____Emily____

I misspoke: he got his deli meat at Wegman's - their brand But I also found this blog post that looks like it'll be helpful: https://www.oliveyouwhole.com/whole30/whole30-approved-deli-meat-brands/

@Karen Manis I wonder if it's a texture thing? The green goddess dressing and all of the other dressings I've seen from them are runnier than the ranch dip you would typically dip veggies into and even normal ranch dressing. Would she potentially like guacamole? I know people normally eat guac with tortillas, but I'm sure it'll taste good with veggies. I've texted the bf to ask about the deli meat and will update when he gets back to me

I haven't tried it, but Tessemaes makes a complaint ranch dressing. I've bought the Green Goddess dressing from them to eat with diced cucumbers and loved it. They have a lot of compliant options, and the compliant options are labled with the Whole30 logo. I've found them in Whole Foods and MOMs Organic Grocery store. If you've got time, I would recommend a trip to your closest Whole Foods or similar type store. That's where I've gotten compliant bacon and sausage and my bf found compliant deli meat (can't remember the brand, sorry). Just look for the options that advertise preservative-free and sugar-free (or no sugar added) and the ingredients should be good (obviously read the ingredients still). I really like the sausage I mentioned above. The brand I get is Brat Hans (many of their varieties are compliant - spinach, plain, apple, and sun-dried tomato are the four varieties I've gotten). For lunch I'll poke holes in it, toss it in the microwave, and eat with mustard (Whole Foods 360 brand German Style Mustard) along with some side veggies. At home I'll either slice it or dice it and pan fry with sauteed onions and peppers. If I dice it up, I'll crack two eggs into it to make a scramble. I'm also a big fan of roasted veggies with grilled meat. Not necessarily quick (my sweet potatoes roast for 35 minutes), but definitely easy.

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.

Had a good day 10. After work the bf made homemade hot wings using the recipe in the Whole30 book (the sauce recipe anyway... not sure if there is a full wing recipe in the book since the only additional step after making the sauce is to add to the cooked wings). The sauce was definitely different than the sauce you get from a take out place, but it was good. After dinner we went on a nice 2-3 mile walk Today will be a test for me. After work I have a monthly game night I go to. I usually describe this game night as "the best eating I do all month" because it's potluck style and most of the attendees are good cooks. Lots of desserts and yummy foods. I unfortunately didn't get a chance to prepare a dish for the party so I'll be bringing cut veggies with dip or some other convenience item. I'll eat some quick protein on the way (I've got pre-cooked sausage and hardboiled eggs in the fridge, so one of those) and load my plate up with the veggies and try to keep my eye off the dessert table. Wish me luck!

I finished up the non-compliant foods in my house too. I actually spent a couple of weeks over-indulging in all of the foods I knew I wouldn’t be able to have. Originally I was going to start on the 1st but postponed because of a trip so I had an extra week to over-indulge.... by the time my start date hit, I was almost relieved to be going clean. There’s still some non-compliant foods laying around for after, but I’ve been contemplating tossing them. I would really like to continue with the basics tenets of this plan after the 30 days

Last night I went to visit with my parents and sister, and my my mom made a Whole30 feast for me. She made these chicken nugget style things with a BBQ dipping sauce, roasted potatoes, and a mixed greens salad with plums, olives, and bacon crumble. To make the BBQ sauce, she made me homemade ketchup - the leftovers of both were sent home with me in nicely labeled glass bottles. It was super sweet! One funny thing though - she bought what she described as "sort of Whole30 bacon." So I walk into their house and she says this to me, and I'm like, "What does it mean when you say the bacon is sort of Whole30?" and she says "Oh, a lady was shopping with us and she is also doing Whole30 so she was helping me find compliant bacon and she said this was the closest they had. It should be okay because there's only a miniscule amount." So I asked to see the bacon to see what they were referring to, and cane sugar was listed in the ingredients in the "less than 2% of" section. Otherwise, it actually would have been Whole30 - there were no preservatives. So I had to explain to my mom that we aren't allowed to have any added sugar, even minuscule amounts. So after I examined her other ingredients, I got back in my car and ran out to the nearest health food store to get bacon. Crisis averted and we had an amazing dinner. Also, I'm starting to notice positive benefits from this too - I've been waking up fully refreshed at around 6:30am before my alarm even rings. Usually if I woke up before my alarm I'd be exhausted (and annoyed) and go back to sleep. This morning I just got up and started getting ready for my day. It's really nice to feel like I'm getting high quality sleep and not struggling to get up in the AM. I may start using this extra time in the morning to run or stretch, but for now I'm just enjoying actually being on time to work Hope everyone is having a good day 9!

There are SO many things that have sugar in them when I wouldn't expect it. Like sriracha or sausage. It's eye-opening reading the ingredients lists for Whole30... I think that's one habit I'll continue. Reading the labels and putting back items where I can't pronounce or understand the majority of the ingredients. Day 7 went well for me. My family went out to a restaurant where I was able to order steamed crab legs with lemon wedges on the side. I wound up not needing the lemon - the crab was sooo good. Everyone else in the family got their crab with a seasoning, but I didn't want to risk it (see above.... I'm sure even the Cajun seasoning had sugar in it). Almost accidentally violated the rules later though. I was hanging out with my family and my dad got my niece a small bag of animal crackers. He handed the bag to me to pass the cookies out one-by-one to her because he was doing his ironing. I had the bag sitting in my lap and almost absent-minded ate one. I had my hand in the bag and was like, "wait...." so I immediately passed the bag off to my sister to avoid that temptation. I wasn't even really wanting a cookie! It was just an impulse... like eating mindlessly in front of the TV.

Day 6 was good. I went to the zoo with my mom and sister and my niece. It was tough at times, but I felt like I had the energy to walk round all day in the heat, which was great. The tough parts came when I literally had to watch people eat.... I knew it would happen though. Our plans involved metroing to the zoo and eating lunch near the metro before going into the zoo. I researched last night and didn't see any Whole30 compliant dishes at any of the restaurants in that area, so I ate lunch before leaving the house. Still a little tough to watch everyone eat the yummy gyros, but I've been exercising my will power so it was up to the task. I packed along a couple of single-serving packets of almond butter in case I got hungry (since I had to eat breakfast an hour early and didn't expect to be home until 7 hours later for dinner); I ended up needing them so I'm glad I did. It was wayyyy to hot for the zoo - all of the animals were hiding from the heat and the sun, and we all overheated. However, it was nice to have something active to do today to keep me from getting bored on my couch (the place I would say is most dangerous for my cravings/junk food habit) Hope everyone had a great Saturday! Good luck on day 7

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

I felt great all throughout day 4 too! Honestly, besides an accidental walk down the bread aisle in the grocery store, I didn't even really have many cravings. I slept deeply the night before and felt alert all day. Also, massive bonus: the jeans I struggled to pull on last week were less of a struggle today Has anyone else noticed their sense of smell or taste is more acute? It was mostly noticeable during that walk down the bread aisle unfortunately.... I felt like I was standing in a bakery or something. But also, I could smell the olive oil as I drizzled it on my sweet potatoes and the lime as my boyfriend zested it into our turkey burgers. Kind of a bizarre side effect Hope everyone has a great Friday! I go visit my parents every Friday and we tend to eat out, so I may be facing my first real challenge with dining out. I'm going to suggest Zoes Kitchen since they have Whole30 meals listed on their menu.

Day 3 ended well for me. I've had a small headache fading in and out since yesterday afternoon, but it's barely noticeable. Had a delicious dinner last night: I sauteed up a bell pepper and onion and then added sliced spinach chicken sausage. The sausage was a brand called Brat Hans. I got it at Whole Foods on sale for $3.99 (4 pack - I used two for dinner) and there were a couple of varieties that were Whole30 complaint. It was so ridiculously easy to make, which is great because I'm not a good cook. I think I'm going to do that for sure. That way the snack will be even more satiating. I've picked up some almond butter and I think my snack will be apple slices and almond butter My boyfriend is doing it with me. One of our bad habits before this was that we would order takeout literally every night we were together - usually pizza or Thai food. I suggested doing this because it was something I was interested in doing, and I thought it'd be a good way to train ourselves to not have that habit. He was on board immediately, which was nice. I totally thought I'd have to do some convincing (or compromise with me doing Whole30, and him just eating compliant dinners with me). It's great that your daughter wants to join! Developing a taste for healthy, whole foods early is so beneficial to kids. Even if she isn't as strict with the rules, she will develop great food habits that will follow her through life (choosing healthier snacks, learning to read labels, knowing how to cook/prepare whole foods, etc...)

I used to use something called Territory Foods and am thinking about using them again. They are only available in a couple of large metro areas, but the food is made fresh twice weekly by local chefs using local ingredients. They allow you to customize your plan to almost any sort of diet (Whole30, Paleo, Keto, Vegan, Vegetarian, etc...) and you pick up from local gyms or pay an extra bit to have it shipped to you. It's kind of pricey (minimum of $10 per meal), but the food was delicious and the only "prep" for me was microwaving the food. ETA: They also list all ingredients on each container and website, and I would say it'd be important to double check that it is actually Whole30 before consuming/ordering any particular meal. My favorite from them is Whole30 though (Pistachio crusted tuna cakes with fennel apple slaw) so bonus! Also, I always get the boost size and find it plenty large enough to serve as a meal

Day two ended well for me( despite the headache all day and into this morning). After work, I went to the library to pick up the Whole30 cookbook that came off hold, so I have that to peruse for ideas this evening. Then my boyfriend and I went to Giant to pick up ingredients for this yummy recipe (Shrimp Scampi Zoodles for Two). He doesn't have a spiralizer so we had to buy the zoodles pre-spiralized. So expensive that way! . It turned out amazing! We swapped the fresh parsley for ground parsley (his idea - one less thing to buy) and the hot pepper flakes for cayenne (we thought he had hot pepper flakes. He didn't). Question: Are you all eating between meals? My boyfriend says it is against the rules according to the book (which he admittedly skimmed), but I don't see anything about it being against the rules on the website. Just that it is discouraged. I've been letting myself have fresh raw fruit and veggies between meals, usually around 3pm, to avoid being *starving* when I get home for dinner. I think I'll try to limit my snacks so that I can make sure I'm not eating out of boredom or some sort of emotional response; maybe set a rule that I can only have a snack if I'm going to the gym or having to wait 6 awake hours between meals? Would love to know what others are doing Good luck to all of us on Day 3!

I also started on July 9th! I wound up not getting home from a trip on the 8th until nearly midnight (was supposed to be around 7-8pm, but traffic and traveling with a baby slowed us down). Thought about pushing my start back a day, but my boyfriend is doing it along with me and he was ready to start so I went ahead and started a little less prepared than I would have liked. Luckily my standard breakfast has always been Whole30 compliant (two hard boiled eggs and a banana) so I could figure out the rest at work the next day. Like pags98, day 1 was great until I began craving a late night snack in front of the TV. Usually I eat ice cream or cookie butter directly out of the containers at that point of my evening I think I got up and opened my freezer at least 10 times. Considered making a smoothie with orange juice and frozen fruit, but it seemed like that might be a SWYPO type thing, especially since I would solely be making it to satisfy a sugar/snack craving. Plus, I'm hoping to teach myself to eat intentionally - which means no more mindless snacking in front of the TV! For day 2, I began feeling hungover as well - not directly when I woke up, but around 11am. Just an FYI, Carrageenan is also a common almond milk additive you have to watch out for. I bought New Barn plain unsweetened almondmilk from Whole Foods yesterday (it was on sale for only about $3 for the bottle, which seemed reasonable). The main reason I picked it was because it had very few ingredients and all of my other options in the refrigerated section had a gazillion ingredients and I didn't feel like googling "Is ________ Whole30 compliant?" for my entire lunch break (which is when I went shopping).