Whole30 - Day 26

Happy Monday morning! 

I am sitting here at home, still under the weather. I'm afraid my throat is still sore, but I don't feel the soreness as much because 1) I have gotten used to it and/or 2) My throat is coated with a layer of mucus. Yes, I know, too much information. I feel like my chest is heavy, yet I don't feel stuffiness when I take deep breaths. I'm not sure what the deal is. I've done a sinus rinse two days in a row now. Yes, I took the plunge. I was hesitant, even though my allergy doctor gave me one to test out. Looks like I'll need to go to the drug store to buy more of the saline packets. I did the saline rinse last night before bed. Bad idea! I was lying in bed and could barely breathe because of the drainage. It was going down my throat and into my nostrils. That's fun. I lied there for over an hour trying to sleep. Thank goodness for giant handkerchiefs to get you through the night. I'm certain it's my sinuses at this point. My head and ears are definitely feeling clogged. I really hope this improves today. 

So, it seems like when a woman is sick, she still does chores/cooks. I had food prep that needed to get done, so I spent time in the kitchen in the morning. I accomplished a lot, but it definitely didn't help the cause. I probably tired myself out even more. I cleaned and chopped veggies, made a breakfast casserole for the week and cooked a whole chicken in the Crock Pot. The chicken was so easy. I sliced one onion for the bottom. Next time, I will include carrots and celery too. I put the whole chicken on the onions and seasoned it with sea salt, pepper, garlic powder and dried onions. It cooked for 5 hours on high. The chicken just fell off the bones when I took it out. I saved the bones and cooking liquid to make chicken broth for the chicken minestrone soup (last night's dinner). Yum! 

Midday, I took a break to run with my husband. I read online that running can sometimes be a positive thing. I actually ended up running really slowly and only did 3.6 miles (my husband did 10.8!). I had very little energy in my body. I was happy to finish one neighborhood loop. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time before my half marathon, so I feel like I'm up against a wall. It looks like my weekend long runs will be longer than scheduled, just to get myself ready in time. I've run nine (maybe more) stand-alone half marathons and two half marathons as part of Ironman 70.3 races. My body will remember when race day comes, but I would prefer to be conditioned properly. 

Wow, I'm exhausted just reading that. By spending a few extra minutes on the weekend to prep for the week, it saves a huge amount of time when getting home from work and trying to get dinner on the table at a reasonable time. 

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with sliced beef hot dogs, zucchini, mushrooms and red bell peppers with diced avocado on top and a Pure Wrap on the side. I love making little breakfast tacos out of the Pure Wraps. I sipped on some Cranberry Kombucha throughout the morning. I was hoping the probiotics would help me. 

Lunch: I'm so happy for leftovers. We had beef stew from a few days ago. I did cook up some cauliflower (very small pieces) in a bit of coconut oil. I got distracted, so it didn't get stirred enough and burned a bit. It still tasted fine, but that's the black specks you see in the beef stew. We also ate our leftover Paleo "Corn" Bread. 

Dinner: I put together some chicken minestrone soup. It was inspired by Mmm...Coffee's minestrone soup that we ate on Thursday. I've made vegetarian minestrone (with beans) in my Pre-Paleo days and loved it. After the inspiration from Jami at Mmm...Coffee, I knew it couldn't be hard to put together a Paleo version. Recipe will be posted later (post-Whole30). While the soup was cooking, I made another batch of Paleo crackers. We ate a bit of freshly-cut pineapple on the side (they were on sale for $1 each last week!). The pineapple was quite sweet and a perfect ending to the meal. 

I'm hoping to get back on track and post today's meals before going to bed tonight. Hope you're all having a good start to your week. 

Question: Can you believe it's almost February?! Where did the time go? 

Whole30 - Day 22

I'm in the home stretch! I'm looking forward to having a little more flexibility with my Paleo Lifestyle when this is complete. Don't get me wrong, I will still follow a Whole30 concept for a good portion of every month. My husband and I just talked about this yesterday. We will probably do a Whole30 every 6 months or so. It's a great way to cleanse the body.

I woke up to the 5:30 alarm and halfway slept until 6:15. I already planned on running during lunchtime today since it was supposed to be warm. After getting out of bed, I did my squats and push-ups while making breakfast. Work wasn't as hectic today, so I did have the chance to go out and run as planned. I ran about 34 minutes outside. No 67 degrees. No sunshine either. It was maybe 50 or 55 degrees and thick overcast. Good thing I didn't pack a tank top. I did warm up after a few minutes of running though. I decided to go into the fitness room to run some faster spurts on the treadmill. I got in 4.5-5 miles of running in today, which is solid for mid-week. After work, I headed to the allergy specialist to get another set of shots. I'm only going twice per week, so I won't be going back until Monday.

Breakfast: I cooked up a zucchini, mushrooms, tomato and turkey hot dogs with a couple scrambled eggs. I also had a Pure Wrap on the side.

Lunch: Leftover beef stew with avocado, a biscuit and handful of crackers.

Dinner: I made homemade fish nuggets by cutting up a couple cod fillets, dipping them in egg and then in a seasoned almond meal. I cooked them in a skillet with olive and grapeseed oils. On the side, we ate pureed cauliflower and broccoli slaw mixed with a little Lemonaise.

I'm pretty spent tonight. The allergy shots probably have something to do with my sleepiness. Tomorrow night, I won't be cooking! We're going to eat dinner at Mmm...Coffee and watch a hockey game. It'll be a blast! Mmm...Coffee is a Paleo coffeeshop in Denver. They serve salads, soups, treats and assorted beverages. If you're a coffee drinker, they have coconut milk and almond milk. We love it!

Question: Do you go out during the work week? Or do you wait until the weekends? We typically wait until the weekend since we wake up so early.

Whole30 - Day 21

21 days to break a bad habit or set a good habit. I'm on day 21. I'm not gonna lie - a huge piece of chocolate cake brownie with buttercream frosting sounds pretty good. I'm not craving it, but I have thought about it. What is stopping me? Well, I'm still on Whole30, silly! There are Paleo versions of brownies that are pretty good and I could enjoy following the 30 days. I'm just not sure I want to ruin such a good thing. I've conquered my sugar addiction and know I will end up eating sugar (in the form of honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar) in the future, but want to limit it the best I can. I want to spend my sugar allowance on something really phenomenal.

Today was a rough day. I woke up to the 5:30 alarm and managed to get myself out of bed within a few minutes. I put on my cycling clothes and headed to the basement for an early morning workout. I did 3x15min segments of cycling with jumping rope, squats, sit-ups and push-ups in between. It felt pretty good and was the best part of my day (up until I got home from work). I worked for 8+ hours straight and was on the phone with our payroll service provider for a good portion of my day. I just couldn't figure out a specific issue. At least the customer service rep was a nice girl. We were on the phone for quite a while. Our names are almost identical (first and last) and we are the same age. Good conversation. Everyone needs some conversation. Next time you talk to a customer service rep, ask where they are. They'll usually tell you. You may have a connection with that location and it'll start a conversation while they're helping you. 

Breakfast: 2-egg omelette with mushrooms, green bell peppers, sliced turkey hot dogs and a smear of cashew "alfredo" sauce. There was a little bit of banana pancake batter left, so I cooked those. (I only ate half of them... just wasn't in the mood.) I had a small glass of strawberry-banana juice on the side. I couldn't get a good picture of the juice, but you can find it here. 

Lunch: Leftover pork chop, roasted zucchini/yellow squash and an apple with almond butter. I didn't snap a picture because I was rushed to eat while on hold. It was a crazy day. 

Dinner: Crockpot Beef Stew - my own creation. I chopped all the veggies on Sunday and put everything together this morning. I'll write up the recipe this weekend. Here's a summary of ingredients: onions, garlic, carrots, parsnips, celery, beef roast (grass-fed), tomato paste, combo of veggie and chicken broth, thyme, basil, oregano, sea salt and pepper. I did coat the roast with coconut flour and then browned it in a frying pan with a little coconut oil. I cooked everything on low for 8 hours and then shredded the beef. It would have tasted good with diced tomatoes as well. In addition to the stew, we ate some crackers. I also made these biscuits using coconut oil. We were going to eat the biscuits along with the soup, but ended up saving them for dessert. I pureed some blackberries in my Magic Bullet and poured it over our biscuits. Yum! 

I would have to say the biscuits were the best food I ate today. Perfectly flaky. We have leftovers for lunch tomorrow, so I'm already looking forward to that. 

Question: What was the best thing you ate today? 

Well, I'm ready to hit the hay at 7:30pm. I think it's about time to take my medicine and turn in for the night. By the way, "Big Bang Theory" is probably the funniest show on TV. OMG, I cannot stop laughing. Laughter is good for the soul. Good night!