Monday, September 21, 2015

Whole 30: It's been a week

Since I was pretty lazy about posting last night, I figured I'd do a wrap of up the first week this morning.

I learned that doing this Whole30 thing is far easier than I thought it would be once I put my mind to it.  Daily posts certainly don't hurt either.  As I eyed my kids' carbtastic treats I asked myself if I was willing to mess up this hard work I've put in and then have to come clean about it on my blog.  Nope.  Not willing to do that.  And truly I'm not doing this to lose weight, I want to feel better. I can't say that I'm feeling excellent and this is the best thing I've ever done in my life, but I am feeling pretty good.  I also noticed that when I wake up, I no longer have a crampy gurgling in my bowels.  I didn't wake up with that feeling daily before W30, but it was often enough to notice that it hasn't happened once in the last week.  I do feel quite sleepy in the evenings and I've noticed that while I often get hungry in between meals it never turns into hanger and it often goes away.  That's a new (and weird) feeling. 

Planning what I was going to eat each day (in advance) was truly the key to my success.  I have this week mostly mapped out and several delicious things already cooked and ready to go in my fridge.  Yesterday I made a braised pork roast from Danielle Walker's Meals Made Simple cookbook.  It was soooooo good.  I had mine on top of a sweet potato and some hot sauce.  I used a few ingredients I haven't used in a pork roast before.  Like fennel seed.  And pancetta.  I also ditched the wine the recipe called for and used chicken broth.  I bet the wine would add a great depth to the already delicious flavor.  Next month I'll try that! There were tons of leftovers.  I'm going to freeze half for emergency dinner and use the other half to nosh on during the week.  I also set aside a few cups of the shredded meat to turn into Cuban sandwiches.

I also went to Six Flags  yesterday.  I was a bit nervous about being in a place that pretty much had zero options for me as far as food and drink were concerned aside from water.  But I made it work.  I had a huge breakfast (finished off my egg frittata and some guac, gotta make more of that today), I packed lunches for everyone and we had a "picnic" outside the park gates instead of buying nasty, overpriced food at the park.  It worked out pretty well and I even picked up some best practices from other people I saw picnicking.  Next time I'll bring camping chairs!  And one group we saw even brought boxed wine.  They said it was the only way they could get through the day in the Kiddie Land.  Ha!  I also had a snack bag of raw almonds stashed in my purse for emergency snacking and I found I only needed to have a few almonds toward the late afternoon.  I had a ton of fun, but by the end of the day, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. We were home by 6 and my dinner was already done in the crock pot.  I felt like a winner!  If I hadn't been doing Whole30, I probably would've suggested pizza or Chinese takeout for dinner.  Not only did I eat something more healthy, I set myself up for success this week with the leftovers. 

I'm ready to jump in to Week Two!

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