Whole30 Recap

So...I did it. I finished the Whole 30 days of whole 30. I don't think I messed up either. One day I was with Mom all day at the ER and on the way home we had to stop for food since we hadn't eaten all day. She wanted a fish sandwich from McDonald's so that was where we went but even that night all I ate was a plain piece of grilled chicken. Now I am sure it wasn't organic or maybe even real chicken but...it was the best I could do that particular day. Oh and also it occurred to me about 1/2 way through that I was still chewing sugar free gum which had fake sugar which we weren't supposed to use but...I never gave that up. So I suppose those 2 things could be counted as "messing up" but other than that I was very strict about following all the rules.

It wasn't as hard as I expected..

There were days I hated it - don't get me wrong. But overall it wasn't that bad.

The good -

• I haven't had very many headaches. And I am pretty sure the ones I did have were from sinuses - and they went away quickly when I took sinus medicine.
• I lost 12 pounds. In 30 days. Not bad.
• My face is clearer -  not totally but looks better than it did for sure
• I just feel better

The bad-

• It is expensive to eat healthy!!
• There aren't as many choices b/c I am a picky eater and don't like a lot of veggies
• Healthy food goes bad quick so you have to shop often and I don't have a lot of time right now

My thoughts now?

Well this weekend when I was done I went with some family for a graduation celebration lunch to Olive Garden and I was very excited to eat bread sticks! I only had 2....and I ordered a chicken meal which I basically ate the chicken and veggies out of and left the pasta on the plate (I did eat probably 4 bites of pasta) but it was of course covered in some sort of sauce, and the salad had a Cesar dressing as well (NO dressings or sauces on Whole30) So I didn't really follow the suggested way of introducing ONE new thing to your body at a time and see how it handles it. I tried to do as best I could but....my body freaked out! It was not impressed with what I ate for sure. I felt sick all day. And honestly...none of it even tasted that good!! (ummm....sad). Then the next day, sure enough I woke up with a headache! So....I tried drinking a diet dr. pepper that day - one b/c that was my favorite drink before Whole30 and two b/c usually caffeine helps a headache. I couldn't even finish it. It tasted HORRIBLE to me! So syruppy and thick and gross! Ugh.

So basically...Whole30 has totally changed my taste buds. Which is sad in a way but actually really good. I prefer the taste of clean "real" food now and not processed sugary stuff. So basically I intend to stick with it. I won't be as strict as I was during those 30 days. For instance, when I have hot tea - I WILL be using sweetener in it (I never got used to plain tea) but probably less than I used to. And I won't say I will never eat dessert, but just that it will be a special occasion instead of a way to deal with a bad day. That is the plan. I think this was exactly what I needed to really help jump start me to eating better and changing the way I think about food. I am really pleased with the results.

I do intend to try after a few days to introduce some things - like whole wheat bread - all by itself and see how that affects my body. Possibly some other things as well. Just so I have a better idea of what I can eat and still feel well. But overall I like the results of this way of eating. So...simple it is for me! Now I just have to find a way to pay for it.....ha! 

Week...Oh yeah, I Have No Idea Anymore

So I haven't been very faithful in blogging about my "clean eating". But I haven't been exactly faithful about eating clean either so...haha. No, actually I haven't done too bad. I was spot on for like a month and a half and super proud of myself and my results. They were slow, but good.

Then...I went on vacation.

So here is the thing about me. I am all or nothing. I know this. So when I said, it is okay, I will just skip this weekend and go back to it later the truth is I knew it was going to be a struggle. I DID go home and go back to it, but just not with the 100% that I had before. The big problem was that I missed my weekend to shop and get prepared. And once that happened I was just...off. And then after that life sort of took off. I had the nephew one weekend. Then we sold the house and I was moving one weekend. And graduation plus another trip one weekend. And by the time THAT happened...I realized I was totally off the clean eating. I simply had nothing left at my house to eat that WAS clean. I ended up at fast food like 3 times that week. I had no access to Aldi or even Kroger. It was a total wash.

BUT the good news is I just shrugged my shoulders, said "oh well" and started over. It has been almost 2 weeks since I started again and I have done fine so far. I don't feel as jazzed about it this time. Maybe b/c I know how slow of a process it is. Maybe b/c I know how easy it is to mess up. Maybe b/c I know I am going to get sick of the food or be too busy to prep one weekend. Who knows why.I am not giving up though. I know it is more healthy. I know I have a LONG way still to go on losing weight and getting my body in the right place health wise. I know it is the right thing.

It is much harder to start again though, I will tell you that. So...here is to week...who the heck knows anymore. This time I am just hoping for a fresh bout of enthusiasm. Maybe if I start to see more results I will get it back. :)

Eating Clean: Prep and Start

So it is Tuesday, which means I have made it through ONE DAY of eating clean so far. I'm not gonna lie, it hasn't been easy! But, to be fair...I have had extenuating circumstances. On Sunday night I got a migraine which stayed with me all through Monday (day 1). For whatever reason when I have a migraine I always feel like if I eat something it will be better (it almost never works FYI) so I did have an extra desire to eat all day but other than that...I did okay. I actually had more than enough food and it was all good. However, Monday night I took Migraine medicine. It didn't work so, still fighting with the migraine today (day 2) AND now fighting with the heavily medicated feeling I always get after taking that kind of medicine. What do I usually do? Kill my body with sugar....literally...I eat so much it shocks me back to normal. So I am struggling today to not give in and do that. But...I haven't and I refuse to. I will just be over here feeling like crap...I am sure it will pass! The truth is I knew this would be the hard part. When I am sick is when I eat the worst and care the least. If I can do it now...I can do it anytime!

So...here is the skinny on what I did....

I actually went shopping on Saturday night, which was a good idea. Shopping is tough on me and always wears me out so it was good to do that one day, and the cooking the next. I will have to remember that for future weekends. I was NOT happy at how much everything COST. No wonder people who eat "clean" are skinny...it's b/c they can't afford enough food! That wasn't a great start to my journey BUT I did have to admit that I bought more than just food. I also had to invest in a cutting board, some new knives, some Tupperware etc. so hopefully in the future it won't be AS bad. Here is my very small amount of groceries for way too big of a bill!

 

I sound very disgruntled. I was actually pretty excited about it all. Very colorful and pretty! I was ready to go on Sunday afternoon!

Sunday - first things first....I cut up a million veggies. I am NOT a  good cutter. I had to look up what kind of knife to use to cut what things. Some of the things I had to guess the correct way to cut them. I am fairly certain I probably guessed wrong on some of them. Might need some lessons with my sister-in-law and/or Sylvia sometime soon!  Here is the proof I did it though....and to be honest, it was a blast! :) Also here is my pretty new cutting board from Big Lots. I love it!

So I decided to make two main dishes for dinners. One was a chicken/veggie bake and the other was a whole wheat pasta with veggies. They both were super easy. Here are pictures and a link to the recipes I used to make them. (the pasta is almost nothing like what I ended up doing though, I sort of just used her idea and improvised with what I had/liked...)

 

                                      Chicken/Veggie Bake                            Pasta w/ Veggies

 I really kind of wanted to dive right in and eat them immediately, especially the Chicken Bake but I stuck to the plan and (after a taste test obviously) I doled them out into dinner containers. I ended up with ten ready made meals for my future! 

See how the one bowl on top of the red ones is different? That would be b/c my 4th red bowl had a HOLE in it and all the juice ran out of it onto my floor before I realized it! Agggh!

I am not going to lie, I was praying for 14, but I was also scared to death I would end up with 7 so...10 was a good compromise. I cleaned everything up - froze all the veggies I didn't use (except the ones I planned to eat for lunches through this week) and called Sunday done!

Monday, as I said, was a rough day, but really it wasn't about the diet. I followed the plan of breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and lots of water though the day, plus I had 2 cups of my organic hot tea thrown in and I was very satisfied hunger wise. And it was all very good!!

 

So in case you are worried, no I am not going to post like this every day. It would be ridiculous since I will pretty much be eating the same thing every day (well my dinners will alternate every other day). BUT, I might post when I try new recipes on Sundays. I don't know yet. I do know I found the blogs of people who had done it before to be very helpful so, if I can help others, I might do it. We shall see. No Internet at home does make it harder. I had to do this post on my lunch break at work (yes I am eating my veggies as I type!)

Overall....day 1 a success! If I can make it through this migraine I think this week will be a cinch!