beyond

Feb 15, 2019

“After a few weeks of varied reintroduction and claiming I’m not paleo, I’ve conceded that, well yeah, if I want to feel my best, then yeah, I am…”

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As time went on I discovered that dairy, legumes and grains (oats, barley, wheat/gluten) caused an incredible amount of inflammation, bloating, heartburn, and other discomforts that I realized, I really need to break up with dairy, and limit my grains on a daily basis or risk feeling like this bird!

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While I’m not Celiac and do not have a life-threatening allergies or a specified condition, I don’t think legumes, many grains (specified above), or dairy are really all that good for me but then again, I don’t think all this Minnesota snow, sub-zero temps, or spending 15-20 hours in my car each week is good for me either… but I digress.

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Turns out. milk definitely does NOT do my body good. I recently worked with an Internist, (Dr. Hannah) who full-heartedly agreed milk/dairy is my main problem, and while some of my bloodwork showed some inflammation and a lower-end TSH (hyper) value, she isn’t all that concerned and stated I’m healthy as a lark.

My lower TSH value is a good sign that my metabolism is working good as it should! My Lipid panel came back absolutely perfect with a nice high HDL cholesterol, and very low Triglycerides, so she said, eat what makes you feel good, and don’t eat what makes you feel crummy, but if you go somewhere and it looks worth it… GO. FOR. IT.

Even if its a huge cup of milk at the MN State Fair – All you can drink milk stand! (Which actually sounds terrible right now, HA!)

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Unfortunately, it seems that any amount of added dairy seems to really set me off, so here I am, making my own clarified butter (which is actually so easy), and scanning labels as I strive to be as dairy, legume and grain (oat, wheat, barley) free as possible. (I wonder aloud how I would fare if we actually did breed Oreo our Nigerian Dwarf Goat… I’ve heard goats milk is easier to digest.)

Now, of course, there will be parties and dinners out where the inevitable creeps in and I won’t freak out. I don’t get that ill…(I actually do experience an incredible amount of inflammation however in my shoulders, back, my bursitis flares up in my hips from my 2016 injury with Crosby, debilitating heartburn and bloating to pretty much write these food items off in normal circumstances… but I’m not gonna create a scene at a family function, or sit there and starve… ). I’ll make the best choice possible, or, if it looks worth the pain, I’ll indulge.

I recently picked up a copy of, “eat what you love” by Danielle Walker. It’s amazing and couldn’t recommend it enough to anyone following a grain, legume, and dairy free diet. There are so many recipes that she has recreated that are reminiscent of my childhood staples. Chicken Divan anyone?

Over the next several months, I’m going to be trying out a few recipes that I can take to the backcountry that are dairy and grain (see above) free. Perhaps I’ll have to create a post with “test kitchen” results! Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, in my next few posts, I’m going to be taking a sharp turn away from my adventures in food elimination, and the paleo-way, and talking about our adventures in trying out maple syruping on our homestead!

Last fall I hiked around our 20-acre property and discovered we had over 20 maple trees on our land. Seven are ripe for the tapping this year, so we’re going to try our hand at it, and see if we have any success.

Until next time, be well my friends ❤

Image result for maple syruping

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Whole30 is over!

Feb 1, 2019

Happy February!

The January Whole30 is officially over, and all three of us quit at varying stages.

As you saw back in my last post, Jason quit around day 11, and we were letting Kay quit on the 18th. I ended up falling off the program on day 26.

I know what you’re thinking, “You only had four days to go… what on earth… ?”

I was determined to complete a 2019 January W30. And I was so.close.

I also made a commitment that this would be my last W30. ever no matter what the outcome was. I needed to move on from this restricted “diet”, or “reset” find out what food(s) cause my painful heartburn, and move on.

Day 26 was Jason’s work Christmas party, and every year they do a Taco Bar. I thought about cooking my own meat and bringing it in a thermos, but instead, I actually called the restaurant they always use to find out how they prepare everything and concluded I could easily do a taco salad. I figured I was set.

But, like an act of God, they switched caterers, and EVERYTHING had gluten or dairy in it… so, I could have been that super awkward person and not eat anything all night.

I could say… screw it. Be. Free.

I chose freedom.

Twenty-six days is more than long enough to get all of these potentially problematic ingredients out of my system, and that day would be the day to re-introduce them. Now, having gluten and dairy at the same time, probably not the best idea, (because if I had a reaction, what was it, dairy or gluten?) but it wasn’t like I could choose this – or that it was all intermixed.

As the re-introduction period went on over the past week however I’ve realized I need to break up with a lot of dairy (milk, ice cream, dairy-based sauces). Not sure about my tolerance for hard cheese, but I’m about to find out by gettin’ a taco!

maybe eating taco’s wasn’t cheating on my diet

maybe going on a diet was cheating on my taco’s…

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Oats are also very problematic for me, which is also a huge bummer because that is a staple of eating in the Boundary Waters, and I love overnight oats. I guess I’ll keep playing around with various foods over the next few weeks and find the perfect diet for me!

Conclusion: This experiment 2.0 was well worth it. I didn’t feel guilty, and I didn’t feel shame for quitting my w30 four days early, you know what I felt? I finally – for the first time – felt FREE. I plan to push the envelope and eat what I can get away with.

Free to come up with exactly the foods that will make me feel the best, and no longer conform to a LABEL (certain way of eating). I’m not Mediterranean, I’m not Paleo, I’m not Whole30…

I am me.

WholeFamily Whole30 – Half Way

Jan 15, 2019

Day 15! Can you believe we made it?

I contemplated posting once-per-week, but I did that when I did a successful W30 back in 2016, and you can read all about it over here. Further, in order to achieve my 2019 goal of blogging more, I’m hoping to post twice a month on the 1st and 15th of each month going forward, instead of “all-the-sudden trying to climb a mountain that is too big” with posting weekly etc, so lets start with a realistic goal shall we? What do you think?

So, ~~we’re~~ I’m officially HALF WAY DONE with our “WholeFamily, Whole30”. (Spoiler Alert!)

Can I just tell you guys how lucky I am that my family is was doing this with me? When I did this on my own back in 2016, it was so hard! The fridge and cupboards were stocked with “non-compliant” food and I had to will power my way through it a few times.

The subsequential other times I tried doing a W30, back in January 2017, February 2018, and September 2018 I failed miserably despite wanting to succeed. This time, since we only have Whole30 food in the house (upstairs anyway), there isn’t a real possibility to slip.

Jason: Ended up going off the program as of Friday the 11th, but agreed he’d stay W30 at home. I think this is a great compromise. He works construction, so his lunch choices were limited unless he wanted a salad for lunch, which he did not, and he wasn’t on Whole30 for himself, but rather in support for me. The amount of money we were spending in nuts, and compliant jerky/snacks was a pinch ridiculous for “sympathy eating”, and I could tell he was miserable, so I cut him off from feeling obligated anymore, and his mood lifted.

Kay: She is still on plan as of today. Her friends at school think she has some kind of medical condition. One kid at lunch thinks she must have diabetes if she can’t have any sugar anymore, and another kiddo commenting that “It’s just not natural to not have added sugar.”

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I think her lunches looked pretty darn good (and as you can tell by all the fruit, the girl is not lacking in the sugar department)!

Truth be told though, I think we’ll wean her off the program this Friday night, however. As a growing pre-teen, she needed more calories but just wanted fruit. The girl plowed through two pints of raspberries in one sitting. We decided her fruit addiction needed to stop, so as of the 18th – she’ll be in re-intro mode with some high-quality full fat, grass-fed dairy. Hopefully, 18 days was long enough to get some stuff out of her system. I’m genuinely interested to know if she is dairy or gluten (or anything else) sensitive due to frequent complaints of tummy pain.

She did say, she still wanted home lunch however unless the school’s hot lunch was irresistible. Sounds 80/20 textbook Paleo to me! We shall see.

Me: I’m still going strong! (Don’t worry, I’m not bailing). This has been my best attempt yet. I feel in control, and not overly missing, “All the things”. The food choices I’ve prepared have been better, and I’m snacking a lot less which tells me my meals are balanced right. I’m also feeling – AMAZING. My painful heartburn, which plagued me nearly every day, along with bloating has completely gone away.

My ‘severe’ shoulder/back pain/inflammation that would nearly take my breath away, (that I blamed on our bed not being comfortable) all but disappeared. (Clearly, it’s not our bed, it was inflammatory foods.) Further, despite only getting an average of 6-hours of sleep I wake up in the morning completely refreshed. No more waking up in the middle of the night, tossing & turning while I process sugar from my nightcap(s) of wine and sugary snacks that went along with said wine. (Ahem pretzels/chips & salsa).

So – for the next 15 days I will continue to cook W30 dinners for my family, while also re-introducing foods for our daughter.

As for me – Cheers to the next 15 days!

Share:
– Do you have any resets that you’re doing in the month of January?
– Do you experience chronic inflammation such as upper back/shoulder pain, or acid reflux?

Have you ever tried paleo, or removing potentially inflammatory foods?

WholeFamily Whole30

Jan 1, 2019

Hey everyone! Happy 2019!

I hope everyone had a lovely time with their family and friends over the holiday season! We had an exceptional time recouping and NOT checking e-mails etc. We all go back to work and school tomorrow, but despite LOVING the time off, I suppose we can ready ourselves to contribute to society once again!

One thing I debated (for the entire month of ~~October, November,~~ December) was if I was going to do Whole30 in January! I had one successful go back in April of 2016 and really enjoyed how I felt. I’ve tried doing another Whole30 (or three) since, with little to no success… quitting on day 12 back in 2017, and quitting on day 3 in 2018, and I’m pretty sure I started Whole30 in September ’18, but I can’t even keep track.

This time, my family has SHOCKINGLY said they would do it with me! (Or at least start…) I actually couldn’t believe it, so I tried super hard not to overwhelm them while simultaneously buying ALL THREE Whole30 cookbooks, and strategically placing them on the kitchen island.

Husband says, “All this looks good, I’ll eat Whole30… meat.potatoes.vegetables…” and from then on it was, well can I have this on Whole30? Can I have this? What about this?” So far everything he has wanted, he can have! (i.e. salt)

I replaced my wine rack with my paleo/Whole30 cookbooks, and the new Day by Day journal I just picked up at MOA this past weekend. Jason bought me all new Calphalon cookware for Christmas. I feel extra ready.

While I know I’ve failed at several attempts since my first successful go back in April 2016, I am committing 100%, and really want to be successful. No more saying, “I might fail on day 4… “It’s like quitting before I even start.

Kay has picked up on the fact that I jump full in on Whole30, and quit days/a week into it. I want to show her that I/we can do hard things and stick with it. Extra mama motivation.

I asked our daughter if she wanted to do it too. The girl has been having “tummy pain” since she was 2, and we’ve never been “hardcore” enough to eliminate any food groups so I FINALLY want to know what plagues the girl, and she does too… She is pretty sad to give up all the sugar, but I’ve bribed her with this lunch box if she makes it to day 15…

I don’t know if they will both stick with it, but I’ve successfully convinced my family I’m NOT buying any dairy, gluten, added sugar items any longer. We ate up and feasted upon the last of the Western Dressing and shredded cheddar cheese for our salads. Going forward (for the month of January), I WILL NOT buy anything non-Whole30 compliant!

Jason has been dairy free more-or-less for a month or so, and poured a glass of milk and had some tummy pains, so since then he’s stayed away. I picked up one final 1/2 gallon of grass-fed milk last week so the girl could finish her cereal, but with all the eggs we have I’ve declared everyone is eating eggs starting January 1!

We haven’t bought a loaf of bread since Thanksgiving, and I’ve packed away all of our non-compliant spices and put the sugar and flour away so it is out of sight, and out of mind.

Previously while I’ve been fully committed my family has not, and honestly when my husband has come home and cracked a beer, I thought, mmm – a cider or glass of wine sounds so divine, and I’ve just cracked. I seriously have no – self – control.

While I really hope my family sticks with it for the Whole30 days with me, they’ve at least committed to eating Whole30 in front of me. I cleaned out our cupboards, and fridge yesterday, so instead of just one shelf being W30 friendly now everything is.

Kay keeps opening and closing the pantry and fridge expecting pudding cups, and mac and cheese to magically show up.

(Husband has been jokingly saying he’s going to blow his Christmas cash at fast food drive-thru when the going gets tough. so I can’t tell if he’s been cheating… )

We have my mom’s birthday at my sisters – which we’ll (or at least I will) embarrassingly bring our own food to, while convincing Kay she doesn’t really need the birthday cake, and my husband’s work party where I will unabashedly bring my own toppings for their taco bash. (We’ve.drunk.the.koolaide)

Cheers to a healthy start to the new year. I’m excited I have some pals doing this with me (i.e. my family), and excited to see where we all end up!

Whole30 – Back Again

Dec 31, 2016

Whole30 back again
Check its records let’s begin
Party on party people let me hear some noise
W30’s in the house jump jump rejoice
There’s a party over here
A party over there
Wave your hands in the air
Shake your derriere
These three words when you’re gettin’ busy
Whoomp there it is
Hit me

Well – this girls dietary habits have been all willy-nilly since our spring BWCA trip when everything went to hell. In the back-country I was eating gluten every day, and hardly turned back since then.

Its been like a bulldozer of culinary Standard American Diet (SAD) over here and my body has definitely taken notice! For me – eating Paleo is bliss and completely eliminates weird sneaky symptoms that I won’t bore you with right now. Of course its hard to get over the hump of the “I want to kill all the things“, but once you do, and I did – GOLDEN!

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For many people Whole30/eating Paleo can be expensive. The meat alone is enough to turn most people away, but I’m a lucky girl. We butcher our own pasture raised chickens, my husband got a deer this year, and we bought 1/4 of a cow, and 1/2 a hog at the beginning of December. While I won’t have that weekly expense – we still had to pay for it albeit much lower than grocery stores, but at top notch quality, and humane raising and butchering. #WinningAllAround

I start this adventure in eating and culinary bliss on Sunday! I know – a weird day to start anything, but last time I started on a Friday, and that’s kind of weird too. Today I hauled my butt to the grocery store(s) to stock up on a few groceries for the week.

We are hosting an NYE party at our house tonight so I wanted to have all of my ingredients needed for my first W30 breakfast rip-roaring-ready to go.

Here are a few of my favorite commercially prepared items I scored!

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Goals this time around:

1.) Finish – Okay – duh… but what I mean by that – is there is an awful tendency with round 2 Whole30ers bending the rules. I am determited NOT to be one of those people. My husband fully renovated our kitchen, I got a gorgeous new cutting board from Williams Sonoma, an Instant Pot, and a new kick ass Calphalon pan… So my goal is to stay on track, don’t cheat, don’t make exceptions, and finish again!

2.) Not going to take initial stats/measurement. This time around – weight loss isn’t a goal of mine. I just want to feel the best I can, and know I’m preparing healthy full rounded meals.

3.) I really REALLY want to do a Whole60, or at a minimum a Whole45 this time around – that is my BHAG (big harry audacious goal)… but we will see. I have two winter camping trips, and we all know what happened last time I went camping right after my last Whole30….

4.) Learn and experiment with some sustainable meals – that I CAN eat out in the back-country.

So that’s it. Short and sweet. I’m sure I’ll post next week on how the first week went. Happy New Year!

~ Until next time.

Living the Paleo Dream

May 10, 2016

Hey Guys,

Now that I’ve officially finished my Whole30 its time to re-introduce some of those foods to:

a.) see if it has any effect on me
b.) loosen the reigns a little bit.

I really wanted to give this section its due honor and not kick off my heels to much. I wanted to take each food group I spent the last month avoiding and evaluate it slowly. So that’s what I did over the past 10 days. Here are the categories, and how they affected me.

Wine:
As a glass + of wine per night girl, I was excited to jump back into a world of wine… My first wine back I had a Pinot Nior by Erath and it was DELICIOUS! A sleep disturbance was definitely noticed. After just one glass of wine I was BUZZIN’! I also had a bad headache and felt crappy. Over the next week and half I enjoyed more wine on the weekends, and while I can say, I enjoy wine… I can also honestly say I no longer WANT wine every day… Definitely part sugar, and part alcohol, this “food group” did a number on me, and this is why I’m limiting my wine consumption to just Friday-Saturday or special occasions! In some ways I felt like I was breaking up with wine, but we can still hang out… just on a limited basis… which is what I would want anyways. I was very shocked that I could no longer “handle” my wine – even after abstaining for 9 months while pregnant with my daughter – after just 30 days I really experienced a major tolerance set back.. but I did some serious changes within my system detoxing of sugar, and my body definitely took notice. With that almost assuredly adding to (gulp) slightly tighter pants, and general feeling of sluggishness, brain fog etc, I do not want to affect my daily life anymore!

Additives:
Additives with too much sugar are definitely impacting my sleep. While I feel I can loosen the reigns a little bit with this one, its best to avoid when I can, and purchase (sugar free) when available… but I don’t think I’ll make homemade ketchup anymore. (Though I did find an amazing avocado mayo that is to die for!)

Peanut Butter | Legumes:
I enjoyed some PB with some apples, and tried some beans. The PB tasted creamy and almost chocolaty. I made a bean salad and noticed that I felt extremely full (uncomfortably so) after eating these. For this reason, I will skip beans in the future. On occasion I may have some peanut butter, but since I really do love my apples and almond butter it won’t be a common indulgence.

Non-Gluten Grains:
– CORN: Finally – Taco Tuesday with the taco shell! But an hour or two after dinner I had knots in my tummy that didn’t feel good. Several days later I had a corn shell tortilla with no ill effect, so perhaps I will just limit them. I’m in the process of deciding to NOT do Tacos every Tuesday anymore!

– QUIONA:
I hit this one with dairy for Sunday night homemade pizzas! Read below in my dairy response! Seemingly went alright!

Dairy: Had some homemade pizza on a quiona crust and I didn’t notice any side effects. I did end up with a bloody nose though later that night. Coincidence? I’ll have to play around occasionally with this one some more.

Gluten:
Dun-Dun-Dun – oh the “dreaded” gluten! I wasn’t even going to add this one back based off several symptoms that have mysteriously disappeared over the past 40 days – that haven’t returned with adding in dairy, non-gluten grains, sugar etc I’m convinced now, more than ever that gluten was definitely a culprit to several of these symptoms! I won’t bore you with all of the details, but here are a few…

Daily nosebleeds
Keratosis Pilaris (which has gotten significantly better)
Iron-Deficiency anemia
Reflux
Dental issues, including canker sores
Extreme fatigue
Brain Fog (I would be in the middle of a sentence and forget what I was saying)
Scary dizzy spells
Dry Hair

Okay – that last one seems silly, but my hair was always extremely dry! I didn’t even realize this was abnormal until I went gluten free for 40 + days! So one of our planned meals out in the BWCA will have gluten in it… so I decided to jump back into gluten to make sure I didn’t have any ill effects…. no lie. Within 30-40 minutes I had searing pain in my neck and shoulder blades. Did a google search and found this, and this, and this,and this!

Now, I’m not claiming to be celiac, or even say I’m “gluten intolerant” at all – I haven’t had any tests done, or gone to the doctor whatsoever besides a 40 day elimination diet, and betterment of my Keratosis Pilaris which has plagued me for my entire life, no more dizziness or reflux, no canker sores, more energy and no shoulder/neck pain (that almost hurts with breathing) and then suddenly blearing shoulder/neck pain, bloating and complete brain fog? I’m not sayin’ – I’m just saying I think I can break up with the gluten.

The opposite of Addle’s Hello.

Goodbye Gluten….Its no longer me…..

They say that time’s supposed to heal yah – and I have DONE some healin’.

Sweets & Treats: I didn’t really hit this as hard as I thought I would. After loosing some weight, and returning to pre-baby weight, and a noticeably smaller tummy – I just don’t want to go back! With that said… an indulgence here and there (not daily) is something I don’t want to have handcuffs on for the rest of my life though. I’m glad to know I can exercise self control in this department!

Friday the 6th I had my first dabble in a pure sugary treat which was a mini s’more on a gluten free graham cracker. The marshmallow sent me in to sugar overdrive and I felt like I was going to puke! Haha. It was delicious though. This will definitely help with a “one bite” is enough. I guess technically with the milk chocolate I had dairy but didn’t notice any ill effects.

Final Conclusion? Have you tried the Whole30? If not, I definitely recommend that you give it a go. All in all it was a neat experience. It helped that I am a maniacal food planner to begin with. You don’t want to find yourself in the morning, staring down the fridge wondering what you’re going to eat for breakfast, or lunch, or dinner for that matter.

Plus – everyone complains about the amount of dishes they will now have to do, but I always go all out on my dinners, so that didn’t change one iota.

Find your grooves. I found I really, really LOVE baked eggs, or over hard eggs with cut up mini-peppers in them – EVERY DAY! I love this so much, that I don’t mind eating eggs every single day! I’m slightly cringing for our BWCA trip when I’ll be eating oatmeal every day, but it’s just 6-7 days and then I can go back to my beloved eggs! :). — Good thing I have my own chickens!

I also found a few favorites I made several times, such as this delicious shrimp skillet, that you’ll see I Instagramed several times, and Cracklin’ Chicken, which might take over as a weekly menu item like Taco Tuesday did!

It also helped that we butcher our own chickens, and deer/venison,and have purchased 1/4 cow, and 1/2 pig… and oh yeah did I mention we have our own chickens for my daily egg breakfast? Oh – okay… so I guess these things make Whole30 and a Paleo Lifestyle MUCH easier to obtain. I used to sell 75-80% of my eggs, and now I sell only 20%!

Without going overboard and developing orthorexia, I do plan to follow a “fairly strict” paleo diet. It honestly seems to suit me, and I’m working on finding my groove without breaking the bank! All of these amazing cookbooks I’ve come across like Nom Nom Paleo, Against All Grain, and Well Fed have me wanting to try all kinds of new recipes, but I know now I can make a simple yet delicious dinner with the very simple, meat, and two veggie side! Can you believe that my food budget has actually decreased?

While I won’t be as hardcore as the “Whole30” rules, and I may have wine DURING the week, and the occasional GF grain, I realized in these 30 days that it IS possible to have self control, feel better, and gain perspective.

Whole30 – Week 4 and Conclusion

May 4, 2016

Hey Guys!
I am officially done with Whole30!

Firstly, I found out I could give up my beloved wine for an entire month, and don’t even miss pasta or rice, which was a mainstay (and definite over-consumption) in all of my meals!

Here’s how the final days went…

Friday April 22
B Two Eggs, baked over hard with peppers & coffee
L – Cold Tuna Salad
D – Sausage, Pepper & Onion

Finally got a good dose of Tiger Blood today! I had so much energy it was as if I had drank at least 2 pots of coffee! I think my co-workers were wondering….

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Saturday April 23
B – Skillet Breakfast
L – Snacks of Lara Bars, Cashews & Mango Jerkey
D – Apple Sausage, Pepper & Onion.

Tonight we got invited over to our friends house for dinner. Being so close on my journey I decided to bring my own dinner! I felt slightly awkward about it, but I didn’t get teased as much as I thought I would. The meal itself would have been fine on a regular “paleo” diet, but the spice rub did have some brown sugar in it, so for obvious reasons – its not Whole30 compliant.

Sunday April 24
B – Sweet Potato, Apple, Sausage & Egg Skillet
L – Snacks of Lara Bars, Cashews & Mango Jerkey
D – Hamburgers on the skillet

Spent the afternoon today (and yesterday) at seminars, so my lunches have been less than amazing, but I’m excited that I’ll have a nice clean paleo lunch for when we go up to the BWCA!

I’m in Love with lettuce wraps on hamburgers! I’m also becoming a total pro at making hamburgers on the cast iron skillet, (since i’m not hugely confident on our gas grill). I’m glad I’m able to make “grill” food without the hassle!

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Monday April 25
B: Two Eggs, baked over hard with peppers & coffee
L: Salad
D – Mexican Monday: Tacos

Decided to revert back to Tacos on Monday for this week! I’m excited to finally try corn-shells next week once I’m off Whole30!

Tuesday April 26
B – Two Eggs, baked over hard with peppers & coffee
L – Salad
D – Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Walking through the house this afternoon smelled amazing! The parsnips were a good alternative to the standard potatoes that accompany most stews! I used sugar free chicken broth and thickened with some arrowroot.

Wednesday April 27
B – Coffee & Tea & my 2 eggs.
L – Frozen Vegetables, Orange, Mango Jerky & Cashews
D – Spice Thai Zoodle Salad

My zoodle salad sauce didn’t set quite right this time. It was strangely thick, but I did skip adding in the lime juice. I will definitely add that in next time!

I completely forgot my lunch at home today, but my co-worker surprised me with an Admin Professionals day including my FAVORITE Mango jerky!

Thursday April 28
B – Two Eggs, baked over hard with peppers & coffee
L – Left over slow cooker beef stew
D – Shrimp & Sweet Potato Skillet

This is definitely a new family favorite! Its so quick and easy to make too! Comfort food at its best!

Friday April 29
B – Two Eggs, baked over hard with peppers & coffee
L – Cold Tuna Salad
D – Cold Tuna Salad

I’m loving my new Cold Tuna Salad! Its so delicious, that I don’t even miss the pasta in this dish!

Saturday April 30 – FINAL DAY
B – Fried eggs over hard with peppers & coffee
L – Cold Tuna Salad
D – Cracklin’ Chicken

I made it – I made it – I made it!!!!! I feel like a kitty cat grabbin’ the unicorn by the neck with guns blazing!!!!

Final Thoughts –
1. It was easier than I thought
2. It helped that I’m an obsessive meal planner to begin with
3. It helps that I cook huge meals and dirty my kitchen anyways
4. I plan to keep MOST of the “rules”/best practices of a Paleo lifestyle!
5. I lost 8lbs! This was awesome! I’m back down to my pre-kid weight and on the cusp of just out of the Navy weight.

I will add back in wine, but just on weekends. Strictly Friday-Sunday I’m very glad I can live without it for a month. I love the taste of wine, and wanted to make sure that it didn’t have a stronghold over my life. Sure… there were some meals along the way I thought, wow, this paired with a buttery chardonnay…. or sauv. blanc, cab… you get the idea… but I’m glad I can strongly say – I enjoy wine but not for emotional purposes

I do not plan to add back in gluten, specifically bread and pasta, since I absolutely LOVE my Zoodles. Maybe it was the lack of daily wine or bread, or pasta, rice and processed foods, but I’m definitely starting to see my “muffin top” fade away and I’ve been very pleased with that.

Re-Introduction….

Stay tuned for my next blog post!

Thanks for all the support. Have you tried a Whole30 yet? What are your thoughts on the whole processes?

Whole30 – Week 3

Apr 21, 2016

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone….

Friday April 15, 2016

Breakfast – Two eggs cracked, with peppers & onions and baked till done
Lunch – Final batch of left over chili
Dinner – The most amazing Spicy Thai Zoodle Salad

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I absolutely adore Pad Thai! The flavors and umami involved tantalize my taste buds, so when I found this recipe from Nom Nom Paleo I was very eager to try it! Since I’m now half way thru I treated myself to… the Nom Nom Paleo cookbook written by Michelle Tam & Henry Fong!

Saturday April 16, 2016

Breakfast – Adele Sausage over some Kale, onions & salsa
Lunch – Trail Snacks
Dinner – Pan Seared Salmon

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I’ve never really liked salmon, but a trip to Whole Foods to find dried porchini mushrooms had me passing by some yummy looking salmon so I decided to give it a final try! I’ve tried salmon on several occasions, but never really LOVED it. Today I found a yummy marinade involving balsamic vinegar, and rosemary. First I noticed the skin was still on the one side, so I decided to filet that off! I know some people cook with it on, but I was creeped out by it. My daughter wanted me to save the scales and sew her a mermaid costume, but I told her that wasn’t going to happen! HA. I pan seared it in some ghee to get a nice crust! I also whipped up a nice kale salad and some roasted tomatoes. It was fairly good, but I think my [short stayed] love affair with salmon has come to a close. There are so many other species of fish that I enjoy so much more!

Sunday April 17, 2016

Breakfast – Sweet Potato, Apple & Sausage skillet
Lunch – Salad
Dinner – Cracklin’ Chicken

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After subscribing to the Nom Nom Paleo podcast (do you see a trend here folks?) and hearing that Lil’ O started out not wanting to eat paleo I needed to find a POW WOW dinner to get my daughter on board! (She is for sure a sugar addict and I’m trying to help her quit that!) So I made Lil’ O’s favorite Cracklin’ Chicken! It is now also Lil’ K’s favorite as well! My daughter exclaimed, “Mom, I want you to make this again soon! But not regular soon – VERY VERY soon!” She also demanded that I pack it for her lunch the next day! I call that a win.

I also was so excited to eat this – that I forgot to snap a photo until after my meal was over, but I found this hilarious e-card which has described my relationship with Whole30 so far!

Monday April 18, 2016

Breakfast – Left over Sweet Potato, Apple & Sausage skillet
Lunch – Left over Cracklin’ Chicken
Dinner – Egg Drop Soup

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Tonight I had a meeting that would go from 6pm-8 or 9pm, so I threw a Lara Bar in my bag knowing I was going to make the ever so quick Egg Drop Soup. Last summer I was going through our freezer chest and found 5 chicken backs. For those of you who are new to my blog, our friends raise our chickens for us, and we help process them. They are humanely raised, and humanely processed, abx free {ranging} chickens! So what to do with chicken backs? They don’t really provide a lot of meat, so I took 5 days, my crockpot and lots of yummy herbs and veggies from my garden and made bone broth! Froze them into little batch bags, and forgot about them until today!

I ran down stairs, thawed a bag out real quick, whipped up some eggs, sliced a scallion, and jalapeno to crank up the heat, and topped with a little cilantro for a Thai tasting Egg Drop Soup! From start to finish I think it took me 10 minutes to whip this up. That’s what I call a week night or emergency dinner!

Tuesday April 19, 2016

Breakfast – Left over Sweet Potato, Apple & Sausage skillet
Lunch – Left over Egg Drop Soup
Dinner – Taco Tuesday of course on Romaine Boats

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Wednesday April 20, 2016

Breakfast – Two Eggs baked with peppers and scallions
Lunch – Taco Salad
Dinner – Tacos

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Thursday April 21, 2016

Breakfast – Two Eggs baked with peppers and scallions
Lunch – Two Eggs baked with peppers and scallions
Dinner – Cauliflower Pizza Bites & then Sausage in Marinara

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How I feel!

Mind – My mind is pretty clear. Gone away is the brain fog that plagued me. I used to joke [shame on me] around pretty heavily that I probably had early onset Alzheimer’s because I could be in the middle of a conversation and completely forget what I was talking about. Or I would forget to do stuff that was pretty routine stuff.

Body – Do you know the muffin man? Well – for a long while (since my mid 20s at least) I’ve slowly been developing the dreaded “muffin top”! I’m noticing finally this week that ever so slowly that is trimming itself up! Its true what they say, “Abs are made in the kitchen”. Recent studies show that nutrition is nearly 90% important when it comes to maintaining a healthy weight vs. 10% exercise! While I don’t plan to be a strict “WholeLifer” I do plan (as of now) to maintain a fairly strict Paleo diet as my body seems to really like being treated this way.

I’ve also been sleeping like a ROCK! Gone is my nighttime sugar rush rollercoaster which would ALWAYS wake me up nearly every night around 2-3 a.m. I now sleep soundly into the morning. I do still wake up tired, but that’s because I’m an infotainment addict, and love reading, and catching up on my social media outlets. I’m slowly getting better at that as well! My new bedtime is usually around 10:30pm!

Soul – My soul is refreshed right now! Nearly 10 days ago I attended Outcry a Christian Worship concert that renewed the Holy Spirit in me and refreshed any parts of me that were growing dull, or complacent. My annual trip into the BWCA is coming up soon, and I’m looking forward to attending that as well! Obviously I know that God exists outside of the BWCA but something about really getting out into the wilderness amps up His energy in my life. When I tune out the static I can actually hear from Him! Funny how that works!

Overall things are good. Life is good! Its now coming into the last week on Whole30! I will wait to post until the 30^th instead of next Thursday/Friday and close out this series. I will continue to post my journey, and I’m already thinking about how I want to carry these new healthy behaviors into my daily lifestyle. Towards the beginning I mentioned something to my husband about, “Well once this is over I can have xyz… “ and he says, “Wait a minute… after 30 days you’re just going to go back to what you used to do?…”

Even if I don’t have any yucky reactions to certain foods I think I’m going to carry most of this lifestyle on. After all if I’m feeling this good on the program, why go back to unhealthy behaviors if I’m thriving without?

Until nextime.

Whole30 – Week 2

Apr 15, 2016

I’m pretty sure week 2 was supposed to be the hardest week, and I was like screw that – I’m going to make the most delicious food in the universe so that I can fly right thru this phase!

After all – I’m looking forward to the Tiger Blood phase which will be coming up in a few more days!

Friday April 8, 2016
Breakfast – Mini Fritatas
Lunch – Chicken Salad
Dinner – Sweet Potato Kale & Shrimp Skillet

Friday

Saturday April 9, 2016
Breakfast – Fruit, almond butter & Black Coffee
Lunch – Meatloaf
Dinner – This AMAZING Chocolate Chili!

I did miss my standard cheese on top, and saltine crackers, but made it crunchy by adding raw onions and jalapenos to it! Not bad! Not bad.

Saturday

Sunday April 10, 2016
Breakfast – AMAZING Potato & Italian Sausage skillet
Lunch – Left over Chili
Dinner – Pork Ribs with potato and italian sausage and a side salad.

Sunday

Pan seared the pork ribs in some ghee for a nice crunch, and finished in the oven. These were so good, I only wish we had more.

Monday April 11, 2016
Breakfast – Left over Potato/Sausage skillet & Black Coffee
Lunch – Chili
Dinner – Whole Chicken in Crockpot, with multi-color carrots & salad

Monday

Added just a pinch of sugar free chicken broth to the bottom of my crock-pot, sprinkled both sides of the chicken with cinnamon, and zested some lemon over the top. The chicken was out of this world!

Tuesday April 12, 2016
Breakfast – Left over Potato/Sausage skillet & Black Coffee
Lunch – Chicken Salad
Dinner – My first meal out in the world!

Tuesday

I was really concerned how I was going to handle this. My friend and I were headed to a concert, so I didn’t have time to go home and eat, and didn’t want to just bring my dinner to work, so I called ahead to Rusty Taco after seeing the ingredients on the Picadillo Taco – I was confident I could make it Whole30 compliant. I spoke to the chef about what ingredients they use in their seasoning for the beef/potatoes, and what if any oil they cook the beef in. To my delight all I had to do was ask for it sans taco shell, and I was good to go! I did sneak in my own salsa though.

Wednesday April 13, 2016
Breakfast – Eggs, peppers, black coffee
Lunch – Left over chili
Dinner – Chicken Stir Fry

Wednesday

Can you tell I love jalapenos? I threw all of this into a skillet (left over chicken from Monday) along with my favorite veggies, and stir fried them in some coconut aminos, and garlic. Topped with my favorite cilantro over cauliflower rice!

Thursday April 14, 2016
Breakfast -Eggs, peppers, black coffee
Lunch – Left over stir fry
Dinner –Sweet Potato Kale & Shrimp Skillet

Thursday

Made the Sweet Potato, Kale & Shrimp skillet again! This photo is so much better than last Friday’s photo! But I swear it was the same food, and looked the same in real life. This is a super quick and easy meal that is from fridge to plate in about 20 minutes! That’s what I call a week night meal!

All in all – week 2 went amazing. So far I’m digging this. Of course there are nights when I think a nice glass of wine would really compliment my meal, but I am also enjoying life with no alcohol. My sleep is certainly improved without the sugar peeks and crashes.

Finally on April 14th I was hungry for breakfast, which I never am… so that was pleasant. I’m thinking my cortisol levels are finally normalizing.

I tried my first two Lara Bars in life. Cashew Cookie, which was okay, and Carrot Cake which was much better and tastier. In the evening before bed while watching shows sometimes I have a little bowl of cashews, blackberries and apple slices. I think that also has been helping me too!

Excited for the Tiger Blood now!

Tiger

Whole30 – Week 1

Apr 7, 2016

So! I’ve been on Whole30 for an entire week!

The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom

So far so good! I didn’t want to post prior to my one week milestone, or announce to anyone besides my husband really that I was going to do Whole30 during the month of April. Firstly… I didn’t want the pressure, and I wanted to make sure that I would actually make it a whole week!

My friend Abbey lent me her book, “It Starts with Food“, by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig, which is the axel of my eating style for the next month. Eventually I’d like to get the book that is pictured above, but there are so many resources available on the internet (especially Pinterest).

The lead up I say would have to be the worst! I agonized for months about this – debating if I should or should not… after all my other co-worker eats whatever she wants and is really not much younger than I am, and is in fabulous shape! (Although she runs about 20-25 miles per week)…. but I needed a slap in the face wake up style approach to eating!

After two of my co-workers did Whole30 back in February and March I knew April would be my best shot to really give this a go and be ultimately successful!

I was worried though that I wouldn’t be able to give up my evening wine, or easy week night evening ingredients that are laced with sugar and potentially harmful chemicals. But its 30 days right? I can suck it up for THIRTY DAYS!

My co-worker Sara (a former Whole30 Survivor and champ) was headed to Trader Joes on Thursday March 31, so I told her if she see’s this awesome cauliflower rice (which is notoriously out of stock at the Shoreview, MN location) to pick me up a few bags!

I was in luck, and since it was only $1.99 I told her to get me 5 bags. Between mine and her own, she said she looked like a total addict at the checkout lane! I can imagine.

I decided to start on April 1 – which was a Friday – which seems like a weird day to start a diet/challenge, but I say – why save everything for Mondays? Any day is a good day for change – so I started on Friday April 1.

Afterwork I headed over to said Shoreview TJs and picked up some ingredients for the week, including Ghee!

Here’s what I ate:

April 1, 2016
Friday Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs & Black Coffee
Friday Lunch: Taco Salad
Friday Dinner: A spicy asian fusion – ground beef/pepper/onion/pineapple mix, over riced cauliflower.

Tonight was a little tricky! Tonight was my nieces play so I didn’t leave their city until 8:45pm and it’s a 20 minute ride home, so tonight I ate late!

When I arrived I had seen my daughter and husband had gotten Dominos pizza, and I LOVE pizza, but I forged ahead and kept on keeping on! I snapped a photo of my food because I thought it looked so yummy and posted it on Instragram… I guess the cats out of the bag!

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April 2, 2016
Saturday Breakfast: Mango Jerkey from Trader Joes, Cashews, strawberries & black coffee
Saturday Lunch: Left over ground beef/pepper/onion etc meal
Saturday Dinner: Easy Homestyle Meatloaf

I was at the SD Convention [Politics] in my district (I sound like I live in the Hunger Games) all day so I brought with a travel snacky type breakfast, and packed a thermos of my left over dinner from the night before for lunch, since I knew my options were going to be severely limited!

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April 3, 2016
Sunday Breakfast: Chicken Sausage/Peppers & Onions & Black Coffee
Sunday Lunch: Chicken Sausage, Peppers & Onions
Sunday Dinner: Hamburgers (Mine of course with a lettuce wrap for the bun)

Ran: 4.01 Miles

Hamburger

April 4, 2016
Monday Breakfast: Hamburger, mashed sweet potatoes & Black Coffee
Monday Lunch: Finished off the rest of my Friday dinner left overs
Monday Dinner: Thai Basil Chicken

ThaiBasilChicken

April 5, 2016
Tuesday Breakfast: Mixed Fruit, cashews, sweet potato & Black Coffee
Tuesday Lunch: Chicken, Strawberry & Almond Salad
Tuesday Dinner: Since it was Taco Tuesday – I kept things mostly the same for my family, but just stocked up on Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Jalapeno, Cilantro, and homemade salsa.

Ran: 3.15 Miles

Tacos

Ran with co-workers over lunch! This was much needed. Though it was only 35 degrees and raining I went out in shorts anyways, and got some more mileage tucked under my belt!

Stayed up a little later tonight to prep a few things (Mini Fritatas and Spaghetti Squash) for the week!

April 6, 2016
Wednesday Breakfast: Mini Fritatas & Black Coffee
Wednesday Lunch: The most AMAZING spicy spagetti squash rosa
Wednesday Dinner: More Spaghetti Squash Rosa

I can’t even begin to explain how delicious my meals were today!

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April 7, 2016
Thursday Breakfast: Mini Fritatas & Black Coffee
Thursday Lunch: Meatloaf & fingerling potatoes
Thursday Dinner: Zoodle Bolognese

Ran: 3.15 Miles

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Thus far – I’m doing pretty good! I’ve only gotten hangry once, when my lunch was lacking seriously needed protien, but otherwise I am thriving so far!

So cheers [with my REI stainless steel cup full of ice water] to good health, and 24 days to go, perhaps next week I’ll make some stews for the weekend since its supposed to be chilly, and grill during the week since the weather should be a pinch warmer!