Lipstick & Lifts: July 2012

I am someone who LOVES structure. I love to challenge myself, I love to plan (hence my job), I love to make lists of what I can accomplish and cross things off when I do accomplish them and of course I love success. You can imagine with this type of mentality I have spent as long as I can remember trying each and every fad diet imaginable. South Beach, Slimfast, Weight Watchers, fruit cleanse, juice cleanse, eat everything, eat nothing, energy pills, energy drinks, you name it, I've probably tried it. Now you would think after I failed again and again I would come to my senses and realize those glorified diets DO NOT WORK. There is no magic pill, there is no perfect plan. Every body is different and every one must take an individual approach. After college graduation, moving across the country, and being at my highest weight I was more than ready to begin another challenge.

I had heard many things about this "CrossFit" and after seeing both my family and friends fall in love with it I decided to start back in November. I immediately noticed a difference in my body, my appetite and my attitude. After a couple months I had heard enough about the paleo lifestyle to give that a try as well. For once I wasn't counting calories, measuring every portion, worrying about what I was or wasn't eating, I was just DOING IT and it felt great. From starting CF in November through March I dropped 15 pounds without actually "trying" or watching the scale.

Fast forward a few months. Work, personal life, and old habits ensued and I unfortunately let distractions and laziness put 10 pounds back on. Even though I continued my CrossFit 3-5 times a week my eating habits fell completely to the wayside and I paid for it. The saying "old habits die hard" is SO true for me. Even though I knew how great it was to eat clean, I have just not been able to completely get back on the "paleo wagon"

Enter my next challenge. The Whole30.

I know what you are going to say. Another challenge? Another time frame where you follow specific rules? But those don't work! Well hear me out. Yes this is a challenge, yes there are rules but this isn't about losing the last 5 pounds, attaining a super model body in 10 days, or "getting the perfect 6 pack abs." This is about forming habits (it takes 21 days to form a habit fyi) and starting a foundation for the rest of your life. At the Whole9 they don't make giant promises, in fact they highly encourage you to not look at the scale at all! As one of my trainers has said before "we work from the inside out, looking good is just a side effect."

So what is this challenge? Well actually it's pretty simple. Eat food. Clean, unprocessed, natural, food. Don't measure, don't count calories, don't over think it, just eat what make you feel good. Meat, veggies, fruits, proteins. YES. Sugars, grains, alcohol, legumes. NO. That's it.

Ok there might be a little more to it seeing as I have a 292 page book in front of me. But I'll get to that later. For now I am going to concentrate on the basics.

Now before this turns in to a short novel I am going to quickly recap my pre-Whole30 thoughts..

It is going to be hard. There will be temptations. I might feel like giving up. BUT IT IS WORTH IT. I have nothing to lose except bad habits. I have everything to gain (except unwanted pounds).

Let's go!

Resources:
"It Starts With Food" by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig
www.whole9life.com

Now I am a HUGE fan of chicken. In salads, in sandwiches, by itself, with veggies.. need I go on? Chicken though can be very bland if not prepared correctly and nothing is worse than overcooked chicken all rubbery and way too chewy. yuck.

Here is a recipe that will keep the spice in ya life. Or at least in your chicken.

HONEY BBQ CHICKEN NUGGETS
adapted from HungryGirl

Ingredients:
1/4 cup almond flour
1/8 tsp. each salt and black pepper
8 oz. raw boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 16 nuggets
1 egg beaten
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
1 tbsp. honey
Dash of chipotle pepper (or cayenne, to taste)
1/8 tsp. garlic powder, or more to taste

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix flour, salt and pepper in bowl. Dip chicken pieces in egg then coat in flour mixture. Lay on non-stick cooking sheet and place in oven. Cook 6-8 minute, flip chicken, cook another 6-8 minutes until crispy.

In separate bowl mix BBQ sauce, honey, pepper and garlic powder. Heat in microwave for 15-20 seconds.

You can either coat the chicken in this sauce or use it as a dipping sauce. DELICIOUS!

You know you want to see pictures....