Whole 30 Challenge: FAIL

So wow. I couldn’t even do it for 5 days straight!!! I cheated pretty much the entire day yesterday. I had a great day however.

We had the best best BEST family day. First, we tried a new restaurant that had the most delicious sandwiches, salads and burgers. I was being a good girl and ordered a salad with no cheese. Balsamic dressing. Then my DH got the burger, no cheese either. Fruit instead of fries. Well– our food came and the salad was MASSIVE and so delicious. But guess what? I noticed right away that the balsamic dressing was the creamy variety and the best tasting balsamic I’ve had in A LONG TIME. So I scarfed that salad so fast my DH barely got any. Ha. Then his burger came with fries. NoooooOoOOoOOOooooo! Oh you know I wasn’t about to sit there and not just have… one. I had a few, for sure. But stuck to my salad. Even had an iced tea with lemon and no sugar that was super tasty and refreshing!

Next, we took an 3-4 hour hike in a beautiful regional canyon park near where we live. Wowza. It was amazing and a great workout. After that, we were craving our favorite gastropub downtown and wanted to head to the weekly street fair/farmers market thereafter. Well– guess what? I had chicken satay which has a peanut sauce. But I was good and didn’t slather in the sauce and after that, a few glasses of wine and burger sliders. No bun, no cheese however.

Once we hit the farmers market we were bombarded with vendors and samples. I had some sugar then, of course. Le Sigh! At least we walked some and hiked all day. But still, I had *many* things on the list that I shouldn’t have had. The second day in a row now… I should just quit, shouldn’t I?

Maybe not, now that I am writing this. I ate almost entirely Whole30 compliant this morning. Am having my tea with no sugar. But I have an itchy feeling I’ll be hankering for a glass of vino to compliment my herb crusted roasted chicken, no doubt. And this isn’t fair to say I’m doing a “Whole 30 Challenge” when I’m really *not* am I? I can stick to it most days of the week. But I’m feeling deprived and know my vino days are heading to an end as we will be trying to have another baby soon.

Le Sigh. I’m just not ready.

Whole 30 Challenge: Day two

Well, yesterday wasn’t so hard. I think I can do this. Until the weekend, I hope the sugar/wine demons don’t tempt me too much. The one thing I did notice was a weird dizzy spell last night. Dinner was not great– I did not like that london broil at all– it was very chewy. Too meaty. I know, right? My DH and toddler loved it though. So I think I under ate a bit. I am nursing a toddler still a few times a day so I need to eat enough. I snacked on some watermelon and strawberries with a bit of almond butter.

I am noticing an overall aversion to food, especially today. This happens to me however, sometimes. Mostly when I was pregnant. No, I am not pregnant. Sure of that. I hope that goes away soon.

Here is what today looks like:

Breakfast:
Sweet potato rounds with cinnamon fried in olive oil/homemade ghee.
Egg scramble with bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and garlic.
Cup of Fresh and Easy green tea with pomegranate and blueberry which is MUCH tastier then black coffee. Oui.

Lunch:
Chicken grilled on the foreman grill and salad. Whipped up an avocado dressing. It was good. Not great. Good. 
Half an orange my toddler wouldn’t eat.

Dinner:
Turkey breast in the crock pot. I am adapting a Crockpot 365 recipe. That chick is hi-larious. No butter (omg!) so I melted half a stick or so, sifted off the solids with a slotted spoon. It’s close enough to ghee. I just don’t have the time for paper towel draining! No wine either, so I am going to use water. Can you freaking BELIEVE most chicken broths in the box have sugar in them? Le Sigh. Oh and a squeeze of orange for some acidity.

Perhaps some butternut squash with some cinnamon, or left over veggies from last night.

Snack:
Trying to not snack on nuts and fruit but since I can’t have my trader joes’ cheese sticks…  Hope I feel better about food tomorrow.

The toddler is grossing me out to the max today– would she just *stop* spitting out food onto my plate? UGH! But gosh I just love her when she’s telling stories that I get maybe three or four words of. Then I say “aren’t you sick of that?” and she goes “sick cough cough”. Hahaha I meant sick like, tired of it. Love toddlers for this very reason. Oh and last night… she. read. words. AGAIN! Off of daddy’s shirt, from a menu, from the TV. Can a 2yo seriously read or is this just amazing word recognition? I knew she always loved anything in type but had NO IDEA I’d see her reading words. Crazy…

Whole 30 Challenge: That means no wine for 30 days…

So I am joining the crunchy mother woman hippy revolution and doing a Whole 30 Challenge. If you haven’t heard, it’s basically eliminating grains and really, anything that comes in a box with a label. Which is all crap in the long run, and you know it. I will miss pizza. I really miss half and half and cane sugar in the coffee. Most of all, I’ll miss my wine. And it’s only day one!!!

The toddler barely eats at all these days so I broke down and got her a box of Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies. They are calling to me as we speak and the girl isn’t eating those either. Le Sigh. Now they just sit there and tempt me all damn day. I had a few this last weekend. I noticed the crappy bloating feeling from doing so. I stepped on the scale too and noticed WOW my weight is still where it was a month ago. Even with eating paleo/primal most of the time, exercising somewhat regularly and taking the levothyroxine the doc prescribed. What freaking gives??!?!?!

Oh, maybe those glasses of wine in the evenings. Which we all know lead to dark chocolate and various other desserts I do not need. But cmon, it’s supposed to be 80/20 or something anyway… Yeah, I don’t think it’s going to work for me unless I really try 100%. Yay.

So I got to thinking. Let me just print out the *rules* for the Whole 30 Challenge and see what husbeast says. He’s on board. WHAT? Yes. He said he’d try. Guess what he did? Ate oreos for breakfast this AM. Well– ok, he’s at least going to be supportive of me. And, if all goes well, it’ll end on the 4th of July. Perfect timing for me to have a celebratory glass of wine! And it’s only 30 days right? I can do this! There is no way I won’t loose at least *some* weight and I’ll supposedly feel amazing. I can DO THIS.

And so, I decided that I will write about it. No, I won’t take pictures of my food/plates. Unless you want to look at a sink full of dirty dishes. That’s pretty much my house 24-7 these days. If you want food pron paleo-style, go to Nom Nom Paleo, she’s amazing! I will however mention what I’m eating. And would love to get suggestions/recipes/tsks about how I’m doing it wrong, etc.

Breakfast:
I drank coffee black today. It felt blasphemous.

Filet mignon (darn it was bacon wrapped! I didn’t eat *all* the bacon) and eggs at a local diner. Fruit on the side I didn’t touch. I know, I know, they probably fried everything in a seed oil, no, I didn’t bother asking. I’m not that hardcore.

Ice tea. No sugar! The squeeze of lime made it good!

Lunch:
A forman grilled chicken breast with 21 season salute from Trader Joe’s, romaine, tomato, carrot salad. With olive oil and balsamic.

Some grapes and canned pear. Because I’m ghetto like that. Yes, I know about the BPA. Tell Target to stop selling it then, yeah?

Dinner:
Balsamic, garlic and basil marinated london broil I hope to not overcook. I hate a tough steak! Kale and zucchini sauté in the juices. And some fruit for dessert (maybe), NOT WINE OR DARK CHOCOLATE!