5/10/15 - Heather, Ted and daughter M.

[SlyTed]

We did it, successfully through day 1!

 

Day 0 came and went, where we did the last of our housecleaning and dumped out all of our condiments and sauces (who would have imagined ALL of that sugar that laid just inside of our fridge door), we did some before pictures – and then we ended the night watching Fed Up to remind ourselves of all of the reasons we decided to take the plunge.

 

Today is Mother’s day, and the day started with me waking up at 6:30a with our 6mo. old to feed her.

After putting her back down, I started to make our first Whole30 breakfast – this one would be served up in bed to Heather today.

On the menu was a paleo spinach and chorizo quiche made with a sweet potato crust accompanied by a wonderful Honey Bell pear and a café Americano (served black)

An hour after I began, I find out that the wifey does not really care for chorizo, not really a fan of the texture.

M., our 6 year old (who is naturally a finicky eater – if it ain’t nuggets, pizza or sometimes spaghetti, she don’t want it) immediately turns her nose up at it and says no way; can’t even get her to take a taste. Normally, this would be a big production in the house, but today it was mom to the rescue as Heather was already making some plain eggs and sweet potato hash browns.

It’s ok if these two ladies don’t like the quiche – that makes more for me, and it IS delicious.  That will just make the next two days breakfast super easy for me as well.

 

We take breakfast as yet another opportunity to talk to M. about why there is no longer juice and chocolate milk in the house.  We tell her about how we need to get rid of sugar (and grains, and milk) for a while.  She seems totally on board – for now. She even suggests that we give up sugar for a whole year!

 

Lunch was an Asian chicken salad made with almond butter (almost like pad thai), plenty of chicken, carrots and jicama – all on top of a bed of kale greens.  The good news is, there’s plenty for a generous helping to take to lunch tomorrow.

 

Dinner was chili lime chicken breasts (oven instead of the grill, on account of our late afternoon rain), sweet potato fries, and green beans. Heather liked it so much that she gladly laid claim to it for her lunch tomorrow.

 

 

End of the day thoughts: I may have to re-evaluate tomorrow how much I think is enough for serving sizes – OMG hungry.

[SlyTed]

Alright, Day 2 in the bag!

 

Today M. was under the weather, and could not keep anything down for most of the morning. She finally was able to stomach water, so my wife administered the "Doctor Recommended” BRAT diet. But to keep everything Whole30, without the R or the T!

By noon M. had managed to down an apple and two bananas.  Feeling much better, she had a couple of hard boiled eggs for lunch. And again, she had a couple more eggs and some strawberries for dinner.

 

Heather went the super simple route for breakfast and had a couple of hardboiled eggs and a banana with her Cafe Americano (black).

At lunch she had the tasty lime chicken and sweet potato fries left overs,

 

I started my day out with a couple slices of the quiche with half an avocado along with my regular brewed lose leaf black tea.

For lunch, I had the Asian almond chicken salad again. And it was good.

 

For dinner tonight, I made Grilled Chicken with Tarragon Mushroom Cream Sauce (the cream is coconut milk) accompanied by California Blend veggies with smoked paprika, almonds, and garlic.

I liked this meal a lot – the chicken with cream sauce tasted for all the world like a chicken marsala.

 

As a quick aside –

M. is a little trooper, I am pretty sure that if I were ill, I’d moan and complain until I got a 7up or something (how did that ever end up being considered as a cure for illness anyways?).  

And yesterday at the market, we only had to tell her once that all of the samples were full of sugar, and remind her of our challenge.

 

I know that today I feel pretty lousy. I feel like I am in the rough part of a recovery from an intense full body workout. 

 

Looking forward to the Tiger Blood.

[SpinSpin]

Looking good so far, but I would suggest bumping up the veg at breakfast -- especially for your wife. You don't want fruit to push more nutritious veg off her plate, and many whole30'ers have stated that having fruit first thing in the morning sets them up to be hungrier later on. shoot for 1-3 cups of veg per meal. Also, if you are hungry, don't be afraid to bump up your portion sizes, adding more veg and adding more fats--olives are a good one because you can eat 2 HANDFULS for a serving! Just don't depend on nut butters though--they can turn into a SWYPO, and if I have them as a fat with a meal, I typically stuff celery with nut butter and have them that way. Good luck to you both and I am glad that M is a trouper--hope she is feeling better soon! 

 

ETA If your wife's only protein is the 2 eggs at breakfast, she either needs to bump up the eggs by 1 or 2--the amount of eggs you need to eat is the number you can hold in one hand--most ladies can hold 3-4. OR she needs to have some other compliant protein source-- chicken, fish, beef, leftovers from the night before...

[SlyTed]

 

 

the amount of eggs you need to eat is the number you can hold in one hand

 

Haha, we actually tried this, she will definitely be eating four eggs from now on.

 

Day 3 actually went good:

 

Breakfast: I finished off the quiche and a half of an avocado, the ladies had eggs and veggies and some fruit.

Lunch: I had the creamy chicken leftovers, the ladies both had almond butter and apple "sunwiches" veggies and some fruit.

Dinner: Ghee roasted spaghetti squash with meat sauce (and I make a great spaghetti sauce)

 

Tomorrow though, M. is having a class celebration where they are getting Little Caesar's delivered (discussed earlier in the W30 kids sub forum)

After the wife and I read the advice and a blog post on the main Whole 9 site about kids and Other People's Food (any thing but home cooked), the wife and I decided to concede this celebration for her (so she is not the only kid not celebrating wit others).  

We are planning on restarting M. on Thursday, and maybe even extending ours to a Whole35

 

Other than that, the Charlie Sheen hang-over was gone all day, and I believe that I may have a brief respite before murderous intent towards the whole world sets in.

[SlyTed]

Day 4, done. Boom.

Breakfast-

The ladies had eggs, veggies, fruit (I think M. is getting bored with scrambled eggs already though)

I had sweet potato hash topped with fried eggs

Lunch-

M. had her pizza party that took her off the rails a little bit.

My wife had some roast turkey breast, a bunch of olives, cauliflower, and a pickle (we found some at whole foods that have nothing but vinegar and spices with turmeric as the coloring)

I had the rest of the spaghetti squash and meat sauce, and some cantaloupe.

Dinner-

We had paleo meatloaf cupcakes and garlic cauliflower "mashed potatoes"

I also had a handful of almonds and a honey bell pear.

So, it's funny - just 3 days of going without sugar what happens to a kid if you give them a sudden dose. M. was a little challenging today to say the least, and acted up a bit.

She did make a really great decision at after school care and chose an apple and water for an afternoon snack instead of all of the other junk they were offering.

On other fronts, haven't had any homicidal urges yet and my wife hasn't bitten my head off - but maybe they'll come full force later...

[SlyTed]

TGI-day5-done!

Breakfast-

The ladies had scrambled eggs, veggies and fruit again. M. may try to rebel if she doesn't get ketchup with her eggs again. But she loves hard boiled eggs so she already decided she wants that tomorrow morning.

I had a tuna salad with our homemade paleo mayo, cucumbers and bell peppers.

Lunch-

M. only ate the fruit and veggies out of her lunch and left the rest. Then wonders why she's so hungry after school.

Heather was home with the baby today, and as she was about to make something up for lunch, the baby woke up and wanted mommy time right now, so Heather inadvertently ended up skipping lunch.

I had meatloaf, garlic cauliflower and cantaloupe.

Dinner-

We had a slow-cooker Italian pork roast, prosciutto wrapped asparagus, and oriental pineapple coleslaw (yum).

M. again at dinner made a demand for ketchup. Spent the rest of the night looking up W30 compliant ketchup recipes and baking tomorrow's breakfast.

Feel like I have some momentum going... Hope it lasts me.

[SlyTed]

6 days gone.

Breakfast-

The ladies had hard boileds, veggies, fruit.

I had the prosciutto wrapped mini frittatas that I baked up last night. (A lot like my quiche, but more portable - and mmm, prosciutto)

I also had half an avacado.

Lunch -

M. Had almond butter/apples, hard boileds, and berries

Heather and I split the pork roast, more of the coleslaw, and heather had a bell pepper, olives, and an apple.

I accompanied my lunch with a banana and a honey bell pear.

Dinner-

The wife and I had Roasted "green chicken" (from nomnompaleo.com), and boiled heirloom carrots (of many colors)

Heather had a bunch of olives, I had a handful of almonds.

M. Had an Adele's chicken and apple link, carrots, almonds and berries, and a banana

This is the most that we have got M. to eat since we started this, she's never been a great eater anyhow, but we were starting to worry a little bit. Tonight, I tried to bribe her a quarter for every meal she polishes off. But it wasn't necessary, she was really digging on the Adele's.. I think we have a winner for a go to quick switch food!

Everybody in the house is crabby today, and it didn't even help it was Friday.

Tomorrow is the farmer's market though, and I'm even going to get M. a balloon.

[SlyTed]

One week, one Whole week!

Breakfast-

M. had hardboileds, almonds, veggies, and a banana.

Heather had eggs, olives, veggies

I had some egg salad, shrimp, a sweet potato, and wilted kale.

Lunch-

M. had cashew butter/apple "sunwiches", turkey, green beans, blueberries.

Heather and I had hamburger patties topped with caramelized onions, mushrooms, garlic, and sweet potatoes.

Dinner-

We had a "junk food night" with oven baked paleo chicken nuggets and oven baked fries and broccoli.

M. didn't really like the nuggets ("they are not the same as McDonalds"), but she does like the paleo ketchup that we whipped up, and I think that we'll get her to eat a lot more meat.

So today, I think that we were just a little less crabby, so that was good.

Wow, tomorrow is week 2!

[SlyTed]

Week 2: Go!

Breakfast-

Pork sausage from our butcher (nothing but pork and non-msg spices), eggs, hash browns and fruit.

Everybody was on the same page here and ate the meal. (M. even had 2 EXTRA helpings of sausage)

Lunch-

Pretty much leftover day here. M. had more sausage, green beans, and almonds with some berries.

Heather had meatloaf and garlic mashed cauliflower with some berries

I had green chicken, carrots and prosciutto wrapped asparagus with some berries.

Dinner-

Heather and I had some Satay curry chicken stir fry and oreintal pineapple coleslaw.

Maddy was not feeling this at all, so I made her an Adele's chicken and apple link, and green beans. (Thank goodness for those and hardboiled eggs, or this kid might starve - still looking for a magic complete meal that she will enjoy with the whole family)

Brand new week, brand new outlook: don't feel tired, the house isn't really that angry anymore, just a sort of lull.

Heather and I are feeling really good about being sugar free, but M. still wants some junk food or another, and gets very sad at the thought of never having Mcdonalds again. But she is 4 days behind us now, since she had a crap-ton of grease, cheese, and flour/sugar for pizza day - so I guess 4 days ago, I was pretty in the dumps about foregoing junk too (plus just generally annoyed), so I am taking her attitude with a grain of salt.

[SlyTed]

Day 9, done.

Breakfast-

Ladies had eggs and sausage, veggies, fruit

I had more of the prosciutto wrapped mini frittatas with half an avacado.

Lunch-

Heather had apples/celery with cashew butter, almonds, some berries

M. had turkey meat roll-ups (carrots on the inside), with apples and cashew butter, berries

I had a satay stir fry salad (by eating my stir fry cold on a bed of kale - but still delish), pineapple slaw.

Dinner-

Madras chicken salad and Garbage soup (bunches of veggies in chicken broth)

The day went pretty good.

Heather is starting to complain about some joint pains and aches. I suggested maybe bone broth, and cited studies showing the benefits of it (although, at the time I was too lazy to google it for a casual conversation)

[SpinSpin]

Yes, bone broth would be very good for Heather's joints, and she should cut back on the nuts and nut butters and up her protein, veg and healthy fats. Nuts and nut butters are irritants and should be held to a minimum really. I would bake up a bunch of chicken thighs for her to have on hand for quick lunches and pre prep up some veggies that she can just toss on a bed of greens or saute up and have along side some mayo or olives or a homemade olive oil dressing. Or maybe have a curry with full fat coconut milk! She would benefit from following the meal template at each meal--

 

1-2 palm sized portions of protein

 

1-2 Thumbs (min) of a healthy fat or 2

 

1-3 cups cooked veg or more if raw.

 

Sorry I am a stickler! Following the Whole30 lifestyle has really helped me and I want to see all of you succeed! 

[SlyTed]

Day 10  (I actually fell asleep before the time that I normally post in the evening)

 

Breakfast-

Ladies had eggs and sausage, veggies, fruit

I had prosciutto wrapped mini frittatas with half an avocado.
Lunch- 

Heather and I had Madras chicken salad and Garbage soup, Heather had berries, I had a banana

M. had turkey meat roll-ups (carrots on the inside), with apples and cashew butter, berries

Dinner-

Pork chops and apples, roasted butternut squash - M. had broccoli instead of squash.

 

Came to a deal with M. today: Since she is SUCH A PICKY eater, she can sub out 1 item from her meals.  If she tries the meat, or veggies, or fat (if it is not cooked into some menu item) if she doesn't like one of them - she can sub it out for another item (of her choosing) of the same type.

She HATED the squash - so she got to sub it out for broccoli.

She thinks she is pulling one over on us now, but I totally made the win for a small concession.

Small battles I guess.

 

So yeah, sleeping like a rock.  As in: when it's bed time, it's lights out. Not tossing and turning for a few minutes.

Heather isn't even disturbed by my (lack of) snoring! 

[SlyTed]

Day 11 -going good.

Breakfast-

The ladies had the usual, hardboileds and produce.

I finished off the frittatas and a 1/2 as avocado.

Lunch-

M. had an Adele's link, broccoli, fruit and nuts.

Heather had cashew butter apple sunwiches, fruit and veggies

I had a pork chop with apples, squash, a nectarine and some pistachios.

Dinner-

Spaghetti squash with meat sauce.

M. subbed her squash out for a bunch of green beans.

M. Had a voracious appetite tonight. She finished her dinner, and then asked for seconds on everything. Then asked if she can have some nuts. Then asked for some fruit.

I think that maybe after her first full week, she is finally getting solid nutrition (again, always been a struggle to get her to eat meals), and her body actually likes it.

Anyways, I'm off to bed - because I REALLY LOVE my quality of sleep lately.

[SlyTed]

12 days down.

Breakfast-

Ladies with the eggs veggies and fruit again (I'm glad they love them, I'd go nuts with the same thing that often)

I had shrimp, a sweet potato and a HEALTHY dose of guacamole.

Lunch-

M. Had an Adele's sausage, green beans, some almonds/cashews/sunflower kernels/raisins we mixed up

Heather ate cashew butter with apples, and veggies

I had the last of the Satay stir fry over a bed of kale and red/yellow bell peppers (stir fry salad!)

Dinner-

Hamburger patties, carrots

Heather topped hers with some homemade paleo mayo, homemade ketchup and mustard.

M. Had ketchup and a side of cashews

I topped mine with a fried egg, some red/yellow bell peppers, homemade sriracha and guacamole.

Found out from a parent that had lunch with their child today that M. was sneaking some fries from other kids at lunch.

M. Says this was the only time she ever did, but we are a little skeptical of that.

Heather thinks that maybe we should let M. go free range from the challenge and eat whatever, just try to enforce healthy eating habits at home.

After watching Fed Up though, I am not sure I have any trust of the school lunch program any more... But even before that, I have had school lunch with my daughter, and I know that crap they call food is filled with sugar, flour, and fried in vegetable/soy oils.

I feel like I am fighting an uphill battle and all I want is my family to be healthy.

[ShannonM816]

Heather thinks that maybe we should let M. go free range from the challenge and eat whatever, just try to enforce healthy eating habits at home.

After watching Fed Up though, I am not sure I have any trust of the school lunch program any more... But even before that, I have had school lunch with my daughter, and I know that crap they call food is filled with sugar, flour, and fried in vegetable/soy oils.

I feel like I am fighting an uphill battle and all I want is my family to be healthy.

 

I'm not an expert, and I don't even have kids, so feel free to ignore this completely, but I kind of agree with your wife here. The thing is, there is more to healthy eating than just what you actually put in your mouth, and while you want your family to eat healthy, you don't want to be so strict about it that your daughter goes out of her way to rebel against your rules. I know a Whole30 is only a month, but a month to a kid, especially one who may not be happy about all the changes to her food, can be a long time.

 

Even adults, who know the why behind choosing to eat healthy, don't manage to eat healthy 100% of the time. Some do better than others, but no one eats Whole30 every single day forever. There are plenty of people who know dairy wreaks havoc on their digestive system, but have ice cream anyway. You're talking about a 6 year old, who probably understands on some level what you're telling her about healthy eating, but who probably doesn't really understand things like long-term health and how important that is. I'm sure she's a smart girl, but at six, none of us really understands that concept -- there's just not enough life experience for most 6 year olds to truly grasp that. There's a reason kids are happy to get older every year, but adults are less excited about it.

 

I'm not saying start serving her junk food every day. Definitely talk to her about healthy foods versus less healthy foods, set clear rules for what she gets at home, whether they're Whole30 rules or something less strict than that, but understand that you're not going to be able to control all the food she eats, and it's okay. Long term, it's better for her to be able to have fries occasionally without feeling guilty about it and without feeling like it's something she should hide from you than it is for her to be strict Whole30 right now. 

 

As far as the school food thing, maybe you could start talking to other parents and see if there's any others with concerns about the food. If you can find enough people who care about it, you might be able to get the school to change things. Contact the principal or the school board or the school's (or maybe district's) nutritionist and start a conversation. They may not be able to make huge changes immediately, but maybe you could start the ball rolling so that eventually the schools are feeding kids healthier foods -- maybe by the time the 6 month old is in school it could be different, if you start now.

[jmcbn]

Heather ate cashew butter with apples, and veggies

 

 

 

Lunch-

Heather had cashew butter apple sunwiches, fruit and veggies

 

I think you're doing an amazing job so far, especially with your daughter - although I do agree with Shannon about healthy eating being about more than what we actually eat. Don't be so hard on yourself, or your daughter if she sneaks the odd fry - without there being any risk to her health by eating the non-compliant foods she's just too young to grasp that it's not good for her. I come from a history of disordered eating so I know very well where that unhealthy relationship with food can lead.

Your wife though is an adult and needs to make better food choices. Her lunches are seriously lacking protein, and if she is having joint paint (read inflammation) then nut butter is probably the worst kind of fat she could be eating as it is known to cause digestive stress (read inflammation). And given that your meals are well composed it's not through lack of choice.

Protein, fat, & veggies - you know the drill - ease up on the rules with daughter (at school at least), and tighten up the rules with the wife!

[SlyTed]

Day 13-

Breakfast-

Guess what the ladies had today, yep eggs and all of the other usuals.

I had shrimp, sweet potato and guacamole again.

Lunch-

M. Had an Adele's link cashew butter ants on a log, carrots and berries

Heather had some left over "spaghetti" veggies and nuts

I had the last of the Madras chicken salad over kale, some pistachios, and a nectarine

Dinner-

We had some compliant hotdogs (which are VERY hard to find)

Heather and I had the hotdogs as the buns and loaded up the insides. I had 1 Chicago dog and another with some onions and peppers that I sautéed. Heather just had a pickle cut up with ketchup mayo and mustard.

Then we all had green beans (M.'s choice) and a delicious honey bell pear.

Starting late day 12 and most of day 13, M. Had some gastro distress. I blame the fries - either the grease along with her daily percentage of healthy fat, or soy (in middle America, soy is the cheapest frying oil, plus soy lecithin, etc.) but regardless, we kind of went easy on the fat for day 13 - explaining that we think it IS the school fries that caused it.

[SlyTed]

Two weeks down. Woo!

Breakfast-

The ladies switched it up a little. Wait, not really. M. had scrambled eggs instead of hardboileds, but still, eggs and greens.

Heather made a frittata with bell peppers

I had a huge frittata with chorizo, spinach and eggs beat with coconut milk.

I also tried some coffee blended with coconut milk (didn't have ghee for bulletproof coffee - but I cooked some up for tomorrow!)

Lunch-

M. finished off the last 2 hotdogs from the pack, with green beans again, cashews and a banana.

Heather had some chicken, carrots, cashews and an apple

I had some shrimp, roasted marinated beets, pistachios and one of those delicious honey bell pears while making our ghee.

Dinner-

Chicken Satay stir fry (fried in ghee)

I thought I had stir fry veggies when I started, turns out I only had California Mix (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) and some fresh sugar snap peas. It was a darn good stand in, and you only missed the red bell peppers and water chestnuts, but got cauli extra.

M. doesn't generally like the stir fry at all, so I already let her sub out the meat and veg. This let me kick the heat up a notch.

M. had an Adele's link and green beans

At the farmers market today, we went to a few meat stands from local farmers. They had their own summer sausages, beef sticks, jerky, and hot dogs. I had a proud moment as M. asked a lady,

"Does your meat have any sugar in it?" (She says this by way of introduction, first words out of her mouth, no less)

We did find a jerky that has no sugar, dextrose, or added nitrates (except for those naturally occurring in celery powder). But it was a total no-go on hot dogs and sausage.

M. is feeling much better, which further solidifies my hunch that it was the greasy school lunch food that did it in the first place.

I think it kind of put it in her mind that icky food can kind of make you feel icky too.

I think in another couple of weeks when we start eating paleo, but not Whole30, M. will be much happier with our food choices. I'm pretty sure she is ok with kombucha instead of juice, or the occasional Sprite.

(Although, going paleo still means we are going over labels to rule out sugar, so that will be our new norm)

All and all, I think everyone is feelin' good at the end of two weeks.

I'm in the groove!

Also, thanks for the replies. Heather and I discussed after reading them and we agree maybe not going all "Paleo-nazi" is best. Especially for the kids. And we think that after our reintroduction week, if we see there is no major food sensitivities or allergies, we will just concentrate on keeping a healthy attitude about food and our eating choices. We decided that from now on (again, given that we rule out there is no food sensitivities) that we definitely will not freak out when M. eats something out of our family dietary guidelines.

As for Heather, at least for the last couple days since reading the advice is getting enough protein at every meal (finally).

[SlyTed]

Wow, crazy weekend (plus).

I actually started this last night and thought it posted, but I guess not.

I promise we didn't fall off the program, I just didn't have a time to get this post made (literally moving sun up-sun down... Then a hard sleep)

But I do have our meal planning spreadsheet to help report...

Starting on Sunday:

Day 15

Breakfast-

Heather made an apple and nut porridge -who knew you could make a porridge without a grain?

We all had eggs and some veggies with this. I made mine into a kale frittata.

Lunch-

M. had some hardboileds again with veggies and some nuts - and of course fruit

Heather and I had spaghetti squash and meatsauce, and olives

Dinner-

Starting our holiday weekend grillin' sessions, we had burgers on a bed of kale

Heather and I had mayo with other condiments and pickles, M. had nuts.

M. only wanted half of her big burger, but asked for more hard boiled eggs.

We decided Monday that there is an absolute limit of eggs that M. can eat in a day - and she definitely surpassed that limit on Sunday

Whew-ey. Maybe we dial back the egg intake to just twice a day.

Day 16, past the half way mark!

Breakfast -

The ladies ate eggs, veggies nuts and fruit.

I had shrimp, a sweet potato, guac and a 'nana

Lunch- as today was a prep day, we are purging all left overs.

M. had an Adele's apple/chicken sausage the last of our open green beans and fruit

Heather had some stir fry over kale and nuts along side

I had a can of tuna and guac, the last of our California blend veggies and a delicious honey bell pear.

Dinner-

Memorial Day just wouldn't be the same without grilled meats.

So we had steak with a heathy slathering of ghee, some baked sweet potatoes also with melted ghee and raw carrots.

Day 17-

Breakfast -

Ladies rocking the eggs, veggies and fruit.

I had a burger, topped with a fried egg, topped with wilted kale and sautéed peppers, and guac.

Lunch-

M. had eggs, broccoli and nuts and raisins.

Heather and I had the last of the spaghetti squash and meatsauce. I took pistachios, the last delectable pear and an apple, Heather had a banana and almonds

Dinner-

I had a roast slow cooking all day,

We had that, a kale salad with homemade ranch from paleo mayo, and grapes.

[SlyTed]

Day 18, full steam ahead!

Breakfast-

(Say it with me now) Eggs, veggies, fruit.

I joined in on the egg goodness here too.. And holy crap, just like that, we ran through a huge box of 7.5 dozen eggs that we bought at Costco in less than a week and a half!

Lunch-

M. had an Adele's sausage, broccoli, and apples with cashew butter.

Heather and I had roast, salad with roast beets and vinaigrette dressing and fruit.

Dinner-

Burgers and carrots.

My he ladies had olives, I topped my burger with guac.

M's school had field day today, and each class was getting treats handed out twice today. This ended up being flavor-ice pops.

Last night, we thought that we'd make our own treat for M.

So I made some homemade FoNanas by puréeing a bunch of ripe bananas and freezing them.

I took the day off and went to field day with M. and when they handed out the ice pops, I got M's FroNanas... She loved it!

I told her when she was eating them that she had another dish of them for later, and she responded with, "oh I know, I'm excited."

Later on, during the walk to the park adjoining our school (where the kids would be having their second treat), there was a boy that told her she wasn't supposed to bring her lunch sack. She told him, matter of factly, that it was her desert, and that, "I'm going sugar free."

*Proud Papa moment.

[SlyTed]

Day 19 in full swing!

(Could've swore that I posted this early this morning, before my workday started - but I found it tonight when I am posting for the next day)

 

Breakfast-

The ladies rocking non-stop eggs, veggies fruit.

I had some of the roast soaking in a steaming bowl of bone broth, pistachios and roasted marinated beets.

Lunch-

I packed M. a lunch of hardboileds, carrots, and a handful of  de-shelled pistachios with raisins (only ingredient: sun-dried Thompson grapes)

I had a Satay stir fry salad of stir fry on a bed of kale, an apple, and a handful of pistachios

 

Heather (who is an educator for special needs and at risk BD children) got to escort her student on a field trip, one of the stops was a novelty burger joint we have in town called Zombie Burger -- BUT Zombie burger has on their menu a plain 1/3 lb. burger on (extra) romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and onions - all sans bun. She snacked on some nuts on the way there.

Dinner-

Heather found a taco recipe that used tomato paste and spices to emulate taco sauce cooked right into the meat.
We served this in romaine leaves as shells topped with a bunch of tomatoes and onions.
Some carrots on the side and a handful of nuts and we were good to go.

M. wasn't feeling the lettuce at all, and has a dire hatred for raw onions AND tomatoes - so she got some broccoli as extra - and she also begged for some pineapple, so she had some of that too.

 

I have to say, with M. a full two weeks in (a couple days behind us now, with her pizza party), and with an understanding that she can swap out any food item - she is eating better that she has IN YEARS!
She'll eat all of her meat, or some extra, want all of her veggies and want LOADS of nuts and fruits. (heck, if we let the little monkey, she could eat fruit and nuts all day! 

[SlyTed]

Day 20 done – boom.

 

Breakfast –

I honestly don't know how much longer the ladies can eat eggs, veggies and fruit for their morning meal. M. is fine with it, she asks for eggs all of the time; but Heather, I thought would have revolted at eggs long before now.

I had some more bone broth soaked roast, roasted beets, and nuts.

Lunch –

M. loves her hard boiled eggs and asked for some to be packed today, sent her to school with those, carrots, nuts, and some pineapple (in 100% pineapple juice)

Heather and I both took some sesame crusted chicken breasts,  she had broccoli and an apple, I had the last beets, some carrots, pistachios and an apple.

Dinner –

I made a fresh batch of spaghetti squash and meat sauce, and some oven roasted eggplant

Heather and M. both decided that they don't like eggplant (haha, more for me!) so they had some carrots and nuts to make up for the veg, and the fat that it was roasted in.

We had some pineapple and bananas too.

 

Kinda got lax this week with the meal planning, and mostly just slapped together our meals from our pre-prepped meat and veggies.  But I have sort of seen the EPS starting to snake in as I stare at the open fridge for 5 minutes trying to decide what to prepare for dinner, or what, “Sounds good”

I hit up the timeline again and linked to the “AVOID  EPS” page with links to all of the sites (which all told comprises thousands of recipes). Tomorrow, we are going to sit down and plan out our next week and a half with some super yums to stave off any oncoming food boredom.

[SlyTed]

Day 21- that's three Whole weeks!

Breakfast-

I made a sweet potato/apple hash with onions and bacon.

Egg "flowers" in bell pepper slices, and the rest of the bacon.

Lunch-

M. had eggs, nuts, greens and grapes

Heather had some sesame crusted chicken, some greens and an apple

I shallow pan fried some paleo chicken nuggets that we froze (hoping that the coconut oil would improve on the coconut flour "powdery-ness" - only a little) had this with some guac to dip them in, some greens and some nuts to top me off.

Dinner-

Had burgers topped with guac, mustard and ketchup on a bed of kale, boiled mashed potatoes with ghee, and carrots

So I live in Iowa, where pork consumption is a way of life. So I was thinking that it should be an easy task to run right up to my neighborhood store just 3 blocks away and grab some paleo friendly uncured bacon like I found at Whole Foods last week (and maybe not spend $6 on just 10 oz. of meat).

Now you wouldn't think that finding uncured bacon would be that hard in a city where you can go 50 mi in any direction and find live swine living their little swine lives... But you'd be wrong. Every store's butcher counter had bacon that "doesn't have anything in it, just the regular curing process" but when you ask what it's cured with, that's where you see the sugars.

(And you also see meat counter personnel start looking at you like you are green and have a set of antenna on your head - why would anyone EVER EVEN ASK what's in bacon?)

Now I did find one bacon that was uncured, applewood smoked - but it still had sugar and applewood smoke flavor added!?!

There are local buyers groups for meat, where you can go in with some families and buy a whole or half a pig or cow, and they butcher it up for you, and I'm pretty sure that none of that meat is processed after it is butchered. I might have to look more into one of these groups, I think this maybe the best way for me to get pure unadulterated meat.

But seriously - putting sugar in meat? Why is this even a thing?

/rant

[SlyTed]

Day 22 - Week 4, go!

 

Breakfast - 

Ladies eating eggs veggies and fruit 

I had a couple of eggs  as well - over easy on top of the last of the sweet potato hash

Lunch - 

Heather and M. had an Adele's chicken link, carrots, almonds and some fruit

I had some pan grilled spiced tilapia, an orange/grapefruit salad I had made, and I mixed up a quick trail mix of coconut flakes, almonds, walnuts, sunflower kernels, and raisins.

Dinner - 

Paleo meatloaf (did not like this recipe as much as the last), mashed sweet potatoes with plenty of ghee, and broccoli 

M. called for a sub on the meatloaf after tasting it for another Adele's link (a god send, those are) - but readily downed all of the rest.

 

To stave off the EPS, we managed to make some freezer meals. we have some spaghetti squash and meat sauce, and some slow cooker chilli prepared and all ready to go.  So now we will have a couple of quick stand-ins to be on the table in about 5 minutes.

 

Last week (and a half) here we come!

[SlyTed]

Holy smokes- where does my time go?

I swear, I've written this post (or more to the point STARTED this post) 3 days ago. But then I put down my tablet, then go take care of something... and then never get a chance to finish before retiring for the night.

And the funny thing is, I have WAY MORE focus than ever before!

So with that quick little preface, here's how the first part of the week went:

Day 23:

Breakfast-

Eggs, veggies, fruit and nuts - but just the ladies of the house (of course)

I had some bone broth, a turkey burger with guac on some kale along with tomatoes and bell peppers.

Lunch-

For M.'s last day at school, we let her pack her whole lunch and made sure she stuck to the template. She packed some more hard boiled eggs, carrots, broccoli, almonds and grapes.

Heather and I both took some meatloaf, sweet taters and snap peas, and cantaloupe

Dinner-

Heather made some meatballs, we had those with soome California mixed veggies

They were too spicy for M. So she subbed for more hardboileds.

Day 24:

Breakfast -

Eggs, veggies, fruit and nuts (I really need an acronym for that!)

I had bone broth and another turkey burger - done up exactly the same way as the previous day.

Lunch-

M. has two days that she is out of school, but Heather is still teaching in her school district.

We sent her to our daycare provider with 2 Adele's links, and a small bag of our paleo trail mix (nuts, seeds, raisins, shredded coconut) and she always gets plenty of veggies and fruit there as well.

Heather and I took some meatballs and veggies fruit and nuts.

Dinner-

M. had a softball game, so for time's sake, we heated up some spaghetti squash and meatsauce Cali mix veggies, and some nuts