The Whole End

I have been so so behind and lax about my updates lately and I so apologize! Crazy to think that things would be even more busy now that I have a crazy thing like free time haha

Dairy day went well, I didn't have a huge reaction to anything. I was a little bloated the next day, but I think I also ate more on dairy day than I have been especially with the ice cream in question haha

I came down with a cold the day before gluten day and I was definitely glad for my coconut soup recipe!!

Gluten day was super exciting :)

I started the day with a croissant with poached eggs, prosciutto, and some dairy-free hollandaise

It was so so yummy, but I feel like it also would've been yummy without the croissant.

Because the croissants only came in a huge thing of them, I also had one for lunch with some tuna salad and veggie chips.

I was really relishing this being sick and staying in bed today I tell you!

I also took advantage of the time and made my meal plan for life after the 30!

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast	egg muffins	egg muffins	egg muffins	egg muffins	egg muffins	yogurt/granola	casserole
Snack	banana	banana	banana	banana	banana	banana	banana
Lunch	soup	soup	soup	soup	soup	leftovers	leftovers
Snack	nuts/almond butter/celery	nuts/almond butter/celery	nuts/almond butter/celery	nuts/almond butter/celery	nuts/almond butter/celery	nuts/almond butter/celery	nuts/almond butter/celery
Dinner	jerk shrimp	nachos	pork chops	leftovers	turkey burgers

I thought very long and hard about my breakfast options honestly. I got so sick of eggs, eggs, and more eggs during whole30 so the thought of keeping them as my breakfast was kind of sad :/ but none of the other options that I tried kept me as full as the eggs did. I mean, protein is the obvious thing that keeps you full longer. And it's such an easier place to keep completely compliant.

I also planned dinners that were compliant recipes. I can add a whole grain or dairy or something as I want in all of these, but I don't really plan on it.

I left the weekend open without plans though. I'm going to give myself the opportunity to relax and go out to eat or eat a non-compliant meal. Something so that I don't feel so isolated and restricted again like I did in the heavy throes of Whole 30.

Life after Whole30 is going to be a little different, but I want it to be changed. I don't want this journey to be useless, I want to go forward making good and positive changes in my daily routines.

Thank you all so much for reading along with me and supporting me throughout this long journey. Thank you for listening to all my crazy ramblings and musings. I couldn't have done it without you :)

<3 ME

Dairy Day

Let's be honest, I've been so so so excited for this day! Dairy was definitely a staple in my daily diet pre-Whole30. I would have yogurt for breakfast and ice cream has always been my favorite dessert. So removing it from my diet was really difficult. After this long it seems so easy to not have cheese or milk, and I don't even have any butter in the house! But I was really ready to tackle this day and see what the results would be!

I started off with my go-to from pre-Whole30, plain greek yogurt (with just a little bit of honey :/ ) and because it's absolutely FREEZING today some decaf coffee.

It was comforting to have this as my breakfast again, but just like my oatmeal on non-gluten grains day, it didn't keep me full as long as eggs do. There's definitely something to be said for high protein breakfasts, and they really can't be beat as far as getting me from breakfast to lunch. This is a huge quality that I look for in breakfasts because my days are often too busy to eat while I'm working so needing to eat lunch early or count on time for snacks isn't a great quality. Eggs definitely get boring, but it seems as if I might have to work them into my daily routine from here on out. I also know that I'm a little different when it comes to my breakfast needs and preferences. I've always been one of those people that could easily skip breakfast with just a cup of coffee to tide me over until lunch time. I don't wake up hungry like a lot of people, I prefer to be up for a while before I'm hungry enough to want to eat which doesn't work out super well during the work week. But it's not great to skip breakfast. I've heard a lot that if you eat breakfast then you find that you're hungry more quickly and therefore feel like you're eating more throughout the day. This seems like a terrible thing especially if you're attempting to lose weight. Our rationale often tells us that if we just don't eat then surely we'll lose weight. But that's not really true. If we aren't feeding our bodies the nutrients they need, they won't lose weight because they will want to store all the fat they can because our bodies stress out when they think that we're starving. So by eating in the morning we kick start our metabolism which then tells our bodies that it's okay to start burning calories off as we work because it knows that it's been given nutrients. So if we then feed that hungry with good healthy options our bodies will continue to burn off the good foods and let go of excess weight (as long as it's burning more calories than it's taking in). That's where you have to be careful, it's all about portion control. It's okay to eat more often because you're hungry, but probably not huge meals.

But I digress haha

So I was hungry earlier than usual today, but luckily because of the crazy snow flurries today I had a break and could eat my lunch a little earlier.

I had some leftover pork carnitas over a salad with some chipotle ranch and CHEESE! It was pretty good actually :)

I was so excited for dinner tonight! My afternoon was crazily packed with kiddos and I was just counting down the hours until I could get home to cook :)

I made buffalo chicken with cheese and ranch mashed potatoes.

I made Whole30 approved buffalo sauce, but the cheese was dairy enough I thought. Plus I had even better stuff planned for after dinner!!!

ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just simple vanilla, I didn't want to go crazy as I was already adding sugar and vanilla both of which I hadn't had in a month haha Every spoonful was pretty heavenly :)

Dairy day was everything I imagined it would be really. Now I just have to wait and see if I feel any differently as I go back to Whole30 for the next two days. I haven't noticed anything today, no fatigue or digestive issues or headaches. So fingers crossed this will be exactly like the others.

<3 ME

Legume Verdict

Oh my goodness I'm so completely far behind!! I'm so sorry, it's been so crazy lately! But let me give you a quick run down of how things have been going.

So the last day we chatted was the day after I added in non-gluten grains. I was back to Whole30 compliance on Thursday and Friday.

 I had leftover fish tacos for lunch both days, and on Friday I made some Shepherds Pie. It doesn't look that yummy, but it was good and filling and warm :)

THEN on Saturday was LEGUME DAY!!!!! Time to add in legumes (peanuts, beans, chickpeas)

 I just had some sausage and over easy eggs for breakfast, it's pretty hard to add legumes in at breakfast haha.

Then I had a special treat for lunch! CHICK FIL A!!!! Since they cook everything in peanut oil I haven't been able to partake of anything from chick fil a for the course of Whole30, but today I got to add peanuts in :)

 I also treated myself to some lemonade :/, not Whole30 compliant because of the sugar, but I vote close enough!

For snack I added some peanut butter and hummus. The peanut butter was so much sweeter than I remembered! It would've been helpful if I'd bought some no-sugar added PB, but I just used some Jif that we had in the pantry from "before."

 For dinner, I made some pork carnitas and added some black beans.

 I really ended up just mixing it all together into a big salad with some of the chipotle ranch I had made on Wednesday.

Back to Whole30 compliance for Sunday and Monday to gauge my reaction to legumes.

Breakfast on Sunday was close to compliant. I had some sausage, eggs, and hashbrowns at one of our favorite local places to have breakfast on Sundays. It's a donut shop just down the street from our house. No donuts today unfortunately, but it was nice to take a break from making my own sausage and cooking a big breakfast.

 We had set strike on Sunday afternoon and then we had some friends over to play cards and watch the SuperBowl. I made some compliant dips and chicken fingers so I was pretty good overall ;)

 The thing that impacted me the most about Sunday was the fact that we didn't really have lunch or dinner. We had a late breakfast that then morphed into just snacking all evening as we hung out with our friends. At the end of the night, I definitely wasn't feeling as I usually do. I was overfull and my stomach was a little upset. Just giving more support to Whole30's negative stance on snacking in this manner.

All in all, I don't think this was a reaction to the legumes. I hadn't gotten a headache or felt really any different except for the end of Sunday after all the snacking, and that's what I attribute it to the most.

Today, was Whole30 compliant again to prepare for the addition of dairy on Tuesday.
I don't think I noticed any changes to adding legumes. I haven't noticed any significant break outs, headaches, digestive issues, or sluggishness.

I started the morning with egg muffins (sundried tomatoes, basil, and reduced balsamic vinegar) and some cranberry juice.

 I had a leftover chicken finger from last night over a salad. Then for dinner I made the Mediterranean chicken skillet that we had a few weeks ago, with some roasted potatoes.

It was just as yummy today as last time!

So before I go into the rest of the plan of reintroduction, let me give you the run down of recipes from last week.
Shepherd's Pie
Fish Tacos
Thai Meatballs
Hot and Sour Soup -- this one needs some substitutions ;)


Here's my plan for this week

	Monday	Tuesday (dairy)	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday (gluten)
Breakfast	egg muffins	yogurt	egg muffins	egg muffins	croissant
Snack	banana	banana	banana	banana	banana
Lunch	leftovers	taco salad with cheese	soup	leftovers	Chicken salad sandwich
Snack	celery	celery	celery	celery	apple celery
Dinner	Mediterranean Chicken	Buffalo chicken with mashed potatoes// Ice cream	Shrimp and Sausage Skillet	Thai Coconut Soup	Pasta

So Tuesday I get to add dairy back in and on Friday we add in gluten. I didn't plan anything for the weekend, because barring a crazy reaction to gluten on Friday, I'm hoping to take the weekend off from meal planning. To enjoy going out to dinner with Boyfriend and not stressing so much about food. And then hopefully, I can take a fresh look at what my plan will be from here on out.

Sorry it's been so long since my last update, and I'm sorry this post is so long to make up for it haha I really appreciate all of you guys reading my ramblings throughout this whole journey. It's been great to have such a wonderful support group ;)

So here's to dairy tomorrow!

<3 ME

The NGG Verdict

Back to the grind of Whole 30 this morning so that I can cleanse my body and properly analyze if I had any adverse reactions to adding non-gluten grains back into my diet.

Firstly, today was ridiculously busy and I literally only took one picture all day :/ sorry guys haha
Secondly, I'm not finding any huge reactions to adding everything in yesterday.

I woke up pretty sleepy, but that was mostly due to the fact that I didn't sleep particularly long last night because we were out at Biffel's rather late.
However, as the day progressed, my energy level was still consistent and high just like it has been for the past 30 days. I didn't experience an afternoon dip like I did beforehand. I haven't noticed any breakouts or bloating. I didn't have a headache or an upset stomach. Nothing noticeably different I don't think.

I was out of the door super early this morning (and didn't get in until late last night) so I just grabbed a LaraBar, and I'm trying to drink tons of extra water today because my water intake has definitely been slacking this week.

I had leftover fish from last night in a taco salad of sorts over some cabbage and romaine with some of the cilantro lime sauce I made. I'm usually not a fan of leftover fish, but it was actually really yummy and satisfying.

I had leftover tacos tonight for dinner.

It was really good (even the second time) and I added a little chipotle ranch this time.

Somehow at the end of the day, I still feel a little unsatisfied. Maybe it's just because I'm back to the grind of being so completely restricted once again. It's hard to feel so great about adding new things in and getting to have so much fun with friends while I did it, and then feel like you had to give it all back.
Whole30 was a great experience. I felt so great while I was doing it. I felt healthier and lighter, more energetic. But. I also felt slightly isolated. Whole30 compliance is definitely something I want to adapt into my daily life on a regular basis, but for now I'm really ready to take a step away from it for a minute.
Whole30 compliancy reigns again tomorrow and then the addition of legumes on Saturday. I feel a little down about this whole process today really wishing it could hurry up. But I don't want to give up either. I've made it so far, and the reintroduction was the whole point of the journey. So I'm going to stick it out until the end. *Sigh* sometimes stubbornness is hard haha

<3 ME

Welcome Back

Re-introduction Day 1! Here we go.. Today I'm adding back non-gluten grains.

I started off just with a simple bowl of oatmeal

Funnily enough I just taught myself to eat oatmeal maybe a year or two ago. I have some textural problems with food sometimes haha and oatmeal is a really challenging texture for me. But luckily I can handle it in small doses now ;)

I didn't have any strong or immediate reactions to the oatmeal addition. I did get hungry a little earlier in the day than I usually do after breakfast, but I also had a lot less protein for breakfast than I usually do.

For lunch I added in some rice with leftovers of Asian meatballs from Monday.

It was super tasty, and yet again no ridiculous reactions to the non-gluten grain. I don't know that I expected to feel crazily different, but I hadn't yet.

Now dinner was a really special affair! We went over to Biffel's house for game night and tacos! We had fish and steak tacos with some rice and corn (both new additions). I also made a really yummy cilantro lime sauce for the fish and a chipotle ranch for the steak!

I also sneakily added in some non-gluten alcohol this evening:

The best part, honestly, was just getting to have a relaxing evening where I didn't feel like I was having to sit out of the fun, I could eat everything we prepared and it was all so so yummy. I could relax and just have fun. I didn't read any labels (well maybe once for the salsa) and I questioned nothing. Granted I made sauces beforehand that I knew were whole30 compliant, and I helped cook everything so I was there to see everything cooked and knew there wasn't anything used that I couldn't have unlike in a restaurant.
This was really the reason today was so wonderful. Just getting to feel like a part of something instead of constantly being outside of the circle of fun because of how restricted and stressed I was regarding anything with food. This is what I miss more than any food group that I've eliminated over the past month. And it's so nice to have that back for a moment. I'm a little sad to give it back tomorrow.

<3 ME

Day 30

Holy moly. Day 30. It seems like forever ago and yesterday all at the same time.  Whole 30 is "done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

First things first: how was the day?

Breakfast was definitely on the go this morning

 



 Nothing like munching a Lara Bar and a banana while you re-evaluate a kiddo's gross motor skills haha

Lunch was over a meeting (surprise, surprise)

More tomato soup with the last of the leftover gnocchi. With fruit and some veggies :) Pretty yummy

I had nachos down on the meal plan for tonight, but I had planned on doing them on bell peppers. It was as I was thumbing through Pinterest this afternoon as my student started treating some patients that I found the idea of using plantain chips for them! Luckily we had some leftover from game night last week! Guys this was... SO YUMMY! I devoured it. And if I didn't need leftovers for dinner on Thursday or for Roomie to eat dinner tonight I probably would've had more!

 It was such a fun, make it up as I go, ending dinner to this experience. I sautéed some peppers and onions for some added crunch and flavor. Cooked some ground turkey with paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt, and pepper with a little bit of veggie stock. Then topped with salsa. Maybe I really have come a long way because I didn't remotely miss cheese on this!

Finally got to cross of day 30 on the countdown! I was a little excited as you can see haha

So, the biggest question I've gotten is "so how do you feel?" I mean, I feel great. Even without caffeine I have lasting energy all day, no afternoon slump. My skin is brighter and fresher. I still have a bit of redness to my skin which I was hoping would dissipate, but I'm trying a few new things this week, so we'll see how that works. I've been in a generally good mood. I will say I haven't been in a good mood the whole time. The first week (or two...) I was definitely.... sensitive. Between my caffeine withdrawal headache, and consistently feeling not satisfied, it didn't take much for me to get upset. But that dissipated haha Something that I didn't notice until today, I think, was that I haven't had an upset stomach or felt nauseated in any way for the entire month. I'm not frequently subject to stomach aches, but I'm sure at least once a month I would eat something that didn't sit right or something, but not during this whole 30. There were definitely days that my palate didn't feel satisfied, but I was never starving. I'm not allowed to officially weigh in until tomorrow haha but I do think I've lost weight which wasn't what I was striving for, but is always nice. I feel healthier, cleaner, lighter, which is a great way to feel.

The things I've struggled with the most, has definitely been the sheer amount of work that this takes. There is never a day/night off, never a moment to relax. It's definitely an added stress some days especially when you want to plan something outside of your house. Restaurants are so nice, but you're really limited to the types of restaurants you can visit, you definitely need to do a little research before you go, and you have to be a bit of a thorn while you're there. And unfortunately there's no way that you can know without a shadow of a doubt that you didn't accidentally have something you weren't supposed to have. More stressful than that, I think, is eating over at someone else's house. I feel like such a burden when they tell me what they're planning to serve and I can't eat huge components of it. I've felt a bit anti-social over the past month. And there are definitely days that are more work than others and I just wanted to be able to come home and relax and have someone else cook for me, but also not an option.

The biggest hurdle to eating healthy is definitely time. And then money. I've been so proud of the way I've been able to get our groceries for pretty much the same price as we were spending previously. On an overall daily basis, I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything, and really loved all the healthy dishes we were able to eat. We had some really really yummy food along the way! I am going to proceed with the reintroduction starting tomorrow, but I think I will try to keep Whole30 compliant during the week with maybe a bit more leniency on the weekends. Everything in moderation. You always need a break. You can't be so strict and hard on yourself forever!

So hopefully reintroduction doesn't reveal some horrible allergy or food sensitivity that I wasn't aware of haha
Tomorrow I add in non-gluten grains. I'm pretty excited :)

<3 ME

Case of the Mondays

There was something about today being the first of the month, and a Monday that did not align well with the rest of the universe or something!
Today was so crazy.
I rushed to work early where the trouble just began right away. My kids were wonderful, but sometimes it's just difficult working in the healthcare system who is just desperately trying to save money, when all you want them to do is give you money to help improve the quality of life of little kids. It's a warped system that at times I just want to scrap it all together. Today was one of those days.

I was such a slacker I took no pictures of my breakfast or lunch haha

I just had a lara bar and a banana for breakfast as I drove to work, then I made tomato soup yesterday which I ate with some leftover gnocchi. The soup tasted pretty good, but I forgot to blend it so it was still pretty chunky with tomatoes which I don't love. I like my tomato soup without chewing... so it wasn't wholly pleasant for me on a textural level.

For dinner Boyfriend requested hot sour soup, which I easily obliged since it doesn't call for anything that isn't compliant. I also made some more Asian style meatballs in a ginger/soy sauce brother, which we used coconut aminos for obviously!

I also threw a few snow peas into the pan with the meatballs while they were cooking. A pretty satisfying meal for the penultimate dinner before Whole30 is done!

I don't know why but these last few days have been harder for me than the whole rest of the time. I don't know if it's because I'm just so close or what. It's actually not been that hard to say no to foods I can't have. I might gripe and complain, but I feel just fine without them. What has been hardest is giving up a lot of social gatherings that would be surrounded with food because it's just too difficult and not satisfying to go out to eat or to other people's houses. Whole30 is wonderful when I sit down to a meal like the one I prepared tonight. Hot and flavorful, and not obviously missing anything enjoyable. It's not like having to go to a restaurant and order a salad with grilled chicken and a bottle of vinegar as salad dressing... Just not the relaxing reward that eating out used to be.

But tomorrow is the last day and then reintroduction begins. I'm going to try my hardest to wait the full 2 days between each reintroduction day, but I'm not going to promise that I'm not going to cut it down to one day in between haha

<3 ME

The Final Countdown

I woke up this morning on day 28!!! So so so so so so close!!! I woke up a little later this morning (recovering from karaoke per usual) and had a late breakfast.

 

Then it was a hurried meal prep before running out the door for our final Sunday performance of Fiddler.

I didn't take any pictures of meal prep today (sorry!) but I made up a batch of tomato soup for lunches this week and I prepped some dinner in the crock pot to be ready when we got home from the show.

Since I had such a late breakfast I wasn't really hungry for lunch so I grabbed one of our new flavors of LaCroix, and I had a Larabar at the theater.

The show was actually really great today, and we had yet another sold out performance which is always exciting! And coming home to already made dinner is always a plus!

It's just chicken breast with some poultry seasonings and mushrooms with a salad. Nothing special, but pretty yummy anyway.

So I've made it through 4 full weeks of Whole 30! Only 2 more days to go before reintroduction begins :))))
Here are some of the recipes I used last week:
Shrimp and Sausage Skillet
Buffalo Chicken Fingers
Thai Turkey Meatballs
Buffalo Ranch Dip
Veggie Dip

So here's the plan for this week:

WEEK 5 FEBRUARY 1-7

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday (non gluten grains)	Thursday	Friday	Sat (legumes)	Sun
Breakfast	egg muffins	egg	oatmeal	egg muffins	egg	hashbrowns eggs sausage	egg
Snack	banana	banana	banana	banana	banana	apple/peanut butter	banana
Lunch	soup	soup	meatballs with rice	soup	soup	leftovers	leftovers
Snack	nuts/almond butter/celery	nuts/almond butter/celery	nuts/ almond butter/ celery	nuts/ almond butter/ celery	apple celery	hummus and veggies	celery apple
Dinner	hot and sour soup Thai meatballs	nachos	fish taco bowl with rice and corn	nachos	Shepherd's Pie	Pork black beans	Mediterranean Chicken

The plan is to finish out with the regular Whole30 by Tuesday (woop woop!!!) Then add in non-gluten grains (and probably some alcohol) on Wednesday. Then back to Whole30 for Thursday and Friday, then legumes get added on Saturday. So you see how this impacts my menu planning, pretty difficult :/

But lets hope I can stick it out!!

<3 ME