Slowwwww Down

Hello again, seems it’s been a good long while since I’ve entered into my own little cyberspace part of the world. If I’m being honest I have lost my blogging zest of sorts. It seems I’m investing in so many around me I have forgotten my love of writing and tangibly looking at my thoughts that float so seamlessly through and out of my brain. I have thought a lot about this little space while I was away, and I mean A LOT. I love to write and love to share. I’m stopping to share something that is truly Marvelous in My Monday…

I’m linking up with Healthy Diva for ….

My post today I decided is simply to be encouraging, to someone, or anyone out there.

I want you to be encouraged today reader. Read and remind yourself of a world that hides the encouragement, the happiness, under stacks of horrible news stories and deaths and rallies and egos and anger. It’s a hard stressful world, there is proof of that in the worn out ragged looking faces of so many trying and desiring a faster life, before we know it we’re over the edge burnt out and suffering from even physical manifestations of our desires, of our hurts, or of our competitive notions this world today has taught us are all very real things. I’m here to remind you today they are simply not. Don’t believe my friend, that you aren’t worthy of taking a moment today to steal away happiness, joy, and encouragement. You are so very worth it.

I was listening to a sermon today as I ran and spent time on a machine at the gym. As I did my interval training and delighted in the sweat dripping off my brow I listened to the steady words of a pastor of New Spring Church sharing a sermon about serving. I couldn’t keep my mind off several things and the TV which was tuned to a morning news show was vying hard for my attention as well. I was busy minded…

Rewind to 8 years ago, I was 18 and in Africa doing mission work. I lived there and not only spent that summer there but went back for more mission work two years later. I delighted in the work of the Lord and came alive in a new way in Africa. My soul felt on fire I had a zest for the Lord, and you know what, life was slow. It slowed down in a new way in Africa, these people served each other well. They were subsistence farmers living in small villages on the sides of large mountains. Sugarcane was most of the crops grown, sugarcane fields by the thousands grown in lush jungle terrain. The view was absolutely breathtaking, something we americans would save for years to experience on a two week strategically planned vacation where we ate over priced tacos and had way to many plans for so little time leaving and nudging each other saying wish we had more time that went by so fast!

I didn’t live in Africa very long in terms of a full lifetime, but what I did live was the life of a slow ‘take it in’ atmosphere. I breathed in those mountains in a new way, the scenery; yes was breathtaking, but the people around me took my breath away far more often. It’s that slow breath in breath out way of life that has you literally living moment by moment. I found that I was at peace with things I hadn’t ever been at peace with before, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Slowly I danced my way (literally) day by day with these people, we spent time and energy doing chores, cooking, talking, laughing, crying, listening, and through it all I saw my life view change, I had slowed as well.

Flash forward, here I am on that machine again in a gym in Nebraska, so many years later. My mind was; to put it simply, a maniac, jumping from one thing to the next never making a home and never making things find a home in my mind. Nothing was finished and everything was frantic, and thats when it happened.

A breeze came up and a bird flew just at the right time for me to silence the distractions of my own mind and listen into the sermon. “Saved People Serve People, people get saved and they begin to start serving.” I felt God’s presence saying, slow down Jayne, I want you to recognize where your past has brought you. I immediately was able to recognize how busy I had become and how bustling my life was. I hadn’t slowed down in that way in so long. I’ve tried oh how I have tried. But the determiner to my ability to slow down isn’t a place it isn’t always in Africa, its in me and learning how to slow wherever I am. To live slower in my life I need to reach out, I need to encourage others by making it less of me. That’s when I start to notice more things around me, other peoples faces become beautiful mountain scenes. Their smiles light my day even when it’s cloudy. Their laughs slow me to remember the lines in their faces or crinkle of their noses. Slow and steady means I have time for conversation, it means I can look you in the eyes and listen, or stop to give you a hug because you need it. Slow means I live and I serve, I become less of self absorbed super fast and busy ‘woman’ and more of loving, caring, reaching out, and wants to listen to you ‘Jayne’.

Be encouraged, everyone has the opportunity to slow down, it doesn’t take going to Africa, it doesn’t take working out at a gym, it doesn’t take listening to a sermon. Slowing down, serving, for my life I see them going hand in hand. Slowing down looking out into the world, offering a hand, and just simply sitting and being. They are all connected and in our all to often caught up world we don’t find this necessity quite as much as we should. Be encouraged you can, I believe in you.

On a lighter note……If you want to start slowing down, start baking Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread. This deserves a post all it’s own honestly. Its an amazing and intricate process that is helping me learn of slowing down in a whole new realm.

Love Love Love

Do you make sourdough bread?

WIR #22: Community

My heart is heavy today, heavy with words that I cannot fully express to a family I barely know….

I live in a larger community here in Nebraska, it’s large but has relational value, even amongst the 50,000. Not to mention the state of Nebraska, far and wide comes together during common ground time, I’m talking football. It is interesting to me that even my husband whom doesn’t play sports per say and didn’t grow up with a strong passion for such, tries his hardest to relate to the massive amount of Football fans we have surrounding us on a daily basis. I myself have looked up scores and been to parties all centering around this Community gathering. (That’s really what I believe it comes down too.) The community brought about through football is phenomenal, my husband and I got an opportunity to be at a home game last season for the Cornhuskers and it was an experience of a lifetime; Truly. The anticipation heightened for a touch down and as the pass was caught we cheered and clapped, slapped five with neighbors and hugged. Crazy? No community. That’s why my heart breaks today for people I don’t know too well. A family today is grieving the loss of their son whom played on the team and was from the town I now call Home. I bring up this loss because, like I have stated it is on my mind and heavy on my heart. I’ve gotten to spend countless hours with my husband this weekend, but I hadn’t hugged him like I did today, I would greatly miss his community in my life.

I have lost a sister in past years and can understand the scope of tragedy when it comes to losing a family member suddenly and at a young age. It’s hard and tragic, my heart goes out to this family and to the friends and community here that has been affected. Not to mention the team which has become his family as well as the fans that commit their time and energy into being a part of this sport. Community comes together in these moments, we have to cling to each other. A person is lost and yet there is still a community remaining. I’m intrigued to see what unfolds in the days to come and am praying for everyone involved. This tragic loss has opened my eyes today to the realization that we are all so quickly perishable and we all need to cling to community,  our loved ones and the moments we get to share with all of those around us. Today this moment must be lived out with whom is in it, because it will soon pass.

These thoughts rendered to me today truly couldn’t have come on a better week, for this week was truly a testament to that message…..enjoy my week in review and please love the community you’re with…

• Made A LOT of brussel sprouts for Meal Prep on Sunday. I simply tossed these in balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil and sprinkled with Pink Himalayan Sea Salt and popped them in the oven (Broiled on HIGH) for about 20 minutes. Voila beautiful crispy brussel sprouts!
• I added the yellow squash to be fancy but I do about 7 yellow squash and 5 zucchini a week as well, Broiled on HIGH tossed with coconut oil and sea salt before. Those only take about 15 to 20 minutes and get crispy on the outside so good!
• Got to enjoy a NEW recipe for protein balls, (maybe a blog post coming soon;)) made with these pitted dates, wow they were amazing and tasted kind of like white cake doughnuts. Except better!

• This book consumed many a night for me, I LOVE LEARNING (who’s with me?!?!) so even though this book given to me by my boss to read was more textbook of a read; I really quite enjoyed the process of learning Influence. I would give it 5 stars for the amount of information it does contain.

• I went through the drive through this week to grab a coffee, I haven’t had much iced coffee since my WHOLE30 and so when it sounded good over my lunch break I decided why not, funny enough they messed up my Grande and I ended up with a VENTI! Definitely too much for me to hand in one day, so I drank half and saved the other half for the next day!

• Monday night is Bachelor night, I get together with ladies in my community and we watch (and talk a lot throughout the episode) the show. It’s an amazing time to connect with some women from my community that my life would otherwise not be overlapped with. I enjoy this time, due to these women, sorry JoJo. =)

• Tuesday night brought a friend I hadn’t seen in quite awhile into my life again! We met up for dinner and stayed until our Peanut Bucket was almost empty (mmm thanks to me ;)) Thanks Whiskey Creek for allowing me to get to hear about travels in mission work across the seas and us both to laugh until our sides hurt. I was literally overjoyed with tears hearing of my friends life now and the zest she is filled with is amazing. #community

• Speaking of community…our church is undergoing a remodel and Wednesday night we headed out with the students in youth group to paint, and paint, and paint, and paint the evening away, one coat of primer and many buckets of paint later, I rolled into bed! But it was so worth it.

• Dinners this week consisted of so many vegetables and chicken! First photo was omelet with cucumbers and red bell peppers topped with spicy mustard and a side of iced coffee, in an old pickle jar ;). Second photo was brussels kale and chicken cooked up and seasoned with lemon garlic seasoning.

• I saw this book on Instagram and it may just be my next endeavor as far as reading goes. It looks amazing!

• I found this week what is supposed to be a awesome macro calculator and I’m just wondering to all my nutritionist friends out there if this really is leading me down a good path to start tracking Macros? What are your thoughts?

• Date Night this week was more New Bourne Movie prep, as we watched the SECOND in the series! Already have the third here for maybe this week? Who knows, I’m just loving them so far. Also NEW date night love is going to HyVee grocery store and picking something out of the health food section to try, my pick was new to me trail mix, with spaghetti squash and chicken, the hubs got a new to him frozen pizza and burrito! All so delicious and the movie delivered as well.

• Saturday called for some relaxation so we headed to Starbucks and brought along our books and journals. Love this time with this man.

 

• Enter Sunday, day of rest and relaxation, delicious lunch of bbq hamburger and broccoli with sweet potato fries; and an afternoon of resting and napping with my bundled up husband.

Don’t forget everyone, to check out other WIR and MIMM posts as well.

Linking up again with Megan for another Week In Review.

I’m also linking up with Healthy Diva for What is Marvelous in my Monday which just so happens to be a lot….

Hope everyone enjoyed this weeks happenings, enjoy your Monday, hug your loved ones and remember to be thankful for the community you’re in. 

Love Love Love 

So Macros have you done them what do you think?

Anyone have Brussel Sprout recipes?

 

 

 

WIR: DIY Project and Rainy Days

I started my rainy day off (yes rain and yes cool weather what a relief it is for this hott july!) with a chat at the gym with great women who have become friend through my PiYo class. As I was leaving another woman I know and am friends with cough the and we had a good talk as well. I continued on in my day next with grocery getting where I called my mom up for a recipe and some girl talk, checked out with a smile on my face as I was off to get my coffee…there I took my iced americano with light cream from another friend of mine. We exchanged some chit chat and I was off to run more errands. This afternoon I sat in a chair of ANOTHER friend who cut my hair whilst we talked some more. After which I received a phone call beckoning me to meet up with another friend for some girl time. On a day like today looking back I can’t help but to think, wow I’m tired, but even MORE is wow I’m loved…HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!

Just a Little Selfie from today after my haircut!

Linking up again with Megan for another Week In Review.

I’m also linking up with Healthy Diva for What is Marvelous in my Monday which just so happens to be a lot….

• My husband was away this week working at a camp out of town, this was the perfect opportunity to work on some things around the house that I usually neglect due to wanting to hang out and make memories with him more than I want to decorate…
• First stop on Sunday was Meal Prep as usual and the closet (DUN DUN DUN….) Been wanting to tackle ‘my side’ for quite awhile but alas…see above bullet point for reason I haven’t…my husband and I just have too. much. fun. I digress…I DID IT! Cleaned out my closet organized ALLLLLLLL the workout clothing, it takes up the majority now (whoops), and enjoyed giving 7 dresses to Big Brothers Big Sisters here in town for there Glamorous Generosity campaign…it is nice to know they are going to a good cause.

• Note what will I EVER do with that blank space I now have! 😉 Um shopping in my future?
• So that was that and I enjoyed every minute of it onto tackling this thing….

• I received this gem after the passing of my grandmother recently, it has been in her home for quite awhile and while it was beautiful grain stained wood, it did not go well with the rest of our furniture in our living room….I felt uneasy as I’ve been brought up with a father who does carpentry but I wanted to Redo it.

• I’m so so so so happy that I did, it took me working on it every evening this week and after two coats of primer and two coats of antique white paint my DIY is now finished and one of my favorite pieces in my living room!

• As I was parting with the doors I noticed that two of the screws were different from all the rest and looked newer, I wondered about the story there and what had happened and it was at that moment I realized I would have never found those screws or thought so much about my grandmother as I do now. With all the hard work and how beautiful it came out I simply don’t want to part with this for a long time, mission complete.
• Speaking of DIY and such I’m also switching up our living room, I’ve always done a lot of browns, and I mean ALOT! But I’m switching to a more modern look with lighter browns and whites and grey, stay tuned for more switchups in the future…I’m trying to find a good palate to work with, so many swatches will be used to figure the right concoction.

• So far browsing Hobby Lobby, which I did Thursday after work, and store shelves taking tons of photos and feeling things out will be my project throughout the next few weeks. I love finding cool unique things and incorporating them all together, it’s fun to make up my own style.
• On another note, Whole 30 is over and I’m not drifting too much, I did make banana bread Thursday night as well…however Tuesday at work we were gifted with these bad boys….

• My answer was YES! We cut them up so we could try a fair majority of them and by the end of the week (yes they were still good even day, two day, three day old) they were gone. It was fun to partake in the goodies and enjoy them!
• Goodies were sparse elsewhere during the week, like I said my hubs was gone so I was in go mode after work to work on my DIY that dinner was usually pretty quick for me. I was thankful I had meal prepped because it usually too less than ten minutes to make each night.

• Breakfasts I kept Whole 30 Compliant! I still am wary about introducing protein powder back into my diet just yet, I need to research more on what I’m using and what the ingredient list is. I also have yet to introduce peanut butter back, I really must have been busy this week…haha.

• I must say this time of year has been phenomenal for sunrises, everyday when I leave the gym in the morning I feel so blessed to live in a place where I can see the sunrise every morning, it’s the little things sometimes that go unthought about. I say thank you out loud every time I see one just because I know how hard art is to make in real life and how LONG I can work on a  painting, I can’t imagine God doing it every single day.

• Also last week I had to take the trash out two mornings in a row…for me on my way to work this is what that looks like (BELOW). Our trash bin is a ways away from the doors to our building so I drive the trash over, =). Call me crazy but I call it genius! (And I call it my car floorboard needs a little cleaning love…)

• I enjoyed a few dates with friends at lunch and after work this week, it’s so fun to have girl time and get caught up with what’s going on in each others lives.

• I found on the WHOLE30 a new love for coconut water, however it only lasted about a day and then I got tired of it. Off WHOLE30 I decided to give these Bai Coconut Sparkling waters a try and I absolutely LOVE them! My favorite flavor so far is Black Cherry!!!

• So like I said my husband has been gone all week and he’s coming back tonight!!!!! SO EXCITED! We’re working our way through the Bourne movies in prep for the new one coming out, so maybe tomorrow night might have to be the second installment, I’ve never seen the series and we both want me in the loop for the movie….so as not to have a repeat of us at the newest Avengers movie: Halfway through the movie I lean over and say, “So who are all these people?” yep true story, I had never seen any of the prequels at all.

• For now it’s off to have some quiet time and tonight my HUBS COMES HOME!
• Oh yeah and finally My husband is coming home today if I didn’t tell you already. 😉

Love Love Love.

So have you seen the Bourne Series? What do you think like em’ love em’?

What are your thoughts on coconut water?

Whole30 : Review

Good Monday morning everyone! Once again linking up for the Monday shenanigans…

Linking up again with Megan for another Week In Review.

I’m also linking up with Healthy Diva for What is Marvelous in my Monday which just so happens to be a lot….

I FINISHED!!!! the Whole Thirty….if you don’t know much about it I would encourage you to check it out here…..

By clicking on the photo above you’ll get a more in depth description…..but for starters I’ll share this, “Eat whole healthy real food, cutting out all psychologically unhealthy, hormone unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for 30 whole days. Pushing the ‘reset’ button essentially on your metabolism, systemic inflammation, and negative effects you’ve probably gained through the junk food way of life that we can get caught up in so quickly. Basically there is a pretty definitive No list of items not to have and sugar basically in any form besides fruit EVEN in sweeteners is a ‘no-go’. I read through the first couple chapters of this book and knew this is what I need right now.”

Or you can go to My Post HERE that explains more on why I decided to do it this June 6th through July 7th 2016!

My whole 30 Journey is over, however I have learned so much through this process…

I started this journey with a few simple goals in mind: to be more mindful of my eating habits and to cut out that sugar, and really to challenge myself.

While I eat a healthy diet I felt that I was lacking in variety and really didn’t contain a good healthy diet throughout the day rather keeping a healthy breakfast and lunch all to waste the day on my evening snacking till bed time ritual. I also for the past year have (I kid you not) a scoop of protein powder with my breakfast, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I was depending on it to be my main source of protein most days as well as protein waffles every single day were always tasty and good but I wondered how much nutrition I was missing out on…not to mention variety hello!

I became curious when reading a friends post on Facebook one day about her Whole 30 Journey and all the ups and downs therein, I thought and maybe said out loud, um WHAT? Thats crazy?!?!?! Give up sugar for a month, that’s not even right. I said that mostly due to the fact that I consumed so much sugar on a daily basis and was in part addicted to it myself. I didn’t want nor could I believe that anyone could possibly do that successfully unless they had the right makeup, or weren’t inclined to eat sweets in the first place.

A Month later….I sat in my living room reading through the testimonials on the Whole 30 Website, and later had a conversation with a friend about doing a Whole 30 myself. I read and researched more and thought this process was exactly what I needed to do and soon.

I set myself up on while on vacation (notably because I had time on my hands to do so and felt so prepared therein) with recipes, shopping lists, friend support, even using up a lot of my sweets I already had in the house (that was tragic ;)), all for the sake of the journey. {However I do want to note I still have rice cakes in our roundabout that I had to pass by on my way to the mixed nuts almost weekly as well as dark chocolate chips in my freezer, proud moment.} I digress…

After becoming ‘oh so prepared’ I took off…..and after 30 Days here I am, still present but different; definitely changed for the better.

1. Pain Pain go Away.

   – Some of you may know by now, but I am a Dental Hygienist and fitness enthusiast, with this territory and just personally my body; sometimes comes occupational and/or personal pain. I do my best to have correct posture and enforce using my foam roller among other techniques to relieve my muscles especially at the end of a long day. I try to stretch out after intensive workouts and drink enough water daily. Throughout tithe WHOLE30 process I have seen that I am learning more and more about my body and it’s function, for instance I’m able to notice the onset of pain and manage it from there were as before I simply would be in pain and it would last until I relieved it by sitting still, applying biofreeze, massaging it, or ibuprofen. I believe that because there wasn’t inflammation being caused from any foods I was able to more readily hear and listen to what my body needed.

2. Paleo Isn’t Sooooo Primal After all.

   – Right away I saw a lot of information about Whole 30 being relatable to Paleo dieting and how primalistic it was, I often thought Paleo is so hardcore I didn’t think I could do that. I also thought that it was limiting as well and just didn’t sound very fun. However, again Whole 30 surprised me it took me to a new place of viewing foods especially when it came to my energy levels. I started seeing a difference in my energy depending on how many carbs I was eating. I am learning my body likes higher protein meals for lunch time to fuel through the evening and keep away my night time cravings. I also found a lot of really great recipes to try out and probably love my home made sausage better than the store bought kind.

3. What about Weight?

   – I was not purposely trying to loose weight on the Whole 30 or doing it for dieting reasons, however I did lose 2 pounds. My arms are actually starting to tone out more than I remember them before, however I may just be doing more pushups. The first two weeks were definitely hard because my body was bloating so bad from filtering through so much stuff I believe. Honestly though I feel better in my body than I did when I started due to having so much energy, and my pants are fitting very nicely. =)

4. Sleep Worship.

   – This improved greatly, I have slept quite well since being married, in fact my husband and I joke that it is a way I worship because I’m so good at it…note the title. I noticed on the WHOLE30 I was able to rest and sleep the same amount but when it was time to wake at 4:45 am for my workout class, I was wide awake and ready to take on the day pretty much every single time. It was phenomenal and has really pushed me to start making better choices for that feeling in the evenings. I know that is where it starts, before WHOLE30 I was having snacks pretty much every night RIGHT BEFORE BED. Now I rarely have a snack after 8pm and if I do it’s something small and usually a handful of unsalted raw cashews.

5. Speaking of Sweets.

   – That’s right I’m speaking of sweets when I talk about raw unsalted cashews, yes they are sweet to me, and yes I love to have them as a treat or on a salad, or really anytime. I also started making my own mixed nut butter including pecans, almonds, pistachios, brazil nuts, and cashews. I mix about a cup of them in the blender with a dash of Pink Himalayan sea salt and cinnamon, one table spoon of coconut oil and BAM delicious dessert when slathered on a ripe bing cherry, or slice of apple or let’s be honest many times off the spoon itself. You are welcome…I started eating granny smith apples with some cinnamon on them as well, due to the fact they taste perfectly sweet to me. Another thing that changed was I don’t have to have ‘dessert’ anymore, if I’m feeling something sweet I simply enjoy fruit with my meal instead of having to have something to ‘satisfy‘ that sweet tooth. My sweet tooth really has tamed down. TRUE STORY: “Last night after dinner I wanted more broiled zucchini and wasn’t even interested in sweets.” I believe this was proof I was hungrier not eating out of a desire.

6. I Learned To Live.

   – It’s amazing what happens when you start viewing food through the eyes of living. I realized how much food had started to encroach on my personality and how many barriers it had been creating for me in my social atmosphere as well as personal. The WHOLE30 centers around three large meals per day instead of snacking; which was great for me to center on as that is my weakness. In general before WHOLE30 I was having breakfast and lunch but then no dinner and instead snacking all evening making me feel way to full at bed time and knock off my sleep cycle. By getting on track with three large meals I have seen how I am having more energy to fuel myself throughout my morning, throughout my afternoon, and throughout my evening instead of being held down by having to fuel every few hours.

7. Fat Can be your Friend.

   – Yes it is true, I started eating more fat during this WHOLE30 process and remember I lost 2 pounds?!?!?!? why because my body is feeding off the fat and carbs for energy and not sugar sugar sugar. I started cooking more of my food in coconut oil and using oil for dressings and marinades, I see a difference in my energy levels when I have fat at a meal versus having just protein and vegetables.

8. I Beat Bloat.

   – No seriously, I didn’t realize until I was on Whole 30 that I was bloated all. the. time. I’m excited now to reintroduce items back into my diet and see just what exactly did cause the bloating, I already know that too many baby carrots can cause it, thanks to one evening watching Cedar Cove and no paying attention to the WHOLE BAG I ate, ugh. (Maybe it was actually the fact I ate a WHOLE BAG?) I eat and I feel….wait for it….FULL! Not bloated. During this process I really only felt bloated during the first week or week and a half, after that bloat be gone. Seriously. It feels great to not be bloated what was I doing before this?!?!? =)

9. I CAN Empathize.

   – This process also gave me insight into people with allergies, food versions, or autoimmune diseases, real live stuff. I sat at many parties with my bag of approved goodies, skipped many dinners due to not being able to know what was in the ingredients of items made, and just plain avoided things because I was unable to eat at the events. It was rough sometimes, I’m happy that through the process though I could gain perspective of others lives.

10. I HOPE I can still eat Peanut Butter….

    – I’m going to try to reintroduce this this week….fingers crossed it agrees with me.

This is where I also want to say through support of family, friends, and most importantly my husband I was able to have great success with the process. My family is so awesome! We literally ate out at Chipotle because it was the only place I could eat at when we were together. My husband was beyond supportive, eating my creations and even asking so many questions helping me to feel supported and loved throughout the whole process. Not to mention has been a great listener for all my WHOLE30 thoughts.

I recommend this process to anyone and everyone especially those living in our american diet society today. Getting back to real whole food helped me see how much I have relied on my taste buds to dictate my desires, my sweets to cover my long days, or my restaurant choices to overcome good conversations with friends. I challenge you to even take one day out in the month of July and do something different, eat more vegetables, cook a home made whole food meal with someone, or maybe even start the WHOLE30 yourself, trust me you won’t be disappointed…I leave you with some things I definitely don’t want you to miss from my week…enjoy.

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I had a friend from the gym make me (and my husband) home made Blue Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, oh my yum. It was soooooooooo sweet but so good! It was also my first thing off the WHOLE30 to have that wasn’t compliant…haha go big I suppose.

That’s right GUM! I can have GUM again! I literally thought all week about what gum I was going to choose…Five Spearmint Gum was the flavor and it was wonderful! I am keeping the pack in my car so I don’t drift back into my old habits, I love enjoying these things! SO MUCH FUN!

First Coffee Drink: Iced Cold Brew with ONE pump of sugar free vanilla and ONE pump of sugar free hazelnut and Cream. I loved this and it was the right amount of sweet for me…I was happy to report no weird tummy issues after having cream twice in one day.

Because I have been having so many beautiful compliant meals even after my WHOLE30 ended I had to share.

 

Thats the run down folks, enjoy your week.

Love Love Love.

 

 

The whole 30: So what do you eat?

So what do you eat? Thats the most asked question I have gotten on the Whole 30 and I gladly reply….”Quite a bit actually.”

I wanted to linkup for the WIAW posts, I haven’t done one in a while so here it goes… Thanks as always to the lovely Megan, Arman, Laura, and Jenn.

The Whole 30 to me has been abut a lot of experimentation…before trying out the Whole 30 I actually thought to myself these things about going on it…I could never…

• Give up gum.
• Go a day without protein balls.
• Get enough protein without whey protein powder.
• Eat bacon and like it.
• Not have dessert
• Have coffee plain with NOTHING in it except cinnamon.
• Go without baking.
• Enjoy starbucks without a sweetened drink.
• Fill my husband up at a meal.
• Eat out.
• Give up popcorn at the movies.
• Not have chips and salsa.
• Have bananas on a consistent basis.

I could keep going on and on and that is what I realized, I had a fear of food, eating too much, eating not enough, making it, not making it, refusing it, delighting in it, all things that revolved around food and my life. I was stuck in a place where I was dependent on food to not just help me survive and thrive but really to give me joy…wait WHAT? Food gives you joy? Yes it has and I came aware of it through this process…I’m not free from the many thought processes I’ve become captive to, at least not yet;), but I’m a work in progress and through this journey I’m coming ever closer.

So I’m in halfway deep here and wanted to share the process with you all, so i photoed all my eats of this week Monday….Enjoy!

BREAKFAST

Breakfast for me on most days has included eggs, here we have a 4 egg white omelet with cinnamon sprinkled on it and a slather of coconut oil, turkey bacon two slices, and strawberries pictured was 3 but its usually like 10. 😉

Best Cinnamon ever, Watkins for the win! I love this stuff on my eggs and in my BLACK coffee every morning, and about the coffee I think I might continue that in the future as well, I feel so ‘refined’ having my coffee black.

(note to self don’t tip camera sideways next time!) This is the bacon I’ve been using and it is absolutely wonderful, I feel like there is a lot more flavor involved than say the Jennie O turkey bacon I used to get…oh and my feet because well morning!

I didn’t workout Monday before work like usual so this breakfast honestly filled me up till lunch!

These are the things that will be waiting for you on the Whole 30 challenge, the struggle is real! Cherry home made coffee crumb cake made by my boss wife, looked and smelled delicious good thing sugar can’t get ya through the nose. 😉 I was so busy at work though it was easy to remember what delicious lunch I packed!

LUNCH

Lunch included my Go-To lately, Sunday calls for meal prepping for these lunches, I make a huge batch of sweet potato fries with garlic salt and extra virgin olive oil, a huge batch of yellow squash and zucchini cut in chunks and mixed with sea salt and coconut oil then broiled for 15 minutes!

So place your fries on bottom of this container, layer with portion of zucchini, then kale, then shredded chicken breast. Heat for 2 Minutes. All the oil and salts combine to make, delicious! I eat it usually with a LARGE handful of nuts I wasn’t to steady with the camera, note the small portion in the photo! =) Didn’t want to drop them!

Come time to workout I forgot my usual hard boiled egg that I eat on the way to the gym after work….instead I stopped at a gas station and bought Whole Raw Almonds, ate about 10 of those and hit my workout!

After getting home and also not photoed was some pork loin which I had a few bites of while prepping my dinner…

DINNER

Dinner was a HUGE batch of Normandy style vegetables in a steerable bag 3 mins in microwave and TADAA! Portion of zucchini and 4 ounces of pork loin. We cooked a HUGE pork loin in the crock pot this weekend and bagged it up in the freezer for meals this week. We also got these….

CHERRIES! I ate them along with my meal just enough sweet for me…there ya go a day filled with good eats and healthy fats, as most of the food was cooked in coconut or extra virgin olive oils!  Overall a lot of healthy fun food and combinations.

 

Guess what this day DIDN’T Include? Remember that list of never at the beginning of this post, yeah this one…

• Give up gum.
• Go a day without protein balls.
• Get enough protein without whey protein powder.
• Eat bacon and like it.
• Not have dessert
• Have coffee plain with NOTHING in it except cinnamon.
• Go without baking.
• Enjoy starbucks without a sweetened drink.
• Fill my husband up at a meal.
• Eat out.
• Give up popcorn at the movies.
• Not have chips and salsa.
• Have bananas on a consistent basis.

So not all these may be things I am doing now and quite successfully but for the most part I’m seeing myself accomplish things I thought not to be possible!

Thanks for stopping buy my WIAW Whole 30 Version!

Love Love Love

Whole 30 Week 3: WIR and MMM

Welcome back to Whole 30 RECAP Week #3! Once again I’m linking up for a Week in Review and What’s Marvelous in my Monday, because well this blog post fulfills all those rules ;).

Read On My Loves.

Check out: Megan for another Week In Review….a Review of Week Three of my Whole 30 experience!!!!

Also in todays linkup: Healthy Diva for What is Marvelous in my Monday which just so happens to be a lot….

Today’s post has preemptive posts as well Check out

Week 1’s Recap here

Week 2’s Recap here

Let’s get to it then for this week….

• Day 15: Monday: So Much to Do today, Work, Gym, Shower, Bachelor show watching with the girls. But wait, I Still have energy even during the show….came home and after head hit the pillow I was out.
• Monday also brought snacks for Bachelor Viewing night….snacks this week: Cinnamon Rolls and Chocolate Cake with Icing…and you know what I had my dinner in hand ready to go I wasn’t really interested in either of the snacks and that is no lie. It was freeing to eat my dinner and be so satiated that I really didn’t care for anything else…I was free to simply be with the people around me and enjoy the time spent.
• Day 16: Tuesday: Waiting for that Tiger’s Blood to kick in….I’ve been actively reading through this Timeline throughout the process. Heres to looking for that ‘blood’.
• I must say the first week and a half was horrible for my self image, I felt bloated, and none of my clothes fit very well, simply put my body just felt large. I remember even sitting on the couch and thinking what have I done to myself I’m going to gain so much weight through this thing….cue week three and the bloating has all but diminished as well as my clothes are fitting looser than they have in a long time!
• They talk a lot about cravings and boy this week has been interesting in terms of that, I believe at one point during the week I told my husband I had been craving a Donut all day long, like the big creme filled peanut butter twist kind, however note I haven’t had one of these in years NOR do I want to have one it was simply a craving. I felt I was making huge progress and wasn’t experiencing any of these crazy things, however this week has proved much different, I craved a Wendy’s Double Bacon Cheeseburger at one point, that melty gooey goodness was so real to me. (Even though I’m not sure if it’s actually even ‘real’ in real life.)
• My husband has been a huge support throughout this journey and surprised me with these…

• Tuesday evening I also found energy to bake…..and more importantly I found motivation to seeing as I couldn’t even taste the batter, I made a whole batch of banana oatmeal muffins for a dentist’s office where I got my Invisalign done. I’m done with treatment but they just where such great people to work with I wanted to do something special for them, cue the banana muffin making; cue the not eating any of it and not really caring….who am I?!?!?!
• Day 17: Wednesday: Today meant, Workout in the AM (Spin class which was awesome but seeing as I ran 1.5 miles before I was worried I’d be toast by that evening) Home for dinner, and then out to the church to setup for a fun night of youth group with many water games. I was worried my energy would wane especially after a good dinner, however it didn’t! I was pleasantly surprise at the energy I still held throughout the evening.
• Day 18: Thursday: Date Night! Date Night! Date Night! Guess what? After work I got off and headed home for date night where the Hubs proceeds to tell me he wants mexican, I immediately say let’s go get you some! At first I have to say I looked longingly at his chips and authentic salsa, the smells coming up from the bag I held on my lap home were phenomenal. Good Job Tuscan Express! But after we got home and I made up my dinner of Venison ‘sausage’ patties, baby carrots, zucchini and squash, and plantain chips along with apple slices and home made nut butter. I was excited for ‘MY’ meal thanks Whole 30. This stuff is getting easier. Before Whole 30 I had many Date Nights where I honestly ate wayyyyy too many tortilla chips and fairly close to made myself sick on them along WITH my meal. I felt bloated, unhappy, and had horrible onion breath every single time.
• This brings me to my point of how I have been feeling Bloat wise: Before Whole 30 I was bloated probably about every other day at some point, gassy and uncomfortable….maybe irritable is a good word for it. I simply thought that’s the way it was with my body and went about my day to day life just ignoring it as much as possible. After Week Two on the Whole 30 I have noticed a change, I eat meals and feel full…not to the point of I’m going to blow, or bloated to balloon like size, but rather a satiated full feeling that is quite delightful and fills me with energy…I love that feeling!
• Day 19: Friday: A Full Day at home….oh no snack attack! Normally Friday’s and the weekends really meant a time of constant snacking for me. At first it was so hard to adjust to sticking as close to only 3 meals a day as I could, but after I got used to eating this way I enjoy making a large meal that I know will give me lasting energy until the next ‘fuel up’. It’s fun to try different vegetable combinations and I love pairing random veggies with eggs for an omelet, you can literally get thousands of different taste combinations. It’s amazing!
• Friday’s also mean PiYo instructing in the morning, I fueled up today with This Rx Bar Blueberry style…wow it was amazing and gave me incredible energy for the whole morning.

• I’m still only human and do mess up…after typing the above paragraph…I had a snack without even thinking about it…yes a handful of nuts will do! =)
• The incredible Edible Egg….yes I still like them.
• I’ve had many thoughts that go like this, “When I get done with this I’m going to indulge in _____ or ______.” ” I deserve it I’ve been working so hard.” The truth of the matter is it has been hard and I probably do deserve a treat, but a treat is just that something to be enjoyed and move on. I have loved learning so much more about what fuels my body and what feels good I honestly don’t know if sugar is worth it for the way it makes me feel.
• The above being said I got the book ” It starts with food” and have been reading through it, so far I am loving all the information. It’s enlightening and fun to learn.

• Day 20: Saturday: Fueld by my hard boiled egg first thing was up and at em’ for our Church’s Celebration event’s 5K. And I got first I my age division!!! Whooooo!

• Other eats from this week include: (roll over photos to see description.)

Iced Coffee On our Grocery Run Friday, No Sweeteners just cinnamon and coffee. It was refreshing!

Egg White ‘bomb’ on top of coconut oiled Spaghetti squash with mustard and a apple.

Egg Whites with cinnamon, bacon, and strawberries, I like to put a little coconut oil on the egg whites. YUM!

Cherries on Cherries on Cherries, we got 11 LBS of these this week!

Egg Whites with Mushrooms cooked in a small amount of extra virgin olive oil. YUM!

• The rest of Saturday was busy busy busy. But I made it through and felt like I had energy throughout the whole day. It was a huge event at the church I attend here and a lot of work and running around. But definitely a huge blessing in my life to take part in! This is just some of the technology needed behind the scenes. 

• Day 21: Sunday : So here I lay on a Sunday evening quite tired but feeling like this weekends energy was totally spent in all the right places.  Thanks for popping in for my Week In Review. I’m almost done with my Whole 30!!!!!! 

Love Love Love. 

WIR #18: Whole Thirty Week Two!

Linking up again with Megan for another Week In Review….a Review of Week Two of my Whole 30 experience!!!!

I’m also linking up with Healthy Diva for What is Marvelous in my Monday which just so happens to be a lot….

So I’m doing the Whole Thirty….if you don’t know much about it I would encourage you to check it out here…..

By clicking on the photo above you’ll get a more in depth description…..but for starters I’ll share this, “Eat whole healthy real food, cutting out all psychologically unhealthy, hormone unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for 30 whole days. Pushing the ‘reset’ button essentially on your metabolism, systemic inflammation, and negative effects you’ve probably gained through the junk food way of life that we can get caught up in so quickly. Basically there is a pretty definitive No list of items not to have and sugar basically in any form besides fruit EVEN in sweeteners is a ‘no-go’. I read through the first couple chapters of this book and knew this is what I need right now.”

Or you can go to My Post HERE that explains more on why I decided to do it this June 6th through July 7th 2016!

I made it I made it I made it!!!!! June 20th is here today, and I am happy to report I’m on day 15!!! Still going strong and still learning more and more about myself, my body, and my diet.

I thought it would be fun to share some daily check-in’s on the status of the challenge….Here we go Week in Review and Marvelous Monday, check and check…

• Turns out Family Celebrations are a lot more fun when you can eat at them, I ended up going to a celebration that I did not plan ahead for and of which was served up some serious awesome family grub that I could not partake in, as my stomach growled ever louder and the sun beat down on me on the hot day that it was, my ever so awesome husband got me some mixed nuts from a gas station to hold me over, Whew close call. Lesson Learned next time bring a Whole 30 compliant snack to the party, I.E. fruits or vegetables, or just grab a quick whole 30 something compliant before and then attend party with energy to party it up!

• Monday’s are hard, but Day Eight Monday was rough, I just felt sluggish, and my body is adjusting to this whole I eat only three meals a day thing. However I must say I woke up slightly before the alarm this morning, ready. to. go. Ahhhh sweet energy, while I did feel I had energy remaining steady all day it didn’t stick around once the clock hit about 8:30pm.
• I had a friend that quite enjoyed my Whole 30 Compliant Dinner I made for her and me on Monday evening, even so much as to ask about a recipe of the salad, it was a hit! I loved sharing my joy of this process with a friend. Details of the meal are coming…read on!

• Tuesday, drug on and on, however I do think so of my slow-ness today was simply due to lack of sleep from the weekend, I competed in a night race, cue awesome photo below…however we still had our full Sunday schedule the next day to attend to….Maybe this weekend I’ll catch up. 😉

Go Team Hott Mess!

• We finally got a new comforter this week, which has made spending more time in our bed a little easier actually, goodbye hot nights of the down comforter. We have been keeping our eyes out for a new one since our comforter we have had this far into our marriage has been a down comforter that keeps all the heat all night long. So far heat hasn’t been a problem. Beautiful.

• Sleep: Let’s talk about sleep some more, my sleep has gotten increasingly better throughout this challenge, this week was no exception every night shortly after putting my head on the pillow I was out. I even woke up at 4:40 Am one morning before my alarm at 4:45 and I was alert and ready to go.
• Wednesday, I simply didn’t feel like adulating today, in fact so much so I thought about getting this shirt that even said so….but didn’t because well I read up on Days 10-14 of the Whole Thirty where in fact you do lose a lot of energy, these are in fact the days most people quit on. So I pressed through, but by 8:30 PM this little lady was in bed, lights out at 9.
• Thursday, It’s getting better! I craved my breakfast this morning and I was actually satisfied all day in-between meals not seeking snacks nor sweet goodies. Energy still lower than usual but not sleepy just simply tired if that makes any sense at all. I even was able to enjoy time with friends until 9:30 ish pm, after a full day of work, and after a good dinner, rarely can I remember a time when I hadn’t been trying to pry my eyes open at occasions such as this.
• Friday, hip hip hooray! My PiYo class I teach in the morning was a little more of a stretch to have energy for but halfway through the class it kicked in and I was good to go.
• Saturday, Literally lounged in the morning enjoying coffee at Starbucks, along with blueberries, and egg whites with kale, and a turkey sausage patty/venison patty…I brought my breakfast because as much as I like Black coffee I love that first cup of coffee with my breakfast, yum!

• Saturday lunch was a quick tie me over not much but I honestly wasn’t too hungry, a quick change and the hubs and I headed over to a wedding for the afternoon/evening. I didn’t get a lull of energy all evening and danced the night away! It was an absolute blast and I was amazed at how much energy I did have!

Processed with VSCO with a5 preset

• The wedding did provide a spread I could enjoy too which was a delight! Salad with no dressing and veggies, chicken (I scraped off all sauce and rice, but ended up only taking a few bites as it tasted sweet), and prime rib. Yay for a healthy wedding spread….dessert was cashews and other mixed nuts! (Cashews are really starting to taste sweet to me…

Fun Facts on Week 2 of Whole 30:

• Gum: I haven’t had a piece of gum in two weeks, WOW this is a HUGE accomplishment for this girl. I cannot remember a day I haven’t had a piece in like three years….#addicted.
• Sugar: No intense cravings or hallucinations!
• Energy: This is a huge part of this process for me right now, my body is learning to adapt to no simple sugars and carbs to use for energy and instead I’m using more fat for lasting energy, I’m learning so much about how my body uses what I supply it with for good and energy. (More to come I may start reading up on this topic more ;))
• Food: I’m really digging Sweet Potatoe Fries right now, and getting used to having a few with chicken after my workouts…
• Focus: Days 8-10 it was harder to focus on serious conversations, and especially in the evening after work, I was slightly more emotional all week.

The moment you’ve all been waiting for….the eats…

Breakfasts: Pretty much the same as last week, except subbed strawberries into bananas spot, sweeter and less sugar, these accompanied eggs, bacon, and home made venison sausage. I’m loving my breakfasts so much they will probably stick around after Whole 30.

Lunches: I have found a combo that works and works well for me, I sliced up sweet potatoes into 1/4″ thick slices and baked them for food prep this week. Top one slice with broiled zucchini, kale and shredded chicken breast and microwave for about 2 minutes, wow what a flavor combination! I looked forward to these lunches this week because I knew they’d fuel me up for the afternoon. I usually ate a handful of nuts with this lunch.

Dinner: Dinners were more experimental this week! I had a friend over monday night and we made Hot Dog ‘Boats’ out of cucumbers, I cut the cucumber in half and then took out the seeds in the middle, added my mustard to the cucumber skin and put the dog on in there, wow so good! We had these on Monday night with sautéed red peppers, kale, and mushrooms and half a granny smith apple with cinnamon.

Another night I made Spaghetti with Spaghetti Squash and a home made sauce, I used a organic tomato puree with ground venison and spinach for the sauce, adding in oregano, basil, and sea salt. It was a very filling dinner and the hubs enjoyed it ever so much!

Pre Workout and Post Workout: I’ve been digging into my research on these for natural options, Hardboiled eggs are still my best option right now Pre workout, after workouts I’ve been having a few bites of chicken and a few sweet potato fries, with researching it I understand why this is important to get protein and a few carbs in right after depleting your body especially when trying to use fat as a energy burner.

Until Week 3…. Love Love Love

WIR #17: Whole Thirty Week One

 

 

Linking up today with my friend Megan and her Week in Review posts. You can click her name and visit her site to see what others have done in their week in review as well….

Or if it suits your fancy take a peek at Dashing Diva blog for My Marvelous Monday posts. Others post what’s Marvelous in their Monday there.

My Marvelous Monday goes a little something like this….
I’m Five days into my Whole Thirty…. so accordingly I am 1/6 of the way finished…and I’m definitely no math geek so that could be totally wrong.

Monday of last week, I started the Whole 30 Plan with the intention of simply a means to an end, and a push from a sweet friend of mine whom has done it before and encouraged me to try, it honestly has been so much more than simply eating a certain way or gaining wisdom about food choices, I think this might be changing my life…

Currently it’s day five and I’m sitting here about 8:30 in the evening it’s after dusk, everything is done for the day, the house is clean, my feet are up, I’m relaxing, and I’m full. Yep downright satiated to the fullest and not a care in the world of having a ‘sweet’ treat to end my night, in fact the strawberries I had at dinner didn’t make me feel too good in all reality; (maybe sugar overdose? Already? Amazing!). I used to sit in the evenings at this time deciding what my sweet treat would be and how to make it even better than the night before, instead of a protein ball let’s try it with Crunchy Peanut Butter on top! AHA delicious! So here I am day five of Whole 30 and strawberries are too sweet, I’m full and energized pretty much all day, and I haven’t had a drop of added sugar or sweeteners all week long.

I was getting to a point where I had turned to the fad of sweeteners, yep splenda you got me. But not only that I also dived deep into the pool of the ‘natural’ good for you sweeteners as well, and I just kept swimming deeper and deeper. It wasn’t until my friend and I were having a conversation over the phone about her experience on the Whole 30 and how much better she felt once her body was drained of all the sweeteners and sugar she was putting it through. Not to mention the energy she experienced as well. Sweeteners are meant to simply sweeten food, I wanted to get back to a point where my food was sweet enough, and I wanted to cook in a way that I could use leaves, and seasonings, cloves of garlic, or even a puree of fruit and all of it would be awesome and a great experience because my body was weened off of those dramatic influences in our lives of sweeteners, sugar, and preservatives.

So a week in and I’m excited announce that yes a strawberry is just too sweet right now, tummy ache after four of those bad boys. I’m excited about this because my body is changing and learning right along with me, I love learning and what better way than for myself to be the subject. I’ve never gone on a diet or done anything like this before and frankly it’s about time I cut out all the preservatives and sugar anyways, I want to really taste what my food is supposed to taste like. I’m excited still so please ride along this journey with me, it’s going to be fun!

I’d love to answer any and all questions to be had so if you have one feel free to ask in the comments below! Next week I’ll recap more on how I felt but for this week, I’ll recap more on the eats….

Breakfasts:
Banana, because well carbs are good for you and I am too used to sweet in the morning. (I figured Megan would be proud of soon many #publicbananas in my life right now)
Bacon: The uncured nitrate free Turkey bacon kind, ghastly expensive but everything else costed relatively reasonably so I splurged for this bacon.
Unsweetened coconut flakes toasted: Good fat and slightly sweet, delicious
EGGS! : Because they are so filling and so versatile
Home made Sausage: Found a awesome easy recipe and used ground turkey meat to make these, so filling and use the secret ingredient SAGE!
Black coffee with cinnamon, I know it’s crazy how I’m learning to love this but truly my taste buds are changing.

Lunches:
So the first day for lunch I had a spinach salad with raw broccoli, broiled green beans, topped with chicken and tessemae dressing (whole 30 approved), I was thinking that this may just be harder than I thought. The salad wasn’t very good. At all. I think it may have been a combination of the lettuce getting soggy because of my blueberries which WERE frozen and melted to wilt my spinach and make for an interesting combination with my salad dressing. Weird….
Lunches got better after that, shredded crockpot chicken, winter mix frozen vegetables, broiled zucchini, and sweet potato fries, all prepped for the week on Sunday, yum! I heated these mixes up and added yellow mustard on top of the mix.

Dinner:
Shredded chicken again only in the evenings I had the ability to use my skillet to mix it up, stir frying chicken with cucumbers and kale adding in balsamic vinegar.
Day three left me with a full tummy even when dinner rolled around so I had a before bed snack so to speak of two sausage patties and almond butter with some baby carrots.

Snacks:
Pre workout has been hard boiled eggs.
Baby carrots and my home made deluxe mixed nut butter
I had an apple three days in for a snack and it was pretty sweet and hurt my stomach a bit.

Victories:
I’m already feeling more energized with lasting energy that is up all throughout the day.
I’m sleeping better than I have in a very long time, more soundly too.
I went to the movies last night and I didn’t have any popcorn at all!

Soooooooo there goes a not so short briefing of my first week of Whole 30. Have a beautiful week everyone, come back next week for check in of Week 2 of the Whole 30

Love Love Love

Have you ever done the whole 30?
What questions do you guys have for me?

I dream of Chocolate.

I love chocolate, even as I sit here I could go for a good handful of dark chocolate chips, or even a protein ball with chocolate chips. Speaking of: one time I made protein balls without chocolate chips, um no thanks. I digress.

Let’s talk Protein…..balls.

YUM!

 

But there’s more to the story! 

While I have come a long way in my food journey, trust me I used to think eating healthy was having an apple and Kashi cereal for breakfast, lunchmeat and goldfish for lunch, and baby carrots and peanut butter for dinner every. single. night. Let’s be honest there could be A LOT more unhealthy items to consume…. However these days my palate is much improved thanks to the influence of some pretty great friends who themselves have taught me a thing or two through their blog’s recipes…I must take a moment to list them in case you yourself find that rut of yours is keeping you from putting the goldfish down…I repeat put the goldfish down and take a look you’ll be glad you did…

*Megan* Clean Eats Fast Feets* – I first met Megan at a blogging retreat and have loved reading her blog and seeing her life unfold over the past two years of knowing her, she’s so fun loving and has recently been enjoying her new baby girl of which I get to enjoy via snapchat as well…this recipe link is for her No Bake Energy Bars, yum!

*Laura* Sprint to the Table* – Boulder Colorado was where I first met Laura, she is a firecracker and her life amazes and inspires me how she travels and lives life to the fullest is a fun adventure to follow on her blog as well as she rocks so many great recipes like these S’more Balls. 

*Lindsay* Cotter Crunch* – We must NEVER forget where my protein bites originated from, and that was tasting one of this girl’s bites, THESE to be exact I can’t say enough about how delectable these bites are and nourishing even when they appear to be so small, they pack a punch! =)

The beautiful banana loving, Megan.

I’ve been inspired recipe wise and made some pretty great friends along the way…

Sooooo back to where i’m headed here, I have changed my ways, and while I am diversifying my palate extremely well and maintaining a fairly indulgent lifestyle as well. As of late I have started to notice myself depending on the ‘fake’ sweet to get me through. Instead of delighting in natural healthy sugars like all the wonderful fruit, especially this time of year, and then partaking in a indulgent food like a nice piece of wedding cake, because it’s that time of year as well; I find myself never indulging in the true sweeties of my day and instead opting for this ‘fake’ sugar. Don’t get me wrong I have been using stevia to sweeten baking items and coffee so I haven’t been spoiling my body as much as my 5 splendas in my gas station cappuccino days of past, but I have been abusing it. It’s time to slow down the crazy snowball I’ve been riding, see ya later sugar.

That’s where something new, something that some would call crazy comes into play….Crazy maybe but it just might work.

I’m going to embark upon The Whole 30.

I’ve listened to the testimonial of a friend, read several more online testimonials, bought the book, read through a good portion of it, and I now  have set my sights on recipes and established a start date, it’s coming and I’m excited! For now anyways, let me fill you in a little bit on just what the Whole 30 is….

The main rules are simple: Eat whole healthy real food, cutting out all psychologically unhealthy, hormone unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for 30 whole days. Pushing the ‘reset’ button essentially on your metabolism, systemic inflammation, and negative effects you’ve probably gained through the junk food way of life that we can get caught up in so quickly. Basically there is a pretty definitive No list of items not to have and sugar basically in any form besides fruit EVEN in sweeteners is a ‘no-go’. I read through the first couple chapters of this book and knew this is what I need right now.

I have thought several times throughout the past year while doing challenges with the gym, living a healthy lifestyle, and day to day living that I do love what I eat, but I also want to be challenged to a different way. This journey for me will definitely be that, a challenge. However it will also be a good ‘reset’ for the damaged way of thinking and ‘needing’ that I’ve been having in terms of my relationship with sugar/sweetener consumption.

You guys this is going to be fun as well, I want to learn what it is to eat a meal and feel fully satisfied even when there is NO DESSERT or LOW CAL DESSERT option (or dark chocolate chips calling my name in the freezer;) ). I’m ready to nourish my body and learn how to cook real food from whole real ingredients.

I decided that I wanted to document this journey just so I could enjoy every moment, reach out when needed, vent about the cravings (of chocolate I’m sure), but basically to be real with you guys, to show encouragement to those who feel trapped by junk food cravings or candy bar yells from the store shelves. I want to basically put myself to the test to shout out to you or whomever reads this that you can do this too!

Come with me, join in with a whole 30 meal, laugh at the trials I face, whatever you do please enjoy these posts and come back for more, it’s going to be a fun few weeks guys! Until then I will be enjoying my memorial day bbq, and going on vacation starting this Tuesday back to my home town where I will eat as per my usual diet…starting June 6th this all is about to change….

Love Love Love

Have you ever done the Whole 30? 

WIR #16: Remember?

Links to both linkups I will be involved in this week are below at either Katie’s Marvelous In My Monday linkup or the ever so lovely Megan (Who just had a baby!!! YAY!) at her Week In Review linkup….Whatever your pick theres sure someones story to inspire.

 

Let’s Proceed…..

• Remember that one time I had a blog that I posted in every week on a consistent basis? When I had free time where I wasn’t busy, worried, anxious, or afraid of something that it consumed my time and didn’t allow me to spend time loving the writing process and sharing life with others, I’m an introvert at its finest folks, but for some reason when I get my hands to the keyboard or pen to paper I come alive in a tangible way, I’m able to describe life and experiences and with joy I extend grace to myself while writing or typing about absurdities that this world holds on a daily basis level.

Remember it? I joked to myself this morning that I hadn’t blogged in FOREVER, only to look and realize, only a month had passed. Only a month had passed.

Time flies right past in a effort to speed us up onto the next thing, into the weekend, over time we become quick fleeting individuals unaware of our existence and the present time because we are so aware of what is to come in the next moments, or what we have been holding onto from the past. I’m a fan of time, for as it travels I do as well. It is a lot more fun to live a life instead of always remaining in the same time mind set or even body for too long. I grow restless….

Which brings me to today’s post. I’ve been restless, yep that’s why blogging has taken a backseat, I’ve been gaining in arenas of my life that I am proud of, I’m working hard. However, at the very same moments I have been asking myself, what am I good at, where do I fit in. Strange isn’t it; the human mind sometimes?

I’m learning though, learning that as interestingly quick as life is, I am in it for a reason every small speeding moment has a purpose. Now it is my duty to not sit in those moments or ruminate in them. Fulfillment has been coming to me lately in worrying less and keeping my anxiously waiting to a minimum.

I ain’t sittin’ and I ain’t quittin’.

I’m reverting to a different outlook trying to look at life more through a lens of youth. See the world from a smaller perspective and that in essence helps it slow down. Even as I sit here today I’m so very sure of one thing, life speeds by, it’s quick and I don’t want to miss a thing, so enjoy these photos, moments of worth in my life….

I make big salads and I cannot lie…

I’m a sucker for these two…

All I want to do is hold his hand.

Because Fridays call for Coffee Dates.

I love love love Cleaning.

Swiss Chard.

Waiting….for our Bountiful Basket.

I workout.

Have a Beautiful Day friends and think long timely thoughts…

Love Love Love.

What have you been thinking of lately?