Day 22

Breakfast was the usual.

Lunch had to be quick, so I sliced a cucumber in half, lengthwise, and then in half again to make my sub "bun." I topped it with paleo mayo and turkey. Then I put the top on and scarfed it down.

Dinner was pesto chicken. I just grilled the chicken indoors. Then I added pesto over the top. On the side I served a simple salad with garlic lime dressing.

Day 21

We're heading out to an early Easter celebration this afternoon. I'm bringing BBQ RANCH SALAD.

It includes: green and red cabbage slaw, shredded carrots, crumbled bacon, broccoli slaw, and green onion. Normally it would have chili lime tortilla pieces as well but that's not whole 30 compliant.

The dressing is a mix of ranch and bbq sauce.
Here's how you make PALEO CHERRY BBQ SAUCE:

It's a pretty close take on Nom Nom Paleo's recipe found here: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/44473388426/smashed-steak-skewers-with-cherry-barbecue-sauce

 2 teaspoons ghee
½ cup minced shallot
1 garlic clove, minced
Saute until translucent.

Then add:
1 tablespoon tomato paste
¼ cup coconut aminos
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup apple juice
10 ounces frozen cherries, roughly chopped
and let bubble until slightly thickened.

Then use an immersion blender to make it smooth. Be really careful. It's like molten lava if you get it on you.

Mix that with your ranch and you've got your salad dressing.

Dinner was paleo bang bang shrimp. I found a lb of shrimp for $4.99 and only a crazy lady would pass that up. :) It's usually $9.99/lb.

Day 20

Day 20!?!? Wow!
Tomorrow will start the last week. I can't wait to use butter, cheese, and soy sauce again. Really.
It will also be interesting to see if my fridge clears out as we go back to our normal lower carb eating, because I've got to tell ya, my fridge is packed. The fruit and veg bins are full and there are leftovers, which are unheard of in this house. It's weird. I also use a lot of pans and plates. What the heck? Apparently cooking for every single meal really adds up.

The kids have done well with the transition. I thought getting them off of the morning bowl of cheerios would be hard, but it actually was not. The oldest is happy to eat berries with nuts, coconut flakes, and coconut milk. The youngest is fine with berries but not as fond of coconut, so she still prefers to have yogurt with her breakfast. Not a big deal to me, really, as long as they get some protein/fat. They're not big carb lover anyway, so I should have guessed they'd be fine cutting the less healthy options out. I've seen a bit of a difference in my oldest daughter's ability to calm herself down with the change in foods as well. She's a busy kid in general but would sometimes get so hyper and out of control that she couldn't calm herself down. It wasn't that she was having tantrums. More like she was bouncing off the walls with the inability to stop. I've seen more control in the past few weeks, so that's an interesting change. One I'd kind of hoped for but didn't expect. We'll see what the addition of Easter candy does for the poor kid.

Breakfast this morning was my usual. Coconut flakes with 1/2 a pink lady apple, 3 crushed almonds, cinnamon, and coconut milk, along with 2 eggs and a little over a cup of carrots. Add some black chai tea and my fish oil supplement and breakfast is complete.

I took a run after breakfast. It's still freezing here. Seriously, Mother Nature. What IS the deal? It was in the lower 30's but I'm so tired of running indoors, and my littlest is having a dramatic day for some reason, so I took the opportunity to do a quick 1/2 hour run The quiet streets and good music helped to make me feel a little more centered. :) I chose my hilly path and did a pretty good job boosting my confidence as I conquered the hills better than I'd expected. Sure my heart rate monitor was beeping at me like I might die from the number it was registering, but I knew better.  (Running indoors has made me weak.) lol! A great stretch and a hot shower to defrost afterward were just what I needed this morning. Ah serenity.

Lunch was a mish-mash of leftovers. I tossed two eggs into a hot pan and scrambled them up. Then I chopped and added about a cup of broccoli slaw (broccoli/cabbage/carrots). Then I tossed in some ground beef, onions, and coconut aminos. It was a play on fried rice, without any rice. Along with that, I took a 100 calorie packet of wholly guacamole and added a large tablespoon of pico de gallo to it. I ate the guac de Gallo (which literally means guac of rooster - strange) with carrot chips. Cucumber rounds might be good with it too. Very fresh. Incidentally, this is the first time I've made guacamole to eat on purpose. I've always hated avocados, but my sister in law made a really delicious version on our last vacation together and sold me on trying it again. Yum!

Dinner was just the the girls and me. They wanted hot dogs, so I went with it. Two applegate farms hot dogs with no nitrates, etc. Dang they're good. (says the hot dog hater. Apparently I just never had a good hot dog.) The guac was such a hit at lunch time that I tried it again for dinner with cucumber. I quickly switched back to carrots after the third cucumber. It wasn't the best pair. That's paleo ketchup and regular mustard there to keep my dogs company. I must say that I don't miss regular ketchup at all. The tomato paste/vinegar/spice mix is great.

Tomorrow we have an early Easter celebration at my Mom's house. I'm bringing a hearty salad so that, if nothing else, we'll be able to nosh on that.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. I'm hoping there isn't too much snow on the ground when I wake up. C'mon Mother Nature! Quit being an ice queen.

Day 19

Breakfast was nothing new.  :)

For lunch I made an awesome CAULIFLOWER FRIED RICE with my leftover cauli from last night. It was sooo good. It had bacon it it. Need I say more?

I popped 6 pices of bacon in the microwave and cooked them for 4 minutes.
Then I chopped up: 1/4 onion, a handful of broccoli slaw, a handful of frozen veggie quartet, a few green onions, garlic, and a little cilantro. (You can put any leftovers you like in there. It pretty much always tastes the same.)
I set out 2C of the leftover cauliflower rice, some coconut aminos (a sub for soy sauce), and some sesame oil.
In a separate bowl, mixed a capful of the sesame oil with two eggs and a little coconut aminos.
Then I added a tsp of coconut oil to a pan and cooked the onions and garlic until transparent.
Once the onions were done, I added the rest of the veggies and the cauliflower rice along with another tsp of coconut oil and a tsp of sesame oil.
Once those looked heated through, I pushed them to the side of the pan, added more coconut oil, and dropped in the egg.
I scrambled the egg and then mixed it in with the rest of the ingredients.
Next the bacon got dropped in and stirred to combine.
Then I added probably 2-3 tsp of coconut aminos to taste.
Done!

It was so tasty and satisfying. It didn't taste like diet food because of the bacon and it was nice and salty, so it felt like a splurge. There was no lingering cauliflowery taste at all and it really did feel like I was eating rice. The best part was that I didn't have to think about what veggies to pair with my proteins because they were already in it. score!

I was so happy with it that, in fact, it will be dinner also.  :) I'm also a big fan of this cauliflower rice. I think when I visit the grocery store tomorrow, I will buy two more heads and freeze the rice in serving size packages. I can make cauli breadstix with it, or fried rice, or any dish that requires a rice substitute really.  I think it will come in handy.

Happy Friday!

Day 18

Breakfast was the usual with a small bottle of Naked Berry Blast juice. I meant to have just a taste but it was sooo good. Of course that threw off my whole day as far as carbs go. Way too many carbs in that juice. I tried to be good the rest of the day.

Lunch was Jimmy John's unwich. For those who are unfamiliar with the awesomeness, it's a regular Jimmy Johns sub without bread, so they wrap my beef and veggies ( I added tomato and cucumber) up in a giant lettuce leaf. I can't have their mayo so I went with mustard instead. Yum! It's better with mayo and cheese. I won't lie, but it's not bad either.

Dinner was CHICKEN WITH RED CURRY SAUCE AND CAULIFLOWER RICE with green beans on the side.
First I made the cauli-rice. I chopped the head into smaller pieces and tossed them into the blender.
Then I added water - enough to cover the top of the cauliflower.
It took literally two short pulses and the cauliflower was perfect. Perfect!
When I do this in the food processer dry, I never get it right. There are big pieces left while others begin to puree, etc. This is so much easier!

I grilled the chicken breasts (1lb) and cut them into strips while the cauliflower was cooking in a large pan on medium heat. I strained the water out before putting it in the pan.
When the cauliflower was done, I added the chicken and red curry sauce. I didn't make the sauce. I actually bought it at Trader Joe's because I'd never had it before. This is a new flavor.

It tasted okay. I'm not big on cinnamon for savory dishes. It was also too hot for my taste. A touch of Frank's Red Hot is about my limit for spicy food. My husband had seconds though so it must not have been horrible.  :) He also mentioned that a curry is more like a soup and I should have added coconut milk at some point. ...Huh. Well maybe next time.

I had a bowl of chicken salad after my workout tonight. It had green onion, celery, onion powder (lots) and some paleo mayo in it. It sort of tasted like onion soup mix was in it. Sort of. At any rate, it was good and for some reason I was starving. I also ran for 35 minutes of pure indoor torture this morning before lunch. The only thing that kept me from dying of boredom was that I worked on a new breathing pattern based on an article I read, stating that basically you should breath in odd counts so you're not always stepping on the same foot when you breathe in/out. If you're curious - I know you're not - I settled on a 2:3 pattern. Two steps in. 3 out which is completely opposite of what most people do, but hey... I'm an individual. :)

Oh! And I lost another 2% of body fat this week. Heck yeah!

I'm off to check my brackets now. Go Louisville!

Cut it up

Add water to cover and pulse twice. Then strain.

Cook over medium high heat until dry

The finished product

 

 

 

 

 

 



Day 17

Same as always for breakfast :)

We had guests for lunch. They had chicken salad sandwiches with tortellini/tomato/cucumber/Italian Dressing salad, fruit salad and banana bread with peanut butter.
I had chicken mixed with paleo mayo and mustard along with a bowl of carrots and cucumbers. They were not jealous of my lunch, to say the least.

Dinner was a PIZZA BOWL and a side salad.Dinner was not Dutch Letters and Sinterklaus cookies from Jaarsema's bakery. But that would have been awesome!  :) We will surely enjoy the goodies that our guests so kindly brought us when the whole 30 is complete. Yum!

  For the pizza bowl, I just used leftover ground beef with onions, and added green pepper, some pizza seasoning, and paleo tomato sauce. (A little cheese would be nice here but... no.) The side salad came from a bag and I used my homemade vinegarette for dressing.

Honestly... I really don't look forward to feeding times. I can't even call them a meal because I feel like I'd enjoy a meal. This food isn't all that enjoyable. I'm tired of coming up with something to eat and having it taste so-so. I know we need to learn to "eat to live" and not live to eat though. Point taken.

Similarly, I have no desire to snack because, heck,  what would be tasty to eat as a snack anyway that involves protein and a copious amount of veggies? Not much.

Hopefully my attitude toward food will improve tomorrow. This must be an off day. lol
Now I'm off to snuggle those pastries into the deep freeze for another time.

Day 16

Breakfast was my Paleo apple pie breakfast. It was just okay. Not spectacular. I ended up adding 1/8 banana smooshed and 1tsp almond butter to it and the sweetness from the banana made it better. I'm really trying not to use too much banana. Too many carbs in it. I added the usual 2 eggs and carrots, and instead of my regular tea, I added lemon, cucumber, grated ginger, and a little mint to make "sassy water." Sassy water is meant to flush your system of leftover water and calm your stomach. I was UP a pound on the scale this morning. That's what spurred the sudden onset of sassy water mixing. To say I was angry would be an understatement. I'm fighting for every pound and my body has the audacity to GAIN a pound. You think I'm crazy, don't you? Yeah that's okay. I'm cool with it.

Lunch was leftover ground beef from last night in another burger salad. I used regular lettuce salad mix today and it was much improved.

Dinner cooked in the crockpot all day. I made COUNTRY STYLE BEEF RIBS WITH GARLIC CHILI RUB.
I lined the bottom of the crockpot with a medium onion, chopped.
Then I placed the beef on top of that and smothered it with a mixture of:
3oz tomato paste
1cup tomato sauce - paleo
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt
and a little bit of pureed pear for sweetness. 1/8 cup-ish.
I let that cook all day - 8 hours.
I didn't sear the meat first as the rub/sauce covers the meat anyway.

With our ribs I added GREEN BEANS WITH ORANGE.
I mixed the zest and juice of 1/2 mandarin orange, 1tsp olive oil, and 2tsp vinegar.
Then I segmented 2 oranges and set them aside.
Then I put coconut oil in a pan and set it to high heat.
When it started smoking, I added 1lb of green beans and let them get little black marks on them.
Then I cut the heat and added the juice and oranges, and tossed to coat.

The green beans were a HUGE hit with the girls and I really liked them as well. I've never prepared them this way but I anticipate I'll be asked to again.

After dinner, the husband came home and I left for bootcamp 10 minutes later. When I returned, the poor guy was down for the count with a stomach bug. So if you're keeping track, that's one major cold/flu, one heinous rash (that's still going strong), and now a stomach bug. The poor guy can't catch a break. This is the same guy who never, ever gets sick. If you've got any "get well" or "easier dieting" vibes, please send them to him. This seems like cruel and unusual punishment.

And with that, I've got to take my nasty magnesium and crash. I have early bootcamp tomorrow morning. (if I can walk - tonight was brutal on my legs)

Day 15

I had my regular breakfast today - coconut "cereal" with a few black berries and a side of eggs and carrots. I've got a new recipe in the slow cooker that I'm going to try for breakfast tomorrow. It's sort of  like apple pie filling.

PALEO APPLE PIE BREAKFAST

2 Apples, cored and chopped
1/2 c Shredded Coconut
1/4 c Coconut Milk
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tiny pinch of Salt
Toss all of that in the slow cooker and stir to coat. Turn it on low for 4-6 hours.
Top with extra coconut and crushed almonds or cashews.

I'll let you know how it turned out... tomorrow!


Lunch was Applegate Farms all beef organic Hot Dogs. I'm not big on hot dogs but these (I hate to admit) were delicious! I used my Paleo Ketchup and some mustard for dippers and made a quick carrot and cucumber salad with paleo ranch.
And... then I ate two more hot dogs, because that wasn't enough. I'm a little ashamed but they were crazy good.





Dinner was a paleo-ed version of a BIG MAC SALAD.
Obviously I can't have cheese so I browned some grass fed organic ground beef with onions and put that on a bed of cabbage slaw, kale, tomatoes, and half of a pickle, chopped finely.
Then I mixed paleo ketchup with a little mustard, and my paleo mayo to make Big Mac Sauce/1,000 Island Dressing. (You know that stuff in the bottle is just ketchup/mustard/mayo, right?)  The kids helped prep dinner and surprisingly they both loved the sauce. Glad to see them moving out of the ranch comfort zone.
The sauce went over the ground beef and that was that. Easy dinner for the girls and me.
The little ones aren't big on cabbage slaw, so we deconstructed their meal, but they liked it just the same. ...and yes that's Pirate Booty on their plates. And cheese. Color me jealous.  :) The salad really did taste like a big mac. I'd eat it again, but on a bed of normal iceburg lettuce, even if it's not as nutritious.

I kept my carbs and calories in check today, and I also worked out, so the scale should move again tomorrow. It didn't move at all this morning after my carbalicious day yesterday. I'm lucky to have it stay the same instead of bumping up, really. Here's hoping for continued fat loss tomorrow.

Day 14

Breakfast today was the usual paleo cereal. I've decided that I don't need the almond meal AND the coconut chips though, so I'll cut that back tomorrow. Looking at calorie totals and nutrition data, it was clear that both are high calorie food items and both are primarily fats, so having both is redundant and I don't need the added calories anymore. Coconut has good fats while almond isn't as good. It's not bad, just middle of the road in terms of good for you fats.  Today's breakfast topped out a little above 800 calories and all I added was a strip of bacon. (And 2 eggs, but I always eat those with it.)

Lunch was leftover no tortilla soup and a little salad made of cabbage slaw, kale, half a mandarin orange and my homemade vinegarette. One more bowl and I should have that soup gone. It's good but who wants to eat on it for a week? Not this girl.

Dinner was a new york strip steak topped with olive oil and garlic with roasted asparagus. My husband chose a ribeye. The kids shared my steak as well and ate their asparagus in addition to the fruit I gave them. My kids will take a steak over chicken any day. They were born with good taste. :). It was good to have asparagus in season again. Winter, out of season asparagus is no contest.

I think my husband is either still dealing with some sugar cravings or I didn't feed him enough tonight because he was wanting a smoothie after dinner. We made a banana, almond butter, and frozen blueberry shake. It was sooo good ( as are most things with a sugary bananas in them) but I'm sure I will pay for it on the scale tomorrow. I did run this morning, but really racked up the calories and carbs today. Way too many carbs in the fruit and I just could have made better food choices today. I forgot how carby tomatoes are at lunch. I'll do better tomorrow.

Two weeks down! We're half way. Actually we've decided that we will be done on the Friday before Easter. We have a party to attend that evening and it's not practical to keep to our whole 30 menu at Easter. So... 12 more days to go. I feel like I've learned some good eating habits that I'll carry with me even after this challenge. It's been a very positive experience so far. I've learned that its a lot easier to fill up on veggies than it is to fill up on more high calorie foods. Veg just satisfies faster than carbs do and they're more nourishing to the body, not to mention less calorie dense. I also learned that if I fill up with the right veggies and proteins, then I'm not tempted as much by treats. I will go back to using cheese and real butter, but I may look to other snacks as cheese six used to be my go- to snack. I'll cut down on the yogurts and beans without much difficulty going forward as well. 

Day 13

My husband was needing something sweet last night so I made him a banana, coconut milk, and almond butter shake. I had a bit and it was pretty good! Technically not approved. You're not supposed to drink you calories but the poor guy needed a treat. He battled an awful cold for the first week of the diet and now he's broken out in hives. We thought it was a Splenda allergy previously, but now that we can't have sweeteners, it's obviously not that. Apparently he's allergic to dieting. The poor guy. I told him he was off the hook, but he wants to continue until Easter.

Breakfast was on the run. I fried two eggs and ate them burrito style in the car on my way to my hair appointment. Highlights and grocery shopping seemed like a little vacation without the kiddos.

Lunch was late but I wasn't that hungry. We had Trader Joe's Kobe Beef Burgers with paleo ketchup and mustard. We had Kale Chips and carrots on the side. I made the Paleo Ketchup by mixing the following:

PALEO KETCHUP
6oz tomato paste
1tsp vinegar
a little onion powder
a little garlic powder
water to correct consistency
I microwaved it for 30 seconds, gave it a final mix, and set it out to cool before regrigerating it.

KALE CHIPS
Break the stems off the kale and cut into bite sized pieces.
Toss with oil and sprinkle liberally with salt.
If you think you added enough salt, add some more. Really.
Then Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. You want then good an crispy.

Both of my kids are good eaters but the littlest (or youngest, she isn't all that little compared to her sister) is a little more cautious about new foods. However, when my oldest told her that the kale chips were probably martian food, she couldn't resist. She ate half the pan herself. Score!!

Dinner was a SIRLOIN FILET WRAPPED IN BACON. I just brushed with olive oil, smeared with chopped garlic, and seared both sides before putting the pan in the oven for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees.
None of us were really all that hungry, since we'd eaten lunch late, so there were no veggies. (Shhhh, don't tell.) Instead we had a small bowl of berries with coconut milk cream.

It's interesting how our taste buds are changing in the absence of sugar and sweeteners. When we started this, the coconut milk tasted bland to me and I wouldn't have known it was made from coconut if the label didn't say. Same with coconut chips. Boring. Now, after two weeks, I can totally taste the sweetness and flavor of the natural coconut. Same with the strawberries that I put in our bowl. I thought they would be sour, being out of season and kind of crisp when I cut them, but they tasted fairly sweet.

Soon I'll be off to take my last shot of natural calm and settle in to watch a movie with the hubby. Cheers to lazy Saturdays.

Day 12

I had the usual for breakfast. Coconut "cereal." Lunch was FINALLY the last of the pizza casserole. Can I get a Hallelujah?
The kids begged for McD's so that's what they ate and honestly, knowing that cheating means I have to start over really keeps me from wanting to. I actually felt more badly about feeding crap to my kids while I ate nutritious food.

Dinner was a paleo take on bang bang shrimp. I sautéed 1lb of shrimp sprinkled with seasoned salt and garlic salt. While that was heating, I mixed my paleo mayo with hot sauce, and chopped some tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce, dividing them into two bowls. I drizzled two spoonfuls of the sauce over the salad and tossed the rest with the finished shrimp. I topped the salads with the shrimp, reserving some for the kids. They ate their salad and shrimp deconstructed like a lunchable. It was really good and probably one of the more flavorful recipes we've had so far. I'd eat that one even when I'm not on a diet.

After dinner I took my second dose of "natural calm" magnesium supplement and my third fish oil pill. That sounds pretty wacky, huh? It IS pretty wacky. The natural calm fizzes when you add water, just like alka seltzer. Nasty! The book recommends both though, so I quickly learned to add the minimum 2oz of water to it (via the kids' medicine cup) and toss it back like a shot. It's extremely citrusy/tangy. I had been taking magnesium in the pill form for a few months prior to the whole30. I've noticed that it makes a positive impact on my sleep, digestion, and well being. I feel more patient and less anxious when I take it. Being a rather shy person, I'll happily take something that reduces anxiety. lol! Even if it fizzes like a crazy witches brew.

Tomorrow is grocery shopping day which means I'd better go finalize our menu plan. We've got chicken, beef, and ribs in the deep freeze. Should be interesting. :)

Day 11

I have more coconut! That's what I had for breakfast with 2 eggs, carrots, and some chai tea.

Last night my husband bought some chocolate mint tea to try. It smelled really good. It tasted... Okay. He tried some chocolate Guayaki tea at work and really enjoyed it, so we were hoping this would be as good. It's nice for a change of pace. I drink iced tea all day, so a different flavor is good.

For lunch, I made a chicken salad lettuce wrap that I found the recipe for on Pinterest. It called for apples, chicken, red grapes, green onion, and peanut butter in a lettuce leaf. I didn't want all the sugar of 2 fruits, so I subbed cucumber for the apple. I obviously used almond butter as well. The verdict? It was awful. I won't put cucumber and lettuce together again. Yuck.

Dinner was baked cod. I put ghee, lemon juice, and chives in the bottom of a baking dish. Topped that with the cod, and slathered Dijon mustard all over the fish. I topped the fish with crushed almonds and baked at 350 for 25 minutes. I'm not a fish fan. My husband challenged me to cook and eat a new fish. That's how tonight's dinner came about. It was pretty good though and not too fishy. Salmon is tastier but cod was okay too. I do miss real butter and Worcestershire sauce though. That's my favorite way to cook fish. Yum!

Last night my husband and I were talking about how we don't snack before bed anymore. He said, "I might go get a snack if we could have a cookie or something tasty. Knowing that nothing is going to taste all that exciting though, I'm fine to do without." I think he makes an excellent point. We weren't snacking because we were hungry. It was just a habit or a "want" for something pleasing to the palate.
Speaking of treats, I could really go for a brownie. In fact we went on to fantasize about the perfect treat when we're done with this. (Which is not the proper intent, of the program, but it is what it is.) Brownies with peanut butter cup ice cream and some caramel would be in order. Holy yum! For now, it remains a dream though. On to day 12. Three days until half way. :)

Day 10

Today I got up early and headed to bootcamp. My husband plays basketball on Wednesday nights so I either do a later bootcamp class or an early morning one. I grabbed a banana before I left but didn't have any protein or veg which is against the rules. Hopefully it didn't spike my blood sugar too much since I more than worked off the calories of that banana. (400+ calories).

Breakfast was apple, green bean, sausage, bacon, chicken, and egg hash. Very colorful and filling. Not necessarily satisfying. Maybe with more bacon. ;) Its going to take more than 30 days for me to learn that i need to eat for nourishment, rather than enjoyment.

Lunch was leftover spaghetti squash pizza casserole. Will I ever see the bottom of that storage container? It's the casserole that never ends. You should have seen the monster spaghetti squash it started from.

My husband came home with M&M cookies tonight. Suuuuper yummy looking. ::sigh :: We gave one to each of our girls after dinner and hid the rest deep in the deep freeze. Along with the thin mints.

Dinner was chicken with tomato basil sauce. I found some marinated roasted tomatoes on the olive bar at whole foods and had to have them. They went into this dinner. If you're looking for the recipe, we ate it last week and I listed it there. It's really good! On the side we had a giant broccoli, cauliflower, almond, green onion and carrot salad. I used my sweet salad dressing of equal parts puréed raspberry, vinegar, and light tasting olive oil.

I ate just over 1,000 calories today, but never felt hungry. My carbs were in range but higher at just under 80g. That was due to the apple and green beans with breakfast and the spaghetti squash with lunch. While all of those things are healthy and approved choices, I would benefit from eating less spaghetti squash based foods and less fruit. Oh and that banana, weighing in at 40g of carbs on its own (half of my total carb intake) certainly did not help. That was probably the single biggest culprit of my high carbs today.

Tomorrow I will start my vitamin regimen. My "natural calm" magnesium supplement arrived along with my fish oil supplements. Both are recommended on the whole 30 plan. Hopefully the added magnesium will help me sleep better. I saw every hour again last night. Ugh. I had to order both vitamins online simply because I'm not interested in shopping multiple places trying to find compliant vitamins. I can't believe all of the extra crap they put in vitamins. I swear soy is in almost everything we eat (extra estrogen, anyone?) and sugar can be found in the oddest places as well.

The kids and I hit the grocery store today for a quick maintenance shop. I've got my coconut flakes refilled so guess what's for breakfast tomorrow. I'm becoming highly predictable. :)

Day 9

Breakfast was my paleo cereal with 2 eggs. We're out of coconut flakes, so tomorrow will be different. :)

Lunch was the last cilantro lime chicken patty and a mix of raw carrot and cucumber.

We had apples with fresh ground almond butter for afternoon snack. Whole foods and our local grocery store both have machines that do this. I needed a protein source to add, so I picked up a chicken packet from my premade stash. I'm kind of tired of plain chicken, and had some almond butter left, so I dunked my chicken in it. It was really good! Since there's no sugar in it, it pairs especially well, like peanut sauce or like breading in almond meal, which we've done many times before on our low carb diet. I think I have a new go- to snack.

Dinner will be fast paleo's Bacon Chili. I followed the recipe pretty closely. I just used leftover London broil instead of ground beef.

I'll have some protein after bootcamp tonight. Probably deli turkey and mustard. Then that'll be a wrap. The fridge is closed until morning.

Day 8

It feels like such an accomplishment to write "day 8." One week down. Three to go. I do miss regular food. Normal stuff is so much easier to prepare on a whim. Maybe a saving grace for me is that I'm a menu planner. If left to my own devices at 5pm I might crack. Luckily I have my handy dandy list to bail me out.

I've developed a few favorites. Namely the paleo cereal with coconut flakes, the milk, almond meal, nuts and fruit. That's what I had again this morning.

I've also learned to tolerate leftovers. Normally my husband won't eat leftovers so I cook what we'll eat. Now I make extra for me to eat at lunch time so I don't have to come up with an approved meal idea.

Lunch today was leftover "No tortilla" Soup. Here's that recipe from everyday paleo: http://everydaypaleo.com/caldo-de-pollo/

Dinner was fajita filling again as we had beef to use up.

Out of curiosity I also tested my body fat percentage at bootcamp tonight. (By the way, I totally recommend boot camp or crossfit as a compliment to a running routine. It has made me so strong and it's a lot of fun. ) Anyway, I'm down 5lbs and 2% body fat in one week. I know it won't continue at that pace but I'm really motivated by the stats.

That pretty much wraps up the day. We're having chili tomorrow. ...Okay, it's beef and some tomato, but chili sounds more delicious so "chili" it is. :)

Day 7

Breakfast was paleo cereal. Almonds, apple, almond meal, coconut flakes, and coconut milk.

Lunch was "no tortilla soup". I used the immersion blender to shred the chicken and thicken it up a bit. It was really good. I found the recipe on Pinterest.

Dinner (almost forgot to take a pic) was ribeye with garlic and rosemary, mashed garlic cauliflower, and salad.

I'm craving fast food today but had no problems passing on cake and ice cream at a birthday party. One week down. Three more to go.

Day 5

Breakfast was the same as yesterday. A pumpkin smoothie and eggs.

For lunch, the girls were hungry for Jimmy Johns, so I had a roast beef and tomato unwich (rolled in a lettuce leaf instead of their really yummy bread) with mustard, no mayo or cheese. I'm no stranger to the unwich, but I did miss the mayo and cheese. I had unsweetened tea for my drink.

I made a batch of kale chips to munch on in the afternoon, but the kids devoured them the second I turned my back, so no picture. :). Just cover kale in oil, salt heavily, and bake at 350 for 12 minutes or until they're crispy and minutes from bursting into flames.

The girls and I were on our own for dinner. Normally I'd order out or take the girls out. (That's still cool when you're 5 and 3.) Instead, they got spaghetti and meatballs and I made beef fajitas with a side salad.

I used leftover beef from last night, a frozen pepper trio, and salsa, along with some cumin, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic salt. I was actually shocked at how good it was. I'm never buying taco seasoning again.
I also created a salad dressing using equal parts of fruit preserves (it's only fruit, nothing added) regular vinegar, and olive oil. It was so good! I kind of wanted to lick the plate as it was the only truly sweet taste I'd had all week.

I'm down 4.8lbs after 5 days. Hopefully that's a trend that continues.

Day 6

I forgot to eat breakfast this morning. Neither my husband nor I could bear another egg, so we intended to do a paleo pancake after I returned from the grocery store. I took quite a while though and it was nearly lunch time by the time I got back.

Lunch was pizza casserole. I browned some clean lean ground beef with onions and garlic. Then I added Italian seasonings and seasoned salt. After that I added a can of diced Tomatoes and paleo tomato sauce. Once it was bubbly I added spaghetti squash and pepperoni. It was really good!

I ran outside this afternoon (in the rain) and needed some carbs, so I made a snack of Coconut milk, coconut flakes,gogi berries, almonds, and a quarter of a banana all mixed together. Not bad considering I don't love coconut.

Dinner was chili lime chicken burgers wrapped in a lettuce leaf, with cinnamon sweet potatoes, red peppers and onions.

For dessert I made paleo ice cream by blending 3 frozen bananas, a can of chilled coconut milk, and cinnamon. I divided the mix among 4 ramekins and popped then into the freezer until after dinner. It was a little piece of heaven and, while it was technically allowed and we did eat it along with veg and protein, it still felt like a bit of a splurge. I had about 79g of carb today which is more than most of the other days. It was a needed treat though because I definitely looked longingly at the bottles of Pepsi in the store today.

Day 4

Breakfast was a pumpkin smoothie with two eggs fried in coconut oil.
I ended up adding 1/4 of a banana to the recipe because the peach was not sweet enough.

Lunch was a quick egg scramble.
I put 1/4c spaghetti squash in the pan with ghee and crisped it up like buttery hash browns. Then I added Canadian bacon, 2 eggs, spinach, and some garlic and onion powder.

Dinner was a roast that I rubbed with garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. It was also salted with seasoned salt. I roasted a batch of Ina Garten's broccoli (minus the parm) and added some beans.

Day 3

I slept really poorly last night. Normally I would have blamed it on too much caffeine, but I didn't have any. I think I saw every hour and just couldn't turn my brain off. It might be a long day.

I gave the pumpkin pancakes one more try this morning.
...I'm giving up on pancakes.
I'm fine with eggs, canadian bacon, and veggies so I might as well save the time and frustration. :)

I do need to figure out what to do with the last cup of pumpkin puree though, so if anyone has ideas, let me know. I can't add sugar, sweetener, dairy, or grains. No protein powder. No soy. I can use coconut milk and almond flour though. And spices.

This is my adaptation of a smoothie  recipe I found on Pinterest. Maybe I'll try it tomorrow:

2/3 cup water or coconut milk (plus more if you want to thin it out)

1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (roasted or canned)

1 ripe banana or peach

1 Tbsp almond meal

1 Tbsp almond butter

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

¼ tsp cinnamon

I also forgot to mention that on day 1 I tried cinnamon carrots. They were pretty good. I've never been a fan of cooked carrots, but roasting brought out their sweetness and cooking the life out of them gave them a nice crunch.

CINNAMON CARROTS

• slice 1 carrot VERY thinly - try to get them all equally thin
• toss the rounds with coconut oil
• put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and lay carrots out in a single layer
• sprinkle with cinnamon - as much as you like
• bake at 425* for as long as it takes to crisp them up - about 12-ish or more if they're thicker.

You can play around with other spices too, I'm sure.

Lunch was carrots (shocker! Am I turning orange yet?) and APPLE CHICKEN SALAD.

I chopped up one of my 5oz portions of chicken strips and added 1/2 a diced apple, 1/2 a green onion, diced, and a mixture of Paleo Mayo and Mustard.
I meant to use red grapes but the kiddos got to them first and polished them off. I also meant to put almonds in there but... I forgot. I do miss the blue cheese that I normally put in this mix but I'll survive without it. It was still good.


My youngest and I went to the grocery store and got some fun items. They have a machine that makes fresh ground almond butter for you. We both got a kick out of it. It's the little things...  I also picked up some strawberry sauce in the health market. The ingredients are strawberries and concentrated grape juice. I intend to create a vinegarette with it for salads or maybe I'll just use it as it is over a chicken salad. I stocked up on some more organic, grass fed beef and also got some almonds and cashews. I intended to get some ready made meatballs in the meat case but quickly remembered that they add bread crumbs. Can't have that. I really wanted to make meat sauce with tonight's dinner, but my oldest daughter insists that we have meatballs instead. It would have been easier to buy them already made, but I will make the meatballs out of love for that kid.  ;)

Dinner was a little labor intensive. We had
SPAGHETTI SQUASH WITH PALEO MEATBALLS AND TOMATO BASIL SAUCE.
(and no carrots - whew!)

I roasted the spaghetti squash for 45 minutes at 375 degrees with a little water in the bottom of the pan.

For the meatballs, I squished together:
1lb grass fed, organic blah blah blah ground beef
1 small grated onion
2cloves of garlic
1tsp seasoned salt
1tsp garlic powder
1tsp Italian Seasoning
(and I really wanted to use worchestershire sauce but can't)
and baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes as soon as the squash came out.
It needed to cool a bit before I could scrape out the "spaghetti" anyway.

For the sauce, I carmelized 1/4 onion to a really nice brown (to add sweetness since we can't have sugar.) Then I tossed in some diced up Roma tomatoes, salt, olive oil, garlic, pepper, dried basil and dried oregano. I let it simmer for a bit and then ran the immersion blender through it.

Assemble and enjoy your hard work.
It tasted good. It was not spaghetti but it was good enough.