Yeah, that's right, I'm an Army Spouse.  We write AAR's for everything. So when the Whole 30 recommended that I write an AAR for this, I giggled and thought to myself that they MUST know me as it was already in the works!  So here goes....

Preparation:

I was thankful that I was pretty prepared for the Whole 30.  Months prior I started changing our diet a little more heading more towards a Mediterranean diet - at this point I had no idea we were doing the Whole 30 (nor did I even know what the Whole 30 was!) and I had no idea that cutting back on things like sugar and grains and adding brain foods (healthy fats) would help me as much as they did on our Whole 30 journey.  

  - A couple of weeks prior to the Whole 30 I started shopping differently and got most of the non clean items out of our house through eating them (I know, I know) or by giving them to others.   (I CANNOT throw food away.) 

 - I scoured websites and blogs looking for Whole 30 compliant recipes.  Some of my favorites were from The Whole 30 (of course) & PaleOMG (I love her crazy rants!)!

 - I ordered the book It Starts With Food. 

 - I signed up for daily emails from the Whole 30.
 
- In December I had a body analysis done.  I wish I would have gone back and had it done the day I started the Whole 30.
 
- I weighed in at 139 pounds on day 1 of the Whole 30.
 
 - I mentally prepared myself - there was NO WAY I was going to cheat AT ALL.

The 30 days:

There were good day, bad day, seriously ugly days and the most amazing days I've ever had.  I'm not going to lie, the Whole 30 was much harder than I anticipated.  You can go back and read my daily adventures.  Here are a few of the highlights: 

Days 1-5 slight headache on most days and was VERY THANKFUL for the black coffee.
Day 6 - I wanted to take someone's head off.  It was the young girl crossing the road in front of my car eating a damn 7 layer magic bar.
Day 8 - slept an entire night without waking up & had my first bought of crazy energy!  This was also the first day I didn't need a nap or a cup of Joe at 2PM!
Days 11 - birthday party hell.  I should have bought the cupcakes.  BUT in the end I was WAY PROUD of myself!
Day 12 & Day 16     - Learning to cook with new ingredients is sometimes painful!
Day 15 - My best day to date!
Days 15-21 were pretty easy...nothing too eventful other than dealing with the 'broken arm' -  BUT THEN
Day 22 came and even though my body was feeling pretty detoxed from the sugar, my brain wasn't and it tried to get me to eat a cookie or drink a basil-lime martini.  Day 22 was HARD!  I had a little pity party for myself and everything in my life seemed awful that day.
Day 23-30 I was home free.  Cravings were gone, my energy level was super high, my arm was feeling better and I could go out with friends without being too tempted!   I starting looking to what comes next.   I absolutely LOVE the Whole 30! 

What I would do differently:

*Buy coconut aminos, ghee and curry paste PRIOR to starting the Whole 30.  (I had to order and it took them a week to get here.)
*I would have bought the book early so I could have had it the entire time (I think I got it around Day 5). 
*Figure out the forums on the Whole 30 - I still haven't figured them out.  I will post something and try to go back to it and can't find it.


Things I learn:

 - That even though I thought we ate pretty healthy we still had a LONG way to go!
 - I have WAY MORE will power than I ever though I did.
 - Sugar is in EVERYTHING.  OMG.
 - You can do the Whole 30 and still eat GREAT food.
 - I love coconut milk.
 - Mashed cauliflower is actually good.
 - I didn't die without having a glass of wine on really bad days - and we were in the ER 4 times during my Whole 30. True story.
 - Google Translate is a Godsend when shopping in foreign markets.
 - That I will always read labels more closely.
 - When you are putting good foods in your body you are stronger and have more energy than ever.  (I know what many of you are thinking....Trish with more energy - God help us all.)
  - Black Coffee is NOT bad.
  - I don't ever want to go back to the way things were.


What is next:

This is something I have thought long and hard about, I still don't have a CLEAR idea but these are my thoughts as of today.

I am going to stay mostly compliant to the Whole 30,  I am going to allow myself 3 cheat meals a week. 
Tuesday lunches with the girls.  Saturday night date night with Hubby and 1 other meal of my choice.   I'm not going to go crazy because let me tell you, on Day 31 I had 3 glass of wine at the Army Ball over an 6 hour period of time (and I drank TONS of water) and only had 1 piece of real bacon on day 31 - everything else was compliant.   When I woke up on day 32 I felt like I had been hit by a freight train.  My head was pounding so bad I couldn't even get up to get Motrin out of the bathroom!  You should have seen me running on Day 32 - it was SAD.

What you are really waiting for:  Results - weight results.

On day 1 of the Whole 30 I weighed 139 pounds and on day 30 I weighed 130 pounds!!

And remember how I told you I did my body analysis back in December?  I redid it on day 30.
In 6 months I lost 11% body fat and gained almost 4 pounds in muscle.  So in reality, I really lost over 12 pounds!!

Now, I'm doing another month long challenge - running 60 miles in 30 days....
Come on over to my Facebook page and cheer me on! 

Thanks for following my adventure and thanks to those of you that have joined in!  
 
Till next time, have a GREAT day!

Trish

I did it, I did it, I did it!!!
30 Days IN THE BAG!!
I ROCKED IT!
I can't tell you how proud I am of myself.
I really didn't think I would be able to make that is why I was committed to putting my daily log out here. 
If I knew people were watching it was more likely I would not fail. 
In the end it turned out to be a good plan! 

I have LOTS to write about, but I have been SUPER busy today (Day 31) , so for now I am going to leave you with my Day 30 food log.  No worries, I'll be back tomorrow or the next day to fill you in on my next set of goals and to recap the FANTASTIC Whole30!

Breakfast:
Green Smoothie which consisits of coconut milk, water pineapple, banana, mango & spinach! (I use all frozen fruits!) We also had fried egg over grilled veggies (see yesterday! :O)

Lunch: leftover Green Curry
Dinner: Baked sweet potato & salad with grilled chicken and homemade Italian dressing (will post recipe soon!)

Till tomorrow!!
Thanks for following my Whole30 Adventure!
Come back over the next couple of days because I'm not done yet! 

I know I said it yesterday BUT...
HOLY CRAP!
DAY 29 BABY!
I'm pretty much there.
I did it.
I ROCK!
I had no idea how strong my will power was.
OMG!

Breakfast:  Don't worry it is Whole 30 compliant!  The pancakes are from the 'enchiladas' - remember the 'tortillas'?  Well, here they are as a pancake!  BAM!  You can click the link to go to the original recipe on PaleOMG!  Or, here it is:
6 egg whites
3 TBL coconut flour
6 TBL coconut milk
1/4 tsp baking soda
Put everything in a bowl and mix away all the lumps!  (I used an immersion blender.)
Toss a little coconut oil on your hot griddle & cook just like pancakes.
Stuff with whatever you please...I stuffed with pancetta and a fried egg.
(This would be great for dinner too!!)

I also had a smoothie with it....bananas, spinach, blueberries, strawberries, mango, coconut milk and water.

Lunch: was good!
A fried egg served on top of sautéed mushrooms, tomatoes, green & red peppers!
(Sauteed in coconut oil!)

Dinner:
I made up a Green Curry with Pork dish & served it with a side of mashed cauliflower.
I made extra so we can have leftovers for lunch....I'm SO GLAD I did!  :o)

Day 29.
I can go ahead and say I did it.
This has been an amazing journey...one I will wrap up in words tomorrow.

HOLY CRAP.
Did I just type
DAY 28?!?!
In all honesty I'm feeling kind of like a rock star!

I got so excited that I erased all the pictures on my camera BEFORE I downloaded them.  Grrrr....and I had great pictures of dinner!  Dang it!!  Wanna know what we had?  Oh it was good....

Grilled duck!!  YUM-O!!  I love me some duck!
We wrapped the duck in lettuce leaves. 
We also had mashed sweet potatoes - (I baked them first, added a little ghee, coconut milk, nutmeg and cinnamon.)....
Errrrrch.........forget what I just said. 
I'm a dork. 
I forgot to hit 'import'.
Seriously, I'm out of control today.
That's how excited I am.

Starting over.
Breakfast:  Omeletts
Lunch: Raw Salmon with coconut aminos.  (Have you guys realized that I am a fan of sashimi? I could literally eat it EVER.SINGLE.DAY.  I thank God for coconut aminos too.)
Dinner:  Grilled duck.  I bought precooked from EMart (after talking to the lady cutting it up to make sure it had no added ingredients.)  I just heated on the griddle.

Tomato - avocado salad:
2 large tomatoes
1 large avocado
1/4 cup olive oil
3 TBL white balsamic vinegar
2 minced garlic cloves
A handful of fresh basil leaves (I used about 10)
salt and pepper to taste
Mix all together and let sit in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.

Mashed sweet potatoes:
Bake 5 sweet potates for about 60 minutes at 400
Remove skin
In a large bowl combine:
Sweet potatoes
2 TBL ghee
1/4-1/2 cups coconut milk
Nutmeg and cinnamon to taste
Mash with an immersion blender (or stand up whatever works for you.)
Kids and adults love them!

At this point (Day 28!!) I'm not sure I want to leave the comfort of this way of eating....
It has become a part of me. 
I feel great and I'm not sure I want to disrupt that too much.
I'm thinking long and hard on what is next.
But still going to have a glass or two of vino at the Army Ball.

Day 27
I love my new life.
Good food, lots of energy.
Healthier me.
True Story.

So I start off with "good food" and then I post a picture of sliced oranges and hard boiled eggs.
Oranges and hard boiled eggs are good food!
Especially when you are at the end of the school year and you are done.
DONE.
It was E.A.S.Y.
And everyone will eat it.
And the kids made it to school on time.
I'm patting myself on the back.

Good food. 
I'm sticking to my story.

Lunch: A little left over Tom Kha Kai

Dinner I was creative, OK so I wasn't creative Juli over at PaleOMG was creative. 
I just copied her lead. 
Pork Avocado Cream Enchiladas.
I'm not sure that is what I would call them, but they were YUMMY!
AND kid and teenager approved.
I loved the 'tortillas' (again, I wouldn't call them tortillas) she made and I will be making them as breakfast pancakes in the near future!
If you haven't been to her blog you should go...she cracks me up and I love her rants and how her post have nothing to do with the food she cooks.

Day 26
What an uneventful day!

Breafast: same as yeterday!
Pancetta
Fried eggs
Fruit
Avocado
Lunch: same as yesterday - hey give me a break, I'm lazy on the weekends!
Dinner:
Tom Kha Kai

I love that my days are uneventful as it means this is becoming my new normal!

Day 25
Just another day :o)

I'm feeling pretty good these days. 
Yes I still have cravings occasional cravings, but not nearly as strong.
I think I will be OK when the Whole30 is over.
I'm not going to go crazy and eat everything in site.
In fact the only thing I'm adding on day 31 is.....
Can you guess?

Did you guess a magic bar?
If so, you are wrong.

Day 31 will be the day of the Army Ball and I am adding...
A glass of vino, maybe 2.
If I have 3 I will probably be dancing on the table and I don't think that will be appropriate so I think I will stick to 2 max.  :O)

Breakfast:  Pancetta, fried egg in pancetta greease avocado & pineapple. I'm in heaven.
I just wish pancetta wasn't so expensive.

Lunch:  Leftover chicken fajita wraps.
Dinner:  I intended to take a photo, but things got busy and I didn't.  Last night was POKER night, so I had to be creative as everyone typically brings 'poker food' - which most 'poker food' is not Whole30 approved.  I made a HUGE platter of fresh veggies with tahini dip, chicken wings - my spice flavor and I made up a new lemon pepper chicken wing (galic salt, lemon pepper, & more crushed black pepper), and I planned to make deviled eggs (stuff with guac), but in the end I ran out of time so we just had hard boiled eggs. 
AND - guess what - all my 'good clean food' was gone at the end of the night.....hummm.....

Day 24
It's kind of a blur...
I'm writing it much later than normal so I only remember what I took pictures of .
I guess the Whole30 isn't helping my memory...

Sunnyside up eggs, chopped steak & dreaming of Bali.

Lunch:
For real?
Why can't I remember?
I'm sure it was left over dinner from the night before - whatever that was.
Go back and look at that post. 
I'm far too lazy.

Dinner:
I do remember dinner
(probably only because I took pictures... hehe!)
Seriously, it was GOOD.
Chicken fajitas.

Just take away the flour tortillas, corn chips and cheese and eat them Korean style, wrapped in lettuce.

I can't believe we are in the home stretch.

DAY 23!!
Sorry about the rant yesterday. 
I feel like a whiner, but I was an emotional wreck.
Today I am better.
NO whining for me today.
And do you know why? 
I weighed today.
I know it is against the 'Whole30 Law" - but whatever. 
I'm not cheating any other way so I'm good with it.
(Even though I have really wanted to cheat at times.)
So, my HOLY CRAP moment is... drumroll please....
I'm down 9 pounds!!
That alone will help me get through this next week.
Do you know what that means?!? 
I am only 6 pounds away from the weight on my driver's license!

Breakfast:
OMG - doesn't my breakfast look HORRIBLE?!
I know you are asking "What the hell is that?!"
Don't worry, I was too!

I've got to tell you the creation I made in my head was much prettier...
BUT....
It was really, really good.
Portobello mushroom stuffed with homemade sausage and a egg on top.

Lunch = raw salmon again.

Dinner = we were all going in different directions - I made chicken wings for Hubby to take to the Korean baseball game (you can take in food and drink to the ball games here - how awesome is that?!)  I had a stuffed bell pepper and the kids at lots of junk at their Personal Exploration Project showcase. 
I wanted to eat all that junk, especially the homemade Oreo cookies.
But I made it through by thinking of the 9 pounds that are gone.

Only 7 more days!! 

Day 22
AND ALL I WANT TO DO IS CHEAT!!
I want a Basil Lime Martini and I want one now, NOT in 8 days.
I also want a cookie.
And a piece of cheesy garlic bread.
And I still want a 7 layer magic bar.

I was loving the Whole30 but after my 'arm' incident I was thrown a little.  I don't know if it was the drugs, the pain, the not knowing what was going on with it even after an x-ray and a CT, or all of the above.  Put on top of that Hubby is looking to the future - a future that might land us in a NON MILITARY community in another year and my stress level has gone through the ROOF!  In all reality, I"M FREAKING OUT internally (OK, maybe a little externally too).  It may not sound like much, but all of this combined has put me on edge and now I want to eat and drink EVERY.SINGLE.THING.IN.SITE.  Just the thought of my poor babies having to go to a school in a city where all the kids have known each other since Kindergarten...no military influence in the city and they are the newbies -that is too much for this momma to handle.  Girl will be in middle school and let's be honest, we all know how mean middle school girls can be.  If someone is threatened by her, she is out.  If someone doesn't like her shirt, she is out. If someone doesn't like the color of rubber bands on her braces, she is OUT!   I can't bare it - my heart is breaking... I can't even get started on Boys 2 & 3.  Not to mention Boy 1 will not be moving with us when we leave Korea - he will be moving to another city in another state in somewhere land USA.  I'm a mess.   You would think this would be easy, I mean how many times have we moved?  How many times have I been the cheerleader saying things will be fine & rooting our kids on?!  The military doesn't feel so huge to us because at this point in the game (over 20 years in) anywhere we move we know someone or have connections of some sort.  Have I mentioned moving to a civilian community FREAKS ME OUT?! 
Done with rant.
Kind of.
I think anyway, it might pop back up later.

As for my arm:  It is not broken.  Well, maybe a little.  But it has been broken for a while.  WHAT?!?!  I'm not sure if this is good news or bad.  Bottom line, it's complicated.  I have two bone fragments that are floaters or maybe they are connected to a ligament or something.  The pain in my elbow isn't consistent with what the CT shows.  I have to go to PT for now, but if my elbow doesn't get better than I am a candidate for surgery. Again. 3rd time is a charm - right?
Oh, and all that hard work I have done to make my arms look awesome - down.the.drain.

SO....for all those reasons I WANT TO QUIT.
I want to curl up in a ball in the cornner of my house sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" while twisting my hair (the way my good friend Teri taught me), while eating a cupcake and drinking a bottle of wine. 
Yes.  I said a bottle - I'm not going to lie.
But I'm not going to. (I'm too damn stubborn.)

OK - so back to what this post is all about and how I did.  I held it together. 
Breakfast...you know it.   Eggs on top of greens and stuff.
The smoothie may look a little gross, but it was good.
Bananas
Blueberries
Spinach
Kiwi
Coconut milk

Lunch:
Chicken Taco Salad with homemade everything.

Dinner:
Stuffed Bell Peppers.
This time they were red.

Wish me luck for Day 23