Day 20 {Whole30}

I remember reading a random article about Jennifer Aniston’s diet some months ago. The point was that she works super hard for her figure and has to be crazy disciplined. Like if she wants to splurge, she adds slivered almonds or almond butter to her breakfast. The author went on to say that this would take all the fun out of life. You couldn’t have a greasy burger or a great milkshake or french fries or donuts. Ugh, the donuts. Don’t take away the donuts.

At the time, I agreed with the author. There is so much life to be lived through delicious food. But as I’ve moved through this Whole30 I’ve come to realize that yes, food can be exciting and amazing and worth the caloric intake, but that doesn’t mean that we have to live our life through the food we eat at every meal. We’ve been eating some really delicious meals without all those things I thought made life worth living, i.e. sugar and bread. Food can be good and fun without all the stuff that makes our bodies do weird things.

I’m far from having the discipline of Jennifer Aniston, nor do I really want it, but food doesn’t make life great. We make our life great. I’m not saying that never again will I indulge in the trifecta of the perfection that is a Phil’s burger, Amy’s ice cream, and sweet potato french fries but I don’t need that to make my life good. And my life is better when I don’t eat like that. So I’ll have to exercise better judgment of when to indulge.

Breakfast: [not picture, too hungry]

• 2 fried eggs
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Starwberries
• Spinach

Lunch: [again, not pictured. again, too hungry]

• Leftover Chicken Cacciatore – Still as tasty as yesterday. It was great as a leftover. The chicken didn’t dry out at all.
• Spinach
• Grapes

Dinner:

• No-Bean Turkey Chili – The written recipe is not the best. She doesn’t really specify how much of anything to throw in so in case you want specifics, for veggies I threw in: 2 zucchini, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 1 medium sweet potato, and 1 red bell pepper chopped into a pretty small dice. Also, she means an 8oz can of tomato sauce. After simmering it for 1 hour, it didn’t taste quite right so I added about 2 tsp of cumin and 1 tsp of oregano. Total I simmered it for about 2 and a half hours. I’d say just plan of cooking this for a while until it tastes right. It ended up pretty darn good. And the best part of leftover chili is chili dogs tomorrow!
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Trader Joe’s Roasted Plantain Chips