I need a healthier me!

[GrammaNoodles]

I've had a tough couple months with high blood pressure and now high cholesterol. Im trying to decide if Whole30 is the change I need. Id like to start August 25 as I start my Stay-cation and would have time to do meal preps and usually not a "bad food muncher" when I am at home.

I have no sence of taste or smell, I am 95% gluten free (cant resist a good Ruben) the thought of not eating kettle chip or creamer in my coffee, im just not sold. [I have tried alternative milks.(almond, coconut)]

 Is this something that I just need to take the leep, go for it ?  Will I see its not as hard as all I read makes it sound? Seems there is a lot of planning and preparing to do. What can I do to make this change not so difficult for me?

Thanks everyone in advance.

 

[ShannonM816]

I would say you'll never know what kind of difference Whole30 can make for you unless you really give it a try. You aren't necessarily giving up chips or creamer forever, just for 30 days plus reintroductions. 

There can be a fair amount of planning and prepping, but you can make it easier on yourself by not trying new recipes every single day and focusing on easy-to-prepare foods. A lot of people like to do a weekly cookup over the weekend so they have most of their food for the week either already cooked so it's just being reheated, or prepped so that it's easy to cook. (There's a more detailed description of how this can work here: http://meljoulwan.com/2010/01/14/paleo-kitchen-the-method-behind-my-madness/). For me, I'm usually just cooking for myself, and I find it helpful to have 2-3 kinds of protein done for the week (usually some kind of egg casserole, a pound or so of chicken, and some kind of beef -- maybe a few burger patties or just a pound of ground beef cooked like taco meat) or in the winter maybe a stew or chili -- this gives me some variety, and mostly it'll keep in the fridge for the week, but if I'm concerned about not eating it before it goes bad, I'll wrap some of it and put it in the freezer. For vegetables, I find if I keep carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, snap or snow peas, or others that willl keep well once cut up in a container in the fridge, it's easy to grab a couple of handfuls to throw into a stir fry or to roast in the oven or even to toss into a salad. I usually have sweet potatoes or potatoes on hand and have one once a day -- I may bake them, in that case I'll usually do two at a time and just reheat the second one the next day, or sometimes I cut them up and roast them. 

Most of my variety throughout the week (and a lot of my added fat) really comes from having a couple of different sauces/dips/dressings to use with some different flavors. I find it's easier to make those and keep the basic food pretty simple. I almost always make a batch of mayo every week. Then I pick one or two others -- a chimichurri or pesto, or sunshine sauce (http://meljoulwan.com/2009/07/21/sunshine-sauce/ -- I have trouble finding unsweetened sunbutter, so I usually use almond butter). 

Lots of people have trouble with the coffee with no creamer thing. I ended up giving up coffee for my first Whole30 because I couldn't find a way that I liked it that worked for Whole30. Turns out I felt fine without it, though over time I've found ways to make it that I enjoy. For me, it's the creaminess I miss, I don't usually sweeten my coffee anyway, but I like half & half in it. My favorite Whole30 way to do it is to blend a little coconut oil and about a third of a can of coconut milk (the kind you might find in the ethnic cooking section of your grocery store, just watch for added sweeteners and sulfites) -- and I do mean blend it, in a blender or with an immersion/stick blender. Stirring will leave you with oil floating in your coffee, which isn't fun, but blending will make it frothy and creamy.

For the crunchiness of your chips, you can occasionally add nuts or seeds to food (try to limit these to a small closed handful at a time, and try not to have them every day), you can find recipes to bake vegetable chips (some work better than others, none will be quite as crunchy as kettle chips, but it can give you a little more texture). Toasted coconut flakes can also add a little texture. 

[GrammaNoodles]

Thank you for all the helpful information. I'll check them out for sure. The sauses sound very good to me.