Starting over

It's been a long time, and a lot has happened! I have a brand new little girl in my life, and I'm inspired to get my eating back on track. I had a lot of difficulty during pregnancy with food, so I ate what I could stomach. This has led me way off the paleo path. Today being August 1st, I decided it was a good time to recommit to the lifestyle. My plan is to stick to the primal blueprint, which I was successful with before getting pregnant. The rules are similar to a whole 30, except a few more things are allowed. There is also an exercise portion to the challenge, which my postpartum body could use! However, I am nursing a newborn so I won't be limiting carbs from fruit and starchy veggies, and I will increase my fat and protein intake. So here we are at day1!   

This is the primal blueprint challenge in a nutshell. 

Reintroduction-Rice

So I decided to reintroduce rice, since I do enjoy eating it now and then. I bought some organic texmati rice and ate it with dinner. It was fine, I had no reaction whatsoever. 

I think I will add rice in moderation, just because sometimes, I like it. I see it as comparable to a white potato. 

Otherwise, I went shopping and stuck with mostly whole 30 foods. It's pretty easy now that I know what I prefer from my 30 days. 

Dairy reintroduction results

Ok, I know I have issues with dairy. It started when I was a teenager. I was convinced something was really wrong with me because I had constant stomach pain. After ruling out lots of possible causes, I decided to try cutting out my daily cereal (thinking it was the actual cereal, not the milk) and felt better. After much trial and error, I learned I could not tolerate many kinds of dairy. Yogurt seemed to agree with me, though, and I have been eating it every morning for years. Now I'm reconsidering. After everything I have read about dairy, I don't really see the point of consuming it, especially since I can't easily get my hands on some raw milk from grassfed cows. 

Day 1 I tried kerrygold butter on veggies, day 2 was plain yogurt with honey, and day 3, cheddar cheese. The butter really had no affect. The yogurt made me feel a little off, and my stomach hurt for the first time in 30 days. The cheese was the worst. I felt pretty sick last night, and after taking a lactaid pill, I felt 100% better, so I know it was the dairy. I don't know if it was the cumulative effects or one of those things by itself, but I learned that if I don't want to feel that way I probably should stay away from dairy. Lesson learned. 

Next up are grains. I'm going to have some rice with dinner tonight. I don't think I have any issues with grains, but I won't be reintroducing wheat since we know my husband is allergic (through a blood test) and I don't usually have it in the house. I like rice sometimes, and will eat rice pasta on occasion, so it's something I want to test. In terms of whether rice is a good idea, it is part of the primal blueprint shopping list (in moderation). While it doesn't really have any real benefit, it's not harmful to your gut, either. I am referring to white rice, brown rice has been found to be problematic because it still includes the parts that may harm your gut. 

White rice is essentially like white potatoes. Not good if you are trying to lose weight (I'm not) and doesn't offer you any real nutritional benefit, but sometimes it's nice to have a side of rice with your stir fry! It won't hurt you in moderation, and I know I won't binge on rice. 

Day 1-Reintroduction

Today was my first non whole 30 day!!! I stayed pretty compliant anyway, but I had honey in my tea, and kerrygold BUTTER on my veggies. I decided for the next few days I am reintroducing dairy (the kind I thought I could tolerate, since I was always lactose intolerant). Butter was first! I want some yogurt next. I'm going to stick to full fat plain yogurt with some honey or fresh fruit. Hopefully I can tolerate it because I love yogurt! 

Also, butter never tasted so good! 

Day 30!!! Tuesday, February 4th

I did it! I am so proud of myself! 30 days of no grains, sugar, or dairy!!! I loved the whole 30 challenge and I am so glad I did it! 

So, when I started this journey I was not expecting to lose weight. I am already thin and petite. This was not about weight loss for me, it was about adopting a more healthy lifestyle and kicking my sugar addiction. I used to eat a sugary snack, and I'm talking a bag of m&m's, cookies, muffins, entenmann's cakes, pie, etc., at least twice a day. This was not aligned with the health I wanted to achieve. I have not touched or even had cravings for that stuff during this journey. I feel really great and know that my body functions much better without the highs and crashes. 

I slipped up a few times accidentally. I ate baby corn, which really is the young version of corn! I only had two little pieces, but it was technically off plan. I also had soup with white potatoes and didn't even realize it until after the fact. Other than that, I was true to the plan. 

It was not hard. The food I made was delicious and I looked forward to every meal. This is not a difficult way to eat. I think anyone can do this, and should! I highly recommend reading the book. It's called "It starts with food"...I guarantee it will at least make you think about how your food choices affect you. 

Ok, on my final day, I ate: 

Breakfast: scrambled eggs

Lunch: chicken vegetable soup

Dinner: pepper and onion chicken sausage, green beans with lemon and salt, mixed vegetables.

Thank you for reading and tracking my progress! I would love any feedback on this blog. I plan to post recipes that I used, and I will continue posting other approved meals that I recommend. 

If you're on the fence about trying a whole 30, do it!!! 

Day 29-Monday, February 3rd

Today was just busy. Lots of snow and hard to get anything done! I am embarrassed to say that I didn't even eat dinner today, I just couldn't face cooking a whole meal. The weird thing is, I never was able to skip a meal and still feel ok. I think I am eating the proper proportions for my body type so that I'm not starving in between meals. 

Today I ate: 

Breakfast was 3 eggs fried in coconut oil. Very good. 

Lunch was my leftover turkey meatloaf, sweet potato fritters, and roasted cabbage. All of the leftovers tasted amazing, even reheated. 

Dinner: not much. I did have a banana with cashew butter in the afternoon, and late in the evening I had some mixed berries with coconut milk. 

Tomorrow is the final day!!!!

Day 28-Sunday, February 2nd

Today was a laid back Sunday. Not much to report, except I spent some time today deciding what I want to do after my 30 days. I think I'm definitely going to follow the primal blueprint for my every day life. I just feel like it really fits how I want to live. Check it out here: 

 http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-blueprint-21-day-challenge/#axzz2kI4Njmhv

I'm not following the 21 day challenge, I'm trying to make it a daily way of life. I think I can definitely stick to the foods on the list. I have had such a great experience with this whole 30, I really like the limitations in a way. It forced me to be creative within the constraints of the approved foods. I know I will allow myself to have special days where I eat whatever I want at a restaurant, or have birthday cake or Easter candy, but I broke my daily, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day, habit of wanting sugary snacks. That was the most important part of this to me. Since I got past that part, the rest is easy! 

Today I ate: 

Breakfast: bananas and almond butter

Lunch: broccoli omelette

Dinner: Oh my goodness, what a delicious dinner. I made turkey meatloaf with turkey, garlic, egg, and my secret ingredient...trader joe's new item, cashew meal! It really held the meatloaf together and kept the texture perfect. It did not add any kind of flavor at all.  

I also made sweet potato fritters and roasted cabbage. The cabbage was so amazing. The fritters were delicious. This may have been my favorite dinner so far! 

Tomorrow is Monday, and we are expecting more snow!!!