All In

I guess this blog is slowly morphing from a "look at my kid" blog into an "I have food allergies" blog, but I guess just like life evolves blogs must evolve with them. Maybe when I decide I want to be miserably pregnant again I will go back to baby pictures and fluffy bums again, but for now this is where my mind is most days. If you want to see pics of the kid you can check out my Instagram because with all the food prep these days I am just too lazy to re post all of my pics from there to here. I need to add one of those widgey things that links the pictures I post on Instagram to my sidebar, but the wild child herself will probably be waking up soon and I will have to Google how to do that.

Lately food has felt like more of an enemy than a friend. No matter how careful I thought I was being I have still had issues with itchy skin, swollen eyes, and still not feeling well even with all of my restrictions.  

I have come to the realization that I am still relying on to many snack foods to get through my day  (Pirates Booty, Gold Fish Puffs, Rice Krispies, etc.) and I am once again going for convenience and not over all health. I prepare all of my other meals so my snacks shouldn't be any different just a little extra time and a few additions to my grocery list. Some people may say "You already have to jump through so many hoops to eat, why not take the easy way out just this one time?", but I am in this for the long haul and why not take a few more steps and really heal myself from the inside out. 

There for I have decided to jump in drink the Kool-Aid, not really since I don't drink juice and probably can't now since I can not have any citric acid or fruit pectin (crazy orange allergy), but I am going to get on this Whole30 Bandwagon and ride it out. Basically this is the Paleo Diet on steroids for 30 Days with absolutely no cheat days. This weekend I must have had 5 different people ask me how I lived with all of my food allergies and as I was running around chewing on my 6th piece of gluten free/pepper free pizza I had prepared earlier that morning since I knew I wouldn't be able to eat any food except the fruits and veggies at my sisters wedding it hit me that I needed to make some even bigger changes. I have gotten too deep into the mind frame of  I can't eat any "bad" food  so I am going to create healthier versions of them and since they are quick and easy, but I think I am going about this all wrong. I need to stop focusing on what I can't have and focus and what I can.

I still have some prep to do and with the roads being so yucky so I do not have everything I need to jump in this week which is ok because Brent just made his famous Inside Outside Ravioli. Thankfully this transition should be easier for me than most people beginning a Whole30 challenge since I am already gluten free and hardly ever eat any gluten free breads or crackers so the carb detox will be easier for me than most.  

What honestly brought this to the forefront of my brain was trying to decide what I would fast from for the next 40 days of Lent and I had a few ideas in my mind, but the 2 things that seemed the most prevalent in my diet that I could honestly live without were coffee and sugar. Even though coffee is Whole30 compliant I will not be partaking in it for the next 30 days beginning on March 5 the first day of Lent. I have finished all of my soy creamer and will have my last cups of coffee tomorrow with a few splashes of milk and some stevia sweetener. Let's get down to the nitty gritty now and look at how my diet will be tweeked.

I will not have my morning cup of coffee anymore. Instead I will enjoy my organic tea sans any sweetener. I did find a Whole30 recipe for Paleo creamer and date sweetener I want to use once my 30 days are over.

I will avoid any added sweeteners and the only thing I ever got this from was my coffee creamer so this shouldn't be a problem.

The very small amount of butter I do use will be completely cut out and I might give this Ghee (clarified butter) stuff I see everyone toting as Whole30 compliant. I have found recipes to make it, but I think I would rather just buy some because I know it will get used up to cook eggs, sweet potato latkes, etc.

I recently cut way way back on my dairy intake and was only eating a few greek yogurts a week as a snack (Here is some more added sweetener). Only recently because of my sisters wedding where I needed to have easy food on hand did I incorporate any cheese back into my diet and It made me feel like crap. I don't drink much milk either so this also will not be tough for me to get rid of again.

Smoothies have been my breakfast of choice since they are easy to make and easy to carry so this might be one of the biggest changes in my diet since I will be eating mostly eating eggs, homemade sausage, fruits, and veggies in the mornings. 

Legumes will be the toughest thing for me to cut out. My child and I LOVE any kind of bean soup, but I think I can live without for 30 days and if the hardest thing for me to cut out is beans I think I will be ok. 

What I will eat

Eggs

Fish

Beef

Pork

Chicken

Sweet Potatoes

All Vegetables

All Fruits

Nuts (except peanuts)

Almond Butter

Green Beans

Coconut Products (Flour, Milk, Oil, Etc)

Salads with homemade vinaigrette 

Basically everything I already eat minus the few snacks, gluten free carbs, and added sweeteners. I am hoping this will finally help me feel 100% better concerning my allergies and won't have me guessing what I could have possibly eaten to make me feel like crap. Who knows, I might never go back to eating any gluten free foods except for the occasional cupcake because life would suck without cupcakes. 

I will not be starting my Whole30 tomorrow Tuesday March 4. I will be hitting the store tomorrow to collect the few remaining ingredients I need (Coconut Aminos, Sweet Potatoes, Almond Butter), but I already made so I can go ahead and get started. I will be posting a few pictures of my meals from each week  and I will also be posting my weekly meal plans. Most weeks I will eat the same things just switching them out every other day so I don't get too sick of eating the same things but still making it easy to prep meals without being wasteful. That means from March 4- April 2 this will be how I eat and beyond that we shall see.  Also from March 12-April 20 I will not be drinking any coffee. I am 100% not worried about the Whole30 I am more concerned about not drinking my morning cup of coffee, but I shall survive, but wish my family, my coworkers and, my class of 20 kids luck because they have to deal with me everyday!

Here is a look at what my first 2 weeks will look like nothing crazy and everything is pretty simple and easy to do. Wish me luck and be on the look out for some before and after pictures (that is the scariest part of this whole plan!)