Whole 30 - Day 16

Sorry for the radio silence. I don't know if it's my hormones adjusting from our whole 30, or just the life & times, but last week was r.o.u.g.h. I was a ball of emotions all week, and was still dealing with sluggish energy and a few bad headaches (when I hadn't eaten enough protein the meal before!). That's what's sort of cool about this diet—your body really tells you what you need to eat (but uncool feeling terrible if you goofed up).

Today is day 16 and I'm feeling good! Getting energy back and sleeping really well (not that I usually sleep poorly...but this is a pretty good, deep sleep). I feel lighter in general, and my pants might fit a little better, but I'm still resisting the scale, as they recommend doing, so I don't have any measurable results yet. I think they call these #nonscalevictories on instagram (ha). Crazy we're over halfway through!

We navigated our first "holiday" on Sunday/Mother's Day eating this way, and it went pretty well (with some planning). My sister and I took lunch over to our parents' house, so it was helpful planning the meal with her. We made meatballs for us (Martha brought noodles for the rest of the lunchers), and Martha made some yummy (compliant) green beans and salad (they added cheese after J and I served our plates) and I made a simple vinaigrette to go on top.

It was a sweet Mother's Day...I woke up to a sweet card/gift card and happy faces, and we were able to spend time with each of our mothers. I am so thankful for both of my children's grandmothers and the incredible blessing it is that my girls are growing up surrounded by grandparents!

Here are a few things we've made:

▲▲ A great snack! Strawberries with almond butter drizzled on top (Maranatha brand from Costco), chia seeds, and shredded coconut. Yummy. They don't recommend snacking (they want you to get full enough on each meal to make it to the next one), but some nights I just need something after dinner.

▲▲ DELICIOUS salmon Jonathan made on our panini press, of all things. Don't have the link handy, but he just found it by googling "whole30 salmon" I believe. So good, the girls devoured it. Served with homemade sweet potato fries and steamed broccoli (the girls had some fresh berries with theirs too). (Also, I couldn't crop out that sweet little hand.)

▲▲ This was a wonderful salad I posted on instagram from Saturday. Start with a bed of spinach leaves (I always like to tear mine into pieces). Then mix shredded chicken (just boiled and then shredded in KitchenAid mixer--so easy!) with some paleo mayo and yellow mustard, garlic salt, halved grapes, crushed almonds, and cilantro (if we'd had any celery, I would've thrown it in there too!). Then I just halved some grape tomatoes and drizzled some balsamic vinegar and EVOO on top. SO GOOD! This is a pretty large portion too, the goal is to get full!

These are just a few things we've been eating. Lots of inspiration from instagram and the ole google. Slow-cooker chicken tiki masala is on tap for tonight! We love Indian food, so I'm excited to throw in a little variety of taste (though I'll definitely be missing the rice/naan side of things, no doubt). It's worth it for how great I'm feeling though!

Onward!