Whole 30 - Day 3

Whomp whomp...I made it a whole 2.75 days. So maybe Christmas really isn't the time to be doing this.  By the end of yesterday, I was so cranky and had the worst headache.  It's partially my fault for not packing dinner when I knew I would be at school until almost 8pm, but the headache and cravings were intense.

After a verbal altercation with the cashier at Target, I came home and face planted into some chocolate chips. Couldn't help myself. Plus, all I could think about was how much I missed my morning almond milk latte with three stevia.

Things I liked - it got me to sit down and eat a filling, healthy breakfast. I will keep this going. Also, I did cut waaaay back on sugar and I've only had two small bites of grains. I hope to keep this up for as long as possible. It also made me look even more closely at food labels and I am SHOCKED by what I found. Did you know there is added sugar in some brands of table salt?! Publix brand, I'm looking at you. I will be much more aware of the things I am buying and splurge for organic or "fancy" items more frequently.

So moral of the story...this program can work and I will try it again, but just not during one of the craziest months of the year. And most importantly, I just want to get to a point where I don't think about every single thing I ate or will be eating. It's exhausting!

In other news, it's make-up free Wednesday! Those extra 10 minutes were so very welcome this morning. Let's see what the students think. If I could get $5 for every time one of them comments that I look tired I would have a lot of dollars at the end of the day :)

Whole30 - Day 2

Day 2 was a little bit harder. Ok, a lot harder. Here are the eats and how I felt.

Meal 1 (6:15am) - Egg scramble with sweet potatoes, spinach, yellow peppers and avocado and coconut oil, coffee with coconut milk. Realized my new salt contains dextrose so I used Kosher salt and WOW did I overdo it.

I felt super full after this meal and was craving my almond milk latte. 

Meal 2 (12:20pm) - 2 small salmon cakes, green beans and avocado with a very small apple

This was not enough food at all. While I was really full after lunch, I was hungry once school was over. Going to have to tweak  the whole lunch thing. 

Meal 3 (4:00-5:00pm) - umm...a hard-boiled egg, lots of dates and cashews, a Larabar, 2 salmon cakes with avocado.

Not super proud of this afternoon. I was stressed and used to coming home and snacking on junk. After eating all of this I definitely felt like crap.  While it was all "approved" food, they weren't meals and I didn't sit to eat any of it.  I had a bit of a rough day and I really wanted to dive into the chocolate chips and bagels plus I have quite the headache, but that could be from all sorts of things. Overall though, I mostly did things right. 

Now it's off to do laundry and prep some food for the rest of this crazy week!

Whole30 - Day 1

I'm typing this to try to distract myself from the fact that I want to eat crap. I'm procrastinating doing any sort of school work or the laundry. Typically when I do this I snack on all the things. Unfortunately, it was usually sugar-laden. Did you know that sugar is in everything?!? Seriously, I was reading labels to see if things were Whole 30 approved and eliminated so many things based on the sugar alone.

So my Day 1 consisted of a hard-boiled egg before 4 mile run/walk (dang Bar method sore legs!) and 50 burpees. I came home and ate this breakfast scramble and an Americano with coconut milk.

I went in to work and then ate some of the pumpkin chicken curry I made yesterday with green beans. I probably should have eaten more because I then snacked on some cashews, dates, and green olives. The curry was ok. I am definitely going to have to work on making more flavorful food if I am to feel satisfied. I think I'm going to eat a Larabar and some mint tea and call it a day.

Now I just need to be a little productive and do 50 more burpees for Elf For Health then I can go to sleep early! Two weeks of solid teaching are ahead and I need to be on my A-game.

Well this is discouraging...

So after a great Thanksgiving, I decided to just go for it. I'm starting the Whole30 tomorrow. I returned to an empty fridge and thought, "why not?"  But then, after spending the last four hours shopping and prepping, I logged on to the Whole9 website and saw this. 

Seriously?!? It talks about how the holidays just might not be the best time and while I understand the rationale, I don't really think it applies to me. I'm not really good with others thinking they know better than me anyway. So I'm just going to ignore their advice and give it a go even though I am sooooo nervous!

Today I did some serious shopping at Fresh Market and Sam's and will need to hit Publix tomorrow.  I then spent the evening watching some Notre Dame football and cooking up a storm. I made Spicy Pumpkin Chicken Curry, Salmon Patties, and prepped some stuff for breakfast.  I'll do another good batch of cooking in the morning before going in to work at the Outlets.

I'll give a little Elf For Health update and Thanksgiving recap soon! Wish me luck :)

I like to keep TSA on their toes.

I'm a city girl who just happened to grow up in a small town and who currently lives in a different small town. My favorite days growing up were when my mom and I would plan to go to St. Louis to get our big city fix.  We would shop all day, eat lunch and  have the greatest time. I remember planning out what I would wear for those excursions for weeks before the actual day.

Now that I am a grown-up (ha!), I have chosen to live in a small town again for a few years, but I miss the city every day. I especially miss my super healthy, everything at your fingertips, weird-loving Austin. While I now live at the beach and have different opportunities, what I miss most is access to affordable, healthy food options. As I get ready to embark on the Whole 30 Challenge, I think this is going to be my biggest challenge. Of course Fresh Market has most of what I need, but at twice the price I am used to paying. Will I suck it up and pay it? Yes. Will I like it? This frugal foodie says, "heck to the no!"

Since I am such a frugal (tight-wad), you better believe I make the most of Southwest's free bag policy.  The past few times I have been home I have brought an extra bag that I fill with goodies from Trader Joe's.  My mom and I stop their either the day I land or the day I fly back.  This time I stocked up on things I will be using on the Challenge. Look at all the goodies!

Coconut oil, ghee, nuts, dried (no sugar-added) raspberries, the BEST mint tea, some spices, and Cashew cookie Lara bars.  And the fact that they are Whole30 approved isn't even the best part. My mom treated me to all of it!!! She's the greatest. Full disclosure - I also bought some non approved items to use in the meantime. Now if only I could pack the perishable stuff. I'm pretty sure the TSA security guys have some interesting reactions when my bags get inspected.

Breaking the silence

The day after Christmas I am embarking on the Whole30 Challenge. And I hope to document it here! Until then I will blog about all the prep work, mentally and physically, that I am doing.  It most definitely includes a lot pinning :)