My Whole30 Diary. Part 1.
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Day 1.
Breakfast: 6-egg Frittata (shared with Stevie) with chicken sausage, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, onion. Sliced fruit. Black coffee. Water with lemon.
Um, I should feel excited. I just feel annoyed. Why is this SO MUCH WORK. I've been in the kitchen all day - meal prepping, eating, then cleaning up from the meal. Then doing it all over again. This just doesn't make sense for real people with real lives.
Lunch: Big spinach salad with shredded chicken and chopped green apple, celery, slivered almonds. Olive oil and balsamic dressing. La Croix with lime to drink :)
Dinner: Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti. Which tastes pretty good. But I'm too annoyed to give it accolades.
At the end of the day, I really want to unwind with a glass of wine. And I really want to eat dark chocolate and watch Madam Secretary. Tea Leoni's performance just isn't quite as impressively dynamic with a lame cup of tea in my hand. Ugh.
Snack (which is totally off the Whole30 plan but seriously, this plan sucks, so I'm allowing it): Baked apples and pears with slivered almonds, dusted cinnamon, a scoop of almond flour, coconut oil.
Day 2.
Breakfast: Frittata. Fruit. Coffee with coconut oil and cinnamon.
I tried something new to jazz up my coffee - adding a tablespoon of coconut oil and cinnamon, which I immediately regret. Too oily. It coated my throat in a weird way. I find myself almost wishing for black coffee. Almost.
Lunch: Big spinach salad with shredded chicken, chopped cucumbers, kalamata olives, artichokes, red onions, tomatoes and slivered almonds. Lemon juice, olive oil and balsamic dressing. La Croix with lime.
This salad is officially delicious. It's the first thing I can actually say that about while on Whole30. I decided that if I have to eat this every day for a month for lunch, I can do so happily.
Dinner: Pork chop with spiced apple sauce, sweet potato and cabbage slaw.
Snack: Baked fruit.
I felt like a grown up because I MADE pork chops. It was good. But still - I just felt too mad about this annoying "wellness exercise" to enjoy it. Stevie on the other hand, was RAVING. Of course he would be liking this. Of course.
Day 3.
Stevie needs to be punched. It's a need. He wakes up and says, "I am just feeling SO GOOD. Like, we always eat healthy, but the fact that I feel this good after eating healthier for a few days is really compelling. This plan works!" Which leads to my need to punch him. I don't do it. I just stare at his pretty face and imagine it a little bit.
Breakfast: Frittata. Fruit. Coffee.
I feel TERRIBLE. So tired. So mad. I feel like I'm walking around in a fog. This is the worst day yet.
Lunch: Greek chicken salad (same as yesterday).
Dinner: Salmon with lemon-herb mayo. Broccoli + roasted potatoes.
Snack: Baked fruit.
Day 4.
Breakfast: Frittata. Fruit. Coffee.
Lunch: Greek chicken salad.
Dinner: Baked chicken & green beans.
So today I've made a discovery. If I have no positive taste expectations from my food, and it's consumed for the basic reasons of nourishment, then I'm fine. If I don't expect to enjoy or savor the tastes in my mouth, then I am fine to just go through the day without looking forward to my meals. I don't dread them, but I don't look forward to them. I know how morbid this sounds to foodies all over the world (and the one who lives in my head), but I've spent the past three days disappointed at every meal, and I don't want to live another 26 days that way. I just need to have low expectations. Food is for nourishment on this plan, not for fun. Not for joy.
Okay, so I didn't make this discovery. My attitude has been so bad that my Dad has to give me a talking-to. He said something along the lines of, "Soldier up. You made a commitment, so just do it." And he's totally right. So I'm doing it. And trying to whine a little less.
Day 5.
Breakfast: Eggs scrambled with spinach and onion. Fruit. Coffee.
This is the day I texted my sister-in-law, "I might actually die."
Lunch: Greek chicken salad.
Dinner: Slow-cooker beef brisket with onions and carrots.
I didn't die. But I almost quit today. Really and truly. If it weren't for Stevie, I probably would have caved on this very day.
Day 6:
Breakfast: An egg. Fruit.
This was an interesting day to be on Whole30 because I attended a brunch at an awesome brunchy restaurant (Sun in My Belly!) honoring my pregnant friend. There was no way I was going to skip it just because of Whole30, because I love her and she is so fun to celebrate and our kids will one day marry, so I just checked the menu ahead of time and formulated a plan. I also decided in my heart that I didn't want to be "that person" at the restaurant, asking high-maintenance questions about the oils and sugar content. I just decided that I'm going to order the cleanest I can and not worry about the rest.
I thought it would be hard, with mimosas and croissants being passed around me, but it really wasn't. At this point it was just decided: I'm doing Whole30, and I can't have that right now. So yeah. Stoic is perhaps the word I would use to describe it. I felt stoic to the food, not the company (obviously!)
Lunch/Brunch: Two fried eggs. Turkey sausage. Fruit. Coffee.
Dinner: Salmon cakes with roasted red pepper dressing. Arugula salad.
Day 7:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs. Fruit. Tea.
Snack: Lara bar.
Lunch: Leftover salmon cakes with roasted red pepper dressing.
Dinner: Leftover brisket with onions and carrots.
Sunday is church day, which lately means an earlier morning for all of us, but we love it! We had to be careful to plan our breakfast and snacks so that we wouldn't be hungry and/or lust over the cinnamon bagels and yogurt. But we actually did okay!
Overall Week Recap:
I felt angry most of the week. I wanted to quit, and I'm not a quitter. I was surprised by how badly I wanted some of my old favorite foods - Ezekiel toast, sweetened coffee, wine at night, chocolate. The meal prep was an enormous project, and I honestly don't know how I would do this plan if I had a full-time job. But at 7 days in, I didn't feel like I wanted to quit anymore. So I will keep going!
Who else is doing Whole30 right now? Any of this sound similar to what you're going through?
P.S. - I'm sharing the Whole30 frittata recipe I've been making almost daily on the blog tomorrow :)
