coming clean - confessional time

I can not tell a lie - unless it is to my children. I eat very similar to Whole30 most of the time. I eat real foods. I so rarely eat processed foods that a gluten free brownie is guaranteed to give me a stomach ache. I eat lots of veggies, roasted squashed, roasted beets, sauteed cabbage, blasted broccoli, cauliflower as rice or in soup, whipped sweet potato, etc. I also eat a lot of meat. As much as possible, the meat I consume and certainly the meat in my home is from pastured animals. Animals that have lived healthy lives. My health depends on the health of the animal I consume.
Once I started eating fat something amazing happened, I lost weight. A lot of weight. I have figured out how much fat I need to eat everyday to keep from feeling hungry, tired, down, or anxious.
So, it amazes me how often I am asked "but what do you eat?" Really? Are we really that far removed from food that taking away processed food means an empty plate? I am seeing that is not the case. Folks from my crossfit box are jumping into this with both feet. And I am so excited for them.
Today has been pretty simple. First thing this morning I put a frozen whole chicken in the crockpot. I added some chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt and white pepper. It will cook on low all day. I am going to serve it with whipped sweet potatoes (baked sweet potatoes, scooped out, whipped up with clarified butter & bacon fat, and cinnamon) and kale (sauteed in bacon fat and steamed with a little lamb stock).
I will keep all the bones for stock. I just throw them in a freezer bag until I am ready to make stock. Or, I pull all the meat off the chicken and throw the bones back in the crockpot with a splash of apple cider vinegar, onion, any bones I have in the freezer, water and let it simmer on low for 24 hours.
Breakfast was leftover steak and steamed cauliflower with chili powder. Lunch was eggs mixed with beef & jalapeno sausage with avocado and tomatoes and coffee with coconut oil. Does this seem like I am depriving myself of yummy food?

Day 2

Today was yummy. My lunch made me grateful that I work from home.
Breakfast - eggs, avocado, and sauerkraut.
Lunch - steak, mushroom & onions, broccoli
Dinner - beef & jalapeno sausage (Pedersen brand), bell peppers, onions, carrots all sauteed together.
pre-workout snack - avocado
post workout snack - squash & ground beef

I have to admit. I do not really like sauerkraut. I made myself eat it. But, I know that to keep a happy tummy that I need some probiotics. I buy the Bubbies brand from Whole Foods because it is raw and I don't have to worry about the good things I need being cooked out. Fermented foods are great for the digestive system. Seriously, just google gut flora and you will learn a lot. Though some of it is gross.

Eat well.

Dinner - it's what's for breakfast

I eat a lot of eggs. A lot. My family eats 2 dozen eggs a week. And that is mostly me. I eat 3 eggs a day. I don't care if I am eating them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. And without toast, oatmeal, cereal, you might be wondering what my quick go-to breakfast is - or, you read the title of this post and already know.

Yes, my breakfast of choice (oh, besides eggs & bacon) is leftovers from dinner. I know, crazy right? Not really. Breakfast is just another meal. And we have convinced ourselves that grains, carbs, and more sugars are a balanced breakfast - hey, if the fake family on my TV says so, it must be true.

Don't freak out about what to eat. Just follow the Whole30 meal template - protein the size of your palm, good fat the size of your thumb and veggies. Still hungry? Have some fat & protein. Honestly, I am never hungry when doing Whole30. I feel like I am eating all the time.

So, today's meals were:
Breakfast - leftover pork chop, kale, spaghetti squash
Lunch - chicken sausage, carrots and onions with half an avocado (I had the sausage leftover from breakfast on Sunday. So, I sauteed the onions and carrots until caramelized/slightly browned and mixed in the sausage. It needed something a little creamy so I added the avacado in chucks).
Pre-workout snack - half an avocado
post-workout snack - acorn squash, grassfed ground beef, jalapenos
Dinner - chicken wrapped with onion and bacon and swiss chard

Cup of Joe

I love coffee. Like I really love coffee. Since I only buy dairy from grass fed cows, I typically use cream (sometimes called heavy whipping cream) in my coffee. But, during Whole30, no dairy. No excuses.

As I will not be foregoing my beloved coffee, what will I do? First, mostly I will drink it black. But, coffee is also an indulgence for me. In that case, I can go a few routes.

Coconut oil - it provides a heavenly richness. Some people prefer coconut milk which I find a little gloppy but without the lovely puddles of oil that I get with coconut oil. I do like a little coconut cream concentrate occasionally. I get my coconut oil and coconut cream concentrate from Tropical Traditions. Their coconut products are amazing quality.

When I want a little sweetness, I will add a bit of cinnamon. I buy cinnamon a little at a time from the bulk spice section. So, it is always fresh.

I do try to limit my coffee intake during Whole30.

Cleaning out the junk

This is a post I did recently for another blog. It is not Whole30 specific but will be helpful to start you on your journey - enjoy!

What are you thinking? Seriously. Do you think about what you put in your mouth? Do you realized what you eat goes into your body and becomes a part of you? Seriously. What you ingest gets digested and becomes a part of you at the cellular level. Yet, you still throw things into your mouth like your body is a garbage can. I don’t plan on living forever. But, I would like to be healthy while I am here. So, I don’t eat things that resemble food but do not offer nutrition. Author Michael Pollan would refer to those foods as “food like substances”.

The best way to avoid eating crap that you know you should not be eating but just can’t help yourself – DO NOT KEEP JUNK FOOD IN YOUR HOME. Seriously. Do not buy food that is not nutritious. Do not buy food that has any of the following ingredients; high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), hydronated oils, food colorings, anything that sounds like it is part of a science experiment. Really, most of what you eat should have one ingredient. Like, carrots, steak, chicken, mushrooms, sweet potato.
First thing to do is clean out your kitchen. Get a bag or a box. Put anything bad for you in that bag or box and take it out of your house. Anything unopened, sure, give it to a food pantry. Anything opened, well, maybe you have a friend or a neighbor you can give it to. But, don’t finish that last bag of Doritos and that last six pack of Coke simply because you paid for it. You bought something faulty. It is broken and toxic. Do not eat it.
Start with the frig. Throw out most of your condiments. Yeah, I see the HFCS, and nasty oils in there. You know what a great condiment is? Fresh salsa. Or homemade mayo. Oh, you don’t like keeping those because they go bad? Your food should go bad if not eaten. Food should not last for weeks on end. Food should be living – it is what you are using to keep you alive. Now some foods take on special powers through fermenting and those may last for a bit longer. Ok, what is in your butter tray? If the answer isn’t butter (ok, maybe ghee), then throw it out. That fat-free butter like substance has no heath benefit. Fat will not make you fat. Buy some good butter. Butter make from the milk of pastured animals has some great health benefits. And, you know what is amazing? Butter!! Personally, I like Kerrygold. Now, look at your eggs. What? No eggs? Come on. Good eggs will be expensive compared to the mass produced eggs from sickly chickens. But, eggs from pastured, free range chickens are really inexpensive sources of protein. The yolks are fluffy and an amazing golden, almost orange color. Now, for the tough one. Your milk. Are you so excited when you find the carton of milk with the expiration date that is two months away? Yeah, that is not food. The nutrition in that food has been killed by the high temperature pasteurization. So they add some vitamins back. Oh, but you like skim milk? Well those vitamins they added back are fat soluble. Without fat in the milk, you are not getting benefit from those vitamins and minerals. Buy a smaller container of milk. And, find some non-homogenized milk. If you can find low temp pasteurized or raw, even better.
Next go to your freezer. Oh, you thought you thought you could keep those Hot Pockets? You have got to be kidding me. Your freezer should be used for ice, frozen meat, frozen fruit, frozen veggies, frozen homemade stock, and well, maybe a good vodka. Keep going. You are already determined/whiney.
The pantry/cupboard. Yeah, most of that should be tossed. It has food colorings that are not allowed in most countries. There are oils that are awful for you. What oils do I have in my pantry? Coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, a lighter olive oil. In my refrigerator, I always have butter, a jar of chicken fat, a jar of bacon fat, and a bottle of sesame oil. When I cook, I grab either the coconut oil, butter, or animal fat. The EVOO is for drizzling on anything. And, the light olive oil is for making mayo.
Eating better requires planning. We have gotten lazy about food. Convenience has become more important than flavor or nutrition. Good food takes time. It takes planning. This will mean different things for different people. Some people will need to sit down and plan each meal. I cook pretty simply. So, I make sure I have enough meat & veggies on hand and every morning I figure out lunch and dinner as I stand in front of the frig/freezer.
The tough one besides meals is snacks. Unless you are growing, you don’t need snacks. But, sometimes your meal timing is off or you just need a little something extra. Do not eat crap. Have a hard cooked egg, some nuts, some cut up veggies, a piece of fruit. Chips are not a snack.
Another one that is tough in my home is drinks. The rule in my house is soda is only to be used as a mixer with alcohol. Too young to drink alcohol? Yeah, too young for soda. Growing bodies do not need that sugar nor those chemicals. So, we drink water. Lots of water. I buy good water. I also keep different waters on hand. Sweet spring water. Mineral water for after working out. Fruit juice is allowed to be used in water. It is NOT a beverage. Milk is allowed whenever growing bodies want it. It is full fat and raw when I can get raw milk. The grown ups in my home drink iced tea. For the guy who insists it be sweetened, he uses local, raw, unfiltered honey.
Eating clean is not a diet. Yeah, you might lose weight; you might not. You will definitely feel better. You will sleep better. You will also be able to figure out if you eat too much (then eat less) or eat too little (eat more). When I cleaned up my diet, I figured out I did not eat enough. This made no sense to me as I was chubby. But, I have learned that “fat-free” way of life had me so worried about calories that I would starve and then indulge.
Put down those pizza bites and go grill a steak, Mom

Eating on the Run

Anyone thinking of changing their food is faced with the simple question - but, what will I eat? Honestly if you follow the Whole30 template, you will never be hungry. The first time I did Whole30 I realized that I did not eat enough.
One problem area will be eating out. Some will say just don't eat out. Yeah, that is not practical. I will admit eating out when you don't eat grains (especially wheat) is a pain. Be nice to your servers, ask lots of questions, and tip well for being "that table". Really focus on eating meats and veggies. It is rare that you will find a place with grass fed beef or pastured chicken/pork. In Dallas, there is Company Cafe and Elevation Burger for quick meals. I frequent Elevation Burger. Grassfed beef that they throw in some lettuce. Now their elevation sauce though yummy has too much sugar for Whole30. What will really trip you up is the fats. Most cooking in restaurants is done in oils that oxidize when heated. Do not eat foods cooked in canola oil. Salad dressing are made with canola oil - do not eat canola oil. Look for restaurants that cook with coconut oil, ghee, clarified butter, lard, or tallow.
Whole30 is about making the best food choices. So, think about what you are eating. And, honestly, it is better to skip a meal than eat your Subway.

My meals today -
scrambled eggs with raw sauerkraut (Bubbies brand) and half an avacado for breakfast
lunch will be grilled veggies with chicken and guacamole from Chipotle for lunch (yeah, Chipotle does cook with canola oil)
dinner will be grilled pork chops (seasoned with Tommy's Coffee Rub) and roasted cabbage and spagetti sqaush.

Eat up and feel free to throw any questions my way.

Challenge Accepted

The Crossfit gym that tortures me where I am a member is doing a 30 day nutrition challenge. It is based on the Whole30 program by Whole9. Basically, it is about eating really clean and keeping insulin levels in an optimal range. So, pretty much eat meat, veggies, and good fats exclusively. I have done Whole30 before. It’s like a sugar detox. Even though I don’t eat any wheat/gluten, I still eat things I shouldn’t like corn tortillas. Corn adds nothing to my nutrition. But, you know what is awesome? Fresh corn tortillas.



So, for 30 days, everything that goes into my body will be strictly for nutrition. Now, I plan on still eating yummy things so, the planning has begun.


In my freezer, I have 3 whole chickens, a few packages of pork chops, steaks, and a bunch of hamburger. I also have stocked up on vital farms eggs. All meat will be from pastured animals. I also have 2 pounds of butter that by Sunday will become clarified butter. Yeah, no dairy on Whole30. So, my grass-fed butter will become grass-fed clarified butter which leaves the fat and takes out the milk solids. For produce, I will have whatever is in my produce share tomorrow. I will probably have to supplement with a few trips to buy some more organic veggies at the store.


For snacks, I will have hard boiled eggs, sliced Applegate turkey wrapped around some avocado, pate with cut up veggies, or bone broth. Bone broth will be my go to snack. Bone broth is so easy to make – I throw bones, a splash of apple cider vinegar, garlic and onion in a pot with water and cook for a long time. Strain and done. Oh, and I made the pate. Sautéed chicken livers and onion. Added bone broth, garlic, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice and simmered until liquid was gone. Then I used the food processor to blend with clarified butter until heavenly smooth. (This is not my usual pate recipe but the one I use during Whole30 when I do not cook with wine).


So, I will be cooking a lot. But, I usually cook a lot. And, I will be planning a lot. I ordered some beef jerky from Primal Pacs because they make theirs without soy. And mine uses gluten free soy sauce.


I will keep everyone updated on what I am eating. How I keep it easy and yummy. And, how it is going.