Meals Day 19 – 9/06/13

• Breakfast: Omelette, sausage, sweet potato mash
• Lunch: Chopped steak salad with avocado, mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes
• Dinner: Salmon, asparagus, mushrooms, puréed peas
• Snack: This big ass bouquet of fruit! (Well, some of it)*

Meals Day 20 – 9/07/13

• Breakfast: 2 egg omellette, sausage, sweet potato hash, tomato
• Lunch: Turkey breast, collard greens, broccoli
• Dinner: Rotisserie chicken… like literally half a chicken

Meals Day 21 – 9/08/13

• Breakfast: Sausage and egg scramble, fruit
• Lunch: Pork chop, zucchini, tomato
• Dinner: Brats, peppers onions mushrooms, guacamole

Meals Day 22 – 9/09/13

• Breakfast: Sausage and egg scramble, sweet potato hash
• Lunch: Salad with steak, guacamole, bacon
• Dinner: Chorizo stuff tomatoes with avocado

Meals Day 23 – 9/10/13

• Breakfast: Banana, turkey bacon, egg white (Starbucks breakfast sandwich w/o the bread or cheese)
• Lunch: Burger patty with tomato, pickle, avocado
• Dinner: Salad with steak, guacamole, bacon

Meals Day 24 – 9/11/13

• Breakfast: Bacon, eggs, sweet potato hash
• Lunch: Grilled chicken salad with avocado, egg, and bacon
• Dinner: Steak and eggs with sweet potatoes and bacon

The breakdown

In all honesty, I’ve kinda fallen off the wagon. Not necessarily the food wagon, but more so with the updates. In the beginning I was gung-ho about the updates and posting about food and whatnot, but now… its a tedious process to update/post my food and then post it again and take a picture, etc. Here it is day 24 and I’m just now making my post for day 19 – 23. The food and eating is pretty easy at this point. I know what to look for at the store or on a menu. I know how to fix a meal that meets the restrictions of the program. And in all honesty, I don’t really think the program is all that restrictive any more. There are so many foods that I can eat, that I don’t really think about the foods that I can’t. Plus, the foods that I can’t, I don’t really even want, so that’s definitely a good thing.

These past few days have been fairly good. I’m still battling this stupid sickness and its making me frustrated. In addition to the runny nose, cough, and congestion, I also get dizzy when I stand up from sitting down. It could be from the couch or the car or a chair at the office, but when I stand I get dizzy. I’m fairly confident that I have chronic subjective dizziness. And by CSD I mean, that I get dizzy and its most likely related to the head congestion. I did go to the doc to get things checked out, but its most likely not anything alarming. I don’t think it has anything to do with the food or workouts. I’ll just wait to see what the doc says when my blood work comes back.

On Friday the weather was great and our usual group of co-workers headed out to lunch. This meant a patio and an extended break from the humdrum day. The eatery of choice today was Mellow Mushroom. Dude, I LOVE me some pizza and add a patio and the notion that I didn’t have to return to work for a while and that’s a recipe for beers and a lazy afternoon. NOT TODAY!! While the rest of the crew ordered their calzones, cheesy garlic bread appetizers, and beers-a-plenty, I went with a salad and some water. I could look around the table and see each of them getting more and more sluggish as the meal went on. In addition, no one finished their lunch… other than me. Either beer or Coke + loads of cheese and meat and bread was just too much to handle. Plus they were all sweaty and hot from the sun. Gross! I mean, this is rather braggadocious of me, but I felt great. I had a salad with some steak and avocado and bacon and was good to go! I ate all the food I paid for ($7 for lunch ain’t bad) and the rest of the day I didn’t “need a nap”. Bam! PALEO!!!

When I got back from lunch I noticed a huge ass basket of fruit sitting on my desk. I thought surely someone placed it there by mistake. However to my surprise it was a gift from my wife! She had been hinting at wanting a basket of fruit all day, but it wasn’t until I got back from lunch that I realized why. Earlier that day she placed an order and had it delivered to my office. Literally there couldn’t have been a better gift waiting on me when I got back from lunch. We snacked on that bad boy for a few days. Yum!!

On quick side note about Friday’s dinner… We had dinner at The Chicken and the Egg and I was incredibly underwhelmed with that place. Way over priced and our waiter wasn’t helpful at all when I asked how various items on the menu were prepared. When we asked about subbing items he pretty much said we couldn’t. When I asked him to leave the honey off my salmon, he said “it’s just a little bit on there.” That doesn’t work for me. I don’t care how much of something is on there, if I don’t want it or ask for it to be left off, please do so. For a place this pretentious, I expected a lot more accommodations when it comes to their “farm to table” approach. It really did come down to the service. I mean, the guy was just REALLY not helpful at all. Simple things like “can I get the collards with the trout instead of the rice and beans?” was met with a “no, it just kinda comes that way.” That’s unacceptable. I know chef must have put some thought into how the dishes were prepared and what would go well with each protein, but I should be able to sub an item out. Especially on a limited item menu. In addition, they brought me the wrong food, then offered me a salad. I said sure, and the salad came out with cheese and a vinaigrette. I guess thats on me for not asking what all was on the salad, but I sent that back too. Then to make up for the messed up dinner they offered us dessert. When I turned it down, he said that it was on them. Again, if I turn something down, don’t continue to offer it. Your justification of why I should have it, will never be as good as my reason I shouldn’t have it. I left there feeling very frustrated and mad. It was my fault for taking in a kid that was cranky, and I understand that. But nothing about the food made me want to go back, even after the Whole30 thing is over. I can prepare meals at home just as good if not better.

Saturday, Jess went and got her hair chopped off (it’s suuuuper cute btw) while Lane and I had some boy time. The weather was gorgeous and we knew we wanted to go to a park and spend the afternoon outside. On the way we stopped by the store to pick up some toys and such for Lane and some snacks. The problem was, there’s not really anything to snack on, while out and about, that’s Whole30 approved. Jess, always the thinker did the best thing she possibly could… she got us a rotisserie chicken! That’s right, we ate an entire chicken as a snack. Two people driving down the road on the way to the park just devouring a chicken, caveman style! It was pretty crazy just nomming on a chicken, but sure enough, 20 mins later and the thing was down to just fat, skin, and bones. Needless to say, it might be a while before we go to town on another rotisserie chicken again.

Tuesday night was another pretty big milestone for both Jess and I. We went and saw Mumford & Sons and typically we would have had a few beers before going in and then maybe a few more during the concert. This would have made one or both of us have to make constant trips to the bathroom. On top of that we would have been bloated, hot and sweaty, felt sluggish, and then the next morning we would have been hung over and just wasted the day trying to sleep off the effects of our poor choices. However, we made a smart choice to not drink. The friends that we met up with certainly did not make the same choice and were constantly back and forth to the beer line or having to pee, and I’m sure they felt the effects in the morning. I attribute being sober to us enjoying the show more. We didn’t have to worry about drinking or being uncomfortable we could just enjoy the breeze, the music, and each other’s company. It really was just about us and not about what we were consuming. The show was hands down one of the best I had ever seen and I really didn’t miss the drinking one bit.
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Wednesday Jess and I both had the day off. We took this opportunity to go to the gym together. This is a rare occurrence and one that we like to take advantage of whenever possible. Now that we’re doing the Olympic Lifting Program I was really looking forward to today’s workout. Mario (one of the owners/trainers) gave a fantastic session on proper cleans. One thing that I’m really trying to work on is my overall technique. The strength portion will come with time, but if I’m lifting improperly then it doesn’t matter how strong I am. As it pertains to the Whole30, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about proper pre/post-workout fuel. With it being a noon workout we knew going in that we had plenty of time before to load up on proper proteins and fats to give us energy and we made preparations for after so that we wouldn’t be struggling. Well, by “preparations” I mean that we went to Taco Mac and had a grilled chicken salad and like 14 cups of water. This turned out to be clutch as we felt good for the rest of the day… other than the general soreness of the actual workout.

We’re now down to the wire. Six more days and the Whole30 is a wrap. I don’t know what my final results will show, but I can tell you now that I feel better. I feel stronger and more adept to what ever life may throw at me. I don’t feel dependent on food or drinks to get me through the day. I eat to fuel my body properly and that’s becoming enough. Food to fix problems that food caused is no longer my way out. Just six more days and that’s it! I have a feeling that post Whole30 this family will continue to reap the benefits of the Paleo lifestyle.