____Emily____

@CCfromVB Hi Caroline, it's totally normal to feel tired and also to be bloated during this point of your Whole30. Check out the timeline, which is a general guideline (so it's okay if it's not spot on). For #3 - You can definitely still get a cold brew from Starbucks, just don't get the sweet cream (difficult, I know. That sweet cream is sooooo good ). You could top it off with some Nutpods creamer. I just got three containers of the stuff from Whole Foods because it was on sale for $2.49 each. It won't be EXACTLY what you're used to, but it'll be coffee! For #2 - Here are some easy easy meals I rely on: - Sliced complaint hot dog with mustard (I like the German mustard from Whole Foods) (Total cook time: 30 seconds) - Egg scramble with diced veggies and sometimes sliced sausage (Total cook time: 5ish minutes) - Hot wings with celery: bake chicken wings and then toss in compliant hot sauce (Total cook time: 40ish minutes, but only 5 minutes of actual effort in the kitchen) - Baked salmon (cook time: 15ish minutes, under 5 minutes of actual effort in the kitchen) Obviously I have all these with sides of veggies, but sometimes that's a roasted broccoli (I like to season mine with olive oil and lemon juice) or sometimes I just open a bag of baby carrots and eat them with pre-made guacamole. I'm also crazy for diced sweet potato with compliant mayo (I season my mayo with McCormick Southwest seasoning because it gives it a great flavor to compliment sweet potatoes) Depending on where you live, you can also find some convenience meals for your Whole30. I know Walmart carries some frozen meals in their brand. I'm in the DC area and use a service called Territory, which allows you to filter meals by diet, including Whole30. Chefs prepare meals ahead of time and you just reheat them for 60-90 seconds. So yummy. Check The Whole30 Approved products list to see if there's anywhere in your area (listed under Restaurants and Meal Delivery at the bottom). This list also has a bunch of Whole30 condiment brands listed. Hope that helps!

@littleyellowdiary The dreams are so vivid!

My fiance and I just bought this mayo at Costco too. I did my first Whole30 in July 2018 and am absolutely shocked by how much easier of a time I am having finding compliant condiments and prepared foods this time around. At first I thought it was just because I was an experienced shopper now, but it also seems companies are taking notice that people are wanting to eat clean and are paying attention to their ingredients lists so they're cleaning their ingredients up a little.

We made it through the weekend and are on Day 8! I had my first stress dream about accidentally eating a non-compliant food and woke up feeling guilty, but damn that dream bread tasted good . This happened to me last time I did Whole30 - I rarely ever eat bread in my day-to-day life and I don't like fried foods, but all of my noncompliant eating in my dreams is bread and fried foods. I'm finding this round of Whole30 to be easier than the last time I did it. I think it's because I know what to expect and how to shop for it. This week will be tough though. I work for an organization that offers executive education courses and whenever we run a course, we provide the participants with food and then get to eat the leftovers. The catering we use is delicious and often the food is compliant, so I've packed lunch but am planning to check out the food offerings before deciding whether to eat my packed lunch or the food we're serving each day. I don't think it'll be hard to make the determination of whether what we're serving is compliant (I'll err on the side of caution and eat my packed lunch if I don't know), but I love love the desserts they generally serve so I'll be sad to pass those up.

There are a couple of rules that are hard to wrap my had around and this is one of them, but as Madeline says, I'm fairly certain it's about the act of mindlessly eating a bag of "chips" whether they're a bag of Lays, or an alternative such as Bare Apple Chips. This is kind of a SWYPO thing - you're replacing one snack food with another so at the end of the 30 days when you can eat any ingredient again, you still have the habit of eating a bag of "chips" in front of the TV. If you make your own food, you're more aware of what you're putting into your body, even on a subconscious level. Apple chips are fairly easy to make for yourself (recipe: https://www.wellplated.com/apple-chips/), and here's a recipe for banana chips: https://www.momables.com/homemade-banana-chips-recipe-baked/ "No commercially prepared chips" is a very clear rule, which makes it fairly easy to comply. When you ask about them in the "Can I Have ____?" section of the forum, mods will answer with the exact rule because again, it's very very clear cut. That said, no one is going to come to your home/office and rip the apple chips or banana chips from your hands. Whole30 is a voluntary program - if you follow the rules and guidelines exactly, you'll benefit from it more. If you don't, you'll probably still benefit but to a slightly lesser degree.

You could make your own (https://www.wellplated.com/apple-chips/). We're encouraged not to have fruit on its own as a snack though because it tends to act as a replacement for candy.

Hi Carol! I'm also starting today, but this is my second Whole30. My fiance and I did our first one during July 2018. He did it to support me, and I was doing it to see if I had any food intolerance because I have a lot of family members who have issues with gluten, dairy, sugar, etc.... I found out I had no issues with any of the main groups (yay!). I really loved how I felt at the end - I was more alert, I had lost weight, my headaches had decreased, I had more energy, my skin was better, literally everything. Unfortunately, I didn't have a game plan for moving past the 30 days so I quickly fell into old habits (all the candy......). When my fiance suggested we do Whole 30 again, I reluctantly agreed (because this isn't an easy month, especially the first week), but we went to get our groceries and I'm excited to be starting so I can get back to all those benefits. My goal this time around is to figure out how I continue to eat healthy past the 30 days without turning this into a Whole 365 (which definitely isn't doable). Good luck with your Whole 30! Let me know how day 1 went!

What a wonderful thread! I'm hoping to lose 60 lbs and got off to a great start with my Whole30 that just ended. Hoping I can continue my success like you!

You look great! Congrats on finishing the 30 days and reclaiming a healthy relationship with food!

@alisonegilbert I'm also intrigued for oven temp and cooking time for the sweet potato chips. I recently got a mandolin slicer so I kind of want to try baking up some chips - I usually just do diced roasted sweet potatoes because I can't get them thin enough.

My grocery bill definitely has gone up significantly, and at first I was a little appalled, but then I realized that it's probably balancing out. I'm no longer stopping daily at Starbucks for a latte or other drink (savings of approximately $5/day ) and before this, my grocery budget didn't include dinner because I ate out nearly every day. One thing I'm doing to try and abate the costs is looking for sales. I live in an area where I can easily access multiple different types of grocery stores, so I buy the foods I need at places where they're on sale. For instance, chicken breast packs were buy one get one free at Giant near me last Sunday, so I went and bought two packs (and picked up some BOGO blueberries too). I found a compliant sausage I liked a lot that was on sale so I stocked up on that and likely won't need to buy more for the remainder of my 30 days (although I'm thinking about making this a Whole60, so I'll need to get more for that). I'm also focusing on simple meals when I cook - Nothing with too many ingredients that I have to purchase, especially expensive ingredients.

Thanks for the update! I love CAVA and have one right around the corner from my office, so it's nice to know there is compliant food nearby if I ever have a food emergency