Day 19

Day 19 of 21DSD

Starting my day out right with an AMAZING cup of coffee. I swear, I gulped down this entire cup of coffee like it was sweetened by the nectar of the Gods. Alas - the only thing in this coffee was grassfed, unsalted butter & coconut oil. This organic sumatra coffee was fantastic!

Afterwards, I made a fabulous breakfast - Chorizo & eggs and home-made coconut tortillas. My first time to ever make tortillas!!! It was a lot easier than what I had assumed. My kids absolutely LOVED this meal. They loved it so much, that I packed them these "tacos" for lunch. After I dropped off the kids I got to taste these babies & OH EM GEE. I could eat these all day. Suuuuuriously.
I got the tortilla recipe from the Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook. It was super easy - check that book out if you haven't already.

Know what is in the food you eat - ALWAYS check the ingredients. Food ingredients should be simple & understandable.

For lunch, I wasn't too hungry, so I made a smoothie. It was deliciously comforting.

Some of you have asked how I made today's meals, well - here ya go:
Bfast: Cook chorizo in a pan. After this is cooked, add in your eggs. Stirring occasionally.
Coconut tortillas - 1/4 cup coconut flour, 8 large egg white, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 cup water. Whisk together until there are no lumps. Place coconut oil in a pan on medium heat and put about 3tbsp at a time of your mixture. Flip once the bottom side is light brown.
Smoothie: Blend a handful & a half spinach with one green apple & 1 cup of coconut milk. BAM!

Day 19 Meals:

1. Coffee w/butter & oil

2. Chorizo egg tacos

3. Green smoothie

4. Water

5. Grilled chicken salad

Day 19 Supplememts: 

1. Cod liver oil

2. Fish oil

3. CLA

4. Yellow dock

~ Until next time,

Ruby

Day 18

Day 18 of 21DSD

Today was a lot like yesterday. I slaved my life away playing "catch up" on cleaning - baseboard scrubbing, mopping, dishes, laundry. Sadly, I still have a bit left to do before the house is completely done.

I took a break from my slavery and went to crossfit. It was an awesome workout - lots of moves with plates & 400m run to warm up. Big deal: I did a hand stand for the first time!!!! The WOD was the following:

Front Squat 3-3-3-3

For Time:

10-8-6-4-2

Dumbbell Snatch (per arm) - Heavy

Burpees

Handstand Push-Ups

The lack of sugar cravings I am now feeling is Ahmazing! It's crazy how much your body adapts taste wise :)

Day 18 Meals:
1. Coffee w/grassfed butter & coconut oil
2. Small bowl of cinnamon green apple in coconut milk
3. Water
4. Tuna Avocado over spinach w/asparagus, portobello, carrots w/pumpkin & almond milk smoothie
5. Paleo Corndog w/jicama fries & paleo ketchup

Supplements:
1. Cod liver oil
2. Yellow dock
3. CLA
4. Fish oil

~ Until next time,

Ruby

Day 17

Day 17 of the 21DSD: Everything went well today. It was my husband's first day back at work after being off for 6 weeks. Luckily it wasn't as lonely as it could have been, because my minions were home to wreak havoc. School holiday. I got a lot of much needed house work done, yay. I got basically N O T H I N G accomplished while my husband was home. It was a love/hate feeling.                                         My kids really enjoyed the gluten free bread recipe I found. It was also husband approved. I was pretty nervous about it because I couldn't taste it due to two of the ingredients. The kids made, what looked like epic, almond butter & banana sandwiches. They chose their "poison" - carrots on the side for my son & broccoli on the side for my daughter. It doesn't always go this smoothly. I kept waiting for the world to crash and burn. I didn't hear once, "where's the chips mom?". 

I woke up like a kid on Christmas. Why you ask? Because I got to try my bulletproof coffee. I brewed my coffee, then threw the butter & coconut oil in the blender w/the coffee, and anxiously poured it into one of my favorite coffee mugs. My initial taste thought was hm... this is buttery. So, I decided to give it a few more sips.... then the cup was empty! I actually ENJOYED an unsweetened cup of coffee. It was so creamy & delicious! The energy I felt afterwards was endless, hence my baseboards being clean now. I highly recommend giving this a shot. Seriously, like now.

Beautiful "bulletproof" coffee outcome.

Day 17 of 21 DSD Meals:
1. Coffee w/1tbsp butter, 1 1/2 tsp coconut oil
2. All the water!
3. Two egg omelet w/turkey in it & okra
4. Left over spaghetti squash, chicken, & spinach
5. 8oz of Coconut Water
6. Scrambled eggs, two slices of bacon, brussel sprouts, roasted carrots, 1/2 avocado
9. One green apple
10. 1 fresh carrot

Supplements taken:
1. Yellow Dock
2. Fish Oil
3. CLA
4. Cod Liver Oil, fermented



~ Until next time,

Ruby

Diet

So, the word diet bothers me. In my opinion, a diet is a temporary fix, not a lifetime fix. I understand this fully because I use to be in the same mindset. However, I will re-iterate this, I am not on a diet. I have been through a lifestyle change for the past year and I continue to transform my eating habits into the best lifestyle for my body and my family.

The reason I am bringing this up is because I got asked recently "How long are you going to be on a diet for?" Sigh. While I am participating in a 21 day sugar detox, the word diet is not listed here might I add, all that means is that I am being 100% strict on my already ingrained eating habits with no treats or cheats. I am challenging myself to eat better and hoping to get long lasting habits that stay with me throughout the course of my life. I am not doing a detox to lose weight.

There are no quick fixes to lose weight, and if you find a quick fix, I guarantee that as soon as you stop whatever you are doing, you will gain the weight right back. In order to successfully lose weight and maintain a healthy weight, you have to transform your life by eating proper, clean meals & getting physical exercise - not starving yourself, taking diet pills, doing temporary food diets. Transforming years of bad eating and your life is NOT easy. It is very difficult at first but gets easier in time. You will constantly have temptations to eat the old crap you use to, because it's easier, but nothing worth having comes easy. If you want to feel better about yourself, evaluate what you eat, get rid of the crap, and start eating whole foods & adding in a walk here and there, and so on. I know I sound like a b word, but the truth is a cold hard explicit deleted. Strive to be healthy the right, long lasting way, not the easy temporary diet way. You CAN do this - you just have to decide if you really WANT to.

Take Two

My first meal today was fabulous - we woke up late, so it was brunch. I took one egg, and a little bit of almond flour. Seasoned the almond flour with celtic salt, pepper, cayenne, & garlic powder. Dipped the chicken in egg, then almond flour, then placed it on the stove in a small amount of coconut oil. I pan grilled it to perfection. I turned the oven on 350 & roasted the okra in olive oil & pepper, as well as the carrots in olive oil & cinnamon. The cauli mash was leftovers in the fridge. The pancakes were the following ingredients; 1 green tipped banana, splash of coconut milk, almond flour, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, 1 cup of egg whites. I had originally planned on these to be waffles, but after an epic fail in the waffle maker, (it was too wet of a mix to come together), these became pancakes.

Dinner was the following - spaghetti squash w/marinara, grilled chicken breast, & sauteed spinach. Spaghetti squash can seem scary because you have no idea what the hell to do with this big yellow veggie, but I'll tell you a secret, the hardest part about preparing it, is cutting into it. I really need to invest in good knives. SO to prepare spaghetti squash, you simply cut it vertically in half & scoop out the seeds & strings. Face the squash face down (insides facing the pan) and bake for about 20 mins on 350. Pull it out of the oven and take a fork and scoop out the insides - Viola! So afterwards I seared the "noodles" w/garlic and celtic salt, then added gluten free/no sugar added Rao's marinara. I really liked this marinara sauce, it was pricey, but well worth it. I grilled the chicken breast stove top in olive oil & seasoned them with oregano, celtic salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and thyme. One they were finished, I moved them over and sauteed spinach in the chicken juices. Easy, peasy! The finished master piece is shown below.

While I had dinner going, I looked through reviews of a bread recipe that I could give a try to make for my husband's sandwiches. I decided to go with this one at Elanas Pantry. I will let you guys know whether it was a nay or yay with the husband, but I can tell you, it smelled pretty good & was not stiff feeling. I couldn't taste test it because the 21DSD states no arrowroot powder, or maple syrup. Shown below is a picture of all of my ingredients before I mixed them up, as well as the after product. Looks tasty right?

•  Arrowroot powder
• Flaxseed meal
• Unblanched almond flour
• ACV (apple cider vinegar)
• Baking soda
• Celtic Salt
• Maple syrup
• Four eggs
• And I added sesame seeds to the top

Gluten Free Bread

Noms!

Lastly, I capped off my night with something I have been DYING to try since I first read about it. But before I tell you what it is, let me explain why you see a picture of Irish butter. I kept seeing people talk about "Bulletproofing their coffee" on different blogs I came across, as well as in the 21DSD forum on facebook. You can read more about this bullet proof coffee conundrum here. I will briefly explain what it is - basically you get organic coffee beans, beans that do not mold, grind them up and make the coffee. Then add 1-2tbsp of GRASSFED unsalted butter, and 30grams of MCT oil, blend and you get a frothy cup of coffee. When I read this, I died! Butter - in coffee? Har! However, I was intrigued. My thoughts; Pure, grassfed butter is more or less heavy cream. I love creamy coffee. This is a good way to get healthy fats in my system. Sure, I'll try it! So after doing research, MCT oil can be found in coconut oil. I already have that, so I'll substitute MCT for that. However, the only butter I have is ghee.

I went to our local Basic Foods and they didn't have this brand of butter. So on to HEB I went. Sadly, the only Kerrygold I could find was this whipped, low fat kind. Fail. I drove home hearing the charley brown song in my head with my head down. I was going to have to order this butter online and wait to try it! Oh the injustice! I researched what site to order this butter from and almost ordered it, but decided to check at HEB one last time after reading that it could possibly be located by the cheese. I did a quick scan and didn't see it, but right as I was going to turn around, I spotted the gold and silver Kerrygold packages! SCORE!!

So, it was too late to have coffee so brewed a cup of my chai green/black tea mix. Added 1tbsp of kerrygold butter & 1tsp of coconut oil & blended it. I cautiously took a sip and oh mah gerd, it was this frothy goodness!!  Please note the creaminess of the the cup! I can NOT wait to try this in a cup of coffee tomorrow morning. I have not been drinking coffee at all lately, so we shall see. Again, to learn more about this bulletproofing your coffee - visit google or Bulletproof Exec Website.

~Until next time,

Ruby
Day 16DSD

Absence

Day 16 of 21DSD!

So, my sister informed me that I am slacking on my blogging. I will not disagree with her.. LOL. I've been a bad blogger, a bad, bad, blogger. I've just been busy living my life.. sigh. But I promise to do better ;)

Six days have passed since my last entry. I've posted a slew of pictures to let you know what kind of foods that I have been eating. I can tell you, my favorite thus far was the bangers and mash - sausage w/mashed cauliflower - AMAZING.

My meals have basically been; eggs and a meat with chai black/green tea blend, water, acv/lemon/water, pumpkin pancakes, banana pancakes, fish/veggies.

As of right now, I am making spaghetti squash w/spaghetti sauce and sauteed spinach and chicken. NOM!

Day 16 Meals:
1. Banana pancake, pan grilled almond flour chicken, roasted carrots, roasted okra.
2. Water
3. Water, lemon, ACV
4. Chai green/black tea mix w/coconut milk & cinnamon
5. Spaghetti squash w/gluten & sugar free spaghetti sauce, spinach, grilled chicken
6. 1 cup coconut water

Activities: Tennis, Brisk 1 mile walk, 30 push-ups.

 

This is what I have been doing in my spare time instead of blogging ^ so be angry at the book ;)

~Until next time,

Ruby

Satisfaction

Day 10 of 21DSD:

This morning I woke up and my stomach was u p s e t. I drank a glass of water with lemon & apple cider vinegar to help calm it, as well as a cup of bone broth. It calmed down eventually but let's just say it took me awhile to regain an appetite. That being said, there is nothing more satisfying than having your kids enjoy the wholesome meals or snacks that you cook.

I made my kids hot cocoa as a snack and they raved about it. It was so simple and was not the processed crap you buy at the stores! The best part - they didn't even realize that they drank coconut milk! Mom 1, Kids 0.
The ingredients for the hot cocoa were;

• Organic, unsweetened cocoa powder
• Coconut milk, full fat, canned
• Gluten free marshmallow's
• 1 tsp of maple syrup

That's it, it's as simple as that! The kids absolutely loved this hot cocoa, citing that it was 'the best they have ever had.'

Ah, sweet satisfaction.

I was on a roll tonight, because I cooked an epic meal for dinner that had every one of my family members saying mmmmm! I cooked oven baked chicken, sauteed red chard, roasted carrots, & cauliflower mashed "potatoes".  It was the bomb!!

Here is how I cooked my food;

• Season the chicken with rosemary, thyme, garlic powder, Celtic salt, & pepper. Put a tbsp of coconut oil in the oven pan and put in the oven on 400. Cook until the outside is crispy enough to your liking. Viola! You can make these even more sassy by squeezing a fresh lemon atop these. Noms.
• Put bacon grease or olive oil in a pan. I used bacon grease. Saute two cloves of minced garlic & as much onion as you like. Then add the red chard, saute.
• Set the oven to 350 & place chopped carrots in a pan with olive oil & cinnamon. Cook until the carrots look roasted.
• Boil cauliflower with seat salt until soft. Please cauliflower in food processor or blender. Add ghee (or grassfed butter), Celtic salt, pepper. Blend together.

Easy, peasy way to make a satisfying dinner for your family that everyone will love! <3

Day 10 Meals:

1. 1 cup of bone broth
2. 1 glass of acv/lemon
3. Chicken, carrots, chard, cauli mash
4. 1 green apple, pecans, coconut, cinnamon in coconut milk
5. Water, water, water
6. 1 tsp cod liver oil

Untitled

Day 9 of the 21DSD!

What what! 12 more days left of my sugar detox. T W E L V E! And as the days are dwindling down, I am discovering new ways to make food taste fabulous! I am very satisfied with the meals I had today and right now, I am quite stuffed!

I have been slacking on working out, a fear complex has set in. I am forcing myself to get over it starting tomorrow. I need to get back on the wagon and do what makes me feel best about myself. Time to get serious and re-evaluate what I want goal wise.

Meals:
1. Two egg omelet w/tomato, spinach, onion, steak & pumpkin pancakes
2. Grassfed beef & cabbage sautee w/carrot smash
3. GT citrus kombucha
4. ACV, Lemon, Water
5. 1 cup of hot water  w/lemon
6. 1 cup of coffee w/coconut milk, vanilla, cinnamon
7. 1 green apple w/toasted pecan, coconut, cinnamon in coconut milk
8. Water, water, water!
9. Cod liver oil
10. 1 cup of bone broth

~ Until next time,

Ruby

Skipper

So I didn't make a blog post yesterday. Sorry guys! I'll give you a short recap of yesterday:

My husband and I did some major grocery shopping - all grassfed, organic. Let me just say two things; One. Why the hell is good food so extremely expensive? and Two. I need to get my own farm.
After we unloaded the groceries, we went to our local beef farmer and bought soup bones and ground meat. It's such a peaceful feeling when you visit a farm. Wistful sigh. Last night was a real challenge for me, our mutual friend came over and him and the husband cracked open a few beers. Usually I would gleefully join in, especially since our kids are at their grandmas for the weekend, but I didn't. And surprisingly, I didn't feel like I was missing anything!

Day 7 meals:
1. Two eggs, four slices of bacon, coffee w/coconut milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon
2. Spinach salad w/veggies & balsamic dressing, grilled tilapia, sauteed cabbage, & squash.
3. Citrus kombucha
4. Two ham roll ups (alfalfa sprouts, cherry tomatoes, gluten free mustard wrapped in ham), one pumpkin pancake (recipe in previous post).
5. Water, water, water!
6. Water w/lemon & acv
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That being said, today marks DAY 8! Holy crap, I am now on week two of this challenge and I can not believe that I have made it this far! I am no longer craving sweets horrendously, but am now wanting starchy foods like a chili cheese hot dog and salty steak fries. 'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming......'

I made a very decadent treat with my green apple today - I sauteed my apple in ghee and while that was going I toasted pecans. I then added the pecans to the apple. While that was cooking I toasted unsweetened coconut flakes. I then seasoned the apples & pecans with cinnamon. Topped that off with a dollop of almond butter & the toasted coconut flakes. NOM! It felt like I was cheating! Soo good.

Tomorrow I plan to go buy some of this Jicama I keep hearing about and make Jicama fries & ketchup! Pretty excited about that. I know that this post is short, but it's midnight here and I am pooped! Night :)

Day 8 meals:
1. Three fried eggs, three slices of bacon, roasted carrots.
2. Cup of gingerade kombucha
3.  1/2 cup of coffee w/coconut milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon
4. Ground meat & cabbage mix w/roasted carrots
5. Bbq chicken, green beans, salad (no dressing, no bbq sauce)
6. ACV, lemon, water mix
7. 1 green apple w/pecans, unsweetened coconut flakes, 1tbsp almond butter
8. Water, Water, Water
9. Cod liver oil, cinnamon tingle

Eggs, bacon, roasted carrots!

Ham rollup & cucumbers

Grass-fed, local beef!

Ham rollups & pumpkin pancake!

Cabbage & meat, carrots.

Apple, pecans, coconut, almond butter!

 ~ Until next time,

Ruby

Motivated

Day 6 of the 21DSD:

Look what I got in today!

Hide ya kids, hide ya wife, hide ya husband... 'cause things are changing!

This morning I decided to give me beloved coffee another try. Last time I tried it, I gagged and tossed it in the sink because I could just not do unsweetened coffee. So, this morning I brewed my coffee and added coconut milk (canned - full fat), cinnamon, and vanilla extract. I stirred it forever, scared to taste it. Finally, when my coffee was almost cold, I mustered the courage to take a sip, and BAM! It didn't taste rancid to me, it tasted almost as good as before. Almost, being the keyword. I actually enjoyed my cup of coffee enough to drink the full cup. I realize some people are not coffee drinkers, but for those of us who don't need it, but seriously just enjoy a good cup of coffee - this was major for me! A good cup of coffee will make you feel like everything will be okay. As if you can face any challenge the day brings. So cheers to me fellow coffee drinkers, this beech is back!

Another interesting game changer today, cucumbers! I already loved cucumbers before, but even more so now. They taste sweet to me. Sweet! I had the best cucumber of my life today. I don't know if maybe it literally was the best cucumber ever or if my taste buds are adjusting to trick my mind into thinking it is sweet, but I don't even care! My sweet craving was satisfied with that wonderful green vegetable. Who knew?

Dinner!

Achievement: My family went out to dinner and while everyone around me was eating chips & salsa, fajitas, and taco's. I restrained myself from grabbing "just one chip". It was a very big temptation, as I love, love, love mexican food. Whoop! Willpower baby, yeah! (Austin Powers voice)

Day 6 Meals:
1. 3 egg scramble (bell pepper, tomato, onion, mushroom), 2 slices of bacon
2. 1 cup of coffee with coconut milk, cinnamon, vanilla extract
3. 2 Pumpkin Pancakes and 1/2 steak cooked in coconut aminos, celtic salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic
4. 1/2 Cucumber
5. 1 Glass of water with 1 tbsp braggs apple cider vinegar & juice from a lemon
6. Burger (bunless) w/avocado, jalepeno, onion, tomato & veggies (carrots, broc, cauliflower)
7. Water, water, water
8. 1/2 tsp Fermented Cod Liver Oil

Breakfast!

Lunch!

~ Until next time,


Ruby

Rainy days

Day 5 has been a good day! I woke up this morning and made an awesome breakfast. I made vanilla pancakes from Primal Palate and they were fantastic! My husband put syrup on his pancakes and scarfed down his plate like it was his last meal. However, I am so use to my pancakes being sweetened that I had trouble eating these. So, me, being the smart person that I am, put vanilla extract on top of my pancakes and completely ruined them! Apparently putting vanilla extract on food is not the same as baking it in food. Lesson learned! At least now I have a new coconut flour pancake recipe that my family likes. Oh and in case you were wondering, the eggs and bacon were cooked to perfection!

At lunch we went and watched the Texas Chainsaw Massacre with our friend Brooke. I snuck in a baggie with raw almonds and coconut flakes in it to snack on, while the smell of popcorn threatened to pull me into it's evil grasp. The movie was okay. I neither loved it nor hated it. Definitely had a different take on the story, which made it interesting. But nevertheless, meh. After the movie we went and had lunch at Cheddars. It was okay. I did good, although the croissant that came on the side of my salad had my mouth salivating horrendously. Luckily my awesome husband swooped in and enjoyed the magical, sweet croissant while I watched. It was painful!                                                                     

Here in the south we are getting hella rain. It's nice. I love a good thunderstorm. The only down point to thunderstorms is that I always comfort myself and family by ordering a pizza during them and forcing some poor sap to deliver the cheesy goodness to our doors in the torrential  down poor. Luckily for  that guy, I'm tightening up my eating  currently. So against my  habitual addiction self, I cooked.  My inner cheese lover was pissed. 

I cooked a recipe I found at http://we-eat-fat-not-that.blogspot.com called Mexian meat and squash. It was really tasty and my family gobbled it up. Minus my son who eats all things nothing. Sigh. One day I am going to crack that picky eater!

Day 5 of the 21DSD Meals Today:

1. 2 eggs, 2 bacon strips, 1 pancake

2. Lunch portion grilled salmon, salad w/balsamic dressing, and broccoli

3. Mexican meat and squash casserole

4. Water, water, and more water

5. Almonds and coconut flakes

~Until Next Time,

Ruby

Things are looking up!: Day 4 of the 21DSD

So I realize that yesterday I was in severe turmoil over the fact that I couldn't have a bowl of sugar crisps, sugar crisps for effing sake, I haven't had those in a VERY long time, but today is looking up! I know right now I am being very 'cray cray' because my moods are switching from extreme pessimism to optimism.  I keep checking my calendar to see if it's that time of the month, if you know what I mean. However, flow isn't expected right now. Yes, I am sure you wanted to know that.

It's hard to believe that food can effect a person's moods in such extremes! Have I read that it can? Sure - who hasn't? It just seemed like some scholar malarkey to me, that is, until I experienced it first hand, as in right now. I am feeling moodiness, irritability, and fatigue. Today I came up with a million excuses not to work out, I had myself convinced that I should not go. At the last minute, I forced myself out of the house to go to Crossfit and I am SO glad that I did. It definitely helped me mood wise and my motivated for that 1/2 cup of sweet potato helped as well ;). Oh sweet potatoes, how I have missed you! (Can't have sweet potatoes while sugar detoxing unless you are doing an athlete modification, then 1/2 cup is allowed on the day of the work out)

Well, enough of my up and down babbling. It's 11:38pm and I am tired, well sort of. I keep getting these random bursts of energy that come and go. For instance, right now. But I shall not go to the dark side, I will get some sleep!

My meals:

1. Scrambled eggs in Ghee (clarified butter) w/bacon & roasted carrots

2. This epic salad featured below - Steak, Bell pepper, cucumber, tomatoes, onion w/balsamic vinegar

3. Lamb meatballs, salad w/olive oil & lemon, and my beloved sweet potatoes (Look how sexy those sweet potatoes are!!)

4. Tons of water! Seriously, every time my glass is empty, I refill it!

                               

~ Until next time,

Ruby