Day Five: A Bumble and Some Shrimp

Day Five was full of several abominable discoveries. (How am I learning so much and I'm only 1/6th of the way into this thing??) The word "abominable," though it sounds like it should be horrendous, kind of makes me smile. It reminds me of the Bumble from Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. He was always my favorite character!

Sorry, rabbit trail. Back to the real (non-smile-worthy) abominations.



Abomination #1: I gave up refined sugars for Lent this past winter/spring. When I did that, I did NOT also give up high fructose corn syrup because it seemed nearly impossible to give up both sugar and corn syrup and still eat like a normal person. In all honesty, the average American eats way too much sugar anyway, so I don't know why I was striving to be "normal." But, with the Whole30, one is not allowed to have any added sugar (real or fake), so both sugar and corn syrup are out of the question. Essentially, the only sweet treat I can enjoy at this point in time is fruit. However, I think that I'm starting to dislike sweet foods altogether. I had an Apple Pie Larabar for a snack at work last night and thought that it was mighty sweet. When I had this flavor for the first time, on Day One (four days ago), I thought that the Apple Pie version was quite scrumptious. While it still tastes good, the sweetness was almost enough to make me sick tonight. Similarly, I have been eating grapes and pineapple the past few days, both of which I really enjoy, but I am beginning to think that they are just too darn sweet to indulge in more than one or two bites. What is happening to me?! Am I really turning into a cavewoman?!


Abomination #2: Speaking of cavewomen. I know they couldn't read and write and all they had were cave paintings, but I bet their cave paintings didn't come with lists of ingredients for their foods. I am becoming more and more irritated with labels on food. As you may recall, I had "dry roasted sunflower seeds" on Day Two as a snack. In my haste running out the door to go work last night, I decided to grab the bottle and take it with me when the ingredients list caught my peripheral vision. I noticed that it was quite extensive and immediately my curiosity was piqued. I mean, what can POSSIBLY be in a jar of sunflower seeds other than seeds and maybe some salt. I'd considered the possibility of oil, but they are dry roasted, after all. The list of ingredients seemed to go on for days! Who decided it was a good idea to poision unsuspecting sunflower seed lovers with monosodium glutamate?! Seriously?! MSG in my sunflower seeds?! Good grief! What is this world coming to? Not to mention the fact that they have cornstarch (a corn product, so not allowed), sugar and corn syrup solids (both added sweeteners, so no!), and hydrolized soy protein (soy product, so no, again!). Who knew something so simple as sunflower seeds could be so toxic? So, because I made the mistake of eating these on Day Two, I have decided that I will be extending my Whole30 to be a Whole32. UGH! I'm trying so hard, only to be tripped up by an innocent looking bottle of seeds. Lesson learned! READ ALL LABELS!

Abomination #3: I'm running out of vegetables! My husband and I are going to visit the Lynchburg Community Market today in hopes of scoring some delicious local produce to help remedy the lack of vegetables problem, but I'm running out of creative preparation ideas, too. Does anyone have a favorite vegetable (not corn, beans, or white potatoes) recipe that you'd like to share with me? I'd be grateful for any new ideas you could share with me. I found a recipe for "creamed" kale yesterday that I'm excited to try. I don't know if I like kale, though.


Abomination #4: I still didn't get enough calories yesterday, according to myfitnesspal. How in the world am I supposed to keep eating if I'm not hungry? Is that not counterproductive to what I am trying to accomplish? I used to overeat all of the time. All of the time! But, now I have gotten myself to eating mostly normal portion sizes, healthy food choices, and drinking only water and the darn fitnesspal thing says I need to eat more! I can't win!

Here's the break down of what I ate (I know I did not have enough vegetables, see Abomination #3):

Breakfast:
2 fried eggs
1 banana

Lunch:
Leftover Caribbean Lime Chicken breast
Classic Panera salad (no dressing)
1/2 C Pineapple

Dinner:
Roasted greenbeans, mushrooms, and shrimp
1/2 C Pineapple

Snacks:
Apple Pie Larabar
Scant handful of raw pecans

Here is the recipe for the greenbeans and shrimp. I found this recipe originally on Pinterest, so I am new to this lady's blog, but she seems to have a lot of good sounding recipes. Perhaps, if no one can share any good veggie recipes with me, I'll have to start trying some more out. I didn't have any coriander, so I just simply omitted it. I added 8 oz of button mushrooms, halved (and about 1/2 T of extra oil to compensate for the mushrooms soaking it up). And next time, I will add probably 1/2 t garlic powder.

Clean Eating Roasted Shrimp and Greenbeans

For the beans:

• 1 lb. green beans trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper

For the shrimp:

• 1 lb. medium-large raw shrimp (thawed if frozen), peeled
• 1 tbsp olive oil (plus a little extra to brush on roasting pan)
• zest from one lemon (save the lemon and cut into fourths)
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 425.
Once the shrimp has been peeled and cleaned, rinse it under cold water. Be sure to pat the shrimp really dry (if the shrimp is not dry it will steam rather than roast!).
Place the trimmed and cut beans in a bowl and toss with extra virgin olive oil, ground coriander, ground cumin, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and Cayenne pepper.
Place shrimp in another bowl with the extra virgin olive oil, lemon zest, salt, and fresh ground black pepper.
Brush roasting pan with olive oil or use a non-stick spray, then arrange beans on pan in a single layer (as much as possible). Roast beans 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, toss the beans and arrange shrimp on top and roast 8-10 minutes more or until shrimp are just done.
Squeeze the four lemon quarters over the shrimp and beans and serve immediately.
Makes 2-4 servings.