What I didn't like about Whole30:
Dirty dishes. Piles and piles of dirty dishes. Due to the nature of the program rules there are no easy, microwave options and ordering take out is essentially impossible. We chose to not eat out at all during our 30 so literally every meal was prepared at home. I cooked breakfast, lunch, and supper for 30 days straight and that makes a mess. While I did meal prep and made most of our breakfast and lunches ahead of time, it still felt like I was non stop cooking. We ran our dishwasher twice as much as normal, and thankfully I had lots of help from my husband when it came to cleaning up the kitchen. Overall this is my biggest complaint. I almost always enjoy cooking and even I got sick of it at some point.
I missed eating out. Sure I missed the convenience of food showing up at your table and there were most certainly foods I missed like sushi and chickfila, but really I missed the ritual of going to restaurants. Going out and trying new places is something that we have always enjoyed doing together. You most certainly could go to restaurants and eat compliant, but it's very difficult so we decided to just avoid any temptation entirely.
It's hard to hang out and do stuff with your friends. If I'm being totally honest, we're not the most social couple anyway. We prefer to stay in on Friday nights and watch Netflix or take our dog for a hike instead of going out to bars or social events, but even still Whole30 made it tough. There's no lunch dates or going out for a drink or enjoying free food that's brought in for you and your coworkers. On average we travel about half the weekends in a month, but we chose not to travel during our 30 days. While this did leave more time for us to do the things we wanted on the weekends, it meant that we didn't see family and friends as often as we normally do.
I missed ketchup. If you know me then you know it's basically my favorite food. I was ok without it for 30 days, but it was also the first non compliant thing I ate once our 30 days was up.
What I did like about Whole 30:
I liked most of what we ate. Sure I missed a lot of foods, but I loved several of our meals. We had steak and potato night with a side of salad or asparagus. We had our normal oven baked wings and just changed the sauce up a bit. We had salmon and poached eggs with hollandaise sauce. Lots of fresh vegetables and meat that were all tasty and satisfying.
I learned to make new things. I've always hated mayo. It's ok mixed in with other stuff, but the taste of it alone would make me want to gag. Homemade mayonnaise is a condiment staple during Whole30 and since I was missing ketchup so much I knew I had to give it a shot. Turns out I love REAL homemade mayo. From mayo I made salad dressing and different aiolis. The peppercorn aioli is now my favorite thing to have with steak. Charlie made a blackening seasoning that we're crazy about on tilapia with a little avocado. Asian lettuce wraps have been added to the weeknight meals repertoire.
We ate breakfast more and stopped late night snacking. While we both love breakfast foods, neither of us is really big on eating first thing in the morning, and we both had the terrible habit of eating "something small" later in the night a few hours after supper. These 2 things go hand in hand because once I committed to eating 3 full meals a day even when I didn't want breakfast, I no longer had any desire to eat later at night.
We both felt better and slept better. It was easier to fall asleep quicker, stay asleep, and wake up feeling well rested. We both noticed that we had more energy and had no mid afternoon slumps or caffeine cravings. We agreed that overall we felt more confident and happier with ourselves. It felt good to take care of my body and know I was making the right choices. We continued our daily routine of walking our dog together, got back into playing disc golf again, and since we had more time on the weekends, went for more hikes and extra long walks.
I learned more about reading labels and what ingredients are actually going into the food I eat. It is eye opening and shocking to discover how much sugar is added to foods unnecessarily. For example, frozen hash browns have dextrose added for who knows what reason! I feel better equipped to make the right decisions when it comes to what I eat. I feel I can say no when I need to and enjoy that slice of pizza or a donut when I want to. Because I know how to make the smart and healthy choice most of the time, I don't have to feel guilty when I want to indulge.
And lastly, we both lost roughly 7% of our body weight and noticed outward physical changes to our bodies. Clothes fit a little better and looked a little more flattering. There were no crazy stomach issues like bloating, gas, or diarrhea. It did take my bowels about a week to adjust, but once that was over, I felt great. My face was clearer and believe it or not, my teeth looked whiter.
I am so glad that we gave Whole30 a shot and both us of have said that we foresee ourselves doing it again when we need it. It feels great to know that there is a set of guidelines I can fall back on if my diet ever gets out of control again (which I'm sure it will). I won't pretend there weren't hard days. On day 10 I ended up screaming at my husband and the dog and then I cried my eyes out. That day and the next few almost broke me, but somehow we held on. It turns out, according to the book, that those are almost always the hardest days for everyone so I wasn't alone. When my period started I thought I would go insane thinking about how much I wanted to eat chocolate and salt & vinegar potato chips. I had anticipated that it was going to be a miserable 30 days, some of them were, but the majority of them were great. I don't regret it one bit. You can do anything for 30 days!
We're currently in the process of "reintroduction" where we eat certain non-compliant foods and see how our bodies react to them. I am eager to continue learning about nutrition and what I need to feel my best. If you have any interest in any of the following dishes please let me know! I have a list of recipes I put off while doing Whole30, but plan to get back in the swing of things next week!
Blackened tilapia topped with lemon and avocado. Roasted asparagus and crispy red potatoes .
Asian style chicken lettuce wraps.
Beef roast with potatoes, carrots, celery, onion and garlic in a compliant beef broth.
Spinach salad topped with chicken salad, red onion, tomatoes, carrots, red cabbage, sunflower seeds, and red wine vinegar.
Compliant bacon with over easy eggs, homemade hash browns and compliant ketchup.
Sous vide NY Strip steak with black peppercorn aioli. Recipe found HERE.
Salmon and poached eggs over roasted asparagus topped with hollandaise and crispy prosciutto.
Ratatouille. Recipe found HERE.
Steak salad: arugula and spinach topped with sirloin, tomatoes, red onion, red cabbage, carrots, sunflower seeds and a dressing made by thinning out the peppercorn aioli with a little water.
Sous vide salmon with roasted asparagus and fresh tomatoes.
Pre-made breakfast egg cups. Recipe found HERE.
Leek & potato soup topped with bacon or chicken sausage and scallions. No dairy needed to make this creamy!
Crispy oven baked wings with compliant sauce. Recipe found HERE.
Surf and turf: scallops and sous vide steak with aioli and garlic greenbeans.
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