Whole30 Days 1-4 recap

Well, we are four days into the Whole 30! That sounds a lot less impressive than it feels. I was thinking that the Superbowl would be a tough time to stay Whole30 compliant, but I won’t actually be attending any Superbowl parties this year. Actually, on Sunday, I will be one of very few people who actually leave San Francisco. The entire city has been madness in the days leading up to the big game, but I had to be at my client site for work on Sunday. Womp womp. I’ll be watching the halftime show from my laptop! Since I grew up in LA where we had no football team, I’ve never been much of a football fan, or sports in general, unless watching Chopped on the Food Network counts!

I digress. Back into the one-week-into-the-Whole30 recap.

THE EATS

Breakfast has been a whole lot of EGGS. And that’s great for me, because I absolutely love eggs. If I could have one thing on a deserted island with me, it would be a chicken that could lay eggs! I eat a lot of eggs as it is, so this isn’t a major change. For Nate, it’s a big change since he normally eats oatmeal at work. It’s been kind of nice to sit down for a warm breakfast together in the morning, and I’ve been making big scrambles with lots of veggies and ham, and fruit on the side. We learned early on that Nate was going to need more carbs than that so I’ve also been roasting sweet potatoes that he has with it.

However, on the days that I either don’t have a nice hotel restaurant to cook me some eggs, or I’m not in my own kitchen, I often turn to on-the-go options like bars and fruit, or the wrap from Starbucks, or oatmeal. On Wednesday night, we we were driving out to Santa Cruz to drop off the van at Nate’s uncles place that we used for moving and I had to go straight to UC Berkeley for a work event in the morning. So I made us chia pudding for the first time! I made Hannah’s recipe, and topped it off with almond butter and bananas. Another on-the-go breakfast for me was hard-boiled eggs and fruit.

Lunch has been very varied. Nate’s had leftovers for whatever we had for dinner, and I’ve had everything from salads to hashes. On Thursday in Berkeley, I went to Chipotle with a friend and had the Whole30 compliant carnitas over lettuce with guac! It’s pretty easy to eat out for lunch on the Whole30 if you order salads with lots of protein and vegetables, and just ask for oil and vinegar on the side.

Snacking has been fruit and almond butter and lots of kombucha and pistachios and one Larabar in there. I still prefer peanut butter, but if I sprinkle a little salt on the almond butter its *almost* as good! Thankfully I bought a huge jar of organic almond butter from Costco. I know Nate has had a lot of the same, plus extra almonds and raisins. The metabolism of that guy is amazing. Truly.

Dinner has been my favorite meal. We have had roasted chicken and vegetables, spaghetti squash bowls, burgers with carmelized onions and mushrooms, and my personal favorite - Baked Chicken in Vegetable “Couscous”. We had dinner with Nate’s family at their place, and I made a homemade Shepherd’s pie and reheated it at their place. We also had some salad they made that did have some dressing on it that I don’t believe was Whole30 compliant, but so be it.

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Last night’s shepherds pie! Cooked and shlepped to Boulder Creek for dinner @i_really_like_macaroons @natewapner

A photo posted by Dani Nemzer (@danicaliforniacooks) on Feb 4, 2016 at 5:46am PST

PHYSICAL OBSERVATIONS

Physically, I feel good! I think people who are used to eating a lot of carbs would have trouble adjusting, but honestly, many of my normal meals are already Whole30 compliant. I already know that eating less sugar and carbs works really well for my body. However, I definitely think I’ve been eating too much fruit. I usually have fruit with breakfast and then an apple with nut butter for a snack, but I’ve been having fruit after dinner too, and also kombucha which often is slightly sweetened with fruit juice, and it’s crazy that the sugar in fruit can affect me so much, but so be it. So I’m planning on cutting back a bit over the weekend and next week (as I have a bowl of grapes next to me…) I definitely think that reducing my fruit intake is going to improve overall bloating and sluggishness.

Also, I’ve been incredibly thirsty. Seriously, even as I write this, I want to go chug some water. BRB.

Nate says he’s been feeling “OK”. I think it’s been an adjustment to figure out what feeling “full” is like when you aren’t eating a lot of oatmeal or brown rice. We also have been learning about what a portion size is going to be for him during the Whole30, and the answer is about 3 times more than I would normally eat, and about double what he would eat if we’re subbing cauliflower for rice or squash for pasta. I bought a BUNCH of potatoes!

ALL THE FEELS + OTHER OBSERVATIONS

I feel like I’m spending a LOT of time in the kitchen. Not that I’m complaining - I do love to cook - but I feel like since we didn’t have anytime to meal prep over the weekend due to the move, I’ve just been preparing for the next meal as soon as I’m done with another meal! I wish I could do more meal prepping for next week, but since I’m traveling on Sunday/Monday, it may be another replica of this past week.

I don’t find myself craving sweet things, but, like I said, I have been eating more fruit than I’m sure the Whole30 gods and goddesses would recommend. I also don’t miss any foods that I normally eat, except maybe peanut butter. I’m sure this will change as the weeks go by.

I think my #1 apprehension about doing the Whole30 was worries about being socially isolated because of it. So much of our social lives revolve around dinners out and drinking with friends, and I don’t want to have to say “no” to any plans. This weekend that was kind of taken care of since I have to travel for work, but I already know I want to have people over the following weekend for dinner and a housewarming!

Have a good weekend, everyone!