whole30 program Archives - I am a Honey Bee

I am documenting my Whole 30 journey to help me see how far I’ve come and to keep me inspired through the whole process. I’m looking forward to the transformation in how I approach food, cook with it, and enjoy it. Read why taking on this challenging dietary adventure is so important to me HERE.

{Day 7}

Sunday, February 8th

Price had to go into work today to make up time time he had missed from taking Autumn to the Dr on Friday so it was mainly just Autumn and I hanging around. I prepped food for Price but I got to do whatever for my meals. So I basically did whatever, and whenever. Like lunch at 2.30, very unlike me. But sometimes things are just ‘meh’ when it comes to the day and food.

Breakfast

Spaghetti squash with steak and veggies.

I got ta late start to breakfast so I just morphed it into lunch food. I used up the spaghetti squash, TJ’s Cruciferous Crunch mix, mushrooms, and some steak. I didn’t like that I make it into stir fry since once I was done with it it just felt weird to eat it for breakfast so I picked at it and ate the steak and some of the rest.

Lunch

Waffled Hashbrowns with a fried egg and salsa

This made up for my lack luster breakfast. I’m loving my Waffle Wednesday posts so I was excited to make this. I need to make more and more and more of these hashbrowns.

Dinner

Beef Burger Patty with grilled pineapple, guac & cilantro. Side of sweet potato fries.

I was struggling to think of what to make for dinner and ended whipping this up. It worked but I miss buns and ketchup. I think I only use ketchup for burgers and fries which is a vast improvement from when I used to eat it with everything. So I miss it with meals like this. But it was still really, really good.

{Day 8}

Monday, February 9th

We were getting pummeled with snow and daycare was closed so I stayed home with Autumn. It felt great that is was a

Breakast

Potato and veggie hash with 2 fried eggs

Lunch

Shrimp scampi with zoodles and an apple with crunchy almond butter

This lunch felt like a treat but I felt like I needed a treat as I was home yet again with Autumn because of the snow. Shrimp for lunch is such a treat! And it was a very good lunch. I make it scampi style with some oil, garlic, crushed red pepper, and some ghee.

And an apple with almond butter never hurts anyone. So good.

Dinner

Chicken breasts with a kumquat relish on a bed of chard and mashed potatoes (Modified Blue Apron Meal)

This was a winner! We loved it. It was so flavorful and hearty.

I forgot to cancel Blue Apron this week so I just ended up modifying the ingredients to make it Whole30 compliant. I skipped the sugar in the relish recipe and I swapped out the freekah for the mashed potatoes made with vegetable broth. And I made a pan sauce with the drippings in the pan after I cooked the chicken, some veggie broth, and almond flour. I have to make this one again.

{Day 9}

Tuesday, February 10th

Yet another snow day. The MBTA was closed down so I had to work from home (unless I drove in), but daycare was closed so I had Autumn at home, so no real working, besides a conference call. Price had to get in so he drove in. So just me and Autumn again! 🙂

Anyway, I feel that the biggest progress in this process

Breakast

Scrambled eggs with veggies, salsa mixed an an avocado, and pineapple

Price was still home when I made this so I enjoyed the company. Autumn ended up eating quite a bit

Lunch

Chicken with swiss chard mashed potatoes and asparagus

I’m always so glad when I make a lot of food when cooking something as it makes the next meals come together quickly. As in this one as I got to enjoy leftover chicken and mashed potatoes from the night before. I just quickly made some asparagus in a skillet and ta-da, all done!

Dinner

Pork Cutlets with a Beet, Heirloom Carrot, and Hazelnut Salad (Modified Blue Apron Meal)

There was not much to modify about this recipe to make it Whole30 compliant, just ditch the butter and use ghee. Simple! And we ended up with a delicious, filling dinner. Plus, it just meant that I only needed to dirty a pot and a skillet. Next time, if I use prepared beets I’ll only need to dirty a skillet- such a win!!

____________________

I’m glad that I have stuck with Whole30 so far at this point without any slip ups. The strict restrictions have really helped me stay in check with what I was eating while at home, which is when I will most often snack on stuff like Ritz crackers or Goldfish crackers. It’s not about not even having them at home, since I have other similarly tempted things (chocolate pudding, cheese, etc), but more about controlling cravings. yay!

We had some great dinners so the repetitive nature of some of the foods so far is. I’m glad that I forgot to cancel the Blue Apron package as those dinners were fantastic!

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Have you heard of Whole 30?

It’s a diet/detox/way to kick your bad eating habits to the curb.

I don’t know the best way to call it. It’s not a diet because the real intention is not to lose weight. Although that typically is a happy side effect. It’s a sugar detox to help you slay that ‘sugar dragon’. But most importantly, at least to me, it’s a way to reset your approach to eating in order to train yourself to pick the best for you foods.

Whole 30 was created by the husband and wife team behind the Whole 9 Life website and blog, which details their 9 factors to lead a whole life. Truthfully, I haven’t really checked that out as I have been more focused on Dallas and Melissa’s Whole 30 program. But… I’m sure their factors are well thought out as their Whole 30 program is.

Okay, okay, so what is Whole 30?

Well, I’ve been finding it best to explain it with “It is the Paleo diet + a few more restrictions + NO SUGAR. For 30 days.”

Why do I emphasize the NO SUGAR? Well, sugar is in everything! Okay, just about everything. No, they don’t say ‘ Apples have sugar… No apples!” No, it’s about cane sugar, white sugar, maple syrup, honey, stevia, High Fructose Corn Syrup, etc.

They purposefully have created this sugar restriction as sugar does some funky, funky stuff to your body. It’s all science-y and complex (and still a little over my head) but they do a good job of explaining it in their New York Time’s Best-Selling book It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways
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It Starts with Food spells out what happens in your body when you eat different things from apples to low-fat yogurt and steak to pasta. As a result of all their science-y investigating they developed the Whole 30 program. I could go on and on but their book is really good so if you are curious just get it and check it out as it was a big eye-opener for me. Especially, reading the testimonials of people who completed the program and noticed dramatic improvements in their health from the reduction of allergies, more energy, elimation in stomach issues, and much more. Pretty Cool.

So back to the WHY I am doing this?

Since having Autumn in November 2013, I’ve lost over 50 pounds. Woohoo! I hover around the 53-54 lb mark. And that’s not talking weight I gained while I was pregnant. I’m talking prepregancy weight – 53ish pounds.

I watched what I ate while pregnant, resulting in (thankfully) only gaining just shy of 15 pounds, and afterwards but I know that the majority of my weight loss was from breastfeeding. And now that I have wrapped that up after 14.5 months I need to not back slide. Plus, I’d absolutely love, love, love to lose another 15 pounds. And preferably by our June wedding. #nopressure.

So this is a way to reset my eating habits. But losing weight isn’t the only thing. I want to better my body over all so I can feel and look great without being so tired or moody or whatever. I don’t want to feel sore and drained for no real reason. I want to have great energy! I want to make smart food choices! I want a golden egg… oh wait, nevermind…

We have been eating more and more paleo style foods but ever since getting pregnant I’ve been craving sugar. Prior to my pregnancy I was a ‘salt’ person and perfectly fine without dessert but now I’m constantly thinking about chocolate chip cookies. Warm from the oven browned butter chocolate chip cookies with a sprinkling of sea salt on top. OMG.

I need to beat that constant voice in my head saying “You know, 2.30pm is the prefect time for a cup of tea. But you know what goes well with a cup of tea? A cookie! How about you go down to the cafe and get a mocha double chocolate chip cookie!!!!!! AMAZING IDEA, NO?!?!?!”

Thankfully, I say no most days but those mocha chocolate cookies make me weak in the knee and I do succumb to that little voice in my head more often that not. ugh/yay?!?!

I’ve been looking forward to this month-long challenge for a while now. I’ve cleaned the cabinets of non-complient foods (damn you Ritz crackers!), searched all over Pinterest for yummy foods, bought Paleo cookbooks, and given myself a big ol’ pep talk. Wish me luck 😉

I will be documenting the journey on the blog and on my Instagram account. I am also a member on the Whole 30 forum so find me there and say hi!

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