Day 1 - Nervous but determined!

[CPiperS]

Hello all!

Today I am beginning the Whole30 for the first time. I am quite nervous about it, but determined to stick with it for health reasons--I have been breaking out in hives on my legs and cannot figure out what is triggering it.

My goals include:

• Proving to myself that I have the self-discipline to stick with this program. (Self-discipline is something I have lacked for the majority of my life)
  
• Keeping track of how I feel every day for the duration of the Whole30. (Like I mentioned before, I have hives on my legs that have been leaving scars. I also suffer from migraines fairly regularly.)
  
• Remaining positive. If I feel negative about this program at any point, I will remind myself of countless nights spent frustrated by itchy legs, hives, and a lack of explanation for them.
  
• Like most anyone, I would like to lose weight, but that is absolutely not my main goal. I read the blog about "Breaking Up with Your Scale" and felt liberated! I did weigh myself this morning (203lbs--gosh, how embarrassing!), but I WILL NOT weigh myself again until the end of the 30 days. I forgot to take measurements this morning, but will do that as soon as I get home today.
  
• To make healthier, wiser decisions regarding what I put into my body.
  

Now, for those of you who have experience with the Whole30, or even just cooking in general, do you have any suggestions for a beginner like me? I think that is what I am most nervous about--the fact that I am SO inexperienced in the kitchen. Unfortunately, fast food and eating out has been my lifestyle for literally years now. I'm ashamed to even type that, but I'm taking in pride in trying to turn my lifestyle around. So, any good, easy and simple Whole30 recipes I could start off with that are pretty sure-fire and will only encourage me to dive further into being creative in the kitchen? Any suggestions would be helpful! (Seriously, I cannot over-emphasize JUST how inexperienced I am when it comes to cooking).

I'm excited to be here!

-CPS

[kristanL]

I really thought cooking would be a confusing hassle/pain for me, but I'm now on day 17 and have grown to really enjoy it! It's only been 2 1/2 weeks but I can't imagine not taking the time to cook every meal.

When I first tried to make a recipe for the chicken from ISWF and I was thinking to myself "oh my gosh what if I mess it up I'm going to be such a failure what a waste of food it will be I can't believe I can't do this!" It took a while, like over an hour (yikes!) but the chicken actually came out great! And I realized I was so worried about failing that I didn't actually enjoy the actual cooking process. Now, only 2 1/2 week later, I can cook an entire meal, meat, veggies, and anything else, in under 30 minutes! For me at least, cooking was something I picked up naturally. I'm even at the point where I can guesstimate when I should start cooking everything relative to everything else so that they all finish at the same time.

As far as easy recipes, ISWF has super simple things like I said. So definitely utilize those! It's been my bible the last three weeks. Also, you can't go wrong with scrambled/hard boiled/fried eggs (super easy) and a microwavable a bag of steamed veggies! Or roasted vegetables (simply cut up the vegetables into cubes, lightly coat with olive oil, and put into the oven at 425 for 30 mins).

[kristanL]

Forgot to say good luck!!!!

[percypat]

Hi cps! Good on you for making this decision to be healthy and kind to your body. I'm only on Day 6 but I already feel like I'm getting so much out of my 1st Whole 30. I hope you will feel the same!

Don't worry too much about cooking. It doesn't have to be haute-cuisine to be good Just start with simple things. Read people's logs in the Whole 30 Log forum - you will get lots of ideas. Fry steaks. Boil eggs. Roast chickens. Chop up vegetables and roast them, steam them, eat them rawIf you haven't done that before, don't worry! Google has an answer for everything. I can send you some of my recipes if you like. They're not recipe book worthy by any means, but I like them. Let me know.

Some paleo blogs I get lots of inspiration from are nomnompaleo and paleomg (just google them). Remember these are paleo, not Whole 30, so watch out for things like honey and stuff. You can adapt them to be compliant.

The more time you spend cooking, the easier it gets

Best of luck! Start a log so we can cheer you on!

[Tom Denham]

Check out my site with over 400 "easy, healthy, whole food recipes." I am too impatient to cook complicated things. Most things on my site are simple.

For a new cook, I think learning to make tuna or salmon salad is a good starting point. That involves either making your own mayonnaise, which is amazingly easy, or using mashed avocado instead of mayonnaise. I have several recipes that explain how. And really, it is easy.

I do a lot in a cast iron skillet with a cast iron lid. These are my Skillet Roasted recipes. They are really simple and turn out wonderful.

Another really easy thing is cooking fish in coconut milk with some veggies.

I use a pressure cooker and slow cooker a lot nowadays and you may not have tools like that now, but there are at least 250 recipes that only require ordinary pots, pans, or skillets.

And if you make something that turns out badly, add tomato paste and it will probably become edible.

[CPiperS]

Thank you each so very much for your suggestions! Truly, truly appreciated! Y'all have triggered motivation to outweigh fear in tackling my first endeavors in the kitchen! Thanks! I will make sure to utilize and check out all the things suggested and mentioned in your posts. And even though I may not have allllll the resources/tools mentioned YET, hopefully I'll be able to snatch some of them up readily and put them to use.

And again--thank you, thank you, thank you!