My Meal Plan For Days 10-12 (the hardest days)

[MindfulProvisions]

Hello everyone! I can't believe its already been ten days, and that today and tomorrow are the days when most people throw in the towel. I wanted to make sure that the food I ate during these really hard days were delicious, easy, and filling.

 

You can read more about my meal plan here: http://www.mindfulprovisions.com/?p=92

 

Here's the shorthand version:

 

Breakfast: hardboiled eggs with potato broccoli soup and bulletproof Crio Bru.

 

Lunch: copycat zuppa toscana soup (like the one you order from Olive Garden), sauerkraut, and monkey salad.

 

Dinner: slow cooker carnitas, Brussels sprouts, chard cooked with pistashios and mint, and coconut milk blended with a banana, cinnamon and ice.

 

When it comes to meal planning, I first check to see what vegetables I have from my biweekly CSA box. Then, I check to see what's on sale at the Frazier Farms near me. Then, I look online for recipes and create meals that have an adequate and delicious source of protein, fat, and veggies.

 

How do you guys meal prep? What sorts of meals are you going to eat during this week? 

[KatieO]

I have to say, I haven't been as creative as you (these recipes look awesome!) I am making quick easy meals.  Like grilled shrimp with roasted veggies, (brussell sprouts, carrots and peppers).  I'm definetly going to try this stuff!  I didn't think we could have potatoes, I thought we could only have sweet potatoes?  Thanks for the yummy ideas!

-Katie

[MindfulProvisions]

We used to not be able to have regular potatoes, but they very recently changed the rules to include both white potatoes and iodized salt (which has sugar in it). I have also made grilled shrimp and roasted veggies, and they both taste AWESOME. If you do make any of these recipes, let me know how they worked out for you!

[Bonneviv]

Do you find you a full and don;t get hungry after eating soup. I'm looking at your meal plan and now worried I'm eating too much. All sounds lovely though x

[dlocs1021]

Bonneviv, try not to eat soup alone, especially if it is a veggie based soup. I made cauliflower soup the other night for the hubs and I and I made chicken salad with it, had it over romaine leaves to act like wraps. I had a bowl of soup and two "wraps" Definitely don't go hungry. The beauty of the whole30 is its not about counting calories, if you are hungry eat! If you work out eat to support that! Sometimes you may find in the first few days you are more hungry than usual because your hormones are adjusting to a lot of changes. Sometimes in the early days it is hard to recognize the signals your body is sending you as well. The example everyone uses is am I so hungry I could eat steamed fish and broccoli? If so the yes go ahead and eat. If that doesn't sound appetizing it could be hormones, it could be boredom, it could be thirst. Play with your meal sizes, the fat ratio, and the carby veggies like sweet potato, most importantly don't deprive yourself for fear of eating too much. Your body will tell you when you are full, trust it!

[MindfulProvisions]

Thats an awesome question. I've been eating these meals for three days now (and I'll continue eating them until they run out, since they taste soooo good) and I can say that I've been very full and satisfied after eating them. You'd think that breakfast and lunch would leave me hungry since both contain soups, and I think that soups may have a similar effect as smoothies since you aren't chewing as much. When I include soups, I try to pair it with something that makes me chew (like eggs or sauerkraut or monkey salad) and that every meal contains a good source of protein, fats, and carbs from veggies or fruit.

 

Here's a fun little story. On Sunday, I got invited over to eat breakfast at my dad's house. My dad is famous for his breakfasts, and I grew up knowing that my dad made the best french toast, hands down. I knew that breakfast would be full of french toast and non-compliant bacon and sausage, so my solution was to eat the breakfast I had planned out for myself before I went over to his house. When I was done eating, I felt SO satisfied that being around people eating all that food didn't bother me at all. I just made myself a cup of tea and enjoyed their company without feeling like I was missing out.

 

I hope the Whole30 is going well for you!

[Tina R]

Your meals look good. The coconut milk blended with banana, cinnamon and ice looks like SWYPO to me. I would stop eating that, especially since you are having it after dinner almost like a dessert. This will feed your sugar dragon so that when you are finished with your whole30 you will replace it with another dessert. Good Luck!

[MindfulProvisions]

I was a bit afraid of that. I drink the coconut milk to include some fats as part of my meal, and blending it with a banana makes it more palatable. Should I drink the coconut milk by itself, or replace it with something else (like avocado?)

[Tina R]

I would skip the coconut milk and not drink it at all. I bet you had enough fat in your third meal that you didn't need to add anymore.

[ladyshanny]

I'd be a bit concerned with your use of "monkey salad".  While it is going around the interwebs as a "Whole30 approved dish", it is really not recommended. It's a bit of a sugar bomb and for the most part people are not pairing it with enough protein and fat to make it a viable meal.  Unfortunately your pairing of it with soup and sauerkraut is a meal lacking in protein and fat.

 

For optimal results I would encourage you to take a quick peek at the template and familiarize yourself: http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-meal-planning.pdf

[MindfulProvisions]

The past few days that I've eaten lunch from the meal plan, I've felt full and satisfied. The soup I made for lunch had sausage I made from ground turkey and homemade bone broth, so there's my protein. I added the sauerkraut for a side of probiotic-rich veggies. And the "monkey salad" was for my fats, but it looked different every day. Some days I only brought a baggie of coconut flakes. Other days I brought some pistachios and a mason jar of olives I found in my fridge and decided to eat the last of them. Today it was a banana and some nuts. Everything I planned was with the template in mind to ensure that I was getting enough of everything to keep me full and my cravings at bay. 

 

I've got to say, though, that it is a bit hard to get creative with the recommended sources of fat, especially when taking lunch to go. Coconut milk is a recommended source of fat according to the template, and so I've been drinking it when I can make it more palatable or adding it to soups. But now I am a bit concerned about the combination of fruit + coconut milk being SWYPO, and the combination of fruit + coconut flakes + nuts being a sugar bomb. How do you guys get your fats in without doing these things?  

[ShannonM816]

If your meal has plenty of protein and veggies, and you get your fat by having some coconut flakes and nuts, and you also have some fruit with that meal, that's fine to do sometimes -- and the way you describe that sometimes it was all three, and sometimes there wasn't fruit, and sometimes instead you had olives -- that sounds okay. The reason we tend to be concerned about that combo of nuts, fruit, and coconut is that many people use that combo to replace dessert, and it feeds their sugar dragon. And that is why the blended coconut milk/banana thing would concern me. It seems like that would make a smoothie or shake-like thing -- and the banana-coconut combo is very sweet, and might be used as a dessert replacement.  If coconut milk was your only option for a fat source for some reason, I wouldn't blend it with the banana, but maybe drizzle it over sliced banana, or over berries or some other less-sweet fruit. 

 

There are so many other options for fat sources, though, that you don't need to depend on coconut milk every day. Make up some mayo to eat on your hardboiled eggs, or make chicken or tuna salad out of it. Add sliced avocado to soups, or make guacamole out of it, or just have sliced avocado drizzled with lime juice and a little salt with your meal. There are all kinds of sauces you can use to dip things in or to top stuff. There's some listed here, and The Clothes Make The Girl has a ton of different sauces. Olives are a good fat source. You can drizzle oil or melted ghee over otherwise boring vegetables (or if you're like me and occasionally overcook your meat, drizzle it over that to make it taste less dry.) Nuts are a fat source, although some people find if they eat too many of them, they can feel bloated. If you find compliant bacon, that is a fat source -- although it's hard to find, and can be pricey, so you may not want to use it all the time. Toasted coconut chips make a nice topping for salads and veggies. 

[SpinSpin]

For me, I use homemade mayo based dressings, i make egg salad for breakfast often--3 hard boiled eggs, mayo or 1/2 an avocado, mashed, desired spices, chopped olives. I mash it all up together and scoop it up with celery sticks and I have tomatoes and sliced bell peppers with it. I make chicken salad with a mayo dressing, thinned with lemon juice and add chopped toasted almonds to it. It is a take on a salad that my mom used to make with roasted peanuts. I make ranch dip and dip dip dip raw veggies in it--my toddler is really into dipping veggies right now and he will scarf down all he can. I also make tuna salad with chopped hard boiled eggs and mayo and what ever seasonings strike my fancy. 

 

With the coconut milk, make curries! Make cream of soups! I do one with carrots, sweet potatoes, white onions, a nice BIG nob of fresh ginger, peeled--use more then you think you would--put all the veggies and ginger and a bit of garlic in a pot, and add enough chicken broth to cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Cook until the veggies are soft, blend with an immersion blender or in a standard blender and thin to soup consistency with additional broth and coconut milk to make it creamy. Soooo good! Make sure you eat it with a meal that fits the template. 

 

Roast veggies in ghee or olive oil or avocado oil and drizzle with additional oil before serving... there are so many wonderful tasty ways to add fats to your meals!

 

(ETA--I am a diabetic so I don't eat fruit very often, and when I do have some, it is typically just low sugar berries --blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and the like and I have them on salads or certainly with a meal and only when in season.)