Day 14, 15, 16, 17 & 18- I've made it two weeks already!!

Day 14

Omg, I've made it two weeks without grains!

Today was so crazy busy that I really didn't get to eat much. I had a banana and coffee for breakfast. But then I didn't eat again until dinner time because I was working on building a playground with SIFE. We got rained out! So close to being finished. Afterwards I treated myself to a watermelon juice. Seriously the best drink!

When I got home, I had some banana chips but I was so engrossed in making a trifold board for SIFE that I kept putting off eating, but not on purpose. Before I knew it, it was time to get ready to go out with my friends. So I made my go to salad - star berries, sunflower seeds and baby spring mix. It's so easy and quick to make.

Party time! I only had one drink while out and I had so much fun.

Day 15

I did not want to wake up early today even though I had told a friend I'd meet her to work on her classroom before I went to finish the playground. But my plans to finish the playground fell trough and my friend luckily didn't want to wake up early either.

I decided to reward myself today for doing pretty well on this new diet so I got a Starbucks iced coffee with whole milk and another banana for breakfast. Is it possible to have too many bananas??

Yay, one of my good friends recently got engaged and she invited me to go wedding dress shopping with her today. Yay! But hmmm..... What can I eat for lunch?? I shopped with them for a while then we were all hungry so we looked around for lunch. They decided to go to a bubble tea place that had food. Not too much food to choose from if I don't want to go off my diet too bad. I got curry chicken. It was delicious. It came with rice so I ate a little of it but I tried to focus on just eating the chicken and avoiding the potatoes. Ugh. Bad choice. I immediately felt bloated and super full. It was the first time I've had grains in two weeks and if that's the way I'm going to feel after eating grains, I will gladly skip them!

For dinner I had a salad with ground beef, guacamole and salsa. Paleo is doable. Sometimes it's hard to not add cheese and sour cream and beans to taco salads, but I feel much better about the eating habits that I'm forming. I'm nervous about tomorrow though, I start school and my schedule is already busy. I will need to find time to make food and things that I can take on the go.

Oh and obviously I didn't get to make the chili today that I had planned to do. Maybe next weekend.


Want some Whole30 approved spices?  Check out this link: Whole30 Approved Spicehound

Day 16

First day of the Fall 2012 semester! I am so not ready for this.  These first few days will be crazy busy for me.  I have morning classes, then head to work, then home to work on homework or stuff for my tutoring.  How am I going to manage sticking to paleo?  I need to buy a lunch cooler to keep my food from spoiling while it sits in my car during class.  Houston is crazy hot and the heat would seriously over cook my food....and I don't wanna cook lettuce or strawberries.  Gross.

So I just picked up a Bacon Chicken Salad to bring to work and some beef jerky if I need a snack.  Oh and I bought a cool lime refresher from Starbucks this morning because I was in need for some serious caffeine after my macroeconomics class.

Around 1pm my stomach started to hurt.  It was a weird feeling, like hungry, kinda painful like I had worked out my abs hard in the gym (but I haven't recently) and uncomfortable.  Not sure what's wrong.  Ugh.  I ate my salad but it only made the feeling go away a little.  Maybe it was from yesterdays rice? or the cool lime refresher? or maybe the beef jerky....can beef jerky go bad?

No working out tonight.  I have to buy school books online, finish the SIFE trifle board, buy a printer and my tummy hurts.  I just grabbed a smoothie after work for dinner because I was hungry and had to run some errands.

Day 17

Is it possible that today is busier than yesterday?  Half a day of work, class, tutoring then homework.  I seriously feel like I'm living off of smoothies right night.  I had a protein shake with some coffee mixed in for breakfast.  On the way to tutoring I picked up a fruit smoothie.  For dinner, I needed to eat something more nutritious and substantial.  I made grilled chicken and had my go to salad, by now you should now what type of salad that is....strawberries, sunflower seeds and baby spring mix. 

Day 18

I need to get back to eating regular foods.  A protein shake with coffee for breakfast on the way to class. 

What can I pick up to eat for lunch and a snack at work?  My Fit Foods!  I just need to make sure to avoid any dish with rice, pasta or grains.  It's doable. 

Are red potatoes paleo friendly?  I looked this up before stopping for food because I wanted their bbq chicken which comes with green beans and a red potato mash.  Seems like red potatoes are a touchy subject in the paleo world.  This blogger goes more into depth about red potatoes and if they are paleo.... Mark's Daily Apple - Are potatoes paleo?  He says that "Evidence exists for human consumption of roots and tubers from multiple sites spanning multiple time periods: Northern Europe (specifically Poland), in the terminal Paleolithic and early Mesolithic."  So I've decided I will get the meal with the red potato mash, but I won't do it very often.  I'll limit my spud in take since I'm trying to get into better shape.

Snack time!  I have egg salad with nut thins and celery from My Fit Foods.  So good.  But do not eat the nut things if you are trying to stick to paleo foods.  I made the mistake of eating them, THEN looking at the ingredients.  I thought that the Almond Nut Thins would be made from almonds. Well they have almonds, rice flour (fail) and some other paleoFAIL stuff.  You live you learn to look at ingredients before you eat something.  If you aren't trying to eat paleo, but are just eating healthy, Nut Thins are a tasty cracker replacement.  Oh and the egg salad....does have some mayo in it.  Another paleofail but at least it's nutritious since who knows when I will get dinner tonight.

Dinner time - egg drop soup, chicken and a little brown rice. I knew I shouldn't have eaten any grains. I don't want this to spiral out of control and start eating more grains little by little. Just need to cut out grains cold turkey.....again. I don't need them, they just taste good.

Taking the first step to a healthier life, a Paleo life.

Friday August 10, 2012

Ok, so I've decided to try, no wait, DO the Whole30 Challenge.  I've been hearing about the whole Paleo Diet for some time now and it's definately peaked my interest.  I've read a lot about it.  I've checked out recipes, the dos and don'ts, the health benefits and honestly it looks tough!  I have a friend that does Crossfit and told me that he was trying the Paleo Diet.  I told him to go for it and he's been keeping me updated about it.  At first he complained about not feeling like he had enough energy.  I suggested that many he wasn't eating enough calories or protein because I heard him mention fruit and nuts more than meats.  After a week, he said he wouldn't do it anymore because it was tough.  A little discouraging for me because I think he has a lot more discipline than I do.  But by the end of the weekend, he was ready to give it another go.  Awesome! 

So I started looking into the Paleo Diet again with new found hope.  This time I found a food truck facebook page for Cultured Caveman.  Cultured CavemanPDX Facebook Page  I checked out pictures of dishes they serve, recipes they had posted and I found myself thinking that I wish Houston had a paleo food truck.  The truck owners looked happy and healthy and made me want to look for more tasty looking Paleo recipes!  This really can't be all that hard, can it?  Paleo's eat meat and plants.  Yes, I can do this!! 

After a little more digging, I found another website/blog.  Nom Nom Paleo!  Nom Nom Paleo They make Paleo look really good and doable!  I read and salavated over many of the recipes.  I need to buy myself a crockpot and if I plan out my meals for the week, I can really make this happen.  While reading the Nom Nom Paleo recipes, I kept seeing stuff about Whole9 and Whole30.  Of course I was curious, so I clicked on the link.  Whole9 Life website  Wow, a wealth of information! I love it.  I read about the Whole30 challenge and decided that I am ready to do this.  I'm back from a long road trip and no more excuses.  I want to be healthy and happy!  Today I ordered their "It Starts With Food" book for my kindle.  I plan on cracking that sucker open as soon as I get home from the gym tonight.  Whole30 is more strict than the typical Paleo Diet/Lifestyle, which I think is what I need to get this kick started.  This is going to change my life and I couldn't be happier and more excited to try this.

I've signed up for the Whole30 Daily to prepare me, keep me motivated and ensure my success.  I'm planning on starting this Sunday after I purge the bad food from my kitchen, plan some and grocery shop for some new yummy foods.

I realize this will be difficult, that's why I could use all the encouragement possible.  As Whole9 says "It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You won’t get any coddling, and you won’t get any sympathy for your “struggles”. YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime."

My only job for the next 30 days is to make good food choices.  No cheats, slips or special occasions.  Man Whole9 really knows all of our tricks!

Wish me luck!