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Whole 30 NYC Style: Barely Any Cooking; Scale & Nonscale Victories


canuck&akiwi

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Most Whole 30s involve weekly trips to the grocery store, meal planning/prep, eating red meat and of course, cooking three meals/day. I thought I’d share my successful experience (nearly a year later on a mostly-Paleo diet) since I didn’t do any of that.

 

I started last August with a coworker and did it for 45 days. It was seven weeks before my wedding and I was stressed and tired – not how I wanted to feel around 100 of our dearest friends and family. I didn’t have a weight ‘problem’ (at a size six) but my wedding dress wasn’t exactly forgiving and looked snug around the middle.

 

#nonscalevictory first:

  • I had painful hip injury from running which required physiotherapy 2x/week. During and after Whole 30 I only needed to go every other week and my PT noticed a drastic reduction in muscle inflammation. The pain used to be a 7/10, now it’s a 3 or less.
  • My husband noticed I started sleeping much, much better. I used to toss and turn and itch from allergies.  It’s been almost a year since I touched an antihistamine, and I used to have to take them year-round. 
  • There is a very strong correlation between what I eat and how I sleep and my allergies. I’m allergic to some stuff I really like…corn as an example.  It sucked to realize it but at least I know. 

During the first two weeks I lost a dress size (and my wedding dress fit perfectly). By the time I walked down the aisle, it was loose. I didn’t weigh myself until 2 months after I completed Whole 30 and was down 14 lbs...and kept losing.  At my physical in April my doctor said I lost 19 lbs (which is a lot for my height of 5’2”).  While I’m pretty happy about losing two dress sizes, I live in a small NYC apartment and I don’t have room to store ‘fat clothes,’ so I gave away four bags of clothing.

 

Prior to Whole 30 I thought I was eating healthy – I ate a lot of pasta, grains (cereal) and soy since I don’t eat red meat. I juiced (because everybody juices in Manhattan). My skin would glow for a few days after, but that was my because of what I wasn’t putting in my body, not because I was consuming 6 bottles of juice (and a ton of sugar!)/day.

 

Whole 30 was a drastic shift: I started each day making scrambled eggs or egg whites with fruit, guacamole or salsa which was the only time I cooked – our tiny kitchen isn’t equipped to do anything more elaborate. Lunch was from one of the restaurants around the office – often herbed baked salmon on top of kale and a pile of other veggies with lemon juice and olive oil. Dinner was often chicken and cooked veggies although sometimes I was so full that instead I just ate a big salad.  

 

Manhattan is actually a great place to do Whole 30 (and Paleo) as there are many organic stores, farmers markets and even paleo/organic restaurants. I was easily able to buy freshly made almond milk that had NO carrageenan, sugar or anything nasty, find nuts without sulfites and takeout food that fit the guidelines. (If there are any New Yorkers who want info on the stores I shopped at, or places I ate at, let me know.)

 

I realize that this will likely not work for people in most other cities, but wanted to share my story for another perspective.  Whole 30 definitely works, even if you don’t have access to a full-sized kitchen to cook in.

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Congratulations on all your successes! And I'm envious. Would love to have Whole30 food places nearby to buy food from and not have to cook quite so much. (I mean, I like cooking for myself, but it would be nice to take a break from it now and then.)

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Hi there, I also live in Manhattan and was wondering--where do you buy fresh almond milk? Thanks!

 

Of course.  Organic Avenue and Juice Press both do almond milk. it's not cheap but it'll keep for a few days and since you're likely not dumping it on cereal it's good to have for coffee if you're drinking it.

 

Liqueteria has some compliant salads and egg 'muffins' for breakfast.  It might also have almond milk

 

Hu Kitchen is awesome.  If you haven't yet discovered it, it is well worth the trip as many of their foods are paleo and/or whole30 compliant.

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Thank you!  I really wish I could have cooked more.  If I had a bigger kitchen it would be the best of both worlds :)

 

Congratulations on all your successes! And I'm envious. Would love to have Whole30 food places nearby to buy food from and not have to cook quite so much. (I mean, I like cooking for myself, but it would be nice to take a break from it now and then.)

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I live in Brooklyn and was thinking this must be harder if you live elsewhere. Haven't tried Hu Kitchen but look forward to it. NYC socializing is all about meals so that's great.

 

It's pretty easy to find veg anywhere, and there are enough nuts here to not surprise anyone when you ask for specialized menus items.

 

On the other hand...if I didn't live in a 4th-floor walk up with a half kitchen, I'd be better equipped to cook :)

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Exactly!

 

You will love Hu Kitchen!  Meatball shop also has some options (you just have to ask which meatballs don't have fillers and which sauce doesn't use thickeners or sugar.) 

 

I live in Brooklyn and was thinking this must be harder if you live elsewhere. Haven't tried Hu Kitchen but look forward to it. NYC socializing is all about meals so that's great.

 

It's pretty easy to find veg anywhere, and there are enough nuts here to not surprise anyone when you ask for specialized menus items.

 

On the other hand...if I didn't live in a 4th-floor walk up with a half kitchen, I'd be better equipped to cook :)

 

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  • 3 months later...
  • 7 months later...

Gingersnaps Organic in the Greenwich Village area is also great. They have the Almond Milk and lots of other cool stuff, just make sure you are checking the ingredients because although they use much better, more healthy ingredients, some things contain coconut palm sugar and things that are not Whole 30 compliant.  Here is their website:

 

http://gingersnapsorganic.com/

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  • 9 months later...

I live in Manhattan and am currently on day 6 of my whole 30. My parents are visiting next weekend and we will probably go out for dinner/brunch. Do you have any restaurant reccos of places you ate at while doing whole 30? Thanks!

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I live in Manhattan and am currently on day 6 of my whole 30. My parents are visiting next weekend and we will probably go out for dinner/brunch. Do you have any restaurant reccos of places you ate at while doing whole 30? Thanks!

The original poster hasn't been online since July 2014... 

 

It's hard to recco restaurants because you still need to ask all the dining out questions linked here... even if the place touts being 'paleo' you're on the hook for asking all the same questions...

 

http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-dining.pdf

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  • 1 year later...
On 6/30/2014 at 7:49 PM, canuck&akiwi said:

Most Whole 30s involve weekly trips to the grocery store, meal planning/prep, eating red meat and of course, cooking three meals/day. I thought I’d share my successful experience (nearly a year later on a mostly-Paleo diet) since I didn’t do any of that.

 

I started last August with a coworker and did it for 45 days. It was seven weeks before my wedding and I was stressed and tired – not how I wanted to feel around 100 of our dearest friends and family. I didn’t have a weight ‘problem’ (at a size six) but my wedding dress wasn’t exactly forgiving and looked snug around the middle.

 

#nonscalevictory first:

  • I had painful hip injury from running which required physiotherapy 2x/week. During and after Whole 30 I only needed to go every other week and my PT noticed a drastic reduction in muscle inflammation. The pain used to be a 7/10, now it’s a 3 or less.
  • My husband noticed I started sleeping much, much better. I used to toss and turn and itch from allergies.  It’s been almost a year since I touched an antihistamine, and I used to have to take them year-round. 
  • There is a very strong correlation between what I eat and how I sleep and my allergies. I’m allergic to some stuff I really like…corn as an example.  It sucked to realize it but at least I know. 

During the first two weeks I lost a dress size (and my wedding dress fit perfectly). By the time I walked down the aisle, it was loose. I didn’t weigh myself until 2 months after I completed Whole 30 and was down 14 lbs...and kept losing.  At my physical in April my doctor said I lost 19 lbs (which is a lot for my height of 5’2”).  While I’m pretty happy about losing two dress sizes, I live in a small NYC apartment and I don’t have room to store ‘fat clothes,’ so I gave away four bags of clothing.

 

Prior to Whole 30 I thought I was eating healthy – I ate a lot of pasta, grains (cereal) and soy since I don’t eat red meat. I juiced (because everybody juices in Manhattan). My skin would glow for a few days after, but that was my because of what I wasn’t putting in my body, not because I was consuming 6 bottles of juice (and a ton of sugar!)/day.

 

Whole 30 was a drastic shift: I started each day making scrambled eggs or egg whites with fruit, guacamole or salsa which was the only time I cooked – our tiny kitchen isn’t equipped to do anything more elaborate. Lunch was from one of the restaurants around the office – often herbed baked salmon on top of kale and a pile of other veggies with lemon juice and olive oil. Dinner was often chicken and cooked veggies although sometimes I was so full that instead I just ate a big salad.  

 

Manhattan is actually a great place to do Whole 30 (and Paleo) as there are many organic stores, farmers markets and even paleo/organic restaurants. I was easily able to buy freshly made almond milk that had NO carrageenan, sugar or anything nasty, find nuts without sulfites and takeout food that fit the guidelines. (If there are any New Yorkers who want info on the stores I shopped at, or places I ate at, let me know.)

 

I realize that this will likely not work for people in most other cities, but wanted to share my story for another perspective.  Whole 30 definitely works, even if you don’t have access to a full-sized kitchen to cook in.

Hi C&A. I surprised my mom for her 70th bday in September (pre-W30) with a trip to NYC.  We leave this week, and I'm worried about staying on the plan while we're there.  My mom isn't on W30, and has never been to NYC, so I want her to eat what she wants while she's there, and not push my way of eating on her (although I do hope she chooses to join the program).  If you have restaurant suggestions (I'm especially worried about breakfast/lunch meals and portable foods as we walk), for places we can both enjoy in the Manhattan area, I would love your help!  Thanks in advance. 

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