Contessa

May I assist in briefly straightening your crown? I was heartened a few years ago when Melissa (co-founder of Whole 30) came out with a blog post backing off the whole "it's not hard" tough-love mantra that so many of us had internalized. "Changing the way you think about food is hard," she says, and I agree. "[Whole 30] is a monumental transformation in how you think about food, your body, your life, and what you want out of the time you have left on this earth." I somehow find it heartening that there are SO many of us who do not have all these principles perfectly dialed in.

1/28/21, day 31: Well, here we are at the close of this Whole 30. This one has been an adventure, and I'm grateful for the chance to have this time at home. In hindsight, I probably did not put enough energy into cooking and meal planning this time around! Even with infusions from the soup goddess, I drove myself slightly nuts with the same meals every day! I do like what I like, except for when I have it 3x/day with little variety. Wishing my fellow W30 sojourners a satisfying close to this month's journey, a pleasure to travel alongside you.

My older brother and I have been working on our Whole 30s together this month, and together, we seem to have accidentally inspired our mother to start a Whole 30 of her own. I have very mixed feelings about this. My poor mother seems to have been on a diet of some sort or another for her adult life (she is 75). She takes exquisite care of herself, isn't on any prescription medication, cuts a trim profile, and has a darned "healthy diet" as it is. I truly believe I have inherited some generational body image dysfunction/food obsession tendencies from her. Now she's all gung ho for a Whole 30 an

Food journal for 1/22/21, day 24: Breakfast: Ground beef, 1 scrambled eggs, veggies, sauce Lunch: Veggies and chicken and sauce Dinner: Veggies and chicken and sauce (with the sophisticated dipping sauce, naturally)

Lord have mercy, this week at work is just wrecking me. I'm trying to do the jobs of 2 people. The company has brought in a new person to help, which is good, but you know... onboarding a new person always slows you down at first. This is what's known as irony. I think that if I wasn't doing a Whole 30 right now, I would probably be rage-eating over how overwhelmed I feel, so.... yay for not doing that, I guess? Food journal for 1/21/21, day 23: Breakfast: Ground beef plus veggies plus sauce Lunch: Avocado-chocolate smoothie Dinner: Last of the coconut chicken curry with Ve

You have perfectly highlighted a mental tug-of-war I'm starting to get into. "After this Whole 30 is over, I'll have a boba tea." "After this Whole 30 is over, I'll put ice cream back in my freezer." It's depressingly easy for human beings to forget their past (even their very recent past — feeling low-energy and wobbly after carelessly consuming just such foods only a few weeks ago). I have thought for some time about simply cutting out some foods from my diet, period. I know people who don't eat "recreational sugar," for example, or friends who just don't go near white flour. It's a liberati

Hmmmm.... I wonder where my entry for yesterday's food went. It was all good Whole 30 stuff. I have so many tabs open on my browser this week that I've started to confuse myself and write over drafts. Alas! Will democracy be safe if it never knows that I spent yesterday eating protein, vegetables, and sauce?! Food journal for 1/20/21, day 22: Breakfast: Chicken plus veggies plus sauce; coffee with almond milk Lunch: Ground beef + shredded veggies Dinner: Paleo chicken soup from the soup goddess

Just wanted to say that I relate to this state 100%! Good on you for staying on plan after a gnarly day. "Mom, did you know that almonds and leafy greens contain tons of calcium?" Hope today goes more smoothly for you

Food journal for 1/18/21, day 20: Breakfast: spinach-avocado turkey burger, potatoes, broccoli, sauce Lunch: Coconut chicken curry with butternut squash and cauliflower rice Dinner: Oven fries & ketchup, pulled chicken, broccoli, and sauce

Sounds like you are going strong! Believe me, if I was in your household, I would happily partake of that shepherd's pie Wishing you ongoing NSVs and good eating.

Man. Grinding away over here. I wish my cravings were not as gnarly as they are, here on Day 19. I've really been honoring the program. Usually my cravings have been crippled by this point. And okay, watching Gilmore Girls this month has probably not helped my situation. That show is a serious junk food extravaganza. The pizzas! The Chinese take-out! The platters of burgers and fries at Luke's Diner! I hold Lorelai personally responsible for these cravings. Food journal for 1/17/21, day 19: Breakfast: 2 eggs fried in the coconut curry sauce from yesterday Lunch: coconut chicken

Today may have been the first time I've ever prepared a dish that made the taster physically step back and say, "Oh my GOD" in awe. Such was the feedback from ye olde boyfriend on the NYTimes' coconut chicken curry. With compatible oil and compatible rice/noodles, it's totally Whole 30! Cool! (Truly, I'm not sure if it was "Oh my GOD" worthy. It was good.... but for some reason, he really liked it.) Also, I just realized that yesterday's Day 17 passed without incident. For some reason, Day 17 is the point at which my enthusiasm wanes and my motivation goes missing. Day 18 feels so mu

Tonight I am prepping this coconut chicken curry recipe, which appears to be completely Whole30 if you substitute cauliflower rice for the traditional rice. I'll post taste test results tomorrow! Food journal for 1/15/21, day 17: Breakfast: 1 egg, pulled chicken, shredded veggies, mashed potatoes, sauce Lunch: Spinach-avocado turkey burgers (ground turkey = not as good as ground chicken!); oven fries Dinner: pulled chicken, shredded veggies, mashed potatoes, sauce

@LadyWolf0926The restaurant is Souper Jenny! 5 metro Atlanta locations, and they're running a lot of Whole 30 soups this month The locations list on the website also includes each location's daily soup offerings.

Yep, food boredom is real. And yet I'm glad to be selecting from a limited menu. Today was an seriously bonkers day, with a doctor visit, work deadlines, conference calls, and unexpected errands. Oh, and the people in the apartment above mine are re-doing their floors. Apparently a lot of hammers are involved. I was harried all day but still felt great. It was a blessing to have reliable Whole 30 food to hang on to. Food journal for 1/14/21, day 16: Breakfast: 1 perfect scrambled egg, pulled chicken, diced spinach, shredded veggies, mashed potatoes, sauce Lunch: Chocolate avocad