Whole30 Week 1

In another blog post, I mentioned that Papa Bear & I ordered pizza for the last time in 35+ days on New Years Eve.  This is because we are doing the Whole30 Program.  Essentially, no sugars (or sweet substitutes), alcohol, dairy, grains or legumes.  Pretty tough regimen, but we know that it's for a metabolic reset & will help us conquer our demons. 

Mama Bear's "Before" Pictures

Papa Bear's "Before" Pictures

Day 1 - January 4, 2016

We took our initial measurements, and weighed for the final time for the next 31 days (weighing or measuring during the program is against the rules)!  I won't share any numbers right now,  but I will at the end of our journey! 

Day 1's meals consisted of the following:  

Breakfast:  3 egg/veggie "muffins", 2 tablespoons of  "Salsa" (I don't have a food processor, so I ran it through the blender), and 1/2 banana.

Lunch:  Chicken (Protein) Salad, on a bed of spinach, and bell pepper slices!  It needed a little more flavor, so I splashed it with balsamic vinegar.

Dinner:  Roasted acorn squash, topped with ground turkey, tomato sauce, onions & garlic.  

Breakfast was supposed to have an avocado, but ours aren't ripe enough.  I cut 1/2 up & split it between my hubby & I - but it's not yay.

Kids (ages 2 & 4) are not really on board.  My 4-year old had some of the chicken salad, and they both had the sauce tonight, over noodles.  I'll take the little wins where I can!

Day 2 - January 5, 2016

Tuesday is our super easy day, so the kids & I were home enjoying the down time!  

For our Whole30 Day 2, our meals were as follows:

Breakfast:  Southwest Scrambled Eggs, sautéed spinach, 1/2 avocado, salsa, & berries.  

Lunch:  Chicken salad on a bed of romaine, with W30 ranch. 

Dinner:  Roasted pumpkin, seared chicken breast, topped with W30 red pepper sauce, green beans, beets & 1/4 avocado.   

Had a serious hankering for something sweet today, fought it off & didn't give in - even though my children had PB & J and a chocolate coin for lunch!

Day 3 - January 6, 2016

Our Whole30, Day 3 selections for that day were: 

Breakfast:  2 Scotch Eggs (Stupid Easy Paleo), 1/2 avocado & Celery Sticks with ranch dressing. 

Lunch:    I was on the move, so no pic.  Needed a snack before I got where I could to eat properly, so had 1/2 apple with 1Tblsp compliant almond butter.  Then finished off my batch of protein salad on a bed of romaine, with ranch dressing.  

Dinner:  Garlic-Lime Salmon (A Spicy Perspective) & Greek salad, with Greek dressing.

Not really feeling the hangover today, but I did a little yesterday.  Just a little dizzy this morning before I ate breakfast!

Day 4 - January 7, 2016

Our Whole30, Day 4 meals for today were:

Breakfast:  2 Scotch Eggs, Raspberries & Spinach, sautéed in ghee.  (Huge success in the fact that my kids ATE a Scotch Egg together!) 

Lunch:  Leftover citrus garlic salmon on romaine, with 1/2 avocado & ranch. 

Dinner:  Paleo Chocolate Chili over Zoodles, topped with the other 1/2 of my avocado from lunch.  

A small headache this morning, but the dizziness has gone away - that I was having the last 2 days!  Didn't want to kill anyone/anything either!

Day 5 - January 8, 2016

Day 5 was a little tougher, for really the first time! I couldn't seem to be full/satiated at all! Either I didn't eat enough food, or I'm just at "that phase." I also had to take my anxiety medication - this weather & cooped up kids destroying my house have my nerves shot. Anyway.... This too shall pass!

Breakfast: Pumpkin/Butternut squash/Bell Pepper/Egg/Homemade sausage Breakfast Casserole & a cutie orange. I had 2 helpings of the casserole even! Big win with the kids today! My daughter started her morning asking for cereal, I talked her into trying a piece of the casserole, and she didn't want cereal anymore -- my son also ate the casserole with a little prodding!
Lunch: 2 big bowls of leftover Paleo Chocolate Chili, with added spinach & avocado.
Dinner: Pork Chops & Spiced applesauce, with a side salad & ranch!

It wasn't a Bad day, just a challenge! Prepping tonight for shopping day tomorrow & prep day on Sunday!

Day 6 - January 9, 2016

Day 6 was interesting. It was our plan/shop day, but I got carried away & didn't have something prepared for lunch, and by the time we got to dinner - we were in trouble time-wise, so we improvised both!

Breakfast: Roasted pumpkin & spaghetti squash (in ghee), homemade turkey sausage crumbles, & 2 fried eggs.
Lunch: Jumble Salad (romaine & spinach, topped with leftover ginger-citrus salmon, & egg salad, & ranch).
Dinner: Leftover breakfast casserole, red pepper sauce, and vinegar marinated cucumber salad.

I'm very much looking forward to our BBQ ribs & cauliflower mash tomorrow!!!

Day 7 - January 10, 2016

One Week Done!!!! Day 7's Meals consisted of:

Breakfast: Spinach, Onion & Tomato Frittata (I ended up having 2 portions)

Lunch: Mexican Tuna Salad, with a cutie orange, rainbow carrot sticks & olives. This is amazingly delicious! 

Dinner: BBQ Baby Back Ribs, beets & green beans, and cauliflower mash (with ghee).

Today has been wild! We ate before running to church. We ran home to quickly get lunch ready (this is a huge change for us, as we usually stop at Costco & grab pizza or hot dogs for lunch). Then, as my children took naps, hubby & I prepared our bums off!! We had to stop to make dinner & some of it will simply have to wait, but, by the time we finish tonight, we'll have prepared 2 batches of scotch eggs, Thai cucumber cups, turkey sausage patties, a big batch of pumpkin soup, several dressings & mayo's, and several crock pot/freezer dinners! Should have done more yesterday, but we did get the shopping done, so I was proud of us!

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The first week has been truly eye opening!  The things that are in our food, that we don't even notice, are mind-blowing.  Soy in tuna fish.  Corn Syrup in tomatoes.  Sugar in everything.  Preservatives everywhere!  Papa Bear & I have been talking, at length, about it.  We'll never view food the same way!  I'm not sure how we'll handle re-introduction, yet, but I'm already getting nervous about it!