whole30

Today, after Mass, we swung by Whole Foods to pick up a few of the weird ingredients that I need for the week:

• Coconut Aminos,
• Red Boat Fish Sauce,
• Avocado Oil Mayo, and
• Sugar-free bacon. That’s right, sugar-free bacon. (It’s bacon, not a stick of gum, Whole30.)

There we were circling the meat department and we just couldn’t find it. I had just sat through an entire Kerbey Lane breakfast watching my kiddos eat bacon as if it were manna from heaven so I really wanted bacon. This forced me to go up to the meat counter and say, “I hate myself for asking this, but do you have sugar-free bacon?” Thankfully, he didn’t make fun of me and showed me right to it. From Pederson Farms if you’re wondering. Hallelujah.

Breakfast : Kerbey Lane – Harvest Omelette without cheese, home fries, and fruit. I love me some eggs and ketchup (don’t judge) but ketchup is a no-go during a Whole30.

Lunch: Zucchini Noodle Bowl – this was strangely good

Dinner:

• Sheet Pan Fajitas over romaine lettuce,
• Mexican Cauliflower Rice (which doesn’t taste like rice but, when you eat it combined with all the other flavors on the plate, tasted pretty decent, which was very surprising)
• 1/2 an avocado

How I felt:

I felt fine today. It is strange to find out that I love eating so much because of all the stuff we can’t have. Like I could have definitely eaten my omelette much quicker had I had ketchup or if it had queso but not having those things really made me slow down my eating. Same thing with the fajitas. I didn’t eat as much as I would have because we couldn’t eat tortillas so I ate slower and got full faster.

Also, I was exhausted by the end of the day.

Kraft is still getting hungry between meals but I’m guessing it’s because he isn’t really drinking coffee which is his usual go-to between meals. He did try it today with coconut milk but it wasn’t his favorite. He did like the milk cold from the fridge as opposed to it warm from the pantry when we opened the can.

Onward.

We are doing the Whole30 (I’m still not cool enough to know whether I have to put “the Whole30” or “a Whole30”, or just Whole30. I am, however, cool enough to know that there is no space between Whole and 30, thankyouverymuch). It was a pretty sudden decision which was good because given more time to think about it, I would have put more energy in planning cinnamon rolls and doughnuts pre-Whole30 as opposed to planning Whole30 food.

Why are we doing this?:

I’ve been pretty actively trying to lose weight since December. I started being more conscientious of my eating and working out 3 times a week. Then in March I really fell in love with our YMCA and started going to classes 6 days a week. And you know what? Nada. I haven’t seen one change. Sure, I rock at squats but my clothes don’t fit any differently and I haven’t lost a single pound. I’m not that upset about it, because I love it and it is total stress relief but it got me wondering why the heck my body isn’t doing what it’s supposed to be doing.

I realized we probably don’t eat as well as I think we do and maybe my body really just needs a reboot. And if you know me, nothing halfway for this gal. So I figured we’d do this crazy Whole30. Even if it is total bunk, we’re just eating a lot of vegetables and forming better eating habits which can’t be bad for us.

And Kraft’s doing it because I make his food. Ha. And because he wants to be supportive. At least that’s what I read into his shrug when I asked him if he wanted to do this with me. 🙂

So, here we go.

Breakfast:

• Cruciferous Salad with prosciutto and tomatoes, avocado, and soft-boiled egg (this recipe makes more dressing than you’ll need so don’t just dump it all in like I did)
• Cherry Limeade Smoothie
• We can assume hot tea for me and coffee for Kraft at every breakfast

Lunch: [not pictured]

• Tuna Salad (The trick to my mom’s uh-mazing tuna salad recipe is you add diced jalapeño. Do it. Your mouth will thank you, I promise) on romaine lettuce
• Mashed Sweet Potato and Applesauce

Dinner:

• Steak (although it looks like burnt pecan pie in the photo)
• Roasted Broccoli and Cherry Tomatoes

Post-dinner:

• LaCroix Cran-Rasberry. Most delicious sparkling water I’ve ever had. Even better than Dr. Pepper. (No, it’s not, don’t believe that. Are you crazy? I’m just trying to trick myself. 30 days is a long time people. But it is really, really good.)

Prep for this week:

• For pre-workout meals this week I boiled a dozen eggs so we can eat an egg and 1/2 an avocado.
• For post-workout, I made a double batch of Chicken and Veggie Frittata.
• Zoodles for a meal tomorrow and Monday.
• Roasted 8 sweet potatoes (put straight on a sheet tray lined with foil for 45-60 minutes at 400°)
• 4lbs of carrots cut into carrot sticks
• Turned half of the sweet potatoes I roasted into Sweet Potato and Applesauce Mash

 

How we felt:

Whole30 has a hilarious timeline of how you should be feeling as the days go by so I thought it’d be good to jot down how we felt each day to see if it corresponds. I got a headache around lunchtime but it was gone by dinner time.

Breakfast was way too much food. It took me like an hour to chew through that salad and I was full halfway through but I still ate the whole thing because no snacking allowed. I love snacking. I’m very good at snacking. Especially hiding-in-the-pantry-snacking so my kids don’t tackle me and rip the food out of my hands.

I stayed pretty full all day but I definitely felt deprived. I didn’t want to chew salad, I wanted to chew, well, anything else really.

Kraft got pretty hangry between breakfast and lunch and he is really not liking his coffee black.

Meal prep was a lot of work, but I’m hoping I’ll be happy I did it later in the week.

Who the hell am I? Seriously? Even my phone doesn’t know me. Almost every word I’ve typed in this post has been autocorrected because when do I ever say spiralized or Cruciferous. My phone is like, “Hmm. I think you meant leftover Halloween candy or pizza and beer.”

Go big or go home, amiright?