I've made it 1/3 of the way through my Whole30 journey and I am LOVING it, so thought I'd share how it's going with you! The food has all been incredible (as in restaurant quality!), I haven't been hungry once and I'm already seeing some pretty awesome changes that I'd hoped to see!
- No more bloating
- Found new foods I am LOVING
- Actually enjoying cooking (I know, I'm shocked too!)
- ZERO cravings
- A bit more energy
- WAY easier time falling asleep
- Down 5 pounds!! (a perk, as I wasn't looking to lose weight!)
I'm calling this a HUGE win for being only 10 days in to this new way of eating. Now given, I did eat pretty clean before, but I have cut out a lot of things that were normal for me and honestly...I haven't missed them one bit!
Things I've cut out include:
- wine (okay, maybe that one was a LITTLE tough)
- PB
- bread
- pasta
- cheese
- milk
- Kodiak cakes
The HARDEST thing to cut out was sugar...you'd be amazed what has sugar added that you wouldn't think twice about. Mustard is a great example...why is there SUGAR in MUSTARD!? So weird, right!? So it's meant longer grocery shopping trips as I'm checking my labels for those sneaky sugars, soy, sulfites and other Whole30 no-no's! I have this handy cheat-sheet saved in my photos in my phone to make shopping a bit easier:
So what HAVE I been eating???
A LOT! SO much good stuff! Breakfast has turned in to one of my favorite meals of the day and I'm finding all kinds of ways to not only use eggs, but add leftovers from the night before to my breakfast in fun, delicious ways. And the best part...none of the meals have taken over 20 minutes to make!
Lunch has been leftovers a lot of days because, well, it's easy! And I'm ALL about easy in the middle of my busy day. My FAVORITE meal so far has been the Chicken Salad Boats. I can make up a batch and it gives me two days worth of yummy lunches!
And dinner has been fun for ALL of us! My hubs and son often join in on the cooking at night, and since we tend to have more time in the evenings we've tried some "fancier" meals! It's meant buying ingredients we aren't as familiar with (tomatillos, rutabagas, ground lamb and pancetta to name a few) and using some new kitchen accessories we'd never used before (we bought our first dutch oven, cast iron skillet and immersion blender), but all the experimentation and willingness to try new things has not only shown us some new great recipes that are being added to our weekly cookbook, but brought us closer together as we learn and explore!
On Whole30 you're supposed to get to the point where you don't need snacks between your meals, but to be honest...I just really love food! I'm not starving, but I get a bit antsy if I don't eat a little something every 3 hours, so my go-to has been veggie sticks with "Sunshine Sauce" (an amazing Whole30 creation!) and Whole30 compliant LaraBars (which are IDEAL when we're on the go running errands or hitting the zoo!)
My hubs workweek is 4 days, so here's a sample of our "work week" meal plan to give you an idea on how this has worked for us:
Day 1:
Breakfast - carnitas omelette with peppers and potatoes (carnitas was dinner the night before)
Lunch - Chicken tuna boats w/veggies and sunshine sauce
Dinner - Shepherd's pie
Day 2:
Breakfast - Diner breakfast (two eggs, chicken sausage, sweet potatoes with peppers)
Lunch - Leftover shepherd's pie
Dinner - Spaghetti squash w/pesto, pork sausage and double roasted tomatoes
Day 3:
Breakfast - Spaghetti squash leftovers topped with two eggs, leftover sausage and spinach
Lunch - No fuss salmon cakes with veggies and berries
Dinner - Roasted roots with chicken
Day 4:
Breakfast - Scrambled eggs breakfast tacos with quick spicy sausage and avocado
Lunch - Leftover breakfast tacos with fruit
Dinner - Jamaican salmon with mango salsa
My #1 tip for anyone wanting to do Whole30...
PLAN AHEAD! Planning ahead has made this a breeze! One day we spent a few hours in the kitchen while cooking dinner to prep some foods for the week ahead and it has saved SO much time during the busy week. We made clarified butter and stored it in a covered glass container, the dip for my veggies, sausage patties for breakfast that we keep stored in the freezer until we need them and even cut up sweet potatoes and peppers and stored them diced in containers in the fridge until we needed them!
And because I've had a lot of people asking what workout I'm doing while I dive in to Whole30...I'm doing YOGA! As my nutrition will cleanse my body these next 30 days, a little yoga will help to clear my mind! I'm following the 3-Week Yoga Retreat the first 21 days as I am just a beginner, and then plan to dive even further into the yoga studio on my "Netflix" for workouts as I continue my practice.
Any questions about Whole30, why I'm doing it or how I'm fitting this AND workouts into my chaotic life, I'd love to hear from you! Email me at shanahowellfitness@gmail.com or message me HERE and we'll talk more!
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment