Life 60 Days After My Whole30

Saturday, April 2, 2016. Whole30 plus 60 days of Clean Eating.  Mostly.  So I guess that would be a Whole30 plus another 30 days of watching what I eat, and another 30 days of watching what I eat.  It’s a milestone, I guess!!

Let’s see what today brings:

6:00 AM.  Jane’s alarm.  She’s up and getting ready to go volunteer with C5 this morning, and then she’s flying solo for the big grocery shopping trip.  Hey, I contributed yesterday.  While I was killing time before my doctor’s appointment, I found avocados at a great price (and bought them), as well as a 24oz (680g) bag of Wonderful pistachios marked down to $10 (I bought those, too!). So yeah, grocery shopping hero, me.  Anyway, I’m going to drink a few cups of black coffee and watch some news.

8:15 AM.  I’m getting my breakfast going.  I’m warming-through some ground beef hash with white and yellow sweet potatoes and butternut squash.  I also threw in the veggie mix of summer squash, butternut squash, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, and mushrooms, and then scrambled all of that up with about a half cup of egg whites.  And a half teaspoon of local bee pollen.

Fully Compliant

So after singing the blues for the past couple of weeks about my tooth issue – broken crown, my temporary crown coming loose and having to be re-glued inside my head, and I do believe that is the proper medical term, my temporary crown coming loose again, and then getting my permanent crown fitted (thanks for reliving this with me!) – we’re finally going to make a new batch of beef jerky today.  I hope you’re as excited about this as I am!!!

11:00 AM.  Here’s my friend, the carb/glycemic after effect, which means instant and angry hunger, showing up un-announced again.  I knew he was going to stop by because of what I ate (yesterday), and how it affects me the following day (today).  Anyway, I ate some chicken thighs that Jane roasted up yesterday afternoon.  Sorry, no pics.  It was an emergency and I had to eat them immediately.

2:00 PM.  Snack.  I decided to try some cashew milk for the first time, so I pulled a double shot of espresso and steamed up some cashew milk to make a latte, and chewed through a nice Red Delicious apple.

Fully Compliant

The cashew milk was pretty tasty and made some big bubbles when steamed.  They went away eventually.

I’m now getting started on the first batch of beef jerky, which will be made with 2 lbs (908g) of 93/7 lean ground beef.  My seasonings of choice are molido (New Mexico) chili powder, regular chili powder, paprika, cumin, white pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.  I had to back off of the cayenne this time.  Too spicy for the rest of the team.

Spices

 

You HAVE TO HAVE some sort of curing salt added to your beef jerky.  At this point in time I find it physically and mentally impossible for me to not make any reference to The Cure or Robert Smith.  So how about a little Friday I’m In Love or Boys Don’t Cry?  Cake Boss is going to cry when he sees what’s coming up…

The Cure

Give the meat, spices and cure a good mix and put it in the fridge for a few hours to get the curing process started…

 

Meat, Spices and Cure

Outta the cold and into the heat!  The ground beef has been chilled for a few hours and the curing process has begun.  Now to get the ground beef ready for the dehydrator and begin the ultimate jerky transformation.

Done Chillin’

 

Say hello to my little friend!

Meet my Meat Piping Gun. In your face, Cake Boss!!!  I’m Cocked, Locked and Ready To Rock with my Meat Gun!!!  What do you have, Cake Boy?  Frosting?  Fondant? mwahahaha!!!

Meat Piping Gun

I ended up with 3 full trays and 1 partial tray of meaty goodness.  Now it’s time to fire up the Nesco dehydrator and get to some dehydrating.  Let’s have a peak in 4 hours or so…  OK, really, I have to go in at about the 1 hour mark and blot the oil, turn the jerky, and blot the oil on the other side.

3+ Trays Of Meaty Goodness

 Non-Sequitur Alert

5:30 PM.  Dinner.  Chicken and onion enchiladas with a side of Mexican cauliflower rice:

Clean Eating

Let me tell you about delicious – Jane’s home made enchilada sauce is probably the best enchilada sauce I have ever had.  She also mixed some in with the cauli rice and made that 10x better.  Now check this out:  Vegan Cheese.  I’ve gone 90 days without once using the “V” word.  Especially in a post that’s spending an awful lot of time talking about beef jerky.  The vegan cheese was pretty tasty.

OK, so the Clean Eating tag.  Hell, I’m even going to throw a SWYPO tag up in here.  Corn tortillas, again, being the culprit.  Ingredients:  Ground corn, lime, salt and water.  Evil, EVIL CORN!!!

10:30 PM.  Targeted bed time.

And so goes Step Four: Life After Your Whole30.  Today was a good 90th day of Clean Eating.  Mostly Clean Eating.

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Life 59 Days After My Whole30

Friday, April 1, 2016. Whole30 plus 59 days of Clean Eating.  Mostly.

Let’s see what today brings:  No April Foolery here today.  Let’s have the truly creative people take care of that!

4:10 AM.  Awake before the alarm.  Again.  2 cups of black coffee.

5:45 AM.  Breakfast.  I had some more of the ground pork breakfast loaf with some scrambled egg whites which included this weeks veggie mix of summer squash, butternut squash, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, and mushrooms.  I also threw a half teaspoon of local bee pollen down the hatch.

Fully Compliant

I also made up a huge mug of white tea for the running around that I had to do this morning.  And this is where the day gets kind of screwy…

Whole30 Observation: (Or any other eating plan, for that matter):  I knew after eating white rice with my dinner last night that I was going to have hunger issues later this morning.  And, I also know that we’re all supposed to keep an emergency stash of Lärabars in the glove compartment (I don’t carry a murse), or plan ahead with some easily accessible snacks when you know you’re going to have a stretch between meals.  Oops.  I had a doctor’s appointment that went from 9:45 AM to 1:00 PM.  Remember, I had my breakfast at 5:45 AM and had white rice last night.  Not too clever.  Needless to say, I was ready to gnaw my arm off.

1:30 PM.  Lunch.  Finally.  Some leftover brisket, mashed potatoes and green beans.  I also had 4 leftover wings while this was reheating in the microwave.

Clean Eating

My lunch gets the Clean Eating tag.  This meal would get the fully compliant label, but there was organic, grass fed butter on the green beans.  I think we used the last of our ghee when we made the smashed spuds.

2:30 PM.  Snack.  But not really.  We ended up at Panera Bread so our son could grab a bite, and I decided to get a cup of their coffee.  So now I got bread and sandwiches stuck on the brain.  Again.  So after we leave Panera, it’s off on a few more errands, then the cave-in.  Because once you get bagels on the brain…

5:00 PM.  Dinner, I suppose.  Bagels with deli ham and cream cheese.  Absolutely delicious!  I’m not even going to attempt to justify this as 80/20 or anything.  It is what it is.

80/20 Rule?  That’s Pushing It…

10:30 PM.  Targeted bed time.

And so goes Step Four: Life After Your Whole30.  Today was a good day.

Return to Life 58 Days After My Whole30 or Continue to Life 60 Days After My Whole30

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Life 58 Days After My Whole30

Thursday, March 31, 2016. Whole30 plus 58 days of Clean Eating.  Mostly.

Let’s see what today brings:

4:14 AM.  Wide awake.  I decided this morning to do a mini-crunch so I could see the clock that’s across the bedroom.  That’s what it read – 4:14.  I then swing my feet to the floor and disarm the bomb on my nightstand that’s ready to go off (my alarm).  2 cups of black coffee.

5:45 AM.  Breakfast.  I tried something new this morning.  (Whaaaat?) True!!!  Jane made this ground pork breakfast loaf (I know it sounds kinda funny) from a recipe she found on Pinterest, and it was really good!  Nice little kick to it from the spices.  And of course, I scrambled up some egg whites plus some this weeks veggie mix of summer squash, butternut squash, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, and mushrooms, and life was good.  I also threw a half teaspoon of local bee pollen down my neck.  Don’t worry.  No bees were harmed.

Fully Compliant

The breakfast loaf has pretty much the same texture as meat loaf, but it’s more ‘firm’ and easier to slice after it’s been in the fridge.  So cut it into slices and give it a couple of minutes both sides on the griddle or in the frying pan, and you’re set!

I also made up a huge mug of white tea for the drive in and office time this morning.

Whole30 Observation:  Pinterest has the absolute best collection of Whole30 recipes.  But I do have to throw in a little caveat emptor here:  Make sure you check the ingredients!!!

11:00 AM.  Lunch.  I’m having a nice green salad with oil and vinegar dressing, topped with a grilled chicken breast.  Today it looks like a tomato party is taking place in my bowl.

Fully Compliant

4:00 PM.  Snack.  If you guessed a sliced red apple and a cappuccino made with almond milk, you would be correct:

Fully Compliant.

The poor apple on the left trying to figure out what happened to her friend…

6:00 PM.  Dinner.  Chicken shish kebabs and beef shish kebabs, white rice, yes I said WHITE RICE and chimichurri.  Did I say delicious?  The weather was nice enough to grill outside tonight, so add that to the flavor factor.

Whole30 Compliant? No.  Paleo?  Not Sure.  Clean Eating?  Maybe. Paleo 80/20?  Yessss!

Whole30, Paleo and Clean Eating Observation:  OK, we all know that this monster we have created known as the internet is almost completely useless.  Why not use your powers for good instead of evil, Internet?  So here’s the latest and greatest find on White Rice.  I got nothing.  We’re all over the place – White Rice is definitely not Whole30 Compliant.  The Paleo crowd seems to have lots of pro’s-and-con’s.  Is you is, or is you ain’t Paleo?  What about Clean Eating?  Sure, why not?  Then I stumbled across this little gem:  Paleo 80/20. So now I’m all like Anna in ‘Frozen’: Wait! What?  You mean to tell me I’m still ON PLAN if I eat Paleo 80% of the time and cave to the crave 20% of the time?  Sign me up!  Can I make this retroactive for the last 57 days and just change the name of my little blog?  So yeah, I feel good about it because I can put a label on it and throw it in that pigeon hole and I’m not cheating.  But I also know what’s going to happen tomorrow with the carb load and glycemic load.  Wait for it…wait for it…

9:30 PM.  Targeted bed time.

And so goes Step Four: Life After Your Whole30.  Today was a good day.

Return to Life 57 Days After My Whole30 or Continue to Life 59 Days After My Whole30

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Life 57 Days After My Whole30

Wednesday, March 30, 2016. Whole30 plus 57 days of Clean Eating.  Mostly.

Let’s see what today brings:  I hope it is better than yesterday.  As my aunt used to say:  “Egads!”

4:15 AM.  Alarm.  2 cups of black coffee.  No coffee pot disaster to report this morning.  Cool.

5:45 AM.  Breakfast.  Some more of this weeks veggie mix of summer squash, butternut squash, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, and mushrooms scrambled with a half cup of egg whites plus the little bit left over in the carton.  On the side I had some white and yellow sweet potatoes plus butternut and summer squash mixed with ground beef hash, and a half teaspoon of local bee pollen.

Fully Compliant

And you know the rest of my morning jam – I made up a huge mug of white tea for the drive in and office time this morning.

11:00 AM.  Lunch.  I’m having a nice green salad with oil and vinegar dressing, topped with a grilled chicken breast.  This one was like a cucumber fiesta taking place in my bowl.

Fully Compliant

4:00 PM.  Snack.  A double shot of espresso with steamed almond milk to make a latte, and a sliced Red Delicious apple.

 

Fully Compliant

6:30 PM.  Dinner.  Zoodles Bolognese.  “What’s this guy talking about?” You may ask…  You’ve probably seen this before, but we take our zucchini and run it through the Dash Go Rapid Peeler, and get zucchini noodles, or “zoodles”.  I’m kind of slow on the take-up sometimes.  Bolognese is just a fancy name for meat sauce.  But you already knew that.  And it was delicious.  But you already knew that.

 

Fully Compliant

Whole30 Observation:  Do I miss having some freshly grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled (meaning piled) on top?  Yep!  Would I have killed for a crusty loaf of garlic bread on the side?  Right again!  Could I have had all that and a nice glass bottle of red wine with this, too?  Absolutely!  I could have gotten all molto buono up in here, but I didn’t.  It’s all about choices, and I chose not to go that route.  I’m not saying it will never happen again, and in the same breath I’m not saying it won’t happen in a couple of days, but it didn’t happen tonight.  I think my new food dude attitude is to look at stuff like that as a treat, and not as an everyday meal.  Let’s see how that works out.

9:30 PM.  Targeted bed time.

And so goes Step Four: Life After Your Whole30.  Today was a good day.

Return to Life 56 Days After My Whole30 or Continue to Life 58 Days After My Whole30

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Life 56 Days After My Whole30

Tuesday, March 29, 2016. Whole30 plus 56 days of Clean Eating.  Mostly.

Let’s see what today brings:  I will call today “My Second Monday This Week” because…

4:10 AM.  Awake.  Sort of.  You know those times when you wake up and you really don’t want to look at the clock, but then you really do want to look at the clock, so you know how much more sleep you’re going to get?  Then you start thinking – “I’m pretty comfortable, I don’t need to pee, *sneaks a peek with one eye* it’s still dark outside, I’m just going to relax and go back to sleep!”

4:15 AM.  Alarm.  Grrr.  2 cups of black coffee.  AFTER I had to make coffee twice due to the coffee pot having a malfunction.  You know the one:  the filter collapses in on the grounds, the coffee brews, water rises on the grounds, the grounds and water go over the top (or in this case, the side ) of the filter instead of the brewed coffee passing through the filter, the pot gets filled with coffee grounds mud, etc..  Or is it just me?  Get it right the second time, I guess.

5:45 AM.  Breakfast.  This weeks veggie mix of summer squash, butternut squash, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, and mushrooms scrambled with a half cup of egg whites. On the side I had some white and yellow sweet potatoes plus butternut and summer squash mixed with ground beef hash, and a half teaspoon of local bee pollen.

Fully Compliant

You know the drill – I made up a huge mug of white tea for the drive in and office time this morning.

11:00 AM.  Lunch.  I’m having a nice green salad with oil and vinegar dressing, a side of tuna mixed down with homemade avocado oil mayo, and a little bag of plantain chips.  Same as yesterday. Don’t care.  I like it.

Fully Compliant

So yeah, my day started with the whole waking up before the alarm nonsense, then the coffee pot malarkey.  What else is going to try to adversely affect my mood today?  Wait for it…wait for it…

4:00 PM.  Dentist!  Yay!  I’m getting my temporary crown replaced with a permanent crown.  Seriously, who says ‘Yay!’ when they’re going to the dentist?  As people in my general vicinity are prone to say – “What the hell is wrong with you?!?!”

Tooth in a Box.

So, can this day get any better, or what?!?!  Oh yes it can!  So, leaving the dentist office, I start my truck and it’s running like total crap and the Service Engine light is holding it’s own private rave up there on the dash.  I think it was strobing to Steve Aoki or something.  Great.  Off to the shop to have my code read.  Code Red, that’s funny.  Where was I?  OK, so a new ignition coil later (and some other parts thrown in for good measure), I’m back home getting my grub on.

6:00 PM.  Dinner.  Wings, ranch dressing and carrots and celery sticks.

These are so good.  Frank’s Red Hot and ghee make the best compliant wing sauce.  And this is one dish where nobody will notice any difference between “real” and “compliant”.  And no SWYPO tag with this.  And I actually prefer the wings made this way.  And are there any English teachers reading this?

Whole30 Observation:  Basic Ranch Recipe from the Whole30 book is winner.  Jane starts with the mayo made from avocado oil.  And it’s good!!!

I’m cracking myself up here, starting sentences with “And.”

Whole30 Tip:  Or should I say #whole30hack?  If I’m satisfied with the way certain products perform or taste or whatever, I’ll try to mention the product by name and provide a link.  This time Jane wants to give you all a tip on using Pompeian Coconut Oil non-stick cooking spray – Don’t use this spray until AFTER you visit their website and make sure you’re not baking anything within the “Smoke Zone”.  Guess what temperature zone the wings were cooked in?  Other than that, we like the product.

9:30 PM.  Targeted bed time.

And so goes Step Four: Life After Your Whole30.  Today was a good day.  See what I mean by today being my second Monday?

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Life 55 Days After My Whole30

Monday, March 28, 2016. Whole30 plus 55 days of Clean Eating.  Mostly.

Let’s see what today brings:

4:15 AM.  Alarm.  Awake.  Monday.  2 cups of black coffee.

5:45 AM.  Breakfast.  I threw everything together in one pan – the veggie mix of summer squash, butternut squash, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, and mushrooms along with the sweet potato, butternut squash and ground beef hash – and scrambled in a half cup of egg whites.  I also ate a half teaspoon of local bee pollen.

Fully Compliant

I made up a huge mug of white tea for the drive in and office time this morning.  This is that Prince of Peace Organic White Tea that I’ve been having.  Shameless promotion of the product, but it’s good stuff.  Call me a heathen – I brew it strong, even though it’s supposed to be a ‘mild, delicate flavor’.  This shall be my tea for the week.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to run out of the tea this week.

10:30 AM.  I’m eating my carrots and celery, and then breaking into my lunch.  I’m blaming the sugar I had yesterday in the form of wonderful Easter chocolate as the cause of my sudden and inescapable hunger.  I had a nice green salad with oil and vinegar dressing, a side of tuna mixed down with homemade avocado oil mayo, and a little bag of plantain chips.

Fully Compliant

4:00 PM.  Snack time.  A sliced up Red Delicious apple and a latte made with a double shot of espresso and some steamed almond milk.

Fully Compliant.  SWYPO

6:30 PM.  Dinner.  Tandoori chicken served over curry cauliflower rice.  Freakin’ delicious!

Fully Compliant

Whole30 Observation:  Again with the sugar from the night before affecting my appetite the following day.  I was keeping the lunch cooler within striking distance at all times.

9:30 PM.  Targeted bed time.

And so goes Step Four: Life After Your Whole30.  Today was a good day.

Return to Life 54 Days After My Whole30 or Continue to Life 56 Days After My Whole30

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Life 54 Days After My Whole30

Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016. Whole30 plus 54 days of Clean Eating.  Mostly.

Let’s see what today brings:

6:45 AM.  Awake.  Nice to sleep in.  Happy Easter to you.  Celebrate or enjoy the day!  2 or 3 or 4 cups of black coffee.

The most important contents of Jane’s Easter Basket:

Important Contents

As an English expatriate, Jane takes her chocolate very seriously.  We are so fortunate that there’s an international supermarket close to my office that sells the real-deal Cadbury’s chocolate, and not the sorry excuse for chocolate that Hershey’s makes “Under License” and tries to pass-off as Cadbury’s.  Big  Mistake, Hershey’s!

Here’s Vanity Fair’s (US) description and BBC’s (UK) description of the “Chocopocalypse” from last year when Hershey’s was up to their nonsense.  Things Just Got REAL!!!  Don’t mess with the English babes (birds) when it comes to their Chocky!

So here’s a shout-out to England and the entire U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Canada and all of the other lucky nations that get the REAL Cadbury’s.  Lucky you!  And by the way, Mars and Nestlé imports taste better than the ones made here, too.

Here’s my loot:

The Easter Bunny and Sugar Dragon were working hand in hand (paw in claw?) last night.

11:30 AM.  Brunch.  Eggs, bacon and hash brown potato cakes:

5:30 PM.  Dinner.  Brisket, mashed potatoes and fresh green beans:

Whole30 Observation:  We certainly don’t eat like we did today every day.  I’ll be doing my best to get back on track tomorrow.

9:30 PM.  Targeted bed time.

And so goes Step Four: Life After Your Whole30.  Today was a good day.

Return to Life 53 Days After My Whole30

Relive my adventure from Day 1.

Life 53 Days After My Whole30

Saturday, March 26, 2016. Whole30 plus 53 days of Clean Eating.  Mostly.

7:00 AM.  Awake.  Nice to sleep in.  2 cups of black coffee.

9:30 AM.  Breakfast.  I used a mandolin to thinly slice a medium potato and cooked it in some olive oil and ghee, I also made 2 – 3 oz. (appx. 85g) ground beef patties (90/10), and 3 eggs over easy.  I’m not waiting for that whole gluten/sugar/carb over indulgence from yesterday effect to kick in.

Fully Compliant

2:20 PM.  Lunch.  I took the veggie mix of summer squash, butternut squash, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, and mushrooms, threw in 2 Aidells Chicken & Apple sausages and scrambled in half of a cup of egg whites.

Fully Compliant

Whole30 Observation:    I talked about this yesterday, and it’s 100% true today:  The time between “I think I’m hungry” to “I’m STARVING!” is about 1 nanosecond, due to the gluten/sugar/carbs consumed yesterday.  Now breakfast this morning was no problem from the time I woke up until I ate breakfast.  But the stretch between breakfast and lunch is always a killer when I’ve eaten ‘not so good food’ the day/night before.  But hey, I knew what to expect, right?

So of course, dumb me decides to have more donuts this afternoon.  I knew I/we were going to blow it this weekend with Easter and everything, so what the heck, right?  So here’s another Whole30 Observation:  Heartburn.  I have had heartburn ONCE in the past 83 (or even more) days.  Make that twice.  My little deep fried balls of dough covered with sugar and chocolate are making the heartburn/indigestion kick pretty hard the past few hours.  Rolaids to the rescue!  Ah, the good old days…

8:30 PM.  Dinner (I guess).  A couple of chicken thighs and some roasted potatoes.

Fully Compliant.

Fully Compliant.  Like that matters at this point of the day.  Oh well.  We’ll get through Sunday and back on track Monday, right?

10:30 PM.  Targeted bed time.

And so goes Step Four: Life After Your Whole30.  Today was a good day.  Mostly.

Return to Life 52 Days After My Whole30 or Continue to Life 54 Days After My Whole30

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Life 52 Days After My Whole30

Friday, March 25, 2016. Whole30 plus 52 days of Clean Eating.  Mostly.  Today, not so much.

Let’s see what today brings…

4:15 AM.  Alarm.  2 cups of black coffee.

5:45 AM.  Breakfast.  I threw everything together in one pan – the veggie mix of summer squash, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, and mushrooms along with the sweet potato, butternut squash and ground beef hash – and scrambled in a half cup of egg whites.  I kind of went a little crazy with the Tabasco sauce, but it was good!  I also ate a half teaspoon of local bee pollen.

Fully Compliant

Tabasco Observation:  The order of the universe is out of balance, as is my kitchen feng shui.  Order will not be restored until I have the original Tabasco sauce in the original bottle, and NOT this Super Bowl “Limited Edition” bottle:

Sorry.  Did I say Super Bowl?  I meant to say “The Big Game”.

I made a big travel mug, again, of green tea to take to work with me.  I have about 100 miles to cover this morning before actually showing up at my office.  If I so choose to show up at my office at all, that is…

11:00 AM.  Lunch.  As I mentioned yesterday, I lost a bet and had to pay up.  The winner of the bet chose a sports bar called “Twin Peaks“.  Now, as much as “Hooters” is about owls, “Twin Peaks” the sports bar is as much about the ’90’s T.V. show “Twin Peaks“.  Euphemisms and double entendres have never been my strong suit.  I said double entendres *snickers like a 13 year old*.

Non-Compliant, Non-Paleo, Non Clean Eating.

3 Blackened fish tacos, meaning Cajun seasoning and not Mexican seasoning, tortilla chips and salsa.  OK, I’m going to go all “Yelp” on you now:

The Food – The chips were OK, but unremarkable.  The salsa was OK, also unremarkable.  The fish tacos would have been one hell of a lot better if they would have made them with hechas a mano corn tortillas instead of store-bought flour (wheat) tortillas.  Come on, it’s Las Vegas!!!  We have tortillaria’s EVERYWHERE.  And guess what?  Some of them even DELIVER!  The fish and toppings were nice, though.

The Service – If I had to rate the service we received, I would say that she took our drink and food order and she delivered our drinks and food. On a scale of zero to no personality, I would rate our servers personality was somewhere between ‘wet blanket’ and ‘here’s 50 cents.  buy some personality’.  And with that, I paid with exact change.  Phone it in = no tip for you!

To summarize – I get it, and I should have known better.  It’s a bar that has girls dressed like sexy lumberjacks (if that’s even a thing) and I should have had lower food expectations.  But fish tacos with flour tortillas?!?!?  Really?!?!?!  I’m having a total Dirty Harry moment.  Click here to see what I mean.

2:00 PM.  Snack.  So I’m really hungry from eating a crap lunch – lots of filler, little protein.  I made my way back home and had some of yesterday’s leftover Cracklin’ chicken and some plantain chips.  I’m feeling a lot better now.

Fully Compliant

5:00 PM.  Dinner.  We went out and went all-out at a nice little deli called The Bagel Café.  Yep.  It’s a winner!  I had a killer pastrami and Swiss sandwich on marbled rye, a pickle and some cucumber salad.  I won’t tell you about the custard filled éclair I had for dessert, nor will I show you a picture of it, because that’s just plain mean.  But here’s the sandwich:

I don’t think this qualifies as being compliant, paleo or eating clean, either.

Whole30 Observation:  Out of all of the ‘crimes against the program’ that I have committed today, tomorrow I will regret the wheat (gluten) the most.  The 3 tortillas and 2 big slices of bread will play havoc with me, and I am prepared to deal with that.  I’m not saying that I won’t be complaining about it, but I will be prepared for it!

10:30 PM.  Targeted bed time.  pshaw.  More like 6:45 PM if I make it that far.  Carb Crash Alert!

And so goes Step Four: Life After Your Whole30.  Today was a good day.  Mostly.

Return to Life 51 Days After My Whole30 or Continue to Life 53 Days After My Whole30

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Life 51 Days After My Whole30

Thursday, March 24, 2016. Whole30 plus 51 days of Clean Eating.  Mostly.

Let’s see what today brings…

4:15 AM.  Alarm.  2 cups of black coffee.

5:45 AM.  Breakfast.  I heated up the veggie mix of summer squash, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, and mushrooms, and scrambled in a half cup of egg whites, and served this mess with a side of sweet potato and ground beef hash.  I also ate a half teaspoon of local bee pollen.

Fully Compliant

I made a big travel mug, again,  of green tea to take to work with me.

11:00 AM.  Lunch.  A nice garden salad with lots of olives, oil and vinegar dressing; a can of tuna mixed with homemade pico de gallo (salsa fresca); and some plantain chips.  I’m going to switch into shameless advertising mode here.  And remember, these are unpaid endorsements.  The reason I do this is because these products are compliant (duh) and they taste good (duh again).  The tuna is Costco Kirkland Skipjack tuna in water.  This tuna is really tasty and also gets some praise from Greenpeace. The plantain chips are from Trader Joe’s.  Crunchy crunchy goodness.

Fully Compliant

4:00 PM.  Snack.  A nice double shot of espresso and some steamed almond milk to make a tasty latte.  And, of course, an apple of the Red Delicious variety.  Jane hates these apples (hate is such a strong word), so they’re all mine!

Fully Compliant

Whole30 Observation:  As I said yesterday, the almond milk latte is considered SWPO if you’re actively doing the Whole30, but it’s not SWYPO (just a good decision) if you’re not in the program.  Nobody is arguing with me, so I guess I’m getting it right.  I don’t want to start a Whole30-Paleo war, kind of an East Coast – West Coast thing.

6:30 PM.  Dinner.  Cracklin’ chicken (Nom Nom Paleo, Pinterest), roasted red potatoes, and fresh green beans.  No joking today, these were actually fresh green beans and not out of a can.  Boneless chicken thighs, by the way.  Love me some thighs!

Clean Eating

We went with organic grass-fed butter on the green beans, so we lose our ‘Fully Compliant’ caption on this one, but still get the ‘Clean Eating’ tag..  I will caption this ‘Fully Delicious’ though.

Well, it’s going to happen again – I’m going rogue for lunch tomorrow.  I have to pay up on a bet that I lost in December, and the person I owe ain’t buyin’ it that I’m “On A Program” anymore.  OK, that’s it for friendly wager on football games.  No more.  Until September, that is.  Anyway, they get to pick the restaurant and I get to complain about it.  Fair enough.

Also, Easter Sunday is coming up, and we all know what that means.  Yep.  Going rogue again.  More for Jane than for me, though.  That’s it – I’ll blame her!!!  I’m thinking that the last time I had chocolate was on Valentine’s Day. Or thereabouts.  Wow!

I’ll keep you posted…

9:00 PM.  Targeted bed time.

And so goes Step Four: Life After Your Whole30.  Today was a good day.

Return to Life 50 Days After My Whole30 or Continue to Life 52 Days After My Whole30

Relive my adventure from Day 1.