I'm Back!

Mmm... right now I'm eating the most fantastic chicken tortilla soup. It is amazing. Veggies, chicken, spices. No beans or actual tortillas. I  imagine I could eat it everyday and be perfectly happy. 
I probably shouldn't eat it this close to the computer though, after the apple juice incident of Oh'twelve. 
April 1st will be my next go around. I'm going for a whole14 this time. I think I can put on my big girl panties and suck it up for two weeks. I think it will be better the second time around because: 

• I won't be battling aspartame withdrawal 
• I have already (mostly) done it before, so I can do it again
• I know more recipes now
• The last batch of brownies I made didn't turn out so good. I probably won't fixate on them as much. 
• I won't be going on vacation in April
• The food budget can be adjusted. Meat costs more than rice of beans. Gotta get over it. 
• I'm getting tired of being tired after eating foods that I KNOW will make me tired. 

On April 1st it will be time once again to say goodbye to grains, dairy, wine, chocolate and say hello to delicious foods. But, only for two weeks as a re-set. It's so easy to slip and slip again. I've been eating jelly beans. Not even good, cotton candy jellybelly jelly beans. Fred Meyer brand beans. Not worth it. 

ps. Erin, one day, I will return your Whole30 book....honest...

My Whole14

I stuck with the program for 14 days, minus a piece of toast. Here's what I've accomplished/learned:
1. I hate aspartame. I will never consume it again, unless it's unknowingly. Which, probably won't happen because I'm not going to eat a lot of fake food. I know where they hide it. 
2. I WILL NOT go back to Diet Coke. 
3. My children will not eat aspartame foods. 
4. Whole eating is the way to go. I don't like the idea of all the chemicals/fake crap that are put as fillers for real food. 
5. I learned a lot more about cooking and spice usage. Spices are awesome. 
6. I will not eat fast food again. Gross. 
7. I kinda don't want to get the kids Happy Meals again. They are not nutritious and the toys are not needed. BUT, they are so happy when they get them and I remember being happy when I got them as a child (rarely).
8. Eating real food will make Matt and I 'weird' at times. We are OK with that. 
9. I like treats. 
10. I think after doing two weeks of incredibly clean eating, I can do Paleo. 
11. I had pizza last night from The Rock. It was good. BUT....today I can tell had it. 
12. Balance is a good thing. 

What I still need to learn:
1. More varieties of food. 
2. More advanced planning of menus
3. Making Paleo a bit more economical
4. Getting the kids to try more foods

Also, I gotta give a HUGE THANK YOU to Erin. She is awesome. Matt and I have benefitted greatly so far from Paleo(for him) Paleo-ish(for me) eating. We've lost weight, have had more energy, and Matt  is feeling fantastic. 
I may try again to do a whole30. I may start up in two days, two weeks, two years. I don't know. I know that this has been a great learning experience for me and I think if I allow a bit of flexibility in it (whole30 is more strict than Paleo, at least as far as I can tell) it's going to be a great change for our family. 

Jumped off the wagon: Part 1

Yup. I totally bailed. 
I was feeling pretty rotten all week. Each day seemed to get a little sadder than the next. Saturday was a pretty terrible day. I was grumpy and short tempered. That's not the kind of mom or person I want to be. I was tired. I did not have Cheetah Blood. My head was fuzzy. It had been fuzzy off and on for awhile. See, I think I NEED to have more carbs than just fruit and veggies. Or maybe I was doing it wrong. Either way, keeping up the pace with my two little ones and no food was not working out. 
I jumped off the wagon Saturday night. I had a piece of bread (wow, I like bread) After that, I had a piece of dark chocolate. The dark chocolate was incredible. Every nerve/cell/neuron in my body and brain leapt for joy. It was an incredible feeling. I mean, the chocolate melted in my mouth and every cell was rejoicing. 
To Be Continued...(once kids are napping or at least not trying to cause bodily harm to each other)

Day 14

Blah.
Two weeks in. I don't think I've had enough food today. I don't know what to eat. I didn't prep enough. I did weight myself yesterday...even though they say not to. My goal wasn't weight loss, but I'm four pounds down in two weeks.
I want food!

Day 13

Day 13! Seventeen more to go! After I got home from subbing today, I really, really wanted a cookie. Not in a desperate way, but  in a happy/sad sort of way. I thought it would be nice to sit back with one of those totally fake cookies they sell at the store. You know the ones. They are sugar cookies with super bright, thick frosting and sprinkles. I'm sure there isn't any real food in them, but I do like the texture and taste. Instead, I had some chicken and a hard-boiled egg. 
It's just incredible how food is weaved into our lives. When we are happy, we want a treat. When sad, something yummy to cheer to us. On the weekend, something fun, like pizza. Game night? Chips and dips. Relaxing in the evening? A glass of wine. Part of the whole30 for me is becoming more aware of how food is intertwined in my daily life and realizing the patterns. I can not eat on autopilot. If I want a snack, I have to get out the cookbook and see what I can make. Sometimes, that's too much effort and realize I'm not that hungry after all. 
Ideally, replacing the unhealthy stuff with healthy treats that I love would be great. I'm not there yet. I still would prefer to have a cookie than, say, spinach.  ( I do appreciate that I am eating all real foods, though.  I have more than two weeks left. I think I'll try to branch out to some new foods and new snacks and see how it goes.

Day 12

No cheats. Back from vacation. Work tomorrow.
We booked our Vegas vacation while still on our Sunriver vacation :)
I'm over two weeks diet coke free. (Hi, my name is Rose...)

Day....11...ish

I must confess, to y'all, that I have sorta slipped in what I have put in my mouth. Yes. I was weak. Was it for a slice of pizza?  A cookie? A chocolate at Goodies? Nope. Nothing even close to delightfully sinful. 

It was a piece of dry wheat toast. It wasn't even good bread. It was Ok bread. How did such a thing happen? I was feeling really blah this morning. I did not wake up energized and my stomach didn't feel super awesome. So I got a little grumpy and directed it towards the whole30. As I lay like a slug on the couch, Sawyer brings over a piece of toast for Cali. She didn't want it. I ate it. I thought it would settle my stomach. 

Matt was slightly horrified and disappointed that I didn't cheat with something good. He reassured me that it was OK, and I could keep going. I guess I'll do a whole10 followed by a whole19.8. I don't plan on slipping again because IT SO WASN'T WORTH IT! 

I assigned my own penance. This evening we took the kids to Goodies and I sat in there while they ate ice cream and didn't cave at all. I didn't even want to cheat again. 

 We were eventually able to convince Sawyer that the water was Shark free. Although..the facility is called SHARC..so maybe he was concerned when he heard us taking about going there....

Cali making a new friend. 

 

Cali and Sawyer's first time tubing! My first time on a tubing hill. There was a pretty big hill behind our house growing up that was filled with trees, rocks and blackberry bushes that we'd tube down when it snowed. 

Video of Cali and I going down the big hill.