Becoming His 31: 14 Day Challenge

Clean Eating Challenge {day 3}

8:45 PM

Day 3 done!

Breakfast: LARABAR - I was rushing around this morning to get everything ready for the day, including dinner prep, before leaving to have Reaghan's 1 year old pictures done because I knew I wouldn't be back until after I got off work at 7, so I didn't really stop to make breakfast.

Lunch: a few pieces of watermelon and 1/2 a banana. My sisters took Reaghans pictures at the Botanical Gardens and so it took us some time to get there and back and before we knew it we needed to get back to my sisters to take cake smash pictures and then I had to be at work at 2:30 so lunch was pretty much skipped. We wanted to swing through a a fast food drive in so bad but didn't!

Dinner: Sweet Potatoes with chicken.

Normally I love my sweet potato smothered in butter and brown sugar. But today I had to go the savory route. The potatoes baked in the crockpot all day and the chicken was pre cooked so I just had to warm it up and then load up my potato with it! I drizzled some olive oil, salt and garlic powder on there and you know, it tasted pretty good.

Today was a litt rushed and crazy and I didn't eat that much at all and I've definitely been hungry all day. :/ I need to be better tomorrow.

But aside from hunger pains, today was an emotional day for me. I'm a sentimental kind of gal so it doesn't take much to make me tear up, but man it was often today. My little baby is turning 1 tomorrow. We've been doing this mommy, daddy, daughter thing for a whole year now and it's been the best. It's also gone by way too fast. So tonight I rocked my baby just a little longer than usual because tomorrow she will wake up a 1 year old.

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14 Day Challenge

Clean Eating Challenge {day 2}

6:58 PM

Day 2 is complete!

You guys, I went to Target today and didn't stop at their little cafe! Every time the girls in my family take a group shopping trip to Target we stop and get a soda and some popcorn, it's just what we do. But we marched right by and said not today Target! Okay, so we might have slowly walked by and looked longingly at the soda fountain and popcorn machine and tried to remember why we were depriving ourselves of this yucky goodness- but either way, armed with our water bottles in hand - we said no. :) yay for will power and accountability!

Breakfast: eggs over easy with salt/pepper and avocados

Lunch: canned tuna fish with avocado, cherry tomatoes, and lemon juice. I forgot to take a picture :/

Dinner: Almond Crusted baked chicken strips with steamed veggies.

http://sweethaute.blogspot.com/2014/06/almond-crusted-fried-chicken-whole-30.html?=1

The breading wasn't real crunchy (which happens anyways when you bake instead of fry) and while it had flavor, I think it could have used a bit more seasoning. Overall it was good and filling. I was slightly jealous of the dipping sauce Mark was using though. I should look into some recipes for clean dipping sauces!

I also found these Whole30 approved (which means if they're approved for whole30, they're totally okay for this challenge!) snack bars at Target!

LARABARS!

Yes!

I think they're pretty good too! I love having a little snack at night so this will be perfect! A little something different after eating fruits and veggies all day. :)

Ps - I also made a cake today for Reaghan's smash cake photo session that's happening tomorrow morning and I didn't even lick the spoon. I love to lick the spoon. Talk about temptation!!! Yikes. But I can't cheat only 2 days in, so I just ate my LARABAR.

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14 Day Challenge

Clean Eating Challenge {day 1}

8:23 PM

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Blueberries

Lunch: couscous with olive oil and steamed broccoli, carrots and cauliflower

Dinner: Chicken Taco Salad topped with avocados and tomatoes.

It was pretty good, except for the fact that it didn't have cheese on it. I love cheese.

But I did learn how to make my own taco seasoning and it turned out pretty good!

1tbs chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

I doubled the above recipe and mixed it with some puréed tomatoes and put it in the crockpot with 2 small chicken breasts to cook while I went to work. Mark said it was really good. But then again, he got to smother his with cheese ;)

Snacks: Blueberries and carrot sticks.

Today was a win for the food but a big thumbs down for the workouts. I'm fighting a yucky summer cold and it did not agree with me trying to sweat it out on a run today. I barely did a mile. But we walked the rest of the way home and enjoyed the "chilly" 60 degree weather that was here at 8:30 this morning. It was a sweet whisper of the fall weather to come.

Here's to good eats tomorrow and a less stuffy nose!

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14 Day Challenge

14 Day Clean Eating + Core Challenge

8:04 PM

I've been playing around with the idea of doing a Whole 30 for a few months now but haven't committed to doing it because 1.) it would be super hard and I'm not sure if I have that much determination and self control and 2.) my anti-veggie/fruit eating husband would definitely not be on board to do it with me so it would be extra hard to do it by myself and have to make different dinners and I'm not sure I have that much determination and self control!

Over Labor Day weekend when we were with family, we were talking about clean eating with my Aunt Beth who had just finished a Whole 30. I started thinking more seriously about doing it and asked if anyone wanted to do it with me. My mom and sister are both dealing with health issues that we think clean eating could help with and well, theres always the desire to shed a few pounds right? I was ready to commit but 30 days seemed daunting. Thats when we read over on M is for Mama that she was doing a 14 Day Clean Eating Challenge! 14 days seemed a lot more reasonable to us, so we decided to go with that! Ha.

My aunt had a great idea to create a facebook page for our challenge so I invited my aunts and female cousins around the country - Virginia, Massachusetts, Alabama, Texas, California and Oregon - to participate! The facebook page has already made it fun! We've talked about recipes, grocery shopping and today posted pictures of our last minute sugary indulgences before starting our clean eating tomorrow!

We are starting tomorrow, the 14th, and will end on Sunday the 27th.

Our rules are the same as M is for Mama -

No processed food (no canned soup, no fast food, no chips, no pre-made salad dressings, etc.)
No sugar
No dairy/limited dairy
No simple carbs (basically a reiteration of no sugar)
No bread/tortillas/pasta/oats (with the exception of steel-cut oats)
Nothing to drink but water

For most of us, the main goal is to cut out sugar, so we aren't being super strict about dairy or grains or beans. I think some of us have found brown rice and quinoa recipes that we want to try and we feel okay about that. It's not true, pure Whole 30 rules, but its a good start to eating cleaner.

As I was creating our Challenge Facebook page and casually browsing the blogosphere, I came across a 14 day Core Challenge and thought it would be super fun to add that to our Clean Eating Challenge! Oh yea! Doubling up on the challenges! Woot Woot! What is this blogging world good for if not to inspire us to be better and do better?!

Today I totally pigged out on some snacks that I can't have for the next 2 weeks (Oh Cookie Butter, I will miss you!) and I had some Soda *gasp* because I just needed some bubbles. Which - I know, I know - is totally the wrong mindset to have about yucky food. "You don't need it, yada yada yada." It's true, I don't need it. I just desperately want it sometimes! Maybe this challenge will help reset my thinking? My realistic expectation is that this challenge will help me see where I can make little changes to exchange processed foods for real foods; like a year and a half ago when we chose to stop eating Hamburger Helper boxed foods for good and make similar dishes from real ingredients. Because the big picture goals of these little challenges is to make lifestyle changes, not just diet to lose weight, right? Right. So you guys, I'm not even pretending that I'm going to swear off soda forever after this, but I am hoping to consume things of that nature more responsibly. Meaning - being responsible for my health and making healthy choices more than I indulge in not so healthy options.

So - My fridge and freezer and are stocked with eggs, veggies, fruits and meats and my meals are planned for the next 2 weeks! Hopefully I'll have the forethought to take some pictures of my meals and share the recipes if they are winners! I'm excited to start this and excited to see the results on the 27th!

Wish me Luck! No, I changed my mind. Wish me determination and self control!

**Confession - Reaghan's 1st Birthday party is the 20th, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to cheat just a bit to have a taste of her birthday cake that day. : ) I'll do my best to avoid any other tempting, un approved snacks haha, but I'm totally okay with the small cheat because we only get to celebrate her 1st birthday once, ya know!?**

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Older Posts Home

Clean Eating Challenge {day 3}

Clean Eating Challenge {day 2}

Clean Eating Challenge {day 1}

14 Day Clean Eating + Core Challenge

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