I originally drafted this post to be a day-by-day update but I found it to be WAYYYY too long. SO. i've decided to give you a daily overview of what we ate, meal-by-meal, and an overview of how the week went for us – i'm going to try and compare it against what the whole30 timeline says you should be feeling. I'm trying to give as much detail as i can here without overloading you. This first one will be a little longer because I'm going to go over a lot of the what & how questions you might have. I'm gonna break this sucker up with a TON of pictures so don't you worry.
SO. let's start with… what exactly is a whole30? I'm sure you're wondering. pondering what it could mean. let's get downright dirty and just lay it all out there.
What is it?
To quote the Whole30 Cookbook, “think of the Whole30 like pushing the ‘reset' button with your healthy, your habits, and your relationship with food.” That's exactly what it is. It's not a diet. It's not a quick fix or a get skinny fast plan. It's 30 days of making conscious decisions to only put things that are nutritionally beneficial to your body into your body. It's an incredibly “tough love” oriented, restrictive, and life changing challenge. <- and i'm saying that after not even finishing a full week of it yet.
I know I kept this section pretty brief, mainly because ^ that was all I needed to know to get on board, but if you need a little more info or maybe you're on the fence and want a little more convincing read up on it here.
The rules.
SO, what exactly does it mean for me? The full rules can be found outlined here if you're interested. In short, I can only eat meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, some fruit, oils, nuts and seeds. I can NOT have: added sugar (even honey, agave nectar, or sugar substitutes are out), grains, dairy, legumes, soy, or alcohol. Not even a bite over the next thirty days. Because that “tough love” culture I mentioned before… well it says when you slip, you start over. one bite on your 28th day and it doesn't count. you start back at day 1.
Why do this to myself?
In short, because I wanted, no NEEDED, to feel better. better physically and emotionally. I can get into the nitty gritty of the why's in another post if you're interested. maybe at the end I'll talk about my goals and results.
The week before.
I was super scared. I wrote about it I think. The STRICT nature of this program scared me. Not having pizza for a month scared me. I LOVE GRAINS, GRAINS LOVE ME. oh and candy. don't even get me started… WE HAVE A SKITTLES MACHINE IN OUR APARTMENT…. and a liquor cabinet…. and a wine rack.
Believe me, I was scared. So I prepped. I read as much as I could. I ransacked pinterest and read the cookbooks and put together a week long meal plan. <- that right there was the BEST thing I could have done for myself. I made a list of what i would make, portioned it out across the week to make sure i'd have enough food. I took those planned dishes and made a shopping list. and then on Sunday morning I went to the store for an hour at 8 am (when it was practically empty) by myself and just got acquainted with my produce section. <- this was a huge help too (i especially found it easier to relax a little when the store was almost empty.
After I got home I spent, what felt like eternity meal prepping. I evaluated my meal plan and made a list of things I'd NEED to have made for the first day for breakfast and Lunch. And then i made a list of small things that would help me later in the week. My Sunday meal prep included making and doing the following things: mexican goddess dressing, roasted chicken, mexican meatballs, breakfast hash, sausage patties, spiralizing zucchini + carrots + potatoes, cutting broccoli + cauliflower off their stems and spiralizing the stems, and cutting peppers into strips.
I was tired and beat and pretty stressed out after doing all of that. Frankie ordered a pizza for our last pre-whole30 meals (lunch and dinner) and we relaxed.
And then it began… from here, I'm going to give you a day-by-day look of what we were eating. If frankie and I ate different things (mainly on leftover days) i've noted it. B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner. pretty simple, but if you have questions just ask!
Day 1
B – 3 sausage patties + breakfast hash + sliced bell peppers
L – 2 Mexican meatballs + zucchini/carrot/broccoli/cauliflower noodles + diced bell pepper + Mexican goddess dressing + almonds & chia seeds
D – Chicken Cauliflower Curry + mashed potatoes
Day 2
B – 2 sausage patties + 1 piece of bacon + breakfast hash + sliced bell peppers
L – Chicken Cauliflower Curry + mashed potatoes
D – Mustard Lime Chicken + steamed broccoli + roasted cauliflower
Day 3
B – 2 sausage patties + breakfast hash + sliced bell peppers
L – chicken curry + zoodles + a banana
D – chicken avocado lime soup
Day 4
B – 2 sausage patties + breakfast hash (I added in bell peppers while it was cooking this day) + strawberries
L – leftover chicken avocado lime soup
D – curry over mashed potatoes {ash} + mexi meatballs over zoodles + sautéed carrot noodles + mexican goddess dressing {frankie}
Day 5
B – 3 sausage patties + breakfast hash + strawberries {ash} & <- the three mentioned before + 1 over easy and 4 scrambled eggs {frankie}
L – grilled chicken lettuce wraps + cabbage slaw
D – leftover curry over zoodles {ash} & grilled chicken lettuce wraps + cabbage slaw {frankie}
Day 6
B – 3 sausage patties + breakfast hash + a clementine
L – chicken lime avocado soup
D – hot dogs (Applegate Beef All Natural Franks) w/ mustard + dijon potato salad + roasted carrots + green beans
Day 7
B – 3 sausage patties + breakfast hash + watermelon {ash} <- all that + two scrambled eggs {frankie}
L – mexi meatballs + potato salad + roasted peppers & onions + 2 nut bites (recipe coming your way)
D – skirt steak + chimichurri sauce + roasted cauliflower + cabbage slaw
The cost.
SO. I'm trying to keep track of the overall cost of the program. I'm doing it on a weekly basis, but it won't be totally accurate because each week I buy things that I'll use throughout the process (and likely even after) AND i have a stocked pantry/freezer so there are things that I won't need to buy. In total this week cost Frankie and I approximately $135.
$135 weekly cost / 2 people = $67.50 per person
$67.50 weekly cost per person / 21 meals per person = $3.21 per meal
I'm pretty impressed with this overall if i'm being honest. I know that if I weren't cooking for him, Frankie would have ate lunch out every day – approximately $50 in just lunches for the week, so $68 for every meal for the whole week isn't too shabby.
The week overall.
{Ash} I honestly thought it was going to be harder. I know that everyone has different experiences on the Whole30, but I didn't really have any major issues. I had a dull headache on the first day, but pretty much every other day I felt fine. I didn't have the “kill all the things” days it sort of worried me. I felt like I might be doing it wrong. This week was all about trying to find a balance for me, how much food should be in each meal. I still don't really feel like I have it down. The first day, much like the program says you will, I felt empowered by my healthy choices. I felt excited that I wasn't dying for anything specific and really, really happy I wasn't starving. I thought not having any grains would be the death of me… which just goes to show that I didn't really understand where my energy from food comes from.
I think most of the reason I didn't have the “hangover” effects (knock on wood that they're not just delayed and coming for me next week… eek!) is because I completely cut out soda last January (I'm planning on giving you an update on that sometime soon) as one of my New Year's Resolutions. I don't drink diet. I don't drink sugar-free. I think that has REALLY helped my Whole30 symptoms.
I've always said I just drink coffee because I think it makes me look cool… and I enjoy the taste, but that i'm not addicted to the caffeine. I haven't had a coffee since starting the whole thirty. I grew up in Rhode Island, home of the extra-extra coffee (that's extra cream and extra sugar) this year I've been weaning myself off that premise – and now i just take my coffee with a splash of cream no sugar. I just don't think i'm ready to dive into the “black coffee” arena so i'm forgoing it for the time being. I clearly don't NEED the caffeine and they say in It Starts with Food that it is an appetite suppressant. I could have mine with coconut milk – or almond milk if i found one that was compliant (good luck with that!), but i've found its just easier to not. i've been taking a fruit infused (blueberries + mint or cucumber + lime) water bottle to work each day and I've been making sure I have some tea on hand at all times.
Even though I haven't had any super negative reactions, this week I did feel SUPER tired by like 9pm. I think Frankie might have been losing his mind every night when I'd look longingly at our bed. I'd fall asleep SUPER fast too and sleep all through the night, which pretty much never happens. I also struggled with the “no snacking rule” – I generally packed an apple and 1/4 of nuts (a mix of cashews and almonds) each day to eat on my way home. The program doesn't strictly forbid snacking, but it does say you should try to eat 3 major meals. Because I was working super long days (and will for the rest of the month – getting up at 5:30, leaving for work at 6:40 and getting home at 6:30 if i'm lucky), I've decided to incorporate that apple and bag of nuts as a mini-meal. as long as I don't snack through the rest of the day I'm okay with it.
I will say, that I've learned ALOT about my habits so far. Although I haven't had any INTENSE cravings, I have had small ones. I've wanted: sour patch kids, skittles, a sandwich, potato chips, chocolate, brownies, CORN BREAD, and ice cream. <- most of those things are not even a normal part of my diet. whenever I have a craving I make myself a cup of tea and wait it out. It's usually gone within a few minutes. Usually I get the cravings when I'm bored. But I've found that watching TV is almost like a Pavlov's Dogs conditioning treatment. Any time I sit down to watch a show I instantly want a snack, generally a bad-for-me one. Probably ice cream of potato chips. candy too though, i always want that. it's so bizarre. especially because I'm probably conditioned that way because I ALWAYS snack when watching TV. even if i'm not hungry. That's been an eye opener for me.
I've always struggled with eating first thing in the morning. It generally makes me feel sick and nauseous. Part of this program is making sure you eat within an hour of waking up – which has been really hard for me. like I said, I've been waking up at 5:30 and getting ready and making breakfast for frankie and I and then I put together my lunch bag and lay out his food for the day. Then i basically run out the door. If I have enough time I sit down and eat breakfast. if not I'll eat part of my breakfast and the rest on the train to work. it's not ideal, but waking up at 5 to eat isn't ideal either and it'll mess with my food schedule. The good news is that I haven't felt sick doing this, I don't know if it's a function of just making myself eat or if its WHAT i'm eating, but i've felt fine in the mornings.
One of the things I was SUPER worried about, was “slipping up…” and I did. Accidentally! Frankie's mom came over for dinner on Tuesday and I threw together a quick mustard sauce to put on our chicken and without thinking, I included a teaspoon of Sriracha sauce…. which is NOT compliant. I didn't realize until Wednesday, and was super upset about it. But I've decided to just take it in stride and “restart,” I'll keep these updates going as if Monday was Day 1 and just go to Day 32. I learned from my mistake and have to be more careful about planning and not trying to do things super quickly. so sad.
OH OH. i almost forgot to tell you about my food dream. it happened tuesday night, one of the nights that I was especially tired and went to bed at like 9:30 – someone threw me a roll of fruit mentos and I ate two.. and felt SUPER guilty about it. apparently this is a thing that happens when you're on the program. People report having dreams about eating food and feeling guilty – but the timeline suggests this normally happens around days 8-15, weird. I haven't had another one but the one I had was funny.
{Frankie} the first day, frankie felt fine… but he did have a headache on day two and three. He didn't really have any other bad side effects. He felt nauseous after a soccer game (BUT THAT WAS HIS OWN FAULT. he didn't eat before and didn't get home till like 9:30 – crazy pants). For him, the hardest part was wanting snacks – much like me, he wanted something to eat when watching tv. Specifically, he says he wanted something crunchy like pretzels… he loves pretzels though (at one point he asked if we could have the pretzel dip. i looked at him like he was crazy and asked what we would eat it with… he didn't have an answer). One night after dinner, he went into the kitchen and put together the most massive bowl of fruit as a “snack” and when i looked at him like he had four heads he was like “what. you'll have some…. right?” (for the record – i did not have any). He said overall, he was surprised he didn't feel hungry based on what we were eating. but he also didn't feel super full (which i think is a good thing). He had a food dream about juice – he said i was in it and i told him to drink it but he didn't believe that we could have it. < – on that thought, he said he really misses juice. he also misses snapple. I think he's just over drinking water. He actually took It Starts with Food to work and read a bunch of it on his lunch. He didn't have any specific requests this week. He might have broken a record for eating breakfast seven days in a row – he generally doesn't like breakfast during the week. That's all he had to say!
Weekly Resources
Recipes from the whole30 cookbook: sausage patties {adapted: included fresh rosemary} + cabbage slaw + chimichurri sauce {adapted slightly, added more herbs and less oil}
My recipes: chicken cauliflower curry {adapted: subbed chopped cauliflower for lentils, left out flour, made sure the apple sauce had no added sugar/non-compliant ingredients} + mexican meatballs {adapted: left out tortilla chips} + mexican goddess dressing
Other places: chicken avocado lime soup {adapted: I left out all the “optionals,” used as much natural goodness broth as a i had and subbed in water for the rest, I basically turned the tomatoes into salsa in a food processor (I hate tomato chunks), and swirled in a spoonful of mexican goddess dressing instead of the avocado chunks} + potato salad {adapted: used idaho potatoes, left out the honey, subbed red wine vinegar for the white vinegar}
That's all i've got for you guys! Let me know if you have questions/comments/if you've done a whole30 before. OH AND. send me all the recipes. i need all the inspiration i can get!
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