Harder Than I Expected

I know what you are thinking if you’ve been following my posts on Facebook. You think that I mean Whole30 is harder than I expected. Nope. Not that. I can at least control that part. You want to know what is harder than I expected? Finding 30 minutes to write on this blog. I tried yesterday and failed miserably (something about the meal prepping and laundry folding that seemed to never end).

I was super excited to get home tonight because I knew I had the kids by myself. I planned to get them in bed by 7:30 or 8 at the latest and here I am at 8:42 having just sat down. Neither one of them even had a bath (oops). At approximately 8:55, my 4-year-old resurfaced to tell me his pillows were weird. Mercy.

Between this:

And this:

Let’s just say Monday was…well, it was Monday.

That being said, I wanted to briefly explain why I decided to do Whole30. I had Baby2 on June 25th last year and throughout my pregnancy I suffered severe sinus infections (just ask my friends, family, and co-workers). After I had her, I continued to have them.  I’ve been on at least 6 rounds of antibiotics in a year and nothing seems to be working. I realize that I’m bound to catch colds and and viruses from the 4-year-old, but I really don’t think I should be getting as sick as I’ve been. And after having to bail on so many work and friend events, I’m sure my friends and family would agree that it is way past time to figure what is going on.

Now there could be a million culprits: a) it could simply be the 4-year-old and all of the runny noses I see in his class; b) it could be my immune system never gaining back its strength after pregnancy; c) it could be life/work stress; d) it could be allergies (getting those tested next); e) it could be my home or the air (in general). It could be MANY things.

It could also very well be food. I mean it’s not like the sugar, processed foods, and adult beverages I’m consuming is doing me any favors. So I’m on a mission to eliminate sugar, grains, dairy, alcohol, beans, and peanuts from my diet. I need to hit the reset button to gain back control especially since I can’t seem to control much of anything else (see above photos).

I would be LYING if I said I wasn’t trying to lose a little weight in the process. I lost 30 pounds with Weight Watchers right before I got pregnant (funny how that happens, isn’t it?) and here I am gaining most of my weight back AFTER the pregnancy (not so funny how that happens).

So, let’s review shall we? I’m trying Whole30 to basically hit the reset button and figure out if certain types of food may be causing all of my terrible sinus and upper respiratory infections. The second reason I’m trying it is to lose a little weight in the process. I mean, if I’m cutting out dairy (RIP Half&Half), grains (goodbye sandwiches and pizza), sugar (au revoir handful of M&Ms before bed), and alcohol (so long vodka sodas and tasty adult beverages)…then I better at least THINK I lost some weight. I know this goes against the Whole30 philosophy and blahblahblahblah, but I’m just going to go ahead and tell the truth. Well, my truth at least.

I’ll talk later in the week about some of the things that have been hardest and I’ll try not to bore you to tears while talking about this particular 30-day stretch. I will also include fun work stuff and who knows what else just so those of you not interested in Whole30 will feel like I’m talking about something other than flavored waters, carrots, leafy greens, cauliflower rice, and potatoes (the only way I’m surviving this plan is because you can have potatoes).

My menu today (Day 8! Day 8! Day 8!) was:

Breakfast: two eggs scrambled with fruit and my coffee without cream.

Lunch: Soup (Whole30 approved), carrots, a tablespoon (or so) of almond butter with a banana. Oh, and a fancy La Croix carbonated water. I’m wild, I tell ya.

Dinner: I had the salad featured below. It is full of arugula, avocado, cucumbers, and a delicious semi-ranch dressing. Because you can’t eat anything processed (think ketchup, mayonnaise, and essentially… practically everything in the universe), I had to make my own mayo. I know, I know. Let me stop here and repeat what I just said: I had to make my own mayo.  I added a bit of vinegar, salt, and pepper to the mayo and pretended it was ranch. I also pretended I was dipping fried pickles in the…oh, sorry. I got carried away. Anyway, it was delicious and filling and I paired it with some riced cauliflower (I used to make my own until I found the frozen version at Trader Joe’s) and Skinnytaste’s Crock-Pot Picadillo recipe.

I’m definitely learning as I go so please don’t look to me as a Whole30 expert. Oh, and please read this hilarious take on the Whole30 process. I have to admit that my “kill all the things” moment happened this weekend. You’ll understand when you read the link!

Glad to be back writing on Food Revival and appreciate all of your support as I try to get back in the swing of things.