healthy=happy2014: Whole30 Progress

I am on day 5 on my Whole30. So far, things have really been going great!! I think what has helped me is that I did a lot of research beforehand. I have had it sort of in the back of my head that I might do a Whole30 Challenge since October, and since then I have been reading up. In December, I really started doing research on it. I was reading lots of blogs from others who had done a Whole30 Challenge, looking up all kinds of recipes, and how to make different meals "Whole30 Compliant." So, doing all that really got me in the right frame of mind I think. Then, I started spending some money...I ordered the book, I ordered Ghee (clarified organic butter; basically they heat butter at a very low temperature until the milk solids become a foam that sits on top of the butter and you can remove it...what you have left is Whole30 Compliant because the milk solids are removed), I ordered spice blends that contained no MSG, sugar, sugar substitutes, or other crap, I got coconut oil and coconut milk (still don't know what to do with the latter). I really put quite a bit of time into all of this-but this is what I tend to do....when I get something on my mind, I sort of obsess about it. And I really like to research EVERYTHING. I use google prooooobably 500x per day. No joke.

In this case, my slightly obsessive personality has (I think) really benefited me because I really knew what I was signing up for, I knew all the rules, I had ideas about what I could and could not have, and head all kinds of meals in mind already so that I wouldn't be hungry, frustrated, and give up on the second day.

Here is the premise for Whole30:

Basically, it is 30 days of a very restrictive diet. People do it for lots of reasons. Some do it to diagnose possible food allergies, or people with certain medical conditions do it to see how different kinds of food affect them given their condition. I basically was curious about it, and I like a challenge. I did need a kick in the butt to get this new year started off right and I hope that this will make me try some new things and broaden my horizons with food so that even when it's over I have more of a taste for some of these healthy foods, and can get back to choosing healthier alternatives. I have never before considered really trying "clean eating" but I have heard so much about the benefits so I figured why the heck not. So, I started prepping.

As said, I did my research:

Then, I went grocery shopping:

Somehow while at Whole Foods, this little guy:

just jumped in my cart....but really I am glad because I went from drinking pretty much no water some days, to drinking 6 or more of these guys a day without even really trying! I just make sure it stays full, and make sure that I have 4 total, but so far I have exceeded that every day!

Anyway, then I did some recipe planning and meal prepping. This is the only place I still felt a little lost....I boiled some eggs, chopped some veggies, and packed up a couple of meals. I still don't think I have meal prep down to a science but so far I am doing alright. My photo album on my phone basically looks like a cook book because of screen shots of different recipe ideas.

So, here is a basic summary of my days so far:

DAY 1

BREAKFAST: hard-boiled egg and a banana

LUNCH: roasted asparagus (evoo and homemade seasoned salt), sauteed onions and mushrooms (ghee and garlic), and a lean, grass fed hamburger patty (THIS MEAL WAS SO FILLING)

DINNER: "Oven Fajitas"-basically, boneless skinless chicken breasts cut up into strips, mixed with a can of rotel, an onion, a bell pepper, and some red pepper. Then, I mixed evoo with a blend of some different spices that made up a "homemade fajita seasoning" (cumin, red pepper, and a bunch of other crap), and tossed all of it together with that.

DAY 2

BREAKFAST: 2 eggs scrambled with peppers and onions sauteed in 2 teaspoons of ghee and a banana

LUNCH: hard-boiled egg, clementine, raw carrots, and a 100 calorie pack of Wholly Guacamole

DINNER: taco salad, made with lean grass fed beef seasoned with homemade taco seasoning, spinach and iceberg lettuce mix, pico, salsa, and green onions

DAY 3

BREAKFAST: sausage and sweet potato hash (sweet potatoes shredded and sauteed in coconut oil with bell pepper and onion, mixed with some ground sausage, and topped with a fried egg-in ghee)

LUNCH: repeat of roasted asparagus (evoo and homemade seasoned salt), sauteed onions and mushrooms (ghee and garlic), and a lean, grass fed hamburger patty (THIS MEAL WAS SO FILLING)

DINNER: spinach and romaine salad, with chicken "grilled" in a pan with coconut oil and my compliant lemon pepper seasoning, and tossed with a Mediterranean style vinaigrette from Whole Foods that is compliant

SNACK (NOT PICTURED): I had a bowl of fruit for a snack this night (cherries, a clementine, and a banana)...I was starting to tell the sugar cravings were kicking in and my body was missing that sugar.

DAY 4

BREAKFAST: eggs scrambled with peppers and onions sauteed in Ghee, clementine

LUNCH: spinach and romaine salad, with chicken "grilled" in a pan with coconut oil and my compliant lemon pepper seasoning, and tossed with a Mediterranean style vinaigrette from Whole Foods that is compliant

DINNER: "paleo spaghetti and meatballs"-spaghetti squash instead of noodles, homemade spaghettie sauce, and homemade meatballs. I made sure all my ingredients were compliant and I also added in tons of veggies I don't usually (mushrooms, carrots, extra onion). I blended the sauce to be able to add all those extra veggies without changing the texture too much. This meal was TO DIE FOR and definitely my favorite so far, which isn't a surprise since pasta and Italian in general is one of my favorite foods.

SNACK: bowl of fresh cherries; again, I can tell I am craving sugar. I know they don't "recommend" snacking, or really recommend a lot of fruit. oh well. These were delicious. Until yesterday, when my sister happened to have some cherries at her house, I didn't really think I "liked" cherries. They aren't my first choice flavor of anything, and I guess I've only really had the fake ones out of a jar sitting in red sugar syrup....Well, these are AMAZING. I went to Kroger last night and spend tooooo much on like 1.5 lbs of cherries. They may or may not be almost gone after Justin and I snacking on them last night!

So, there you have it. 4 days in and rocking along, so far it has not been so bad!! Although yesterday at the grocery store we went before dinner and I was hungry and felt a little liiiiiike:

I had to get out of there before I dove into a jar of peanut butter, or grabbed one of those icy cold diet cokes they put right at the check out, I'm pretty sure just to torture me.

I saw this and liked it: