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 :)
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