I realize I am SUPER late in posting about my experiences with the Whole30, but better late than never right?
Overall, the Whole30 was great as a weightloss tool, which was why I decided to try it. I ended up losing 10 pounds by the end of the 30 days, which I was really happy about. Of course, I went right back to my old eating habits and gained the 10 pounds back pretty quickly, so my bad. Also, I didn't work out very much while I was doing the Whole30 because, unlike a lot of other people I've read about, I didn't have that much energy. I was pretty much always hungry and craving food that I couldn't have. Even though I enjoyed some of the recipes I tried, nothing could satiate my cravings for junkfood. I'm pretty bad that way, I eat a lot of crap. So, by the end of the Whole30 I felt like I was crawling past the finish line.
"Just let me eat some cereal!!!!"
Then there was the guilt that I felt after I'd finished when I ate non-compliant food for the first time. But it went away pretty quick.
So, for the final score I would say the Whole30 was a SUCCESS since I stuck with it and it helped me lose 10 pounds. Also, I was probably healthier while on the Whole30 than I've been in the past five years, so... there's that. I'll probably never do it again.
Showing posts with label Diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diet. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Whole30: Paleo Gravy
I'm on a blogging roll right now.
Last night I made super delicious pork chops for my husband and I. Now, when I think of pork chops I think of how my mom makes them. She pan fries the chops and then makes a gravy from the drippings which we put over mashed potatoes or rice. It's delicious. If you've never put country gravy on rice then try it sometime. Anyway, I wanted to try making a paleo version of this dish and lucky for me there was a recipe for mashed cauliflower on the Whole30recipes Instagram page by @rockinmomskitchen. This isn't the recipe I wanted to blog about, but I'll give a quick rundown.
I ate my pork chop before I remembered to take a picture... And I was really sad because it was PERFECT! So, I just took a picture of my cauliflower and gravy with the left over juices because the juices are the most important part! Sorry if it looks gross.
Crockpot Mashed Cauliflower
1 head cauliflower, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil or ghee
Place everything except the olive oil in a crockpot and fill with water til it just covers the cauliflower. Cook on low for 6 hours then drain. Add olive oil and mash.
So, I did this. Here's the thing: The cauliflower was super watery, I almost wonder if it would have been better to steam them instead of boil. I feel like I need to get some cheese cloth and strain it. Also, it's not exactly like mashed potatoes because you would add milk, butter, or cream to make them fluffy, but you can't do that here. So, I added a little bit of the cream from coconut milk, but they were so runny it didn't matter.
I didn't like it. I consider this a FAIL, but I'm sure I could do something to salvage it.
Anyway, on to the main event!
Paleo Gravy - I really just eyeballed this because that's how we've always done it, but I'll try my best with the measurements.
2 Pork chops
2 tbsp Ghee
1 large floret of cauliflower, boiled and mashed (Obviously, I used some from the crockpot)
1/2 can of coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
onion powder
garlic powder
Heat the ghee in a pan over medium heat. Season pork chops with salt and pepper and any other spices you'd like (I used onion powder and garlic powder). Cook both pork chops until white and juicy inside, if the pan gets dry during cooking then keep adding ghee, you want there to be a small pool. Remove pork chops from the pan. Add cauliflower to the leftover pan drippings and sautee for a minute or two. When the drippings and cauliflower have mixed start stirring in the coconut milk, adding a little at a time until it forms a nice gravy. You don't have to use the full amount as you don't want to overpower the drippings with coconut flavor. Add salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder to taste. If you want you can puree this gravy to make it smooth, but I left the cauliflower chunky because it still worked.
This was surprisingly good and gravy-like and I was able to use things I already had. I put it over rice for my husband and over the cauliflower for me. I'm giving this recipe a big SUCCESS, but I'm slightly biased.
Let me know what you think!
Last night I made super delicious pork chops for my husband and I. Now, when I think of pork chops I think of how my mom makes them. She pan fries the chops and then makes a gravy from the drippings which we put over mashed potatoes or rice. It's delicious. If you've never put country gravy on rice then try it sometime. Anyway, I wanted to try making a paleo version of this dish and lucky for me there was a recipe for mashed cauliflower on the Whole30recipes Instagram page by @rockinmomskitchen. This isn't the recipe I wanted to blog about, but I'll give a quick rundown.
I ate my pork chop before I remembered to take a picture... And I was really sad because it was PERFECT! So, I just took a picture of my cauliflower and gravy with the left over juices because the juices are the most important part! Sorry if it looks gross.
Crockpot Mashed Cauliflower
1 head cauliflower, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil or ghee
Place everything except the olive oil in a crockpot and fill with water til it just covers the cauliflower. Cook on low for 6 hours then drain. Add olive oil and mash.
So, I did this. Here's the thing: The cauliflower was super watery, I almost wonder if it would have been better to steam them instead of boil. I feel like I need to get some cheese cloth and strain it. Also, it's not exactly like mashed potatoes because you would add milk, butter, or cream to make them fluffy, but you can't do that here. So, I added a little bit of the cream from coconut milk, but they were so runny it didn't matter.
I didn't like it. I consider this a FAIL, but I'm sure I could do something to salvage it.
Anyway, on to the main event!
Paleo Gravy - I really just eyeballed this because that's how we've always done it, but I'll try my best with the measurements.
2 Pork chops
2 tbsp Ghee
1 large floret of cauliflower, boiled and mashed (Obviously, I used some from the crockpot)
1/2 can of coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
onion powder
garlic powder
Heat the ghee in a pan over medium heat. Season pork chops with salt and pepper and any other spices you'd like (I used onion powder and garlic powder). Cook both pork chops until white and juicy inside, if the pan gets dry during cooking then keep adding ghee, you want there to be a small pool. Remove pork chops from the pan. Add cauliflower to the leftover pan drippings and sautee for a minute or two. When the drippings and cauliflower have mixed start stirring in the coconut milk, adding a little at a time until it forms a nice gravy. You don't have to use the full amount as you don't want to overpower the drippings with coconut flavor. Add salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder to taste. If you want you can puree this gravy to make it smooth, but I left the cauliflower chunky because it still worked.
This was surprisingly good and gravy-like and I was able to use things I already had. I put it over rice for my husband and over the cauliflower for me. I'm giving this recipe a big SUCCESS, but I'm slightly biased.
Let me know what you think!
Whole30: Thai Basil Chicken
Hahahahahaha oh man! Good one, Kate! We almost believed you.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm feeling great right now! I went to the gym last night and ran for 20 minutes straight which, if you know me, is quite the feat; I am not a runner. But ever since last night I have felt really good. I feel skinny and not in the "I haven't eaten for days and I'm starving" way. In a good way. #Day12
BUT come on! I can think of at least 20 things right now that taste just about as good as feeling skinny feels, if not better. Have you been on pinterest lately? There are about one million recipes that I'm dying to scarf down right now and if it weren't for the Whole30 I would do it. Kate, your argument is invalid.
Now, if Kate Moss has said "Feeling healthy and good about yourself is worth not stuffing your face with treats every day" that may have been a legitimate argument. Not as catchy, but more true.
Anyway, you probably came here for a recipe. So here it goes:
I found this recipe for Thai Basil Chicken on the (you guessed it) Whole30 website! It's by @wholefork. If you're like me then you love Thai Food, which can be a hard food genre to swing on the Whole30. So, I was excited to give this recipe a try.
Thai Basil Chicken
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 onion, chopped
4 oz boneless chicken chopped into bites (Again, left overs from Butterflied Chicken)
1/8 cup coconut aminos
1/2 red or orange
1/2 yellow zucchini shredded
Handful of carrot shreds
Handful of fresh basil
Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Sauté onions and garlic until they turn translucent. Add chicken and aminos and cook until chicken turns white, stirring every 2 min. Add veggies and mix with chicken and sauce. When veggies have softened to your liking add fresh basil and stir a few times until basil slightly wilts. Salt and pepper to taste.
I left this recipe pretty much how it was (besides the bell pepper) since I didn't really know how it should turn out. I guessed that the carrot and zuccini were supposed to act as noodles. Wishful thinking.
Instead of explaining what went wrong I'll just show you.
This is what @wholefork says the dish is supposed to look like:
Now, I know that my pictures aren't exactly professional, but let's take a look at what my dish looked like:
Do you see any discrepancies? The differences don't end there (I assume, since I've never tried her dish). Basically, it tasted terrible. I have some thoughts on why: The chicken I used didn't really taste good in the first place which kind of ruined the dish. I also may have overcooked the vegetables which made them slightly mushy instead of noodle-like. It wasn't great.
However, I was able to eat most of what I made by putting Ginger Sauce on it. This sauce saves a lot of things, apparently.
I'm giving this recipe a big *FAIL because not even basil could save it.
*I attribute all failures to my shortcomings, not to the recipes themselves.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
The Whole30
As I'm sure most of you are aware, there is a new(ish) diet fad on the internet known as the Whole30. I started hearing about the Whole30 on Facebook. Friends had completed the program, they posted pictures, and they looked great. I thought, "Gee! That seemed to really work!" So, I filed that in the back of my mind along with all the other diets, exercises, and weight loss tips that I post on my secret pinterest board so no one knows that I want to lose weight. Well, here's the thing: When you pin things on your pinterest boards it doesn't mean that they'll happen. In fact, I've had a really hard time getting back in shape ever since I got married. I hear that happens a lot. So, out of *desperation, I turned to the Whole30.
First things first, I visited the Whole30 website so as to learn more about the program. Here is the Whole30 program in a nutshell:
You can't eat:
1. Dairy
2. Grains
3. Legumes
4. Added Sugar (of any kind including honey and "healthy" sugar subs)
You can't eat:
1. Vegetables
2. Fruit
3. Meat/Seafood
4. Healthy Fats (such as ghee, avocado oil, olive oil, etc.)
5. Some Substitutions (such as coconut aminos instead of soy sauce)
You eat like this for 30 days and *POOF* you are magically transformed. Ok, sure!
You can't weigh yourself the during the 30 days, just before and after.
This is no ordinary diet. The website claims that if you follow these rules, eat 3 meals a day, and don't snack, then your eating habits willl change. Not only your eating habits, but your entire view of food will be altogether altered and you will then be accepted into a magical world of paleo eating and understanding of healthy habits. Or that is what I gathered. In fact, the Whole30 isn't technically a weight loss diet, it's just an added bonus.
My next step was to ask my friends about it. It's always good to get first hand information from people you trust. So, obviously I wrote a facebook status asking people's thoughts on the Whole30. I got about three responses: one was a friend saying her sister-in-law did it and liked it, one was a close friend saying she was currently on day 28 of her second Whole30 and felt great, and one was a guy talking about all these facts about why the Whole30 was bad (men, bless their little hearts). He mentioned that it's not healthy to cut out entire food groups because these foods have nutrients that our bodies need and he had good points. I believe that we are meant to take advantage of all food groups, however I do tend to learn more towards the cheese and ice cream groups than I should. He had good points, but I figure, it's only for 30 days and it seems to work for people so why not give it a try. And my friend mentioned that she lost a lot of weight during her first Whole30, so there you go.
Long story, short I decided to give it a try. I even roped my sister into doing it with me because, hey, misery loves company. Luckily, the Whole30 website have a bunch of recipes to help you get started and, if you want, you can even sign up for a helpful daily letter that is specific to each day of the program.
Currently, I am on Day 4! Wooo! I started on March 1st and in the last four days I'm pretty sure that I've eaten at least $40 in grocceries since most of my diet consists of produce and a whole chicken. But, in all honesty, fruit has never tasted so delicious. You're not supposed to eat fruit to satiate your craving for sugar, however, I usually eat a grapefruit at breakfast and now I think they're super delicious without any sugar on top. IT'S A WHOLE30 MIRACLE!!!
I plan on posting some of the recipes I try out during my program, both good and bad, so stay tuned, folks! This will be pretty interesting.
*I say desperation because I really really really like to eat bread, cheese, milk, ice cream, candy, etc. And almost nothing could compel me to not eat those things for an entire month.
First things first, I visited the Whole30 website so as to learn more about the program. Here is the Whole30 program in a nutshell:
You can't eat:
1. Dairy
2. Grains
3. Legumes
4. Added Sugar (of any kind including honey and "healthy" sugar subs)
You can't eat:
1. Vegetables
2. Fruit
3. Meat/Seafood
4. Healthy Fats (such as ghee, avocado oil, olive oil, etc.)
5. Some Substitutions (such as coconut aminos instead of soy sauce)
You eat like this for 30 days and *POOF* you are magically transformed. Ok, sure!
You can't weigh yourself the during the 30 days, just before and after.
This is no ordinary diet. The website claims that if you follow these rules, eat 3 meals a day, and don't snack, then your eating habits willl change. Not only your eating habits, but your entire view of food will be altogether altered and you will then be accepted into a magical world of paleo eating and understanding of healthy habits. Or that is what I gathered. In fact, the Whole30 isn't technically a weight loss diet, it's just an added bonus.
My next step was to ask my friends about it. It's always good to get first hand information from people you trust. So, obviously I wrote a facebook status asking people's thoughts on the Whole30. I got about three responses: one was a friend saying her sister-in-law did it and liked it, one was a close friend saying she was currently on day 28 of her second Whole30 and felt great, and one was a guy talking about all these facts about why the Whole30 was bad (men, bless their little hearts). He mentioned that it's not healthy to cut out entire food groups because these foods have nutrients that our bodies need and he had good points. I believe that we are meant to take advantage of all food groups, however I do tend to learn more towards the cheese and ice cream groups than I should. He had good points, but I figure, it's only for 30 days and it seems to work for people so why not give it a try. And my friend mentioned that she lost a lot of weight during her first Whole30, so there you go.
Long story, short I decided to give it a try. I even roped my sister into doing it with me because, hey, misery loves company. Luckily, the Whole30 website have a bunch of recipes to help you get started and, if you want, you can even sign up for a helpful daily letter that is specific to each day of the program.
Currently, I am on Day 4! Wooo! I started on March 1st and in the last four days I'm pretty sure that I've eaten at least $40 in grocceries since most of my diet consists of produce and a whole chicken. But, in all honesty, fruit has never tasted so delicious. You're not supposed to eat fruit to satiate your craving for sugar, however, I usually eat a grapefruit at breakfast and now I think they're super delicious without any sugar on top. IT'S A WHOLE30 MIRACLE!!!
I plan on posting some of the recipes I try out during my program, both good and bad, so stay tuned, folks! This will be pretty interesting.
*I say desperation because I really really really like to eat bread, cheese, milk, ice cream, candy, etc. And almost nothing could compel me to not eat those things for an entire month.
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