We did this as part of an amazing program sponsored by my employer called The 68 Day Challenge.
Reading the book, It Starts With Food before beginning the Whole30 is definitely the way to go. The authors give you everything you need to be successful.
Even tough love.
One struggle I had while reading it is that each chapter begins with a testimonial on how the program is “life changing”. Not to be cynical, but really, a 30 day meal plan life changing? How can eliminating certain foods from your diet for just 30 days be all that?
And then, at about day 15 it happened.
My husband and I were both feeling so good that we said “I am never going back”. What does that mean, never going back? We are not going to kid ourselves that we are going to be Whole30 all day every day, but we are going to do our best to be Whole30 80% of the time.
Why?
We feel that good.
Specifically, we both experienced these benefits:
Better sleep. This one matters most. It’s amazing how many other parts of your day are better when you get better sleep. Better sleep = better performance.
Wake up easier. Definitely a result of the first benefit, but it is important to point out.
Running and workouts became easier, Tiger blood is a real thing and we really experienced it. Once your body adjusts to burning fat instead of sugar – look out gym!
No afternoon slump.
Better looking skin. Smoother and brighter.
Weight loss. The incredible part about the weight loss is . . .
The dirty details, I lost 10 pounds and my husband lost 15. To be completely transparent, some of that was holiday excess and would have dropped off anyway. Or, maybe not.
There was only one negative to this program, and no it wasn’t going without our wine for 30 days. If you go pastured, organic, grass fed, all natural, etc.
IT.
IS.
EXPENSIVE.
This is what writer Eric Gillin had to say about that in Epicurious
IT HELPS TO HAVE TONS OF MONEY AND FANCY GROCERY STORES When did tree nuts and almond butter start to cost as much as uncut cocaine?
Our tips for your success:
Do it with a partner. It’s so much easier when you’re not the only one passing on dessert.
Cook once and eat many times. Making things like a beef brisket made meal planning for an entire week much easier.
Learn to love eggs.
Journal what you eat and how you slept. This will give you small celebrations throughout the 30 days.
Don’t give up on yourself – you can do this. Our mantra was . . .”It’s only 30 days”
The authors of the Whole30 say that most people give up on days 10 and 11. The novelty has wore off, food fatigue, temptation. A whole lot of reasons. Being on Day 9 it doesn’t feel like I’m ready to quit tomorrow or the next day.
How are you doing on your 2016 goals? Need some motivation? ET always does it for me. Check out this video
Making the Whole30 fun by being able to be creative has been our focus. By just focusing on making it through each day until you get to 30, I could see how you might give up. If you focus on trying new things and being creative then you look forward to each new experience and don’t even count the day you’re on.
I’ve never even eaten a chicken burger before. That didn’t stop us for cooking them up for today’s brown bag lunch.
Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix to incorporate.
Divide into 4 parts
Form into burgers
Heat non-stick skillet to medium high with a small amount of cooking oil.
Gently place burgers on skillet. After 4-5 minutes flip.
Cook until done – about 4-5 more minutes
If you have a bacon griddle press, burger press, or a panini press they work fantastically to cook these through. Place on top of the burgers once they have been flipped
Many homemade mayonnaise recipes require power tools and face it, many kitchens do not have them. I love this recipe because it doesn’t require any tools except good old arm power and it doesn’t make too much. This is a concern because homemade mayo doesn’t have a long shelf life. You need to use it up quickly.
Homemade Mayonnaise
Ingredients
1 egg yolk (reserve the white and add to an omelet, scrambled eggs or a frittata)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp ground mustard
dash white pepper
3/4 c avocado oil
Instructions
whisk the egg yolk and spices
very slowly – painfully slow – add the avocado oil and continue whisking
continue whisking until thick
*by painfully I mean “how long could this possibly take” not “oh my gosh, this is killing my arm”
This recipe is Whole30 compliant. I’m on day 6 of my first Whole30 as part of my 68 Day Challenge.
You cannot improve in one area of your life without it having a positive trickle effect into other areas.
Testing the waters before “go” day we omitted cream in our coffee about a week ago. This seemed a little more challenging than other sacrifices. No rich creamy coffee goodness. No grande non-fat latte frothing in the green cup.
To pull a quote from The Whole 30 by Melissa Hartwig and Dallas Hartwig
Beating cancer is hard. Birthing a baby is hard, Losing a parent is hard. Drinking your coffee black is. not. hard. You’ve done harder things than this, and you have no excuse…
Truthfully, it is a little hard. We create these morning rituals to start our day happy, invigorated, and fulfilled. Black coffee just isn’t as rich and delectable and yummy. There is a positive trickle effect to drinking it black …less coffee. 1-2 cups instead of 2-3 cups.
We can do this. What is the 68 Day Challenge? Check it out on Facebook: 68 Day Challenge
Today was an adventure. Reading up on the Whole30 I wasn’t intimidated or discouraged at all about the plan. We eat pretty healthy now. Everyone in my family can cook and, except for mushrooms, we are pretty daring when it comes to food. The only piece that seemed to be a challenge is where to find the ingredients? There are no fancy grocery stores or health markets to find organic farm raised meats around here. Today we went searching for one. Since when is shopping not fun?
Stop 1, a large health food market. It looked promising from the outside. Inside not so much. The produce was ok, but the meat choices were pretty much chuck roast, chicken and ground beef. That won’t do it for 30 days. Moving on.
Stop 2, Whole Foods. Here we hit pay day. The meat counter pretty much had all of the cuts an ordinary meat counter would have and it had this awesome rating and tagging system to figure everything out.
We were lucky. We only had to go to two stores to find an easy and reliable store. You may have to go to more but, don’t settle. Don’t go for less. Keep at it until you get exactly what you want. Wait for the best.
Boom!
