What can you eat?

The biggest question I got throughout the Whole30 process was “well, what CAN you eat then?!”.  It does seem overwhelming to people when you say you are currently not eating any grains, dairy, legumes, soy, sugar, additives, corn, peas, potatoes or booze.  But there are tons of things you CAN eat…you just have to put some thought into it.

I thought I’d share a typical work day meal plan. 

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with onions, peppers, and spinach served over yam hash cooked in coconut oil and topped with kalmata olives or avocado.  grapefruit on the side.

Lunch:  grilled chicken breast, 1/2 a baked yam with cinnamon and coconut oil, sautéed kale topped with pecan pieces.

Pre-workout:  over easy egg with sliced avocado or a handful of natural almonds.

Dinner:  sautéed shredded Brussels sprouts cooked in clarified butter, roasted carrots and beets, pan seared wild salmon filet, all drizzled with olive oil.

On Friday evenings I would throw in Dessert for Michael and I:  chopped Altaulfo mango and sliced banana with whipped coconut milk and chopped almonds.

You’ll notice there is no photo for Post-Workout.  I struggled the most with this meal because I workout after work…so I’m really ready for dinner when I get home from the gym.  But the plan asks you to eat a portion of protein and a good carb right after your workout and this mini-meal shouldn’t replace a regular meal. So I would generally go for a hard boiled egg or a cold leftover chicken sausage and either some baked yam or some steamed carrots…really had to make sure I had some leftovers kicking around in the fridge. 

Off to a Good Start

Once I read up on Whole30 and stopped by the mall on my lunch hour to grab the book It Starts With Food it really only took me 2 days to decide I was ready to tackle the program.  I spent a weekend talking it over with Michael, pounding back the best bacon cheeseburger of my life, writing out my first week’s meal plan, and buying Whole30 compliant groceries.

What’s compliant?

Well with no grains, no dairy, no legumes, no sugar, and no additives you’d think a meal plan would be easy.  Just slap some meat and veggies together and top it with healthy fat and Bob’s your uncle right?  Almost.  But not quite!  How do I make breakfast without a carton of store bought almond milk or my beloved oats?  Prep!!

Conveniently Monday morning was exactly the 15th of the month.  I don’t know about you but I always feel most motivated for these kinds of things on the 1st and the 15th, and the obvious Monday motivation helps too.
Day one went off pretty easily.  It was fun to have a proper hot breakfast at my desk, interesting trying canned coconut milk in my coffee, and refreshing to not hit a wall at 3pm.  I was in a good mood after work, which led to a particularly good yoga class that night and an almost decent night’s sleep.

The next day I learned a few things about making a drastic diet change

though.  My body told me loud and clear that it noticed what was going on! 
I found myself to be quite hungry most of the day, even though I ate a similar menu as the day before.  I went to the gym as usual, but after 20 minutes of cardio and only about 5 minutes of strength training I got lightheaded, which scared me so I packed it in and came home.  I thought I had fuelled myself OK but apparently my body disagreed.

After that experience I paid a bit closer attention to each meal and made sure to follow the guidelines about pre-workout mini-meals.  I was so used to just throwing down some toast and pb before the gym that it took a few tries before I learned that a boiled egg and handful of almonds was my best Whole30 fuel choice. 

Talk about retraining the brain.  Man, reaching for carbs really just is a way of life isn’t it?!

For the rest of the week things went well.  I managed a couple of good workouts with no problems, I really didn’t have any off-program cravings, and started to notice that I was sleeping more soundly.  I was still waiting for the crazy dreams I’d read about!  Overall I was super happy with my choice to try Whole30 and very proud of myself for getting through the first work week. 

Whole30 Compliant Tasty Discovery:  Clarified Butter!

Skip the milk solids and make some clarified butter.  Wouldn’t you just immediately sign up for any ‘diet’ that said ‘go ahead and cook a meal or three in melted glorious buttery deliciousness’.  So fun.  So deeelish.

A Good Food Adventure

Years ago, before I ever started this blog, I dieted.  Actually dieted.  None of this ‘chose a better lifestyle’ or ‘pick a new food way of life’ stuff…but went out of my way to diet to lose weight.  At the time, it was the best thing for me and it worked.  I stayed with it after I lost my 24 pounds and learned to work some of those diet ideas into a more balanced menu for myself.  I eventually became the girl behind Embracing Balance and happily went along balancing healthy foods with indulgent foods and enjoying every bite while maintaining my happy weight.

At some point a few years ago that balanced lifestyle stopped working.  I gained back 15 pounds gradually, focused a little too much on cheeseburgers and a lot too little on portion control. No surprise that those pounds just hung on for dear life.

You’ve all seen me get back on the healthy eating and workout bandwagons a few times since this all happened, but doing it multiple times hasn’t done anything for me.  I would make it a few days with clean eats then decide a cheat day or three won’t hurt.  Then I kick the scale when it doesn’t move.  And console myself with Cheezies when my old pants still don’t fit.
Guess what?  I’m human.  I need to pick myself up, dust myself off, rethink things, and make new choices.  And sometimes I need to do it over and over and over again.  This time, I woke up and decided that the thing to do was try another diet.  An actual diet.  With rules, guidelines, and restrictions.  Something I could really work at and be proud of.

The problem was that the diets of yesteryear don’t fit my food beliefs anymore.  I’m not going to turn to no-fat yogurts, 100 calorie snack packs, and diet soda this time.  I want to eat real food.  I want to eat a lot of real food. 

This is how I found Whole30.  It’s all about real, good food.  Sure, it’s not meant to be used as a ‘diet’ per se but the handy side effect of regulating meals and eating a specific assortment of foods can be weight loss.  Plus, it’s something that can work even after the weight loss portion is achieved.  It’s good food for life.  

To start I decided I needed to be as strict with myself as possible which is part of why I opted to try Whole30.  30 days of eating by the rules. 

“Eat real food – meat, seafood, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds. Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re totally natural and unprocessed.”

No sugar, no booze, no dairy, no grains, no legumes, no additives, no spuds.

I know it sounds like a lot, and it is…but with a great book and a website full of guidelines, support and recipes I was ready to get on board.

As an added bonus, it’s basically an elimination diet…so the option of finding out what foods cause me gastric grief, joint pain, body aches, or anything else was what really sold me.  I never knew legumes could cause body aches…and guess what I eat a ton of?  Yeah…damn you chick peas, black beans, and peanut butter.

At the very least I knew that is was 30 days I could be proud of.  A personal challenge if you will.  Even if I didn’t shed a pound, or jumped face first into a bucket of ice cream after 30 days, it’s still a month to be proud of.

So the next round of blog posts will review how my Whole30 went down.  I finished a week ago and have a head full of thoughts swirling around that I have decided to share.  If you have any questions, please throw them out and I will attempt to address them as I go along.