Starting Whole30

I know I'm late for a Jan 1 start but I finally had enough of feeling pudgy and bloated.  Paleo cookies are fun but I could feel all these paleo-fied junk foods catching up to me.  I decided to do Whole30

The rules

Simple enough right?  I almost had a panic attack when I realized every single bacon I could find had a form of sugar in it. Also, I messed up TWICE in the first day.

Mistake #1: One of my favorite things is Manuka honey .  I've eaten a tablespoon before bed for years now.  I had just finished a jar of honey the night before, so I rinsed out the jar to put in the recycling and without thinking LICKED THE LID.  Dumb.

Mistake #2: My nighttime ritual is a cup of sleepytime tea followed by sublingual melatonin.  I had my usual cup of tea and popped in a melatonin tab.  It took me about 20 seconds to figure out something was wrong... SWEET I TASTE SWEET.  Sure enough, the melatonin I was using had sugar alcohols like sorbitol which are not Whole30 approved.  I spat the pill out but  those 2 mistakes were enough to make me start over today.

Yesterday I was SO OBSESSED with food.  When driving around I would start salivating at the sight of restaurants I don't even like.  I wanted pizza and wine.  Lots and lots of wine.  I almost caved and made a smoothie- SMOOTHIES ARE NOT WHOLE30 COMPLIANT- but instead I just had a bowl of berries with coconut milk and shredded coconut.  A "roughie", if you will.  It hit the spot. 

What did I eat?

paleo egg muffins with bell peppers and onion

I made paleo egg muffins without the ham because I couldn't find ham or bacon without sugar in it :( This made them a lot less tasty.  I smothered them with guacamole instead.

I finally figured out prosciutto is a (pricey) substitute for bacon but at least the ingredients are just pork and salt.  I fried up some prosciutto and Brussels sprouts with coconut oil and garlic

prosciutto and Brussels sprouts

It was good practice and I'll start again tomorrow.  I also need to take some "before" pics so I can see how much better I look in 30 days.  Wish me luck!

Have you done Whole30? What were your results? What are your favorite Whole30 approved recipes?

So good you'll want to convert paleo vegan gluten-free chocolate chip cookies

I have tried several paleo chocolate chip cookie recipes and Paleo Spirit's is by far the best

The ingredients:

• 2 cups almond flour- used blanched for finer cookies, almond meal for heartier, coarser cookies
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup melted coconut oi
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1.5 cups Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and the wet ingredients in a small bowl.  Mix the wet stuff in with the dry stuff.   Spoon onto cookie sheet and bake @350ºF for 10-12 minutes.

These were so good my non-paleo friends raved about them and their interest in paleo recipes and foods was definitely piqued! Enjoy

Empty ammo shelves

I went to a local sporting goods store today looking for ammo.  The shelves are bare of 9mm and .223

Is it like this where you are? 

I did, however, find a leafy camo mask

Frosty 5K

Three weeks of the holidays, work vacation, gluttony, upper respiratory infections and ZERO RUNNING my friend and I found ourselves due for our monthly 5k.  It was her birthday and she still went out! It was so cold but we bundled up and headed out

Our goal was to have fun and finish and use this as a wakeup call for the half marathon we have at the end of April- mission accomplished.  It was a nice route through residential areas, hilly, windy, and freezing cold but we finished it together with a chip time of 30:19.  It would have been nice to finish it below 30 min- next time!

lululemon's the mat

My Christmas present came in!

lululemon's the mat.  I got black because I'm boring

I did some test vinyasas on my kitchen floor

It's very stinky but hopefully that will dissipate with time.  It lasted through a heated vinyasa class and a very sweaty Bikram express class (60 minutes but 110 degrees!)  I'm impressed so far

Santa Run 5K

In accordance with my goal to run a 5k race every month until my half-marathon in April it is now DECEMBER so time to get moving.

I enlisted my boyfriend to run this race with me. He'd ran part of a relay marathon years before but never ran a solo 5k race before and so we ran together the whole way.  It was really nice, not too cold, and took us on a nice scenic route of downtown.

at the finish line

Our goal was to finish and have fun.   We made it with a chip time of 31:34.  So proud :')

Turkey Trot 5k

I've never been a runner.  I've always thought it was boring!  Also I've never really admired runners*' bodies- they just don't have as enviable physiques as yogis generally.  But I thought what the heck, it might be fun with a buddy.  And it IS! That's the secret, running and chatting with a friend.

running buddy

We started running 3-4 miles a couple of times a week in the park.  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it and how it really wasn't as difficult as I was expecting- I guess hot yoga counts as a cardio workout!  Also, you can still wear lululemon.

running trail at the park

 I signed up for my first 5k since I was 16 years old.  My goal was to run the race in under 30 minutes.  My brother and his friend ran the race as well as 1100 other people.

such a merry party

 I was so nervous but I did some pigeon poses, chugged a Vega, and (ugh) even managed to choke down some really terrible tasting aspartame (ugh!) laced caffeine gum before lining up at the start line.  Also I made sure to listen to listen to this song from space jam ten times in a row to get me #stoked

DID I MEET MY GOAL AND RUN IT UNDER 30 MIN???

YES  

My chip time was 27:28!  Not too shabby, huh?  Anyways the experience was enough that I signed up for a HALF-MARATHON in April and I've resolved to run at least one race a month until then.

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Gotta outrun those zombies and tweakers if TSHTF right?



*distance runners that is, sprinters look goooooood