Whole30 Diaries: Week 1 Recap

We are officially done with our first week of Whole30, woohoo! The first week is usually the hardest because your body is adjusting to the new change in diet and the lack of sugar. You really don't realize how much sugar you consume, until you take it out. Then it's like this nasty demon comes out and you can smell a cookie from a mile away haha, well not really, but maybe!

So for the first week, we were super prepared. I had tons of food ready to go and a meal planned for every night. We normally eat leftovers for lunch, so I made sure we would have plenty. I also prepped lots of food for snacks because that will help in those moments when you are starving. Keeping food on hand is super important.

Some snacks were: apples (with cinnamon on occasion), the apple+ banana fruit bars from Trader Joes, bananas, berries, beef jerky, nuts (almonds, cashews, and walnuts), RX bars, dried pineapple, sausage sticks from Trader Joes, pickles, veggies with guacamole, and many more...

Here's what we ate for dinner (+some breakfast and lunches):

Monday: Grilled rib-eyes, roasted broccoli, and a mediterranean salad

Tuesday: Slow-cooker Italian beef- from the Whole30 cookbook

Wednesday: Chicken & green olive meatballs with spaghetti squash from the Whole30 cookbook

Thursday: Lechon asado + fried plantains **forgot to take a picture, whoops! This is from Juli Bauer's Paleo Cookbook

Friday: dinner out- lettuce wrapped burgers

Saturday: breakfast- sweet potato hash, sausage, and two fried eggs.

Lunch- chicken & apple sausages with sautéed peppers.

Dinner- chopped salad with Tessemae dressing

Sunday: lunch- roasted chicken, cucumbers with vinegar, and a pickle :)

Dinner- braised short rib "tacos"- from Juli Bauer's Paleo Cookbook 

Feeling:

The first week you feel like you are obsessed with food and alcohol. All you think about is wanting to eat pizza and have a beer. Well, that's how we felt lol!! It's crazy how much your mind can play tricks on you. Also, on day 5 we both had a massive headache and were super run down. This is pretty normal because you're body is trying to figure out why you aren't giving it all the quick energy sources from grains and sugar that it normally uses. It gets better, I promise!

At some point, you will think, "Why am I doing this?? This is dumb! No one should deprive themselves.... I obviously need to eat some carbs." These are normal feelings and they will pass :) I pretty much felt this way all last week!

Craving:

Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. We were pretty bad over break when it came to having treats, so the sugar monster was rearing it's ugly head last week. I was definitely craving a sweet treat and ended up having an apple or dried fruit in times like that. It helps, but I'm also trying not to be dependent on those sugary items to get me through. I also just want pizza, really bad.

Loving:

La Croix sparkling waters, especially the passionfruit and apricot varieties. Plain water gets really boring so these sparkling waters really jazz things up. I also found a couple recipes for drinks in the Whole30 cookbook that I plan on trying this weekend.

RX bars have also been a lifesaver. As I've talked about in previous posts, the mornings are not my friend. I am like a sloth in the morning and can barely get myself out the door, much less make a big breakfast. RX bars save me during those mornings. They are also a good "emergency" snack for long commutes, or other times that you are out of the house.

I will be posting more pictures FB and snapchat as the weeks continue. I hope this helps give you a little insight though!