Wednesday Day 3

Wow!  I think that is all I can say today! It's been such a busy day and I hardly got anything done.  The day started as usual.  Got up, fed the animals and had my protein shake.  I decided to do some baking first before heading to the gym.  I was still to the gym pretty early with enough time to go to Whole Foods and fix lunch before my conference call at noon.  Before I left I did try this Matcha Latte from Rebbl.  It was subtle and just slightly sweet.

I got home and fixed chicken, mushroom, and kale soup.  

It was really filling and took me a while to eat.  Of course, I was multi-tasking.  I was on my conference call, talking to a mortgage company and eating!  I used my leftover chicken, added onion, mushrooms and kale and then simmered that in Kettle and Fire chicken mushroom bone broth.  

After I got done with my calls.  I had more baking to do and I'm proud to say I didn't sample anything!  I had a few more things to do around the house and still had school work to do.

Our house went up live today and we already have 8 showings!  6 are tomorrow and I have so much to do.  Needless to say my anxiety is up!  We had a showing tonight so it was a good thing I a few errands I could run with the dogs.

I finally got to eat after 7:30!

2 zucchini's spiralized with yesterday's turmeric turkey and a little coconut oil mayo for some flavor.  It was great, so glad I made it.  I topped the night off with 2 AIP carob cherry cookies.

It's late and still lots to do!  Until tomorrow!

Tuesday Day 2 - Elimination Challenge continues

I was woken suddenly at 1am by a Felix kitty getting spooked and jumping straight up from the bed and then taking off.  I have no clue what was going on but when he got back in bed he refused to lay on the sheets and chose a pillow.  I was in a sleep/wake pattern until 4:30!

But this face is SO darn cute I just can't take it!  

But moving on!  I had my typical breakfast - protein shake and a few sips of my leftover chai latte from Biggby.  I felt fine all morning.  No bloating, nothing weird.  Winning!

That brings me to lunch and eating the remainder of the roasted cauliflower I had from last week.  I hate to waste so I figured I would just go ahead and eat it and see what would happen.  Bloating!  Though not as bad.  So this was last night's leftovers.  Roasted root vegetables, a little bit of chicken.  I did add a couple spoonfuls of bacon jam I had just made too.  I also had a matcha latte at work.  I made myself so I could control the amount of matcha that went in, it was just right!  

I made my way home and got a call from the photographer for our house listing.  He was coming in 10 minutes!  Yikes.  I quickly put things away and moved items around so our house looked good.  Here's hoping they came out well!

I needed to get school work done but still haven't in the past 4 days!  I did finish up my own data that I am sharing with another student in the NTA program.  We are going to interview each other which should be a lot of fun.  Tomorrow I will have most of the day for studying.  I'm not behind, but want to be further ahead.

So after all that I decided to make dinner since it was going to take a little bit.  Real Plans again!  Though I wasn't wild about the taste and I doubt I will make it again unless I change up the seasonings.  Turmeric Turkey Cabbage Rolls and Sauteed Collard Greens.  The collards were fantastic, just coconut oil and salt.

Sadly, bloated again and I ended up eating 3 of these and the meat out of a 4th.  It's packed with carrots and onions.  It's really not a big deal.  Tomorrow I plan on pitching the cabbage (ugh!) and re purposing the turkey.  Stay tuned for that!  I'm going to read.  Till tomorrow!

Monday Day 1 - Back to the elimination phase!

I totally have a rebel tendency (Gretchen Rubin) as I have said before.  I have to be challenged that I can't do something so I can prove I can.  I asked my bestie to tell me she didn't think I could do the elimination again as I desperately needed to.  My gut is off (bloated, gassy), my face is broken out, my anxiety is up!  I'm a hot mess, not where I was over a year ago but I know I can be better.  I need and want to put my symptoms into remission!  So here I am diving back into an elimination.  I am so lucky to have Real Plans because I would hate to have to plan out every meal.  I already feel stretched between work and school and the amount of practice clients I have taken on so this is one less thing to worry about.  To top of the stress and anxiety level we are putting our house back on the market!  I love this house but there are things that I want that won't happen here.  The biggest thing is a bigger open kitchen.

So how is my Monday the first day back into it working out?  UGH!!  Jack woke me up at 2 am throwing up in the corner of the bedroom.  I so would have left it until later but it stunk.  I know why would I leave it?!  It was 2am!  I so didn't want to get up, but I did.  I let him outside while I cleaned everything up.  He came in like nothing happened and we went back to bed.  Then starting around 4 or 5 the cats began to come in to jump all over me to get up and fed them.  Easier to resist and I got up with D's alarm at 6:30.

Everyone was fed by 6:45 and I was on to make my breakfast.  I'm keeping it as it is since it's clean and I have no issues with what's in it.

Equip Foods Prime Protein, collagen, pea protein milk (or coconut), maca and a whole small avocado.  The avocado give the protein shake the perfect thickness!  I love it.  I'm also giving up coffee and going with matcha tea lattes.  I had one leftover from Saturday at Starbucks so I had the rest of that one and planned on trying one at Whole Foods later.

I got to the gym around 8:30 and was out around 9:30.  I like quick workouts specially when they are efficient!  I had a ton of errands to do - Costco, drop of groceries from Costco to work, Whole Foods, Target, Kroger and the Post Office.  I finally got home just after 12:15 and was starving.  I was smart with my spiralized zucchini noodles because this lunch came together quick!

Zucchini noodles, 4 strips of bacon and some Kettle and Fire chicken mushroom bone broth.  It was good but I needed more and had a tablespoon of coconut butter.  Exhaustion fell over me pretty quickly as it normally does in the afternoon - thank you adrenal fatigue!  I had some time before my appointment with the realtor so I laid down on the couch and had a cute face that down with me.

He is just too cute!  I just love that face and he just loves to rub his face on mine and give lots of kisses.  After the realtor I headed to Vitamin Shoppe for some probiotics.  I got home to shower and start a load of laundry.  By the time I sat down to even try to be even more productive it was time to start making dinner.

Tonight's dinner was roasted chicken and root vegetables.  I really should have taken a before picture of the chicken since I butchered the crap out of it.  D got home and was hungry so I just started to rip it apart.  The vegetables are carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, and golden beets.  I ended up eating a little more chicken when I was de-boning the rest of it for lunch later this week (and tomorrow).

Dessert was an (2!) AIP carob cherry cookie.  Really good and I wonder how the carbs will hit me.  Dependin on the carb source I can end up being really hungry.  But, so far so good!

Now I am going to chill and watch DC's Legend's of Tomorrow.  I just started watching it and I'm hooked.

Being AIP compliant and easy on myself - A week in review

Why do I find it hard?!  It's not like I haven't been fully compliant before.  What is it that is making it more difficult this time?  Am I being orthorexic in general?  I have listen to a number of podcast that resist this urge to be so strict.  Food is just food and if you restrict it you set yourself up for a binge.    Is it different for me since I have an autoimmune?  I know if I have something too many days in a row I will have breakouts but not always digestional upset.  I only have 2 foods that I really want to eat every day - eggs and nut butters.  I've had both twice this week and that is below my minimums.  Of course I really want a cupcake from Yummy Cupcakes but that is going to wait until the end of the month.

I've been feeling bloated in general, nothing horrible, but then again it could just be a feeling of fullness.  I think it's all the broccoli and cauliflower!  This coming week I am trying to back off on my protein intake to see what differences that may make (started today!)

Here is a look at this weeks eats!

Monday night was Chicken Marabella.  I loved the capers and green olives in this dish.  D wasn't a fan of those but liked it otherwise.  I keep asking him when he will be sick of all this chicken, which is his doing!

Tuesday lunch was sriracha brussels from Whole Foods, spinach and pulled roasted chicken.  I just love the brussels!  I did get anymore and wondering if I will do so tomorrow since it is my grocery shopping day!

Tuesday night dinner for me since D has his gf pasta.  This was chicken with bacon and spaghetti squash carbonara.  I think it's what I'm having this Tuesday too!

A Wednesday gym day selfie, cause why not for the random selfie... I don't do them as much as others do.

NO EGGS!!  Taste = YUM!

Roasted chicken with sauteed greens and bacon with mayo.

Here was my moment of weakness!! Cookie Dough Ice Cream.  Completely AIP.   I really just wanted to buy ice cream but didn't cause I can make it at home!  UGH, what was I thinking!!  I need to just have single serve.  So, by Friday I ended up picking the cookie dough out but got stuffy!  I'm wondering if the coconut flour has something to do with it.

Dinner was fabulous!  Stuffed chicken breast and steamed green beans.  The chicken was stuffed with sauteed mushrooms, onions and greens then baked in the oven for around 20 minutes.

Lunchtime eats!  Stuffed portabella mushrooms - stuffed = bacon and spinach.  This was really good and easy!

Thursday night = breakfast for dinner!  I made PaleOMG breakfast sandwich just deconstructed!  The "bun" is 2 pancakes.  I topped it with vanilla almond butter and an fried egg and kept the pork.  It was filling and really good.  Just what I wanted to have.  It was so good I am repeating it this week too!

Friday's lunch was a Whole Foods lunch.  @ pieces of bacon with asparagus, broccoli and curried cauliflower.  It was "light" and really good.

Friday's dinner was a smothered chicken in onions and mushrooms and lots of steamed broccoli.  D had the added sweet potato.

Saturday is our date night.  Again we went out for sushi at Birmingham Sushi.  I got the beef lovers bi bim bap.  It's really good and gives me a lot of veggies.  They make the dish gluten free and no rice for me.  It's really pricey through, only downfall.  I mean $25?!? Plus the gf sauce is extra!

I thought I would try to go a little more veggie heavy on Sunday.  It didn't turn out the greatest.  I added the Forager veggie juice and I don't think it really agreed with me.  I only drank half with my veggies above and my stomach was upset.  Despite that I went home and had a normal dinner.  Myself and one of my sisters is the same way.  Even if our stomach doesn't feel good we still eat.

Now about my skin!  I figured I needed to get some anti-aging products since I wasn't as happy as how my skin could be looking and I am please with the products I got from Whole Foods this week.

I purchased all Andalou products.  I got the above Brightening eye serum.  I also purchased the Fruit Stem Cell Revitalize Serum and Hyaluronic DMAE Lift & Firm cream from the anti-aging line and that came with a free Reservatrol Q10 night repair cream.  How perfect can that be?!  The line is gluten free which was number one for me.

What's your favorite skincare products?

Sunday Funday Workday!

I have been feeling so much positivity the last few days.  Maybe it's school, I'm sure it's partially that and the new things that are developing.  My schedule freeing up to be able to do the things that will help me grow my business.

 But first let's get into the recent eats and other miscellaneous things!

The BEST protein shake around is with Equip foods!  No whey, no egg.  1/2 an avocado, 4 ice cubes, some leftover latte or water and a scoop of each.  It's thick and creamy and oh so good!  It tastes like a brownie in a cup.  Who could want anything more?

Felix is exploring more and not really caring what Nostrand is doing or where she is at.  Stryker just doesn't know what to do in general and Jack just doesn't care and lays out on the couch!

Friday's dinner was a burger with bacon and avocado.  I mean really?! Bacon and avocado on all the things!  I had some roasted cauliflower left and a small side of tomato and bib lettuce under the burger.

I thought I would show some of them work at Birmingham Roast.  The bagel sandwich on the left is the creation of the coffeehouse manager.  He's calling it the Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich.  It has 3 eggs, cheddar, grilled red onion, chicken, bacon, avocado and spinach.  This one happens to be on a everything bagel, but could be on any bread and even done gluten free.  My creation on the right is a creme brulee french toast with coffee butter and pure maple syrup!  We could also do this one gluten free.  Rave reviews on both and they will be on the special menu starting this week!

Sunday I had no lunch prepared so I prepared food at work.  Grilled chicken, bacon and smoked salmon on top of arugula with a sprinkling of grilled red onion and avocado.  I haven't had this is a while and it was really good.  I also got to meet one of my group leaders from NTA, Jennifer!  I was so excited to meet her and fabulous she has a practice in Birmingham.

That bring us to tonight's dinner which was roasted dijon chicken with balsamic roasted brussels and bacon and a small side of maple glazed white sweet potato.  This really was an easy meal.  I cut the backbone out of a whole chicken and roasted it in a cast iron skillet for 40 minutes.  Once it was done  I took it out to rest and added 1 cup bone broth, 1 tbs dijon mustard and an 1/8 of an onion and simmered until reduced.  The brussels were roasted in the oven for 30 minutes and added cooked bacon and 1 tbs. balsamic vinegar and mixed.  I roasted the sweet potato in the oven at the same time for 30 minutes in coconut oil and maple syrup then seasoned it with salt and pepper.

There it is!  Easy peasy.

I'm testing out meal delivery with a friend to see if it's something I want to add to my NTP.  I already cook for a living and I love it so I figured why not?!?  Who wouldn't want to not have to worry about cooking at night when they get home?!  So more on that to come!

Recent Eats and an Oatmeal Experiment

It's been a very emotional week so far and it's only Thursday!  But I will get back to that soon enough and why the emotions are/were so high!

First I figure I can start off with what I have been eating this week, besides my morning protein shake.  Been there, done that!

From The Allergy Chef I won these TigerNut treats.  The chocolate clusters were seriously good!  I seem to respond pretty well to them.  No stomach upsets, no headaches, no breakouts!  Score!  Will have to see what happens with the banana ones!

Monday I made grass fed pot roast with garlic mashed cauliflower and steamed broccoli.  According to the recipe I should have slow cooked this in a 275 degree oven and I think it would have been far more tender.  I cooked it in the Instantpot and I was surprised that it turned out to be pretty tough.  It tasted great, but tough.  Could it have been the cut?  Doubtful!  Chef error!

Tuesday was a workday so the above was my lunch!  I bought sriracha brussels on Monday and added some ground turkey thigh and mache rosettes to the mix.  Really good and tasty!

This is what happens when I try to study! LOL  This cat! 

Tuesday night is pasta (gluten free) night for D and I make whatever I want.  I made a seared pork chop with sauteed collard greens.  This came out so good I can't even!  I just used some simple herbs, salt and pepper.

My back view as I was finishing up Wednesdays Made Strong workout.  Here's what I did after my treadmill warm up.

Waiter/Farmer carries 30#/40# 3 sets

Bench Press 3x8 35# db

BB Deadlift 3x5 60# (too light)

Sumo Deadlifts 3x10 50# db

KB Swings 3x20 30#

Broad Jumps 3x 4 big jumps

Mountain Climbers 3x20

Smith Machine Deadlift (just to test) 3x6 80#

I don't care for the position that the Smith Machine puts me in for a deadlift so I am looking to other things since equipment is limited.

Last night's dinner was simple seared chicken thighs (PaleOMG) with a simple salad of homemade dijon vinegrette and the remaining steamed broccoli

Today for lunch I decided I was going to experiment with oatmeal.  I've been craving it and wanted to see if I could tolerate it or see what reactions I would have from eating it.  I followed Sally Fallon's recommendation of soaking the oats, which I did for over 24 hours in 2 tbs. of cider vinegar.  I cooked the oats for approximately 5 minutes on the stove in a additional 1 cup of water and 1 tbs. flaxseed meal and some salt.  First off, I could taste too much of the vinegar.  I added some butter and some chocolate hazelnut butter.  It is breakfast day today (Thursday!).  I also cooked up 2 strips of bacon for some protein and added fat.  First, it was a lot of carbs which is why I didn't eat it for breakfast.  Let me back up a bit though.  I had my protein shake as usual and then did some studying. I noticed about 2 hours in a sugar crash, which is when I grabbed the rest of the TigerNut clusters.  I felt a bit better and went downstairs to do a BOD leg workout.  I finished and came upstairs to test a cinncmon roll recipe that didn't turn out.  They tasted great but the dough ended up being too dry.  That's when I was making the oatmeal.  Multi-tasking you know!  So getting back to the oatmeal.  It tasted better when the nut butter was mixed in.  So I'm not sure if I would use the same preparation next time.  One hour after I finished eating I was still feeling fine.  Around 2 hours I noticed that I felt slightly off, maybe a little foggy.  At 3 hours I was starting to get hungry again, really hungry.  So I grabbed some roasted cabbage.  This was easily a roughly 700 calorie meal and it should have kept me fuller longer.  I did eat about a cup of the prepared oatmeal, though the recipe said it could have fed 4, I have no idea how?!  I eat a lot!

Even as a kid I ate a lot, and I could eat 2 no problem.

Around 3:30 when I fed the animals I snacked on a little bit of roasted cauliflower before sitting back down to study.

Just before 5 I decided I should start my dinner cause D was going to be late.  Continuing the breakfast theme I made Stupid Easy Paleo's Scotch Eggs.  I believe they did make a debute on the blog.  I'm a huge fan of these.  A good amount of protein with a mix of egg and pork with cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.  I had some leftover roasted cabbage I sauteed with mushrooms and onions from yesterday.  It hit the spot!  Too many carbs earlier in the day has been a great experiment.

By experimenting with carbs I cannot solely process carbs successfully in the morning, nor in the afternoon.  I do best with a small amounts either at lunch or dinner.  I've observed I feel better with sweet potato and white potato, but certain flour substances like cassava I do not.  Cassava causes my blood sugar to spike.

I'm going to wrap up this post with why it's been an emotional week.  D and I have been trying to re-home Jack and on Wednesday it happened.  Well, today he ended up coming back, after an overnight visit!  He displayed all the bad behaviors he possibly could and even growled at their little girl when she hugged her mom!  All day I was getting texts about what he was doing and I cannot believe it!  I certainly don't blame the couple that took him and I understand where they were coming from.  So tonight he came back.  The house had zero tension while he was gone for the day and Stryker was actually so much better.  I don't know how I feel about him being back, is that bad of me?  I mean I love him so much yet he causes so much trouble!  I do have him on Rescueme.org too.  He needs to have a home with no other dogs and a single female.  I think that would be best.  Right now we have him medicated so Mr Grumpers doesn't come out.  We shall see how things go!  I've never had to re-home a beloved pet.

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What a Sunday! A look back at the week

All I can say really about today is what a sh*t storm of a day.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I was happy that I was busy but the setup I have in the kitchen is not to be desired!  I could increase my product time if I had a proper "make table", which I have zero!  Oh, this is about work, in case you didn't catch on to it.  

I went to bed not feeling the best after last night's dinner.  Who knows what part of it didn't agree with me.  I was kinda hungry when I woke up and practicing yoga, but didn't want to eat.  I figured I would have a protein shake later at work and took a bar with me too.  Well I made the shake about 9:30-ish and didn't finish it.  I ate my bar between 12:30 and 1 and got stomach cramps after that.  I did also have a but of almond butter and a cortado.  Maybe if I stayed on point with my foods I wouldn't have a wonky stomach!  BUT, I didn't eat bad last night.  We went to Mt. Chalet and I got my usually burger with guacamole, coleslaw and bacon.  Though this time I did add a fried egg.  Maybe I have been having too many eggs and almond butter.  The eggs just slip in there so easy.  The almond butter, well I just don't need to lick the knife!  My skin hasn't been bad besides the 2 pimples on my cheek that won't really go away ( I pick too, doesn't help), but almost gone!

So I'm trying to think back to Friday.... I really don't think anything super exciting happened.  I worked of course, so nothing new there.

But this happened!  I mean LMAO!  Love Coffee Ripples.  I don't remember what I had for lunch, wait!  Yes I do.  I didn't take a photo because it didn't look pretty!  It was roasted maple brussels, kale and ground turkey.  It was tasty and did the job, keeping me not hangry!

Dinner was a PaleOMG recipe!!  Southwest turkey sliders with avocado dressing slaw.  D wanted nothing to do with it 😔  It was really good.  A hint of spiciness to both the slaw and turkey.  The slaw was creamy from the avocado and little bit of olive oil.  Really tasty and different from what I normally make. I would make it over and over again, but a single serving since D wouldn't eat it.

Saturday lunch turned out to be some leftovers since my protein pancakes were an epic fail!  I was still kinda full from my shake, but since I just lifted and I need to add a few pounds I ate anyway.  My pancakes turned into a glob of gu!  Probably because I blended the banana and not mashed it.  I had some roasted cabbage and topped the burgers with mayo.

After I ate I took Stryker to the pet store to get a bath .  He did really well, but he did jump out of the tub in the end.  I bought him a cookie anyway!

Saturday means dinner is out!  D got back from the gym after 6 so we were limited as to where we could go and not wait.  So we walked over to Mt. Chalet and was lucky enough to get the last table!  I had the piedmontese burger (medium rare) on a bed of romaine lettuce with coleslaw, guacamole, bacon and a fried egg.  I so think I over did it!  There was 6 slices of bacon on it!  I ate everything but the tomato slices and lettuce under those.  I only dipped into the mayo a few times, so most of that was left.  When I got home I made sure to take my HCL.  I just didn't feel well the rest of the night.  Even when I woke in the middle of the night to pet a purring Felix next to me I wasn't right.

As soon as I got home I fed the animals and poured a glass of wine.  I relaxed on the couch and no sooner as I finished my wine D got home.  I was lucky enough to have the leftovers from Friday and D's leftovers from last night so all I needed to do was re-heat everything and dinner was served.  I did have some cashew butter filled chocolate after dinner.

I know what you are thinking.... you had a bad stomach yet you drank wine and had chocolate.  You didn't really eat well all day.

Yeah, I didn't make the best choices but I don't dwell or stress on them.  Tomorrow is another day and I will make fabulous choices and not have any of the "bad" stuff I shouldn't.  Mainly sugar.  Come on! even the best paleo/AIP bloggers make decisions that are not the best for them.  We make up for it and move on.

Till tomorrow!