Day 14

Nearly half way through the challenge and I can feel my resolve slipping, I want to have honey and some other little things that you are allowed on the normal paleo diet, but not the whole 30!  Ahh dear.  You're not supposed to make any paleo treats, but we did up some biscuits today (macadamia, currant and apple biscuits) and of course we had to taste test them, and they are quite nice.  Light and fluffy, and a bit coconutty, so they are definitely acceptable in this house!  But, I would imagine they are classed as a "treat" so probably shouldn't be eating them......

Anyhooooo.....

Last night we went to my brother's house - twas our nephew's birthday celebration.  So of course there was soft drink, bucketloads of lollies, chips, some other chip looking things, pizza, sausage rolls, party pies... and ice cream cake!  Oh, and don't forget the marshmallows toasted over the fire....

So Elf Man and I had a huge apple each for afternoon tea, then the turkey meatballs for dinner that I had made earlier that day.  My sister in law made a nice salad to go with their lasagna (omg it looked bloody awesome) so we had some salad on the side.  Then when everyone else was having ice cream cake (kids) or cheesecake (adults), we had some strawberries, blueberries, kiwi fruit and some grapes in a bowl.

So we successfully kept to our paleo challenge there.

Today we had bacon, eggs, tomato and spinach for breakfast.  Think I made the bacon too crispy, if thats possible!!!!  Then we had our biscuits for morning tea (and also a muffin that I made yesterday with apples, bananas and some other healthy goodness!).

Lunch was a salad with spinach, lettuce, cucumber, bean sprouts, dried cranberries, cashews and some chicken that I baked in the oven after doing the biscuits.  Simple but yum!

Dinner is a spanish omelette, I took a recipe from Simple Food Ideas and made it paleo - took out the processed sausage and put in ham, took out the white potato and put in sweet potato, and took out the peas and put in asparagus.  Its yum.  So thats our dinner, along with some vegies on the side.

Elf Man is trying to kill us though - he made a chocolate ice cream tonight for the kids and put frozen jelly in it as well.  Damn you, Elf Man.  Damn you!  *shakes fist*  Can't wait till the 30 days are over so we can make up some ice cream of our own - coconut milk and cacao - chocolate ice cream - thank you very much!!

A bit behind!

I'm a bit behind days, however, have been eating sort of the same stuff and forgetting to take pictures so haven't bothered blogging about it.  So now I'm up to Day 12 of the Whole 30 Challenge, and still going well.  Haven't touched the dried apricots (although the dried craisins and sultanas we won't mention!)

Today I've had a green smoothie for breakfast, then I skipped morning tea (wasn't hungry) and then I had some fried ham (dry fried in the pan, no oil) and some scrambled eggs for lunch.  The girls had scrambled eggs too.

A handful of almonds for afternoon tea, and for dinner we are having fish and chips (nile perch and sweet potato chips, probably a bit of pumpkin and carrot too).

We have been talking about where we go diet wise once we finish the whole 30.  We both feel better without grains and dairy, but we have some issues with the theory behind Paleo (the whole caveman didn't eat rice for one, cos you can't prove it really, there's no evidence either way!) and we also have issues with the Primal Blueprint - mainly the animal fat and bad cholesterol content.  And yes, I know Mark Sisson says not to fear the fat and its good fat - well, its true, some of it is good fat (nuts, seeds, avocado, coconut) - however there's still saturated fat, and with heart disease still being the biggest killer in our generation - I'm not going to risk my heart health because some dude on the net assures me on his blog that its ok.  Yes we need some saturated fat and 'bad'cholesterol (to transport fat to the certain organs that need its protection ie the heart and kidneys). But we need a higher unsaturated/saturated fat ratio in our diets.  And since he puts animal fats (or saturated) so high up on his foods to eat, it IS scary to me.

Plus - all the treats that are on the Paleo blogs now - they are nice to look at and drool over, but are extremely high in calories, so its hard to figure out if people are doing it for their health or because its a new "fad" in the diet industry?

SO - where does that leave us.  Somewhere in the middle. We like the idea of eating clean and putting good stuff into our body, but without heaps of animal fats and calories.  I still like the idea of having chick peas in our diet, I think they offer a great deal nutritionally (and even Mark puts them in his sometimes foods, along with chocolate and wine) so I think we will have our own version of Paleo/Primal, however, it will be our Melcra lifestyle.

So far we haven't discussed too much (Elf Man has been busy with assignments and stuff) but we agreed on the sweeteners we would allow - pure maple syrup (not maple syrup flavouring!), honey and coconut palm sugar.  Coconut palm sugar is a super food that is low gi, so we think its a wise choice above all other sweeteners.

Basically, we will make as much of our own stuff as possible, I'll make paleo treats for the kids instead of the rubbish I usually buy them at the shops (goodbye tiny teddies, fruit bars, fruit rolls, muesli bars) and I'll also continue to make my own butter and yoghurt - at least cutting down on some of the preservatives in their diet.

And I thought I would make things out of spelt grain instead of wheat, and see if that helps Coo's bloating issues that she has.  This may be a Whole30 challenge, but I think its also challenging the way that we look and feel about food.

Anyway, thats the latest crap that has been flying around my head!

Day 10

Quick rundown for the day!

Breakfast - grain free cereal with banana and almond milk.

Morning tea - boiled egg

Lunch - chicken and salad - cos lettuce, cucumber, grapes, cashews - with orange juice and olive oil as a dressing

Afternoon tea - some dried fruit - evn though I said no dried fruit. I'm weak when hungry.

Dinner - Moroccan beef and cauliflower rice. One if the best dishes so far!

Day 9

Day 9!

Today I promised myself not to have any dried fruit.  So NO MORE DRIED FRUIT MEL!  Seriously, it gives me a belly ache and bad gas, so NO MORE.  Dried apricots - our love affair is now over.  Goodbye.

Anyhoo.

Breakfast:
We were supposed to have green smoothies for breakfast, however Elf Man didn't put any ice cube trays in the freezer so we had to improvise.  I didn't have enough almond milk for our cereal so I threw together some eggs, spring onion, baby spinach - and some fruit.

Then that got me through to morning tea - around 11am - and so I did some cashew hommus up and had that with carrot sticks.  No picture was taken though, but it was super nice so I'm sure I will make it again!

Lunch:
Paleo chicken soup that I made last week and stuck in the freezer.  I had a late lunch (after 1.30pm) so didn't need anything else with it.

Afternoon tea:
I didn't eat anything for afternoon tea because I worked out on the cross trainer instead.

Dinner:
Roast chicken and vegies!  Yum.  No pic cos it wouldn't upload it, but who hasn't seen a pic of roast chook and vegies?

Day 8

Very small entry this time!

Breakfast we had our grain free cereal like last Monday, and had half a banana and some chunks of apple on top of it, with almond milk.

Morning tea I had a boiled egg.

Lunch was my tuna balls in lettuce cups again.

Afternoon tea - I made some date/almond/coconut oil/shredded coconut combination and was snacking on that. And yes there is still some left over.

Dinner:
Cauliflower fried rice :)

Elf Man also made up some sorbet for dessert - no sugar - just some oranges, ice cubes and frozen blueberries.

Day 7

This morning we were up early (even though I hardly slept all night due to Bubbles) and we quickly made breakfast (weetbix for the non-paleo members, and a green smoothie for the paleo people).

Then we were off to the markets and stocked up on a LOT of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Then we headed up the coast to Elf Man's parents house for a family lunch. None of them knew about the challenge so it was interesting the looks we copped from a few of them ;)

So while everyone sat down to morning tea of biscuits (lots of different yummy biscuits), Elf man and I sat down to some fresh fruit that we just got from the market.

Then while everyone was eating lots of yummy stuff for lunch (lasagna, some pasta thingy, rice, some peas and corn and chicken casserole stuff) we ate a salad, thrown together from my bags from the market.  We didn't have any nuts so I quickly steamed some sweet potato in the microwave and chucked that in.

Then for afternoon tea - omg - the feast that was on the table.  Chocolate cake with thick icing, date and walnut loaf, potato chips, after dinner mints, muffins - I was drooling over the after dinner mints, but I would not be tempted.  We didn't feel like fruit again, so we pinched two eggs from Elf Man's mum, boiled them up and had one each while everyone (including the kids) pigged out around us.  We also drank black tea since I forgot to bring my almond milk.

So I think we did rather well at resisting the temptations and not cheating on our challenge.

And for dinner - paleo BLT's, sweet potato chips and some broccoli cos I thought the plate needed some colour.  OMG.  SO FREAKIN' YUMMY!!!!!!  I love this eating challenge.

We also weighed ourselves this morning for our normal Sunday weigh in.  Results!

Current weight:  79.5kg (yeeha baby under 80!)
Total weight lost so far:  21.5kg.

Day 6

Day 6! Nearly a week on the Whole 30, and I've also noticed a few things, health wise. My bloating is nearly non-existent, and my nose (which has been blocked for the last 2 and a half years) is now unblocked and I can sleep with my mouth closed now!  That's pretty amazing I think - coincidence?  Maybe not.

Ok, on to what I ate for today.

Breakfast:
Big fry up of crispy bacon, mushrooms, spinach and tomato.  Also poached an egg, it was bloody nice and kept me full for ages.

Morning tea:
An apple and an orange.

Lunch:
Salad with some cashews and a poached egg on top.  Probably bad that I had two eggs today, but we didn't have any meat out, and we are running low on food at the moment!

Afternoon tea:
Didn't have because I was at a kid's birthday party with Sparrow for a few hours.  Resisted the lovely looking cake on offer and resisted the coffee with cows milk.

Dinner:
Slow cooker beef and sweet potato stew with some pumpkin, carrots, zucchini and broccoli.  Yum.

Weigh in day tomorrow.  Will be interesting.  Also lunch with Elf Man's family - so I'm planning on steaming up some chicken before we leave in the morning (or at their place if I don't get time beforehand) and dropping into the markets on the way to their place to stock up on salad and lots of fresh fruit for dessert.  No tempting me!

Day 5

Quick one for day 5.

Breakfast:
Made a no oat oatmeal this morning for breakfast that I found on the net.  Was pretty yummy, tasted nothing like porridge whatsoever - but still, tasted a bit like banana cake. Which was yum.

Morning tea:
My sister came over with lots of fruit, so I had some fresh grapes, strawberries, blueberries and an apple.

Lunch:
Leftover cabbage rolls from last night.

Dinner:
Salmon omelette (was supposed to follow a recipe but my computer crashed, so I just made it up and it was delicious!) and a salad.  I added blueberries to my salad, cos thats just how I roll.

Had some other snack type things during the day - dried apricots, sultanas, a piece of ham, just lots of little things.

Bring on day 6!

Day 4

Day 4 of the challenge!

Breakfast was grain free cereal again with almond milk.  No picture necessary obviously cos we've already had it this week!


Morning tea I had a lovely friend drop in for coffee (well, she had coffee and milk, I had tea with almond milk) and I had a couple of lemon balls.

Lunch I had leftover pineapple coleslaw from last night, plus some chicken that I had cooked the other day, and I threw in some cashews as well.  Then I had a small banana from my mum's banana tree.

Afternoon tea.  I can't remember.  LOL

Dinner!  Slow cooked cabbage rolls and cauliflower rice on the side.  It was SUPER yummy.  Very impressed with that dish.

Then we had some strawberry and kiwi fruit sorbet that Elf Man made last night - no sugar, just fruit and ice cubes.

Need to make some more almond milk because we have none left!  We're going through a litre or so every couple of days I think, more than I expected for just cereal and teas.

Health wise - I'm feeling good, still chirpy and still haven't lost my shit with the kids which is well, unusual LOL... I've also had some loose err movements, so I'm guessing my body is clearing out the old stuff.  Also had a slight headache today (which I have read is normal at this stage) and felt a little bit sick this morning, but it passed quickly and luckily I didn't vomit from it.

All good stuff!  Bring on day 5.  Time to look for new recipes to try next week!

Day 3

Day 3 - had a better night's sleep last night, think I'm sleeping deeper for the small amount of time that I do sleep, maybe its because my sciatic wasn't playing up last night.

Anyway, I was on fire today, had made the kid's dinner by lunch time, and was pretty happy all day.

Today's meals were:

Breakfast:
Raw fruit cereal with almond milk.

Morning tea:
Fruit platter shared with the Coo and Speedy.

Lunch:
Lettuce cups (I'm really liking the lettuce cups if you can't tell) with chicken in one, ham in the other - and both had cucumber, grated beetroot and bean sprouts on them.

Afternoon tea - I didn't have because I exercised on the treadmill.

Dinner:
A pork chop and pineapple coleslaw.  Which if you got past the cabbage taste, was actually really yummy.

So I exercised, treadmill again since our cross trainer is in a few pieces at the moment, and I walked at speed 5 for two minutes, jogged (I'd like to say ran but it was only at 7.5 speed) for 20 minutes, walked again for 3 minutes, and then jogged the last 5 at 7.5 speed again.  I was absolutely buggered.

That's it for today.  No damage from  yesterday's dried fruit pig out - unless you include my extremely unpleasant gas.  But no damage weight wise.

Day 2

Day 2 of our Whole 30 challenge.  Still feeling good, even did some exercise today, did intervals (walking at 5, running at 9 - incline of 2) on the treadmill for half an hour.

This is what our meal plan was today.

Breakfast:
Dairy free green smoothie from here:
http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/green-chocolate-smoothie-dairy-free.html

However, I didn't use rapadura (obviously since no sugars are allowed!) but instead I threw in a handful of frozen blueberries instead to help sweeten it.  Was delicious, and the kids loved it too.

Morning tea was a lemon ball and a protein ball like I had yesterday.

Lunch:
For lunch I had homemade chicken soup (with homemade chicken stock) and because I usually have crackers or toast with it - I felt like I needed something crunchy with it.  So I grabbed a lettuce leaf, cut the side off a cucumber, and a small piece of chicken that I cooked up last night.  Rolled it up - and that took place of my crackers.

Then I had a protein ball because the kids had tiny teddies and they looked really nice!  Then I had some sultanas and a banana later on.

Dinner:
Had a cauliflower, bacon and cashew curry.  Was nice and easy to make, and was quite tasty.  A bit hot for my liking and then it wasn't until after I used the curry powder that I discovered that one of the ingredients was rice flour.  I'm sure it would be minimal, but I'm disappointed that I didn't think to look first!

Day two over and done with, and not going too bad.  Have to watch my consumption of dried fruit though, easy to overdo it - today it was sultanas and dried apricots in the afternoon and before dinner because I was hungry.  So I'm not having any tomorrow, nor am I having any lemon balls or protein balls.

Tonight I have had extreme rumblings in my belly, and poor Elf Man has had the displeasure of my very rumbly belly turning into lots and LOTS of stinky gas.  Was it that little bit of rice flour that set it off or too much dried fruit?  Hard to say.

I am NOT having dried fruit tomorrow.

The Whole hog

Ok, so we started the Whole 30 challenge today - a Paleo challenge.  We finally decided to take the leap into it, its only for 30 days, so we'll see where it takes us.  I'll blog what we are eating just in case I make a dish I really like, so I can remember it - my memory is shocking.

So for breakfast we had a grain free cereal.  I got the recipe from here:  http://www.staceyspaleokitchen.com/2011/01/no-grain-granola.html

I forgot to put the dried fruit in though at the end (doh!) and I substituted the vanilla with an extra date.

So I also made almond milk this morning, so we had grain free cereal, almond milk and a banana on top.  The almond milk made it all gluggy like instead of like cereal, but it was still nice.  I do prefer it with yoghurt though.

Then I went out in time for morning tea, so I took my protein balls and lemon balls that I had made with me.  I also took a green tea bag with me, so had that too.

Then lunch was tuna balls in lettuce cups with fresh beetroot grated over the top, carrot and celery sticks, and a few grapes.  Those little tuna balls pack a punch and kept me full right up until dinner tonight!

Speaking of dinner, we had barramundi cooked in the oven, although I'm not very good and some of our fish was undercooked - blerrrgh.  We also had a brussel sprouts and bacon dish, which was ok, I think I only liked it because I luuuuurve bacon.

I also made up some icy poles today, with watermelon and pineapple juice, so we will see if they turn out ok. Oh and I also snacked on some sultanas and dried apricots - just a couple.

So anyway, that was day one of the Whole 30 - 29 days left to go.

My weigh in yesterday was ok, only a loss of 500g this week - so now my current weight is...

Current weight:  81.1kg.
Total weight loss:  18.9kg.

This week's result

Almost forgot to update with my weigh in results yesterday!

Loss of 1.2kg this week.

Current weight: 81.6kg
Weight lost to date: 18.4kg

(although technically its over 21kg lost since I was 103kg in March!)