Whole30 -- Day 19

Hi friends!

My first day of spring break was quite busy. I woke up a bit before 9:00, super groggy and with quite a headache. The allergy medicine that I took last night was a bit too effective, as I was pretty much out of it nearly all day. I had a run planned with my friend Beth at 9:30, but I just could not make it happen due to my grogginess, headache, and need to eat and digest breakfast.

After cooking, eating, writing a bit, and getting ready, I headed to a doctor's appointment. I think my gyno needs to update the brochures in her office:

Again, my apologies to the zero guys that read this blog.
Shit's about to get really interesting when I describe an IUD
insertion in a few weeks... Don't worry: I'll warn you first.

If we talked about this topic in seventh-grade health class, I feel like this would've been the brochure we'd have received -- which would've been super out of date then as well -- after viewing the film strip.

After my appointment, I killed some time (and spent $50 in the process -- darn dress, boyfriend cardigan, and sports bras) at Old Navy before meeting two of my former students out for lunch.

I came home and took a quick nap, trying to rid myself of feeling totally spaced out. Thankfully it worked, as when I woke up an hour or so later, I felt much better.

Then, I headed to one of my best friend's houses for dinner. Check out her pup, Alvin:

Could he be any cuter? Nope.

And now, here we are!

Breakfast: I was so drugged up this morning that I totally forgot to take a picture of my breakfast. Good thing you know exactly what it looks like from the previous 18 posts about Whole30. Today I had three eggs, some leftover chunks of steak, green pepper, mushrooms, jalapeno, and salsa.

Lunch:

Today's lunch was my first time eating out in the past 19 days. My students and I went to Palmer's, one of my favorite lunch places in Des Moines. I always get the exact same salad but had to switch it up a bit due to Whole30. This time I got romaine and spinach, beets (new to me and not my favorite thing), mushrooms, cucumbers, red pepper, and two hard-boiled eggs. (Generally I get raisins instead of beets and turkey instead of one of the eggs, but I wasn't sure if the raisins they use had added sugar, and lunch meat is almost all off limits). For dressing, I had them toss some oil and vinegar on it instead of the raspberry vinaigrette that I always order.

I also had a cup of fruit on the side -- and two 20-ounce cups of fruit-infused water. Nom nom nom.

Unfortunately, lunch did not keep me full for very long. I think it was lacking a bit (or, okay, a lot) in the protein and fat departments. About two hours after lunch, I had to scrounge for a snack. Seriously, it took me forever to find something to eat since I don't have any snack food around. I found some raisins (that were likely about two years old) and some pecans from who knows when and ate those mixed together.

Dinner: Maggie, one of my besties and one of my co-workers, invited me over for dinner tonight, and we made it a St. Paddy's themed meal since we will not be partying hard on Monday. (She's doing Whole30 as well.) She made quite the spread:

Mussels with a delicious pesto:

And a variation of Iowa Girl Eats' kale salad (no maple syrup, no parmesan, etc.):

First, why do I not make mussels more frequently? They're easy, they're delicious, and they're cheap. I think these need to make their way into my rotation. Also, the pesto was awesome -- I definitely need to get that recipe from Mags.

Second, let's talk about that salad for a minute. Holy delicious. Seriously, it was so awesome that it almost tasted like dessert. (You know I've been eating healthfully when I think a salad could be dessert and when almond butter and dates are sooooooo sweet.)  Honestly, I could've eaten approximately 18 more servings of this salad. And, it was so good that I'll likely make it in the next couple of days for myself -- and eat 18 servings in one sitting.

I also brought a St. Paddy's day contribution:

Green kombucha! We obviously weren't drinking any Guinness or green Bud Light, so I thought we could have our own little special treat for this dinner. This kombucha was awesome -- I highly recommend the "multi-green" flavor.

Physical: I think it's really interesting how "in tune" I am getting with my body. Like, I knew that lunch was not going to fill me up (and it obviously didn't). And, I think it's crazy that I thought the dates and almond butter in the salad were so sweet and dessert-like. I think that's pretty cool.

Emotional: I felt good today. I don't know if this really falls into the "emotional" category, but it's interesting to note: Whole30 texts warned of "food dreams," and while I thought they sounded bat-shit crazy, I finally experienced one last night.

I had the most realistic dream about food. I wasn't devouring cake, slurping down ice cream, or enjoying a bucket of popcorn. Nope. Instead, this is what I ate:

Source

Seriously, in my dream I ate one chocolate wafer cookie. And it was so real, honestly like I was actually eating it: I could taste the crunchy, styrofoam-y cookie and the creamy bit of frosting holding them together. It was so good.

And I woke up feeling so guilty. I seriously thought, maybe even while I was still dreaming, "Em, you made it 18 days! Why'd you have to go and mess it up now?! And with a chocolate wafer cookie of all things?!"

It was such a weird dream. I cannot even remember the last time I had one of those cookies.

Cravings: Aside, apparently, from chocolate wafer cookies, I didn't have any cravings today. I thought going to Palmer's was going to be tough since they have such good treats (i.e. the best rice krispies treats in town, delicious brownies, and huge cookies), but I didn't even notice 'em. I'm doing great, y'all!

See you tomorrow morning with Five Favorites!