After a somewhat long break from posting I'm beginning to share my cooking adventures of 2019!

My love for cooking and sharing the food I cook for my family had to be set aside for a while during the holiday season until the beginning of the year because I really felt the need to focus on my family and just enjoy some more time with them.

Although this is a very small blog I'm always thinking about recipes and ideas to post about and, sometimes, I get this super annoying blanks...nothing seems to pop into my head and, when that happens, the most sensible option is to take a break, just enjoy leaving the family life and, eventually, things will get back to normal and the inspiration will come back along with some delicious and nutritious recipe ideas! 

As I've shared previously on the blog I had the most amazing experience with my whole30, that I did last year. Eating natural and whole foods really gave me another perception of healthy living and altered my perception of real nutrition. Last year was filled with lots of reading hours, learning about nutrition and the advantages of a natural diet.

​Over the last trimester of 2018 I've also started to incorporate more plant-based meals and I've reduced the consumption of animal protein to about 1 day a week. That also made me feel even better and healthier - eating a mainly natural diet made me finally shift the mindset from the diet mentality to a different level of eating where, if I'm only eating natural foods I really don't have to think about calorie intake or restriction! I've struggled with "scale obsession" and I found out that eating the natural way made me maintain my ideal weight without struggle or effort and that was a major step for ditching the scale, which is a major personal victory!

With all of that being said, Holidays came rushing in and I started eating more animal protein which definitely made an impact on me: I was more bloated, having less energy and feeling kind of low in general. That really made me think about the effects of the food we eat have on us, physically and mentally. After the holiday season my son, Mr. J, was showing some extra pounds and I decided to ask him on board for a one week vegan reset for the both of us - he said yes and we did it!

Surprisingly he loved all the food I cooked and he also helped me cook some of the meals himself which, I think, got him on board easier with this new way of eating. It was a successful week and I've continued doing it and it has now been almost 6 weeks of eating vegan for me.

First thoughts? I'm so excited to have started this and I'm feeling amazing with what I've been eating!

There's such a variety of dishes and meals to be explored now! Even more than before! I've been spending a lot of time researching, looking up recipes, cooking methods, experiencing with cooking grains in the Instant Pot, trying out soups, stews and stir-fries! There is a whole myriad of surprisingly delicious and nutrient dense foods out there, it's just a matter of knowing how to cook and pair them with the perfect match!

So, these first recipes that I'll be sharing this new year will be vegan and lets see how I go from there. As of now I'm super excited to share some of the combinations and recipes I've been cooking for myself and for the adventurous ones in my family! My daughter, Miss B, is the least adventurous but she will try most of the food I cook, I'll give her that!

Now, about this delicious soup recipe!

The past weeks have been freezing cold and soups have been on the menu non-stop! I decided to cook simple but cozy soups that keep well in the fridge and that please the majority of the family. Keeping things simple when trying out new spices or ingredients is the perfect step to introducing something new. Carrot soup has been a favorite of us and adding turmeric, which is a powerful anti-inflammatory, is the perfect solution for a winter soup.

The secret for the creaminess of this amazing soup??

CAULIFLOWER - yes, just try it and see how creamy your soups get by adding some blended steamed cauliflower or simply adding it to the other ingredients before blending it!

​Super simple and amazing!

1 sweet onion
3 lbs carrots
​1 package of frozen cauliflower
3 cloves of garlic
water (enough to cover the carrots)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
1 Tbsp garlic powder
​1 Tbsp turmeric
optional: 1 cube of vegetable/vegan stock (I didn't use and it was pretty flavorful, it's a matter of choice)

1 - Start by prepping your vegetables: peel and dice the onions and garlic cloves. Peel and chop the carrots and, if you're using fresh cauliflower, cut it in florets and run them through cold water to give them a good rinse. 

2 - Heat a non-stick pan on high heat and add the diced onions when the bottom of the pan gets hot and good to go. Give the onions a stir and, if necessary, add a drizzle of warm water to keep the onions from burning. Sauteing in water is a great way to save on oil and extra calories - you'll get a pretty flavorful soup without the oil, don't worry about it!

​3 - Add the chopped garlic and the diced carrots and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and the turmeric. Let the vegetables cook for about 5 minutes and add the cauliflower. Cover the vegetables with water and cook, on a medium heat for about 25 minutes.

4 - Turn the heat off and puree the soup with an immersion blender. If necessary add some more warm water to get a more liquid soup, it all depends on how thick you like your soup. Taste to check on seasonings and, if needed, adjust.

5 - Serve the soup in soup bowls and add some seeds, I personally love pepitas and sesame seeds but feel free to add your own favorites. Some chopped parsley also goes really well with the sweet taste of the carrot puree.  

During the next weeks I'll be sharing some more soup recipes, for sure!

As long as the cold weather stays with us we'll be enjoying some comforting meals and a cup of soup is always the perfect start to any meal. What is your favorite kind of soup? Let me know in the comment section below and, if you have any recipe request, be free to let me know so I can try and cook it up to put it on the blog as soon as possible. 

​Stay safe and stray warm during this cold season!

Soup, soup and more soup!

That's what we've been having on the menu around here!

The cold weather really brings out the need to have truly comforting meals, specially at dinner time and a steaming bowl of vegetable soup is always a safe choice. I like to use whatever vegetables are in season and, sometimes, I also add something more substantial for a complete meal like mini meatballs, kidney beans or small shaped pasta.

This time I wanted to keep it simple and clean.

I had some protein for the main dish so I just went with basic vegetables for a nutrient dense soup and a nutritional boost for the whole family. Giving the children a cup of soup is a great way to amp up their vegetate intake and it also helps to limit the amount of food they have in one sitting.

If you're having a plate or bowl of soup before the main course you'll be having less of it, controlling your portions and allowing you to feel satisfied with natural, "good for you" food. 

1 sweet onion
chicken broth (enough to cover the vegetables - I used one and a half carton of good quality broth)
2 carrots
1/2 orange bell pepper
3 medium sized white potatoes
2 small cans of diced tomatoes
3 cups white cabbage 
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
freshly chopped parsley

1 - Start by prepping all the vegetables that are going to go into the pot. Peel and dice the onion, carrots and potatoes.

2 - Heat the olive oil on a non-stick pot and add the chopped onion. Let it cook for about 5 minutes and add the carrots, the bell pepper and about 1 Tbsp of chopped parsley.

3 - Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder and add the diced tomatoes along with all of the tomato juice from the can. Mix everything together and add enough chicken stock to cover the vegetables. Taste the liquid to adjust the seasoning, if necessary, and let it cook in medium heat for about 15 minutes.

4 - Add the diced potatoes to the pot and the previously shredded or roughly chopped cabbage. Cover and let it cook until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

5 - After the soup has finished cooking turn the heat off and add a handful of chopped parsley for a burst of freshness or add it in each individual plate, when serving.

As I'm writing this post I'm already thinking about the next batch of souping I'm cooking up for next week! I'm leaning towards the fish and seafood soup because it is a complete meal in itself and it is one of my son's favorites. 

Of course, I'm always tempted by this recipe of roasted tomato soup or the cozy and super decadent onion soup, which I will now have without the cheese since I gave up dairy almost a year ago. I'm still trying out vegan cheese options but I'm looking for clean products and I haven't really been able to find them...

I hope I've inspired you to try a batch of this wonderful soup or any other that I've published. I'm always amazed at how many soups we can come up with just using the most simple and clean ingredients. 

Fall flavors and seasonal produce are my go-to's lately.

I love butternut squash, in particular, and I'm always trying to find different but simple ways to cook it, adding some of the other seasonal staples. Cranberries are sweet and tart at the same time and are the perfect pair for the sweet and buttery taste of the butternut squash. Adding some sage leaves just gives it the perfect final touch and makes these bowls a super comforting meal on a cold day when you just feel like having something special for lunch or dinner.

I also added some walnuts that gave this whole dish a nutty and warm flavor. I love nuts and I always try to incorporate them into my daily meals as a source of healthy fats. They are a great complement for our daily diet, as long as we do some portion control not to have too much calories just from nut intake.

Nuts are high in natural antioxidants, like polyphenols which may protect cells and LDL cholesterol from damage. They can also help reduce inflammation and and are high in fiber which are all great benefits for such mighty tiny little things! I love all kinds of nuts but I'm particularly fond of walnuts, pecans and almonds. 

When I make a smoothie bowl for breakfast, for example, I always make sure to top it with seeds and nuts and also some freshly cut fruit and a drizzle of honey - it's a perfect way to start the day and I have a nice serving of healthy fats and nutrients from the fruit too. I use almond or coconut milk since I gave up dairy after realizing how inflammatory it was to me. When I have something else for breakfast I always find a way to incorporate nuts in, at least, one of my daily meals and I must say that I can't even imagine my daily diet without them! 

As for my kids, my oldest also loves nuts and usually adds them to his oatmeal with honey, in the morning. My youngest is still not on the nut wagon but she'll get there, eventually! I always like my kids to try everything I cook so they can experience a wide range of flavors and textures and sometimes what they don't like one week becomes their favorite thing the next one! 

Talk about ever changing tastes!

One of my goals as a mom of two young children is to teach them how to eat healthy and to make healthy choices. As long as they have the basic notions I believe they'll grow up with the right mindset and, hopefully, will become responsible adults who care about what they feed their bodies. 

As for this recipe, the kids are not too fond of butternut squash so mom and dad had these amazing little lunch treats all for themselves! And what a treat that was! 

1 small butternut squash
1/2 cup dried cranberries (look for the natural ones, with no added ingredients/sugar)
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
1/2 cup halves walnuts 
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp all spice (all natural)

1 - Start by preheating the oven to 450 F.

2 - Peel the butternut squash, cutting it in half and then, after removing the seeds, dice it in small size chunks.

3 - Add the squash pieces to a large bowl where you'll be mixing all the other ingredients.

4 - Add all the other ingredients to the bowl: the cranberries, walnuts and the sage leaves roughly chopped. Season with the salt, pepper, garlic powder and all spice. 

5 - Mix everything together and lastly add the olive oil, giving a very good mix after that to incorporate all the ingredients. 

6 - Fill a greased baking tray with the butternut squash mix - I used two medium sized souffle bowls which also work perfectly if you're going to make this as single serve meals. I just brushed the inside of the bowls with a bit of olive oil and added the butternut squash mix.

7 - Take the butternut squash filled bowls to the oven to bake for about 30 minutes. Check every 5 minutes after the first 20 so you can adjust the baking time to your own oven - times can vary a bit depending on the oven you have. 

8 - After the cooking time has finished and the butternut squash has a beautiful brown color on top , turn the oven off and remove the bowls from the oven.

​I had one of these amazing Fall festive cups for lunch, with a perfectly fried organic pasture raised egg on top - the creaminess of the egg yolk was the scrumptious final touch over the brown and toasted butternut squash! Just forgot to take a picture of the said amazing egg!

These squash bowls can also be made with other roasted vegetables. Just play with your favorites and add some different spices to make different combinations for the whole family.

This is a dish that reheats very well so you can easily fit in into your Sunday meal prep and use it during the week to build your weekly menu: add some of your favorite proteins or have it has a breakfast bowl just by adding one or two fried eggs! Just check the post I tagged above, about meal prep, to get an idea about how simple your week meals can get if you start meal prepping over the weekend!

As for me, this is a perfect side dish that allows me to make a whole meal out of it too and that is one of the advantages of thinking about versatile meals - being able to switch the menu with a few staples is what allows me to keep my sanity on busy weeknights!

Just in time for Thanksgiving I tried this new stuffing recipe and it is a keeper!

As most of you know, we don't have any family with us, here in the US, so we spend this holiday season by ourselves. We enjoy the four day weekend and always try to do something fun with the kids, like go roller skating, going to the movies and, of course, having a Thanksgiving dinner as a family. We always go out for dinner and last year we found the perfect place: good food, great service and a family friendly place to have an amazing dinner together.

I always buy a turkey but I save it for when we have visits coming by and I always try to give the recipe a twist!

​This year I decided to try a whole30 friendly stuffing with a cauliflower base, some more vegetables and a whole lot of pecans! I love the contrast between savory and sweet and this stuffing really does the trick - salty cauliflower and veggie mix and sweet dried cranberries are the perfect combo! Add some crunchy pecans to the mix and you have a winner, just right there!

This recipe must be made in a pan that can be transferred from the stove top t the oven: I used my cast iron pan which I love to use in this kind of recipes. I always get the impression that food gets even more flavor for being cooked in a cast iron!

I served this as a side dish not really as stuffing inside the turkey. The texture is perfect and the secret is not to overcook the cauliflower rice - if the mix seems a bit dry just add some chicken broth to make it a bit more loose, but not too much! There's nothing worse than mushy cauliflower rice!

I hope this recipe comes in handy and that you'll be able to give it a try for your Thanksgiving dinner. It's a healthy recipe with whole ingredients that, I hope, will please everyone.

1 small sweet onion
​1 Tbsp olive oil
2 celery stalks
1 carrot
salt and pepper
1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp fresh thyme
3 cups of cauliflower rice (I just used a whole cauliflower, cut it in medium size chunks and riced it on the food processor by using the "pulse" function a few times, until the texture was perfect to use)
1/3 cup dried crnaberries
2 Tbsp chopped pecans + extra to use as a topping for the stuffing
1 cup pomegranate seeds

1 - Preheat the oven to 450 F.

2 - Peel and finely dice the onion and the carrot. Dice the celery too and get the olive oil in the pan.

3 - Heat the olive oil for a minute and add the onions first. Cook them for a couple of minutes and add the carrot and celery. Season with salt, pepper, the thyme and half of the garlic powder. Cook in medium heat for about 6-8 minutes.

4 - Add the riced cauliflower, the chopped pecans and the dried cranberries and mix everything together. Cook for about 8 minutes and, if you see that the mixture is getting to dry, just add a bit of chicken stock (maybe 1 or 2 Tbsp) to help cook the vegetables without burning them. 

5 - Turn off the heat and add the pecans as topping for the stuffing. Place the pan in the oven to roast for about 20 minutes. This will give the pecans, and the whole dish really, a deeper and stronger flavor.

6 - Add the pomegranate seeds to the top of the stuffing and serve as a side dish together with the other Thanksgiving fixings!

Doesn't  that look good?

Who said cauliflower is boring never tried it like this! That's for sure!

Some of my favorite recipes are the most simple ones!

​Delicious and comforting food is easy to cook and the only requirements really are using the ingredients and flavors that your family loves. During the cold weather season I love meals that I can prepare quickly so it won't take a lot of time to prep up on a week day. Even so there is always a way to make it prettier and to make it look festive so that at, dinner time, you can get some wow's from the kids and a round of applause from your family!

In the case of this Shepard's pie mini bowls you can simply cover the cooked meat and sauce mixture with the mashed potatoes but if you have a little bit of time and can use a pipping bag (I used a cut up Ziploc bag because I couldn't fin my pipping bag, so much for my organization skills!) to make it into pretty velvety mashed potato flowers! Just be sure to let the mash cool down a bit before doing this step so you won't end up burning your hands! 

1 lbs ground beef (I used the one I got from Butcher Box)
1 medium sized sweet onion
1 garlic clove
1 carrot
1 medium can of natural tomato sauce
parsley
salt and pepper
​freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp olive oil
​
Mashed potatoes:
​
I really make my mashed potatoes without measuring anything!
​
I'll steam my peeled potatoes in the InstaPot for about 10 minutes and, after getting the pressure out by the fast releasing method I mash them with a potato masher and add some almond milk, about a Tbsp of ghee (you can use regular milk and butter if you're not dairy-free). The amount of milk really depends on how runny or sturdy you like your mash - more runny means more milk and more sturdy requires less milk - just add a bit at a time so you can control the texture to your liking. In the end I season the mashed potatoes with salt, pepper and a bit of freshly ground nutmeg which, I think, gives it the perfect final touch. Like I said I didn't measure anything but I'd go with 1 lbs potatoes, 1 cup milk and 1 Tbsp ghee.

1 - Peel the potatoes and get them steaming on the InstaPot (use the rack to place the potatoes above the water and use about 1 cup of water) or on the stove top, depending on what method you prefer and usually go for. While the potatoes are cooking get the meat sauce going.


2 - Peel and finely dice the onion, the garlic clove and the carrot. Get the olive oil heating in a non-stick pan and add the onion first. Cook them for about 3 minutes until the onion starts changing color and becoming translucent. Add the garlic clove and the diced carrot and let cook for about 8 minutes.


3 - Remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside. Heat another Tbsp of olive oil and cook up thee ground meat until it gets these little brown and super tasty edges! Season the meat with salt, pepper and garlic powder. 


4 - Add the previously cooked vegetables to the pan and mix everything together gently. Add the tomato sauce and about 1/2 cup of freshly chopped parsley. Mix and let this simmer for about 20 minutes in low heat. If you notice that your mix looks a bit dry just add a bit of bone broth or regular chicken broth to make it a bit more loose. 


5 - While the meat sauce is simmering make the mashed potatoes. Turn off the InstaPot and remove the potatoes to a non-stick pot. Use a masher to get them mashed according to your taste, more chunky or smooth and add the milk and ghee. Season with salt, pepper and about half a tsp of freshly ground nutmeg. Heat this up for about 3 minutes and set aside in a bowl so it cools down a bit while you get everything together to assemble the mini bowls.


5 - Taste the meat sauce to make sure that it's at your taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.
 

6 - Get your assembly line going for the mini bowls or, if you prefer, you can also serve this Shepard's pie in a big roasting pan or deep dish. Place some of the meat sauce to fill about 2/3 of the cups and then use a pipping bag to spread the mashed potatoes on top.


7 - Get the Shepard's pie in the oven for about 5 minutes under the broiler making sure that you check it after this time to see if the top of the mashed potatoes gets brown but not burnt! We must always keep whatever we have under the broiler at plain sight because it really is a very quick process.

​
8 - Serve the Shepard's pie with some freshly chopped parsley on top to make it pretty and even more tastier! 

This is a super comforting dish and it's the perfect family meal. It is also a very versatile dish and you can add or remove some of the ingredients to make this recipe your own - just add some green peas, cut green beans, peppers or sweet corn to give it a twist or use sweet potatoes for the mash and you can get dozens of variations of this recipe! It is a great recipe to use those turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving that's just coming up next week.

It is also a very good dish to make in double batches and freeze to keep at hand for those weeknights when you don't really feel like cooking or don't really have the time to do it. Wrap up each cup in plastic wrap or aluminium foil and identify each cup with the date of cooking and the oven temperature and cooking time just to make it even more practical.

This really is a favorite at my house and the kids absolutely love mashed potatoes so I'm trying to put up some more recipes with it so we can have a bit more diversity of meals with this super comforting staple.

​As for myself, I'm thinking about a sweet potato casserole with nuts...it sounds just perfect!

Until then I'll also be planning some meals to prep for mid December. We'll be having my mother-in-law visiting from Portugal and I'll be trying out some new recipes because she is always ready to try new foods and she is a really foodie like myself, which makes her visit a really exciting time of the year...besides being the holidays and getting the kids to have their grandmother for 3 weeks all for themselves!

On this snowy day be warm and eat good food - that always sounds like a good advice!

What better way is there to welcome Fall then cooking up a hearty meal with pork chops and apples! It's a winning combination and with premium quality meat it just gets loads of extra points for flavor and tenderness of the meat!

I've recently got my first Butcher Box and I'm totally devoted to telling all about it to my friends and followers. Having a busy life is no longer an excuse for not getting high quality meat! With the Butcher Box subscription service you can get a box of 100% grass-fed, grass finished beef, heritage breed pork and free range organic chicken delivered to your doorstep every month or every other month, whatever option fits your family the best.

You can personalize your box and mix your favorite cuts of meat in order to fit it to your household and you can always choose some add on's like no-sugar bacon, which has been a staple at our house since I've done my first whole 30 program. I truly recommend this because with our busy schedule it can be hard to have the time to go to the butcher and buy great quality cuts of meat - with this service you are sure to get what you order and, if you're a meal planner like me, it just makes our life so much easier!

You know what cuts of meat you're getting so you can plan ahead and write down your meals for the week; apart from that you'll just need to make your produce list and make a run to the farmers market or your local supermarket to get the rest of your ingredients for the week's menu.  

It'll come out at approximately $6/serving which is a great value for such high quality meat and, as you can see in my video that I'm sharing in the link below, the steaks are huge as are the pork chops, so you'll get a few meals out of those cuts! Also, the chicken breast comes in 3 pre-portioned packs so you can use them independently and cook them on your meal prep in different ways so you can have different options to choose from during the week. You can cook up some chicken soup with one of the packages and grill some strips for the week's lunches and lunchboxes and still be left with a package left!

On my first order, that I shared in this video, I got:   

• Boneless chicken breast ( I usually use it to cook up some baked chicken strips, grilled chicken with veggies, chicken soup and I also like to use any leftover grilled chicken to whip up some quick meals like wraps or taco boats)

• 2 lbs ground beef (great for meatloaf, meatballs or pasta dishes! Don't forget to check the PROMO below, to get FREE ground beef for life!)

 

• 2 Strip loin steaks (we love them grilled with a simple but fresh green salad!)

 

• 1 package of Pederson's Farm no-sugar bacon (great for breakfast skillets, grilling and pairing up with some organic fried eggs for breakfast or adding it to some hearty bean soup on those cold winter days!)

 

• 4 pack boneless pork loin chops (ideal for the dish I'm sharing on this post or cooking up a more elaborate dish with carrots, onions and chestnuts - this is a meal that I usually cook but never shared so I'm thinking about posting it soon so you can try it out too!) 

 

• 4 Top Sirloin Steak (great for date night, right?!)

If you're interested in giving it a try and signing up to get to know a bit more about Butcher Box, just click here and, if you subscribe the service until the end of September, through my link, you'll get FREE ground beef for life!

How cool is that?

With this offer you'll get, with each box that gets delivered at your house, 2 lbs of 100% grass-fed and grass-finished ground beef for free! Just imagine the variety of meals you can cook up with ground beef, specially in the colder months: soups, chili, meatloaf, lasagna...so many options! So, don't waste a minute and click on the link above to get your offer but don't forget that you only have until September 30th to do it!

As soon as you get your first box you can try this recipe for yourself! Grab your Butcher Box now and start meal planning for the next month!

4 boneless pork chops (I used the "Butcher Box" heritage breed pork chops)
​4 big white potatoes 
1 small butternut squash (about 1+1/2 cup)
1 lbs Brussels sprouts
3 large Gala apples
salt and pepper 
1 Tbsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp smoked paprika
1/4 cup fresh thyme leaves
a few sage leaves for the pork
olive oil
2 clementines
1 lemon

6 - Place the meat over the vegetables and cover it with any remaining juice. This will help the pork chops to cook without making them dry and keeping them juicy and with a lemon/orange hint flavor. Place some sage leaves on top of the pork chops and place the baking sheet in the oven. Cook for about 25 minutes or until the meat is cooked.

7 - For plating just take a bit of everything and slice the pork chops in medium slices. the ones I used were big, so 1 was enough for 2 people. Get the vegetables on the bottom of the plate, cover with the pork chop and sprinkle some freshly chopped cilantro for a hint of green. Use any remaining juices to drizzle over the meat.

This was the perfect recipe to welcome Fall of 2018! The roasted veggies, the flavorful and tender meat, the apples and the sage were a superb combination of warm and cozy flavors.

​There's so much simplicity in sheet-pan meals that they really are one of my go-to's for busy schooldays - getting all the ingredients together and popping everything in the oven while everyone gets settled from school and sports activities is perfect!

No weeknight dinner stress and mommy gets a load of compliments on the healthy and hearty meals cooked for the whole family.

Just to give you a notion of the number of meals I got from this sheet pan dinner, it was enough for one meal for all of us, another for my lunch the next day and I still got three more individual servings out of it. All in all, 7 servings which was pretty good for the price that I payed for all the ingredients. That is one of the other reasons why I love sheet-pan dinners so much, they really stretch the food out!

Give it a try and let me know what you think of this recipe!

Happy Fall everybody!

If you follow my blog you must know, by now, that I love salmon!

I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to sample the Virgin Bay Seafood Co. wild caught salmon, from Alaska. It really does pay off to spend a bit more for great quality protein that is sustainable caught and that has, indubitably, more flavor and a texture that will leave you wanting for seconds after each meal you prepare with it!

I mean, just take a look at this perfect and beautiful salmon portions:

How could anyone be tired of eating food like this?!

Oh, well, I can't have this fish every week but I'm making sure to take some time and do proper research about the quality and sourcing of our family meals' protein sources. We really should pay more attention to what we feed our bodies and, specially after the whole30, that has been a concern of mine. 

Not only for my health but for all of my family's.

By the time I did this recipe I was also able to try out some veggie kits I got from Urban Roots - even though I had to eliminate some of the seasonings that weren't whole30 compliant I had a great time trying these kits out and sampling the different condiments that come with each package. I loved the experience and I'm really glad to know that there's a company that makes eating veggies easier and simpler - if you have a busy life and not a lot of time to spend cooking you should really look into these!

Check out their website and all their veggie kits!

Here's a picture of what I got, alongside some amazing olive oil which continues to be a staple at our house.

I used the butternut squash and the cauliflower kit as a side for another meal and they were delicious! I usually buy all my veggies at the farmers market and prepare them yourself but, like I sad, if you're running low on time and want to make sure that there is always a veggie option in your fridge, make sure to grab some of these packages and try them out as soon as you can.

​You won't be disappointed!  

The recipe is pretty simple and that's one of the things that I like about cooking. You don't need to over do it, just choose good ingredients, simple flavors and you're off to a good meal, for sure! 

2 wild caught salmon fillets (I used the Virgin Bay Seafood Co. - Copper River Sockeye Salmon)
1 big sweet potato sliced 
1 brocolli crown
1 lbs small yellow potatoes 
1 cup cherry tomatoes 
1 Tbsp capers
1/3 lemon juice
1 Tbsp (total) garlic powder 
salt and pepper
a bunch of cilantro
2 Tbsp pitted kalamata olives
​Olive oil

1 - Preheat the oven at 400 F.

2 - Prepare all the veggies that are going into the oven - wash the potatoes and cut them in half. Wash the broccoli and separate it in florets. Place each vegetable in a different bowl and add the seasonings.

3 - On the potatoes and cherry tomatoes mix I used olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. The broccoli had olive oil, turmeric, salt and pepper. The sweet potatoes just had olive oil, red pepper chili flakes and garlic powder.

4 - Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and line up all your veggies making sure that they are not overcrowded in order to cook evenly. I ended up mixing the salmon with the veggies but next time I'll cook them separately! 

​5 - On a different baking sheet lined with parchment paper place the salmon fillets and season with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Cook the fish and vegetables for about 20 minutes or until you see they're cooked through. The time may be a bit off if you choose thicker fillets or bigger chunks of veggies - if that is the case roast them for another 5-10 minutes.

6 - When everything is cooked, transfer to a serving plate and make the sauce to cover the salmon: in a bowl add the lemon juice, about a tsbp of olive oil, the chopped and pitted kalamata olives, the capers and some freshly chopped cilantro.

​I love cilantro so I really got a good amount in there!

This was a meal for 4 and the whole family loved it!

I must say that sheet-pan meals are my favorite for weekdays because they make everything so easy and simple - one pan (or two, in this case!) and everything gets cooked at the same time. It's also perfect to cook chicken breast/thighs (might need a bit more time to cook) or shrimp!

Take a look at what you got on your last shopping trip and figure out what protein and veggies you can combine to make yourself a full and satisfying meal like this one!

I would love to know if you also have the habit of doing this kind of sheet-pan meals! Let me know in the comments!

Summer break is here and I've been struggling with adjusting to our new routine!

Well. the issue is that there is not an actual routine, which I must have to get some order in my daily life - the kids are having summer camp in alternate weeks so I'm with one of them all the time and the pressure of feeling like I have to get them out of the house for outdoor activities or other interesting things to do, instead of giving into TV and Ipad time is high!

I also have to teach them how to figure things by themselves and try to occupy their own time without needing me all the time. Adding to this a lot of home chores, recipes on hold, reviews to write down and organizing our trip back to Portugal by the beginning of August...well, I'm just a mess all around.

I know things will get better and summer really is a hard season for me. The constant reminder that I have to be perfect and that the house has to always look good, the cloths ironed and the kids well fed takes a toll on me and I'm trying to find a way to keep it all together.

We all have bad days or weeks, it's just a matter of pushing through and trying to do the best we can.

After all, we're just humans.

Another thing that I've been struggling with, due to everything I've mentioned before, is creativity in the kitchen. I'm always trying to think of new dishes to cook and make them a bit more elaborate than everyday cooking looks like. To tell you the truth, I'm realizing that food doesn't have to be over complicated, it just has to be good, delicious and nutritious.

Most of the times I think about putting some ingredients together in the most simple way, with basic condiments and spices and, if it works out it really is a great idea to publish it on the blog because, sometimes, people just need to get an idea of foods that go well together - specially in the summer, no one want to spend hours cooking a meal, right?

We simply want to enjoy good food and spend time with family and friends, so choosing easy and quick meals is the right way to go!

I've been sticking to a mainly whole foods diet and I'm looking into plant based diet too. I don't think I'll ever give up fish, meat and eggs completely but I'm seriously considering lowering down my animal protein consumption. I already try to have 2 plant-based days a week and it has been a great experience - I feel amazing and healthier than ever! I'm also educating myself and learning more and more about nutrition because there's nothing like getting information from clinical studies and educated people that have been studying the subject for decades. I'm currently devouring "The China Study", by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and his son Thomas M. Campbell II, MD. I'm trully enjoying this learning experience. 

So, yesterday I decided to cook up a delicious lunch bowl. I just opened the fridge, took a look at what I had in there and put this super yummy and nutritious lunch bowl together in just about half an hour. It rendered my about 4 meals which was pretty good for the amount of time I spent cooking. 

I decided to keep every cooked ingredient in a separate container because, I could combine it with different sides I had already cooked. That way I'll change up a bit my bowl every time I pick something from the containers!

As you know I hat food boredom!  

​I opted for spiralizing the butternut squash at home but you can buy it already spiralized it at the supermarket. It's more expensive to buy it already prepped but if you need convenience it's, obviously, the way to go.

1/2 a whole butternut squash
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper and garlic powder
2 Tbsp freshly chopped basil leaves
3 Tbsp "The new primal" spicy marinade/cooking sauce
1 bunch kale
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup pepitas
1 Pederson's Farms no-sugar added smoked Kielbasa
​1/2 cup fresh blueberries 

1 - Start by trimming the kale, chopping it roughly and washing it thoroughly. Reserve.

​2 - Spiralize the butternut squash, which can be a bit of a hard task if you got a big one, like I did! You've got to cut the end of and peel the long part of the squash, which is the one that you'll be spiralizing, with a vegetable peeler. Reserve the remaining squash and dice it, store in a freezing bag and freeze to use in a different recipe.

3 - In a non-stick pan cook the sliced Kielbasa, in a Tbsp of olive oil, until it starts to get a brownish color. It's delicious when it starts to kind of caramelize, which is not the case because it doesn't have any sugar in it, but it's delicious! 

4 - Reserve the cooked sausage and add the kale to the same pan to just toss it in the remaining fat. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder and keep moving the kale around so it doesn't get overcooked. When the kale turns a dark green color add the pine nuts and pepitas and give it a final toss. Reserve the kale mix in a glass container. 

5 - Add the second Tbsp of olive oil to the pan and cook the squash noodles. These will take about 7-8 minutes to get cooked in medium to high heat. Keep stiring them once in a while and when they start getting cooked add the cooking sauce/marinade. Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes, add the chopped basil and reserve.

6 - All the ingredients are cooked and you just need to assemble your lunch bowl.

7 - In a large bowl add some of the butternut squash noodles to form a base. Add some of the kale and pine nut mix and some sausage slices. Add some extra pine nuts on top and some fresh blueberries for a burst of antioxidant goodness.

​Enjoy!

This is a great option to include on your weekly meal prep. Also, cook additional protein sources and veggies so you can build lots of different bowls throughout the week - having it all prepped and cooked on a Sunday night will, surely, make up for a stress free cooking week!

Just assemble your plate and bowl every time you need a meal and enjoy the different flavor combos - also, add some more  fresh herbs to spruce up those flavors! Nothing like the scent of fresh herbs on a hot and delicious plate of food!

As most of you, who read my blog, know I went through my first round of whole30. I started on January 29 and ended up doing a whole65. I wanted to do the proper reintroduction and have blood work done after finishing my round so I went on a bit longer to make sure that things like my cycle wouldn't influence the results of the blood tests or of the food groups reintroduction.

I was interested in the concept of eating solely whole foods and observing how my body would react - logically it could only be good and I also wanted to find the trigger foods for my chronic migraines. Having to live with migraines on a weekly basis (2-3/week) was disruptive and life altering. The episodes would lead to feeling sick, mood swings, not having enough patience for my kids at the end of the day... it was an overall bad situation, not only for myself but also for my whole family.

If you have never hear of the whole30, the first and basic thing you need to know is that it is a food elimination process that is intended to let you know how different food groups affect you. After finishing a round you are supposed to do the reintroduction process, one food group at a time, 

The program rules are simple: eat only real food and eliminate all processed food or additives. The first thing you'll need to do is clean your fridge and pantry in order to eliminate any non-compliant food. After that all you have to do is fill it up with whole natural foods and seasonings and eliminate the following for a 30 day period:

• Added sugar (real or artificial) - This means that you're only going to have the sugar from fruit and, eventually, kombucha if you like to drink it as the natural sugars that form during its fermentation are natural. So, you must say "NO" to: honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, date syrup, stevia, Splenda, Equal...or anything like those. Read all the labels to make sure that you know all the ingredients in a product are natural. Read every single letter! Sugar is hidden everywhere, really!

• Alcohol - You have to stay away from it in any form, including for cooking purposes. 

• Grains - This includes wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, sprouted grains and all gluten-free pseudo-cereals like quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat. This goes to all forms in which we add these elements to our food, like bran, germ or starch. Again, READ ALL LABELS!

• Legumes - This includes beans of all kinds (red, black, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava...), peas, chickpeas, lentils and peanuts. Here is also included soy in all its forms: soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame and all the ways it can sneak into our food, like lecithin!

• ​Dairy - This includes cow, goat or sheep's milk products like milk, cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, kefir, sour cream, ice cream or frozen yogurt.

• Carrageenan, MSG or sulfites - If you see these ingredients listed on a food or beverage label you must know they're out! 

• Baked goods, junk foods or treats with "approved" ingredients - Some specific foods include pancakes, waffles, bread, tortillas, biscuits, muffins, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, pizza crust, cereal and ice cream. No commercially prepared chips are allowed. Think about it: probably, one of the reasons why you may have a problem with food is related to these kinds of foods. Recreating them would only make the situation worse. 

• Extra rule - besides staying away from the foods described above there are also other two very important steps to follow during a whole30 round: don't step on the scale or take any body measurements during the whole 30 days. On the first day of your round write down the values or measurements and only after finishing your round, by day 31, should you take them again.

By now, if you weren't familiar with this process, you must be thinking:

"Wow! There are so many things that I can not eat!"

What about thinking about it the other way around:

"So, WHAT can I eat?"

 The best thing to do is to look around and list all the produce you can eat, I assure you that you'll be able to find new favorites if you just leave your comfort zone for a while. There are a lot more vegetable options than broccoli and cauliflower! Nutrient dense green leaf greens, starchy  veggies like sweet potato, peppers, lettuce, zucchini (great to make zoodles which go perfectly with home made marinara sauce!), butternut squash, green beans...there's a whole new world out there waiting for you to find it! 

Before diving in, make sure you have all the information possible so that you feel comfortable enough to start the program and keep on track. The whole30website is perfect and has all the information you need. Basic advice, recipes, testimonials, everything is there.

One last thing you need to make sure you have mastered is the notion of the "whole30 plate template" that is the ratio of each food group you should incorporate in each meal. During the day you are to have 3 meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) with no snacking at all. Exceptions for pregnant women or if you're breastfeeding and also if you workout intensively which will make you incorporate several mini-meals throughout the day. In order to be satiated until your next meal and to get a balanced daily diet on the whole30 you should recreate the following plate:

Do you spot the "fat" portion of the plate? Be sure to get that healthy fat at every single meal and don't be afraid of it! We need good fat and it does wonders for our bodies. Just give the system a try and you'll see the benefits for yourself! I now know that I always have to incorporate a healthy fat in my meals (avocado, olives, coconut, nut butters) to feel satiated and to prevent mindless snacking before my next meal.

I'll briefly describe my 4 weeks in order to try to explain what I felt and noticed different in my body (and mind) during this whole process.

The first week was that thrill of starting something new and exciting!

I was preparing myself for a whole month before starting so I knew I had to meal prep in order to succeed - that was my first step. At the beginning of every week I knew I had compliant meals because I spent 2-3 hours on Sundays cooking and prepping all the meals I'd eat during the week. Having a beautifully stocked fridge on Sunday evening made me so happy!

I made sure that I always had washed and chopped fresh veggies and fruit, some cooked meals, roasted vegetables, greens for salads/cooking and the rest of my family's meals scheduled so I could be assured to have compliant meals and no-stress weekdays. It's so worth it the work on Sunday!

This first week I felt lots of energy, since day 1!

I think getting in the right mindset is key to a smooth whole30. If you enter this process thinking that it is an obligation you will not succeed - this is something that I did for my own good, to help my body find its balance and to make it cleaner and healthier. The advantages were all there for me and if to feel better I'd have to leave some foods behind I consider it a small price to pay for a happy and healthier life!

I had one day in particular when I was mad at my husband, don't ask my why, but the good thing that came out of it was that I did't cave in and I didn't go for comfort through food! That was my first NSV (non-scale victory), for sure! 

I had some delicious meals and did not feel the need for snacking, at all. Maybe because my portions at breakfast were large I felt satiated longer and pretty confident about what I was feeding my body.  I cooked this amazing fish and seafood soup with coconut cream and had it throughout the week. It is amazing and my 9 year old son loved it so much that I had to cook up a second batch! It freezes really well so you can double the recipe and freeze in individual portions to have a compliant meal on those busy days when you really don't have time to cook or strength to go into the kitchen! For lunch I had a small bowl and a salad and when I had it for dinner I added 1/2 avocado as the plated fat.

On those first 2-3 days it was hard adjusting to this new meal template. We're used to the concept of "breakfast food"and abandoning that concept takes a while. After day 3 I was already good with it and it started feeling awesome to have such nutritious food for breakfast!

​Isn't that a beautiful plate of food to start the day?

I began practicing the concept of "eating the rainbow" - fill your plate with different colored foods to get an array of different vitamins and nutrients and to enrich your daily diet. Besides feeling great it looks so pretty on the plate!

For some inspiration you can look into my week 1 food journal and check out every meal I had during this week!

Major findings during this first week of whole30:

• Lots of energy since day 1
• Did not feel KATT (Kill all the things!)
• Had some trouble falling asleep and staying in deep sleep mode for the first 4 days
• By day 5 I noticed my stomach was getting more flat and less bloated
• Began liking this somewhat different breakfast meal!

Stressful situation - the only thing that was hard on me during this week was making toasted bread for my kids in the morning and spreading butter on it! I'm Portuguese and we LOVE bread...having to smell that scent in the morning or afternoon (after school) and not being able to eat it was really hard during these 7 days!

​However, I persisted, stayed strong and carried on!

Another awesome week and I could only think that I was feeling happy all the time. Isn't that weird? I mean, I wasn't unhappy or miserable before but now everything just felt absolutely right! As soon as I'd wake up I'd feel great, super energized and ready to take on another whole30 day!

Every morning was crowned by a gorgeous breakfast and I realized that fueling our body right from the first hours after waking up is essential to keep the energy levels going throughout the day! My family kept find it a bit weird because they really weren't used to seeing breakfast food like this but I felt amazing and just wanted to keep on going! 

I remembered about smoked salmon and used it as my protein for breakfast and it was SO good! One of the major issues I see people battling with is "food boredom" - choosing a vast array of different foods (protein, fat and vegetables) allows you to fight this and to maybe, even, get to try new foods that you haven't even thought off, before!

I also made sure that I spent quality time with my breakfast, not shoving food down my throat! Thinking about what you're eating and taking time to properly enjoy breakfast became a priority and, even if that meant waking up 30 minutes earlier every morning, I did it because it made me feel good!

​I love food so it does make a lot of sense to enjoy it properly!

I made a delicious "Pan seared cod with homemade tomato sauce" and added some more olives as the plated fat. This was a meal for the whole family...cooking different meals wasn't on my plan so whatever I cooked for me they also ate - what I did was cook the occasional rice or pasta for them instead of having just the vegetables.

For lunch this week I had a lot of salads and tried to incorporate as many different veggies as I could. I maintained the fruit portions on 2 pieces a day and ALWAYS followed the meal template. On day 10 and 11 I felt a bit tired because I was on my cycle; I also felt a bit more hungry than usual but didn't cave in and opted for almond butter as plated fat at breakfast which I think helped a lot! 

On my week 2 food journal I have pictures and description of every meal I had, so feel free to check that out and try to recreate some of the dishes by yourself.

​You won't be disappointed!

​Major findings during the second week of whole30:

• I felt a bit more tired on my cycle days, which I believe to be perfectly normal
• I continued to feel amazing and truly at ease with this new way of eating
• No bad mood during my cycle, even my husband mentioned that!
• Started to noticed that my mind was more clear and serene. That also made me feel more patient with my children and calm when resolving conflicts between them! 
• I didn't feel any negative symptom which I found strange given all the accounts I had read from people who were doing this program. What I think is that the worst your diet used to be before the whole30 the worst your symptoms will be - I didn't have a poor diet and I already ate vegetables, fruit, no fast food or sugary foods so that may have been the reason!

The first day of this week was my last one with the period and that was when I got my first migraine - worst day ever! One of the reasons I started this program was to find trigger foods for migraines and the good news is that this was my first episode during the program - before, I used to have 2 or 3 each week and these two whole weeks with none were surprising, to say the least!

So, with that being said, the first day of this week was the worst so far, with no energy at all and a full blown migraine banging on my head! After that everything returned to normal and by the following day I already had more energy and a clearer head!

This week I had bacon for breakfast in a couple of days and it tasted so good!

I started to think of this way of eating as a probable future lifestyle: it makes me feel great, my body is looking slender and amazing and, above all things, my mind is so clear that I can properly focus on what I'm doing all day long. If you had asked me before the whole30 I wouldn't tell you I had issues focusing but now that I'm realizing that I really did! Detoxing your body from fake stuff and fake food really has a great impact on our mind, that is clearer to me than ever before. 

I also stopped stressing so much about whether the program was working on not because I was feeling amazing and that was all that mattered. No scale can make you feel like that, only good, natural and nutritious food, so I decided to just enjoy it!

​Feel free to look up my week 3 food journal to get some ideas and try something different for next week's meal prep!

This was the week when I knew I would be having my gum surgery and that was kind of a bummer...however I decided to schedule it for my day 31 of the whole30 so I could do the whole full round. I started to think about soft food diet and I decided to really savor every meal I would have until then!

What I felt during the third week of my whole30:

• I began to stress a bit thinking about my gum procedure and got a bit discouraged. 
• Energy level was high, as usual!
• No mood swings but by the end of the week some cravings for salty snacks did show up. I didn't cave in!
• Got even more adventurous and tried some new veggies and new ways of cooking, new seasonings. All that I can do to make food interesting is a good bet! 

With the finish line in sight the week went by too fast! The difference I felt from the other weeks was that I felt more tired but I was getting to my period week again and I attribute that to the hormonal changes - I usually start to have symptoms a week and a half before getting my period.  Although I was more tired I can say that, as someone who usually has a lot of pain during this week, I felt like during the whole30 the symptoms were much more lighter and also my flow was lighter too. I know that a lot of ladies ask about this and these were my findings, regarding the period week: less pain, less bloating and less flow. 

As for the food things were delicious, as usual!

One of my favorite meals was the one I've pictured below - spaghetti squash with minced meat in home made marinara sauce, roasted asparagus, kalamata olives and plain blueberries. So good and so pretty!

​When they say 'we eat with our eyes' I couldn't agree more. Just look at that gorgeous meal, doesn't it look absolutely amazing?!

I was so happy to be able to eat proper food because I got the news that after having my gum surgery I would have to be on a soft food diet for 6-8 weeks! That's a pretty long time...

I also knew that I wanted to do the proper reintroduction so that would mean that I would have to carry on doing the whole30 until after my post-op soft food diet so I could reintroduce foods properly and identify the ones that wouldn't agree with me.

I was in for a treat!

I tend to overthink things like procedures like this one and that was what happened - the result was a week of restless sleep, feeling tired almost all the time and, at the same time, feeling very apprehensive about it all.

In the meantime I kept cooking my meals and doing meal prep on Sunday, which I kept pointing out as one of my biggest tips for a successful program. On my week 4 food journal you can see my meals with pictures and description of everything I ate.

As for my findings I'll leave these ones for the main conclusion because it really reflects all of my whole30 and it should be read as a whole conclusion of the total period doing the whole30.

As I've already explained I had to have laser gum surgery done in two different procedures. On the first one I had my whole left side done and one the second one (10 weeks later) I had the upper right side done. All I can say is that it is not pleasant...it's not worth drawing flowers around the situation, it's uncomfortable and, if you do it while on the whole30, it is even more complicated in terms of foods you can eat.

I'm working on a specific blog post on soft food diet during the whole30 so I won't be going into much detail here. What I can say is that I looked at what I could eat/drink and made it compliant - for example, smoothies are not allowed on the whole30 but in this case I had no choice given that on the third day eating liquid soup for breakfast I was already gagging and getting it all out! So, I had to brace myself and go for it! I used what I knew was good for me, like bone broth and high quality protein  that the doctor recommended as a post-op recovering aid.

It really was hard and by the second week I was discouraged and didn't feel like eating at all. I lost even more weight than I already had until then (more on that on the post conclusions) but I really couldn't make myself eat more food. It was hard!

Since I had started the program I had the idea of doing a check-up at the end and have some blood work done.

I confess that one if the things that I was fearing the most was cholesterol - due to eating so many eggs. I had already read that it has already been proven that the cholesterol from eggs does NOT influence our cholesterol, which is mainly driven by genetic factors and other food interactions. Also, I had always bought organic eggs precisely due to the fact of eating more of them lately. Even so the doubt was there.

Now, after having read tons of information and watching some documentaries with lots of scientific background studies I see that when we are "fed" the same recurrent message or information over decades it is hard to accept that those ideas were wrong and that the reality is different. It takes a strong person to change but when you have scientific evidence before you, I mean, I don't need anything else to believe the facts.

I won't publish my values because I consider them personal information and I really don't have a base to compare them with because I didn't have previous blood work to compare. Let me tell you - my doctor was so surprised with the results that she even asked my what I was doing, even being a young and healthy woman! 

• Cholesterol - My total cholesterol was low and my good cholesterol was way high! That was amazing to know and it reassured me that I was doing the right thing and feeding my body in the right way! The bad cholesterol was low, as expected!

• Vitamin D - In the winter months it can be difficult to have an adequate level of this vitamin due to the lack of sun exposure but my levels were great without any supplement! Eating the rainbow really does wonders for your body.

• Triglycerides - I used to have a problem with my triglycerides level. It was always too low and it would result in fatigue. My previous doctor would only tell me some non-sense like "eat more cheese" (really, Dr.?!) and I couldn't get it right. Well, eating the right and healthy fats really does the trick and I was so excited to have a normal level now!

• Glucose -I had a level of 76 mg/dL which is great. I mean, the only sugar I was getting was the one from two pieces of fruit a day. In the previous week I had some more fruit because I had to incorporate smoothies on my soft food diet but, even so, it was a great number!

Alongside the blood work I also did a sensitivity test. I found a company online that uses strands of hair and I decided to try this out, after all, what harm could it do? I wanted to have this information in my power AFTER my reintroduction period so I could compare the results I had gotten with the results from the sensitivity tests and find out if they matched. 

I decided to do the reintroduction of the different food groups on the final period of my post-op soft food diet. Because of that, I had to change the order of some food groups to be able to try them according to the sensitivity I had on my healing gum - I didn't want to get anything ruined but I also wanted to be sure of the effects that food had on me!

I decided to follow the 10 day reintroduction schedule but, as said, changing the order of some of the food groups.

Source: ​https://whole30.com

I'll list the food groups I reintroduced and what were my symptoms after doing it, or for the next couple of days so you can have a feeling of what you might also feel if you try these elimination program. This is something very personal, we are all different and our bodies react differently to the same foods. It's just a matter of doing the experiment and seeing what foods make you feel good or bad!

• LEGUMES - I decided to start with this group first because I could get them in a soft food form that would be safe for me to eat, even during my gums healing period. On day 1 I had peanut butter on my smoothie (note that the smoothie is only an option because I was on a restricted soft food diet - on a simple, plain regular whole30 smoothies are NOT allowed), hummus with my lunch and then, for dinner, I had green pea soup, which I simply adore! I used bone broth on my soup, which has become a habit these last months and it tasted amazingly although it was still a soup and by this week I couldn't even almost look at a plate of soup because it was all I had been eating for some weeks! On days 2-3 I returned to whole30 and the only effects I felt were, maybe, some gas and bloating which is perfectly normal with legumes, nothing out of the ordinary! 

​

• NON-GLUTEN GRAINS - On day 4 this was the group I went for, again going for the softer textures. I had gluten-free oats for breakfast, millet for lunch and white rice for dinner. As you can see by the photo I could already eat "normal" food and I was SO happy! On day 5-6 I did regular whole30 and didn't feel any negative symptoms at all. 

• DAIRY - On day 7 I reintroduced dairy and, when I was having it, it felt good and delicious. For breakfast I added some milk to my coffee and cooked my scrambled eggs in regular butter. I had a fritatta for lunch with some lettuce and roasted potatoes topped with some pepper Jack cheese, it was tasty! After dinner I had some plain dairy ice cream.

At the end of the day I was feeling good and thinking that, maybe, the only thing I would be would be some bloating...was I wrong or what?! When I woke up on the next day I felt like I had been run over by a train!

​I had pain all over my body, getting up was a hurdle and every movement I had to make was painful...for real, if I hadn't experienced this myself I wouldn't believe it. I had back pain like I used to have before getting my spine surgery...it was really intense and that just goes to show me that, at least for me, dairy is out of the question due to its high inflammatory effects.

Truth be told, the only dairy I used to have was butter and ice cream once in a while. From now on I'm perfectly comfortable with other options like ghee and vegan ice cream, if I ever decide to try it out. Nowadays there are so many options out there that you'll always have options regarding the different food groups or diets you follow.

• GLUTEN GRAINS - On day 10 I reintroduced gluten, which I already suspected to be a trigger food for migraines. I had whole wheat bread for breakfast, pasta for lunch and crackers at dinner. There it was: about 20 minutes after having my toasted bread (which tasted great, at the time) I was having a full blown migraine! Since day 1 until day 65 I had only had 3 migraines which were during my cycle, probably hormone related. Now, with just 2 slices of bread there it was...I was relieved that I found my trigger food but now I had to look for alternatives to the regular whole grain bread that I used to have.

• SUGAR - I had some honey in the morning, with my fresh fruit and nuts. For lunch I added sugar on my coffee and I couldn't even drink it! My palate had adjusted to balanced natural flavors and the tiny amount of sugar I added to my coffee tasted like dozens of tablespoons! By dinner time I also tried some maple syrup with my fruit and loved it. No symptoms whatsoever on that day or on the following two days.

I didn't reintroduce alcohol because I don't drink alcohol. The exception will be the occasional cooked dish with a small amount of cooking wine but that is so sporadic that it doesn't even bother me. Other than that I don't drink, at all.


It was really interesting to get my sensitivity tests results after doing the reintroduction and noticing that there were things that really did match. Others were a surprise for me and I'll keep having those foods since the effects of consuming them are not serious or almost noticeable. I tested for high intolerance (at least 85%) to the following foods:

• Wheat 
• Salmon
• Dairy (anything with cows milk)
• Olives
• Corn Flakes (really?!)

There were also other foods like a specific variety of apple but these were the ones that I think are most interesting and the ones that I should focus on more. As for dairy and wheat I had already noticed from the reintroduction phase that I didn't react well to them and that my body had a negative response - either pain (inflammatory response for dairy) or by inducing a migraine (in the case of gluten grains). I had already decided to eliminate these two groups from my daily diet but it was somewhat reassuring to know that this can be supported by this testing. Although it is not a 100% certain result test method I think it helps us to get some more information.

As for the salmon I was really shocked! 

​I've always loved salmon and during my whole30 I had it several times and never felt anything weird or wrong after eating it. What I've read about the symptoms of eating salmon when having a high intolerance to it was that it can manifest itself through scaling of the skin, like eczema. I noticed that my right hand, specifically, had been getting worse during these last few weeks and it could be because of that. Even so, I don't consider it so bad or harmful that will make me eat less salmon and the same goes for the olives. I love them and will continue to use them a source of good fat on my daily diet.

This really was a journey of self discovery!

I got to try a new way of eating, I began a new eating routine but doing this whole30 showed me that it is way much more than just something about food. It's a deep process of re-setting your mindset towards food and life in general. As I've mentioned before, along the way, I noticed the impact that the changes I made to complete this program had on my behavior, general mood and overall wellness indicators. 

As I started to go on a whole foods diet I started thinking clearly and feeling more positive and energetic. I had a sense of calmness that reassured me something that is pretty obvious but that you'll only perceive if you try something like this - real food heals, real food is good for you, real food is what your body needs to keep your mind healthy and thriving through good and bad times.

Whenever I would be faced with a challenge or a situation with which I wasn't comfortable with I was able to turn the situation in my favor and resolve it in a calm and orderly manner. I learned that I start to be more patient with my kids, I wasn't yelling at them as I would before and that everything needed to be more calm and peaceful in my household. My husband also noticed it and mentioned that to me, which was pretty reassuring and satisfying for me.

Physically, the changes are huge!

Of course I've lost weight and that was also favored by my post-op period from my gum surgeries in which I had to have 13 weeks of soft foo diet. Even so, after resuming my regular whole foods diet I've maintained my weight which has never happened before! Since starting in January I've lost 22 lbs and I'm now at my fittest as an adult as I've ever been.

I've been struggling with weight issues for a LONG time and to know that I can be at my fittest without making any sacrifices and eating the foods that I want and crave makes this experience so much more rewarding than I ever thought possible. 

For decades I would hear those voices that we all hear, through TV  commercials, magazines or on social media:  

"Stay away from fat! Eat only fat-free food!"

"If you want to loose weight count calories - if you burn more than you eat you will loose weight, for sure!"

"Eat small portions of food throughout the day, no big meals!"

Those messages that we are fed for so many decades really do us harm and don't help us at all. What I've learned is exactly the opposite of that and I'll keep sharing it with my readers, family and friends so that all of you can, too, try to get to a point where you don't feel like food is the enemy. Food is your friend and food can heal, just choose the most natural way of eating and it can only do you so much good!

Eat real food


Do not base your grocery shopping on boxed items, they are full of chemicals and fake stuff!


Eat generous but balanced meals made up from excellent protein, colorful veggies and fat!


Good fat, eat it and enjoy it because it makes you so much good that you're blood work will get A+


Avocado, olives, nuts, nut butters, olive and avocado oil are amazing good fat choices, use them!


Eat the rainbow at every meal and you'll beat any multivitamin that comes off from a bottle!


Eat loads of different dark leafy greens to get vitamins and calcium in highly absorbable levels!

With all that being said I feel great about my natural daily diet and I'm currently looking into Paleo diet as a lifestyle. Keeping things and meals the simplest possible really makes me feel really good, healthy and energetic, so why would I want to change that?!

The only thing that keeps holding me back from being 100% Paleo, at the moment, is the fact that I love hummus! I usually have it a couple of times a week and I do get it why legumes are out of the Paleo lifestyle but I'll have to contemplate the options and decide what to do. Maintaining a good gut health and avoiding foods that cause leaky gut are a priority for me, now that I've learned so much about nutrition and about the impact that food can have on our lives. 

I've also tried to incorporate, at least two days a week, a plant-based day. Eating just plants has proven to be an excellent way to feel even more in touch with myself and to have clearer thoughts and I'm loving all this things that I'm learning through food. Experimentation really is an amazing tool and I couldn't be happier with this experiment that has gone through almost 6 months.

So, eating grass-fed and grass-finished meat, sustainable wild caught fish, organic eggs, lots of veggies and fruit, tree nuts and raw unfiltered honey have been my guidelines after finishing my round. I just have the issue with legumes to look into but if I don't even miss oats anymore I believe I can do that with legumes too, as long as it is for the sake of a better life and healthier future.

I'm also taking the time to teach my kids about food and the importance of making good choices for their present and future health. I don't impose them any specific diet but they do have veggies with every meal and they love fruit. I also know that I'm passing on to them the right concepts and I trust them to carry them on through their lives and practice what I teach them.

I would recommend everyone to do a whole30 round!

As we all know it is not a weight loss diet.

It isn't a diet at all.

It is a reset program built to let your body detoxify itself from all the junk and fake stuff that we usually have through processed foods. Keeping a natural diet will help you achieve so many things beyond weight loss:  no more inflammation, no more migraines, no more metabolic issues due to an imbalanced nutrient intake.

With the reintroduction program you will be able to determine which foods don't do you any good and remove them from your diet. It will always be an option and a single round may not be enough, specially if your previous daily diet was loaded with sugar and carbs.

No matter how many rounds you need, the most important thing is to START!

Put yourself first, put your health first because all you feel it's wrong with you can be changed by changing what you eat. We really are what we eat - I see that now, more clearly than ever! Give this program a try and see for yourself how amazing it can be, how good you can feel about yourself and share it with other so they can also have a glimpse of what they can achieve, without medication, fake vitamins or more chemicals pumped in our system. 

Go natural, go back to our basic diet and feel like a million bucks!​

I really hope that this posts inspires you to start or to continue your journey and I would love to know about your personal experience with going on a natural diet.

​Feel free to comment or to reach out through my email, either way I'll love to know your personal experience!

I love salads and they really are my first choice for warm weather meals. This was my first attempt at a chicken salad with mayo since I usually don't use it and prefer simpler seasonings. I had gotten a Primal Kitchen avocado mayo to try out so I decided to use it and it really came out perfectly balanced and not overpowering, as I thought it would be with regular mayo.

I chose Boston living lettuce leaves because they are big and sturdy enough to hold the salad, in case you really want to ditch the fork and eat it like a taco! It's a pretty portable meal either way - carry it in a glass container and enjoy a fresh burst of flavors and textures either eating with a fork or getting adventurous and grabbing your lettuce taco by hand!  

This was done as a Whole30 meal, hence the brand of marinade I used, but you can always choose another brand or make your own marinade if you're not following this specific food elimination program. Either way this step of marinating the meat you'll make for a super tasty chicken that will, in itself, elevate this simple chicken salad to the next level. There is nothing worse than plain, boring chicken breast meat, right?! 

I hope you get to try this because it is delicious, simple and easy to make. It's a perfect meal for summer days and if you choose to carry it out don't forget to pack some ice packs around your container to make sure that everything stays safe on warm weather days. 

The textures and falvors go perfectly together and the crunchiness from the celery is the perfect complement for the creamy mayo and the sweet grapes.

​What a perfect flavor/texture combo!

Write down your grocery shopping list and get this recipe on this week's menu for the whole family!

Boston living lettuce leaves (trimmed and thoroughly washed)
1 lb chicken breast
1/3 bottle of "The Primal Kitchen" classic marinade or cooking sauce
1 carrot
3 small celery sticks 
​1 tsp garlic powder
1 + 1/2 cup seedless grapes
1/2 cup walnuts
1 cup Primal Kitchen avocado mayo (you can substitute for your favorite brand)
salt, pepper at taste 
1 Tbsp olive oil (to cook the chicken)

1 - Start by marinating the chicken in "The New Primal Kitchen" classic marinade and cooking sauce. If you're using whole chicken breasts, like I did, cut them in smaller bite-sized portions and place them in a glass container, covering with the marinade so that the whole chicken gets covered. Close the lid and keep in the fridge for about 2 hours. Alternatively you can buy the chicken strips instead of the whole breast in order to save some time with the prepping.

2 - Grill the chicken in some olive oil, adding the rest of the marinade as you go. Reserve the cooked chicken in a bowl, letting it cool down completely in order to start making the salad. You can also do this two first steps a day ahead so you can have everything ready to go when you want to make your salad.

3 - Peel and shred the carrot, wash and roughly chop the celery, adding them to a big bowl where you're going to build your salad and mix all the ingredients. Add the cooled chicken pieces.

4 - Wash the seedless grapes, pat them dry and cut them in half. Add these to the salad bowl with the walnuts. Add the mayo to the bowl and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and freshly chopped dill. Mix everything together and taste it so you can see if you need to make any adjustments at this time.

5 - Platting - I love serving salads like this over lettuce leaves and I used Boston living lettuce because of its broad and large leaves which are perfect for this! Serve the salad on a plate, over the lettuce leaves.

I also prepared the rest of the salad in glass meal prep containers so I could have extra meals prepared and ready to grab and go. There's nothing like meal prep to make you feel prepared for a healthy and pretty good tasting week of meals!

In this particular case I ended up sharing my chicken salad with some friends.

I mean, it's one of the things that makes me feel better - to share what I cook with others and see their reaction. My love for food is closely tied too my love for sharing my passion for cooking and healthy habits so the best thing to do is to share! 

This is an example of a very simple meal and, of course, you can always add some other ingredients that you fancy or use other seasonings. From the basic recipe build up your chicken salad and make a super refreshing meal to your whole family over this next week!