The Whole 30 Series: Week 1

The time has come. We committed. We told people about it. We announced it to Instagram. Can’t back out now.

Ok- so I’m being a little dramatic and making it sound a little daunting. But actually, every time I do a Whole 30, I’m very excited to get started. I know the positive change that I’m about to see. The boost in my energy. The improvement in my skin. The mental shift to not feeling that guilt about my food choices.

I’m also a little realistic and know that it will get harder in the middle. That going out with friends will require a little more explanation and a lot extra willpower. But I also know I can do it.

Speaking of it getting hard- my 4^th Whole 30, my husband and I traveled for a wedding, to a hotel that had no refrigerator in the room, for a long weekend. We ended up packing tons of food, using the hotel staff fridge, and having a big meal before the wedding so we wouldn’t be as tempted to cheat. We even brought Lara bars in my purse and sneaked them during dessert time. You know- no one even noticed. No one asked if my drink was soda water with lime or a vodka soda. No one asked why we didn’t put dressing on our salad. No one noticed that we didn’t even really eat dinner because we just talked, laughed, and danced with our friends at our table.

If we can make it through a wedding- you got this! You may choose to let people know if you have to attend a big event, and that’s totally ok! We just did not want to have to answer a ton of questions, so we got soda water and lime, ate the salad, cut up our dinner and just laughed with our friends instead of eating and drinking. Most people are too worried about themselves, or worried about their drink refill, to even notice.

But let’s get back to the beginning here. We’re about to start our Whole 30 and I’m just excited! So let’s get into what Week 1 looked like!

Warning: This post is a little longer than normal. It includes daily details of what we ate, how my husband and I both felt, and then a roundup at the end of overall feelings. It can be super helpful if you’ve never done a Whole 30 and want to know the daily ins and outs. This is our real meals, nothing specially curated for a blog post or edit to look fancy. We’re not fancy people. You don’t have to be fancy or a top chef to do this.

Day 1:

Feelings- I am excited to start. I always get giddy on the first day. And then I opened our fridge for breakfast. Ohhhhhhh no. I quickly realized that we had zero food in the house. I hadn’t gone grocery shopping in over 10 days. We definitely planned on doing this Whole 30. We decided 4 days ago that 1 May would be our start date. And I didn’t even think about when I would grocery shop. Maybeeee you should have planned Chelsea. Oops! We made it work- but we definitely had to scour the fridge!

Food: We did have some leftover hash, the filling of my Stuffed Acorn Squash. So we reheated that for breakfast. PS. Breakfast doesn’t always have to look like a traditional breakfast! Dinner was a little trickier- we still had some greens, one leftover turkey burger, and a few veggies- so random salad for dinner it is!

Day 2:

Feelings- Today’s #1 goal- Grocery Shop! I am now prepared! We have of the Whole 30 food we need for probably the next 10 days! And Bonus- we got our Misfits Market Box today! So much extra yummy organic produce- yay!  Anddddddd now I don’t’ want to cook Does anyone else feel me there? By the time it go to both Aldi and Walmart (but totally worth going to 2 stores because I save so much money at Aldi!), unload all the groceries, I just don’t really want to do anything else that requires me prepping food. So- chipotle it is for dinner. My first Whole 30 I might feel bad about already reaching for chipotle on Day 2. But my 5^th … Hell no. I know that good enough is good enough. Plus veggies, chicken, guac, and salsas really doesn’t feel unhealthy anyway. My body feels nourished and my mind is grateful I didn’t have to cook.

Pro Tip: If you haven’t hear of Misfits Market and live in the eastern part of the US- it’s a great company that ships organic “ugly” produce to your house for a super reasonable price. And I’ve never really gotten anything ugly. You can use my referral code (COOKWME-HV0EXR) to get 25% off your first box if you want to try it!

Food: We scrounged up what was left in our fridge for breakfast. Justin had two little mini meatloaf “cupcakes” with mashed sweet potato “frosting” that we had as leftovers and I finished up the ground beef stuffed acorn squash filling and topped it with 2 scrambled eggs. Dinner- Chipotle!

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Day 3:

Feelings: I am pumped to meal prep a little today. I’m still feeling really good and motivated. The thing that has surprised me the most is that I haven’t had my typical sweet cravings. The last two nights after we finish dinner I haven’t really craved dessert. It’s weird, but I like it. Maybe I’m a whole new person and don’t need sweets anymore (haha! You wish Chelsea). I’m so so happy to have all of this Whole 30 food available. So today we had a Weekend Breakfast- aka when you have time to actually cook a fresh breakfast- and we meal prepped.

On the meal prep docket today was steak and chicken fajitas (no recipe needed except a whole 30 fajita seasoning) and buffalo chicken casserole.

This buffalo chicken casserole is to die for! It requires you to make your own mayo– which I actually don’t mind but it does dirty up some extra dishes. But I love it. Tonight we had it over sweet potatoes, but you’ll see me eat it later in the week in different ways.

Pro Tip: once you make mayo– have another thing that needs mayo in the next 7-10 days before you mayo goes bad! I’ll probably do some whole 30 deviled eggs later.

Pro Tip: To actually get your potatoes crispy- you need to roast them for 30-35 min. Or own and air fryer. Which I don’t. So the extra time is worth it for the crisp.

Pro tip: Yes white potatoes are allowed in the Whole 30- read this post for all the details.

Food: For breakfast we had eggs, bacon, roasted potatoes. For dinner we dug into the buffalo chicken casserole and stuffed it into sweet potatoes. I ended up drizzling mine with a little Primal Kitchen Ranch because I can’t handle the spice but I love the flavor! I love having the Primal Kitchen Ranch on hand because then I don’t have to worry about making homemade ranch or it going bad!

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Day 4:

Feelings: Here it is. Here my little friend that I know and love. My dessert friend. My sweet tooth friend. He’s not coming back with vengeance. Just a little after dinner. I can easily quiet him with a few bites of cantaloupe or watermelon, so that’s a win. Most of my other Whole 30’s I’ve had HUGE fruit desserts, which are very compliant, but don’t at all stop the mental pattern to crave sweet and get sweet. I would use dried fruit in excess or big bowls of bananas and tons of frozen berries. It never got me out of the sugar craving cycle even after the Whole 30 ended. So I want to try to combat that this time. I’m still having a little fruit after dinner but I am setting a clear, and reasonable,  stopping point to it so I don’t over do it.

Food: Justin had to run out to work this morning so I made his favorite Whole 30 Breakfast “Sandwich”. Bacon + Sweet Potato. I’m not even fancy enough to make sweet potato toast. I just microwave the sweet potato to bake it, cut it in half, and throw the bacon inside. Sandwich. Done. And he loves it

I had a Breakfast Salad, which I really love because it helps me get my greens and all of the veggies keep me full longer. I only need 1 egg and 1 piece of bacon because of all the veggies. This one had spinach, kale, arugula, egg, bacon, apple and roasted turnip. I ended the breakfast with a little watermelon and mint leaf salad inspired by my Three ingredient summer salad.

Justin gets home from work late and I like to eat dinner together so I had my favorite green smoothie as a snack.

For dinner we had our meal prepped fajitas! We made about 2 pounds each of chicken and steak so that we’d have tons of leftovers. I quickly made some cilantro lime cauliflower rice and we had them in butter lettuce cups.

Let’s use this opportunity to talk about snacks and smoothies.

Snacks: According to the Whole 30 rules, snacking is discouraged. The idea being that you should eat enough food in your real meal and not go to the typical snack foods. However, I also feel like if I’m hungry, I’m going to eat. And the Whole 30 agrees- they just want your snack to have a little protein and healthy fat. It’s not the time to just shovel dried fruit into our mouth…. I’m talking to you ‘previous-whole-30-Chelsea’.

Smoothies are the same way- compliant but strongly discouraged. In my opinion, that’s because most smoothies are just tons of fruit and sugars. You’d never eat 2 bananas, 5 strawberries, a mango, an orange, and ¼ of a pineapple in one sitting- but you would in a smoothie. My smoothie isn’t like that. It does use banana and mango, but it also packs in way more greens that I would usually be able to stomach just eating them. Plus it has ginger which is so good for you. And vital proteins collagen powder. So I’m ok with it. I find this smoothie to be really healthy and nourishing- not just pureed fruit. Whatever decision you make about snacks and smoothies is ok, as long as it’s the right balanced decision for you.

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Day 5:

Feelings: Happy Cinco de Mayo! I’m extra surprised that I haven’t wanted to drink alcohol- all these margarita posts online and I don’t even feel like I’m missing out. This makes me extra impressed because I really do love margs. Tequila is actually my favorite alcohol, after a good red wine of course. Today, the headaches started. I’m veryyyy familiar with the sugar detox headaches from my previously Whole 30, so I kind of expected this. Just and I were both really feeling them today. They probably went away 2 days after this, so it is short lived.

Food: Today we had another breakfast salad and then a second salad for dinner. Our dinner salad had an Asian flare with cilantro, green onions and mandarin oranges (you can have ones that are just in 100% juice). And we grilled chicken with just salt and pepper- man was it good! I’m always trying to find a perfect marinade that sometimes I forget how good simple food is.

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Day 6:

Feelings: Today was the first day I actually had to go into the office since we started the Whole 30. And if you work in healthcare you know that your office is somehow always full of unhealthy treats. It’s the biggest oxymoron. Today was no exception. There they were. Munchkins. And not just those glazed jelly filled ones no one likes. The chocolate cake ones. My favorite. Luckily, it was easy for me to pass up early on and then just that like they were gone so I wasn’t tempted the whole day. But man did it make me thankful that I can do a lot of this Whole 30 at home. Controlling the foods that are around you helps so much. And for when you go to work, make sure you bring: 1. Enough food to keep you full and 2. Foods you actually enjoy.

Food: Green smoothie with Vital Proteins Collagen powder for breakfast. Love this collagen powder because it adds protein and is flavorless. For lunch I had leftover buffalo chicken with celery for dipping. At dinner I had an avocado+tomato+cucumber salad and more buffalo chicken for dinner- I told you I loved that buffalo chicken casserole.

Ps. Oops I forgot to take a picture of my smoothie & my lunch! Sorry!

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Day 7:

Feelings: Sugar cravings hit me today. Big time. I thought maybe I was a whole new Chelsea who didn’t need dessert anymore. Not today friend. We ate an amazing late lunch and afterwards I just literally kept eating little snacks to try to satisfy my sweet craving. I ended with some cherry tomatoes (because I think those taste like candy) and then just chugged water. I am not immune to the Whole 30 struggles. It hits everyone.

Food: Again with the breakfast salad! I just really love this to get in extra greens. This one had chicken, roasted broccoli, roasted turnips, cucumber, radish. For dinner we had a ground turkey hash- no recipe but if you add tons of Italian spices into the ground turkey and cook it with onion and garlic. Then add in some peppers, broccoli, and roasted potatoes! It was a hit.

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Snacks for the week:

We don’t snack a ton, but when we’re hungry and need a little snack to help us to get dinner we eat roasted cashews (make sure to look at the oils- these ones I linked aren’t roasted in any oil), carrot sticks, grape tomatoes, mini bell peppers, watermelon and occasionally a Lara Bar- our favorite Whole 30 compliant flavors are Apple Pie, Blueberry Muffin, Carrot Cake, and Cinnamon Roll. Or you can get the Variety Pack and save the ones with chocolate and peanut butter for after your Whole 30- the Cookie Dough one is devine!

Justin loves these Lara bars and probably has one a day. I haven’t eaten one yet, but they’re a great snack option, and obviously hold you over longer than some carrot sticks. They’re especially for plane rides, once we start doing that again.

Overall feelings

Energy: It really depends on who you ask in the house. I’m feeling very energetic. This Whole 30 hasn’t affected my energy during my workouts, which has definitely happened to me in the past. Justin on the other hand has had a rough few days of workouts at the end of the week. He just feels lethargic every time we go to workout. Other than the workouts, he’s feeling pretty high energy as well!

Emotions: I 100% feel more emotionally stable. Not that I’m crazy when I’m not on the Whole 30 (actually maybe we should ask my husband about this one…), but I haven’t had the ups and down of guilt and being hard on myself for eating too much ice cream or chocolate.

Sleep: I’m a pro at sleeping on the usual. This is so weird, but both Justin and I have been having a harder time falling asleep during this week. I don’t think it’s totally Whole 30 related. With COVID my husband gets home late and I’m working from home half the days. So I’m not getting up daily at 4am like I usually am during the week. We’re definitely sleep in till 7 or 730 so that likely is playing into it. We’re also waiting until Justin gets home to have dinner together. So when you don’t eat dinner until 830, it’s hard to be totally read for bed by 930.

Skin: I struggle with hormonal acne. It’s been flaring up the past 3 weeks and I knew my food choices were playing into it. I just didn’t want it to be true because my love for ice cream is strong. But the Whole 30 is proving that I was right. My skin is looking so much better and I’m beyond happy. Part of it I know is because of my skin care and changing up my products to be more focused on fighting acne. But it’s also because good skin comes from the inside out.

Things I’m Craving

I will preface this by saying that I am not a coffee drinker. And let me tell you have I been craving a latte. I don’t even need the caffeine- I have tons of energy. But sweet sugar filled foamy milk just sounds amazing. I also have to admit- this happens to me every Whole 30. Every time I seem to crave wine and lattes, two things I enjoy but don’t drink daily normally.

And at the end of this week- dessert. I wanted some ice cream and I wanted it bad.

How’s your Whole 30 going?