Can I have a side of fries with that?

I was reminded this morning of something that never ceases to amaze me about being a woman.  That my friends... is cravings.  Cravings come at very inconvenient times for us gals.  They can make us seem irrational, crazy, disgusting and make us feel like a million bucks all at the same time when we indulge in those cravings or they can turn on us after we indulge and make us feel completely fat and gross.  Interestingly enough there is no single explanation as to WHY we get these cravings.  Some say it's the variation of serotonin and endorphins in our brains or our hormones fluctuating.  But whatever the reason is, I'm happy we have cravings.  I'm even happier when I get to indulge in my cravings.  Today folks, I'm craving one of these guys....

 With a side of these....





 
Now you all know that I'm trying to stick to the Paleo diet which eliminates all of the above except for maybe the beef and lettuce in that picture.  So that is a huge disappointment to my irrational, greasy cravings right now.  But is that thought process helping?  Nope...It's not exactly the same satisfaction to work it out mentally, than to just indulge in the messiness and deliciousness of a Big Mac and French Fries.  I don't care what ya say...Sometimes you just have to listen to your body and give it what it wants.

D'OH!!

Well folks, I have to tell you something very important.  The Whole30 Challenge is not for people with weaknesses for cheesecake.  So on that note, I feel better telling you that I have failed the challenge.  On Day 6 of the Whole30, I was tempted with the possibility of having a Cheesecake Factory slice of cheesecake and my will power caved.  I'm a failure.  There I said it.  NOW, let me tell you how GUILTY I feel about it.....

Honestly, I dont' feel guilty.  Eddie and I discussed on the way to the cheesecake factory, and he said that although the Whole30 is probably and incredible cleansing diet for your system, what happens when you go off of it, are you  not allowed to "cheat" ever again?  And seriously, how likely is it that I will never have another piece of cheesecake again?  Exactly 0%.  It's my favorite!!

I don't know how anyone could resist this....

So on that note, let me tell you some of the things I've learned in the past 6 days about my experience with the Whole30 Challenge...

1)  Eating things that come straight from the earth, natural and unprocessed makes you feel like a million bucks.  I never felt bloated, or that horrible after eating, "I ate waaaaay too much" feeling.

2)  I believe if I stuck with it longer, I would see results in definition that I'm seeking to reach with my body much faster.  In just one week, my jeans fit better, and I already see some definition in my abs.

3)  I have an emotional attachment to food.  It's true, especially on the weekends.  Friday nights are usually movie night with Eddie, and I wanted to have popcorn, because that's what society does for movies!  It goes hand in hand - movie and popcorn, but instead I settled for a bowl of bananas, raspberries and walnuts.  I was cranky.  

4)  I have probably cooked every single meal that I have consumed this week.  It's alot of work to eat healthy!  However, I have probably cooked some of the most beautiful dishes this week like this...

Roasted Steak & Raspberry Salad

and this...

Paleo Pancakes

and this too...

Grilled Chicken Fajita Salad

So, I cannot say that the Whole30 was a waste of time for me, because I believe a majority of the time, I will try to stick to a similar diet as often as possible.  Paleo is next in line which Eddie has been practicing all week.

In the meantime, while I come down from my high of sugar shock this morning from my delicious slice of cheesecake last evening, I have to say that I feel like I have a hangover.  I woke up with headache.  Or maybe it was from the tall Sam Adams I drank with my cheesecake?  WHAT?  I cheated!  I already admitted it....don't judge me.  :)  

Falling off the Wagon

Today is day 3 of my WHOLE30 Challenge. My partner in crime has already fallen off the wagon. So I'm on my own. I am a little scared now, because cooking for two on this diet was much more fun than just cooking for myself.  I'd rather see someone else's reaction other than my own of how good, or bland this food may be.  Anyhow, day 1 was relatively easy. It was like any day 1 of any diet. I was all motivated and gun-ho to get this thing started, and I felt great. We had Crossfit that night, and I really didn’t have much of an appetite post workout, so I forced myself to have a lil dessert before bed.

Ha ha, nothing sinful, but it was refreshing and good.





Day 2, I woke up with a splitting headache and starving! My first thought was, I want pancakes with lots of syrup, or eggos!! I felt lousy. I almost skipped breakfast altogether because I felt nauseous and I really didn’t want eggs again. But I forced myself to have two sunny side up eggs with a small glass of apple cider. My mission today was obvious, I needed to find more solutions on breakfast options. So I visited this site http://www.napclan.com/napclan/

Sarah, the blogger of this site is a super-mom, cross fitting, paleo dieting genius. Not only did she do the WHOLE30 Challenge, but she blogged about it, posted her recipes that she used and created. THANK YOU SARAH!! So I quickly found these great breakfast recipes like sweet potato hash, and apple muffins. That’s right folks, APPLE MUFFINS! Did I ever mention that one of my many nicknames growing up was “muffin” because I loved muffins so much!?? Well it’s true. I had to make these!! So last night, I ventured out to the Organic Market to find almond meal and coconut oil to test out the recipe.

I thought the muffins were delicious…going on two full days without any sugar, or added flavor in my food, these tasted great. Eddie tried them, and my friend Gail tried one, or two or three, both saying that there wasn’t much flavor to them. Gail threw a lil cream cheese on hers and told me to make them again in 30 days and try them with cream cheese.   :)   ha ha! But to me, these muffins were delicious, so delicious, that I ate 4 last night. I did feel guilty eating them but, there was nothing to feel guilty about. Even better!

Today I woke up feeling good. For  breakfast I ate some sweet potato hash, a poached egg with an apple muffin and some coffee. It’s going to be a good day!

Crossfit - and Whole30

So I've recently begun the Beginners Foundation course at Crossfit BWI http://www.crossfitbwi.com/.  As it reminds me of my youth in tumble class and gymnastics it also adds new, never heard of ideas, to me at least...and techniques I've never imagined possible me doing.  Jumping on and off giant tractor tires, olympic rings, pull - ups, full sit ups, kettle bells and lifting ginormous weights that I only pictured Arnold Schwarzenegger carrying around during his body building days.  So far, folks, I'm LOVING it.  That is until yesterday.  You see, I wasn't totally prepared for the whole package of this program.  There is a diet involved.  I've never been able to stick to a diet for more than 2 weeks, IF that.  The diet in the training course is called WHOLE30.  In my opinion, it's the beginnger's guide to the Paleo diet lifestyle.  A book link is here for you to read more about if you're interested. The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet

Anyway, since I'm such a terrible dieter, I've been complaining for the past 12 hours since hearing about it.  Our trainer, Ryan kept saying, "It's only for 30 DAYS!!!  We just want you to see the best results as possible"  So, along with my partner in crime, AKA, My Lover or ManFriend... ;)  we've decided to give it a try.... starting on Monday.  I chose Monday for a few reasons.  1, I just baked a cake Tuesday night and have more than half left to devour, 2, we have half a box of cereal, a half of loaf of bread and 3, I can grocery shop for this specificprogram over the weekend and prep for the upcoming misery, I mean meals.

So basically the Whole30 diet excludes everything...No dairy, no grains, no corn, NOTHING with Sugar in it, no processed food at all (there goes hummus and cold cuts), no BEANS...So pretty much we are allowed to eat meat that was grass fed, fish that was caught in the wild not farm raised, vegetables (excluding corn), and fruits.  Here, check it our for your self. http://whole9life.com/2010/10/whole-30-v3/  It's like we're becoming nomads, hunter's and gatherer's if you will.  Good thing Eddie has been working on his arsonal.

I've decided to blog about this for a number of reasons.  1, I need a place to vent, because I imagine I am going to be cranky.  2, not only is this suppose to be a tranformation of our body to lose weight and rid our bodies of toxins and chemicals that I cannot pronounce, but it's also suppose to be a mental realization of what food does for our body.  We're suppose to track our progress as we go along and note how we feel, what we crave etc.  So here is where I've decided to do this, for all of you to learn from my misery, and experience. After all, it's only 30 days.....oh yeah, and one more thing, they say it's easier to go off crack than processed food.  OY!