A few Whole30 compliant recipes that I've made so far.

One of the challenges about starting a program like Whole30 is trying to find recipes that are Whole30 compliant -- recipes that aren't bland and flavorless. Fortunately, there is a lot of things you can still have on the program that some might find surprising. You can still have salt. You can still cook with olive oil. You can still have potatoes.

I wanted to share a few recipes so far that are compliant with the program and that I personally found to be DELICIOUS! Here they are:

1. Chef Julie Yoon's Spaghetti Squash with Easy Meat Sauce

2. Laura in the Kitchen's Seared Salmon with Sauteed Spinach and Mushrooms

3. Laura in the Kitchen's Roasted Chicken and Potatoes

4. Hilah Cooking's Whole Roasted Chicken - I used olive oil instead of butter, as the recipe gives you the option to use either or, but butter is not compliant on Whole30 unless it's clarified.

Whole30: Day 8

This morning I woke up, brushed my teeth, and got dressed. When I put my shorts on, the same pair of shorts I regularly wear on weekends and pretty much whenever I'm not at work, I noticed that they fit a lot better. Last week, I had a muffin top when I wore those shorts. They were tight on me. I had put on a lot of weight and no longer fit as comfortably into them, but this morning? They fit perfectly. I can definitely tell I've lost inches, though I haven't been keeping track.

Today is day 8. I woke up this morning feeling awake and refreshed. I will probably have eggs and sauteed veggies for breakfast with some fruit. I just took my thyroid medication though so I can't eat for about another 40 minutes. Ughhh.

Whole30: Day 7

I'm on DAY 7 of the Whole30 program! I'm feeling proud of myself for keeping up the momentum. Yesterday I had egg whites with sauteed spinach, mushrooms, onions and peppers for breakfast. For lunch, I had salmon with avocado. For dinner, I made roasted chicken and potatoes. I am not completely sure what we're having for dinner tonight. I have leftover chicken pieces I can roast, so I can probably make roasted chicken and potatoes again. It came out really good last night and I didn't even follow a recipe. I just chopped a few potatoes into pieces and tossed it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary. For the chicken, I made a marinade of olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and freshly chopped rosemary and I rubbed it all over the chicken. I put the chicken in the same baking dish as the potatoes and I roasted it in the oven at 425 for an hour. My husband James said everything turned out really good so I'm pretty happy about that!

This weekend I need to meal plan for next week and do our weekly grocery shopping. I would really like to make Julie Yoon's spaghetti squash with meat sauce recipe again because it was delicious! I'd actually really like to make a few beef recipes. I'd also like to find a really good tilapia recipe, and maybe a new salmon recipe or two.

This morning I'm feeling pretty good! I don't really have any cravings or anything like that. I actually haven't eaten breakfast yet this morning, though I had a banana and some coconut water a little while ago. I may make myself eggs with sauteed veggies again. We shall see. :)

I would really like to make a goal to try to go to the gym this weekend, and to attempt to go at least 2-3 times next week. 

Whole30: Day 6

I am officially on DAY 6 of the Whole30! I've been 100% committed. I don't think I've ever gone this long without at least some type of wheat or dairy product. We typically have some type of pasta recipe at least once a week in our house, and we are BIG on the cheese, especially Parmesan. I know I'm not even a week in yet, but I'm feeling pretty proud of myself so far.

I've been drinking as much liqud as possible, like water, coconut water, tea, and sparkling water. I'm doing my best to stay hydrated. I've also been eating a lot of eggs, which I'm seriously getting sick and tired of. This week I hardboiled eggs and took them to work for either breakfast or lunch. For example, yesterday at work I had an egg white omelet with mushrooms, onions and spinach for breakfast, along with a banana, and for lunch I had a few hardboiled eggs and a small cup of cantaloupe, pineapple and watermelon. For dinner, I had grass-fed steak that my husband was kind enough to cook for us.

Surprisingly, it hasn't been difficult to find dinner recipes that are compliant with the Whole30 program. This week, I've had organic whole roasted chicken, seared salmon with spinach and mushrooms, steak, and seared salmon again. I've always been a little intimidated about cooking salmon, but it's surprisingly SUPER easy to cook, especially on the stovetop! Now that I've become a pro at it, I definitely plan to incorporate salmon into my diet more. I would also like to learn how to prepare other types of fish, like tilapia, which I intend to do next week. Tonight, we're going to have organic roasted chicken with potatoes. Can I just say how proud I am of myself for how much I've been cooking lately, and how good at it I've become?? Not trying to brag or anything, but I've been on a role for the last few months! I actually look forward to coming home and cooking dinner most nights.

What I enjoy about the Whole30 program is that I can still eat so many of the things that I love. Yes, I can't have cheese, pasta or bread, but I can still cook with olive oil and season my food with salt, which is everything. I can't stand eating bland food and if this diet didn't allow salt, I don't think I could do it. I can also eat pretty much any type of vegetable that I want except for starchy ones like corn, peas and beans. I can eat ANY fruit that I want, including avocados, which are my favorite. For lunch today I made myself salmon with avocado (err, technically guacamole as I mushed it up and added chopped jalapeno, cilantro, green onions and lime juice to it). It was surprisingly good together!

Another thing I've discovered is how much I love coconut water! In the past I used to think it was bland, but now I drink it everyday! I notice it really helps keep me hydrated and helps reduce swelling in my legs. It was on sale at my grocery store this morning so I seriously grabbed at least 8 bottles of it. I love the taste and the energy it gives me especially.

I almost forgot to mention that I've also been walking on my 30-minute lunch breaks at work this week.

I also sort of cheated and weighed myself out of curiosity this morning. According to my scale, I weigh 187 pounds! Remember last week when I had my doctor appointment and I weighed 195.6 pounds? I've lost 8 pounds in a week! I am starting to see a difference, mostly in my arms and legs. Most importantly, I feel GREAT, though I can tell my body is going through withdrawals from not having many of the foods I've been eating all my life. Yesterday I felt SO tired and groggy. The day before, I felt a little nauseous with everything that I ate. I attempted to eat sauteed squash for lunch and nearly gagged. Today I'm feeling a bit better but still took the day off to rest and ensure I stick to my diet. I'm looking forward to our 3-day weekend ahead because it will allow me to focus even more on myself and my diet.

A week since my endocrinologist appointment.

It's been a week since my appointment with the endocrinologist, 6 days since beginning my new medication and 6 days since changing my eating habits. I weighed myself on Sunday morning, just because I noticed I felt lighter and most of the water retention in my legs were gone. I mean, my legs did not look swollen for the first time in... I don't even know how long! I stepped on the scale and to my surprise, I lost over five pounds -- in just a few days. I'm sure that most of it was water weight. I knew I've been retaining a ton of water, so I've been drinking cranberry, hibiscus tea everyday at work.

I went grocery shopping this weekend and bought organic meat. I can't believe how expensive the stuff is. I spent $90 on meat alone this week!

Today is my third day on Whole30. I'm so proud of myself because I've been eating better than I ever have. Yesterday morning, I had two hard boiled eggs for breakfast with some watermelon, for lunch I had leftover meat sauce with spaghetti squash, and for dinner I had seared salmon with spinach and mushrooms. It was delicious!

Today I had an egg white omelet with peppers, spinach and onions for breakfast and a banana with coconut water to drink. I then had a sparkling water. For lunch, I'm eating three hardboiled eggs with watermelon. I'm drinking herbal tea with it. For dinner, I'm making roasted chicken with vegetables.

No more coffee??

Yesterday was rough. It was my first day being weaned off of coffee (I normally have at least one cup of coffee every morning), so I felt tired all day. It didn't help that I had to go to a dentist appointment in the afternoon. My diet yesterday was not as successful as I'd hoped it would be. I wasn't able to pack my lunch, so I ordered a turkey lunchmeat sandwich with avocado on telera bread and some fresh baked barbecue chips from the cafeteria. I felt awful after eating it, and noticed that my stomach became super gassy afterwards. My stomach has been very gassy in general lately, so I'm starting to think it's related to gluten. It was fine yesterday up until I had that sandwich.

For dinner last night I had originally wanted to make Sicilian Chicken Soup, but my dentist appointment ran longer than expected so I got home too late and was exhausted. James suggested I order pizza, so I did. I had pizza with green peppers and mushrooms. I felt bad about it afterwards and don't plan on eating anymore pizza again for a while. I'm committed to changing my eating habits and avoiding things that are bad for me.

On the bright side, today was a brand new day. I woke up this morning and noticed that my legs were less swollen than they were yesterday (I could actually see my ankles today) and my stomach actually felt less bloated! I noticed that my pants even fit a little better. I'm not sure if it's due to the new medication I started, all the water/tea I drank yesterday, or a combination of both. I definitely lost a bit of the water I've been retaining.

Today I noticed that I have more energy, despite not having any coffee, and I feel great! So far this morning, I've had a bottle of Bai Molokai Coconut (5 calories, 0g fat, 1g sugar), a 14 oz. cup of hot herbal cranberry tea, and I'm currently sipping on some ice cold water with fresh lemon. For breakfast I had about half a cup of cottage cheese, and now I'm eating fresh slices of watermelon and pineapple. I do have a pretty bad headache, but I think it has something to do with my eyes. My eyes felt dry and irritated this morning so I didn't wear my contacts to work and wore my glasses instead. I noticed my eyes and head starting to hurt on my way to work this morning.

Yesterday I ordered the Whole30 book, and it should be delivered by Amazon on Friday. I'm really excited to start this journey.

The Challenge.

I had an appointment this afternoon with my new endocrinologist. As per usual, after signing in and handing over my insurance cards, I was brought back where a woman in scrubs took my vitals. She had me step on the scale - something I dread these days. 195.6, it read. I cringed. The past five years have been a downward spiral as far as my health is concerned. Before becoming pregnant with my daughter Hannah six years ago, I weighed 130 pounds, which I was proud of. I had lost a significant amount of weight before that point. I had weighed around 150 before embarking on a weight loss endeavor over the course of just over a year.

After Hannah was born, losing weight became a struggle for me. Even when I attempted strict diet and exercise, I barely noticed results. I became discouraged. I stopped working out and slowly, over time, lost focus on my diet and eating habits. I weighed about 150 after I had Hannah, and since then, have gained 40 pounds. I have never been this heavy before in my life.

A couple of years ago, I  learned that I have an under-active thyroid. When I read what the symptoms include, something clicked. I knew it all too well and found that I have many of them, including: weight gain, fatigue, dry skin, hoarseness, muscle weakness, elevated blood cholesterol level, muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness, swelling in the legs, irregular menstrual periods and bouts of depression. Regarding depression, in general I'm a pretty upbeat, optimistic person, but I do have days where I feel down for seemingly no good reason. I never really had health issues before, and now I just feel like a bloated, frumpy mess. I turned 30 this past March. Two years ago, I envisioned turning 30 and feeling great, but physically, I feel like I'm getting old. I feel unhealthy and I definitely feel out of shape. I used to love clothes shopping, and now I hate it. Sometimes, I don't feel like myself anymore.

I was excited to meet my new endocrinologist because I didn't feel that my previous one truly made an effort to help me with my problems. I felt like they ran tests and just threw Synthroid (levothyroxine) in my face. The doctor didn't offer any suggestions for lifestyle improvements I should make, or recommend natural ways I might be able to improve some of my symptoms. He didn't even care to go over the different types of thyroid medication available so that I could make an informed decision. After several months passed, I was convinced the medication wasn't working for me. I revisited the center, where I had bloodwork done, and asked the doctor if he could look into increasing my dosage, but he refused. So I just stopped taking the medication altogether. My goal was to eventually find another doctor who would prescribe me the medication I wanted to try.

Fast-forward to the present day. After months of procrastinating, I finally saw my new endocrinologist, Dr. B. She was super friendly and helpful. She examined me, asked me about my eating habits and about the medication I was taking before. When I explained that I didn't feel it improved my symptoms and told her that I wanted to try another medication, she was completely open to it. She also highly recommended I change my eating habits and referred me to a program called Whole30. She also advised me to attempt to exercise for at least five hours a week.

So... that's where this journey begins. I decided that I want to try this Whole30 program. I'm tired of feeling like crap, tired of being overweight, and tired of not enjoying life to the fullest. I read the details and I honestly think it sounds like just what I need. Plus, many of the items on the list are things I already eat and enjoy. The hardest part is no dairy, no sugars or artificial sugars of any kind, no grains, et cetera. I would also like to start going to the gym and being more active. I thought I would create this blog to hold myself accountable and document my progress - though I highly doubt I'll share it with anyone at first. Maybe once I get things going.

I've decided that I'm going to finish the rest of the week with the food I already have in my house. I went grocery shopping just days ago and already meal-planned for the entire week.

Here are my plans to get started with my new diet/exercise plan:

- Start drinking at least 8-9 glasses of water or tea per day.

- Tomorrow, start taking my new thyroid medication.

- This weekend, select dinner recipes that will accommodate the Whole30 plan and go grocery shopping for all needed items.

- Start walking during my lunch breaks at work.

- Once the swelling in my legs goes down, I would like to start going to the gym. I actually have a gym membership already and the gym is literally right down the street from my house - I just need to start going!

- Commit to the Whole30 program for a full 30 days. This will be the hardest part, but I am confident with enough dedication, support and will power, I can do it.

I am really curious to see if I start noticing any improvements to my health or weight once I start taking my new medication. I'll be sure to update about it if I notice any changes!