Today marks the 7th day on Whole 30. It’s currently 25 degrees here in Charleston which is abnormal and I’m sipping on a black grande pike roast as I write this.
End of Week Meals:
One of my goals for next week is to get creative and spend more than 20-30 minutes cooking. I had a somewhat busy week so stuck to quick and easy meals. Was not able to photograph all of them so here’s a brief recap:
Thursday: breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with TJ’s power of the greens, lunch: TJ frozen turkey burgers (Whole 30 friendly and so easy/ a good staple to have on hand) with brussel sprouts , snacked on cashews and an rx bar, dinner: sweet potato and veggies. I babysat Thursday evening but cooked a huge batch of spaghetti squash with TJ’s organic ground turkey with marinara sauce before I left for Sean.
Friday: Friday’s breakfast was by far the tastiest. I did my usual scrambled eggs with TJ’s power of the greens and then added prosciutto (found at Whole 30, only contains pork and salt) which seriously enhanced the taste.
Lunch (sorry for ugly pic) was leftover spaghetti squash with ground turkey & avocado. I tried to hold out from snacking Friday but ended up have an RX bar and cashews around 4. Dinner was another turkey burger with the remaining leftover squash and brussels.
Saturday: Woke up and went to Orangetheory, felt pretty weak in this class but I think it was more related to being burnt out from M-Thursday workouts and not a change in diet. Rushed home and showered then went out to lunch with my fiance’s mother and friend Anne!
Tip: Being on Whole 30 does not mean you can’t go out to eat. I’ll post more on this later, but look for salads or dishes with a meat and veggie. You can always swap foods out. I ordered the cobb salad but left out the blue cheese and bacon (cooked in butter) and asked how they cooked their chicken. (If you’re at Five Loaves, its just put on the grill with salt and pepper). I also just did olive oil and vinegar for dressing. The waitress was super happy to check the ingredients for me so don’t refrain from asking!
We ended up running errands until 4pm, so I came home and had a large fuji apple with almond butter as a snack since I knew I was having an earlier dinner. Dinner was another turkey burger (sorry guys, next week i’m going to be better about not eating the same things!) broccoli and sweet potato. I also had 3 dates with almond butter before heading out to the movies (yay for sober saturdays).
Results after Week 1:
- Day 3 was still by far the worst day. On days 5 and 6 I would still wake up with a headache but it would go away within the first two hours of my day
- My cravings have significantly reduced. I am lucky that I haven’t been around most the food I can’t eat, but I haven’t wanted bread or sweets
- Alcohol: It killed me that I couldn’t drink all day Saturday. I was graving a glass of prosecco or wine. I think this is what I miss most and will continue to miss as it’s getting colder
- I feel super energized. On days 4 and 5 I think I could have gone the whole day without coffee, but drank it for the sake of staying warm. I don’t mind cleaning and have a lot more drive to get chores and work done around the apartment
- I feel a lot lighter and not bloated!
- My anxiety has been a lot better. January and February are usually rough months for me (I swear I have some form of seasonal depression) but I’ve noticed my anxiety has been tamed some since starting this change in diet. This is HUGE for me, and a reason I think I’ll try to continue eating this way post Whole 30. (At least M-F)
Goals for next week:
- Spend more than 30 minutes cooking and add more variation into meals (I need to make something worth sharing with you all)
- Snack on less fruit: I had some days where I still felt like I snacked too much, especially on fruit. I’m sure this is linked to sugar withdrawal and i’m hoping to cut back next week.
Honestly if I feel like how I’ve been feeling the last few days this blog might get real boring real fast. Whole 30 lists how people typically feel when starting this diet here, but so far I can only relate to day 3. Again, I think January is the easiest month for me to do this. I have little going on socially and most of my friends are detoxing or dieting in some way or another that I’m not tempted. I’m sure my side effects or cravings would be far worse any other month of the year. Let’s see what week 2 brings!
Whole CHS Living 