Whole30 - Day 28

I'm a little late on the post. My apologies to everyone. I've been under the weather since Saturday and have been resting as much as possible. I've been repeating to myself: "I'm young, healthy and strong. I am starting to feel better." I've never been one who takes being sick very well. I usually spiral into a negative tailspin and it's just not a good experience. My husband helped to give me a different perspective and mindset.

When I went to sleep on Monday night, I thought I was feeling better. I packed my gym bag so I could run at the gym before work. I had everything prepared to leave the house early. Well, that plan came crashing down when I awoke to congestion, fatigue, exhaustion and sinus pressure. My body needs time to recover and get rid of whatever this sickness is. I slept until 6:30, ate breakfast and left for work. I thought I was feeling ok enough to handle a workday. Oh, I was in for a rude awakening. After the slip 'n' slide of a drive to the office (it had snowed an inch or two Monday night and the side roads were a layer of ice), I spent a couple hours working. While sitting in my office, I started feeling nauseated and severe pressure in my head/eyes/ears. I just couldn't focus on anything but the pressure. I was constantly blowing my nose. I went home and rested a while on the couch. I decided to eat lunch, which was not an enjoyable experience. I actually felt like I was suffocating while eating, because I could barely breathe. I called the doctor after lunch, because it was just getting to be too much. Luckily, they were able to fit me in. I had a feeling going to the doctor would be a waste of time, but I was giving her the benefit of the doubt. The only positive things that came out of the visit are: I learned I had a fever, I do NOT have the flu and she wrote a prescription for an antibiotic.

That was my day in a nutshell. Oh, what a glamorous life I live.

Breakfast: I ate some egg casserole topped with a diced Roma tomato and bowl of blackberries on the side.

Lunch: Leftover almond butter & strawberry burger with sweet potato fries. So colorful and delicious. Just wish I could have breathed better as I was eating it.

Dinner: Turkey Tacos on Pure Wraps. I cooked the ground turkey with a couple cloves of garlic and seasoned it with chili powder, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, dried minced onions, sea salt, pepper and a few sprinkles of red pepper flakes. We topped our tacos with lettuce, tomato, avocado and salsa.

I wanted to blend up frozen bananas in my Vitamix (to make "ice cream") but it didn't happen. We went to pick up my prescription after dinner and by the time we got back, I was feeling completely nauseated. I felt horrible and didn't want to eat anything else at all. I needed to lie down and focus on something other than being sick. We watched an episode of NCIS and it helped get my mind off of things.

I took some medicine last night so I could sleep soundly. I ended up sleeping 9 1/2 to 10 hours. I'm apparently wiped out and needing all of this extra sleep (I typically only sleep 8 hours per night). I might take a short nap in a few minutes.

Hope you're all having a good week!

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 10

Double digits! Day 10 is in the books. Less than 3 weeks left of no sugar. I must say, today was the toughest yet. I woke up with the intent of running at the gym before work. However, I had another rough night of sleep. I decided to sleep past the first alarm and sleep until 6am. No morning workout for me. I packed a gym bag to bring to the office for a lunchtime workout. I watched last night's episode of The Office while doing my squats, sit-ups and push-ups. That show is hilarious! Meredith actually looks pretty good with a bald head. I'm also anxiously awaiting Erin and Pete to get together. It'll happen before the show ends. It has to! Oh, so what made today so tough? I was constantly hungry! I haven't felt that way for the entire Whole30 so far. I snacked both in the morning and afternoon.

Work was productive for the most part. The internet went down around 2pm and didn't come back on at all the rest of the day. Not a lot of work you can do when you can't access any systems. Before that happened, I took a break to run on the treadmill. It was definitely not an outside day. It started sleeting this morning and then it switched over to snow. Temps hovered around 30 degrees this morning and dropped throughout the day. I decided on a 5k run with some sprints in the middle. I threw in 100m/200m/300m/300m/200m/100m sprints in the middle. My legs moved a bit faster today. I really think yesterday's yoga made a difference.

Breakfast: Leftover bell peppers and onions, one piece of crumbled sausage and two over-medium eggs. Handful of blueberries and strawberries.

AM Snack: Unsweetened Banana Chips

All gone... how sad.

Lunch: Two Pure Wraps with lettuce, tomato, avocado, Dijon mustard and sauteed chicken tenders (I cooked them last night in a little olive oil with sea salt and pepper). I crushed up some Pizza Flax Snax and sprinkled them on top. Added a nice little crunch.

PM Snack: Apple (no picture)
Dinner: I made my own version of a tomato-meat sauce and served it atop a bunch of shredded zucchini. I had some cashew cream leftover from the other night, so I added it into the sauce at the end, along with some nutritional yeast. I drank the rest of my Strawberry Serenity Kombucha (about half the bottle).

It feels good to be home. The drive home from work was pretty ridiculous. There was a dusting of snow at my office (which is 9.5 miles from home). As I drove in the direction of home, the conditions quickly degraded. Heavy snow, strong winds, icy roads. I was driving 20-25mph up a huge hill and suddenly started fishtailing. I couldn't get any traction on the roads. I didn't couldn't make the turn onto the road that leads to my street, so I kept going to the next road and drove around the block. I drive a rear-wheel drive car and it doesn't drive well in the snowy winters. I shoveled the driveway quickly but not until after I took my shoes off, so I threw on my Croc sandals. Yeah, Croc sandals + snow + 19 degrees = frozen toes. My neighbor was going to use his snow blower, but couldn't get it started (flooded engine, he thought). Even so, I like our neighbors. This is an awesome street. Great people. 

Pictures just don't do justice. Snow-packed road on the drive home.

That's all for today. Goodbye, Friday. Hello, weekend! Do you have any fun plans? Workouts, running errands/shopping, Broncos game (watching it at the neighbor's house) and cooking this weekend for me. Good night! 

Whole30 - Day 9

I had another rough night of sleeping last night. I'm not sure what the deal is. It seems like I can sleep when I'm not supposed to be sleeping, but can't sleep when I need to. You know what I'm talking about? I can fall asleep easily in the morning after the first alarm goes off. I could take a nap right after work, but then wouldn't make dinner and would mess up my whole sleep schedule (let's not make it worse). 

I woke up this morning with every intention of riding bike on the trainer. The radio turned on at 5:30am and I just didn't have the motivation. I laid in bed until about 6am. Yoga popped into my head. Besides, my body has been a bit sore lately from all the squats (900 in the past 9 days!), sit-ups and push-ups. So... I found an online yoga website and did a 35-minute bend & stretch workout from Do Yoga With Me. They have a ton of workouts with varying degrees of difficulty. I can feel a difference in my body today. I feel like it alleviated some of the soreness and tension that was building up. I may have to incorporate yoga once per week. 

During my lunch hour, I got my second allergy shot of the week. I moved up to the "B" vial. Not sure what that means, but apparently, the dosage is progressing. Very minimal itching today, which is great. A couple weeks ago, I had a minor reaction to my cluster shots (3 shots in each arm in 2 hours). They cut back on my dosage and I'm doing the twice per week normal shots (1 in each arm per visit). I decided to swing by Vitamin Cottage before heading back to the office. I didn't buy much on this visit - just one bag of Spicy Flax Snax (only costs $4.15 at Vitamin Cottage), 2 - 6 oz containers of organic blueberries (on sale 2 for $5!) and a handful of assorted Larabars as a potential snack food in the upcoming weeks. 

Breakfast: Diced yellow squash, spinach, two scrambled egg, half of a small avocado and a few dashes of nutritional yeast. I added two all-beef snack sticks. 

Lunch: Leftover cauliflower soup w/ gremolata and sugar-free bacon. Simple salad with mixed greens, tomato and avocado. I made my own dressing with fresh-squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt and pepper. 

Dinner: Breakfast for dinner! I sauteed onions and bell peppers. Scrambled five eggs (four would have been enough) to split between my husband and me. I cooked up some sugar-free sausage. We ate our scrambled eggs/veggies/crumbled sausage and diced tomato on Pure Wraps. I cut up a cantaloupe, so we enjoyed a couple slices on the side. 

Now, I'm just sitting back enjoying the best night of television. Big Bang Theory. Two and a Half Men. Person of Interest. 

Tomorrow will be double digits! Happy Friday! This weekend I will be typing up a new recipe for you. Good night.