Whole30 Week Two

Last week was my second week on the Whole30 and, all in all, it was good. The intense cravings for sugar have pretty much subsided. Now, don't get me wrong, I'd still LOVE some sweet tea or a little pure maple syrup in my coffee. But I'm not CRAVING those things. At the moment ;) I know some people say that when they cut sugar out of their diet, they really loose their desire for it altogether. That has definitely never been my experience, nor do I think I ever will experience anything like that. That's why I think it's so important for me to be aware of how much sugar I'm eating/drinking and be careful about it. It's not hard for me to fall off the wagon and consume way too much sugar (hence, the reason I'm doing the Whole30 in the first place ;)) By the way, I know I'm talking about sugar like it's the enemy, and I do believe that it's something that definitely should be eaten in moderation. But I do prefer real sugar over artificial sweeteners any day. I know people have differing opinions on that, and it truly is a personal decision. But, for me and my family, I prefer to stay away from artificial sweeteners altogether. (That means anything labeled "sugar free" or "diet.") I just wanted to explain that because with all the talk about avoiding sugar, I'm sure some people were wondering why I don't just go for the sugar free versions! :)

Anyway, I am a little disappointed in the Whole30 because I haven't noticed any difference in how I'm feeling. I attribute that party to the fact that my diet wasn't terrible before, so I didn't really expect anything drastic. But last week I felt like I was more tired in the afternoons than I was before starting this. That could just be from staying up too late, though. Also, I don't think I've lost any weight. That wasn't my reason for doing this, but I did expect to loose a LITTLE weight by cutting out sugar, gains, and dairy. Oh well. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do this for 30 days. Today is day 15, so I do feel like 15 more days are manageable. But I think I've broken the sugar habit, so I'm just not sure if I want to continue to stay away from grains and dairy entirely since I don't feel any different without them. Just taking it one day at a time!

So, here's what I ate last week: (By the way, I'm still snacking on cherries and raw almonds like they're going out of style. Hmm, couldn't this be why I haven't lost weight?? ;))

Monday: I made myself a delicious breakfast of sweet potato hash with pico and avocado on top.

These are called Japanese sweet potatoes. They look like a white potato but taste like a sweet potato. I really like them!

Seriously love that stuff, and you'll see that I ate that QUITE a few times over the course of the week. I had chicken and apple sausage and kale sautéed in ghee for lunch. That afternoon, I made some pickles. They had to sit in the fridge for several days before they were ready, but they've been a great snack! I LOVE pickles! (HERE'S the recipe I used.)

Dinner was a whole roasted chicken (CLICK for recipe) with green beans. Yummy! Monday was a good food day :)

Tuesday: I was in a hurry that morning and didn't have time for breakfast, so I had black coffee. I ate leftover bell pepper cheese-less nachos from Sunday for lunch. That afternoon, I ate a snack of sliced banana, frozen raspberries, and coconut milk (it froze when I poured it over the raspberries) with a little cinnamon.

I had book club that night, and we were supposed to go to Newk's. But when Megan (she's doing the Whole30, too) and I realized that they had changed the rules and you are allowed to have white potatoes on the Whole30, we had book club switched to McAlister's. Ha! Thankful for sweet friends who didn't mind the change of plans :) I had a veggie spud with no cheese and unsweet tea. I even took my own ghee for my potato. Man, it was nice to be able to order something other than a salad!

Wednesday: I was out and about at lunch time, so I had to pick something up. I went to Corner Bakery, and it was a fail. I got a spinach salad that had a lot of fruit on it - strawberries, blueberries, and oranges. It was also supposed to have "cinnamon raisin crisps" but I asked them to leave those off. When I got to my car with my food, they hadn't left the crisps off, and they had big sugar crystals all over them. Well, of course the sugar had come off all in my salad. Ugh. Thankfully, it was pretty much contained to one area, so I picked it out as best I could. I could also tell that the vinaigrette was really sweet, so I didn't eat much of that. Bummer! For dinner I had chicken and apple sausage and sautéed spinach with ghee.

Thursday: Lunch was sweet potato hash with salsa (I found some salsa with all "real" ingredients) and spinach.

I made my kids a raspberry, banana, pineapple, and coconut milk smoothie that afternoon for snack, and I had one myself. I cooked eggplant lasagna for dinner. With no cheese.

It was interesting. Actually, I thought it tasted pretty good, but it didn't taste like lasagna at all. It tasted like spaghetti sauce with eggplant instead of noodles. I read several recipes and ended up just making this one up as I went along.

Friday: Breakfast was sweet potato hash with chopped tomatoes on top. I ate leftover eggplant lasagna for lunch. We went to Jaco's Tacos for dinner because I knew they had lettuce tacos. And here's where I have to confess: we were getting terrible service (we always get awful service there, but we keep going back because I love the food), and I was STARVING. And the chips and salsa were just sitting on our table. Taunting me. So, I ate four chips. And I regretted it after the fact. Not because they made me feel bad or because I really felt like 4 chips did a ton of damage, but because I felt like it was a lack of self-control that causes me to eat them. If I had PLANNED to "cheat" and have a few chips, I would have eaten them guilt free. But I didn't plan to cheat. It happened, though, and I just moved on. My lettuce tacos were good! It was grilled chicken, tomatoes, and avocado in a lettuce wrap. I would order them again even when I'm not doing the Whole30.

Saturday: I had the all day meeting at Aubrey's school, and there was a pot-luck lunch. I was worried that there would be NOTHING for me to eat. I took a salad, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to focus all day on nothing but a salad. I told David that I was going to do my best, but if I had to cheat that day, so be it. I wasn't going to sit there starving for 7 1/2 hours. I ate a big breakfast of leftover sweet potato hash to try to sustain me. Haha! When I got to the meeting, I was so pleasantly surprised to see not only M&M's on the table for snacking, but raw almonds too! So, I ate a LOT of those throughout the day every time I was tempted to reach for an M&M :) And lunch was good too! I was able to eat salad, fruit, and pork loin. (I made some basil vinaigrette for my salad, and it was really good! It was a nice change from plain oil and vinegar.)

I was pleased with my lunch. That night, I got home late and threw together dinner. I had white potato hash (I should probably lay off the potatoes, too, if I want to loose weight.... nah) with bell peppers and onions topped with avocado and pico and a chicken and apple sausage on the side.

Sunday: I had black coffee for breakfast. For lunch, I cooked chicken soup using this recipe. I was able to use my homemade chicken stock that I had made using the bones from the chicken I cooked on Monday.

It was good! We ate dinner at McAlisters and I had another veggie spud with no cheese.