The summer is over & so are the excuses. In the Green home we eat well to live well but this summer we fell off the wagon – some harder than others. There was so much junk food to be had, birthdays full of sweets (at least they were mostly homemade) and donuts & kolaches at every chance.
After Hurricane Harvey, school has finally started & now that we’ve taken care of our kids we parents have once again ramped up our own self-care. Today DH went to the doctor & while his appointment went well, our longtime family doctor talked with him about eating whole foods.
The first thing she asked was if I am on Pinterest.
Then she told him about this “Whole30” thing. I hesitate to call it a diet.
It’s really either a lifestyle change or a cleanse.
For the most part for my DH it has been a lifestyle change; he has lost over 50 pounds just by making better food choices & exercising – not a diet in sight.
There are no diets in the Green home but we DO do a whole foods cleanse 1-2 times a year. We don’t document them, but this time it seems… different. This year on Dr. A’s sideways insistence, we are doing it again – with a twist.
DH had his annual physical & gained 5 lbs. He was NOT happy. So Dr. A, who has also shed pounds & shaped up (she looks aMAZing!), asked him about eating habits. Normally we eat pretty great but we both have to admit that this summer was not so good in the nutrition department.
Time to hit the reset button & plan to get back to eating well!
There’s so much information whole 30 information out there, some really rigid regimens & some more flexible. We decided to do what we know works for us. Over the years we have figured out what affects us most – what works & what doesn’t.
It basically comes down to this basic formula in the Green House:
- Protein = good
- Veg = good
- Carbs = bad (for DH anyway, especially bread!; our littlest & I ♥ pasta)
- Dairy = bad (except eggs – we count those as protein; also, we LOVE cheese)
- Sugar = bad (again, for DH; we love our homemade cake & cookies! So do our friends & neighbors.)
So we plan to cut out carbs – brown rice, pasta (I might sneak some in for the kiddo), bread – and any processed sweets. I still have to bake goodies for our littlest to take for lunch or snack; but again, this is not something that we eat a lot of – everyone may get 2-3 cookies (or a slice of cake or a cupcake) at a time, once a day at most (twice on weekends). And their sweet tooths are satisfied.
No diets. No specialty foods. Just getting back to what we were doing right & doing well before the family fell off the wagon. Basically we eat:
- seafood 2x a week – salmon, tuna, shrimp, mussels, or lobster
- chicken 2x a week – baked, grilled, or sautéed unless it’s in a sauce or soup
- beef 2x a week – steak or roast once, then sausage, ground beef (usually mix with turkey)
- meatless once a week – I try for Mondays, but we take when I can get to it.
We’ve already started out great with beef & veggie kabobs for college football Saturday – GO GATORS!
Prepping Kabobs for the Grill
For Meatless Monday we did stuffed Hatch peppers – stuffed with zucchini, squash, quinoa, onions, garlic & tomatoes. I’m telling you I could eat this filling by itself. I love stuffing things – all kinds of peppers, eggplant, zucchini, chicken, you name it I’ll stuff it.
Except for pork. I don’t really do pork.
Today is salmon with dill sauce. Broccoli spears on the side.
The vegetarian lentil burgers were a hit. Shrimp & grits too. Variations of both of those will definitely be in the rotation. And of course, I love my soups & salads.
Along the way, I will post new things we come up with or try. So stay tuned. Until then…
