ShieldMaiden

This was my first dinner on Whole30 and whoah! It was amazing! The recipe didn't have any serving suggestions, so I put it on a bed of spring greens. The salsa is the real hero here, and a definite keeper! I will eat this on its own and I think it would be great on an omelette or even on seafood. This salsa is spicy with the jalapeño and red onion, but also sweet and tart because of the strawberries and lime! You could easily alter it to your spice preference by altering the jalapeño content but I thought it was perfect as written. I used quite a bit of the salsa on top and it was so flavorful, that dressing was completely unnecessary. I made some iced tea using a combination of Earl Grey and Green Tea, and then added fresh strawberries and some fresh mint! It's gorgeous (as you can see below) and delicious enough to make for non- Whole30 compliant guests, they will never know... lol! https://www.wellplated.com/strawberry-chicken-with-avocado/

This is so good! She's leaves it kind of open as to what veg you use in this so I shredded a purple cabbage, a green cabbage, and 4 carrots to create the base for this. It made an entire gallon ziplock bag full! lol! I also added cashews to the pan at the stage where you toss the shrimp back in and then I added cilantro and a hard boiled egg on top. This is definitely getting added to my regular rotation! https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/shrimp-egg-roll-in-a-bowl-paleo-whole30/

Woooooohooooo! *dance party*

Thank you! I will systematically reintroduce but I think I may just do the slow roll because right now I am not really feeling like I am missing or craving anything. I think this weekend my friend is teaching me to make Macarons, so I need to scrutinize the ingredient list because that may be my first reintroduction. Thanks, I will look for that book! I wonder if I just stay on whole30 if I would continue to lose more weight naturally or if 10lbs is my max. I feel like I should lose maybe just 10-20 for health reasons and comfort. Whole30 this is pretty easy for me, so if that is all I need to do, that would be great...

It wasn't even hard after the first 3 days! But the first three days I felt a little lightheaded and just out of it, I increased plated fat and the general quantity of food I was eating and that feeling went away. Day 3 was quite a lot of time in the bathroom. ha ha! But after that it was smooth sailing. I have been telling a lot of people about the plan because it has really helped me. I think so many of our health problems can be simply solved with nutrition. Things I noticed during my 30 days: My brain started to work more quickly and efficiently, it just felt very sharp and fast! My energy was more consistent and stable. I barely drink coffee now, I find I just don't even crave it like I did. My skin looks healthier (though I still need to figure out what is causing my break outs. hormonal? Just need more time on the plan?). And I lost 10 lbs. I want to lose a little bit more to feel more comfortable, so I am going to try Noom next. It seems pretty useful so far! Now that I have healthy eating under control, I think it is time to focus on exercise and caloric intake (I think I am eating too much salad dressing). Yay!

Fantastic! Please report back on what you find out about reintroduction and the migraines.

Holy Crap! 20lbs! That's amazing! How great to be able to kick a medication to the curb! That's huge!!!

Hurray! Congrats! TODAY is my last day!!!

Sunday 6/2/19 Breakfast - 4 Eggs with 1/4 of an Avocado and Franks Red Hot Dinner - Strawberry Chicken with Avocado Salsa on salad greens Monday 6/3/19 Breakfast - 4 Eggs with 1/4 of an Avocado and Franks Red Hot Dinner - Strawberry Chicken with Avocado Salsa on salad greens Tues 6/4/19 Breakfast - 4 Eggs with 1/2 of an Avocado and Franks Red Hot and potatoes boiled, then pan fried in ghee with Cajun Seasoning Lunch - Cubed cilantro lime chicken, kalamata olives, cucumber Dinner - Buffalo chicken on sweet potato *Trying to get on track with remembering to eat lunch. Going to the grocery *again* tomorrow to get some more lunch options.

Oh geez I have been slacking with the log, but I just realized that today is day 30 for me!!

One of my favorite things to make pre-Whole30 was Jerk Burgers and so I was happy to find a compliant jerk seasoning recipe. I made up this one: http://www.thedefineddish.com/jamaican-jerk-seasoning/ Took about 2 tablespoons of the resulting mix, swirled it in a bowl with some balsamic vinegar, rolled some burgers in it, and pan fried them! So delicious! Extra good with mustard and peperoncini on top! I also mashed about 4 sweet potatoes, added approximately 1/4 cup of coconut cream in it, and a dash of cinnamon and salt. AMAZING! The coconut and sweet potatoes was an incredible combination!

I love it!

Things that helped me transition in the first week: - I made my own plain carbonated soda stream water and then added a splash of no sugar added fruit juice - Passionfruit or Berry flavored LaCroix is probably the most palatable to people who are used to drinking soda - I also made my own fruit infused iced tea by brewing the tea, chilling it, and then tossing in an assortment of berries. Black tea has a good bit of caffeine in it too so you get that boost you're used to.

Hello! I found some compliant bacon and wondered if it was reasonably healthy to occasionally use the fat renderings as a cooking fat (in place of ghee or coconut oil)? I haven't seen this addressed elsewhere, I searched for bacon fat but it just turned up a bunch of posts about bacon itself. Thanks for your help!

Oh! You're actually suspending or hanging yours! Haven't tried that yet. lol!

Yeah that's how I prepare it. I've found it results in the most even cooking.

It was super good, but I did add extra hot sauce!

Day 12 Thurs June 13th - Breakfast: 3 eggs, 1/2 avocado, franks red hot. Panfried creole potatoes in ghee. Lunch: Mixed greens salad, chicken, olives, cucumber, green pepper , ranch dressing Dinner: Spicy Egg Roll Bowl with added chicken and hard boiled egg

Oh nice! I'll check that one out too!

Pandora, if you have coconut aminos already, you could do a variation of the Spicy Shrimp Egg Roll in a Bowl recipe I posted in my log. I used cabbage and carrots as my base (which are super cheap and produce a lot of slaw!), you could use whatever protein you have around (chicken is great in it), and I just used garlic and ginger powder I already had in the house instead of fresh. It was super tasty and you use the coconut aminos pretty sparingly so if you can swing it, I think it would be a good economical template that you could customize to what you had in the house, or what was on sale that week.

Day 11 Weds June 12th - Breakfast: 3 eggs, 1/2 avocado, franks red hot. Panfried creole potatoes in ghee. Lunch: Spicy Shrimp Egg Roll Bowl with added chicken Dinner: Mashed sweet potatoes, buffalo chicken. Raw veg: cucumber, cauliflower, green pepper and ranch dressing

Day 8 Sun June 9th Breakfast: 3 eggs, 1/2 avocado, franks red hot. Panfried creole potatoes in ghee. Lunch:Mixed green salad with cucumber, buffalo chicken, kalamata olives, cucumber, hard boiled egg, ranch dressing. Dinner: Sweet potato mash topped by spicy chicken and ranch dressing Day 9 Mon June 10th Breakfast: 3 eggs, 1/2 avocado, franks red hot. Panfried creole potatoes in ghee. Lunch:Mixed green salad with cucumber, buffalo chicken, kalamata olives, cucumber, hard boiled egg, ranch dressing. Dinner: Salad with shredded cabbage, carrot, spicy chicken, egg, coconut aminos, hot sauce Day 10 Tues Jun 11th Breakfast: 3 eggs, 1/2 avocado, franks red hot. Panfried creole potatoes in ghee. Lunch: Spicy Shrimp Egg Roll Bowl (added cashews and a hard boiled egg) Amazing! https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/shrimp-egg-roll-in-a-bowl-paleo-whole30/ Dinner: Spicy Shrimp Egg Roll Bowl (added cashews and a hard boiled egg) So good I had it twice today!

" you do not need to defend or explain yourself" This is a really good point, Erinj. Tonight I made the most incredible meal. It was absolutely lush. So I took a photo of it and posted it on social media. Hardly deprived over here!LOL! Here's what I made if you are looking for something new. I shredded a head of purple cabbage, a head of green cabbage, and 4 carrots for the base. Now I have a giant bag of shredded veg to use as a base for more of this recipe or for others. I thought the raw shredded veg was pretty tasty to use in place of the regular salad greens too! I also added a a handful of cashews while I stir fried it and a hard boiled egg on top before serving too! Would also be great with spicy or teryaki chicken if you are not a seafood person. https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/shrimp-egg-roll-in-a-bowl-paleo-whole30/

Well, an unexpected benefit of this experience is that I am figuring out who I can trust. I just had someone I know try, 4 times in a row, to throw me off plan by offering me things she specifically knew I was avoiding. And then she basically tried to shame me by speaking derogatorily about what I am doing in front of mutual friends by calling Whole30 "That horrible thing you're doing". Which of course opened up a whole discussion I wasn't prepared or in the mood for, in public. What the hell?!? I think I recovered and handled the explanation of what I am doing well but the wild thing is I am not even tempted by any of these things AT ALL. I feel satisfied on what I am eating to the point where I barely even have interest in coffee anymore! If you knew me, you'd realize that this is truly earth shattering news. lol! I feel like some people are threatened by me mentioning that I am making some changes for my health. I am not saying they should or need to do what I am doing, I am just explaining what I am doing because it effects my scheduling. I need to eat at regular intervals, etc. Ugh! But the good news is I navigated both a saturday night party and a sunday opera outing with no problems.

It's crazy! I would never dream of doing that to someone else...