{there are affiliate links in this post}First of all if you want to start from my first post – here it is at day 9.  But spoiler alert – I caved over the weekend on Whole30, at day 25.  Honestly we went into Whole30 not really knowing what we got into, but started feeling so great that we didn’t want to quit.  But I had this trip, and thought there was a possibility I could keep staying strong. .  But nope, I folded like a cheap pair of lawn chairs as soon as they brought all of the sushi out.  Also I wanted to enjoy a five diamond restaurant –  Salt , as well as all of the other meals on the trip (blog post on that trip coming later this week!).  So tip #1 – Attempt whole30 on a month you don’t have a big social engagement!  While I felt some guilt about it, and totally missed the point of the reintroduction period, I’m glad I went ahead and enjoyed all of the yummy food.  But Sunday afternoon I went back to eating whole30 for solidarity for JB but also because I just feel so much better.  JB told me if he were in my shoes he would have caved too, but he stayed strong while he watched the boys!  And today marks his first day back after completing Whole30.  JB lost a total of 15 pounds!  Which is amazing considering he didn’t do anymore exercise than normal, or ever felt hungry.   I didn’t lose any weight, which is what I was striving for.  I can definitely tell some body composition changed on me.  For the better!  In general I just feel better in my own skin.

Why I loved Whole30:

• I felt stronger.  Mentally and physically.  I didn’t think I had that kind of self control.  But I did (for 25 days anyway) and that was really empowering.
• I felt AMAZING.  Even when I wasn’t getting much sleep at one point and I was worried sick because my kids were sick, I felt clear headed the next day.
• Food tasted better.  Once I detoxed from the sugar, you’d hear me talking like “omg this banana is amazing” “This Avocado is the best one of my life!” “These green beans!!”… I’m not even kidding.  I just think it helped me enjoy whole foods more, instead of getting an instant amount of pleasure over a fried green tomato and then feeling lethargic after.
• It helped me change habits.  It spurred me onto more healthy choices.  I wanted to work out more.  I was ALL about my steps, and getting my heart rate up.  Health is so often a chain reaction kind of thing.  Change one thing big like diet, and a bunch of other healthy habits seem like great ideas.
• More self-care.   When I really wanted a glass of wine from one particularly hard day of parenting, instead I opted for some self-care.  I took a bath, put on an audio book, put a mask on… I found myself just in general taking better care of myself!  I also realized how much emotional eating or drinking can be a knee jerk reaction sometimes, and really just a habit.  Not something I need.
• You realize just how much junk you’ve been eating.  I would actually have thought I was eating pretty good before all of this.  But, FOR THE LOVE, why is sugar added into every.thing.  It especially makes me sad for our kids because so much of the food marketed toward them is loaded in added sugars.
• I saw a positive change in my kids food behaviors. While in no way did they do Whole30, they did try a lot more vegetables and fruits.  Most of our dinners for them were Whole30 – while lunch was definitely not.
• My skin has really improved!  But this might be because I drink a ton of water.  And because I switched everything to Drunk Elephant.
• I love that it forced me to plan ahead for the day.  I refused to get stuck somewhere hungry.  So I’d either pack a lunch of bring a snack.

Favorite products:

• Tessamae’s – I buy mine at fresh market or whole foods.  I love the balsamic one!
• 4th and heart grass Fed Ghee – you won’t miss butter.  I love the salted one for savory veggies, and the vanilla bean one for sweet potatoes.
• Primal Palate organic spices – this trio helped take things from bland to delicious.
• Primal Palate Whole30 kit – this is the kit of items I really liked!  I do not like their BBQ and Ketchup, and think it tastes terrible.  But all of this is so good.  Especially the chipolte mayo.
• Nutpods – good sub for creamer.
• For after a work out or for a snack when I was on the go:  These epic food bars, or the non peanut based RX bars were my go to.  I also always carried oranges and bananas.  But after working out I feel like I need protein
• Otherwise for a snack at home it might be – bananas and almond butter, oranges, avocados, pumpkin seeds, almonds, …
• Coconut, Olive, and Avocado Oil.  Trader Joe’s or Thrive Market is your best bet for a good price and high quality.
• If you have a Zoe’s Kitchen near you, they have Whole30 approved entrees.  We planned our trip to and from Amelia around where Zoe’s was.  Perfect for travels or when you need something quick.

Some easy meals I made: 

• Zoodles and Sweet potato noodles – for an easy dinner with marinara from trader joes that has simple compliant ingredients
• spaghetti squash with marinara and roasted butternut squash
• Cut up sweet potatoes, tossed in salt and pepper with coconut oil.  Cooked for 30 minutes at 450, then flipped and cooked for ten additional minutes.  Grilled Chicken.  Roasted broccoli with olive oil and the primal palate steak seasoning.
• Celery, onions, to put in my wild catch tuna (with chipolte primal mayo)
• Frozen grass fed organic burgers from aldi (easy lunch with avocado, salsa, butter lettuce, and carmalized onions)
• Grilled Salmon topped with an avocado salsa (onion, olive oil, cilantro, avocado)
• Everything but the kitchen sink salads.  Just all the veggies/fruits that look good to you to go in a salad plus some protein.  These salad mixes from Trader Joe’s were so good – it has seeds and almonds- gives a nice crunch.  Some primal or tessamaes for dressing and you’ve got a pretty good salad.  I almost didn’t miss the cheese.
• Using the primal seasoning for tacos  I would use that with ground beef.  Then all the fixings for taco salad – minus the taco and cheese part.  Plus lots of greens.

The biggest tip is to not over think it.  Just eat whole foods.  You don’t have to make fancy meals – you can if you want and there are so many great recipes for Whole30 out there.  But simple works just as well too!

Questions I got from y’all on IG:  

Food prep?  I didn’t do a ton of food prep.  Other than cutting up the fruit and having it readily available.  But I imagine if you wanted to, this would help a lot!

Desserts?  I guess technically you shouldn’t have a dessert.  One time we grilled bananas and had almond butter and it tasted like the best thing we had ever had.  But apparently you’re really supposed to cut that need of “I want something sweet” after dinner out.

What’s a typical days meal? breakfast/lunch/dinner?   For breakfast, I get my coffee and nutpod creamer.  I generally eat an avocado with everything but the bagel seasoning, two eggs (sometimes with veggies if it’s an omelet), and some fruit.  I’m hungry again around 10 am, and I’ll usually have a banana.  if I am headed to work out I bring an RX bar/epic bar with me to eat after (jb didn’t do this because he’s a three square meal kinda person).  Lunch was generally a salad with protein or a burger with all the fixings – minus the bun.  For dinner I tried to keep it simple – a big salad, or a protein with two veggies.  and all throughout the day – a LOT of water.  I fill up my water jug, but I also drink sparkling water for treats throughout the day.  We filled up our wine fridge with sparkling water and that really helped having it accessible and chilled.  I still went to starbucks sometimes for a treat.  Just a black iced tea with no sugar (which was my order before whole30!).

A typical grocery haul:  Gosh I feel like this is a post on it’s own.  I will say that in the beginning I was going to the grocery store ALL of the time.  But then I kinda got the hang of it and now I just do about twice a week.  I do find myself going to different stores, where I used to be a one stop shop kind of person.  I also find myself going to our corner farmer market more often because they have the best avocados!  I really hope I can get my act together and do an entire post on this.

what did the kids eat?  For dinner they generally ate what we did plus some fruit.  For breakfast they have eggs and sausages generally – so the sausage was the short order cook kind.  Lunch is definitely not whole30 as I always make them a sandwich.  They also love milk, and tolerate it well, so again – not whole30.  I think repetition with fruits, vegetables, and just providing different textures in general help kids get used to trying and eventually liking new foods.  Our rule is always you don’t have to eat it all, but you at least have to try it.

Did the sugar monster come after you?  haha I loved this question.  I definitely wanted cookies, and smelled all of my kids foods like a total freakshow.  The hardest part was making your kids sandwiches, or something sweet and you have a little on your fingers and you have to wash it off.  I just wanted that lick so bad!  lol.  I think it also gets easier as time goes on in Whole30.  After about 5-7 days it was easy to be around sweets and not feel like I needed a bite.

My favorite accounts to follow:

The Defined Dish 

Lindsay Kingdon 

Whole30

toss in coconut oil with salt and pepper (I also heard rosemary is good!) bake on 450 for 30 minutes, then flip for ten more minutes.

salads!

One of those moments where it clicked for me to do this, and stopped me from saying “it’s just too hard” – is when I read Melissa Hartwig (founder of Whole30) write something along the lines of “Whole30 is not hard.  Cancer is hard, losing a child is hard.  Eating whole foods is not hard”.  I would encourage anyone who needs a reboot, or is having digestive issues, or just wants to develop healthier habits to give it a try.  I’m already planning to try it in the fall when we don’t have much going on our social calendar.  But until then, I’ll still be eating lots of Whole30.  When I do, I’ll do a better job of photographing it!!

Let me know if you have any additional questions.

xo