Whole30 Day 18: Turn 3!

What a glorious, glorious day! I hope you all got the chance to be outside today. Around here, at least, it was absolutely incredible. A perfect, perfect spring day. And very productive, if I do say so!

Late last night, I got word that the only real appointment I had for the day, from about 9-11am, had been cancelled. Although I was disappointed- I have measurements to take!- it did give me two extra hours of viable time to get other things done. So! Penelope let me sleep in (reluctantly) until 9:00. We got up, went for our morning meander, and had breakfast while I made a shopping list. Then I showered, got dressed and then had lunch. No, I wasn't all that hungry, but I knew we'd be gone for a while and didn't want to get caught hungry! Then, we went over to a park, sort of on the way to the grocery. And we walked for an hour and a half! This specific park is called Hills and Dales, and boy, is it! Penelope absolutely loved it, of course, and I did too- but it was a bit warmer than I had expected and I forgot to bring water. But a quick car ride cooled us off, and I went to the grocery. Don't worry, I left windows down! Then, a quick stop at the pet store yielded collapsible bowls for Penelope and cat litter for Little Bit. With the amount that dog is riding around with me these days, I figure a pair of bowls we can just leave in the car is probably a pretty good idea- I'm always grabbing some random piece of tupperware, either from my cupboard or someone else's, so hopefully this will help her out some! An even briefer stop at the library to pick up a few things, and we came home. Groceries away, I sat down and finished the project I started late last night- it turned out pretty cute! Then I made and ate my dinner, and did some alterations for the high school, paid the rest of the bills for the month, ordered next week's "you made it!" prize, and bought a ticket to see a friend in a show. Then I did my kettlebell workout, Penelope and I went for a final walk, and now we're in bed! Whew!

How am I feeling, you ask?

I had bad dreams last night. I don't really think this is anything nutrition related, although I know they can be. I have pretty vivid bad dreams fairly regularly. But it did kind of throw my morning off. Other than that, the only issue I'm having is some slight digestional, gastro-intestinal trouble. Nothing too bad, and that may have to do with things other than food too, but that's how I'm doing today. Side note: it's really weird to be this open and honest about some of this stuff with the entirety of the internet.
Anyway, I had plenty of energy, and I was in a good mood all day as well. Oh! I'm also noticing some calf cramping in the mornings and if I wake up at night, which happens sometimes, especially around this time of year. No idea what that's about, but I'm seeing it.

Food Log:

Meal 1: two fried eggs and a grapefruit. You know, even grapefruits taste sweet now? I mean, I just ate it, no sugar (obviously) or anything! Very strange, but it was SO so good.

Meal 2: leftover steak and sunchokes from yesterday.

Meal 3: baked rainbow trout and roasted sunchokes. The newsletter from my CSA says that we're almost done getting sunchokes, and you know, I have to admit I'm ok with that. I really, really like them a lot... but they're have been a lot of them this spring! Also, I got rainbow trout at the store- they were a little expensive- I think something like $7 for two filets? But that's four meals, which seems like a bargain to me.

I also snacked on some grapes today, and then had a glass of fruit juice this evening. Which I almost couldn't finish, it was so incredibly sweet! Mm, such a treat!

Until next time~
xoxo

Whole30 Day 17: easing into turn 3

You know what there aren't enough of? Hours in the day! It's amazing how much energy I have now- I had to stop myself from working because I can't be lazy tomorrow either and my body needs rest. But I feel like I could keep working!

Today was very, very busy. Let's see. Work was work, nothing special. We left an hour early due to Friday blues, but I had plenty to fill my evening with, so that didn't bother me too much. When I left work, I was on the hunt for black leggings. I know, I know... they're for a costume. Granted, yes, it's MY costume, but still. So I wander into teenage-girl mecca: Forever21. I girded my loins and marched over to the plus sizes (which, really, is anything over about a size 10/12 in their books). I found one pair- they were patterned, but black...but a 2x. So I went back to the giant display of leggings in the main part of the store... which only goes up to Large. Well. I took my two pairs of leggings in.... and... drumroll... the Larges fit! Woo! Plus they were only $4 a pair! So I went ahead and bought two pairs, due to a slight translucency, and sashayed my way off to my favorite thrifting joint. I had some costume shopping to do, which was fine, but I also tried on a couple pairs of jeans. I grabbed a 12 Levi 515 pair, a 12 Sweetheart Old Navy Pair, and a size 10 Eddie Bauer pair. The Eddie Bauer's were brand new, tags still on, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. Those didn't fit at ALL. (No surprise) The Levi's were close, but no cigar. But the Old Navy ones fit just fine. This is the problem with women's clothing. I mean, seriously?? A 12 should just be a freaking 12. Ahem.

So I bought the Old Navy ones, which is exactly what I would have bought brand new, so that's perfect.

Then I stopped by the High school and picked up my work load for the weekend. And THEN I came home. Penelope and I went for a nice long walk, and then we came home and made dinner. Well, she had kibble while I cooked mine.

Then I did a craft project that I'm super pleased with. (Tutorial coming soon- look out for it!)
Finally, I started in on a couple of gifts for friends. I'm super pleased with the progress on that, too- so maybe a coming tutorial on that as well!

But I didn't finish the second project, only got about a quarter way through. And I din't get my kettlebelling done, which I'm disappointed about. But! My first morning commitment tomorrow got cancelled, so I can sleep in a tiny amount and still get everything accomplished.

Anyway, I'm blathering... FOOD LOG:

Meal 1: smoothie with spinach, strawberries and orange. I just really couldn't do another egg cup. Really, just could not. So on my list of things for the weekend is to come up with a better breakfast choice, because by 10am, I was STARVING.

Snack: kale chips. I'm still surprised by how much I like these. I'm planning on making some more for next week!

Lunch: hamburger cabbage soup. Because of my dinner out last night, I had no leftovers, so I grabbed a container out of the freezer, let it defrost overnight, and it was ready to go at lunch time- there's even enough to have on Monday, particularly if I bring some salad to go with!

Meal 3: Steak and sauteed sunchokes.

Let's see... I feel great. Tons of energy. A small amount of irregularity is starting to pop up, but that could be about anything. I was super thirsty today. I really need to try to drink more water again. I was doing so well there for a while!

Until next time~
xoxo

Whole30 Day 16: coast

Hello everyone!

What. A. DAY! What a day. For reference, it's 10:15 pm and this is the first time I've been home for more than 10 minutes since 7:30 am! Just a day in the life! I worked all day, went to CJ, the school I work for, and met with my amazing, wonderful, hard working students who are blowing me away with their costume designs for the One Acts we're working on. (And bonus, the one act that's mine to design is looking pretty swell too!)

Then I came home, threw stuff together, dashed around the block with Penelope, and flew off to my rehearsal, which was just so great. I've missed singing and performing! But I'm ready for a good rest now.

I feel pretty good today. Plenty of energy, no noticeable mood swings or anything. Not overly hungry between meals. Focused. My hair and skin are looking better than ever- in fact, I think the stress spots I was struggling with are almost all cleared up. And I can't break out, even if I'm trying. (Not that I am!)

The biggest struggle right now, still, is to avoid weighing or measuring myself. It seems incredible that the body I fought so incredibly hard for in 2012 is peeking through again- and this time, I feel really great getting there! So very excited for those results.

Let's see:

Meal 1: one egg cup and a small amount of smoothie. Breakfast really, really didn't taste good to me this morning. I'm out of egg cups and due for a new smoothie tomorrow, so that gives me a chance to switch it up somehow for next week!

Meal 2: Leftover zoodles and meatballs. So tasty! I'm discovering, though, that the key here is to have less zoodles than toppings. It was a lot of zucchini today. Also it definitely needs to cook some more- I might try sautéing it in some oil and garlic next time. But that sauce and those meatballs- amazing.

Meal 3: I WENT OUT FOR DINNER! IT WAS AMAZING. I went to Hot Head Burrito (similar to Chipotle) tonight. I checked their website ahead of time, so I was prepared. I had a bowl with lettuce, pork, guacamole & pico de gallo. And it was just so good. Fantastically good. And I got to sit outside at a picnic table with my pup and enjoy it in the fresh spring sunshine. Perfection.

And now I'm home, ready for a slightly early night. I've got some things to add to my to-do list for the weekend, which was already long, but that's alright- it's two and a half whole days, after all!

Until next time~
xoxo

Whole30 Day 15: That's the halfway mark!

WE'RE HALFWAY DONE! Can you believe it?? I kind of can't believe it, but on the other hand, sometimes I feel like it's taking forever, you know?

But let me tell you, I needed a day like today. I just... feel good. Not overly anxious- which is a first. Not overly emotional, generally happy. My body doesn't hurt, comparatively at least. I don't have as much energy as I did last week, but it's more than adequate. And seriously, you guys, I had to re-tie my sweatpants tonight lest the keys in my pocket pull them right down off my hips. I have to stop myself at least once a day from trying to find a way around the no weighing or measuring rule. That might seriously be the hardest part right now.

Let's see...

today, as I've mentioned, was very affirming to this process. Yesterday this felt interminable. Today, I could go for a year. What a process.

ok, let's get to the food log, eh?

Meal 1: one egg cup and a smoothie with spinach, apple & banana

Meal 2: salad of mixed greens, carrots, apple, a small can of tuna, olives, and a squeeze of lemon juice. An orange. Some kale chips.

Meal 3: Hold on to your hats, kids. SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS. Yep. Yep you read that right. SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS. BEHOLD:

And seriously, I wanted to cry it tasted so good. There are a lot of delicious, delicious things on the plan. I enjoy most meals I eat. But until today, there was very little comfort food. Nothing gooey, nothing warm and savory and tasting of my grandmother and home.

And then there was spaghetti and meatballs. So let's walk through this picture. First of all, I'm not a food blogger, nor a photographer. So yes, that is a bad phone picture. Sorry, I was hungry. Ok, now that that's out of the way: yes, those are zucchini noodles. Yes, they DO taste like pasta (once they're cooked enough to lose that veggie crunch). The sauce is very chunky and full of veggies, and yes I made it myself. Including chopping up all the veggies, it probably took me 45 minutes to make.  Yes, I also made the meatballs. No, they aren't hard. They took slightly less time than the sauce. I've included the recipe below. Keep in mind, I based this on a recipe in my Paleo cookbook that I'm working through, but it is very much altered! I also basically just threw the things I had in. Do you have some mushrooms? They'd probably be awesome. Basil? Definitely. Think the vinegar and lemon make it too tangy? Add some dates, apple juice, or honey (if you're not on your whole30!) You get the idea. This is a great use up what we've got recipe!

For the meatballs:
1/2 lb. ground pork
1 egg
liberal sprinkle salt
3 generous shakes of garlic salt

For the sauce:
5 tomatoes, roughly chopped/diced
3/4 red onion, roughly chopped/diced
2 green garlic sprigs
fresh parsley (to taste)
1 spoonful minced garlic
sprinkle red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
garlic salt
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tb. lemon juice
2/3 cup water

For the spaghetti:
3 small zucchini

start by mixing the first four ingredients together. REALLY well. The better they're mixed, the better your meatballs will turn out.  Roll the mixture into 8 small balls or 6 medium, or whatever. I know, they feel soupy. Mine weren't perfectly round. A whole egg is a tiny bit too much. Place them in a flat bottomed skillet- don't crowd them! Add a splash of olive oil and heat to medium high. Brown the meatballs on two sides at least. Yes, they're still very raw on the inside. I browned mine for about 2 minutes per side.

Leaving the meatballs be for a minute, prep your veggies (except zuccchini)and add them all to a bowl. Slide your meatballs onto a plate for a few minutes and add more olive oil to your pan. Add prepped veggies to skillet, cook for a minute or so, until fragrant. Then add the spices and the vinegar and lemon juice. Add meatballs back in, stir to mix well, cover and let simmer 15 minutes.

While the sauce is coming together, wash your zucchini and get your spiralizer out. (I got mine for $15 on amazon). Make your zoodles, place in the bowl you just emptied.

After your 15 minutes are up on the sauce, uncover and give it a good healthy stir. Make sure nobody is sticking to the bottom of the pan. At this point, a lot of the liquid will have cooked off. Mine was starting (just barely!) to stick and turn colors on the bottom, so I added some water, which offset it perfectly. Then cover and let simmer another 15 minutes.

When THAT 15 minutes is up, open up your pan and add your zoodles to the top of it. I didn't stir them up at all, just set them on top. I covered the whole meal up and let the zoodles steam for about 2 minutes. I think, next time I would do about 4.

Then, I just dished it up! Plenty for leftovers tomorrow- although I'm very tempted to eat the whole pan!

The zoodles were still quite crisp, although they softened as I ate. And when soft, they really are like spaghetti! I was amazed!

The sauce and meatballs were tangy and flavorful, balanced by the sweetness of the tomatoes. If I only had a facsimile for garlic bread!

Seriously, this meal was absolutely AMAZING. If you never take me seriously on anything, do it this once. YOU SHOULD EAT THIS. FEED IT TO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. IT IS AWESOME! This is the kind of meal that makes me believe in the sustainablility of the paleo diet. This is real home cooking- just made healthier. How great is that?

And now I'm off to bed before a busy, busy Thursday. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow but

Until next time~
xoxo

Whole30: Day(s) 13&14: SPEED BUMP

Y'all, my bad. I really don't have an excuse for missing Monday... I just... forgot. So, now it's a twofer! So to begin with Monday...

I had a pretty good day, although activity levels are becoming an issue. I was doing really well at hitting my 10k steps, but not so much the last few days! Let's see... work, quick stop by the high school I work with, home. Quick walk due to Penelope HATING the rain and a torrential downpour at Walk o'clock, dinner, an immense amount of computer laziness, taxes, emails, cleaning, etc, etc, bed. Oh! I did finish my body weight challenges yesterday, which means I get to start with my kettlebell next! I'm looking for good circuits- I'll keep you posted. The challenges I just finished, though, were for squats, pushups, double leg lifts, tricep dips and box pose (or supported handstand). I'm so pleased! I finished out yesterday at 250 squats, 40 pushups, 100 leg lifts, 15 tricep dips and a good long time (a minute? maybe?) in box pose. Felt pretty great- very much looking forward to kettlebell training now!

Overall, I just feel tired. I'm pretty sure I'm just not getting enough hours of sleep- although what I'm getting is very high quality. I'm sleeping like a rock these days. However, no mood swings, no crashing, just... tired. I have to admit I'm looking forward to being able to add spark back in in a few weeks!

Monday food log:

Meal 1: half a smoothie with spinach, an apple, some strawberries and a banana. One egg cup muffin quiche

Snack: kale chips! Pretty tasty, really. I wish there was a way to lay them together when baking to thicken them up, but I do like them!

Meal 2: leftover steak and sauteed sunchokes, some strawberries. I'm very much afraid the I'm having trouble digesting strawberries. I hate to admit it, but they seem to run through me much quicker than I would like. I refuse to cut strawberries. I absolutely refuse.

Meal 3: ground pork, onion, sunchoke & egg scramble. This was very easy and pretty quick, but if I do it again, I think more spices are in order! A little bland.

Tuesday:
Today is really similar to yesterday, of course. Here are some things I'm noticing:
-I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to measure my waist and hips. I know I'm shrinking. Sometimes it feels like there's a noticeable difference in the morning from the night before! AND I WANT TO QUANTIFY THAT. Ah, well
-I'm bored. I just... I dunno. Consistency, I know. It's important, I know. But occasionally I'd love some comfort foods.
-and I'm super tired.

Tuesday food log:
Meal 1: half a smoothie with spinach, an apple, some strawberries and a banana. One egg cup muffin quiche

Meal 2: leftover egg scramble from last night. At lunch, I desperately wanted an Arby's roast beef sandwhich, which I obviously didn't eat. And I forgot to take a piece of fruit, so my mouth tasted pretty funny this afternoon.

Meal 3: Big salad with apple, carrots, onion, olives and a squirt of lemon juice. Very tasty!

Sorry again about Monday, everyone!

And now I'm about half asleep, so-
Until next time ~
xoxo

Whole30 Day 12: Cruise control

Happy Sunday!

What a day, what a day! Busy! But great overall. Let's see...

Penelope and I got up early and went for our morning w-a-l-k. Came home, had breakfast, showered, and went off to momma's. A load of laundry started, Mom and I went off to pull some costumes out of storage. Got back to Mom's, had some lunch, pulled the laundry down, left to drive home. Annnnnd then I realized my phone was back in the costume storage barn. Drive back to Mom's, get the key, go back to the barn, there's the phone! Hooray! Turn around, drop the key off, whoo. Tired. Should've done some meal prep, took a short nap instead. Got up, walked Penny Grace (yes, she has a middle name), got myself around and drove to the read through for the show I'm actually in (magical, I know!) Read through was great, so I came home, ate some dinner, made some kale chips, cleaned up a bit, went on our night-night walk and made some lists. Whoo. No wonder I'm tired!

And thirsty! I really, really need to up my water intake some. That's hard! I mean, I already do so much thinking about food, it seems crazy to try to deal with water too. But I'll try this next week.

Other than that, I feel good. No digestive problems of any kind, no breakouts, no real aches to speak of.

So, food log:

Meal 1: Two hardboiled eggs, and a glass of fresh, home made orange-lemon juice. Holy moly that tasted good! Felt like such a treat!

Meal 2: leftover ground beef with spinach and red pepper wrapped in romaine lettuce

Meal 3: the last barbecue chop and beet combo!

It's really interesting how little I'm eating but yet,  I feel so satisfied.  There are foods I miss, but from a comfort level, not a need level. It's a nice change- I used to be the girl that could easily finish a half a pizza. Now I can eat one small pork chop and a little less than one roasted beet and I'm full and content for hours. Love it!

Until next time~
xoxo

Whole30 Day 11: Corner two

Saturdays are hard, y'all.

If you haven't noticed, I like my routines. And weekends make that more difficult. I have trouble getting enough things done, and as a consequence, my eating suffers a little bit- not much, but just enough.

On the whole, I had a really good day, though! Lots of yummy foods, full (except then I didn't have dinner until like 9:30 so I was super hungry...see what I mean about Saturdays?). I didn't get quite enough done, but, well, you can only do what you can do. I got up this morning and went to go get some new measurements for my summer show. I came home then, and, well... took a nap. A long one. Oh well. I got up, put clothes away in my dresser (yaaaaaay!), took my dog for a nice long walk, then did my meal planning for the week. Made my grocery list, loaded Penelope in the car and went to run some errands. I picked up a few things at Target, a couple things at the JoAnn, and then Penelope and I went into PetSmart. Let me tell you, that dog is SO POPULAR. Everyone wants to pet her and say hi, and she just butters right up to them. She is really getting some manners going now though. We've been working on them really hard. She still pulls really hard if she wants to go visit a dog friend, and she has a tendency to bark occasionally at people (which is really fearsome sounding, so it usually scares them) but progress is being made! After Petsmart, I went into Kroger. I needed 4 things. Unfortunately, one of them was at the pharmacy, and MAN were they slow. Eventually though, we came home, I made some dinner (which was awesome!), put my new prizes away and then shifted my to-do list. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, and I have a feeling Monday will be right on its heels!

So, food log:

Meal 1: 2 hardboiled eggs, banana Part of my food prep tomorrow afternoon is going to be cutting up some fresh veggies to go and I'm going to try some kale chips (I have so much fresh kale right now). I'm hoping that will help me add veggies to quicker meals!

Meal 2: leftover chicken veggie stirfry from last night

Snack: fresh strawberries and a handful of almonds

Meal 3: steak and sauteed sunchokes. Steaks were on sale! It was awesome! And I'm getting better about cooking them, which has not historically been my strong suit.

I noticed I did ache a bit today, but it was at the end of the day mostly and I didn't wear my best shoes (another thing about weekends, I can dress up more! But then I don't wear good shoes...). I was also REALLY thirsty. I really need to get back to drinking enough water, but honestly, one thing at a time! Other than that, though, I feel really good. I'm sleeping really well, on the whole- as in apparently there was a GIANT thunderstorm the other night and I never even rolled over-I don't feel bloated or over-full ever, but I also don't feel hungry most of the time. My skin is looking really good, I have lots of energy for the most part (I need to go to bed earlier, but I get busy at night and then it's late before I know it!) And I really don't miss my non-plan foods... much. I am still missing the texture of baked goods, but not enough to really be tempted to stop now! And I can tell my palette is changing. My strawberries this afternoon? Tasted like candy. SO sweet. Fruit is starting to even feel like a treat. Ooh! Maybe I'll juice some oranges tomorrow- a change in drinkables would be awesome!

Ok, ok.

Until next time~
xoxo