Tag Archives: carrot noodles

Uncategorized, Whole30 Journey

Day 15: That’s Half of 30!

Exercise: Barbell Club
Food: Scrambled Eggs with Spinach, Sausage, Onion, Potatoes and Avocado, Leftover Bolognese with Carrot Noodles, Chicken Breast with Onions, Peppers, and Sweet Potato “Nachos”

chicken and nachos

Chicken and Sweet Potato “Nachos.” I’d say my dishes are looking slightly more appealing.

Well well well. Here we are at the halfway mark in my Whole30. It’s all downhill from here! It’s usually in days 16-18 that people will experience what’s called “Tiger Blood.” That describes a surge of energy, mental clarity, and general bad ass-ery. I thought I was feeling that a little bit yesterday but a friend who has been through the plan before says you’ll definitely know if it has arrived. I’m a little scared to wake up tomorrow.

One of the things I’m starting to grasp at this stage are all the “little” rules of the Whole30. These are the kind of rules that address more of the mental/emotional part of eating. So they can seem a little willy-nilly. For example: pancakes. Most of the ingredients in regular pancakes are not permitted on the Whole30 anyway (I guess..I don’t really know how to make pancakes. Pretty sure you need milk.) so regular pancakes are out. But you can make fake pancakes that fool no one using compliant stuff like bananas and cinnamon and mushing it all up and doing something else with it. Well, that’s a no-no too. The theory is that you’re fooling your brain, you’re feeding that “need” for pancakes. I get it. Kinda. I was a little confused yesterday when someone posted in the Whole30 FB group about his sweet potato nachos. Everyone was oooh-ing and awing and I’m like “why aren’t they telling this dude he’s a failure and needs to start over?” An admin eventually chimed in and said this was allowed because it was just sweet potato– he hadn’t combined other ingredients to mimic a chip. I’m still a little fuzzy on that one, but I figured if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em and you bet your ass I made those with dinner.

I felt great at Barbell Club tonight. We didn’t go too crazy heavy with anything, but I was sweating like crazy. Release those toxins!

For breakfast I made scrambled eggs and spinach, sausage, onions and peppers. I reheated some potatoes I made yesterday but they were a little blah. I was also trying to help my son finish his homework so I wasn’t really savoring my meal anyway.

Lunch was the rest of the Bolognese sauce from the other night. I served over some Trader Joe’s carrot noodles, of which my husband is still not a big fan. I had a pretty eventful morning of going to the dump, so I needed something quick and easy.

And for dinner I baked some chicken breasts in the oven with peppers and onions. I made the sweet potato nachos just by making thin slices and roasting them in the oven for about 25 minutes. I topped with chipotle mayo, avocado, and salsa. Ole!

So…takeaways from today: I’m awaiting my Tiger Blood; pancakes aren’t allowed but nachos are; carrot noodles hit the spot after a cathartic trip to the dump.

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Uncategorized, Whole30 Journey

Day 6: Lazy Sunday

Exercise: Some game my son made up with a Nerf football, walking into the bookstore from the parking garage
Food: Egg, Sausage and Butternut Squash Bake, Leftover Mini Meatloaves with Potatoes and Green Salad, Spiral Carrots with Beef Bolognese Sauce

Egg Squash Bake

I thought the squash was uncooked eggs at one point.

We lived in Portland, Oregon for five years before moving to the Bay Area. And that was plenty of time to learn that Sundays are for brunching! Today, we had an inadvertent Sunday brunch. We all slept in until 8 (either we were so exhausted we slept through the cats howling for their breakfast, or they tided themselves over with fish from my son’s aquarium…hmm…) and then my son had swim lessons at 9. It was just enough time to have some coffee and find his goggles. While the fellas were there, I made an egg bake and we ate when they got home. I was impressed that I wasn’t too hungry while waiting, but I had an episode of Real Housewives to keep my mind occupied. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think this truce with Lisa Rinna is going to last. Of course, later in the day, I read that the Whole30 plan calls for having breakfast within an hour of waking up. Something about hormones. So we’ll just pretend I slept until 10.

My gym doesn’t offer CrossFit classes on Sundays (yet?) and I’ve gotten used to taking Sundays off from workouts. I’m eager to get back tomorrow though. My son goes back to school, and with the drop-off time and CrossFit class times, I can only make Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday morning classes. Other days I can go in the evenings, but since I’m spending 6 hours chopping veggies for dinner these days, we’ll see how often I can make those.

Breakfast was the aforementioned egg bake. It was really easy: just 10 eggs, some sausage, butternut squash and sage mixed up and baked in the oven. I had frozen squash, so I used that, but I should have roasted it after thawing because it was a little bland.

For lunch I heated up leftover mini meatloaves and made some roasted potatoes. We had a green salad on the side.

I made a meat sauce with peppers, onions and tomatoes for dinner and served that over spiral carrots from Trader Joe’s. It’s a simple and satisfying dish. I think because it is something I would make pre-Whole30.

So…takeaways from today: it’s nice to have a day off from going to the grocery store; brunch isn’t Whole30 approved (boo!); if you watch Real Housewives at 9:30am you won’t be as tempted to drink during it.

 

 

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Uncategorized, Whole30 Journey

Day 3: Stabby and Sleepy

Exercise: CrossFit/schmossFit
Food: Over-easy Eggs with Potatoes, Apples with Almond Butter, Chicken Nuggets with Brussel Sprouts, Left-Over Meatballs with Carrot Noodles

eggs

Oh look. More eggs.

One of the benefits people report after completing a Whole 30 is better sleep. But apparently, it gets worse before it gets better. I’ve read about a lot of people having trouble sleeping these first days. Especially if they, like myself, are used to having a glass or two (or seven) of wine in the evenings. My husband and I both tossed and turned half the night. We were so exhausted when we finally did fall asleep that we slept through a 4.4 magnitude earthquake. This morning, I was the embodiment of that clichéd saying “Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee!” And I pretty much stayed at that level of cheeriness all day.

I had a haircut during my normal Crossfit class time (#priorities) so I dragged myself to a 5pm class. The brain fog combined with the logistics of a small gym space (and a full class) had me feeling stabby by the time class was over. The handstand push-ups didn’t help. I guess I’m glad I went. But after I was so zoned out that I watched”Creative Galaxy” for at least 20 minutes after my son had left the room.

Breakfast is getting easier. I made some eggs and put them over yesterday’s leftover potatoes, which I warmed up with some peppers and onions. We had apples with almond butter on the side– the first real fruit I’ve had since starting.

For lunch I tried something new and made chicken tenders in the air fryer. I first battered them, but in hindsight I left too much egg on as they were a little too “sticky.” For veggies I made sweet potato fries and Brussel sprouts. Some compliant mayo on the side made for a nice dipping sauce.

Dinner was leftover meatballs in marinara sauce from yesterday. I served it over spiral carrots from Trader Joe’s and I REALLY like those as a noodle replacement. They were a little more firm than zucchini noodles and enhanced the dish nicely. We also had a big ass salad on the side again.

So…takeaways from today: don’t interact with people more than necessary when tired, even in the name of physical fitness; leftovers are handy; this is really a good length for my hair.

don_t-talk-to-me-until-I_ve-had-my-first-cup-of-coffee

This business lady looks like she means business.

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