Day 30

Friday would have been the last day of Whole 30 (we are doing Whole 46 for Lent). I feel really proud of us! We actually stuck to this. Even though we both had moments where we wanted to quit, we didn't! And we both agreed that we like eating this way and will probably keep it up- most of the time.

I don't miss too much. I do wish there were some things I could add to my food- at least every once in awhile like black beans or cheese. Or corn. But I feel like I've learned a lot about my eating habits and how I should be eating. Obviously sometimes we will all have a splurge meal or a cupcake or something- but that was becoming our norm- eat whatever we wanted without even thinking about it.

We both feel a lot better physically. I would eat something previously and always tell George- ugh I can't eat _____ it makes me feel terrible. But then I would eat it again anyway. It will be interesting when we start reintroducing food groups to see what effects us. I'm praying for me it's not dairy! I love cheese so much!

After 31 days- I lost 14 pounds and George lost 17. I haven't measured inches yet but I'll do that this week. I did cheat a couple days in and weigh myself. And the scale said I lost 7 pounds. So of course I thought wow by 30 days I'll lose like 30 pounds! And then I started weighing myself like 3 days in a row. And the number kept going up instead of down (which I later read was normal). I stopped weighing myself everyday because it was making me want to stop doing Whole 30. Plus, even though I love the side effect of losing weight- that's not the total reason I wanted us to do Whole 30. We were spending a TON of money going out to dinner all the time and the food we were eating made us feel crappy.

So we have 13 days left until Easter. It really feels like these 30 days flew by. I'm sure the next 2 weeks will feel that way too. We are both going to start to add in a little more exercise into the mix now. Especially since it's spring and it SHOULD be nice out! It will be good for Mackenzie and Bailey to get out after dinner and get some fresh air too!

Halfway

There's 2 things I want to write about in this post. The first is Whole 30 and the second is February 28th.

We are officially 20 days into the Whole 30. It is incredible. My brain is changing. I eat things I never would have eaten before. And I don't really miss anything. Obviously I'm not swearing off any food forever. That's not what this is about. But it's realizing that it is possible to work full time, pick up Mackenzie, come home, make a healthy dinner and still have a little time to play after. That was one of my biggest excuse for not cooking. That and my tiny kitchen (which I still hate!!). There have been a couple nights where I thought to myself- this would definitely be a night where we would have gone out to dinner. But we didn't. We are sticking to it. Not 100% perfectly. But we are doing it!

days left until we are done with Lent

days since we started Whole 30

We went out to dinner with my parents 2 weekends ago to Outback and while I would have normally stuffed myself with bread and Caesar salad before I even got my food, I didn't! The bread sat on the table and George and I didn't touch it. When we left I mentioned to him that normally I would be SO full and be hating life but I felt satisfied and not stuffed. He agreed. After Whole 30 I will probably have a piece of bread at Outback BUT maybe just one piece instead of us eating it until its gone.

The last week George was putting our lunches together before work and he asked what I wanted to have for breakfast and I didn't make us a breakfast casserole last week so I said- umm meatloaf. He said- MEATLOAF??! For breakfast?! I said yes- whats wrong with meatloaf for breakfast?? And you know what- he had it too! And I seriously thought of having left over chicken legs for breakfast the other morning but I didn't- I had meatloaf again! If you asked me 3 weeks ago if I would ever eat meatloaf and carrot sticks for breakfast I would have laughed at you. But now- it's totally normal! I love it! (Also we won't talk about how it took over 2 hours to cook said meatloaf AND it totally fell apart when I tried to take it out of the pan! So basically it was just ground beef!)

We had 2 birthday parties last weekend. I passed up PB&J sandwiches, chicken nuggets, subs, chips and LAYER dip and pizza- OH and CAKE! Normally I would have parked myself at the layer dip and eaten it for 2 hours straight. But I had some fruit and veggies and a piece of meat off of Mackenzie's sub at the first party. At the second party we passed up pizza and stopped at Elevation Burger on the way home. They use olive oil and grass fed beef so it is whole 30 approved. I realized that it doesn't really matter what burgers are cooked in- fast food burgers make me feel gross!

We have 3 birthday parties this weekend so we will basically be Whole 30 party food pros! I don't think anyone with a special diet should expect anyone to make special food for them...especially us. We will eat what we can and then eat after if we have to. Probably what we should do anyway. Although I totally would have tore up some Mickey Mouse shaped chicken nuggets last weekend!

During Lent last year I could not wait to have chips and soda again. I was DYING for it! But this year, there's nothing that I am really dying to eat. I'm looking forward to being able to eat more options but I feel like we will continue to really scrutinize labels and eat at home. It's pretty incredible what is put in our food that most people never know about (including me). I really thought about our meat options recently and how I never really cared before about what the animals I eat ate. I cared about how they were treated but not really about what they ate. Then I realized- what they're eating and the medication they are given is what I get. And what Mackenzie gets. It's kind of scary.

ANYWAY! Now to the 2nd topic. February 28th just passed. February 28, 2013 I had my last chemo!! It's not a huge cancerversary for me- although it's pretty important. I'm really glad that I wrote this blog while going through treatment especially because now I think- oh chemo wasn't that bad. But going back and reading my posts I remember the little things that bothered me. Chemo wasn't that bad. Compared to most peoples treatments. But for those 5-6 days after- life was awful. You can read more about it here (link). I'm so glad it's over. And I have my hair back! Although out of the 3 pictures below I think I would rank the bald look 2nd out of the 3 hair styles!

Whole 30

I've been talking about doing Whole 30 for about 4 months. I could have finished it 4 times all ready. But I kept talking myself out of it. Here's a link to what the program is- website. Basically we will be eating meat and veggies and occasionally fruit.

We started it Wednesday because we are doing it for Lent. So although it's called Whole 30 we are doing it for all of Lent- 46 days. So far it's been okay. I was joking that my brain is telling my body its full because it doesn't want all of the vegetables!

Tuesday night I made broccoli frittata for us to eat for breakfast all week. I used WAY too much broccoli/not enough eggs. Otherwise it's pretty good.

Wednesday night I made zoodles with shrimp. This seems like a lot of "noodles" but when I threw them in the pan with the shrimp they seemed to disappear. I actually like zoodles so I'll just have to work on portions and keeping them dry. Maybe by the 46th day!

Thursday I dove into the world of cauliflower rice. I LOVE cauliflower but I read mixed reviews of the "rice". I won't say it tastes like rice BUT I added some cilantro and lime and made a chicken burrito bowl with salsa chicken and salad and it was really good. Even Mackenzie liked it!

Before we started I read the book It Starts with Food which is the book that accompanies Whole 30. I really like the way it's written and how they break down the chapters and explain WHY they limit sugar, carbs, ect. It's a good read about nutrition even if you don't want to do Whole 30. They also use a little humor too which I appreciate. They said you should eat however many eggs fit into the palm of your hand (like any protein portion) and they joked how most women come up to them and say that "I only had one egg for breakfast this morning!" and are so proud but it just shows that they can't possibly be eating enough. 

One example I really liked in the book was comparing how you feel after eating steak vs. Oreo's. Eventually when you are eating steak you start to feel satisfied and eating the steak itself is less satisfying- if that makes sense. But when you are eating Oreo's your body never gets notice that you don't need anymore food so the 10th Oreo is just as delicious as the first. So you just keep eating. I'm not saying it as well as they are but this point really helped me realize the difference between eating food that's good for you vs. food that isn't good for you. 

Friday night, I made cod with ghee (clarified butter) and garlic and baked it in the oven. It was really good- even Mackenzie liked it! I have a feeling we will be eating  A LOT of broccoli! 

Saturday night we had left over salsa chicken salads with oranges. I tried La Croix for the first time and I didn't really like it. It's too fizzy for me which I think is interesting since I drank a soda almost everyday for years. I tried plain water with some lime today and that was much better. I really though I would like a fizzy drink. George likes the Trader Joe's flavored sparkling water that I bought (its less fizzy than La Croix). Drinking plain water was his biggest complaint. 

For brunch today I made eggs, chicken/apple sausage and broccoli. Neither Mackenzie nor I finished our sausage but I'm sure we will eat it at another meal. We had almost the same meal yesterday for lunch. This time I cooked the eggs in ghee to add a little fat because I don't think I'm adding enough fat to our food. Which is such a weird thing to say. 

I'm actually really surprised it's going so well for me. I really thought I would harp on not being able to eat certain food- mainly cheese. But I haven't missed anything yet. I haven't really felt sick. Just a little hungry- which just means I'm not eating enough in my meals. Yesterday, Mackenzie and I stopped at Safeway because they sell Tessemae's salad dressing (SOOOO GOOD and Whole 30 compliant) after her swim class. We were both hungry because we only had time to eat some fruit before her class. I was looking at the options for a quick fix and I saw some corn bread. I really had a moment where I wanted to eat all 8 pieces or however many pieces were in the container but I kept it together! (I went for baby carrots instead). I've walked by aisles of cheese and soda and haven't really had a moment like that for either so that's good. Obviously I will be eating cheese again. And I won't say that I'm not going to enjoy a Coke every once in awhile but I'm just hoping that my brain stops craving them. It turns out that I do have a little willpower that I always claimed I didn't have. I just didn't want to have willpower. There's a huge difference! So we have 5 days down. Hopefully the next 41 days are going to go equally as well. We are going to have to branch out a little vegetable wise but I think we'll get there eventually! 

When I got towards the end of the book there was a section that said WHOLE 30 ISN'T HARD. Fighting cancer is hard. Giving birth is hard. Whole 30 isn't hard. And I started tearing up because I've done both of those things. And they were really hard. So eating some more veggies and not eating sugar/carbs for awhile isn't really that big of a deal. It really helped put it into perspective for me and maybe that's why it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. I'm looking forward to start feeling a little more energetic this week (I hope) and just feeling better in general.