Day of 4 of the Whole30 - Done

So I continued to asked myself the same question all day today...Why am I doing the Whole30...??? Yesterday I thought the reason was because 'I knew by the end of the Whole30 I would feel happy, energetic, and sexy'. How did I know that? Well, I've done the Whole30 once before (although I wasn't 100% compliant...I had few drinks, some rice with sushi and corn tortillas) and by the end my mood and energy levels lifted and I felt sexier because the spare tire around my belly disappeared.

I see so many people depressed, lethargic and bloated and gotta believe it's all about what they put in their body. I mean it makes sense...If you are what you eat then it's only logical that if you eat well, you will feel well, but if you eat crap you'll feel crappy...

Ever since I was a little I loved food...

If my parents put food in front of me I would eat it...

At a early age I learned to shop for groceries...

I knew I was going to be a chef...

As my younger years started passing by, I began developing really crappy eating habits and I remember feeling crappy. I used to secretly eat junk food when my parents weren't looking. My brother remembers me hiding candy in my nightstand at the age of five. At such a young age I was already addicted to sugar and other processed foods. I remember having really bad constipation and migraines. By the age of 10 I was borderline obese.

   

When you experience the difference between unhealthy and healthy, you realize you'd do anything to be healthy. If you never experience the difference, chances are you'd continue your usual (poor) habits.

Ok, enough of my ranting and pictures of my past...here are my stats for today:

Water Consumption

144 ounces - I am doing good!

Sleep

7 1/2 hours - I need to go to bed now to get 8 tonight

Daily Meals

5:30am - Morning Wake-up Call : Coconut Milk Latte w/MTC oil

8:30am - Breakfast - 3 Egg McMuffin(less) 

11am - Snack : 1 more Egg McMuffin(less)

I made these with cherry tomatoes, arugula, peas, and my herb roasted turkey breast. I also whipped some homade garlic & jalapeño aioli in the egg batter to make it creamy (& since I can't add cheese)...

1:30pm - Lunch : My Herbed Roasted Turkey, peas, avocado on a bed of greens

7:30pm - Dinner : Seared Wild Sockeye Salmon, roasted sweet potatoes and rainbow chard 

How did I feel...???

I woke up really tired. I actually woke up telling myself that I wasn't going to workout today, but I did because we had uneven groups so I partnered up. I felt like I was just going through the motions, not pushing myself too hard, although I must say that I felt better at the end of the workout. I still feel really bloated, and although I can't say I'm unhappy and I can't say I'm happy...The word that comes to mind is...BLAH:-(

Anyhow, tomorrow is another day...

Day 3 of the Whole30 - Done!

As I was scraping a sheet of ice off my windshield so I can drive to coach at 6am this morning I kept asking myself why...why am I doing the Whole30...??? What is the real reason? I don't really want to loose weight. I already eat pretty clean. I don't eat much gluten. I don't eat legumes. I rarely eat processed foods. I don't eat that much sugar...??? 

When I'm are on the Whole30 I really have read ingredient labels and the more I read them the more I understand how sugar is secretly hidden in everything. Manufacturing companies manipulate ingredients to produce products that scientifically taste good and are addictive. Next time your about to buy food that comes in a box, bag, pouch, bottle, or can (aka anything processed/not real) read the ingredient and see if you see any of the following alternative names for sugar.

I've been working in the natural foods industry for over 10 years and believe me, it's not that natural. Their is much confusion about what 'all-natural' even means and just because something is organic doesn't mean it's good for you. 

OK, I'll stop ranting about the natural foods industry and get back to the question I was asking myself this early morning...why am I really doing the Whole30...??? You see, if I don't answer this question now (Day 3) then I probably won't make it through the entire 30 days. 

Although I don't eat much sugar, I drank a lot of sugar over the holidays...I don't drink soda, juice or other sugary drinks...My beverages of choice is water, tea, coffee and tequila and I must admit I drank a little too much tequila over the holidays...Bottom line alcohol is sugar and sugar (or lack there of) regulates your blood sugar levels which effects your mood, energy levels and metabolism...Anyhow, by the end of the holidays I felt depressed, lethargic, and bloated and I knew by the end of the Whole30 I would feel happy, energetic, and sexy...Needless to say, I can't wait to get to the other side...

Today's Stats:

Water Consumption

168 ounces (worked out about two hours)

Sleep

7 hours (I'm going to get 8 tonight)

Daily Meals

5:30 - Morning Mick-Me-Up : Coconut Coffee Latte

8:30am - After WOD Snack : My Homemade Beef Jerky

9:30am - Breakfast : Hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, avocado, kalamata olives

1pm - Lunch : Leftover roasted veggies on top of a bed of lettuce

4pm - Snack : More My Homemade Beef Jerky

7pm - Snack (while I cooked dinner) : Carrots and homemade veggie dip

7:45pm - Dinner : Herb Rubbed Iron Steak Cabbage Wraps with peas, cherry tomatoes and a side of broccolini

How Did I Feel?

I felt really lethargic and moody today. I didn't really feel like socializing or getting stuff done. I'm hoping I feel better tomorrow.

Day 2 of the Whole30 Done...

Since my New Year's Intention is to drink more water (1/2 my body weight in ounces plus 20 oz for every hour I workout ~ 90 oz), sleep more (8 hours/night) and blog more I'm going to post about my Whole30 experience daily. Check out my Day 1 Whole30 post to see how I prepared for this challenge. 

I'll be documenting all my daily meals, Whole30 recipes (if they are worth posting), my water consumption, total hours of sleep and how I feel along the way. Putting this info out there in cyberspace is completely outside my comfort zone...I mean I don't even have a Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest account....

So why I am doing this? 

Well, I believe in order to change a habit I need to track it and by tracking it out in cyberspace it somehow makes me more accountable then tracking it in my head or in a journal. So, if you are out there reading this and don't hear for the next 29 days, please call me out and ask me if I'm still on track. My last day is Feb 3rd.

Today's Stats

Water Consumption 

42 oz - I need to drink some more water before I go to bed:-(

Total Hours Slept 

6 - I'm going to be earlier tonight

Daily Meals
5:30 - 10 oz Coconut coffee latte with MTC oil
Breakfast at 9:30am - Leftover roasted veggies (cauliflower, beets, and butternut squash) from last night's dinner, 2 hard boil eggs, 1/4 avocado,  bell peppers top with a coconut curry (from last night's dinner)

Snack at 12pm - 1 hard boil egg

Snack at 1pm - handful carrots

Lunch at 3pm (very late for me, but I had meetings all day) - Bed of kale, with my herb roasted turkey breast, 1/4 avocado, 1/2 tomato, carrots, olives

Snack at 6:30 - 3 oz Homemade Beef Jerky  

How Did I Feel?I woke up tired, felt better after coaching and working out. Started to crash a little around 9am, then I ate. Overall, I feel bloated and yucky and know it's because of what I have been eating and drinking the last couple of months. I wasn't hungry for dinner, so I decided to have a cup of herbal tea (stomach ease), take some Night Rest and go to bed....If you have issues sleeping and are looking for a herbal remedy, I highly recommend you research Night Rest...Anyhow, I can't wait to see how I'm going to feel after the Whole30...Only 28 days to go... 

Day 1 of the Whole30 Done...

Well, only 29 more days to go...Day 1 wasn't that hard because I spent all yesterday preparing my meals for the week...I mean I love to cook real food very often so the cooking part of the Whole30 is something I'm very excited about...To tell you the truth the hardest thing was not having a drink at the end of the day, but my liver needs a break, especially after this holiday season...

I challenged myself and my ladies CrossFit program in Sept to do the Whole30...The first week was the hardest, but after that I starting noticing I had more energy, I was sleeping better and my gut shrunk, which really means my jeans fit better, which I looked better naked, which really meane I felt sexier and isn't that what any woman wants...I'm 5 days away from my 38th birthday and if I can feel better and look sexier than I did at 25 then I'm going to do whatever it takes and to tell you the truth the Whole30 is all I have to...

To read more about Whole30 Challenge...

So really question is what nutritionally dense food did I prepare this week that is going to make me satiated enough to not crave sugar-dense, gluten-filled foods...

For breakfast, I need on-the-go high in protein finger foods. I wake up early (5am) to coach (6am) and work-out (7am) and if I don't get something in my system right after then I'll crash around 9am which is the time my 'real job' begins. So I made hard-boiled eggs and mini egg McMuffins (without the muffin)...

  

Click here for perfectly peel hard-boiled eggs

Get my Mini Egg McMuffin recipe.

For lunch I made a herb roasted turkey breast which I will put over salads or make into wraps...Did you know there is a lot of sugar in deli meat, so why not make your own...Next week I'm making pastrami...

Get my herb roasted turkey breast recipe.

For dinner I a made curry braised chicken in a coconut curry soup and roasted veggies...

For snacks I made my famous beef jerky and a couple of veggie dips...

Get my beef jerky recipe...

Get my veggie dip recipe... 

Is there anybody else out there doing the Whole30 with me...???

Got Resolutions for the New Year...???

I can't tell you how much I hate making New Year Resolutions. Just because it's a new year doesn't mean it's going to be a new me. It's like over night, all my bad habits are going to change and I'm magically going to become the woman I want to be. I'm old enough to know bad habits don't change overnight, so I stopped fooling myself a few years ago.

I think using the right words when making changes sets the foundation to facilitate change or not. Instead of saying something is too 'hard' or 'difficult', I say it's 'challenging'. I'm a competitive person so using the word 'challenging' instead of 'hard' makes me want to take action and step-up to a challenge instead of run away from a something 'hard'. 

Instead of making resolutions, I make intentions. The word resolution implies I need to resolve something about me and internally makes me feel like I have to do it immediately and forever or I have failed. So instead of making me feel like I want to take action it makes me feel like I want to run away because if it doesn't happen then I have failed and I hate to fail. 

The word intention internally sits better with me because it makes me feel like I'm working towards a changes without any fear of failure. Intentions make me want to be proactive whereas resolutions make me react. Intentions bring me positive energy, resolutions bring negative energy.

Anyhow, whatever word you use doesn't really matter. The New Year brings a desire to make changes and I believe the first step towards making changes is to write all of them down, pick your TOP 1-3 and voice them out loud - tell a friend, comment on this blog post, tell a complete stranger, tell your spouse, sibling or child, but tell somebody. Bottom line, saying it out loud puts it out in the universe and somehow your already begin acting on your intention. 

What are my intentions you ask...???

1. Drink my water...read why on this blog post...

2. Get more good QUALITY sleep...which means buy a new bed!!!

3. Continue working towards becoming the Next Food Network Star...which really means blogging more because I ultimately just want to learn more and share my knowledge others...

What are you intentions for 2015?

Need To Bring An Appetizer To Your New Year's Party, But Don't Have Much Time...Make My Prosciutto Sushi Wraps

These deliciously satisfying bundles of joy are quick & easy to make and so much fun to eat...You can get really creative with the filling, but don't fill them up too much or they will break on you...

Ingredients

- 8 oz Arugula

- 2 cups Shredded Carrots

- 2 Medium Red Peppers, thinly sliced & seeded

- 3 to 4 oz Prosciutto de Parma, not too thinly sliced (if it's too thin, it'll break when you wrap them)

- 1 to 2 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil

- 1 to TBS White Wine Vinegar

- Salt & Pepper

Instructions

1. In a bowl, mix the Arugula, carrots and peppers.

2. Gradually sprinkle one TBS at a time, of olive oil and vinegar over the veggies. Taste as you go. Don't use too much or it will get soggy and nobody likes soggy greens!

3. Season the greens with salt & pepper, but don't use too much salt since the prosciutto is already pretty salty.

4. Place a slice of prosciutto on top of a cutting board. Put little handful greens at the end of the prosciutto and wrap it up like a sushi roll. If the prosciutto rips, don't worry, you can either make the cut where the rip happened or place another slice on top of the rip to help seal it up.

5. Repeat until all prosciutto slices are wrapped up. 

6. Cut them up in thirds, depending on the width of the prosciutto slices. 

Have a Healthy & Happy New Year's...

Red Wine Braised Lamb Shanks - Another One Pot Wonder

Lamb shanks may look challenging to make, but they are actually easier than apple pie (especially for me since I don't bake often). The 3 points of performance when cooking lamb shanks are the following:

1. Season well, the seasoning is foundation for the dish.

2. Sear all over. 

3. Cook low & slow (it's a muscular part and takes awhile for the connective tissue to breakdown).  

Ingredients

- 1 shank person (I usually make extra for leftovers)

- 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped

- 10 garlic cloves

- 1 sweet potato, roughly chopped

- 1 jalapeño, chopped

- 1 leek, roughly chopped

- 5 carrots

- 5 celery stalks

- 3 cups red wine

- Seasoning: salt, peper, cumin, curry powder, paprika, turmeric

- Coconut, ghee, or lard (fat) for searing the shanks and sautéing the veggies

Red Wine Reduction Veggie Puree

- 2 to 3 cups braised veggies & drippings

- 8 oz coconut milk, canned

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees

2. Completely season the shanks.

3. In a dutch oven (or cast iron skillet if you are using crock pot instead of the oven) heat fat over high and place shanks in pot.

4. Sear all sides and reserve the seasoned oil. 

5. Turn off heat and let cool. 

6. In the meantime, roughly cut up veggies.

7. Over medium heat sweat onions and garlic for about 5 minutes, until translucent.

8. Add the rest of the veggies in batches starting with the jalapeño, sweet potatoes, leeks, carrots, and celery. Add more fat if needed.

9. Add red wine and whisk in all the brown bits at the bottom of the pan.

10. Place lamb shanks back into the pot and add water until about halfway covered. 

11. Bring to a boil.

12. Place the lid on and put in the oven.

13. Cook in the oven at 275 for 3 hours. Since I wasn't home, I just left it in the oven until I got home which was about 6 hours. If you don't have that much time to cook and let simmer for dinner you can cook it at a higher temperature for shorter time (325 degrees for 3-4 hours or 375 for 2-3 hours).

14. Cooking the lamb shanks low and slow will result in liquid evaporation and meat shrinkage, another thing to keep in mind when determining how much to cook per person. 

15. To make the Red Wine Reduction Veggie Puree, add the braised veggies and drippings to the food processor and puree.

16. Slowly pour in the coconut milk and puree until silky smooth.

17. Serve on top of a bed of mixed greens and top with braised veggies and the Red Wine Reduction Veggie Puree.

Try this recipe out the next time you have a dinner party or just cooking for two...don't be afraid to cook enough to have leftovers... 

I used my leftover the next day in a cast iron skillet hash with a few fried eggs on top...