Blueberry Pancake

One eats a lot of eggs on the Whole30. Which is fine for the first... Five days and then I am simply over it. I loved my oatmeal with butter, raisins, and a splash of maple syrup in the mornings, but I haven't had oatmeal in 27 days! I can't believe it's already been 27 days.

Anyway, the weekend is the time for me to explore new breakfasts and be a little more relaxed. During the week I usually fry up two eggs, have some sausage, and some fruit. I try and do different things on the weekends to mix up the breakfast routine.

So today I made this:

A blueberry egg pancake. It was delicious and tasted so much different than eggs. With the addition to cinnamon (yum!) and the blueberries, it totally rocked my world. It's simple, quick, and probably something I will make during the week as well. I need quick, easy, and satisfying during the week. 

The whole process took me about 6-7 minutes to do and the clean up was the bowl used for whipping the eggs, plate for the end result, and the fork and spatula. We use cast iron skillets in our house, and luckily the skillet I use is so nicely seasoned it hardly leaves traces of anything on it.

I am not the best flipper of eggs in the world, but luckily this process was pretty easy. I used a tiny skillet as I was only doing two eggs and coconut oil seems to work the best when trying to flip food.

I am so grateful for all the resources out there for Whole30 recipes. And since this is my second time doing it, I am more comfortable with knowing what I can eat that it makes me do a bit more exploring. I often times take someone's recipe and alter it to my tastes. As long as I have the basics down, I add or subtract certain ingredients depending on what I am feeling. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. Next time I am going to make it with four eggs, as two just didn't seem enough. I imagine this would be good with blackberries and strawberries too!

Blueberry Egg Pancake

2 eggs (or 4 depending on how hungry you are)

1-2 tsp of cinnamon (I used more cause I live cinnamon)

1-2 tsp of black pepper 

A small spoonful of coconut oil

A handful of blueberries (or diced strawberries or blackberries)

In a small skillet (I used an 8 inch cast iron) add the coconut oil and let get warm on medium heat.

While the coconut oil is melting, whisk the eggs, cinnamon, and black pepper together to make an omelet like consistency.

Once pan is nice and warm, pout egg mixture into skillet. Keep an eye on the eggs as you don't want to cook them too fast. When the eggs become baked on the bottom with a bit of uncooked egg on top, (about 2-3 min depending on how your oven is) add the blueberries. 

Carefully flip the eggs onto the next side and let cook for another minute or two.

Grab a plate and flip the pancake, blueberry side facing, onto it. 

Grab a fork, a cup of tea or coffee, and enjoy!

Whole30 Life

Last year was a hard for me personally. I lost someone so very important to me that it wrecked my world. I had never lost someone close to me before and so it was all new experience for me. I started going to therapy on a bi-weekly basis (and still do) to help me crawl out of the depression hole that I was in. When I get depressed, I don’t want to do anything—I want to lie on my couch, eat cookies, and watch grey’s anatomy on repeat on Netflix. Seriously. I’ve seen every episode at least 15 times. As soon as it ends on Netflix with the last available episode, I start all over again. More importantly, the reason why is because my person and I used to watch it together when she lived here in Flagstaff. And it was her mom that died, my second mom—it was a way for me to feel connected with her when she wasn’t here.

Because I was in a depressive state and was having a hard time coping, my weight ballooned, and I got to be the heaviest I had been in two or three years. Starting in 2011, I made a drastic shift in my eating habits to break away from my weight. When I graduated from Grad School in May 2011, I weighed close to 200 pounds. I’ve always been a bigger girl—I have these amazing German hips that I do love, but when all your friends are a size of a pencil, it’s sometimes really hard to not get upset about how big you are (especially in high school and college when you’re so incredibly insecure). Anyway, at the end of 2011, I started paying closer attention with what I was eating and putting in my mouth. I wasn’t necessarily eliminating anything, but I was making a conscious ever to not eat so much, not eat so much crap, and try and eat organic 90% of the time. Once I started doing this in the summer after I graduated, the weight started coming off. I got down to about 165, which is the smallest I’ve ever been probably since grade or middle school. I maintained that weight pretty regularly and of course fluctuated here are there, but I never got above 170 or below 157. When Nan died in March, in April I was 185. I was a bridesmaid in one of my best friend’s wedding, and I couldn’t fit into my bridesmaid dress. Or any of my clothes comfortably anymore.

A co-worker came into my office in May of last year (2014) and told me she was doing this thing called “The Whole30.” It was her third week and she was feeling great and free from the sugar demons or needing to stuff her face with food at every meal. I looked into it and wasn’t really sure if I could do it (I have one of the biggest sweet tooth’s) so I pushed it off for a few weeks.

The week after my birthday, I decided I was going to take on this program. I was only going to do 18 or 19 days, because we were going to be traveling to a wedding and I just wanted/needed to lose some of the weight to fit into my bridesmaid dress. The first week I started was hard. I work in an office, and it’s so easy to just mindlessly nibble on food throughout the whole day without paying much attention to it. So, I made a very hard and challenging transition to only eating meal 1, meal 2, and meal 3 within 5-6 hours of each other. Within the first 7 days, I noticed a dramatic shift in my weight—my pants were surprisingly looser, it was easier to ride my bike, and my stomach bloat went away almost immediately.

You’re not supposed to weight yourself or take measurements throughout your Whole30, because the scale doesn’t really matter when it comes to fitness. And they want to break you from making what the number on the scale effect your day (cause you know it does). I did weight myself before we left for Boston, about 15 days into the Whole30, since I knew I was most likely gonna stray from the program while I was there (my friend married into a Greek family and they made baklava, which is one of my biggest weaknesses). I had lost 17 pounds in a little over two weeks!

When we were in Boston and since that May, I’ve pretty much kept to some of the rules of Whole30. For example, I don’t eat beans anymore because they wreak havoc on my system, which is huge because I love me some bean tostadas, but they hurt my stomach so bad and cause so much bloat that I don’t want to experience that again. But, I did incorporate sweets back in, my gluten-free goodies on this site, and the like.

I did gain some of the weight back, but have been a steady 170-175. So, 23 days ago, I started to do the entire Whole30 program! It’s amazing that I only have 7 more days to go! I can tell this time around that I am losing weight and inches around my body. My waist hasn’t been tinier and my stomach is incredible flat. But not only that, I feel AMAZING. I am happy and cheery and laughing; I am getting some great sleep; and I feel totally satisfied with what I am eating I don’t have the need to go and snack on anything. I do have to admit though, I miss my oatmeal and raisins in the morning. And the occasional sweet treat, but I know that as soon as I start incorporating sweets back into my diet, I won’t be able to stop. So, I am going to extend my Whole30 for an extra ten days. And if I still feel the sugar demon inside me, I’ll do it for another 10 days. The Whole30 isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle change—it changes how you think of food, what food you eat to nourish your body to its fullest potential, and makes you really pay attention with what you’re putting in your body.

Let me tell you, sugar is in EVERYTHING. It’s hard to find ketchup, or chicken broth, or tomato puree that doesn’t have sugar in it.

My Whole30 ends on the 21^st, and I will be out of town for a meeting. So Sunday I plan on cooking breakfast, lunches, and dinners for me to pack with me to take out of town. I leave the 20^th and come back the evening of the 22^nd, and since I’ll already been at day 31 by the time I get back, might as well keep going, right?

The thing I like about the program is that the first week or two sucks hard as your body is getting rid of all the shit you’ve put into it. Sugar withdrawals are serious and can be so overwhelming. I was a cranky you-know-what that first week. But as soon as you pass that hurdle, it’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s exciting. My partner and I rode our bikes this weekend for 13 miles! And it was easy! I haven’t ridden my bike in about 10 months, so I was expecting it to be hard, but it wasn’t! And I was smiling the entire time while riding my bike. It’s like an instant smile has been plastered on my face.

Thankfully, I am not alone in the Whole30 world, and the internet is here because there are so many ways to connect with people who are also doing the program. Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and general Google searches bring up loads of information. Especially recipes, because it can be hard to eat the same thing over and over again for 30 days. There’s a supportive community as we help each other push through the process and give our understanding and encouragement for people. It really is amazing.

I highly encourage this program. It isn’t a diet, it isn’t a “fad.” The creators are nutritional scientists and have a book called “It Starts With Food” that breaks down how your body processes the foods you put into it. It’s an amazing book and all the people I’ve given it to have understood it completely and can relate to what’s being discussed.

I went on this tangent because I am going to start contributing to the Whole30 recipe world. You may be eliminating certain foods, but the whole foods that are out there are even more amazing than the pre-packaged foods or sweets or crisps. And I hope my recipes show just how delicious things are when you’re on the Whole30.

I may occasionally splurge and make a sweet treat, as my partner has been asking for cookies for the past... 23 days, so I may make some. We'll see. I am not very good with looking at sweets and refraining from eating them, but who knows. Maybe as I get stronger in my Whole30 it will become easier.