Whole 30 Week #1

Whole 30 Week #1

Hi Everyone-

If you have been following me on Instagram and Facebook, you have seen that in August I will be doing Whole30. This is essentially a reset plan, despite the fact that I should have been watching what I eat more while growing a little human being, somehow it got me off track. And the the ravenous hunger while nourishing my “little” baby (he’s 18 lbs at 4 months!) during the first few months also led to eating some things that weren’t as nourishing. So in an effort to get back on track, I’m heading into 30 days of whole real food!

You can find the “rules” here. Essentially it’s similar to a paleo plan; no grains, no dairy, no added sugar, no alcohol, no legumes, or processed additives. The main difference between this and paleo is not trying to recreate baked goods, or treats with approved ingredients. The goal is to change the way you view and consume food. Also the plan includes not stepping on the scale for 30 days!

I love the tough love found on their site. My favorite is “This is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. 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 not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth—the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime.”  Amen to that!

The biggest thing is planning ahead which is why I’m staying up late to get my  dinner meal plan in your hands in prep for next week if you are joining me in this adventure. For me, breakfast will likely be leftovers from dinner because I don’t tolerate eggs very well. If you tolerate eggs, scramble them, make breakfast hash with whatever veggies you have, make omelets, frittatas, the options are endless. For lunch will likely be salad with some protein (beef/chicken/tuna) and homemade dressing. Lately I’ve just been mixing Apple Cider Vinegar with Olive Oil and Italian Seasoning. I’m going to have to bake lots of sweet potatoes and yams to get some carbs for nourishing little man. Whole 30 is not necessarily a low carb plan, but you can easily make it low-carb if you have diabetes or metabolic syndrome.

Whole 30 Week 1 Dinner Menu

• Tuesday August 1st: Taco Salads
  • You could do this a variety of ways, shredded pork like fajitas or just taco meat which your own seasoning overtop your favorite lettuce blend with lots of veggies (avocado, tomato, peppers, onions, etc!) Homemade Salsa and Guac for bonus!
  • We have a garden producing a TON of zucchini so likely we’ll have grilled zucchini or roasted zucchini with some olive oil/salt as well. Zucchini + Olive Oil + Trader Joes Everything Bagel Seasoning is really good!
  • Add roasted potatoes if you need more carbs! If you have diabetes, leave them alone.
• Wednesday August 2nd: Moroccan lamb merguez patties with warm carrot salad.
  • We are trying another round of SunBasket this week. I’m so excited to try this again, for a full review check out this page. Note: if you place your order by tomorrow (7-27) at 3pm EST you can still have SunBasket do your shopping and prep for you. If not you an purchase the ingredients on your own and follow the recipe!
• Thursday August 3rd: Chicken and new potato lettuce cups with tarragon-mustard dressing
  • This is also a SunBasket meal. Again if you know your planning time will be limited to start sign up and try it out or add the ingredients to your shopping list!
• Friday August 4th: Vietnamese shaking beef with lime-pepper dipping sauce 
  • This is the last Sunbasket meal of the week. I decided to cook them all in a row so nothing goes bad!
• Saturday August 5th: Strawberry Turkey Burgers and your choice of veggies/salad.
• Sunday August 6th: Roast a Whole Chicken.
  • Here are a few options. Lemon Dill or this is pretty simple just use Ghee instead of butter for Whole30. Add carrots and veggies!
• Monday August 7th: Balsamic Beef Roast and Veggies
  • Mondays are busy in our house so I typically try to at least prep our dinner Sunday night but crockpot meals are always a go to at the begining of the week for us because I’m at the office 7-5 both Monday and Tuesday. Always plan ahead for those busy days to make sure you stay on track!

I am actually traveling on the weekend, I’m headed to the American Association of Diabetes Educators Conference (AADE) but I added some ideas if you are cooking at home. I will likely be packing some sweet potatoes, ghee, (follow the link for the best ghee ever!) grilled chicken, and some hamburgers to heat up at our Residence Inn. It’s not too hard to eat Whole 30 eating out if you pick somewhere you can get grilled chicken/fish/steak with veggies and a starch.

For snacks have some nuts or nut butter (ingredients nuts +salt) on hand or raw veggies/fruit.  You can get great deals on nuts at Nuts.com or Thrive Market!

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