I'm Feeling The Magic, Mes Amis

Wow. Honestly, that's all that's going through my head these days. Wow. Awesome. Happy.

This Whole30 experience (today is day 23!) is probably the best health decision I've ever made for myself. I can hardly believe how amazing I feel. Want the list?

Here we go...

• I fall asleep as soon as I decide it's bedtime. My head hits the pillow and in moments I'm in sleepyland. This has NEVER happened to me before, unless I'm dead-on-my-feet exhausted or ill.
• I wake up early and get out of bed. No hitting snooze (I'm usually up before it goes off), no burying myself in pillow, no trying to convince my daughter to snuggle up and stay in bed just a little longer. My eyes open, I sit up, and I'm off to the kitchen to make breakfast. No yawning, no gimmemycoffee, nothing. I'm just awake.
• I never feel stuffed or bloated or ughIatetoomuch after a meal. Even when I eat a big steak and tons of veggies and eggs and a club soda and a handful of dates.
• I don't need to snack all day long to keep my energy level up -- they're perma-up. Three meals a day, minute munching in between (maybe some apple sauce while I'm at work, or a handful of almonds). I don't crave & my emotional attachments to carbs and sugars don't have the same hold on me that they used to.

I've actually tried to test myself on this front a few times... tried to picture having a beer or eating ice cream or munching on a bag chips... and I never feel like I NEED or even WANT those things. I get this little voice saying "that will make your body feel bad" and I can almost picture how I'd feel after. It's a crazy change that's happened. I wasn't entirely convinced that I'd ever feel REALLY DIFFERENTLY about the food I was eating, but WHAM. I do. I really do. 

And I love it.

I've honestly never felt healthier in my entire life. And as an added bonus, I've definitely lost weight. I haven't stepped on a scale since day one, and I won't til day 30, but my pants don't stay up any more and last week I popped on a pair 3 sizes smaller than the ones I'm wearing now... and they fit. Shock and awe, baby. My reward after this will be a new pair of jeans, for sure.

Now, in one week, after I hit day 30, then what? Well, that's a whole other post, but here's a wee hint... I will NOT be going back to the way I used to eat. I feel TOO GOOD to give it all up.

Stay tuned!

Shelter Valley

Mama's away camping and absolutely enjoying the mellow chill-time. I've been reading in my tent, spending lots of time in the sun & rocking some seriously delicious paleo & Whole30 friendly meals.

I shall return to the real world sometime tomorrow. Hope you're all having a gorgeous long weekend!

Whole30: Days 1 & 2

I'm two days in to my Whole30 adventure with ZERO slip-ups or cave-ins! I'm optimistic about my remaining 28 days and SO grateful for all of your support! Thank you to everyone who commented yesterday, sent tweets & Facebook messages! I'm surrounded by supportive friends and you're all making me smile. Merci, merci!

Day One
Breakfast: Watermelon, cranberry tea, steak, green & red peppers, broccoli, lemon water, cashews & almonds, scrambled eggs w/ black olives & sundried tomatoes, ground chicken, coffee w/ coconut milk.

Notes
Feeling pretty good, enjoyed a trip to the grocery store with my daughter. Can already feel those sugar cravings & urges for silly things like a diet soda or the popsicles in the back of my freezer. Time to rid my house of temptation. Peace out, Nutella.

Egg Scramble (chicken, salsa), Tomatoes w/ a dash of sea salt

Day Two
Raspberries, avocado, black coffee, grape tomatoes, almonds, strawberries & raspberries w/ cinnamon, egg scramble (above), pitted dates w/ almond butter

Notes
Morning: It took EVERYTHING I had to drag my exhausted butt out of bed this morning. Miss Gretchen was VERY grumpy with a mama who didn't want to get out of bed til 8am. Thank you Magic School Bus for granting me some time to be sluggish. The Whole30 timeline tells me I'm in hangover mode, and they're not joking: "Many Whole30ers report headaches, fatigue, and general malaise during this part of the program. This, my friends, is completely normal." Well, alrighty then. Thankfully, this should only last a few days & I'm stubborn enough to tell my SWEET cravings to piss off. 
Evening: Now that it's nearly bedtime, I can say I'm feeling pretty darn good & already less bloated than I've been feeling for weeks. Well THAT's kinda nice, eh? Dinner was fantastic & I'm feeling pretty happy!

For anyone else following the Whole30 (or thinking about it), here are a few posts I've found ultra-inspiring and mouthwatering!

• My Whole30 Journey via Today's Letters
• Grocery Shopping For Your First Whole30 via The Paleo Project
• Seriously Tasty Paleo Meatloaf via Health-Bent

Peace!

The Whole30: Let's Make A Change

Alright. I know that if I don't say it here, and commit myself in some way, it won't happen. So here it goes: Starting tomorrow, August 19th, I will be doing the Whole30. If you've never heard of it, take a peek over here to see what the heck I'm talking about.

My decision to do this comes from my recent feeling about my health & body. After taking over the shop, my diet and my thoughts around eating were pushed aside. I've been drinking too much coffee, eating out more than I should, and generally just not taking care of myself in the way that I know I can. My weight has gone up, and despite never stepping on a scale in recent months, I know that my clothing is more snug and my energy levels are dropping.

It's time to change some things up.

I know I can eat well. I know I feed my daughter better than I feed myself, and I need to make the time to reconcile these differences. When my daughter is in daycare, she eats lunch/dinner away from home, and I eat poorly while at the shop. I'll just admit that. I shouldn't be living off coffee & restaurants during the week, and eating well on the weekend. It's not good for my body, my mind, or my finances. Since I'm at the shop about 50 hours a week, I haven't been cooking the way I used to. Due to our current schedule, Gretchen and I have breakfast together at home, but I often eat nothing as I get ready, or just sip coffee. I'm not always hungry in the morning, but I know I won't have that mid-morning crash if I eat something fantastically nutritious when I wake up. Gretchen likes fruit & toast, or cereal w/ soymilk, or smoothies, or eggs in the morning. At this time she lunches/dinners at daycare, which means that I either eat nothing for dinner, or I snack sometime after she's in bed, usually around 9pm, which also doesn't make for a happy belly. Starting in September, I've made the decision to start Gretchen at a new daycare (for one last year), a daycare which meshes better with my parenting philosophy. It's been a difficult choice, but I wasn't feeling completely at ease with the current situation and so I've made a change.

Just as I'll make a change with how I eat.

This will also mean that after September begins, my little one and I will be having dinner together more ofte. This makes me a VERY happy mama. It'll be great to be cooking again. I've missed it. The slow cooker is coming back out & meal-planning will once again be a part of my life. Thankfully, the little miss LOVES coming grocery shopping with me. She's such a helper.

Now, thinking about the Whole30 brings a few things to mind: What I anticipate will be easy and what I believe will be a challenge. So here we go:

The Easy Bits:

• I am NOT a picky eater. Veggies, fruits, meats, whatever you give me, I'll at least try it and probably I'll like it. Gretchen is this way too. I just don't believe in being a picky eater. Healthy food always tastes good to me, so there's no excuse not to eat that way.
• I WANT to do this. No one is making me. And it's the sort of thing you have to want to want. 

The Tricky Bits:

• I like my coffee with cream & sugar. Yup. And that's a big no-no. So if I really want it, it'll be black. Just like when I was vegan.
• I like my stout. I enjoy a bottle of stout at the end of a long day, but for the next 30 days, I won't be touching it.
• I'm a carb junkie. It's a fact. I adore bread and pasta and all of their glutentastic friends.

However. If you've ever met me, you know how stubborn I can be. Which means I'm going to kick this program's ass and I hope you'll ALL hold me accountable. Send me tweets to check in, pester me on Facebook, email me, shout it from a rooftop. Because I'm doing this. And I'm not going to let myself down.

Have any of you made a big change in your eating habits lately? Have you ever done the Whole30? Adivce, tips, stories, ideas? I'd love to hear about your experiences. Feel free to link blog posts if you've chatted about this on your own sites. I'm eager to get started and to jump right in!

August 19th. Day one. A big change. 

I can do this.

PS. Thank you to bloggers like Nicole who have really given me that push I need to do this. Reading your stories has filled me up with motivation and a craving for change. Thank you.