First Whole30 started October 12

[Sam-I-Am]

Well, this is a bit late, but I didn't start perusing the forums until well after we had started.

 

Anyway, on October 12 my husband and I started our first Whole30. We were both your typical slightly overweight, overfed, under-exercised American couple with two kids and a dog. He's the CEO of an IT consulting firm that we started, and I mostly stay at home with the kids. I was about 20 pounds away from where I have felt the most comfortable, and he was about 30 pounds away. He'd gained 20 pounds when his job got a lot more stressful two years ago. He started trying to lose it a year ago. With careful calorie counting, a little more exercise, and a lot of food restrictions he lost a grand 5 pounds in a year.

 

Me, well, I wasn't too fussed about extra weight because our youngest is 6 months old and I'd already gotten back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I was still twenty pounds away where I felt my ideal weight was, but between chasing a toddler and nursing a baby, I didn't want to take the time or mental energy to address the issue hardcore. I did, however, most certainly have my own food demons. I liked to reward myself for doing hard things with a handful (plus another handful or so) of candy corn or Skittles. Or I'd just set a pint of ice cream out on the counter and have a spoonful every so often while I did the dishes. I ADORED bread of any kind (except rye bread) and cheese, oh how I loved cheese. I couldn't give up cheese even though I suspected the baby had a dairy intolerance and would get an upset tummy when I had dairy products.

 

We had talked quite a lot about how something needed to change but we were never on the same page. I'd heard a little about Whole30 from an online friend, and then a friend in my small group at church started a Whole30. I mentioned the idea to my husband and he was surprisingly on board with it. Turns out one of his friends, who works for a customer of my husband's company, was halfway through his own Whole30 and was raving about the changes he was seeing.

 

I downloaded a sample of It Starts With Food on my Kindle and reserved the book at my local library. It was so engaging that when I finished the sample I bought the Kindle book and canceled my library reservation. My husband wanted to start right away but after realizing how much effort this was going to take in terms of food prep I asked for a week to prepare. I lasted 5 days. On my last day, after cleaning out the fridge and cupboards, I had one last hard lemonade with two sugar cookies and we plunged in.

 

My husband took seriously the idea that the amount of crap you consume in the days prior to starting is directly proportionate to the suck you will experience in the first week. So he really started a couple days before I did and he's been going through the timeline a little ahead of me. It has been awesome having his support. I can't imagine trying to fix TWO sets of meals. It's hard enough changing my kitchen over to churning out so many veggies.

 

I feel like we have been doing well. Hubbie had a corn tortilla a few days ago and we've both accidentally eaten a few things with wheat flour (they put wheat flour in taco seasoning?!) and soy (seriously, Celestial, soy lecithin in herbal tea?). Reading labels has been incredibly eye-opening. There's corn protein in sausage? Sugar in every lunch meat on the shelf? The withdrawal actually hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. Sure, I would still really like a cookie or a sandwich or a piece of cheese, but I can't, so why am I going to waste time wishing for that food? I did have a dream that I ate pizza. It was really, really good pizza too.

 

After three days I finally convinced myself to put the scale away too. THAT has probably been one of the hardest things! I am dying to know whether I'm losing weight. My face is getting thinner and my wedding ring is looser and my pants are baggy in the butt...yet somehow THAT NUMBER still takes precedence, in my mind, over how I look and feel.

 

Days 4-5 were DEFINITELY Kill All The Things days for me. My poor kids. I freaked out at my toddler for stepping on my computer and then I put myself in time out. She got a kick out of that. I got surprisingly, irrationally angry at the stupidest things!

 

Days 6-7, where you just want a nap? Dude. I have a 6 month old. That is my entire life. It didn't really phase me. I just was a little more motivated to learn to like coffee with coconut milk.

 

Oh, the bloating and gas on days 8-9? Totally a thing. The last two days have been pretty musical, let's just put it that way.

 

Good gracious, I had a lot to say. I am quite a determined person and I don't intend to give up or cheat "just a little" the next couple days, although they are supposed to be the hardest. I promised myself that if I completed the program without intentionally cheating, I was taking myself clothes shopping!

[Sam-I-Am]

Whole30 day 10 - 1/3 of the way through!

Breakfast: 3 eggs, over easy, with sauteed squash and zucchini.
Snack: hard-boiled egg.
Lunch: A very odd-sounding salad that was SO GOOD. Spinach, a can of tuna with homemade mostly failed mayonnaise, black olives, 1/2 a cucumber, grated, and dressed with....dill pickle juice. Yes. I put dill pickle juice on a salad. And it was perfect.
Snack: honeycrisp apple and a mix of toasted pecans, toasted coconut and raisins.
Dinner: a super awesome but very labor intensive dinner of persimmon chicken legs and roasted asparagus, golden beets and brussels sprouts, with pear and kiwi slices and pomegranate seeds.

Snack: banana.

 

(By the way, I eat more snacks than is recommended for general Whole30 compliancy because I'm nursing and noticing issues with my supply)

 

Today I started to notice my energy levels creeping up. I plopped my daughters on the bed in our room and let them play with hangers while I organized the closet, fixed a broken drawer, gathered and washed laundry, and sorted clothes for donation. I haven't been that productive in...oh, about a week and a half! It definitely did not last all day; the girls actually let me take a nap in the afternoon and boy, did I need it.

 

I have been trying SO many new foods on the Whole30. Today's new foods were golden beets, persimmons and pomegrante. It helps that I'm part of a food co-op and whatever we get in our basket is what we eat. I really dislike purple beets but the golden ones were much lighter in flavor. And really, roasting just about any veggie makes it superb. I can eat an entire head of roasted broccoli as long as the florets are super crispy. Mmm hmm.

[amberino21]

Whole30 day 10 - 1/3 of the way through!

Breakfast: 3 eggs, over easy, with sauteed squash and zucchini.

Snack: hard-boiled egg.

Lunch: A very odd-sounding salad that was SO GOOD. Spinach, a can of tuna with homemade mostly failed mayonnaise, black olives, 1/2 a cucumber, grated, and dressed with....dill pickle juice. Yes. I put dill pickle juice on a salad. And it was perfect.

Snack: honeycrisp apple and a mix of toasted pecans, toasted coconut and raisins.

Dinner: a super awesome but very labor intensive dinner of persimmon chicken legs and roasted asparagus, golden beets and brussels sprouts, with pear and kiwi slices and pomegranate seeds.

Snack: banana.

(By the way, I eat more snacks than is recommended for general Whole30 compliancy because I'm nursing and noticing issues with my supply)

Today I started to notice my energy levels creeping up. I plopped my daughters on the bed in our room and let them play with hangers while I organized the closet, fixed a broken drawer, gathered and washed laundry, and sorted clothes for donation. I haven't been that productive in...oh, about a week and a half! It definitely did not last all day; the girls actually let me take a nap in the afternoon and boy, did I need it.

I have been trying SO many new foods on the Whole30. Today's new foods were golden beets, persimmons and pomegrante. It helps that I'm part of a food co-op and whatever we get in our basket is what we eat. I really dislike purple beets but the golden ones were much lighter in flavor. And really, roasting just about any veggie makes it superb. I can eat an entire head of roasted broccoli as long as the florets are super crispy. Mmm hmm.

It's great that you're eating more to support your nursing, but try and aim for a proper mini meal of protein, fat and vegies instead of fruit and nuts. You may also benefit from a bit more starchy vegie carb intake to give you even more energy

[Sam-I-Am]

It's great that you're eating more to support your nursing, but try and aim for a proper mini meal of protein, fat and vegies instead of fruit and nuts. You may also benefit from a bit more starchy vegie carb intake to give you even more energy

 

Thanks for the comment! I appreciate the input. I will try to focus on mini-meals instead of snack foods.

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 11:

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy with sauteed squash and pan-fried sweet potatoes.

Lunch: Leftover persimmon chicken and a honeycrisp apple.

Snack: A can of tuna with olive oil mixed in and sauteed zucchini.

Dinner: Sausage/squash/zucchini/tomato/kale soup. I mixed coconut milk in with mine because it was plenty spicy. My husband, on the other hand, added a whole lot more hot sauce!

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 12

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs, over easy (minus about 2/3 of one), about 1/3 of a sweet potato, pan fried, and most of an avocado (my two year old is a little beggar!). Also a big glass of iced coffee with about 1/4 cup of coconut milk.

Lunch: about 2/3 of a can of olives, two chicken legs, a nice big pile of spinach, salsa, and a honeycrisp apple

Snack: a can of tuna with about a tablespoon of olive oil mixed in, dill pickles, and about 8 very large sweet potato chips

Snack #2 (after I nearly passed out...more on that below): banana

Dinner: fish taco salad: pan-fried mahi mahi, green leaf lettuce, kale, cucumber, black olives, avocado and salsa.

 

I had a very hard time with my blood sugar or something today. This morning I was trying hard to get breakfast made for myself but I kept being interrupted by someone small needing something. So I didn't get to eat until over an hour after I woke up. I was STARVING. Like nauseated, shaking starving. I ate my meal waaaay too fast but I was beyond the point of reasoning with my hangry (hungry+angry) brain. Then it felt like all the food balled up in my stomach and just sat there while my body dealt with the stress. That was pretty awful.

 

Of course I didn't learn my lesson and delayed lunch too long; again with the caring for small people before I took care of myself. I snacked on the olives and apple before actually sitting down with my chicken and veggies.

 

In the afternoon I got an unpleasant surprise. About an hour after my tuna and sweet potatoes mini meal, I was playing outside with the girls. I stood up off a step and promptly came this close to blacking out. My vision tunneled, my hearing dimmed, and I saw stars. Of course I promptly fell back down to my sitting position until I felt better. Then I went and got a quart of water and a banana and gulped them both down.

 

I'm also having problems with a muscle cramping in my butt of all places. I didn't relate it to the other physical problems until my husband pointed out there could be a connection.

 

Tomorrow I'm going to try to drink more water, eat more salt, and make sure I eat good meals at regular intervals. I'm also going to make sure I eat a mini meal in the morning in addition to my mini meal in the afternoon.

 

*edited to add: I just did the calorie calculations for my day and it's about 2500 calories. So I think I'm doing well eating enough food for me and my nursing 6 month old. It may be a matter of when I eat that is affecting my health. Or that I'm not getting enough salt.

[Sam-I-Am]

Whole30 day 13

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, pan fried sweet potatoes and sauteed yellow squash
Lunch: Salad with organic baby spring mix, grape tomatoes, an avocado, two chicken legs, a yellow bell pepper, black olives, the juice of a lime and salsa.
Snack: honeycrisp apple with cashew butter (which, it turns out, is not Whole30 compliant! Dang canola oil!)
Dinner: The BEST spaghetti ever! No, I didn't use noodles; I used a spaghetti squash. The sauce was organic grass-fed ground beef, two cans of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato paste, four cloves of garlic, half a package of frozen pepper and onion mix, a LOT (probably too much) of dried basil, dried oregano, kosher salt and red pepper flakes.

 

I had read some years ago that a good spaghetti sauce needs a little sugar to balance the acidic tomatoes. Thus I was actually dreading my first taste of the sauce because I thought it was going to taste terrible. I was ever so wrong. It. Was. Sublime. I actually gasped. And then I ate two helpings.

 

I really needed an excellent meal, too. I'm kind of in a cooking funk. I'm just tired of it taking so darn long to cook everything. I love cooking. I really do. And without being TOO arrogant, I'm a pretty awesome cook. But when just a proper snack/mini meal takes 15-20 minutes to prepare it seems overwhelming to spend my entire day in the kitchen.

Day 14

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, pan fried sweet potatoes and an avocado
Snack: I can't remember. I know I ate something. It might have been an apple. It was a hardboiled egg.
Lunch: leftover spaghetti
Snack: apple
Snack2: can of tuna, some olive oil and dill pickles mixed together and eaten on sweet potato chips.
Dinner: My awesome husband took us out for Chipotle because I was so done cooking! I had a barbacoa salad with tons of pico and guacamole.

 

Yeah...I didn't do so well on the veggie consumption today. Or eating real mini-meals. I did have a TON of energy and organized things that have needed organizing for months. That was pretty cool.

 

I wanted so many different forbidden foods today; the random cravings were very bizarre. I wanted hot chocolate this morning when I woke up. I wanted sourdough bread with cheese. I wanted potato chips to go with my tuna snack. That was definitely weird; I don't even LIKE potato chips.

 

My husband is a couple days ahead of me in the program, unofficially. He said that it's getting easier and easier for him to want the right foods and that he's craving things like salad and pickled beets now. I sure hope I get to that point soon! I have no intention of quitting; I'm definitely not a quitter. But I sure am still looking forward to all the foods I can't have!!!

[amberino21]

Could you hardboil some eggs and chop some vegies to have handy for mini meals? Or pre cook some chicken, add it to a salad - enough for a couple of days worth - and add some mayo or avo?

[Sam-I-Am]

Oh! That's what I ate this morning; a hardboiled egg. Thanks for the mini meal ideas. I haven't been successful making my own mayo so far but I do have a ton of avocados sitting around asking to be eaten.

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 15:

 

YEAH WE'RE HALFWAY DONE

 

Breakfast: an egg and sausage and veggie casserole my husband threw together. He's such a stud.

Lunch: Leftover spaghetti [squash]

Snack: leftover mahi mahi, steak, avocado and a baby bell pepper. It was weird but hey, I was hungry and the fridge needed cleaning out.

Dinner: roasted broccoli and golden beets, steamed sugar snap peas, and salmon with rosemary garlic seasoning and lemon. It was so good! Oh, and red pears and a pomegranate shared amongst two adults and a two year old. And the two year old ate more fruit than we did.

 

I'm definitely in a funk. I don't have boundless energy or feel tiger blood yet. I just planned next week's meals and I'm pretty meh about the whole thing. All I see is tons of cooking and no dang bread. Did I mention I'm craving bread? And that on this cool, rainy night some hot spiced cider would be REALLY GOOD?

 

Well here are the good things about what we've done so far. I actually like the taste of black coffee now. My wedding ring is loose. My husband's wedding ring is trying to fall off. He took his pants off without unbuttoning them. My jeans are so loose that I was carrying my phone in my butt pocket and felt it vibrate on my thigh. Our daughter is eating more fruits and veggies because she sees us doing it. I am definitely learning a lot of new things in the kitchen. And I only have to do this fifteen more days

 

As a side note, our sleep is CRAP because of the kids (nearly 3 and 6 months, and they both have colds). I wish I could say that we are sleeping better but we aren't. At all. In fact, it seems like the last couple weeks have been getting worse and worse. So maybe my chronic exhaustion is coloring my experience.

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 16

 

Breakfast: egg-and-sausage casserole from yesterday and 1/2 an avocado

Lunch: Big ole salad with salmon, hardboiled egg, black olives, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and a bell pepper. Dressed in balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Snack: lemon Lara bar...more on that below

Dinner: Hubbie made spicy beef stew (beef, yellow squash, yellow onions, diced canned tomatoes, carrots) and I ate mine over half a sweet potato. There wasn't a lot of fat in the dinner so while I was cleaning up the dishes I ate half a can of black olives.

 

Ok, the Lara bar. It's just dates, nuts and lemon. My tastes are very much changed after two weeks because it tasted like candy. That was a big, big problem. The sugar dragon came roaring to life and demanded I eat another. I ignored him and only managed to eat the one but boy oh boy. I didn't realize that would trigger Mr. Dragon. I got the Lara bars because my husband travels and last week was in a situation where he didn't get more than about an egg for breakfast and a handful of sushi for lunch and was thus starving in the afternoon. And I wanted to try one, so I did. It was delicious and dangerous. I don't think I'll be having one again, if I can help it, for the next couple weeks. Crazy.

 

Today my husband and I did a lot of cooking. He cooked dinner and I did a ton of food prep for next week. I feel a lot better about meals this week because I did so much work today. This week I'm planning for:

 

Chicken butternut squash hash

Hawaiian pulled pork on salad

Butternut squash beef stew (might have leftovers this night and put the stew in the crock pot on Saturday morning instead)

Thai curry

and spaghetti (on squash)

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 17

 

Breakfast: 2-3 eggs over easy with sweet potato chips

Snack: Roasted chicken breast with baby carrots and cherry tomatoes

Lunch: Salad with steak, cherry tomatoes, avocado, bell pepper, and salsa

Snack: Munched on apple slices and almond butter through the afternoon (canning apples)

Dinner: leftover spicy beef stew and half a sweet potato

 

I had a horrible, horrible morning. My two year old had a dentist appointment and pitched an utter tantrum over first, leaving her Hello Kitty doll at home, then the fact that her baby sister got to go play at their aunt's house, and then over the fact that she didn't want to go to the dentist. It was absolutely exhausting and awful. I never realized how horrible tantrums are for the parent dealing with the problem. I was calm and loving throughout the tantrum and throughout the dentist appointment. Then we went to Target for the rest of her Halloween costume and because my baby had soaked through her outfit and her spare outfit was a size too small. There I realized I was indulging in retail therapy to soothe my frazzled nerves. When that didn't work, I craved comfort foods hardcore. A chocolate bar. Red wine. Warm cookies and milk. Oh man. That was hard.

 

Once we got home, I turned on the TV for my big girl and had to do a bunch of stuff before I realized I needed to take care of myself. So after I pumped a bottle, made a lunch for a big girl, nursed a baby and put her in bed, and ordered groceries online, I finally fixed my salad and sat down and had it. I felt a little better. I felt a lot better once both girls were sleeping and I just sat down and zoned out with a silly game on my phone.

 

I also felt better once my sister in law came over and we started processing apples. We had about 60 lbs of apples that we bought or picked and we made applesauce, apple butter and apple pie filling. It was a lot of fun. I love doing that. I ordered 75 lbs of tomatoes today so we can put up tomatoes next week. Tomatoes are super easy; we just blanch, peel, dice and can. And I'm getting a lot better at getting the canning process down while keeping a safe kitchen.

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 18 (yesterday)

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy and sweet potato

Lunch: Salad: baby greens, roast chicken, pecans, avocado, raisins, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yes, I was trying to make up for too little fat at breakfast I just recently read that cooking fat doesn't count as eaten fat; I don't know why that escaped me before.

Snack: pecans and raisins

Dinner: chicken and butternut squash hash (also had onions, apples and summer squash). I was totally unimpressed with the recipe while I was cooking it and then suddenly, at the end, it all came together into deliciousness. Plus I added a LOT of salt. Like twice as much as I would to my normal cooking. Both of us were really impressed with the taste. I used fancy pink Himalayan salt. It has been fun to try new things like that!

 

Feelings: Yesterday I was so exhausted. But it wasn't because of my eating; it was because of my dear children. My six month old was up every hour or two during the night. We all got a nap in the afternoon. It helped somewhat; I was at least able to tackle the pile of dishes from apple canning and tidy the living room before my husband got home. And I don't remember craving anything specifically yesterday, which was a welcome change from the fierce stress-related cravings the day before.

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 19

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, sweet potato, persimmon

Lunch: leftover chicken squash hash (which was way, WAY better fresh)

Snack: half an apple, pecans, raisins (definitely didn't have time to fix a mini meal today)

Dinner: super awesome beef stew with the bits and ends of veggies left in the fridge; half a butternut squash, the wilted remainder of a stalk of celery, half a bag of baby carrots, a couple regular carrots, half an onion, the last 6 mushrooms, and half a can of tomato paste. What a great way to use up all the veggies that were getting grosser and grosser I meant to add the last of the summer squash and the last of a bag of sugar snap peas at the end but I forgot. I think it was pretty veggie-tastic anyway. Oh, and the beef was stew meat from the partial cow we bought. Very tasty. And it was so nice to just throw it all in the crock pot and leave it all day.

 

Feelings: Still very tired. And counting down the days till I'm done. Tonight some crusty sourdough would have gone really, really well with the beef stew!

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 20

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, sweet potato

Lunch: leftover beef stew (which gave me heartburn both times I ate it )

Snack: apple (apples help calm my heartburn...I figured it was better than Tums!)

Dinner: curry! I found a super easy recipe for Thai green curry, which is my favorite to eat in restaurants, but I've never been able to make it at home correctly. So: http://liverightbehealthy.blogspot.com/2013/01/thai-green-curry-w-coconut-cauliflower.html It was delicious and super easy. I used a carrot, mushrooms, two baby bell peppers and chicken. This is a KEEPER. It definitely would have been better with the cauliflower rice but I didn't have cauliflower or the time to prep it. My husband doesn't like curry but he's on a business trip today so that's why I planned it for tonight.

 

Feelings: Well, I'm definitely still looking forward to this being done, but today was quite easy. I felt and looked a lot better than I did three weeks ago. My face is noticeably thinner, and my stomach is flatter and tighter. My eyes seem a little brighter. I definitely have energy all day in spite of my horrible sleep every night.

 

Oh. And I should be avoiding Pinterest. I visited the other day and the first nine pins were variations of French toast. No fair!

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 21

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, sweet potato chips

(does coconut milk in coffee count as a fat source?)

Lunch: ...I cannot remember for the life of me! Probably a salad because I was opposed to a salad buffet for dinner.

Dinner: Out to a steakhouse: half a 9 oz sirloin, salad with cilantro lime vinaigrette, and most of a GIANT sweet potato. I was stuffed! But boy oh boy, did the loaf of warm white bread and butter look GOOD when our waitress brought it to the table!!

 

Day 22

 

Breakfast: a banana, 3 eggs over easy, sweet potato chips

Lunch: salad with the rest of the steak from last night, olives, tomato, and baby spring mix

Snack: apple

Dinner: Thai green curry with sweet potato, carrots, yellow squash and chicken. Oh man. Green curry paste is my new favorite thing in the world. I see a lot of curry in my future.

 

Feelings: Once again I'm working this weekend surrounded by really awesome-looking sandwiches, cookies and chips...and I don't want them NEARLY as badly as I did two weeks ago. When I get hungry, I rarely get hangry (hungry+angry) anymore. Just a gradual feeling that creeps over me that eventually drives me to find a good meal. But since I know I should only have three meals a day, I wait till I'm good and hungry to eat so that I don't nibble a tiny meal and then get hungry two hours later.

 

Although. I'm still SO looking forward to baking and EATING some delicious hot crusty sourdough bread.

 

Starting to think reintegration. I think I'll be avoiding dairy as much as possible. My 7 month old is clearly sensitive to dairy as after three weeks with absolutely no dairy she barely spits up at all. I feel like a pretty awful mom for indulging in dairy for most of her life suspecting that she couldn't handle dairy and yet unable to let go of some of my favorite foods for my child's health. So perhaps until I can put some brakes on dairy, it just needs to stay away.

[amberino21]

coconut milk in coffee definitely counts as a fat source just make sure you're getting enough of it - 1/4-1/2 a can is the recommendation on the template. you could also try blending coconut oil with coffee, if you haven't already done so. I usually put about half a tablespoon of oil in with a mug of coffee - blending it makes it emulsify and look like you've added milk. the oil takes the "edge" off the coffee...

 

baking your own bread is the most magical smell - do you make your own starter? (I think that's what it's called)....I have a book by a popular bakery in aus, with directions for making your own sourdough. I would love to but don't think I have the time to dedicate to it, for something that i'd only want as a very occasional treat!

[Sam-I-Am]

 

 

baking your own bread is the most magical smell - do you make your own starter? (I think that's what it's called)....I have a book by a popular bakery in aus, with directions for making your own sourdough. I would love to but don't think I have the time to dedicate to it, for something that i'd only want as a very occasional treat!

 

Yes, I have my own starter! I had one a few years ago that I started myself but it was never very vigorous. Then I bought a culture and started a new one. It tastes better and rises a lot better too. I love a really sour sourdough and it's fun to make it myself.

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 23

 

Breakfast: (can you guess?) 3 eggs over easy, sweet potato chips

Snack: Grapes

Lunch: salad with chicken thighs, pecans, raisins, and balsamic vinaigrette. It really could have used an avocado but all of my avocadoes are super green right now.

Snack: can of tuna fish with tomatoes and dill pickles. And I think I had some pecans. Yeah, I did. And a Larabar. And some black iced coffee. I was dragging a bit (I work two jobs on Sundays and then go home to three people who haven't seen me all weekend...I needed some energy!)

Dinner: my super amazing meat/tomato sauce with spaghetti squash. This time I made at least 6 servings so we can have leftovers.

 

Feelings: It was SO much easier to resist all the forbidden food at work this weekend. I even made my way into the volunteer lounge and eyed the 71 things I couldn't have before filling a cup with the ONE thing I could have (big sweet grapes) and taking it back to my station to eat them. I'm also not burnt out on cooking any more. It helps that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I only have to do this for 7 more days and I have a couple decent fall-back recipes now that don't take an hour+ to make.

 

I evangelized too! One of the volunteers at work was saying how she and her husband needed to Go On A DIET and I was like "But wait! Try this!" She seemed really interested so I guess we will see if she will actually follow through

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 24

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, sweet potato fries

Lunch: blackberries, leftover spaghetti

Snack: sampling dinner as it cooked in the crock pot

Dinner: spicy pulled pork and pineapple stuffed in (what I think are) hatch chilies from our produce co-op. And a plate of pears, kiwi, pomegranates, and blackberries. I intended to just do the Hawaiian pulled pork with some roasted or sauteed veggies. As it was cooking I was trying to season it and it just never tasted right. It was like the pork and pineapple were soaking up the spices. It was so bland. So I finally reached for some of Dave's Insanity Sauce; the stuff that warns you to start with just a drop. It took about ten drops but it finally got so spicy it was making my lips tingle. And then as it cooked the flavor developed even more. That's when I decided to stuff some peppers with the mix, to take the edge off the spice. My husband ate the meat plain and had raw carrots alongside.

 

Feelings:

 

I finally had a tiger blood day!! I Did All The Things today. Went grocery shopping with two kids, took them to the park, cooked dinner, cooked ten chicken thighs for quick meals and salads, cleaned up things in the house that have been needing to be clean, folded laundry, tidied up after children, and played with them all day without big surges or drops in energy.

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 25

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, sweet potato chips, coffee with coconut milk

Lunch: leftover spaghetti

Snack: a whole package of big fat blackberries

Dinner: salad with chicken thighs, a whole avocado, half a tomato and salsa. And some applesauce.

 

Feelings:

 

Definitely a tiger blood day. My sister-in-law and I processed 75 lbs of tomatoes. 5 dozen pints of diced tomatoes, some with jalapenos, some with Italian seasoning, and two full trays of diced tomatoes stuck in the freezer because we ran out of jars. Plus I finished processing the rest of the apples from last week into applesauce. I ate dinner far too late as a result. But even though I ate too late, I never crashed from hunger. I just kept truckin'. Now, I DEVOURED dinner once I finally got a chance to eat it, and I ate a ton of extra chicken as I was making my salad (plus another salad to take for lunch tomorrow).

 

I'm up waaaay too late but my kids were insane this evening and my husband has a big meeting tomorrow. Every big meeting is The Biggest Meeting Of His Life and he freaks out the night before about getting enough sleep. Of course that then leads to, guess what, not sleeping. Duh. And also dumping insane children on me to deal with. So I finally got them both to sleep in their own beds, even, and now I'm taking a few minutes to sit down and NOT wash any dishes and recoup from a long day of processing food and raising kids. Even tigers need alone time if they're introverted.

[Sam-I-Am]

Oops. I'm a couple days behind.

 

Day 26 (Wednesday)

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, sweet potato chips

Snack: coffee with coconut milk and a Larabar

Lunch: salad with chicken, black olives, tomato and salsa. And lots of strawberries.

Snack: handful of mixed nuts (no peanuts), a couple slices of summer sausage, some pineapple, cantaloupe, and broccoli

Dinner: green curry with chicken, broccoli, sugar snap peas and mushrooms

 

Feelings: This day was a busy busy day from start to finish. I had to get both kids out of the house by 9, go to my small group at church, get them to their aunt's house, go shopping for work, go to work, set up food for a big company-wide meeting, clean up after, and go get the kids and take them home and feed them dinner. As a result of all those errands, I ate lunch FAR too late and ended up with a headache. But I was able to kill it with a lot of good food and water. I liked being the one to shop for our company's meeting. I got a tray of veggies, a bowl of melons, strawberries, cheese, summer sausage, crackers and cookies. Obviously I couldn't eat all of that but enough of it was compliant that my husband and I could eat it (we own the business so he was running the meeting).

 

Day 27 (Thursday):

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, sweet potato chips

Lunch: Leftover spaghetti. Man that recipe is a good one!

Snack: Blackberries

Dinner: Leftover curry

 

Feelings: I felt energetic all day except when we got home. My two year old and I ate dinner and then I was ready for bed. My husband didn't get home till 7 and by 7:30 he was also ready for bed. And the two year old didn't fall asleep until 10. So that was not very fun. But I slept ok (meaning that my 7 month old didn't have me awake TOO much) and I'm ready for day 28!

[Sam-I-Am]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I have cut up so many fruits and veggies over the last 30 days that I actually developed a blister on my finger where the knife hits it, and it became a callous. Crazy.

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 28 (Friday):

 

Breakfast: three eggs over easy, sweet potato chips, and a banana

Lunch: I really wanted some finger foods for some reason. So cold roasted chicken thighs, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas and olives

Snack: leftover beef stew

Dinner: Paleo Pad Thai, using this recipe: http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2011/05/08/paleo-pad-thai/ This was so freaking good. I had ordered the coconut aminos and sunbutter from Swanson on Monday. They were delivered on Friday at about 6:30 pm. I was worried that they wouldn't arrive on time and we'd have to have salad instead of this meal! But it all worked out.

 

Day 29 (Saturday):
Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, sweet potato chips

Lunch: leftover Hawaiian pulled pork in peppers

Snack: Larabar and grapes

Dinner: out to a salad buffet. I had a lot of eggs and pepperoni on my salad. I was dang hungry by the time we got to the restaurant but I wasn't freaking out from hunger or anything.

 

Feelings:

 

omg I can't believe I have gone thirty days without bread.

 

Yesterday I had the weirdest conversation with one of my coworkers. He asked why I was eating my packed lunch instead of the box lunch that was provided. I said "we're doing this thing called a Whole30" and started to explain what it was. He said "Oh, I know what that is! We've done two." Ok! He's the first person I know who's actually finished one. So then we started talking about where we get our food. Their family is identical to ours in a crazy number of ways. They have grass-fed cow in a deep freeze. They grow some of their own food in a garden. They shop the sales at Sprouts to get good chicken and sausage. And their daughter has almost the exact same first and middle name as my firstborn daughter. I dunno. It was bizarre. But really cool.

 

I'm ready to finish my last day and be able to say I've done it!!!

 

Oh, and yesterday I was looking in my closet deciding what to wear for work. It was awesome to not have to pass any of my dress pants through the "Will I be able to button these today?" filter. All of them button now! Some of them are so big they are unflattering! Time to go shopping!

[Sam-I-Am]

Day 30!!!!

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, sweet potato chips, coffee with coconut milk

(I love coffee with coconut milk now)

Snack: grapes and a banana

Lunch: tuna fish patties that my husband cooked (what a stud!), an avocado, and some raw veggies (bell pepper, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes)

Snack: larabar, a banana, and like 8 strawberries. Yum.

Dinner: lettuce salad with roasted chicken, toasted pecans, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, most of an avocado, raisins, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was dang good!

 

Guess who has sourdough bread rising right now...It'll be ready to bake in the morning! Also I got a peppermint flavored coffee today. I couldn't find the ingredients anywhere so I thought it better to wait till after the Whole30. Can't wait to have some, maybe with some chocolate!