Whole 30 – Week 1

I love food. Cooking food, trying new food and talking about food. However almost always I have an ache afterwards.

I’ve tried different medications, had a endoscopy, taken allergy tests and more. Ultimately I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Basically a bunch of nonsense.

After a dinner last year I decided I was done being in pain. I Googled a few things and came across Whole 30.

What is Whole 30 you ask? Whole 30 is not a diet. It centers on eliminating certain food groups such as sugar, dairy, grains, and legumes for about a month to improve health. Processed foods and alcohol are out; but, you can eat meat, seafood, eggs, fruits, vegetables, oils and healthy fats, like avocado.

The first time I did Whole 30 I successfully did 30 days, but with a few modifications. It wasn’t easy! I didn’t tell my family I was doing it. I didn’t want to spook them or think I was doing a diet. I wanted to see if removing certain food from my diet would help me feel better. And it did!! I started feeling better after 5 days. I wasn’t bloated, in pain or ill. To think some of my favorite foods was making me ill was just awful.

I was heartbroken. I love food!

I loved Whole 30 and even lost some weight, but then someone had a birthday, we made plans to check out a new restaurant in town, it was a holiday, etc. You get the point. Something was always in my way.

Then my sister’s bachelorette weekend in Mexico was coming up and I remembered how I felt (and looked) so I did it again. This time I only lasted the two weeks up to her bachelorette. Hello vacation food and cocktails!

After a painful episode last December I deiced on the first day of the year I was going to commit to my health and do another round.

This time I talked it over with my family, read books (thanks Whit!), saved recipes, shopped for food, prepped and did my research.

The first week was hard! Like real hard. I so miss my morning (and sometimes afternoon) coffee with milk and brown sugar. But I decided to stick to the plan, so I haven’t been drinking coffee, because coffee with almond milk is just plain nasty.

After completing the hard week I thought it was best to remind my self of all the yummy recipes we tried and liked.

Here are some of my favorite recipes from Week 1.

Southern breakfast bowlhttp://thedoitallmama.com/2016/05/whole-30-southwestern-breakfast-bowl.html

Baked Salmon with cilantro sauce and cilantro lime cauliflower ricehttps://www.themediterraneandish.com/baked-salmon-recipe-garlic-cilantro-sauce/

Sweet Potato Chicken Pad Thaihttps://littlebitsof.com/2017/06/sweet-potato-chicken-pad-thai/

Sloppy Joe Potato Bowlshttps://physicalkitchness.com/whole30-sloppy-joe-bowls/

Good food, that tastes good, that’s good for you. I love Whole 30! 

See you next week for week 2.