Day 19 / Proscuitto & Breakfast Potatoes

Today is Day 19!

The middle of Whole30 was a bit rougher for me than the beginning. Last week I reallyyyy wanted chocolate and/or drinks (the alcoholic kind). But now that I'm more than half-way down, it's more like a countdown until the end.

This past weekend it snowed in Winston, which means I didn't have to go to work on Friday. It was a really relaxing 3-day weekend...but my whole30 buds and I were a bit bummed we couldn't do snow day the way we've done snow days in the past. Last year, Daniel and I walked to get coffee and then drinks. The year before that, Ashley J. and I walked to get beer and pizza. We tortured ourselves on Saturday by going to a Tex-Mex restaurant and seeing everyone else eat chips and salsa and margaritas...however we made it through and got by with LaCroix (our beverage of choice) and some delicious whole30 friendly snacks.

So I have been missing bacon, and we haven't been able to find a store that sells sugar-free bacon. However, we did find prosciutto at Trader Joe's that is whole30 compliant and that was a game changer for me! On Saturday, I made a big breakfast with a potato hash, crispy prosciutto, paleo pancakes, and fried eggs.

So I am on a quest to find the perfect recipe for breakfast potatoes/hash. I like it pretty crispy on the outside/soft on the inside. It's harder than it sounds! Do you boil potatoes first? Do you roast them in the oven or saute in a skillet? So many options. On Friday, I made a mush of a sweet potato hash, it was more like mashed sweet potatoes with bell peppers and onions...gross...although Daniel and Julie claimed to like it...but on Saturday, I made a pretty good potato hash (didn't really follow a recipe, but here's how I did it):

Breakfast Potatoes

Ingredients: 

• 2.5-3 lbs russet potatoes
• ~2 tbl dried rosemary (I'm sure fresh would taste great as well...I didn't really measure, I just used enough to cover the potatoes)
• ~2-3 tbl ghee (clarified butter)
• salt & pepper to taste
• I'm sure an onion and bell pepper would taste good with this as well! 

Day 5 / Stuffed Avocado with Tuna & Fruit Smoothie

A fear of "diets" or changing eating habits is that it is hard to find the time to cook. Both of these recipes were extremely easy and the tuna makes for great leftovers. I think you can do just about anything with a little bit of planning and organization, including eating healthier. I try not to overwhelm my week by making a complicated/new recipe every day - at most I try 1-2 new recipes a week...and even then I have found the best recipes are simple, and include ingredients I recognize and know I can find.

Here's what I ate:

Breakfast:

• paleo pancakes
• 2 scrambled eggs 

Lunch: 

Stuffed avocado with tuna

• Stuffed avocado with tuna plus a little side of kale (basically it turned into a tuna/kale/avocado salad)

• Banana/strawberry/blueberry/almond milk/almond butter smoothie 

Here is the stuffed avocado recipe. Many people may immediately say they hate tuna because they hate mayo. Fear not! This recipe is not mayonnaise-y at all. Julie was in the tuna-hating-camp but tried this recipe and loved it. It's great to make for leftovers for lunches and dinners throughout your week. This also goes great with salad greens. Also, be sure to look at ingredients when buying tuna! I was surprised that a lot contain soy. I found my tuna at Harris Teeter and Trader Joe's. 

Day 10 / Holy crap my jeans fit again

You know your favorite pair of jeans? Have they ever gotten too small because you gained weight? Some people would say to give those away, sell them, etc. but I had hope... I wasn't going to stay overweight and annoyed with myself that some of my favorite clothes no longer fit...This morning, on day 10, I put on an old favorite pair of jeans AND THEY FIT.

Day 4 (Monday) / Day of the Leftovers

L e f t o v e r s. I love them, especially if the food was homemade (by yourself or your awesome roommate). All you have to do is heat them up. So easy. So simple. So good. So useful (especially at the start of a work week). To spread main courses, such as chili, soups, meat, etc. you can whip up a side item such as a salad or roasted broccoli, and pair the meal with fruit.

Here's what I ate:

Breakfast: 

• 2 scrambled eggs
• Paleo Pancakes (made with batter I had made the night before) 

Lunch: 

• Leftover chili & salad (If I make a big salad I try to avoid putting dressing on it...doesn't wilt or get soggy if you want to save it for leftovers).

Day 3 (Sunday) / Chili & Paleo Pancakes

Today was delicious. Got to sleep in a bit. Woke up around 9:30ish and made breakfast before churchy church:

• Paleo "pancakes"
• Disclaimer - whole30.com says you shouldn't really make anything such as "pancakes" with approved ingredients. However, we made an exception for these because where does it end? Should we not make cauliflower "rice" or spaghetti "squash"? Anyways, I LOVE these- so easy to make. I make enough for leftovers as well and store it in the fridge. It only takes a couple minutes to cook for a snack, breakfast item or even dessert. Even better topped with fruit. 
• Potato hash with fried eggs 
• I sauteed green bell peppers, an onion in olive oil, added diced sweet potatoes and red potatoes. Added salt, garlic and pepper. Cooked it in a cast iron skillet and used a lid for a bit. The sweet potatoes took longer to cook so I would either add those in earlier next time or perhaps boil them a bit first? Either way turned out delicious - when the potatoes were done I cracked a few eggs over the hash and put the lid back on. Took a few minutes for the eggs to cook and then it was done! So good!

Whole30 Timeline / What's this headache?!

I am a bit behind posting my daily updates. Sorry, but not too sorry / I'll get to it eventually. I work full time and have other obligations (church, community, social and otherwise). So after all that, I just haven't had the energy to write (read why below). Oh and I've been completely wrought by Making a Murderer.

So, I had a lot of energy on Sunday (Day 3) and Monday (Day 4). I wasn't feeling bloated or yuck like I do sometimes, so I was feeling great. I think my initial energy gave me a false confidence into thinking this 30 days would be a breeze for me. Then came the headache. A nice little sidekick to my day. Now that sidekick has a sidekick called nausea (or maybe it's the tights I'm wearing because it is freakin' COLD here). So where are these frustrating side effects coming from?

Day 2 (Saturday) / Banana Nut Bars

A day of rest, good eating, great roommates, and a good deal of ny/dayquil really helped me heal quickly. I was still sick/congested, but no longer felt like I had been sucker-punched all over my body. I woke up about 8:45am and eventually made my roommates breakfast (after plenty of hand washing):

• Fried eggs over arugula 
• Sweet & red potato hash (olive oil, salt, pepper) 

Snack 1:

• Almonds 
• Banana & almond butter

Lunch: 

• 1 fried egg over left over sweet potatoes 

Snack 2: 

• Banana nut bars (recipe below) 

Banana Nut Bars! Perdy good and very simple to make. I got this recipe from a paleo book/recipe Cristin gave me. I can't find a link unfortunately.

Day 1 (Friday) / Flu City

Friday suuuucked. I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck. I had the flu. Body aches, fatigue, congestion, headache, chills, blah blah blah. So thankful for my roommates Julie and Cooper for many reasons, but really only because they made me food this entire day. (It's hard to convey joking without you hearing enunciation in my voice, but whatevs, I'm pretty sure only Cristin reads this. Hey Cristin!). Julie and Cooper are a married couple and have thee CUTEST baby girl named Joanie (a.k.a. Joanster), the chillest/sweetest dog named George, and several lady/diva chickens. I love it.

So I didn't crawl out of bed until about 12:15, and my roommate Cooper was making breakfast/lunch and offered to make me some. We ate:

• Red potatoes sliced & sauteed in olive oil, salt and pepper 
• Potatoes and salt were added to the Whole 30 "okay" list this year. Or some time recently. Don't quote me on that. 
• Fried eggs over arugula
• He taught me this delicious and easy recipe: heat some olive oil in a skillet, place some arugula in the skillet (you can use a number of greens), crack an egg over the greens, cover it with a lid and cook until the egg is cooked the way you like it. 

I also had some green tea. I crawled back into bed and started watching Making a Murderer.

Cliche New Year's Challenge / Whole 30

This blog is anything but consistent. But I'm okay with that. Takes some time to create a post, especially if there are photos involved. It's fun to do, but I be busy, ya know?

Well, it's a New Year and I'm doing a new healthy eating challenge. Way to be cliche, right? But there's a reason people start anew in the new year. It's encouraging to try and change when others around you want to do the same. Also, no one wants to start a diet during the holidays - I mean the chocolate, the cheese, the drinks, the potatoes on potatoes! It's way too much temptation and requires a kind of will power that I simply do not have. Anyways, I'm doing Whole 30 with my roommates and boyfriend. Not to sound basic, but I sooo need a cleanse. I'm feeling real blah and unmotivated and this will get me into gear to get on track with eating a lot of fruits, veggies, nutritionally dense foods.

You can follow that link above to read about Whole 30 and the rules. Disclaimer: I haven't read the book or even the website that thoroughly. My roommates have, however, and it is pretty similar to strict paleo. When in doubt, I ask them about the rules. Click here to read the program rules.

I'm looking forward to it. It'll be fun to cook with everyone and have a little challenge/competition. We have a bet - if someone cheats, the others get to choose a song and the cheater must sing it and post the video on Facebook. None of us want to do that whatsoever. I also like that this challenge/diet does not require you to limit your intake of food or count calories. I haaate counting calories!

I am reading old posts on here about when I did a sort of whole 30 (it was more like strict paleo for 30 days) in 2011. I loved reading about my journey again. I have the worst/best jokes. I also liked reading how much better I felt after completing a challenge and feeding my body right. So hopefully I will blog again about this 30 day journey.

So here goes - tomorrow is DAY 1!!! G'bye to alcohol, chocolate, bread, sugar, ice cream, french fries........ you'll miss me, but not as much as I'll miss you :-( Hello to energy, self-confidence, better fitting clothes - I've missed you and hope you will join me soooooooon :-)