10 things learned from my Whole 30!

 1. Much easier second time around. (did this Whole30 plan last year) Being familiar w/ plan helped.
 2. My biggest victory was cutting WAY back on SUGAR. I wish I could say I had NO sugar, but I can't.
 3. I loved chopping up veggies and just cooking them up in my cast iron skillet. I used that skillet multiple times a day. I feel that was a great way to 'simplify'.
 4. It Starts With Food book was super helpful, especially the way they suggest mixing proteins w/ veggies and spices for different flavors (Mexican, Italian, Greek, Asian...etc)
 5. I really enjoyed trying new spices. My favorites ended up being a Chipolte Chili and Mexican Oregano. I also bought salt in a little grinder. LOVED adding salt.
 6. Grassfed ground beef was a "go to" quick protein that I felt good about eating... even at breakfast.
 7. Helped that white potatoes and new potatoes are now allowed on the Whole30. I had lots of potatoes under my meat and stir fry veggies... It was HUGE for me. I think it made me not feel so protein/meat heavy at every single meal.
 8. Meals can be so SIMPLE and so good. Favorite dinner ended up being a small steak, baked sweet potato and cooked spinach...or maybe it was taco meat over a baked potato...or maybe just stir fry veggies and chicken w/ a bit of balsamic vinegar and lots of spices...or maybe the canned coconut milk w/ curry paste mixed in w/ the stirfry. It was kind of like 'layering'... each time I made a meal I could layer as much or little as I wanted. All tasted great.
 9. Discovered some great uses for Balsamic vinegar...Made my spinach taste out of this world.
10. Not that hard to find paleo when you eat out. Simple grilled chicken and veggies are pretty common place on most menus. I did eat mostly salads when we ate out and I realize that the dressings probably were not Whole30 friendly, but I just thought it was a toss up since I ate lots of good lettuce!

As far as how I feel physically... I feel really good. I don't experience those blood sugar drops in the late morning and early afternoon. I do need a cup of coffee about 2:30, but I think it's because I'm getting up w/ the puppy still at night.
I lost about 4 to 5 pounds. I did not count one single calorie. I just made sure I tried to eat protein with veggie or fruit at every meal...along w/ eliminating dairy, grains, sugar.
I did not exercise at all, but not because I didn't want to. My right heel has been really hurting since Christmas (self diagnosed plantar fasciitis) and my hill walking is on hold.
That's about it!

My goals going forward:

• Reduce sugar/honey or other natural sweeteners to special occasions which will be about once a month. Use agave syrup or raw honey in recipes.
• Continue on mostly paleo plan, eating salads 90% of the time we eat out.
• Try out two 'new' veggies each month. I still want to find a good eggplant recipe.
• Find a good source for Paleo staples. I've heard that Thrive Market is good...anyone else heard of this?
• Find a good meat market source ...just in case there's something better than my HEB.
• Make a great breakfast cereal w/ toasted coconut flakes and nuts. I did get a bit tired of eggs.

Whole30 DAY 30!

Breakfast:
2 pieces of bacon, scrambled eggs and strawberries
coffee and cream

Lunch:
leftover chicken curry...yum yum

Dinner:
Ended my Whole30 in not a very Wholesome way! I had chicken fahita taco salad at Chewy's! yes, yes, also chips and salsa.

I will post my summary of experience tomorrow or later this week. All in all, tho, a lot easier this go round since I was more familiar w/ a paleo diet.

Whole30 day 29

Monday, Feb 16

Breakfast:
Big cheat...leftovers of 2 pancakes and agave syrup and 1 piece of bacon

Lunch:
Big soup/ mix of leftover veggies:
1 onion, 1 bell pepper and 2 bags of spinach cooked down...1 1/2 boxes of beef broth and browned 1# hamburger to make a big soup. It was great. I will probably be eating on it all week.

Dinner:
Stir fry chicken, summer squash, onion, bell pepper in coconut curry (1 can coconut milk and 1 T. red curry paste)
Sweet potato and butter

Whole30 day 27/day 28

Saturday, Feb 14

Breakfast:
made pancakes for my sweetie.
2 pancakes w/ a T. of Agave syrup, 1 piece of bacon

Lunch:
Corner Bakery Chopped Salad

Dinner:
Nik's grilled chicken, roasted garlic potatoes and YES,

CHOCOLATE cake a la mode. It was wonderful.

Sunday, Feb 15
Breakfast:
scrambled eggs and sausage and apple slices

Lunch:
Panera BBQ chicken salad

Dinner:
leftover sweet and sour meatballs and a baked potato

Whole30 Day 26

Breakfast:
1/2 cup leftover taco meat and 1/2 cup of yellow squash mixed together. Not a typical breakfast food, but boy, the protein and the veggie combo kept me going until 2 pm lunch today.

Had a blast getting out to Target for a few Valentine goodies and also got some "Birkenstock" sandals and orthotics. I REALLY look like an old "Austin" granola type now. :) BUT, when your feet hurt, who cares?
I don't.

Lunch:
Rudy's extra moist brisket (leftover) tossed w/ salad greens and some of that Asian salad dressing. YuMmY!


Dinner:
small grilled steak, baked potato and fresh green beans w/ salt, pepper and butter.

Whole30 day 25

Breakfast:
Paleo 'cereal'
handful of coconut flakes, walnut pieces, banana and some blueberries w/ almond milk
coffee/cream

Lunch:
Taco salad w/ some spicy peanut asian salad dressing....the dressing was sooooooo good. It did have sugar in it, tho. :(

Dinner:

Texican spinach enchiladas, rice, black beans, chips and salsa...few sips of a frozen Margarita (sp?)

I know, I know...not on the plan at all. I fell off the wagon since I was 'starving' by the time I ate. It really is necessary for me to get some kind of afternoon protein snack. There is a great grilled chicken at Texican that I could have had!

Whole30 day 24

Wednesday, Feb 11

Breakfast:
scrambled eggs, bacon and blueberries
coffee/cream

Lunch:
leftover taco meat on baked potato, red bell pepper and MORE blueberries!

Dinner:

Grilled steak, saute yellow squash w/ cumin, mexican oregano and chipolte chili peppers, applesauce,

Snack:

2 clementine, 1 banana, almond milk smoothie

Had a great day visiting over at Panera w/ a friend and also starting to get ready for a friend's baby shower. LOVE this china that was left to me...belonged to my great aunt's mother. Perfect for lunches, showers since the plates are salad or brunch size.

Whole30 Day 23

Tuesday, Feb 10

Breakfast:
bad girl...did not eat breakfast, but did have 1 cup of regular coffee and 1/2 cup of bulletproof coffee.

Lunch:
Leftover grilled chicken on top of 2 baked new potatoes w/ leftover veggies from last night on top.
Absolutely delicious

Snack:
favorite smoothie
2 clementines, 2 frozen bananas, 1/2 c. almond milk, 1 T almond butter


Dinner:

Sweet 'n sour meatballs
1 # grass fed beef, 1 egg, 2 T minced garlic, salt and pepper rolled into balls and cooked in hot iron skillet.
Remove from skillet and saute one onion 1/2 green bell pepper and 1/2 red bell pepper. Pour off juice from 1 large can pineapple chunks. Add pineapple to saute and also added some frozen cranberries.
Mix reserved pineapple juice w/ beef broth to make about 2 cups. Pour onto saute veggies and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer, then use 1 T arrowroot powder dissolved in 2 T water to thicken sauce. Add the meatballs back into the mixture to cook a bit longer.
Wm got his over rice. I just ate mine as is. I really liked this! We have some leftover...So glad that Wm really doesn't like leftovers.

Dessert:
1/2 cup applesauce w/ cinnamon

Whole30 Day 22

Breakfast:
sausage, bell pepper and scrambled eggs
Bulletproof coffee (americano w/ kerrygold butter and coconut oil)

Lunch:

smoothie made w/ clementines, banana and 2 T of almond butter and about 1/2 c of almond milk

Snack:

small bag of nuts and lara bar

Dinner:

Grilled chicken breasts, saute of zucchini and onions and ginger/rice vinegar and sweet potato

glass of Merlot (BIG cheat)

BEAUTIFUL DAY IN ATX TODAY!

Whole30 Day 21

Breakfast:
1 piece of bacon, 2 scrambled eggs

Lunch:
Tortilla soup, 1 piece of cornbread, tossed salad (cheat...this was lunch provided after church today!)

Dinner:
Rudy's extra moist brisket, cole slaw and new potatoes

Whole30 Day 20

Breakfast:
oooops. forgot to eat breakfast
2  to 3 cups of coffee w/ cream

Enjoyed a very quiet nice morning looking thru tons of old photos that my mom had kept over the years of me, my kids and even the grandkids. There was even 'artwork' from a gazzillion years ago.

Some photos made me laugh:
like this one of my brother David in his body building days (about 1981)

This one was one of the sweet ones: Kristen and Tamera about 1989 in Oak Hill house

and this one of some cousins (Kristen, Patrick, Chris and Robbie)

and...awww...about 2001 (Tamera, Patrick and Kristen) in Shady Hollow house

What really delighted me were all the letters/emails printed out that Mom had saved over the last 40/50 years.  TONS of letters and notes exchanged. She kept every one of them...from me, from the kids. Letters SHE found that went from me to my grandparents and she kept after they died...What a sweet day.

We were really worried that our cute little dog was going to have some very StRaNGE looking ears, but turns out...that it's normal for them to do some strange things while teething...haha. Her R ear hangs straight down. Her L ear just goes crazy places. 

Snack:

Halo tangerine and Lara bar

Lunch:
leftover butternut/pork stew

Dinner:
one of my favorite combinations....taco meat w/ lots of bell pepper, some zucchini and onion on top of a few red potatoes
applesauce for 'dessert'

Whole30 Day 19

Day 19  Friday

Breakfast:
2 scrambled eggs, 2 sausage, 1 baked large 'new' potato garnished w/ pico

Snack:
grande Strbx coffee w/ 2 pumps sugar free mocha and cream

Lunch:
leftover taco meat w/  1/2 cup of pico!

I have to say...I have really lost my sugar craving except at night. Then I know that some fruit will do just fine. EVEN BETTER is I know that I can make fruit 'ice cream' in my vitamix.  THIS delights me...mmmm. sprinkled w/ walnuts or pecans...even better.
Also have noticed that having a big protein packed breakfast helps the rest of my day go much better. If I skimp on the protein at breakfast, I can't seem to 'catch up' at another meal.

Plantar fasciitis is still bothering me, but getting better. I long to know I can go hill walking again and not re- injure my foot. I have made a promise to myself that I will never go barefoot again if I can help it. In the meantime my exercise is limited to about 1 mile walk w/ Elsa.

This morning I loaded her up in the truck (in her crate) and we headed out to Brushy Creek Trail. 1 mile was about right for both of us. Then a quick run into Strbx for that snack I love and Michaels for some slightly pink tinged roses for my mom's grave site...Then to the old cemetery which really looked beautiful w/ all the green grass just starting to show. So glad for some sunshine today.

This weekend we will be getting the R-pod ready for camping season and initiate Elsa to sleeping in a crate in the camper. We just got her sleeping all night in the crate this past week. She's now about 13 weeks old. 

Dinner:
Pork tenderloin, butternut squash stew
Used 1 leftover tenderloin and about 2 cups roasted butternut squash I had frozen from last Saturday. Added about 2 cups of chicken broth. Placed in 375 degree oven uncovered. After it had heated about 20 minutes, I added 1/2 t. garam masala and 1/4 t. ginger and cinnamon and 2 T. minced garlic. Mixed 2 T. arrowroot powder into 1 can of full fat coconut milk (trader joe) in a small bowl, then stirred into the hot juices of the stew. Cooked about another 20 minutes until it thickened.
I ate mine just like this, but I made Wm some rice that had tumeric and cumin added to it. It was good and just a nice change to 'Indian' style food.

6 months

Sometime I will write about the WHY of my going gray...but right now I'm just so proud of myself for actually just getting to this point. I thought it would take a year and it probably would have if I'd decided to hang on to my 'long' hair. The haircut in October really, really helped. At this point I have NO desire to go back to color. I am undecided about short vs. long...but I am leaning towards keeping it on the short side. I still have a teeny bit of blond color on the tips of my bangs...but will either have those cut or 'bleached out' at next appointment.

 Feb 2015

 January 2015

Nov 2014

 Oct. 2014

 Sept. 2014

Aug. 2014

August 2014

July, 2014 in Durango

Whole30 Day 18

Breakfast:
Lara Bar and a banana and coffee/cream!

Lunch:
Taco meat w/ pico
sweet potato fries and sea salt

One of my lunch dates....He reminds me so much of my little brother, Dean. We called Dean our big eyed Bubba.

this was actually Meg w/ her 'snack' later. She also managed to eat taco meat and blueberries for lunch, this plate of fruit and then applesauce and cookies and a peppermint stick. She's having a growing spurt?

Snack:
dates

Dinner:
Cheesecake Factory Sante Fe Salad
Cheat! but so good.

Snack:
banana

Whole30 day 17

Breakfast:
2 bacon, 2 fried eggs
1 halo tangerine
coffee and heavy cream

Snack at Bible Study...small square of some kind of egg casserole

Lunch:
leftover creamed broccoli with some rotisserie chicken and a little bacon thrown in. MMMmmmgood.

Snack:
2 banana/2 clementine/almond milk smoothie

Dinner:
Steak, sweet potato w/ butter and saute spinach w/ splash of balsamic vinegar

Snack:
handful of blueberries and a couple of dates

Wow...I ate a LOT today. Too many snacks. I could have done w/ the morning snack and the afternoon snack. Not that hungry, then. BUT tonight the blueberries and dates were really delish and satisfied my sweet tooth.

Whole30 Day 16

Tuesday, Day 16

Breakfast:
saute of funny little squash that looks it's half yellow squash and half zucchini (about 1/2 of one) diced bell peppers and diced new potato. Added a couple of splashes of balsamic vinegar and dash of garlic salt. Scrambled about 6 eggs with this mix of veggies.
Starting to really want veggies at breakfast. Wm is on board. :)

Lunch:
picked up Panera for Katherine, Grey and me. I had the Fuji Chicken Salad.


Snack:
Lara Bar and coffee

Dinner:
Cheater meal. What is it about cold rainy days and Mexican food. Nuf said.
I had about a dozen chips w/ salsa and then Grilled Chicken Salad w/ about 2 T of jalopena dressing at Chuys. Basically, grilled fahita meat over a bed of greens w/ tomatoes and some extra salsa. Lots of water to drink

Whole30 Day 15

Day 15  Monday

Breakfast:

scrambled eggs mixed w/ a bit of sausage and leftover taco meat from last night plus handful of blueberries


Lunch:
'leftover soup' made from freezer leftovers mixed w/ beef broth. Mostly ground beef, zucchini, peppers and onions. It was very, very good!


Snack:
skinny mocha from Strbx (CHEAT since it had sugar free mocha plus 2 % milk)

Dinner:
Ginger Chicken
Saute about and inch of peeled and diced ginger and one onion in 1 T. coconut oil. Add 3 chicken cutlets to brown up a bit. Add a T of fish sauce and about 1/4 cup rice vinegar. Finish off in the oven for about 20 minutes or until chicken is done. THIS was very good. I would brown the chicken a little more next time. Found on Pinterest. Pinned under Paleo.
Creamed Broccoli
Steam 2 heads of broccoli until soft. Drain off water. Mash up the broccoli with a big spoon or potato masher. Stir in 1 can of heavy coconut cream. I used Trader Joes'.  Add a couple of teaspoons of garlic salt and 1 T of coconut aminos. Stir and simmer about 10 minutes. I liked this a LOT also. It was nice as side to the chicken, but would be great as a lunch soup with a little bit of bacon garnished on top! Found on Pinterest. Pinned under Paleo sides/veggies. I left out the mushrooms.

late night snack:
Cashew Lara Bar with a t. of almond butter spread on top.

Whole 30 Day 14

Day 14/Sunday

Ok, going gray and almost all the way there:

Breakfast:
scrambled eggs and bacon

Lunch:
If I'm going to cheat...it will be with salads when we eat out or sugar free drinks
Corner Bakery Cafe
Chopped Chicken Salad

Snack:
Diet Cherry Limeade at Sonic after a long walk at Brushy Creek Trail

Dinner:
1 # grass fed beef w/ bell peppers, onion and chili powder, cumin, chipolte chili flakes and mexican oregano, and garlic salt over a sweet potato or new potato (split 4 ways with Max, Tamera and Wm while we watched the Super Bowl game)

Whole30 Day 13

Day 13 (Saturday)
This day really was nice and full! So full I really did not eat very much. I wasn't that hungry until dinner and I'm glad I made a plan to have pork tenderloin. It was gReAT!
We actually saw each of our kids and their families on Saturday. Tamera and Max dropped by to say hi before they went 'hill climbing' in our neighborhood. Then Patrick and family dropped by so we could snuggle w/ baby Carter. It was also Kristen's birthday, so I got to see them in the evening.

haha, I think they look VERY much alike!

BEST toy we (Wm) ever purchased. I bet we have used this track system a gazillion times. Tyler especially loves it.

Breakfast:
banana and Lara bar

Lunch:
Lara Bar


Dinner:
pork roast tenderloin, roasted potatoes and green beans

Snack:
Lara bar
BUSY Saturday...needed to eat more and just got too busy.