Whole 30 - My Goals, Prep, Shopping & Filling the Fridge/Pantry

So we are heading into the Whole30. I have talked Whitney and Summer into being my partners in this journey. Whitney is on a quest to tackle her PCOS and Summer to tackle stomach issues, sleep issues, and hopeful for energy.

I read the book It Starts With Food which was very insightful and confirmed to me that 30 days of Paleo would be worth the results - more energy, better sleep, clearer thinking, hopefully a flatter stomach. For me most importantly was more stability with depression/anxiety symptoms and no stomachaches! Also the book talks about chronic inflammation. My shoulders and neck have been a big issue since Parker was born and I'm hoping maybe some of those symptoms will improve. The chapter on hormones in the book really sold me. From the moment I wake up groggy in the morning to the moment I try to go to sleep at night my day is dictated by sugar and carb cravings (even though I've been gluten free since April) and feelings of energy and blood sugar levels going up and down. I ALWAYS have a case of the afternoon grumps and HANGRY (angry hungry)  by the time it is time to start making dinner, even though I snack all afternoon, and usually have an afternoon headache. This makes between 3-6pm a rough time in our home which is also when kids are grumpy and hungry and Andrew is getting home from work. Book explains in a scientific way how hormones are affected by food and how this roller coaster happens.

So basic rules NO grains, NO legumes, NO dairy, NO sugar (which by the way is added to EVERYTHING - so have to read labels.) NO alcohol, and NO recreating things with approved ingredients (I'm going to cheat a little on this one). Whole30 Program Rules

To embark on the Whole30 Prep is possibly the hardest part - well at least the most time consuming. You need to:

1. Meal Plan - I plan 2-3 breakfasts, 2-3 lunches, and then 4-5 dinners and then fill in with leftovers and "empty the fridge" meals
2. Clean out the fridge and Pantry - seriously read every label sugar is in EVERYTHING
3. Grocery Shop

I usually shop at Trader Joe's, Sprouts, Costco, and Target. Here are my favorite finds at these stores for Whole30.

Costco:

• BACON - their low sodium bacon is the ONLY bacon I have found so found that has to added sugar and its very good. You get 4 packages for $14.99
• Organic Baby Spinach - huge tub for $3.59**amazing deal (you can freeze for smoothies)
• Organic Spring Mix Salad - huge tub for $3.79 **amazing deal
• 2 dozen Organic Eggs - $6.99
• Almond Butter large jar **great price for the size** $8.99
• 5 large avocados $4.99
• Coconut Flour
• Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Avocado Oil
• Guacamole single size 

Trader Joe's:

• Grinders - Garlic Salt, Everyday Seasoning, Lemon Pepper ...I use them everyday!
• Pre-cooked boiled eggs - but not organic
• canned coconut milk $.99
• Bagged nuts
• Pre-grilled chicken breasts (in fresh meat section)-great for lunches/salads or a throw together dinner 
• Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage **LOVE
• Applegate Hot Dogs
• Organic Sweet Potatoes 
• Grass-Fed Beef in freezer section
• Grass-Fed Beef Burgers in freezer section 
• Frozen Bagged Chicken - breasts or thighs
• Clarified Butter (by oils only $3.99)
• Crunch Salad - kale, cabbage, brussels sprouts 
• Organic Chicken Broth -sugar free **some have sugar!!!!!
• Sun Dried Tomatoes in jar
• Roasted Garlic Spaghetti Sauce - sugar free **all others had sugar
• Chunky spicy Guacamole
• Sandwhich pickles
• Frozen fruit

Sprouts:

• shredded coconut unsweetened (on their tables of pre packed stuff out of the bins)
• Date Nut Coconut Rolls (on their tables of pre packed stuff out of the bins)
• So Delicious Coconut Milk Vanilla Unsweetened (I use in my coffee, also at Target)
• we buy meats here - but they don't have sugar free bacon
• Applegate deli meats and hot dogs available here
• Coconut Aminos (replaces soy sauce)
• Sausage - I found frozen pork sausage links with no sugar
• I always look over their organic fruit and vegetable stands

Whole30 - Week 2 Meals & Journal

Looking back on Week 1 I would say it was very successful. I'm already feeling the effects and seeing the benefits of eating this way. I am enjoying the food and not feeling deprived. I see so much improvement in my afternoon slumps and in my stomach. It does take a lot of prep as far as meal planning and grocery shopping but as far as more cooking during the week - I don't think so. We made easy meals last week and I cook dinner anyways so I'm not feeling like it is that much more time consuming during the week. 

Prep for the week included a Costco run and Trader Joe's run. I also made batch of paleo mayo with Matt's help and made up lunch for the week - Chicken Salad.

Paleo Mayo - Super Easy and Fast to make - recipe

Chicken Salad - chopped chicken, celery, grapes, apples, paleo mayo, and lemon pepper seasoning. 

Coffee Made for the week and in Mason Jars. 

Stocked with fruits and Veggies.

Fruit, Veggie and Meat draws are full, got organic peaches and apples at Costco.

Day 8:
Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with spinach, basil, bacon crumbles, and Everyday Seasoning from Trader Joe's with clarified butter. Coffee with Coconut Milk and Cinnamon. This is become my usual breakfast. 
Lunch: Chicken Salad over greens with a little greek dressing and side of plantain chips - I always want a crunch. And a large green unsweetened tea. So good. 

Dinner: Sausage, Potatoes, and Asparagus have been one of our favorite dinners for a long time so to be able to have this on WHOLE30 is such a treat. Usually we would have with red potatoes and drench it in sugar filled ketchup so I am experimenting with some new ideas here. This week we used Trader Joe's Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage, a bag of mix potatoes, and 2 sweet potatoes. I fry the potatoes in olive oil and garlic salt and everyday seasoning from Trader Joe's for about 20 minutes stirring often then add chopped sausage for about 10 minutes and then scoot it all to the side of the skillet and add a little more olive oil and the asparagus which I top with lemon pepper. I give asparagus about 5-8 minutes depending on the thickness of the stalks - I like it crunchy.  This was delicious and I especially likes the sweet potatoes in the mix but noticed that they cooked up faster than the other potatoes. Had a side of peaches and me and Parker had some avocado. 

Love that the kids are eating what we are eating.

Journal: Slept hard and work up in a much better mood. Sunday was rough.  Went to a hard work out at Stroller Strides. Enjoyed what I ate today and was full and satisfied. I did good thru the afternoon but was pretty tired by evening. 

Day 9:
Breakfast: 

Snack: I felt a sweet tooth and had a bowl of almond butter, banana, sliced almonds, cinnamon, and shredded coconut. Very filling and satisfying.

Lunch: Wasn't super hungry from my morning snack so had a late lunch. Chicken Salad, avocado, chips, and peaches. I ended up not eating all my chips and peaches because I just wasn't that hungry. 
Dinner: We have community group tonight and the host is making spaghetti so I'm making our family Zoodles (recipe) with Red Sauce (only sugar free I could find at Trader Joe's) and Sausage (spinach garlic chicken from Target). There will be salad and fruit there too. Kinda stinks to have to make a meal on my week to bring a side but that is how it works when you are eating "different". Here is a photo of the zoodles in the making. It was very fun to make them but after baking to dehydrate they were just a clump so I was really bummed and didn't love the texture. The sauce and sausage was good. 

Journal: Slept hard again and woke up sore from my workout yesterday and with a headache.  Feeling the need to snack but not from hunger - interesting! I feel like today was a rougher day in the afternoon and evening. I was tired and a little grumpy but you know who knows what that is from :)

Day 10:
Breakfast: 2 fried eggs with clarified butter. My favorite scoop of almond butter melted, sliced banana, sliced almonds, shredded coconut, and cinnamon. I had hot coffee with coconut cream with cinnamon ... I need cold mornings to enjoy that. 

Lunch: I had chicken salad again with 1/2 avocado and plantain chips with a green tea.
Dinner: Tried for a Mexican meal. I made up ground beef with chopped jalepeno and peppers and threw in spices. I took a Jicama peeled and chopped and threw in food processor until it looked like rice added chopped cilantro, salt and lime juice. Jicama rice was good and easy to make I mixed with my guac and meat and pretended in was a chipolte bowl! I also made a sort of ranch dressing - took 1/4 paleo mayo, 1/4 light coconut milk, sprinkled with onion powder, garlic powder, and dill. It was ok but not hidden valley! 

Journal: Still having trouble getting out of bed in the morning but once I'm up I feel my energy in morning and mood is much better. I worked out this morning and it was a hard workout but I see I'm getting stronger. Have a headache and sore neck and shoulders today. In the afternoon and evening I had a headache and I feel the last 3-4 I have been constipated and then cleaning out but it's uncomfortable ... What's that about? Maybe too many bananas?! Felt my attitude about food was negative yesterday and I craved sweets which I really haven't struggled with. I looked up the whole30 timeline and see that day 10-11 are the hardest and when most people quit and they say the "magic" of soaring energy is almost here so I'm sticking with it and excited for the magic!!! Here is link to timeline if you wanted to read 

http://whole30.com/2013/08/revised-timeline/

Day 11:
Breakfast: my usual 3 egg omelet with spinach, bacon, basil, everyday seasoning fried in clarified butter 

Lunch: Cobb Salad - pre-grilled chicken breasts from Trader Joe's, handful butter lettuce leaves, handful of Crunch Salad from Trader Joe's, 1 boiled egg, 1 slice bacon, shredded carrots, leftover jicama from last night, "sort of ranch dressing" from last night, and a drizzle of garlic roasted olive oil. 

Snack: I broke under the craving and made Paleo Banana Muffins with some brown bananas that have been taunting me and reminding me of my sweet and amazing banana pancakes :( These were very dense and disappointing 

Dinner: Citrus Herb Roasted Chicken Thighs Recipe Sweet Potato Fries (sweet potatoes sliced stir in bowl with olive oil, garlic salt, seasoning salt, everyday seasonings, and italian seasoning, put on baking sheet in oven at 400 for 30 min or until browning)

Snack: Did my favorite melted almond butter with sliced banana, sliced almonds, cinnamon and Coconut  - I'm going to call this amazing Banana Coconut Almond Butter Treat :)

Journal: Really dragging today and craving sugar and carbs again. So frustrating. But still feel determined to fight thru! I feel kinda down and moody. My stomach seems off again. :/

Day 12:

Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with bacon, spinach, basil, seasoning with leftover sweet potatoes from last night and usual coffee

Lunch: 11am ice tea and apple and then a1:30pm Green smoothie with some plantain chips

 Dinner: Coconut Crusted Burgers - YUMMY -I made 6 medium size patties out of  1.5 lbs. ground turkey. And I made a broccoli salad with golden raisins, almonds, bacon, celery, broccoli, and mayo with red wine vinegar. 

Journal: My stomach still seems off which I can't quite figure out. I'm kinda dreading the weekend because I usually don't cook on the weekends and Paleo does require cooking :/ I doubled up the dinner recipe so we have leftovers. Ok for some positives I noticed today at Stroller Strides (which I have been doing for 5 weeks) that my workout level is more 
intense and that my performance is really improving which is encouraging. 

Day 13: Saturday
Breakfast: Leftover sweet potatoes, strawberries, omelette and banana muffin (which didn't get eaten because it was so dense) and my usual coffee. 

 Lunch: Yard House for lunch on our date and really did our best to order. We ordered and shared a Spring Mix Salad with veggies and Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing and Turkey Club Sandwich with no bread or cheese and no condiments with a side of mustard and pickles. 

Dinner: We had "clean out the fridge dinner" which I'm going to coin as "upcycled dinner" so we had leftover citrus herb chicken shredded with salad, avocados in paleo wraps. These wraps were so easy to make and were good. You could basically make them any flavor you wanted. 

Journal: I felt like today was a success with some up and downs. We had an amazing morning date, dropped kids off and went to Junk in the Trunk so much fun... but there was amazing smells coming from the food truck so left a little HANGRY! We did enjoy Mama's Cold Brew Iced Coffee there black and it was delicious. I really felt sorry for myself that I couldn't have a "treat" on our morning date BUT it ended up totally fine. I felt like I did ok for eating out but after thinking about it I'm sure the dressing, turkey and bacon all had added sugar. But did as well as I could! I thought my weekend mind frame at breakfast and dinner were much better and I was happy to have leftovers and not have to cook. 

Day 14:
Breakfast: Almond Butter Waffles **so good :) I had half a waffle with strawberries, shredded coconut, sliced almonds, and cinnamon. Also had one fried egg, 1 slice bacon, and usual coffee. 

Lunch: Jalepeno Burgers topped with homemade paleo mayo, sweet potato fries, salad with avocado. & peaches. 
Dinner:

Journal: Andrew's family came over for lunch and the football game. I really enjoyed my lunch and didn't want any of their non-whole30 food and they even had ice cream. I just had my favorite Almond Butter Banana Bowl and was satisfied. 

Whole 30 - Meal Ideas

See my Paleo/Whole30 pinterest page

Breakfast:

• Sweet Potato Quiche Recipe
• Tomato Basil Quiche With Bacon - making in muffin tins - recipe on this blog
• Berries, Nuts, & Coconut Shreds - Recipe
• Omeletts or Egg Scrambles- Eggs, Meat, Veggies - My favorite is 3 eggs, bacon crumbled, chopped spinach, fresh basil, and Everyday Seasoning from Trader Joe's. 
• Sweet Potato Hash recipe
• Bacon Wrapped Breakfast Cup - recipe
• Coconut Tortilla - these would be controversial for whole30 but approved ingredients Recipe
• Paleo waffles - whole30 approved ingredients recipe

Lunch: 

• Leftovers from dinner :) (I hate leftovers!)
• Club Wrap Sandwich - chicken or turkey, avocado, pickles, tomato wrapped in lettuce with mustard or homemade mayo 
• Mango Avocado Salsa with Grilled Chicken over Salad with Avocado Lime Dressing Mango Avacado Salsa 
• Avocado Sonoma Chicken Salad recipe
• Chicken Salad with Paleo Mayo - I do chopped chicken, apples, grapes, sliced almonds, celery and lemon pepper grinder from Trader Joe's
• Avocado BLT with Spicy Mayo  (obviously no bread)
• Warm Spinach Salad - boiled egg, bacon, nuts, warm dressing

Dinner: 

• Potato, Sausage and Asparagus (pan fried with seasonings, sausage from Trader Joe's)
• Coconut Crusted Chicken recipe
• Zoodles With Marinara with Turkey Spinach Meatballs recipe
• Lemon Oregano Marinaded Chicken over Salad Recipe
• Cobb Salad - Chicken, Egg, Bacon, Veggies, Avocado
• Paleo Jalepeno Burger with Avocado Recipe
• Avocado and Spicy Mayo Stuffed Burgers
• Coconut Crusted Turkey or Chicken Burger
• Sweet Potato Avocado Bacon Jalepeno Burger Sliders! (if you add Jalepeno to meat)
• Herb & Citrus Roasted Chicken
• Tacos or Fajitas  - serve over salad
• bacon wrapped chicken tenders with chili powder 
• Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs 

Sauces/Dressings:

• Cilantro Garlic Lime Sauce, Roasted Garlic Salad Dressing, Honey Mustard Sauce Link
• Lemon Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Paleo Mayo
• Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing - Avocado, cilantro, lime juice, garlic salt and olive oil to thin to your liking

Snacks/Sweets:

• Fruit
• Nuts
• LARABARS
• Almond Butter melted topped with sliced banana, cinnamon, sliced almonds, and shredded coconut MY FAVORITE!!!

Whole30 - Week 1 Meals & Journal

Ok here we go, I'm feeling prepared and like I can tackle this. Grateful to have Whitney and Summer doing it with me and grateful Whole30 didn't take away my coffee! Here is how week 1 unfolded:

Day 1:
Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with clarified butter, 2 slices bacon crumbled, handful spinach chopped, and a shake of Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning Grinder, coffee with coconut milk and cinnamon.

Snack: Went to Heather's house this morning to let the kids play and avoid the 2014 AZ flood waters :) So I went prepared and packed a snack. Plantain Chips and Guacamole. This was delicious and totally satisfying. 

Lunch: Cobb Salad: 2 handfuls of spring mix greens, boiled egg chopped (found already prepared at Trader Joe's), chopped grilled seasoned chicken (found already prepared at Trader Joe's, I chopped up the chicken breast and sautéed in olive oil while I was prepping my salad), crumbled bacon (because bacon makes everything better), handful of shredded carrots, chopped tomatos and topped with Avocado Lime Dressing (I whip this up in Nutribullet it's an avocado, juice from 2 limes, garlic salt, and a little bit of olive oil).

Dinner: We had a going away party to go to on my first Whole30 day! UGH! So I made a smoothie - large handful spinach, 1/2 can coconut milk, 1/4 cup water, ice, 2 scoops almond butter, 1 banana-  and signed up to take a side of fruit. At the party I snacked on grapes and the smoothie had filled me up and kept me full so I was fine. 

Journal: End of day one feeling empowered and like "I can do this!"  I never felt deprived or hungry, I have read that you have to eat enough protein to keep you full so I feel that my proportions are pretty big. Didn't have my usual afternoon headache or gassy evening belly...could this be working already? I do have to say that I have been strictly gluten free for 5 months and dairy free for 7 months so I know that having already eliminated these food categories is helping tremendously. 

Day 2:
Breakfast: Green Eggs! 3 eggs, spinach, and Everyday Seasoning Grinder in Nutribullet, scrambled with crumbled bacon and clarified butter. Side of cantaloupe and Coffee with coconut milk and cinnamon.
- I was trying to make it fun for kids. Found it hard to put these in my mouth but they tasted fine.

Lunch: Cobb Salad again. Had a sweet tooth after so satisfied it with a Date Roll from Sprouts.

Dinner: We had our Missional Community Group from church for dinner as usual on Tuesday nights. I was in charge of main meal so I provided grilled chicken, salad, leftover fruit from party last night and I made a Homemade Greek Dressing.   Someone else brought veggie salad toppings. 

Sweet: Did eat much at dinner because I was emotional over my GG being in hospital and our friends moving to so after group was a little hungry. I warmed up some almond butter in the microwave topped with sliced banana, shredded coconut, cinnamon, and sliced almonds. AMAZING and totally satisfied my sweet tooth - which is saying a lot because Andrew was sitting next to me eating ice cream. 

Journal: Woke up feeling good and my stomach didn't hurt...but then oh running to the bathroom!...ok, detoxing good....I guess?! Good but not fun! No cravings! 

Day 3: 
Breakfast: Usual 3 egg omelet with spinach. Coffee with coconut milk and cinnamon. 

Lunch: Cobb Salad again but with greek dressing from last night and avocado. 

Dinner: Amazing Sweet Potato Bun Jalepeno Burgers with Bacon and Avocado. Side of fruit. Dinner inspired by this recipe. I modified by using garlic salt and Everyday Seasoning from Trader Joe's on the meat and adding chopped jalepeno to burger meat. Plus we added bacon for obvious reasons!

Journal: Holy Moly Day 3 HANGOVER! Woke up a little pissed at the thought of eggs and my tummy hurt all morning and feeling sluggish. Ran to the bathroom but only once. TMI! After I got over my morning and ate my eggs anyways I felt better. Was so impressed by our dinner and that I am not making separate meals for the kids, they are eating what we are eating and liking it to. This is amazing!

Day 4:

Breakfast: 3 egg omelette with crumbled bacon (No spinach today feeling over spinached!) did a 1/2 avocado on the side as well as leftover sweet potatoes from last nights dinner. With my usual coffee. 

Snack: Went to Tabatha's to let kids play in the morning. Packed plantain chips and guacamole and sliced an apple. 

Lunch: Had a late lunch due to being gone in the morning and was not wanting a salad so I grabbed the Applegate Turkey Whole30 approved - it is hard to find lunch meat with no sugar! I wrapped in lettuce with avocado, pickles and spicy brown mustard. Side of Vegetable Chips. I really did not like this turkey thought was slimy! Chips yum!

Dinner: Needed an easy meal because we were going to go run errands after dinner. I had made up some Mango Salsa (Mango, tomatoes, avocado, salt, lime juice, yellow pepper and cilantro) in the afternoon to use with dinner. I grabbed a bag of organic red potatoes out of the freezer and fried up with some Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage from Trader Joe's. Served with salad topped with mango salsa. 

Journal: I am really impressed with how much I'm actually enjoying what I am eating at every meal. I am eating big portions and feeling satisfied. Not NEEDING to snack and not feeling any blood sugar drops when I do get hungry. No HANGRY issues :) Feeling more energy in the afternoon. My stomach didn't feel great this morning but better than yesterday and I started my cycle and feeling emotional stress over GG so might not be from Whole30. Today was the hardest day for "making meals" because I was over spinach in my eggs and salad for lunch and felt like we were running low on groceries. 

Day 5:

Breakfast: Usual 3 egg omelette with bacon and spinach. Usual coffee. 

Lunch: Made my green smoothie - large handful spinach, 1/2 can coconut milk, 1/4 cup water, ice, 2 scoops almond butter, 1 banana.

Dinner: Coconut Crusted Chicken Burger - recipe here - sweet potatoes and fruit on the side. This was amazing! and easy!

Journal: Woke up feeling good. Feeling NOT bloated. I have really noticed I'm feeling good thru the afternoons, no need for snacking or sweets and no headaches or feeling like low blood sugar. I'm truly amazing at how good I'm feeling already! Felt a little stuck on what to eat and learning I need more meals planned at beginning of the week. 

Day 6:

Breakfast: Made our family a 6 egg omelet with bacon, spinach, basil, and everyday seasoning with clarified butter. Made a side of banana, almond butter, shredded coconut and sliced almonds for my Saturday morning sweet tooth. We had Starbucks black iced coffee and I added my coconut milk 

Lunch: Clean out the fridge Salad and side of chips. 

Snack: Green Smoothie - large handful spinach, 1/2 can coconut milk, 1/4 cup water, ice, 2 scoops almond butter, 1 banana.

Dinner: HOORAY they served buffet Mexican food. I had a serving of chicken and peppers with guacamole, lettuce and diced tomatoes (I took a lot it was out as a taco topping but I tried making a salad) and took a scoop of rice but only had a few bites. 

Journal: This morning was the hardest morning for me because we always make a sweet Saturday breakfast and make a Dutch Bros. run. Other than my Saturday morning sweet blues I am feeling good and proud I'm feeding my kids healthy. We went to a wedding at 4:30pm so I had a green smoothie on the way to hold me over and to ensure I wasn't starving in case I couldn't eat dinner. Packed a LARABAR and almonds in my purse but didn't use. I wasn't even tempted by the cake. 

Day 7:

Breakfast: Coconut Cinnamon Pancakes - recipe here topped with berries, shredded coconut, cinnamon and sliced almonds. Enjoyed very much by the whole family. Made eggs for protein. 

Lunch: Ok almost fell off the wagon - In-N-Out Burger protein style double patty with pickles and mustard. And yes about 1/2 a thing of fries which I joyfully and guiltily stuffed in my face! They are only potatoes I chanted ....then gathered myself and jumped back on the wagon.

Snack: almonds and an organic no added sugar fruit leather. 

Dinner: I never "fix a meal" on Sunday evening and we always have breakfast for dinner on Sundays or something out of freezer. So I made Almond Butter Paleo Waffles - Recipe here, we love these and I add cinnamon. I also had a green smoothie because I felt guilty about my lack of veggies for the day. 

Journal: Woke up pissed off about having to eat eggs again. First day I really felt upset about eating Paleo. So I compromised with myself and we made and ALL enjoyed Paleo Pancakes. Went to church and we always leave starving and didn't really have a plan for lunch (bad idea) so we drove thru In-N-Out Burger - I know almost fell off the wagon.  In review of my lunch choices I feel it was an ok choice BUT I was not full so apparently not enough protein and veggies here. I wanted a snack by 2pm! Haven't had that issue all week. Spent the afternoon menu planning and grocery shopping. Snacked on almonds and an organic no added sugar fruit leather. Had a hard time at dinner again because of old habits but I figure if I change old habits into Paleo recipes that is a big step in the right direction. Was a moody day and felt deprived of "regular" food but glad to have a plan for the week and grocery shopping done. Ready to tackle another week of this lifestyle. :)