My 68 Day Challenge; The Whole30 Recap

Boom!
Done!
We did it!
We completed the Whole30

We did this as part of an amazing program sponsored by my employer called The 68 Day Challenge.

Reading the book, It Starts With Food before beginning the Whole30 is definitely the way to go.  The authors give you everything you need to be successful.

Even tough love.

One struggle I had while reading it is that each chapter begins with a testimonial on how the program is "life changing".  Not to be cynical, but really, a 30 day meal plan life changing?  How can eliminating certain foods from your diet for just 30 days be all that?

And then,
at about day 15
it happened.

My husband and I were both feeling so good that we said "I am never going back".  What does that mean, never going back?  We are not going to kid ourselves that we are going to be Whole30 all day every day, but we are going to do our best to be Whole30 80% of the time.

Why?

We feel that good.

Specifically, we both experienced these benefits:

My 68 Day Challenge; Whole 30 Day 9

The authors of the Whole30 say that most people give up on days 10 and 11.  The novelty has wore off, food fatigue, temptation.  A whole lot of reasons.  Being on Day 9 it doesn't feel like I'm ready to quit tomorrow or the next day.

How are you doing on your 2016 goals?  Need some motivation?  ET always does it for me.  Check out this video



Making the Whole30 fun by being able to be creative has been our focus.  By just focusing on making it through each day until you get to 30, I could see how you might give up.  If you focus on trying new things and being creative then you look forward to each new experience and don't even count the day you're on.

I've never even eaten a chicken burger before.  That didn't stop us for cooking them up for today's brown bag lunch.

Chicken Burgers
Printable Version

Dead Arm Mayonnaise

Many homemade mayonnaise recipes require power tools and face it, many kitchens do not have them.  I love this recipe because it doesn't require any tools except good old arm power and it doesn't make too much.  This is a concern because homemade mayo doesn't have a long shelf life.  You need to use it up quickly.

Homemade Mayonnaise
Printable Version

Ingredients

MY 68 Day Challenge; Whole30 Day 1

You cannot improve in one area of your life without it having a positive trickle effect into other areas.

Testing the waters before "go" day we omitted cream in our coffee about a week ago.  This seemed a little more challenging than other sacrifices.  No rich creamy coffee goodness.  No grande non-fat latte frothing in  the green cup.

To pull a quote from The Whole 30 by Melissa Hartwig and Dallas Hartwig

Beating cancer is hard. Birthing a baby is hard, Losing a parent is hard.  Drinking your coffee black is. not. hard.  You've done harder things than this, and you have no excuse...

Truthfully, it is a little hard.  We create these morning rituals to start our day happy, invigorated, and fulfilled.  Black coffee just isn't as rich and delectable and yummy.  There is a  positive trickle effect to drinking it black ...less coffee.  1-2 cups instead of 2-3 cups.

We can do this.
What is the 68 Day Challenge?  Check it out on Facebook:  68 Day Challenge

My 68 Day Challenge; The Whole30 Shopping

Today was an adventure.   Reading up on the Whole30 I wasn't intimidated or discouraged at all about the plan.  We eat pretty healthy now.  Everyone in my family can cook and, except for mushrooms, we are pretty daring when it comes to food. The only piece that seemed to be a challenge is where to find the ingredients? There are no fancy grocery stores or health markets to find organic farm raised meats around here.  Today we went searching for one.  Since when is shopping not fun?

Stop 1, a large health food market.  It looked promising from the outside.

My 68 Day Challenge; The Whole30

To successfully achieve a goal you should spend 80% of your time in planning to ensure that the 20% you spend executing can be done with excellence.  Planning on successfully completing the Whole30 program I started my planning by reading the book It Starts With Food.

After reading this book, with an open mind, I believe that adjusting your diet for 30 days can make you feel better, sleep better, think better, and perform better.  If you want to lose weight, that is an added benefit.

It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways by Dallas Hartwig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is absolutely fascinating.
To those who gave it very skeptical reviews, I ask . . .why did you buy this book in the first place? Did you not read the description first?
I will be gifting this book frequently.

View all my reviews

I'm doing the Whole30 as part of a great program sponsored by my employer The 68 Day Challenge.  It's open to the public.  Check it out!

My Whole30 Challenge

The top reason I have stayed with the same employer for over 20 years (dating myself) is that it is so great to work for a company with tremendous opportunity that encourages you to grow as a person.  Several years ago they made it even more fun to do so with the 68 Day Challenge.  Check it out here on Facebook:  The 68 Day Challenge.

The challenge I am taking on this year - the Whole30 Program.  30 days of cleaner eating for better health.  No grains, beans, dairy, added sugar, and alcohol for 30 days.  What is  attractive about this program?

Sober September

The sobering fact; I've put on 14 pounds since this time last year.

At a business meeting Friday someone said "LT you're looking thick"!  I know he meant it in a good way.  I'm sure of it.  But, for my type A self, it troubled me.

On the flip side, 14 pounds lighter, a different friend said "LT, you've got a great looking body . . . for an 8 year old boy". Ouch!

Somewhere in between "thick" and "boy body" is the answer.

Costco in the Kitchen; Chicken Tenderloin Stir Fry

Do items at Costco interest you, but you just don't know what to do with them?  Do you buy them and end up throwing them away or just walk past them and wonder?

From our recent trip to Vegas;
Chinese New Year at Bellagio

I spotted these Asian noodles in the deli section and threw them in the cart.  The first few times I just tossed a little soy sauce on them and threw them in the microwave.  This is still the 10 year old's favorite way to eat them.

Here's a super easy recipe just in time

What Kale? Protein Smoothie

Summer time = Breakfast?  No worries, the kids are not even awake until lunch time.
Back to school time = Breakfast?  Our daughter has the weird "B" lunch in the middle of her fourth hour class and our son has the late lunch, 4 1/2 hours after the bus picks him up in the morning. Whatever it is it must contain some protein or they just won't make it to lunch.

This smoothie tastes so good and with it's beautiful purple hue they won't even know the kale is in there.  It's the perfect way to get them off to school


What Kale? Protein Smoothie
Printable Version

From Couch to Marathon in 58 Days

Crazy?  Yes, a little.

Here's the thing.  I've fallen and I can't get up.  Running almost daily for 6 years, I haven't run regularly since June.  I've tried to get back on course, but I have failed.  I need a BIG CRAZY goal. This is my last ditch effort to get it together.

October 19th is the Detroit Marathon and I am committing today to do it.

Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

Mario Andretti

Blueberry Mojito Smoothie

“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in--what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.” 
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

My garden is my pride and joy.  I love being able to relax in the back yard with a different scene almost daily depending on what is in bloom.  Tucked away in the blooms are edible delights that almost look too pretty to eat.  Chives in the spring and fall, strawberries in early summer, blackberries in late summer, and herbs almost year round.

Not big on rum, a server at my old favorite restaurant (so sad that it is gone) talked me into ordering a blueberry mojito.  I have to say, it was fun summer awesomeness in a glass.  It was this morning's inspiration for our morning smoothie.

Blueberry Mojito Smoothie

Printable Version

He Happy, She Happy, We Happy

The dilemma - we are grilling steaks.  We picked up beautiful bone-in ribeyes, the king of all steaks.  He wants lionized hash browns as a side.  She wants healthy sides. Ahhhhh!  How do we make everyone happy?

I took a stab at making a healthier version of this diner favorite.  It was fantastic.

Baked Lionized Hash Brown

Printable Version

Ingredients

Indoor Dinner Beach Party

"One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter." ~Henry David Thoreau

This has been a long - no - the longest - coldest winter I can remember.  Looking forward to spring break and ready for the weather to turn we decided to bring our beach party inside for our family dinner night.

The menu:
Turkey burgers 2 ways
Baked Beans
Potato Chips
Kale Chips

For a beach party you can't forget the décor: beach decorations, paper plates, beach boys music, and of course, a beach ball.  We made up fun beach ball games around the dinner table. Here are several variations of our silly games.

Hide the Spinach

Sometimes it's not the foods our kids (and husbands) won't eat, it's the way they are prepared.  For instance, most people steam brussel sprouts. Yuck!  You can't get most people to buy in to them this way.  Try roasting them with olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and orange peel. DELICIOUS!  The same goes for asparagus.  Steamed, not so liked.  Grilled or roasted it takes on an entirely different flavor, and texture, that will get more wins and empty plates.

I find that the best way to make sure that my family gets enough vegetables is to hide them in a fruity flavored smoothie.  Sometimes I sneak a few too many veggies in there and I am busted.  Sometimes I hit a home run like with this limey flavored smoothie.

"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hide the Spinach, An Antioxidant Smoothie

Breville Juicer and Vitamix

“Instead of being oppressed by the Tyranny of the OR, highly visionary companies liberate themselves with the Genius of the AND – the ability to embrace both extremes of a number of dimensions at the same time. Instead of choosing between A or B, they figure out a way to have both A AND B.” Success Built to Last,  Jim Collins

 

Having posted a lot of smoothie recipes I get asked what type of juicer I own and my answer is, it depends on what you want to do and what your tastes are.  In my case, I like delicious fruit smoothies (and these are an easier sell to the 9 year old boy) AND I like smooth fresh vegetable juice.  To have both you need different equipment.  If you want to choose between brands, like Vitamix OR Ninja then the Tyranny of the OR applies.  You do not need two machines that do the same thing.  On a side note, spend the money and get the Vitamix.  If you want smoothies AND smooth juices without pulp then Embrace the Genius of the AND and purchase both a blender and a juicer.

VITAMIX OR AND BREVILLE

Vitamix



Creates smooth, thick, recipes that depending on the ingredients, may be chewy

Best uses: soft fruit such as:

    bananas

    mangoes

    citrus

    berries

    greens

recipes that add ice or liquid

recipes that add a liquid sweetener such as agave

 

Not the best for: hard fruit and vegetables such as:

    carrots

    apples

    beets

    ginger

The powerful motor in the Vitamix will certainly handle the above items, but it makes a chewy juice that will be a difficult sell to young ones.

 

 

Spicy Pork and Greens Soup

“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”  ~Julia Child   

I love to experiment in the kitchen.  Some trials are hits and some hit the trash can.   Some are originals and others come from reliable sources like Food Network or Food and Wine Magazine.  Super Bowl Sunday I found another homerun from the January 2014 Bon Appetit magazine, Spicy Pork and Mustard Greens Soup.  I made it as a first course, but it could easily be an entree as well.

Printable Version

Ingredients

• ½ pound ground pork 
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tsp finely grated peeled ginger
• 1tsp Sichuan peppercorns, crushed
• ¾ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• ½ tsp cumin seeds, coarsely chopped

Mango Kiwi Smoothie

I made a beautiful fruit platter for breakfast this weekend.  Instead of trying to bag up the leftovers and hope that they still look attractive enough for the kids to eat them I threw them into the blender. 

"Life's too short to hang out with people who aren't resourceful." ~Jeff Bezos

 

 

This recipe is great for breakfast, an afternoon pick me up, or post workout nourishment.

I Can't Stop Eating; Attack of Berta

Our regularly scheduled program, losing 6 pounds in 2 weeks, has been interrupted.  Berta strikes again.  Call it the snowed in with my refrigerator effect, or these kids are home too much now so I need to eat, or nothing is as warm and cozy as a ham sandwich.  I feel like Zac Efron in 17 Again

 

Ever have those days?



Day 3 - Losing 6 Pounds in 2 Weeks

“We are never so much disposed to quarrel with others as when we are dissatisfied with ourselves.”  ~ William Hazlitt

We are always our toughest critics.  When starting any weightloss endeavor you must have a goal and a timeline that are reasonable and you must cut yourself some slack in the middle.  Day 3 has not been my best day, but I am not going to sweat it.  I was thrown off of my game by a snow day - the 7th snow day this season - and I had a fun day with the kids and got to try out a new recipe.  Not the best day for moving me towards my goal, but still a fantastic day.

Here are my measurements using the 4 Keys to Successful Weight Management

Day 3