Why It's Been So Quiet Lately And What's Coming Up

Ok, so I know since I lost my last 10lbs and hit the 4 week mark I've been awful quiet.

My husband and I went out for an early anniversary dinner Saturday night to our old favorite burger place.  The last time I ate there, for my birthday and before I started this diet, the burgers were to die for!  I mean, fabulous burgers.  We went there on Saturday and surprisingly, were both pretty disappointed in the food.  I realized why.  Because we had been eating such great, wholesome food at home.  The restaurant food just wasn't as good to us as it used to be.  Don't get me wrong, it was good.  And it was nice to not cook.  But, I knew I could make a better burger at home.  And better fries, too.  The next couple days were extremely hot (85*-90*).  Ok, it's not really THAT hot.  But I live in Washington, in an upstairs apartment.  So I took a couple nights off from cooking and we just kind of snacked on some things and had green smoothies.  On top of that, my husband and son got sick.  Boo.

So anyway, now that we're up to speed...  I am going to continue with my mostly Whole Foods diet (because this isn't a "diet" but rather a lifestyle change, this IS my new lifestyle).  I've got a pretty good handle on it now and am looking forward to finding some new foods and recipes to try out!  I've decided that this month I am going to keep a daily Food Diary and post that at the end of each day so you can see exactly what I eat during the day.

 I've lost 20lbs in 2 months for a total of 60lbs and am hoping to lose another 10lbs this month and reach my goal!  And I'll be honest, I did not exercise like I had planned to last month.  I just couldn't quite make it happen.

Week Four Done! 28 Days of 99% Whole Foods Eating. See How I Did...

Wow, June has gone by so fast!  I can't believe it's almost July.

I gained over 60lbs while I was pregnant with my daughter (and I still had 10lbs of "baby weight" that I had never lost from when my son was born March 2011, I gained 60lbs with him too).  She was born December 24, 2012.  I had 70lbs I needed to lose.  I immediately started eating a low(er) carb diet and by mid February had dropped 30lbs.  I lost another 10lbs from mid February - end of March and then things stalled.  I didn't lose any weight in April and May wasn't looking any better.  I saw this picture of myself and knew I had to change something.  Exercising is rarely an option for me, so the bulk of my weight loss has to come from my eating habits.  I decided to try a Whole Foods diet.  I took the rest of the month of May to start making small changes in my eating habits to prepare for the bigger change come June 1st.  I ended up losing about 10lbs the month of May.

June 1st I began my (mostly) Whole Foods diet.  After 28 days, I can confidently say I ate 99% Whole Foods.  

I am now just 10lbs away from my never had a baby body weight!  Honestly, I'm pretty happy with where I am right now.  But, I am going to keep going for losing another 10lbs.  

It's been easy, it's been tasty, I am rarely hungry, I am eating GOOD food, I feel GREAT, I feel HEALTHY.  It's fabulous.  

Turning A High Calorie Recipe Into A Highly Tasty Low Calorie Meal

So a friend of mine posted this recipe today for John Wayne Casserole and boy it sure does look delicious!  It also looks like it has a lot of things in it that I don't eat (insert pouty face here).  But, since I had no other ideas for dinner, I decide to take the recipe, shake it up a bit and make a more Whole Foody spin of it!  Here's what I did.

I made some Faux rice (that's Cauliflower turned into an amazingly delicious rice substitute) and put that on the bottom of a casserole dish.

I ground up a couple chicken breast, cooked the ground chicken with onion, green bell pepper, garlic and a jalapeno.  Poured that on as a second layer.  Then sliced up a tomato, added that as a third layer.  Topped that with 1/2 - 3/4 cup Greek Yogurt (Sorry Sour Cream and Mayonnaise, you do not belong in my house!) then sprinkled some cheddar cheese on top (If it were just me, I'd leave off the cheese for health reasons, but my hubby loves cheese) and baked at 350* for about 30 minutes.  Once it was done, I added a little bit of shredded lettuce.

Now, why did I make the changes I did?  Because the original recipe had over 4500 calories for a 9 x 13 casserole.  If you made 8 servings out of that (Incredibly easy to do), that's over 560 calories per serving, and not all great calories either.  The revised version I made tonight comes in about half that.  A 9 x 13 would have just 1800 calories and that's 225 calories per serving, mostly good calories (Except cheese.  Seriously, cheese is a killer).  Did this dish I made turn out anything like the original?  Probably not.  But it was still fantastic.  :)

One of my favorite things to do is take an old recipe that I've always liked that may not be so good for me and shake it up a bit, put a healthier spin on it and it becomes a new, healthier favorite!

**Please note, anything you make at home is far better than anything you could buy at a Fast Food joint!  There was nothing wrong with the original recipe.  But, for those on a Low Calorie Diet or a more Whole Foods diet, it's nice to be able to take a recipe and adjust it to fit your own diet and preferences.

Southwestern Quinoa Salad

This was my delicious lunch today!  I found this recipe for Southwestern Quinoa Salad and adjusted it based on what I had on hand.  It turned out fantastic!  

Week Three Done... On to Week Four!

Last week we ended up spending $103.16 on food.  After the initial purchase, we bought more chicken, some lunch meat for my husband, yogurt, almond milk and a little more produce.  We had a small amount of waste last week and that really bothers me.  My fridge decided to freeze my Spinach and Lettuce and I forgot about the beets.  Shoot.  While we still have a fair amount of food left from previous weeks (Lots of fruit in the freezer as well as chicken and beans), I am wanting to cut back on our weekly spending.  I would love to get down to only $50 a week, but with the cost of meat that's hard to do.  So, I'm setting my goal for $75 instead of $100.

I decided to not get a share this week of produce, but rather go to a local Produce Stand from a local farm.  One of these weeks I'll get around to checking out the Olympia Farmer's Market, just haven't made it that way yet.  So, here's what I bought yesterday to get this week started:

$14.37 @ Safeway (Saved on Bananas using Just4U)

$7.49 @ Winco (used $0.50 coupon and $0.50 Ibotta refund)

$4.31 @ Target (Seriously, Watermelon for $1.62! Score!)
(Used Target Mobile $1/$1 produce coupon and $0.75 Ibotta coupon for milk)

$15.93 @ Local Produce Stand

So, I'm starting this week out with $44.06 spent.  Can I make it through the rest of the week only spending another $30?  I'm feeling good about it!

Zucchini Pizza

Today was just one. of. those. days.  You know those days, where you can't figure out if you need to laugh, or cry.  Or both.  Having kids (and a husband) will do that to you.  Anyway, my guilty pleasure after a day like today is pizza.  Oh, how I love pizza.  So, I decided to make "Pizza".  The only thing I will do different next time is make a better sauce.  I just used some garlic butter on the Zucchini and I just think it would be that much better with either a garlic sauce or a tomato sauce.  Excited to try the recipe again :)

 

Ingredients:

• Zucchini
• Chicken Breast
• Olive Oil
• Parsley
• Onion (I used sweet)
• Green Bell Pepper
• Mushrooms
• Tomatoes
• Butter
• Garlic

Directions:

• Cut chicken into cubes, cook in oil and season with parsley
• Broil Zucchini with butter and garlic until golden brown
• Top Zucchini with Chicken and Vegetables
• Bake at 425* for 10 minutes

Apple Mango Chicken and Salsa

I always ask my husband to rate my dinners on a scale of 1-5.  I've gotten several "6"s and a "10" once.  Tonight's dinner, got a "20".

Here is my Instagram shot

Chicken Marinade:

• Juice from 2 Apples
• 1/3 cup Fresh Orange Juice
• 1 - 2 tsp Olive Oil
• Garlic to taste (1-2 Cloves)
• Fresh Ginger Root

*Tip: Poke fork holes in the chicken breast and let marinade for a couple hours at least :)

Salsa:

• 1 Mango
• 1 Apple (Granny Smith is best)
• 1/3 - 1/2 Red Bell Pepper
• 1/4 cup Red Onion
• Fresh Cilantro
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup Fresh Orange Juice

*Obviously I added a couple Cucumber slices, not just for looks, they added to the salad.  

We grilled the chicken, but you could also bake it.  It was amazingly juicy off the grill.

Avocado Mango Salad

I have a lot of produce getting too ripe in my house this week!  So as I was looking around deciding what to have for lunch, I spotted my Avocados and Mango, perfectly ripe...  Mmm Avocado Mango Salad!  Perfect.

Ingredients:

• 1 Avocado, cubbed
• 1 Mango, cubbed
• Red Onion (to taste)
• Juice of 1 Lime
• Sprinkle with Balsamic Vinegar (1-2 tsp)
• Pepper to taste, optional

Simple And Delicious Chicken Salad Dinner

Ok, I know I've been slacking on posting my dinners.  Here's what we had last night...

In a skillet, I seared the chicken breast on both sides then seasoned with pepper.  I juiced a lemon poured that into the skillet and added a little lemon zest to the chicken, added a little bit of water and let it simmer until cooked.

Placed on top of Red Leaf Lettuce and Spinach, Tomatoes, Hard Boiled Egg and Sunflower Seeds.  Made a little Homemade Italian Dressing and done.  Simple, yet so good.

Why Eat Whole Foods and How To Start Eating Whole Foods

So, What is this Whole Foods thing all about?  Eating Whole Foods is about eating food that is as fresh as possible, as unprocessed as possible.  It's about going back to eating the foods we were made to eat and the way we were made to eat them, fresh.  Not processed, not with added chemicals, additives, antibiotics and chemical experiments.  Take a look at the ingredients on the back of your "food".  What's in it?  Is it food?  Could you buy the ingredients yourself and make it at home?  If not, it's safe to say it's not a Whole Food.  Even something simple like canned corn has added sugar and added salt.  Two things you don't need more of in your diet.  Diabetes is on the rise ("...research showed that for every 150 additional calories of sugar available per person per day, the incidence of type 2 diabetes rose by one percent.  That is equal to the amount of sugar in one 12-ounce can of soda") and also in children none the less.  This is serious, but preventable, stuff!  And there are more and more E. Coli outbreaks in simple things like "fresh" Spinach.  Reading the story of a mother who lost her 5 year old son to E.Coli is enough for me to know it's becoming more important to know where your food is coming from, even "fresh" food.  Get your meat from a butcher.  Get your produce and eggs from a local farmer.  It may not always be possible to do this, but the more you can the better.  The more meals you prepare yourself, the better.

I don't recommend suddenly vowing off all processed foods and jumping to a Whole Foods diet overnight.  You probably wont be able to stick with it and your body will be screaming at you.  The thing is, this isn't a "diet".  This is a lifestyle change.  This is changing your eating habits, from here on out.  Not a temporary diet to lose weight or to try and be healthier.  If you want a diet to lose weight quick, do the Three Day Military Diet.  It's not healthy, but it'll help you shed some quick pounds.  But after that, come back to this.  And if you want to try and be healthy, don't try, do.  Be healthy.  It's really easy, I promise.

Take a couple weeks to start adjusting the way you eat.  Stop eating Fast Food.  Period, just stop.  Start transitioning processed foods for fresh foods.  One meal a day, two meals a day, three...  Stop drinking soda.  I know, I'm sorry. But you gotta stop.  Drink coffee, black coffee (Ok, you can have a little bit of creamer if you need to).  Drink lots of water.  Need to Spruce Up Your Water?  Try this recipe.  I will continue to post more ways to spruce up your water, making it easier to drink.  Take 2-4 weeks to slowly start changing your eating habits.  Then, do 30 days like me of getting yourself into the swing of it.  No more processed foods or if you must, barely processed foods.  It's not as hard at all.

Week Two Done... On To Week Three!

Life is keeping me pretty busy, I'm not posting as much as I'd like to be but I am making sure that I post all my interesting meals!  Generally through the day what I eat isn't anything too exciting.  Fruit, Veggies, Eggs.  You know the drill.  I am happy to announce that at the halfway mark weigh in, I am down 5lbs!  Two weeks of eating Whole Foods, never feeling hungry, always satisfied but not stuffed.  Hopefully the next two weeks will prove just as successful!

We spent $100.53 on groceries last week.  I had to buy a bit more chicken (my husband is now eating chicken with lunch instead of processed lunch meat), Mangos, Tomatoes, Bananas (I actually bought Bananas 4 separate times!), Corn, Potatoes,  Garlic, Cucumbers, Onions and more Almond Milk (which is carried over into this week).

To start this week off, I spent $42.50 at Blissfully Organic Co-Op.  I spent $22.50 on my normal share and then bought 3 doz Free Range Eggs for $8.50 and the other $11.50 on a bunch of extra goodies.

Then I spent $14.29 at Safeway on some 7ish lbs chicken and a couple cans of tuna.

At Winco I spent $7.06 on 1 eggplant, 2 bunches of Spinach and 2 Cantalope.  Seems a little expensive when you compare to the Co-Op picture above...  :)

Next week I am considering trying out the little produce stand a few miles away instead of my CSA share.  Haven't decided yet, I need to see if it will be cheaper or not.  I love the surprise of CSAs, but since everything is ALL Organic, while it's a great price, it is a bit more expensive and I generally still have to go buy more produce.  We'll see though.

So, to start the week I've already spent $63.85.  But we shouldn't need too much more, aside from bananas.  and almond milk.  I'd really like to cut down our budget to $75 a week, but that's gonna take some extra figuring out.  Anyway, here's to a great start of week three!

Butternut Squash Chicken Casserole

This was also an experiment, just throwing together some things I had around the kitchen...  Turned out really delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Butternut Squash
• Olive Oil
• Salt

Peel and slice Butternut Squash into small pieces, toss with Olive Oil and salt.  Bake in 425* for 30 minutes.

• Cooked Chicken

Slice into pieces or use cubbed chicken

• 1 Onion
• Olive Oil
• 3 Garlic Cloves
• 1 Tomoato
• 2-3 cups Spinach
• 2 TB water

Saute onion and garlic in Olive Oil.  Add Tomato, Spinach and water, cover and cook until Spinach wilts

• 2 Tomatoes
• 1 cup Water
• 2 TB Cornstarch (or 1/2-1 TSP Guar Gum)

Puree Tomatoes and add to water with Cornstarch.  Heat until thick.  Add to Spinach mixture.

I kind of did layers, like Lasagna, in this 8x8 casserole dish.  Bake in 425* for 25 minutes.

Quinoa Kale Salad with Tuna, Red Onion and Red Peppers

This was a bit of an experiment.  I thought it was good, my husband said it tasted too "vegetable-y" (He's a carnivore to the bone). 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Kale
• 1/2 cup Quinoa (I used Red)
• 1 cup Water
• 1 can Tuna (or fresh tuna, or chicken or even a bean would be good)
• Red Onion
• Red Bell Pepper

Dressing:

• 1 TB Olive Oil
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• Salt/Pepper to taste
• 1/2 - 1 tsp Dijon Mustard

Directions:

• Steam Kale until soft
• Fry dry Quinoa until it starts to "pop", rinse, put back in pot, add 1 Cup Water and cook until done

Spinach Salad with Fresh Corn, Eggs and Sunflower Seeds

Spinach Salad with Fresh Corn, Eggs and Sunflower Seeds

Ingredients:

• Spinach
• Hard Boiled Egg
• 1/2 Corn on the cob (cut off)
• Red Bell Pepper
• 1 - 2 TB Sunflower Seeds (raw)
• Balsamic Vinegar (use as dressing)

BBQ'd Chicken Burgers w/Sweet Potato Chips

BBQ'D Chicken Burgers w/Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients:
Chicken Burgers - Mix ingredients and grill

• 2 Chicken Breasts, ground (buy a meat grinder here.  I've had mine 2 years and LOVE it)
• Garlic
• Fresh Ground Ginger Root
• Green Onion

Lime Mayo - Mix ingredients

• Mayo 
• Lime Juice
• Lime Zest

Wrap in Lettuce and enjoy with a side of Sweet Potato chips!

Baked Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients:

• Sweet Potato (Yam)
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt

Directions:

• Slice Sweet Potato into 1/8" pieces
• Drizzle with Olive Oil
• Sprinkle with Salt
• Toss to Coat
• Place on Baking Sheet
• Bake in 400* oven for 25-30 minutes

Homemade Tacos... Whole Foods Style

I'm running a little behind in my blog posts, but here is last night's dinner.

I wanted to make Tacos, it just sounded so good.  But how do you make Tacos without processed taco shells?  After Swag Searching forever, I came across a post.  Someone was looking for a substitute for a hamburger bun.  One person commented and said they bake some egg whites and use that.  Bingo!  Let's try this out...

I used 2 Egg Whites per "tortilla", whipped em up a while and poured them into the bottom of a small greased pie pan.  Baked in 350* for 18 minutes.  The result was. Amazing.

I make my own "taco seasoning" so I can control how much salt, etc goes into it and instead of Sour Cream we just a dollop of Greek Yogurt with Lime juice.  

Sweet Potato and Kale Hash

So I was SwagSearching this morning for some Whole Foods breakfast ideas and I came across this recipe for Sweet Potato and Kale Hash.  I loved it!  My husband, who loves his traditional bacon, eggs and hashbrowns breakfast said it was good but tasted more like a lunch or dinner.  Either way, I thought it was fabulous and definitely worth a shot.

She has wonderful step by step pictures so I decided not to repost the recipe, but you can check it out here. :)

Week One Done. On To Week Two!

I have completed 7 days of (mostly) Whole Foods eating!  Here's how we're looking...

Money Spent: $90.96 (Budget $75-$100) This is how much we spent total on groceries, including for my son and 6 cartons of Almond Milk and 3 packs of All Natural Nitrite Free Turkey Dogs which were 3/$5 which is an amazing deal because they are normally $4 a piece.  Also, my husband joined in my lifestyle change starting on Day 2 and I think he's lost 5lbs already.

Calories: I averaged 300-500 calories a day less than my goal .  I know that's low, but seriously...  I ate so much food.  I was never hungry.  I was low on calories, but I made sure I was hitting the mark with Protein, Fiber, Iron and other Vitamins and staying under or close on Fat, Carbs and Sugar.  All the Fat, Carbs and Sugar I was eating was GOOD for me, too.  What matters is being healthy, it's not how much you do or don't eat.

How many calories a day should you shoot for?  Good question!  Here's a calculator that will tell you after just a few simple questions.

And how much protein do you need?  Here's a calculator for that, too.

I think I may have overstocked myself for week 2...  I've already spent $69.45.  Here's how it breaks down:

$13.45 at Safeway for about 6.5lbs of chicken.

$11.56 with OlympiaLocalFoods.com

I found an awesome little produce stand and got all this for $7.12

And here's everything I got from my CSA share for $24.25 (Plus 3 doz Free Range Eggs for $8.50)

And $5.48 at Safeway.

Whew that's a lot of fresh food!  My fridge is FULL!  

Chicken Lime Cilantro Salad

Day 5 dinner I kept simple.  I'm starting to get low on my fresh produce, good thing it's the end of the week!

Ingredients:

• Chicken Breast
• Olive Oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Cilantro
• Chili Powder
• Cumin
• Black Beans
• Tomatoes 
• Red Leaf Lettuce

Day 5 Recap and Shopping Trip

So I did a bit better today on my calories, only 335 left to spare at the end of the day!

For breakfast I had a Green Smoothie, for snacks I had Bananas, Cantaloupe, Cauliflower, Carrots, Apples and a little bit of my son's cereal that he fed me (no, it wasn't a whole foods but it was pretty darn delicious).

I went to Trader Joe's for the first time today to check it out.  Spent $6.32 on more bananas, yams and Quinoa.

Tonight I went to Safeway to use some coupons and take advantage of their Dairy Deal.  My son drinks Almond Milk like it's going out of style, so that is a big expense around here.  Needless to say I was ecstatic when I ended up with this shopping deal...

I had a Just4U Safeway coupon for an additional $0.75 off the Silk, the Rice Dream was 50% off of $2.49 and I had a $2/1 coupon (which ended up giving me $0.76 back), Just4U coupons for the Chobani making them $1.89 then $1/1 coupons for each, making them only $0.89!  The bell peppers were 2/$1.  The dip Greek Yogurt dip is for my husband and was marked 50% off of $3.99, but it also had a $1/1 coupon attached to it!  Basically, I paid for the 4 Almond Breeze milks and the rest was free (the price for those are $2.99 each).  I forgot how much I love couponing :)