Attempting a Whole Life

Day 31 Wait a second! Whole30 is supposed to be 30 days... why are we on day 31?! I thought the same thing when I started, too. And the first time I did Whole30 I ended completely on the 30th day and partied hard that weekend. Okay, maybe it was only half a beer and mostly all dessert foods but I still felt the hangover the next morning.  Reintroduction The days following the reset should be slow reintroduction days not cheat days followed by more cheat days where you find yourself 7 months later realizing you really need another reset. Just me? On day 31 (if you aren't continuing on, which is absolutely okay to do), add 1 (one) off-limits item to your meal(s). The following few days should be back to the reset. This should give you an understanding how that particular food affects you. My personal reintroduction today will be sugar. I don't usually add sugar to my coffee unless I add flavored creamer (which usually has sugar) and I didn't want to star

Day 30 Today is technically the last day of Whole30! I'm mostly curious, now that I don't have this Whole30 title to fall under, what will be my nutrition style? Of course I am going to still do a reintroduction period to see how different food seem to make me feel.  Meal Schedule Brunch Coffee - Black + cinnamon Beef Stew - Bell peppers + onion + chile sauce** Snack Nut Butter Dinner Mock Spaghetti Squash *From the garden **Leftovers Groceries < Day 29 Follow Attempting a Whole Life

Day 29 Woke up with a headache, runny nose, and twinging from my spondy flare-up. But I still feel better than I did yesterday after my physical therapy appointment. I think I did push my self too hard instead of listening to my body. I've been dealing with these flare-ups for a decade and I know if I don't listen to my body, I will end up with emergency room type pain. I think I was putting too much faith in "trusting the process" and not enough in trusting my process. I get where they were coming from. I think when I said I lay down, they assumed I lay down all day. I don't. I lay down until the pain subsides, still fully awake and able to work on my computer or from my tablet. But I also make sure to get up and walk around when I can. My laying down is probably the equivalent to people sitting down. I still fully intend to continue my physical therapy and am very aware I need to work on my core and making sure I add stretching to my daily routine.

Day 28 I woke up feeling about 80% from the spondylolitheses stuff not including a headache, slightly sore throat, and runny nose. The headache went away about 3 hours after taking meds for it. Today, since I was consistently feeling a bit better, I went to my physical therapy appointment. They had me doing some extra stretches to help loosen everything up, which felt nice. Then, they moved on to checking my mobility, pushing until I felt something. Not fun. They moved onto my regular exercises and as they progressively got harder, the twinge returned. I cried. I don't think it was tears from the pain. I felt absolutely defeated. And although the pain and lack of mobility are not as bad as the first or even second day, my excitement that it was slowly getting better completely waned after this appointment. I do have another appointment later this week that I still plan on going to. Gotta trust the process... for now. Meal Schedule Brunch Coffee - Black + cinnamon

Day 27 I woke up feeling about 80% on the back pain scale which is wonderful in my book. Unfortunately, the back pain was replaced by a migraine which woke me up and kept me up since fairly early in the morning (way before the sun). Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon + almond milk Egg Sausage Lunch Almond Butter Beef Stick Dinner Orange *From the garden **Leftovers I didn't have much of an appetite today. Mostly, I think I am getting sick. I had a very slight sore throat combined with a headache that didn't go away. Groceries Avocado Oil Mayo Meat Bars Almond Butter Packets Pine Nuts I forgot to use the coupon that would have given me 40% those pine nuts and I am kicking myself for not remembering which brought it to $37.87. But I am expecting a $5.75 rebate using the Ibotta app (referral link) on the nut butter and jars of mayo. < Day 26   | Day 28 > Follow Attempting a Whole Life

Day 26  Day 4 of Spondylolisthesis flare-up and I woke up feeling slightly better (not as many twinges as I got out of bed). This flare-up has got me going to bed earlier and waking up earlier. I've been about to go outside and do a TINY bit of yard work; bending to pick things up. After about an hour of slow movement everything tightens up and laying flat helps it relax.  Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon + almond milk Eggs Bacon** Sausage** Potato Banana Lunch Ground Beef Onion Bell Peppers Green Chile Sauce Garlic Powder Dinner Chicken Salad Snack Meat Stick Energy Bar *From the garden **Leftovers The kid and I split the leftovers of the bacon and sausage and enjoyed the last of the potatoes. I'm still debating if I want to grab more or if I'm going to try Keto after my reintroduction phase of this reset. < Day 25   | Day 27 > Follow Attempting a Whole Life

This has been my go to potluck/party food since I first tried my luck at Whole30 in 2017. It's fairly easy to make and only two ingredients. The best part is your Whole30-nonbeliever friends will likely enjoy this, too! Actually, the best part is eating it. Let's get to it! Ingredients Dates Bacon Supplies Knife Shallow baking sheet Parchment baking paper (easier cleanup) Directions Preheat the oven to 425F. Cut lengthwise, remove pits, set aside. Cut bacon in half. Put one end of bacon in the slit of the date and wrap around tightly.  Place wrapped dates with bacon end face-down, spreading out each date evenly on baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes or longer until bacon reaches desired crispness. Tip : If your bacon is too short and doesn't reach around the date or unravels, hold together with toothpick presoaked in water.

Day 25  It may be day 25 of my Whole30 2.0 but it's day 3 of my Spondylolisthesis flare-up. And I am still frustrated with my lack of normal-to-me mobility. I still haven't made it up to my daily 10,000 step goal but I have worked my way towards keeping up with my volunteer commitment that I made for today. And man, was I tired afterwards! These last few days had my body doing constant ab exercises. It's not until I am able to lay down that my core can finally try and relax. Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon + Almond milk Eggs Bacon Potato Lunch Beef Stick Orange Banana Dinner Chicken Salad *From the garden **Leftovers < Day 24   |  Day 26  > Follow Attempting a Whole Life

Day 24 Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon Eggs Bacon Potato Lunch Dinner *From the garden **Leftovers I used the last of my need-to-brew coffee yesterday and was left with my in-case-of-emergency, instant coffee, single-cup packets. This actually worked out fine because I didn't feel the need to drink more than a cup as I tried to keep rested, mainly. < Day 23   |  Day 25 > Follow Attempting a Whole Life

Day 23 Today started out fine besides being slightly tired (nowhere near my usual exhaustion) so I ended up have a brunch instead of lunch. Fast forward to this afternoon and my back freaked out on me while I was putting on my sock.  I've woken up to  (relatively)  little spasms a handful of times this whole month. Unfortunately, this one was very sharp. Now my muscles think they are protecting me by tightening up. Except this tightness is holding off my normal, everyday movements (sitting, bending, even standing in one place). I am just trying to keep moving (soft-step walking) because sitting down is painful. Here's to hoping I can still reach my 10,000 step goal for today—still pushing for it! Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon Eggs Potato Bacon Dinner Deconstructed Chicken Salad *From the garden **Leftovers < Day 22 Follow Attempting a Whole Life

Day 22 Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon + almond milk Eggs Bacon** Potato Lunch Banana Mock Spaghetti** Snack Meat Stick Banana Mandarin Almond Butter Dinner Mock Spaghetti** *From the garden **Leftovers I get it, I need to eat more veggies. I was definitely hungry today and felt like I ate all the things as well as end the day with at headache. Bleh. But less than a week until I start reintroduction. For reintroduction I am thinking about getting my stats and planning for Keto. Once reintroduction is complete, I can figure out how to combine what I've been working towards with this reset and combine it with Keto. Since about week 2 I have been trying to figure out if the Keto lifestyle is for me. I've been looking into the basics; finding out what Keto is generally about. And this "Keto Flu" concept that came up sounds quite off-putting. But then again, have I already gone through it without knowing, w

Day 21 The end of today marks being a whole30-er for 3 weeks! Week 3 seems to have zoomed on by. Seriously, where did it go?  Other than the awesomeness of reaching the week 3 milestone, I haven't been getting to bed early enough. At night I try to catch up on all the things and it leaves me going to bed too late and needing a bajillion alarms to wake up the next morning. So, new goal for the remaining days is to go to bed 10:00pm and wake up by the first alarm (without snoozing it). Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon + almond milk Eggs Potatoes Sausage  Lunch Ground Beef** Okra** Green Chile Dinner Spaghetti Squash Ground Beef Marinara Bacon Wrapped Dates *From the garden **Leftovers Todays dinner was a shared meal that I made at home. I shared with another whole30-er and her partner who is not partaking but seemed to enjoy the meal. < Day 20   |  Day 22 > Follow Attempting a Whole Life

Day 20 Today was a 3 grocery store kind of day. I was originally going to go so I could spend some time with family and pick up some office supplies. It was supposed to be just one store but one store turned into 3 and a zillion dollars later I have some more snacks and compliant supplies. Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon Eggs Sausage Potatoes** Lunch Nut Butter Banana Snack Pistachios Clementine Dinner Chicken Salad ** Spinach *From the garden **Leftovers We enjoyed a relaxing morning this morning until I got a call to go to the store. So, I rushed to feed the kid and finish up what I was doing which left me to miss lunch. Groceries Spaghetti Squash Compliant Bacon Almond Butter Nut Butter Compliant Snack Bars Meat Sticks Ground Beef Chicken Sausage Pistachio At 3 different stores, I spent a total of $87.99 on Whole30 compliant food. I will received a $2.70 rebate from Ibotta (referral link). <

Day 19 Paint night continued again in the morning after breakfast. It has been absolutely wonderful to whip out the paints and come up with something creative and not feel rushed because my child also loves it! Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon Eggs Bacon** Potatoes Lunch Ground Beef** Sweet Potatoes** Bell Peppers* ** Dinner Chicken Okra *From the garden **Leftovers We enjoyed dinner and movie living room style. I was excited to finally use some frozen okra but I have learned before that it's typically a hit and a miss when purchasing it frozen and that is why I usually avoid it. Too many times the okra ends up being overly ripe. If you have never had okra before, it is a type of pod that can become hard and inedible if it isn't harvested in time. This bag of okra had an unfortunate amount of them being difficult to chew. I have left overs and will eat the rest and try and remind myself not to buy them again. Somethin

Day 18 I enjoyed a coffee date and good this morning at home catching up with a good friend and finally found a use for the almond milk I opened up! She's not a Whole30-er but has no interest in cow's milk.  Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon Eggs Potato Bacon** Lunch Spaghetti Squash ** Ground Beef** Marinara** Dinner Sweet Potato Fries Ground Beef Green Chile Bell Peppers* *From the garden **Leftovers I hosted a friend for coffee this morning and again for dinner then paint night. That non-Whole30er enjoyed her Whole30 compliant dinner! Winning! < Day 17   |  Day 19 > Follow Attempting a Whole Life

Day 17 Today was another busy day with errands upon errands upon errands with the last being a science fair awards ceremony for the elementary school. See Kindergarten Science Fair  in my #oversharenting portion of the blog. Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon Spaghetti Squash Ground Beef Marinara Snack Banana Pistachios Salsa Plantain Chips Dinner Spaghetti Squash Ground Beef Marinara *From the garden **Leftovers I am grateful to past me for making enough food to have leftovers today. Without that, I would have been stuck in a rut eating nuts and compliant energy bars. Groceries Diced Chile Almonds Pistachios The chile was on sale. This chile is amazing and whole30 compliant! So, I bought 4 jars.... Honestly, I'll likely go back to stock up before the sale ends. I am coming to terms that the almond and pistachio purchase was because I was hungry and hadn't eaten since breakfast. Which had me spending $48.

My child is in Kindergarten and she worked on project and entered the science fair. I didn't ask her if she wanted to (it's not required until third grade). Instead, she brought a note home stating when the science fair was and I signed her up. I know nothing about science fairs. I vaguely remember one science fair I entered in elementary school. I couldn't tell you what I entered but I remember working on the project and not really understanding what I was supposed to be doing. But I do remember enjoying laying out the text in Word or Note Pad or some similar software (of the few times I was allowed on the computer in elementary school), figuring out the right size so it would print large enough to see but small enough to fit on the board. All precursors to my graphic design career. In fact, thats what I remember most about all of my school projects—the crafting. Having a Kindergartener enter the science fair seems overboard for a kindergartener. How much will sh

Day 16 Last night was an ultra late bedtime and a late(r than normal) wake up time. An absolute rush without feeling rushed — if that makes sense. My rushed usually feels overwhelming but I was able to rush without the added anxiety. I don't know if that is because if this new way of eating and moving (reaching 10,000 steps a day). I do know that I stayed up late to clean up last minute projects. This meant I didn't have to search for what I needed to head out the door. Maybe it's the latter.  Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon Eggs Sweet Potato** Bacon Lunch Chicken Sausage Avocado Baby Spinach Bell Pepper* Dinner Spaghetti Squash Ground Beef Marinara Nutritional Yeast *From the garden **Leftovers Each meal was absolutely delicious and different and I have leftovers—errh—I mean, food prep from dinner. I tried Nutritional Yeast and it was okay. I probably could have gotten a smaller container as I don't see mys

How do I make spaghetti squash? This is definitely a cold-nights type dinner and takes about an hour to make. While this squash is in the oven I like to prep the meat and sauce (making a Mock Spaghetti) and still have time to clean up the kitchen a bit—one of my Non-Scale Victories during my Whole30 (attempt) 2.0 . Let's get started! Recipe Ingredients Spaghetti Squash Avocado Oil Salt Pepper Basil (optional) Directions Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Carefully cut the spaghetti squash lengthwise, all the way through. Using a spoon, scoop out the guts. Lightly coat both insides with avocado oil, salt, and pepper (and basil if you're using it). On a shallow baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, place cut side down. Bake for 45minutes–1hour.  Remove from oven and let it sit for a short while. Used a fork to remove the spaghetti-like strands from the rind. Add to your favorite dish or make kid-approved Mock Spaghetti.

Day 15  Halfway through! I woke up today with a slight headache that took all morning to dissipate. It left me a bit sluggish and cranky through the morning. Meal Schedule Breakfast Coffee - Black + cinnamon Egg Potato Bacon Dinner Chicken Salad Spinach Snack Apple Plantain Chips Salsa *From the garden **Leftovers Todays schedule was a bit wild. I went from meeting to meeting only to stop back for a quick dinner. Got back home in time to help the kid finish a school project. I didn't realize until dinner that I missed out on lunch! This is very easy for me to do and I used to do it all the time just to get work done. And when I say all the time, I mean for years I have done that. I used to regularly skip out on lunch while going to school. Since I had nearly an hour and a half commute both ways, it made sense for me to want to get the day over with quicker. I would pack a snack when I remembered but it was never really mindful eatin