Tag Archives: zoodles

Whole30 Journey

On Again, Off Again, On Again

I think the success of any diet depends on how well you can adapt it to different situations: dining out, parties, traveling, etc. This weekend was a huge test of that. And, well, I made a choice to go a little off plan, in the name of hanging out with some of the best friends a gal can have. So technically, I’m starting over on my Whole30, but I’m not bumming. I never really looked at this as something I was only going to do for 30 days, but rather a way of eating *most* of the time. Back in the day, before Biff and I got married, we had a lot of success doing a certain “life-style change” that let’s just say rhymes with Beight Batchers. We would track our points diligently, but every other Sunday, we’d go out to eat and indulge a little for just that one meal. We both have discussed approaching our new eating habits the same way.

Friday, I met up with some of my favorite friends from childhood. I chose a steak with asparagus for my dinner, which was probably pretty close to compliant (I didn’t ask about the cooking oil for the steak, that’s probably the only thing that might have been on the banned list) but as we were getting into some juicy gossip, I had a gluten-free cider. Or two. Then Saturday, one of our bestie couple friends came over to see our new house.  Let’s just say, we had some snacks. And then Sunday, my mom came over and we had brunch out. Though aside from cheese, that meal was pretty compliant. Oh and a cider. Or two. D’oh!

So here we are! You know, it’s kind of nice having the knowledge to make the decision to indulge. And it’s especially nice to understand that a few “off” meals doesn’t mean I have to totally throw in the towel completely. It’s so much more meaningful to enjoy good food with good people on a special occasion. I think that’s called maturity? I can’t be sure.

No noodles, no problem

I did make some yummy compliant dishes in that time too, though! One of my easiest go-to meals is a meat marinara sauce with zoodles. I don’t really have a recipe I follow, I just cook up some ground beef with garlic and onions, add some canned tomatoes and tomato paste, and then toss in some pre-spiralized zucchini noodles toward the end. Tonight I followed just the portion of this recipe which pertains to making brisket in the Instant Pot. It came out really good! Just beware of the ingredients in the beef stock, it can be really hard to find one that doesn’t include sugar. I roasted some asparagus and added some pre-riced veggies and then poured some of the leftover liquid from the Instant Pot over everything. Boom!

Brisket in the Instant Pot. Say what?!

I was feeling kind of crummy today, I think it may have been a mini-detox from the weekend festivities. So I skipped my workout but I’ll go tomorrow instead to make up for it. Unless the workout is 1000 burpees. Then I will not go. Later this week, I have a physical with my new doctor. I’m hoping she’s blown away by my low blood pressure and shiny, silky hair. We’ll see!

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Uncategorized, Whole30 Journey

Day 10: Paranoia

Exercise: PTA Board Meeting
Food: Oh you know it’s that same ol’ scramble, BLTA Salad, Bolognese “Pasta” with Zucchini Noodles, Banana and Almond Butter

Salad

BLTTACO Salad

Day 10, a third of the way there! Some pinpoint days 10 and 11 on the Whole30 as the toughest. I’m sure the reasons vary–  for me today’s challenge stems from falling into a routine. I’ve had 10 days of cooking 3 meals a day, and I have some confidence and pride that I’ve done it this far. But that is also giving me that feeling of  “ok, this is starting to feel easy, I must be missing something. Did I eat something and not remember? Was almond butter on the forbidden list this whole time and I didn’t notice? Is my kid still at school waiting for me to pick him up?” (I’m pretty sure he’s in bed sleeping.) So I’m finding this routine comforting and at the same time still a little uneasy. Maybe because it happened so fast. One minute we’re having drinks at the bar, the next I’m caressing my kombucha sweetheart nightly.

Physically, I’m feeling great! I’m not really hungry in between meals, though that 3pm slump is rough some days. Coffee helps, but that’s also a little late in the day for me to have caffeine and I find on the days I have some, it takes me a bit to fall asleep. But once I am asleep, I’m out. I’m talkin’ REM cycles all over the place.

I didn’t workout today because the CrossFit class times didn’t align with my schedule. Plus my knee felt like it could use a day off. Fair enough! This evening I had a PTA meeting and I successfully avoided the cheese and crackers on the table. And really, even if I wasn’t on the Whole30, I probably wouldn’t have had any because I was intimidated by the cheese slicer thingy.

So breakfast was once again scrambled eggs with the veggies I had handy, topped with avocado and salsa. ‘Nuff said.

I made up a cute salad for lunch using lettuce and spinach, bacon, tomatoes, cukes, sliced turkey, onions and Primal Green Goddess dressing. I call it the BLTA salad. It was just the right portion.

And for dinner I needed to use up some ground beef so I just made a quick pasta sauce using it and onions and peppers, etc. I served over zucchini noodles which my husband likes better than the carrot noodles. But I still prefer carrot noodles. I’m so glad we have differences like this to keep our marriage spicy.

So…takeaways from today: trust my brain, it hasn’t had booze for 10 days after all; you can put anything on lettuce and call it a salad; cheese now intimidates me.

 

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