Whole30 "Days 10 to 11: The hardest days"

I. Am. So. Tired.
I've been tired since Monday, which I thought was from talking to family til 2am. But I slept plenty Monday and Tuesday night. Yesterday I went to bed at 9. 9! Unheard of for me. I thought, I'll sleep til Matt gets home and then I'll be up for a few hours to get some painting done. ppth.

Woke up at 6 to my alarm feeling refreshed.
Then 3pm hit. I wanna nap. Then there was the Sugar Dragon breathing fire against my shield.

Day 11. I psyched myself for this. .... one meal at a time. At work there was a celebration of the end of the big training blitz we've been doing around the state. I was expecting cookies to avoid and gaf some fruit and ate my lunch..... but all those goodies.... all that bread and cream cheese. .... "This is where you really start to experience the psychological power of your food choices and habits." (pg 37) Mineral water is gross. I just want diet soda.
I kept telling myself I just had to get home. After work I'll be home where all my happy healthy food is.

Dinner is cooking now, and I'm honestly thinking of lying on the living room floor to catch a few winks until the timer goes off.
"The good news? Just get through these two days [day 10-11] and things will be much better." (ibid) Okay. I'll trust you. Now where is my blender? ☺

Whole30 Weekend

It's been an interesting weekend. General Conference weekend. My favoritr weekend of the year because it means the prophet and apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are speaking and I get to see my family!
This year was especially awesome because my sister is in town with her whole family! We were only missing my sister from Texas. I've missed her a lot this weekend. It would've been so wonderful to have everyone together, but maybe another year.
Anyway, my Utah sibs and parents went out to eat. First trip out for food on Whole30. I'm glad my sister is doin this with me. We both ended up getting something we'd have to pick at. I got a shrimp thing, but didn't notice it would have cheese, so I spent time picking the cheese off and putting it on my husband's plate. I also gave him my beans and rice (yup, we were at a Mexican restaurant).
Saturday I made myself a lunch but forgot to take it to my parents. Thankfully my mother has all sorts of healthy food there, so I made "mud" as she, and my nieces called it. It's a shake. Spinach, frozen berries and almond milk. It looked like a dark purple mud, but tasted good!
Then dinner at my sister's on Sunday. Lots of good food... and desserts. My Whole30 sister brought a shrimp salad and I had a lot of fruit. One of my nephews asked offered me half his cookie, which I declined.  "why don't you want a cookie?" Being so little, I went with an easy explanation : "I'm allergic to sugar". ☺ He ate the cookie for me. I distracted myself with lots of games of Avalon!

Whole30 Day 2 done!

Day 2 done! I definitely ate junk Sunday. A "food farewell". It was yummy until I felt sick.
I finally did a little meal planning and shopping today. There's still junk and bread around here since my husband isn't doing this with me.
I made the chili from the book today. Yum!  "no beans, huh?" Nope. He liked it tho ☺ Since I'm doin the cooking he's doing whole30 for one or 2 meals a day. It'll be good for his insulin resistance.

Time for Cleansing

Today was a bit of a food farewell. Tomorrow I start Whole30 with my sister. No dairy, grain or sugar for 30 days. I ate ice cream, cookies, potatoes, junk and junk today. I feel bloated and blah. My husband isn't doing this with me, so there's still bread, cheese, milk and cereal around. Hopefully I don't slip

Time to change my relationship with food.

Sushi Substitute

If you're like me, you love sushi, and wish you had money to eat it daily. Well, I have found something to satisfy the sushi craving AND it's easy to make!

Behold "Spicy California Shrimp Stack". Check out the recipe at skinnytaste.com!

I bough shrimp just for this, but then we used imitation crab, and it was just as good. Also, I didn't want to take the time to cook rice, so I used the microwavable "Quinoa & Brown Rice" we got from Sam's Club. So good! Matt doesn't even like cucumbers, but he liked this. We got imitation crab at the store again so I can make it this week. It's quick, easy and oh so yummy!

Post Holiday Resolve

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we didn't stick with the diet the last 2 weeks of December. Aaand we started the new year resolved to eat right. I bought a bunch of produce yesterday.
Monday also was the beginning of grad school for my husband, and if the last 2 days are any indication of the next 2 years - I'm gonna have a lot of time to myself. I can't help him study, so I think I can contribute to his studies by preparing healthy dinners for us.
Last night I made quick stuffed peppers. There is no corn or potatoes in the house, so it was hamburger, onions, A1 sauce and some pepper jack cheese on top cooked in tje oven for a little bit. It was a winner, but with hamburger as expensive as it is, we won't be having that very often.
Anyway, Happy New Year all! Here's to health!

Breakfast for dinner

Had another amazing healthy hitter! We're adding this to our quick-easy-tasty list of meals. I think there are only two things on that list, but no matter. It'll get longer.
Breakfast Black Bean Quesadillas! Get the recipe here:
http://www.gisymbol.com/breakfast-quesadillas/

Meanwhile, we moved and today was the first of many days I'll be taking public transit. It was a cold 1 mile walk to the train station and then .3 miles from the station to my office. It took hours to get warm, but I feel good!

Potatoes vs Sweet Potatoes

In Utah there's a popular dish with many names: Nauvoo Potatoes, Funeral Potatoes, Yummy Potatoes. ...
Well, we can't have taters on a low glycemic diet. They burn too fast. Sweet potatoes are the healthier option. So, in our ongoing effort to find substitutions for our favorite eats, I made Nauvoo Potatoes with sweet potatoes. It works, but on one condition. Potatoes absorb sauces and water, sweet potatoes release water. To avoid to soupy ick-ness, add flour. We can't have whitr flour, but we put in some whole wheat waffle mix and that thickened it up so it didn't look so gross. Not gross, just soupy like a failed experiment.
Thanks to Matt for adding the flour to save a frustrated wife from throwing out something salvageable!

Back to the Future Day

I've been loving the BTTF posts today. Crazy busy day. I didn't make it to the gym, or get a walk, but I did do 30 squats which was harder than it should've been. Day 1 of the squat challenge. ☺

Dinner was tasty. My husband is a great cook! Salmon with onions, seasoned with ginger, lemon, soy sauce, powdered wasabi, liquid smoke, red pepper, garlic, pepper, salt... sauteed until thick. Olive oil and agave thinnly sprinkled on with sesame seeds and red pepper.
Side of quinoa, chunky tomato sauce (made from previous post), lots of garlic, spicy mustard, onions, celery, dried onions, liquid smoke, pepper, salt, red pepper. So good! He just makes magic. No recipe.

Better than Chuck-a-rama?

My co-workers are going to Chuck-a-rama for lunch. I passed because 1: I brought my own lunch to work. 2: seriously, how much there do you think is low glycemic? I loved Chuck-a-rama as a kid. It's still synonymous to Thanksgiving in my head. I'd not only eat too much, but I think I'd sabotage myself.
So my lunch is leftovers of my recipe experiment of the week. Quinoa-stuffed Squash.

Carrot Oat "Cookies"

Carrot Oat Cookies! Thank you to my sister for sharing!
These were tasty! Not quite a cookie texture, so we're thinking of calling them breadies, or cake-bites? I dunno. Something besides cookie.
Definitely worth making again, but I highly recommend adding a little agave and cinnamon to the "cookie" before you put the pan in the oven.

Low Glycemic Dessert!

My dear husband did all the cooking yesterday. For dinner he made soup and he made a scrumptious dessert. I meant to take a picture, but didn't. A little bowl with three layers: walnuts, vanilla yogurt, topped with a little dark chocolate coconut milk ice cream. He put it in the freezer for a half hour so the yogurt had an icy texture. Soo good!

My Motivation

I'm checking out the No Excuse Mom Program, referred to me by my awesome sister. It says to write down your motivation, so I'm putting it here.
Four things come to mind when I think why I want to change.
1- I want to feel better and move easier
2- I want kids.
3- I don't want diabetes in 20 years
4- My husband is losing weight past due to his lifestyle changes being Insulin Resistant... my competitive self really wants to catch up!
All those reasons aside.... I Know I Can Do It!

Week Two Summary

Monday: uh... I walked, but I didn't write down how far it was.

Tuesday: I ate my lunch at my desk and then took my half hour lunch doing laps around the building. 1.6 miles.

Wednesday: nothing

Thursday: went to the gym with the husband! Walked .6 miles and then my ankles hurt, so I got on a bike for a fast mile. Arm strength building. Then walked the track together for a mile! Yay!

Friday: nothing, really. Walked a little, but just a little.... got notice in the mail our gym membership expires next month. We can't afford to renew... the thought of walking/running outside this winter isn't a good one. I guess I'll do what I gotta do. ☺

Saturday: nothing. I think I need an exercise buddy. We went to the store for our first meal planned shopping.

Sunday: No exercise. I gotta do better... I think I have to get up and exercise in the morning. The day disappears before exercises otherwise.

Tomatoes

My dear husband is working until midnight, so I'm on my own for dinner. What to have?
I got a crazy lot of garden tomatoes at my sister's on Sunday. They're ripening faster than they can be picked and eaten. I filled a grocery sack with roma and cherry tomatoes. Mmmm. I love tomatoes.
At the moment...I'm suffering for my affection. 😝I ate too much, but I just can't throw them away! So.... I figured tomato sauce is basically boiled tomatoes and lemon juice, I'll do that. 3 hours later I'm taking hot skins out of the pot and eating them. 20 minutes later they're getting tossed. Too much for my... belly. Yeah. That.
I also put in a lot of onions and cilantro. Should be good! I'm looking forward to eating it later when my bowels won't punish me for it.
Now... back to the original purpose of being in the kitchen... what's for dinner? ☺

New Start and triggers

Unlike most people, I love Mondays. A new week. A fresh start.
This week, I gotta get more veggies. Money is so tight I sometimes wonder if we can afford produce, but the Lord takes care of us when we pay our tithing and veggies isn't frivolous spending. ☺
I had cookies and crap at work, so I think if I have veggies at work I'll resist the temptation easier. I think my trigger, besides it being there is something I've always done: 'I'm gonna grab a snack and go work on this project.' If I have some carrots or something that will help this trigger, right?

Week One Summary

Thursday :
Installed runkeeper.
walked 2.2 miles

Friday : Nothing. After work I went to my sister-in-law's birthday party and didn't get home until midnight.

Saturday : General Conference! It was dark when I finally kicked myself out the door. I followed every sidewalk in our complex.... .6 mile. To finish the mile I "ran" laps in the tennis court. ☺

Lifestyle Changes

Ever felt like there's a fit and energetic you screaming to be set free? Me too. There's just that switch in my head that has to be flipped for any diet plan to stick. I am currently 240 lbs and 4'10" tall. Obese. That's me. That's been me since 9th grade.
I got down to 160 to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but once I came home... all motivation was gone. I was back in college and eating cheap and unhealthy.
Flash forward to today. My husband was diagnosed with Insulin Resistance. He apparently has had it all his life. Now our diet HAS TO change. That or neuropathy. I choose eating healthy.
So. To begin, I had a physical Monday. Bad cholesterol is high, good cholesterol is low. Weight is an issue, especially with diabetes type 2 in the family.
Lastly, I need accountability. Hence this blog. I'm going to be all boring and account food, recipe attempts, and exercise. Doctor said I should have good heart pumping exercise 30-45 minutes 4 days a week.
Here goes!