New to Whole30

[CatV]

Hi, I have been slowly moving towards this for about 2 months (didn't know about whole30 until recently though) I stopped drinking Soda on June 16 th and have been weaning myself from sugar, then I found whole30 and I am ready to go and have been following the program for 2 days now but cannot say I am on day 2 because my Ranch Dressing is the only thing I have not cut but only because I have not found a good substitute any suggestions? I really want this for my health and weight.

[Tina R]

Congratulations! Check out The Clothes Make The Girl. She has a recipe for home made mayo and some other dressings with it. Obviously you won't be able to have ranch because of the dairy. I suggest that you don't eat salads or whatever food you eat ranch on. Branch out and find other things to eat. Sometimes trying to recreate a food that you love will just leave you disappointed or worse you can't wait to eat it on day 31. Check out this post for more information. http://whole30.com/2011/10/sex-with-your-pants-on/

[CatV]

Thank you I have been reading about homemade mayo and am planning on making it. I don't love salad. I only do it to be healthy so I am ok giving up the ranch dressing just need the compliant alternative. Going shopping for the items I missed tonight. (Need olive oil)

[jent103]

If you don't love salad, are you using the ranch to dunk vegetables in or something like that? Once you make homemade mayo, there are infinite possibilities for vegetable dips, including homemade ranch. I know the Nom Nom Paleo cookbook has a recipe for ranch, in addition to the recipe mentioned above (here, although it doesn't have dill in it, so didn't ring the same bells for me). There are infinitely many flavor combos you can try in addition - remoulade, garlic mayo, wasabi mayo, you get the idea.

[CatV]

Yes put Ranch on salad so I will eat it. I am looking forward to trying homemade mayo. ..I do not like dill so I'm okay with a recipe without it. Thank you for the info.

[ShannonM816]

Definitely try the mayo -- it makes everything better. But as far as salads, there's nothing that says you have to eat salads. You can cook greens -- I like to mix spinach in with my scrambled eggs. Kale isn't bad that way, but it's a different flavor, for sure. Sometimes I just saute some zucchini until it's just getting tender, throw in some cooked ground beef to warm up, and a couple of big handfuls of spinach or whatever greens you like. You can make lettuce wraps to hold your chicken or tuna or egg salad. Or collard greens are surprisingly tasty as a wrap. As long as you're eating lots of veggies, they don't have to be in salads. (Do be sure that you replace the salads with some other veggies, though -- the amount of lettuce you'd use as lettuce wraps isn't nearly as much as you'd have in a salad, so you'll have to add more of something else.)

[CatV]

I am not a huge prep kind a person so the salad is just easy to take to work for lunch. In the mornings I have sautéed onions, red bell pepper, mushroom, zucchini or summer squash and then add my 2 scrambled eggs (veggies vary depending on last shopping trip) Dinner I switch up a lot too. Gonna try spaghetti squash this week can't wait

[ultrarunnergirl]

Until about 5 years ago, I did not like salads at all. I think it was mainly because they were boring to me (house salads at restaurants) and most dressings made me burp.

 

I started off just bringing baggies full of baby carrots and red bell pepper strips. Then I branched out to other salad ingredients like sliced cucumbers, raw (or lightly cooked) broccoli. So I was eating "salad" but just one ingredient at a time. That helped me grow to enjoy the taste of veggies.

 

Then I figured out how to make salads I liked by experimenting with baby spinach, arugula, red leaf lettuce, etc. I jazzed them up with (sugar-free) cranberries, sliced almonds, avocado etc. I experimented with dressing and found that I preferred red wine vinegar and olive oil over those creamy dressings.