Like most everyone else in the world I'm aiming to start off the new year on a healthier foot and so I've enlisted the help of some of my friends to embark on the journey of Whole30 (dun dun DUUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!)
So for those of you who don't know here's what Whole30 is:
Established by Dallas Hartwig and Melissa Hartwig (of Whole9) in April 2009, the Whole30® is our original nutritional program designed to change your life in 30 days. Think of it as a short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and balance your immune system.
So that means you have to cut certain food groups (sugar, grains, dairy, alcohol, and legumes) out of your diet. This allows your body to rid itself of any of the negative effects those foods might be having on you and "reset." Following the 30 days, you systematically re-introduce those forbidden food groups into your diet in a way that allows you to see exactly what effect each type of food has on your body. What if you've had a good sensitivity to dairy or gluten or soy that you've never known about? This could be the answer to your chronic fatigue or digestive issues or problem skin. It also gives a completely new and personal meaning to eating healthy. Maybe it's dairy that's keeping you from losing weight, and not all the carbs. This program gives you the opportunity to find out.
So that's a little bit about why I (and my crazy friend and my work biffel) decided to embark on the Whole30 journey starting January 4. Why January 4 and not the 1st? Are we just slackers? Maybe, but it also gave me a whole weekend to grocery shop, plan, and enjoy a few final glasses/bottles of wine haha
Everything I've read about being successful with Whole30 involved planning and preparation. Well cue the music because, these are a few of my favorite things! So I began by creating a Pinterest board, of course, and compiling some recipes that looked doable. A big wrench in this whole thing is that roomie and I are going to be in a production of Fiddler on the Roof which opens the second week of our plan. This means that we will have late night rehearsals every night of week 2 and several nights of week one as well as three weekends of performances throughout the month. So my challenge was that I would need to have either really quick dinners I could prepare for rehearsal nights or extra money to pay someone to figure that out for me. (Obviously my solution wasn't the one with extra money) I found, instead, several recipes that involved a crock pot, PERFECT! I could start it in the morning before I left for work and have it ready before rehearsal. Now the true test will be, can I survive on snacks to get me through rehearsal before I eat dinner (probably not) or can I make it home from work in time to eat/transport dinner to the theatre for roomie to eat as well, because she can't make it home before rehearsal and we usually just meet up at the theatre. The first week will be a test of this plan, so I'll let you know how that works out... So I went ahead and planned meals for the entire month, plugging in different recipes from my board being sure to put in crock pot ones on the nights we have rehearsal scheduled. Why did I do it for the whole month and not just week by week? Because honestly, having some experience with meal planning, I know that if I slip up and don't meal plan for the next week (which happens a lot, I'm a busy gal haha) then the first few days of the next week are pretty thrown together and that is prime time for a Whole30 slip up! If I don't have Whole30 approved options when I'm suddenly hungry, then I'm in a world of hurt... So meal plan I did: every breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack! Now, I'm sure that the plan will alter, especially when I see how many leftovers we have from each dinner, we might be skipping dinners and pushing them to the next week, I'll keep you updated ;) I also went ahead and wrote out my shopping lists for each week based on the ingredients I needed for each of the meals I had planned. I'm sure these will alter from week to week depending on what we run out of and what we don't, or if we push meals around, but at least that work is already done. Editing is always easier than creating the first draft (at least it is for me).
Now here's another wrench in our plan: boyfriend and biffel's husband refuse to embark on this journey with us. (Surprise surprise) so I'm sure the foods they choose to eat (or drink) in front of us our going to be pretty tempting. I had a long talk with boyfriend about how I thought he could support me while we're doing this tho, and he seems agreeable to help me succeed as much as he can, as long as I let him eat pizza once in a while haha (hopefully not in front of me though!)
So how did I prepare?
Step 1: Meal Plan
Here's my plan for Week 1:
Step 2: Shop!
With the crazy amount of produce we would need for this plan, I did my shopping for veggies and fruits at an Asian Market. I find the produce there to be pretty good quality and a lot cheaper.
The beautiful produce section, which is pretty much where I live now :)
Goodbye sweet sweet wine section... never fear we will meet again soon!
Step 3: PREP!
Roomie and I measured out our snack allowances for the week, fruits and nuts so we can just grab and go each night when packing for the next day.
I also made these egg muffins for my breakfasts each day
I used some sausage that I made from ground pork and spices because I just couldn't find any premade sausage that didn't have any added sugars or other preservatives that were on the "no-no" list. I also through in some bell peppers and salt and pepper. Whisked it all together and baked them in the oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes in a muffin tin. The lifesaver of it all though, were these beauties...
Silicone muffin liners. They pop right out of these without sticking and your pan is instantly clean! No added oil needed. Seriously, invest in them if you're going to try these!
So tomorrow is day 1. I can't say that I'm not both excited and nervous. Honestly the hardest part is going to be giving up the caffeine. Coffee is technically allowed on Whole30, but only if you drink it without cream and sugar obviously. So I was going to dive right in with just drinking black coffee. When I had the realization that this entire program is about giving up our addictions to foods, and since caffeine is clearly my biggest food addiction, shouldn't I give that up as well? The answer I came up with was a very sad and reluctant "yes". So unfortunately I know that this first week is going to be pretty rough for me, but it's going to be great in the long run right? Yeah just keep telling me that I'm right ;)
Okay so, don't worry I'll keep the updates coming, because I'm definitely going to need to vent and complain and cheer for every bit of these 30 days to make it through.
Feel free to jump on the bandwagon with us! Crazy loves company right ;)
<3 ME
So that means you have to cut certain food groups (sugar, grains, dairy, alcohol, and legumes) out of your diet. This allows your body to rid itself of any of the negative effects those foods might be having on you and "reset." Following the 30 days, you systematically re-introduce those forbidden food groups into your diet in a way that allows you to see exactly what effect each type of food has on your body. What if you've had a good sensitivity to dairy or gluten or soy that you've never known about? This could be the answer to your chronic fatigue or digestive issues or problem skin. It also gives a completely new and personal meaning to eating healthy. Maybe it's dairy that's keeping you from losing weight, and not all the carbs. This program gives you the opportunity to find out.
So that's a little bit about why I (and my crazy friend and my work biffel) decided to embark on the Whole30 journey starting January 4. Why January 4 and not the 1st? Are we just slackers? Maybe, but it also gave me a whole weekend to grocery shop, plan, and enjoy a few final glasses/bottles of wine haha
Everything I've read about being successful with Whole30 involved planning and preparation. Well cue the music because, these are a few of my favorite things! So I began by creating a Pinterest board, of course, and compiling some recipes that looked doable. A big wrench in this whole thing is that roomie and I are going to be in a production of Fiddler on the Roof which opens the second week of our plan. This means that we will have late night rehearsals every night of week 2 and several nights of week one as well as three weekends of performances throughout the month. So my challenge was that I would need to have either really quick dinners I could prepare for rehearsal nights or extra money to pay someone to figure that out for me. (Obviously my solution wasn't the one with extra money) I found, instead, several recipes that involved a crock pot, PERFECT! I could start it in the morning before I left for work and have it ready before rehearsal. Now the true test will be, can I survive on snacks to get me through rehearsal before I eat dinner (probably not) or can I make it home from work in time to eat/transport dinner to the theatre for roomie to eat as well, because she can't make it home before rehearsal and we usually just meet up at the theatre. The first week will be a test of this plan, so I'll let you know how that works out... So I went ahead and planned meals for the entire month, plugging in different recipes from my board being sure to put in crock pot ones on the nights we have rehearsal scheduled. Why did I do it for the whole month and not just week by week? Because honestly, having some experience with meal planning, I know that if I slip up and don't meal plan for the next week (which happens a lot, I'm a busy gal haha) then the first few days of the next week are pretty thrown together and that is prime time for a Whole30 slip up! If I don't have Whole30 approved options when I'm suddenly hungry, then I'm in a world of hurt... So meal plan I did: every breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack! Now, I'm sure that the plan will alter, especially when I see how many leftovers we have from each dinner, we might be skipping dinners and pushing them to the next week, I'll keep you updated ;) I also went ahead and wrote out my shopping lists for each week based on the ingredients I needed for each of the meals I had planned. I'm sure these will alter from week to week depending on what we run out of and what we don't, or if we push meals around, but at least that work is already done. Editing is always easier than creating the first draft (at least it is for me).
Now here's another wrench in our plan: boyfriend and biffel's husband refuse to embark on this journey with us. (Surprise surprise) so I'm sure the foods they choose to eat (or drink) in front of us our going to be pretty tempting. I had a long talk with boyfriend about how I thought he could support me while we're doing this tho, and he seems agreeable to help me succeed as much as he can, as long as I let him eat pizza once in a while haha (hopefully not in front of me though!)
So how did I prepare?
Step 1: Meal Plan
Here's my plan for Week 1:
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
|
Friday
|
Saturday
|
Sunday
| |
Breakfast
|
egg muffins
|
egg muffins
|
egg muffins
|
egg muffins
|
egg muffins
|
egg potato bacon casserole
|
casserole
|
Snack
|
banana
|
banana
|
banana
|
banana
|
banana
|
banana
|
banana
|
Lunch
|
taco salad
|
taco salad
|
taco salad
|
taco salad
|
taco salad
|
leftovers
|
leftovers
|
Snack
|
nuts/almond butter/celery
|
nuts/almond butter/celery
|
nuts/almond butter/celery
|
nuts/almond butter/celery
|
nuts/almond butter/celery
|
nuts/almond butter/celery
|
nuts/almond butter/celery
|
Dinner
|
lettuce wraps
|
zucchini pasta
|
turkey burgers/zucchini
|
pork tenderloin
|
meatballs with pasta and zucchini noodles
|
buffalo chicken with potatoes
|
chili
|
Step 2: Shop!
With the crazy amount of produce we would need for this plan, I did my shopping for veggies and fruits at an Asian Market. I find the produce there to be pretty good quality and a lot cheaper.
The beautiful produce section, which is pretty much where I live now :)
Goodbye sweet sweet wine section... never fear we will meet again soon!
Step 3: PREP!
Roomie and I measured out our snack allowances for the week, fruits and nuts so we can just grab and go each night when packing for the next day.
I also made these egg muffins for my breakfasts each day
I used some sausage that I made from ground pork and spices because I just couldn't find any premade sausage that didn't have any added sugars or other preservatives that were on the "no-no" list. I also through in some bell peppers and salt and pepper. Whisked it all together and baked them in the oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes in a muffin tin. The lifesaver of it all though, were these beauties...
Silicone muffin liners. They pop right out of these without sticking and your pan is instantly clean! No added oil needed. Seriously, invest in them if you're going to try these!
So tomorrow is day 1. I can't say that I'm not both excited and nervous. Honestly the hardest part is going to be giving up the caffeine. Coffee is technically allowed on Whole30, but only if you drink it without cream and sugar obviously. So I was going to dive right in with just drinking black coffee. When I had the realization that this entire program is about giving up our addictions to foods, and since caffeine is clearly my biggest food addiction, shouldn't I give that up as well? The answer I came up with was a very sad and reluctant "yes". So unfortunately I know that this first week is going to be pretty rough for me, but it's going to be great in the long run right? Yeah just keep telling me that I'm right ;)
Okay so, don't worry I'll keep the updates coming, because I'm definitely going to need to vent and complain and cheer for every bit of these 30 days to make it through.
Feel free to jump on the bandwagon with us! Crazy loves company right ;)
<3 ME
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