Whole30 Reflections

As I mentioned before I spent the month of January doing the Whole30 Challenge. Which I really enjoyed and recommend to anyone remotely interested in trying a new way of eating or jumpstarting weight loss. I think I enjoyed the process so much because the parameters of the program forced me to (1) read labels--you'd be surprised how much soy and sugar is in EVERYTHING and (2) get back into the kitchen and do some actual cooking (which saved me a lot of money)! 

In the beginnings of the challenge, I was kind of eating the same things over and over again. Eggs, uncured/organic bacon, fruit/veggie breakfast smoothies, fish/chicken and steamed veggie side. But then Vee (who did the challenge with me) started coming up with these creative ass dishes to eat and I would NOT be outdone. LOL. I started getting creative and using websites like pintrest and tumblr to get inspired. My two favorite things I made during the 30 days--a walnut and basil pesto (which I ate on everything) and a sweet potato, bacon, and brussel sprout hash. 

In terms of the effects on me--I almost immediately felt different doing the challenge. I felt lighter. My C25K runs got a little bit faster. The first 15-20 days I felt kind of invincible. I felt liberated by not being allowed to step on the scale. The last 10 days--not so much. LOL. The runs were still good, but I kept thinking about all the food I could/would eat when the challenge was complete. I travelled to my sister's 30th birthday bash and basically broke the fast by drinking alcohol (although I already told myself that would happen when I started the fast, LOL---I kept it real with myself). 

All-in-all, I think the challenge was successful for me. Today, I am about 6lbs lighter than I was when I started. And I'm planning to keep a food journal. I think the Whole30 program taught me the kinds of foods and habits my body needs to run efficiently. I plan to use the food journal to monitor what foods I'm putting into my body and how they make me feel. As much as I know that counting calories or WW points works, I also know every time I ate more than I was "supposed to" I would beat myself up. And I'm kind of over that. I'm over punishing myself in 2013! 

C25K Update: One more week and I'm done with the program!!!! I cannot believe it! I can now run 28 minutes without stopping which at my pace is about 2.5 miles. It's amazing how far I've come in 8 weeks. I cannot wait to run my 1st 5K this spring. Vee and I are already planning on training for a 10K. I'm proud that I was able to set a goal and I'm going to follow through. Baby steps. 

North African Meatballs with Caramelized Onion and Apple

I've been on this whole "doing things that makes me happy"-kick. Life is about to get hectic--FAST--so I'm just trying to stay centered.

Cooking brings me so much joy, so in the next coming weeks I'll be trying all kinds of recipes.

Tonight, I made North African Meatballs (meatballs made from lean ground turkey, seasoned with curry, cilantro, and nutmeg). The meatballs are stewed in crushed tomatoes and garlic. Caramelized onion and apples are served over the meatballs. I paired mine with collared greens (from the can--a girl can only do so much, LOL).

It was a joy to cook and was quite tasty, too!

Chicken Fajitas with Salsa & Cucumber "Chips"

This is a recipe for chicken fajitas (minus the tortilla) and cucumber "tortilla chips" with pico de gallo and corn salsa. The idea for this recipe came from my Uncle E who is from Nicaragua. Tortilla chips are an ignorant-sick amount of calories and he suggested using a crisp cucumber instead. Sounds completely unsatisfying right? Wrong. This was sooo good and surprisingly filling. I thought about having it again tonight. Because I don't quite have a salsa recipe yet, I bought the salsa was given the pico and salsa for free from Chipotle (shout out to the Chipotle girl for not giving a shit about her job).

 1 Boneless Skinless Chicken breast

Bell pepper trio (green, red, orange peppers)

Purple onion 

Cucumbers

Salsa

Fajita seasonings

Directions:

1. Cut up the chicken

2. Cook it in a skillet. When mostly done, add the veggies

3. Add the fajita seasons

4. Cut up the cucumber into thick slices

5. Enjoy.

Breakfast of Champions

So. I'm not a huge fan of breakfast these days. Correction: I love breakfast. However, the kind of breakfast I love is not conducive to daily consumption, a healthy lifestyle or friendly to my waist. Think pancakes, scrambled eggs, hash-browns, turkey sausage--all smothered in warm maple syrup. Think Cracker Barrel. Or a chicken biscuit from Bojangles. Yeah.

So I'm constantly struggling to find healthier breakfast alternatives that I'll actually want to eat. I swear I switch cereals every time I go to the grocery store. Well. I've found a good one I think I'll stick with for a while until I finish the box.

I swear. This oatmeal tastes just like a blueberry muffin. I sprinkle a little Equal or Splenda on top and enjoy.

And because I don't drink enough water (just don't like the stuff...unless I've been out in the Alabama sun), I've been drinking a lot of Crystal Light On-The-Gos. Raspberry Lemonade is my favorite.

Yum-O: Oven "Fried" Catfish & "Creamed" Spinach

Both of these recipes come from a Weight Watchers cookbook my Mom gave me years ago. They're both also super simple.

The fish is CATFISH and its dipped in 1 beaten egg and then in seasoned cornmeal. I then sprayed the bottom of the baking ban with non-stick cooking spray and placed the fish on it. I then sprayed the top of the fish with the cooking spray. Bake at 350 until fish is cooked (~7-10min).

The SPINACH is a play on creamed spinach which is typically filled with an obscene amount of calories due to the heavy cream and butter in the normal recipe. This recipe substitutes fat free cottage cheese, low fat milk (Lactaid for me), and grated Parmesan cheese. I took 1-6-oz bag of baby spinach (you find it in the salad section) and put about 2 heaping handfuls of it into a blender. I then added fresh garlic, salt, pepper, 1/4cup cottage cheese, 1/8cup milk into the blender. I blended it up making a spinach puree of sorts. I then cooked the remainder of the spinach in the spinach pure and topped with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Honestly, it doesn't taste exactly like creamed spinach, but it was good nonetheless--you could really taste the garlic which I loooved.

Yum-O: Simple Chicken & Pasta

Lately I've been trying to do more things with myself--I hardly spend alone time anymore that's not academically related. In an attempt to get back to me, I decided to cook myself dinner. I adore food but even more importantly I love preparing food. Cooking is one of my favorite escapes. So anyway, I called my Mom to get a figure-friendly chicken recipe and she reminded me of one of the easiest and yummiest. I decided to make enough to eat for dinner and then take some for lunch sometime this week. The recipe doesn't really have a name. But here's the jist of it...

• 2 Chicken Breasts (seasoned w/ fresh garlic, seasoned salt, and various Italian seasonings)
• Brown both sides of the chicken in a cast-iron skillet w/ olive oil
• After both sides are brown'd, put tomato, red onion, bell pepper, scallions (seasoned with salt/pepper) in the skillet. 
• Place the skillet in the oven at 350. Cook until chicken is completely cooked. 
• Serve the chicken/roasted veggies over a single serving of whole wheat pasta
• While in the oven, the olive oil/veggie make a sauce of sorts. 

The dinner was soooo good. The perfect serving. I'm not too full. Just satisfied. I love cooked vegetables and this was just so easy to make. Plus its just so pretty to look at. I'm definitely going to cook more often--its such a stress reliever and the eating is quite the bonus!