Whole 30 COMPLETE

We did it!!! We did the entire 30 days and didn't cheat once.... During our 30 days we went to an out-of-town wedding with an open bar, and I tried to convince the Officer that one glass of wine wouldn't be a big deal, but the Officer is an "all or nothing" type and he gave me the "well I'm not going to have one, but you can if you want", and obviously I'm waaaay to competitive to be the one that failed the Whole30, so onward we dieted all the way through a delicious-looking Christmas holiday.

The super disciplined Officer has to pack lunch for his 12 hour work days, and this is what it usually looked like on the diet- this diet isn't easy "on the go" 

If you are considering doing a Whole30, you should absolutely do it (but make sure you do it with someone, because solidarity). The first 10 days were very challenging. I was in a grumpy sugar detox, and at lunchtime every day I was twitching for a soda. It was also a learning curve to make a grocery list that first week, and I had to adjust to spending much more time in the kitchen chopping veggies and cooking.

We ate salad almost every day for lunch with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. We topped the salads with all kinds of veggies, eggs, meat, almonds.... they never were boring

After the first 10ish days I started to feel good, and we figured meal plans that worked for us. We happily discovered that we really enjoyed all of the food we ate, and we never felt hungry. I never had any miraculous energy that I secretly hoped I would get, but I did feel really good.

oh my goodness this was one of my favorite meals - Bacon Apple Pork

The Officer and I both lost weight- I lost 16 pounds in the last 30 days. I've never really lost weight in my life, so that has been awesome. My clothes all finally fit again, and I don't feel like I constantly have to try to get my shirts adjusted just right so they are hiding my belly that has grown for 3 babies in the last 4 years. It's also been freeing to have complete control over food for the first time in my life. I have always been an emotional eater, and after a long day I always think "I need" a treat or a drink. In the past I thought I could never really say no to dessert, but for the last 30 days I said "no" every day, and it was easy by the end.

Belle requested that I take a picture of her food too- this is what their dinners usually looked like... I didn't make other meals for them- except the occasional grilled cheese.

I'm so glad that we did this diet, and we are still trying to figure out what we are going to eat now that we are done. I still can't eat dairy, soy, or peanuts, so I won't be able to go too crazy anyway. We both felt so good on this diet, so we want to keep doing some of it, but not as strict. I hope we don't get back into bad habits- then we might have to do another whole30, but I'm not quite ready to consider that again yet.

Here are some of the other meals we enjoyed if you are looking for ideas: whole30

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.

7QT starting Whole30 and getting ready for Advent

Linking up at This Ain't the Lyceum.....

Thank goodness it's Friday! This was a long, exhausting week. I always think that I'm "busy" taking care of 3 little kids and teaching part-time, but I'm going to spend my 7 quick takes recapping my "busier than usual week".

1. We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, and it was as fun as I had anticipated... complete with a freezing cold Christmas parade and the Mockingjay. Of course, just like every good holiday weekend, I returned home to a messy house, 4 loads of dirty laundry, and zero energy to tackle any of that. The Officer went back to work as soon as we got back, and I headed off to Patient First to end my Thanksgiving weekend with toddler ear infections. This week was off to a promising start.

This kid never has a bad week

2. Continuing with our Doctor trend I managed to fit in 2 more trips to the Doctor for the girls, so that was fun, but everyone is healthy now (I think). On a positive note, I got to enjoy some alone time with my Bug at the Doctor's and learn that she is so much more mature and tough than I ever give her credit for... it's so nice to have alone time with one of the kiddos sometimes.

I'm so proud of the little girl my Bug is becoming. She is funny and charming, and always wants to give "nuggles".

3. We started Advent, but I was about 4 days late in getting any of the decorations out of the attic. We finally got them out, and started getting them put up throughout the week. Of course, we have an Advent wreath sitting on the table with no candles in it, because why does no local store ever sell purple and pink candles!?!?! I finally ordered some on Amazon, and they will be here soon, so we should get to light some Advent candles before the end of Advent.  The girls are so forgiving of my lack of organization, and they were nothing but excited about the decorations. The Officer has been leading the girls in the Angelus 3 times each day for Advent, and every night Belle reminds me that we need to pray the "Angels", so I guess our Christmas prep hasn't been a complete failure.

2 of my little beauties

4. The Officer and I have joined the Whole30 world. I had already cut out so many foods for baby girl's food allergies, so we figured we would just take the plunge with this intense paleo for 30 days, and maybe I'll even lose the baby weight during it. So we started the Whole 30 this week, which has meant many trips to the grocery store. When I'm not eating Whole30 food or cooking Whole30 food, I'm online looking up Whole30 recipes. So wow Whole30 is kind of taking over my life for the time being, and I'm sure I'll be blogging all about it, because seriously, I'm such an emotional eater, and food has been all I've been thinking about this week.

so tired I can't even make it to the bed for my nap. I totally understand.

5.  So far I'm glad we are doing Whole30, but 30 days seems really long right now. We very wisely planned our 30 days to go through a trip to a wedding out of state and of course through Christmas. We will end it on New Years Eve, and we will definitely enjoy some drinks that night! We're only a few days in, and I'm pretty sure I would have already quit, but I'm married to the Officer who only does things 100%, and I'm too competitive to give up if he doesn't, which he won't. It hasn't been too hard yet. I've been craving a soda big time every day, and I think I'm drinking about a gallon of water a day, but the recipes we've tried so far have been delicious. Everyone talks about having so much energy when they do Whole30, and so far I'm just completely exhausted, but I'm hoping that will change soon... I could definitely use the energy. We can do this.

I'm terrible at taking food pictures, but it was delicious, and I'll post recipes of my favorites sometime

6. Ok I will briefly stop talking about Whole30. This week should be much better- I mean I'm daring to hope that we don't spend 3 days at the Doctor's. We also have plans to take the girls to see Santa this week, and I have unrealistic expectations that they will happily sit on Santa's lap for a decent picture. Our candles should arrive, so it looks like our house might actually be properly decorated before Christmas day.

Christmas tree, fire, footie pajamas, happy girls... this is the good stuff.

7. The long week definitely had its magical moments. Listening to Christmas music while decorating the tree with my little girls was a wonderful memory. Then tonight the girls left their shoes out for St. Nick and were walking upstairs to bed when Belle heard a noise. She turned around and in the most excited little 3-year-old girl voice said, "Is that St. Nicholas knocking on the door????" Oh the magic of some leftover Halloween candy being stuffed in shoes while kids sleep. I have a wonderful "busy" life.