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!! ;)

Breakfast that's easy, healthy, and delicious - overnight oats

So I love meal prep. I take my breakfast and lunch to work every day (I work early hours) and there's no way it's getting made at 4 in the morning. So usually on Sundays, I take a little time to prepare things I can throw together during the week. I'll write more about the whole process some other time, but today I'm sharing my go-to breakfast: overnight oats.



It's super simple. I take steel-cut oats, chia seeds (I get both at Trader Joe's), and mason jars of whatever size, and I prepare a few jars for the week. I use 1/4 c oats and 1 T chia seeds per jar. I pour em in, give em a shake, and throw em in the pantry.



Then, the night before I actually want to eat them, I take one of the jars and pour in some vanilla almond milk (although I'm sure you could use any variation of it that you'd like) and top it off with some fruit. I'm on a blackberry kick at the moment, but I also use fresh or frozen peaches, mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, pears, bananas, raspberries, or any combination thereof. I usually use whatever fresh fruit I have on hand, and I always keep some frozen in case it sounds better that day. I let it sit overnight and throw it in my lunchbox the next morning... and then enjoy at my leisure!



Might not look glamorous but it sure is delicious!

And easy. I love easy.

A Breakfast Recipe

Ok, I tried to avoid the quinoa phase. I really did. Even though I was tempted by it's cute little shape and high protein content, I hate that every few months there is some new "superfood" that pretty much claims that, if you eat it everyday, you will never die becuase it will make you so crazy healthy. Yeah. So, I said "no" to quinoa for quite some time.

But then it presented itself as a breakfast food. Man, I sure do love breakfast. So I yielded.

Boy, I'm glad I did.

This is like oatmeal on delicious delicious steriods. It's got all the best flavors - almonds and raspberries and brown sugar and cranberries... I mean, how was I supposed to resist? (I wasn't.)

So here you go, my new favorite breakfast recipe:

1 cup dried quinoa (pre-rinsed or rinse it yourself)
2 cups water
1/3 cup milk
brown sugar, to taste
dried cranberries
toasted almonds, slivered
fresh raspberries

So basically you boil the quinoa in the water until there's no more water, then stir in the milk and however much brown sugar you need, then dump on cranberries, almonds, and raspberries to your heart's desire (I probably used a half cup of each)... then you eat and die of happiness.

Simple, delicious, healthy, and happy.... and did I mention delicious????