I Have Become Cumbersome

Anybody else hear those crickets that have been hanging out here on the blog?  Yeah, me neither.  Pretty much, I hit the halfway point of Whole30 and stopped blogging about my experience.  I had some pretty epic ideas for posts which mainly centered around the song that I wanted to use for the title/video.  With all the cooking I've been doing, I've been checking out a lot of gadgets so I was going to write a "review" of what I'd be using and use the Inspector Gadget theme song (I know you all have that stuck in your head now).  Another idea was to write a post about what I liked about the diet and what I didn't like (song choice:  You Suck by the Murmurs).  But as usual time and my mind got away from me so you'll just have to imagine the awesomeness of my posts.

It is official though.  I have become one of those people.  You know, the ones who refuse to go to a specific restaurant because they "just can't eat anything there".  That's so not true.  I don't care what kind of diet you're on or picky an eater you are, there is ALWAYS something on the menu.  I was invited to a Women's Resource Center's breakfast the other morning.  Me being the absentminded individual that I am didn't even think about that breakfast = food I might not be able to eat.  We were served little cups of fruit and then a plate of some sort of quiche (I think), sausage, biscuits and some other stuff.  My solution?  I just asked for a bigger bowl of fruit.  Yum!  I've gone out to dinner a few times since I started this diet and each time I've managed to find something on the menu that passed for Whole30.  So I'm not really one of those people but I am a little cumbersome to feed. 

I'm on the downhill stretch though.  It seems like this last week has been the toughest out of the entire month.  Food that I don't normally crave suddenly looks like manna from heaven.  Pizza?  Please!! Ice cream?  Yes!!  I am sick of nuts though.  I really don't want any more almonds or walnuts.  Still addicted to kale though. 

Days 17-24:  Such a slacker!!  Ha!  Dinner out on the 17th day (spinach and strawberry salad from McGlinn's), sledding on the 19th (no special cocoa for me) and the Women's Resource Center breakfast on the 24th day.  Lots of Thai beef lettuce wraps, spicy basil beef and spaghetti for dinner.

WCotD = pizza, ice cream and more pizza

I'm So Sick

Day 8 & 9 of Whole30.

Well, healthy eating apparently doesn't keep the creepy crud away.  Nothing spectacular, just a little virus that is spreading like wildfire through the area.  Another few days and I should be right as rain.  Sara had it first (thanks!!) and suggested I take Wellness Formula.  She swears by them.  My first thoughts after I got over the sticker shock were (1) good golly, horse pills!!! and (2) What.Is.That.Smell?!  I bought the tablet version so I only have to take three of these suckers every three hours.  There are a lot of things in the ingredient list that aren't Whole30 but in the interest of getting healthy again in time for the weekend, I'm going to view this as a necessary evil and not technically cheating.

Last night, I baked up some of the Kale Chips I mentioned a few days ago.  I might have a new favorite crispy treat.  It reminded me so much of the crispy seaweed dish that I used to get every time my roommate Natalie and I went and ate at the noodle shop in Greenwich (UK).  Yummy and quick to make.  I might have to find some seaweed...

Nothing exciting on the food front since my appetite has gone the way of the wind with the sickness.  Eating mostly fruit and drinking lots of fluids.

WCotD = PB&J - just couldn't stop thinking about it!

Girl With the Most Cake

Day 7 - one week down, three more to go!!

I finished up my first week on the Whole30 diet on Valentine's Day. Nothing like a sea of heart-shaped boxes full of chocolate and Valentine's candy to keep my sweet tooth en pointe. I did really well until I went to the grocery store after work to get more veggies. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, looked so good. Stuff I would have never, ever eaten even if I wasn't trying to eat whole looked absolutely fabulous. Note to self: Stay out of the grocery store when you're hungry. It doesn't help.


I didn't make breakfast for myself but I wasn't really hungry so I just had a banana. For lunch, I had a new recipe to try, Basil Tomatoes, along with some left over cold pork chops and my usual almonds. Dinner was the remainder of the pork chops and I've officially gone off pork. Just the thought of making another pork chop sends shivers down my spine.


A suggestion for natural sources of calcium was kale. I picked up a bunch at Safeway and will try to make Melicious' "Kale Chips" when I'm feeling a bit better. I seemed to have caught the crud that is going around the hospital. Again. Never fails, get the flu shot, get sick. Don't get the flu shot, don't get sick.


The tutus are coming along quite well. I broke my sewing machine needle last night sewing my tulle ruffles onto the waist band. Oops. Guess I don't know my own (machine) strength. Or it might have been because I sewed over one of the 1, 204 straight pins I had in there holding it all together. I calculated the square footage of tulle in my tutu. If my math skills are up to snuff, I have 2,508 square feet of emerald green tulle all snugged up into a puffy skirt.


WCotD = Candy.Cake.Chocolate.

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!!

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