It's here! It's finally here! The End.

It's over. 30 Days have come and gone. What do we have to show for it?
Brad is down 13 pounds and I am down 11. Inch loss has been way greater than pounds lost but since we were lazy we didn't track that :/   We have more energy, clearer skin and an overall feeling of good health. Was it worth it? Absolutely.
Now for those of you Nay Sayers who are about to say, "Um don't you know you're like totally going to gain all that back?"...

Although this was a "diet", Brad and I have been planning on getting back to eating well for a while now. We plan on continuing to eat similar to this with a few modifications and of course an allowance for pizza and beer every now and then ;)
I will probably continue to drink my coffee black or at most with just half and half. I plan to never use fancy smancy no idea what is really in those delicious coffee creamers again. No pop, soda, fizzy lifting drinks, well actually I really enjoy La Croix but that has just about nothing but some carbonation in it.
We started a squat, sit-up, crunch, and push up challenge yesterday. You increase everyday for 30 days and we plan on going on long walks on these nice days coming up. I will probably incorporate my yoga back in at some point. Feeeeelllinnn gooooooood!

Here's a few snap shots of what we have had over the past week: roasted chicken, potatoes, carrots, pulled pork, paleo chili

Now, I told you that I will not tell you my actual weight. I will show you another before and after pic though. Down 11 pounds but I really wish I would have measured so I would know the inches lost. This pic doesn't even show the true difference but it's all I've got so there ya go. 

Many of you have expressed your desire to now begin your Whole30 journey. I absolutely encourage you to do it BUT I strongly recommend you get a buddy to do it with and be very very prepared. Preparedness is KEY!!! Remember that week 1 is tough, especially day 5 (curse you Day 5) but week 2 becomes much easier and by week 3 you forget what you were complaining about on week 1. 

It feels awesome to get back to REAL food. To remove excess from food and enjoy it in it's most natural form.

Sugar....that son of gun is in everything. Remember that. Check your labels. Try to stay away from it. It makes your body freak out, over work and ultimately end up taking medication to stabilize what it has done to you. Week 1 was definitely sugar withdraw. I felt horrible. Sugar has such a hold on us and you don't even realize it until you remove it completely. 

I hope you all were able to use some recipes and follow along. I hope this was transparent enough that you feel like you learned a few things from our experience. 

Thank you for following and for all of your encouraging words along the way! 

- Hannah 

Whole 30- Day 23!

DAY 23!

 Wait...what? Day 23? We have actually made it this far?
Yes! We have.  I am just as surprised as you are. As I told my brother and sister in law last night, I am usually a quitter. I hate to admit that but I totally am. I always tell myself, "Oh I can stop here and just do this a little different...that's not quitting right?" No. It is. That's the whole reason behind this blog if I'm being honest. I wanted to be held accountable. This week is only tough in the sense that you are so close to be being done that you could almost tell yourself that it has been long enough and you deserve a beer or a cupcake. My husband told me that his work had the most beautiful and delicious smelling strawberry cake the other day. He said he was even in the room with it by himself and all his mind kept telling him was, "Dude..no one will even know.." He resisted though and I'm impressed. Cake is my weakness and when I saw weakness I mean I have absolutely zero self control. I LOVE cake!!

Well it's been a little while since I last posted but that's because we have had a some wonderful weather which required some time spent outside instead of inside on a computer :)

Food has been delicious. Clothes are fitting. I mean actually fitting. Not like, put one leg in, pull up, shake...other leg, pull up, shake...jump, jump, jump (rip belt loop). So this has been wonderful! Baby weight be gone!!! And that goes for both mommy and daddy ;)  

I will just share a few of my favorites from the past week. I made white chicken chili. This. was. so. good! SOOO GOOOOOOD! I followed this recipe, 

http://mylifewellloved.com/whole-30-white-chicken-chili-paleo/

kinda... I always improvise. I added in some carrots and garlic cloves. HIGHLY recommend this one. 

I also made spaghetti using spaghetti squash which I had done before but this time I took a little extra time with the squash after I combed it out. I then put it into a strainer and pressed out excess water and then cooked in a skillet for a few minutes just to get rid of that extra water it holds. The sauce was jarred spaghetti sauce  (organic, no sugar) and ground beef. I cooked onion and garlic in the pan before adding the sauce for some extra flavor. Brad said if I made it that way every time he would prefer that over the regular spaghetti that we usually make. Wow!

Still enjoying nuts, fruit, veggies, Lara bars, sparkling water (no fruit juice, sweeteners, sugar etc) as my snacks. Coffee in the morning is still black and I'm getting very used to that. 

7 days left!!! Gotta finish strong. It's a 30 day program. Not 23,24,25,26,27,28, or 29. 

Enjoy the beautiful weather! We will :) 

-Hannah

Whole 30 - 12,13,14,15 & 16

Still truckin....


I'm sure you thought that I had quit didn't you? You thought for sure that you would read this and I would confess that we gave in and we're done with the program. I would have too but I assure you we are still going strong. It is day 16! Holy cow! This past weekend was trying however. We spent time with family out and about. We were offered beer, wine, cheese, bread, pasta etc.... Our sister in law had a party and had cookie dough dip!!! Brad and I both died a little inside. I sat quietly eating my almonds. Mmmmmmm!
Someday we may forgive her for that ;) 

Meals have been great. That's not the trouble. The food is good. The food is awesome. You just still have the temptation for all the food you're not eating. My husband says this is the hardest part. He's like a kid who has been told no too long and now he wants to just break the rules. I'm not saying I'm not tempted. I wanted some wine the other night but I just reminded myself that it was only a craving and I could talk myself out of it just as easily as I had talked myself into it. 

Here' s a short recap of some of the meals over the past few days. One of which was a salad from Scholars Bakehouse on the square here in Bloomington. It was spinach, romaine, blueberries, cooked red bell pepper with balsamic and olive oil. It was very good. Did I want the bagel? Well yes, of course I did. 

The skillet with cauliflower in it was my attempt at making cauliflower rice. You cut the tops of a head of cauliflower and then chop it finely. You could use a food processor but I only have a regular blender so it wasn't perfect. It recommended cooking it in animal fat so I used some bacon grease I had saved. (I've never saved bacon grease before now) Cooked it until it started to brown and then put our ground turkey with onion and bell pepper that we had seasoned with cumin, chipotle pepper, white pepper and black pepper. This was delicious for me but hubs couldn't get past the cauliflower. He only likes green beans and carrots so any other vegetable is just annoying and gross to him. 

Our real test will be this weekend when we meet some family up at Maggianos. There will be bread, pasta, cheese, wine, and just about everything we can't have. "oh, we would like some leaves please!" :(   But such is life, we shall survive.   Both of us still feel great. Energy is up for sure. Brad hasn't had caffeine in 16 days and is doing awesome. Me, well I drink my black coffee every morning. If you're a mom and don't drink coffee... what's wrong with you? Just kidding :) 

Everyone enjoy this spring weather we are getting even though it's mostly rain... it aint snow :)

- Hannah 

Whole 30 - Days 10 & 11 Brad had to have a donut

Day 10 & 11

"I have to tell you something. I had to have a donut"....
My eyes filled with anger...no, hatred.... How DARE you!! You dirty little cheater! You weakling!

                                     

Brad begins to laugh uncontrollably.
"I had to do a donut in your truck today...the snow was just begging for it" (laughing at his own joke)

Yep. That's who I live with.
Ok now on to other things. Energy is still up and my skin is really getting clear. I am sleeping well (When I get to and my daughter doesn't wake up screaming because she peed) and still no joint pain.

According to Whole30.com these are the days that you will quit. You begin to get bored and irritated and just stop. Well I am happy to report we are still going. We are at a point where we have our staple foods for breakfast and lunch plus our go to snacks

I will say that even though our pulled pork tastes awesome, I am getting sick and tired of it. We have had it for several meals now and I'm about pulled porked out. Here are some pics of the different meals we had with it though. One is pulled pork on top of butternut squash, carrots and onion and the other is on a baked sweet potato with onion and cilantro. Both were really good!

Breakfast has been our typical omelets BUT we now have BACON!! BACON!!! All I can hear is the dog from the Beggin' Strips commercial, "MMM MMM MMM, ITS BACON!" 

Knowing this week was going to be tough...as silly as this sounds.. bacon saved us. 

I don't think that Days 10 and 11 are rough. I think Thursdays are rough for people who are eating all fresh, non processed foods because on Thursday you run out of stuff and then you're cranky. Maybe this is true for everyone regardless of whether you're a clean eater or not. Thursday comes and you're out of food even though you spent a ton of money on Sunday and you're pissed off because it's still not Friday. Who knows. Next week you supposedly feel great but run into food boredom. I hoping to combat this by getting on Pinterest and picking out all new meals. I still have zucchini and spaghetti squash so I'm thinking about attempting a Paleo Carbonara or Paleo Alfredo using the veggies as your noodles. 

Getting serious for a second... hold on.

We truly have seen a dramatic difference in the way we feel since beginning Whole30. You get so busy with everything else in life that you don't focus so much on what you're eating and how it is affecting you. I will get on my soap box for just a minute this time. I dare you to take a look at the ingredients of your food today.

 Look at your breakfast... oatmeal packets, frozen waffles, pancake mix, cereal, yogurt

Look at your lunch.... deli meats, cheese, bread, salad dressing, soup

Look at your dinner.... pasta sauce, boxed rices and pastas

What do you see? Are they real ingredients? And by that I mean, Do you have a freaking clue what they are? Do you consistently see "Sugar, Pure Cane Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup" or sugar hiding behind a name 

It's important to stop and ask yourself, "What the hell am I eating?"  Pardon me, but it's gotten so out of control. You have no idea what is in your food. Your processed and convenient food. You just grab it off the shelf without even thinking. Now some things in processed foods are behind an odd name but are harmless BUT most of them are not. You can't pretend to be surprised when you have high blood pressure from all the excess salt you consume or diabetes and heart disease because everything you put in your body has sugar in it. I'm glad we as a society are trending towards being health conscience but we still have a ways to go. You gotta start somewhere.  I'm not saying it's your fault. It's the companies that make this crap BUT I am saying you have a responsibility to be cognizant of what you're consuming. 

Ok, stepping down off box. I think many of you who know me well knew that it was only a matter of time before I whipped that step stool out. By the way, Whole30 discusses integrating the foods you have cut out back into your life... you're not expected to stay Whole30 forever (though you could) but it's to make you realize how food affects you and to appreciate what you eat. 

Alright... on to the weekend... on to new recipes and new adventures and I'll update you all soon

-Hannah

Whole 30 - Day 9

Day 9 

Today is kind of just like any other. I don't have much to report. Brad and I enjoyed more of our breakfast casserole this morning and I also had my black coffee. Things I am noticing; energy level is up, acne is improved, and NO JOINT PAIN!  I had been having horrible joint pain ever since I had Norah, mostly in my knees. It's gone. It's just gone!! So that is awesome. I've also been sleeping better.

Last night we enjoyed our Chocolate Chili. Remember I told you that our stove only has two settings which are Burn your food and Slightly burn your food? So the chili didn't have that soupy texture so I added some beef broth to it and then reheated it. Perfect. It was just as delicious as the first time.
All day yesterday I had been cooking a 7 pound pork shoulder in the crock pot. It smelled SOOOO GOOD! We let it cook on low for 12 hours. When we finally got it out last night it just fell apart and smelled amazing. I "kinda" followed this recipe
http://www.primallyinspired.com/slow-cooker-chipotle-pork-with-pineapple-coleslaw/

I cut up half an onion and put in in the bottom of the crock pot with beef broth. I then rubbed sea salt and pepper and the chipotle chili pepper all over the pork. Put it in the crock pot and added more broth, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar and put pineapple slices on top. On low for 12 hours. (Flip over about half way through)
Then I grabbed a ready to go Butternut squash soup package that I picked up from Kroger and tossed it into some coconut oil along with an apple. Let that simmer for about 15 minutes. Put the squash down and the pork on top. Wah lah!

Still snacking on nuts, fruit and Larabars when I feel the need. For the most part, the meals fill me up and I don't feel that need too often. Hubby cheated and stepped on the scale. He's down 6 pounds. I know that if I step on that stupid thing I will obsess over it so I have not. Clothes still fit better and I've noticed my stomach is flatter. I'm noticing so many more things than just weight loss though. At this point, I'm very glad we decided to do this program. I feel like we have the hang of it. I keep looking at Day 15 as my goal. I've read its downhill from there. 

Cheers to a good day!

-Hannah 

Whole 30 - Days 6, 7 & 8

Day 6, 7 and 8

Go to the boat show they said. It will be fun they said. 

Brad and I thought that we weren't being tortured enough so we decided to go to the Boat, Sport and Travel show this past Saturday. As soon as we walked through the doors we entered a gauntlet. Forearms up to cover our faces, heads down as the smell of french fries, cheeseburgers, and beer was hurled towards us. It looked just like this...

I was prepared to shout, "MAN DOWN!" I just figured Brad was going to say screw it and I would be left out in the trenches taking grenades. Now normally when we go to an event like this Brad NEVER lets me (his other small child) get any food, snacks or drinks. So it's not like we would have normally gotten something at this BUT this was a different scenario. 

I'm happy to report that we survived. Only a few bruises. No slips or cheats. The show was great. Walked in and out of very expensive RVs that we most likely will never own. Looked at boats that cost more than our last house and of course saw Indiana's finest out and about. We saw some sweet air brushed jean jackets, a few rat tails and of course NASCAR from head to toe. Ooooh yeah baby. Rock it!

That morning Brad had made a very tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs covered with grated sweet potato hash and onion. Delicious! 

Now normally we would have taken time to make our lunch at home and just packed some fruit and nuts for our snack but something about trying to get two adults and a baby out the door... it just takes FOREVER. Soooo we did not do that. We did pack some snacks but we were going to have to stop for lunch. I was nervous but I figured that this was do able. We went to Taco Bell and ordered a Cantina Power Bowl with chicken and pretty much nothing else. Seriously  

I was pretty sure that the lady at the drive thru was going to hurl sauce packets at us when she opened the window but she was very nice. We apologized several times for being those annoying dieting people. That was the most money I have ever spent at Taco Bell for the least amount of food. It was still tasty. Now before some crazy Whole30-er yells at me and says "You're doing it wrong, Bro" I just want to say,  

No one is perfect. We had to improvise and I'm pretty sure we are ok. So we headed home from the boat show before Snowmagedon hit all of Indiana. On our way back we stopped at Bloomingfoods in Bloomington to search for some sugar free meat. We were a little nervous pulling into the parking lot. We thought we might get kicked out for not having a Prius or our recyclable shopping bags but we made it through unscathed. (By the way, this is a FANTASTIC local co-op and I love it but seriously, SO crunchy.) We did find sugar free meat! Thank goodness. Even bacon!!! If you are in search of this as well I suggest looking at Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Sahara Mart, Fresh Thyme, or your own local co-op.

Look there... no sugar. I'll be!

Not sure what to make for dinner we decided on a baked potato with shredded chicken, caramelized onions and peppers and salsa on top. I cooked the chicken in some chicken broth with salt, pepper and lime juice. Dry chicken freaks me out so this helped give some flavor. The onion and peppers were very good. I would double that amount next time. The salsa on top was awesome. Be sure when you look for salsa, again, no sugar!

Sunday morning was going to be awesome. Even though we were up at 5 AM because our little Norah Bell thought that was an appropriate wake up time. I was making breakfast casserole. I made hash browns with potatoes, cooked the sausage and onion and then added eggs on top with salt and pepper. Now, I was in a hurry because we were so hungry so I didn't peel the potatoes or brown them before putting them into the pan. I would definitely do this next time. Takes a little longer but I think the flavor would be worth it. You add the ingredients into the pan ( I used 13x9 because we wanted this to last a few days) and you bake at 350 for 45 minutes. It is pretty good! We have enough for a few days. After this is gone we are breaking out the bacon! Whole30.com  says that you are most likely to quit your Whole30 on Day 10. Knowing this we are going all in when it comes to meals this week. We are prepped and we want the best and most tasty to be sure that we don't give up. 

Lunch was another turkey burger with grilled pineapple and onion and almond butter. We did get a bit snacky so we grabbed some nuts, raisons, apricots, and I had an orange too. 

Dinner was chicken stir fry. It was sooooo good and super easy. I grabbed a bag of frozen stir fry veggies and a bag of frozen onions and peppers and threw that into a skillet with some olive oil and seasoned with curry, turmeric and paprika. I was a little tired of buy SO many veggies and having to cut everything so I made it easy on myself by buying the frozen bags. Kroger 10 for 10, yo!! Seriously, it's $1 for a frozen bag of veggies and they taste great. This has been my go to for years. I love those. Added in the chicken and all done! So good!

We were also making Chocolate Chili in that pic ^   Note to those who are making this. The first time we made it in the slow cooker and this time we did "Simmer" on the stove top. Well unfortunately our gas stove is either Burn your food Or Burn your food slower. Our Low option never let it simmer. It started to burn the bottom sooooo we didn't have that soupy chili this time. Just keep this in mind when you make yours. You really want it to simmer on low. 

So here we are at Day 8. I have to say, I feel awesome. I slept like a rock. I have energy. I'm not angry. I'm not sleepy. I'm good. I'm actually good! I'm about to go start a roast. We are making Chipotle Pulled Pork.  Link here...   

http://www.primallyinspired.com/slow-cooker-chipotle-pork-with-pineapple-coleslaw/ 

Lunch today is left over from last night, and dinner will either be Chocolate Chili or the pulled pork. 

Alright, I'm outta here. Till next time 

-Hannah