Month: November 2017

I Lost 10 Pounds! * Day 15-20 on the Whole30

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I lost 10 pounds so far!  Yippee!  So excited and feeling much more energetic and hopeful in comparison to 20 days ago before I started this Whole30 diet.

I ended up getting my period this week, plus it was Thanksgiving yesterday, so it has been a tough week.  Apologies for not posting sooner.  Thankfully my husbands friends hosted us and they made some Whole30 friendly chicken that was delicious.  They from a part of India called Andrapradess, and are married for a year or more now.  The spices on the chicken were so good, I have to ask her for the recipe.  NO sugar or butter on it too which was nice.  I always like to find out other married couples stories and how they met, turns out they actually have known each other since they were 16 and loved each other for like 10 years before they decided to get married. It was nice to be hosted on this holiday especially with kids it makes it tough to host!

Now on the meals and deals this week.  Drinking wise I had:

  • unsweetened tea from McDonalds,
  • my same old coffee with unsweetened coconut and almond milk (check the label to make sure it has 0 sugar) where I threw in some cinnamon and nutmeg along with coconut oil which added some nice flavor, iced and hot
  • lots of water with ice cubes and fruit, including lemons, limes, oranges and more
  • Lipton tea with unsweetened coconut and almond milk
  • Perrier Lime Sparkling Water

Meal wise I had:

  • Steak bits with chopped onions, whole garlic, chopped asparagus, chopped white potato, cumin, Himalayan salt and pepper
  • 4 fried eggs with four slices of uncured sugar free bacon
  • Roasted chicken with Indian spice and olive oil
  • Coconut biscuits with ghee
  • Coconut biscuits chopped up with chopped apples and cinnamon
  • Scrambled eggs with cilantro and turkey bacon
  • Baked asparagus wraps with uncured bacon
  • Baked sweet potato fries with a little olive oil, had this 5 times
  • Whole raw almonds unsalted as a snack
  • Whole apples as a snack
  • Green olives as a snack
  • Avocado and tomato chopped together with olive oil as a snack

So far so good today and feeling energized.  Just folded laundry that was clean since a few days ago, also went bike riding with the kids and hubby in Venice, and drove around Marina del Rey ad it was beautiful.  The canals throughout Venice Beach are really epic with nice modern touches.

No shopping on Black Friday for me!  So far anyway.  I may go online and buy some tops from the Gap or Old Navy.  Otherwise, chilling with the family this long weekend and may do an overnight somewhere.  It is so great to have the extra time off.

Have a great long weekend all! 🙂

10lbs of FAT

Day 13-15 Whole30 Diet – Weekend Meals

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I had such a nice weekend with my family here in Los Angeles!  We went to Travel Town within Griffith Park and it is really awesome as my boys love trains.  It is free unless you ride the train which was $12 for all of us.  Great inexpensive trip with kids if you are interested in getting out of the house!

I had a lot of great meals this weekend, mainly consisting of baked sweet potato fries, steak, beef along with Tessamae’s Ranch Dressing, which is Whole30 approved!  So awesome.  This dressing really added to the overall taste of my meals this weekend, so really happy I picked it up on Friday when I went grocery shopping.  Pic below:

tessemaes1tessemaes

One breakfast I had regular scrambled eggs, 3 of them to be exact and just never took a picture.  However the other two breakfast meals below:

pepperoni fried egg mushrooms

The above shot was my best meal all weekend!  I made two fried eggs and before cooked pepperoni on the frying pan with mushrooms and decorated it with some chopped chives which I just simply cut them with scissors instead of using a knife as it was a much cleaner way to get the job done!

The below shot was another fried egg, but I paired it with Tessemae Ranch Dressing which again is Whole30 compliant!  It was so good!  On the side is a tomato, mushroom and onion mix which really complimented the entire dish.

eggs with mushtomatochive

Next up some lunch and dinner meals that I remembered to put together:

beefstewsweetpotaters

This was a beef stew of sorts, first I chopped and sweat the onions with a little olive oil on the pan.  I put the onions on a plate and added some beef with water, making sure it was fully cooked.  I drained it and added the onions again, along with some organic tomato sauce, that obviously had no sugar in it.  It came out great!  As you can see I made my favorite sweet baked potatoes, so delicious!  I cooked them at 400 degree fahrenheit and a half an hour later it was complete. So nice!

flat steak

The above was two flat steaks I got from the supermarket on Friday, so delicious!  I am definitely buying chives and the dressing again think week as it really made my meals that much better.

Good luck! 🙂

Day 11 & 12 Whole30 Diet – Meals & almost half way there!

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pizzapotReally proud of myself for sticking with this program.  For some reason when trying other diets and counting calories for everything I ate, I never seemed to stick to the plan.  I tried MyFitnessPal.com and never could remember to enter all meals.  On the Whole30 I am accountable for the food I eat as I make it from scratch myself.  I normally hate cooking as I am a working mother and cooking at the end of the long work day in Sales is not my idea of fun!  My 3 boys (counts my husband) are super picky eaters so I typically let my husband fend for himself and then try to get the younger kids to eat as much as possible before bed time.  I then cook the separate Whole30 meal on my own, and it nice to do something healthy for myself.  Before I wasn’t respecting my body as much as I am now.

After children and being in my 30’s, I always thought that I would just naturally be as thin as I was in my 20’s, however it is far from the case!  My metabolism slowed down tremendously, especially post 35, and this year being 36 I knew I needed to do a complete lifestyle change with food.  I few older ladies I know that were super skinny were on the Paleo Diet which is a little similar to the Whole30.  Basically limits your sugar and carb intake too.  I thought to myself ‘how could I ever not eat carbs’ but here I am no carb for almost two full weeks now.  My husband definitely sees the difference which I like.  For now I plan on sticking with it until the end of the 30 days, and hopefully after that I will never go back to carbs again.  A thinner woman I know only does smoothies during the day that she makes herself, no carbs, no sugar.  It is a sacrifice, but I think worth feeling more energetic and healthy as a whole as we all grow older.

Onto my meals today, I was on my phone emailing for work this morning and by the time I looked up it was 9am!  I got in the shower and walked to work per usual, but didn’t have a chance to cook the eggs I normally cook.  Instead I had some grapes in the refridgerator, along with the chicken soup and coconut biscuits and walked quickly to work.  I was more hungry throughout the day without those eggs, so I need to make sure that I do eat before I leave now onwards.  I ended up going grocery shopping after and saw a great dinner recipe that I modified to make it my own.  They are called Pizza Potatoes and they were delicious!

First I cut a white russet potato in 4 pieces and put them in the microwave for 5 minutes.  They were hot after and I carved out little holes to place the pizza ingredients in.  After I put a little olive oil in a 12×9 pan and put the four pieces of partially hallowed out potato on it.

Second I cut a tomato and mushrooms up, placing them on the frying pan with a little olive oil and Himalayan salt since regular iodized salt is off limits.  Threw a little dash of pepper in it and set it to the side.  I bought some organic sugar free tomato sauce, opened it up and put some on the potatoes.  Then I topped it with the tomato mushroom mix and pepperoni, and threw it in the oven for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.   After I topped it with chives and it was perfect.  It was so delicious and I am so happy I tried it!  Final product below:

 

This would be a stellar meal to entertain with friends and could really make them smile!  HAPPY EATING!

Day 10 & 11 Whole30 Diets – More meals & deals

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The Whole30 blog was right, Day 11 is much easier than Days 9 and 10.  For some reason many folks on the diet have a rough time those two days and I did as well.  I think my body was getting rid of the final bad carbs, sugar and dairy that I have been eating my whole life.  I have SO much more energy and am SO thankful this program was founded.  I feel empowered and have more control over my life than I did before.  I look back and even the two mini creamers I had per coffee (had 4 daily) were really contributing to my weight issues.  I didn’t think they would have much of an impact when drinking them, actually I thought I could use them as a meal replacement at times, which was double bad.  ANYWHO feeling on track and almost half way done with R1D30, in code that means round one of the Whole30 diet!  🙂  Yippeeeee!

Now time for my meals today!  First started off the morning with coffee and sugar free coconut milk (of course, can’t cut out my favorite drink)!  I had 3 eggs and took 2 coconut biscuits I made the night before along with sweet potato chips I made as well.  I did also bring a bag of grapes and a lime with me to drink in my water during the day.  GREAT NEWS!  They had apples at work today!  I decided to cut the apple with the plastic cutlery they provide at work and smashed my coconut biscuits up as well, came out with a delicious snack:

applecrumblecoconutbiscuit

OK I get it, the pic doesn’t do it justice, HOWEVER for those that are REALLY missing sweets, this is a great replacement for the usual junk food we pollute our body with!

Next up, dinner!  Tonight I had a Turkey HotDog Succotash!  SO GOOD!  Make sure the hotdogs you buy are compliant, i.e. uncured, no sugar, etc.  I started by dicing zucchini and carrots and put them in the frying pan with oil:

zucchini and carrots

 

Next up, defrosted the hot dogs in the microwave and then threw them on the same frying pan.  While they were cooking I took each one out and sliced it up into smaller pieces to get it into bite sized form.  WALLAH!  My masterpiece below, and it was so filling:

turkeyhotdogsuccotash

Next up had to meal prep for tomorrow!  I throw in the leftover zucchini and carrots from the succotash I had for dinner in the frying pan with my leftover chicken from the night before, added water and now and waiting for my homemade soup to boil.  I will let it cool for a bit, then add more water if need be, keeping it in the same pan and boiling again until the chicken falls off the bone.  Luckily I have some time!  I have my grapes tomorrow and will bring this soup as well.

Thanks for reading guys and I will be in touch tomorrow with more meal ideas and support for your successful Whole30!  Have a good day!

Day 9 & 10 on the Whole30 Diet – More Meals and Drinks

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Feeling so much better tonight!  I was withdrawing from sugar pretty bad over the last few days, so my mood swings were intense however I stayed with the course and meal prepped the night before to keep me on track! YOU CAN DO IT!

youcan do it

Breakfast this AM was 3 scrambled eggs, ghee on the pan, with a sliced avocado on the side.  It was really filling for me, and I was only hungry 5 hours later.  Nice meal to fill you up before work. Only got an almost all done shot below, my bad, I was hungry!

eggsavocado

For lunch I brought leftover chicken roast with onions, carrots, tomatoes.  It was delicious.  I kept raw almonds at my desk again to keep me going, and also drank a few cups of green tea as well.

Dinner tonight was amazing!  I am really into the sweet potato fries in the circular form, so made though along with these amazing turkey meatballs in a broth base.  So good!  Basically I defrosted the turkey meat in the microwave, and while that was going I started my base with olive oil, chopped onions.  I sweated them out for a bit then added chopped carrots and tomatoes.  Once they looked cooked down, I turned it off and put a little on a plate to cool on the side before making my meatballs.  I added 2 eggs in a bowl and stirred up until they were even.  I took a handful of turkey meat, balled it up and added the carrot, onion, tomato mix, dipped it and formed it into a bowl in the egg mixture, organizing them all on a plate afterwards.

turkey meatballs yes

 

I then proceeded to put olive oil on the pan and fried each turkey meatball for 45 seconds or so on each side.  I then placed them on a pan to cook in the oven at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.  Pulled them out and actually made the leftover onions into a broth stew as I added water and boiled it while they were in the oven.  Once out of the oven I threw in the broth and the rest is history!  I have dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow so super happy about it.

turketmeatballstew

For dessert I am just going to have lime with water and ice as I spent a lot of time cooking the rest so pretty beat but want some sweet now.  What a great today!  So proud of myself for sticking with it.  Also wanted to mention, I am way more energetic and feel out of the fog I was feeling before.  I hope you stand the course here to really get a feel for how good it is to be without the sugar beast!

make-no-mistake-the-beast-inside-is-sleeping-not-dead-5474322

Did you try any of my meals?  How are you doing on your diet?

Chat soon and thanks for following me!

 

 

Day 8 & 9 on the Whole30 Diet – More Meals & Drinks

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Oh boy, yesterday I did not bring enough compliant food to work with me, so was hungry parts of the work day and it was not cool!  I figured out fast that I really need to be overly prepared.  That being said when I got home from work last night I cooked a ton!

For dinner, I made a chicken leg roast in the oven, adding two lemons, sliced tomatoes, carrots, whole garlic along with olive oil, Himalayan salt, pepper and cumin.  I put a little water in the bottom of the pan and let it roast for a little over an hour at 425 degrees fahrenheit.  It was really hearty!  I would say if you are making it on your own and want more carbs, trying cutting up and adding a white potato or sweet potato depending on what kind of mood you are in!  As a drink I had some tap water with ice and sliced a whole lemon, eating the lemons once I was finished as I was craving sweet but too lazy to make a compliant dessert.

Today I am overly prepared with food, bringing the leftover chicken from last night and some grapes and almonds as a snack.  I heard others on other forums say that the almonds were making them bloated, but then I heard that it could still be your body adjusting to your new diet.  Keep the faith, don’t weigh yourself until the end of the 30 days if you want a big surprise!  I have had some sneak peeks admittedly and already lost almost 10 pounds, so super happy.  I do have headaches and withdrawal symptoms here and there, however I just stay head strong and ride the wave.  All in all I do have so much more energy, can breathe much better and feel more comfortable in my skin as my double chin is not as visible!  I think it came from being overweight, although is hereditary in my family, I think it also comes from wheat.  One of my sisters has Celiacs and is allergic to wheat, so I have a feeling we all might be slightly but may not know it yet.  Either way once I am done with the diet I will let my family know about it too as they all are looking for a good healthy diet to reset their sugar levels.

Now having kids it is more important to me to really take care of my health as my kids depend on me.  I think I mentioned some family members were diabetic or close to it so I want to make sure I avoid the issues and daily maintenance of it.

In the meantime for breakfast I was out of the coconut milk this AM so had to had my coffee black, but added a little bit of coconut oil instead to make it great.  I had ghee with scrambled eggs in a pan, added avocado on the side and it was super filling.

My husband went to pick up our new rental car this AM from Nissan as our cars airbag is faulty so they do not want us driving it.  We now have a rental car for the next 4 months until Nissan gets the supplies to replace it.  Apparently there was a big multimillion dollar legal case against them as some people passed away from it, so now all owners will be getting paid.  Good for us as we get a little extra cash, a nice newer rental car and our safety is not compromised.  I had a little more time to hang with my kids as well which was fun.

Daniel Tiger is on now and they are so happy!  I am going to jump in the shower soon to get ready for work, hopefully my husband gets back from Nissan soon.

Happy Whole30 and keep the faith, you are over 1/4 of the way done! 🙂

 

Day 7 & 8 on the Whole30 Diet – More meal ideas

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Wow, super tired today!  Even coffee is not helping but I am pushing through.  I don’t think it has to do with the diet this time, I actually took my toddler boys for their first haircut today and they weren’t thrilled. Then to now it turned out OK, so happy my husband and I did it!

As for food today, I ended up having the leftover Coconut biscuits this morning for breakfast with my morning coffee.  I had raw almonds as well as a snack before lunch.

For lunch, I made ground beef with onion and a little olive oil, pepper, cumin, Himalayan salt and garnish with tomato and avocado drizzled with extra virgin olive oil from Goya.  You need to cook the onions first, put them on the side then cook the ground beef separately, stir the onions in after the meal is almost cooked.

best meal

On the side I made sweet potato fries, coated them in olive oil, Himalayan salt, pepper in a plastic covered bowl, to make sure each piece got it’s fair share.  Shook it up then placed it in the pan at 350 degree fahrenheit.

sweet potato fries

Still munching on these and had my afternoon coffee as well to add some pep!

Enjoy, and hope this helps support you on your day!

Grocery List for Whole30

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About to go to the supermarket again, and wanted to share my grocery list to help as a guide to stock up the healthiest filling options for losing weight on the Whole30.

Organic-Produce

This week was tough as I really felt the after effects of the sugar I was eating, and I didn’t realize also how dairy was having a negative effect on my overall weight and insulin levels too.  My father being diabetic, and my sister being pre-diabetic who is a year younger than me, I knew that I was going to be next.  This diet is supposed to help improve the way you look and feel and by the end give you more energy!

Additional benefits:

  • I have had much more water than I was having prior to the Whole30 diet, which is great for keeping your body as it’s best!  Typically before I would have 3 cups of coffee through out the day with sugary dairy creamer and it would give me a high for a hour or so.  After I would crash and find myself back in my work kitchen filling up on coffee again!  I love cutting up a lemon or lime to give the water a more fresh taste!
  • I have a better taste for REAL food!  Everything that I have picked up from the grocery store has been organic, and mainly fresh.
  • I am way more energetic than I was before.  I was actually having trouble going to bed and sleeping through the night and now I am better.
  • I cook way more than I did before.  Being a working mom, I felt I didn’t have time to cook my own food and relied on take out my husband ordered.  This way great and convenient, however it was packed with butter and sugar which I didn’t really think about before this diet.
  • I have positively influenced my dad, sisters and friends to adhere to this diet as I have seen stellar results and I know they will too!
  • My tummy is flatter, my skin is brighter, my face is skinnier and my entire sense of my body has improved every day I am on this diet.  I have never been off of sugar or dairy my entire life, so this feeling and burst of energy is real!  I have done no carbs before and felt super tired, so now I know the key was leaving sugar and dairy behind in addition to the processed carbs.  Being from a big family, pasta had a big influence on my childhood.  I thought that I would share this with my children, but now I realize the damaging effects.
  • I am much happier than I was before, and feel an overwhelming sense of happiness with my new plan!

Here is the new list that I have for you to make it super simple going grocery shopping for you and any other family members that want to join as well.

Grocery List

  • 2 bags of cherries
  • 1 bag of grapes
  • 3 lemons
  • 3 limes
  • 2 grapefruits
  • 2 russet potatoes
  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 4 avocados
  • 1 pack of carrots
  • Kale
  • Spinach
  • Tomatoes
  • 10 brussel sprouts
  • 3 onions
  • 2 packs of mushrooms
  • Chives
  • 2 packs of raw almonds
  • 1 12-pack of brown organic eggs
  • 1 carton of coconut milk
  • 1 steak
  • 4 chicken breasts
  • Himalayan Salt

Enjoy yourself, and if you had any other grocery items you think would be helpful, feel free to share below.  CHEERIO!

 

Day 6 & 7 on the Whole30 Diet – Coconut Flour Biscuits

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I had to go to the supermarket last night as I was really craving something sweet and saw this really awful recipe which looked really great online, obviously not going to share it as it was super bad!  I will share what was good however and how to make it!

Coconut flour biscuits

cocobiscuits

I love me a good biscuit with butter!  So in honor of the Whole30 I made these Coconut flour biscuits that were stellar!

Ingredients

3 cups of coconut flour

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 cup of softened ghee

3 brown cage free eggs

I mixed the coconut flour and baking soda first and then added the softened ghee after.  Feel free to melt it and add it if you want too.  I added in the 3 eggs, then greased a pan with ghee.  I rolled the biscuits in 4 peach sized balls, sprinkled a little himalayan pink salt on it and baked in the oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 30 minutes.  Wallah!  I melted ghee on the top and had a cup of coffee with coconut milk and it was awesome!

platedcocobiscuit

Happy baking, from the boss!

baller baby

 

 

Refreshing Drinks on the Whole30 Diet

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seltzer

I was majorly addicted to sugar, dairy and carbs when I started the Whole30 program!  I would drink a ton of diet soda, regular soda, specialty fruit drinks like Izze’s from Whole Foods that were packed with fake sugar and real sugar.  This would give me a temporary pleasure but now I see, after 5 days, 8 pounds lost, that my insulin levels and weight gain were mainly due to the drinks I was drinking.  I didn’t really eat much but was just drinking the wrong things!

So grateful for the Whole30 diet, and wanted to share the allowed and permitted drinks to drink while changing your diet over the next 30 days.

  1. Black Coffee

black coffee

Guys, I am a HUGE coffee fan and surprisingly never drank coffee prior to having children.  Now that I have two twin boys that are 4 and working full time, my coffee is my saving grace!   I used to go to Starbucks and get the fancy pumpkin spiced coffee or the caramel macchiato coffee, and they were just packed with dairy and sugar.  No bueno for my overall weight and well being.  Although I was getting a temporary rush, my highs and lows during the day were super rough.  The black coffee without milk and sugar or heavy creamer really is a BIG change from what I was doing before.  Happy that I am still able to have caffeine in this manner as I love coffee!

2. Infused Water

water with orange

Sweetness here is the best!  It is naturally flavored with the orange and with a little ice and fresh water, this will hydrate me all day.  I just keep adding ice and water throughout the day as I drink each glass and it is stellar.  I would suggest either filling up a water bottle if you have one or even getting a straw in a paper cup to chug this down.

3. Green Tea

green tea

There are so many good benefits to green tea that have been explained in many different books and articles here on the web.  I would suggest that if you are in the mood for an energy boost and are not satisfied with a coffee, try green tea instead.  It has bioactive compounds that are good for the brain and body, increasing physical and mental performance as well.  It also has been known to help prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, diabetes, Parkinson’s, obesity AND overall extends your lifespan.  Especially now that I have children it is important to me to make sure that I take care of myself even better than before as I want to see them grow old too, graduate school, marry, grandchildren, etc.

4. Coconut water

coconut water

Living in Los Angeles now, when me and my family go to the beach on the weekends and drive on the PCH, there is this truck that offers coconut water right from the coconut with a straw just like in this picture!  We try and stop there often, but if you do not have access to fresh coconuts at your local grocery then I would make sure you read the ingredients on the back of any coconut water bottle to make sure there is no added sugar as this would set you back all to day 1 of the Whole30 diet again.

5. Seltzer

seltzer la croix

OK so I haven’t tried LaCroix Seltzer yet myself, but my sister in DC loves this brand and swears by it!  Since no alcohol is allowed during the 30 days, this with ice is a great alternative to it!  There are many other brands that are compliant, along with Canada Dry and the no-name brand you may have in your supermarket.

baby drinking water

HAPPY DRINKING! 🙂 🙂 🙂