I have been on a pretty much nonstop party roll since November of this past year. Trips, holidays, birthdays and more trips have made up the last four months. While fun (definitely!) they have also left their mark (err, on my butt). I also used to be an avid exerciser, but after a surgery I had in August I stopped, and never started again. Yikes. It is definitely time to get back in the saddle.

I knew that it was time for me to make some sweeping changes, and I have been curious for a long, long time about Whole 30. Everyone I know who has tried it has found it to be a wonderful way to reset their bodies and gain perspective on the how their diet affects them. Since I don’t even eat some of the things people find hardest to give up due to my allergies, I thought that this would be hard but not crazy hard (ha! We will see!) The hardest part and the biggest challenge will be sweets and then, of course, booze. Dunh, dunh, dunnnn…..

So follow along to see what I’m eating and how it’s going- The plan is to update this everyday and share with you what I can for a person with food allergies doing this for the first time. I am also going to let you know how I do at getting back into fitness (harder for me than the diet I think!) For any of you who have done the plan or who are going to follow along and do it with me, please let me know how its going for you or any advice you have for those of us going for it- every bit of support helps!

Official start date: Monday, February 27th.

To read about Whole30

Here is the Official Whole 30 Program Rules

DAY ONE:

Weighed in and found myself relieved to shove the scales away for the next 30 days. Also- the number was several pounds heavier than I thought it would be. I couldn’t find a cloth measuring tape, so I will have to do measurements later today.

eek! Already almost messed up twice this morning. Realized I couldn’t pour my processed unsweetened almond milk into my tea. Can I make my own? Also, had the kids brown-sugary oatmeal spoon on the way to my mouth to taste when I caught myself!

Basically I am used to being in vacation mode- so I wake up starving and ready to head to the breakfast buffet. Instead sipping black tea and making grocery list. I’m not gonna lie- my stomach is growling and I am tired and bloated from my pizza/chocolate/wine binge last night. ugh…

Snack! I did zero prep ahead of time so I was starving and had nothing prepared for myself by late morning. Typical. I ate a few avocado wedges wrapped in toasted salted seaweed sheets. Not satisfying, but it took the edge off until I could get to the grocery store and prepare real food. LESSON #1: have food prepared ahead of time. 

Ok. today I made a double batch of the meatballs and a single batch of the sauce from my book Pure Delicious but I made these two adjustments. Instead of using worcestershire sauce (off limits) I added balsamic vinegar and instead of the dehydrated potato flakes I used the inside of a baked potato. One batch of the meatballs I cooled and placed in a ziploc and them popped in the freezer. The other batch I plunked into the tomato sauce and then into the fridge for easy snacking this week. Pete has already eaten about 1/4 of them. LESSON #2: make this stuff in double batches. I know those frozen meatballs will save my ass one of these nights when I am too tired to cook. 

I also made this Southwestern Chicken Vegetable soup without the corn. In it’s place I added a peeled and chopped sweet potato. I also added a few chunks of avocado. This soup is awesome and I will eat it for lunch the next few days for sure. LESSON#3 Making big batches of soup is probably the easiest way to feed yourself for quite a few days with minimal effort.

This afternoon I started to fantasize about sweets. Then Pete started to  look a little glazed over , so we decided to eat really early- it was a 5pm special.

Dinner was Stir Fry with pork tenderloin, asparagus, bell pepper and mushrooms. The sauce had chile, ginger, garlic, tahini and then I used some coconut amino acids and vinegar for some snap. Then I made a second stir fry with chicken, mushrooms, peppers and bok choy.  I will share these recipes soon! The nice part is that I was able to steam some rice for the kids to have with theirs so that they felt like everything was “normal.” I am so, so full but I did see Pete longingly looking at that rice…

After dinner I had some herbal tea and then hightailed it out of the kitchen. Day one down and not too bad at all!

LESSON #4: Its a mind game. I can see already that this is mostly mental. I obviously ate plenty, but my mind wants MORE! and it wants it to be sugary! Withdrawals…

DAY TWO:

I had a bad headache last night. Could it have been sugar withdrawal!?? scary…

Starting out with more hot black tea for breakfast. Found myself very hungry again at a really early hour. I ate leftover stir-fry for breakfast. This is the meal that I struggle with. I am allergic to eggs and I can’t have my normal protein shake nor are smoothies a very good idea. So that kind of leaves me with dinner leftovers? Does anyone else have any ideas?

I also realize that I am going to be cooking A LOT while on this program. Even more than usual.

I ate the same soup as yesterday for lunch, plus a half an avocado. I was patting myself on the back for feeling less “snacky” feeling than yesterday, but then at about 2:30 I went and ate a snack. A half an apple with 2 tablespoons of cashew butter. I haven’t grasped the “no snacking” aspect of Whole30 yet.

Dinner was this blissful Sweet Potato Noodle Bowl with Gingery Pork Meatballs and a Fresh Herb Salad. Even Pete thought it was really, really good and said that the spiciness of the dish made him feel satisfied. I think that the noodles are the high point for me because they felt like REAL noodles… LESSON #5: Make lots of veggie noodles for the next 28 days.

I made it on Facebook Live and then promptly ate half the noodles and 4 meatballs. I feel like I could burst and it’s 4:45pm. Who am I??? Tea. Nothing but tea the rest of the night. Also, the president is doing his senate address tonight and I can’t even have wine. Sigh….

Ok. It’s 7:30 and I kind of have a headache again. Maybe it is withdrawal. I have no control. I had the other half of the apple with another spoon of cashew butter. It might as well have been a donut it seemed so sinful.

DAY THREE:

I woke up not quite as hungry this morning as the last few days. Still have the headache (wow- I am shocked by that!)  but my stomach feels way less bloated all the sudden.

Black Tea with a little homemade almond milk and I ate a small portion of the leftover chicken and bok choy stir fry from Monday night. Still struggling with what to eat for breakfast since I can’t have eggs- HELP!!!

I had a busy morning so didn’t get around to eating lunch until after 1. Then I had the last of the soup from Monday with more avocado on top. Also, Pete has plowed through dozens of meatballs. I’m not kidding. This means I will have to cook again tomorrow. In bulk.

Also Pete already cheated. Not with food, but he went and weighed himself. In true male fashion, in two days he lost 5 pounds. I’m waiting the whole 30 days (pun intended!) It has an anticipation factor that I like a lot. I have another 26.5 days to ponder that.

Ok we went out to dinner tonight so basically all of our triggers were alive and well! Friends, martini’s, wine, dessert! But we resisted. No booze, and we ate on plan. Since we went to Greek Food (Omega in Seattle) it was pretty easy to do. Also, I had about 2 large bottles of sparkling water all to myself in place of drinking wine! But in the end we are home and no cheating occurred! 3 days down…

DAY FOUR:

I had leftover grilled fish from last night. What a weird breakfast! I also had a few berries and black tea with the most delicious homemade almond milk (laced with cinnamon).

I’m developing a few whole 30 recipes today Pete is so excited that there will be some other choices around here for him.

I sampled all three dishes Whole30 recipes I worked on today for a late lunch and Pete ate all the rest! I can’t wait to share them with you- they were quite tasty!

I snacked on a half apple with 1 tablespoon of cashew butter- it seems like I am getting less ravenous all the time and feeling more satisfied when I eat. (thank goodness!)

*Still struggling with headaches a bit??? Hope these go away soon.

Dinner is Chicken vegetable soup with a bunch of potatoes in it and some salad with a basic vinaigrette. Felt lazy about dinner tonight because I already cooked all day and it’s dark and depressing here which just makes me not want to do anything but nap. gahhhh….. These are the kind of nights I would typically order take out in or something along those lines so I guess I am proud that I got some kind of dinner out on the table and that we are going to close out another day !! LESSON #6: Take it one day at a time. It goes faster than you think. (I think.)

DAY FIVE:

Ok! Happy Friday! I am still really waiting to bound out of bed with energy. Any day now, right guys? Granted I did this not only because my pants were tight and because I am kickstarting getting beach ready for my trip to Greece this summer- but I am also just over shingles. I took SO MUCH medicine for 10 days that I just know my liver is in distress (truly- it hurt like hell in acupuncture). Because of that I am trying to give myself some leeway on feeling my old self again. Oh, also, again with the weather.

I ate some leftover salmon from yesterday and 1/4 avocado. Plus a half cup of coffee with almond milk.

Now please pray for me- I am going to Orange Theory with a  girlfriend and I have not exercised in 6.5 months.

I can’t believe how great/excruciating that work out. But I’m happy I did it.

I was shaking for about two hours! Chicken vegetable soup for lunch and an apple with a tablespoon of cashew butter and then I was feeling much better!

For dinner I made these Crispy Lemon Chicken Thighs and Greek style yukon gold potatoes and broccoli. I ate way more potatoes than were probably appropriate and I drenched them in olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. oops….

DAY SIX:

Ok, so I started to feel more normal today (as in my headaches are better and my cravings are better) Plus I am just not nearly as hungry as the first few days. But I forgot to mention that I am so unbelievably sore from Orange Theory that I am involuntarily grunting with discomfort while doing pretty much everything. I mean. WOW.

We went on a walk first thing in the AM and Pete and the kids got me coffee with coconut milk at the coffee shop while I was waiting outside with the dog. When they brought it out I took a tiny sip then made them go back in and see if the coconut milk was sweetened. Of course, it was. I had to dump it. I’m not messing up over a cup of coffee six days in!!

I went home and made my own coffee and added some of that homemade almond milk- SO good. Then I had the last of the chicken soup for breakfast. It was good, but soup for breakfast is kind of ugh…

I had four little girls for a playdate today. They had Pizza (GF) and I made a gluten free vegan Unicorn rainbow chocolate cake with them. And couldn’t eat a bite. But the good news was, it wasn’t as tempting as I thought it would be. Instead I ate dinner leftovers for lunch (do you see a pattern of leftover eating happening here?) LESSON#7: Leftovers are your best friend.

Dinner was a little more exciting. I made carnitas in lettuce leaves and they were AMAZING. I will photograph it tomorrow and share with you. So far this has been my favorite Whole30 dinner. I am having a lot of like fall spice kind of flavors of tea because they kind of seem sweet? Also we have been drinking a freaking ton of sparkling water. Not even sure if that is approved- but whatever at this point! LESSON #8: Beverages are your other best friend. Water (obvi) but also stuff like peregrino with a lemon or lime or strawberries! are really refreshing and keep you full. Also sipping on hot tea is comforting somehow and there are flavors that can trick you into feeling like its dessert. 

DAY SEVEN:

WHATTT????!!! We are one week in already! I can’t believe it.

So before I jump into what I ate today, let me drop some 1 week in thoughts on you, ok?

-This would be impossible to do for me if Pete was not doing it too. Some of you are for sure stronger than I am, but let me tell you, if you can rope your spouse, uh I mean Inspire! your spouse into doing it with you then everyone wins.

-A friend that is in the know suggested that instead of my whole apple and cashew butter snack situation that I switch to berries and whole cashews because the sugar content is lower. Perhaps those sugar spikes are leading to all of the headaches I had in the last week. Oh, and that pesky sugar withdrawal thing…

-I feel like all I have been doing is cooking. Considering my profession, that is REALLY saying something! I suspect that I feel some pressure to make sure that Pete is eating so well that he keeps with it. Because if he were to break and bail… well, refer to the first thought…

-If you have never done this, prepare for an active digestive system. That is all I am going to say.

-1 week in, I have no idea if I have lost weight . Pete of course already has loose pants. Men… I do see the supreme benefit of putting away the scale, because it is so much effort to just concentrate on doing Whole30 correctly every day that I haven’t thought about the weight part and don’t want to get discouraged. Well, sort of.

ok, it is eleven on Sunday and all I have had was some coffee with my homemade almond milk and I am just not really hungry yet. So finally maybe my body is getting more used to this way of eating. Also, carnitas for breakfast sound a little suspect- but I think thats all I have! I am going to have to cook more today, gahhhh!!!! Or maybe I can find some whole30 recipes and make Pete do it, (if you knew him you would know that this is kind of funny.)

So for breakfast I followed my friends instructions and I had 3 tablespoons of cashews and a cup of fresh raspberries. YUM! this might be my new deal 🙂

The rest of the day I spent being bad at whole30. I didn’t cheat, but I didn’t eat big meals either. I just snacked here and there until dinner. Avocado wrapped in nori with sesame seeds, almonds, pumpkin seeds, more raspberries. Nothing crazy, but I’m not supposed to snack, right? Also, so much herbal tea today.

Dinner was no snack. We made the Crunchy Taco Salad from my book Pure Delicious (with no chips or black beans obviously)It was so good and I am so full I am going to explode. Oh, and we ate dinner at 4:45. Again, who am I?

Mostly I am so excited right now that I made it through week one!

DAY EIGHT:

Why am I still so damn tired?! Also, everyone keeps asking me if I feel like I have lost of weight. No. I don’t feel that way. In fact I have felt pretty bloated- WTH??? As I was asking myself that every ten minutes on loop, I finally discovered this Whole30 Time Line and it made me feel better. I have to get into the zen part of my brain, and that part lies deeeep. I am just trying to remember to stay calm and stay focused and that this will pass soon.

Also, focusing on more positive stuff: I am not nearly as hungry. Like I had coffee with almond milk this morning and then got busy working and didn’t even think about being hungry until lunch time. Then I made these  Turkey Sweet Potato Lettuce Cups and was super full. Until I wasn’t.

I have swapped out my apples and cashew butter snack for raspberries and whole cashews and those held me over (plus about 5 cups of herbal tea) until dinner….

To my husbands delight, I discovered a new emotion this afternoon. Whole30 Angry. Sort of like Hungry Anger (Hangry). It’s when you realize you are freaking sick to death of cooking and cleaning up after 3 damn meals a day and thinking about it all the time and it’s making you not just upset, but angry. Whole30 angry. They call it “I want to kill all the things” in the time line, and it was supposed to happen days 4-5. But no. it’s arrived on day 8 for me and I am MAD. I shall call it Wholngry.

So I very sweetly (not) told Pete that if he wanted to eat anything at all for dinner that he had to go to the store for me because I just couldn’t take it. Then I made some kind of Asian Gingery Orange Beef situation with a mashed cauliflower-potato hybrid that was actually quite good and I was marginally more pleasant.

DAY NINE:

Hi guys! The good news is, I’m not angry anymore. I don’t think. But still tired. I heard the energy tipping point is somewhere between days 12-15 and then it gets better every day. Must. Make. It. To. Less. Tired….

I haven’t worked out since Friday. Impressive, right? I will tomorrow. I promise!

SO just after I said yesterday that I shouldn’t skip breakfast, I did again. I think when I have the coffee with the homemade almond milk it is way more filling. And then I usually get working and get distracted.

So I rather desperately had a handful of raw almonds and raspberries around 11AM right before Pete and I left for a charity luncheon that I was sure we would not be able to eat anything at. But surprise! I showed up and there was the most simple piece of grilled salmon (definitely no butter), a tiny salad with dressing on the side and a scoop of brown rice on my plate. Amen! I wolfed the salmon down and ate the lettuce with no dressing and was pleased as punch that I could have anything at all. But it was rather brutal since Top Pot Doughnuts was one of the sponsors and there were doughnuts on every table. I could smell them the entire time and my brother who sat with us went out of his way to enjoy several of them, while letting me know how unbelievably good they were (you know, in case I was wondering). LESSON#9: don’t be around doughnuts. It’s just mean.

Then I hit the road for several hours of shuffling kids around after school and started to get hungry 2.5 hours into that wonderful way to spend a dark rainy Tuesday afternoon. But luckily I had brought an apple and some walnuts with me. Those held me off until I came home and made Asian Chicken Zoodle Soup for dinner and a nice green salad. While I was cooking I had to have a few spoonfuls of the leftover mashed cauliflower from last night so I didn’t eat my own hand.

Herbal Tea and done with day nine folks!!

DAY TEN: 

Coffee with Almond milk and leftover chicken soup form last night for breakfast. I just can’t seem to get it together with better breakfasts yet.

Still tired during the day, but this was the third day in a row that I woke up before my alarm went off, so that is certainly something! Also I went to acupuncture today (I do 5 element acupuncture and am completely obsessed with it) and that always makes me feel better.

I had the last of the leftover soup at lunch. While so good, I just don’t think that this soup is like a “stick to your ribs” kind of soup. I am full when I eat it and starving 30 minutes later.

I worked out! I made Wilbur (that’s our dog by the way) do 3.5 miles worth of up and down hills with me. I would have rather done Orange Theory and that is saying something!

So late this afternoon I made these Shrimp Sweet Potato Cakes with Avocado Salsa on Facebook Live and I only got to eat one of them because my family descended on them like vultures and they were all gone in a blink.

After that I gave in and had the naughty but still compliant snack of apples and cashew butter. God it’s good. Meanwhile Pete was like delirious eating handfuls of raisins which he was just freaking out over how good they were. Raisins? This is where you can see the effects of not eating sugar- 10 days in we think unsweetened cashew butter and gross raisins are dessert. Like really dessert. sigh…

Pete is now grilling hamburgers outside- I am not sure if I want one? My favorite pickles have corn syrup, so this are out. And the butcher was out of the bacon that isn’t sweetened (so thats out too) so well- I am not sure if just mustard and lettuce is going to do it for me… I will let you know.

Yes- I ate the burger with mustard, avocado (obviously), thinly shaved red onion and put it in a lettuce wrap and it was actually really good I roasted some baby potatoes for the kids and snagged a few of those too and was so satisfied (I bet it was the red meat which I rarely eat) that I didn’t even think about what I could sneak for Whole30 “dessert.” Pete and the raisins was a whole other story…

DAY ELEVEN:

So supposedly days 10-11 are where you are most likely to give up, and that is definitely not happening.

In fact, I woke up 30 minutes before my alarm today. WHAAAATTT???????

Interesting, right?

Last night a friend gave me a “Whole30 Treat” of this little carton of pure coconut milk (isn’t that nice?!) So this morning I made black tea (we were out of coffee beans) and then I added that coconut milk which I steamed in my little milk steamer. OMG. you guuuuyss. I don’t know what is going on with this coconut milk but it is so fragrant and rich and it just feels like it is jam packed with sugar it is so naturally sweet. I’m obsessed and just amazon primed myself a case.

For a late breakfast/snack a just grabbed a piece of roast chicken and shoved in a lettuce leaf with mustard. Plus a small handful of cashews. Not exciting but fast and effective.

Lunch was a rather amazing piece of seared tuna from a recipe I made for the blog (coming to you soon!) with an arugula-lemon salad.

Snacking decadently on apple with cashew butter this afternoon (shame!! I know!!) plus coffee with more of that amazing coconut milk.

Dinner… The kids declared that they have just totally had it with us and our “diet” since there is nothing “good” to eat in the house anymore. So I made them a loaf of banana bread and made them gluten free pasta. I would have loved to eat that pasta. Instead Pete and I ate this salad but swapped out the chickpeas for roasted chicken chunks and omitted the maple syrup in the dressing. It was awesome and I was super full for the night. But I can’t say that Pete and I didn’t have an in-depth conversation about how much we would like a drink tonight.

DAY TWELVE:

OMG! How could I have gone a day without filling this in! (I’m sorry!)

Day twelve was easier to be honest. I don’t have anything snarky to say. I woke up, even after a terrible nights sleep (the dog felt the need to aimlessly bark most of the night, so I just got up at 5:30) feeling pretty good.

I had a quick snack first thing in the morning of some apple and almond butter. I have finally abandoned my cashew butter love since I realized that it only has half the protein of other nut and seed butters. I have to go buy whole nuts instead- we have gone through all of them.

Then I went and worked out, but it was NEXT LEVEL. I went back to Orange Theory for the first time in a week and boy did I pick the wrong day! It was “Endurance Day” and I only got through it because of the pack mentality that you get into in those kind of classes. I burned about 650 calories in one hour and I literally was still deeply exhausted 3 hours later. We were also “out of food” at the house, so I had to go shopping after Orange Theory so I didn’t eat my own hands or feet. My shopping cart consisted of a rotisserie chicken (fast snacking!) a large piece of salmon, and ground pork and beef. Protein anyone?

I grabbed a quick post-workout snack of chicken in lettuce leaves with mustard before running out to do errands. For lunch I split a piece of BBQ salmon and avocado with Pete and then later in the day I made chicken soup with the rest of the chicken for the weekend and then made the meatballs with tomato sauce from Pure Delicious for dinner.

Snacks: grapes and apple in the late afternoon. I know I am not supposed to do that, but they were there and it was certainly better than previous options.

No “dessert” and really outside of the workout exhaustion, I really felt pretty good!

ALSO!! Props to Pete who went out to “drinks” with my brother-in-law and had 8 club sodas with lemon instead of “drinks” over the two hours! We are going out Saturday night- Any advice on maneuvering that is so welcome!

DAY THIRTEEN:

I need to acknowledge that by the end of the weekend Pete and I will be half way though with this!!!

We went to bed so early last night. We started a movie at about 8:30 but around 9 I realized that Pete was sound asleep. I just turned the movie off, took the dog out, locked up and went to bed with him. Asleep by 9:15pm on a Friday night. WHO ARE WE????

And we slept until 7 you guys?! I have to commend this Whole30 sleep. Plus I have not yet acknowledged that it feels great to get up every morning and feel rested and not be hungover in the least on the weekends. I am sore though- so is Pete. So we are going to take a long walk this morning to try to loosen everything up.

I’m having the chicken and sweet potato soup for breakfast, along with coffee and if I’m lucky that good coconut milk I ordered from Amazon will be here early today so I can that too.

I had 3 meatballs and coffee with for mentioned coconut milk around late lunch time.

Then we got busy and got ready to go out. I at least had the fore site to throw a bag of raw almonds into my purse while running out the door at 6:30 pm.

DAY FOURTEEN:

LESSON #10: Unless you have unnatural willpower, it’s better not to be in raging fun social situations while on Whole30. I cracked. I had a little less than one vodka soda. last night. But, but, but….. I was out! It was a Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Private Concert! It helped me relax after a long week! I didn’t go NEAR the appetizers or the buffet or all of those chocolate caramels they were passing out! Or the cheeseburgers! All the excuses in the world guys. But I woke up feeling guilty. I could have passed over this little tidbit of information, but I had to come clean. Because at the end of the day, we are all human, right? And it turns out that while I can say “no” to all the foods, apparently, that little cocktail was my downfall…. sigh….

I tried to feel better by telling myself that vodka is made with potatoes, and potatoes are whole30, right?! Also I did not ingest anything with a remote amount of sugar. And in a second fail for the night, I never had dinner. I had a handful of almonds on the car ride home and then it was so late we hit the hay.

I also have to give Pete props again. He also had the one drink, but he resisted the dicks cheeseburgers which were literally being paraded around on platters. Like he almost teared up and was a little frantic- it was like, just kind of mean.

But this morning we are back on the wagon and I’m not going to let this screw me up! Soup and coffee with coconut milk for breakfast and I have carnitas simmering away on the stove for an early Sunday dinner with my whole family.

Pete and I split a salad from our favorite neighborhood place Bounty Kitchen this afternoon. It just tided us over and kept is from eating all the nuts in the house before dinner was ready really early (like it would be early even without daylight savings time.) Dinner was Carnitas pack dingo lettuce leaves with avocado, cilantro, onions and salsa. Super delicious, but kind of rich I am realizing. My tummy has been so used to all of this LEAN protein and veggies, that any deviation seems to make it kind of grumpy. Definitely no dessert cravings tonight- in fact after losing an hour of sleep to DLST and even more of that to a late night I am hitting the hay so early tonight!

DAY FIFTEEN:

omg. we are half way through. Tomorrow is where it is supposed to get legit easier. Like I will start to feel big or small changes every day. This morning all I have to say is DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME. Dragging crying, sleeping children from their beds is such a treat when you are half dead to the world yourself is the worst. They are out the door and I am 1/4 of the way through my coffee- maybe I will feel ready to conquer the world later?

I realize though that with hind site, Friday and Saturday I was feeling pretty amazing. DLST is trying it’s best to mess with that, but I know I am going to get back on track.

Another thing to note that I found VERY interesting. I was sick last night. really sick. And I know that it was from the carnitas. Not food poisoning- 12 people ate them and it only affected Pete and I. The first time we had them a week into the program I had a similar but less severe reaction- I assumed it was a fluke. Last night, not so. I don’t think it is pork- I have had lean pork tenderloin in stir fry and been fine. I think it was the richness of the carnitas. There is a lot of fat in that dish. The whole situation reminded me of when my mom and older sister did weight watchers when I was in my early 20’s. They had been really committed for months and then they came to visit me in San Francisco. They let it loose a little bit and we went out and ate at restaurants for every meal and undoubtedly ate rich food at the French restaurant I was working at. They both got SO sick. Their bodies just weren’t used to it. Could that be what happened to Pete and I last night? Have we become so pure!? What do you guys think?

I went to Orange Theory again today (pat on the back to me) and it’s hard as hell. Not sure it ever gets easier!? But I forgot how good it feels to be working out often- it really is a mood booster.

Lunch was white fish with mango and basil sauce (OH-M-GEE it’s so good!!!) I will share this week.

Since Lunch was almost like a late breakfast I had a bowl of chicken sweet potato soup for a snack along with a chunk of apple.

Dinner was Grilled Lamb Kebabs and Village Salad. Lots of veggies and lean protein.

And as I head to bed, let me recognize that I am on the downhill slope to being done!!

DAY SIXTEEN!!!

The exclamation marks matter because we are now on the downhill slope of Whole30!

And everything they say happens is happening. I am feeling better. I do see differences. I feel a little leaner (who cares if it’s just mental!) my skin is much better than usual and I am not as hungry. If it would only stop raining for 5 damn minutes I might feel less tired too, but that’s probably not going to happen. I will keep you updated on how I feel through the rest of the time.

Breakfast was just coffee and coconut milk before my workout and then I ate this Beet Pesto Zoodles with Spicy Herb Shrimp and an apple with a couple tablespoons of almond butter.

I had some cantaloupe for a snack as well as some macron almonds that were marinated in olive oil.

Dinner was this delicious Broiled Salmon with Creamy Avocado Sauce and a big kale salad with mustard vinaigrette.

DAY SEVENTEEN:

I am filling this in for yesterday! I had coffee with coconut  milk and then hit Orange Theory for a BRUTAL workout. I came home and had Kale salad with ground turkey in it and cilantro vinaigrette. It was not glamorous- but it was tasty and really nutritious.

Apple slices for snack with almonds for snack.

Then I had a rather gigantic moment happen for me. I was nominated for a James Beard Award for my book Pure Delicious. I am still in shock, and the whole thing is pretty nuts.

Pete wanted to screw Whole30 and go out and celebrate. We met in the middle and went out for dinner at a great place near our house that we visit often.

I ate marcona almonds and olives doused in olive oil for a starter, a green salad and then the most amazing prosciutto wrapped chicken leg that is so crispy!

But then I got some kind of stomach bug last night, so I didn’t get to keep my nice dinner. At first I thought maybe the food was too rich for me, but now I know it was a virus or something that is not food poisoning or rich food, because Coco got it too and she was at home with a babysitter. Fun times! What a way to celebrate! anyways….

DAY EIGHTEEN:

Well now we are at day eighteen! Time is flying. I feel better today but not great. A little queazy. So I have sipped a lot of peppermint tea and ice water and skipped my workout. I had some chicken soup this afternoon and a little more for an early dinner. I also snacked on some apple pieces and a few almonds- but those are kind of rough on the tummy. Today I was running around a lot despite the queasiness, but I think I am going to take it easy on the eating. I’m not looking for a repeat on last night.

Hoping very much to get a good night sleep and be able to get back to normal tomorrow. I have a workout scheduled and don’t want to miss it.

DAY NINETEEN:

I am afraid today was not much better with the weird stomach bug. Just queazy nausea all day and dizzy spins. I had some soup in the late afternoon when I felt a little better and then an apple at night. Not very impressive whole 30 day. What I really wanted was some 7-up and saltines (not that I have been able to eat saltines for 4 years) or some lemondrops which helps me with nausea…. But I haven’t gone 19 days to mess it up now.

Pete came down with whatever this is today. But women and men are quite different if you have not noticed. This is a man who literally never complains about a single thing in his day to day life EVER. He is strong and stoic and stable and just not a complainer.

Except when he is sick. Then its all out the window and he is an 8 year old little boy with a bad attitude. He is a walking (or lying down) cliche of sick men.

While women can have the exact same thing and be days deep into feeling this way, women still drive carpool and make their kids dinner and make sure that the kids do their kumon, and can get a ride to fencing if you can’t drive and wait up for them to come home from fencing at 9 at night and make them dinner and pack them up for their 4:30am wakeup call to drive to Portland and then get up at 4am and get them ready and make breakfast and deliver them to the nicest neighbor/fellow fencing mom ever who has agreed to drive your own child to Portland because a man is still in bed and thinks that you should probably call an ambulance for them because they are nauseous. Am I right???? You know what I mean???

DAY TWENTY:

I feel better today. Despite being terribly tired from a husband who tossed and turned all night and then being up from 4-5am and sort of going back to sleep for a few hours. At least I think the nausea has passed and I have an appetite again.

Pete is still in bed. Obviously.

I am supposed to go work out with my niece today since I missed Orange Theory yesterday and I have to at least get in my 3 hardcore OT workouts each week. But feeling like I do, I need an incentive (in the form of a fit 17 year old picking me up and making me go). I’ll let you know if I make it.

Coffee and coconut milk to start!

DAY TWENTYONE:

Ok- I don’t even know what else I ate last yesterday! But I do know I didn’t cheat. I feel like I just snacked on all kinds of Whole30 stuff.  I suspect I am eating too many nuts. But anyways….

Today- Pete felt better today and wanted to go out to breakfast. We took the girls to a diner in Seattle that has GF hash browns so Pia can eat them. Pete has a two egg breakfast with ham and GF potatoes. I had a side of GF potatoes and a fruit cup plus black coffee. It wasn’t that exciting. But you know what was? NOT COOKING. It got even better since I remembered that our family favorite Vietnamese place has a dish with grilled chicken, steamed veggies and rice. So I had that sans rice and sauce. That turned out to be not very exciting too. But then dinner rolled around! It was my nephews Birthday dinner and we had grilled flank steak, spinach salad with bacon and strawberries and grilled asparagus and broccoli. It was like the best thing ever AND I didn’t have to cook it. Basically it was perfect.

I have to get back to cooking tomorrow and drag myself out of the pit of Whole30 cooking fatigue. Its a VERY real thing.

DAY TWENTYTWO:

Yikes. I think I might need to stop drinking so much coffee. It’s making my stomach feel bad. Remind me of I forget, I am switching back to tea for a while.

Breakfast was a handful of macadamia nuts and an apple. But I have a huge grocery list that is loaded with all of the potential for another weeks worth of delicious recipes- no more snacking, I am ready for real food!!

I made these shishito peppers today (minus the agave), this broccolini with romesco sauce, this sweet potato butternut squash soup, these artichokes and a vegan breakfast potato dish that I will share soon. I snacked on all of them and now we have a fridge full of stuff to eat.

I got really inspired by this dish this morning and decided to make a Whole30 version of it with cashew butter and posted it on instagram. Check it out!!

DAY TWENTYTHREE:

Ok, I switched back to tea this morning with a splash of unsweetened almond milk, and I think that was a good call.    I had a few spoonfuls of leftover chicken from dinner last night and an apple for breakfast. I haven’t worked out hard since last week. I feel like such a failure. I have so much work on my plate I am struggling to stay afloat this week. I feel so much pressure to have Whole30 be dramatic in the end, but I just am having a dose of #reallife where I can’t put all my effort into gym time. I am just trying to get through the day with kids/work and life, you know?

Ok, I had Sesame seared salmon salad after I made it on Facebook Live for lunch. YUM. But I also had leftover potatoes from yesterday (recipe coming on Friday!)

The kids have been begging and begging me to order them Thai food because they are sooooo deprived. So I did and then I did some selective ordering for Pete and I after a nice long chat with the owner of our local thai place. We had a spicy beef salad with lime sauce and an order of Larb Gai, plus chicken skewers with no sauce (but they are marinated in curry coconut sauce). I felt like I was cheating because it was so good- but I don’t think I was!? Is that messed up? Now anything good makes me feel guilty like I am enjoying it too much. It’s funny not funny.

Then Pia made gluten free vegan chocolate dipped, sprinkle coated, chocolate chips cookies after dinner for her and Coco. I could have cried. I ate an orange. Only 7 day left until I can have a cookie again 🙂

TWENTYFOUR:

Sorry, I forgot to post yesterday!

Highlights were that I went to acupuncture and my RX was to eat more red meat. So I had a grass fed burger and avocado and bubbies pickles and mustard in a lettuce wrap for dinner. I also had grilled asparagus which I topped with Romesco Sauce– YUM.

TWENTYFIVE:

Lots of black tea and unsweetened almond milk this morning. Also a pack of raw almonds and a small apple on the go early this morning. I did some good work on a fruit platter that was out at a meeting today and then Pete and I got take out tex-mexy chicken and greens salads from Bounty Kitchen a very healthy cafe near our house.

Dinner was these Paleo Sweet Potato and Turkey Lettuce Cups which taste so much better than they look! I also added chopped up zucchini to the recipe for a little extra volume!

I had a couple little cutie oranges for dessert. FIVE DAYS TO GO!!!

Oh. Have I mentioned that I have not gotten to the gym in a WEEK. I feel like such a failure. And I have so much work the next two days that it’s not looking much better. I told Pete that Ultimately I am just not willing to lose and hour of sleep in order to exercise. Is that terrible?

DAY TWENTYSIX:

I may have just hit Tiger Blood. I feel AMAZING today. I have been sleeping so hard and so well in the last week I can not even tell you. I have been going to be so early (and can barely keep my eyes open to stay up until 9:30-10) and sleeping until like 6:30 and I feel like I am high on life. Seriously. I guess I had to wait 26 days to find it, but I’m pumped I am finally here.

Ok- so  my Tiger Blood lasted until about 2pm when It turned to Tiger shit. I got a headache- a really bad one that lasted until I went to bed. So that was lame.

I ate leftover Paleo turkey cups for lunch and then I ate butternut squash soup the rest of the day and a little bit of Thai chicken curry for dinner but by the time I went to bed I was quite hungry. I also snacked on cashews all day.

DAY TWENTYSEVEN:

I got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep last night, which is not enough for me. Is it enough for anyone? I had to cook for a dinner that I donated to charity so I have to admit there were some tiny tastes here and there of off limits foods- but I do mean tiny and when I say off limits I don’t mean any of the big ones (gluten, dairy or sugar).

I was pretty much in the kitchen from 5am to 4pm cooking, so the only eating I did was snacking. Nuts, veggies, fruit and lots of black tea with almond milk. I never ate a meal.

For dinner I went to a party and ate all of the marcona almonds that were out (sorry for everyone else) and then decimated the veggie tray. I also got into some spicy olives. And then I was so full that I didn’t even sit down to a plate of dinner. Healthy habits! I was also the sober driver as Pete completely fell off the wagon. Like jumped from the wagon. He went full bore crazy: martini’s with blue cheese stuffed olives, red wine, cheese platter and late night a Dicks cheeseburger, a Dick’s Deluxe and Fries. He did not feel good last night (understatement- I left him in the fetal position on the downstairs couch) but in classic Pete fashion, he popped up this morning and feels great.

Just three days left!!!

DAY TWENTYEIGHT:

Good Morning! Black tea and almond milk going on this morning and a busy day ahead. I have a gorgeous side of salmon that I need to BBQ and that I am thinking will float me through the next few days as I finish up on Tuesday night!

I am stewing on all of my closing thoughts already and can’t wait to share my big picture feelings about the program with you after you have seen the daily minutia of getting through it.

I will definitely be doing weekly updates to this for a little while because I think it is important to see what the lasting effects of this program are. I believe the whole point is to do a massive reset on your body, so I want to see how that pans out for me. I also am going to go do body fat testing and all that stuff next Saturday (I did it before I started) and I will let you know the outcome!!

So for Lunch I grilled the salmon with a mustard shallot sauce and yukon gold potatoes.

In the late afternoon I was at a family gathering and snacked on fruit, vegetable platters and a few almonds. Pete was busy eating 7 layer bars which I literally held up to my nose and smelled to share in the experience. I just love those fake butterscotch chips. Anyways- I came home and a little more salmon and then made some herbal tea and hit the hay.

DAY TWENTYNINE:
This is the second to last day, but also a slightly less packed work week, so I took advantage of not being spread so thin and hit Orange Theory this morning after dropping the kids off at school. Burning almost 700 calories (can you believe how hard those classes are??!!!) on a cup of black tea and almond milk left me shaking and ready to puke. I came home and had some salmon. I can’t wait until I can go back to protein powder.

I also am going to make a special soup drink today. My acupuncturist who I am obsessed with as she is so healthy and lovely and vibrant told be that bone broth is so healing to the gut. The collagen will go to work soothing and rebuilding your digestive system. Then right after that I saw Danielle Walker talking about the same thing on Instagram, so I knew that this was what I should try. I know I have mention how errr, “active” my digestive system has been since I started this program, so I think I need to try to calm things down. So Bone broth is something that you will find in your freezer section and it is a broth that has cooked with bones for like 24 hours so that all of the natural collagen breaks down into the broth. Different than regular broth!

Ok, here is the Bone Broth Soup Recipe!

Dinner was the last of the salmon and potatoes from Sunday, some Greek Salad 9without Feta) and a big mug of the bone broth soup. I can’t get over how filling that is by the way.

Herbal Tea and I am almost to the finish line!!

DAY THIRTY!!!!

Good Morning!! I am on my second cup of black tea with almond milk and ready to finish this day out strong! We ran through the yummy Bone Broth Soup yesterday, so I am busy making another batch right now. Snacking on toasted cashews and raspberries in the meantime!

Ok. I have a really bad head cold that is settling into my system right now, so I sipped on bone broth soup the rest of the day and then had some veggies sautéed with tahini sauce for dinner. And then….. I had a glass of Red Wine and toasted my hard work over the last 30 days!

I will be back tomorrow to wrap up my thoughts! and let you know the first part of my before and after.

Thoughts….

OK, so I made it through!

Lets talk about results. I am trying to keep the fact that it is NOT SUPPOSED to be about weight loss. But come on, give me a break… Of course you want and expect to lose weight when it feels as though you have deprived yourself of pretty much everything for a month! However, I think this piece will be different for everyone based on of course, their own genetics and body type, but  maybe  more so their diet PRE whole30.

For example. Pete used to eat everything (as in all the gluten, sugar, dairy and ALL the booze.) So this was a crazy wake up call for him and his body and he also go what I think are pretty dramatic results. He lost 12 pounds and lost major inches- 3 alone just on his chest and 2 from his waist. oh, also men are so lucky.

I lost 5 pounds (well, 4.8) That is not very much on a person that is 5’10”. I didn’t take measurements (dang it!!!) so I am waiting for Saturday when I can go and take my exact body fat percentage in a dunk tank since I did that before I started. I will be interested to see if some of my body composition has changed. But, I think I have to remember that I was already eating gluten, dairy and mostly grain free, so this was not super dramatic of an eating change (although sometimes it really felt that way!) Or at least it was less dramatic than most peoples change would be.

Great stuff that happened: I still feel like I don’t want to “cheat.” I have hesitated before everything I have reached for to double check that it is a good choice. In the first day what I did do was eat 2 little pieces of Pia’s avocado roll sushi (rice!!!) and I had a tiny piece of gluten free vegan toast with smashed avocado on it. Everything is great thus far- no big deal and no bad reactions. I will try my old vegan protein power tomorrow and see how that goes over. In general, I really feel like I have kicked my sugar cravings in the butt which is awesome.

Other stuff- I have been sleeping SO WELL (right up until I got this cold). My skin has been better than I can ever remember it. I’m not sure that I ever reached “Tiger Blood” (well just that one time for like 5 hours!) but over all I feel better about the way I have been living my life and eating. It has also encouraged me to workout, so that is something positive in itself! I think that this is what I would look at as a really good start. It’s what I do with it next that will matter…

And would I do it over again? Definitely.

So, Having said that. I will let you know how things are going, updating here about once a week for a while. If you have any questions, tips, advice, wisdom drop it in the comments, I check them all the time! Thank you for following along you guys. I hope I gave you a “real” glimpse into what it is like to do Whole30.