll need:
1 salmon filet
olive oil (mine is lemon infused but you don't need it)
juice from 1/2 lemon (or to taste)
salt, pepper, dried parsley, oregano, Italian seasoning

Directions:
rinse the salmon, pat dry
drizzle olive oil in a glass baking pan, put the salmon on top
drizzle more oil on top, squeeze juice over the whole thing, add seasonings
cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35ish mins (depending on size)
you can make this more delicious by baking ultra thin lemon slices on top of the salmon




Tuna Salad Stuffed Mini Bell Peppers:
this is my version of this recipe:
You'll need:
mini bell peppers, seeded and cut in half
1 can of compliant tuna, drained
olive oil
1 hard-boiled egg, roughly chopped
1 tbsp green onions, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
mix everything but peppers and scoop it into the hollowed bells. Eat and be happy.

Whole30: Day 1

Okay. So the husband and I have decided to try out the Whole30 program. It's pretty extreme for us, but I think we're at the point where we need that... the strict rules and guidelines to help us get back on track with our nutrition.

It's basically 30 days of just eating whole, nutritious foods - which means no sugar, over-processed foods, dairy, grains, etc. That means no treats for me and no Mountain Dew for him. Rough, I know.

The book - everyone told me to read it first, and I'm glad I did - it explained a lot


So, yesterday was Day 1. It was, of course, a success, since eating healthy for one day is not all that hard. It's the days to come that I'm more worried about. I'm definitely lucky that my husband is doing it with me, because it would be way harder to stay compliant on my own.



So, for breakfast, I did an omelette (eggs, bell peppers, jalapenos, onion, spinach, a little coconut milk, salt, and pepper) and half a banana.

Lunch was pulled chicken and guacamole in a lettuce wrap (yum), lots of fresh veggies, and the rest of my banana.

I needed a snack, so I grabbed some almonds (I ate about half) and these dried apples.

And dinner was a salad with lots of veggies, chicken, and the rest of my almonds.

I felt totally great, and as long as I can keep eating food that tastes this good, I might actually last the 30 days!! ;)

Life Checklist: Progress?

I came across this article (which I liked much more than most of the "30 things to do by 30" that mostly involve traveling or breaking up with that idiot or having your own credit card.... thanks for tips) that's a mid-twenties checklist for your career and it got me thinking...

What does my checklist look like?

There are many many things I'm sure I'd include, but these are a couple that I think make good measuring sticks (for me):

--Am I happy? Why or why not?

I'm not saying that life should always be rosy or that being happy is the only goal, but figuring out why I feel the way that I feel about my life at the moment is generally a good way to help me figure out if I'm on track.

--Where do I want to be in 1, 5, 10, 30 years? Is what I'm doing now taking me down that path?

While this is common career advice, I also like to apply it to other aspects of my life. What kind of person do I want to be when I "grow up?" Am I doing things to take me there, or am I wasting my life with things that don't actually matter to me in the long run?

--Am I progressing? Do I have goals and am I working towards them?

If I'm enjoying my time, that's great. But when I look back a few months or years, have I made progress since that point? Or am I letting myself get stagnant, forgetting to take steps forward? (This is something that terrifies me. What if I wake up one day, and my life is half over, and I haven't accomplished or experienced any of the things that I wanted to?) It's so easy to just go through the motions of life, and having something to work towards helps keep me moving in the direction that I want.



Those are just a few of mine.... do you have any? :)

An article: ways to exercise on the cheap

I'll often see these types of articles and roll my eyes at the unoriginal suggestions, but I think this one is quite worthwhile :)

While I love buying exercise equipment (and you can definitely get creative without much equipment), working out can also get expensive, if you let it. Or if you have a Lululemon addiction. (oooh guilty)

Your health is certainly worth investing in, but sometimes it's nice to find things for freeeeeee :)

Rolling with the punches...

When it comes to exercise, I’m a planner. I like to write out programs, planning out weeks or months ahead the systematic progressions I want to make.

This makes it hard when interruptions (inevitably) happen.

Like my car accident.

Like my surgery.

Like little things like invitations to go on trips or make evening plans or being extra-tired on the evening a workout was scheduled.

And once one day/plan/workout is interrupted, it can feel like a domino effect where suddenly the workouts for the rest of the week are thrown off. And if I don’t complete the workouts for the week, then the month is thrown off. And then I might as well cancel my plans/race registration/dreams and hopes.

Extreme, right? Well, yes, of course, and it’s not all that bad, but it can sometimes feel like that.

I’m trying to have a better, healthier attitude. Rolling with the punches is an important way to handle all of life’s ups and downs, and it definitely applies here. In the grand scheme of things, what is one workout? Will I really be ruined if I sleep in one morning? Will my whole training program be thrown off if I miss one run?

No. Of course not.

Keeping that in mind makes it a lot easier to say yes to fun dinner plans, scuba diving at the Crater with my love, and sleeping in on the mornings where I can tell me body really needs it. And I’m a whole lot happier for it :)

No one would ever lead you astray when it comes to your health and fitness....

It can be very overwhelming to sort through all the fads diets, nutrition advice, exercise programs, and general information out there. Just because something seems appealing or "studies prove" it, doesn't make it good advice.

In my latest Nutrition and Health class, I read something that really demonstrated this point:


“The study was done in 1000 adult men and women that were recruited to participate in the study examining the side effects of statin drugs. To assess the frequency of chocolate consumption subjects responded to the question: how many times a week do you consume chocolate? The energy intake was estimated using a so-called food frequency questionnaire that looked at total food consumption. What was interesting is that the researcher found that the more often people eat chocolate, the higher their energy intake, which of course makes perfect sense, but the lower their Body Mass Index or body weight. Let me repeat this, the more often people eat chocolate, the lower their degree of overweight.
The authors concluded that although frequent chocolate consumption increases energy intake it does not lead to weight gain.
Really? Do you believe it? The authors of the studies admit that their study has limitations which may explain their highly curious results.
Unfortunately, those new answers are completely lost in the press release of UC San Diego where the study was done, which among other things, says, I quote: “In the case of chocolate this is good news, both for those who have a regular chocolate habit and those who may wish to start one.” Those who may wish to start one? Are you kidding me? Is UC San Diego insinuating that picking up a chocolate habit may be actually a good idea? Because it may make you thinner? If the press office of UC San Diego was already doing such a bad job, how can we expect other news channels to be more accurate? Indeed, BCC news wrote that chocolate may help keep people slim. Whereas CBS news reported that eating lots of chocolate helps people stay thin. What is surprising is that Elle magazine, of all sources, was actually the most responsible by including the disclaimer "But before you reach for that Mars bar remember chocolate bars contains high levels of fat and sugar. It’s best to stick to a little dark chocolate now and again to reap these possible benefits." What I want to convey with this little story is that there is plenty of bad science out there.”


Basically, don't believe everything you read on the Internet or in a book. Use common sense, see if other studies back it up, and be wary of anything that seems too good to be true. Just because the media say it, doesn't make it true :)