W30 day 25

Today was a great day. We took a trip to St Adolphe d'howard (greatest town name ever) to go to their municipal beach  on a beautiful lake. Picnic time!

Meal 1

But first, breakfast. I whipped up some zucchini fritters using leftover zoodles, eggs, some almond meal and a pinch of baking powder. For spices I used homemade pesto, salt and pepper, chilli flakes and Italian spice mix. Cooked them in olive oil. Such a great change from straight up eggs. Crispy prosciutto and banana almond butter as sides.

Meal 2

Talk about dedication. We roasted a chicken *after* dinner to have food to eat on the picnic. Beet slaw, spinach, chicken and olives. With this I had some grapes, cherry tomatoes and Perrier. Ooh la la.

The view before the sun came out.

Meal 3

I'm on a cooking roll now on day 25. I look forward to cooking, and luckily for me my partner gives me time to cook and prep by looking after our toddler. I made kofta with cauliflower rice and salad and tahini sauce. I nailed both the sauce and the rice so let me just document this for further use.

Tahini sauce:

In food processor put:

3 big plops tahini

2 cloves garlic

Juice of 1 lime

2 long glugs evoo (3T?)

Big splash coconut milk from can (4T?)

Salt

Pepper

1T cumin 

Blitz all ingredients except olive oil. Slowly  drizzle olive oil while whizzing.

Cauliflower rice

I cooked raw frozen grated cauliflower by placing it in a frying pan with oil I used to cook kofta in. Added salt and pepper, cumin, a splash of apple cider vinegar, and lots of paprika, splash of coconut aminos near the end. Cooked on medium high to burn off the ice water. I think the acv is the key to removing the farty cauliflower-ness that is usually a bit of a turn off.

So there you have it. I have 5 days left. I feel great. No pain, amazing energy and I feel like my body is functioning properly for the first time in my adult life. I don't care about the food I've cut out, except wine. That will be my first re-intro on Sunday. Woohoo! Looking forward to seeing how much weight I lost. I know I lost lots in the face when I see myself in photos. Hopefully after re-intro I'll do a few more rounds of whole30 until I fit into my clothes.

W30 day 24

Man this day was long! I can't think of any reason why except that my toddler is teething and I went 2 hours without eating upon waking. Oh and pms. Ugh.

Meal 1

Husband cooked breakfast, yay! I had baby duty. Pesto eggs--pretty great, a must try. Pork shoulder crisped up in coconut oil, avocado for fat and sweet pot. Amazing.

A tasty meal when my kid finally napped. Shepherds pie with beet slaw and roasted cashews and coconut for the fat. 

Meal 3

I wasn't hungry for this meal even though I went 6 hours without eating. Oh, I did have a coffee snack: coffee with coconut milk and some cocoa powder shaken with ice. The fat from the milk must have held me. Anyway, I couldn't finish this meal. Zucchini noodles with organic pork and beef sauce, made with my homemade roasted tomatoes. Olives for fat.

Feeling a little bummed today becuase the pms is making me look bloated and pregnant. And I'm sooooo tired. Where did my tiger blood go? 

Tomorrow should be fun though, going to a village to swim in a lake! Roasted a chicken after dinner to have food to eat for our picnic lunch. I'm finding that meals are easy to plan since I have a whole30 template I follow. 

W30 day 23

Yeah, tiger blood in the house. Lots of energy. What did I do with it? I did two back to back exercise classes and then came home, made lunch and then danced around the living room for 10 minutes with my 22lb dance partner.

Meal 1

This was maybe the best breakfast I have had on whole30. Kalua pork on plate made guacamole (why was I dirtying a bowl all these years!), hard boiled eggs and sweet potatoes cooked in coconut oil.

Meal 2

More Kalua pork "tacos" with lettuce, salsa and guac. It looked like a lot of food but wasn't enough after working out for 2 hours. 

So I had shepherds pie after. Yum!

I tried a new vegetable today, jicama. Cut it into "chips" raw to put the pork and guac on it. Shredded it into a beet and carrot and jicama salad as well. I was still hungry after this so I had more pork.

Here's some info on jicama pilfered from the internets:

Low in calories but high in a few vital nutrients, jicama is a bit of a contradiction when it comes to its starch content. It provides one-quarter of what's needed daily in fiber per serving. But not just any fiber - jicama's fiber is infused with oligofructose inulin, which has zero calories and doesn't metabolize in the body. Inulin, a fructan, promotes bone health by enhancing absorption of calcium from other foods, protecting against osteoporosis. Inulin has a prebiotic role in the intestine – it promotes “good” bacteria growth that maintains both a healthy colon and balanced immunity. Because it has a very low glycemic index, jicama is a great food for diabetics, and low in calories for those interested in weight reduction.

Jicama is also an excellent source of fiber and vitamin C - 44% of the daily value per serving - and a powerful antioxidant that zaps free radicals to protect against cancer, inflammation, viral cough, cold, and infections.

Besides healthy amounts of potassium, this little powerhouse can help promote heart health, since high-potassium vegetables and fruit are linked to lower risks of heart disease. Jicama contains important vitamins like folates, riboflavin, pyridoxine, pantothenic acid, and thiamin, and the minerals magnesium, copper, iron, and manganese. Like potatoes, they should be used sparingly due to the high carbohydrates content.

So nice to try something new! Tastes like a cross between an apple, potatoes, and peas.

I can't believe that this time next week I'll be on my last day. I've got to research the reintegration process. Hoping I can start with wine!

W30 day 22

Today was filled with delicious meals! I'm also happy because I got to prep a lot of food! I have Nom Nom Paleo's famous kalua pork in the slow cooker, chopped fresh papaya, cooked ground beef and pork and the freezer is full of organic meat after a trip to the grocery store.

Meal 1

Husband cooked breakfast this morning and I slept in until almost 10. Happy days! Baby ate all my grapes and I gave my smoked salmon to Matt. We were full for hours after this!

Meal 2

Yummy tuna salad meal with olives as fat.  Loving the albacore tuna in olive oil. So much better than in water!

Meal 3

I made a cottage pie with ground pork and beef with onion, celery and carrot. The key to the meat: meat pie spice and sage. I did half yams half yellow potatoes for the topping. It was my first time making dairy free mash and I really like it! Used garlic powder, olive oil, and coconut milk with salt and pepper. It was fab!  Salad on the side and evoo and avocado as my fat.

I'm really inspired by cooking and I honestly don't mind it as long as I find the time to prep. I'm trying to cook smart by doubling portions, just thinking ahead, and having quick things like sausages at the ready.

Another body change is that friends noticed weight loss.... And I have collar bones again! I am definitely not stopping after day 30. I will reintroduce foods but I want to take it up until the end of the year so that I can achieve my goal of fitting in my pre pregnancy clothes.

W30 day 21

Three whole weeks. It is getting easier as routines become habits. Like getting up in the morning and starting to chop veggies right away. Taking stock of what's in the fridge and replenishing veggies. Chopping, prepping, cleaning. It's all becoming the new normal. And this is coming from someone who likes to cook! This program challenges in that you learn to prep and cook while thinking outside the box. Don't get me wrong, you can still have some traditional comfort meals like shepherds pie, bean-less chill etc but overall this way of eating deviates greatly from the S.A.D. (Standard American diet). 

Meal 1

Standard egg pie with red pepper, onion and tonnes of chopped basil (all that green stuff is basil). Half a banana with almond butter and homemade baba ganoush. My son adored the baba ganoush, he must have eaten a cup of it throughout the day. The kid loves cumin!

Meal 2

Leftover chicken cacciatore with zoodles and cukes with baba. My problem here is that I did not add a fat (something I still struggle with--I'm jus not used to adding fat to cooked food!). As a result I was very hungry about 2 hours later. I held off until dinner.

Meal 3

Still steaming hot in the pic! Shrimp cooked in coconut oil with homemade cashew pesto, a splash of coconut milk, arugula and zoodles. Cauliflower rice made with coconut aminos, and a load of turmeric and shredded coconut as my fat. Handful of grapes with this.

I feel like before whole30 I functioned at 50% capacity and now I'm wholly functioning, mentally, physically and even emotionally. I even noticed and relished the feeling of being able to curl up around myself when sitting on the couch. Three weeks ago I would have dreaded sitting down because of the pain and would have carefully maneuvered myself in and out of position. How sad! How great that I can move again. Thank you healthy food for healing me!

W30 day 20

The countdown begins! I can see the finish line and I can see changes with my body. Clothes are looser, though I need to make a bigger effort to drink water as I think I'm retaining some since my rings are tight still. Today was a good day with great food!

Meal 1

Dinner leftovers for breakfast, why not?

Meal 2

Made shakshuka again since it was so delicious yesterday. Made with the tomatoes I roasted and homemade pesto. I ended up with the equivalent of over a dozen big cans of tomatoes from my 10lbs of roasted tomatoes, all for 8 bucks! So awesome. I'll be doing another run of roasted tomatoes at the end of September for sure.

Meal 3

Oh my gah this meal was soooo good! Chicken cacciatore with zucchini noodles and olives. The key was the roasted tomatoes and a splash of coconut milk in the sauce. I still can't get over how coconut milk doesn't retain its coconut taste in savoury dishes.

I have to say I'm really enjoying cooking again on this cleanse and I'm glad I am making the time to prep real food instead of reaching for something junky and quick.

Tomorrow marks 3 weeks! Yeah!!

W30 day 19

Tomorrow I get to start counting down! Woohoo! And tiger blood is here for sure. I was busy all day and never felt tired. I was also up for 2 hours in the middle of the night with a screaming baby with no ill effects of fatigue, other than grogginess from the deep sleep I fall into now!

Meal 1

I tried to make breakfast within the first hour of waking and I almost got there! A half hour late. It's hard to stay on schedule with a toddler around. This is chorizo with red peppers sautéed in coconut oil with eggs and avocado on top. Very very good.

Meal 2

I went to jt market and bought a bushel of tomatoes (about 10 lbs) to roast up for sauces. When a few batches were done I made shakshuka by adding in a bit of sausage to the tomatoes then fried some eggs, finishing them under the broiler. I added some arugula and homemade cashew pesto. Such a nice change.

Meal 3

Made a random slow cooker pork stew. I used whatever I had in the fridge: carrots, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, celery...I used homemade chicken stock and coconut milk for the base. The coconut milk flavour completely disappeared, to my surprise.

Prep is getting easier since I instinctively know what to reach for and how to compose my meals. Always looking to add a fat! That's been the biggest change--the need to add fat to every meal. Sometimes it's an avocado, other times coconut flakes, olives, etc.

There you have it, a day of wonderful and delicious meals. I love how I don't feel the need to stuff myself and I can go a long time without eating. I ate at 930, 2, 730. I could have never done 5 hours without food before, since I was constantly hungry, even as I was finishing eating! 

W30 day 18

Not many photos today. But an awesome Non Scale Victory: I AM PAIN FREE! I have had lower back pain for 13 months straight. Taking Motrin every day, massages 2x a month and frequent osteopath visits. Nothing helped for more than 24hrs. I'm so happy to be living without pain! I feel amazing!

Meal 1 

Amazingly I got to sleep in until almost 10 today so breakfast was late. I ran to the store to get plantains and compliant garlic sausage. Fried those up with olive oil and had it on mixed greens with avocado.

Meal 2

I wasn't hungry for lunch and was in the car during that time so I had a handful of almonds and a date and coconut chew.

Meal 3

Finally home and taking photos again! A replay of breakfast plus red pepper.

Day 19 tomorrow! I'll be able to start counting down. The only thing I hope to enjoy again is some wine and some dark chocolate! In the meantime I bought some chocolate orange tea to tie me over. 

If you are feeling in pain, sluggish, sore or just looking to find out how optimally your body can function, give Whole30 a try. It is such a good experiment to see how great you can feel. For example, I always thought I slept well but now when I fall asleep barely anything wakes me up. You know how you never seem to sleep as well when not in your own bed? I've found I can sleep well anywhere and I wake up refreshed.

W30 day 17

Hardly any photos today...I'm out of the routine but looking forward to getting home to get back to normal. Still managed to stay on whole30 without any cheating while everyone at junk and drank booze.

Meal 1

Breakfast was the same as yesterday...leftover lunch salad with chicken. I discovered cocoa chai teas and have been enjoying that too.

Meal 2

Lunch was a salad with leftover Italian sausages and meatballs.

Meal 3

Roast pork dinner! Dry rubbed with cumin and all sorts of yummy Cajun spices. Potatoes and roasted cauliflower and salad. Very satisfying!

W30 day 16

Forgot to post yesterday! I only have one photo--oops!

Meal 1

Friday's uneaten lunch was breakfast yesterday. Baked chicken thighs with curry mustard rub, avocado, olives and  balsamic evoo dressing.

Meal 2

I had lunch with the girls and we ate at The Works in Ottawa which went really well. They have a very transparent approach to their menu, which I was able to peruse beforehand online in order to slect a compliant meal. I had a big salad with a burger patty and brought my own dressing. So good!

Meal 3

Thus one was a little tough as everyone ate homemade pizza (a favourite of mine in the past). It's not really that I wanted to eat it, it's that the sweet, yeasty smell of it baking turned my stomach. 

I ate compliant sausages on the bbq and salad. It was good!

Staying with family for one more day and night and I hope I can find things to eat! 

W30 day 15

Woohoo! Half way mark! Still feeling good. Took a little more planning today as we're visiting family out of town.

Meal 1

Oh man, we discovered how awesomely crispy shredded sweet potato can get. It was soooooo goooood. Leftover meatballs, a fried egg and some fruit and far. Done!

Meal 2

Was so full from fried sweet potatoes that I had a handful of almonds and an egg muffin for lunch while driving to our destination.

Meal 3

Impressively large plate of Greek bbq chicken, salad, green beans and potato wedges. Kombucha on the side.

Tomorrow will be the first time I eat out I two weeks. I've planned out what I'll eat at the restaurant for lunch. Hopefully it all works out and tastes good!

W30 day 14

Here's a non scale victory! My face deflated. See ya never, double chin!

I posted these pics on a fb w30 group and got lots of likes and encouraging comments. Feels great!

Meal 1

So happy to have some different flavours with the egg muffins. So savoury and doesn't scream egg right at your tastbuds. My son and I shared this meal. He loves whole30 too!

Meal 2

I had lunch at a friend's house and she was gracious enough to ask lots of questions to see if everything she was preparing was compliant. What a sweetheart! We had a big salad with pan fried chicken, with watermelon.

Meal 3

Dinner was fantastic! Fried plantains with yellow pepper and onion in Palm oil, pork and apple meatballs with my bbq sauce and some baby kale and arugula with balsamic and evoo. What a difference a 10$ vinegar makes to a salad. Scrumptious and worth spending on since now we're not spending 20-40$ a week on booze. 

Tomorrow I'll be half way through this eating challenge. I've decided to keep blogging through the 16 day reintroduction phase to keep a sort of food journal documenting my body's reactions to possibly sensitive foods. Then, once I know what agrees with my body in terms of not causing bloating, weight gain or cravings, I will eat 7 days whole30 then one day "regular" eating. I suspect regular to me will look very different than it did before whole30.

W30 day 13

Yeah, day 13!  I feel freaking fantastic. Only by eating clean could I achieve all that I do during the day and still have energy to exercise in the evening! Pretty cool.

Meal 1

Switched it up with some smoked salmon. I don't even need to describe anything else as this meal is hella redundant.

Meal 2

Marinated veg, tuna in olive oil, baby kale and an egg muffin I made to combat egg fatigue. It contains caramelized onions, spinach and crispy prosciutto. Very savoury and hardly tastes of egg. Win!

Meal 3

Leftovers, yay! It is a relief not to cook. Cabbage slop from yesterday and half an avocado.

Now I am hungry from exercising so I will eat some toasted coconut flakes and some nuts.

I can't wait until Tiger Blood kicks in. According to W30 it is when the body functions at its most optimal point. I've had this feeling before from doing cleanses and I call it "cleanse euphoria". It's like your body start to run on all cylinders and life seems so beautiful. I've also attained this through yoga, meditation, and exercise. If this isn't Tiger blood, when it finally kicks in I'll have so much energy I won't know what to do with myself. 

W30 day 12

Twelve days sounds like a lot of days to me. I have to admit I cheated today...I looked at the scale. I don't know why I did it, but I wanted to know what my body changes amounted to in weight form. I don't think the weight matters so I won't post it now. I am glad I didn't feel "proud" of the number because this way of eating is so much more than a number. I felt that the number represented change though, and that is a good thing!

Another thing that happened was an accidental cheat. I grabbed Matt's coffee cup by accident and drank maybe half a cup, quarter cup of coffee with cream, thinking it was coconut milk. I don't know if at the end of these 30 days I'll be more tolerant to dairy, but it caused me some uncomfortable bathroom situations. I felt all watery inside, ugh!

On that disgusting note, let's have a look at food.

Meal 1

Egg pie with kale, green onion, tomatoes, basil, yellow pepper and salami. Cabbage slaw and a side of watermelon. Officially sick of eggs.

Meal 2

A bit of a repeat of meal 1 plus shredded chicken. I notice my meals are getting smaller but I'm staying full. Technically I guess I need less food now that I have shed some pounds.

Meal 3

Affectionately know as "cabbage slop" in our house, it's basically a deconstructed cabbage roll. Google it. Make it. Love it. It's a hit around here! Baby was smacking his lips and demanding more and husband was saying how much he had missed this dish. I used to make it a lot when I was eating low carb.

So there you have it! A couple of cheats, getting back on the wagon and going to continue for another 18 days, if not longer! 

W30 day 11

Hit the sweet spot today. No kill all the things, no irritation. Phew! A nice break.

Meal 1

Husband made breakfast this morning at a decent hour. I also ate 1/4 of banana with 1 tablespoon almond butter and put coconut milk in my coffee so that helped tie me over and keep the hulk at bay.

Meal 2

I made us a mishmash of stuff. Leftover marinated veg on a bed of baby kale. Stir fried a zucchini with shredded chicken and green onion with my homemade paleo bbq sauce. All was random but very tasty.

Meal 3

Italian sausages, fresh peppers, carrot apple and cabbage salad, sweet potato and onion hash cooked in palm oil. Delicious!

Nothing out of the ordinary to report: feeling good all day is hopefully the new normal. Matt keeps encouraging me by telling me how many days until it's over but I honestly don't feel like I need to stop or am dying of deprivation. The only things I miss (but don't crave at all) are wine and ice cream which I am sure I'll be able to have in moderation if it doesn't affect my cravings. I'm really enjoying not obsessing about food and cravings. Even though this blog is called think about food, it's nice to be free from the question of what to eat. This is a straightforward plan and makes it easy to eat healthily.

W30 day 10

Double digits! I made it. I'm very mad because I was on a roll and my post froze and then I lost everything. I was zingy and all and now I don't feel like recreating the magic. Anyway I talked about my lack of appetite at mealtimes and then the subsequent hulk/maniac I turn into before the next meal. Is this normal? Day 9-10 was full of kill all the things. I have very little patience any more. Was sugar making me patient? What the hell, man?

Anyway look at the food I bought prepped made ate and cleaned up:

Meal 1

This is a very poorly taken photos of my breakfast. I couldn't have centred it a little more? I was probably too hungry to care. I think I eat breakfast too late. How much time should one wait before eating once they've woken up? I usually wait at least 2 hours. Probably a bad idea.

Scrambled eggs with zucchini noodle all up in there, Toulouse sausages, tomatoes. Sick of eggs but they always go down well.

Meal 2

No pic of lunch as I was at the splash park with friends and kids and having too much fun. I wasn't hungry at lunch as it was so hot out. I brought lots to eat but ended up having a small salad with balsamic and evoo with a handful of cashews, coconut and dried apples.

Snack was half a banana with a tablespoon of almond butter. Thinking this snack caused a major blood sugar surge as I was very hungry about an hour later and hulk/maniac set in. I may have thrown a water bottle, not sure.

Meal 3

Phew! So relieved to be eating at this point. Slow cooked chicken, sweet pot hash, salad with seeds and asparagus. It was amazing.

Let's see what day 11 brings on. Maybe I need to start taking rhodiola or some mood herb because things don't feel right. I still have lots of kill all the things moments. Overall I'm happy with how and what I am eating so I don't know why my body is still getting stressed about it!

W30 day 9

Meal 1

 

I was tired, hungry and annoyed by the time I was able to make and eat this. I had been up for almost 4 hours before j got a chance to eat. Scrambled eggs in the pan, guac, cantaloupe about 4 days too ripe and some prosciutto. I felt better after eating.

Meal 2

I ate lunch because I had to, wasn't particularly hungry. Marinated veg in a ginger and coconut amino dressing with sesame oil, salad and chicken.

Meal 3

Meal 3

Same thing as meal 2 but in salad form. Pretty huge, you can see the shadow my guacamole casts.

This day was just irritating. Not food related, but when you're tired on this way of eating there's no sugary treat to wake you up or change your bad mood. I kept wanting distraction, entertainment, anything. Saturday is just another day when you're a parent. Tired. 

Day 10 is apparently the day when most people quit if they decide to stop Whole30. There's no way I'm quitting but I'm starting to realize how much sugar acts as a reward system in the body. When your energy is steady but your mood is low, I guess it has nothing to do with food.

W30 day 8

I'm writing this post while snacking on raw cashews, dried apples and toasted coconut flakes. I realize I'm not that hungry but I needed a little something. Maybe it's because it's Friday night and it's a habit. No need to beat myself up but noticing when and why I want to eat is a good thing! Plus my snack is awesome.

Meal 1

Matt made breakfast this morning, what a guy. Egg pie heavy on the arugula with salami, peppers, green onion and tomatoes. Half and avocado, fresh radishes and a couple of slices of papaya.

Meal 2

Amazing leftovers lunch. Beef roast that I cocked in the slow cooker yesterday, that beet salad that just won't quit, radishes and peppers and sprouts. Yum!

Meal 3

Mixed fish burger (turbot, salmon, cod), caramelized onion guacamole, salad.

For the guac I slowly cooked a diced onion in some olive oil, added a clove of minced garlic, a tablespoon of mustard seeds and some curry. I added that into my guac with lime juice and tomatoes. Delightful! I kind of miss dips so this hit the spot.

A couple more transformations:

-I really really really taste the flavours for fruits and vegetable now. It's like a hypersensitivity to tastes. I had a pea today and was like omg soooo sweet!

-So you know that line of back fat where the waist meets the hips? That's gone.

W30 day 7

Woohoo I made it a week! Feeling good! I've been noticing some transformations...sleep is good, mood is stable and energy and motivation are high. My wedding ring almost fits--it's been too tight for over a year. I hope my feet shrink too, I have lots of shoes I can't wear post pregnancy. 

Meal 1

Eggs, rashers, roasted broccoli, tomatoes. Fast and good.

Meal 2

This meal was good but wasn't big enough. I was starving by the time I had this as I waited about 4.5 hours between meals with no snack. I should have had a whole avocado and more salad. 

Meal 3

 

Mmm, first slow cooker meal on w30! Organic pork roasted in my paleo bbq sauce with baby potatoes, roasted asparagus and Rosemary's delicious contribution to our meal: fennel apple and herb purple cabbage slaw. Such a good dinner. We had coconut butter off a spoon for desert. That stuff is incredible.