Whole 30

 I started my first real diet ever last week, so hopefully it won't be all I ever talk about now.  For the last 3 months I've been trying to figure out my baby girl's food allergies. I've had to cut out milk, soy, and peanuts, which has seemed to help her, so I'm hoping we don't have any more issues.  Since I haven't had milk, soy, or peanuts for 3 months, I figured why not go all the way and do Whole30 (click away if you aren't familiar with it yet). Because I'm crazy. I casually mentioned it to the Officer, because solidarity, and because I definitely wouldn't be cooking any extra meals for my family. Once the Officer read about it and decided he was interested we started the next day, because once the Officer commits to something he does it 100% immediately. Which means that our 30 days will go through Christmas.... so that was well planned. Okay, enough about why I have taken this uncharacteristic turn to a very strict diet, and let's move on to how it is going....

I have some really cute helpers in the kitchen

So far it's going well. We just finished day 10, and we are still going strong. Last week was definitely hard as we got used to buying all these new groceries and got all the sugar out of our systems. I was exhausted and grumpy last week, which was probably from the diet, but now I'm much better. I've heard a lot of people find new energy on this diet, which I haven't found yet, but I'm feeling good.  I can tell that I have definitely lost some weight already, and I do feel a little tiny bit more alert once I'm up in the mornings (don't get me wrong- I still desperately want to push snooze 9 times every single morning). The groceries have been expensive, and we've spent tons of time in the kitchen cooking, but we are getting used to this change of eating, and the food has been delicious! So far the experience has been much easier than I thought it would be, but we are about to go out of town for the weekend, so we'll see how we do then. If you've considered doing Whole 30 I would so far encourage it, but please wait until after the Holidays!!


Of course my awesome husband has made this whole experience so much more enjoyable....
(A text I got on day 1) "One meal down. 89 to go. How was your breakfast?"
"I'm going to pick up another 6 pack on my way home..... of bananas"
"Did St. Nicholas leave some celery in our shoes??"
Thank you Officer for keeping me laughing even when I can't stop thinking about eating sugar ;)


Here are a few of the recipes we've enjoyed:
Sweet potato hash: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/19886925277/sweet-potato-hash-with-fried-eggs - this has been a great breakfast and the hash is my go-to for a yummy side dish (I don't have a food processor, so I- or my daughters-  just chop the potatoes with the pampered chef chopper)

Pork chops: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/77596713058/bacon-apple-smothered-pork-chops -umm this is amazing, but it does take a bit of work and time to prep. I skipped arrowroot powder and fish sauce, and I used coconut oil instead of ghee, but it was still so good.

Mango Avocado salsa: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/56076300574/mango-avocado-salsa-on-pan-seared-salmon -I was struggling without my condiments, but this salsa is delicious on salmon or grilled chicken, so I've made it twice already... yummy

Paleo Nachos: http://paleogrubs.com/nacho-recipe -I loved these... the Officer isn't the biggest fan of sweet potatoes, so I don't think they were his favorite thing, but he swears he liked them.