Week one of Whole 30 is officially dizzity-done, yo. As of Monday night! SO – let’s chat…
WHAT WE ATE
Breakfasts:
- Eggs. Lots of eggs. Eggs in different ways – usually just scrambled, but sometimes I got a little more ambitious and made a few over easy fried eggs or an omelette stuffed with goodies. I usually have bacon with the eggs, but the other day I had leftover steak from the night before and made a “steak and eggs” situation. Some days I’ll have a banana with my eggs and bacon, some days I won’t – depends on what my feels are that day.
- Bulletproof coffee. Also referred to as “my-cup-of-happiness-that-makes-my-mornings-sparkly.” Bulletproof coffee is basically coffee that is blended with a tablespoon of butter (ghee for us) and a tablespoon of coconut oil until it gets nice, creamy, and frothy like a latte. I skip the butter and do 2 tablespoons of coconut oil instead because I like the taste better. It gives you a giant boost of energy and kicks your day off with some healthy fats! It makes you feel like you’re sipping a hot mug of dairy-laden coffee versus a black mug of unsweetened sadness. If you use unrefined coconut oil, you get some of the coconut flavor, which almost makes the coffee taste a bit sweet, buuuutt for the most part, the lack of sweetener is something to get used to. It took me exactly three days to get used to the lack of sweetener in my coffee. I struggled through the first three mugs a bit, but on day four, I legitimately enjoyed it and have enjoyed it since.
Lunches:
- Leftovers from dinner the the night before. Always. Leftovers are #lyfe.
Dinners (the fun part!):
- Night one: Braised short ribs with cauliflower mash and onion sauce. SO dang good. I’ve never made short ribs before, and I loved them. They were fall off the bone tender, and the cauliflower mash was heavenly.
- Night two: Baked chicken with tarragon butter, roasted leeks, and paprika potatoes with kale. Also very, very delicious and satisfying.
- Night three:Ā Instant Pot carnitas lettuce wraps with roasted asparagus. << One of the best dinners because…carnitas. That is all. They are drool worthy in any shape and form.
- Night four: Rosemary dijon salmon, sweet potato noodles, and roasted broccoli. Rosemary + dijon flavor combo is CHOICE. So good. But my favorite part of this dinner was the sweet potato noodles. They were cooked in the same skillet as the salmon with some ghee and olive oil, they got a little brown in the pan, and each bite transported us to flavor town. Who is missing the real noodles over here? Not me, girl…not me šš».
- Night five: Serrano burgers on eggplant buns (topped with lettuce, bacon, avocado, and homemade pickled red onions) with baked sweet potato fries dipped in cashew curry sauce. Holy deliciousness, Seth made this dinner and it was the best of the entire week, in my opinion. I was basically crying tears of food-induced blissful happiness with each bite.
- Night six: Coconut curry chicken and veggie stir fry with coconut lime cauliflower rice. SO GOOD, and the leftovers were even better.
- Night seven: Cocoa and chili crusted steak with jalapeno chimichurri and roasted root vegetable soup with fried sage leaves. A bit of an unseemly combo, but these were both blog recipes that I had cooked earlier that day (both coming soon!), so we were eating blog leftovers.
Here is a little collage of our dinners this week from my Instagram stories (@thegarlicdiaries):
WHAT WE LOVED
We have loved, loved, loved the food so far. Neither of us feel like we are missing anything when it comes to pasta, bread, grains, dairy, etc…(sugar is a different story – more on that later). We feel zero percent deprived when it comes to those things. Our dinners have been heavenly, and we feel great after eating them. The fact that Whole 30 doesn’t shy away from fat results in each meal keeping you full and satisfied for hours and hours, so I’m never hungry in between meals or at night.
The veggies. Since grains, pasta, and bread aren’t allowed, we’ve been using substitutes for these things in the form of veggies. Examples from this week: cauliflower rice, sweet potato noodles, eggplant buns (I like sweet potato buns better). I honestly think the veggie substitutes have more flavor than their grain/pasta/bread counterparts, and they leave me feeling better after eating them. So the increase in veggies has been something I’ve loved!
My Facebook group! So many people ended getting on board to do Whole 30 with us that I decided to make a Facebook group for all of us so we could post pictures of our meals, talk about yummy snacks and things that we’ve found, and just discuss our Whole 30 journey in general. And it has been so much fun! I have a strange fascination with hearing about what other people cook for dinner…it’s a weird thing that I love asking people about, so seeing everyone’s dinner posts on the group has been super fun. People will also post about breakfasts or snacks that they’ve had, post about a particularly difficult craving day, post to celebrate turning down something yummy that was provided at work (like Starbucks š), etc…It’s been a highlight of my week for sure!
WHAT WE STRUGGLED WITH
SUGARRRR BLARGGGG. Okay, what in the world is up with my sugar issues this week?? I am not someone with a sweet tooth. I almost never make or eat dessert – one because I have zero baking ability and will ruin a boxed brownie mix, and two because I just never really crave sweet things…or so I thought. The only sweet thing that I ingest on a regular basis is sweetener in my coffee…and even then, I use honey, not white sugar or sweetened creamer. So my struggle with sugar this week SUPER threw me off! It’s worst in the evening from when we finish dinner until when we go to bed. I have the strongest desires for something sweet. I’d probs sell most of my belongings for a doughnut, TBH. I think this is starting to go away a bit as the days pass, but it’s still a slight strug. It was worst on days 3-6, I’d say.
Seth hasn’t been craving sugar but has been fiending for some potato chips and salty snacks. For some reason, that hasn’t been a craving I’ve struggled with, which – again – is surprising because normally I prefer salty to sweet. His coworker ordered a pizza and had it delivered to work yesterday and was eating it like 5 feet from him, so that was a little rough, AND it was on the one day this week that Seth forgot to grab his lunch from the fridge…š¬. He ended up just going to the gas station and grabbing some almonds and fruit. Not satisfying, but better than nothing!
We both have had a few evenings where we would love to kick back with a glass of wine at the end of the night when we put Ford to bed, so that’s been another slight struggle. But mainly the sugar for me, definitely. I’m thinking that maybe I was consuming more sugar than I realized, and that’s where my issues are coming from.
THE CONSENSUS AFTER WEEK ONE
So far, we are really loving it! I love the awareness it’s bringing to what we are eating – I never realized how many things contain sugar (and other junk, but the commonality of added sugar to unexpected things has been the main surprise)! I love the way we feel when we are eating all of this real, whole food. I love the fact that you throw your scale in the closet and don’t pay attention to it for the entire month, making the experience more about the way you feel and being healthy rather than losing weight. I love the fact that I got used to and learned to love unsweetened coffee, because I will carry that with me after Whole 30, and it will eliminate a sugary start to my day. I love the creativity that comes with making yummy dinners without any of the disallowed items. It’s been really fun! It hasn’t been easy all the time, and we’ve definitely had cravings, but I’ve really enjoyed it so far!
I think doing this with a group of people and having my husband super committed to doing it with me makes a big difference. It makes it WAY more fun, gives me WAY more accountability, and almost makes it a team effort versus doing it on my own. So I would recommend doing it with at least one other person, better yet – a group, if you are thinking about starting Whole 30.
Alright, week two – comin’ atcha!
Jenn says
Sugar was my biggest issues the two times I’ve done Whole30 in the last year. It is SO hard to avoid! It’s literally in every sauce, bread, pasta, etc. Plus to avoid even honey is tough. Days 3-6 for me were the roughest both times in regards to craving sugar. If someone had eaten chocolate in front o me in either of those time frames I probably would have attacked them for a piece. Haha.
Annie Chesson says
Yesssss. I feel you. I do not claim responsibility for what happens to the people near me if they are eating doughnuts š!