No oat oatmeal

I had to start with the recipe for no oat oatmeal.  It's the one thing that I would say got me through the Whole30 plan and made the paleo diet livable at the beginning. I found this recipe after a few days into the diet.  Now, I know you will be skeptical because we certainly were, and the whole thing has a Dickensian air about it, but this is absolutely my favourite.  Sam and I eat it every morning and (like all breakfast foods) at other times of the day too.  It's largely the recipe that can be found here, but I make it in a larger quantity because it really is labour intensive.  I usually grind about 5 or 6 cups of nuts in my blender on a Sunday and they will keep me going for a week or so.  I use a walnut/pecan/ almond mixture, but I imagine that any combination of nuts would do.

I whisk 12 eggs with 1 cup of almond milk.  Then I blend 4 or 5 bananas and then add 2 large tablespoons of almond butter.  I add the blended mixture to the eggs/almond milk and mix with the whisk.  Then I add 2 cups of ground nuts, 1/2 cup Trader Joe's ground flax seed with blueberries, some vanilla, ground ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Mix it all together and then cook in a pan until it's done.  I tend to leave it a little underdone so that it's not overcooked when we microwave it.  I make a batch on Sunday and put a portion into 5 containers.  I add some blueberries and strawberries to each one and I take them to work on Monday and put in the fridge.  Then I have my breakfast organized for the whole week.  Sam puts raisins with his and the same fruit that I do.  Please, Sir, can I have some more?????

My Whole30 Paleo Challenge

I decided to start this blog to help myself keep a track of goals, achievements and recipes.  However, if it helps anyone else along the way, that will be a huge plus.  I have to admit that I was a huge skeptic of the paleo diet when Sam first started following it, but more recently I have become more open to exploring it for myself.  I have notice a huge difference in Sam's body structure and he is constantly telling me how much better he feels when he is not eating a lot of carbohydrates and processed food.  Add to that the fact that I have been frustrated with my weight and body shape for a long time and have never been able to stick to eating better when I have tried previously.  Those things bring me to where I am today.

I have Leeny Hoffmann to thank for me completing the paleo challenge, which included me sticking to a paleo diet for 6 weeks so far.  She started a group challenge back in January through Crossfit St. Louis.  I asked her if I could join the challenge even though I was not a gym member.  The challenge consisted of before and after pictures, a before and after fitness assessment, sticking to the Whole30 plan for 30 days and then adding back a few "treats" for a couple of weeks.

I kept a journal for 30 days and stuck to the regimen as described-no grains, no dairy, no alcohol, etc.  It wasn't anything like as bad as I thought it would be.  At the end of the challenge, I lost 8.8 lbs (although I didn't think I'd lost anything at all) and I lost 2 inches from my belly and hips.  The before & after pictures were striking (but I'm only publishing the back one for now-maybe one day I will be brave enough to show the others!!).  You can see the amazing difference.  This is all due to diet alone.  I don't exercise much at all and didn't increase my exercise over the 6 week period.  However, my fitness improved so that I did 48 burpees at the end of the challenge compared to 32 at the beginning.

The picture at the top is of our final meeting.  These ladies were with me the whole way through and all had success stories.  Leeny is standing on the right of the picture.

The challenge has given me the start I needed and I am hoping I can keep this up.  The journal was a huge help and I'm hoping this turns into my long-term journal.