Days 19 & 20: Final Surge of Winter 2015

Whole30: Days 19 & 20

Days 19 and 20 were filled with LOTS of work and even more snow.  Yes.  I know.  Snow.  In late March.  I'm completely over this winter.  In addition to so much work, my writing class, my ASL class, my gym classes, and my Soul Body System work, I don't have the quick comforts of Hershey's, Nesquik, NY pizza, and Seamless.  But I'm managing.  I'm empowering myself by making choices I've committed to and I'm feeling great about them.

All. The. Snow.

Day 19

Breakfast: Green smoothie

Lunch: Leftover coconut chicken tenders and apple

Dinner: Turkey burger and leftover potatoes and carrots

Snack: Grapes

Day 20

Breakfast: Green smoothie and boiled eggs

Lunch: Applegate organic turkey breast and apple

Dinner: Chili and sweet potato crisps topped with spinach

Snack: Grapes

The daily meditations are amazing.  Who knew I'd become such a fan of sitting silently and breathing?!  I mean.... I love this me.

Day 18: Claritin Clear

Whole30: Day 18

Day 18 is going beautifully.  I really am so pleased with the clarity I feel.  I do need to up my water intake even more because I've started back with ye olde Claritin (maybe that's part of the clarity) and it has me dry as a bone!!!  I did have coffee today and it was delicious.  Also it's Wednesday!!  That means it's ASL class night, so Andrew came up with a glorious dinner that I was kind of obsessed with and wanted to lick my plate.  He'll definitely be asked to make that again.

This Claritin ad completely terrifies me and yet I also completely get it.  Oh, spring.

Breakfast: Green smoothie and boiled eggs

Lunch: Leftover chili topped with baby spinach

Dinner: Steak (prepared perfectly), baked sweet potatoes (baked impeccably), and sauteed spinach

Snack: Banana and COFFEE (it was quite tasty)

Deepak's daily meditation (see yesterday's post) was just wonderful again this morning.  I find myself looking forward to getting up in the morning to check it out again.  I mean... that in and of itself is a miracle.

Day 17: St. Paleo's Day!

Whole30: Day 17

It's Day 17, and it happens to be St. Patrick's Day -- my 15th in NYC.  And one of my least favorite days here.  The parade diverts traffic for hours, loud bagpipes play from every bar on every corner, but the worst is just the drunk 22-year-olds.  I know I sound like the oldest curmudgeon on the planet, but c'mon guys.  At 10am I'm just trying to get to work on a Tuesday and not dodge you in your drunken stupor down the sidewalks of midtown.  But I digress....it's also a cute day when Facebook shows all my friends' kids wearing green as they go off to school.  So with all the green around the web and the city, I focused on all the greens I have in my diet!!  (You've gotta give me props for finding the silver/green lining.

Breakfast: Green smoothie!

Lunch: Spinach salad!

Dinner: Salsa chicken and broccoli!

Snack: Raspberries (alas no green there)

As far as the Whole30 is going, things are great!!  I like the way I feel and I enjoy the way I'm feeding myself.  I do miss dairy like whoa, but I think I'm setting myself up to be well-equipped to make 10% indulgences once this is completed.

Also I started Deepak Chopra's 21-day Meditation Experience, and it is a SERIOUSLY amazing way to start the day.  I actually wish it was a little longer than it is, so I can totally see myself continuing this as well.  I'm just becoming a right-old zen master -- ok, that's not accurate at all, but I do feel pretty awesome.

Day 16: A Low-Key Day

Whole30: Day 16

Day 16 begins the second half of our #Whole30 story.  Allergies are in full force as spring is ready to attack any day now (5 days to be exact), and tonight we made it to class to enjoy the glorious Tayte Hanson leadership through really tough burpees, swings, and rows.  (Side note: Tayte is a god among men, a transformative and inspiring trainer, and *might* do legit porn -- only Google him with the knowledge that what you find is probably NSFW.  But we're obsessed with him and his classes!)

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and pineapple (the spinach was BAD this morning, so no green smoothie)

Lunch: Leftover chili topped with baby spinach

Dinner: Coconut chicken tenders, steamed potatoes, and sauteed arugula

Snack: Banana

Day 15: HALFWAY THERE!!!!

Whole30: Day 15

Week 2 is under our belts and completing Day 15 makes us halfway finished!  We made it through the first week of headaches, irritability, and last bit of snow for the season.  And we breezed through the second week of figuring out prepping after work, not getting bored with meals, and a final day of pizza temptation.

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, chicken apple sausage, and grapes

Lunch: (We took Selby and Sal to the airport for their honeymoon so we napped through lunch)

Dinner: Crockpot roast, potatoes, and carrots (we needed more greens, but it was a lazy day)

Snack: Tomatoes and homemade Whole30 approved ranch dressing

I asked Andrew his thoughts on being halfway finished, and he said he isn't really thinking of it as being halfway done.  If he did a countdown, he'd just think about all the food he misses, when he can eat garbage again, etc.  He's just enjoying the feeling while it's going on because he hasn't had many negatives (save the few times the television or ads in the subway have shown pictures here and there of foods we've cut out).  Also....guys, he looks amazing ;)

Days 12, 13, and 14: End of Week 2!!

Whole30: Days 12 thru 14

Between work and life, we are still SLAYING this Whole30 stuff!!  Andrew has some stuff going on with family and work too, so I'm extremely proud of both of us to keep all of this going.

Day 12
Breakfast: Boiled eggs and apple

Lunch: Green smoothie and a salad

Dinner: Pork chops, natural applesauce, and steamed broccoli

Snack: Banana "ice cream" (frozen banana put through a food processor)

Day 13 -- Friday the 13th

Breakfast: Green smoothie and boiled eggs

Lunch: 

Dinner: Hu Kitchen -- Sweet Baby Jesus...if you live in NYC, you must try this place.  It's almost completely paleo and so much Whole30 compliant.  It felt great to eat out.

Snack: Raspberries

Day 14 -- End of Week 2

Selby and Sal are off on their honeymoon, so we decided to send them off with a surprise Aloha brunch!

Breakfast: Homemade sausage patties, hashbrown sweet potatoes, berries, scrambled eggs, and 100% orange juice.  I also made some compliant biscuits with almond flour.  It's recommended that we not do "fake" foods, but after 2 weeks, we thought it would be fine.

Lunch: Breakfast was so big and late, we decided to skip it.

Dinner: Chili (no beans), guacamole, and some compliant but less than recommended sweet potato chips made with sunflower oil.

Snack: Grapes

Disclaimer, gentle readers:  Saturday night I had a MELTDOWN.  I got cranky and sad and when Andrew asked me what was wrong, I burst into tears because all I wanted was pizza.  I didn't even want to go to the grocery store because I would have to pass my favorite Astoria pizza joint.  Through some encouragement from my mister, I finally got out, drooled a little as I passed it, but made the chili.  The sweet potato chips were a sort of compromise on having spent 2 whole weeks eating cleanly but refusing to out and out cheat.  So there.  I had an off evening, but I persevered.

Now we're on to week 3!!!!

Day 11: 2nd Week Hump Day

Whole30: Day 11

Work is pretty insane right now -- we're down 2 people in my department (see here if you're in finance and are looking for a job in midtown), it's time to budget for the entirety of next season, and I'm also up to my eyeballs in renewals for the following season's fundraising.  Oh the life of nonprofit international/national/local televised news programming. 

Wednesday is my ASL class after work, so Andrew took care of dinner for the both of us tonight.

Breakfast: Boiled eggs and green smoothie

Lunch: Applegate organic turkey

Dinner: Salsa verde crockpot chicken and garlic lime cauliflower rice

Snack: Apple