Monday, May 12, 2014

Whole30 How its changing my life... (week one)

Well, as I type this I realize I am on day 8 of the Whole30 challenge.  I have had several people ask for the recipes for the foods I have been making and so I thought I’d put it together like this.  It all started because I found someone on instagram who had such an inspirational story.  She weight 350+ pounds and had lost 40+ pounds in a few months by doing the whole30 challenge.  So, I rolled my eyes, thinking this would be another one of those “you have to buy our pills, food and whatever else to do it” thing but went and looked anyway.  I am so thankful I did.  On the website www.whole30.com they give you everything you need to start the challenge.  The list of foods you can eat, some recipes and so on.  They share with you their experience and talk of a book they had written “It starts with Food”.  You don’t HAVE to buy the book…but it was VERY informative. I highly recommend it. 

So first I want to start with the “why did I do this”.  I have known for a few years now that the only way I was going to be able to take control of my hormones (I suffer with PCOS) was I needed to go the whole, natural way.  I needed to change my diet and start putting good things in and leaving bad things out.  Well it sounds easy….but it’s the hardest thing I think an American can do.  To not eat any dairy, sugar, gluten, fast food, processed food and so on you have to 1) be rich and 2) have self control.  I can assure you I am far from rich and self control was just a saying….
I have changed some of things I have been eating or where I get my food for a few years.  This year I had started substituting things in and making very slow changes not to interrupt my “brain” from thinking I was trying to take away its favorites.  Then I came across whole30.  At the time I was desperate.  I was bloated, my stomach, back, knees and every other part of my body hurt.  I was tired. All. The. Time.  I was out of breath going up 5 steps on our porch.  April was also a very busy month with several things planned and I was exhausted wondering where the energy was going to come from to finish the many projects I had.  Whole30 seemed like the answer.

So I set a date after all the big events (that always include the most amazing and unhealthy food) would be finished and shared with my husband what we would be doing.  Yes, I am making him do it.  I know, I’m a bad wife but its not because I think he needs to be healthy, its because I need him to be healthy with me, so that I can stay strong.  My husband about died when I said no dairy no sugar…of any kind…other than fruit.  He loves a little coffee with his sugar and cream. He whined, and cried and boohooed…but in the end he got back up off the floor and said he would do it.  And I have to say he is my hero! He has been strong, and trying to come up with different ways to sweeten his coffee….ummm he’s still working on that lol…
So day one came along and we jumped right in….the following will be the first 7 days of our journey.  Keep it simple, don’t over complicate and know that it is A LOT of work to eat whole but it is so WORTH it. 

Day 1:
            Breakfast: over med-low heat Saute Kale and onions with some Coconut oil, crack eggs in and scramble until done.  Small serving of Pineapple and banana
            Lunch: Romaine Lettuce, Onion, Tomatoes, Peppers, ham, pepperoni, red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar.
            Dinner:  Seasoned Chicken Thighs (Old Bay, Pepper and parsley) cooked at 350 for 1 hour.  Cut sweet potatoes to ½ thickness. Spread oil on both sides season with salt and pepper and cook at 350 for 30 minutes turning halfway through.  I used a papered chef stone and it does amazing things to sweet potatoes.  :)

Day 2: 
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, Sweet Potato Hash browns (chop sweet potatoes up into small cubes, and saute in coconut oil (or bacon grease) until done) and a small serving of Pineapple
            Lunch: Leftover chicken thighs from the night before, celery, tomatoes seasoned with old bay (it’s a Maryland thing) and a small serving of pineapple
            Dinner: Meatballs (ground beef, egg, salt, pepper, parsley.  Roll into small balls and cook on cookie sheet (or pampered chef stone) at 350 for 20-25 minutes),  salad with Romaine Lettuce, onion, tomatoes, pepperoni and balsamic red wine vinegar.

Day 3:
            Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with coconut oil, Sauteed sweet potatoes with onions, and chopped apple (I used one apple for the three of us).
            Lunch: Applegate Fireroasted sausage, fried in a skillet, on top of a salad of romaine lettuce, onion, tomatoes, steamed broccoli and topped with balsamic red wine vinegar dressing.
            Dinner: Roast from the crockpot (I just used the ribeye roasts (or really whatever is on sale) and season it with salt and pepper (I use sea salt and coarse pepper) and then add some onions and let the bad boy cook all. Day. Long. And tempt you because it smells so stinkin good.) steamed broccoli and steamed green beans topped with homemade ghee (ghee is butter without the dairy lol.  You just heat two stick over med to low heat and let it cook until all the dairy sinks to the bottom.  There are several videos on youtube that shows you what to do.  You do not want to burn it! But the end result if done correctly is this yummy nutty flavored goodness! That taste like butter…mostly)

Day 4:
            Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with coconut oil, sweet potatoes and some apple.
            Lunch: Leftover roast warmed and put on a bed of curly green leaf lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and some pepperoni with balsamic  red wine vinegar.
            Dinner: Caribbean seasoned Pork Tenderloin (used a seasoning I found at Mom’s organic grocery store, cooked it at 350 for 45 minutes) ontop of curly green leaf salad with steamed broccoli, onions, peppers, and balsamic red wine vinegar.

Day 5:
            Breakfast: Medium fried eggs with coconut oil, bacon and sweet potatoes fried in bacon grease (I’m not going to lie, it’s a whole new world when using bacon grease and sweet potatoes…amazing stuff)
            Lunch: Salad from the night before. 
            Dinner: Chipolte.  We got double meat (chicken) with onions and peppers, salasa and lettuce.  It was delicious!

Day 6:
            Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with coconut oil and bacon
            Lunch: Albacore tuna with some mustard and I put that ontop of cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes and dipped them in balsamic vinegar
            Dinner: Chicken in the crockpot (seriously I have been making chicken in the crockpot for YEARS but this recipe I found a year or so ago is AMAZING! Just put your whole chicken in the crockpot, season with whatever you like.  I used old bay (it’s a Maryland thing but you can find it in the seasoning aisle) coarse black pepper, and parsley. Add veggies if you’d like and cook on high for 4 hours it comes out perfect!), cooked green beans with ghee and a few chunks of pineapple.

Day 7:
            Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with coconut oil, cucumber slices and pineapple
            Lunch: Bone Broth (just take the bones from the chicken the night before (and skin and cartilage and so on) add veggies of your choice, I did carrots, onions and celery fill the crockpot to the top with water and cook on low for 12-24 hours (I just do it the night I made the chicken and let it cook until the next day) and you have yummy healthy bone broth) with chicken left over from the night before, kale and some mushrooms seasoned with salt and pepper.
            Dinner: Seared Steak seasoned with salt and pepper.  I sautéed mushrooms and onions in ghee.  Leftover greenbeans from the night before and sweet potato fries (Just cut the sweet potatoes into strips toss them in some melted bacon grease, season with salt and pepper, cook them at 375 for 30 minutes turning once or twice).

Here are some things I have learned or tips that may help:
-         * Organic is best but if you can’t afford all organic try and buy what you can organic mainly meat and veggies and fruits that do not have a peel.
-          *When you first start this, if you have not lived a “healthy” lifestyle, listen to your body.  You will be hungry more often, eat, don’t starve yourself.  There will come a time when you will start to feel full with less food and that is good. 
-          *Don’t eat just to eat.  Only eat if you are hungry.  You should try your best to give your body time to digest each meal.  I try not to snack between meals but at the beginning I was very hungry every 2 hours.
-          *We try to eat on salad plates.  One you eat less and two it looks like you are eating more
-          *Remember this is not a weight loss program.  You are trying to reset your body to do what its supposed to do and in the end you may lose some weight but right now I feel amazing and I’ll take that any day!
-          *Drink a lot of water.  If you are not a water drinker it may be tough at first but in the end it is worth it.  I have been able to work my way up to a gallon to gallon in a half of water a day.  I don’t force it in anymore.  I just am constantly drinking water.  Before I serve breakfast I have already had 40-60 oz of water! I try and stop myself early in the evening so I’m not up all night!
-         * Don’t just jump in starting this program.  Work your way into it.  Get a meal plan together for the first week.  Buy your food.  Prep it. Start making some changes a week or so ahead of time.  Get rid of the temptations.  This is not a diet it is a life style change.

 Hope this is helpful! I have a long way to go but I know if I keep making these changes it will be better in the long run :) 



1 comment:

  1. You are doing so amazing!! :) I wish I knew this way of eating before I had children and gastric bypass it would've changed everything for me. I feel like a new person ever since we started :)

    ReplyDelete