Whole30 Challenge Day 29

Welcome to a very wet Monday! We had a significant storm system move through our area this afternoon, dropping 2 1/2" in 90 minutes.

Before the storm hit, we also tried a new experiment: taking a 19-month old to the movies. That was probably more disastrous than the storm. Thankfully there was only one other man there with his 3- or 4-year old daughter. Lukas didn't want to sit still for most of the movie, and when we tried to get him to do so, he fussed quite a bit. Oh well, lesson learned. At least there aren't that many good movies out there anyway so we won't feel like we're missing a lot by not going, just the two of us or with Lukas in tow.

Unfortunately, it is again late as I write this, so I'd better give you the menu or today and then get to bed.

Breakfast:
Egg casserole (green and red onion, mushroom, mini sweet pepper, black olives, Italian sausage, and ground pork)

Lunch:

Green salad with chicken pieces (I don't remember the exact ingredients I used for the chicken, though I know I used red wine vinegar) and a little homemade mayo for dressing







Dinner:

Zucchini and ground beef
Grape tomatoes, green pepper slices, cucumber slices

Tomorrow starts a long week at work, and it is also the last day of the challenge. Wednesday I am going to have a piece of cake from my sister-in-law's graduation party, and then I plan to go back to a strict Whole30 Plan for probably at least 2 more months to hopefully break the sugar cravings more completely. As it is, I know eating the cake will be risky, but I think it's one time I can indulge a little. However, even with a month under my belt, I find that sugary treats are still rather appealing, and I want to kick that in the pants before reintroducing other nutritional variables.

Have a great day, and look forward to future updates!

Whole30 Challenge Day 28

It's been a good Sunday here. Granted, we've all been a little extra tired because of being away from home yesterday, but I think we have pretty much recovered. Lukas will hopefully sleep well tonight as he needs it the most.

It was a very uplifting day for me. I enjoyed Sunday school and both services at church, and it was nice to have a relaxing afternoon at home.

Here's a quick rundown on food from today:

Breakfast:

Omelet with Italian sausage from my in-laws, mini sweet peppers, jalapeno pepper, green onion, mushrooms, and black olives

Lunch:

Leftover steak

Yellow squash

1/2 peach

Green grapes

Dinner:

Green salad with homemade mayo

Soup with homemade chicken broth and leftover chicken pieces

I have to get a little one to bed now, so I'd best be signing off. Enjoy your day whenever you read this, and be sure to come back tomorrow!

P.S. Feel free to subscribe to this blog so you are sure to see further updates!

Whole30 Challenge Days 26 and 27

Sorry folks, I missed yesterday's post. We had a good evening here, though, heading to a park to meet someone and then letting Lukas play at the playground for almost an hour. I think it really tired him out because he went to bed around 9:30 as usual and didn't wake up for a bottle until 5:30.

It will be an interesting day foodwise because we will be going to my in-laws' for a graduation party. We'll probably take a bit of compliant food with us, and as they are the source of our eggs, we'll probably make a few there. (This paragraph written at 9:30 AM).

Here's how food has shaped up for the last couple of days.
Friday:

Breakfast:
Omelet with mini sweet peppers, green onions, and mushrooms
Sausage patty
Monkey salad





Lunch:
Spaghetti squash and meatballs
Cabbage salad with homemade mayo
1 apple

Dinner:

New York Strip Steak from my in-laws
Green salad with homemade mayo
Grated and baked sweet potatoes

Snack:
Jonathan apples quarters with almond butter




Saturday:

Breakfast:
Omelet with mini sweet peppers, jalapeno pepper, green onions, mushrooms, ground pork, sliced black olives, avocado slices, and a dash of hot sauce

Lunch:
If you can call it lunch, we basically had a lot of fruit (strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, and red and green grapes) as well as some bell pepper slices and baby carrots; as much as I enjoyed spending time with my in-laws, it would have been smart of us to have prepared and brought some food that we could eat.

Dinner:
Scrambled eggs with bell pepper, onion, and garlic
Pre-baked sweet potatoes fried in a skillet (they didn't get crispy like I was hoping)

Snack:
Half of a Key Lime Pie Larabar

Well, only three days left. Kinda hard to believe! I can tell, though, that it would be good for me to stay on a strict Whole30 compliant diet for at least the next month or two because I still deal with sugar cravings like you wouldn't believe. I did bring home a small slice of graduation cake to enjoy on Wednesday, but that's going to have to be my limit for a while. Still, since I'm hoping to be fairly compliant with this way of eating for the indefinite future, I'm not all that sad about it.

Have a blessed Sunday. I should have a post up Sunday evening.

Whole30 Challenge Day 25

It's a rainy Thursday here, which is good, because we've been in a considerable need of rain lately. We had about 1/2" in our rain gauge when I got home this afternoon, and it started raining again around 8 PM, so I'll be curious to see what that adds. Our deck garden seems to have been enjoying the moisture...hopefully our tomatoes will start turning red soon to make room for new growth.

We had a bit of a party at work today, an ice cream social, because it was the last day for one of my coworkers. At least there were bananas that I could enjoy...

Since it's getting late here, I'll just skip right to the food.
Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs with mini sweet peppers and green onion
Sausage patty (clean pork, but probably had sugar as part of the seasoning process :P )
Monkey salad with blueberries





Lunch:
2 hamburger patties
Golden cauliflower soup
Steamed zucchini
Cabbage salad with homemade mayo
1 apple

Dinner:

Grilled chicken
Garlic Herb Cauliflower Rice (delicious!)
Grape tomatoes, mini sweet peppers, baby carrots
Homemade mayo
Watermelon cubes

I'm looking forward to another great day of food tomorrow. Hope you are, too!

Whole30 Challenge Day 24

Hello Wednesday! Middle of the week, two days left of work, prayer meeting at church...yeah, it's the good life.

I continue to feel great as the days pass by. Getting up at 5 hasn't been nearly the battle I thought it would be, though it's very easy to sleep in until 7 or 8 on weekends, and that's a habit I'd like to break. Really, I'd almost like to start getting up even up to an hour earlier than I do now because I could get so much more done in the morning without feeling like I was abandoning my family like it sometimes feels in the evenings.

Well, you're probably here to find out about my food choices today. And I'm willing to satisfy your curiosity.

Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs with mini sweet peppers and green onions
Monkey salad with blueberries

Lunch:
Hamburger
Green beans
Cabbage salad with homemade mayo
1 apple

Dinner:

Spaghetti squash with crockpot meatballs
Green salad with homemade mayo
Steamed zucchini

Now, off to church, and then home to bed. Have a great evening!

Whole30 Challenge Day 23

Ah, Tuesday. Only 7 days left of this experiment. We're still discussing what and how much to reintroduce when the month is over. Abi has told she feels more like she can maintain this type of meal plan over sticking with a regular exercise regimen as she gets easily bored with exercising. Anyway, I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Since it's getting late again, I'll just get right to the food and catch you again tomorrow.

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs with green onion, mini sweet peppers, and ground pork
Monkey salad

Lunch:
Leftover fish
Cabbage salad with homemade mayo
Leftover coconut creamed kale
1 apple

Dinner:

Grilled hamburger on a leaf of Napa cabbage
Green beans
Green salad with homemade mayo







Snack:

Coconut milk, fresh peach, and frozen banana smoothie

Hopefully I can get a little bit of stuff done yet tonight before bed. Guess I'd better check out of here if that's going to happen. Later!

Whole30 Challenge Day 22

It's been a great day here! Work, even though it started off super crazy, calmed down and left me with plenty of time to work on some paperwork projects that have needed finishing. I managed to write a little bit on my break and again after I got home. During lunch I read a chapter out of a Christian sci-fi book that I've had for a while--it's an interesting story, but could have used a lot more editing, unfortunately. I'll probably post about it on my other site, www.jwexperience.com, after I finish it. Dinner was especially tasty, and afterwards we went to Aldi for a few groceries and then Gray's Lake to make the almost 2-mile circuit. If we got out and did that at least three nights a week, we'd hit our 90 minutes of weekly exercise goal. Something to shoot for, at least.

Only 8 days left in this current challenge. Then the difficulty will be figuring out what foods to reintroduce, how to let them back in, and how to keep from losing the progress that's been made this month. I'm thinking that if we go to a slightly more regular diet, MyFitnessPal.com is going to be quite useful.

Food for today:
Breakfast:
Paleo Sweet Potato and Sausage Egg Scramble
Monkey salad with blueberries

Lunch:
Thai spiced turkey burger
Golden cauliflower soup
Cabbage salad with homemade mayo
1 apple

Dinner:

5-Spice Slow-Cooker Pork Ribs
Coconut Creamed Kale (Abi didn't like it, and it didn't thicken up like the recipe suggested)
Watermelon

The next couple of days will be busy. We have a visitation tomorrow evening and prayer meeting on Wednesday. I will still try to post, but if I miss for some reason, don't worry, I haven't gone far.

I hope your Tuesday gets off to a great start. Keep eating!