Thrive Market - Amazing Whole30 and Paleo Products

After completing my Whole30 journey I have slowly switched over to more of a Paleo lifestyle which seems to be working for me.  I'm still reintroducing foods that I missed, some have agreed with me and others have not.  During my Whole30 program one of my friends told me to check out Thrive Market as they had a lot of great Whole30 products so I decided to go and check them out.  I had heard of them and seen some advertisement on Facebook but wasn't too sure what they sold or how much savings I would actually get. 

Thrive Market is an online store that sells Organic Brands for less money and I have to say I'm totally hooked.  I started looking through their products and couldn't believe how many Whole30 and Paleo items they sold and for so much less than other stores I shopped at.  After looking through their products and putting so many things in my cart I decided to do the 30 day free trial plus I got 20% off my first 3 orders with them, well after my first box arrived I was sold.  I absolutely love their products and prices, I have saved so much money on several different products.  I have ordered more than 5 times with them and now I have a 1 year membership with them.  I have tried a few new products of theirs which have been really good, I even got a whole free tote bag that valued for $60 all free for joining with them.  If anyone is interested in checking them out here is their website https://thrivemarket.com/myaisle/ I can also send a link for a coupon I believe if anyone is interested.  I'm loving all of my products new and old and can't wait for my next box to arrive!

Here is a list of all my favorite products that I order with them:
Organic Raw Vegan Coconut Butter
Organic Regular Coconut Milk
Chicken Bone Broth
Avocado Oil Mayo and Chipotle Lime Mayo
Avocado Oil
Organic Coconut Aminos
Organic Raw Unstrained Honey
Organic Ghee (Clarified Butter)
French Vanilla Unsweetened Non-Dairy Cramer
Maple Pancake Grain Free Granola
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mega Chunks
Organic Heavy Coconut Cream
Caramel & Sea Salt Coconut Butter Cups - These are amazing!
Chocolate Chip Cookies - These are delicious!
Organic Coconut Sugar
Organic Raw Cashew Butter
Organic Coconut Flour and Almond Flour

This was my free gift bag of goodies for becoming a member

Vitamins and Probiotics - I usually buy these at Whole Foods since they are the only place I can find them besides Amazon which are both fairly pricey.  I was searching through their website and saw that they sold the kids products I use and I was so excited cause it was an $18 savings which was amazing considering how expensive they are.  Here are the brands I use for my girls...
Mykind Organics Kids Gummy Multivitamins - Cherry (Whole Foods $34.99 - Thrive Market $24.49)
Organic Kids+ Probiotics, Berry Cherry (Whole Foods $25.99 - Thrive Market $17.49)
Once Daily Women's Probiotics - First time trying this brand so I will see if it's worth $29.39 as I'm not sure how much Whole Foods sells them for but I will look the next time I'm there.

Weekly Food Menu 4.2.18 to 4.8.18

It's Whole30/Paleo Week as I just finished up my first round of Whole30, so I still want to follow most of my Whole30 meal plans but reintroduce a few new foods from Paleo and see how I feel.  So this week will be a mixture of both which is exciting.

Monday 4/2
Meal 1: Sautéed mushrooms, red onions and chicken sausage with 1/2 avocado 
Meal 2: Leftover Sweet Potatoes and Carrots with Thai Almond Chicken 
Meal 3: Indian Shrimp Curry with Roasted Cauliflower Rice with Garlic and Lemon
Snacks: Hard Boiled Eggs with raw almonds or banana and cashew butter with baked chicken 

Tuesday 4/3

Meal 1: Skillet Sweet Potato Chicken Hash with Eggs

Meal 2: Leftover Indian Shrimp Curry with Roasted Cauliflower Rice with Garlic and Lemon

Meal 3: Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps with homemade guacamole and baked sweet potato 

Snacks: Hard Boiled Eggs with raw almonds or banana and cashew butter with baked chicken 

Wednesday 4/4

Meal 1: Skillet Sweet Potato Chicken Hash with Eggs

Meal 2: Leftover Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps or Grilled Chicken and veggie Salad 

Meal 3: Baked Salmon with Avocado Bruschetta and small side salad 

Snacks: Hard Boiled Eggs with raw almonds or banana and cashew butter with baked chicken 

Thursday 4/5

Meal 1: Skillet Sweet Potato Chicken Hash with Eggs

Meal 2: Leftovers or Grilled Chicken and veggie salad

Meal 3: One Pan Roasted Potatoes, Sausage and Peppers

Snacks: Hard Boiled Eggs with raw almonds or banana and cashew butter with baked chicken 

Friday 4/6

Meal 1: Skillet Sweet Potato Chicken Hash with Eggs

Meal 2: No Bean Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili 

Meal 3: Paleo Shepherd's Pie  

Snacks: Hard Boiled Eggs with raw almonds or banana and cashew butter with baked chicken 

Saturday 4/7

Meal 1: Eggs with sautéed asparagus and onions with Paleo Turkey Bacon

Meal 2: Leftover No Bean Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili 

Meal 3: Going out for dinner maybe or leftovers or Grilled Chicken with veggies 

Snacks: Hard Boiled Eggs with raw almonds or banana and cashew butter with baked chicken 

Sunday 4/8

Meal 1: Eggs with sautéed asparagus and onions with Paleo Turkey Bacon

Meal 2: Leftover Paleo Shepherd's Pie

Meal 3: Going out for dinner maybe or leftovers or Grilled Chicken with veggies 

Snacks: Hard Boiled Eggs with raw almonds or banana and cashew butter with baked chicken 

Links some of the recipes listed above

https://www.skinnytaste.com/skillet-sweet-potato-chicken-hash-with/

https://www.skinnytaste.com/indian-shrimp-curry/

https://www.skinnytaste.com/grilled-salmon-with-avocado-bruschetta/

https://www.skinnytaste.com/roasted-cauliflower-rice-with-garlic-and-lemon/

https://www.skinnytaste.com/turkey-taco-lettuce-wraps-3-pts/

https://www.skinnytaste.com/roasted-potatoes-chicken-sausage-and/
https://www.skinnytaste.com/no-bean-turkey-and-sweet-potato-chili/
https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/paleo-shepherds-pie-whole30-dairy-free/

My Whole30 Journey and Results 2.28.18 to 3.39.18 - First Round Complete!

Well my results are in and I can't wait to share them with y'all....drum roll please......  First I am sad to say that I did not take actual tape measurements but I did weigh my self before and after along with taking before and after pictures of my journey.  I started this Whole30 program on 2.28.18 and finished my last day on 3.29.18.  I lost a few inches all over (picture shown below) and a total of 5 pounds, which I will be honest I was not too happy about but if you calculate it out it's 1.5 pounds a week so it's actually pretty good.  I can't even tell you how much I have gained from this whole journey, I went into it with just a few goals in mind, to help with weight loss, clear up my allergies and help with my overall running (making me faster and stronger), those seem pretty fair and normal right?  I didn't think I was asking too much or giving my self too many goals well I have to say not only did I achieve those goals but I surpassed them.  This whole experience has really been amazing on many different levels, it was made me stronger as a person both mentally and physically, it has boosted my confidence, shown me how to have a better relationship with food, it's taught me how food can fuel my body properly and helped with my sugar cravings plus all the Non-Scale Victories I checked off my Whole30 list.  Here are the before and after pictures of my journey!

My Whole30 Pictures Before and After 

Wow what a month it has been for me, I never in a million years thought I would ever give up so much for one month.  After dealing with really bad allergies and another bad sinus infection in February I knew I had to do something with my diet as I was going crazy.  Even though I had many ups and downs during this process overall it was exactly what I needed to push me in a different direction and taught me so much about my self.  As you can see I still have a long way to go but now I have the tools to help me move forward in a positive way, after doing some research and more reading I have decided to move to more of a Paleo life style.  I thought about doing another round of the Whole30 as I have been a little nervous to get back into the real world but I want to test what I have learned and see if I can really do it with a little more freedom.  Paleo is similar to Whole30 expect you can use almond and coconut flour when baking, honey, maple syrup or coconut palm sugar as natural sugars when cooking or making sauces and of course dark chocolate however I made with a natural sugar of course.  I really don't miss legumes, wheat, dairy or grains very much.  I still want to stay away from all the processed foods so but keeping those cut out will hopefully still help me.   I'm excited to venture down the Paleo route and see what new and yummy recipes I can find to make the family. Be on the look out still for my weekly food menus and all the cool new Paleo items I find along the way.  I will be posting about my new online market that I was recently introduced too and all the cool products I have been getting.

I know the big questions many of you might be wondering is "Will you do another round of the Whole30?" and the answer is yes more than likely I will do another around, not sure when but I would like to for my husband to do with me when he is not travelling so we can do it together.  I think he could benefit from it and it would be nice to for us to do it together.  If and when we do it I will announce that on my blog and Facebook for others to follow us along that journey.  As for now I'm very happy I did it and it was worth the full 30 day's to do it.  I'm so thankful I stayed strong and make the commitment to stick it out no matter what.  Now it's time for me to stay strong and continue this awesome journey.

Thank you for all those who have supported me along the way, all the Facebook messages, text messages, phone calls and Instagram posts were so helpful.  I'm so lucky and blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life who care and love me.  I could not have done it without you!  Thank you to my sister-in-law Melissa Weiss who also came along this journey with me.  Even though we are many miles apart it was nice to text almost daily to help get us through.

I'm am now a WHOLE30ER!!!