Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Sixteen

Happy Wednesday, food-loving friends. Today was my day off, and I think overall I'm feeling pretty good, though I had a bit of a tickle in my throat this afternoon that I hope doesn't mean I'm coming down with something. It was nice to sleep in a couple of hours and have an easy start to the day. I was able to do some sermon preparation while Abi and Lukas went to the park, too. It'd be nice to have the next day or two off to finish that up, but I'll just have to do what I can.

Things are moving along with the house, too. We received notification today that the seller has agreed to fix the issues we raised from the inspection, which is a huge relief. God's hand has been evident in this entire process. Sure, there are still things we will need/would like to do to the house, but we will deal with those as necessary.

One bit of a downer is that we got the bill today for my MRI (from back in February). Insurance covered about 1/3 of it, which is definitely something, but we're still left owing about $750. :P I had held off on getting the MRI for several weeks because I knew what the issue was, but I finally needed to do it in order to get the necessary excuses for work.

Getting my back into shape is one reason for doing the Whole30. Reducing systemic inflammation while also losing weight will go a long way to preventing future disc herniations. Beyond that, I need to be consistent with a solid exercise program, something that I'm struggling to accomplish. Do you ever feel like you've just got too much going on? It's feeling more like that every day.

Okay, so how about I let you in on the menu for today? Because of the late breakfast, I didn't have an actual lunch, just a couple of compliant snacks.

Breakfast:

Four-egg omelette
Green onion sausage
Bell pepper
Onion
Avocado
Tabasco

Lunch (Snack):
1 gala apple with almond butter
1 Larabar




Dinner:

Leftover Meatloaf
Steamed zucchini with Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute
Summer Cucumber and Tomato Salad

Well, even though I have other things I could/should be doing, I think I will go upstairs and use the exercise bike for a few minutes. Hope to see you back here tomorrow!

Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Fifteen

Okay, so it's been a rough couple of days, what with ice cream Monday night and rice last night. Add to that a couple of cookies around lunchtime today, and you've got the makings of a reboot being necessary. Well, that is, of course, life, and we might as well get it all out on the table.

I have tomorrow off because of working this last weekend, and I'm going to be busy studying. I am scheduled to preach this Sunday morning, and I really haven't started writing the sermon yet. It works out, though, as Abi and Lukas will go to the park with a friend for a couple of hours tomorrow, so I should be able to get quite a bit done.

The house is progressing, too. We got the results of the radon test and the home inspection today. The radon levels are high enough that they will need to be mitigated, and our real estate agent knows someone who does it for about $1,200. With the leak in the roof and the rotted window sill that needs replacing, we are absolutely hoping the seller will cover these issues. We could still back out if it came down to it, but we like the house enough that such a decision would be hard to make.

Okay then, here is the compliant portion of my food from today:

Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs with bell pepper and onion, all prepared in some coconut oil
Monkey salad with blueberries










Lunch:

Almost Five Ingredient Pizza Spaghetti Pie
Cabbage salad with homemade mayo and black grapes
1 gala apple











Dinner:

Homestyle Meatloaf (we didn't have plain ground pork, so we used a pound of breakfast sausage instead; Abi thought it was a little spicy, but I enjoyed it)
Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes"
Green salad with homemade mayo

I hope you've been finding some inspiration from these posts. I'm not perfect at this, so don't beat yourself up if you aren't, either. Have fun with it. I like food and trying new recipes, so a lot of this has been fun for me; if it wasn't, I wouldn't be doing it at all.

See you again soon!

Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Fourteen

Okay, so we were a little bad here the last couple of days. Last night after I got my post up we decided to have a little ice cream to "clean out our freezer" in preparation for our move next month. And tonight's dinner we used honey in the recipe and served the dish over brown and black rice.

Knowing that processed sugars and portion sizes tend to be my major problems, I'm considering eating more or less paleo with some non-paleo side dishes, still focusing on loading up on vegetables while exercising portion control on the other food groups in particular.

This afternoon I was finally able to get upstairs on the exercise bike for a few minutes, not enough to make a huge difference, but hopefully enough to help things stay on the right track.

And, without further ado, here is my menu for today:
Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs with some diced onion
Monkey Salad with Strawberries












Lunch:

Leftover hamburgers
Green beans
Cabbage salad with tomatoes and homemade mayo
1 gala apple
Handful of roasted squash seeds









Dinner:

Beef and Broccoli Cashew Stir Fry (we didn't have fish sauce, and I just now realized I forgot to add in the pepper flakes, but it was delicious nonetheless) - A little tip: We used a sirloin steak from my in-laws, and I found it was quite easy to slice it thinly while it was still frozen
Brown and Black Rice
Green salad with homemade mayo

I will continue to post about our mealtime adventures, especially since there are still several recipes yet to try in this month-long schedule I found. If I find that this way of doing things causes me to put a lot of weight back on, I will reconsider, but in the past I have done well with exercise and watching my caloric intake, so I think that as long as I keep my portions more manageable and take plenty of time to eat and feel full before I've eaten a great deal, I should still be okay.

See you again soon!

Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Thirteen

Whew! I'm actually getting this post written before 8 PM. Considering we went to church this evening, that's a pretty big accomplishment.

Work was good, though a bit tiring because I was so bored. Not that I'm going to complain a whole lot because I was still getting paid. Thankfully I only have two more days in this stretch; Wednesday should be a good day for catching up on rest and other things.

I think I am finding that overall I have more energy, which is what I want to see. I'm still working on having a consistently higher intake of water, which is probably my biggest failing nutritionally at this point.

So, would you like to see what I had to eat today? It wasn't a lot, which isn't ideal, so I'll have to figure out how to appropriately increase my intake.

Breakfast:

4-egg omelette with sauteed bell pepper, onion, and mushroom












Lunch:

Cabbage salad with homemade mayo and grape tomatoes
Chile Lime Chicken Breast
Beets
1 gala apple (eaten mid-morning because my breakfast was small)









Dinner:

Almost Five Ingredient Pizza Spaghetti Pie
Cabbage Salad with *gasp* non-compliant Ranch dressing (we were in a rush and basically out of homemade mayo)
Black grapes
1 apple with almond butter

I'm excited about getting into our house, hopefully still on track for October 16th, and the ability to give more artful presentations of the table settings. Something to look forward to, I'm sure.

Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Twelve

Once again it's a late blog post, and for that I apologize. And, as such, it will be short, too.

It was a good day at work, fairly quiet, most likely because of the Iowa-Iowa State football game. Funny how something like that will keep people from going to the hospital...

So, here's my food breakdown for today:

Breakfast:

Mini Frittatas













Lunch:

Buffalo Chicken and Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes (mixed together)
Cabbage Salad with Homemade Mayo and Black Grapes
1 large apple
A handful of grape tomatoes









Dinner:

Burgers on Napa Cabbage leaves with a little Trader Joe's Dijon Mustard
Green Salad with Homemade Mayo
Green Beans with Trader Joe's 21 Spice Salute

Okay, gotta run off to bed and get ready for another day at work. Have a good day/night/whatever when you read this, and I'll see you again.

Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Eleven

Woo-hoo! It's Friday! Or, if you're in my position, it's really Monday (first day of a five-day stretch at work). But it's all good.

Work was very slow today, which made keeping myself occupied a little difficult. Actually, there is most likely plenty that I could have done, but it didn't cross my mind to do some of the tasks that I probably should be doing. I'm hoping for a quiet weekend so I can maybe clean out and organize my filing cabinet (I inherited quite the mess when I took the position).

One thing that doesn't change, even though my hours are different, is the food. I almost felt a little bad because several of my coworkers ordered from Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch, but then I saw that the food hadn't stayed super warm and none of the dipping sauces had been included, all the more frustrating, I'm sure, because there was no time to go back to the restaurant and rectify the situation.

I enjoyed my food all day, though. Wanna see?

Breakfast:

Mini-Frittata Muffins
Monkey Salad with Strawberries












Lunch:

Meatballs and Zoodles with Pesto
Green Salad with homemade mayo
1 large apple











Dinner:

Almost Five Ingredient Pizza Spaghetti Pie (we added black olives and some sauteed mushrooms)
Green salad with homemade mayo.

Somehow, Abi and I have to get our grocery shopping figured out for tomorrow. I'm looking forward to another week of new recipes. Be sure to come back and check it out!

Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Ten

Unfortunately, it's going to be another short post today. Time got away from us after taking Abi to the dentist this morning and then being at the house from 12-2:30 for the inspection, followed by signing some papers at the bank before I had to be downtown for my appointment to donate a unit of blood. Busy busy busy.

It's been a decent day overall, though, so I'm not going to complain. The inspector, of course, found some issues, so now we just have to wait for the report and then touch base with our agent as to what we should ask the seller to fix and what we should let slide.

Days like today do not make it easy to get the appropriate food down, unfortunately.

Breakfast:

Prosciutto-Wrapped Mini Frittata Muffins - we didn't have prosciutto, as I didn't want to pay the high shelf price, so I just used half-slices of bacon from Hy-Vee (not compliant, I know); I also didn't bother finding the spinach in the freezer, and I forgot about the tomatoes; however, the muffins were good as is, and I look forward to having them again

Lunch:
Okay, something of a misnomer here. I had an Apple Pie Larabar just before noon, then a large apple with almond butter and a serving of Almost Five-Ingredient Pizza Spaghetti Pie around 3:30 to prepare for my blood donation.

Snack:

Not at all compliant, but after donating blood, it is highly recommended to have a snack to give your blood glucose levels a jump-start as people sometimes come close to passing out after donating. Don't worry, this will not be a regular occurrence.









Dinner:

Summer Cucumber and Tomato Salad with homemade mayo
Garlic Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes"
Buffalo Chicken (boneless, skinless chicken breast pieces in the Crockpot with Frank's Buffalo sauce, cooked on high for 4 hours)

I work for the next five days, so my blogging might be a little sketchy still. However, I will do my best (and hopefully not have too many late nights so I can get them written before 9 PM...ideally before 7 PM).

Have a happy Friday wherever you are, and come back soon!