Love yourself.

If I've learned anything in the short two years since I've become a mother, it's that I thrive when I take care of myself. The past 6 months have been HARD and I can tell you that I struggled the most when I wasn't doing that. I've been called selfish and I've been told that I don't put my husband/children/family/home first. But you know what? I function much better as a wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, etc. when I am happy and healthy. I have never, EVER neglected my children or family in order to care for myself but by neglecting myself I can't properly care for my family. Do the things you need to do to be the best version of yourself. Eat well. Move your body. Rest. Go outside. Unplug. Listen to music. Ignore your to-do list for a day. Call a friend. Volunteer. Read a book. Take a nap. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it makes you feel like a better you.

Whole30- Week 3

Alright, here is the meal plan for week 3! Breakfast and lunch have pretty much stayed the same. I can't believe we are over halfway done. It's going great so far and I can't wait to share when we are done. 

Beef and spinach stuffed sweet potatoes-http://unbearablygood.blogspot.com/2013/04/spinach-beef-stuffed-sweet-potatoes.html

Mini pepper ring meatloaf (leave out the cheese and breadcrumbs)-http://www.diaryofarecipecollector.com/mini-meatloaf-pepper-rings.html

Buffalo chicken and broccoli with cauliflower rice-http://www.foxandbriar.com/buffalo-chicken-and-broccoli-bowls/

Salt & vinegar chicken wings-http://www.casadecrews.com/2014/02/salt-and-vinegar-chicken-wings-for-sundaysupper.html

Buffalo chicken casserole- http://paleoleap.com/sweet-potato-buffalo-chicken-casserole/

Coconut lime cod-http://mamasweeds.com/2013/10/27/oven-roasted-coconut-lime-cod/

The ghost of weight loss past

I came across an old picture the other day. It's probably seven years old, so before marriage and children. My first thought upon seeing that picture was, "Wow, I wish I still looked like that." And then... I remembered what it took for me to look like that. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it but I'm going to anyway. It's an important part of who I am and how I ended up here on my journey to better health. So here goes.

When the picture was taken, I was in college. My sophomore year maybe? I was always a little "thicker" than I would have liked to be in high school but in those first two years afterward I gained a decent amount of weight. A comment from a former friend pushed me to want to finally work on losing that weight. And so I did. I meticulously counted every calorie. My snacks were laden with artificial sweeteners and additives all for the sake of saving calories. Low fat this, egg white that. Because many of the calories I ate were empty, I was still hungry at the end of the day. That was just my diet. I spent hours, HOURS in the gym. I had a pretty big time gap between classes so I would swim, spin, hop on the elliptical, do strength training, etc.... Sometimes for two hours at a time. And then there was the scale. That darn scale! I was weighing myself at least three times a day. I was weighing in weekly (I was doing Weight Watchers at the time) and I would either not eat or eat minimally in hopes of having a good weigh in that week. All of that sounds super healthy, right? No. Sure, it all worked. I lost over 50lbs. Was I happy? Did I keep the weight off? No and NO. That lifestyle is not sustainable at all and I gained all of that weight back and then some.

Fast forward about three years. I'm the heaviest I've ever been.

 I'm graduated, married, and desperately wanting to have kids. Except I can't. Or at least I can't have them without medical intervention. I have PCOS and my doctor informed it would be difficult to get pregnant naturally.  As she listed off the list of medications I could take, I just kept thinking I didn't want it to be like this. I didn't know what else I could do. She mentioned on my way out the door that a low carb/gluten free diet might help with some of the problems my body was having and that losing some weight would help things along as well. I started doing my homework, reading about PCOS and how diet affects it. Turns out, almost everything I was eating when I lost weight the first time (artificial sweeteners, mainly) did NOTHING to help my body get ready to have a baby. I was filling it with inflammatory, illness inducing CRAP. The first thing I did was cut out gluten. I kept doing my homework about the foods I should eat. I learned so, so much. I started eating full fat yogurt, real butter, the WHOLE EGG. I stopped counting calories and focused on eating balanced meals. And guess what? I. Was. Losing. Weight. Gone were the days of working out for hours at a time. I found that I really liked spinning and strength training, so I started doing that a few times a week. Again, I lost 50+lbs. But it was different this time. I was happy. I was nourishing my body. I was keeping the weight off. And then the best thing ever happened--- I found out I was pregnant. With no use of hormones or medical intervention. 

Ever since then, I have continued to do my research about food and my diet has changed even more. I successfully lost all of the weight I gained from my first pregnancy and I'm following the same game plan as I work on losing the weight I gained during my second pregnancy. But it's about more than that. It's about understanding how my body works and how to take care of it. Food can HEAL, friends. I'm proof. 

I share all of this to say be MINDFUL about how you treat your body. Read and research food and how it affects you. I was a slave to poor nutrition, points/calorie trackers, and the scale for a long time. I have found so much freedom in knowing how to successfully nourish my body. So instead of wishing I looked like the first picture, I'm going to focus on my inspiration picture. I look at this picture and I see strength and health and determination. And I'm happy this is who I've turned out to be. 

Whole30- Week 2

We are gearing up for the Week 2 of Whole30! Here is our meal plan:

You might notice that there are a couple repeat recipes from last week. Like I mentioned in my last post, my meal plans are flexible. Sometimes we eat exactly what's planned, sometimes we switch things around, sometimes we toss things out and make something completely different. The meals we did not have last week I put on this week's meal plan.

It's supposed to be hot this week, so we are just keeping things pretty simple. The only "new" recipe is the sloppy joe sweet potatoes. I'll post that below. The spinach salad is simply grilled chicken with fruit/veggies on a bed of spinach with dressing. The lemon chicken all goes in the crockpot and I just randomly season it. All breakfast recipes are same from last week.

Sloppy joe sweet potatoes (do NOT add the sugar/honey)- http://www.paleonewbie.com/paleo-sweet-potato-sloppy-joes-recipe/