My Whole30 Experience, Week 2

Day 7:  Monday, blech.  I stayed up too late last night and had a hard time getting going this morning. I did remember to pack breakfast, and it still feels good to start the day with whole foods.  I have to run errands at lunch today, but I brought enough food to cover me for lunch, too.

Dinner was leftover pork and a peach.  I cooked up some eggs for breakfast, so I'll be ready in the morning.  I'm dragging a bit today and it looks like my edema is back (thanks, high heels).  But, as Scarlett O'Hara says "tomorrow is another day" and hopefully I'll be feeling better!

Day 8:  Woke up slowly again, but the timeline says I'm going to be tired, so I'm banking on feeling better in the coming days.  Ate breakfast and lunch at work from my little cooler.  This may be an over-share, but I felt really bloated this afternoon and evening (once again, right on schedule with the timeline).  I didn't skip dinner, though the thought did cross my mind.  I've really been fixating on sweets - specifically, in this moment, a peanut butter cup Blizzard. So instead of wallowing and eating more things that aren't a Blizzard, I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. Can I just say that Mumford and Sons is much better workout music than you would think?  Still feeling bloated, but at least I'm sweaty too. ;-)

Day 9: Still not bounding out of bed, but it's a really stressful week at work, so I can't blame it entirely on the Whole30.  I had a banana with almond butter and 2 hard-boiled eggs for breakfast.  Catering Jimmy John's at work today, so I made sure to bring lots of healthy alternatives, it's going to be hard to resist the chocolate chip cookies *drool*.

I managed to stay strong in the face of so many carbs.  Had roast beef, cucumber, a few cashews and some cherries for lunch!

Because I was dealing with a mildly upset stomach, but still hungry, I decided I needed a sweet potato for dinner.  I baked up a garnet yam with some ghee, roasted a bunch of Brussels sprouts and ate part of a rotisserie chicken.  I checked the label on the one from Sprouts and I am good to go!  The rotisserie chicken is a lifesaver for me many nights, it's so easy and delicious and great leftover!

Day 10: Woke up a little easier this morning and I'm feeling better.  Grabbed my normal hard-boiled eggs, banana and almond butter breakfast. Once again catered from Jimmy John's at work, so I packed myself some leftover rotisserie chicken, Brussels sprouts, and some raw carrots and cucumber. Not gonna lie, I still want a cookie, but I'm feeling like I may be past a lot of the adjustment phase (PLEASE, let this be true) so I will carry on!


For dinner I decided to "paleo-ize" my mustard pork chop recipe.  I also roasted some turnips and parsnips and came to the conclusion that I don't like roasted turnips and parsnips, so there's that.  The pork chops turned out very nicely, though the coating wasn't as sticky as it normally is, and substituting almond milk for regular milk meant the sauce was thinner and a little sweeter than normal, but still good!

I made a new batch of kombucha, I have it from the horse's mouth that as long as I don't add sugar to it once it's brewed, it's Whole30 compliant.  Hooray!!!

Also 1/3 of the way done!  Woo-hoo!

Day 11: It's Friday!  Didn't have time for eggs this morning, so I made do with my banana and almond butter.  For lunch I had leftover roasted beets and Brussels sprouts along with the last of the rotisserie chicken.  I threw the chicken carcass in a plastic bag along with my other veggie scraps to make stock. 

Dinner saw my very first attempt at "zoodles" or zucchini noodles (I threw in a summer squash too).  I'd been craving pasta with marinara all day - this was as close as I could get.  You know what?  They're not half-bad!  Though, I was missing parmesan.

Day12 : I'm working this Saturday, so carrots and hard-boiled eggs are my breakfast at my desk.  It's hard work ruling the world, you know?

Stopped by the "normal" grocery store on my way home for seltzer.  Every single scrap of deli meat in the whole place had either preservatives or added sugar or BOTH!  I'll have to pick up some more at Sprouts when I do the farmer's market tomorrow.

Got another headache today, not sure what brought it on, but ended up taking a couple hour nap. Woke up and made Tom Kha (Vietnamese coconut shrimp soup) for dinner, it turned out superbly!  Really nice!

Day 13:  Had weird sleep last night, probably due to my afternoon nap, so ended up sleeping in a little later than intended. Got up and headed to Sprouts and the farmer's market this morning; managed to get some really beautiful tomatoes, compliant deli meat, more of the Whole30-friendly pork sausage and a beautiful pineapple.  The fellow at the farmer's market told me that the best way to pick a pineapple is to check the inner leaves, if they are easy to pluck out, it means the pineapple is ripe.  Also, you want to look at the color, a ripe pineapple will be mainly yellow/brown on the outside, rather than green.

Came home for leftover Tom Kha for lunch.  Planning on making some paleo ketchup this afternoon as soon as the World Cup is over.

I ended up making ketchup and mayonnaise. The ketchup had a bit of a strange flavor, I think I may try adding a bit more vinegar, and the mayo came together like magic.  So obviously, I had to make burgers and fries for dinner. I even found a recipe for paleo buns!  There was a lot of experimenting (and eating) in my kitchen today!

I'm going to marinate some chicken breasts tonight for lunches this week and I already have my eggs ready to go for Monday morning! Almost to the halfway point!