Day 19

Forgive me for not posting yesterday. It was a very hard day.
Our first fur-baby, Peaches the chinchilla, passed away and she was only 2.

We were so sick over it and I didn’t have the heart to take food pictures.  We will miss our little fluff ball<3

I think that from today through the rest of the 30 days, I will still post a food diary, but only include a picture if I’ve made a dish not yet posted. I initially only planned on doing the food diary for 2 weeks and that is mostly because I figured I would recreate many of the same dishes in the second half of the challenge. I have been pretty creative so far, but I am running out of new ideas! Thanks so much for following me this far! Hope that I will continue to challenge a healthier lifestyle to my readers (:

Breakfast:

• fried eggs
• bulletproof coffee

Lunch:

• Carrots and homemade ranch dip
• pecans

Dinner:

• grilled chicken
• skillet potatoes
• sautéed broccoli

New Year’s Blog Resolution!

Happy 2015 to you all!

Last year was a blast, this year will be better!

I know it has been a really… really… long time since I’ve posted. I am truly sorry for slacking. I honestly had no idea how many people were keeping up with my blog posts (and enjoyed them, for that matter,) until just this past month as many of you encouraged me to get back to it. THANK YOU!

So here is a little blog resolution for 2015:
I will put forth a much greater effort in posting consistently about my healthier-lifestyle journey this year.

I am asking you guys to keep me accountable! I can’t do it without the support.
So far, this is what I plan to do-

1. Starting January 5th (Monday,) I’m going to on take another Whole 30 challenge. During this time around, I am going to share my daily food diary and, for at least 2 weeks, strive to share a recipe daily. I’ll try to include reasons why I eat the way I do and certain health benefits along the way as well!
2. For the rest of the year, it is my goal to post WEEKLY. Hopefully including a recipe, an update, health benefits of certain foods, and a “substitution suggestion” (I.e. eat ___ not ___ )
3. Continue to post with positivity and gratitude.

So excited for what I have in store! Hope you all are too(:
Thanks for all the love in 2014, Here’s to 2015!

Kaitie Holley, housewife

My story begins in the midst of a romance.
On August 9th, 2011, my best friend asked me to be his wife. A dream come true for me, I said yes and planned a lovely summer wedding for May 26th, 2012. Then it happened.
You’ve all heard it said. Fat and happy.
I had no complaints at first! Blaine and I WERE happy! oh so.. so.. happy, as all the joyous feasting slowly started to catch up to us.

From the engagement onward, Blaine and I gained weight at a consistent rate. By the beginning of 2013, Blaine was at his heaviest he had ever been and had constant heartburn, I, too, started to feel noticeably worse and I even developed sleep apnea (due to being overweight.)
So, thankfully, one morning we woke up and decided we needed to do something about it or else it would follow us all the way to the grave. We started doing research on how we could improve our diets and all around lifestyle. We tried a couple of really restricted “balanced” diets right out of the gate, but it was the discovery in low-carb dieting that changed our lives.

Our first real discovery was in learning the myth about fats. In short, fats don’t make you fat- sugars in your body (which store fats) make you fat. In February of 2013, we cut out all carbohydrates (sugars) from our diet completely and fueled our bodies with lots of meats, greens, and healthy fats (i.e. full-fat dairy, coconut oil, almonds, etc.) In only six months, I lost a total of 35 pounds and Blaine lost a whopping 75 pounds! That’s 110 pounds we shed together (and I emphasize the word ‘together’ because neither of us would have seen it to completion without one another’s support!) This is where the journey began.

Losing the weight was the kick-start our brains needed to re-wire the way we thought about health. We felt better, we looked better, the heartburn was gone, I stopped snoring all together and best of all we were eating REAL God-made food. The results were evidence that the better we eat, the better we feel! Food became less tempting for us as we started to modify what we put into our bodies. We never ate till we were full, but instead, we were satisfied after every meal. Our energy and motivation improved drastically. I could go on and on about the benefits of cutting out processed sugar and grains. And all along the way, I have discovered my love (and surprising skill) of cooking! I have learned so many wonderful/healthful recipes and have even come up with a few of my own. (Basically I am a cookie-cutter wife by now..)

This is the reason for started this blog- to share my journey with all you who have been supporting and encouraging me in my search for a healthier lifestyle and yummy homemade dishes. I am so inspired that you all are interested in the things I have to say (and cook!) I hope that my journey can inspire you as well and that my discoveries may be your discoveries and my recipes, your recipes (:

Sincerely,
Kaitie Holley, housewife (and wouldn’t change it for the world <3)