Thinking of starting another Whole30

[eelopez]

So last year I completed a whole30 and loved it! I couldn't imagine going back to the way I was eating before and planned to never eat so poorly again. Well, life never goes according to plan and I started letting little things slide (especially during the holidays) and now I think it's time to start another one and clean up my diet again. To be clear, my diet is much better than it was a year ago. I eat less dairy and grains and most of my meals are Whole30, but my sugar dragon is made of pure dark chocolate (laced with soy lectin) and I end up eating out way too much. My acne is back along with my eczema and digestive issues so it's time to get back on track again.

I'm ready to do this again but I have a few things holding me back I was hoping someone could help with me (or give me some tough love).
 

1. I'll be doing this one my own. Thankfully, my husband is very supportive but I feel bad because when I do a whole30 it puts a damper on some of the fun things we do together. He has a very long commute (over 4 hours of traveling a day) and so we go out to eat after the kids are down as a way to relax and reconnect. Eating out while doing the whole30 is difficult and we don't have a lot of good whole30 restaurants around where we live. I just need some fun, easy and cheap ideas for us to do for date night.

 

2. Family pizza/movie night. I love our family pizza and movie night because it's the one night during the week I don't end up cooking. I'm thinking of just getting a pizza for my husband and kids, but I don't know what to do for me. I'm fine eating left overs but a lot of times my left overs are eaten up by other family members.

 

3. Kill all the things stage. This one's a biggie for me. The last time I did a whole30 my husband and I got in a huge fight. In our eight years of marriage (and over ten years of being together), we've hardly ever fought. This one was really bad. I mean, i actually brought up my mother-in-law (and not in a good way). I do not want a repeat of that and, to be honest, I'm a bit scared to go through the first week again knowing that at one point I might explode again.

 

I know a lot of others here have dealt with these same problems, so I know I can do this again and be successful. I think trying to think through some of these issues before hand will make it a whole lot easier (yes, pun intended). Thanks in advance!

[MeadowLily]

You go out to eat after your kids go to bed?  Do you guys burn the midnight oil?  With such a long commute, your husband must be worn out.  I'm reading along and thinking both of you might need more sleep.

 

As for the pizza night, whip up something fast like a vege omelette with bacon bits.

[ShannonM816]

For date night, could you go for a walk together? Or just sit out on the patio and talk? Maybe try to plan some weekend things instead of after work things if you want to get out of the house -- go to the farmers market or pack up a picnic lunch and go to the park, or do something like bowling or ice skating or even going to the mall to people watch.

For pizza night, you could order them a pizza, or if you've got the Well Fed cookbooks, there were a couple of "pizza" recipes. One was a meatza -- ground meat for the crust, topped with veggies (that one may be on her website at www.theclothesmakethegirl.com). The other was vegetable based, but I don't remember the details (I think it might have been heavy on bell peppers, one of my least favorite vegetables, so I didn't pay much attention). I'm sure there are other options online too, Google whole30 pizza, but avoid any that actually try to bake a crust with flour replacements. It's okay to have meat and vegetables in a form similar to pizza, but to recreate a pizza crust would be swypo. Mostly, you'll be getting the flavors of pizza, not so much something that's truly pizza.

For the kill all the things, it may be less bad if you've stayed fairly close to whole30 eating. Maybe try upping your starchy veggies for the first week or so and then taper down to whatever amount you usually have each day, I'm not sure how much difference it would make, but I think part of that moodiness is probably part of carb withdrawal. And talk to your husband, explain that it might happen, apologize beforehand. Explain how much better you felt eating this way and that if you can Just get through those first few days, ultimately everything will be even better.