Whole 30 Summer Edition

After a super-successful Whole 30 in January of this year, we’ve decided to bite the bullet and do it again during the month of August. Take a look at my 2015 health timeline and you’ll see why:

January– Felt great, lost 17 pounds. Not only that, but James and I began the practice of making Sunday our family day where we do fun things out of the house together. Whole 9 life style in full swing!

February, March and April– kept up the good work while allowing a few indulgences, and still lost another 10 pounds. Skipped a few of our Sunday outings, but on the whole these were good, healthy months.

May– took our mega trip to England and Wales. We had a blast! And we ignored all healthy eating habits and tried all the food. Because Europe.

tea — Afternoon Tea in Bath. OMG those scones.

June and July– Despite my best efforts, the sugar dragon is back! Lots of parties and a few long weekend vacations did not help (even though they were super fun!). Sunday family day outings have all but disappeared. Gained 10 pounds. Decide it’s time to take action.

What’s different this time:

It’s summer! That means we have way more access to in-season fruits and veggies than we did on our January Whole 30. We’re grilling almost every night, and we’re enjoying more sunshine and Vitamin D. We’ve resumed our Sunday family day outings, and we’ve gone ahead and scheduled them a month in advance. Being summer, this means we’ll be doing things like fossil-hunting at Calvert Cliffs, visiting the zoo, and watching our beloved O’s at Camden Yards. And we’re eating crabs. Because Maryland. (Honestly, if crabs weren’t Whole 30, I don’t think I could do this during the summer). In fact, we celebrated the start of our adoption process and the start of our Whole 30 with crabs.

Based on my 3 months of good eating after the January Whole 30, I’m expecting August to carry me into the holidays, and I’ll probably need another Whole 30 in January 2016. I don’t have any idea if I’ll lose any weight this time, but I’m really hoping to at least make a dent in those 10 pounds I gained this summer. And I’m hoping the energy I get from this food will help me to get the house in order for our home study. Maybe the positive attitude this lifestyle brings will give me the boost I need to get my career in order too. Who knows? The possibilities are endless.

Here’s to Round 2!

Two Years of Awesome

Two years ago today I married the love of my life, my James. So much has happened since then, and yet so much has stayed blissfully the same. Let’s do this in bullet point fashion.

We are still newlyweds. We still feel like newlyweds. We plan on always being newlyweds.
We still live in our lovely little house in Maryland. I still can’t keep up with it, but James can, and I’m learning. (My parents are also a huge help.)
We still have our adorable little bunny, Brownie. He loves his Nana and his favorite uncle is Luke.

We’ve been on 3 major trips together: St. Thomas, The American Southwest, and England
We made it to Canterbury!
We’ve changed our eating habits together and are now both devotedPaleo/Whole30 people.
Mornings on the deck are my favorite part of summer.

Here are some things we’ve learned:

Marriage is an awesome gift. The grace from the sacrament is real, tangible and life changing.
Infertility is a B*tch. We’ve learned so much about grief and emotional suffering.
Adoption is confusing. When should we start? Should we ever? Do we have another vocation?
Spending Sundays together as our “family day” is one of the best and most important things we do.
Living as a family of 2 is beautiful, wonderful and rewarding. We’re just not sure if God has other plans for us or not.
It’s ok and normal to be in different places in your spiritual journey. Just remember to always lift each other up.

The last two years have been the best time of my life. Marriage is everything I hoped it would be, and more. I know that this is rare, a real blessing and nothing short of a miracle. I pray that in the years to come we can remember what we know now: that we’re on the same road, even though sometimes we’re looking out different windows.

Happy 2nd Anniversary to my best friend and love of my life, James. ❤

We Did It!

We’ve just completed our first Whole 30! If you’re not sure what that is, it’s basically giving up grains, dairy and legumes for 30 days straight, no excuses. You can read more about our experience here.

Results:

We feel great! Much more energy. Happily off sugar. CA’s caffeine addiction is no more. Vegetable and fruit consumption is way up. Chemical consumption is way down. CA has a new addiction to Brussels Spouts. James has a new found love of cashews. Fried plantains are the new donuts. We’re spending more time together. We’re eating great food. We’re doing great!

Now for the part you’ve all been waiting for.

Did I lose weight?

17 pounds!!!!

In addition to weight lost, I lost about 17 combined inches from around my body. Plus I have tons of energy, no cravings, and I haven’t counted a single calorie!

Outlook:

We love the way we feel, so we’re continuing on the path of deliciously good food. We may attempt to allow occasional dark chocolate and gasp dairy. But we’re going to pay close attention to what these things do to our stomach, and if they cause us gut pain, we’re taking note. Dairy, grains, legumes and added sugars do NOT sit well with my body, and I feel much much MUCH better without them.

Besides, I want to be my best self. I’m worth it.

❤

The Honeymooners

The other night I came across a bunch of pictures from our honeymoon. So happy, so full of love.. so… exactly like the present. We’re still on our honeymoon, mentally. Of course, we haven’t even been married for 2 full years yet.

Sure, a lot has happened, and we have a lot on our plate right now with his refereeing, my infertility ministry and planning our upcoming UK adventure. But looking at these pictures made me realize: That’s us. And that is all that matters.

We’ve taken a little step back from the craziness of life and dedicated every Sunday to spending time together as a family. Forget the rest of the world. Sundays, we’re back on our honeymoon. Last Sunday, we went to the Walter’s Art Museum in Baltimore. Two weeks ago, we went to the movies. This week, we’re planning on staying in and trying yoga together, then browsing travel books.

By the way, it all started with Whole 30. We’ve made physical health a priority in the last 28 days and it has paid off tremendously in our emotional and relational health as well. I’ve been wanting to make Sunday our family day of rest for a long time, but it wasn’t until our Whole 30 that this became a reality. There’s only a few days left, but I love what this program is doing for my life! I’m so excited to keep living this Whole 30/Paleo lifestyle throughout the year.

Why I’m Doing the Whole 30

As someone who has struggled with weight loss since elementary school, food is such a sensitive issue. I hate counting calories. I hate exercising on machines. I’m sure I have real psychological wounds from 20+ years of worrying about what I eat. That being said…

Last summer I tried eating Paleo for a while, and I loved it. Experimenting with new ingredients, making almond flour baked goods and trying new veggies was fun! I felt wonderful and full of energy. It was a lifestyle change that I could truly embrace. As a bonus, I lost 9 pounds in the first couple of weeks, and the weight stayed off- that is, until I came home from vacation and unintentionally went back to dairy and grains over the holidays (Oh, December, the best of times and the worst).

On January 1, James and I started the Whole 30. Basically, it’s a very strict Paleo program (no grains, no dairy, no legumes- AND no Paleo desserts) where you eat lots of fresh veggies and fruit, good quality proteins and no sugar for 30 days straight, no excuses.

Today is Day 16, and I feel great. The best part of this program has been that James is doing it with me. Having my husband by my side is HUGE! There is no way I could do this without him. He feels great too, and says he would like to continue eating this way, long-term. We love clean food!

The hardest part about this program has been the social engagements. Having to ask my mother-in-law and now my sister-in-law to please excuse us while we eat our own food we bring to their house is kind of uncomfortable. I feel rude and awkward and weird. This is the one part of this program I will not sustain after day 30. Starting in February, I will allow myself to be a nice house-guest again.

What do I plan to sustain after day 30? Everything else. Here’s how:

1. I WILL REMEMBER how much energy I have when I eat Paleo.

2. I WILL REMEMBER how rewarding it feels to know you are making healthy choices.

3. I WILL REMEMBER that a “healthy” American diet doesn’t work for me, and that the sugars in dairy and whole grain foods make me crave more food and make my body feel weighed down.

4. I WILL REMEMBER that even if I do not lose weight, the “happy healthy energy” feeling of Paleo/Whole30 is a reward in itself, and that my body deserves to feel this way. And my soul deserves to know that I am eating as healthily as possible.

And finally,

5. I WILL REMEMBER that if I lose my way, there will always be the Whole 30 to get me back on track.

Tales from the Valley

"Not all those who wander are lost"- J.R.R. Tolkien

Tag: Paleo