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Day 26 Highlight: 26! Also, Chuy’s can do a decent whole30 salad. Chili’s, you are lame. Also, finally I made dinner; pot roast in the Instant Pot. Pressure cookers are super handy. Lowlight: what a busy flippin’ day. I’m headed into Austin tomorrow and I’m light on groceries in the house to take as snacks, so I’m a little worried about how difficult tomorrow will be. I‘m comin’ for you day #27. |
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Day 27 Highlight: mmmmmm. I made it through? Whether tempted by gummy bears or brownies, I did not partake.I’m missing a picture of pot roast for dinner. And a small piece with my salad at lunch, since I knew I’d find no clean protein in the office. And a handful of pecans.
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Day 28 Highlight: olive to-go packs. Pretty handy. Seeing my sister and dad are also pluses. Lowlight: no protein in the morning and early afternoon left me starving tonight. Not pictured: another pack of olives and TWO bananas. Traveling is hard. |
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Day 29 Highlight: I don’t have to drive to whole foods any more for my Epic Uncured Bacon! Thank you HEB! My excitement cannot be accurately expressed! Lowlight: nada! |
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Day 30 Highlight: day 30 Lowlight: day 30 I’m in the middle of writing up a longer post about my experience. I plan to put it up tomorrow. Plus, I don’t weigh in until tomorrow morning anyway. Thanks for roughing it out with me. I truly appreciate it. |
Whole30 Diary
Whole30: Days 21-25
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Day 21 Highlight: still mayonnaise. Lowlight: super busy day. Emma and I bought new clothes for her and sister. I guess that’s back-to-school shopping…although they haven’t had a break from school. Anyway, switching out closets took all day and I didn’t have much of a food plan, so I ate whatever I could scrounge. So, mayonnaise. But the girls no longer look like ragamuffins, so it’s all good. |
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Day 22 Highlight: dinner! I threw some stuff together because I only had to feed myself. And it might have been the best thing I’ve ever stumbled upon. Ghee-fried potatoes underneath grassfed ground beef with fresh cilantro, red onion, and tomatoes. The cilantro played really well with the richness of the ghee. Damn delicious. Lowlight: lunch sucked (sad salad from chilis). I knew it would so I tried to have a hearty breakfast, but I ended up overcompensating with cashews (two more handfuls than you see here). I also solidified today that the food I turn to when stressed (because I’m totally a stress eater) is sweets and alcohol. I was SERIOUSLY jonesing for a dozen donuts and a bottle of red wine today. Rayo, thank you for talking me down. I do need to figure out how to deal with those triggers when I don’t have the rules of Whole30 to fall back on. I know that this is why my diet was wrecked years ago. |
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Day 23 Highlight: HEB does a pretty decent lactofermented kraut. Also, Topo Chico with lime was a nice change up. Lowlight: I‘m definitely feeling a little of the food boredom that’s common at this point in the Whole30. It’s why I’m trying to add one or two surprising/different/interesting things to the rotation. Like lactofermented kraut. And I snacked a lot today. Stress not alleviated, maybe? |
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Day 24 Highlight: I feel kind of settled in with this whole30. I’m not constantly worried about what I’m going to eat. I know what’s been filling me up and what works as a go-to meal. That feels good. Lowlight: I made Tator tots for the non-whole30 people in the house. Man. It took a lot to stay away from those. More than I thought it would. Also, my big ol’ salad bowl is empty. Can someone chop all those veggies for me? Meh, I’ll do it tomorrow. |
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Day 25 Highlight: breakfast dinner salad? It didn’t make me mad. Lowlight: I should have prepped my big bowl of salad yesterday. I had nothing ready to eat and today was MUCH busier than I expected it to be. You don’t see a handful of almonds. But, it wasn’t really the best food day. Forgot to take the roast out to defrost. So dinner didn’t do me any favors. Planning people. It’s all in the planning. |
Whole30: Days 16-20
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Day 16 Highlight: back to work today means less snacking. I think that’s good. Lowlight: nothing today! |
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Day 17
Highlight: bacon! It took me a while to make it to the whole foods so I could find bacon without added sugar. Mmmmmm. I missed it. Lowlight: none today either. |
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Day 18
Highlight: ran most of a mile today. It’s been a long time my friends. I also toasted some almonds with paprika on some and cumin on others. Why haven’t I done that before?! Lowlight: it is hard to keep enough protein cooked and ready to go. I know I’ve said that before, but I still haven’t gotten better at that. I think that made the tortillas on my counter call my name even louder. Shut your mouth tortillas!
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Day 19
Highlight: friends and dinner! Thank you Sara! Also, I made mayonnaise today. Pretty easy that. Lowlight: I had a bit of a headache. Pretty sure I didn’t eat enough early on, but it was a busy day! And, cooking is an art; you can’t create at a satisfying level if you can’t taste it! I wonder what chefs do on a whole30? Not pictured: a handful (or two) of nuts and olives. |
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Day 20 Highlight: the ghee I ordered at the start of my whole30 came in today! I know I can make my own. And I have before. But I didn’t want to and I had a coupon. Buttery goodness at dinner time (and now I smell it coming out of my pores, which is odd).Also, egg salad at lunch! Delicious! Lowlight: pilling raw chicken juice all over the floor and my legs. Pretty much my worst nightmare. I’m OCD with chicken in the kitchen; bleach for days. Sigh. |
Whole30: Days 11-15
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Day 11
Highlight: first time we had friends over for dinner while I’ve been doing this. It was totally fine. I mean meat and potatoes; it’s the basis of all good dinner parties, no? Thank you for the potatoes (and ice cream), Sara! Lowlight: mealy apple for breakfast. Just gross. |
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Day 12
Highlight: going to Chick-Fil-A with the girls and not hoovering their nugget crumbs. Lowlight: going to Chick-Fil-A with the girls and not hoovering their nugget crumbs. |
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Day 13
Highlight: nice day with daddy while the kids played with their cousins. Thanks my brother and sister-in-law!
Olives and pistachios for snacks at an afternoon movie. Lowlight: we ate out twice today and it was rough. Too many modifications for anyone to get my order right apparently. Oh well. My bad. We’re back to eating at home tomorrow.
Missed a picture of the eggs for breakfast and the olives this afternoon. |
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Day 14
Highlight: back home where I don’t have to navigate and negotiate! I can just eat! Lowlight: running low on supplies. Gonna have to hit up the grocery store asap tomorrow. |
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Day 15
Highlight: half way done! Roasted okra is my new obsession. Tastes like fried without the work. Where has this been all my life?! Lowlight: nothing? Yeah. I got nothing today. |
Whole30: Days 6-10
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Day 6 Highlight: I was not starving all day long today. And the stuffed Poblanos for dinner were pretty good. Lowlight: I CANNOT DRINK A GLASS OF WINE THE FRIDAY NIGHT MY VACAY STARTS! My planning sucked on this one. |
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Day 7 Highlight: Not really jonesing for anything today. Definitely feeling less…mired down? Foggy? I don’t know the best description, but I feel less bleh. Lowlight: Did not plan well this morning. My oldest daughter and I had an early morning so breakfast was a half a peach before we left, and a banana in the Costco parking lot. It wasn’t enough or ideal. Tomorrow I’m road tripping, so I’m packing good snacks tonight to avoid the temptation of gas station Doritos. |
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Day 8 Highlight: Friends and family time! Having snacks packed really helped me. Thanks to my friends Linda and Scott for a great dinner! Forgot to snap a pic though! Lowlight: Not packing enough protein or fatty snacks. Fruit is only satisfying for a short time. A great day though! |
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Day 9 Highlight: My appetite seems to have evened out. I’m not panicky-hungry between meals. This picture doesn’t include a peach and the mixed fruit my friend Sara brought over (thanks for thinking about my high maintenance-ness!). Lowlight: I needed meat. Not enough the last few days, so we made a double batch of Salisbury steak; it was a good idea, but really they just tasted like onion burgers. Sigh. Oh well. It’s meat. |
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Day 10 Highlight: 1/3 of the way through this! My goal this week is to rely less on fruit and nuts. More veggies and good fats. The rules say no stepping on a scale (weight loss is not the point of the program) but I can say I’m buttoning shorts that haven’t seen buttoning in quite some time. Lowlight: It’s a struggle to have enough clean protein ready to eat. Eggs are easy, but I am getting a bit weary of them. |
Whole30: Days 1-5
When I started my Whole30 journey, I thought I’d just capture the best part and the biggest struggle of my experience each day. Then I realized that taking pictures of the food that I was eating could be a useful accountability tool. By day 3, I made the switch to trying to capture all that I was eating. I wasn’t always successful with recording every item in photos, and that’s okay. Documentation perfection was not my goal, instead I wanted to use the act of taking pictures as a prompt for mindfulness.
My pictures can serve the dual purpose of giving you an idea of how my Whole30 progressed. For example, I ate a lot more snacks in the beginning as I struggled with getting the right amount of fats with each meal, and I think that’s clearly evident in what you see.
Tip: Document your Whole30 in a way that works for you. It’s hard to remember what happened each day, but if you find yourself needing to troubleshoot your Whole30, having notes or visuals can be helpful! You don’t have to post it or make it public; this can be just for you.
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Day 1 Highlight: Eat the rainbow! Lowlight: Realizing I have 29 more days before I can crack open this wonderful birthday present (wherein “meh” is really all I can do to keep from crying). |
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Day 2 Highlight: Still eating the rainbow. Lowlight: What the rest of the family had for dinner. Chick-Fil-A is my kryptonite! |
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Day 3 Highlight: Purple cauliflower (or, as my daughter called it, princess flower). Lowlight: None. It was a pretty great day! |
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Day 4 Highlight: Savory sweet potatoes are the bomb. Lowlight: Poor planning led to ugly plates. And too few veggies. And really I had two apples. And 4 sausage patties. And I could go for a Blizzard. |
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Day 5 Highlight: Veggies are back and I really did miss them! Not pictured: pecans for a snack. Lowlight: I love leftovers, but I need some new leftovers. I still have one more day to go on these leftovers though. Sigh. |
well-nourished lives 