What Whole30 Food Looks Like…

Hey, do any of you remember that time when I used to blog???

Oops—I did it again.  I took an unplanned leave of absence from blogging.  I guess it was a blog-cation.  I’ve just been a bit busy and at night it was just too tempting to zone out and watch episodes of Nip Tuck at night.  But after tomorrow, I am on summer vacation, and I plan to do some catching up and more cooking!

Whole30 Update: I finished! 

I actually finished my 30 days on May 28.  It felt so great to get to the end and know that I made it through!  Lots of things happened over my 30 days:

• I started sleeping better than I can remember in many years.  Every. Single. Night.
• I quit taking my joint supplement before I started and haven’t resumed it since!  Woo Hoo!  I also will tell you that I used to take Advil before I taught my Zumba classes and I have quit doing that completely.  And I feel great afterwards.  Before the Whole30, if I taught on consecutive days, it was really hard on my body.  However, last week, I taught for 4 consecutive days and still felt great!  This is probably one of the best benefits!
• I lost about 8 pounds.  This was also awesome.  I was even able to get into the next (lower) weight “decade.”
• I lost 3 inches from my chest, waist, and hips.  I didn’t measure arms and legs at the beginning, but I should have.
• I ate new veggies I never tried before or tried them in a new way: artichokes (loved!), jicama (didn’t love), mashed cauliflower (yum! Just about as delish as mashed potatoes)zucchini and squash “noodles” (loved the zucchini, didn’t love the squash as noodles), grilled zucchini, plantain chips, dried okra, and more.
• I fell in love with Kombucha.  I still don’t totally understand WHAT it is… (fermented tea?) but I love it. 
• I learned that I can live without bread and all those bread-like things.  (Waffles, English Muffins, bagels, etc.)  It was hard at first to give them up, but I have found that eliminating grains has helped me to eat more healthy foods and not feel bloated and disgusting after a meal. 
• I (mostly) gave up snacking!  I was a huge snacker before, especially at night.  But on Whole30, I really didn’t feel the need to snack.  This also was a huge difference.

These are just some of the top things I noticed over my 30 days.  In fact, I have mostly stuck with the Paleo way of eating.  With the exception of a few bowls of fro-yo (can’t help it—I love the original tart!) and a glass of wine last night and a cookie at my sister’s house… I have mainly stuck with it.  I plan to continue eating mostly Paleo.  After the great results I got, why wouldn’t I?

Also—I will post a before and after photo.  I will try to have that up ASAP!

So now… I want to share some of my meals with you so that you can see for yourself what a day of Whole30 eating looks like.  You’ll see when you start looking at my meals that these were just healthy, delicious meals.  Feel free to ask any questions through comments on this post, because I know some of you have been curious about the program.

(Note: For meals that I have previously blogged or posted recipes, I have linked back to those recipes so that you can find out how to make them yourself!)

Breakfasts:

First of all… know that I love eggs.  So I do eat them a lot.  I also tend to eat breakfast in the car a lot because I have to be at work by 7:30 a.m. And when I arrive, I am usually busy for the next hour.  So I like to take portable items for breakfast.  I CAN eat scrambled eggs in the car because I am just that talented.  But I usually save those for weekends.  I also sometimes eat dinner leftovers for breakfast if they are portable—like hamburger patties or sliced chicken breast. (Also—I was lucky to have a coworker who helped supply me with farm-fresh eggs.)

Truly Fresh Eggs

 

scrambled eggs with locally-made sausage

 

hard-boiled eggs with carrots, almonds, and an apple

 

eggs, almonds, cucumber and tomato slices

 

Lunches:

Most of my lunches are leftovers from dinners.  However, sometimes I did make special lunch items. 

Taco salad with seasoned ground beef, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions

 

leftover turkey chili with baby carrots and almonds

 

avocado chicken salad (in the mix: green onions, apples, chicken breast, avocado, celery)

NOTE: I will write up this recipe sometime soon.

 

potpourri platter with turkey, almonds, and dried okra

 

 

tuna salad

 

Dinners:

This was when I did the most experimenting.  On the nights I taught Zumba, I had simpler dinners.  Sometimes I had leftovers, sometimes I threw together some potpourri platters, and sometimes I cooked items (like chicken strips or hamburger patties) in bulk to create quick meals on busy nights.

hamburger patty, baby artichokes with EVOO-Lemon-Salt dipping sauce, watermelon

 

Chicken and Bok Choy Skillet Meal

 

Turkey Chili

 

Zoodles and Meatballs

 

“Dessert”

Banana-Berry Sandwich Bites

 

These are just a sampling.  Now, I know some of you have also asked about eating out.  What do you do when you eat out?  Well, I am working on a post to show you some of the items I had when I ate out during my Whole30 days.  That’s coming soon.

So—what do you think?  Could you do a Whole30?