SWOnuts

I have changed the name of my blog after having a revelation today. I am on Day 4 of my Whole 30 day experience and I had to venture into a Dunkin Donuts. Bad idea, right?

Here is why I had to go in...I am in the Navy and am currently attending a school for Surface Warfare Officers. We have a rule in our class that the person who gets the highest grade on a test has to bring in coffee and doughnuts the next day. Well, lucky me, I got the highest grade on the last test. Unlucky class, there was no way I was bringing in doughnuts.

There is a culture in my community of saying we want fit and healthy people and then serving doughnuts every morning for breakfast. They have often been referred to as SWOnuts, because we are SWOs. How does that make any sense?

I don't want to eat any SWOnuts. I walked into the Dunkin Donuts expecting to be tempted. I was not. They looked gross. I bought my big Box of Joe and left, not SWOnuts in my bag. The class was happy when I arrived with the Joe, but some did not appreciate the Paleo breakfast casserole I brought in the doughnuts stead. End of the day, though, the casserole was gone and I saved everyone a few bites of grossness.

That is when I decided to change the blog's theme. It isn't just about 30 days on a whole food kick, it is about living and eating well in the SWO community.

DAY 3-Stupid Sugar (as reported from Day 4)

I was all ready to post last night about how great I was feeling and blah blah blah and the WHAM-O! I was knocked over with the most ridiculous headache and my energy completely bottomed out. I have been having some nagging headaches over the Christmas break, but I attributed those to no longer drinking my daily cup of coffee at work. But this one, this was different.

I actually had a great day back at work. I was alert and never got hungry or got tempted by anything. I come home from work and ran to the grocery store and came home and cooked like a mad woman.

**Side note** The way Paddy and I are reacting to this diet change has been pretty surprising. I have had a decrease in hunger. I never really feel starving or anything. And when I eat, I never feel full. You know, the uncomfortable stuffed feeling. I like it.
Paddy, on the other hand, is a ravenous beast. No matter how much I feed him, he is always starving. I realized somewhere during day 2 that I was going to have to have the fridge over stocked with easy to eat meals to keep him from wasting away. My guess is that he is withdrawling from his carb addiction. Hopefully his appetite will balance out as his body adjusts to not getting 2 PB&J sandwiches as snacks and a side of "insert white carb here" with every meal. I have been gluten-free for over a year, so I think I had a much shallower adjustment to the loss of carbs from my day.

Back to yesterday, I was cooking like an animal. Or maybe someone who likes to cook and eat animals. I felt like a master chef on meth. It was a sight to see. Then, I sat down and, like a wave, my mood took a nose dive, my head was killing me and I could not pull out of it. I wrapped up my last meals and went to bed. It was the only solution.

Here is my theory: I had way more sugar in my diet than I had realized. I do not consider myself a sweet tooth. I mostly craved salt, crunchy snacks. But, when I really sat down and thought about it, I guess I had a lot of sneaky sugar in my diet. A couple packets of sugar in my coffee (and then 2 more with the refill and then 2 more in my mug after lunch), sweetened creamer in those same cups of coffee, some sweet candies to "keep me awake" at work, sugar in sauces and packaged foods, a bite of ice cream...it goes on and on. Maybe I don't sit down and eat a bag of cookies like someone who I might consider a sweet tooth, but I eat me some sugar. So, I am blaming sugar from my headaches and now I hate sugar.

Stupid sugar.

Day 1 and 2

I kicked off my Whole30 yesterday and, so far, so good. Unless you consider the vivid dream I had last night. I dreamed I was eating all of the pretzels out of a Chex Mix bag. I was so mad at myself! And then I woke up and was so relieved. I guess I have had food way too much on my brain lately.

The dream did not come true and I was able to safely navigate the day with no issues, but that was from the safety of my own home. We ate a lot of leftovers, which made it super easy.

This morning we actually went out for breakfast and were able to deconstruct their menu offerings into acceptable meals. They were very happy to accommodate our list of requests.

This afternoon I put the delicious chuck roast I got from the winter market on Saturday into the trusty crock pot (the one month anniversary gift from my husband after we started dating, weird, right?). I found a great rub, can't wait to see how it turns out.

The hard part starts tomorrow when I go back to work. I have a ton of leftovers stored away in my cleaned out fridge. I went on a total cleaning spree this afternoon. Not sure if it was a result of a change in my energy level, or what, but I was a cleaning machine. I dumped all sorts of dairy and snacks and made room for my tupperware.

I fear that Day 3 may be my hardest so far, but I think I will make it!

Holy cow

I thought the Pad Thai I made the other night was my favorite recipe from Well Fed, I was wrong. Well, maybe not wrong, but mistaken. It is actually the Sunshine Sauce that is my favorite.

I made a batch up to make Thai tacos with the (delicious!) carnitas and some Boston lettuce. After a few bites in, I realized I should have made a double batch for Paddy and I to share. It was such a good combo.

Today I tossed together a pretty sweet looking breakfast casserole for next week with some random stuff I had in the fridge. I roasted a butternut squash, sauteed an onion, browned some meat and tossed that all together with some spinach. Added 6 eggs and some coconut milk and popped it in the oven. It looks pretty good.

It feels odd, but right now I am eating leftover carnitas like potato chips. So good.

A few days left

The start of my first Whole 30 is quickly approaching and I am using my time off of work to prepare, kind of.

I am slowly finishing off the Christmas leftovers that are not Whole 30 approved, although they were not bad. Just a little dairy and, of course, the puff pastry on the glorious Beef Wellington. I figure, if you are going to eat flour, you might as well eat it wrapped around beed tenderloin. Man, it was good.

 And a nice side of parsnip and carrot puree and a casserole of leeks, butternut squash, goat cheese and hazelnuts. Not paleo, but quality ingredients and very delicious.

Now, I am thinking Whole 30. I have a pot of Citrus Carnitas from Well Fed (pg. 95) on the stove and I turned some old steak that was wasting away in the freezer into a variation of Chocolate Chili (pg. 73) that Paddy can take to work for lunch.

I also did some research and found a winter farmers market nearby that I am going to raid on Saturday. Depending on what I find there, I will plan my first week out. I know I need a lot of very easy to eat food so I am not tempted to cheat, although I do not think it will be hard. The foods I have made so far have been better than anything out of a box or bag. I just need to keep nibbley things out of my eye sight. I think I just made up a word, nibbely. But you know exactly what I mean.

Paddy has stopped eating sandwiches everyday for lunch and has been bringing leftovers and he can already feel a difference. Pretty sure he has lost 3 pounds, without really trying. Punk. His challenge will be no cream and sugar in his coffee. I do not think I will get him to buy off on coconut milk as an alternative. We will see how that all goes.

It WAS the best chicken I will ever eat!

Started off my clean"er" eating kick tonight with an amazing recipe from a cook book I got in the mail this morning, Well Fed. The book itself is very entertaining and fun to flip through. I was very pleased to find out that the recipes themselves are AMAZING!

I just had to give "The Best Chicken You Will Ever Eat" a try and see if lived up to the title.

It did.

I paired it with the Moroccan Sauce, as the author suggested, and some sauteed kale and bacon. Pretty much the perfect combo. I was not sure how Paddy would dig it, it has some bold and unique flavors.

He loved it.

Score. This one goes into the rotation, for sure.

Time to hit refresh

You know how you can eat really well for a while and you feel great, you look great, things are great, super great?

Then all those great feelings give you a false sense of security and they cause you to cheat, sneak a bite, add a food back into your diet you had removed?

It may take a few days, maybe a few weeks, but those great feelings begin to fade away and you realize you felt great because you had gotten rid of all of that junk.

Why was it a good idea to let that junk back in?

I try to be good when it comes to my diet. I know the importance of eating clean. I have been relatively gluten free for over a year. I try to avoid dairy, I try to eat as little processed food as possible.

See how soft and lame that sounds? Not a very firm stance on my diet. That makes it so easy for me to cheat. If I tell myself I eat 80% gluten free or dairy free, then some creamer in my coffee sounds ok. Then, all of a sudden I am drinking a huge glug of creamer in my giant mug of coffee every morning. How did that happen? I don't eat dairy. And who put this donut on my desk and why am I eating it? You know I don't eat gluten.

Actually, I am pretty good about the gluten. This is mostly because I stopped eating it because I believe it was causing me bone loss. A couple of unexplained broken leg bones could make me ok with skipping a sandwich. But, even that has started to sneak back into my gut. I can blame my recent trip to Montreal and the presence of delicious croissants and pastries, but I know it is just my laziness about my diet.

So, now is the time for a reset. I stumbled across the Whole9 Facebook page and found their Whole30 challenge and love the idea of doing a clean sweep of my diet and eating delicious whole foods. I plan on starting on January 1st. This doesn't mean I am stuffing my face with junk in the 2 weeks in between. I am eating a clean diet and using my 2 weeks off of work to cook up a storm and prepare for the next thirty days.

I am armed with some great cook books and tons of blogs full of inspiration. I am going to stock the fridge with fresh winter veggies and some fruits. I bought some ghee, that was a first. Sunbutter, coconut oil, coconut butter, tons of herbs...I need to find a local butcher that does grass fed meats. That is on my list of tasks for the week.

One positive thing that came out of the weekend in Montreal was that my husband saw a picture of himself that he thought made him look fat (his is not). I, very selfishly,  seized that moment of weakness to suggest he join me on my 30 day adventure and he actually agreed! Oh, did I mention he is a carb-o-holic? And he loves dairy in all forms? We will see how his experience goes. Either way, at home he is going to follow it, if he wants to eat what I cook. I can't control what he eats at work, but hopefully he will stick with it long enough to reap the benefits.

Luck would also have it that my towns only crossfit gym has reopened after a sudden shutdown last month. I am going to be able to get back in the gym hard core this week after taking it pretty easy while it was closed.

Perfect timing.