Whole 30 Carrot Cake Bites
Original recipe courtesy of LovelyCraftyHome.com, comments courtesy of yours truly.

I didn’t want to do Whole 30. I poked holes at it every which way but loose, with all of my excuses:

“I travel too much.”
“I can’t live without my daily Starbucks latte.”
“I don’t have time to prep food.”
“I don’t wanna.”

But when you’re in your medium years, all of the running in the world isn’t going to fix your energy when you’re eating crap. (And yes, it’s crap. If you can’t pronounce it or it has fifteen syllables or you are convinced you created it in 10 th grade chemistry, it’s crap.)

You might even try to boost your metabolism and running by joining Burn Bootcamp-and wowza, do I love that place. Problem is, you get Mike’s words stuck in your head: You can’t out-train a bad diet. Thanks, Mike. No, really. I can sweat to the oldies like any Richard Simmons devotee but if I’m eating crap, it’s to far less benefit. #eatcleantraindirty

It was that morning when the dress I had planned in my head to wear wouldn’t zip that I had to try something. I’m in shape, I run, I work out, I don’t drink soda, this is something more.

I read the book.

Truly, you can read all of the blogs and Pinterest boards out there discussing Whole 30, but if you don’t read the book-you’ll have a harder time buying in to the point of not cheating (and you can get a copy on the cheap at any used bookstore, like our awesome one in Harrisburg, NC SecondLook Books).

Day 1, headache central. Probably from not drinking my daily 3 cups of coffee and from cutting the non-approved stuff. *I will say, I started my first 7 days with a glass of water with the juice of one lemon and a few sprigs of parsley on an empty stomach, and it seemed to help.

Day 2, no problem.

Days 3-8, I was at a real estate conference. You may not know this, unless you know a Realtor, but my people can drink. It’s just one of those things. I was scared, because on Whole 30, no alcohol. I was delighted to discover that my club soda and I survived just fine-and I even got more efficient on reception-hopping by not drinking. Even better, it was far easier to get up for my morning runs without a fuzzy head. Bonus! *Oh, and the talk about boosted energy? Hit me HUGE during this week!

Days 9-25, no problem. You don’t want the daily run down. There are plenty of other hilarious people out there on the interwebz who are far more entertaining than I! Suffice it to say that I’ve learned to cook a whole new way. It’s more fun now-knowing that what I cook is healthy, and I’m giving that to my kids and husband whether they will Whole 30 with me or not (they won’t, but whatever. I’m in charge of food when I’m in town.)

Today is Day 25, and I had to make a dessert for supper with the preacher. We all know that nothing is more dreadful than people on a kick who have to tell you all about it (vegans, Crossfitters, Keller Williams agents). So I was trying to find something that would be delightful for everyone without killing the fun. I found these Carrot Cake Bites and I mean. It’s far and away the best thing I’ve ever tasted. Maybe that’s because I haven’t had sugar in 25 days, but I fed one to my 11-year old and she loved it too (she’s the picky eater, so she’s the best gauge).

Start to finish was about 30 minutes, and that included digging the food processor out of the appliance graveyard.

Ingredients:

◦ 1 cup walnuts
◦ 1/2 cup raisins
◦ 10-15 dates (pitted)
◦ 1 cup unsweetened dried coconut (I used the flakes from Trader Joe’s which aren’t technically dried but close enough)
◦ 1 cup grated carrot (this must be about 2 carrots because I shredded 6 and it was waaaaaay too much)
◦ 2 tsp cinnamon
◦ ¼ tsp sea salt

Carrot Cake Bites in progress.
They even looked good in food processor state. And tasted good, too, because a good cook tastes as she goes.

Pulse the walnuts+cinnamon+salt+raisins until the walnuts aren’t big chunks.

Add the dates (I added mine 3 at a time so I wouldn’t overdo. When it’s sticking together, stop adding dates). Pulse.

Add the carrot. Pulse.

Add the coconut. Pulse.

Roll ‘em up into balls and roll ‘em in the extra coconut too. My batch was 17 decent-sized ones. (I suppose you could make smaller ones but then you run the risk of being whispered about as stingy.)

That’s it. No baking. No freezing or chilling or waiting (unless you want to, they do freeze well!).

Feel free to share other recipes you’ve discovered and loved! I can honestly say that when I hit day 31, I’ll want a latte but my food habits are different now and I’m not going backwards. If I do ever have to live in my bunker, I’ll be fine.

Will you?