Checking in…

I wanted to give a bit of an update on my healthy eating journey. While I ended the Whole30 program several weeks ago now, I am grateful for the things that I have learned and incorporated into my daily lifestyle. I am still exploring Whole30 and Paleo recipes and alternatives. I realize now that I am no longer on the strict program that I really did feel better while I was on it. I felt stronger and healthier, and I kind of miss that. I am still struggling with sugar and chocolate. I have managed to limit my bread and pasta intake, although I do have bread probably once a week. I try to reserve it for a really nice piece of bread that is “worth it” to me.

I’m still all about the ghee and coconut oil. I might never go back. I love cooking with those. The ghee is the best. I love it and now make it myself in the crock pot. It’s so easy and delicious. I am still eating a big hearty breakfast. I love my sweet potatoes, squash and zucchini topped with eggs in the morning! I think that the only problem is that this breakfast is really caloric, and now that I am cheating more throughout the day, I am eating more calories than I probably should. When I was on the program, I really limited snacking. This might be why I have gained back five pounds since I finished the program.

The other thing that I totally love is my homemade coconut milk. I swear, it is messy and takes some work, but it’s so worth it. The taste is just so much better than the canned or boxed stuff. I love it in my coffee and make smoothies once in a while with it. Delicious! I bought this great bottle for it.

Look how pretty this is!

I keep it in there a week tops. Here’s a word of caution. I don’t know if you have seen these at your local grocery store:

I couldn’t find any regular coconuts at Trader Joe’s, so when I asked an employee, she pointed to this and told me it was the same thing, just without the husk. I looked at it and thought, “Nah, this is a green coconut and looks totally different,” but I figured I’d try it out anyway. Big mistake. I don’t know how you eat this, but I couldn’t figure it out at all. I couldn’t cut through it and eventually tossed it in frustration. If you know how to eat this thing, let me know. Another big tip about the coconut milk, use a pairing knife to drill a hole into one of the eyes. Pour out the water and test it first. If it tastes foul, throw that coconut out. No good. The water should taste good and fresh. Don’t even bother hammering that bad boy open if the water tastes bad. It will be a waste of your time, and I wouldn’t risk it.

I have experimented with a lot of recipes over the week. Some have been fails and some have been winners. One of the winners is a zucchini chocolate muffin. It’s not Whole30 compliant, but it’s pretty healthy, and the whole family liked them.

You can find the recipe here:Zucchini muffin from happyherbivore

Speaking of sweet things, I also made these energy bites this week and ate them all in two days. Ooops!

Energy Bites

Next on the list is a pumpkin spice bite.

I have discovered some favorite things at my local Super Target. They have some great stuff at good prices. I love their Simply Balanced coconut oil and wild caught tuna.

I also found these adorable mini zucchinis. I love them. They are perfect for throwing into my breakfast in the morning. Aren’t they the cutest?

I definitely feel that I am eating healthier overall than I was before I did the program. I am eating more fruits and vegetables for sure and really can’t see myself giving those up. Sweet potato, butternut squash, zucchini, avocado, asparagus, broccoli, berries, bananas, and apples are pretty much staples in our house now.

I am still considering doing a Whole15 or something soon, but in the meantime, I am trying to eat mostly Paleo. It is a struggle. I’m not going to lie. I’m back on the workout wagon, which makes me happy, but I definitely feel those 5 pounds. My tummy is not as lean for sure. I miss how flat it felt on the Whole30, so I might have to do the program again just for that!

Oh, one last thing for tonight. I am excited to report that I finally tried acupuncture! I went for my neck, which is still bothering me on a daily basis. The acupuncturist inserted about 6-8 needles. They did not hurt other than causing a dull ache in one of my muscles. I figure that was because it was working on a very tight area of my trapezius muscle. I found the experience to be very relaxing. At times I felt like I was drifting in and out of sleep and felt a bit of a floating sensation a couple of times. After it was over, I felt relaxed and intrigued. My neck pain is not gone by any  means, but I did feel a little looser. Depending on the cost, I think I’d liked to try a few more sessions if possible. I’ll keep you posted!

Climbing back onto the wagon

I am ashamed that I have been MIA for over two weeks. I was busy planning my son’s fourth birthday party, and in the process, I totally fell off the wagon and was running on very little sleep. As a result, I feel pretty crappy now. I feel bloated and exhausted, and my mood has been teetering between emotional and down right loco. I don’t do well without sleep, and I’ve probably been up past midnight every night for the past two and a half weeks. I wake up around 5 some mornings to feed Greyson and am definitely up by 6-6:30 every morning, so it’s just not enough sleep for me. Add to that, poor eating and little exercise, and it’s just a recipe for depression.

I practically reverted back to old eating habits with the exception of eating less bread and pasta than normal. I’ve been baking cookies and dipping Oreos in chocolate and making homemade fondant…so you can imagine how easy it was for that Sugar Dragon to take hold of me again. It’s bad…really bad. I woke up most mornings so tired that I skipped bootcamp, and then I had a few obligations that prevented me from going, and then excuses, and before I knew it, I had not worked out in two weeks! That just sent me into a downward spiral mentally. I felt terrible about myself. As the guest list to Max’s party grew to over 100 people, my stress grew as well! This just exacerbated the problem.

Well, the party is behind me. It was chaotic but Max had a great time, so that’s really all that matters. This week, I’ve been clawing my way back from the trenches. I’ve been trying to clean up the house. Even though we had the party at a park, we might as well have had it at the house! After we brought back all the gifts and decorations from the party, the house looked like it had hosted a party. Plus, I had not really had the time to clean because I was so busy those couple of weeks. This week, I’ve also gone back to bootcamp despite being beyond tired. I’ve started prepping and planning food again. I didn’t really prep last week, and it was a disaster. I didn’t have time to make healthy meals during the day and grabbed what I could. I realized that I simply cannot be successful without proper prepping and planning. This week I finally made my homemade mayo and made a yummy tuna salad from the new Whole30 cookbook. I also cooked a bunch of ground beef to add to salads and breakfast during the week. I chopped all of my veggies and washed everything, so I’ve been doing much better at breakfast and lunch. Last night I made chicken meatballs (again from the Whole30 book) and ate them with roasted spaghetti squash.

I haven’t totally cleaned up my eating. I’ve still been snacking on some sweets (they are pretty much out of the house now), but I’m attempting to cut back on those too. I didn’t feel so much of a change when I did the Whole30 program, but I definitely feel a change when I start eating crap again. I feel more bloated and gassy and just don’t feel good about myself in general. Some of that is mental, but that still matters. If I feel (emotionally) fat and unhealthy, that affects my mood and my behavior. I felt happier on the program.

I’ve thought about doing another round, maybe a shorter round, but I’m not ready yet. For some reason, I don’t feel ready to give up my chocolate just yet.

So back to the party. I wanted to post some pictures. I have finally learned, after four years and five parties, that I need to take pictures of everything I make before the party. I always think that I’ll set everything up and then have time to take pictures before the first guest arrives. That like never happens. This time, we were running late to the park, and then I had to deal with wasps and a looming storm that produced wind gusts so strong they blew everything over. My centerpieces were destroyed before I got to take pictures of them. I was in such a panic to fix everything, and guests started arriving before I was completely set up. In the end, I had to let it go. I had to remind myself that it wasn’t about the balloons or centerpieces. It was about my son having a good time with his friends and family. However, after putting so much work into a party, I always end up feeling disappointed that I didn’t get good pictures of all of my work. Well, here is what I did get:

These were the cookies I made. I did dipped oreos and oreo pops, as well as sugar cookies. After my failed armored baymax oreos, I was happy in the end with all of the cookies.

Baymax sugar cookies

Marshmallow Baymaxes

My first fondant cake topper.

My cake topper on top of a Publix cake.

I printed out this bullseye from http://www.thenerdswife.com and the kids had fun trying to hit it with the Baymax Rocket fist.

I made felt masks for all of the kids to wear.

My centerpieces (a little roughed up from the winds).

The Real World

I am officially done reintroducing foods to my diet. I decided to skip dairy because I already know that dairy and I are not friends. I miss yogurt, ice cream and pizza A LOT, but I tend to stay away from it as much as I can. I can usually tolerate a bit of goat cheese so I allow that from time to time. How I love a goat cheese and beet salad!

Now the hard work really begins. How do I incorporate what I’ve learned into a way of life that I am happy with? I have learned the following about myself:

I have to be careful of nuts. Too many, and I get gas.

Chocolate definitely gives me the stinkies, but I just can’t live without it.

Beans seemed to bloat me too. I don’t miss these so much. I will try to limit them to Cuban style black beans once in a while and choose almond butter over peanut butter whenever possible. I need to test out chickpeas though because I do like those and love hummus.

I think I can tolerate a bit of rice or pasta here or there, but the truth is I think I can live without it for the most part. Pasta used to be my favorite food, and I do really love a good pasta dish, but I think I can handle just a nice sauce over some veggies for homemade meals and just splurge once in a while when we go out to eat (which is like never).

I can live without bread. Who knew? I’m not saying that I’ll never eat it, but I now see it as empty calories and not really worth it unless I really have a craving for it.

I am now totally addicted to big breakfasts. I just don’t feel satisfied if I eat something like a waffle or muffin or bagel.

I am also in love with cooking with ghee and coconut oil. I will definitely continue to do that.

The Sugar Dragon is very real for me. Unfortunately, it seems that I somehow sold my soul to this evil beast. After finishing the program, I have already found myself slipping back into old ways when it comes to chocolate and sweet things. I’m able to eat my hamburgers without buns and make my own dressings and continue to plan and prep healthy paleo or Whole30 meals for the week, but…as soon as I opened the chocolate door, it seems that I can’t close it. The past week has been difficult. I have not worked out since last Friday. I wanted to have a better week, so I took the time to prep on Sunday.

While my lunches and dinners have been healthy this week, I have had some issues with that dang Sugar dragon. We have such a love/hate relationship. I’ve been stressing over my son’s upcoming birthday party. I am resolved to prepare as much in advance as possible. This means that I’ve been dealing with cookies and chocolate. I spent the past two days working on these babies, well Baymaxes.

I had a bunch of failures, and well, let’s just say not all of those cookies made it into the trash. I really felt down yesterday. This always happens when I don’t work out for a while or when I eat a bunch of sweets. I just feel, well, “yuck!”

Here is the result of the failed attempt to make armored Baymax on a stick. It looked so easy in the video.

I even purchased a new little chocolate melting pot, but alas, it didn’t work.

I buy the good chocolate from the candy store instead of those Wilton candy melts. While the chocolate tastes so much better and melts better, I think it doesn’t harden and well as the others. Needless to say, when I dunked my cookie in the red candy, the white chocolate underneath totally melted and my candy armor totally dripped off the cookie. I finally gave up and used my molds.

After totally overdosing on Oreos yesterday, I promised myself that today would be a new day. I was all ready to go to Bootcamp, and then I got my little guy out of his crib and discovered that he had an eye infection. So, instead of going to work out, I took him to the doctor. I did a mini 20 min workout at home while he napped, so I feel a little better about that. I’ve eaten better today. I had my usual breakfast and prepped a whole bunch of veggies for the rest of the week. I had a nice salad with beets and chicken. I did have some chocolate, but it was in the form of a nut bar, not and Oreo cookie. Baby steps.

I bought these little containers at Target so that I can store dressings and sauces. Here’s the raspberry walnut dressing (recipe from Whole30 book). It’s pretty good.

I do want to mention that I tried my first dinner from the new Whole30 book. I made the Shepherd’s pie. It calls for sweet potatoes, but I used white potatoes because I thought my husband would like it better. It came out really well, and everyone liked it! The hubs had three servings I think! The only thing I would change would be adding a bit more flavor to the potatoes, like salt, pepper and maybe garlic.

Sorry I didn’t get a picture before we attacked it!

My husband asked me to add cheese on top of part of it for him and the kids. I convinced Max to try it by saying it was just like a cheeseburger and french fries.

Tonight I am making a salmon recipe from the WellFed cookbook and a big pan of roasted veggies, including this massive squash and brussell sprouts.

I’ll post later with my review of this recipe.

After the 30, Reintroduction: Day 11

Today was kind of a total fail. I really went off plan. My husband was working all day, so my mom and I planned a trip to the mall with the boys. We went to a mall that we only go to every couple of months or so because it’s a bit of a drive and not as convenient as other malls. This mall is a special treat because it has some of our favorite stores: Pottery Barn, Athleta, Anthropologie, Crate & Barrel…and now Lululemon just opened there. I was excited to go in as I’ve only visited the other location once. I know that people rave about their athletic apparel, but I have yet to splurge on anything there. I have a couple of items from Athleta and love them, so I am sure that I would love me some Lululemon, considering I spend a great deal of time in workout clothes these days. We walked in the store, and the pretty colored tanks and sports bras and soft yoga pants made me want to work out. Alas, I walked out empty handed. I just can’t justify spending that kind of money on workout clothes right now when I’m trying to scrounge up money for Max’s fourth birthday party.

We had lunch at an Italian restaurant, and I ordered a chicken salad and ate just two small pieces of bruschetta bread. After lunch, I did have a chai latte with coconut milk. I’m sure the coconut milk was from a carton, which means I most likely had a nice dose of cancer causing carrageenan, but it sure tasted good.

The other beautiful store at this mall is the Godiva store. I have not entered a Godiva store in probably two months. I had every intention of eating chocolate today. I wasn’t even going to try to resist. After dealing with hellish behavior from my son in Anthropologie (the most boring store for a four year old), I definitely felt that I deserved some truffles. As soon as I walked into the store, the smell was like, well, coming home. Sad, I know. I bought three single pieces of chocolate. I probably could have done with just two.

After our exhausting trip to the mall, we met up with my husband and father at Bahama Breeze. I continued to make bad choices. I had chicken and mashed sweet potatoes and broccoli. Perhaps that doesn’t sound so terrible, but I could taste tons of butter. I also had my first glass of wine in months. It had been a really long day with the kids, and I told myself that I deserved it, and then my mom told me I deserved it. Let me tell you, it hit this lightweight hard! One glass and I was loopy. It was kind of nice. Oh, and did I mention the two conch fritters I had? Yeah, not great.

I continued to fail when I got home and decided to sculpt my first cake topper from homemade marshmallow fondant. In order to save money, I am attempting to make some items for my son’s cake. The theme is Big Hero 6, so I figured I could make my own Baymax. Here he is:

There was a ball of fondant left, and well, you can guess what happened to that. Why, Stacie, why?!!!

So I feel gross now. I feel bloated and my teeth feel like they are rotting from sugar, and I feel tired and on the verge of getting sick. Bleh! I really hope to do better tomorrow. I feel like I could have simply had two little Godiva truffles and been happy. I think I’d feel a lot better if I hadn’t indulged in everything else.

I did spend a portion of this morning planning my meals for the week and making a grocery list. I have picked out a few recipes from my new books, so I’m excited to try them out. I hope to get back on track. I really don’t want to fall back into my old habits. I want to be able to enjoy some of the things that I couldn’t have on the program (in moderation!), but I know that I can so easily fall back into old habits. I think that the question I need to constantly ask myself is, “Is it worth it?” I be that that true answer, 90% of the time, would be no. The truffles might have been worth it, but I really didn’t need the bread or the wine or the chai. I definitely didn’t need the ball of sugar. I am definitely a work in progress. I just don’t want to cancel out all of the progress I’ve made!

After the 30, Reintroduction Day one: Chocolate

After 30 straight days of abstaining from one of my most favorite things in the whole wide word, I had chocolate! I ate quite a bit of it too. I started the day like any other Whole30 day and had my usual breakfast. I thought about having chocolate first thing in the morning but then decided that it might not be the most emotionally healthy decision. So I waited…I had this Lara bar after Bootcamp (which was killer BTW), still gluten free and dairy free, but it had chocolate:

I made a tuna salad (wild tuna with lemon and spices and a little olive oil) for lunch and had a banana and strawberries.

Then…

Okay, I had a few more than that. And I do realize that I probably should have stuck with just dark chocolate today so as not to introduce any dairy, but…they were in a ziplock bag…just waiting for me. I did have some dark chocolate later in the day.

So, I feel okay. I have had some gas today. My stomach feels fine, no heartburn, but  I’ve had a bit of stinkola gas. I’m not sure if it’s the chocolate or the all of the garlic from last night’s dinner because I did have some gas last night. When I first had the chocolate, I felt like I was okay and didn’t need anymore. But when I had more later in the afternoon, I noticed myself craving it more. I’m kind of relieved that I’m supposed to go back on the plan for the next two days. I’m so afraid of falling right back into that feeling of being a slave to my cravings and having no control. I might need to do that for a while or even forever…jump back on the plan for a few days after binging on something…just to get myself back on track. We’ll see how it goes.

So, I’ve decided to do something pretty ballsy for me. I’m usually very self conscious of my body and don’t really show it off (especially now that I’m an old lady), and showing it on a public blog like this is truly frightening, but I’m so inspired by others who post before and after pics, so I’m going to go there. I don’t think there will be a whole lot of difference, but perhaps some…so (gulp) here it goes:

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Well, it’s not a huge transformation, but looking at the images side by side, I do see progress. Any progress is good progress! I’m happy with my weight and don’t want to lose any more, but I’d love to build more muscle, especially my abs and booty. Overall, I feel pretty good with the results. Not bad for 40!

Whole30 Day 29 (OMGhee!)

Today I made homemade ghee! My husband used up the last bit of our ghee from Trader Joe’s the other night when he made mashed potatoes. I decided that instead of hunting for ghee (Trader Joe’s was all out last time I checked), I would try to make my own. I found this great blog:

http://www.primallyinspired.com

Kelly shows how to make ghee in the slow cooker, which is perfect for me because honestly, I don’t have time to stare at a pot of butter on the stove for an hour or more. So, it was super easy and awesome and so much cheaper than buying it in the store. I put in four sticks of unsalted butter and cooked it on high (uncovered) for like 7 hours. It depends on the crock pot. It may take less time.

Crust on the surface

Pretty ghee after straining it!

Breakfast:  My usual

Lunch: Chicken on spinach and arugula, topped with blueberries, toasted pecans, campari tomatoes and homemade balsamic vinegar.

In the spirit of all things homemade, I made a big batch of my homemade balsamic vinegar and filled my empty (and cleaned) Tessame bottle. Now I’ve got dressing for the week. Since I realized I didn’t like the Tessame any better than my own, why not save money without losing the convenience of having prepared dressing on hand. Next up will be homemade mayo.

Dinner: Leftover port, mofongo & mashed potatoes.

Snacks: raspberries, banana with almond butter and coconut, apple

Thoughts: Greyson was up at 4 in the morning, so I was a little tired when I woke up this morning, but I pushed myself to go to Bootcamp. We had a tough class…we did a fitness assessment that included lots of groiners (like burpees but from plank to squat position), planks, sprints and jumping jacks. I actually had pretty good energy for the rest of the day. It’s 10 pm, and I just finished preparing a steak marinade for tomorrow’s dinner. I’m trying out a new recipe (from http://www.primallyinspired.com), so I’ll let you know how it turns out. I’m kind of excited about it. I get to use these beauties for a sauce:

Tomatillos!

I can’t believe tomorrow is my last day of the program. I am sure I will have lots to say tomorrow as I summarize my experience. Of course, it doesn’t end tomorrow. I just move into the reintroduction phase…so plenty more to discover!

Whole30 Day 26 (Hugs & Kisses!)

I finally made it to Bootcamp today. The weather was amazing for this time of year. After all the rain earlier in the week, we got a little cool down…it was only in the 80’s and was breezy with crystal blue skies. I think I’m going to be sore tomorrow! Lot’s of planks and triangle push-ups. Ouch! Today was the ultimate test. I volunteered to make candy bags for the teachers at my son’s school for Teacher Appreciation next week. I had these sitting on my counter today!

My husband saw them when he got home and was certain that I had eaten at least one. I promised him that I didn’t break, but he doesn’t believe me! Thanks for the faith, buddy! I suppose I might not believe myself either. I usually cannot resist those things. I’m a dark chocolate girl for sure, but I do love me some old fashioned Hershey’s Kisses. I could probably eat the whole bag. I’d feel disgusting after, but it could happen.

Breakfast: Two fried eggs with chicken sausage and peppers.

Lunch: Spaghetti squash with pine nuts and meat sauce.

Dinner: Mahi Mahi and vegetables from Off the Grill.

Thoughts:  This week has definitely been the easiest for me, but I feel ready to add some foods back. I think chocolate might be the first, so I’ll just set aside a Kiss…or two.

Whole30 Day 25

Today was pretty uneventful. Not much to report other than my foot that is hurting. I rested today, so I’m hoping I’ll be up for bootcamp tomorrow. I slept really deep last night. So much so that I didn’t hear my oldest son wake up (and the monitor is right next to my side of the bed). That was a little scary. I don’t even know that last time I slept that soundly. Funny thing is that I’ve been tired all day.

Breakfast: Fried egg and sauteed sweet potatoes, zucchini & squash

Lunch:  Brio’s Balsamic Chicken & strawberry salad (I brought my own pecans to replace the candied pecans and my own dressing). Coffee with coconut milk.

Dinner: Leftover taco chicken and roasted vegetables. I’m loving these roasted veggies! I just chop up a bunch and throw them in the oven with some olive oil or ghee and paprika, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. So good!

Snack: Coconut Lara bar, apple

Thoughts: I have volunteered to make candy bags for teacher’s appreciation day. I wonder how I am going to resist a bag full of Hershey’s kisses for the next five days!  It’s like the final test!

Whole30 Day 23

Today is my Mom’s birthday and thus the first actual holiday or celebration since I started Whole30. While we didn’t celebrate by going anywhere, the kids and I brought her one of these:

I don’t know if these are available outside of Florida, but good God, they are little cakes from Heaven. We brought her a mini marble cake. Usually, I could eat the whole thing, but I resisted and it was actually not as hard as I thought it would be.

Breakfast: Sweet potato hash with fried egg

Lunch: Spinach topped with chicken, hearts of palm, pecans, cherry tomatoes, Tessame dressing.

Dinner: Another successful recipe tonight! Rosemary mustard salmon from Liverightbehealthy.com:

http://liverightbehealthy.blogspot.com/2013/03/rosemary-mustard-salmon.html

Everyone liked it, so I can add this one to the list. I also did another big batch of roasted veggies (SO GOOD!). There were some veggies left, so I’ll eat those for breakfast. I also made my first batch of cauliflower rice. I pulsed it in the food processor and then sauteed it with a little coconut oil, scallions, salt and pepper. It was okay, but I think I need to add more seasoning next time. I wasn’t totally in love with it.

Snack: Lara bar, apple, strawberries

Thoughts:  I forgot to mention that I started breaking out a couple of days ago. It’s most likely due to stress and that time of the month than the diet, but I can’t say that I have noticed a change in my skin. I know that some people mention that their skin clears up. As far as the gas, I added nuts back in today, and I’ve been fine, so I’m not sure what’s up. I didn’t have almond butter though. Maybe tomorrow I’ll try the almond butter and see if it returns. Another bright note, Max earned his sticker today, so that’s progress. If he earns one for the next three days, he gets ice cream on Friday. None for me :(.

Whole30 Day 22

After an emotional day yesterday, I actually got the best sleep I have had in weeks. The kids slept better than usual. Both slept straight through past 6:30 am, so I actually got like six solid hours of sleep. I really needed it. It helped me start the day in a more positive way. I took Max to the doctor to evaluate the cough and congestion he has had for three weeks. I mentioned his behavior to the doctor and asked if she had any referrals. She didn’t, and she didn’t seem too concerned, chalked it up to typical three year old behavior. She did send us home with a prescription for medicine for his nebulizer and encouraged me to seek out a therapist if I wanted some tips or just to hear that my son is not abnormal.

I’ve set him up for an evaluation at school, and we started our chart today (sadly, he didn’t get a sticker). Maybe tomorrow. Other than hitting his brother in the head with a large plastic dinosaur, he’s been better today. Like the Whole30, one day at a time.

Breakfast: I made a big batch of my sweet potato hash with fried egg.

Lunch: Last night, I marinated some chicken and cooked it in the skillet pan for lunch. I was very pleased with this recipe for Green Fajita Chicken:

Green Fajita Chicken

The only thing I would do differently is season the chicken with salt and pepper before throwing it in the bag of marinade. So, I threw some pieces of chicken over my spinach salad, added some beets and cherry tomatoes, leftover butternut squash and Tessame dressing (the key to this dressing is shaking it up like a mad woman before using).

 

Dinner: Leftover Turkey Pico de Gallo.

Snack: Banana, strawberries, pear

Thoughts: I really do feel like I am in the home stretch now. I am starting to worry a bit about what will happen after day 30. I don’t want to fall back into old habits. That’s my biggest fear. I guess I’ll worry about it on day 31. Right now, I’m saying goodbye to day 22! Just over a week left! I’ve got this.