Whole30, Week 1 down.

The last time I started a Whole30, I quit after four days. I'm at the end of Day 7. Here's how it's going.

I'm back to drinking my water - yay! I make this up every day in the big pitcher, and refill my glass every time I get up. Lemons, cucumbers, and oranges go in mine most of the time. 

I have gotten in a very bad snacking habit, especially when I'm stressed. This week has definitely tested my determination, with a lot of work and long hours, and just that craving to grab something crunchy or chocolate. Instead, I'm making do with this:

These raspberries are some of the best I've ever tasted. Those are walnuts on top. 

The meals have gone according to plan this week. Chicken salad for lunch on Monday and shrimp/chicken stir fry on Monday night. Tuesday was grilled pork chops...

...with butternut squash and kale saute, with pecans. Why yes, that IS a "K" branded on top of my pork chop. RDub was playing with his Christmas present. 

Wednesday night I made Crockpot Chicken and Tomato soup. It was really good, and so very simple. I added fresh spinach to my bowl -- I didn't want it to cook down in the soup, but this was just right. 

Recipe here if you'd like to try it!

Thursday night was a new recipe -- Asian Meatballs from nomnompaleo. 

I had to steal this picture from here -- I ate this three times and never took a picture. 

Simple ingredients -- the orange chunks you see is diced sweet potato! The strange ingredient (for me) was fish sauce. It's always sounded gross (no idea why) but it is quite versatile. Now that I know what it is, I'm seeing it in more recipes.

Friday was a grilling day! I love those days. Grilled shrimp, put into lettuce leaf tacos with Spanish cauliflower rice, tomatoes, and avocados. 

Saturday is always a little last minute. I'd sort of planned on salmon, but it was pouring rain...no grilling. Backup plan? Buffalo chicken meatloaf!

RDub and I really like this "meat"loaf -- in this case, it's ground turkey. Use Frank's Red Hot (which is just a tiny bit not-quite-Whole30 because of a smitch of sugar), celery, onion, spices...and it totally tastes like a chicken wing! On the side was a quick spinach, avocado, tomato, and lime juice salad.

Finally, tonight was our salute to pizza for the Super Bowl. I don't care much about the game, as long as Tom Brady doesn't win, so no party for us. 

Meatza is a Paleo staple -- the "crust" is ground beef, with toppings of your choice. The others in the house get cheese on theirs, but I stick to spinach, chicken, bacon, and veggies.

Now we're at week one and the real question is...How am I surviving without caffeine? No coffee for me, and I definitely had the three-day headache going. I've found a hot tea I like that doesn't make me want to add honey, so I'm fooling myself in the mornings with that. And the other looming question...the wine? Not a big deal. I get bored with water, since that's all I drink, so of course a glass of wine sounds great. But not a big deal. 

I made it to Boot Camp three times as planned this week -- very sore upper body at the moment. I'm figuring out how to get more steps into every day, given that I sit at a desk all day. Meals are planned for the coming week, shopping is done, and Saturday is when we're celebrating our anniversary -- one meal off!

This post has gone on way too long! Go, anybody but Patriots!