Day 30?!?!

We're done!

 

Breakfast: Hardboiled egg & some coconut milk
Lunch: mixed greens salad, peppers, & carrots w/ grilled chicken & Oil & red wine vinegar
Dinner: Grilled chicked & some mixed nuts

Wow, it's really day 30.  But, it's not so final as it felt before.  Day 30 is the end of this Whole30, sure, but it's definitely not the end of a big change. I've cut out a ton of crap from my diet, and I have no intention of introducing [most of] it back in. The biggest things that are gone to stay are the processed, fake food from a wrapper, fake sugars, and random sugary snacks like Oreos & Elf cookies that used to permeate my days. I've found much better things to snack on that make me feel a whole lot better.

So I said yesterday that I would discuss all the benefits in this post:

Why I'm glad I did the Whole30

1. I don't get huge swollen mosquito bites anymore (this alone would have been enough to convince me that I was doing something right).
2. My skin has cleared up immensely.
3. It's helped me figure out which foods make me sick (not 100% sure about an allergy yet... blood work this week though).
4.  My hair & nails are growing faster.
5. I'm now 16 lbs lighter than I was when I started & wear a size 6 (which I haven't worn since my junior year of high school).
6. I actually know how to cook things now & find time to do it every day (even for breakfast!)
7. I can run faster & can tell that I’m more agile when playing sports.
8. I learned a lot about nutrition (mostly from Joe... clearly the reader of the family).
9. I started a blog that motivated other people to try the Whole30, too!

Why I'm not glad I did the Whole30

1. Now I’m spoiled and want to eat this way forever... Which will be expensive.
2. I will never get the hours of my life back that I spent explaining why I'm not eating _insert food_ or drinking _insert alcoholic bev_.
3. That's it. I'm mostly glad.

Now, for some really embarrassing pictures:

The left picture is before, the right is after (hopefully that's obvious).  I absolutely HATE these before pictures but I feel like I have to post them in order to really show the difference.  Same pair of jeans in both pics, but a whole lot looser now :)

 

Day 29 of Our Whole30

Meals

Breakfast: 2 eggs and some sweet potato
Lunch: Nectarine, almonds, walnuts
Dinner: Scallops, Arugula salad w/ mayo/olive oil/spices dressing, Kale & Tomato side
Snack: Idk yet, but there will probably be something in this category :)

Zomg there is only one day left... Tomorrow is DAY 30.  Like I mentioned in my last post, I don't have any plans to completely abandon my new eating habits, but I also don't plan to stick to them 100%.  Some things that won't change:

• Leafy greens & veggies will remain a staple
• Yikes, our farm share ends in 4 weeks, so I guess we'll have to buy 'em :(
• We're still going to bake whole chickens & use them for lunch meat / bone broth soup
• We're still going to stay away from things that come in a wrapper or has been processed to the point where its ingredients are beyond recognition.
• We're going to limit grains to ~2 servings a week or so
• We're going to keep eating different kinds of fish throughout the week
• Still no fake sugar & diet sodas.  I've kicked the habit, so no point in bringing it back.
• Still no dairy, but that's just cause I already know I'm allergic.

All in all I'm super happy we did this. I'll save my Day 30 post for all of the details about what's changed as a result of our The Whole30, but I think the benefits have been enormous.

That said, I still want a Pizza Hut pizza.  And it will be mine.

Tonight's dinner, lookin' delish.

Day 28 of Our Whole30

Tailgating Whole30-Style

Just to make our last weekend of the Whole30 extra tempting, we went to a Penn State football game with Joe's family. I took lots of pictures recap the most delicious & definitely healthiest tailgate I've ever been to. If we can Whole30 at a Penn State tailgate, we can do it anywhere.

Burgers with beet stems & onions + homemade steak rub. That's not my beer I swear!!

Part of the spread: Almonds, Veggies & Guac, Green salsa & Red Salsa (all homemade of course :)

Other part of the spread: Mixed greens, cucumber onion & tomato salad, pickles, & olive oil dressing.

[Not pictured]

Delicious-looking cookies made by Joes sister.  

I got in a few stare downs with these un-pictured cookies, but ultimately, I was victorious. I asked Joe if we could take some home for Tuesday (aka Day 31) & he scoffed at me.  Whatever, Mr. Potato head. 

I've been thinking a lot about Day 31 coming up so soon.  I feel anxious about it.  I don't want to stop Whole30ing but at the same time... I do want to.  So far, our plan is to stick with it as much as we can, but allow exceptions that make sense. For example, if we're traveling & run out of food... we don't have to spend $20 to get the ONLY whole30 approved items.  Also, if we go out with some friends, we can have a few drinks (the rule I'm most looking forward to ditching). 

I also don't think this will be our last Whole30.  We'll try sticking with it as much as we can, and if there comes a day when we feel we've shifted too far back to the dark side, we'll use it to reset. 

Anyways, the Penn State tailgate was a great success, and we had a lot of fun. Only two more days left, ahh! 

Day 24 of Our Whole30®

Keepin' on keepin' on!

Joe is at work until 9PM, so below are some pics of what awaits him.  The weirdest thing is that I didn't even have to go to the grocery store... we just have all this stuff.  Who the hell even am I anymore? Next blog post maybe I'll take a picture of our fridge...

I priced out my meals as though I'm a master chef (to make Joe appreciate them more.)

Day 20 of Our Whole30

Amanda's Meals

Breakfast: two hard boiled eggs
Lunch: Spinach salad w/ eggs, grilled chicken, broccoli, peppers & Oil/Balsamic vinegar
Dinner: Arugula salad with grilled salmon, grilled lemon & roasted red peppers w/ garlic oil
Snack: an apple, almonds, a grilled banana w/ almond butter

I dropped the "a" from the end of my day, because I realized this is the only day 20 so far.  I've been wondering what I'm going to do after this Whole30 is over... One thing is for sure, I'm definitely having a beer.  But I don't know about the rest of the stuff.

Last night we went to Prime 16 with some friends, which is known for beer & burgers. I somehow got over the Elf cookies, but it would take a lot more than 20 days for me to get over beer & burgers. :( I miss 'em.

Only 10 days left! Tuesday, September 18th is Day 31 :)

Day 17a of Our Whole30

Amanda's Meals

Breakfast: Egg casserole w/ salsa
Lunch: arugula salad w/ shrimp & avocado from Oaxaca Kitchen
Dinner: spaghetti squash w/ meat sauce
Snack: a few slices of pineapple, ~ a Tbsp of almond butter

Joe has gone rogue on the Whole30. He's invented his own Joe version of the Whole30 which includes allowance of white potatoes.  There are a couple reasons for this, and although I would prefer that he explain himself, himself... I know he's not going to log into this blog & do it. So here is my interpretation:

Basically, he's dropped some weight & isn't too happy about it. He thinks he needs more carbs & thinks that potatoes are the thing to do it. He also has other excuses such as "We have potatoes & if we don't eat them they will go bad" "The grocery store only had two sweet potatoes which I didn't purchase (?)" and "I can't follow anybody else's rules for 30 days." 

In addition, he said that according to It Starts With Food, the only reason for excluding white potatoes is because there are simply too many of them in the average American diet.  They do not create any kind of inflammation or other negative effects in the body, so he's folded the pages of the book that say that (to justify his cheating) & has thus created Joe30.  I think it’s a little dumb considering that the point is only to do it for 30 days - not forever... but Joe is a pioneer, and if he wants to Joe30 instead of Whole30, I can't control him. But, I can control this blog. As such, I won't pollute it with such nonsense as white potatoes during the Whole30. His meals for the day are outta here!

I, on the other hand, am still a law-abiding citizen. Joe's sister has also started the Whole30, which is awesome because we're going to a PSU tailgate together in 2 weeks.  Now we won't have to be the only weirdos bringing our own food & not getting tanked.

Before I forget - I learned from a chef we met on our Sunday hike that adding a little bit of pineapple juice to coleslaw makes it taste phenomenal. If you ever want to taste a candy rainbow dipped in magic & fantasticness... you're probably not going to be able to do that. So, you might as well just put some pineapple juice on your coleslaw, cause I think it's the closest you'll get.

In sum, Day 17a marks the death of my Whole30 partnership.  Sure, Joe will still be doing some version of the Whole30, but from here on out I consider myself to be a lone wolf.  I would even change the name of my blog to lonewolf30 if that weren't a stupid blog name.  *Sigh* a lonely Day 18a awaits me...

Day 15a of Our Whole30®

Joe's Meals

Breakfast: 3 eggs w/ guacamole & salsa + a banana

Lunch: almonds w/ raisins, cantaloupe, blueberries, carrots, sweet potatoes

Dinner 1: leftover stuffed peppers with chicken bone broth & veggie soup

Dinner 2: Roast beef, mayo, & tomatoes wrapped in Swiss chard leaves

Amanda's Meals

All same as Joe!

We went on an 8-9 mile hike today, hence the weird lunches + two dinners for each of us.  Joe made ghee last night for the sweet potatoes & omg is it delicious.  It tastes exactly like the butter they put on Auntie Anne's pretzels <3 & The soup Joe made definitely turned out the best it has yet.  He's becoming a Whole30 master chef and I love it.

We also went shopping tonight since Macy's was having a sale. I am officially a whole pants size smaller than I was before I started the Whole30.  I know that's totally not the point of doing it, but it's still pretty exciting.

I'm going to spend the rest of the night making egg loaf so we can stop having to make breakfast every morning. I got some delicious looking chorizo for it this time, so I think it's gonna be good.  I'll let ya'll know how it turns out!  G'night!

The soup in progress

Day 14a of Our Whole30®

Joe's Meals

Breakfast: 3 eggs w/ tatsoi, brocolli, peppers, onions

Lunch: ground beef, coleslaw

Dinner: Peppers stuffed with ground beef, leeks, garlic, pepper, tomatoes topped w/ homemade tomato sauce + salad w/ roated beets.

Snack: coleslaw, squash raviolis, almonds, cantaloupe, Coconut water

Amanda's Meals

Breakfast: same as Joe

Lunch: banana w/ almond butter

Dinner: same as Joe

Snack: almonds, coconut water

Day 14a was a big cooking day.  Joe pretty much cooked the entire day, hence the snacking.  We made more homemade sauce, mayonnaise, squash raviolis, coleslaw, cabbage & onion soup, roasted beets, & stuffed peppers.

This was Joe's 3rd time cooking the bone broth soup & I guess the 3rd time really is the charm.  He got it to turn out perfectly this time. He thinks the trick was making sure he removed all of the fat from the bones.  

I took a picture because this dinner was fantastic!

We got really excited yesterday because we found some chocolate at the grocery store with NO added sugar! So of course we bought it, and .... it was absolutely terrible.  Turns out, neither of us like chocolate... we like sugar. Go figure.

Sickening.

Whole30 Slaw Recipe

Ingredients:

Main ingredients

Small head of savoy cabbage (shredded)

Small head of white cabbage (shredded)

1 lg. cucumber (shredded)

1 lg. carrot (shredded)

2 tomatoes (w/o seeds)

2 frying peppers (chopped)

Dressing ingredients

6 Tbsp olive oil

3-4 Tbsp white vinegar

1/2 Tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp mustard powder

salt & pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Combine cabbages, cukes, carrot, chopped peppers & chopped tomatoes in a large bowl. 

2. In a separate bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients together.  

3. Pour the mixture over top of the veggies.  

4. Shake / mix it up. & you've got yourself some coleslaw, my friend. 

It's just that easy... that is, if you consider shredding vegetables to be easy.  Here's ours!

Day 13a of Our Whole30®

Joe's Meals

Breakfast: Apple, 2 chicken sausages, green beans
Lunch: almonds w/ raisins
Dinner: quarter lb ground beef w/ peppers, onions, tomatoes, swiss chard stems
Dinner #2: Hangar steak 10oz, Swiss Chard & Boston lettuce w/ oil & vinegar

Amanda's Meals

Breakfast: 1 Chicken sausage + an apple
Lunch: Mixed greens salad w/ hardboiled eggs, grilled chicken, tomatoes, peppers, oil & vinegar
Dinner: Hangar steak ~6oz
Snack: almond butter

Wowzers, I skipped a lot of days of blogging!  Blogging every single day is tough work, but I'll do my best to keep up a little better.  Part of the reason I think I've gotten a little lax is that I don't really feel like I'm doing anything out of the ordinary. Before, I needed to keep this blog. It made me accountable (even if only to a blog) and it helped me vent about how terrible things are when I don't have Elf Fudge cookies to comfort me.

But now, I kinda love the Whole30.  I don't really want to eat Elf Fudge cookies, or chips, or pretzels, or whatever else I'm "missing out on".  I feel good about the choices that we're making every day.  Eating is far more intentional, as opposed to mindlessly snacking on things that are high in calories & low in nutritional value (such as my ex-loves, the Keebler Elves). I never thought I'd say it, but I honestly just don't miss the stuff I'm missing.

One of the main reasons I started this diet was because I just didn't feel "normal".  I felt like the food I was eating was a big contributor to that... but I couldn't pinpoint which food & when. That is why the Whole30 really resonated with me.  On Day 13a, I went to the doctor to talk about my suspected "food allergies", and he was so awesome.  He said that this diet is a great idea and that I'm taking all the right steps to feeling totally normal & eliminating the things that make me feel more like a 50 year old and less like the 25 year old that I am. He said a lot of people let the unhealthy/crappy feeling become their new normal, so it was great that I'm being proactive about it.

It was really cool to get that confirmation from my doctor, especially because when I tell some people about this diet they act like it's the most outrageous thing they've ever heard.  Honestly, I think that's hilarious.  Everyone can agree that the average American diet is crazy unhealthy, but as soon as you do something radically different.... well that's just insane.  To that I say, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results.".  Yeah, I know it's wildly over-quoted, but it's applicable.

So, if you think the Whole30 is crazy or stupid... just think it quietly. I don't want to argue for the sake of seeing how many trivia facts you can remember from high school biology. I don't pretend to know it all, and neither should anyone else.  Keep an open mind & don't be a hater.

On a separate note, Joe finished up "It Starts With Food", so he may actually know everything at this point - no pretending needed. If he doesn't, he's getting damn close. I've only read parts of it so I'm going to hopefully get into it this weekend.

That's it for Day 13a, folks!