A Gorgeous Start to the Whole30

[Jeweliana]

I started my Whole30 on Saturday, May 4th. My husband is joining me in this with only a modicum of grumbling, mostly for the sake of humor:

Me: "One of my goals is that I'm really going to break my sugar addiction!"

He: "Oh, we're sharing GOALS now? Yay. My goal is that we're talking to each other when the 30 days is up."

But the fact is, he's liking this too. Especially after some of our delicious meals. We're now on day 5, having had numerous delicious and satisfying meals, exploring some foods that are not part of our former eating rotation, rediscovering old friends (spice-roasted caulflower "steaks,"yum), using spices in new ways, tasting and enjoying flavors differently. We've had creative vegetable dishes and salads, delicious fruit combos, spicy chicken, salmon with cilantro vinaigrette, a wonderful meatloaf with the "barbecue sauce" from It Starts With Food, breakfast casserole with eggs, homemade sausage meat and lots of greens, and all kinds of other good things. Truly, I haven't really felt much deprivation at all, even when I walk down the aisles of markets, realizing that I now completely skip the dairy and cheese counters, the bread section, my formerly beloved chocolates and candies and pastries, and zero in toward the produce section and the meat counter in search of sugar-free venison sausage and other good clean foods.

Well -- I did have a momentary twinge on Monday afternoon when I was at a seminar with a catered lunch (fortunately I brought my own little containers of salad, salmon, fruit, etc.). They'd cleared the lunch, but left a platter of brownies and blondies that seemed to spell out my name and then began singing to me. I frantically dug in my bag and came up with the remainder of my fruit and some cashews. Phew. Gotta learn to dig out that "no, thanks" button and dust it off and begin using it again...

Last night we went out to dinner at a great French bistro here in NYC, Les Halles. I started our meal by saying this to the waiter as he introduced himself, "You know, you're definitely going to be our favorite waiter tonight. But we may not be your favorite clients." "Oui, madame? And why is zat?" he replied. "Because we're not going to drink any alcohol, have any desserts, and could we ask you please to remove the bread basket from the table?"

At this point the waiter looked slightly dismayed, and said, "No meat either?" "Oh no no," we replied. "We came here for the meat." He smiled happily. "And of course, bien sur, you will LOVE our famous french fries, pommes frites. Salad and french fries come with every steak or meat order," he beamed. "No french fries either," I replied, smiling back. "Shall I bring you double salad instead?" he asked. "Please, that would be lovely." I had a gorgeous steak with salad, and my husband had a fabulous mixed grill, with lamb chops, pork, steak, merguez (cured without sugar, we checked) and other goodies. We shared a side of perfectly cooked green beans, and left feeling VERY satisfied.

I hope this yummy euphoria lasts, although I think we're both ready for the ups and downs.

How are others who are recently joined or joining doing? I'm curious to know what you're eating, what you're discovering, what's fun, what's tough...

Julie