Whole30 Update

As promised, here’s my Whole30 update.

As per usual (aka like the last time I did Whole30), I am not amused. All I want is to eat bread and cheese and drink wine on the patio but instead I’m eating a handful of nuts and dried fruit and drinking Trader Joe’s sparkly water like it’s going out of style. I’m also exhausted–though I’m not sure if that’s my body complaining about not having easy carbs to break down for energy or if it’s the fact that in addition to having a new puppy I also stupidly agreed to babysit a friend’s dog for the week. BUT, we’re halfway done and if I haven’t quit by now I’m feeling like I can probably make it to the end. (Today is day 15 so I’m officially halfway done today.)

Some things about Whole30 that I’m actually enjoying are:

I’ve been having a broiled portobello mushroom topped with a fried egg for breakfast. OMG how did no one tell me about this before???? I love mushrooms but don’t generally buy them because Brandon hates them and it’s annoying to either make a whole separate mushroom dish or have him pick them all out. But last weekend at the Farmer’s Market there was an entire mushroom stall and they were selling giant portobello mushrooms for a steal so I grabbed them up and proceeded to get home and Google how to eat them for breakfast the next day. It’s the easiest recipe in the world. Just spray the mushroom top and bottom with cooking spray, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic power, and pop in the oven to broil for 5 minutes on either side. Then top with an egg. It’s easily my favorite easy breakfast and I’ll probably keep eating it after Whole30.

Whole30 makes me remember how many vegetables I like. I tend to think that I actually eat a lot of vegetables even when I’m not doing any food challenge like this, but I also tend to get in ruts and grab what I know I can cook super easily at the store–peppers, broccoli, things like that. But Whole30 makes me remember there are a million veggies I like adding to giant salads–rainbow radishes, snap peas, snow peas, sprouts, etc–and a million ways to cook sweet potatoes as well.

Finally (something that I both love and hate), Whole30 forces me to really think about what I’m going to cook for dinner and get creative and try new recipes. It’s true that I could just sheet pan roast veggies and chicken for 30 days and Brandon would probably be solidly content with that, but I get bored easily so I need some more variety in my food. So I’m constantly looking through my Whole30 cookbook, Whole30 recipes on Pinterest, and Whole30 posts on Instagram to find the next recipe to make that will hopefully make me forget that it’s Whole30.

I’ll circle back next week to share some of those recipes that are so good you forget you’re doing an elimination diet, but for now I’m going to be over here trying to convince myself that sparkly water is just as good as a glass of wine,

xoxo,
J