“I’d never do anything so restrictive- moderation is the key!”

“I could never ever give up cheese.”

“I don’t see how anyone could do that for 30 days.”

These are words that came out of my mouth before I started Whole 30. I had known about Whole 30’s existence for months, but only took the leap after seeing someone else saying they were going to… and getting my husband on board to do it too.

(If you’re wondering what the Whole 30 means exactly, then check out last week’s Whole 30 post.)

Well, I’m officially eating my words. Moderation for me was always “well, I’m just having ONE cookie.” and “this event is really special.” But those add up. And why am I wasting calories on a mediocre appetizer at a party that I don’t like all that much anyway?

Also, it’s been 23 days (eek!) and WE’RE STILL AT IT. Before, the thought of going without cheese was enough to make me curl into a ball and weep, but here I am… 23 days without even a sprinkle of parmesan.

The thing about Whole 30 is that you’re always thinking about food, whether it’s your next meal, your next week of meals, or what to eat AFTER it’s all done. So I thought it’d be interesting to evaluate what foods I truly miss and which ones I don’t.

Foods I Miss and Foods I Don’t:

What I Don’t Miss:

• Cereal: I’m the kind of person who stares at the cereal aisle and nothing sounds appealing. I would eat it because it’s fast, and while I do like some cereal, I won’t be reaching for a bowl anytime soon.
• White rice: Not worth it. Maybe brown rice or that yummy cilantro lime rice at Chipotle, but regular white rice? Don’t miss it one bit.
• Bagels: One thing that’s really become clear throughout this challenge is that if I’m going to eat something, it had better be worth it. Those silly mini-bagels we buy for the kids? NOT worth it. A delicious, perfectly-toasted bagel from Einstein Bros? Now we’re talking.
• Yogurt: Before Whole 30, I ate yogurt almost daily. Now I’ll be seriously considering not eating it at all. So much sugar in most brands. I’ll see if I can find a brand with little sugar that doesn’t taste like ass. And even then, I don’t think I’ll eat it that much.
• Plain wheat sandwich bread: Again, if I’m going to eat wheat bread again, I’ve gotta upgrade from Nature’s Own.

What I Do Miss:

• Popcorn: I would eat popcorn everyday if I could. I gave up microwave popcorn ages ago so I’m ready for my bowl of air-popped popcorn with salt and butter. Mmmmmm, popcorn.
• Cheese (but not as much as I thought I would): I will happily eat a piece of cheese after this is over, but it really hasn’t been on my mind as much as I thought it would be.
• Tortilla Chips (good, thin ones): They’re sooooo crunchy.
• Cupcakes: I rarely even eat cupcakes other than birthday parties, but for some reason I’m really craving one. Or two.

What I Ate and How I Felt: My Week 2 Meal Plan

DAY 15 (Monday):

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Sweet potato hash with chopped Aidell’s Chicken & Apple sausage, two fried eggs, mixed fruit (1/2 banana, strawberries, blueberries, sprinkle of coconut flakes)

Meal 2: Leftover spaghetti sauce with meat, sautéed zoodles (zucchini noodles), and apple with small amount of cashew butter.

Pre-workout snack: hard-boiled egg and handful pistachios

Post-workout snack: tuna with salt and pepper and plantains

Meal 3: Pork and sauerkraut in the slow cooker (salt and pepper and that’s it), roasted parsnips/butternut squash/mushrooms and fresh pineapple, strawberries, melon, and blueberries (just a little each)

Kid dinner alternatives: The pork and sauerkraut is a dish we make fairly often, usually served with buttered noodles and a veggie. We decided to forego the noodles and gave the kids corn on the cob and leftover green beans. They used BBQ on the pork and ate EVERYTHING.

HOW I FELT 

The kids were off today so we went to a friend’s for a playdate. She asked if I wanted coffee and I said SURE. I planned to drink it black. As I was about to take a sip I noticed it smelled like hazelnut. Turns out it had artificial ingredients that weren’t on the label so I had to say no. Sipped on water instead.

DAY 16 (Tuesday):

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Brussels Sprouts hash with bacon, fried eggs, bowl of fresh fruit

Meal 2: Leftover pork and sauerkraut with roasted butternut squash and parsnips

Pre-Workout: Hard-boiled egg with pistachios

Post-Workout: None

Meal 3: Buffalo “Ranch” Chicken Stuffed Peppers, guacamole and side salad

Kid dinner alternatives: The kids tried the chicken and liked it somewhat, but it was way too spicy for them (and my kids eat jalapeños plain). Instead they had hot dogs (“good” ones), corn, and salad.

WORKOUT
Zumba for 1 hour

HOW I FELT
Wow I can really tell I’ve lost weight. Looking in the mirror at Zumba tonight, I noticed my thighs are smaller for sure, my tummy is flatter, and even my arms are trimmer. Since I don’t have much to lose to begin with, I’m surprised about my legs and arms just two weeks in. Especially since months before when I was fervently counting calories for months, I only noticed a little difference in my stomach.

DAY 17 (Wednesday):

WHAT I ATE

Pre-Workout Meal: Hard-boiled egg and handful cashews

Meal 1: Fried eggs, sweet potato and chicken apple sausage hash, grapefruit sprinkled with coconut flakes

Meal 2: Tuna salad in lettuce wraps with side salad

Snack: Handful pistachios

Meal 3: Chicken Curry with potatoes, red peppers, onion, and spinach; Blueberries and strawberries

Kid dinner alternatives: Mini-pizzas from Whole Foods and some fruit. They TRIED the curry but didn’t love it. At least we tried!

WORKOUT

1 hour Zumba

HOW I FELT

Well last week I didn’t do my 5:30 am Zumba class because of freezing rain. And the week before. Well that was only day 3 and the aftermath didn’t go well.

Today? Super hero energy. I felt great. On one song in particular it’s all jacks and jump squats. Usually by mid song most of us are doing low-jacks instead. Not today! I didn’t full jacks pretty much the entire song. That song was a good gauge to see my performance has increased. Woowoo!

DAY 18 (Thursday):

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Scrambled eggs with mushrooms and peppers topped with pico, broccoli, bacon

Meal 2: Leftover chicken curry

Meal 3: Burgers on lettuce with pickles and spicy mayo (just Cholula and mayo), garlic potato wedges, green beans, 1/2 a Larabar (Cashew Cookie)

Kid dinner alternatives: Buns and cheese on the burger.

HOW I FELT
Didn’t get a chance to workout today but took the kids to their tennis clinic in late afternoon. One of the kids got hungry so I pulled out the only thing I had: my emergency Larabar. I let Ethan try it and he was a no go. Noah wanted to try it later on too and he also didn’t like it. So I DID actually eat about 1/4 of it then because it was a piece he broke off. Finished it up after dinner.

For someone who has multiple snacks a day, I’m pretty proud that I’ve only had non-workout-related snacks like 3 times thus far. And never fruit. Not bad!

DAY 19 (Friday):

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Bacon, leftover potato wedges made into hash with peppers and onions, monkey salad (half banana, strawberries, blueberries, cashews, sprinkle unsweetened coconut flakes)

Meal 2: Tuna salad on salad, broccoli, apple with cashew butter

Meal 3: Pork carnitas with pineapple slaw, sautéed zucchini, poblano pepper, and red onions seasoned with Sazón, fruit

Kid dinner alternatives: Tortillas and cheese for the carnitas and corn on the cob as a side.

HOW I FELT

Ohhhh dinner was so so good. The carnitas cooked in the crockpot all day then I put them on broil in the oven to get the ends crispy.

Again, Friday evening was rough as I wanted something to snack on. Instead, I sipped on peppermint tea to make me forgot I was watching a movie (and wanting popcorn).

With the half-way mark coming up, I’m already thinking about reintroduction. That’s what happens AFTER the 30 days. You introduce one food group (non-gluten grains, gluten-containing grains, legumes, and dairy) for all three meals then do 2 days Whole 30 and see how you feel. It’s about pin-pointing the foods that make you bloated, groggy, moody, etc… or that give you no reaction at all.

We’re going to add back in non-gluten grains first so I can have popcorn. Yay! Then for the Whole 30 days in between I won’t worry as much about my snacking, as long as it’s Whole 30 compliant. (Can you tell I’m excited about popcorn?)

DAY 20 (Saturday)- 2/3 of the way there!:

WHAT I ATE

Pre-workout meal: hard-boiled egg and pistachios

Meal 1: Scotch egg (hardboiled egg wrapped in sausage- this was all my husband’s doing), strawberries, blueberries, and bananas 

Meal 2: Turkey rollups (roll lettuce, cucumber and avocado up in slices of turkey)- I didn’t eat until 2 due to my pre-WO meal and a late breakfast, but I was barely hungry so this was all I ate.

Meal 3: Spaghetti meat sauce with spaghetti squash, salad with Tessamae’s Balsamic Dressing, fresh fruit (pineapple, honeydew, grapes) and 2 slices dried pineapple (which we just discovered from Trader Joe’s and is absolutely amazing).

Kid dinner alternatives: Regular spaghetti noodles, though they did try the squash.

Daniel made these scotch eggs and they were pretty good, but not something I could eat often.

WORKOUT

Step class for 1 hour.

HOW I FELT

Boy did I get hungry this afternoon after that light lunch. I mean I COULD eat a snack if I really wanted to, but I decided to hang on until dinner.

We cleaned house and then ran to the stores. Our Whole 30 threesome is Whole Foods, Costco, and Trader Joe’s. I hit the former and Daniel hit the latter… and brought home some new things. First new thing? Dried pineapple from TJ’s. This afternoon I was really really jonesing for something, ANYTHING non-complaint. But having those after dinner really hit the spot. I only ate two but totally silenced my cravings. Dried fruit are supposed to be eaten sparingly… so we’ll be shelving this most days of the week.

The other thing he bought? Cinnamon Graham crackers from Trader Joe’s. Whhyyyyyy? I really wanted to try those puppies. We’ve never eaten them before and they looked so good. So I took a whiff of my kids’ crackers and left it at that.

Thank goodness for that dried pineapple.

Day 21 (Sunday):

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Fried eggs with bacon, fruit

Meal 2: Leftover spaghetti squash and

Meal 3: Steak, baked potato with ghee, bacon, green onions, and sautéed asparagus

Kid dinner alternatives: Annie’s mac n cheese since they don’t like baked potatoes

HOW I FELT

I’m ready to be done. Honestly, it hasn’t been terribly hard. In fact, I went to a birthday party today and didn’t really care that I couldn’t have cake. But I’m missing the crunch of a nice piece of toast and a taste of something sweet. As we planned out next week’s food, I also found myself planning out the reintroduction. “Okay, first we’ll do non-gluten grains and we’ll eat this, this, and this. Next we’ll do dairy so we can eat this, this, and this.”

Despite the readiness for other food, I really do think we’ll continue to eat pretty Whole30-ish after this is over. As I mentioned, some things I don’t miss much so I’m ready to cut them out expect for every once in a while.

Recipes I Used

We didn’t use as many new recipes this week but here are the ones we DID use!

Buffalo Ranch Stuffed Peppers

Pineapple Slaw (We used our own carnitas recipe but I’m sure this one’s delish!)

Scotch Eggs (We followed this recipe for scotch egg part, but we actually seasoned the sausage with the Primal Palate recipe from last week).

Whole 30 Tips (aka Things I Learned)

Some food just doesn’t look as appealing anymore: I look at our Greek yogurt in the fridge that’s probably loaded with sugar and I’m like, “Eh.” Other things too don’t seem as appealing as they once were.

Moderation only works for me AFTER I’ve let go: As I mentioned, I’m a big believer in moderation for just about all aspects of life, but especially for food. However, the Whole 30 has taught me that moderation didn’t break my emotional connection to food. Flat out giving them up did. I know when I’m done with Whole 30, I’m going to be a different eater than my former self.

Got questions?

We’re moving into our final full week of Whole 30. It’s all downhill from here!

Well, today marks our official halfway point!

15 days through the Whole 30 experiment.

If you’re wondering what the Whole 30 means exactly, then check out last week’s Whole 30 post.

This past week was a little rough. Two days of 2-hour delays, plus a surprise on Thursday, really sucked out time from my days to get work done. While being stressed isn’t really a trigger for me to overeat, I’ve realized it’s a trigger for me to want quick, less healthy fixes: grabbing take-out, pouring a glass of wine, or grabbing an extra snack. Interesting to see that so clearly during this challenge.

Plus, the little lack of food prep on Sunday made the next couple of days feel like a kitchen marathon, especially just the daily routine of veggie chopping. Some things I prepped during the week:

• Meatballs
• Breakfast sausage patties
• Curry Chicken Salad
• Hard-boiled eggs

As far as weight goes, I don’t have much to lose overall (10 lbs would be ideal), but two weeks in I already tell a difference in how my pants fit, both in the waist and around my thighs.

And my mind! It just feels different. Sharp, focused, crystal clear. More on that in Day 12.

What I Ate and How I Felt: My Week 2 Meal Plan

All in all, not horrible amount of prep, but hubby helped too. It really saved me some time over the week not having to do so much. Some recipes below!

DAY 8:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Fried eggs, homemade sausage patties, mixed fruit (melon, pineapple, strawberries, grapes)

Meal 2: Leftover steak with salad, leftover roasted red pepper and cauliflower soup with avocado.

Snack: Half a Larabar (Cashew Cookie)

Meal 3: Asian meatballs on lettuce leaves, stir fry zucchini, snap peas, mushrooms, peppers, fruit and half a Larabar.

Kid dinner alternatives: Meant to make them udon noodles but forgot! They liked the meatballs and fruit, and ate a little veggies but not much.

HOW I FELT
Today was the first day I broke from the no snacking embargo I put on myself. While Whole 30 doesn’t ban snacking, it’s discouraged as you are supposed to eat enough during the three meals to hold you over to the next meal (unless you workout, then you need more food). However, the forums suggest if you didn’t eat enough and are hungry, then eat.

They also say skipping a morning veggie can make you hungry, even later on in the day. Oops.

My lunch wasn’t super filling and knowing dinner wasn’t going to be until 6:30 or 7, I knew I HAD to eat something. So I just grabbed half a Larabar. The Cashew Cookie bar is simply cashews and dates, but it’s pretty tasty. After dinner, I finished it as a dessert of sorts.

And those meatballs were amazing! (recipe at the end)

DAY 9:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Eggs, sausage patties, fresh fruit

Meal 2: Leftover meatballs and stir-fry veggies, fresh fruit

Pre-Workout: Hard-boiled egg with pistachios

Post-Workout: Handful plantain chips

Meal 3: Baked tilapia with mango salsa, roasted butternut squash and parsnips

Kid dinner alternatives: Made them try the tilapia and since they hated it, we made them grilled cheeses. Noah liked the butternut squash but Ethan didn’t like anything.

WORKOUT
Zumba for 1 hour

HOW I FELT
Did NOT feel like eating this morning but knew I needed to. Good thing is that I thoroughly enjoyed my sugarless coffee. WHO AM I?

Big deal alert: I’m proud that I less desire to snack that I’ve had thus far (even after yesterday’s Larabar snack). In fact, even at 11:30 at night, I wasn’t really even hungry.

DAY 10:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Fried eggs, leftover parsnips and butternut squash

Meal 2: Curry chicken salad on bed of lettuce, apple with cashew butter

Meal 3: Sopa de Pollo (Chicken Soup) with yuca, zucchini, squash, and carrots, monkey salad (banana, nuts, strawberries, sprinkle of coconut)

Kid dinner alternatives: Added egg noodles for the kids. Kids DID eat the soup and tried all the veggies, but ultimately just liked the chicken, carrots and noodles.

This soup is my mom’s recipes with Adobo seasoning and Sazón (which I had to make myself since the brand we buy has MSG). She also typically adds corn on the cob and then rice when you serve it. Obviously we had to adjust it but we loved it just as always. I’ll post a recipe when I’m done with Whole 30!

Oh and hubby turned our fresh fruit into something fancy with some dried mango and dates. Yum!

HOW I FELT

Today marks 1/3 of the way through this crazy thing! Feeling better than expected, honestly. That’s not to say I don’t salivate over the donuts in the store, but I’m dead set on doing finishing like a champ. That donut can wait.

I didn’t get to my 5:30 am Zumba (which I do every Wednesday) because of freezing rain. The kids had a two-hour delay so I got to sleep in (yay) but forgot my workout snacks (boo).

DAY 11:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Scrambled eggs with spinach and mushrooms, broccoli, sausage patties

Meal 2: Turkey rollups with leftover soup

Pre-Workout: Hard-boiled egg with pistachios

Post-Workout: Plantain Chips

Meal 3: Burgers on lettuce with pickles and spicy mayo (just Cholula and mayo), garlic potato wedges, green beans

Kid dinner alternatives: See below.

WORKOUT

Zumba for 1 hour

HOW I FELT
Angry. Bitter. All the bad words.

Long day that started off with a two-hour delay. Then I dropped Noah off at camp (he’s in year-round school so currently tracked out) and took Ethan at preschool.

I work part-time at Burt’s Bees and was hoping to head to the office yesterday. With the delay, it didn’t happen. Today I was hoping for a long day of catch-up since my older guy was at camp until 3:30 and my mom was taking my little guy until 4. The only “errand” I had to run was signing Ethan up for kindergarten, which I figured wouldn’t take long.

Um, it took TWO AND A HALF HOURS. WHAT??!!! I have friends who said it took them 10 minutes at their school. So I barely got any work done before I had to round up the kids and take them to their Thursday tennis clinic.

After that it’s home and to the gym for my Zumba class. I felt bad dragging the kids out but I really needed to burn off some stress. On days like this, I’d probably yell EFF ALL THE THINGS and go get take-out. But on the Whole 30, we really don’t have that luxury and I didn’t want to drag the kids around the Hot Bar at Whole Foods while I read labels.

So we got them fast food (I know I know), Daniel cooked while I put them to bed, and we ate late. And alone.

Hey, maybe we should do that more often.

DAY 12:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Bacon, broccoli, monkey salad

Meal 2: Curry chicken salad on bed of lettuce, carrots and guacamole, leftover soup

Meal 3: Spaghetti with zoodles (zucchini noodles), salad with Tessamae Balsamic dressing, and apple with cashew butter

HOW I FELT

Mentally, I felt amazing during the day. Today it was like a flip switched in my brain. I felt… clear (and I didn’t even know it wasn’t clear before). I had energy. I had super-spidey concentration. And I was stoked I got so much done today!

But Fridays are the hardest nights for me. It’s when hubby and I usually rent a movie on Amazon, pop some popcorn, grab our beverage of choice, and hang out. While we’re pretty much doing the same thing now, it’s just not the same without the food and drink. Amazing how just adding food to our experiences makes them that much more meaningful.

DAY 13:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Sausage and potato hash with Cholula, one hard boiled egg, monkey salad

Meal 2: Turkey rollups (roll lettuce, cucumber and avocado up in slices of turkey), broccoli

Meal 3: WHOLE FOODS HOT BAR (in all caps because we didn’t have to cook and do dishes!)

Snack: Handful pistachios

HOW I FELT

Saturday is usually grocery shopping day. Okay, usually it’s more fun than that but we’re running to Costco, Trader Joe’s, and sometimes Whole Foods every week now so it takes a while. Noah had a tennis tournament (super informal) so we decided to make today easy and do Whole Foods.

Chipotle’s carnitas are another Whole 30 option, but of course there’s a recall on JUST CARNITAS right now. Of course.

So I hustled up to Whole Foods… by myself… to read labels and pick out some grub. Our first time eating out in 13 days! We got the kids their pizza slices. We ended up with amazing Peruvian Chicken, almost-as-amazing Ropa Vieja, potatoes and veggies.

I have never been so happy not to cook.

By the evening though I was super hungry. We were watching a long movie and I finally couldn’t take it so I grabbed a few pistachios. Even at bedtime I was STARVING but wasn’t about to eat something else. So I went to bed hungry.

Day 14:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Scrambled eggs with mushrooms and spinach, bacon

Meal 2: Chicken salad with apples and golden raisins on a salad

Pre-Workout: Leftover meatballs (2)

Post-Workout: Plantain patties (smashed up and sautéed)

Meal 3: Shrimp tacos on plantain strips with cabbage, pico, and avocado, side of zucchini and Anaheim peppers

Kid dinner alternatives: Tortillas, cheese and sour cream for tacos, chips and guac.

Daniel made dinner while I took my oldest kiddo to basketball. While he was in the kitchen FOREVER, it was well worth it.

We had almost forgotten we couldn’t make paleo-tortillas during Whole 30 (no recreation of baked goods or treats allowed). So he simply sliced plantains on the mandolin, overlapped some strips, then heated them on the stovetop for a minute before baking them in the over.

We served all the taco fixings on top and then ate with a fork and knife (can’t really pick it up). They were ah-mazing!

WORKOUT

15 minutes running, 45 minutes weight lifting

HOW I FELT

Today was busy, from church to the gym to basketball practice. After Noah’s practice, they gave the kids cupcakes. Cupcakes!

And while Noah put on his jacket to go outside, I had to hold his half-eaten cupcake IN MY HAND.

I didn’t sneak a nibble off it. I didn’t even lick my finger from the frosting. I just handed it back, cursed a little in my head, and smiled from passing another temptation.

Recipes I Used

Asian Meatballs (We couldn’t find this fish sauce ANYWHERE so I used coconut aminos instead and it still worked)

Breakfast Sausages (Oh these are so, so good)

Mango Salsa (For the tilapia- so so yum)

Curry Chicken Salad (We made our own but this one is pretty much like ours but with celery)

Whole 30 Tips (aka Things I Learned)

Food Dreams are Crazy! I’ve had a few food dreams since I started Whole 30. They’re hilarious because I’m always with someone and we eat bad food and I try to spit it out or scrape it off my tongue.  One day, after hearing a guy talk about making “snow” in his front yard for neighborhood kids, I dreamed of a yard full of candy. Another night I dreamed of eating at Outback. I’ve learned to just roll with it. They’re par for the course.

It’s okay to snack… if you absolutely have to. I’ve learned to distinguish “I need to chew stuff” hunger (aka a craving) and real, bona fide hunger. While I did go to bed a couple of times hungry, I also did grab a couple of snacks this week when I really needed it.

Engage with the community. While I’m not really a forum person, I do love me some Twitter. I keep the #whole30 stream in Hootsuite so I can easily follow it. I’ve followed new people and had some good conversations just by jumping in there and connecting.

These recipes will live on after Whole 30. We’ve always been ones to try new foods, but even we get stuck in our old ways. Whole 30 has forced us out of our comfort zone into trying new recipes. And we’re excited to add them into our normal rotation once the challenge is over.

Got questions?

We’re moving into our third week of Whole 30. Yes! Throw any questions you have my way. Have you done Whole 30 before? This making you consider it?

Wow. If there’s ever a thing that’ll spark conversations across social, it’s Whole 30 eating!

Over the week I’ve posted pictures of my meals, some day-to-day photos, and whined about bad Starbucks coffee (black). And I’ve chatted with so many people who wanted to know the recipes I used, how I felt and so on. So it’s only natural to roll it into a blog post, right?

Back It Up… What’s the Whole 30 Challenge?

Here’s how the creators Dallas and Melissa Hartwig describe it:

The Whole30® is our original nutritional program designed to change your life in 30 days. Think of it as a short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and balance your immune system. 

The rules?

• No sugar (real or substitutes)
• No alcohol
• No dairy
• No grains
• No legumes (including no soy)
• No carrageenan, MSG, or sulfites
• Do not recreate baked goods, junk food, or treats with Whole 30 approved foods
• And no weighing or measuring yourself until you’re done

FOR THIRTY DAYS. (See the Whole 30 rules PDF here.)

What does that leave? Lots of fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, and spices.

It sounds drastic.. and it is. But they argue that moderation of those “no” foods won’t help you end the cravings, restore the metabolism and so on. And I believe them. In fact, this is the FIRST time I’ve ever done any sort of eating program. Never done a cleanse or diet fad before either. I heard about Whole 30 months ago and brushed it off as “some crazy thing crazy people do” but the more I read about it, the more convinced I became.

And when I asked the hubby if he’d join me and he said yes? I was sold.

What I Ate and How I Felt: My Week 1 Meal Plan

Saturday grocery shopping

Okay I’ll admit. The first shopping trips were TOUGH, even after planning out all our meals. We had to read label after label and google “[questionable ingredient] Whole 30” many times to see if something was okay to buy.

I really thought I knew that sugar and soy were in a lot… but I really have been clueless. Soy is in EVERYTHING. Even “simple” things like Starkist tuna. And I can’t tell you how many things we put down because they had sugar in them, even at the “healthy” stores. EYES. OPENED.

Here are some of our favorites thus far:

(affiliate links below)

Coconut Oil (Trader Joe’s): Can get other brands elsewhere. Use for cooking.

Paesana Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce (Costco): It’s so good it just might replace the Trader Joe’s brand we usually buy.

Tessemae’s Balsamic Vinegar (Whole Foods): We first bought their “Zesty Ranch” which was kind of like oily herbs and was only OKAY. Went back to get this one and it’s a better one for our taste buds.

Coconut Secret Coconut Aminos (Whole Foods): Use similar to soy sauce. Not the same taste but not too shabby either.

Ghee (Whole Foods): it’s clarified butter so use it like butter (for cooking or putting on a baked potato)

Raw Whole Cashews (Trader Joe’s): Or really any nut you like works as long as there are no unapproved ingredients in them. I’m allergic to almonds and peanuts are off limits (they’re legumes) so cashews are my top choice.

Pederson’s No Sugar Added Bacon (Whole Foods): not in the picture above but it’s been one of our favorites this week (I got ours at Whole Foods for $5.99)

Sunday Food Prep

• Sweet potato chips (for post-workout snacks since I’m supposed to have protein and carb-dense veggie)
• Baked chicken
• Chicken salad (made from the baked chicken)
• Fajita veggies (onions, mushrooms, peppers to go with omelets)
• Hardboiled eggs
• Roasted broccoli
• Sliced cucumbers

All in all, not horrible amount of prep, but hubby helped too. It really saved me some time over the week not having to do so much.

DAY 1:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Omelet with fajita veggies, mixed fresh fruit (melons, pineapples, strawberries, blueberries)

Meal 2: Chicken salad on Bibb lettuce, broccoli

Pre-Workout: Hard-boiled egg with pistachios

Post-Workout: Sweet potato chips

Meal 3: Shrimp with cauliflower rice with veggies (red pepper, sugar snap peas), apple with cashew butter

Kid dinner alternatives: none. They love shrimp but didn’t care for the “rice.” Ate some sugar snap peas and fruit too.

WORKOUT
Running for about 25 minutes then weights

HOW I FELT
A little hungry mid-morning but pushed through. A little hungry mid-afternoon but drank some plain chai to hold me over until my workout snack. Pre and Post WO snacks weren’t bad, but not my usual snack of fruit!

Dinner was fairly good. Give cauliflower rice a 3 out of 4. As I was making it, I thought wow this needs more veggies… then I realized it was ALL veggie. Oh yeah. Not sure if I’d make it again though.

Hankering for an evening snack so it was an early bedtime for me (early = 10:30 pm). Felt a slight headache, almost with a tinge of foggy-headedness, but nothing too terrible.

DAY 2:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Bacon, broccoli, monkey salad (strawberries, banana, pistachios, coconut flakes)Meal 2: Turkey rolled up with avocado and fajita veggies, strawberries and blueberries

Pre-Workout: Hard-boiled egg with pistachios

Post-Workout: Sweet potato chips

Meal 3: Spaghetti with zoodles (zucchini noodles), salad with Tessamae “ranch” dressing, and handful of cashews

Kid dinner alternatives: made them regular noodles, but they both tried ours and liked them.

WORKOUT
Zumba for 1 hour

HOW I FELT

Hungry but still trying not to snack as some of it is from cravings, not true hunger. Decided the sweet potato chips I made sucked. I let them sit out before putting them in a baggie but they are kinda chewy and a quick heat in the toaster oven only helps so much. Otherwise, the food has been really good- the sauce we used for the spaghetti might be our favorite yet… and it’s Whole 30 approved.

About mid-day I felt some of the carb flu people talk about (Google it). It’s like medicine head without the medicine. Went to bed around 10:30 again, which should have been earlier since I get up Wednesday mornings to workout.

DAY 3:

WHAT I ATE
Meal 1: Fried eggs, sweet potato hash with Aidell’s Chicken & Apple Sausage, mixed fresh fruit

Meal 2: Chicken salad on a salad, apple with cashew butter

Pre-Workout: Hard-boiled egg with pistachios

Post-Workout: NOTHING (see why below)

Meal 3: Skillet beef and cabbage with roasted potatoes

Kid dinner alternatives: None. Big Roo (7) loved it. Little Roo (4) didn’t but he doesn’t like anything.

Day 3: #whole30 of champions! Two fried eggs, sweet potato hash with chicken apple sausage and fruit.

A photo posted by @melaculbertson on Jan 7, 2015 at 6:13am PST

WORKOUT

Zumba for 1 hour

HOW I FELT

Ohhhhh we must talk about what happens when you only have 11 hours between workouts and your body isn’t used to using fat for energy yet. For months, I’ve been doing a 5:30 pm class on Tuesday night, then a 5:30 AM class on Wednesday mornings. With kids and a busy schedule, it’s the best way to squeeze in another workout.

When I got home around 6:45 am, I KNEW I needed Post-WO snack but nothing sounds remotely appealing. I tried to chew some sweet potato chips I made (which ended up kinda soggy), but spit them out. I started chopping up sweet potatoes for our hash and started feeling worse so had the hubs take over. I ate half a banana and I laid down. Got back up and decided to hit the shower, but turned off the water before I even got in.

At that point, I KNEW I was going to throw up.

And I did.

Weird thing is I felt GREAT the rest of the day. I ate lunch a little later than usual and wasn’t that hungry by dinner. Hoping it was a fluke because THAT was not fun.

DAY 4:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Bacon, egg, avocado, and tomato salad, leftover roasted potatoes

Meal 2: Leftover cabbage and beef, carrots + guacamole

Pre-Workout: Hard-boiled egg with pistachios

Post-Workout: Homemade Plantain Chips

Meal 3: Chicken salsa lettuce tacos with avocado and fajita veggies, fruit Kid dinner alternatives: Tortillas, cheese, and sour cream for tacos. Chips with guacamole.

WORKOUT Zumba for 1 hour

HOW I FELT Didn’t love breakfast but it really kept me full. Made coffee a little weaker and actually didn’t mind having just coconut milk in it. Before we started our Whole 30, we had pizza (terrible I know). I seriously felt bloated until about today. I bet I’ve lost weight just from that alone. 

DAY 5:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Fried eggs, sweet potato hash with Aidell’s Chicken & Apple Sausage, mixed fresh fruit

Meal 2: Tuna salad with chopped veggies (veggies from Trader Joe’s- include carrot, red cabbage, celery, jicama) on lettuce leaves, half an avocado

Meal 3: Aidell’s Chicken & Apple Sausage, broccoli, apple with cashew butter Kid dinner alternatives: Applesauce instead of the apple with nut butter

HOW I FELT

OMG there are so many dishes and pots and pans to clean. Aside from that, I’m not having any major food cravings and I’m used to coconut milk in my coffee. I AM sometimes wanting to eat just to eat, which is a habit I’ve become acutely aware of. Even if in the past it was something healthy like fruit.

DAY 6:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Aidell’s Chicken & Apple Sausage, fried eggs, monkey salad

Meal 2: Tuna salad with chopped veggies (veggies from Trader Joe’s- include carrot, red cabbage, celery, jicama) on lettuce leaves, half an avocado

Meal 3: Roasted red pepper and cauliflower soup, salad with tuna salad on top, fruit

Kid dinner alternatives: Grilled cheese, salad, fruit (they didn’t like the soup, but we made them try it!)

HOW I FELT

Today we kind of hobbled together our meals, even though they were planned out. We ran out of deli turkey and bacon so ate those sausages… AGAIN… and tuna… AGAIN. Next week we might try chicken in the morning as an alternative or make our own sausage (since all the ones in stores have sugar).

And this is the fun part of the day (or night)… If you look on the Whole 30 website, they say you’ll most likely have food dreams around days 12-15. Mine came early! I dreamed I was out to dinner with friends and the restaurant had samples of their pastries and cakes. But these samples were GIGANTIC. And I can still vividly picture that chocolate cake, which I proudly said no to in the dream… only to suddenly be scraping crumbs of another yellow cake out of my mouth saying “oh no I wasn’t supposed to eat that!”

Oh yes, this dreaming-of-food-I-can’t-have thing is weird.

Day 7:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Omelet with mushrooms, onions, spinach, and tomatoes, bacon, grapefruit with coconut flakes

Meal 2: Aidell’s Chicken & Apple Sausage, broccoli, fruit

Pre-Workout: Egg with handful nuts

Post-Workout: Small handful plantain chips, egg white

Meal 3: Steak with chimichurri sauce, baked potato with ghee and chives, green beans Kid dinner alternatives: Organic Mac n Cheese since they don’t love potatoes, BBQ sauce for steak

WORKOUT

20 minutes running, 50 minutes weights

HOW I FELT

My SKIN! My face is softer and clearer than it’s been in ages. Holy cow! I heard this can happen after a couple of weeks so I was surprised to notice after just a week. I’ll be interested to see what happens as I re-introduced the foods.

Aside from my skin surprise, I’m finding myself being more tired than usual at night. Not can’t-keep-my-eyes-open-tired, but more like hmm-my-body-is-ready-for-bed tired. Hard to explain, but if anything it’s a DIFFERENT tired than I’m used to. I’m also sleeping like a rock.

On the Whole 30 site, they say it’s common to be cranky as your body adjusts. Well, hubby and I joked the kids were on Whole 30 because they were ATROCIOUS all weekend. And our crankiness set in over the weekend too so you can imagine how fun our household was. Oh and this happened.

  Coffee with just coconut milk at home I’m getting used to. Black Pike’s Place coffee from Starbucks? Not so much. #whole30 #suckingitup   A photo posted by @melaculbertson on Jan 11, 2015 at 2:42pm PST

Recipes I Used

Cauliflower and Roasted Red Pepper Soup (Really leave some time to let the flavors meld together. We didn’t and it was MEH the first day. The next day? Delicious!)

Sweet Potato Hash (We chopped our potatoes up into small pieces versus julienne and added Aidell’s Chicken & Apple Sausage to it)

Chicken Salad (I altered this a bit, but the original still looks delicious)

Chimichurri Sauce (We’ve used this recipe for years so was happy to see it passed the Whole 30 test!)

I won’t even share my Sweet Potato Chip one cause it was a bust. Or the cauliflower rice… you can find a gazillion recipes for that with a quick Google search.

Whole 30 Tips (aka Things I Learned)

Watch Your Reflexes! I realized this week that I have a habit of tasting stuff I make for kids… and it almost messed me up. Things I ALMOST did this week: taste a spaghetti noodle to see if it was done, eat a sliver of ham while making a sandwich for kids’ lunches, eat a pretzel while putting up the pretzel bag. BEWARE!

Go shopping without the kids. Especially your first week as you learn what to buy. Daniel the hubby did Costco and Whole Foods, then I did Trader Joe’s. It’s hard enough to stop and read labels at TJs when you’re being bumped in their overly crowded, narrow aisles. I would have gone mad with the kids with me.

Recognize the “Food with No Brakes”… even the Whole 30 approved ones. Plaintain chips are compliant but I realized I need to limit eating them as they’re essentially like eating chips. My brain doesn’t know any different. Same with fruit. They suggest not snacking on fruit for the same reason: it calms the sweet tooth which doesn’t help slay the sugar dragon in the end. Plus it’s not optimal for pre- and post- workout snacks.

Print out their handouts. Well, some I just read but I printed the Shopping List, Meal Planning Template, and Pantry Stocking Guide. It was nice being able to quickly refer to them throughout the week.

Plan the heck out of your week: I don’t see how on earth you could do this without planning out every single meal. Is it tedious? Yes. But it’s also nice to not scour the fridge wondering what to eat, especially when food choices are so limited.

Read It Starts with Food: This is the book from the Whole 30 creators. I understand so much better about how my body works in regards to food after reading the book. It’s very “science-y” but the authors break it down For Dummies style.

Got questions?

Ask me anything you’d like about the Whole 30. I’m learning as I go, but have already learned so much! And stay tuned next week for the next recap!