almond milk yogurt question + Day 31 and beyond

[Dana M]

So I have two questions, related to each other.  I am on Day 23 and really pleased with the results.  My reason for doing Whole30 was to figure out what was giving me  daily headaches.  I am thrilled to report that my headaches have decreased SIGNIFICANTLY.  I am very pleased with that.  Overall I feel really good and two separate people on two separate days have told me my skin looks great.  So my question is this: Kite Hill makes a plain unsweetened almond milk yogurt which is just awful.  I mean really awful and I am not a picky person--I don't mind plain dairy yogurt but this is just yuck.  As a breakfast option I have put a ton of berries with it and a spoonful of fresh ground almond butter and then I can choke it down.  My question related to almond milk yogurt is this: smoothies are discouraged on Whole 30, but if I use the almond milk yogurt with a ton of fruit once or twice in these last 7 days, is that the end of the world?  If I really shouldn't then I will probably do that after my 30 days are over.  I am thinking ahead to breakfast options for after the 30 days.  The think I miss the most is oatmeal and peanut butter so those are on deck for my first things to try.  I know I have to pick one food group and have some one day and then back to Whole 30 for the next two to have a fair read on the effects of the food.  If I recall legumes are the first thing to reintroduce, so peanut butter--yippee!!!

Now I forgot my second question.  I have been rotating among chia pudding made with almond milk, an apple with fresh ground almond butter, the almond milk yogurt and some version of an egg thing for breakfast.  Gotta say--getting pretty darn sick of eggs...

thoughts on an almond milk yogurt smoothie?  if not within the 30 days, I think I will keep it as an option afterword

[ShannonM816]

So, smoothies are discouraged, but not against the rules, so if you have them, as long as all the ingredients are compliant, you're still doing Whole30, you haven't broken any rules. Chia pudding is not permitted on the program and fruit/yogurt combos are highly discouraged. We strongly encourage you to have each meal meet the meal template, which you can download here:  https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/ . All three of these options are very heavy on fat and fruit, and have no vegetables or protein at all. You do not have to have eggs for breakfast. Any food that works for any other meal works just fine for your first meal of the day. If you want something breakfasty, you could look for a recipe for a breakfast sausage and have that with some sort of vegetable hash, either with an egg on top if you like, or just with a full serving of the sausage if you don't want eggs that day. You could have salmon cakes, or soup, or leftovers. Here's a past discussion with actual non-egg things people have actually eaten for breakfast:  https://forum.whole30.com/topic/28832-lets-talk-non-traditional-breakfasts/

 

[Dana M]

Thank you that is helpful.  I have downloaded the template, just got lazy I guess.  I'm not hung up on traditional breakfasty foods for breakfast, so I just have to expand my repertoire.  I didn't think almond milk was terribly high in fat-I'll have to go look at the carton.  I have been getting tons of veggies in for snacking--carrot sticks, celery sticks, cut up peppers and jicama, zucchini slices, cucumber slices, radishes.  I realize snacking isn't advised, I am doing the best I can and everything I have eaten for these past 25 days has been compliant.  I am doing the vegetarian version and I have only had tofu twice, and I only did a smoothie one time in the past month.  Since I am winding down, I have done a lot of reading here about how to introduce foods back into my diet and what to introduce, in what order.  I am thinking about what new things I have found that I will keep--like almond milk--liking it much better than soy milk and if I use the almond milk yogurt in smoothies occasionally when the 30 days is over I think that is fine.  These 30 days have really opened my eyes about how food can make me feel-I am really glad I did it.