My Whole30 Experience, Week 3

Day 14:  It's still a Monday, and I'm still not jumping out of bed like some kind of chipper, crazed lunatic, but I've never done that, and this is a change in lifestyle, not magic.  I should be more realistic with my expectations, I guess. Hard-boiled eggs and carrots for breakfast. Then I ran home for lunch and ate a leftover turkey burger.  I did make myself some dip out of my homemade mayo, I added a squeeze of lime, some cayenne and a little dill, salt and pepper to make a "ranch-ish" dip for veggies.  It was great!

For dinner I cooked up my marinated chicken breasts and made a big ol' salad with faux ranch dressing, roasted beets, tomatoes and cucumber on a bed of spinach and arugula. Mmmmmmm.

One tip, when cooking any meat, it's important to let it rest before slicing, that's not just for steaks.  I've eaten enough bone-dry chicken breasts in my life to take this one pretty seriously.

Day 15: Woke up to black skies - it's monsoon season in the desert. Packed up my usual banana/almond butter/egg breakfast.  I've been drinking seltzer like it's going out of style.  I switched from diet soda to iced tea and/or seltzer over a year ago and it's been really great.  I also quit drinking coffee daily, and now only have it from time to time, so I think having already done that helped me when it came time to starting the Whole30. 

For lunch a trip to the Whole Foods' salad bar followed by some cherries.  I bought some Red Boat fish sauce, so I'll need to come up with a way to try it out!

Dinner was a leftover chicken breast, a garnet yam and green beans with mushrooms and onion.  Then just a bite or two of my perfect farmer's market pineapple to finish!

I don't want to brag, but those green beans were really, really good.

Day 16:  Another day, another breakfast of hard boiled eggs, banana and almond butter.  I went home for lunch and whipped up another salad, this time with roast beef, beets, tomato, avocado and a little "ranch." And then I ate the most delicious peach.  It was truly spectacular. One of the things I've noticed is how much sweeter fruit tastes when I'm not blowing my palate with candy and...Blizzards....heaven help me.Have you seen the ingredients in a Blizzard?  It basically ruined my day.  But I will say that Whole 30 has made me a lot more aware of ingredients and what I'm putting in my gut.

For dinner, I mixed up some chicken salad with Flackers (flax seed crackers).  It was nice to have something salty and crunchy to eat, and then I had some pineapple and coconut, which tasted like candy!

Day 17: Breakfast was the same as usual, but don't let that bother you, before the Whole30, I had a Kashi Bar, Greek yogurt and a piece of fruit for breakfast basically every day.

I went out for lunch at Outback with a coworker and was able to get a 6 oz. steak, sweet potato and steamed broccoli, all without any added oil/butter.  It was really great, though I'm sure the steak wasn't grass-fed, I'm doing my best!

For dinner I browned up the farmer's market sausage and made zoodles and homemade marinara.  With a peach to top things off!  Then I watched several hours of American Ninja Warrior instead of doing any number of productive things.  Go Kacy!

Day 18: Breakfast, samesies.  Lunch, leftover zoodles.  Dinner, crispy chicken thighs.  Number of times I've wanted a beer, 100+.  Then around 10pm, I ate 2 Lara Bars and a bowl full of pineapple.  I wouldn't call it a fall off the wagon, since I didn't eat anything that wasn't compliant, I just ate all the sugary food I had on hand. It was more like hitting a pothole in the wagon, if you will.  I'll have to pull it together tomorrow. Another Saturday at work isn't making things any easier, but I can do this! Day 19: Breakfast, eggs and an apple with almond butter. Lunch, tuna salad and a fruit/almond milk smoothie.  I made pork green chili for dinner, and it turned out really nicely.  I've eaten every bit of fresh fruit in the house, luckily tomorrow is grocery day! Day 20:  Woke up to sweet potato hash topped with pork green chili, then headed to Sprouts and the farmer's market. I've been really enjoying making more relationships with the local vendors.  One of the meat vendors at the market has started making a sugar-free sausage after talking with me about the program and the number of people who are leading a more paleo lifestyle. I've still been eating too much fruit, my sugar dragon is alive and kicking, though I think some of it may be do to my personal *ahem* cycle. 2/3 of the way there and 10 days to go!!!!  Let's do this.