What A Day

Today, as been a busy day. I finally have a completed room in this house of ours. Only took a month. And, well it’s not completely done as there are some home decor/decorating I need to do to a wall, and the new furniture that will be going in, but for now the room is done, unpacked, and clean. 

   
   
And, today marks Day 7 of my second Whole 30, and I am pleased to report its going really well. 

So, I’ve completed a week of eating healthy, whole, real food so now tomorrow I need to start adding in 30 minutes of exercise. I need to be healthy all around. And, well now that the living room is complete I have space to work out at home. 

I’m thinking I’m going to start the new Pound series I got. Test it out with the knee since I know T25 is going to be a bit too much for me. I’ll try the Pound workout and see how it goes tomorrow if it’s too much I’ll pick something else to try the next day. 

Hope you’ve had a great weekend.  

Plans Change

I had great plans of making chicken avocado burgers tonight for dinner. 

However, this is what it looks like outside right now: 

 
And, it’s been coming down like this since about 2 this afternoon. 

So, yeah plans of grilling are out the window. I do have a grill pan and could grill my burgers inside but it’s just not the same. And, oh yeah I’ve now lost all ambition to whip them up. So then I thought I’ll make chicken taco boats, taco seasoned ground chicken in romaine leaves with tomato, avocado, and peppers, but that just seems like a lot of work too. 

I thought about pulling almond crusted chicken tenders out of the freezer and throwing them in the air fryer along with some broccoli, but I just realized I have no compliant BBQ sauce or ranch dressing made right now, so yeah that’s out. 

So my choices are eat more leftover chicken from last night or eat chicken sausage I was lucky enough to pick up today. 

Yeah, I’m leaning towards the leftover chicken since I’m really not in the mood to do much of anything yet alone cook something. 

I’m feeling pretty tired today. I’m sure it has to do with the waking up early and having an early start to the day. It’ll be an early to bed night that’s for sure. 

Hope you’re enjoying your Saturday and it’s not raining on your plans. 

Getting This Eating Under Control

Today is Day 5 of my Whole 30 and I can say I definitely am feeling some changes. My skin was clearing up but I got my monthly visitor so I’ve had a few bits of acne pop up. My joints aren’t feeling as swollen, which is nice because my knees have been bothering me a lot. I’m still feeling tired and having difficulty falling asleep, but I think the whole falling asleep thing is just because my mind is racing with all of the things I need to get done in this house. I need to learn to shut the brain off. The biggest change is I’m not hungry nor am I snacking between meals. I need to remember this that eating whole real good food results in me eating way less then when I eat crap food. 

It’s hot here in VA so basically all of my cooking has been done on the grill as I want nothing to do with starting my oven. The house is hot enough without the added heat from the oven. 

Today I tried out 2 new recipes. I made a watermelon cucumber mint salad to go with my lunch, and it was delicious. It is definitely going to be a go to summer salad for me. The second was balsamic lemon Rosemary grilled chicken. Holy cow it is awesome. So tasty lots of flavor. Another way I will be making grilled chicken. I have a new chicken burger recipe planned for dinner tomorrow night which I’m super excited about. 

Seriously, if you think it’s hard to eat clean it’s not. There are so many amazing recipes out there and a lot of them are easy and not very time consuming. 

I mean the salad I made it was 5 minutes of prep work and the chicken was like 2 minutes of prep work. I did have to do the prep a bit in advance as the chicken needed to marinate and you want the flavors to meld together, but overall time you have to put into it not much at all. 

Now, does the chicken take longer to cook then say running through the drive thru yes absolutely but at least you know what you are getting when you cook it at home. 

And, I’m enjoying watermelon lime infused water. 

Here and here are the recipes I used for today’s yumminess. 
Enjoy your weekend. 

Crio Bru

Have you heard of Crio Bru? I hadn’t until recently. It’s pure 100% ground cocoa beans. The claims are that its antioxidant rich, cholesterol free, gluten and sugar free, fat and sodium free, increase energy, and reduce hunger. 

• It is supposed to help boost your immune system with antioxidants. 
• Increases energy naturally with theobromine (not caffeine). 
• Curb your appetite and lose weight
• Support your heart, brain, and bones with magnesium. 
• Maintain healthy blood sugar levels with chromium and zinc. 
• Healthy and safe for kids. 
• Gluten free.

This information was taken from the package. 

I am a hot chocolate drinker but most of the stuff out there is garbage. This is supposed to be a truly dark chocolate experience. It’s not sweetened, but you can add sweetener to it. I will not be doing that for the next 26 days as no sweeteners are to be had while on the Whole 30. 

You brew your Crio Bru the same way you’d brew traditional coffee. They say using a French Press is the best way to go. As I’m not a coffee drinker at all I did not own a coffee maker or a French Press. I now of course own a French Press as I bought it at the same time as the Crio Bru. 

I am so not a coffee drinker or knowledgeable of coffee preparation so I had to watch some videos on how to use my new French Press. I watched a video on how to brew it from Crio Bru’s website as well and am all ready to try out this product. 

Just like coffee you can get different varieties of Crio Bru based on where the beans are grown. I bought the Cavalla Bru which is from the Ivory Coast which has flavor notes of coconut and cinnamon. 

You can check out their website here.

Let me tell you when you open the bag the smell is delectable. It’s a very rich chocolatey aroma. I could definitely just sniff the bag forever. The ground cocoa beans look like course ground beans pretty much like a coffee bean would look like. But, in my opinion smells way better than any bag of coffee beans ever will, but again I’m no coffee drinker. 

Once your water boils if you are using the French press method it takes between 10-12 minutes to brew. So yes, it takes a little time to make, although it has none of the garbage that the little packets you just add water to and stir. 

As for the taste it’s pretty good. I made it on the weak side not knowing if I’d like it. However, I think I made it too weak. So next time I will definitely be following the directions, and brewing this a bit stronger. I’m sure it will take some trial and error to get it to the strength that I like. 

I definitely recommend this if you enjoy drinking a cup of something nice and relaxing. It is of course ridiculously hot here in VA, so I’m not sure how often I’ll be drinking it as when it’s hot out I want nothing to do with hot  food or drinks. Although, I’m already thinking about brewing it and then pouring it over ice.  I think it would taste amazing in a hot day. 

  
Crio Bru in one of my favorite mugs. 

Oh and I forgot best part Whole 30 approved. 

Me Right Now

  
Seriously, people stop posting all of these wonderful treats. Even though they are healthier versions I can’t eat them for at least the next 27 days. 

I was using Pinterest to find some new recipes but I think I’ll be sticking to my many cookbooks at least there I can skip over the dessert sections. 

Although, I will say I love the food I’ve been eating. And, it’s definitely filling me up. 

  

Holy Headache

This morning I woke up with a pounding headache. I’m fairly certain it was due to a bit of dehydration and possibly a little bit of detoxing going on. As I’ve been eating crap food for quite a while and yesterday it was all whole clean foods. 

I’ve been drinking tons of, okay well tons for me since I know I don’t drink nearly enough throughout the day. However, so far today I’ve drank 72 ounces. So that’s pretty impressive. 

I started the morning out with a big 32oz glass of nice ice cold water, along with my breakfast. And, I’m happy to say that the headache faded quite a bit after eating and drinking my water. 

Along with my plain normal water I’ve been enjoying a cucumber, lemon, mint, and ginger infused water. All I have to say is I love my Infuse Pitcher. I cut up everything, put it in the infuser place in the pitcher fill with water and then a little while later have awesome flavored water. 

This is the second day of my whole 30 and the second day I didn’t have lunch. This again wasn’t planned but I got called to work at the last minute so there was no time to make a lunch to take with me. I know I’m supposed to eat 3 meals and I plan on it tomorrow, but I wasn’t even hungry at lunch time. I will say though when it was time for dinner tonight I was ready for it. And, I can say that this morning I was ready for breakfast, but I was by no means starving or ready to eat my own arm off. 

I definitely notice, and notice quickly that when I’m eating whole, real food I’m no where near as hungry as I am when I eat crap. 

I’m working out my meal plan for tomorrow in my head now. Looking forward to eating some really tasty food. 

If you have the app TwoGrand you can follow me @AbbyR and see all of my meals I’ve been making and eating. 

Happy Tuesday

Whole 30 Round 2

Today I started my second round of Whole 30. I’ve done very little prep for it this time around unlike last time where I meticulously planned everything out. 

This morning I made a wonderful omelette with fresh pico and guacamole in it. I had a side of orange bell peppers to help scoop up all the goodness that fell out of the omelette. 

I didn’t eat lunch today which I know is a no-no, but my breakfast wasn’t eaten until nearly 11 am and then I had a ton of stuff going on today. I didn’t pack anything with me nor did I have anything compliant ready to go with me. It was okay I wasn’t hungry anyway. 

When it came to dinner time though I was ready to eat. I made a salad topped with chicken cilantro lime sausage and Tessamee’s southwest ranch dressing. 

This sausage was delicious, the brand is Bilinsky’s and they had several different types that were compliant. I only picked up this flavor, but will definitely be trying out others later on. 

Tessamee’s dressing, I’m not sure about it yet this was the first time I’ve tried it. I think I will stick to making my own dressings. Although, this was good in a pinch since I haven’t made any mayo, dressings, or sauces yet. 

I rounded out my meal with some fresh ground almond butter and strawberries. 

I’m trying to like coconut water but it’s just not working for me. I bought a things of coconut water and had a cup with dinner tonight but I still am not really crazy about it. I’ll finish the carton of it but it’s just really not my thing I guess. I’m going to try adding some muddled pineapple to my next glass of it and see if I enjoy it anymore. If not then I will know it’s time to give up on the whole coconut water thing. 

So I did amazing on the whole eating part of my Whole 30, however I did not get my 30 minute of planned exercise in as it poured this afternoon while I was babysitting. So it was a big no go for a walk around the neighborhood, instead it was an afternoon full of playing games. 

I am however, continuing to work on my house. Almost done with the kitchen which has been the Most obnoxious thing ever. 

Happy Monday. 

Getting Ready

Today I ran out to the grocery store to pick up a few items so that I can start my While 30 tomorrow. I have to do a big shopping trip, but haven’t really had time to sit down and meal plan so I’m going at it with 2 days worth of meals planned out and then will go from there. 

I thought about doing a 30 minute walk on the beach as my exercise for tomorrow but after the last 2 days of trekking out to the beach for fireworks my knee is telling me to bug off. So, I’m thinking my treadmill and I will have a 30 minute date or perhaps Leslie Sansone and I will have a date tomorrow. I’m also babysitting for a friend tomorrow so maybe we will go for a little walk around her neighborhood. We shall see. 

Also will be doing some more unpacking. 

Hope you’ve had an amazing 4th of July weekend. 

Happy Birthday America

  
I will say I love living at the beach. 

Reason #712

   
    
   
Fireworks on the beach. 

Happy Birthday America!!! Here’s to you!

Gearing Up

I’ve been awful about my food choices and working out since getting injured in February. I’ve gained all the weight I lost and then some. 

So it’s time to get my butt back on the right track. I’m starting another Whole 30 or perhaps longer on Monday. 

I’m going to get through this weekend and enjoy BBQ’s with friends and maybe have a few adult beverages, but come Monday I’m giving my body the reset I need. 

I’ll be jumping head first into the deep end so to speak on Monday with my diet, following the Whole 30 strictly.  As for the exercise portion of my reset that will be a bit more gradual as I’m not sure what I’ll be able to handle with the knee. I’m planning on doing 30 minutes of low intensity walking. Hello my friend Leslie Sansone, or better yet the beach across the street. Ahhhh yeah I think I’ll take a little stroll along the beach. Although, I’ll have to take that slow as the sand can be a bit much on the legs. 

It’s time though I need to get myself back on track and back to being the healthiest I can be. 

Happy 4th of July weekend enjoy and be safe.