Category Archives for "Whole 30"

0 Whole 30 in January

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…..I hope you and your family are enjoying getting ready to celebrate Christmas. I wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine who is also a pharmacist and passionate about real food. We both know many of our patients will be looking for a good reset diet starting in January and I think Whole30 is a great option. I will be doing a Whole30 again in January as much as a can. I will be traveling some and I realize that is very hard while traveling but it is possible! Here are some of my past posts about Whole30 from last summer with my meal plans for week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4. Enjoy!

If you are like me and need a little protein boast during a Whole30. Don’t forget to check out Vital Proteins I am loving their Matcha Collagen and I love the Collagen powder by itself too. I also love Tin Star Ghee! If you haven’t roasted veggies or sautéed them in brown butter ghee, you MUST try it.

Merry Christmas and here is Lindsey.

First of all, I am so grateful for Dr. Hartzler for allowing me to take over her blog today. We attended Ohio Northern University at the same time and have since both developed a love for functional medicine and a healthy way of living.

My name is Lindsey Dalton and I am a wife and mom to 2 little girls whom I am totally obsessed with. I am a part time stay at home mom and part time working mom. I work as a retail pharmacist in Columbus, Ohio. I am also a Whole30 certified coach and lover of all things clean and natural. Today I want to talk to you about the Whole30.

Have you heard of the Whole30? No? That’s ok, that’s why I’m here.

The Whole30 is a total health reset. It will literally change your life.

Did you know that the foods we put in our bodies can cause us to have low energy, trouble sleeping, aches and pains and even certain health conditions? It’s true and we can use the Whole30 to find out exactly what ailments we experience are food related. We can also pinpoint the foods that are causing these conditions.

The Whole30 has 4 Good Food Standards. The food we eat must:

• Promote a healthy psychological response
• Promote a healthy hormonal response
• Support a healthy gut
• Support immune function and minimize inflammation

For 30 days we eliminate any foods that do not support all 4 of these Good Food Standards. We give our bodies time to heal from all of the damage these foods have done for years (even decades). Once the 30 days are up we systematically reintroduce the problematic foods one by one paying close attention to how our bodies feel in the days after the reintroduction. Maybe it was dairy causing us to be bloated 24/7 or sugar that kept us riding an energy roller coaster all day. Whatever it is, after completing the Whole30 we have the knowledge of how food affects YOU.

Let me tell you about the rules.

1. Do not consume added sugar of any kind, real or artificial
2. Do not consume alcohol in any form
3. Do not eat grains
4. Do not eat legumes
5. Do not eat dairy
6. Do not consume carrageenan, MSG, or added sulfites
7. Do not recreate baked goods, “treats,” or junk foods with approved ingredients
8. Do not step on the scale or take measurements

The off-limit foods are the foods that fail one or more of the 4 Good Food Standards as proven by science and the experience of thousands of Whole30ers. Rules 7 and 8 focus more on the psychological relationship with food and our bodies. We want our relationship with food to be healthy not only physically but mentally as well. That is why the Whole30 is so life changing. In 30 days we can change our entire relationship with food and be free from all of the little voices in our heads telling us what, how and when to eat. We learn what foods make us feel amazing and break the chains that food had us in for years.

Are you ready to change your life?

Great!

I am coaching a group for the National January Whole30. The Whole30 will start January 1^st but the group will kick off before that so we have time to prepare ourselves. I would love to tell you more about Whole30 and my coaching services. You can email me at lindseydalton6510@gmail.com. Also follow me on Instagram @lindseydalton_.

Thanks again, Dr. Hartzler, for having me! Have a fabulous day!

0 Final Week of Whole30 & Essential Oils

August is flying by only about a week and a half left of Whole30! The summer is also winding down as well many kids headed back to school this week around us.  This week it has seemed more challenging to keep strict Whole30. We had 2 cookouts (1 we ate before we went) and this morning we ate out with good friends at Table33..the Sweet Potato Hash with Chorizo was wonderful. My husband highly recommends the Gluten Free Chicken and Waffles when your Whole30 is complete! Overall I’m still doing pretty well.  This week might prove to be even more challenging but with a plan and preparing food ahead it’s a lot easier to make it work!

Since the last week is just a half week I’m going to include my meal plan for the rest of the time! Again, I hope something here inspires you to make healthy choices for your meals regardless of if you are on the Whole30 team this month! Read all the way to the bottom for some exciting news!

We left off with Monday the 21st on last week’s plan.

Tuesday August 22nd: White Chicken Chili  If you have leftover chicken from slow cooking a whole chicken you can use that or you can throw in some chicken thighs. If you don’t have an instant, a slow cooker can do just as well.

Wednesday August 23rd: Stuffed Acorn Squash Can you tell I’m ready for fall?  We have about 5 pumpkins from our garden that need cooked tomorrow. So why not acorn squash for dinner?

Thursday August 24th: Chili-roasted Cod  Pair this with any veggie you like including some carbohydrates like sweet potatoes or roasted red potatoes! My goal on Thursday is to check out our local farmer’s market that is in down for a couple hours in the late afternoon.

Friday August 25th: Meat Loaf Muffins If you are a parent trying to get your kids to eat some veggies, this is a great recipe! Diced mushrooms and peppers inside make it a super healthy option! If you are an adult who loves comfort food, this is also a winner at the table.

Saturday August 26th: Cinnamon Steak Skewers With fresh salad and again roast your favorite veggie.

Sunday August 27th: Smoky Bison Stuffed Spaghetti Squash Most weeks our daughter loves spaghetti squash, especially with butter and parmesan cheese. But for a paleo option try this! If you don’t want bison or don’t have access to it, just use ground beef.

Monday August 28th: Slower Cooker Butter Chicken Despite butter in the name, no butter in the dish. 🙂

Tuesday August 29th: Snapper Baked in Parchment with Spring Vegetables This recipe is easy to do with any kind of fish! Use ghee instead of butter.

Wednesday August 30th: Stuffed Bell Peppers Hopefully we will have some peppers in our garden ready by this point, but if not thankfully this time of year they are easy to come by. PS it’s your last day of Whole30! Congrats!

Thursday August 31st: Pick your favorite recipe from this past month and have it again! Or take your favorite recipe and convert it to a Whole30 or Paleo option.  I know technically Whole30 is over, but the program recommends reintroducing things slowly to see how you feel. Just like feeding a baby solids for the first time introduce foods 1 at a time and over a period of 3-7 days to see if it makes a difference, especially if you did the program to alleviate any problems you were having.

If you are looking at the Sunbasket meal options for the week of August 28th the Thai-style salmon with peach-cabbage slaw, Italian sausages with warm cauliflower-frisée salad and artichoke romesco, and Lettuce-wrapped turkey burgers with avocado and sambal mayo are all good options!

Ok here is my big announcement! This month I was inspired by The Farmacist Alabama a friend of mine to join her in her mission to educate on safe use of essential oils, particularly in the Young Living community.  Dr. Elmore and I connected quickly when working on a committee several years ago with our similar views on natural approaches to managing chronic disease.  I have been using essential oils for the last several years but more recently have been diving into the evidence behind their use and effectiveness. I will be teaching with her in an upcoming master class on Gut Health on Tuesday August 29th at 8pm EST. You can register at this link if you are interested in joing us! Also I have a vision for developing a team of people that are also passionate about natural approaches to health and safety! Let me know if you are interested in learning more about how we could partner. Stay tuned for a giveaway soon involving free essential oils!

*this post contains affiliate links to products I recommend. Thanks for supporting the blog, remember 10% goes to support various ministries! Help me increase that percentage by shopping on my favorite things page!

1 Whole 30 Week #3

The halfway point! I certainly had moments this week where I so wanted something not on the plan like plantain chips or some sourdough bread. But I held strong! I do feel like I’m eating more nuts than I probably should, but I will try to decrease that this week. We visited the chiropractor today and I’m still intolerant to eggs…which is such a bummer especially during this Whole30 journey. Baby boy is too, so we will probably wait to introduce eggs until later and probably introduce them first in non-pure forms and then yolks, before the whole egg. Big sister had an egg allergy for the first 2 years of life. Thankfully with probiotics, clean diet, and vitamin D, and giving her non-pure egg sources we overcame that!

This weekend we are hanging out with Dustin’s family. Yesterday one of his cousins brought her girls over to swim and play with K, they had a blast. Today we are hosting another cousin and two of Dustin’s friends from high school and their families. There are three 3 y/o girls in the group that are all within a couple months of each other.. so that should be entertaining! 8 adults, 8 kids (3 babies under 5 months) and a pool party!

Last week’s menu left off on Monday for Week #2  so below you’ll find the plan for week #3 starting on Tuesday. If you did sign up for Sunbasket…feel free to use those meals in substitution for anything below. Or use this to inspire your meal plan this week even if you aren’t doing Whole30!

Tuesday August 15th: Slower Cooker Meatballs with either spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, or any veggie noodle! We will probably go with spaghetti squash or carrots noodles (from Trader Joe’s in the freezer section!) just because our daughter isn’t into zucchini noodles for some reason, but we might try again because red sauce is her favorite!

Wednesday August 16th: Stuffed Sweet Potatoes tonight because we have our monthly meal with our house church (small group) from church. It’s typically pot-luck so we are going with potato bar and we will provide some of the items from the above recipe so Whole30 options are available.

Thursday August 17th:  Chunky Veggie Soup. Clean and simple recipe…could add chicken or fish for protein! Or just a big salad!

Friday August 18th: Tuna Zoodle Casserole this one is a favorite of mine. I have loved tuna since I was a kid. Tuna does need eaten in moderation due to the mercury content. I love getting the Safe Catch brand on Thrive market. If you haven’t tried this site, use the link to sign up and you get 25% off your first order.

Saturday August 19th: Lettuce Wrapped Burgers and Mango Salad with carrot ginger dressing. We have served this salad a lot this summer and EVERYONE loves it!  We have a good amount of meat in our freezer so we will probably grill some burgers to top the salad or eat on the side. Add some sweet potatoes or potatoes in the oven for carbs.

Sunday August 20th: Garbage Stir-Fry with Curried Cabbage Nom Nom Paleo’s blog is a great source of recipes. I love that she is also a pharmacist teaching people about real food!  This is a quick and easy dinner to make. Easy to make extra servings too for packing lunches for the week.

Monday August 21st: Slow Cook a Whole Chicken Throw a chicken in the crockpot or if you need a “fast food” option for the busy week stop by a local grocery store that has already cooked rotisserie chickens. Our Whole Foods has them daily with clean ingredients.  Add whatever veggies you would like to the slow cooker or grill them on the side.

If you would like to try out SunBasket for the following week.. August 21st.. great options for the week on that menu include: Salmon and cherry tomatoes with red chermoula and seared endive, Pork chops with kimchi chimichurri and sweet potato, and the Sicilian chicken breasts with salmoriglio sauce and baby broccoli.

Good luck with with sticking to clean eating this week!

*this post contains affiliate links to products I recommend. Thanks for supporting the blog, remember 10% goes to support various ministries! Check out My Favorite Things for more details.

1 Whole 30 Week #2

Hi Everyone-

I hope those that are doing the Whole30 program with me this month are doing well! So far so good here…my main issue this week was #1 forgetting my homemade salad dressing one day and #2 I haven’t been exactly making sure that the bacon I eat isn’t cured with sugar. We know bacon doesn’t have any after the cooking process for the most part but sometimes remains a bit sweet. I feel like for a busy working mom who was on the road this weekend, I succeeded!

My conference has been fun. I have enjoyed chatting with other practitioners and dietitians about functional medicine approaches to prediabetes and diabetes. I’ll be speaking at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting about this too with two other pharmacists. Blog posts on diabetes are coming soon!

Seriously if you have a family and haven’t stayed at a Residence’s Inn by Marriott…you are missing out. Full kitchen = better food choices and most of the time the same price or cheaper than area hotels. We packed leftovers, so I was able to eat a yummy butternut squash hash yesterday morning and today a sweet potato with some shredded pork. The one where we are staying at in Indianapolis is just down the street from the convention center and near this awesome cafe called Patachou where I got a whole30 compliant salad yesterday! I just got oil/vinegar instead of green goddess dressing. Another great Indy breakfast find was LePeep. The hash dishes are Whole30 if you say no cheese. If we were staying longer, I certainly would have just headed to the grocery store and cooked here!

We also visited some friends from college last night at their home just north of town. Their kiddos are just a bit younger than ours. They were so sweet and made a wonderful dinner with grilled chicken and farmer’s market veggies. It was delicious! I couldn’t get over how sweet the cherry tomatoes were. Goal this week is to try to find some Farmer’s Market veggies. I think the 2nd street market in Dayton is open on Sundays now, might have to check it out on our way home or find a local one here on our way out. Their little boy and Princess K played together well and even took a dip in the neighbor’s hot tub!

Whole 30 Week #2 Menu

Last week I left off after Monday’s dinner. So here is this week’s meal plan for your enjoyment! If you did cook a whole chicken on Sunday..leftovers are perfect for breakfast or lunch this week!

Tuesday August 8th: Sheet Pan Roast Chicken Dinner Tuesday’s are busy for us with me working the bulk of my clinic time between Monday and Tuesday so we need something simple and easy to do! You can pretty much roast any veggie and chicken thighs (and we like boneless ones for easier eating) this way and it’s amazing. Toddler approved too! I don’t often find parsnips so ours ends up being sweet potatoes and carrots.

Wednesday August 10th: Chive Pesto Shrimp (or chicken) with Zoodles We have lots of yummy chives growing in our garden along with zucchini. This dish is super light and tasty. Feel free to do any protein with it. Chicken, turkey, or pork, with or without the shrimp might have more staying power! Nutritional yeast will have to be used instead of parmesan or omitted.

Thursday August 11th: Salmon and Roasted Veggies. Cook this however you like, we have found grilling on a cedar plank is delicious. We often end up doing this recipe and broiling because it’s yummy and quick. Roast some potatoes, broccoli, or brussel sprouts; really any veggie you like for the side!

Friday August 12th: Roasted Strawberry-Rhubarb Salsa Chicken Tonight we will be at my in-laws and want to share this dish with them. We made it during the last week of July and loved it. Honestly I haven’t tried anything from this blog that I haven’t liked!

Saturday August 13th: Slow Cooker Al Pastor Loaded Taco Salad. We are having a Pool Party with Dustin’s cousin’s family as well as two of their good friends from high school. We are excited for all the kids to play together. We are getting shredded pork for salads for us and sandwiches for others. If you are at home this weekend, definitely try this recipe. So yummy and no need for the tortilla just put it over a baked potato, sweet potato, or salad!

Sunday August 14th: Lettuce Wrapped Hamburgers with Roasted Veggies (leave out the honey). Again I hope this is inspiration…you can roast whatever veggies you would like!

Monday August 15th: Slow Cooker Spicy Stuffed Cabbage Casserole  Again starting the week is often busy for us and I’m sure many of you, so find those go-to slow cooker recipes that you can even prep on Sunday night!

If you haven’t been using ghee on your Whole30 plan you are missing out. My favorite is this brown butter ghee. Other yummy options are over at Thrive Market. If you haven’t signed up check it out and you can get free coconut aminos with your first order! We have saved a lot of money on paleo pantry staples here.

I hope something here inspires your week of clean eating.  If you are interested in checking out SunBasket next week. For the week of August 14th, the Turkish lamb köfte with tahini sauce and smashed cucumber salad, Southeast Asian chicken salad with sesame-lime dressing, and Chinese five-spice steak stir-fry with cauliflower “rice” are all good options to put on your order and Whole30 compliant!

How is your Whole30 or cleaning eating going this week? What have been your go-to meals?

2 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!

*this post contains affiliate links to products I recommend. Thanks for supporting the blog, remember 10% goes to support various ministries! Check out My Favorite Things for more details.