And that's a wrap! (a week late...)

Last week, Justin and I completed the Whole30 challenge. For the most part, we were actually pretty "compliant." Was it hard? Heck yes. I found almost everything has some form of sugar added to it. I'm a snacker and  I have a huge sweet tooth so the lack of sugar was the hardest part for me. Popcorn became one of my best friends....

But we did eat lots of veggies and fruits and had fun exploring with different ways to cook. One night I even made butter chicken with grain-free naan bread! It was delicious!

One of my favourite things to make to accompany my lunches was cucumber and grape salad. Recipe: Cucumbers, grapes and then I squeezed orange juice on it. Oooh my, so fresh and perfect for summer!

A managed to get a quick pic of it once (before I gobbled it up) Although this pic looks like i was running out of ingredients haha

I also made some yummy cherry/date/nut bites. I tried to replicate these yummy snacks I found at Costco. I will make again so I can record the recipe. Oh ya, and Bulk Barn is like the WORST as well as BEST place to go when you're doing this challenge lol

So conclusion/outcome: Physically, I came out feeling better thats for sure. I slept better and I had, ahem, "regularity" (if you know what I mean...) I even had the desire to start working out so I've been participating in Beachbody's PiYo workouts for the past few weeks now. (Although, this week, I injured my foot so I've been resting for a bit but I'm excited to start up again tomorrow!)

Mentally, it was challenging! I craved them sweets that's for sugar, I mean, for sure.... and the temptations were everywhere... I mean EVERYWHERE!! The second day, we went to a birthday and Justin and I sat there watching everyone stuff their faces with scrumptious (looking) homemade cream filled red velvet cupcakes.

I feel like it was a lot of mental work to overcome those temptations. By the end it was a bit (a BIT) easier to pass up the offers for  cupcakes and cookies.

But now that I've added those things back into my diet, I can tell which foods my body doesn't like. For example, I ate a Caramilk bar the other day, and instantly I regretted it. I also think I have some sort of gluten sensitivity but I'll have to investigate that a little more deeply....

I'm proud of myself for taking this challenge and I've learned what I can achieve if I set my mind in the right place.