Happy Sunday guys!!! Today marks the end of my second week of Whole30. So far it’s going really well and this week has definitely been better than the first energy-wise. I felt very tired the first week, but seem to be gaining that back. Quite a few of you have asked me questions throughout the week, so I thought the best way to let you know how this week went was to just answer your questions!
Whole30 Questions:
- How do you feel? Honest, so good! One of my sweet friends has eaten paleo for years and we had a long chat about that this week. I honestly have never felt so good body-wise. I been weighing myself (I know you’re not supposed to), and I haven’t lost that much weight, but my body looks so much different. My husband has commented on how good my stomach looks, I fit in my clothes so much better, and the biggest thing of all is I haven’t felt bloated for 2 weeks! This has made me realize what a giant impact the quality of food you eat has on your body. I feel less bloated, more energetic, and I’ve stopped calorie counting because I’m eating only what I need and everything I’m eating is high in nutritional value.
- What’s been the biggest challenge this week? That question has two answers actually. My first challenge was the whole meat thing. I’m not a big meat eater, so trying to throw in some dinner recipes that don’t have meat, but that will still give my body what it needs has been a challenge for sure. The second challenge for me has been finding healthy snacks that I can keep in my car. Tuesdays-Thursdays I pretty much live in my car seeing speech therapy patients and going to blog meetings, so I need to have everything in my car. Right now my snacks have been carrots, mixed nuts, and dried fruit, but I definitely need any suggestions you may have in this area!
- Has planning and cooking meals taken up a lot of your time? Many of you are young moms like me and have wondered if this is something that’s doable when time is such a valued thing as a mom. I thought before starting this that this would be my biggest hangup and complaint, but it actually hasn’t been that bad. On busy days, I try to do a crockpot recipe that require next to no effort. Plus, I’ve found that if I plan out all my recipes on Sunday, I know exactly what I need to buy and exactly how much time to carve out that evening. I also try to only cook those recipes that can be done in about 30 minutes.
- Does Whole30 take a lot of prep? This question kind of piggybacks on the one above, but I’ll answer it anyway. Yes, it does. It’s not overwhelming, but if you set aside some time each Sunday to plan out a grocery list for the week and your meals for the week, then you won’t be stressing during the week. It’s totally worth it! Once you’ve done it a couple weeks in a row, too, it will just become habit!
- How do I reduce snacking and still stay full? Man, this is such a killer question! I’ve found that the best way to reduce my urge to snack is to make sure I’m getting enough protein and good fats (avocado for example) when I eat my meals. When I do this I can stay full until the next meal. If I need a snack, I try to eat a snack that I know will fill me up like mixed nuts, almonds, veggies with salsa, or an apple with almond butter. If you feel hungry than your body is telling you it’s not getting what it needs, so don’t ignore it, but don’t grab something unhealthy either. You can do it!
- Is your husband supportive? Is he eating Whole30 meals with you? Hehe, this question makes me smile. Yes, he’s very supportive. Having been a vegetarian up until I got pregnant with my girls, my husband has known I’ve always been conscious of what I put into my body. I got off the wagon after Abby was born, and wanted to get back to eating clean as a way of life, and he was in totally support! He has been eating every meal with me so far and he’s my true test on how good a recipe is because it takes a lot more to fill him up than it does for me. Thankfully every meal we’ve cooked he’s loved and been full! He especially loves the barbeque chicken salad we’ve been making. Would he ever do Whole30? Probably not, but he is all for whatever makes me feel good. 🙂
- What is your daily eating template? This is such a good question! It’s pretty simple so here it is:
- Breakfast – I eat the same thing almost every morning for the sake of time. My girls typically have eggs as part of their breakfast, so I’ve been eating scrambled eggs and sliced avocado for breakfast. I think if I had more time in the mornings I would change this up a bit.
- Mid-morning snack – I try to eat a snack so I’m never starving by lunch and it’s usually some sort of fruit like an apple with almond butter, a whole banana, or dried fruit. I’ve been loving the dried organic mangos from Trader Joes.
- Lunch – I am a creature of habit so I either eat the barbeque chicken salad I linked below, avo-tuna (1/2 an avocado mashed and mixed with tuna, seasoned with salt and pepper), or grilled chicken.
- Mid-afternoon snack – here I typically eat some sort of veggie like carrots or sliced cucumber and salsa or I go to my favorite juice bar – Nekter, and get their green juice.
- Dinner – all of my dinner recipes are listed below. 🙂
- Evening – since wine isn’t allowed on Whole30, I typically have a cup of tea in the evening to satisfy that desire for something other than water. 🙂
Whole30 Recipes:
- SUNDAY: Crockpot Green Chili Pork & Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice – y’all, this was so good! Sunday was on the colder side in Dallas and we wanted something that would cook all day, be warm to eat, and make our house smell good. Mission accomplished. This pork was so incredibly tender, so full of flavor, and the rice was delicious. I’m so glad we made the rice because it was so simple that I’ll definitely be making it again to pair with other dishes!
image via paleo newbie
- MONDAY: Barbeque Chicken Salad – Monday night was a busy night for us in that my husband would be at home with the girls and I had a Junior League meeting, which means we needed a super easy dinner plan. So, my husband ate leftovers and I had chicken salad. We loved the chicken salad from last week so much that we made a big batch of it on Sunday for my husband to take for lunch and for me to eat whenever I didn’t have time to prep a meal.
image via the pinning mama
- TUESDAY: Orange Chicken and Cauliflower Fried Rice – I had been craving asian food of some sort, so we decided to try this recipe for orange chicken. The recipe calls to put it on top of steamed broccoli, but we decided to put it on top of cauliflower fried rice instead. As far as the orange chicken goes, it was really good. We followed the recipe exactly and somehow our orange sauce came out looking a lot duller and tasted a bit more like curry sauce. We’re not exactly sure what went wrong but we’re thinking maybe we needed to squeeze the orange a bit more? No idea. Nonetheless, it was very good! The fried rice is a recipe I read a long time ago and can’t seem to find, but I make it so much I’ve written out the steps here for you guys:
image via @whole30recipes on instagram
Cauliflower Fried Rice:
1 – Cook Trader Joes frozen fried rice in a pan until heated (directions on bag)
2 – remove the rice and put in a covered bowl to retain heat
3 – drizzle some sesame oil in the pan and scramble an egg or two. remove the egg and place on top of rice in the bowl
4 – return to pain and drizzle a T or so of sesame oil in it; once oil is heated put in half a chopped yellow onion, 1/4 C frozen peas, and chopped carrots (to your liking); cook until heated
5 – once veggies are heated dump the rice and egg back into the large skillet and mix together; season with salt, pepper, and ground ginger
6 – pour in a couple Ts of coconut aminos*(substitute for soy sauce) – once heated, remove from pan and serve!
- WEDNESDAY: Caramelized Onion Spaghetti Squash – we have been eating a lot of meat the past couple weeks and coming from a gal that doesn’t generally eat a lot of meat, I needed a break. So, we made some spaghetti squash noodles with caramelized onions, kale, and mushrooms and it was very good and super filling. While it was a nice break from all the meat, I’m not sure if this was one of my favorites. It was good for sure, but I don’t think I’d make it again. Just a personal opinion!
- THURSDAY: Grilled Chicken – yep, you read that right. BORING! This meal was super, super light and not recommended if you’re feeling well. I had a major migraine Thursday evening and had zero appetite as I was having trouble keeping anything down. So, all I was able to stomach was some grilled chicken. I would say if you’re grilling your chicken to be sure to use ghee or olive oil. It’s so easy to forget that you can’t have butter during Whole30!
- FRIDAY: Grilled Chicken and Seasoned Rice – sorry our Thursday and Friday nights were boring this week! I had another bad migraine on Friday, so by the time the hubs got home from work I went straight to lay in bed with the lights off. Since I didn’t have anything planned due to not feeling well Travis had to just work with what we had. He grilled some chicken with Ghee, salt and pepper and then roasted some corn with Ghee and some mixed seasoning. One of those simple, make-shift meals that ends up working out and getting the job done! I promise more fun recipes next week!
- SATURDAY: Potato Soup – you guys, this was so good! My sweet friend Lauren posted this recipe on her blog this week and my hubby and I couldn’t wait to try it. The ingredients are simple, it’s so full of flavor, and it makes plenty of servings for you to have for lunches or dinners throughout the week. We both HIGHLY recommend it. She has other great recipes too like Zoodles Pad Thai that we plan on trying tonight!
image via a lo profile
As always, thank you so much for following along. I hope you had a great week 2 of Whole30 if you’re doing it! We’re half way there guys!!! Be sure you keep checking back on my pinterest board for more recipes – I’m constantly pinning! And if you missed my week 1 review, you can catch it here!
As always, be sure to check out these blogger babes that are doing Whole30 with me: My Life Well Loved, Life in the Green House, Taz + Belly, Life Lutzurious, Casual Claire, Two Peas in a Prada, Lauren McBride, A Lo Profile, Makeup Life and Love, Tessa Lindsay Garcia, and Sunflowers and Stilettos.
