Whole 30 - Day 1

Today we began the Whole 30 challenge. You cut out a lot of foods that seem to be high intolerance foods for many people and eat what is sometimes referred to as a cave man diet. Basically you eat grass fed or wild caught meat, vegetables, fruit, tree nuts and seeds. No sugar, no booze, no dairy, no grains, no legumes. They also say you shouldn't paleo-ize junk foods, but I'm not really doing that part, I'm mostly concerned about the ingredients. I just think determining what is and isn't a junk food is pretty personal. Like they say you can paleo-ize fried chicken, but not pizza. They are also anti baked goods. Great for them! We're using our own sense to determine what works best for us in this plan.

We are doing this for a couple of reasons:

• we both know we have different food intolerances and we want to see how an elimination diet will teach us more about the way certain foods affect our bodies
• we hear it gives you a lot of energy and makes you less sluggish 
• some people claim amazing health benefits around things like acne, joint pain, ibs, depression, headaches, etc. (we'll tell you at the end if we experienced any of that)
• we want to be more intentional about the things we eat

Both of us thought it might be a good idea to blog about our daily menu, any changes we notice in energy or our bodies in general, and recipes we discover. So far I've made almond-hazelnut milk (ridiculously easy!) and learned how to soft boil an egg (hard to believe I had to look this up!).

I also learned about paleo baking (technically this is not whole 30 approved, but all the ingredients are, and I think food should be varied, fun, and delicious!) These blueberry muffins are adapted from a Today's Letters' recipe.

Paleo Bluberry Muffins
(this made 6 good sized muffins)

3/4 c cashews
2 T walnut oil
2 ripe bananas
1 egg
1/2 c almond meal
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t cloves

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t ground ginger

1/2 t orange peel 
3/4 t Salt 
1/2 c frozen blueberries

  1. preheat oven to 375° 
  2. grease muffin tins with coconut oil or ghee 
  3. in your food processor, grind the cashews to a fine meal 
  4. add walnut oil, processing until well combined 

  5. add the bananas, processing to a sticky paste 
  6. in a separate bowl, whisk the egg

  7. stir in the cashew / banana mixture and vanilla
  8. stir in remaining dry ingredients

  9. gently fold in blueberries. 
10. spoon batter into greased muffin tins 
11. bake for 15-20 minutes or until done
12. cool completely before storing

  Today's Menu

Breakfast: soft boiled egg and green smoothie (mango, banana, orange slices, ginger, kale, almond milk, almond mush left from creating the almond milk, and parsley). We ate at 9 and I was still functioning at 1:30 (it was a late lunch kind of day).

Lunch: kale salad (with roasted pork, shaved carrots, lemon juice, olive oil, and some chopped, toasted pecans), baked sweet tater half (with olive oil, s/p, cinnamon, cayenne, garlic powder, and toasted pecans), carrot sticks, half an avocado.

Lunch!!

my afternoon Snack: a handful or TJ's salted marcona almonds and a banana

Dinner: sauteed kale (with proscuitto, onions, and cider vinegar) and shepherd's pie (ground beef, onions, carrots, rutabaga, s/p, cloves, and a bit of ghee in the pan + steamed, pureed cauliflower,  rutabaga, garlic, ghee, s/p, and nutmeg)