Whole30-Day 4

Today was a super busy day at work, so I didn't have time to think about much else!  One of the things I've been noticing over the past day or so is how haven't really been feeling "hungry" when I know I'm not actually hungry.  I tend to be an emotional eater or a bored eater or a mindless eater but I haven't felt like that at all this week.  Being busy at work may have something to do with it, but even at home at night (when I'm usually trolling through the cabinets to snack on anything and everything) I'm not really having any major cravings-aside for a sweet craving I had on Monday.  Sure, I wouldn't mind a glass of wine, but I haven't been really jonesin' for it.  Maybe it's because I "know" I can't have it, whatever it is it's a nice change.

Breakfast (6:20am):  Bowl of Well Fed Chocolate Chili, 1/2 Avocado

Breakfast Comments:  I was out of eggs so I switched it up a bit this morning.  This is the same size portion I had for dinner on Tuesday night but this filled me up much faster.  Still working on that being hungry and eating soon after I wake up thing.

Lunch (12:30pm): Romaine lettuce leafs topped with Wild Planet tuna that was mixed with Well Fed mayo, pepper, and a little lemon juice topped with some grape tomatoes.  Carrots and celery.

Lunch Comments:  Bet you thought you were going to see turkey again!  Close, but not quite.  I ran out of turkey so I made some tuna salad.

Snack (4pm):  PaleoKit-I went straight to the gym again so I had a snack on the way to hold me over.

Dinner (7pm):  2 breakfast sausage patties, 1/4 medium sweet potato, tomato paste, coconut oil, caramelized onions, mushrooms sautéed in balsamic, Penzey's Tsardust Memories.  Salad dressed with balsamic vinegar and avocado oil.  Kiwi.

Dinner Comments:  This was my cook-everything-left-in-the-fridge hot plate!  I just threw it all into a frying pan and mixed it up and it was pretty good-the Penzey's Tsardust Memories spice is AMAZING!  This was my first time trying it and I loved it.  Melissa recommends it in Well Fed-she knows what she's talking about!

Sleep: 7hrs 45min-I got almost 8 hrs last night but I was sooo tired this morning.  Can't wait to sleep in this weekend!
Exercise:  30 minute training session with Alex at Kru Strength & Fitness.  STILL sore from Monday's Body R&D class...as soon as I'm done being sore from that I'm going to start being sore from CrossFit!

Whole 30-Day 3

It's Day 3, I'm feeling pretty good about how smooth things have gone the past couple days-but I'm sure when the weekend rolls around I'll be singing a different tune.  My cravings for cookies and cake have subsided (for now) and other than not being the biggest fan of my breakfasts this week I think I'm doing pretty well.  Prior to starting the Whole30 I had been eating minimal dairy and gluten anyways so that wasn't a huge change for me.  I'd say the oatmeal and the beans has been a bigger adjustment but the biggest adjustment has been the amount of meat I'm eating.  Prior to the Whole30 it was rare that I ate meat everyday let alone every meal.  Now that I'm sourcing all of my eggs and meat from grassfed/pastured animals I feel better about it but it's still just a little weird for  me. 

Breakfast (6:40am):  1 egg scrambled with diced yellow bell pepper in coconut oil with a little tomato paste on top.  1.5 breakfast sausage patties with tomato paste on top, 1/2 avocado, 1/4 medium sweet potato, and salad with grape tomatoes dressed with a little avocado oil and balsamic vinegar.

Breakfast Comments:  I only ate 1/2 of the sweet potato pictured here and 1.5 sausage patties.  I was getting full and I didn't want to overdo it, I made sure to finish my salad, eggs, and avocado and figured leaving the rest was ok since the sweet potato was on the larger side.  About the tomato paste-I'm a HUGE ketchup junkie.  The tomato paste isn't an exact substitute and I'm sure I could probably find a W30 compliant ketchup recipe so the consistency would be a little more ketchup-like, but this is what I have on hand so this is what I'm using!

Lunch (12pm):  Romaine lettuce leaves with homemade mayo, spicy brown mustard, grape tomatoes, and 4 oz. Applegate Farms Oven Roasted Turkey breast (from the deli counter).  Kiwi, 1/4 avocado, carrots and celery.

Lunch Comments:  Same old!  I'm usually someone who needs to change it up to be satisfied so when I'm enjoying eating the same thing for a few days in a row I just go with it!

Dinner:  Same as Monday.  Shredded Red Leaf Lettuce, 1/2 avocado, left over sweet potato from this morning, diced yellow bell pepper, grape tomatoes, splash of balsamic vinegar, crockpot shredded chicken breast.

Dinner Comments:  As I said on Monday, I really love this chicken AND I love that it was so easy to make.  Expect to be seeing a lot of this!

Sleep:  6 hr 40 min-I stayed up a little late finishing a book so I was dragging a bit on the commute today

Exercise:  None.  Still recovering from the soreness of Monday's Body R&D.

Whole30-Day 2

First off I just wanted to say forgive my food pictures.  My iPhone is the quickest and easiest way to capture my meals and get them to the blog and if I'm going to be logging everyday I'm going the easy route.  I started this blog for my own logging purposes but if anyone is following along I want it to be beneficial to them as well!  I hope that even though the quality isn't the best it's still better than no pictures!

On to Day 2.  I had a solid night's sleep but I still didn't want to get out of bed on this dreary, rainy morning.  On the upside it's 62° in January so I can't really complain!  As expected I woke up not hungry and when I ate 45 minutes after waking up I still wasn't really hungry at all.  I'm guessing that's how it's going to be for awhile, I'm just going to keep making myself eat within an hour or so of waking up and see what happens!

Today I have to go straight to the gym after work so I've brought along a PaleoKit and some extra veggies for a snack so I'm not dying at the gym.  I realized that the PaleoKit pouches I have are half of the large bag, so only 180 calories and perfect for a little fuel to hold me over. 

Breakfast (6:30am):  2 eggs scrambled with coconut milk in coconut oil, diced yellow bell pepper, and caramelized onions with a little tomato past on top.  1 breakfast sausage patty, 1/4 avocado, 1/2 small sweet potato, and brussels sprouts.

Breakfast Comments:  Even with skipping the mushrooms and adding in a sweet potato, I wasn't all that happy with my breakfast.  I don't know if it's just because I'm not very hungry or because I'm not a fan of my food.  I think it's probably a little of both.  This weekend I'm going to bake up some kind of breakfast casserole and give that a go next week. 

Lunch (11:45am):  Romaine lettuce leaves with homemade mayo, spicy brown mustard, grape tomatoes, and 4 oz. Applegate Farms Oven Roasted Turkey breast (from the deli counter).  Blackberries, 1/4 avocado, carrots and celery.

Lunch Comments:  Same as yesterday except the fruit, nothing too exciting, but it's a satisfying meal and I'm happy sticking with what I like!

Snack:  Steve's Grass-fed PaleoKit, loose pack.  I brought the carrots and celery along but only ended up eating the PaleoKit.

Dinner:  Bowl of Well Fed Chocolate Chili with 1/2 avocado.  Side salad dressed with a little red wine vinegar and avocado oil.

Dinner Comments:  I was so hungry after my workout that I dug in before snapping a picture!  This chili is definitely tastier after hanging out for a day, the flavors are awesome!  I'll be honest, even though I know that the fats I'm eating are good for me, I'm always afraid I'm eating too much.  I'm not really even fat-phobic but I guess old habits die hard!  Since the beef I used for the chili was grass fed (Trader Joe's brand), I didn't drain the fat so hopefully I didn't have too much fat in this meal!

Sleep:  8 hours

Exercise: 30 minute training session at Kru Strength + Fitness.  My trainer Alex is pretty awesome, check out his blog The Strength Game if you're looking for workout/nutrition tips along with a good sense of humor.  I struggled through this workout because I was so sore from yesterday's Body R&D session.  I was going to go back to Body R&D tomorrow but I might have to give it another day!

Whole30-Day 1

Day 1, not so bad.  I've been eating Whole30 appropriate foods on for the past 2 weeks on weekdays so there wasn't a big change for me there.  I didn't have a perfect night's sleep last night, I was a bit restless at times, but overall it was ok.  I ate breakfast about 30 minutes after waking up which is somewhat difficult for me.  I've been eating breakfast consistently for years now but I'm not usually hungry first thing in the morning. 

I started feeling hungry around 10am today which was pretty early for lunch, but it was possibly triggered by the lemon poppyseed muffins that someone left out in the office.  I'm trying really hard not to snack because that is something I struggle with, snacking when I'm just bored or emotional and not when I'm actually hungry.  I'm trying to eat every 4-5 hours and with my commute I'll be stuck in traffic when my time for dinner rolls around, so I may need a little snack somewhere in there to hold me over.  I bought a few PaleoKits so I'll likely start keeping those on hand for emergencies.  At 360 calories per kit they're a little too much for a snack, so I would likely only eat half a bag at a time.

After lunch I definitely had a craving for something sweet, even with the kiwi.  I've never considered myself a sweet tooth but taking away ALL added sugar has really opened my eyes and I realize I'm a bit more hooked than I thought.

I worked out at 6pm tonight, after dinner, and when I got home the hunger started kicking in big time around 8pm.  I resisted, only having a few scraps of turkey while I was making my lunch for tomorrow, but it was tough!

Breakfast (6:25am):  2 eggs scrambled with coconut milk in coconut oil, diced yellow bell pepper, and caramelized onions.  1 breakfast sausage patty, 1/4 avocado, sauteed mushrooms, and brussels sprouts.

Breakfast Comments:  I was really full and I didn't even finish all the brussels sprouts and mushrooms.  I've been eating sauteed mushrooms for breakfast for the past couple weeks and I think it might be time to give those a rest because they weren't very appetizing for me today.  I also wasn't a big fan of my brussels sprouts preparation this week.  I made a great version last week, using The Paleo Mom's recipe and adding in some fennel.  They were delicious, but the bacon I used wasn't Whole30 compliant.  I need to place an order for some bacon from US Wellness Meats so I can make these brussels again! 

Lunch (11:20am):  Romaine lettuce leaves with homemade mayo, spicy brown mustard, grape tomatoes, and 4 oz. Applegate Farms Oven Roasted Turkey breast (from the deli counter).  Small kiwi fruit, 1/4 avocado, carrots and celery.

Lunch Comments:  I started making these little lettuce turkey wraps last week and I love them!  I ran out of turkey for a couple days and substituted with Wild Planet tuna that I can buy in bulk (and cheap!) at Costco and they were equally as good.  Since I used mayo on the wraps, I only ate 1/4 of an avocado with this meal.  I was full and content but not stuffed, I'm really loving this lunch!

Dinner (5:00pm):  Giant salad dressed with a little avocado oil and lime juice, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 small sweet potato, grape tomatoes, diced yellow bell pepper, and shredded chicken breast that was cooked in a crockpot with a jar of a Trader Joe's W30 compliant salsa.

Dinner Comments:  This was an awesome salad and I LOVE this chicken.  It's ridiculous how easy it is, just throw a few chicken breasts in the crockpot with 1 jar of salsa and set it on low for a few hours (depending on how much chicken you use).  Once you can easily shred it with a fork, pull it out and make sure to pour all the juice on top!  Makes for easy meals throughout the week and can be made in bulk and frozen for future use.

Sleep:  7.5 hours

Exercise:  50 minute class at Body R&D.  This class was awesome!  I got a deal for 5 classes through Gilt City and this was my first time going.  I'm starting CrossFit on Sunday so I don't know how often I'll get to go but if you took this class on a regular basis you would definitely see some major changes in  your body.  Plus it's only a few blocks away from me so super convenient!  If you're in Chicago and looking to change up your workout routine I highly recommend giving Body R&D a try!

And So It Begins...

I'm Lauren.  I also blog over at www.chigallauren.com.  I'm starting a Whole30 challenge tomorrow and I decided to start a new blog to keep a record of this little endeavor.  I'm also starting CrossFit next Saturday so I thought it wouldn't hurt to document that here as well.  I've got a long story about how I ended up embarking on the Whole30 challenge and CrossFit and maybe if I keep this blog going I'll write about it someday.  For now, I'll be writing about what I eat, what I do, how I feel, and the like.  If you're interested, follow along!

I've been prepping for the challenge for a few weeks now.  I read It Starts With Food, I've been reading Paleo blogs like Nom Nom Paleo and The Clothes Make The Girl, and I bought a couple Paleo cookbooks to get me started-Well Fed and Practical Paleo.  I've been reading the Whole30 forums.  I've converted my kitchen and pantry into a Paleo-friendly area.  I've planned, I've cooked, and I think I'm ready to go.  Think being the key word.  Being prepared is going to be the key to my success, so if I can stay on the ball and do my best to be prepared, I think I'm going to do ok.

I highly recommend the cookbook Well Fed, by the author of the blog The Clothes Make The Girl, Melissa Joulwan.  She has a ton of tasty, simple recipes and advice on how to do a "weekly cook up" where you cook a bunch of stuff on the weekend so you're all ready to go come Monday.  Today I did my first true "weekly cook up", here's what I cooked:

*2 batches of Well Fed's Chocolate Chili, froze 1 batch for future use

*Roasted 2 medium sweet potatoes

*Roasted Brussels Sprouts in coconut oil then sautéed with balsamic vinegar because they were too bitter straight from the oven  

*Cut carrots and celery and bagged them in individual small plastic bags

*Diced 1 organic yellow bell pepper to throw in my eggs in the mornings (peppers are in the Dirty Dozen™, always buy organic if you can)

*Sautéed mushrooms in balsamic vinegar

*Caramelized 3 diced onions to add to meals

*Made homemade mayo, recipe from Well Fed

*Rinsed and chopped organic red lettuce for salads for the week (same thing as the peppers-go organic whenever possible)

*Made Kale chips (Nom Nom Paleo has an easy method here)

*Made pork breakfast sausage patties (recipe from the Biggest Loser Cookbook-these are spicy and the seasoning is a little off, I think they need more salt.  I'll tweak it next time I make them and report back)

*Bought 1.5lbs Applegate Farms Oven Roasted Turkey from the deli to have on hand for lunches (Applegate Farms turkey in the pre-sliced packages contains Carrageenan, a no-no on the Whole30.  The kind sliced fresh at the deli does not contain this)

*I also bought other things like pastured eggs, organic grape tomatoes, avocados, etc but I'm not going to list my whole grocery list here-maybe another week.  For now, you'll see everything I've purchased in my posts throughout the course of the week.

So that's it for my first post here at Chi Gal Paleo, I've got to get plenty of beauty sleep to keep me at my best!  Until tomorrow...