And That's A Wrap - Whole30 Day 30

So I'm done. I did it. Thirty days of whole food, no sugar, no dairy, no grains, no alcohol, and no processed or artificial anything.  Thirty days of nothing but actual, pure, healthy nutrition without one cheat.  I'd like to say that I would have been able to do it without writing about it everyday but I'm honestly not sure if I could have without the constant accountability of all of you.  I definitely plan to recap these last 30 days with my thoughts, including what I plan to do moving forward but that will come in a few days.  For now, I'll just post this entry like my last 29 and let you know how I ended my last day on my first Whole 30 (and sorry, but it's not very exciting):

Breakfast:

Black coffee

Egg muffins

Lunch: 

Spaghetti squash pizza casserole

Mini cashew cookie LaraBar

Dinner:

Greek salad with chicken and balsamic vinaigrette

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd...........SCENE!

Whole 30 Day 29

So tomorrow is my last day.  Can you believe it??  Tomorrow!  It's kind of crazy.

Thanks for clarifying, Annie

Breakfast:

2 egg muffins (I made another batch yesterday)

Cactus fruit

Black coffee

Lunch:

Spaghetti squash pizza casserrole 

Black olives

1/2 lemon LaraBar

Dinner:

Leftover spiced chicken 

Roasted brussel sprouts

Small salad w/ cucumbers and cherry tomatoes (olive oil and red wine vinegar)

Leftover spinach artichoke dip  (which actually served as a nice side dish when heated up)

Activity:

Strength:

Work up to 3RM straight press (no push)

WOD: (For Time w/ 17 minute cap)

50 double-unders

10 cleans (95 pounds)

40 double-unders

8 cleans (100 pounds)

30 double-unders

6 cleans (105 pounds)

20 double-unders

4 cleans (110 pounds)

10 double-unders

2 cleans (115 pounds)

I finished in 8:56 seconds.

Went to bed around 11 and woke up at 5:30. Had amazing energy all damn day.  This is glorious!

Doesn't he just look happy and energetic and full of life? That's how I feel

Whole 30 Days 27 and 28

Hi.  Can you believe I'm almost done with the Whole 30?  I can't.  I also can't believe I'm thinking about "sorta" continuing it.  More on that in a few days.  So who else is sick and tired of winter? I have lived in Michigan my entire life and have never been one of those people who hate the winter. It's not my favorite but I get that it's part of Michigan life.  Except this winter.  Because it sucks.  It's interfering my house building, my social life, and my wallet (who else had an amazing heat bill this month???).  And apparently Punxutawney Phil predicted 6 more weeks of winter. Has that guy EVER given us a break?  Stupid groundhog fucker.  Go back to your hole.

Day 27 Breakfast:
Black coffee
Two scrambled eggs

Lunch:
Spaghetti squash pizza casserole (yup I made it again)
Roasted unsalted cashews (while I was waiting for the casserole to cook)

Dinner:
Spiced chicken  from The Clothes Make the Girl.  She calls it "The Best Chicken You Will Ever Eat. Ever."  I'm not sure it's the best chicken I ever ate but it was really good.  It's very spicy - not like hot spicy, but like the chicken is coated in tons of spices.  It tasted semi-Morrocan to me and the brining made it sooooo juicy.  I refuse to say the "m" word - you know what I'm talking about. The one that starts with m and ends in oist. That's just a gross word.  But back to the chicken - the dipping sauce was the best part. I'm going to put that on everything for the rest of my life.

Balsamic broccoli.  I made this by chopping and cooking up some bacon and then adding broccoli and garlic into the pan (with a touch of olive oil if the pan doesn't have enough fat from the broccoli).  After it cooks up, I added some balsamic to it and cooked it down a little more.  It was very random and it ended up delish.

Day 28 - Super Bowl Sunday

How fun is it that I have two more days left of my Whole 30 on the biggest snack food day of the year. And I went to a party where there was pizza. And for some reason I've really wanted pizza the past few days.  Hello, end of Whole30 test of willpower!  My plan going into this day was to eat as if I wasn't going to a Super Bowl party. This way, I wasn't as hungry by the time I got there and it was easier to avoid all the forbidden treats and the alcohol.  I also brought two Whole30 compliant dishes with me that gave me some things to snack on while everyone else indulged in delicious smelling, gooey, cheesy pizza.  mmmmmmm.  Iwantpizza.

Brunch:
Black coffee
Taco salad with ground taco beef, tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives, lettuce, and salsa with some plantain chips.

Super bowl snacks:
Chili Lime Wings from Nom Nom Paleo

Spinach and artichoke dip from PaleOMG

Whole 30 Day 26

Up and at 'em at 5:30 this morning.  This Whole30 is really doing some great things with my sleep.  #ilovesleep. 


As I said before, I've been highlighting the hell out of my "It Starts With Food" and I've pulled a few random passages out to share with you.  Enjoy!


"Thanks to nature and biology, our brains have been hardwired to appreciate three basic tastes:  sweet (a safe source of energy), fatty (a dense source of calories), and salty (a means of conserving fluid). . . But there is one very important point to keep in mind with respect to these signals from nature.  They weren't designed to tell us which foods were delicious - they were designed to tell us which foods were nutritious.


Food scientists caught on to the fact that our brains respond strongly to specified flavors (such as the aforementioned sweet, fatty and salty), and armed with this knowledge, they began to modify our whole foods.  They sucked out the water, the fiber, and the nutrients, and replaced them with ingredients like corn syrup, MSG, seed oils, and artificial sweeteners, colors, and flavors.  All of this with the specific intention of inducing cravings, overconsumption and bigger profits for food manufacturers."


Breakfast:
Black coffee
Cactus fruit
Egg muffin


Snack:
About 10 pistachios


Lunch:
1/2 lemon LaraBar
Salad from Freshii with lots of veggies, eggs and chicken for protein, olives and olive oil for fat, and lemon for flavor.  Except they forgot my lemon which made my salad taste...well, like lettuce.  And I found a soy nut mixed in with the greens.  Get it together, Freshii.

The culprit

Dinner:
Leftover chicken and sweet potatoes from yesterday
Plantains and salsa w/ a few tablespoons of guac (aka my daily snack)

Activity:

Strength - Build up to a heavy 3 rep overhead squat.  I stopped myself at 90 pounds.  To be totally honest I probably could have done more but with the way my lifting has been lately, I was a little timid to keep going up while squatting with a weight over my head.

WOD:
10AMRAP of:
60 over the bar burpees
20 overhead squats
10 muscle-ups

Followed immediately by:
2 rounds of:
20 box jumps at 20 inches
15 sit ups
10 push ups

Slept great last night and my anxiety is low low low.  I'm also really excited it's the freakin' weekend! Only 4 more days - I can hardly believe it!!!!!!

Whole30 Day 25

I've been slightly less motivated today than I have been lately. I don't know if it's because this week has been crazy, this weather is driving me to the edge or because I didn't sleep quite as well as I have been. Either way, I got home from work and hibernated. And sort of felt guilty about it, but mostly didn't.

Breakfast:
Black coffee
Egg cups
Organic blueberries

Lunch:
Organic baby carrots
Last of the chocolate chili

Snack:
Plantain chips with salsa and guac

Dinner:
Chicken nuggets from The Domestic Man
Sweet potato

Whole 30 Day 24

I'm glad I don't mind eating leftovers....or the same thing everyday. Because that's what I've done all week.  And I'm good with that.  Some of you may not be. That sucks for you.

Breakfast:
2 egg cups
organic blueberries
black coffee

Lunch:
(the last) of the pizza spaghetti squash pie :(
pistachios

Dinner:
Chocolate chili
Salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives, olive oil and vinegar

Activity:

Strength - work up to heavy 3 rep thruster.  I pooped out at 110 pounds.

WOD:
12 minute AMRAP
3-6-9-12-15-18......

Wall balls
Power cleans (95 pounds)

Days 22 and 23

So earlier today I was trying to remember what day I was on and I thought it was 21...and just now I saw it was 23!  Yay 23!  I'm pretty bad at posting these blogs everyday like I said I would.  But you'll probably just deal with it.  Especially because I posted all of my recipes on Sunday and I've basically been eating the same things since then.

Day 22 meals:

Breakfast:
2 egg cups
Organic blueberries
Black coffee

Lunch:
Chocolate chili

Dinner:
Spaghetti squash pizza pie
Plantain chips and salsa/guac

Day 23 meals:

Breakfast:
Banana
Black coffee

Lunch:
Spaghetti squash pizza pie

Pre-workout snack:
Baby carrots

Dinner:
Chocolate chili
Plantain chips and guac that I snacked on while I was waiting for the chili to heat up.

I realize that I eat plantains a lot.  In the same way.  Specifically baked into chips and used as a dipping vessel.  That's probably not that great for me.  I wonder what Sam would say.  Except I really, really like plantain chips and I like to dip crunchy things in salsa and guacamole.  So I guess I don't really care what Sam has to say about this.  What's new?