Whole30 – The Second Time Around – Recap

An explanation about Whole30

Whole30 is a month-long hard reset for the body. Kind of like paleo on steriods. No sugar (even honey or stevia), grains, dairy or legumes. Just whole, natural foods – like meats, veggies and fruits. Nothing in a package. No soy (mental note: find coconut aminos; Braggs isn’t going to cut it this month). Amend fish sauce buying to conform.

This program is designed to break the back of sugar and carb cravings and give your body a balanced place from which to build healthy habits. It seeks to reset your metabolism, knock out systemic inflammation (that you may not even know you have) and zero out other gut health issues. Have random stomach pain like me? This may help balance that. Irregular? IBS? Feel like crap all the time? Can’t lose weight? Well .. this crazybananas plan might work.

My favorite part of the plan, aside from the reset, is the tough love. This is not hard – not like quitting heroin or beating cancer. Don’t even think about slipping – what you put into your mouth is always a choice. You don’t have to eat anything you don’t want to eat – learn to stick up for yourself, peer pressure is for elementary school students. This will take effort but you will be better for it – especially if you’re a first-timer to cutting out grains and legumes. But … you can do this.

You know what? They’re right. In the grand scheme of things, 30 days is a small amount of time to deal with a little inconvenience. Unless there are roving bands of rapist donuts in your neighborhood; then maybe stay inside and eat what you’re supposed to anyways.

So, let’s see how this all went!

Whole30 Life Lessons

This second time on Whole30, I didn’t think I had much left to learn. The first time around, I learned to not fear and dread going out to eat while remaining compliant – I had no major sugar or starch hangups, no sensitivities to target, and no real areas I needed to get firmly under control. I started this go round to support some friends, and ended up learning some really great and unexpected lessons along the way.

This time around, I learned (again) that just because eating something is habit doesn’t mean I actually have to continue eating it (ahem, I’m looking at you tacos + tortillas or alcohol with dinner just because I think that’s what I should be doing) – that just because I’m eating things that are technically within the nutrient metrics I’m trying to stick to, doesn’t mean they’re actually what I need to be eating (helllooooo sweet potato fries in restaurants – and especially the fries at Umami Burger with salty brown sugar topping!) – and that having 2 meals a week where things are slightly (to more than slightly) out of whack with my goals isn’t something I need to be doing if I actually want to progress down the road I’m on (i.e. there is nowhere written in life that Thai noodles + tacos are a good idea in the same weekend if I want to continue to reduce my body fat percentage).

I’m really glad I undertook this journey again and I’ll kind of miss it. I have no real ‘transition’ plans – but I know I won’t be going back to how I was eating pre-W30 (letting things creep in that shouldn’t). I will, however, relax the rules a bit from strict W30 back to mostly paleo with an eye toward mindfulness. I can see undertaking another W30 in 6 months, or whenever things start to get a little out of hand. Forced mindfulness for a month really seems to do my body and my mind good. Not only have I come to some good realizations about food and habits, I’m down a solid 5.5 pounds with dips down further than I thought reasonably possible at this point in my life and muscle development. We’re talking back down to the weight I was in late high school – when I was anemic and had zero muscle tone.

On to the food!

What I ate

Day 1 on Whole30 started out smooth … and then poor planning at lunch set to throw me off balance. All was smooth sailing with a quick gear shift, but I ended up eating pretty much the same thing for dinner as I had for lunch. Not the end of the world, but not exactly how I had planned for my day to go.

Day 2 on Whole30 was smoother than Day 1. Still heavy on the pork, but at least there was some variety.

Day 3 on Whole30 was good, lunch picture failure aside.

Day 4 on Whole30 was good – smooth sailing, despite some hiccups in dinner planning.

Day 5 on Whole30 was a little challenging. I had to pick around non-conforming lunch items & really compromise when it came to dinner.

Day 6 on Whole30 was challenging. An impromptu Ikea trip and dinner booked months ago sought to trip me up, but I persevered.

Day 7 on Whole30 wasn’t bad. Day 3 of craving salsa (specifically, a type of salsa from a deli department in a state I no longer live in), but not bad food – wise.

Day 8 on Whole30 wasn’t bad, despite a blind restaurant pick that could have been disastrous.

Day 9 on Whole30 wasn’t bad. I finally got to try the balsamic beef I’ve been thinking about for weeks, and lunch was some great leftovers.

Day 10 on Whole30 was another day a hairsbreadth away from disaster. Bad planning on my part and lack of communication between my DH and I almost led to my hangries reaching out and eating people on the train.

Day 11 on Whole30 was ok, I suppose. I missed my smoothie terribly, and stress has me *still* craving a cigarette & a Reese’s Nutrageous. And I still want the salsa that doesn’t exist in this state.

Day 12 on Whole30 was full of tomatoes. And they were delicious.

Day 13 on Whole30 was wall-to-wall beef. Oh, darn. Can’t you tell how distraught I am?

Day 14 on Whole30 wasn’t bad. Had a busy day running all over town and forgot to eat before hangries were knocking at the door, but I managed. Too light on vegetables, though.

Day 15 on Whole30 was smooth sailing, even though we ate out.

Day 16 on Whole30 was full of stress, an emotional roller coaster, but full of on-target eating nonetheless.

Day 17 on Whole30 was also my husband’s actual birthday. We celebrated with a decadent-yet-compliant dinner in.

Day 18 on Whole30 was smooth sailing. Great leftovers and one of my very favorite cuts of beef for dinner.

Day 19 on Whole30 wasn’t bad, either. Had some great lunch and some fairly crappy delivery dinner.

Day 20 on Whole30 – another success. Even better steak & eggs (+ greens!) and all kinds of tasty meats when I finally got around to eating again.

Day 21 on Whole30 was full of ground beef.

Day 22 on Whole30 was good. I sense a balsamic vinegar theme lately, but I’m not complaining.

Day 23 on Whole30 was delicious.

Day 24 on Whole30 was full of meat. The pantry is running low on vegetables.

Day 25 on Whole30 was smoothie-light, but good all the same.

Day 26 on Whole30 was good. I see the end of this little experiment, and I’m kinda going to miss it.

Day 27 on Whole30 was full of food at the mall – don’t ask.

Day 28 on Whole30 wasn’t bad. Typical weekend day.

Day 29 on Whole30 was full of home front annoyances, but at least home cooked food.

Day 30 on Whole30 was aggravating, but manageable – with the last of our good burgers & sweet potato fries.

Now on to the recipes!

The Good Stuff

This time around, I promised you guys recipes twice a week and I am damn impressed with myself that I actually delivered. If nothing else can be taken away from Whole30, the boost in mealtime creativity is enough. Last time I had fun concocting summery compliant dishes; this time, my dishes were (mostly) more wintery but were fun to create nonetheless. There is nothing like having to adhere to strict guidelines to pull one out of a food rut!

This salad came about because, here in January, I couldn’t stand not eating tomato any longer.

This recipe is tasty. Not quite what I had envisioned (I had visions of sticky almost tart beef dancing in my head), but good. A great ‘cook once and use as the backbone for many meals’ recipe.

This is another of those recipes cobbled together from random inspiration on the Internets. I had short ribs, I’m in the middle of a balsamic vinegar obsession, I have fallen in love with my new slow cooker – and bam. This.

Why bastardized? I was *supposed* to be making my friend’s recipe for semi-traditional Thai-style green coconut curry, but nooooo – ran off half-cocked, thinking I had Thai Kitchen green curry paste (it’s W30-compliant) and couldn’t be bothered to double-check before starting dinner. Well, as it turns out, I don’t have any – and most likely haven’t had any for at least a year (unless of course I managed to use a whole jar without really remembering it – also very possible).

There’s nothing better than coming home to a big bowl of beefy chili come winter. This slow cooker version uses root vegetables for bulk and some added umami-rich boosters for extra flavor. Whole30 compliant and delicious.

This is another example of a recipe that came about due to leftovers in the fridge + it’s cold and I need comfort + I want some freakin tomatoes in my life.

Mmmmm…. meatloaf muffins. I love meatloaf muffins. This recipe came about from looking to see what was out there in the realm of turkey meatloaf tastes, taking some of that to heart, and managing to cobble something together in the kitchen.

I realize this is not the best photo, nor is the most exciting dish out there – but it did do make a little dent in the craving I was having one night.

And there you go … Whole30 Take 2! For more insight into my first trip down W30 lane, click here.