HH30 - Week 1

This has been an insanely hectic week so I'm just going to recap my first (successful!) week of the 30 day whole food challenge. Then I'm going to get back to writing one of my final papers and studying for my neuroscience exam. Fun!

Last weekend we started the challenge. Now, thanks to the twitter team, more easily abbreviated to HH30. I was at school all of that weekend too, so I was eating less than I normally would as it can be a challenge in itself to eat food in the computer lab here. I was worried on Saturday that it would be difficult at my friend's birthday that night to not have a glass of wine, but I was so tired and knew I had to get up early the next day so it really was quite easy to just drink water.

Knowing how little time I would have during the week I decided to prepare enough dinners for at least 4 nights on Sunday. Made a delicious salsa from scratch (ok, i used unsalted organic canned diced tomatoes), bought potatoes to bake and using what I had on hand at home made a rice and lentil salad, using the brown rice medley from Trader Joe's which is more interesting and colorful than plain brown rice. The salsa itself was great, although it could have been hotter. The rice and lentil salad was a little dry. I'd had half a lime left over from the salsa but it wasn't enough to moisten the salad, so I'll have to fix that next time. Next time I might add more celery and maybe some orange bell peppers too. So, dinners were planned, prepared and totally wholesome! For this week, I've bought a ton of veggies and am planning to just throw everything together tonight to make a casserole. Depending on how it looks (it'll either be pretty or ugly, no in between) I'll upload a picture on twitter. I have regular brown rice and chickpeas at home too so I'll probably include those for a more well-rounded and substantial meal.

Breakfast was easy. At my new workplace they provide breakfast and lunch. Nothing fancy and most of it out of even my ordinary food type, but there is always plenty of fresh fruit at breakfast (whole and cut up on platters). I brought in plain rolled oats and almond milk so for breakfast I had raw oats and fresh fruit. Lunch always includes a salad bar and other hot foods that I usually have to avoid anyway. So I filled up on the salad bar every day and thankfully there is always edamame and sliced almonds so I'm able to include those to give my salad a bit more substance. In my job I'm almost literally running around the office all day so I rarely get to eat my meals in one sitting which probably has partly influenced my lack of hunger.

Unfortunately, with working a 60 hour week and all this studying as I near the end of my program, I've not been able to take any yoga classes in the past week. Unusually, I haven't felt sluggish or tired and actually have felt lighter and more energized. I am also fairly sure, although I haven't taken my weight or measurements, that I haven't put on any weight. For me, having done no conscious exercise in a week, to not feel that I've put on any weight, and perhaps even losing a pound or two, is a pretty big deal!

I do think that due to my circumstances this past week, I've found it pretty easy to stick to the challenge. This week will likely be the same. Right now, I'm not sure how sustainable this would be as a strict regime in the very long term, but it's definitely making me aware of how much processed food is out there and how much of it I really don't need to consume.