Day 9-10 ... I totally got this... Wait, Is that chocolate??

Urgh! The taunting of the luckiest bastards alive is overpowering! These people walking around eating chocolate, drinking soda, eating BREAD... Don't they realize it's so deliciously bad for them. I find myself feeling like a cast member of survivor, sitting with close friends, discussing what I would be eating right now if I could. It changes constantly, a sandwich from the New york Deli down the street to something chocolate and fried, to Chipotle Chips and Guac... What? Chipotle is healthy! It's like eating vegetables. I start bargaining and debating with myself, thinking of eating something bad, but a healthy bad and think it's okay, but before I can go through with it, I just Can't! the guilt of eating one of those sugary deliciousnessesssss or something glutenny... Bread, Chips, Pita, PITA CHIPS... People not on this diet are so dang lucky.

Last night I decided to get Chipotle for dinner, the bad kind... and right before I left I layed down on the floor, face down in the carpet, cats walking on my back and I had a total internal struggle. I had dinner planned for Night 9 and 10, but... Cheese and Sour Cream and those CHIPS! I layed there for 10 minutes and just sprang up and started making dinner... I knew if I had food cooking I couldn't be going ANYWHERE, I took out the lemons and got started.

Things you'll need:
2-3 Lemons
1 # Talapia
Garlic Oil
Salt and Pepper
Lemon Herb Vegan dressing (completely compliant, can find it at whole foods)





                                                         



What you'll do; 
I sliced the lemons thinly and placed half on the bottom on a heavy pan, placed the Talapia on top seasoned generously with salt and pepper and placed remaining lemons on top. Drizzled the fish with some garlic oil and placed it in the oven at 350 Degree's for 20-25 minutes. I served mine with a side of sauteed green beans in some ghee, salt and pepper. 
Once the fish was done, I warmed up some of the lemon dressing and put some on the fish to give it a bit of a sauce and... Voila.

While I was making the fish I prepared this gorgeous Pork roast I got at the Santa Barbara's Saturday market, it's a slow cooker recipe and I like to prepare them the night before, So i took out my Paleo Slow Cooker recipe book and made

Roasted Citrus Pork

Things you'll need
3 tbls coconut oil
3-4 # Pork Roast
4 Whole Cloves
3 Garlic cloves (crushed)
1 tsp orange zest
1 tsp lemon zest
Juice of 1 Lemon
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup of wine (I kjnow not really whole 30 approved but it cooked down for 6 hours)
1/2 tsp thyme (Fresh)
Salt and Pepper

What you'll do;
Melt some coconut oil in a heavy bottom pan on medium-high heat and brown the pork on all sides.
Turn the heat down to medium, while the pan cools down, cut four hole in the top of the roast and place whole garlic cloves in the cuts, transfer to slow cooker
Saute the garlic in the remaining coconut oil until fragrant being careful not to burn the garlic or the coconut oil, transfer to slow cooker
Combine the zests, juices, white wine and thyme, pour over the roast and cook on low for 6 hours.
Add salt and pepper at the end and serve.

 


 
















The potatoes I roasted and the salad had a compliant dressing and some avocado. I like all food but this pork was just... AMAZING, it was really something special. As my husband is inhaling it asking to have this for the remainder of the time on the whole 30 (like he does during most meals), I smiled and enjoyed the amazing sweetness of the orange and tanginess of the lemon. Even after 6 hours of cooking the flavors were so vibrant! I cooked the roast last night, placed it in the slow cooker and into the fridge, got the rest ready in a bowl and when I came home for lunch today I threw it all together and cooked it for 6 hours. Was perfection.

And now for an other evening of fighting sweet tooth cravings... No fruit left... DAMM YOU Ben and Jerry's a 2 minute walk from my front door.... DAMN YOU!
Heading to Becky's to fight the urge!

Day 8.... Stress eating is a totally a thing!

Today was just one of those days, one of those days when you come home from work and all you want to do is blend a pitcher of margaritas, take the worlds largest straw and crawl into bed with it until your done the pitcher and knock out drunk... I know it's Monday but that's no excuse! Not only was work stressful, busy day, but Fed EX is the DEVIL! URGH, They think they help people... Oh no they don't.... That's a different ramble for a different time. Leaving work very late with a mountain of work waiting for me tomorrow, ALL I want to do is get starbucks... Or Chocolate covered potato chips (Thanks mom), but I get a text from My girl, Becky,  saying she wants to take a walk... I want to lay in bed until the time stops... So I wasn't exactly in the same place, but I messaged her back just ranting about my day and Fed Ex and all the work I had to do after I got home and telling her I really didn't have the time for a walk. She insisted, said it would calm me, it would help me, at that point I was ready to run someone off the road so I agreed.

After quite the terrible ordeal at Fed Ex, I headed to Whole foods for ingredients for dinner. Orange, lemon, thyme... etc. When I got home, Becky met me outside at her car (oh yea she's also my neighbor) and we got in. Me still ready to  murder someone, she started driving towards the beach, we headed down towards Malibu, watching the waves and the sun starting to slowly descend in the sky, my nerves started to calm, as I'm still ranting about my day and we're getting a few good laughs on the way. After about 20 minute drive, we arrived at the most amazing beach I had ever seen. I did not grow up in California, I grew up in Canada, Montreal to me exact, and then I moved to the West coast of Edmonton Alberta in my teens. I always saw these shows and movies with people living near the beach, the perfect people roller skating right next to the beach, and people hanging out listening to music and volley ball on the beach... Yah that beach exists. Although today was not 80 Degrees out, was cool with a very heavy wind... none of that mattered, I was content with the wind at my bad, watching the sun setting in the water and mountains, dipping my very cold feet into much colder water, it all just washed over me. Admiring the beauty of my surroundings, and succumbing to mother nature, we stood in the cold wind, on the beach watching the sun set (and a couple having potentially very gross cold sand sex). Everything was just immediately better, the sugar craving stopped, my back muscles relaxed for the first time that day and for that moment everything was just... As it was, perfect.

After the sun set it got REAL cold... we stopped at Starbucks (FINALLY!) for some Americanos... Not exactly what I was looking for but it did warm me up, and we headed home. A nice relaxing talk driving on one of the most gorgeous roads I have ever driven on. Finally got home around 9 and my husband had tried preparing the green beans for dinner (the texts between us as I try to explain to him how to clean the green beans are hilarious... I'll just leave it at that) but I was too dang tired to start dinner from scratch. Too long of a day, my soul was tired, so I cooked what seemed to be the most conforting thing I could find. Potato breakfast sausage (no sugar added) hash, with 2 Over easy eggs and some orange juice. It hit the spot, gave me the comfort I was seeking and was so delicious! Sometimes you need to indulge in the yummy things that make your heart smile... as long as it's compliant!

Sorry Everyone no recipes today, but you can enjoy this gorgeous view till tomorrow.

 

 

"The Gentle rays of the suns last light.... The wind howling in our ears...& the waves crashing on the sands quiets our souls... Just what we needed on a Monday Evening"

Becky's sweet words for my Gorgeous Picture.

Days 5,6 and 7.... The weekends

The weekends are always the hardest, you don't have the distraction for 9 hours from work. All I want to do is wake up, go to a nice breakfast with family or friends. This weekend was tough for me, it was my sister in laws bridal shower. Anytime you go to an event when food will be involved is hard. The food there is usually not at all whole 30 compliant. Luckily this one was hosted by my husband's brothers girlfriend Pam. Which her and I have been friends for over 20 years, and she's pretty healthy usually so she had plenty that I could eat. I had a salad with aged fig balsamic vinegar and some oil, cold cuts with compliant mustard and a whole lot of fruit. Was quite tasty, not going to lie, but the temptations were still there. Croissants and cupcakes and cake and bread and icing and and and and.... After my sister in law opened her gifts, it was time for cake and I had to leave to keep away from tempation.

Today was Mother's Day, my mom is very far away. I sent her some flowers but not able to be with her, but we woke up very early and all headed to breakfast with my mother in law, and all the siblings. I find breakfast easier to do at restaurants than dinner. I had hashbrowns and eggs and bacon and sausage, freshly made with no added sugars. It was tasty but I do miss pancakes, and all the yummy things. I had a hard time yesterday, after the rabbit food at lunch, I had a chipolte salad for dinner and by the time I got to eat it, was all cold even the chicken and veggies. I was craving junk food like no other, around 1 am my husband had to distract me to keep me from going to mcdonalds and stuffing my face with gross foods and soda. My efforts are not going unnoticed, I got to talk about my journey with people at the shower, enlightening people with the things I have learnt from whole30. It's hard when you see something you want and you have to do a full 360 because you realize you can't have it. Makes you so aware of all the bad things you might eat on a regular basis without even noticing, until your brain becomes aware of all the naughty things. It's really enlightening, when you start noticing all the sugar you eat daily without a second thought.

I'm glad to announce that I did not succumb to temptation this week. After Mother's Day breakfast we went shopping a little bit for an upcoming trip, the grocery shopping. Got some more fruits, tons of strawberries and cherries and yummy compliant drinks. Replenished some food for the week, and just did nothing for the rest of the day. A little puzzling, laundry, cleaning.... I'm not a mother yet so this was just a regular Sunday in our home. Dinner consists of a roasted chicken and roasted potatoes with a salad. I also roasted extra potatoes and cooked compliant breakfast sausage to have a nice scramble ready for weekday mornings and all I have to do is warm up the mixture a  bit and fry an egg and eat it. It will make much easier mornings, less planning, breakfast ready to go. My fresh fruit is calling my name, I'm going to go enjoy them

I hope you all had a good weekend and a Happy Mother's Day.

Days 3-4... The small victories

I'll be honest, I know this is a body cleansing program but out of all the benefits, I really just want to shed some pounds. It can be difficult when you're so in love with food like I am. Doing this seemed like the best diet for me that I can actually stick with.
The benefits of getting healthy is also important but definitely way down that list after lose weight, but the whole30 is a No Scale Victory kind of program. I know why they do that, be cause it might be discouraging... it IS discouraging when you get on the scale and you feel like you've done so well but only lost 1 pound in a week. I am breaking that rule a little bit, I know how my body works, when I start a diet I lose weight fast... Like REALLY fast.  It's been 3 days since I weighed in initially and I weight myself after lunch (couldn't help it) and I'm down 9 pounds... I'm not stupid, I know that's just water and bad crap I'm getting rid of, not ACTUAL fat, but it's a start.

The small victories, my rings are spinning on my finger. That for me is quite the victory, wasn't more than a year ago I was seriously thinking of having my ring sized up so it would fit, because for almost a year I didn't wear my wedding rings because it was too painful. When the cost was given to me, I decided losing weight was going to be easier. I've been able to wear them ever since I lost enough weight to make it comfortable, but when they start spinning... I can't help but grin. My pants are not as tight, which is strange because I am ALWAYS full now. I don't eat something unsatisfying, and feel hungry 20 minutes later or have heart burn or feel sluggish. I am ALWAYS full... cause I eat! I eat so much good whole foods I can't stop myself, it's all so delicious!

We went to whole foods tonight and I picked up a couple of dry aged rib eye steaks. After we got those, I got some cherry's and strawberries (strawberry season!) and cashews and oranges... Ask anyone who has EVER cooked with me in the kitchen and they will tell you, I am a snacker while I cook (I blame my mother :P) At least tonight it wasn't chips or cheese or crackers.... It was cherry's and strawberries, they tasted so sweet and amazing I really couldn't stop, Perfection!!

An other small victory is the feeling like I might actually stay awake all day, that's pretty nice not struggling, guzzling coffee like it's going out of style, it's nice to be able to stay focused at work all day and look up to the clock and finally realize it's lunch time, or time to go. It's so nice to feel like I can fully 100% contribute everything I can to what I am doing, no matter what it is. The crazy thing with food is that it affects everything! You don't know but what ever might be hurting you, a bad shoulder, constant headaches, sore knee, bad back, depression... It could be related to the kind of food you intake. Now my girlfriend had a theory that organic, free range meat or as she calls it; Happy Meat, or the products that come from those animals such as; Happy eggs and Happy cheese, she says when the animal is happy when producing their products or if the animal had a happy life, the meat will be better and make you happier than an animal that is unhappy and crated. I tend to agree with her, mainly because I think it tastes better, which make me Happy, but she believes there are chemical released in the animals meat if it grows up unhappy it will cause unhappiness in the people who eat them. Is that true, I'm not sure... All I know is people seem to be miserable eating crap food, fast foods mainly, or any other kind of junk foods, and if you've ever been to a farmers market you will see people who watch what they intake seem much happier and just free...

Like I mentioned before, tonight we rolled to whole foods and got the meat! Was so good, cooked the steak with just some salt and pepper and a little garlic oil. It was divine, it's not always easy to cook a steak, but I cook mine in a cast iron skillet, make sure it's searing hot. Place the seasoned steaks in the pan, wait.... and wait.... and waaaaaaait, then flip after you see the edge start browning. Make sure your pan isn't too high, or too low... I would prefer too high than low, if your heat is too low it'll just boil and that's so gross. Make sure you hear it sizzling the entire time, get those yummy brown char bits on the bottom. Once you flip your steak, place in a hot oven for 5 minutes or less depending on how rare you want it. It was perfect!

My lunch today consisted of a lot of humming and hawing, not sure what to eat, didn't want left overs but nothing to eat quickly... then there it was... I saw it there staring at me... Daring me to cook it.... BACON!
That's right! I had bacon and a couple of over medium eggs with an orange for dessert. My goodness this is so good! I am so full and thinking of my meals for the next 26 days is making me excited. It is weird I love food this much? Even the healthy stuff? Cause I've gotten Julia Child food happy but let's be honest... her food wasn't exactly whole 30 compliant, although her recipes are delicious the motto of "Just add butter" *in Julia's voice* doesn't exactly work with this whole diet thing... unless it was AT LEAST grass fed cows.

Breakfast for the last few days have been same old apples and almond butter. It's easy and delicious, not to forget to mention my naked juice, so delicious and filling and a nice change of pace for liquid intake to replace water. There isn't much else out there in the world in liquid form that doesn't have added sugars, except kombucha, and I'm not really about that, not yet anyways.

Dinner last night was quite the tasty treat! I made something my girlfriend saw on pintrest, a very cool way to cook fish. The salsa was my own :)

Pineapple Tilapia with a Mango Avocado Salsa
What you'll need for 2 people
1 pound of Tilapia
1 pinapple
1 orange
1 mango
1 jalapeno
1 avocado

What you'll do is
Cut the skin off the pineapple in long strips leaving a little meat on each slice, I got about 6 decent skins out of it. Season your Talapia with salt and pepper, place in an over safe pan and sandwich the talapia between 2 pieces of pineapple skin facing out and place in the over (or wrap a string around the whole thing and place on the BBQ). My oven was on for about 20 minutes at 375 degree, the fish came out cooked and tender and juice... Juicy fish, I know sounds weird but was amazing!
While that's cooking, dice 1/2 cup of pineapple and mango small and place in a bowl. Remove all seeds from the jalapeno, dice and add to the bowl with an entire diced up avocado and hold until fish is ready. Once fish is ready, cut open the orange and add 1/4 cup of orange juice to the salsa with a little salt and pepper. Remove top skin of pineapple off the fish and drizzle the fish with a little fresh orange juice squeeze. Plate the fish and place a generous amount of the yummy salsa on top.
Sides: Pretty much anything compliant, any veggies you can roast on the BBQ with the fish or cook on stove top.





I hope this, if nothing else gave you some decent ideas for foods you can try on your whole30. I hope everyone at one point will be able to discipline themselves enough to try this. It's tough, I won't lie, all day staring temptation in the face, but the moment I sit back after dinner is finished and put away and I can finally relax I feel accomplished, happy and most of all proud of myself. If you're hesitant, start cutting things out slowly like bread and pasta, or Dairy or Sugar, eventually you will be eating mostly whole30 compliant foods anyways, you could definitely go the entire 30 days cutting out only a few cheat foods instead of overhauling your entire pantry.

Small Victories... Your brain will quickly be on board with your new way of eating and even with cheat foods in front of you... You will still want to reach for the cherry's... Forget small victories... Your brain being on board with getting you healthy.... HUGE F*#%ING VICTORY! Good Job Brain

Day 2.... Do starbucks Frap have sugar?

Starbucks Starbucks Starbucks Starbucks Starbucks Starbucks Starbucks Starbucks...STARBUCKS!!
Why!! I feel so deprived!! I know I caaaaan have starbucks but it has to be black.... and not frapped... and no whipped cream... What the Sh*t!
I felt fine all day, I packed myself a nice lunch since we had a potluck at work and a mandatory meeting during lunch. So I brought left overs from last night, rotisserie chicken and potatoes for lunch a naked juice for my first break, oranges for desert and a banana for my second break. I felt VERY full... the food was yummy.. No complaints, not until I went to target to pick up a few small things ($160 later, urgh I hate target) and watching half the store walking around with Venti Fraps. DON'T THEY KNOW I'M DOING THE WHOLE 30! Rudeness!
I was in kind of a rush this morning so I only had an apple sliced up and almond butter with some naked juice and a black coffee (sometimes you have to get past the taste to stay awake while putting your makeup on). Dinner was the real star of my day, I had a nice lamb shoulder slow cooking waiting for me when I got home. I baked a sweet potato, sliced it down the middle and side to side a few times put a little ghee, salt and pepper and some raw garlic spread (if you haven't tried this on your... well ANYTHING, run to whole foods and get it.)
My lamb I prepared last night, super easy simple recipe I got from Nom Nom Paleo's cook book. The recipe is called Kalua pork (No not the alcohol... I wish), I know I said I made lamb, I prepared it the same way just different protein. I placed full slices of bacon at the bottom of my crockpot, punctured the lamb a few times and added whole pieces of garlic to the punctured areas and sprinkled a very generous amount of Hawaiian Sea Salt all over the lamb, into every little nook and cranny of that bad boy. Massage it in and place the protein on the bacon in the crockpot. I cooked mine for about 16 hours on low, came out super juicy and delicious and crazy yummy. I shredded the lamb and placed in on top of my garlic smothered sweet potato. 
I continued by making asparagus, this is the easiest, fastest yummiest (that's totally a word)  way I've ever made asparagus. I've never really been a fan until I saw how Nom Nom Paleo does hers and I've been hooked ever since. Get a cast iron skillet nice and hot, add some ghee and let it melt, cut the ends off ur asparagus and run them under water to clean them off. Do not dry them off, shake them off a little but then add them to the now very hot ghee laced cast iron pan and try not to get burnt (you'll see). Add salt and pepper or which ever spice you would desire, leave the skillet on med to med/high and cover the asparagus. I usually check mine after about 3-4 minutes and toss them around, and cook for an other 2 minutes with an other toss and I continue to do that until they look like they are actually grilled. They get so dang yummy it's almost unfair, I've also done this with carrots, snow peas, it works every single time!

The food was not at all depriving today... not once did I wish I was eating something else, but going to target, walking near many... many aisles of naughty treats and chocolate and even something as simple as gum, it's very hard to not just have one... How can it hurt right? Which is usually the question I ask myself right before I typically shove something delicious in my face and Instantly regret my decision, so tonight I stayed on course. Instead of looking and envying all the people with their starbucks and yummy yummy treats, I reminded myself of how I am going to feel in 28 days from now, and how proud I'll be. But worse, how I would feel 10 minutes after I would have finished whatever goodness I would have succumb too. Temptation is everywhere! I now realize that it wasn't about me being stubborn and not wanting to eat veggies cause of lack of taste or flavor, it's the addiction to the sugar, the grease, the processed foods.... Because as I've mentioned many times... The food has been satisfying, didn't stop me from craving pizza or hotdogs after smelling something at work... and I work in a dental office soooo yea, I know that's weird.

Food to me is an attachment I have to emotions and vise versa. The best times I remember with some of my favorite people have been times enjoying a laugh over a meal or meeting friends at a restaurant. Cooking food with my girlfriends chatting about anything and everything. I associate happiness to eating and when I'm sad I eat even more to try and recover that happiness, even when it might happen that I am just in the mood for a certain food, the first thing I think of is the good times I had eating that food or being at that place those during those happy times. I need to cut the unhealthy emotional attachment I have to food. It's almost like I'm stuck in a bad relationship and not knowing it, I need out! Not to say I won't have good times over food again... even naughty food from time to time, after the 30 days of course, but I want to not feel like I need to find happiness at the bottom of a bag or a jar or a tub of anything. This 30 days will not only help me change my eating habits but I hope there is also some emotional growth that will happen as well. I hope that after the 30 days I won't feel like I NEED food to be happy... Maybe just the alcohol then :P

Day 1... Complete!

Today I had only 2 things on my mind all day... Potato Chips and Potato Chips... And the worst part is that I still have some in my house, not a whole lot but they're here... Staring at me, taunting me... calling my name, I feel like I've abandoned my children. All those nights those delicious crunchy salty potato chips that made me feel less lonely, falling prey to their amazing greasy embrace....What I wouldn't do right now for just one bite... Wait, What?....Anywho!! luckily I was out of the house most of the night. My girlfriend and I headed down to Santa Monica and met Melissa and Dallas Hartwig, the creators of the Whole 30. They were such a fun couple, gorgeous as can be and just very passionate about this, hearing them definitely helped me solidify my decision in doing this.  They started the whole 30 for a completely different reason that I had imagined, their story is actually very sweet and I do encourage you to look it up. They were out here promoting their new book, they had "It's starts with food" and now came out with a Whole 30 cookbook, they even signed my book!

Despite my overwhelming cravings for potato chips I did stay on course today... Day 1 Completed! Although nothing fancy happened meal wise, it was still a very nice day. Breakfast consisted of eggs and strawberries. Lunch consisted of Eggs sausage and Avo, you'll see very soon Eggs is the laziest and easiest choice when it comes to Whole 30. Many times you are out of ideas or short on time, eggs goes well with ANYTHING, Asparagus, beef bone broth, salad... the list goes on and on and I'm sure i'll be presenting you with many variety of egg possibilities in the next 30 days.

After I got home I headed to Santa Monica right away (after a quick stop at the fridge to demolish more strawberries). The drive down the Pacific Coast Highway around 6 o'clock was just gorgeous, the sun starting to set, coast line directly next to the HWY, no matter how long I live here it still makes me smile and makes me thankful for the little things.

We had the meet and greet with the Hartwig's and headed home. My very patient husband went to the store for me while I was out to stock up on some Whole Foods, at Whole Foods (convenient!). Yummy apples and Bananas and Almond Butter and Naked juices, and he even prepared dinner.

Today was a bad example of a first day, I was completely unorganized and unprepared for the day when it comes to food and that will be your biggest downfall doing this. Without meal planning and/or meal prepping, you will sadly fail, because we all have a couple of those days when  you come home too tired or miserable to even think about starting dinner and McDonalds sounds more appetizing than even the best 5 star restaurants. Although if dinner was already prepped and ready to go, or even in the crockpot just ready to be eaten, you would be much more likely to stay home and eat your yummy happy organic food. Mom always used to say; if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, so don't forget to plan AHEAD.

So I get home and dinner is cooking away and I prepare my dinner for tomorrow, a nice easy recipe in the crockpot I will be sharing with you all tomorrow, but dinner tonight consisted of a roasted chicken already roasted from whole foods. Now be very cautious if you are picking up ANY kind of already prepared food, read the ingredient list very carefully, you would NOT believe how many products on our grocery store shelves (Even Whole Foods) have added sugar or any sort of Sugar such as sugar cane or fructose, you can easily google all the different names for sugar and avoid them at all cost. Actually if you are reading a label and you can not pronounce one of the ingredients, that's usually when we decide to move on, anywho... Dinner was the roasted chicken, some roasted lemon pepper and thyme potatoes and a nice green salad with Whole 30 compliment salad dressing (for a good brand of compliant dressings comment below i'll let you know of them) and avocado.  It was very good, satisfying and most of all... I sit here at midnight after a very long day, feeling full... Happy... Healthy(er) and not regretting this decision... Yet.

Here's just a picture of my dinner and desert since no fancy recipes to share this evening.

The beginning!

I am what they would call an emotional eater... I guess. I eat when i'm happy, when i'm sad, when i'm bored, when i'm full, pretty much anytime there is food in reach it's most likely going to end up in my face in the very near future. Literally right now, just finished a very nice dinner with some friends at Lazy Dog restaurant and left very satisfied, walked home, sat down and I am eating a cupcake... Two to be exact. To be fair they are mini cupcakes, but we did get a dozen and there are more from where these two came from. ANYWAYS, enough of my shameful eating habits, I have decided to start the Whole 30 body cleansing. I will be eating meals that will consist of nothing tasty, lol Just kidding. It will be no sugar (I KNOW!!) no gluten (whats a gluten) no carbs (pasta...Sigh) and theres more, I just don't have the heart to mention anything else I will be cutting out for the next 30 days.
So you might be asking, what can you eat, which is exactly what I asked myself. I can eat meat, and fruits and veggies and spices and anything that isn't processed, laced in sugar, this is basically a more intense version of Paleo if you are familiar with that life style. 
When this new way of eating was introduced to me, I was very hesitant, to even talk to the person who mentioned it to me ever again, but after looking up on it I thought it might be nice to try. I am not someone who does well at "diets" I've done the shakes (this bitch needs food), I've done the calorie counting with Weight Watchers. Which I am not at ALL saying anything against weight watchers, it has helped a LOT of people and I myself lost a bunch of weight on it when my mom would feed me that food and it was a battle of eat or starve at home, so the lesser of the two evils was the food she gave me, but I don't have the patience it takes to calorie count since I would be doing it myself now. I like flavor, lots of amazing flavor, give me flavor and something hot to eat I'm not a rabbit, don't give me Kale and a squeeze of lemon, you'll get your face ripped right off. Give me food! Give me food that will make me happy and not make me feel like I'm on a "diet". Give me flavors, and let me eat until I'm full, which I feel the Whole 30 is a perfect combination of these things. I used to cook as well for a profession so I enjoy the farmers market shopping experience and the trying new recipes out, trying new foods and flavors out. I will be trading in my butter for Ghee and my heavy whipping cream for coconut milk, but it'll still be tasty. 
I have tried a few recipes to see what I am getting myself into and I must say I am not too angry about the flavors.

Growing up for me food was the old classic, Protein, carbs and or starch and a sauce to tie it all together. Mom would usually make veggies and I would usually pass on them, or avoid them at all cost if they should find they're way onto my plate. With the whole 30, my plate will be laced with the green stuff, yummy proteins and a huge punch of flavor. Today was my last day of indulgence and indulge I did, perhaps slightly too much, but tomorrow starts a new day. I will be doing this with my girlfriend/neighbor/bestpersonever, she is very healthy and active and gorgeous and she makes me SICK! But she loves me and she is just looking out for me.

A few things I am not looking forward too, cutting out all the foods I love... A few things i am VERY exited for, the way I will feel cutting out all the things that make me sluggish during the day, not falling pray to everything sugar, and at the end, re introducing things into my diet slowly to understand how they make me feel and how my body reacts to certain things. I also want my blog to help people who are not health conscious, or active or doing anything of the proper "health things" right now CAN start with the whole 30. Although it sounds tough to cut all those things out, I want to prove that I CAN do this, and I will, and I hope it will inspire others to at LEAST try it, or try some of the recipes I will be posting that ARE whole 30 approved, and they can maybe replace some spaghetti nights or even just add some variety.

I hope you can join me on my adventures through my body cleansing on the inside, and hopefully make this chubby girl slightly less plump (or a lot less plump) *reluctantly tosses away remaining mini cupcakes*

I can do this....