We're gonna need a bigger boat

Okay, maybe not a bigger boat, but certainly a bigger fridge. I was stalking Sisterhood of The Shrinking Jeans' Christy and Melissa over at Real Oilfield Wives recently, and came across a post mentioning a food co-op called Bountiful Baskets. Curious to see if they had a location near me, I hopped on over to their website. Not only did they have one near me, the had one in my town! Unable to resist, I signed up and made a contribution for the weekly basket. Unsure of what to expect, I also contributed for an "Italian Pack" add-in and two "Juice Pack" add-ins. Remind me, next time I contribute, not to get so much. My fridge is jam packed, I've re-tasked my salad bowls to be fruit bowls, and I spent half of yesterday cooking vegetables. Part of that time was spent just staring at the counter, wondering what on earth to do with all of the stuff! 

This isn't even everything. Not pictured are the bags of carrots, all the fruit, including two pineapples. In no particular order (all packs mixed together), I got:

1 bunch of spinach
4 ears of corn
4 Asian pears
6 peaches
10 limes
4 lemons
6 apples
1 bunch of bananas
1 head of romaine
2 bags of carrots
2 bags of baby carrots
2 heads of celery
3 bunches of parsley
1 container of mushrooms
1 eggplant (donated)
3 avocadoes (donated)
2 bunches of beets, with greens
2 pineapples
2 bunches of kale
4 zucchini
2 yellow squash
1 leek
1 head of garlic
several springs of fresh rosemary
several springs of fresh oregano
several springs of fresh basil
6 Roma tomatoes
2 yellow onions
1 red onion
1 hatch chilies
3 green peppers
2 chunks of ginger

So far, I've made an eggplant-less ratatouille, bacon braised kale, and kale with pine nuts, raisins and capers. The Aussie asked what I was going to do with all of it. My reply? Eat a !*&$% load of veggies this week.

The Whole 30 hasn't been pretty

From reading people's accounts of how they felt while doing the Whole 30, I expected great energy, sleeping well, clear skin, overall, feeling pretty good. My energy has been good, I've been sleeping okay, but clear skin and feeling good? Nope. It could be anything from a sensitivity to coconut oil, yeast overgrowth die-off, toxins leaving the body like rats leaving a sinking ship. I don't know.  All I know is that my eczema went from moderate to horrible in two weeks, and I'm miserable. I've gotten it on my face before, but only on one eyelid. Certainly not all over it. I look like I've been in a brawl. My eyes are puffy and red, I've got itchy patches under my eyes, and on my jawline, and my lips are terribly cracked at the corners, are chapped, and they burn. It's worse on my hands, too. The section on my middle finger is so bad that the skin over my knuckle has split.

 

So, I've decided to not continue restricting what I'm eating so severely. I will continue to eat whole foods, no junk food, no sugars, but I will be adding back in some whole grain products and some dairy. If Whole 30 works for you, great. It's helped me get off of a plateau, but I'm suffering in other ways. I need to be healthy on the outside as well as the inside.

Let's do this.

Let's see if I can't get back below my 10% level, shall we?

Starting weight:

This paleo/Whole30 thing seems to be working already.

I have to rant about something.

I need to get something off of my chest. I've been a member of Weight Watchers for over a year and a half. Sometimes I do well, sometimes I don't do well. I know exactly whose fault it is if I have a bad weigh in. Sometimes I eat crap. It's a fact of life. To paraphrase something that a leader said recently, "you didn't get to where you are now by eating too much fruit." No, most of us didn't. Some people got there by eating too much fried food. Some people got there by eating too much snack food. And some people got there by eating too much candy. I know, everything in moderation. But for crying out loud, who eats one cubic morsel of fudge when they've made AN ENTIRE PAN????

So I have to tell you, it really pisses me off to see them promoting a marshmallow fudge recipe. I refuse to even consider this a "healthier" version.  I don't care (actually, I do, because too many of these ingredients are processed crap) if you're using cooking spray to make each piece have fewer calories. I don't (see above) care if you're using light butter or margarine to make each piece have fewer calories. I don't care if you're using fat free evaporated milk to make each piece have fewer calories. No one needs to be eating something that has close to two cups of sugar AND 14 large marshmallows. Some of the people I see at meetings have real health issues. They're diabetic, they're on multiple medications. Eating stuff (I refuse to call it food) like this can be dangerous for them. And get real. You're pouring the stuff in to an 8x8 pan and the instructions are to cut this in to 36 pieces? They have got to be kidding. (Just how many of the uneven and irregular pieces end up on the cook's mouth, and not on a plate to "share" with everyone else in their family?? "Oh, no, the recipe only makes 24 pieces, not 36...it's all here.") And each piece is costs you 3 points?  If they want to provide alternatives, how about tell people to eat a few chocolate chips. That's the least offensive ingredient in the recipe. (It should be noted that I like chocolate chips and have, upon occasion, done just this.)

Studies show that the average person consumes over 100 pounds of sugar EACH YEAR. Is it any wonder people have health issues?

Go do yourself a favor. Don't make this. If you want something chocolate, go eat a piece of chocolate. And make it a real piece of chocolate. The good stuff. Don't waste your points on a bunch of processed crap. I have never heard anyone call marshmallows healthy.

End of rant.

Whole30 - At least I'm eating well

I might be cranky, but at least I can eat well. This was lunch. I planned on having leftovers, but the puppies help me eat, so we had all of it. I'm a sucker for a wet nose and Cindy Lou Who eyes. Besides, I plugged in my food from yesterday in Body Media Fit account and I was just over 1000 calories. No wonder I'm hungry and cranky.

Beef With Broccoli

8 oz. extra lean beef loin strips (thank you, Sprouts!)
2 cups broccoli
1 T coconut oil

Sautee until meat is done and broccoli is tender-crisp.

Sauce

2 T coconut aminos
1 t fresh grated ginger
1 t minced garlic
1 t vinegar

Mix together and pour over the beef and broccoli.

Whole30 Day 1 Wrap Up - Well that sucked.

So, yesterday was day 1 of #Whole30. I ate well. I had my egg foo yung for breakfast, black coffee. For lunch I had two Applegate Farms organic (no nitrites, uncured, grass fed, etc) hot dogs and kale sautéed in coconut oil w/garlic. For dinner I had steamed chicken and broccoli, with coconut aminos and cayenne pepper. I had a peach as a morning snack and a handful of raw pistachios in the afternoon. Aside from the black coffee, I just drank water yesterday. When I plugged everything in to my eTools on Weight Watchers, I found out that I underestimated the points value for the hot dogs and was actually under my daily points. Well, that never happens. Since I couldn't make a meeting last night I went and weighed in during my lunch hour. Up from 167.7 in the a.m. to 171. This morning I was 169.9. (Yes, I know we aren't supposed to be weighing ourselves all the time, I just wanted some positive feedback after one day of clean eating and a crappy sleepless night. Didn't get any.)

I went to bed early (for me if I'm not falling asleep on the sofa, only to wake up at 2am and head to bed) so that I could get up early and take the dogs for walks before the sun came up. Didn't happen. That was one of the WORST nights sleep I can recall having in a long time. It was one of those "I'm lying here, in the dark, with my eyes closed, but I know I'm not asleep" kind of nights. When I did get some sleep, or what passed as sleep, I had these really weird dreams.

Needless to say, I'm really dragging today. Since it will be over 100 again today, I won't take dogs out until the sun sets. I just might be napping during lunch today. Or menu planning.

Whole 30 Day 1 - Dear Diary, I said I'd do what??

Dear Diary:

Today is my first day of doing #Whole30. This might not be pretty. I warned The Aussie that I was cutting a bunch of stuff out and that the first few days might be a bit rough. He's been warned. Today I'm having my coffee black. It's not too bad. I haven't used Splenda in my coffee for a month or so, so I have a head start.  I made a big egg foo yung type frittata for breakfast. Mushrooms, celery, bean sprouts (canned, because Kroger didn't have fresh), carrots, bell pepper, scallions and onion, 5 eggs, cooked in a little coconut oil.

It was humongous. I ate half of it, kind of wishing there was cheese in there, and it tasted pretty good. The Aussie even came sniffing towards my plate. "I thought I smelled omelet." The other half is being saved for breakfast tomorrow. 

I weighed myself first thing this morning. 167.7. Meh. Could be worse. I can't make it to my WW meeting tonight, but I'll go during lunch to weigh in. We'll see how this goes. I have a snapper filet in the fridge that needs to be used up. Might be good grilled. That could be lunch today. Not sure about dinner yet. Maybe baked chicken. I'll have sweet potato and The Aussie can have regular potato. I bought a bunch of broccoli the other day, planning on using it for a beef and broccoli stir fry, but maybe I'll use that for dinner tonight instead.  I'll keep you posted.  Bye for now.

Kyra