Taking Control

When I talk about the Whole Life Challenge, the first thing people typically ask is how much weight I lost while doing it. It’s a valid question. I mean, weight loss was definitely one of my goals when I signed up back in January—and it will be one of my goals when I do the challenge again (because although I dropped about 8 or 10 pounds last time, I’ve still got quite a few more to lose). But there’s so much more to the Whole Life Challenge than losing weight, and there are so many reasons I decided to do it before…and I’ve decided to do it again.

Here’s the deal: I was not in a good place at the beginning of this year. I’d spent at least two months in what I considered to be a pretty deep depression. I had my good days and my bad days, and I was still functioning for the most part—but the truth is that I felt like my life had spun completely out of control (which is not a good thing for a control freak). I felt like a failure in almost every way and was walking a dangerous, self-sabotaging path that included eating all the worst kinds of foods, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, abandoning all efforts to be physically active, and allowing a defeatist attitude to completely overtake me.

RECIPE: Strawberry Banana Smoothie

A lot of people have a tough time figuring out easy meals to make while they’re doing the Whole Life Challenge, especially at breakfast. They seem to think that an egg with fruit or vegetable combo is their only option. But that’s so not the case! There are all kinds of things you can have. Some of my favorites include an apple with peanut butter, one of those awesome Clean Banana Nut Muffins or a simple fruit smoothie.

I used to make this strawberry banana smoothie all the time with regular milk and Greek yogurt—but substituting in almond milk and cutting out the yogurt makes it 100 percent advanced level compliant and just as delicious (especially if you use homemade almond milk). Of course, it’s not very high in protein when you cut out the dairy—which may concern some people at the start of their day. The good news is that if you’re playing at the beginner or intermediate level, you can add a bit of Greek yogurt to this for a protein boost and extra creamy goodness. Give it a go and let me know what you think!

Maintenance Mode

It’s been a full ten days since the Whole Life Challenge ended, and I have to say I’ve learned some surprising things in that short period of time. My husband and I decided that we would take these ten days to just live our lives without any rules or restrictions—to see which habits that we acquired while on the challenge stuck, and which ones fell by the wayside. So, you want to know a bit more about my surprising lessons? Well, okay then!

The first surprise: Dairy is not my friend. When I had some Greek yogurt, I got all this annoying allergy-like phlegm in my throat. (Tasty, right?) Also, I no longer like milk in my coffee. I was seriously so looking forward to not having to make my own almond milk until the next challenge but after trying a cappuccino made with milk last week? I went right back to soaking my nuts! (Er…you know what I mean.) And no, I don’t want to buy the almond milk they have at the store. It doesn’t taste anything like the creamy, delicious almond milk that I make—and besides, the store-bought stuff has crappy artificial ingredients in it. I am finding that I can tolerate, and very much enjoy, a small amount of cheese (or, okay, a giant mass of it on top of a pizza or nachos). But honestly? I definitely don’t need it so it will be a rare indulgence rather than an everyday one.

RECIPE: Zucchini with Meat Sauce

OMG, you guys! Today is the last day of the Whole Life Challenge! I can’t believe it. The time has seriously flown by and it really hasn’t been all that challenging. Well, okay, that’s a lie. There have been quite a few challenges—but most of them have had to do with the amount of grocery shopping, food prep and dishes involved. The great thing about all that shopping and food prep is that I’ve discovered—and even created—all sorts of delicious, advanced level recipes, and now I’m going to share the big winner as far as my family is concerned: Zucchini with Meat Sauce.

I’m telling you, the picture doesn't do it justice. This is quite possibly the most delicious meal I’ve ever made. At first, I was just baking the zucchini in the oven, which is extremely tasty, but over the weekend I finally got a Spiralizer (actually, I got what I believe to be a cheap imitation—next time I will get the Spiralizer) and made noodles out of the zucchini. I swear, the texture added an entirely different dimension to this dish. Like I said, the contraption itself is kind of flimsy, and not super easy to use, but the results are so awesome that I think I’ll just deal with the downsides (and, you know, get a better model next time). I mean, seriously, how gorgeous are these?