I decided to take on the challenge of doing Whole 30 for a few reasons:
1. I like a good challenge
2. I wanted to see if my headaches decreased
3. I wanted to see what all the hype was about
4. I wanted to be forced into cooking more meat so that I could grow in that culinary area
The first few days were pretty easy and then it became much harder. Here is the breakdown.
Friday: Breakfast: (7:15) Plumcot slices shared with boys
(8:45) Hard boiled egg (HB), mini-pepper, 1/2 avocado, apple slices with almond butter
Lunch: (12pm) Kale Peach Salad (with whole 30 modifications), coconut RX bar
Early Dinner (4pm) scrambled eggs, ham, mini pepper sliced, 1/2 avocado
Evening Snacks: 1 apple, 2 mini peppers, apple slices with almond butter
*We went to the beach with some friends, so we ate an early dinner and I nibbled on things while at the beach. When we got home, I finished the evening with an apple and almond butter.
Saturday: Breakfast 8am: apples and almond butter
Lunch 11am: spinach salad w/3 mini peppers, 1/2 avocado, 3 baby carrots, shredded chicken, balsamic/olive oil drizzled
Dinner: Tri-tip, salad, and fruit salad.
* We went to a BBQ at my in-laws and I had to say no-thank you to the bean dip, tortilla chips, and ice cream with rainbow sprinkles, but honestly, it was a little bit hard but only a little bit and I felt good for having a reason to say no.
Sunday: Breakfast: It was fast Sunday and in the LDS culture, that means that we skip 2 meals so I did not eat breakfast or lunch and then we ate an early dinner at about 3pm.
Linner: zoodles, sun dried tomato, spinach, and shredded chicken, peaches on the side
*I discovered Paleo Running Mama's egg muffins and these became lifesavers.
Monday: (Labor Day):
Breakfast: apples and almond butter, HB egg, spinach and sliced mini peppers
Lunch: spinach, shredded chicken, peppers, cucumbers
Snack: RX bar
Dinner: we went to a friends pool/BBQ and the boys had PB&J sandwiches. Husband and I nibbled on smoked brisket and watermelon. I had to pass on these delicious looking chocolate chip cookies.
*My husband decided to join me on Monday and committed to a week of Whole 30. We both eat really healthy already and he didn't really see the point in eliminating entire food groups, especially whole grains like brown rice and legumes. I'm grateful for his support but planning and executing meals became a lot harder with him doing Whole 30 too. I can get by with eating a small salad here and a hard boiled egg there. I found myself worrying and stressing way more over whether or not he had enough food to eat and appropriate lunches to take to work.
Tuesday: Breakfast 8am apples and almond butter
9:40 (on the go) HB egg, spinach, sliced peppers, tomato, pecans
Lunch: egg muffins, spinach, tomato, peppers
Dinner: Roasted potatoes and shredded chicken and spinach with sliced veggies.
*It was actually one of those days where I felt like I was just killin it. I had the usual breakfast of 8am apples and almond butter and then at 9:40 spinach hard boiled egg, sliced mini peppers and tomato. I did school drop off, went to the gym and had a GREAT run. I ran faster than I have in a while. Lunch consisted of egg muffins and spinach/tomato/peppers.
Wednesday: Breakfast: apples and almond butter
Brunch: Egg Muffins and apples with almond butter
Early Dinner: Zoodles, Trader Joe's Garlic & Herb chicken sausage, marinara sauce.
*My brother was in town and it became a hectic day trying to meet up with him. I ate apples and almond butter at 8:30 and made egg muffins to bring over to my sister's house for brunch.
Lunch was almost non-existent since I had to run to do afternoon school pickup. Everyone was hungry at like 3:30 so I started making dinner and we ate at 4:30 which felt great! I am going to try to do more early dinners like that.
Thursday: Breakfast: Egg Muffin and almond butter and apples
Lunch: Salad, HB egg, tomato, mini pepper
Dinner: zoodles and shrimp, and salad on the side, white rice for the boys
Friday: Breakfast: apples and almond butter
Lunch: Rx bar
Dinner: Cauliflower Rice, coconut aminos, green onions, zoodles, sausage
*Friday was hectic again, as I had to drive 30 minutes to meet up with my childhood friend before she got on an airplane and I went to my sister's house to drop off delicious strawberry croissants for my sister's birthday. Then to do afternoon pickup from school.
I made it through one week and had to say no to some yummy treats, but the benefits from week 1 have been really great. Over the weekend I did a lot of meal planning and research and I think that week 2 will run much more smoothly. Week 1 was good. Here are my takeaways as well as the things that saved me:
Takeaways:
My hunger was like clockwork. Hungry every 3.5 hours.
I filled up much faster at each meal than I usually do.
Only 1 headache due to my menstrual cycle
Sleep seemed marginally better
I felt so much lighter
Not much change in energy levels, however Tuesday I felt very zippy and I think that exercising gives me more of that energy boost than food really does.
No bloating or stomachaches
Not much change in my skin..I have been washing my face with coconut oil for years and I feel like this alone has made my skin so much better.
I do still feel tired in the afternoon but I think that it's because my lunches were not that big and I had blood sugar crashes.
Every time I looked in the mirror, I had uplifting thoughts. I think making a conscious effort to eat well, just gives psychological boosts.
It's so great to have meal plans and all that, especially when everyone is asking you "what's for dinner?" but I also feel that scouring the internet for all of these whole 30 meal plans can be a bit daunting and feel like you have to re-learn lots of recipes, and you don't know which ones are actually tasty. I think it's better to have a few things on hand like the hard boiled eggs and egg muffins to fill you up in a pinch. Then just make vegetable side dishes, choose shrimp or fish, shredded chicken (very versatile), or sausage and call it good. I'm a huge fan of sauces and I feel as though you can have a very basic meal and a pretty repetitive one at that, but if you throw on different sauces, then it becomes a totally different meal. I will post about the different sauces and dressings that I have used in a different post, but just a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice works for me in a pinch.
Things that saved me:
Apples & Almond Butter
Hard boiled eggs made on Sundays
Egg Muffins made on Sundays
Spiralizing zucchini and sweet potatoes on Sundays
Mini sweet peppers
Trader Joe's Garlic & Herb Sausage
Imagine Organic Chicken Stock
I would definitely recommend trying Whole 30. Once you get the gist of it, it's totally doable.
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