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Whole 30 Week 1 Recap and Meal Plan

January 11, 2016

Whole 30 Week 1

Boy, it feels good to get back to blogging. If you read the last blog post…way back on January 1…you may know that my husband and I spent the first few days of the new year moving to a new apartment. Between the holiday travel, packing, moving, and unpacking, it has really been hard to get around to blogging. But now I’m back and excited to tell you about how week 1 of Whole 30 went for me.

Some background…

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Whole 30, I characterize it as 30 days of eating essentially Paleo, which means only meat, vegetables, fruit, and nuts (except peanuts). The general idea is that you eliminate any food group that may have a negative impact on your body, like dairy, grains, or sugar. Ideally, your body sort of resets and once your 30 days are up, you can reintroduce those items into your diet and see if those items negatively affect your body. 

I had tried doing the Whole 30 back in the Summer, but I didn’t really plan effectively or commit fully, so I lasted a whole 6 days. After how terribly I was eating over the holidays, I couldn’t wait to eat healthier and eliminate alcohol and sugar from my diet. The holidays were baddddd….I don’t want to know how many pounds I gained. 

So how did the first week go?

Well, overall, it went pretty well. I did a much better job planning, not just the meals I was going to make, but where I could eat out. The week before, I planned everything. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, coffee creamer. Ev.rey.thing. 

The first couple days weren’t that bad. Mostly because it was still new and I was feeling totally energized and motivated to accomplish this goal. Days 3-5 were a little bit rough. Mainly just in the face of temptation. Those days I had a serious sugar craving and was almost ready to give up for some chocolate. I also was out more and around other “non-compliant” food, which really upped the temptation. On Saturday, I experienced, for the first time, the feeling of being totally starving and not having anywhere to eat. 

My husband and I were going to Ikea and thought we would stop and get lunch along the way. Well, here is were NOT planning really bit me in the ass. The only places along the way were fast food, sushi, and sandwich spots. My husband recommended Chick-fil-a, saying, “you can just get the grilled chicken nuggets and fruit.” Wrong, the chicken nuggets are glazed in some sort of mixture that includes sugar. We ended up at a local Rotissarie Chicken spot (Viva Chicken, for those in the Charlotte area) where I had chicken and vegetables. 

But as I reflect on the first week now, it really wasn’t bad and right now I feel like I can do this for another 23 days. I learned a few lessons during the first week which will make the rest of the 30 days easier. Hopefully.

What I learned:

  • Keep snacks in my purse at all times! Huger hits at any time and sometimes the only options when you’re in a bind is something totally processed and full of sugar, dairy, grains, etc.. I will now keep nuts, an apple, dried fruit, or a Lara bar with me at all times. 
  • Bring salad dressing with me. For the few times I will eat out this month, salads are most likely the only Whole 30 compliant option, so bringing salad dressing with me will ensure that I will be satisfied. 
  • Tell people why I’m being a picky eater. I HATE talking about dieting. I hate it. I guess it makes me feel vulnerable and lets people know that I am self conscious about my weight. But telling people around me, like my Small Group, coworkers, or friends, that I am not eating this, that, and the other because I am doing the Whole 30 actually makes it so much easier to stick with it and everyone has been so understanding and willing to make accommodations for me. 

What I ate this week:

For breakfast Monday through Friday I had egg muffins similar to this recipe, but with no cheese and added no-sugar bacon (I found the bacon at Whole Foods). I made a big batch on Sunday and portioned them out for each day. For breakfast on Saturday, I made a sweet potato hash with bacon topped with a fried egg. And Sunday I made a fritata with some of the leftovers in my fridge. If you follow me on Snapchat, you saw me make breakfast Saturday and Sunday.

For lunch, I just had what was left over from dinner the night before. Except on Monday, when I didn’t have leftovers, I made a simple salad with greens, chicken, tomato, salsa, and guacamole. 

Because I didn’t as much time to prep snacks over the weekend, they simply consisted of apples with almond butter and almonds. It got pretty boring after day 2 so week 2 will have more of a variety of snacks. 

Dinner is really where I shined. It was fun to look up different recipes and tweak some old favorites to make them Whole 30 compliant. I have a couple recipes that I will share with you throughout the weeks ahead, but for now I will link to similar recipes (if possible).

  • Monday – Bagged salad topped with chicken. I made my own dressing. 
  • Tuesday – Spaghetti squash topped with a bison meat sauce. 
  • Wednesday – Bison and sweet potato chili
  • Thursday – Chicken Fajita Soup (recipe to come)
  • Friday – Cuban style pork chops with mashed cauliflower
  • Saturday – Chicken burrito bowl with cauli-rice and chipotle sweet potatoes
  • Sunday – we had Small Group, I only had the salad.

If any of you are interested in doing the Whole 30 Challenge, I would definitely recommend it. It is a great way to reset your body and get back to healthy eating. If any of you have done it, I would love to know what worked for you and what didn’t. I have read the Whole 30 Guide which has been a huge help, especially on days when my motivation is lacking. A coworker of mine who also doing the Whole 30 this month is reading It Starts With Food, and she is finding it really helpful and motivating. I would also recommend watching the documentary Fed Up (on Netflix) if you really want to be motivated to cut sugar out of your diet. 

I have also saved a bunch of recipes to a Pinterest Board if you want to check those out. I am sure I will be adding more to it as the month goes along. And since I am spending a lot more time in the kitchen, I have been snapping a lot more of my cooking, so if you’re interested in seeing what I cook each night, follow me on Snapchat!

       Follow Lindsey’s board whole 30 recipes on Pinterest.

Here goes week 2!

 

/ Filed In: Eat
Tagged: healthy, meal plan, Paleo, whole 30

Homemade Almond Milk

August 13, 2015

Almond Milk-7Y’all. I am about to say something you may not believe. But please believe me when I say, homemade almond milk is REALLY easy to make. It may seem complicated, because how can you really extract “milk” out of a tiny nut. But seriously, trust me. It can be boiled down to 3 easy steps:

1. Soak almonds

2. Blend almonds and water

3. Strain mixture

See how easy easy that was?

Okay, there is a little bit more too it than that, but not much! First, I soaked my almonds in water over night. 

Almond Milk-1

You want them to be nice and plump so that they blend more easily and release their “milk”. [Side note: There will be many sentences and phrases throughout this post where the middle-schooler in me can’t help but giggle. This is the first of many.]

Almond Milk-3

I kept the soaked almonds in the fridge overnight. I put a cinnamon stick in there with them thinking that it might impart some of its flavor, but sadly, that did not work. 

In the morning, I rinsed the almonds then combined them with about 2 parts water (I had about 3 cups of almonds, so I used 6 cups of water), a vanilla bean, a touch of stevia and blended until there weren’t any big chunks left.

Almond Milk-5

I then poured the mixture into a nut bag fitted over a bowl and let the milk drain out. When it stopped pouring out on its own, I gave it a little squeeze to get out any excess. 

Almond Milk-6

Now, you can find your very own nut milk bag at a health food store like Whole Foods. I found this one in the same aisle as the almonds (seems logical enough, but of course I had to ask someone). They are only about $2.50 a piece and I used this bag twice before it tore. 

Almond Milk-8

So that was it! Told you it was easy! Sure you have to plan ahead to soak the almonds, but once that is done, you can have a fresh glass of almond milk in less than 30 minutes.

And how does it compare to the store bought stuff?

Almond Milk-9

Store bought is on the left and homemade is on the right. They look almost identical except you can see some vanilla bean seeds in the homemade one. Also, the store bought stuff is a bit more beige in color.

Almond Milk-10

Taste-wise there is also a difference. Homemade almond milk tastes like…..almonds. Shocking, I know. In comparison, the store-bought stuff tastes like it has been processed to taste like cows milk, which is what most of us are used to. When added to coffee or milk, you can’t really taste a difference. 

Plus its just nice knowing (and being able to pronounce) exactly what goes into my almond milk. Wouldn’t you agree?

[yumprint-recipe id=’56’] 

 

 

/ Filed In: Drinks, Eat, Paleo Dishes
Tagged: almond milk, healthy, whole 30

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Hey there, I'm Lindsey. I'm a number cruncher by day and a home cook and baker by night. While I love to eat healthy and find fresh and healthy alternatives for my favorite foods, I will never turn down dessert! Life is all about moderation, right?

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