Put the Lime in the Coconut

Today (Day 6) had to be the yummiest day of all (so far).  I have to tell you, I'm absolutely in love with coconut oil.  That stuff is just tasty and it doesn't make things all greasy.  If I fall off the Whole30 wagon, I'm pretty sure I'll stick to cooking with coconut oil.  Makes me feel all tropically.

Foods for the day - I started off with eggs, chopped up onions and tomatoes, a clove of garlic and a handful of baby spinach all scrambled up with the coconut oil.  Delicious.  I didn't even need to dose it up with pepper and salt, it was so tasty.

Lunch/Dinner was stir-fried garlic asparagus and more of the garlic fried pork chops.  Anyone sensing a trend?  I'm loving me some garlic.  No sparkly boys will be watching me sleep, that's for sure.  Ha!

Snacked during our volleyball game on some home made ice tea and walnuts/almonds.

I'm definitely feeling better, not as woozy/dizzy, since I've upped my calorie intake.  Still need to work on getting more calcium in the diet.  I'm not having the weird cravings as much and my appetite is a little more under control.  I made it through the day without craving something sweet as well.  So looks like I'm well on my way.  Now I just need to get some more running in.  Maybe instead of spending the afternoon sewing 27 yards of sequin trim onto 27 yards of tulle?  But it was fun and my tutu is going to be pretty bad a$$.  I should be ready for Thursday's Bling Session with the girls. 

WCotD = Pepperoni Chips

My knife injury from Day 2 has not healed, or begun to heal.  I suppose that I (1) should have gone to see a doctor when I first did the slice n dice and (2) if I could stop smacking my finger into things so it bleeds more would also be beneficial.  Nurse Carrie says I have to cut the skin flap off...  Yuck.

I'm not really sure why there are gorilla's playing the guitar and the piano but it somehow seemed appropriate.

That Funny Feeling in my Tummy

Day 4 (Friday):  Unorganized Me didn't pack a lunch so made do with leftover salad from Thursday and let me tell you, those onions didn't weaken overnight.  Ha!  Good thing I didn't have any meetings... For dinner, I threw some pork chops in a pan with some fresh garlic and coconut oil and it was pretty tasty.  I ended up babysitting for a friend Friday night, so I took my snacks and my tulle and very nearly finished up Bretnie's St. Patrick's Day dash tutu. WCotD = Milk.  Saw a guy in Safeway with a jug of milk and it took all my effort not to tackle him and steal his milk.  Yes, I know there's probably 40 other gallons of milk at the rear of the store but I betcha it wouldn't have been as tasty as the jug of milk I "won".

Day 5 (Saturday):  Woke up sick to my stomach.  I think all these veggies are wrecking havoc with my tummy.  Because I finally remembered to get eggs from the grocery store (very nearly checked out with out them), I had scrabbled eggs with zucchini, bell peppers and onions for breakfast, left over pork chops for lunch and then packed up my usual snacks of green grapes, oranges, walnuts and almonds for a trip out to Soap Lake for some roller skating.  They didn't want us to bring in outside food so I felt a bit like a fugitive sneaking grapes in the back corner of the skating rink.  Look at this rebel!!  WCotD = gummy worms.  The Roy kids were having a ball in the backseat eating gummy worms on the way back from Soap Lake and now I. Need. Gummy. Worms!!

Greek Cucumber-Tomato Salad

(Recipe from The PaleoDiet by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel, p248)
Serves 6

• 1 large cucumber, cut into half slices 
• 2 medium tomatoes, cut into eighths
• ¼ red onion, very thinly sliced
• ½ green bell pepper, sliced thinly
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper

Mix the cucumber, tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper in a bowl. Toss with the lemon juice and oil. Add black pepper to taste.

My thoughts:  Very tasty, simple/fast to make.  Next time I will put less red onion in since it kind of overpowered the rest of the salad (especially after sitting over night in the fridge).  More green pepper. 

Ingredients:

You Spin My Head Right Round

I was too busy last night making fabulous tutus and taking ridiculous photos to post about Day 3 of the Whole30 diet last night so you're just going to get the highlights.

1.  Nearly passed out in Panther Circuit (need more calories!!)
2.  Nearly sliced my left pinky off (need proper supervision in the kitchen!!)
3.  Survived my first "meal" out (packed my own sack dinner)
4.  Made a tomato/cucumber/pepper/onion salad (yummy if not a little onion-heavy)
5.  Made  a tutu for the St. Patrick's Day Dash (started, next week is the Bling Session)
6.  WCotD = Salami (it was just sitting there, in front of me saying "Eat Me!!")

I could have provided Flo Rida's version but figured the Chipmunks version added a little bit extra to the occasion (plus, I spent Super Bowl Sunday watching animated movies so I'm sort of in the mood).

Healthy Body, Sick Mind?

Day two on the Island (aka the diet) and the natives are getting restless.  I could have cheerfully chewed off a couple of fingers and toes (protein, right?!) around 11pm last night when I woke up absolutely ravenous with nothing in the house to eat.  Luckily, Stella and Quinn were willing to share their carrot stick treats so I could eat and go back to sleep.  Stella paid me back with four ice cold feet to the lower back.  Good thing she's cute...

Today's food choices consisted of banana and apple slices for breakfast, plain water, a banana pre-run, rest of the curry for lunch, an orange for an afternoon snack, a lightly peppered piece of beef for dinner before heading out to derby practice, a banana and some walnuts for my evening snack.  I felt pretty good all day, even slogged out a 2 mile run (first time since November).  Managed to make it through the afternoon without dying for something sweet and sugary.  But that doesn't mean there wasn't a weird craving.  It just hit later in the day.  Weird Craving of the Day (WCotD) was for Easy Cheese.  You know that awful yet oh so delicious stuff in a can?  Yeah.  That.  Anyone who shows up at my front door on Day 31 with a can of that $h!t will be mine FOREVER. 

Would go great with Bacon Vodka.  Just saying.

I've been looking at recipes out of the Paleo Diet book (the original, not the cookbook) and some of the recipes look pretty tasty!! Lemon Pepper Pork Steaks - I'm looking at you.  I've also ordered a couple other books from the library based on recommendations from friends.  Bought a tub of coconut oil.  Chunky.  Different.  We'll see how that goes...

I'm pretty sure I'll dream of cheese again tonight.  Yummy, nasty stuff from a can.  What can I say, healthy body...sick, sick mind.  I'll leave you with Operation Ivy singing the song of the day - the lyrics are pretty accurate:

Expensive vitamin pills and wheat germ on your windowsill

Schedule's hectic and you got no time to kill

Earning money and you're spending it the right way

Just in such a rush

You don't know if it's night or day

5:30 get up, run run run

Then you work eight hours slaving under the gun

Your little world's based on lies lies lies

Always rushing but you're never ever satisfied...

Healthy body sick mind

Working overtime

Healthy body sick mind

Too hectic, too hectic

Healthy body sick mind

Why don't you justify

It's just a matter of time

Sick body sick mind

The money you spend on running shoes could feed me for a week

Your plans are laid so well you can't even sleep

Pursuit of happiness got your life locked under martial law

You got everything to lose so you're paranoid about some fatal flaw

You Could Make Me Whole Again

Today's blog post is brought to you by the number 30.  As in Whole 30.  Today I started the Whole30 diet, which according to the website, is supposed to "Push the “reset” button with your metabolism, systemic inflammation, and the downstream effects of the food choices you’ve been making" by "Cut[ing] out all the inflammatory, insulin-spiking, calorie-dense but nutritionally sparse food groups for a full 30 days."  You may interpret this as eating nothing but protein, vegetables and fruits for a whole month.  No dairy, no grains, no alcohol...  I interpret this is as "Holy crap, what have I gotten myself into?!"

Day 1:  Mmm....Bananas and Apples for breakfast followed by a nice big cup of plain black coffee.  It has never taken me so long to finish a cup of coffee before in my entire life.  Lunch was a delicious bowl of my second attempt at making a Thai curry (recipe courtesy of my favorite "Curie").  My mouth was on fire!!  (which was probably better than my eyebrow being on fire but that's a whole different story....).  I thought I was doing pretty good but two o'clock rolled around and I was DYING!  I knew for sure I wasn't going to make it 30 days.  I needed chocolate.  And Peanut Butter.  Or anything!!  Off to the cafeteria for a banana and an orange.  Please to say that I survived the first attempt to sabotage myself.  Add another cup of plain black coffee for my evening date and another bowl of my curry for dinner.  A nice big tall glass of water is my nightcap.

I'm going to definitely have to work on some of the other recipes since I don't see myself eating curry (no matter how delicious) twice a day for 30 days straight. 

In other news, the indoor soccer season is now over.  We might not have finished first but we didn't finish last.  I [finally] scored a goal, and it was within the first minute of the game so Go Me!!  I also ended up with a rather sexy bruise on my left thigh courtesy of some young high school whipper snapper kicking the ball and me being in its direct path.  Little bit of limping the following day...  I've healed up just in time for indoor volleyball to begin.  Looking forward to the season... It's the first time any of us have played with the Eastmont Parks and Recreation organization so we'll see how it all goes.  I'm making team jerseys because I'm a nerd and I like to do crafty things.

Speaking of crafty things, this coming Thursday marks the first offical "She's Crafty" night.  We're making tutus for the St. Patty's Day Dash that is coming up awfully soon (I really should start running...).  I have 360 yards of sequin trim to put to good use.  I don't think the race will ever be the same.

All this talk of whole foods reminded me of Atomic Kitten.  I prefer their remake of Eternal Flame but since the lyrics didn't really fit in with the post, I'll leave you with their song "Whole Again" which this diet is supposed to do.  I'll let you know how that pans out...

And In Other News...

Has anyone else seen noticeable differences in their brain functions after a morning workout?  Seriously think my brain cells have been catching a ride with all the snot making a very slow exit from my body (I got the flu for Christmas, woo!!) 

Case in point:  I decide to have a slice of cheese.  Get cheese out of the fridge.  Realize it is cold in the house.  Go turn on the heater right that second because if I don't, I'll forget.  Go sit down at the computer.  Surf for a bit.  Jump up and freak out (a little).  I forgot about the cheese.  Check the usual hiding spots for the animals (since surely they stole my cheese).  Can't find it.  Look on the counters.  Not there.  Wonder, did I even get it out of the fridge?  Check fridge.  Not there.  Search the kitchen, living room and entry way.  Again.  Not there.  Go back to the computer.  Bag of cheese sitting right there.  Yes.  Exactly where I started this whole exercise in memory lapse.  Might be time to head to bed (and put down the sharp objects).