We have already decided to slightly modify our plan :) We did the 100 days real food challenge and then Hubby was quick to suggest we do another 30 days to help offset our eating over vacation. Well today is day 3 and we both agree that we don't need to be as strict as we were on the original 100 day challenge. It is nice to be able to go out to dinner and not have to question every single ingredient in the food. It is possible for us to make better choices when ordering but it's ok if it doesn't completely follow the original rules of the challenge. I have said before that I don't plan to buy or use white sugar or white flour again but I may have a little when we go out to eat, either in restaurants or at friend's houses. While eating at home, we still plan to follow the challenge rules about 90% of the time. We shall see if that percentage is realistic as we continue on :)

Breakfast this morning was granola, banana, milk, and my morning decaf coffee.

Snack today was some apple sauce with the kids at preschool.

Lunch was a leftover Chicken Enchilada from last night's dinner. It was still really good. Hubby said it was better leftover but I thought it was pretty good both days. I didn't have avocado with it today :( only because I forgot :(

Dinner tonight is pan-fried tilapia, oven fries, and steamed broccoli. We are still trying to eat fish at least twice a week; it's a preference of Hubby's, he really enjoys fish and we know it's really healthy; so I'm trying :) I will admit the tilapia was really good; it tasted like trout. I wouldn't eat tilapia for a long time because of the stories of how the tilapia are raised in China and most grocery-store tilapia comes from China. Well we found good quality tilapia from Ecuador and it is sustainable farmed :) Will be buying this again :) It was even better because Hubby cooked it :)

Another good day at home; except for the snow flurries :( It is suppose to be spring, sigh. Wish I was back in Vegas or California :) for the weather, oh well, it is what it is.

Breakfast this morning was granola, banana, milk and a morning decaf coffee.

Lunch was the leftover pulled pork tacos we made last night. Still delicious.

Snack today was a slice of warm homemade bread with butter. I baked a loaf today and it smelled so good I had to have a slice :) Had it with a little glass of milk, yummy.

Dinner tonight was my attempt at Chicken Enchiladas. I have never made them before and didn't follow a recipe because most of the recipes I found used jarred enchilada sauces and other processed items. I have to admit they were pretty good. They may be nothing like what an enchilada should be but we liked them and I will make them again. I had mine with fresh avocado and that made them all the better :) Yum!

So, vacation is over and we both have weight on and are back to not feeling great; all in less than 2 weeks. We decided we would go back on the real food challenge for 30 days to help us get back on track. After the 30 days we will go on a modified version of the real food challenge; not as strict. Haven't decided exactly yet, but I'm sure we will modify as we go.

Breakfast this morning was my yummy homemade granola with milk. How I missed thee while on vacation. I made a batch last night so now have it for the next couple of weeks :) I also had my decaf coffee with maple syrup and real coffee cream (if you are trying to eliminate sugar and/or eat more natural foods then beware of Scotsburn and Central Dairies coffee creams; they both have extra ingredients including sugar. I use Liberte or Organic Meadows, they only have 1 ingredient listed: cream).

Lunch today was just a Lara bar. I had a later breakfast and was out running errands.

Dinner tonight was pork tacos. Hubby has a fascination with tacos lately. He ate a lot of them while on vacation. I made the Slow Cooker Pulled Pork recipe from before and then used that pork in the Super Simple Shrimp Tacos (instead of the shrimp). They were really good. Another keeper for the recipe books :)

 Our vacation was wonderful. A few days in California to visit family and then a few more days in Las Vegas. Great time to relax and get away from it all; especially after family loss last month.

We finished our 100 day real food challenge the day before we got on the plane. The plan was to keep eating healthy when possible and try to follow the 100 day challenge rules as much as possible...well that didn't go as planned. First of all we stayed with family and they provided a lot of our food for those first couple of days. They are the nicest people and when they buy KFC for dinner for everyone then that is what we are eating; and when they cook up bacon, eggs and hash browns for breakfast and everything is cooked in the bacon fat, then that is what we are having for breakfast.

Another thing I noticed with restaurants in the States is the portions are just so big. No matter what I ordered it was often huge; even the appetizers. We did eat a lot of food that did not follow the rules; such as deep-fried foods and food with white sugar and/or white flour, but we didn't eat as badly on vacation as we would have before this challenge. We picked and ate fresh oranges in California. We bought milk, nuts, Lara bars, orange juice and bananas to have for snacks. I packed dried figs and Lara bars for the plane ride over.

After a week and a half on vacation, eating unhealthy foods and larger portions, I have gained 5 pounds and Hubby has gained just over 3 pounds. A gain that is unwanted of course but not too much to worry about; I gain weight very quickly and easily and was happy to see only a 5 pound gain. We are both planning to go back on a shorter real food challenge just to get back to where we were and to feel better. We have noticed that we are not feeling the greatest again; more sluggish and stomach issues again. I will keep blogging about our experiences, although probably not every day as I did while doing the 100 day challenge.

Here's just some of things we ate. Keep in mind many of these meals I split with my Mom or Hubby; or didn't finish because portions were just too big :)

We have done it! Day 100 of our 100 day real food challenge.

Breakfast this morning was granola and milk; along with my morning decaf coffee.

Lunch today was a bowl of Mushroom Soup from the freezer.

Snack today was an apple with almond butter.

Dinner tonight was the leftover Tuscan Chicken and rice from last night.

Can't believe we reached day 100. Feeling pretty proud and happy right now. We do plan to continue on with this way of eating but not as extreme. I plan to introduce other foods again but in moderation. I don't think I will ever buy white flour or white sugar anymore, and I do not want to be eating ingredients I can't pronounce. I will admit that today was a day full of cravings for some reason. I wanted to eat chocolate (and it didn't help that I didn't have any made) and I wanted to get take-out fish & chips for dinner; but didn't. I really hope I don't do to badly on vacation because I doubt my stomach will handle it now.

Day 99 of 100! Wow!

Breakfast this morning was scrambled eggs and hash browns, along with my morning decaf coffee.

Lunch was a bowl of granola and milk. Groceries are getting sparse because we are soon on vacation :)

Snack today was a few dried figs and some rye crackers with hummus.

Dinner tonight: we started with pan-fried scallops in butter as an appetizer. Then we had Tuscan Lemon Chicken Breasts, grilled asparagus and brown rice. Very good, but found the chicken breasts very large so only ate half of mine, saved the rest for lunch :)

One day to go then on an airplane :)

Today is pretty much our last official weigh day. We still have 2 days to go but then we are on a plane. I am very happy with our results :) I have lost a total of 12.4 lbs in 98 days and Hubby has lost 16.4 lbs. Please keep in mind this weight loss is from following the 100 day real food challenge. We cut out white flour, white sugar, food chemicals/additives, and overly refined/processed items. We ate when we wanted to, didn't weigh or measure foods, and ate and drank full fat foods such as dairy. There was also very little exercise in these past 98 days. I understand the importance of exercise and lan to start implemneting it into my lifestyle :)

Breakfast this morning was a slice of whole wheat bread (toasted) with almond butter and strawberry jam; along with my morning decaf coffee.

Snack today was a Larabar on my way to my hair appointment.

Lunch today was at Eat Clean. A restaurant in St. John's that offers healthy food options. For lunch we both had salads from their Paleo menu. I had a spinach salad with shrimp, and Hubby had a spinach salad with chicken. They were good but I thought it was pretty expensive. Two large salads and 2 waters was almost $40.00; but all the veggies are organic and the chicken is organic and hormone free.

Second snack today was a slice of whole wheat bread with almond butter and honey. Didn't find the salad for lunch very filling and was starving when we got home.

Dinner tonight was pan-fried cod fish, sweet potato fries, and roasted asparagus. The fish is simply dredged in whole wheat flour, salt & pepper; and pan-fried in butter. The sweet potato fries are simply sweet potatoes tossed in avocado oil, paprika, salt & pepper and baked on 450 F; 10 minutes on 1 side and 15 on the other side. The asparagus is tossed in olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper and broiled n 500 F for 10 minutes. Great meal, and even better because Hubby cooked :) and did the di

Another great day. Breakfast this morning was granola, milk and my morning coffee.

Lunch was leftover roasted chicken and roasted veggies from last night's dinner. Lunch was pretty late today so no snacks.

Dinner tonight was a BBQ :) Had my parents up and did grilled pork chops with the maple glaze we tried before. We also had grilled veggies (peppers, onions, mushrooms) and potatoes and onions done in tinfoil on the grill with butter and spices. All was delicious. I actually couldn't eat all of mine. We also had Coconut Shrimp as an appetizer and a few beer of course.

Wow! Day 96 of our 100 day real food challenge.

Breakfast this morning was granola, milk and my morning coffee (decaf).

Lunch was leftover Chicken Fried Rice from last night.

Snack today was just a few dried figs. The kids had cupcakes again today in preschool (different group) and I didn't crave them as much today as I did yesterday :)

Dinner was roasted chicken and roasted vegetables. I always roast 2 chickens so that I have leftover meat to freeze and I make stock from the leftover carcasses and freeze that as well.  I simply stuffed the chickens with lemon and seasoned with garlic sea salt, pepper, savory and poured a little olive oil over the top. The roasted veggies was simply potatoes, carrots, turnip. and onions; tossed with olive oil, garlic sea salt, pepper, and savory. An easy meal but an old favorite that we love.