Whole23 update

Well I ended my whole30 early. I was sitting there wondering why I constantly deprive myself of foods that can be part of a healthy diet that I really enjoy. I love my grassfed butter, organic peanut butter, yogurt and hard Italian cheeses. Also I was feeling super burned out so I decided to not torture myself anymore, it’s not like the whole30 police are gonna come and arrest me for ending a week early.

Food wise I’ve been thoroughly enjoying cheese again but I found a way to make use of extra chicken skin too!

Chicken Skin Bacon

What you need:

As much leftover chicken skin as you want

What you do:

Pan fry the chicken skin over medium heat until outsides are brown and crisp. I end up cooking everything on my stove on medium high, but you might get better crispier results if you cooked it at a slightly lower temperature for a longer time. I need to do more experimenting and build up my patience. 

Pieces of chicken skin happily frying away

My Final Creation: A salad topped with chicken skin bacon, caramelized onions, and my balsamic vinaigrette dressing

Whole30 Update 3; "Can this be a whole21?"

                I’m tired, this was a hard week. I did a lot of fasting, and then I ate a lot of fruit. I hate how I go through extremes sometimes. As a result there aren’t as many tasty meal photos this week.  I’m wondering if the whole30 is a good program because it does seem to create extremes for me. Moderation is what I really need to strive for, and although I like how clean the Whole30 program is, I'm getting tired of avoiding butter, stevia, and yogurt. 

 An entire can of wild salmon on lots of green stuff, with my favorite balsamic dressing

Chicken "taco" salad, grilled chicken, avocado, lettuce and tons of salsa

Kind of sad that those are the only pictures I took, I roasted a chicken tonight and it was excellent but I roasted it upside down and my father kind of attacked it, so not a good picture opportunity.

whole30 update 2

So I’m pretty much half way thru my whole 30, this week was much harder than last week.

The good: My skin is the clearest it’s ever been, usually I get one breakout about every month (stupid hormones!) but this month it didn’t happen. My friend even commented on how good my skin is looking.

I’m also feeling really good and “clean” and have added some Detox tea into my routine.  There were also lots of yummy meals this week, and I managed to take more pictures, I’m not in much of a recipe creating mode since that takes a lot of time, and I’m usually never 100% satisfied with a dish until I tweak it multiple times.

My workouts have also made a re-appearance and since its warmer out I’m getting out more.  I’m not sick! My whole family is down with the flu and I haven’t gotten it despite being tired

The bad: I’m exhausted, simply put I’ve been too busy, too stressed, and not refueling properly. It took me several days to recover from a 5K when it used to not even take me one day. I could be sleeping better but I’m not. So hopefully this week I’ll be able to get some good rest and my energy levels will improve.

Sugar cravings are the death of me, when I get them I usually end up eating way too many macadamia nuts or coconut and then feel sick- not good. I’m kind of at a loss for what to do other than just keep my diet clean and eat lots of healthy tasty food.

Onward to food: I spent a lot of time cooking this week and the results were pretty excellent. 

 Eggs with lots of green things and hot sauce

Grain Free Breakfast Burrito filled with leftover chorizo, rice, onions and peppers

Super Simple Eggs, Grapefruit and Blackberries

Salmon Salad

Egg and Beef Pastrami salad with Dijon vinaigrette (a fried egg on salad is actually quite tasty, I tried it since I didn't feel like waiting the 10 minutes it takes to boil an egg)

Normal salad with Meatza made from grassfed ground beef, calves liver, pesto, chicken, onions and olives (no cheese- oh the horror lol). 

Chorizo, caramelized onions & jalapenos, with Mexican cauli-rice

 Chicken Apple Sausage, Sauerkraut, Salad- a super simple and fast meal

 Orange Almond Chicken Stir Fry on cauli-rice

Finally the smoked Turkey green chile stew I've been living on the past few days in an attempt to not get sick, this is by far my favorite meal lately, and its super easy to make with a little prep.

whole30 update 1

Whole30 update

My whole30 is so far so good for the most part. I did have one sip of a sugary, dairy, starbucks drink and a tiny bite of a caramel when out with friends. Some people may think “oh no, she better start all over,” but I want to enjoy life, practice healthy moderation and not be a ‘food nazi’ so I’m not too concerned J I’m playing around with adding nuts back into my diet in reasonable quantities, because let’s face it: I love them and if picked thoughtfully they can offer some great nutrition and variety to my diet. As for meals I’ve been eating a ton of salad, eggs, fish, and some turkey, pork, berries and nuts so far. I’ve felt great and have been in ketosis most days even though I’ve been eating berries and grapefruit. Below are some pics of a few of the many meals I’ve been enjoying. 

 

A Big Veggie and egg scramble - a typical and tasty breakfast for me

 

Omelet stuffed with a bunch of stuff (avocado, yes I like it cooked it gets all warm, onions,  salmon and thyme)

My "lunchbox." A salad with salmon, walnuts,olives, avocado, tons of veggies and Greek dressing. 

A much bigger  salad. Tons of dressing (I hope its not bad to consume lots of olive oil) some protein, and as many veggies as I could find in my fridge)

A super simple radish salad with sesame mustard dressing that I served with cod and veggies in coconut sauce, I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the cod since I ate it all too fast lol.

I'm enjoying my whole30, and I hope I'll have lots more tasty meals to come.

Whole30




I've been having some trouble with moderation in my diet and wasn't quite sure what to do to achieve a healthy, long term, sustainable diet that will keep me looking and feeling my best. There have been way too many celery & peanut butter, and chocolate & nut binges recently. I'd have a bunch of whatever the offending food was and then swear "I'll do better tomorrow" only to find myself dipping a spoon into a jar of peanut butter or noshing on some chocolate chips again. 

Ultimately after eating way too many gross chemical M&M's (They didn't even taste that good!) I decided to end this unbalanced way of eating for good. 

I decided to kick things off by doing another, stricter whole30 (I did one in January but ended up living off almond butter and didn't feel too great, I kind of missed the point I think).  I'm really focusing on eating the foods I feel good on, lots of vegetables, some meats eggs and a bit of fruit.  

One thing is I love food and I love cooking so there will be lots of tasty (AND healthy) food in my future. Today is Day 1 and I enjoyed:

• Greek Salad with tuna, olives, avocado, a bunch of other veggies and homemade Greek dressing. 
• A bowl of organic raspberries
• Chicken apple sausage with grilled beets and homemade sauerkraut (the only fermented food I've ever managed to pull off)
• Half of a very fresh grapefruit (picked yesterday)

Truth be told I feel great and I hope I can keep this up. I'll try to post some food pics later on in my quest for healthy tasty meals.