The Real Challenge

Maybe it was the constant thinking about food I "couldn't" have. Maybe it was the spending half a month's worth of food money on one week of groceries. Maybe it was looking back and realizing that the best thing that worked for me was tracking my food (regardless of what I was eating).

"Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"--but God will destroy them both."
1 Corinthians 6:13


Still going to eat healthy. Still going to me sensible with decisions. 


That is all.

Day 2

This is breakfast. I'm trying to only take a picture of the food, and not our messy table. Same as yesterday, only the sausage is shaped in a regular circle. We've decided that they don't realy taste like sausage, just like mini hamburgers. Not bad, but not sausage. We're ready for a Whole Foods trip so that we can buy some bacon without nitrates!

Lunch was the chili from yesterday, and some canned green beans. The green beans are not pictured, because I ate them before I remembered to take a picture. I finished lunch by 10:45am, and at 11:20 decided I was still hungry. Since I live a few minutes from home, and get an hour designated for lunch, I went home and ate an apple.

This is one of my all-time favorite dinners! Burgers (I usually make them, but I bought them already-shaped because they were BOGO for a package of four), cooked sweet potato and brocoli. Everything had steak seasoning on it. Instead of ranch dressing, we had both digon and regular mustard. I had another apple.

I cooked dinner in a pan and on the George Foreman, but decided to bake the rest in the oven, so we could eat it for lunch tomorrow. Well, I think some of the hamburger grease overflowed into the oven, because the house was filled with smoke! I also burned the rest of the brocoli, so I had to throw it away. The sweet potatoes and burned on one side, but I tried them and they still taste good, so they are packed in lunch containers.



I told Alex I was craving junk food. He's such a good support, doing this with me. I mean, he gave up his ranch dressing! Also, we bought almond butter today (Which is EXPENSIVE at Kroger! I need a Trader Joe's close by!). Alex gave me the last piece of his apple, and told me I could eat it with some almond butter on it. What a delicacy :)

Gotta go buy more apples and bananas tomorrow.

Day 1.

Above is breakfast: home made sausage in the shape of hearts! It is my anniversary to my wonderful husband! We had seasoned scrambled eggs, and a couple of strawberries. I had to cut some parts off the strawberries. We also had black coffee and water.

Here are two pictures of lunch. It's the chili recipe (see yesterday for the link) served atop a bed of baby spinach. I had an apple for "dessert," and Alex and an apple and a banana.

Lastly, here is dinner. It is pork tenderloin and an apple cut in small pieces and marinated in limes and cinnamon. I baked it in the oven at 350 for a while (until I took it out and it looked done. I think it was 30 minutes). Those are canned green beans with added salt an pepper.

Reflection: Well, I forgot that the first couple of days after giving up sweets are miserable. Actually, I felt better after eating a banana, but not so great the rest of the day. Mostly craving sweets and feeling crabby. I did question whether it was worth it. I'm going to keep trying, and will document progress, but I miss my peanut butter, ranch dressing, and chocolate.

Challenge Begins! (Tomorrow)

Last post I mentioned the Whole 9 Thirty Day Challenge, and that I was considering it as a healthy jumpstart.

I wavered. Up until the time where I was forced to start a meal plan and list, I was seriously afraid I would not enjoy this challenge. I mean, they say no peanut butter....HOW CAN THEY EXPECT ME TO GIVE UP MY PEANUT BUTTER! (image from here)


Alas, I had read too much. I was inwardly convinced that the principles worked. I had actually gone one whole day without the delicious peanut-y goodness, and felt great. The past week has proved that my tummy doesn't enjoy junk food. Thus, the lack of legume meal planning began.

I forged my way through the "under construction" Kroger, and read several labels before deciding against nitrate-ridden bacon.

Here's the general meal plan for this week:

Breakfast: eggs, home made sausage (which is just ground beef and seasonings), coffee (nothing added, although I did buy coconut milk, and may see how that tastes in my coffee) and strawberries.
Lunch: leftovers from dinners. Alex and I both work days, so I'll be making use of the microwave. I did buy baby spinach, so I may make some salads too.
Dinner: This is where I switch up my options. I had one plan, but ended up buying a few different meats,  since some were on sale and "Manager's Special." I stood in front of the meat area for a long time...

• Pork tenderloin (I use various spices and fruit juice with olive oil to season. I've recently put some lime and cinnamon together) and green beans
• A chili recipe that sounds yummy-click here to see it!
• I was going to make a roast, but then I found stew meat on Manager's Special, so I got that instead. I'm dumping this with some red potatoes (the whole 9 said to avoid white potatoes, so I'm not sure about red ones. We have them leftover from vacation and I didn't buy enough sweet potatoes for this recipe), carrots, onions, and peas (maybe, haven't decided for sure on the peas yet) for another meal.
• Steak seasoned with "steak seasoning" from Aldi. I'm cooking mushrooms, peppers and onions for topping and veggies
• Brazilian Chicken Curry-seems easy enough, and it's in the crock pot!
• Burgers made from ground beef and seasoning, sweet potato fries, and cooked broccoli
• Grilled Chicken and broccoli. I may add another veggie, but this dish is fine as is. I buy chicken thighs because they are cheaper and tastier. They're frozen, and all the other meat is fresh. Therefore, this meal will be eaten after the others, since it can last longer before going bad. 

I tried to make sure we have plenty on hand, so that I don't have to go to the store, and we aren't tempted to go out to eat. I didn't buy beef broth for the chili, because they all had some not-so-great ingredients in them. Therefore, our chili will be a bit more boring. Oh well.

I end up improvising sometimes. I think something will taste good together, so I try it. I look up a recipe and like the picture, so that's what I decide to try. My fridge is full of perishables, my cabinet covered in fruit, and that's they way I like it :)

(Those are kebob stick on the side, NOT noodles)

One last thing: I put this at the end, because I don't care if anyone reads this part. One not-food-related challenge is to avoid the scale during the challenge. So, I weighed myself this morning, and will do so again after 30 days. (I did gain some pounds on vaca, due to junk food. Not a big deal, but I thought it would be fun to record and see if it makes a difference).

Weight as of today: 128

Vacations and Breaks

This past week, I spent my entire time in Orange Beach, Alabama. Beachside condo, and plenty of sunshine. Not quite as warm as I would have liked, but definitely a wonderful time off.

We also took time off from our fairly strick paleo/primal diet, and ate a plethora of junk food. Doughnuts, poptarts, strudel, biscuits, quesadillas, LOTS of ice cream, cookies, french fries, and other fried foods. I enjoyed each an every bite, but my stomach is an entirely different story. Considering how drastically my eating habits changed over a couple of days, I can see why my stomach has been writhing in pain when I devour mounds of sugar. I kept saying, "It's vacation, let's indulge!" Indulge we did.

But I wonder if I would have enjoyed my vacation just as much, if not more, if I had eaten well the whole time. I was clad in a bathing suit much of the time, and would probably have felt more comfortable with so much skin showing had I eaten the right way.

My mother-in-law introduced me to "The Whole 9 Challenge" and I am prepared to try it as soon as we get back from vaca. The website actually says to start right away, but we're planning to eat Chick-fil-a for breakfast, and I want a chicken biscuit.